Genetic Variation in Quercus acutissima Carruth., in Traditional Japanese Rural Forests and Agricultural Landscapes, Revealed by Chloroplast Microsatellite Markers

uercus acutissima Carruth. is an economically important species that has long been cultivated in Japan, so is a valuable subject for investigating the impact of human activities on genetic variation in trees. In total, 2152 samples from 18 naturally regenerated populations and 28 planted populations in Japan and 13 populations from the northeastern part of Eurasia, near Japan, were analyzed using six maternally inherited chloroplast (cpDNA) simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Although 23 haplotypes were detected in total, both the Japanese natural and artificial populations exhibited much lower genetic diversity than the continental populations. The level of genetic differentiation among natural populations in Japan was also much lower (G’ST = 0.261) than that on the continent (G’ST = 0.856). These results suggest that human activities, such as historical seed transfer, have reduced genetic diversity within and among populations and resulted in a homogeneous genetic structure in Japan. The genetic characteristics of natural and artificial populations of Quercus acutissima in Japan are almost the same and it is likely that most of the natural populations are thought to have originated from individuals that escaped from plantations

Evidence for the Immunosuppressive Potential of Calcineurin Inhibitor-Sparing Regimens in Liver Transplant Recipients with Impaired Renal Function

Patients requiring liver transplantation (LT) frequently experience renal insufficiency (RI), which affects their survival. Although calcineurin inhibitor-sparing immunosuppressive regimens (CSRs) are well known to prevent RI, the immune state in recipients receiving CSR remains to be intensively investigated. Among 60 cases of living-donor LT at our institute, 68% of the patients had none to mild RI (non-RI group) and 32% of the patients had moderate to severe RI (RI group). The RI group received a CSR comprising reduced dose of tacrolimus, methylprednisolone, and mycophenolate mofetil, while the non-RI group received a regimen comprising conventional dose of tacrolimus and methylprednisolone. One year after LT, the mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in the RI group had significantly improved, although it was still lower than that of the non-RI group. Serial mixed lymphocyte reaction assays revealed that antidonor T-cell responses were adequately suppressed in both groups. Thus, we provide evidence that CSR leads to improvement of eGFR after LT in patients with RI, while maintaining an appropriate immunosuppressive state

Hybrid Surgery for Portosystemic Encephalopathy in a Patient with Liver Cirrhosis: a case report

Regarding the treatment for a portosystemic shunt, surgical or interventional radiological closure of the shunt was established. Interventional radiology including balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration can worsen portal hypertension and create a large thrombus close to the major venous system in the case of a huge portosystemic shunt. In contrast, it is also difficult to treat some cases through surgery alone when huge complicated shunts exist very deep in the body. Herein, we report a successful case of surgical shunt ligation for portosystemic encephalopathy in a hybrid operation room that enabled intraoperative angiography and computed tomography. A 62-year-old woman with chronic hepatitis C was referred to our hospital due to high levels of serum ammonia and hepatic encephalopathy. She had a massive, complicated portosystemic shunt from the inferior mesenteric vein to the left renal vein but did not have esophageal or gastric varices. It was difficult to occlude the portosystemic shunt by interventional radiologic techniques because the shunt had an extremely large amount of blood flow and many collateral routes. We performed the shunt ligation in the hybrid operation room. Intraoperative angiography provided detailed information about the portosystemic shunt, such as direction or volume of blood flow and collateral routes in real time. Her encephalopathy disappeared completely and she remains healthy with improved liver functional reserve to date. In conclusion, this is a successful case of a hybrid operation for an extremely large and complicated portosystemic shunt, providing for intraoperative angiography as a safe and reliable surgical treatment for portosystemic encephalopathy in patients with liver cirrhosis

Evidence for the Immunosuppressive Potential of Calcineurin Inhibitor-Sparing Regimens in Liver Transplant Recipients with Impaired Renal Function

Patients requiring liver transplantation (LT) frequently experience renal insufficiency (RI), which affects their survival. Although calcineurin inhibitor-sparing immunosuppressive regimens (CSRs) are well known to prevent RI, the immune state in recipients receiving CSR remains to be intensively investigated. Among 60 cases of living-donor LT at our institute, 68% of the patients had none to mild RI (non-RI group) and 32% of the patients had moderate to severe RI (RI group). The RI group received a CSR comprising reduced dose of tacrolimus, methylprednisolone, and mycophenolate mofetil, while the non-RI group received a regimen comprising conventional dose of tacrolimus and methylprednisolone. One year after LT, the mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in the RI group had significantly improved, although it was still lower than that of the non-RI group. Serial mixed lymphocyte reaction assays revealed that antidonor T-cell responses were adequately suppressed in both groups. Thus, we provide evidence that CSR leads to improvement of eGFR after LT in patients with RI, while maintaining an appropriate immunosuppressive state

Correlation between frontal lobe oxy-hemoglobin and severity of depression assessed using near-infrared spectroscopy

AbstractIntroductionThe search for objective biomarkers of psychiatric disorders has a long history. Despite this, no universally accepted instruments or methods to detect biomarkers have been developed. One potential exception is near-infrared spectroscopy, although interpreting the measures of blood flow recorded with this technique remains controversial. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between recorded blood flow and depression severity assessed using the Hamilton depression scale in patients with various psychiatric disorders.MethodsEnrolled patients (n=43) had DSM-IV diagnoses of major depressive disorder (n=25), bipolar disorder I (n=5), schizophrenia (n=3), dysthymic disorder (n=3), psychotic disorder (n=3), panic disorder (n=2), and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (n=2). The verbal fluency task was administered during blood flow recording from the frontal and temporal lobes.ResultsWe found that severity of depression was negatively correlated with the integral value of blood flow in the frontal lobe, irrespective of psychiatric diagnosis (F=5.94, p=0.02).DiscussionOur results support blood flow in the frontal lobe as a potential biomarker of depression severity across various psychiatric disorders.LimitationLimited sample size, no replication in the second set

Effect of the lateral growth rate on wood properties in fast-growing hardwood species

We investigated the feasibility of using several fast- growing tropical or subtropical hardwood species for timber production by measuring key wood qualities in relationship to the high rates of lateral growth. The trees tested were sampled from even-aged plantations of Acacia mangium, A. auriculiformis, hybrid Acacia(A.mangium × A. auriculiformis), Eucalyptus grandis, E. globulus, and Paraserianthes falcataria (Solomon and Java origin) that had already reached commercial harvesting age. The released strain of the surface growth stress (RS), xylem density (XD), microfibril angle (MFA), and fiber length (FL) were measured at the outermost part of the xylem at breast height in each tree. Results were then compared to the lateral growth rate (radius/age) at breast height, which provides a relative indicator of the amount of tree growth per year. Our findings indicated that RS was constant, regardless of lateral growth rate in each species. Similar results were observed for XD, MFA, and FL, with a few exceptions, suggesting that high growth rates do not intrinsically affect the wood properties of fast-growing tropical or subtropical species that have reached harvesting age. However, special attention must be paid to patterns of xylem maturation when developing plantations of such species

The Japanese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2016 (J-SSCG 2016)

Background and purposeThe Japanese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2016 (J-SSCG 2016), a Japanese-specific set of clinical practice guidelines for sepsis and septic shock created jointly by the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine, was first released in February 2017 and published in the Journal of JSICM, [2017; Volume 24 (supplement 2)] https://doi.org/10.3918/jsicm.24S0001 and Journal of Japanese Association for Acute Medicine [2017; Volume 28, (supplement 1)] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jja2.2017.28.issue-S1/issuetoc.This abridged English edition of the J-SSCG 2016 was produced with permission from the Japanese Association of Acute Medicine and the Japanese Society for Intensive Care Medicine.MethodsMembers of the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine were selected and organized into 19 committee members and 52 working group members. The guidelines were prepared in accordance with the Medical Information Network Distribution Service (Minds) creation procedures. The Academic Guidelines Promotion Team was organized to oversee and provide academic support to the respective activities allocated to each Guideline Creation Team. To improve quality assurance and workflow transparency, a mutual peer review system was established, and discussions within each team were open to the public. Public comments were collected once after the initial formulation of a clinical question (CQ) and twice during the review of the final draft. Recommendations were determined to have been adopted after obtaining support from a two-thirds (> 66.6%) majority vote of each of the 19 committee members.ResultsA total of 87 CQs were selected among 19 clinical areas, including pediatric topics and several other important areas not covered in the first edition of the Japanese guidelines (J-SSCG 2012). The approval rate obtained through committee voting, in addition to ratings of the strengths of the recommendation, and its supporting evidence were also added to each recommendation statement. We conducted meta-analyses for 29 CQs. Thirty-seven CQs contained recommendations in the form of an expert consensus due to insufficient evidence. No recommendations were provided for five CQs.ConclusionsBased on the evidence gathered, we were able to formulate Japanese-specific clinical practice guidelines that are tailored to the Japanese context in a highly transparent manner. These guidelines can easily be used not only by specialists, but also by non-specialists, general clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, clinical engineers, and other healthcare professionals

Genome-Wide Association Study Confirming Association of HLA-DP with Protection against Chronic Hepatitis B and Viral Clearance in Japanese and Korean

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection can lead to serious liver diseases, including liver cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, about 85–90% of infected individuals become inactive carriers with sustained biochemical remission and very low risk of LC or HCC. To identify host genetic factors contributing to HBV clearance, we conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and replication analysis using samples from HBV carriers and spontaneously HBV-resolved Japanese and Korean individuals. Association analysis in the Japanese and Korean data identified the HLA-DPA1 and HLA-DPB1 genes with Pmeta = 1.89×10−12 for rs3077 and Pmeta = 9.69×10−10 for rs9277542. We also found that the HLA-DPA1 and HLA-DPB1 genes were significantly associated with protective effects against chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in Japanese, Korean and other Asian populations, including Chinese and Thai individuals (Pmeta = 4.40×10−19 for rs3077 and Pmeta = 1.28×10−15 for rs9277542). These results suggest that the associations between the HLA-DP locus and the protective effects against persistent HBV infection and with clearance of HBV were replicated widely in East Asian populations; however, there are no reports of GWAS in Caucasian or African populations. Based on the GWAS in this study, there were no significant SNPs associated with HCC development. To clarify the pathogenesis of CHB and the mechanisms of HBV clearance, further studies are necessary, including functional analyses of the HLA-DP molecule