Oxidative damage and brain concentrations of free amino acid in chicks exposed to high ambient temperature

High ambient temperatures (HT) reduce food intake and body weight in young chickens, and HT can cause increased expression of hypothalamic neuropeptides. The mechanisms by which HT act, and the effects of HT on cellular homeostasis in the brain, are however not well understood. In the current study lipid peroxidation and amino acid metabolism were measured in the brains of 14 d old chicks exposed to HT (35 °C for 24- or 48-h) or to control thermoneutral temperature (CT; 30 °C). Malondialdehyde (MDA) was measured in the brain to determine the degree of oxidative damage. HT increased body temperature and reduced food intake and body weight gain. HT also increased diencephalic oxidative damage after 48 h, and altered some free amino acid concentrations in the diencephalon. Diencephalic MDA concentrations were increased by HT and time, with the effect of HT more prominent with increasing time. HT altered cystathionine, serine, tyrosine and isoleucine concentrations. Cystathionine was lower in HT birds compared with CT birds at 24 h, whilst serine, tyrosine and isoleucine were higher at 48 h in HT birds. An increase in oxidative damage and alterations in amino acid concentrations in the diencephalon may contribute to the physiological, behavioral and thermoregulatory responses of heat-exposed chicks

Environmental Control of Annual Reproductive Cycle and Spawning Rhythmicity of Spinefoots

Proceedins of 8th Kuroshio University League Network Formation Toward the Sustainable Society in Kuroshio Region Through Cross-Boader Educatio

CHJ-WLSP : Annotation of \u27Word List by Semantic Principles\u27 Labels for the Corpus of Historical Japanese

National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics / Tokyo University of Foreign StudiesSaitama UniversityUniversity of TokyoKyoto Prefectural UniversityUniversity of TokyoMejiro UniversityNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsThis article presents a word-sense annotation for the Corpus of Historical Japanese: a mashed-up Japanese lexicon based on the \u27Word List by Semantic Principles\u27 (WLSP). The WLSP is a large-scale Japanese thesaurus that includes 98,241 entries with syntactic and hierarchical semantic categories. The historical WLSP is also compiled for the words in ancient Japanese. We utilized a morpheme-word sense alignment table to extract all possible word sense candidates for each word appearing in the target corpus. Then, we manually disambiguated the word senses for 647,751 words in the texts from the 10th century to 1910

Development of Antibodies against HPV-6 and HPV-11 for the Study of Laryngeal Papilloma

Laryngeal papilloma (LP), which is associated with infection by human papillomavirus (HPV)-6 or -11, displays aggressive growth. The precise molecular mechanism underlying the tumorigenesis of LP has yet to be uncovered. Building on our earlier research into HPV-6, in this study, the viral gene expression of HPV-11 was investigated by quantitative PCR and DNA/RNA in situ hybridization. Additionally, newly developed antibodies against the E4 protein of HPV-6 and HPV-11 were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. The average viral load of HPV-11 in LP was 1.95 ± 0.66 × 105 copies/ng DNA, and 88% of HPV mRNA expression was found to be E4, E5a, and E5b mRNAs. According to RNA in situ hybridization, E4 and E5b mRNAs were expressed from the middle to upper part of the epithelium. E4 immunohistochemistry revealed a wide positive reaction in the upper cell layer in line with E4 mRNA expression. Other head and neck lesions with HPV-11 infection also showed a positive reaction in E4 immunohistochemistry. The distribution pattern of HPV DNA, viral mRNA, and E4 protein in LP with HPV-11 infection was quite similar to that of HPV-6. Therefore, it might be possible to apply these E4-specific antibodies in other functional studies as well as clinical applications, including targeted molecular therapies in patients with HPV-6 and HPV-11 infection

Diagnostic criteria for acute-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus (2012): Report of the Committee of Japan Diabetes Society on the Research of Fulminant and Acute-onset Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Type 1 diabetes is a disease characterized by destruction of pancreatic β-cells, which leads to absolute deficiency of insulin secretion. Depending on the manner of onset and progression, it is classified as fulminant, acute-onset or slowly progressive type 1 diabetes. Here, we propose the diagnostic criteria for acute-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus. Among the patients who develop ketosis or diabetic ketoacidosis within 3 months after the onset of hyperglycemic symptoms and require insulin treatment continuously after the diagnosis of diabetes, those with anti-islet autoantibodies are diagnosed with \u27acute-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus (autoimmune)\u27. In contrast, those whose endogenous insulin secretion is exhausted (fasting serum C-peptide immunoreactivity <0.6 ng/mL) without verifiable anti-islet autoantibodies are diagnosed simply with \u27acute-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus\u27. Patients should be reevaluated after certain periods in case their statuses of anti-islet autoantibodies and/or endogenous insulin secretory capacity are unknown

Genetic association between the interleukin-2 receptor-alpha gene and mode of onset of type 1 diabetes in the Japanese population.

CONTEXT/OBJECTIVE: The IL-2 receptor-alpha (IL2RA), also known as CD25, is expressed on the regulatory T cells, which play an important role in the control of immune responses and the maintenance of immune homeostasis. Our objective was to determine whether variants in the IL2RA gene are associated with type 1 diabetes in the Japanese population. DESIGN/PATIENTS: We genotyped the four single-nucleotide polymorphisms (rs706778, rs3118470, ss52580101, and rs11594656) of the IL2RA in 885 patients with type 1 diabetes and 606 control subjects of Japanese origin. The allele and genotype frequencies were examined in the patient groups stratified by their mode of onset in a case-control study. RESULTS: We found evidence of association with acute-onset, but not slow-onset and fulminant, type 1 diabetes for two of the four single-nucleotide polymorphisms genotyped (rs706778 and rs3118470). The rs706778 A allele and the rs3118470 G allele were associated with an increased disease risk [odds ratio (OR) for rs706778 AA genotype 1.54, P = 4.2 x 10(-4) and OR for rs3118470 GG genotype 1.50, P = 0.0019, respectively]. Furthermore, the A-G haplotype was associated with increased type 1 diabetes risk in the acute-onset form (OR 1.30, P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The present data confirm the type 1 diabetes association with IL2RA and provide evidence that the different contributions of the IL2RA in the susceptibility to acute-onset and other forms of type 1 diabetes in the Japanese population

Impact of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on pneumonia hospitalisations and mortality among adults in northern Miyagi, Japan: a multicentre observational study

Background: On 11 March 2011, the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck off the coast of northeastern Japan. Within 3 weeks, an increased number of pneumonia admissions and deaths occurred in local hospitals. Methods: A multicentre survey was conducted at three hospitals in Kesennuma City (population 74 000), northern Miyagi Prefecture. All adults aged ≥18 years hospitalised between March 2010 and June 2011 with community-acquired pneumonia were identified using hospital databases and medical records. Segmented regression analyses were used to quantify changes in the incidence of pneumonia. Results: A total of 550 pneumonia hospitalisations were identified, including 325 during the pre-disaster period and 225 cases during the post-disaster period. The majority (90%) of the post-disaster pneumonia patients were aged ≥65 years, and only eight cases (3.6%) were associated with near-drowning in the tsunami waters. The clinical pattern and causative pathogens were almost identical among the pre-disaster and post-disaster pneumonia patients. A marked increase in the incidence of pneumonia was observed during the 3-month period following the disaster; the weekly incidence rates of pneumonia hospitalisations and pneumonia-associated deaths increased by 5.7 times (95% CI 3.9 to 8.4) and 8.9 times (95% CI 4.4 to 17.8), respectively. The increases were largest among residents in nursing homes followed by those in evacuation shelters. Conclusions: A substantial increase in the pneumonia burden was observed among adults after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Although the exact cause remains unresolved, multiple factors including population aging and stressful living conditions likely contributed to this pneumonia outbreak