A Comprehensive Comparison of Flower Morphology in the Genus Camellia, with a Focus on the Section Camellia

departmental bulletin pape

Analysis of Questionnaire for Traditional Medicine and Development of Decision Support System

Kampo medicine is the Japanese adaptation of traditional medicine. In Kampo medicine, “medical interview” plays an important role. “Medical interview” in Japanese traditional medicine includes not only chief complaint but also a questionnaire that asked about the patient's lifestyle and subjective symptoms. The diagnosis by Kampo is called “Sho” and determined by completely different view from Western medicine. Specialists gather all available information and decide “Sho.” And this is the reason why non-Kampo specialists without technical knowledge have difficulties to use traditional medicine. We analyzed “medical interview” data to establish an indicator for non-Kampo specialist without technical knowledge to perform suitable traditional medicine. We predicted “Sho” by using random forests algorithm which is powerful algorithm for classification. First, we use all the 2830 first-visit patients’ data. The discriminant ratio of training data was perfect but that of test data is only 67.0%. Second, to achieve high prediction power for practical use, we did data cleaning, and discriminant ratio of test data was 72.4%. Third, we added body mass index (BMI) data to “medical interview” data and discriminant ratio of test data is 91.2%. Originally, deficiency and excess category means that patient is strongly built or poorly built. We notice that the most important variable for classification is BMI

Prescription of Kampo Drugs in the Japanese Health Care Insurance Program

Kampo medicine or traditional Japanese medicine has been used under Japan’s National Health Insurance scheme for 46 years. Recent research has shown that more than 80% of physicians use Kampo in daily practice. However, the use of Kampo from the patient perspective has received scant attention. To assess the current use of Kampo drugs in the National Health Insurance Program, we analysed a total of 67,113,579 health care claim records, which had been collected by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 2009. We found that Kampo drugs were prescribed for 1.34% of all patients. Among these, 92.2% simultaneously received biomedical drugs. Shakuyakukanzoto was the most frequently prescribed Kampo drug. The usage of frequently prescribed Kampo drugs differed between the youth and the elderly, males and females, and inpatients and outpatients. Kampo medicine has been employed in a wide variety of conditions, but the prescription rate was highest for disorders associated with pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium (4.08%). Although the adoption of Kampo medicine by physicians is large in a variety of diseases, the prescription rate of Kampo drugs is very limited

Towards the design of 3D multiscale instructive tissue engineering constructs: Current approaches and trends

The design of 3D constructs with adequate properties to instruct and guide cells both in vitro and in vivo is one of the major focuses of tissue engineering. Successful tissue regeneration depends on the favorable crosstalk between the supporting structure, the cells and the host tissue so that a balanced matrix production and degradation is achieved. Herein, the major occurring events and players in normal and regenerative tissue are overviewed. These have been inspiring the selection or synthesis of instructive cues to include into the 3D constructs. We further highlight the importance of a multiscale perception of the range of features that can be included on the biomimetic structures. Lastly, we focus on the current and developing tissue-engineering approaches for the preparation of such 3D constructs: top-down, bottom-up and integrative. Bottom-up and integrative approaches present a higher potential for the design of tissue engineering devices with multiscale features and higher biochemichal control than top-down strategies, and are the main focus of this review.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council grant agreement ERC-2012-ADG-20120216-321266 for the project ComplexiTE. Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology is gratefully acknowledged for the fellowship of Sara M. Oliveira (SFRH/BD/70107/2010)

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Synthesis and transparent conductivity of crack-free La:BaSnO3 epitaxial flexible sheets

La-doped BaSnO3 (LBSO), which exhibits both high electron mobility and visible-light transparency, is a promising transparent electrode/transistor material that does not require expensive elements such as indium. However, because a high crystal orientation is necessary for high mobility, the development of a synthetic technique is crucial for next-generation optoelectronic applications. One promising method for achieving this is the lift-off and transfer method. Epitaxial films are first deposited on single-crystal substrates, peeled off from the substrates, and subsequently transferred onto other substrates. However, such transferred sheets typically contain a high density of cracks. Therefore, LBSO sheets with flexibility, high mobility, and transparency have not yet been reported. In this study, we successfully synthesized crack-free LBSO epitaxial sheets via a lift-off and transfer method using a water-soluble Sr3Al2O6 sacrificial layer and amorphous (a-)Al2O3 protection layer. The LBSO sheet simultaneously exhibited a high electron mobility of 80 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) and a wide optical bandgap of 3.5 eV owing to the epitaxial crystallinity of the sheet. Moreover, two types of LBSO sheets were prepared, flat and rolled sheets, by tuning the lift-off process. The flat sheet had a lateral size of 5 mm x 5 mm, whereas the rolled sheet had a tube shape with a height of 5 mm and a diameter of 1 mm. Such large crack-free area and flexibility were achieved in LBSO sheets owing to the use of the a-Al2O3 protection layer

Spawning Phenology and Early Growth of Japanese Anchovy (<i>Engraulis japonicus</i>) off the Pacific Coast of Japan

The reproduction and early growth of fish are essential elements that affect recruitment and provide breakthrough points for understanding population fluctuations. In this study, larval and juvenile Japanese anchovy (Engraulis japonicus) were collected from five coastal waters off the Pacific coast of Japan in 2020 and 2021 to gain more insight into life history traits such as reproduction and early growth of this species on the basis of otolith microstructure analysis. The spawning period appeared to be related to temperature and chlorophyll-a concentrations, showing latitudinal gradient variation among fishing areas. We detected a significant positive allometric growth pattern between standard length and body weight. The Gompertz model best fits the growth of standard length, showing an initial stage of growth that was quick and accelerating. The mean daily growth rate for standard length was 0.64 ± 0.09 mm per day. A series of mixed-effect models was constructed to investigate the sources of differences in the mean growth rates among individuals. The results revealed regional variability in fish growth, with individuals in the central Pacific stock growing faster. Individuals that grew slower were heavier than those of the same length, indicating a trade-off between length growth and weight growth. The mean growth of individual fish was positively influenced by environmental factors (surface water temperature and chlorophyll-a concentration), and individuals within the same school of fish displayed a striking homogeneity of growth. Our research demonstrates the significance of including both physiological characteristics and environmental influences in early growth studies on fish