Effect of riboflavin deficiency on development of the cerebral cortex in Slc52a3 knockout mice

Riboflavin transporter 3 (RFVT3), encoded by the SLC52A3 gene, is important for riboflavin homeostasis in the small intestine, kidney, and placenta. Our previous study demonstrated that Slc52a3 knockout (Slc52a3−/−) mice exhibited neonatal lethality and metabolic disorder due to riboflavin deficiency. Here, we investigated the influence of Slc52a3 gene disruption on brain development using Slc52a3−/− embryos. Slc52a3−/− mice at postnatal day 0 showed hypoplasia of the brain and reduced thickness of cortical layers. At embryonic day 13.5, the formation of Tuj1+ neurons and Tbr2+ intermediate neural progenitors was significantly decreased; no significant difference was observed in the total number and proliferative rate of Pax6+ radial glia. Importantly, the hypoplastic phenotype was rescued upon riboflavin supplementation. Thus, it can be concluded that RFVT3 contributes to riboflavin homeostasis in embryos and that riboflavin itself is required during embryonic development of the cerebral cortex in mice

Association of exposure level to passive smoking with hypertension among lifetime nonsmokers in Japan : a cross-sectional study

Brief exposure to passive smoking immediately elevates blood pressure. However, little is known about the association between exposure to passive smoking and chronic hypertension. We aimed to examine this association in a cross-sectional study, after controlling multiple potential confounders. Participants included 32,098 lifetime nonsmokers (7,216 men and 24,882 women) enrolled in the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort Study. Passive smoking was assessed using a self-administered questionnaire. The single question about exposure to passive smoking had five response options: “sometimes or almost never,” “almost every day, 2 hours/day or less,” “almost every day, 2 to 4 hours/day,” “almost every day, 4 to 6 hours/day,” and “almost every day, 6 hours/day or longer.” Hypertension was defined as any of the following: systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg, or use of antihypertensive medication. Multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for hypertension were estimated by exposure level to passive smoking using unconditional logistic regression models. The multivariate-adjusted OR for hypertension in those exposed almost every day was 1.11 (95% CI: 1.03–1.20) compared with those exposed sometimes or almost never. The OR for a 1-hour per day increase in exposure was 1.03 (95% CI: 1.01–1.06, P for trend = .006). This association was stronger in men than in women; the ORs were 1.08 (95% CI: 1.01–1.15, P for trend = .036) and 1.03 (95% CI: 1.00–1.05, P for trend = .055), respectively. Our findings suggest importance of tobacco smoke control for preventing hypertension

Curated genome annotation of Oryza sativa ssp. japonica and comparative genome analysis with Arabidopsis thaliana

We present here the annotation of the complete genome of rice Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica cultivar Nipponbare. All functional annotations for proteins and non-protein-coding RNA (npRNA) candidates were manually curated. Functions were identified or inferred in 19,969 (70%) of the proteins, and 131 possible npRNAs (including 58 antisense transcripts) were found. Almost 5000 annotated protein-coding genes were found to be disrupted in insertional mutant lines, which will accelerate future experimental validation of the annotations. The rice loci were determined by using cDNA sequences obtained from rice and other representative cereals. Our conservative estimate based on these loci and an extrapolation suggested that the gene number of rice is ~32,000, which is smaller than previous estimates. We conducted comparative analyses between rice and Arabidopsis thaliana and found that both genomes possessed several lineage-specific genes, which might account for the observed differences between these species, while they had similar sets of predicted functional domains among the protein sequences. A system to control translational efficiency seems to be conserved across large evolutionary distances. Moreover, the evolutionary process of protein-coding genes was examined. Our results suggest that natural selection may have played a role for duplicated genes in both species, so that duplication was suppressed or favored in a manner that depended on the function of a gene

壮年期の住民の健康意識向上を目指した保健師学生と地域住民との取り組み

保健師学生と住民との協働活動により、壮年期の住民を対象に運動を取り入れた生活習慣病予防のキャンペーンや健康教室を実施した。本研究の目的は、壮年期の住民の健康意識向上を促すために必要とされる支援方法を明らかにすることである。活動の周知方法は、回覧板が最も効果的であり、知人からの紹介も多数見られた。また、教室参加者のうち45.5％が子ども連れであった。このことから、壮年期の特性を考慮し、子どもや職場、サークルなどをきっかけにした支援が有効な方法であることが明らかとなった。また、地域の核となる人と協働活動を行うことで、より壮年期の住民のニーズや視点に沿った活動を展開できることが明らかとなった

Prescription factors associated with medication non-adherence in Japan assessed from leftover drugs in the SETSUYAKU-BAG campaign: Focus on oral antidiabetic drugs

Background: Medication adherence has an important influence on health outcomes in patients with chronic diseases. However, few studies have been performed in Japan to determine factors related to medication non-adherence. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify prescription factors related to medication non-adherence by investigating patient characteristics, all prescriptions, and prescriptions for oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs).Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional survey of prescription data about implementation of dosing regimen was performed at community pharmacies engaged in appropriate use of leftover drugs. We evaluated the amount of drugs originally prescribed and the reduced amount after use of leftover drugs, and then calculated prescription reduction ratio (PRR). We analyzed prescription factors contributing to non-adherence based on the PRR.Results: Prescription information for 1,207 patients was reviewed, revealing that patients were non-adherent to 58% of prescriptions. Lack of a drug copayment, fewer concurrent drugs, and drugs not in single-dose packaging were associated with non-adherence. Among the 1,207 patients, 234 prescriptions for diabetes and 452 OAD formulations were included. Forty-seven percent of prescriptions and 29% of the formulations were non-adherent. A higher dosing frequency and preprandial administration were associated with non-adherence. Among the OADs, adherence was lower for α-glucosidase inhibitors and biguanides than for sulfonylureas. Conclusions: Several factors related to patient characteristics, general drug prescriptions, and OAD prescriptions were associated with non-adherence. Further consideration will be needed to improve adherence to medication in Japan. Health care providers should perform more careful monitoring of adherence in patients with the factors identified by this study

Shark genomes provide insights into elasmobranch evolution and the origin of vertebrates

International audienc

Excited-State Proton Transfer of Cyanonaphthols in Protic Ionic Liquids: Appearance of a New Fluorescent Species

Excited-state proton transfer (ESPT) of 5-cyano-2-naphthol (5CN2) and 5,8-dicyano-2-naphthol (DCN2) in three different protic ionic liquids (PILs), triethylammonium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([N₂₂₂H]­[CF₃SO₃]), triethylammonium methanesulfonate ([N₂₂₂H]­[CH₃SO₃]), and triethylammonium trifluoroacetate ([N₂₂₂H]­[CF₃COO]), was studied by time-resolved fluorescence. In [N₂₂₂H]­[CF₃SO₃], both 5CN2 and DCN2 showed fluorescence only from ROH* (normal form of substituted naphthol in the excited states), indicating that no ESPT occurred in [N₂₂₂H]­[CF₃SO₃]. For 5CN2 in [N₂₂₂H]­[CH₃SO₃], fluorescence bands from ROH* and RO^–* (anionic form of substituted naphthol in the excited states) were observed, indicating that 5CN2 could dissociate proton to surrounding solvents and form RO^–*. More interestingly, 5CN2 in [N₂₂₂H]­[CF₃COO] and DCN2 in [N₂₂₂H]­[CH₃SO₃] and [N₂₂₂H]­[CF₃COO] showed an anomalous fluorescence band around 470 nm (5CN2) or around 520 nm (DCN2) which has not been reported previously. The kinetics of each fluorescent component of 5CN2 and DCN2 was analyzed on the basis of the time profile of fluorescence intensity. Plausible ESPT schemes of 5CN2 and DCN2 were discussed on the basis of the kinetics and the basicity of anion in PILs