Synthesis, Structure, and Clathration Ability of Two-Dimensional Coordination Networks with Inclined Interpenetration

　Two-dimensional (2D) grid coordination networks with inclined interpenetration were prepared by Cd-(NO3)2 with 2,7-bis(4-pyridylmethyl)-1,3,4,5,6,8-hexafluoronaphthalene (2,7-bpfn) or 2,6-bis (4-pyridylmethyl)-1,3,4,5,7,8-hexafluoronaphthalene (2,6-bpfn) in the presence of aromatic compounds. Crystal structures of {[Cd(2,7-bpfn)2(NO3)2]・(methyl benzoate)1.5・(EtOH)0.5}n (1) and {[Cd(2,6-bpfn)2(NO3)2]・(toluene)2.5}n (2) were determined. Methyl benzoate and toluene molecules were clathrated in cyclic cavities of the grid networks through arene-perfluoroarene interactions

How Grief, Funerals, and Poverty Affect Bereaved Health, Productivity, and Medical Dependence in Japan

死別による生産性の低下・疾病・医療福祉依存の実態を調査 --死別悲嘆のコストに、いかに対応できるか--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-09-28.Reducing the high social cost of death. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-10-06.Grief has been shown to weaken bereaved persons' health, but measurements of their lost time and medical expense remain rare. Funerals traditionally managed and assuaged grief through ritual expression, approval, and social support. Research suggests that satisfying funeral participation reduces grief, while poverty exacerbates it. We hypothesized that: (1) psycho-physical symptoms of grief, (2) abbreviation/dissatisfaction in the funeral, and (3) poverty, correlate with decreased productivity and increased medical and social services use. We collected data from 165 mourning families about their grief, funerals, and subsequent medical conditions. (1) Deeper grief after bereavement in Japan correlated with more physical problems, more down time, and more medical dependency. (2) Low satisfaction with funerals correlated with higher hospital, pharmacy, and counseling costs. (3) Low income families lost more time, while declining incomes showed increased pharmaceutical costs. This suggests that satisfying funerals and income safeguards may reduce costs of low productivity and increased public services dependency

Identifying bereaved grievers with greatest medical or social service needs in Japan

[Objective] Severe grief adversely affects the health of bereaved families, potentially burdening medical and community health services. Interventions for effective community health maintenance must identify the people likely to face severe effects of bereavement. The present study identified characteristics of mourners who experience severe grief within a year of bereavement to confirm whether this grief increased their reliance on Japanese medical and social services. [Design] We conducted a nationwide postal survey of Japanese bereaved within the previous year, to compare those reporting daily or overwhelming ‘heavy’ grief to those with less heavy grief, in terms of demographic and socioeconomic details, daily work and non-work activity, frequency of medical and social service use. [Setting/participants] In 2019, with the support of the Ministry of Education and the All Japan Funeral Co-Operation, we distributed approximately 5500 questionnaires to Japanese who had presided at funerals within the past year for anonymous return. By January of 2020, we received 1078 complete voluntary responses from bereaved Japanese. [Results] Half of the ‘heavy grief’ group (n=143) reported adverse effects on health and daily life, including needs for pharmacological, medical or welfare support. Losses of husbands or children were particularly connected to severe grief; ‘unexpected’ death from cancer caused the greatest shock. Employment (even part-time) buffered against severe grief; grief was greater for the unemployed and substantially worse for those who lost significant income at the same time as they lost loved ones. [Conclusion] These findings suggest that prior counselling should reduce the shock of bereavement and economic loss, which increases subsequent medical dependence. Medical professionals and community health workers can use the above factors to target in advance the family members in greatest danger of heavy grief, to intervene lest grief adversely affect their physical and psychological health after bereavement

Unexplored Costs of Bereavement Grief in Japan: Patterns of Increased Use of Medical, Pharmaceutical, and Financial Services

Our Japan-wide survey (n=1, 078) revealed that bereaved who showed increased reliance on medical, pharmaceutical, and financial/legal services was in the ‘50’s age bracket, and for unemployed widows; it corresponded less with low annual income than with high income. Increased users reported their decline in physical health seriously influencing their work and lives, suggesting “presenteeism”. Moreover, they spent 2.7 times more for medical and pharmaceutical services than those reporting continual use, portending 4 to 10 times more Japanese government expense for this group, half of whom considered their own out-of-pocket expenses a financial burden

PdhR (Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Regulator) Controls the Respiratory Electron Transport System in Escherichia coli

The pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) multienzyme complex plays a key role in the metabolic interconnection between glycolysis and the citric acid cycle. Transcription of the Escherichia coli genes for all three components of the PDH complex in the pdhR-aceEF-lpdA operon is repressed by the pyruvate-sensing PdhR, a GntR familytranscription regulator, and derepressed by pyruvate. After a systematic search for the regulation targets of PdhR using genomic systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX), we have identified two novel targets, ndh, encoding NADH dehydrogenase II, and cyoABCDE, encoding the cytochrome bo-type oxidase, both together forming the pathway of respiratory electron transport downstream from the PDH cycle.PDH generates NADH, while Ndh and CyoABCDE together transport electrons from NADH to oxygen. Using gel shift and DNase I footprinting assays, the PdhR-binding site (PdhR box) was defined, which includes apalindromic consensus sequence, ATTGGTNNNACCAAT. The binding in vitro of PdhR to the PdhR box decreased in the presence of pyruvate. Promoter assays in vivo using a two-fluorescent-protein vector also indicated that the newly identified operons are repressed by PdhR and derepressed by the addition of pyruvate.Taken together, we propose that PdhR is a master regulator for controlling the formation of not only the PDH complex but also the respiratory electron transport system

Dark Rearing Promotes the Recovery of Visual Cortical Responses but Not the Morphology of Geniculocortical Axons in Amblyopic Cat

Monocular deprivation (MD) of vision during early postnatal life induces amblyopia, and most neurons in the primary visual cortex lose their responses to the closed eye. Anatomically, the somata of neurons in the closed-eye recipient layer of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) shrink and their axons projecting to the visual cortex retract. Although it has been difficult to restore visual acuity after maturation, recent studies in rodents and cats showed that a period of exposure to complete darkness could promote recovery from amblyopia induced by prior MD. However, in cats, which have an organization of central visual pathways similar to humans, the effect of dark rearing only improves monocular vision and does not restore binocular depth perception. To determine whether dark rearing can completely restore the visual pathway, we examined its effect on the three major concomitants of MD in individual visual neurons, eye preference of visual cortical neurons and soma size and axon morphology of LGN neurons. Dark rearing improved the recovery of visual cortical responses to the closed eye compared with the recovery under binocular conditions. However, geniculocortical axons serving the closed eye remained retracted after dark rearing, whereas reopening the closed eye restored the soma size of LGN neurons. These results indicate that dark rearing incompletely restores the visual pathway, and thus exerts a limited restorative effect on visual function

Negative Correlation between Serum Cytokine Levels and Cognitive Abilities in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Evidence suggests that cytokines may be one of the major factors influencing cognitive development in those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To shed light on the neural and cognitive mechanisms of ASD, we investigated the association between peripheral cytokine levels and cognitive profiles in children with ASD. The serum levels of 10 cytokines (granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor-α) were examined in 14 children with ASD using the Human Ultrasensitive Cytokine Magnetic 10-Plex Panel for the Luminex platform. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) was administered to each subject, and the relationships between WISC scores and serum levels of the cytokines were examined. The full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ) was significantly negatively correlated with the levels of IL-6 (Spearman’s rank, p < 0.0001, false discovery rate q < 0.01). The levels of IL-6 and IFN-γ showed significant negative correlations with the verbal comprehension index (p < 0.001, q < 0.01) and working memory index (p < 0.01, q < 0.05), respectively. No other cytokines were significantly correlated with full-scale IQ or with any of the subscale scores of the WISC. The present results suggest negative correlations of IL-6 and IFN-γ levels with cognitive development of children with ASD. Our preliminary findings add to the evidence that cytokines may play a role in the neural development in ASD.ArticleJOURNAL OF INTELLIGENCE. 5(2):19 (2017)journal articl