Environment-Friendly Rice Cultivation with Reduction of Pesticide and Chemical Fertilizer Usage in Katsurao Village in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

Poster Session

The Effect of Three Major Insecticides Applied in Nursery Boxes on Terrestrial Arthropods in Paddy Fields of Miyagi Prefedture, Jpapan

Poster Session

A Case of Possible Concurrence of Dermatitis Herpetiformis and Linear Immunoglobulin A / Immunoglobulin G Bullous Dermatosis.

Linear immunoglobulin (Ig) A bullous dermatosis (LABD), one subtype of subepidermal autoimmune bullous skin diseases (AIBDs), is characterized by linear deposit of only IgA along the basement membrane zone (BMZ) on direct immunofluorescence (DIF) (1,2). Patients showing linear deposits of both IgA and IgG are diagnosed with linear IgA/IgG bullous dermatosis (LAGBD) (3,4). Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) is another type of subepidermal AIBD characterized by clinically pruritic erythematous skin lesions with vesicles on the elbows, knees, and buttocks with granular IgA deposits of IgA by DIF (5). In this study, we report a Japanese case of a patient who showed possible concurrence of DH and LAGBD based on clinical, histological, and immunological findings

A Case of Possible Concurrence of Dermatitis Herpetiformis and Linear Immunoglobulin A / Immunoglobulin G Bullous Dermatosis.

Linear immunoglobulin (Ig) A bullous dermatosis (LABD), one subtype of subepidermal autoimmune bullous skin diseases (AIBDs), is characterized by linear deposit of only IgA along the basement membrane zone (BMZ) on direct immunofluorescence (DIF) (1,2). Patients showing linear deposits of both IgA and IgG are diagnosed with linear IgA/IgG bullous dermatosis (LAGBD) (3,4). Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) is another type of subepidermal AIBD characterized by clinically pruritic erythematous skin lesions with vesicles on the elbows, knees, and buttocks with granular IgA deposits of IgA by DIF (5). In this study, we report a Japanese case of a patient who showed possible concurrence of DH and LAGBD based on clinical, histological, and immunological findings

Peptide barcoding for one-pot evaluation of sequence–function relationships of nanobodies

遊離型抗体の構造活性相関解析を迅速に評価可能とする新手法を開発. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-11-08.Optimisation of protein binders relies on laborious screening processes. Investigation of sequence–function relationships of protein binders is particularly slow, since mutants are purified and evaluated individually. Here we developed peptide barcoding, a high-throughput approach for accurate investigation of sequence–function relationships of hundreds of protein binders at once. Our approach is based on combining the generation of a mutagenised nanobody library fused with unique peptide barcodes, the formation of nanobody–antigen complexes at different ratios, their fine fractionation by size-exclusion chromatography and quantification of peptide barcodes by targeted proteomics. Applying peptide barcoding to an anti-GFP nanobody as a model, we successfully identified residues important for the binding affinity of anti-GFP nanobody at once. Peptide barcoding discriminated subtle changes in KD at the order of nM to sub-nM. Therefore, peptide barcoding is a powerful tool for engineering protein binders, enabling reliable one-pot evaluation of sequence–function relationships

Latent trajectory modelling of pulmonary artery pressure in systemic sclerosis: a retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES: To visualise the trajectories of pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) and identify the clinical phenotypes for each trajectory, by applying latent trajectory modelling for PAP repeatedly estimated by echocardiography. METHODS: This was a multicentre, retrospective cohort study conducted at four referral hospitals in Kyoto, Japan. Patients with SSc who were treated at study sites between 2008 and 2021 and who had at least three echocardiographic measurements of systolic PAP (sPAP) were included. A group-based trajectory model was applied to the change in sPAP over time, and patients were classified into distinct subgroups that followed similar trajectories. Pulmonary hypertension (PH)-free survival was compared for each trajectory. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed for baseline clinical characteristics associated with trajectory assignment. RESULTS: A total of 236 patients with 1097 sPAP measurements were included. We identified five trajectories: rapid progression (n=9, 3.8%), early elevation (n=30, 12.7%), middle elevation (n=54, 22.9%), late elevation (n=24, 10.2%) and low stable (n=119, 50.4%). The trajectories, in the listed order, showed progressively earlier elevation of sPAP and shorter PH-free survival. In the multinomial logistic regression analysis with the low stable as a reference, cardiac involvement was associated with rapid progression, diffuse cutaneous SSc was associated with early elevation and anti-centromere antibody was associated with middle elevation; older age of onset was associated with all three of these trajectories. CONCLUSION: The pattern of changes in PAP over time in SSc can be classified into five trajectories with distinctly different clinical characteristics and outcomes

Antarctic micrometeorites collected at the Dome Fuji Station

Antarctic micrometeorites (AMMs) were found among the precipitated fine particles recovered from a water tank in the Dome Fuji Station. These AMMs had been contained in the recent fallen snow around the station. Initial processing of the precipitated particles revealed that they were dominated by natural and artificial terrestrial materials, thus a series of processes were developed to separate AMMs from terrestrial particles. The recovery rate of AMMs by the processes was approximately 45% in weight, which was determined from a weight ratio of recovered/accreted AMMs. The micro-morphology and major-element concentration of the recovered AMMs were characterized. They appear to have been heated upon atmospheric entry to varying temperatures and can be classified into two major types based on the degree of heating : (1) fine-grained, irregular-shaped, partial-melted micrometeorites with chondritic composition, and (2) total-melted spherical micrometeorites with chondritic composition except for volatile elements. A digital catalog for the AMMs identified in this study was established on the web site [URL : http : //dust. cc. gakushuin. ac. jp/], in which optical characteristics, high-resolution images, and chemical compositions of individual AMMs are presented. The AMMs listed in the catalog are the first Japanese collection of extraterrestrial dust. The criterion and techniques developed for the selection and initial analysis of AMMs are applicable for the dust samples that are being collected by the 39th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition team

Development of the Curriculum for the Connection Period of an Elementary School and a Junior High School : Through Teachers in Kindergarten Joining Classes at Elementary School

本研究は，幼稚園教員・小学校教員がそれぞれの校種の保育・授業に参観・参加し，それぞれの専門性を活かして交流することを通し，幼小接続期におけるカリキュラムの開発に向けた基礎的情報を得ることを目的とする。特に，本研究では幼稚園教員による１年生の授業参加を通して認識した共通点・差異点に着目する。研究の方法としては，幼稚園教員が小学校１年生の生活科・音楽科の授業にＴ２として参加し，他の幼稚園教員は参観する。その後，幼稚園教員に対して質問紙調査を実施した。また，生活科・音楽科の授業後に，幼稚園教員と小学校教員で授業参加に関する研究協議を実施した。結果としては，次の３点である。１点目は，ねらいによって，受容・共感の言葉がけやねらいに向けて展開していく言葉がけが必要である。２点目は，幼稚園教師は子どもの成長を見ており，小学校教師は子どもを教科の枠で見ていることに違いがあり，この点に関しては接続期において配慮することが必要である。３点目は，ねらいが幼小で同じようでも活動の展開の仕方に違いがあり，子どもの発達に応じて活動の展開を工夫することが必要である。The purpose of this study was to develop a connective curriculum between kindergarten and elementary school. To achieve this, the differences between kindergarten and elementary school teachers were investigated. Kindergarten teachers participated in a music or a human life and science class in a team teaching staff or as observers. After this experiences, participants were asked some open-ended questions. The main results are as follows: (1) it is important to express sympathy to and adoption of the aims and goals of the class a; (2) kindergarten teachers tend to focus on the growth of children, compared with elementary school teachers, who focus on the goal of the class; (3) there are differences in the ways of conducting teaching activities even when the aims of classes are same

Diminished Medial Prefrontal Activity behind Autistic Social Judgments of Incongruent Information

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to make inadequate social judgments, particularly when the nonverbal and verbal emotional expressions of other people are incongruent. Although previous behavioral studies have suggested that ASD individuals have difficulty in using nonverbal cues when presented with incongruent verbal-nonverbal information, the neural mechanisms underlying this symptom of ASD remain unclear. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we compared brain activity in 15 non-medicated adult males with high-functioning ASD to that of 17 age-, parental-background-, socioeconomic-, and intelligence-quotient-matched typically-developed (TD) male participants. Brain activity was measured while each participant made friend or foe judgments of realistic movies in which professional actors spoke with conflicting nonverbal facial expressions and voice prosody. We found that the ASD group made significantly less judgments primarily based on the nonverbal information than the TD group, and they exhibited significantly less brain activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral anterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex/ventral medial prefrontal cortex (ACC/vmPFC), and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) than the TD group. Among these five regions, the ACC/vmPFC and dmPFC were most involved in nonverbal-information-biased judgments in the TD group. Furthermore, the degree of decrease of the brain activity in these two brain regions predicted the severity of autistic communication deficits. The findings indicate that diminished activity in the ACC/vmPFC and dmPFC underlies the impaired abilities of individuals with ASD to use nonverbal content when making judgments regarding other people based on incongruent social information