Mediators of Intergenerational Continuity of Child Maltreatment among Japanese Mothers

The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that domestic violence (DV) or mental health symptoms might mediate the intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment among mothers in Japan. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted among a sample of mothers (N=304) and their children (N=498) in Japan to assess the mothers’ childhood abuse history, DV experiences, and current mental health symptoms, along with their maltreatment behaviors toward their children after moving into Mother-Child Homes, similar to the DV shelters. We found that mental health symptoms, but not DV, mediated the link between childhood abuse history and child maltreatment. Treating mental symptoms, especially dissociated and depressive symptoms, might be the effective way to break the cycle of child maltreatment

神経芽腫におけるPD-L1発現と腫瘍組織浸潤リンパ球の潜在的役割について

Purpose: The programmed death 1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway has garnered much attention for its roles in clinical oncology. The aim of this study was to examine the clinical impact of the PD-L1 expression and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) on neuroblastoma. Methods: We evaluated the PD-L1 expression and TIL status in 31 patients with neuroblastoma who underwent a biopsy or resection by an immunohistochemical analysis. Furthermore, we performed the serial analysis of the PD-L1 status before and after chemotherapy in 15 patients. Results: Among the 31 cases, 11 (35%) showed a positive PD-L1 expression. The survival analysis showed a trend toward an association between PD-L1 positivity and a decreased overall survival. PD-L1 positivity tended to be associated with higher levels of tumor markers. In the serial analysis of the PD-L1 status, positivity was noted in 8 of 15 patients before chemotherapy and 6 after chemotherapy. Notably, all four patients with a positive PD-L1 status both before and after chemotherapy had recurrence, and 3 of them died during the follow-up period. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the PD-L1 tumor expression might be a good biomarker for the treatment of neuroblastoma patients, especially for advanced neuroblastoma.博士（医学）・乙第1458号・令和2年6月30日© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Pediatric surgery international. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-019-04616-9

Extensive Conserved Synteny of Genes Between the Karyotypes of \u3cem\u3eManduca sexta\u3c/em\u3e and \u3cem\u3eBombyx mori\u3c/em\u3e Revealed by BAC-FISH Mapping

Background: Genome sequencing projects have been completed for several species representing four highly diverged holometabolous insect orders, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, and Lepidoptera. The striking evolutionary diversity of insects argues a need for efficient methods to apply genome information from such models to genetically uncharacterized species. Constructing conserved synteny maps plays a crucial role in this task. Here, we demonstrate the use of fluorescence in situ hybridization with bacterial artificial chromosome probes as a powerful tool for physical mapping of genes and comparative genome analysis in Lepidoptera, which have numerous and morphologically uniform holokinetic chromosomes. Methodology/Principal Findings: We isolated 214 clones containing 159 orthologs of well conserved single-copy genes of a sequenced lepidopteran model, the silkworm, Bombyx mori, from a BAC library of a sphingid with an unexplored genome, the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta. We then constructed a BAC-FISH karyotype identifying all 28 chromosomes of M. sexta by mapping 124 loci using the corresponding BAC clones. BAC probes from three M. sexta chromosomes also generated clear signals on the corresponding chromosomes of the convolvulus hawk moth, Agrius convolvuli, which belongs to the same subfamily, Sphinginae, as M. sexta. Conclusions/Significance: Comparison of the M. sexta BAC physical map with the linkage map and genome sequence of B. mori pointed to extensive conserved synteny including conserved gene order in most chromosomes. Only a few rearrangements, including three inversions, three translocations, and two fission/fusion events were estimated to have occurred after the divergence of Bombycidae and Sphingidae. These results add to accumulating evidence for the stability of lepidopteran genomes. Generating signals on A. convolvuli chromosomes using heterologous M. sexta probes demonstrated that BAC-FISH with orthologous sequences can be used for karyotyping a wide range of related and genetically uncharacterized species, significantly extending the ability to develop synteny maps for comparative and functional genomics

Impact of Parenting Style on Clinically Significant Behavioral Problems Among Children Aged 4–11 Years Old After Disaster: A Follow-Up Study of the Great East Japan Earthquake

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of parenting style on children's behavior problems after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.Methods: Participants were children exposed to the 2011 disaster at preschool age (n = 163). Data were collected from August 2012 to March 2013, and from July 2014 to March 2015 (2 and 4 years, respectively, after the earthquake), thus participants were aged 4–11 years when assessed. Parenting style was assessed by caregivers using the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ), which measures parental involvement, positive parenting, poor monitoring/supervision, inconsistent discipline, and corporal punishment in the second year after the disaster. Behavior problems were assessed by caregivers using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), which identifies internalizing, externalizing, and total problems in the second and fourth year after the disaster.Results: The results show that corporal punishment in the second year after the disaster had negative influence on CBCL internalizing score (coefficient: 0.78, 95%CI: 0.12–1.45, p = 0.023), externalizing score (coefficient: 0.74, 95%CI: 0.09–1.39, p = 0.025), and total score in the fourth year after the disaster (coefficient: 0.85, 95%CI: 0.16–1.55, p = 0.016), after adjusted for children's age, sex, the number of trauma experiences, maternal education, the number of siblings, temporally housing experience, and CBCL each scores in the second year after the disaster. Other parenting style did not affect children's behavioral problems.Conclusion: The result suggests that inadequate rearing after a natural disaster had negative impact on the behavior problems of the affected children in 4 years later of the disaster. Specifically, corporal punishment had negative influence on children's behavior problems

Semen quality of 1559 young men from four cities in Japan: a cross-sectional population-based study

Objectives: To provide information of semen quality among normal young Japanese men and indicate the frequency of reduced semen quality. Design: Cross-sectional, coordinated studies of Japanese young men included from university areas. The men had to be 18-24 years, and both the man and his mother had to be born in Japan. Background information was obtained from questionnaires. Standardised and quality-controlled semen analyses were performed, reproductive hormones analysed centrally and results adjusted for confounding factors. Setting: Four study centres in Japan (Kawasaki, Osaka, Kanazawa and Nagasaki). Participants: 1559 men, median age 21.1 years, included during 1999-2003. Outcome measures: Semen volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count, sperm motility, sperm morphology and reproductive hormone levels. Results: Median sperm concentration was 59 (95% CI 52 to 68) million/ml, and 9% and 31.9% had less than 15 and 40 million/ml, respectively. Median percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa was 9.6 (8.8 to 10.3)%. Small, but statistically significant, differences were detected for both semen and reproductive hormone variables between men from the four cities. Overall, the semen values were lower than those of a reference population of 792 fertile Japanese men. Conclusions: Assuming that the investigated men were representative for young Japanese men, a significant proportion of the population had suboptimal semen quality with reduced fertility potential, and as a group they had lower semen quality than fertile men. However, the definitive role-if any-of low semen quality for subfertility and low fertility rates remain to be investigated

Extensive Conserved Synteny of Genes between the Karyotypes of Manduca sexta and Bombyx mori Revealed by BAC-FISH Mapping

BACKGROUND: Genome sequencing projects have been completed for several species representing four highly diverged holometabolous insect orders, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, and Lepidoptera. The striking evolutionary diversity of insects argues a need for efficient methods to apply genome information from such models to genetically uncharacterized species. Constructing conserved synteny maps plays a crucial role in this task. Here, we demonstrate the use of fluorescence in situ hybridization with bacterial artificial chromosome probes as a powerful tool for physical mapping of genes and comparative genome analysis in Lepidoptera, which have numerous and morphologically uniform holokinetic chromosomes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We isolated 214 clones containing 159 orthologs of well conserved single-copy genes of a sequenced lepidopteran model, the silkworm, Bombyx mori, from a BAC library of a sphingid with an unexplored genome, the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta. We then constructed a BAC-FISH karyotype identifying all 28 chromosomes of M. sexta by mapping 124 loci using the corresponding BAC clones. BAC probes from three M. sexta chromosomes also generated clear signals on the corresponding chromosomes of the convolvulus hawk moth, Agrius convolvuli, which belongs to the same subfamily, Sphinginae, as M. sexta. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Comparison of the M. sexta BAC physical map with the linkage map and genome sequence of B. mori pointed to extensive conserved synteny including conserved gene order in most chromosomes. Only a few rearrangements, including three inversions, three translocations, and two fission/fusion events were estimated to have occurred after the divergence of Bombycidae and Sphingidae. These results add to accumulating evidence for the stability of lepidopteran genomes. Generating signals on A. convolvuli chromosomes using heterologous M. sexta probes demonstrated that BAC-FISH with orthologous sequences can be used for karyotyping a wide range of related and genetically uncharacterized species, significantly extending the ability to develop synteny maps for comparative and functional genomics

Studies on Japanese Botryllid Ascidians. II. A New Species of the Genus Botryllus from the Vicinity of Shimoda

Morphology and life history of a new species of the genus Botryllus belonging to the family Botryllidae were described in detail. This ascidian was collected from the stony shore in the vicinity of Shimoda (Shizuoka prefecture, Japan). The arrangement of ovary and testis in this ascidian was the same as that in other species of the genus Botryllus, while the embryo developed in a brood pouch formed from the invagination of peribranchial epithelium, as in the other genus Botrylloides. The processes and features of the allorecognition reaction of this ascidian were observed. The reaction showed the same processes as that in the species of the genus Botrylloides. Therefore, this ascidian has both features of the two genera of the family Botryllidae, which strongly suggests the necessity of reconsidering on the classificatory criteria of botryllid ascidians