肺癌におけるREG Iα遺伝子の発現は、腺癌、肩平上皮癌で異なったメカニズムにより、予後不良を示唆する。

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of the REG Iα and REG Iβ genes on lung cancer cell lines, and thereafter, the expression of REG family genes (REG Iα, REG Iβ, REG III, HIP/PAP and REG IV) in lung cancer in relation to patient prognosis was evaluated. Lung adenocarcinoma (AD) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cell lines expressing REG Iα or REG Iβ (HLC-1 REG Iα/Iβ and EBC-1 REG Iα/Iβ) were established, and cell number, cell invasive activity, and anchorage-independent cell growth were compared with these variables in the control cells. The expression levels of REG family genes were evaluated by real-time RT-PCR in surgically resected lung cancers, and disease-specific survival (DSS) curves were generated. The HLC-1 REG Iα/Iβ cell line showed significant increases in cell number and anchorage-independent cell growth compared with the control cells. EBC-1 REG Iα/Iβ cells showed significant increases in cell invasive activity and anchorage-independent cell growth as compared with the control cells. Except for the REG Iβ gene, expression of other REG family genes was observed in the surgically resected samples; however, DSS was significantly worse only in stage I patients who were positive for REG Iα expression than in patients who were negative for REG Iα expression. The effects of REG Iα on AD and SCC cells were different in the in vitro study, and a correlation between REG Iα expression and patient prognosis was noted in the in vivo study. Therefore, overexpression of REG Iα is a risk factor for poor prognosis caused by discrete mechanisms in AD and SCC patients.博士（医学）・乙第1339号・平成26年5月28日本文のリンク：http://dx.doi.org/10.3892/or.2013.2739Copyright © Spandidos Publications 201

Effects of a sleep hygiene education program on children in a Japanese elementary school

Our objective in this study was to evaluate the effects of a Sleep Hygiene Education Program (SHEP) on sleep quality in students aged 9 to 11 in a Japanese elementary school. In the SHEP we gave a 75-minute lecture to the students. Both before and after the program, we distributed sleep-related questionnaires to 110 students and then collected and analyzed them. Three items concerning sleep quality; \u27Time of going to bed\u27, \u27Feeling upon waking up\u27 and \u27Who wakes you up ?\u27 were statistically analyzed using McNemar\u27s Test. The results showed that there was no significant change in the items \u27Time of going to bed\u27 and \u27Who wakes you up ?\u27 comparing before and after the program. However, the item \u27Feeling upon waking up\u27 showed a significant positive change after the program. These results suggest that SHEP has the potential for improving sleep quality even in young students

Changes in Subjective Sleep, Physical Condition, and Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Nationwide Survey in Japan

 This study aimed to investigate how people’s subjective health changed after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This survey was conducted in May 2021 as a nationwide online self-reported survey in Japan. The respondents indicated how their sleep, physical condition, and mental state altered after the pandemic. Furthermore, they answered questionnaires about their intention to get vaccinated, the means of gathering information, etc. A logistic regression analysis was performed. Of the 2,573 responses, there was a decline of approximately 13.6%, 14.0%, and 23.8% in subjective sleep, physical condition, and mental health after the pandemic, respectively. The logistic regression analysis demonstrated that regarding sleep, the affected group was younger, got vaccinated against influenza annually, had lower income, experienced poor sleep quality in the past month, and had worse physical and psychiatric symptoms than before the pandemic. Concerning the physical condition, the affected group lived alone, witnessed deficient sleep quality in the past month, and had deteriorated mental health status than before the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of mental status, the affected group was younger, females, had access to more sources of information, and experienced worse sleep and physical conditions than the unchanged or improved group (p < 0.05). Each group indicated an association with the background factors, confirming that the subjective sleep, physical condition, and mental state affected each other. From a preventive perspective, the results of this study suggested that factors such as youth, gender, sleep quality, pregnancy, reduced income, and greater access to information, may be necessary for physical and mental support. The above-mentioned factors should be considered in light of community life and approached accordingly

Impact of Wind on the Spatio-Temporal Variation in Concentration of Suspended Solids in Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia

Even though wind, water depth, and shear stress are important factors governing sediment resuspension in lakes, their actual relations to total suspended solids (TSS) distribution in natural environments have not been well elucidated. This study aims to elucidate the impact of the wind on the spatio-temporal variation of TSS in Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia, during low-water (March and June, <1 m) and high-water (September and December, 8–10 m) seasons. To this end, wind and TSS data for December 2016 and March, June, and September 2017 were collected and analyzed. For spatial interpolation of wind speed, the inverse distance weighted method was found to be better (R2 = 0.49) than the vectorized average (R2 = 0.30) and inverse of the ratio of distance (R2 = 0.31). Spatial interpolation showed that the wind speed and direction on the lake were <5 m/s and southward during the low-water season and <7 m/s and westward during the high-water season. The TSS concentration in the low-water season was higher (>50 mg/L) than that in the high-water season. The TSS concentration during the low-water season was empirically described by wind speed (W), water depth (D), and shear stress (τ_wave) with a function of W3, W3/D, and exp(W/D) or exp(τ_wave), depending on the location in the lake. The critical shear stress due to wind-induced waves at most of the places in the lake was higher than the total shear stress indicated. Sedimentation was predominant in December and June, and erosion (siltation) was dominant in March. Most of the siltation in March was dominant in the southern part of the lake

Speech Quality Feature Analysis for Classification of Depression and Dementia Patients

Loss of cognitive ability is commonly associated with dementia, a broad category of progressive brain diseases. However, major depressive disorder may also cause temporary deterioration of one’s cognition known as pseudodementia. Differentiating a true dementia and pseudodementia is still difficult even for an experienced clinician and extensive and careful examinations must be performed. Although mental disorders such as depression and dementia have been studied, there is still no solution for shorter and undemanding pseudodementia screening. This study inspects the distribution and statistical characteristics from both dementia patient and depression patient, and compared them. It is found that some acoustic features were shared in both dementia and depression, albeit their correlation was reversed. Statistical significance was also found when comparing the features. Additionally, the possibility of utilizing machine learning for automatic pseudodementia screening was explored. The machine learning part includes feature selection using LASSO algorithm and support vector machine (SVM) with linear kernel as the predictive model with age-matched symptomatic depression patient and dementia patient as the database. High accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity was obtained in both training session and testing session. The resulting model was also tested against other datasets that were not included and still performs considerably well. These results imply that dementia and depression might be both detected and differentiated based on acoustic features alone. Automated screening is also possible based on the high accuracy of machine learning results

Using speech recognition technology to investigate the association between timing-related speech features and depression severity.

BackgroundThere are no reliable and validated objective biomarkers for the assessment of depression severity. We aimed to investigate the association between depression severity and timing-related speech features using speech recognition technology.MethodPatients with major depressive disorder (MDD), those with bipolar disorder (BP), and healthy controls (HC) were asked to engage in a non-structured interview with research psychologists. Using automated speech recognition technology, we measured three timing-related speech features: speech rate, pause time, and response time. The severity of depression was assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale 17-item version (HAMD-17). We conducted the current study to answer the following questions: 1) Are there differences in speech features among MDD, BP, and HC? 2) Do speech features correlate with depression severity? 3) Do changes in speech features correlate with within-subject changes in depression severity?ResultsWe collected 1058 data sets from 241 individuals for the study (97 MDD, 68 BP, and 76 HC). There were significant differences in speech features among groups; depressed patients showed slower speech rate, longer pause time, and longer response time than HC. All timing-related speech features showed significant associations with HAMD-17 total scores. Longitudinal changes in speech rate correlated with changes in HAMD-17 total scores.ConclusionsDepressed individuals showed longer response time, longer pause time, and slower speech rate than healthy individuals, all of which were suggestive of psychomotor retardation. Our study suggests that speech features could be used as objective biomarkers for the assessment of depression severity