A pilot study of patch Holter electrocardiograph recordings in healthy cats

Background: A patch Holter electrocardiograph (P-Holter) is cordless, making it lightweight, unlike the conventional Holter electrocardiograph (C-Holter). A P-Holter can also take continuous measurements for up to 14 days without replacing the battery or SD card.Aim: To compare the performance of the P-Holter and the C-Holter in healthy cats. Additionally, we aimed to investigate whether multiday recordings with the P-Holter decrease sympathetic nerve activity or improve the accuracy of arrhythmia detection.Methods: Five healthy domestic short-haired cats were used for this study. Both a P-Holter and C-Holter were used on the first day, but only the P-Holter was used on days 2–6. The evaluated variables were the analyzable time of both Holter types, heart rate (HR), HR variability (HRV), and the number of arrhythmia occurrences.Results: For two out of the five cats, measurement of P-Holter was interrupted. Eventually, continuous recordings using the P-Holters were able to be collected from all individuals for 6 days. The 24 hours analyzable time from the P-Holter and C-Holter was almost identical (p = 0.94). The 24 hours mean HR did not differ across Holter types (p = 0.67). In addition, the timing of the occurrences of arrhythmias was almost identical to the P-Holter and C-Holter. Results of HRV suggested that sympathetic nerve activity was likely to decrease and vagal nerve activity was likely to increase after 4–5 days of measurement, compared to the second day of measurement (p < 0.05). When only the P-Holter was installed, the number of arrhythmia occurrences was similar on days 2–6.Conclusion: In this study, the P-Holter may be as useful as the C-Holter in cats with suspected intermittent arrhythmias, although the P-Holters were placed on cats without a clinical indication. However, cats may have individual differences in their adaptation to the device. P-Holter recordings taken for more than 4–5 days may allow the cat to acclimate to the device and reduce sympathetic nerve activity. The accuracy of arrhythmia detection across multiday P-Holter recordings requires further investigation using clinical cases

Indigenous utilization of termite mounds and their sustainability in a rice growing village of the central plain of Laos

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The objective of this study was to investigate the indigenous utilization of termite mounds and termites in a rain-fed rice growing village in the central plain of Laos, where rice production is low and varies year-to-year, and to assess the possibility of sustainable termite mound utilization in the future. This research was carried out from 2007 to 2009.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The termites were collected from their mounds and surrounding areas and identified. Twenty villagers were interviewed on their use of termites and their mounds in the village. Sixty-three mounds were measured to determine their dimensions in early March, early July and middle to late November, 2009.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eleven species of Termitidae were recorded during the survey period. It was found that the villagers use termite mounds as fertilizer for growing rice, vegetable beds and charcoal kilns. The villagers collected termites for food and as feed for breeding fish. Over the survey period, 81% of the mounds surveyed increased in volume; however, the volume was estimated to decrease by 0.114 m³mound^-1year^-1on average due to several mounds being completely cut out.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It was concluded that current mound utilization by villagers is not sustainable. To ensure sustainable termite utilization in the future, studies should be conducted to enhance factors that promote mound restoration by termites. Furthermore, it will be necessary to improve mound conservation methods used by the villagers after changes in the soil mass of mounds in paddy fields and forests has been measured accurately. The socio-economic factors that affect mound utilization should also be studied.</p

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection