RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAXIMUM TOE FLEXOR MUSCLE STRENGTH AND ANTHROPOMETRIC VARIABLES OF THE LOWER LIMB AND THE FOOT IN CALLEGIATE ATHLETES

The purpose of present study was to indicate reference values of toe flexor strength (TFS), and its relation with anthropometric variables of the lower limb and the foot in collegiate athletes. Subjects were 68 male and 26 female of collegiate athletes. Subjects were measured maximum TFS in standing position. In addition, it were carried out anthropometric measurements. And muscle thicknesses were measured with a B-mode ultrasonic apparatus in triceps surae, tibialis anterior, abductor halluces, flexor hallucis brevis, flexor digitorurn brevis, and abductor digit minimi. TFS were in male and female collegiate athletes were 256.7f 55.8N and 207.3f 36.9, respectively. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed that important factors to determine TFS were the muscle thickness of flexor hallucis brevis muscle and body weight

A novel bleb-dependent polysaccharide export system in nitrogen-fixing Azotobacter vinelandii subjected to low nitrogen gas levels

The alginate biofilm-producing bacterium Azotobacter vinelandii aerobically fixes nitrogen by oxygensensitivenitrogenases. Here we investigated the bacterial response to nitrogen/oxygen gas mixtures. A. vinelandii cellswere cultured in nitrogen-free minimal media containing gas mixtures differing in their ratios of nitrogen and oxygen.The bacteria did not grow at oxygen concentrations >75 % but grew well in the presence of 5 % nitrogen/25 % oxygen.Growth of wild-type and alginate-deficient strains when cultured with 50 % oxygen did not differ substantially, indicatingthat alginate is not required for the protection of nitrogenases from oxygen damage. In response to decreasing nitrogenlevels, A. vinelandii produced greater amounts of alginate, accompanied by the formation of blebs on the cell surface. Theencystment of vegetative cells occurred in tandem with the release of blebs and the development of a multilayered exine.Immunoelectron microscopy using anti alginate-antibody revealed that the blebs contained alginate molecules. Bycontrast, alginate-deficient mutants could not form blebs. Taken together, our data provide evidence for a novel blebdependentpolysaccharide export system in A. vinelandii that is activated in response to low nitrogen gas levels. [IntMicrobiol 2013; 16(1):35-44

AlzPathway: a comprehensive map of signaling pathways of Alzheimer’s disease

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia among the elderly. To clarify pathogenesis of AD, thousands of reports have been accumulating. However, knowledge of signaling pathways in the field of AD has not been compiled as a database before. DESCRIPTION: Here, we have constructed a publicly available pathway map called “AlzPathway” that comprehensively catalogs signaling pathways in the field of AD. We have collected and manually curated over 100 review articles related to AD, and have built an AD pathway map using CellDesigner. AlzPathway is currently composed of 1347 molecules and 1070 reactions in neuron, brain blood barrier, presynaptic, postsynaptic, astrocyte, and microglial cells and their cellular localizations. AlzPathway is available as both the SBML (Systems Biology Markup Language) map for CellDesigner and the high resolution image map. AlzPathway is also available as a web service (online map) based on Payao system, a community-based, collaborative web service platform for pathway model curation, enabling continuous updates by AD researchers. CONCLUSIONS: AlzPathway is the first comprehensive map of intra, inter and extra cellular AD signaling pathways which can enable mechanistic deciphering of AD pathogenesis. The AlzPathway map is accessible at http://alzpathway.org/

Conserved metabolic enzymes as vaccine antigens for giardiasis

Giardia lamblia is a leading protozoal cause of diarrheal disease worldwide. Infection is associated with abdominal pain, malabsorption and weight loss, and protracted post-infectious syndromes. A human vaccine is not available against G. lamblia. Prior studies with human and murine immune sera have identified several parasite antigens, including surface proteins and metabolic enzymes with intracellular functions. While surface proteins have demonstrated vaccine potential, they can exhibit significant variation between G. lamblia strains. By comparison, metabolic enzymes show greater conservation but their vaccine potential has not been established. To determine whether such proteins can serve as vaccine candidates, we focused on two enzymes, α-enolase (ENO) and ornithine carbamoyl transferase (OCT), which are involved in glycolysis and arginine metabolism, respectively. We show in a cohort of patients with confirmed giardiasis that both enzymes are immunogenic. Intranasal immunization with either enzyme antigen in mice induced strong systemic IgG1 and IgG2b responses and modest mucosal IgA responses, and a marked 100- to 1,000-fold reduction in peak trophozoite load upon oral G. lamblia challenge. ENO immunization also reduced the extent and duration of cyst excretion. Examination of 44 cytokines showed only minimal intestinal changes in immunized mice, although a modest increase of CCL22 was observed in ENO-immunized mice. Spectral flow cytometry revealed increased numbers and activation state of CD4 T cells in the small intestine and an increase in α4β7-expressing CD4 T cells in mesenteric lymph nodes of ENO-immunized mice. Consistent with a key role of CD4 T cells, immunization of CD4-deficient and Rag-2 deficient mice failed to induce protection, whereas mice lacking IgA were fully protected by immunization, indicating that immunity was CD4 T cell-dependent but IgA-independent. These results demonstrate that conserved metabolic enzymes can be effective vaccine antigens for protection against G. lamblia infection, thereby expanding the repertoire of candidate antigens beyond primary surface proteins.publishedVersio

Examination of the Effective Utilization of the CARELINK® Remote Monitoring System after its Introduction

AbstractBackground: Japan started using the CARELINK® (Medtronic, Inc, Minneapolis, MN, USA) remote monitoring system in April 2009. However, in some cases, the device failed to transmit a message after registration or according to schedule. We investigated the difference between patients who could make effective use of CARELINK® system and those who could not.Subjects and Method: Sixty patients who had registered until December 2009 at our institution were analyzed. These patients were divided into two groups: those who were able to use the device effectively (group G, n = 49) and those who were not (group F = 11). Patient background, automatic or manual telemetries, new or existing implant patient, presence of adverse events, and the use or non-use of a checklist at the time of introduction were compared between the two groups.Results: In group G, more patients used a checklist at the time of introduction than that in group F (use of checklist/total, 31/49 in group G vs. 3/11 in group F; P, 0.029). No significant difference was observed in other factors between the two groups.Conclusion: We consider that the method used to explain the system are important to make the patients understand handling methods of CARELINK® system. The number of patients introduced to remote monitoring of implantable devices will continue to increase in the future; therefore, we must continue to develop innovative approaches for their effective us

Tectonic Evolution of the Sambagawa Schists and its Implications in Convergent Margin Processes

The Sambagawa schists as high P /T metamorphic rocks are a member of Mesozoic accretionary complexes developed in the southern front of the Kurosegawa-Koryoke continent of Southwest Japan. The Mesozoic accretionary complexes are divided into four megaunits developed as nappes, Chichibu megaunit II, Sambagawa megaunit, Chichibu megaunit I and Shimanto megaunit in descending order of structural level. The Chichibu megaunit II consists of three accretionary units developed as nappes, late early Jurassic unit, late middle Jurassic unit and latest Jurassic unit (Mikabu unit) in descending order of structural level. The Chichibu megaunit I consists of five accretionary units developed as nappes, late middle Jurassic unit (Niyodo unit), late Jurassic unit, Valanginian unit, Barremian unit and Albian unit in descending order of structural level. The Shimanto megaunit, which just underlies the Chichibu megaunit I, is Cenomanian-Turonian accretionary unit and Coniacian-Campanian accretionary unit. The schists, which underlie the Chichibu megaunit II, all have been so far called the Sambagawa schists. These are divided into six units, Saruta unit, Fuyunose unit, Sogauchi unit, Sakamoto unit, Oboke unit and Tatsuyama unit in descending order of structural level, which show different tectono-metamorphic history and different radiometric ages from each other. The Sakamoto unit, Oboke unit and Tatsuyama unit have been assumed with reference to their radiometric ages and structural relations to belong to the late middle Jurassic accretionary unit of the Chichibu megaunit I (high pressure equivalent of the Niyodo unit), the Cenomanian-Turonian accretionary unit of the Shimanto megaunit and the Coniacian-Campanian accretionary unit of the Shimanto megaunit respectively in this paper. The upper member of the Sambagawa schists, Saruta unit, Fuyunose unit and Sogauchi unit, is therefore called the Sambagawa megaunit in this paper. The northern half and the southern half of the Sambagawa megaunit are intercalated as nappes between the Chichibu megaunit II and the Oboke unit and between the Chichibu megaunit II and the Sakamoto unit respectively. The constituent units of the Chichibu megaunit II, Sambagawa megaunit and Shimanto megaunit clearly show a downward younging age polarity, as compared with each other with reference to the oldest one of radiometric ages ( = metamorphic ages) of each unit. The Chichibu megaunit II and the Chichibu megaunit I show the same radiometric ages as compared between them with the same fossil age. The Saruta unit, Fuyunose unit and Sogauchi unit have therefore been assumed to be high pressure equivalent of Valanginian unit, that of Barremian unit and that of Albian unit of the Chichibu megaunit I respectively. These high pressure units were exhumed, separating the Chichibu supermegaunit into the Chichibu megaunit II and the Chichibu megaunit I and thrusting up onto the Chichibu megaunit I. On the basis of the growth history of amphibole in hematite-bearing basic schists of the Sambagawa megaunit, it has been assumed that the highest temperature metamorphism of the Fuyunose unit occurred, when it had been coupled with the Saruta unit which was exhuming, and that of the Sogauchi unit did through its coupling with the Fuyunose and Saruta units which were exhuming. In the subduction zone which was responsible for the formation of the Sambagawa megaunit, namely, the peak metamorphism of a newly subducted unit appears to have occurred when it had been coupled with previously subcreted units which were exhuming. It has been also clarified that the subduction of a new unit occurred mixing the lower pressure part of the pre-existing subcretion unit as tectonic blocks. There is a distinct difference in the oldest one of radiometric ages between constituent units of the Sambagawa schists, showing a downward younging age polarity. The oldest one of radiometric ages of each unit appears to approximate to the age of the ending of peak metamorphism and to the age (Eh age) of the beginning of its exhumation. Such the tectonics of the Sambagawa megaunit would be explained in term of two-way street model. Because the age (Sub age) of the beginning of the subduction of each unit can be assumed from its fossil age, the average velocity of the subduction and that of the exhumation of the Sambagawa megaunit in Shikoku have roughly been estimated to be ca. 0.9 mm/year and ca. 2.0 mm/year respectively. Deformation of quartz, whose style depends strongly upon strain rate, resulted in type I crossed girdle without conentration in Y even in the depth part of more than 10kb of the subduction zone, which was placed under temperature condition of much higher than 500°C, unlike the cases of magma-arcs where quartz c-axis fabrics with maximum concentration in Y are found in gneisses produced under temperature condition of lower than 500°C. Quartz deformation in the depth part of 15-17kb of the subduction zone appears to have occurred as dominant prism slip. The hanging wall of the Kurosegawa-Koryoke continent, which was placed at the depth of ca. 15-17 kb, thrust onto the Saruta unit at the depth of ca. 10-11 kb, accompanying intermingling of constituent rocks of the former and the latter and also mixing of various depth parts of the latter. The highest temperature metamorphism of the Saruta unit, which appears to have occurred under metamorphic condition of lower P /T than under that related to the formation of the general type of high P /T type metamorphic rocks, is ascribed to a contact metamorphism related to the overthrusting of the Kurosegawa-Koryoke continent. The thrusting of the Kurosegawa-Koryoke continent is ascribed to its collision with the Hida continent. The coupling of the previously subcreted Saruta unit with the newly subcreted Fuyunose unit occurred accompanying nearly isobaric cooling of the former. The great exhumation of the Saruta nappe (I + II) and Fuyunose nappe schists with great volume began together with the subcretion of the Sogauchi unit. The beginning age of the exhumation of the Sambagawa schists with great volume appears to coincide with that of the subduction of the Kula-Pacific ridge in Kyushu-Shikoku, which has been assumed by Kiminami et al. (1990). Namely, their great exhumation occurred with the progress of the subduction of the Kula-Pacific ridge with an eastward younging age polarity. The exhumation units, which were developed after the Mikabu unit, clearly show an eastward younging age polarity. Namely, these comparable with the Saruta unit, Fuyunose unit and Sogauchi unit are not found in central Japan and the Kanto Mountains. Rock deformation in the deformation related to the exhumation of the Sambagawa schists and their underlying schists appears to have commonly been of flattened type in mean strain. During the Ozu phase when the Kula-Pacific ridge subducted to the greater depth, the collapse of the Kurosegawa-Koryoke continent took again place, accompanying that of the pile nappe structures of the Sambagawa megaunit, Chichibu megaunit I and Oboke unit, and the thermal gradient along the plate boundary greatly changed, giving rise to medium P/T type metamorphism in the subduction zone (formation of the Tatsuyama nappe schists). The geological structures of the Sambagawa megaunit consist thus of two types of pile nappe structures, pre-Ozu phase pile nappe structures and Ozu phase pile nappe structures. The former is structures related to the coupling of the exhuming units ( = previously subcreted units) with the newly subcreted unit. The latter is structures showing the collapse of the former. The Ozu phase pile nappe structures are further divided into the pile nappe structures formed during the earlier stage (Tsuji stage) of the Ozu phase and these formed during the later stage (Futami stage). The former is disharmonic with reference to movement picture with the latter: The deformation related to the formation of the former, accompanying exhumation of the Oboke nappes, appears to contain a component of northward displacement, while that for the latter does a component of southward displacement. After the Ozu phase deformation the Sambagawa megaunit suffered the Hijikawa-Oboke phase folding, forming a series of sinistral en echelon upright folds. The relationship between the above-mentioned tectonic events of the Sambagawa megaunit and its surroundings and their radiometric ages is summarized as follows: [Original table is skipped. For more details, please refer to the full text.

Mnagement of Information about Advarse Events in Clinical Trials

金沢大学医学部附属病院薬剤

Ultrastructure of influenza virus ribonucleoprotein complexes during viral RNA synthesis

The single-stranded, negative-sense, viral genomic RNA (vRNA) of influenza A virus is encapsidated by viral nucleoproteins (NPs) and an RNA polymerase to form a ribonucleoprotein complex (vRNP) with a helical, rod-shaped structure. The vRNP is responsible for transcription and replication of the vRNA. However, the vRNP conformation during RNA synthesis is not well understood. Here, using high-speed atomic force microscopy and cryo-electron microscopy, we investigated the native structure of influenza A vRNPs during RNA synthesis in vitro. Two distinct types of vRNPs were observed in association with newly synthesized RNAs: an intact, helical rod-shaped vRNP connected with a folded RNA and a deformed vRNP associated with a looped RNA. Interestingly, the looped RNA was a double-stranded RNA, which likely comprises a nascent RNA and the template RNA detached from NPs of the vRNP. These results suggest that while some vRNPs keep their helical structures during RNA synthesis, for the repeated cycle of RNA synthesis, others accidentally become structurally deformed, which likely results in failure to commence or continue RNA synthesis. Thus, our findings provide the ultrastructural feature of vRNPs during RNA synthesis

遺伝性腫瘍に関する遺伝カウンセリングの動向

The purpose of this study was to determine the actual situation of the genetic counseling for familial tumors in overseas literatures. We searched literatures including key words “genetic counseling” “familial tumor” “heredity” “cancer” “patients” and “genetic diseases” on PubMed published from ２００８ to ２０１８, resulting ２０９ articles extracted and ２１ of those examined. The quantitative studies were the most common type of these articles, and Certified Genetic Counselors （CGC）were the most common first author. The study contents were［factors associated with testing acceptance］,［utility of the screening system］,［utility of the genetic counseling］, and ［contents of the genetic counseling］. The analysis revealed genetic counseling for familial tumors in overseas was at present frequently provided to promote uptake of genetic testing