[23-1]English Summaries of the Papers Contributed to Tonan Ajia Kenkyu (The Southeast Asian Studies) Vol.23, No.3 (Special Issue for Don Daeng : An Integrated Village Study in Northeast Thailand)

Tonan Ajia Kenkyu (The Southeast Asian Studies) = 東南アジア研究 (Japanese Journal of Southeast Asian Studies)[1]EDITOR'S NOTE … Hayao FUKUI[2]A Brief Look at the Village … Yoshihiro Kaida, Masuo Kuchiba[3]Typology of Rice Cultivation … Shuichi MIYAGAWA, Toshiro KURODA, Hiroyuki MATSUFUJI, Tomoo HATTORI[4]Instability of Rice culture … Yoshihiro KAIDA, Kazutoshi HOSHIKAWA, Yasuyuki KOHNO[5]POPULATION (I) … Hayao FUKUI[6]The Process of Emigration in Search of Good Land to Mo Nua Village, Udonthani Province … Yukio HAYASHI[7]An Economic Analysis of Endogenous Rural Economic Evolution and its Policy Implications … Hiroshi Tsujii[8]Kin Relationships and Kin Cooperation for Farming and Consumption … Masuo KUCHIBA, Takahiro TAKEMURA[9]Daily Activity Survey (1) … Satoshi KOIKE, Shinji SUWA, Haruo NOMA[10]Sharing of Merit and the Associated Social Relationships of Funeral Rites … Yukio HAYASHI[11]AN OVERVIEW ON NATURE, AGRICULTURE AND ECONOMY … Hayao FUKU

A novel biomarker TERTmRNA is applicable for early detection of hepatoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Backgrounds</p> <p>We previously reported a highly sensitive method for serum human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). α-fetoprotein (AFP) and des-γ-carboxy prothrombin (DCP) are good markers for HCC. In this study, we verified the significance of hTERTmRNA in a large scale multi-centered trial, collating quantified values with clinical course.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In 638 subjects including 303 patients with HCC, 89 with chronic hepatitis (CH), 45 with liver cirrhosis (LC) and 201 healthy individuals, we quantified serum hTERTmRNA using the real-time RT-PCR. We examined its sensitivity and specificity in HCC diagnosis, clinical significance, ROC curve analysis in comparison with other tumor markers, and its correlations with the clinical parameters using Pearson relative test and multivariate analyses. Furthermore, we performed a prospective and comparative study to observe the change of biomarkers, including hTERTmRNA in HCC patients receiving anti-cancer therapies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>hTERTmRNA was demonstrated to be independently correlated with clinical parameters; tumor size and tumor differentiation (P < 0.001, each). The sensitivity/specificity of hTERTmRNA in HCC diagnosis showed 90.2%/85.4% for hTERT. hTERTmRNA proved to be superior to AFP, AFP-L3, and DCP in the diagnosis and underwent an indisputable change in response to therapy. The detection rate of small HCC by hTERTmRNA was superior to the other markers.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>hTERTmRNA is superior to conventional tumor markers in the diagnosis and recurrence of HCC at an early stage.</p

The Constrained Maximal Expression Level Owing to Haploidy Shapes Gene Content on the Mammalian X Chromosome.

X chromosomes are unusual in many regards, not least of which is their nonrandom gene content. The causes of this bias are commonly discussed in the context of sexual antagonism and the avoidance of activity in the male germline. Here, we examine the notion that, at least in some taxa, functionally biased gene content may more profoundly be shaped by limits imposed on gene expression owing to haploid expression of the X chromosome. Notably, if the X, as in primates, is transcribed at rates comparable to the ancestral rate (per promoter) prior to the X chromosome formation, then the X is not a tolerable environment for genes with very high maximal net levels of expression, owing to transcriptional traffic jams. We test this hypothesis using The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) and data from the Functional Annotation of the Mammalian Genome (FANTOM5) project. As predicted, the maximal expression of human X-linked genes is much lower than that of genes on autosomes: on average, maximal expression is three times lower on the X chromosome than on autosomes. Similarly, autosome-to-X retroposition events are associated with lower maximal expression of retrogenes on the X than seen for X-to-autosome retrogenes on autosomes. Also as expected, X-linked genes have a lesser degree of increase in gene expression than autosomal ones (compared to the human/Chimpanzee common ancestor) if highly expressed, but not if lowly expressed. The traffic jam model also explains the known lower breadth of expression for genes on the X (and the Z of birds), as genes with broad expression are, on average, those with high maximal expression. As then further predicted, highly expressed tissue-specific genes are also rare on the X and broadly expressed genes on the X tend to be lowly expressed, both indicating that the trend is shaped by the maximal expression level not the breadth of expression per se. Importantly, a limit to the maximal expression level explains biased tissue of expression profiles of X-linked genes. Tissues whose tissue-specific genes are very highly expressed (e.g., secretory tissues, tissues abundant in structural proteins) are also tissues in which gene expression is relatively rare on the X chromosome. These trends cannot be fully accounted for in terms of alternative models of biased expression. In conclusion, the notion that it is hard for genes on the Therian X to be highly expressed, owing to transcriptional traffic jams, provides a simple yet robustly supported rationale of many peculiar features of X's gene content, gene expression, and evolution

persistent organic pollutants(POPS)behavior in the thermal destruction of wastes containing polychlorinated naphthalene(PCN)

To investigate the information and decomposition behaviors of Persistent Organic Pollutants(POPs)and to evaluate the emissions from thermal destruction of wastes containing polychlorinated naphthalenes(PCNs),testing was conducted using the thermal testing plant equipment.by measuring the concentrations of PCNs,polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans(PCDDs and PCDFs), and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls(Co-PCBs)in municlpal solid waste,wastes containing PCNs and in the emission gas and residue,material balances were performed to understand the input and the output of POPs and destruction behaviors were examined by congener specific analysis of PCNs.Three test conditions were evaluated:(1)municipal solid waste(MSW)only as a blank,(2)MSW with a typical level of rubber belts containing PCNs(FB belts),and (3)MSW with a high level of FB belts.Almost all PCDDs/DFs were synthesized as by-product by the kiln combustion,most of them were destroyed by the secondary combustion,and almost all dioxins (PCDDs/Co-PCBs)were removed after a flue gas treatment.The WHO-TEQ emission levels were less than 0.1ng/m3N for all 3 test,and the differences in emission levels were very small/PCNs synthesized as by-product at the kiln were more than the input PCNs.Most of the PCNs were destroyed by the secondary combustion,and almost all PCNs were removed after a flue gas treatment.Adding wastes containing PCNs to MSW did not influence thermal treatment emissions to the environment