Pregnant women's awareness of sensitivity to cold (hiesho) and body temperature observational study: A comparison of Japanese and Brazilian women

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sensitivity to cold (<it>hiesho</it>) is a serious health problem in Japan, yet it is minimally understood within Western cultures. The purpose of this study was to clarify the divergence between pregnant Japanese woman living in Japan and pregnant Brazilian women living in Brazil in awareness of <it>hiesho </it>and differences between core body and peripheral temperatures.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The subjects of this study were 230 pregnant Japanese women living in Japan and 200 pregnant Brazilian women living in Brazil. Data was collected in June/July and November 2005 in Japan and from October 2007 to February 2008 in Brazil. The survey methods consisted of measurement of deep body temperatures and questionnaires.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>67.0% of Japanese women and 57.0% of Brazilian women were aware of <it>hiesho</it>, which showed a significant difference between the Japanese and Brazilian women (p = 0.034). The difference between forehead and sole temperatures was 2.0°C among Japanese and 2.8°C among Brazilians in June-July (p = 0.01). But in November the difference between those temperatures was 5.2°C among Japanese and 2.8°C among Brazilians (p < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There are differences between Japanese and Brazilians both in awareness of <it>hiesho </it>and in body temperatures.</p

A genome-wide gain-of-function analysis of rice genes using the FOX-hunting system

Funding Information: Acknowledgements This work was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (Green Technology Project EF-1004). We are grateful to Dr. Takuji Sasaki for his encouragement throughout the project and his excellent advice on the improvement of this manuscript, and to Dr. Shoshi Kikuchi for providing useful information on rice FL-cDNAs. We thank Professors Kokichi Hinata, Atsushi Hirai, Hiroshi Kamada and Masashi Ugaki for their encouragement, critical comments and helpful suggestions, and Drs. Hisato Okuizumi and Hiroyuki Kawahigashi for their administrative support throughout the project. We also thank Mayumi Akagawa, Hiroko Abe, Keiko Mori, Etsuko Sugai, Yumiko Nakane, Ken-ichi Watanabe, Mayumi Takeya, and Kana Miyata for their technical assistance; the members of the Technical Support Section of the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences for their help in the care of the FOX-rice plants; Haruko Onodera and Kazuko Ono for their technical assistance and advice on rice transformation; Inplanta Innovations Inc. for their technical help on the construction of theThe latest report has estimated the number of rice genes to be ∼32 000. To elucidate the functions of a large population of rice genes and to search efficiently for agriculturally useful genes, we have been taking advantage of the Full-length cDNA Over-eXpresser (FOX) gene-hunting system. This system is very useful for analyzing various gain-of-function phenotypes from large populations of transgenic plants overexpressing cDNAs of interest and others with unknown or important functions. We collected the plasmid DNAs of 13 980 independent full-length cDNA (FL-cDNA) clones to produce a FOX library by placing individual cDNAs under the control of the maize Ubiquitin-1 promoter. The FOX library was transformed into rice by Agrobacterium-mediated high-speed transformation. So far, we have generated approximately 12 000 FOX-rice lines. Genomic PCR analysis indicated that the average number of FL-cDNAs introduced into individual lines was 1.04. Sequencing analysis of the PCR fragments carrying FL-cDNAs from 8615 FOX-rice lines identified FL-cDNAs in 8225 lines, and a database search classified the cDNAs into 5462 independent ones. Approximately 16.6% of FOX-rice lines examined showed altered growth or morphological characteristics. Three super-dwarf mutants overexpressed a novel gibberellin 2-oxidase gene, confirming the importance of this system. We also show here the other morphological alterations caused by individual FL-cDNA expression. These dominant phenotypes should be valuable indicators for gene discovery and functional analysis.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Вклад А.А.Вагина в развитие советской методики преподавания истории

В работе рассматривается вклад ученого-методиста Алексея Алексеевича Вагина в развитие советской методики преподавания истории в общеобразовательных школах

Clinical impact of albuminuria and glomerular filtration rate on renal and cardiovascular events, and all-cause mortality in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes

Background: The number of patients suffering from diabetic nephropathy resulting in end-stage kidney disease is increasing worldwide. In clinical settings, there are limited data regarding the impact of the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) and reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) on renal and cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality. Methods: We performed a historical cohort study of 4328 Japanese participants with type 2 diabetes from 10 centers. Risks for renal events (requirement for dialysis or transplantation, or half reduction in eGFR), cardiovascular events (cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke), and all-cause mortality were assessed according to UACR and eGFR levels. Results: During follow-up (median 7.0 years, interquartile range 3.0-8.0 years), 419 renal events, 605 cardiovascular events and 236 deaths occurred. The UACR levels increased the risk and the adjusted hazard ratios for these three events. In addition to the effects of UACR levels, eGFR stages significantly increased the adjusted hazard ratios for renal events and all-cause mortality, especially in patients with macroalbuminuria. Diabetic nephropathy score, based on the prognostic factors, well predicted incidence rates per 1000 patient/year for each event. Conclusions: Increased UACR levels were closely related to the increase in risks for renal, cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes, whereas the association between high levels of UACR and reduced eGFR was a strong predictor for renal events. © 2013 Japanese Society of Nephrology