Nationwide surveillance of bacterial respiratory pathogens conducted by the surveillance committee of Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and the Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology in 2010: General view of the pathogens\u27 antibacterial susceptibility

The nationwide surveillance on antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial respiratory pathogens from patients in Japan, was conducted by Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases and Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology in 2010.The isolates were collected from clinical specimens obtained from well-diagnosed adult patients with respiratory tract infections during the period from January and April 2010 by three societies. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted at the central reference laboratory according to the method recommended by Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institutes using maximum 45 antibacterial agents.Susceptibility testing was evaluable with 954 strains (206 Staphylococcus aureus, 189 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 4 Streptococcus pyogenes, 182 Haemophilus influenzae, 74 Moraxella catarrhalis, 139 Klebsiella pneumoniae and 160 Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Ratio of methicillin-resistant S.aureus was as high as 50.5%, and those of penicillin-intermediate and -resistant S.pneumoniae were 1.1% and 0.0%, respectively. Among H.influenzae, 17.6% of them were found to be β-lactamase-non-producing ampicillin (ABPC)-intermediately resistant, 33.5% to be β-lactamase-non-producing ABPC-resistant and 11.0% to be β-lactamase-producing ABPC-resistant strains. Extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing K.pneumoniae and multi-drug resistant P.aeruginosa with metallo β-lactamase were 2.9% and 0.6%, respectively.Continuous national surveillance of antimicrobial susceptibility of respiratory pathogens is crucial in order to monitor changing patterns of susceptibility and to be able to update treatment recommendations on a regular basis

Automatic Feature Engineering for Catalyst Design Using Small Data without Prior Knowledge of the Target Catalysis

The empirical aspect of descriptor design with limited data in catalyst informatics entails a logical contradiction as it relies on sufficient prior knowledge for exploring the unknown. In this study, we developed a technique for automatic feature engineering (AFE) that works on small catalyst data without requiring any prior knowledge of the target catalysis. This technique generates a large number of features through mathematical operations on general physicochemical fea-tures of catalytic components, and extracts the relevant features for the desired catalysis, essentially screening a large number of hypotheses on a machine. AFE yielded reasonable regression results for three types of heterogeneous cataly-sis: oxidative coupling of methane (OCM), conversion of ethanol to butadiene, and three-way catalysis, where only the training set was swapped. Moreover, through the application of active learning that combines AFE and high-throughput experimentation for OCM, we successfully visualized the machine’s process of acquiring precise recognition of catalyst design. AFE is a versatile technique for data-driven catalysis research and a key step towards fully automated catalyst discoveries

Causes of the Multidecadal-Scale Warming of the Intermediate Water in the Okhotsk Sea and Western Subarctic North Pacific

Causes of the multidecadal-scale warming of the intermediate water in the Okhotsk Sea and the western subarctic North Pacific during 1980–2008 are investigated using an ice–ocean coupled model with interannually　varying atmospheric forcing. A hindcast experiment qualitatively reproduces the warming and decadal　fluctuations of the intermediate water that are similar to those of observations: the warming is significant along the western part of the Okhotsk Sea and subarctic frontal region. The effects of the thermohaline- and　wind-driven ocean circulation on the warming are evaluated from perturbation experiments on thermohaline (turbulent heat and freshwater fluxes) and wind causes, respectively. The thermohaline causes are shown to contribute positively to warming in the Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water (OSIW). The heat budget analysis for the OSIW indicates that the warming is related to a decrease in cold and dense shelf water (DSW) flux, which is caused by a decrease in sea ice and surface water freshening. In contrast, the wind cause has a cooling effect in the OSIW through an increase in DSW. In the subarctic frontal region, the warming is mainly caused by the wind stress change. The heat budget analysis indicates that the warming is related to an increase in the northward advection of the subtropical warm water. These results imply that both thermohaline- and winddriven ocean circulation changes are essential components of the warming in the intermediate water. The atmospheric conditions responsible for the warming are related to a weakened Aleutian low and Siberian high in early and late winter

Repeated X-RAY Irradiation Generates the Radioresistant Cancer Cell that Underwent Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition

Cancer cell that relapsed after radiotherapy must acquires radioresistance, but the mechanisms of acquired radioresistance in cancer cell are not fully understood. To investigate the mechanisms of acquired radioresistance in cancer cell, we irradiated the human adenocarcinoma cell line A549 with 2Gy of X-ray, repeated the irradiation 30 times, and established the radioresistant cancer cell line A549R. To evaluate the differences in the radioseisitivity, apoptosis and senescence induction between A549 and A549R, we performed colony formation assay, JC-1 staining, and X-gal staining, respectively. The results of colony formation assay showed that the survival fraction of A549R was significantly higher than that of A549. In addition, apoptosis and senescence induction in A549R were suppressed compared with that in A549. We further studied the DNA double strand break (DSB) repair potential in A549R. To measure the DSB repair potential, we performed the immunofluorescence staining with anti-gamma-H2AX, phosphorylated ataxia telangiectasia mutated (p-ATM) antibody at 1 to 3 days after X-ray irradiation and counted the focus number of gamma-H2AX and p-ATM in the nucleus. As a result, the disappearance of colocalized focus of gamma-H2AX and p-ATM in A549R was earlier than that in A549. These data showed that the repeated X-ray irradiation generates the radioresistant cancer cells that acquire the promotion of DSB repair potential. Next, we evaluated the difference in cell cycle progression and cell proliferation after X-ray irradiation between both cell lines. As a result, the percentage of G0/G1 phase in A549R was significantly higher than that in A549. Moreover, the cell proliferation in A549R after X-ray irradiation was suppressed compared with that in A549. Subsequently, we assessed the protein expression of p53 and p53-related proteins such as Bax, Puma, p21, and cyclin D1 by western blotting. The results showed that the p53 and cyclin D1 expression in A549R was suppressed compared with that in A549, but Bax, Puma, and p21 was not changed.We further assessed whether epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in A549R because it is known that EMT is closely associated with chemoresistance in cancer cell. As we expected, the cadherin switching was clearly observed in A549R. In this report, we will discuss the relationship between the radioresistance after X-ray irradiation, changes in DNA repair potential, and EMT induction.8th International Symposium of Cancer Research and Therap

Interannual to decadal variability of phosphate in the Oyashio region: Roles of wind-driven ocean current and tidally induced vertical mixing in the Sea of Okhotsk

In the Oyashio region, remarkable climatic signals are observed in biogeochemical parameters such as phosphate (PO4) concentration and debate continues regarding possible causes. Using a regional ice–ocean coupled model with a simple biogeochemical cycle, this study investigated the mechanisms controlling interannual–decadal variations in surface PO4 in the Oyashio region and their relationships to climate change. Hindcast experiments forced with atmospheric reanalysis data for 1980–2010 and 18.6-year tidal mixing strength in the Kuril Straits qualitatively simulated interannual–decadal variations of surface PO4, including a realistic seasonal cycle. Interannual fluctuations of simulated PO4 in the Oyashio region are prominent in winter and characterized by year-to-year variability. Budget analysis of PO4 in the mixed layer showed that the wintertime increase in PO4 is caused by lateral advection as well as by local vertical convection. The geostrophic current variability responsible for lateral advection of PO4 is related primarily to the barotropic response of arrested topographic waves in the Sea of Okhotsk as well as the wind-driven gyre in the North Pacific, both of which are regulated by the strength of the wintertime monsoon atmospheric pattern. On a decadal timescale (>7 years), temporal variations of surface PO4 in the Oyashio region are characterized by decadal-scale fluctuation with positive (negative) peaks around 1985, 1995, and 2005 (1990 and 2000). A series of sensitivity experiments demonstrated that the decadal variability of PO4 is largely explained by atmospheric wind conditions; however, modulation by 18.6-year tidal mixing is not negligible. Diagnostic analysis of wind-forced-experiment data revealed that the decadal PO4 signal is advected from the Sea of Okhotsk, where 8-year leading wintertime Ekman upwelling supplies PO4-rich water in the northern shelf region, and that the responsible atmospheric circulation is related to the West Pacific pattern. Our model simulation suggests that the wintertime wind-driven current system in the Sea of Okhotsk is important to the system feeding surface nutrients into the Oyashio region on an interannual–decadal timescale