Rex1/Zfp42 is dispensable for pluripotency in mouse ES cells

Research articl

〔資料〕仮設住宅における社会的孤立と精神保健 ―東日本大震災から3年後の状況―

　　As of January 2016, there are 178,000 evacuees forced to leave their homes by the Great East Japan Earthquake（GEJE）and 65,704 temporary prefabricated housing units. Within two or three years of both the Hanshin Awaji and Chuetsu Earthquakes an incremental growth in the suicide rate among disaster was observed. In an effort to determine the cause for this we interviewed twenty of the elderly people who were evacuated after the GEJE.　　The subjects were 20 people over 65 years old who have been living in temporary housing for 3 years. They were interviewed in person using a semi-structured questionnaire in 2014. Most of the participants had been engaged in agriculture or fishery and had experienced the sudden loss of family members, friends, and property in the aftermath of the GEJE. 　　Findings indicate that individuals who had less emotional and financial support had experienced greater feeling of sadness, social isolation, and suicidal thoughts. They had been strongly affected by economic insecurity which aggravates the risks for social isolation and psychological distress. The destruction of the local economy further exacerbated the vulnerable situation of the older adults. The findings also suggest that the “Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030” and “Build Back Better” plans for reconstruction and recovery need to be customized to better address the situation of the older adults and reduce the risk that they will commit suicide

Reinvestigation of the effect of carbenoxolone on the induction of heat shock proteins

Carbenoxolone (CBX) is a semisynthetic derivative of the licorice root substance glycyrrhizinic acid and has been previously reported to induce only heat shock protein 70 [Hsp70, HSPA1A (the systematic name of heat shock protein is given in the parenthesis after each HSP, according to the recent nomenclature guidelines, Kampinga et al., Cell Stress Chaperones, 14:105–111, 2008) but not other heat shock proteins (HSPs) (Nagayama et al., Life Sci. 69:2867–2873, 2001). In this study, we reinvestigated the effect of CBX on the induction of HSPs in HeLa and human neuroblastoma (A-172) cells. CBX clearly induced not only Hsp70 but also Hsp90 (HSPC1), Hsp40 (DNAJB1), and Hsp27 (HSPB1) at concentrations of 10 to 800 μM for 16 h incubation. At higher concentrations (more than 400 μM), however, CBX appeared to be toxic. Treatment of cells with CBX resulted in enhanced phosphorylation and acquisition of DNA-binding ability of heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1). Furthermore, characteristic HSF1 granules were formed in the nucleus, suggesting that the induction of HSPs by CBX is mediated by the activation of HSF1. Furthermore, thermotolerance was induced by CBX treatment, as determined by clonogenic survival. Although the precise target of CBX is not known at present, these results indicate that CBX is one of the molecular chaperone inducers and suggest that some pharmacological activities of CBX might be ascribable in part to its molecular chaperone-inducing property