Comparing Alzheimer’s Disease and vascular dementia profiles on neuropsychological tests among Japanese elders

Dementia is a devastatingly serious problem in industrialized countries, such as Japan and the United States. The most prominent dementia subtypes: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) show a different pattern in these two countries. Most research studies on cognitive aspects of dementia have been conducted in western countries, but not in Japan, because of its short history of neuropsychology. To date, there has been only one Japanese study, and a criticism of this study is that it used tests that were insufficient and not culturally appropriate. It is necessary to explore what neuropsychological tests are sensitive and appropriate for a Japanese population in order to lead to more accurate diagnosis treatment strategies.The present study aimed to identify valid neuropsychological tests for Japanese elders and to examine test profiles of AD and VaD in comparison to what is known in western neuropsychology. Five cognitive domains: executive control, information processing speed, visuospatial/construction, language, and learning and memory were evaluated. Seventy Japanese elders (30 healthy controls, 20 AD patients, and 20 VaD patients) participated in this study.The present study indicated the usability of verbal learning and spatial memory tests, visuospatial/constructional tests, and a semantic fluency test for differentiating Japanese AD and VaD. These results suggest that Japanese AD patients showed a similar neuropsychological profile as that found in western studies (i.e. impairment in memory, visuospatial, and semantic knowledge). Japanese VaD patients, however, demonstrated less severity in executive control and motor slowness as compared to American VaD patients. It is possible that Japanese VaD patients have fewer white matter changes in the frontal lobe, and/or cultural factors, especially intensive training in pictorial written language (Kanji), might impact VaD patients’ cognition.The present study was the first study to evaluate the usability of a culturally appropriate neuropsychological test battery for distinguishing between Japanese AD and VaD. A new Japanese Verbal Learning test, the PVLT-J was developed particularly for the study. This study has immediate clinical utility for use in dementia diagnosis in Japan, and it is hoped that it will spur more research in comparative brain-behavior processing across cultures.Ph.D., Clinical Neuropsychology -- Drexel University, 200

Network game approach on negotiation process for the case of the Caspian oil allocation

A methodology is shown to analyze phases of player\u27s coalition formation. It can be applied to inter-regional cooperation analysis which is a relevant problem in Japan. Network formation game is used to model the problem with some extensions on a concept of coalition and coalition formative condition. A coalition among more than 3 players is introduced, which is not considered in standard network formation game. A coalition formative condition is also introduced taking into account specific characteristics about infrastructure construction. The methodology is applied to oil allocation problem among Caspian coastal countries, and how the methodology works in the real problem is examined. As a result, it is revealed that considering the coalition among more than 3 players is not sure to produce more social surplus than considering only the coalition between 2 players.2008 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC) : Singapore, Singapore, 2008.10.12-2008.10.1

Assessing Local People’s Preferences for Landscape Character in Teknaf Peninsula for Sustainable Landscape Conservation and Development

Sustainable development requires better understanding of the human-landscape relationship in forested landscapes, one that facilitates more locally relevant and sustainable management. It can be more easily understood by the process of landscape characterisation and humans’ valuation. Therefore, this study assesses local people’s preferences and perceptions about the physical landscape, which is crucial for managing landscape and livelihood. The study investigates the diversification of landscape character types and landscape character areas (LCA), local people’s perceptions about and preferences for different LCAs, and how and why they prefer some LCAs to others. An LCA is a distinct type of landscape that is relatively homogenous in character. Two different villages located in Teknaf peninsula, Bangladesh, are examined where the villages were selected by calculating vegetation cover within a buffer of 1 kilometre. Landform and vegetation data were collected as physical characteristics of the landscape to identify the LCA, and data for local people’s perception and preferences were collected through focus group discussions and questionnaire surveys by selecting 10% of the households of each village in March 2016. The findings show that in Kerantali the diversification of landscape character types was more than in Tulatali. Homestead garden areas are highly preferred in Tulatali and forest is highly preferred in Kerantali. Kerantali\u27s people receive poor material benefit from forest areas, whereas Tulatoli\u27s people receive more material benefit from homestead garden areas. Furthermore, our findings indicate that homestead gardens play an important role as a supplement to forests

Enterocyte-Derived TAK1 Signaling Prevents Epithelium Apoptosis and the Development of Ileitis and Colitis

Recent studies have revealed that TAK1 kinase is an essential intermediate in several innate immune signaling pathways. In this study, we investigated the role of TAK1 signaling in maintaining intestinal homeostasis by generating enterocytes-specific constitutive and inducible gene deleted TAK1 mice. We found that enterocyte-specific constitutive TAK1 deleted mice spontaneously developed intestinal inflammation as observed by histological analysis and enhanced expression of IL-1β, MIP2 and IL-6 around the time of birth, which was accompanied by significant enterocytes apoptosis. When TAK1 was deleted in the intestinal epithelium of 4-week-old mice using an inducible knockout system, enterocytes underwent apoptosis and intestinal inflammation developed within 2–3 days following the initiation of gene deletion. We found that enterocytes apoptosis and intestinal inflammation were strongly attenuated when enterocyte-specific constitutive TAK1 deleted mice were crossed to TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1)−/− mice. However, these mice later (>14 days) developed ileitis and colitis. Thus, TAK1 signaling in enterocytes is essential for preventing TNF-dependent epithelium apoptosis and the TNF-independent development of ileitis and colitis. We propose that aberration in TAK1 signaling might disrupt intestinal homeostasis and favor the development of inflammatory disease

Very rare solitary primary peripheral nerve onset cytotoxic molecule-positive peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL)

Here we present the first report of solitary primary peripheral nerve onset cytotoxic molecule (CM)-positive peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) diagnosed after nerve biopsy. An 84-year-old female with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) complained of asymmetric severe tenderness in her upper limbs. The biopsy pathology revealed a direct invasion of CM-positive PTCL. When RA patients complain of numbness, tenderness, or weakness, lymphomatic peripheral nerve invasion should be considered

Salvage Haploidentical Transplantation Using Low-dose ATG for Early Disease Relapse after First Allogeneic Transplantation: A Retrospective Single-center Review

Second allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) is a potentially curative therapy for patients who relapse after first allo-SCT. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-haploidentical related donors provide the broad opportunity to conduct second SCT at the appropriate time, but the efficacy of second SCT from haploidentical donors after relapse has not been established. We retrospectively analyzed the records of 33 patients who underwent second SCT. Twenty patients underwent haplo-SCT with low-dose antithymocyte globulin (ATG), and the other 13 patients underwent conventional- SCTs, including HLA-matched related peripheral blood, unrelated bone marrow or cord blood. Three years after the second SCT, the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) of all patients were 32.5% and 23.9%. Multivariate analyses indicated that non-complete response at second SCT, less than 1-year interval to relapse after first- SCT, and total score ≥ 3 on the hematopoietic cell transplantation-specific comorbidity index were significantly associated with a lower PFS rate. The haplo- and conventional- SCT groups showed equivalent results regarding OS, PFS, cumulative incidences of relapse, non-relapse mortality and graft-versus-host disease. The neutropenic period after transplantation was significantly shorter in haplo- SCT than conventional- SCT (10.5 days vs. 16 days, p=0.001). Our analysis revealed that haplo-SCT could be an alternative therapeutic option for relapsed patients after first SCT

Development of a Multifunctional Lightweight Membrane with a High Specific Power Generation Capacity

As a lighter power generation system, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Sakase Adtech Corp. are developing a demonstrator component named “Harvesting Energy with Lightweight Integrated Origami Structure” (HELIOS), which is a deployable lightweight membrane structure. HELIOS has solar arrays on its surface and demonstrates the technology which enables higher specific power generation capacity compared to the conventional solar array panels. The membrane also has communication antennas, showing the potency of lightweight membrane’s multifunctionality such as large data transmitting by 5G antennas and high-resolution observation by interferometer antennas. This paper presents the component’s concept and design, and the expected achievements

宅地化が進んだ地区のコミュニティセンターにおける乳幼児期の子育て支援と環境の現状

宅地化が進んだ地区のコミュティセンターを中心とした子育て支援と環境の現状を明らかにすることを目的として、小学校1年生の保護者を対象に、無記名のアンケート調査を行った。55名から回答を得（回答率71.4％）、回答者は全て母親であった。対象がストレスを感じた時期は、出生から1歳までが最も多くその原因は様々であったが、就業者より未就業者に多い傾向にあった。環境として「託児施設」は必要性が高いが満足度は低く、「医療機関」は必要性・満足度ともに高かった。また、コミュニティセンターの子育て支援22事業のうち、継続してほしい上位3つは就学後を対象にしたものであった

Revisiting the Village Where Arsenic Contamination of Underground Water Was First Discovered in Bangladesh: Twenty-Five Years Later

A survey was conducted in an As-affected village of Bangladesh—the first discovery of As contamination in the country—to assess the current situation and how implementation activities have worked to mitigate the problem. The As testing showed that the levels were less than the Bangladesh standard (50 µg/L) in all shallow tube-wells throughout the village. The questionnaire survey was conducted in the village as well as a neighboring As-affected village for comparison. The results revealed that there was a significant number of people using shallow tube-wells in both villages despite knowing that these wells could be contaminated with As and that safe water was available through a pipeline water supply. About 70% of responding households possessed their own water sources, mostly shallow tube-wells, and owners were less likely to choose tap water for drinking purpose than nonowners. In the village where As contamination was first reported, those individuals with a higher level of education and strong ties with neighbors were more likely to use shallow tube-well water for drinking purposes rather than tap water. This study suggests several measures to mobilize people to get safe water, namely providing subsides to install private taps, supplying public taps, and marketing and distributing handy water quality tests for households