Species-Specific Pathogenicity of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus Is Determined by Anti-STAT2 Activity of NSs

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a novel emerging virus that has been identified in China, South Korea, and Japan, and it induces thrombocytopenia and leukocytopenia in humans with a high case fatality rate. SFTSV is pathogenic to humans, while immunocompetent adult mice and golden Syrian hamsters infected with SFTSV never show apparent symptoms. However, mice deficient for the gene encoding the α chain of the alpha- and beta-interferon receptor (Ifnar1 -/- mice) and golden Syrian hamsters deficient for the gene encoding signal transducer and activator of transcription 2 (Stat2 -/- hamsters) are highly susceptible to SFTSV infection,with infection resulting in death. The nonstructural protein (NSs) of SFTSV has been reported to inhibit the type I IFN response through sequestration of human STAT proteins.Here, we demonstrated that SFTSV induces lethal acute disease in STAT2-deficient mice but not in STAT1-deficient mice. Furthermore, we discovered that NSs cannot inhibit type I IFN signaling in murine cells due to an inability to bind to murine STAT2. Taken together, our results imply that the dysfunction of NSs in antagonizing murine STAT2 can lead to inefficient replication and the loss of pathogenesis of SFTSV in mice. IMPORTANCE Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease caused by SFTSV, which has been reported in China,South Korea, and Japan. Here, we revealed that mice lacking STAT2, which is an important factor for antiviral innate immunity, are highly susceptible to SFTSV infection. We also show that SFTSV NSs cannot exert its anti-innate immunity activity in mice due to the inability of the protein to bind to murine STAT2. Our findings suggest that the dysfunction of SFTSV NSs as an IFN antagonist in murine cells confers a loss of pathogenicity of SFTSV in mice

Survey Interviews on How Teachers and Students Recognize our Community Clinical Psychological Support Activities for an Evening High School

これまで筆者らは、ある定時制高校において相談室の開室やグループワークなどの支援活動を続け、その報告を行ってきた。しかし、ユーザーである先生方や生徒らからどのように認識されているのかは明らかになっていなかった。そこで今回、校内支援委員会の先生方と相談室を利用していた生徒を対象にインタビューを実施し、活動がどのように認識されており、どのようなニーズがあるのかについて調査した。その結果、筆者らの活動が、生徒らにとって“安心して話せる居場所”を提供していたことと、生徒同士や、先生と生徒という関係とは異なる「斜めの関係」（平井，1997；文部科学省）で生徒とつながっていることなど、筆者らならではの意義が示された。また、支援活動へのニーズとして、①先生方との情報共有、②学習支援、③就職・キャリア支援の3 点が明らかとなった。今後の課題は①校内支援委員会の機会を持ったり、共有ノートを活用していくこと、②筆者らの専門性を活かしながら関係づくりを行い、生徒らの登校意欲や学習意欲向上につなげること、③筆者らの体験談を生徒に語ることで、生徒らの進路について共に考えていく場を作っていくことなどが考えられた。さらに、相談室をより親しみのあるものにしていくため、「相談室」という名称を見直していく必要性についても考察された。The authors have been reporting on our activities to provide community clinical psychological support for an evening high school. However, thus far, the issue of how teachers and students recognize our activities, have not been addressed. Hence, interviews were conducted. The interviews found that our activities have been offering some space for students to feel safe in a "diagonal" relationship that has a different quality from that between students and teachers. It also became apparent from the interviews that we are expected to: 1) share information with the teachers; 2) assist students for learning in class; and 3) engage further in students\u27 career development. We are hoping to: 1) have a meeting together and share a notebook with teachers; 2) motivate students to attend school and study with our own expertise; and 3) offer some opportunities for students to consider career and academic development by disclosing our own personal experiences. In addition, the possibility of changing the name of the room from "consulting room" to something else in order to make it more accessible for students was discussed

Community Clinical Psychological Support of an Evening High School (III)

筆者らは今年度もある定時制高校への心理臨床的な支援を行ってきた。今年は高校の先生方が筆者らを校内支援委員会に招いたり、生徒の情報を積極的に提供してくださったりするなど、筆者らの支援活動の意義が先生方に確かに認められていることを感じる年であった。そこで、本稿はいつものように、本年度1年間の活動経過を記述のうえで、先生方との連携が強くなっていることを示す2つの事例を描写する。そして、このような高校支援のあり方に関するモデルを提示する。For the past two years, the authors have been continuing to provide psychological support to an evening high school. Some changes have occurred; school teachers invited us to attend an in-school committee and constantly shared information about students in difficult situations. It implies that our activity and its significance have been recognized among the teachers. In this article, the details of our activity is reported with two cases which show growth in our coalition with the teachers. A model for providing psychological support to high schools is also introduced

Larval pufferfish protected by maternal tetrodotoxin

Marine pufferfish contain tetrodotoxin (TTX), an extremely potent neurotoxin. All species of the genus Takifugu accumulate TTX in the liver and ovaries, although the tissue(s) in which it is localized can differ among species. TTX is the major defense strategy the pufferfish appears to use against predators. TTX is also used as a male-attracting pheromone during spawning. Here we demonstrate an additional (and unexpected) use of maternal TTX in the early larval stages of the Takifugu pufferfish. Predation experiments demonstrated that juveniles of all the species of fish used as predators ingested pufferfish larvae, but spat them out promptly. Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MSMS) analysis revealed that the pufferfish larvae contain a small quantity of TTX, which is not enough to be lethal to the predators. Immunohistochemical analysis with anti-TTX monoclonal antibody revealed that the TTX is primarily localized in the body surface of the larvae as a layer of protection. Our study showed the female parent of the Takifugu pufferfish vertically transfers TTX to the larvae through its accumulation in the ovaries, and subsequent localization on the body surface of the larvae

Direct observations of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic domains in Pt/Co/Cr₂O₃/Pt perpendicular exchange biased film

By using focused soft X-rays, magnetic domain imaging based on X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements was performed on a Pt/Co/Cr2O3/Pt film that exhibits both perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and perpendicular exchange anisotropy. In the AC-demagnetized state, spatial distributions of the XMCD corresponding to the magnetic domains were clearly observed. In particular, ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic magnetic domains were separately observed by tuning the photon energy to either the ferromagnetic Co L3 edge or the antiferromagnetic Cr L3 edge. The ferromagnetic domain pattern is similar to the ones previously reported for Co/Pt multilayers, and the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic domains are spatially coupled. The magnetization curve measured after cooling the sample, while maintaining the demagnetized state, exhibited positive and negative exchange biases simultaneously, which suggests that the exchange bias is determined on a domain-by-domain basis