ウシ κ-カゼイン ノ フキンイツセイ ニ カンスル ケンキュウ ノウゲイ カガク ブモン

牛κ-カゼインの不均一性を調べるため, Zittle-Custer法で調製したκ-カゼインを, β-メルカプトエタノールで還元した後, 0.02Mイミダゾール・塩酸緩衝液(pH 7.0), NaCl濃度勾配(0.02M∿0.2M)を用いて, DEAEセルロースクロマトグラフィーをおこない, 非吸着画分を含めて6画分を得た。(P-1∿P-6)澱粉ゲル電気泳動(pH 8.6)において, P-1は負極へ移動するが, 他の5画分は, 高い塩濃度で溶出する画分ほど, 正極へより多く移動する傾向が見られた。6画分の化学組成を調べた結果, シアル酸含有量に著しい差異が見られ, P-1とP-2には全くシアル酸が含まれず, P-3∿P-6では, 高い塩濃度で溶出する画分ほど, シアル酸を多く含んでいた。アミノ酸組成は, どの画分もほぼ同じであった。6画分のうち, P-1以外は, κ-カゼインの特徴であるα_S-カゼイン安定化能を有している。The heterogeneity of bovine κ-casein was studied. κ-Casein was prepared from fresh bovine milk by the method of Zittle and Custer. After the reduction of κ-casein with β-mercaptoethanol, it was fractionated by chromatography on a column of DEAE cellulose with linear gradient system of sodium chloride (0.02M to 0.2M) in imidazole-HCl buffer, pH 7.0. Six fractions (P-1 to P-6) were obtained including a non absorbed fraction to the column. In the starch gel electrophoresis, the fractions migrated to anode except the fraction P-1 which was mobile to the cathode. The sequence of mobilities in electrophoresis coincides exactly with the sequence of the elution on DEAE cellulose chromatography in the gradient system. The amino acid compositions of these fractions are almost the same except the fraction P-1 but the sialic acid contents are different greatly. All these fractions (P-2 to P-6) had the ability of stabilizing α_S-casein and the removement of sialic acid is of no effect on that stabilizing effect. It is concluded that the heterogeneity of κ-casein is attributed to the difference of the sialic acid contents

The Effect of Medical Cooperation in the CKD Patients: 10-Year Multicenter Cohort Study

Introduction: While chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the most important contributors to mortality from non-communicable diseases, the number of nephrologists is limited worldwide. Medical cooperation is a system of cooperation between primary care physicians and nephrological institutions, consisting of nephrologists and multidisciplinary care teams. Although it has been reported that multidisciplinary care teams contribute to the prevention of worsening renal functions and cardiovascular events, there are few studies on the effect of a medical cooperation system. Methods: We aimed to evaluate the effect of medical cooperation on all-cause mortality and renal prognosis in patients with CKD. One hundred and sixty-eight patients who visited the one hundred and sixty-three clinics and seven general hospitals of Okayama city were recruited between December 2009 and September 2016, and one hundred twenty-three patients were classified into a medical cooperation group. The outcome was defined as the incidence of all-cause mortality, or renal composite outcome (end-stage renal disease or 50% eGFR decline). We evaluated the effects on renal composite outcome and pre-ESRD mortality while incorporating the competing risk for the alternate outcome into a Fine-Gray subdistribution hazard model. Results: The medical cooperation group had more patients with glomerulonephritis (35.0% vs. 2.2%) and less nephrosclerosis (35.0% vs. 64.5%) than the primary care group. Throughout the follow-up period of 5.59 +/- 2.78 years, 23 participants (13.7%) died, 41 participants (24.4%) reached 50% decline in eGFR, and 37 participants (22.0%) developed end-stage renal disease (ESRD). All-cause mortality was significantly reduced by medical cooperation (sHR 0.297, 95% CI 0.105-0.835, p = 0.021). However, there was a significant association between medical cooperation and CKD progression (sHR 3.069, 95% CI 1.225-7.687, p = 0.017). Conclusion: We evaluated mortality and ESRD using a CKD cohort with a long-term observation period and concluded that medical cooperation might be expected to influence the quality of medical care in the patients with CKD

試行カウンセリング実習の可能性と考慮点の実証的検討1-体験についての予備調査

The current study was conducted to demonstrate that trial counseling was an effective training method in graduate school clinical psychology courses. Here,the results of responses to a preliminary questionnaire by trainee counselors are reported.Usually,in courses to train clinical psychologists,role-playing is undertaken before taking practical cases,in which trainees play the role of client/therapist in a single session with students of the same school. In the present study,students were required to play the role of client/therapist successively in four sessions with students from other graduate school,so that they were meeting each other for the first time. Before and after the trial counseling session, students were asked to respond to yes-no questions and provide free descriptions on the substantial effects of the training. Results indicated self-awareness in students playing the role of the counselor and contented feelings about the psychological growth of the client. These results suggest that trial counseling is an important step in preparing for practical counseling. Results also indicated that to counsel students from another school was more similar to the real situation. Moreover, to observe the counseling experience from the viewpoint of a client in counseling was an important experience for the trainees

SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 Delta variant replication and immune evasion

Abstract: The B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first identified in the state of Maharashtra in late 2020 and spread throughout India, outcompeting pre-existing lineages including B.1.617.1 (Kappa) and B.1.1.7 (Alpha)1. In vitro, B.1.617.2 is sixfold less sensitive to serum neutralizing antibodies from recovered individuals, and eightfold less sensitive to vaccine-elicited antibodies, compared with wild-type Wuhan-1 bearing D614G. Serum neutralizing titres against B.1.617.2 were lower in ChAdOx1 vaccinees than in BNT162b2 vaccinees. B.1.617.2 spike pseudotyped viruses exhibited compromised sensitivity to monoclonal antibodies to the receptor-binding domain and the amino-terminal domain. B.1.617.2 demonstrated higher replication efficiency than B.1.1.7 in both airway organoid and human airway epithelial systems, associated with B.1.617.2 spike being in a predominantly cleaved state compared with B.1.1.7 spike. The B.1.617.2 spike protein was able to mediate highly efficient syncytium formation that was less sensitive to inhibition by neutralizing antibody, compared with that of wild-type spike. We also observed that B.1.617.2 had higher replication and spike-mediated entry than B.1.617.1, potentially explaining the B.1.617.2 dominance. In an analysis of more than 130 SARS-CoV-2-infected health care workers across three centres in India during a period of mixed lineage circulation, we observed reduced ChAdOx1 vaccine effectiveness against B.1.617.2 relative to non-B.1.617.2, with the caveat of possible residual confounding. Compromised vaccine efficacy against the highly fit and immune-evasive B.1.617.2 Delta variant warrants continued infection control measures in the post-vaccination era

Re-investigating the Factors Affecting Public Perception of Food-Related Risk A Cross-National Study by the Laddering Method

Risk communication among stakeholders is the essential element behind decisions about risk management measures in the food safety field. However, risk communication has not always been favorably done. Slovic (1999) pointed out that unsuccessful risk management can be traced, in part, to a failure to appreciate the complex and socially determined nature of the concept "risk". The majority of risk perception studies with Socio-psychological models have focused on multi-dimensional characteristics of risk/hazard that have substantial influence on the subjective evaluation of risks. The identified factors of characteristics in these studies, however, cannot suitably explain the characteristics of food related risks. In this study, we re-investigated the factors that influence the perceived magnitude of food-related risks by a laddering method survey in Japan, Korea and the U.S.. The results show that the public have judged the high/low of risk level by 3 categories of factors: perceived risk/hazard characteristics, perceived personal factors and perceived social factors. Severity of damage to health, cause of illness, accumulation in body, benefit and natural/artificial origin were the major factors categorized in perceived risk/hazard characteristics. Perceived personal factors consist of experience, knowledge and association of terrible scene/image. Exposure to information and trust in government/experts were regarded as perceived social factors. A structural model of food-related risk perception might possibly be constructed by adding worldview and general trust to the above 3 factors. This model will be statistically analyzed in the continuous empirical cross-cultural studies

Cryopreservation of two species of the multicellular volvocine green algal genus Astrephomene

Abstract Background Astrephomene is an interesting green algal genus that, together with Volvox, shows convergent evolution of spheroidal multicellular bodies with somatic cells of the colonial or multicellular volvocine lineage. A recent whole-genome analysis of A. gubernaculifera resolved the molecular-genetic basis of such convergent evolution, and two species of Astrephomene were described. However, maintenance of culture strains of Astrephomene requires rapid inoculation of living cultures, and cryopreserved culture strains have not been established in public culture collections. Results To establish cryopreserved culture strains of two species of Astrephomene, conditions for cryopreservation of the two species were investigated using immature and mature vegetative colonies and two cryoprotectants: N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and hydroxyacetone (HA). Rates of cell survival of the A. gubernaculifera or A. perforata strain after two-step cooling and freezing in liquid nitrogen were compared between different concentrations (3 and 6%) of DMF and HA and two types of colonies: immature colonies (small colonies newly released from the parent) and mature colonies (large colonies just before daughter colony formation). The highest rate of survival [11 ± 13% (0.36–33%) by the most probable number (MPN) method] of A. gubernaculifera strain NIES-4017 (established in 2014) was obtained when culture samples of immature colonies were subjected to cryogenic treatment with 6% DMF. In contrast, culture samples of mature colonies subjected to 3% HA cryogenic treatment showed the highest “MPN survival” [5.5 ± 5.9% (0.12–12%)] in A. perforata. Using the optimized cryopreservation conditions for each species, survival after freezing in liquid nitrogen was examined for six other strains of A. gubernaculifera (established from 1962 to 1981) and another A. perforata strain maintained in the Microbial Culture Collection at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (MCC-NIES). We obtained ≥0.1% MPN survival of the A. perforata strain. However, only two of the six strains of A. gubernaculifera showed ≥0.1% MPN survival. By using the optimal cryopreserved conditions obtained for each species, five cryopreserved strains of two species of Astrephomene were established and deposited in the MCC-NIES. Conclusions The optimal cryopreservation conditions differed between the two species of Astrephomene. Cryopreservation of long-term-maintained strains of A. gubernaculifera may be difficult; further studies of cryopreservation of these strains are needed

Re-investigating the Factors Affecting Public Perception of Food-Related Risk A Cross-National Study by the Laddering Method

Risk communication among stakeholders is the essential element behind decisions about risk management measures in the food safety field. However, risk communication has not always been favorably done. Slovic (1999) pointed out that unsuccessful risk management can be traced, in part, to a failure to appreciate the complex and socially determined nature of the concept "risk". The majority of risk perception studies with Socio-psychological models have focused on multi-dimensional characteristics of risk/hazard that have substantial influence on the subjective evaluation of risks. The identified factors of characteristics in these studies, however, cannot suitably explain the characteristics of food related risks. In this study, we re-investigated the factors that influence the perceived magnitude of food-related risks by a laddering method survey in Japan, Korea and the U.S.. The results show that the public have judged the high/low of risk level by 3 categories of factors: perceived risk/hazard characteristics, perceived personal factors and perceived social factors. Severity of damage to health, cause of illness, accumulation in body, benefit and natural/artificial origin were the major factors categorized in perceived risk/hazard characteristics. Perceived personal factors consist of experience, knowledge and association of terrible scene/image. Exposure to information and trust in government/experts were regarded as perceived social factors. A structural model of food-related risk perception might possibly be constructed by adding worldview and general trust to the above 3 factors. This model will be statistically analyzed in the continuous empirical cross-cultural studies

Limited alignment of publicly competitive disease funding with disease burden in Japan.

OBJECTIVE:The need to align investments in health research and development (R&D) with public health needs is one of the most important public health challenges in Japan. We examined the alignment of disease-specific publicly competitive R&D funding to the disease burden in the country. METHODS:We analyzed publicly available data on competitive public funding for health in 2015 and 2016 and compared it to disability-adjusted life year (DALYs) in 2016, which were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 study. Their alignment was assessed as a percentage distribution among 22 GBD disease groups. Funding was allocated to the 22 disease groups based on natural language processing, using textual information such as project title and abstract for each research project, while considering for the frequency of information. RESULTS:Total publicly competitive funding in health R&D in 2015 and 2016 reached 344.1 billion JPY (about 3.0 billion USD) for 32,204 awarded projects. About 49.5% of the funding was classifiable for disease-specific projects. Five GDB disease groups were significantly and relatively well-funded compared to their contributions to Japan's DALY, including neglected tropical diseases and malaria (funding vs DALY = 1.7% vs 0.0%, p<0.01) and neoplasms (28.5% vs 19.2%, p<0.001). In contrast, four GDB disease groups were significantly under-funded, including cardiovascular diseases (8.0% vs 14.8%, p<0.001) and musculoskeletal disorders (1.0% vs 11.9%, p<0.001). These percentages do not include unclassifiable funding. CONCLUSIONS:While caution is necessary as this study was not able to consider public in-house funding and the methodological uncertainties could not be ruled out, the analysis may provide a snapshot of the limited alignment between publicly competitive disease-specific funding and the disease burden in the country. The results call for greater management over the allocation of scarce resources on health R&D. DALYs will serve as a crucial, but not the only, consideration in aligning Japan's research priorities with the public health needs. In addition, the algorithms for natural language processing used in this study require continued efforts to improve accuracy