family members and health-related behaviors

The aim of this study was to clarify the associations of family members living together with health-related behaviors in Japanese young workers. The participants were 300 men and women aged 20-39 years in 2015 who had a job. A web-based self-administered questionnaire on status of partnering and parenting, number of family members living together, dietary habits, drinking habit, smoking habit, self-rated health, employment status, working time and commuting time was conducted through Internet. Multiple logistic regression analysis and general linear models were used to assess the association of family members living together with health-related behaviors. The multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval, p-value) for current drinking in unmarried participants living with their parents compared to unmarried participants living alone was 0.35 (0.13-0.93, p=0.036). The adjusted means of frequency of breakfast skipping and frequency of eating out showed a trend for inverse associations with the presence of a partner and children. However, those associations disappeared after adjustment for age of youngest child. The findings suggest that the presence of parents might affect drinking behavior and that age of youngest child living together might affect the frequency of breakfast skipping in young Japanese workers

効果のある英語授業での活動の繰り返し: ICT機器を利用した振り返りと分析

金沢大学人間社会学域学校教育学類対話を繰り返すことが、英語でのコミュニケーション力を向上させる上でどう効果があるかを解明するため、昨年度から受け持つ本校2年生を対象に、実際の英語の授業で1対1の対話活動をした。①帯活動(ODP)②教科書の基本対話を変えた創作対話③起こりうる場面を想定した対話の授業と、原稿を書かない即興対話を繰り返した。平成30年度は、都合により4月から7月まで実施した。①は、1年生で40秒から始め2年生では60秒の対話を毎日全員が継続できた。②は、教科書の2回のやり取りを1年生では3回、2年生では4回を全員ができ、徐々に表現豊かな対話が見られるようになった。③は、総合学習「金沢フィールドワーク」で外国人観光客に課外インタビューしたことを想起し、『外国人観光客とのインタビューで金沢の魅力をさらに伝えるには? 』という課題で、2人に1台のICレコーダーを使い対話を3回繰り返した。授業後の感想では「外国人から質問を返される場合にそなえてODPで鍛えていきたい」「フィールドワークでできなかったことを授業で解決できた。授業の最初は会話が続かなかったが、最後は時間いっぱい(90秒)話ができた。機会があればまた試したい。」などの意見があった。他の成果として、学年全員実施の英検IBAの結果がある。1年生(156名)の12月に実施のリスニング問題の正答率は63%(R : リーディング61%)、2年生(157名)の7月では69%(R72%)と、いずれもリスニングの正答率が高かった。同IBAの英検レベル判定では、約半年間で2級(6人←4人)準2級(54人←15人)3級(70人←89人)4級(23人←45人)5級(4人←3人)と変化した。また、2年生7月で3級以上の生徒は130人(83%)に、準2級以上の生徒の割合が半年間で60人(38%)に達した。研究中断後は、対話の繰り返しで対話がどう変化するかをさらに分析する。研究課題/領域番号:18H00006, 研究期間(年度):201

Maternal circulating leukocytes display early chemotactic responsiveness during late gestation

Abstract Background Parturition has been widely described as an immunological response; however, it is unknown how this is triggered. We hypothesized that an early event in parturition is an increased responsiveness of peripheral leukocytes to chemotactic stimuli expressed by reproductive tissues, and this precedes expression of tissue chemotactic activity, uterine activation and the systemic progesterone/estradiol shift. Methods Tissues and blood were collected from pregnant Long-Evans rats on gestational days (GD) 17, 20 and 22 (term gestation). We employed a validated Boyden chamber assay, flow cytometry, quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Results We found that GD20 maternal peripheral leukocytes migrated more than those from GD17 when these were tested with GD22 uterus and cervix extracts. Leukocytes on GD20 also displayed a significant increase in chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (Ccl2) gene expression and this correlated with an increase in peripheral granulocyte proportions and a decrease in B cell and monocyte proportions. Tissue chemotactic activity and specific chemokines (CCL2, chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 1/CXCL1, and CXCL10) were mostly unchanged from GD17 to GD20 and increased only on GD22. CXCL10 peaked on GD20 in cervical tissues. As expected, prostaglandin F2α receptor and oxytocin receptor gene expression increased dramatically between GD20 and 22. Progesterone concentrations fell and estradiol-17β concentrations increased in peripheral serum, cervical and uterine tissue extracts between GD20 and 22. Conclusion Maternal circulating leukocytes display early chemotactic responsiveness, which leads to their infiltration into the uterus where they may participate in the process of parturition

validity of dietary diversity

The validity of dietary variety score (DVS) using a short-form questionnaire has not been investigated using dietary diversity based on a quantitative distribution of consumed foods in older Japanese. We examined the association between DVS and objective dietary diversity using a Quantitative Index for Dietary Diversity (QUANTIDD) based on the quantitative distribution of foods consumed by older Japanese community dwellers. The subjects were 65 older Japanese community dwellers aged 60–79 years. We used two kinds of scores for assessment of dietary diversity. At first, dietary diversity was determined using DVS calculated from answers to a questionnaire about frequencies of intake of 10 food groups. Second, dietary intake was assessed using a 3-day dietary record with photographs, and dietary diversity was determined using QUANTIDD. The relationships between DVS and QUANTIDD were assessed using partial correlation coefficients controlling for confounders. The correlation coefficient between DVS and QUANTIDD was moderate (r = 0.212-0.458). After controlling for confounders, those correlation coefficient between DVS and QUANTIDD remained moderate. The findings suggest that there was a moderate relationship between DVS and QUANTIDD, and DVS using a short-form questionnaire may be useful for assessing dietary diversity in older Japanese community dwellers

Spontaneous complete necrosis of hepatocellular carcinoma caused by feeding vessel occlusion outside the tumour capsule

A 64-year-old man began treatment for chronic hepatitis C with peg-interferon and ribavirin. His hepatitis C virus ribonucleic acid (HCV-RNA) results turned negative. Just after the treatment, a computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a hypovascular mass in the segment 8. We performed a right hemihepatectomy as HCC. Upon macroscopic examination, the tumour was yellow and firm with a fibrous capsule. A wedge-shaped necrotic area was located at the top of an artery and a portal vein of segment 8. Necrosis was observed not only in the tumour but in the adjacent parenchyma. A histopathological examination showed that the tumour had been completely replaced by necrosis. This tumour was surrounded by capillary vessels and fed by several thick arteries, but organized thrombi were not detected. No viable cells were found. The histopathological diagnosis was a spontaneous complete necrosis of HCC caused by the occlusion of feeding vessels outside the capsule

Detailed analysis of distorted retinal and its interaction with surrounding residues in the K intermediate of bacteriorhodopsin

The K intermediate of proton pumping bacteriorhodopsin is the first intermediate generated after isomerization of retinal to the 13-cis form. Although various structures have been reported for the K intermediate until now, these differ from each other, especially in terms of the conformation of the retinal chromophore and its interaction with surrounding residues. We report here an accurate X-ray crystallographic analysis of the K structure. The polyene chain of 13-cis retinal is observed to be S-shaped. The side chain of Lys216, which is covalently bound to retinal via the Schiff-base linkage, interacts with residues, Asp85 and Thr89. In addition, the Nζ-H of the protonated Schiff-base linkage interacts with a residue, Asp212 and a water molecule, W402. Based on quantum chemical calculations for this K structure, we examine the stabilizing factors of distorted conformation of retinal and propose a relaxation manner to the next L intermediate

Comparison of six antibody assays and two combination assays for COVID-19

[Introduction] In this work, six SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody assays were evaluated, namely, two pan-immunoglobulin (pan-Ig) assays [Roche Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 (named "Elecsys" in this study) and the PerkinElmer SuperFlex™ Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Ab Assay (SuperFlex_Ab)], two IgM assays [SuperFlex™ Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM Assay (SuperFlex_IgM) and YHLO iFlash-SARS-CoV-2 IgM (iFlash_IgM)], and two IgG assays [SuperFlex™ Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG Assay (SuperFlex_IgG) and iFlash-SARS-CoV-2 IgG (iFlash_IgG)]. Combination assays of SuperFlex™ (SuperFlex_any) and iFlash (iFlash_any) were also evaluated. [Methods] A total of 438 residual serum samples from 54 COVID-19 patients in the COVID-19 group and 100 samples from individuals without evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the negative control group were evaluated. [Results] In the early stage of COVID-19 infection, within 14 days of symptom onset, the seropositive rate was lower than that of the late stage 15 days after onset (65.4% vs 99.6%). In the total period, the pan-Ig and IgG assays had higher sensitivity (90.8–95.3%) than the IgM assays (36.5–40.7%). SuperFlex_Ab and SuperFlex_any had higher sensitivity than Elecsys and SuperFlex_IgG (p < 0.05). The specificity of all the assays was 100%, except for SuperFlex_IgM (99.0%). The concordance rate between each assay was higher (96.4–100%) in the late stage than in the early stage (77.4–98.1%). [Conclusion] For the purpose of COVID-19 diagnosis, antibody testing should be performed 15 days after onset. For the purpose of epidemiological surveillance, highly sensitive assays should be used as much as possible, such as SuperFlex_Ab, iFlash_IgG and their combination. IgM assays were not suitable for these purposes