The Forest Environment and the Production of the Forest Products in Modern Okayama Prefecture Research focusing on Lumber and Wood Charcoal

In order to reveal the environmental history of the forest in Okayama Prefecture in the modern period, this paper analyzes the production situation of the forest products in the scenery of the change of the forest environment. As a result, the following items were found out. 　After the Meiji period, Okayama Prefecture, which had been in middle or low-ranking as a position among the whole country as a place of production for lumber and wood charcoal, had produced forest products stably for a long term. The amounts of production of the forest products had gently increased after World War I in the background of the industrialization and urbanization until the early days of the Showa period. However, the situation had greatly changed when it entered World War II period, and the amount of production had increased remarkably up to the end of the war. 　In Okayama of the Meiji period, erosion control works was prosperous so as to be located thirdly on a budget in the whole country. Therefore, there was the problem of“ Hageyama”, the bald mountain in Japanese, from early modern period. A remarkable increase in production of lumber and wood charcoal is confirmed for the wartime period around 1930, and this is thought to have pushed forward more forest dilapidation by statistics data. It was limited during the period of 10 ⊖ 20 years that excessive production was carried out. Since the forest conservation project was to increase the effect, now that 70 years after the war has passed, the forest is looking at a sufficiently recovered. 　However, it is in condition that the forest was left untreated and is hard to say that the function of the public benefit that the forest has been shown continuously now. Based on the actual situation in the times while the production activities of forest products were carried out actively, drawing the future vision of forest will be necessary

Serotonin-containing nerve fibers in the rat spinal cord: electron microscopic immunohistochemistry.

The ultrastructure of the serotonin (5HT) system in the spinal cord of rats was studied by an immunohistochemical peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) method. Under the light microscope, 5HT immunoreactive staining was observed as brown-colored dots in the anterior horn, lateral horn, posterior horn and pericentral canal region. These positively staining dots were probably indicative of 5HT immunoreactive varicosities and nerve terminals. At the ultrastructural level, 5HT immunoreactive nerve fibers appeared as darkly stained varicosities with PAP positive large electron dense vesicles (80-100 nm), as well as small clear vesicles (30-40 nm) finely coated with PAP immunoreactive products. In the anterior horn, some of the 5HT immunoreactive structures were clearly nerve terminals forming asymmetric synaptic contact with soma or dendrites of the anterior horn cells. In the lateral horn, posterior horn and pericentral canal region, however, only 5HT positive varicosities were detected.</p

Nagasaki Schizophrenia Study : Outcome of a 15-year Follow-up of an Incident Cohort

The Nagasaki World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Mental Health conducted the WHO Coordinated Multi-Center Study of the Long-term Course and Outcome of Schizophrenia as a part of the International Study on Schizophrenia (ISoS). The study used 107 patients who were initially diagnosed as having ICD-9 schizophrenia for the WHO Collaborative Study on the Determinants of Outcome of Severe Mental Disorders (DOSMeD). Subjects were first collected in 1979-1980 for an incidence study of schizophrenia in Nagasaki. In this 15-yearfollow- up study, 7 subjects died, 43 subjects were lost to follow-up and 57 were successfully traced. Among the 7 death cases, 4 suicides were confirmed and 1 was suspected. During the 15-year period, 25 (44%) of the 57 living subjects displayed continuous psychotic course type schizophrenia. During the last 2 years, 14 (25%) were not psychotic ; 31 (54%) were continuously psychotic. Global Assessment of Functioning Scale for Symptomatology (GAF-S) indicated symptomatological outcomes : 16 (28%) had severe symptoms (GAF-S70). Social outcome was evaluated using the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale for Disability (GAF-D): 28 (49%) showed poor adjustment (GAF-D70). The overall time trend was almost evenly divided in thirds : 20 (35%) were getting better, 18 (32%) were the same and 19 (33%) were worse. The present study showed that the outcome of schizophrenia is not always poor, although some patients display a continuous course and poor outcome

Extensive expansion and diversification of the chemokine gene family in zebrafish: Identification of a novel chemokine subfamily CX

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The chemokine family plays important roles in cell migration and activation. In humans, at least 44 members are known. Based on the arrangement of the four conserved cysteine residues, chemokines are now classified into four subfamilies, CXC, CC, XC and CX3C. Given that zebrafish is an important experimental model and teleost fishes constitute an evolutionarily diverse group that forms half the vertebrate species, it would be useful to compare the zebrafish chemokine system with those of mammals. Prior to this study, however, only incomplete lists of the zebrafish chemokine genes were reported.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We systematically searched chemokine genes in the zebrafish genome and EST databases, and identified more than 100 chemokine genes. These genes were CXC, CC and XC subfamily members, while no CX3C gene was identified. We also searched chemokine genes in pufferfish fugu and <it>Tetraodon</it>, and found only 18 chemokine genes in each species. The majority of the identified chemokine genes are unique to zebrafish or teleost fishes. However, several groups of chemokines are moderately similar to human chemokines, and some chemokines are orthologous to human homeostatic chemokines CXCL12 and CXCL14. Zebrafish also possesses a novel species-specific subfamily consisting of five members, which we term the CX subfamily. The CX chemokines lack one of the two N-terminus conserved cysteine residues but retain the third and the fourth ones. (Note that the XC subfamily only retains the second and fourth of the signature cysteines residues.) Phylogenetic analysis and genome organization of the chemokine genes showed that successive tandem duplication events generated the CX genes from the CC subfamily. Recombinant CXL-chr24a, one of the CX subfamily members on chromosome 24, showed marked chemotactic activity for carp leukocytes. The mRNA was expressed mainly during a certain period of the embryogenesis, suggesting its role in the zebrafish development.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The phylogenic and genomic organization analyses suggest that a substantial number of chemokine genes in zebrafish were generated by zebrafish-specific tandem duplication events. During such duplications, a novel chemokine subfamily termed CX was generated in zebrafish. Only two human chemokines CXCL12 and CXCL14 have the orthologous chemokines in zebrafish. The diversification observed in the numbers and sequences of chemokines in the fish may reflect the adaptation of the individual species to their respective biological environment.</p

Pathway to psychiatric care in Japan: A multicenter observational study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study examines pathways to psychiatric care in Japan using the same method as the collaborative study carried out in 1991 under the auspices of the World Health Organization.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirteen psychiatric facilities in Japan were involved. Of the 228 patients who contacted psychiatric facilities with any psychiatric illness, eighty four visiting psychiatric facilities for the first time were enrolled. Pathways to psychiatric care, delays from the onset of illness to treatment prior to reaching psychiatrists were surveyed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty three patients (39.4%) directly accessed mental health professionals, 32 patients (38.1%) reached them via general hospital, and 13 patients (15.5%) via private practitioners. The patients who consulted mental health professionals as their first carers took a longer time before consulting psychiatrists than the patients who consulted non-mental health professionals as their first carers. The patients who presented somatic symptoms as their main problem experienced longer delay from the onset of illness to psychiatric care than the patients who complained about depressive or anxiety symptoms. Prior to the visit to mental health professionals, patients were rarely informed about their diagnosis and did not receive appropriate treatments from their physicians. Private practitioners were more likely to prescribe psychotropics than physicians in general hospitals, but were less likely to inform their patients of their diagnosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This first pathway to psychiatric care study in Japan demonstrated that referral pathway in Japan heavily relies on medical resources. The study indicates possible fields and gives indications, underlining the importance of improving skills and knowledge that will facilitate the recognition of psychiatric disorders presenting with somatic and depressive symptoms in the general health care system and by private practitioners.</p