Talonavicular joint abnormalities and walking ability of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is often associated with deformities of the feet, and foot pain often arises in the talonavicular joint of patients with RA. The object of this study was to assess the relationship between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of the talonavicular joint and walking ability. The subjects were 35 RA patients (10 feet in 5 males and 56 feet in 30 females) aged 34-87 years (mean: 70 years +/- 12.1), with a disease duration from 1-54 years (mean: 14 years +/- 12.1). MRI findings were classified as follows: Grade 1, almost normal; Grade 2, early articular destruction; Grade 3, moderate articular destruction; Grade 4, severe articular destruction; and Grade 5, bony ankylosis dislocation. Walking ability was classified into one of 9 categories ranging from normal gait to bedridden status according to the system of Fujibayashi. As the grade of MRI images became higher the walking ability decreased, and these parameters showed a correlation by Spearman's rank correlation coefficient analysis (P = 0.003). Thus, in the present cohort group of patients with RA, the deterioration of walking ability increased with the severity of destruction of the talonavicular joint.</p

Eruption of a venous malformation through an iliac bone harvesting site after trauma

Harvesting grafts from the anterior iliac bone has been associated with various complications. A 50-year-old woman presented to our department with a chief complaint of right inguinal swelling and pain. Autologous bone grafts had been harvested on two previous occasions from the right anterior iliac crest for use in the reconstruction of multiple facial fractures. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a full-thickness bone defect in the right anterior iliac crest. A mass was noted in the right gluteus minimus, while a multilocular cystic mass extended from the right iliac crest defect to the right inguinal region. Both the inguinal mass and gluteal mass were removed under general anesthesia. Following histopathological analysis, the gluteal mass was diagnosed as a venous malformation(VM). Based on the patient’s clinical course, iliac bone graft harvesting and trauma to the gluteal region triggered hemorrhaging from the VM. Blood components leaked out from the fragile portion of the iliac bone defect, forming a cystic lesion that developed into the inguinal mass. In this case, a coincidental VM resulted in a rare complication of iliac bone graft harvesting. These sequelae could have been avoided by planning for more appropriate ways to collect the grafts

Seasonal change of Araskan snow cover, soil temperature and moisture - Observation of physical conditions for soil ecosystem study-

第3回極域科学シンポジウム/第35回極域気水圏シンポジウム 11月29日（木） 国立国語研究所 ２階ロビ

Cosmogenic beryllium 10 in ice cores and cosmic-ray stratigraphy

第2回極域科学シンポジウム　氷床コアセッション 11月16日（水） 国立極地研究所 2階大会議

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target