ARICA: Demonstration of a Real-time Gamma-Ray Bursts Alert System using the Commercial Satellite Networks

We demonstrate the real-time alert system of the transient astronomical sources such as cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) using two commercial satellite network devices. One is the Iridium’s Short Burst Data (SBD) and the other is the Globalstar’s STX-3. Although these satellite communication devices have been used in the space environment, it still needs to verify whether the network can be used as a GRB alert system. We are currently developing a 1U CubeSat called AGU Remote Innovative CubeSat Alert system (ARICA) which contains both SBD and STX-3 to demonstrate the real-time GRB alert system. The ARICA has been selected as the JAXA Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-2 and scheduled to be launched in the Japanese fiscal year 2021

Flight Model Development of the AGU Remote Innovative CubeSat Alert System - ARICA

We present the flight model development of the 1U CubeSat, AGU Remote Innovative CubeSat Alert system (ARICA), which is scheduled to be launched in the Japanese fiscal year 2021 as the JAXA Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-2 project. The main goal of ARICA is to demonstrate the real-time alert system of the transient astronomical sources using commercial satellite network devices. The development of the flight components has been finished in April 2021. The thermal vacuum test was conducted at the end of April 2021. The vibration and shock tests were performed in May 2021. We are currently in the final stage of the development of ARICA to be ready for launch

カガク リョウホウカ 二 アル マッキ カンサイボウ ガン カンジャ ノ アエン ケツボウ

末期肝細胞癌患者では栄養状態の悪化が多く見られ,これは予後を左右する重要な因子である。化学療法目的で入院した 33名の IV 期肝細胞癌患者で,食事摂取状況と臨床検査データとの関連を調べた。血清中の直接ビリルビン,間接ビリルビン,LDH, AST, ALT, ALP, アルブミン,CRP, AFP さらに入院中の平均食事摂取率,食事摂取量,摂取エネルギー量,摂取食塩相当量,鉄摂取量,亜鉛摂取量,ビタミンK 摂取量および年齢を変数として重相関分析を行った。食事摂取率に影響を及ぼしているものは CRP と AFP であり,CRP に影響を及ぼしているものは亜鉛摂取量であった。亜鉛摂取量に影響を及ぼしているものは CRP と AFP であり,亜鉛摂取量はアルブミンにも影響を及ぼしていた。以上の結果から,亜鉛欠乏は本病状と深い関係があることを示しており,これらの患者においてこの問題を改善することが必要と考える。Malnutrition frequently occurs in end-stage hepatocellular carcinoma patients, and can influence survival in the patients. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationships between clinical and dietary indices in the patients. The clinical data of 33 patients affected by hepatocellular carcinoma (stage IV) who had been hospitalized to receive chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. A multiple regression analysis was performed based on the blood data (albumin, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, AST, ALT, LDH, ALP, -fetoprotein, and C-reactive protein) and the mean values of daily dietary indices (intake rate, dietary intake, energy intake, NaCl intake, iron intake, zinc intake, and vitamin K intake) during hospitalization. Both the intake rate and the zinc intake were significantly correlated with the C-reactive protein and -fetoprotein levels, while the albumin level was significantly correlated with the zinc intake and the ALT level. These results showed that zinc deficiency is correlated with a relatively poor prognosis. Thus, it is necessary to improve the problem in the affected patients

Combined immunohistochemistry of β-catenin, cytokeratin 7, and cytokeratin 20 is useful in discriminating primary lung adenocarcinomas from metastatic colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: It is important to discriminate between primary and secondary lung cancer. However, often, the discriminating diagnosis of primary lung acinar adenocarcinoma and lung metastasis of colorectal cancer based on morphological and pathological findings is difficult. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of immunohistochemistry of β-catenin, cytokeratin (CK) 7, and CK20 for the discriminating diagnosis of lung cancer. METHODS: We performed immunohistochemistry of β-catenin, CK7, and CK20 in 19 lung metastasis of colorectal cancer samples, 10 corresponding primary colorectal cancer samples and 11 primary lung acinar adenocarcinoma samples and compared the levels of accuracy of the discriminating diagnosis by using antibodies against these antigens. RESULTS: Positive staining of β-catenin was observed in all the lung metastasis of colorectal cancer samples as well as in the primary colorectal cancer samples but in none of the primary lung acinar adenocarcinoma samples. Positive staining of CK7 was observed in 90.9% of the primary lung acinar adenocarcinoma samples and in 5.3% of the lung metastasis of colorectal cancer samples, but in none of the primary colorectal cancer samples. Positive staining of CK20 was observed in all the primary colorectal cancer samples and in 84.2% of the lung metastasis of colorectal cancer samples, but in none of the primary lung acinar adenocarcinoma samples. CONCLUSION: Combined immunohistochemistry of β-catenin, CK7, and CK20 is useful for making a discriminating diagnosis between lung metastasis of colorectal cancer and primary lung acinar adenocarcinoma. This method will enable accurate diagnosis of a lung tumor and will be useful for selecting appropriate therapeutic strategies, including chemotherapeutic agents and operation methods

Research Activities in the Department of Nursing

Research activity at the Department of Nursing is overviewed from the point of research topics, the theme of the projects admitted for grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of Japan, and expected research topics, trying to clarify the needs and challenges of the Department from multilateral aspects in future research activities. The Department of Nursing, Aino University is currently divided into the five areas and further into 12 fields. On the other hand, according to the Scientific Research Grant Program (2015 fiscal year), the research topics in nursing science is subdivided into the five areas; a) basic nursing, b) clinical nursing, c) lifelong developmental nursing, d) elderly nursing, and e) community health nursing

The Restorative Effects of Eucommia ulmoides Oliver Leaf Extract on Vascular Function in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. leaf is a traditional Chinese antihypertensive and antidiabetic medicine. We examined the effects of chronic Eucommia leaf extract (ELE) administration on artery function and morphology in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). ELE was orally administered via normal diet ad libitum to six-week-old male SHRs at a concentration of 5% for seven weeks. Acetylcholine (ACh)-induced endothelium-dependent relaxation, sodium nitroprusside (SNP)-induced endothelium-independent relaxation, plasma nitric oxide (NO) levels, and media thickness were assessed. ELE significantly improved ACh-induced aortic endothelium-dependent relaxation but did not affect SNP-induced endothelium-independent relaxation in the SHRs, as compared to the animals receiving normal diet. Plasma NO levels and media thickness were significantly increased and decreased, respectively, in the ELE-treated SHRs. Therefore, long-term ELE administration may effectively improve vascular function by increasing plasma NO levels and bioavailability, and by preventing vascular hypertrophy in the SHR aorta

Quality of Systematic Reviews of the Foods with Function Claims in Japan: Comparative Before- and After-Evaluation of Verification Reports by the Consumer Affairs Agency

Background: In Japan, a new type of foods with health claims, called Foods with Function Claims (FFC), was introduced in April 2015 in order to make more products available that are clearly labeled with certain health functions. Regarding substantiating product effectiveness, scientific evidence for the proposed function claims must be explained by systematic reviews (SRs), but the quality of SRs was not clear. The objectives of this review were to assess the quality of SRs based on the FFC registered on the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) website in Japan, and to determine whether the CAA’s verification report in 2016 was associated with improvement in the quality of SRs. Methods: We evaluated the reporting quality of each SR by the AMSTAR checklist on methodological quality. We searched the database from 1 April to 31 October 2015 as the before-SR and from 1 July 2017 to 31 January 2018 as the after-SR. Results: Among the 104 SRs reviewed, 96 final products were included: 51 (53.1%) were supplements, 42 (43.8%) were processed foods without supplements, and 3 (3.1%) were fresh foods. Of the 104 SRs, 92 (88.5%) were qualitative reviews (i.e., without meta-analysis) and 12 (11.5%) performed a meta-analysis. The average quality score of before-SRs and after-SRs was 6.2 ± 1.8 and 5.0 ± 1.9, respectively, a statistically significant decrease (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Overall, the methodology and reporting quality of after-SRs based on the FFC were poorer than those of before-SRs. In particular, there were very poor descriptions and/or implementations of study selection and data extraction, search strategy, evaluation methods for risk of bias, assessment of publication bias, and formulating conclusions based on methodological rigor and scientific quality of the included studies

A Cross-Sectional Study Based on Forty Systematic Reviews of Foods with Function Claims (FFC) in Japan: Quality Assessment Using AMSTAR 2

Background: The Foods with Function Claims (FFC) was introduced in Japan in April 2015 to make more products available that are labeled with health functions. The products’ functionality of function claims must be explained by scientific evidence presented in systematic reviews (SRs), but the quality of recent SRs is unclear. This study assessed the quality of SRs in the FFC registered on the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) website in Japan. Methods: We searched the database from 1 April to 31 October 2022. Confidence in the methodological quality of each SR was evaluated by the AMSTAR 2 checklist. Results: Forty SRs were randomly extracted on the basis of the eligibility criteria and recruitment procedures. Overall confidence was rated as “high” (N = 0, 0%), “moderate” (N = 0, 0%), “low” (N = 2, 5%), or “critically low” (N = 38, 95%). The mean AMSTAR 2 score was 51.1% (SD 12.1%; range 19–73%). Among the 40 SRs, the number of critical domain deficiencies was 4 in 7.5% of SRs, 3 in 52.5% of SRs, 2 in 35% of SRs, and 1 in 5% of SRs. Registering the review’s protocol and comprehensive search strategies were particularly common deficiencies. Additionally, the risk of bias (RoB) was insufficiently considered. Conclusion: Overall, the methodological quality of the SRs based on the FFC, introduced eight years earlier, was very poor. This was especially true in the interpretation and discussion of critical domains, which had many deficiencies in terms of protocol registration, a comprehensive literature search strategy, and accounting for the RoB