Estimating Annual Available Amounts of Forest Biomass Resources with Total Revenues and Costs during the 60-Year Rotation in a Mountainous Region in Japan

This study extracted production forests and estimated the annual available amounts of forest biomass resources under profitable forest management. Production forests were extracted as sub-compartments where expected revenues surpassed all costs, from planting to final harvesting, for a 60-year rotation. These revenues and costs were estimated for two types of timber harvesting systems (a conventional operation system using a chainsaw and mini-forwarder, and a mechanized operation system using a processor and forwarder) and three types of forest biomass harvesting systems (normal extraction, landing sales, and no biomass extraction) in each sub-compartment using a geographic information system. Then, annual available amounts of forest biomass resources were estimated on the basis of annual supply potentials from production forests. The model was then applied to Nasushiobara City and the Kanuma area in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. As a result, the number of profitable sub-compartments was estimated as 2,814 out of a total of 5,756 in Nasushiobara City, and 22,872 out of a total of 32,851 in the Kanuma area. The annual amounts of available forest biomass resources were estimated as 11,849 m3 y–1 and 115,213 m3 y–1 in Nasushiobara City and the Kanuma area, respectively. These amounts largely exceed the annual demands of a 500 kW woody biomass power generation plant planned in Nasushiobara City (6,000 m3 y–1) and a chip production factory located in the Kanuma area (12,000 m3 y–1), respectively. €1 = 143 yen on March 13, 201

Htr2a-Expressing Cells in the Central Amygdala Control the Hierarchy between Innate and Learned Fear

SummaryFear is induced by innate and learned mechanisms involving separate pathways. Here, we used an olfactory-mediated innate-fear versus learned-fear paradigm to investigate how these pathways are integrated. Notably, prior presentation of innate-fear stimuli inhibited learned-freezing response, but not vice versa. Whole-brain mapping and pharmacological screening indicated that serotonin-2A receptor (Htr2a)-expressing cells in the central amygdala (CeA) control both innate and learned freezing, but in opposing directions. In vivo fiber photometry analyses in freely moving mice indicated that innate but not learned-fear stimuli suppressed the activity of Htr2a-expressing CeA cells. Artificial inactivation of these cells upregulated innate-freezing response and downregulated learned-freezing response. Thus, Htr2a-expressing CeA cells serve as a hierarchy generator, prioritizing innate fear over learned fear

Blood Flow Restriction Increases the Neural Activation of the Knee Extensors During Very Low-Intensity Leg Extension Exercise in Cardiovascular Patients:A Pilot Study

Blood flow restriction (BFR) has the potential to augment muscle activation, which underlies strengthening and hypertrophic effects of exercise on skeletal muscle. We quantified the effects of BFR on muscle activation in the rectus femoris (RF), the vastus lateralis (VL), and the vastus medialis (VM) in concentric and eccentric contraction phases of low-intensity (10% and 20% of one repetition maximum) leg extension in seven cardiovascular patients who performed leg extension in four conditions: at 10% and 20% intensities with and without BFR. Each condition consisted of three sets of 30 trials with 30 s of rest between sets and 5 min of rest between conditions. Electromyographic activity (EMG) from RF, VL, and VM for 30 repetitions was divided into blocks of 10 trials and averaged for each block in each muscle. At 10% intensity, BFR increased EMG of all muscles across the three blocks in both concentric and eccentric contraction phases. At 20% intensity, EMG activity in response to BFR tended to not to increase further than what it was at 10% intensity. We concluded that very low 10% intensity exercise with BFR may maximize the benefits of BFR on muscle activation and minimize exercise burden on cardiovascular patients

An aberrant sugar modification of BACE1 blocks its lysosomal targeting in Alzheimer\u27s disease

The β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme-1 (BACE1), an essential protease for the generation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide, is a major drug target for Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD). However, there is a concern that inhibiting BACE1 could also affect several physiological functions. Here, we show that BACE1 is modified with bisecting N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), a sugar modification highly expressed in brain, and demonstrate that AD patients have higher levels of bisecting GlcNAc on BACE1. Analysis of knockout mice lacking the biosynthetic enzyme for bisecting GlcNAc, GnT-III (Mgat3), revealed that cleavage of Aβ-precursor protein (APP) by BACE1 is reduced in these mice, resulting in a decrease in Aβ plaques and improved cognitive function. The lack of this modification directs BACE1 to late endosomes/lysosomes where it is less colocalized with APP, leading to accelerated lysosomal degradation. Notably, other BACE1 substrates, CHL1 and contactin-2, are normally cleaved in GnT-III-deficient mice, suggesting that the effect of bisecting GlcNAc on BACE1 is selective to APP. Considering that GnT-III-deficient mice remain healthy, GnT-III may be a novel and promising drug target for AD therapeutics

Involvement of the Precuneus/Posterior Cingulate Cortex Is Significant for the Development of Alzheimer’s Disease: A PET (THK5351, PiB) and Resting fMRI Study

Background: Imaging studies in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have yet to answer the underlying questions concerning the relationship among tau retention, neuroinflammation, network disruption and cognitive decline. We compared the spatial retention patterns of 18F-THK5351 and resting state network (RSN) disruption in patients with early AD and healthy controls.Methods: We enrolled 23 11C-Pittsburgh compound B (PiB)-positive patients with early AD and 24 11C-PiB-negative participants as healthy controls. All participants underwent resting state functional MRI and 18F-THK5351 PET scans. We used scaled subprofile modeling/principal component analysis (SSM/PCA) to reduce the complexity of multivariate data and to identify patterns that exhibited the largest statistical effects (variances) in THK5351 concentration in AD and healthy controls.Findings: SSM/PCA identified a significant spatial THK5351 pattern composed by mainly three clusters including precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), right and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) which accounted for 23.6% of the total subject voxel variance of the data and had 82.6% sensitivity and 79.1% specificity in discriminating AD from healthy controls. There was a significant relationship between the intensity of the 18F-THK5351 covariation pattern and cognitive scores in AD. The spatial patterns of 18F-THK5351 uptake showed significant similarity with intrinsic functional connectivity, especially in the PCC network. Seed-based connectivity analysis from the PCC showed significant decrease in connectivity over widespread brain regions in AD patients. An evaluation of an autopsied AD patient with Braak V showed that 18F-THK5351 retention corresponded to tau deposition, monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) and astrogliosis in the precuneus/PCC.Interpretation: We identified an AD-specific spatial pattern of 18F-THK5351 retention in the precuneus/PCC, an important connectivity hub region in the brain. Disruption of the functional connections of this important network hub may play an important role in developing dementia in AD

Dietary Studies of Growing Periods in Japan (Part 2) : Fat Soluble Components Intake within a Day in Elementary School Children

成人病予防の視点から,より効果的な栄養教育のあり方を検討する一端として,学童期後半の食生活指導に資するために,1日の脂溶性成分摂取量の各食事への配分の実態把握を試みた。新潟県内の小学校5年生50名(平均年齢11.0±0.2歳)を対象に,次の結果を得た。(1)日内配分比は,コレステロールのみ(37.7%)が朝食で,飽和脂肪酸(44.0%)と一価不飽和脂肪酸・n-6系脂肪酸(共に35.4%)が昼食で,多価不飽和脂肪酸特にイコサペンタエン酸(52.4%)とn-3系脂肪酸(46.2%)が夕食で,各々最高値を示した。(2)間食を除く3食のうち,朝食の配分比(23.2±6.8%)が最も低く,その変動係数(52.3±46.5%)は最も高かった。対照的に夕食の配分比(36.6±9.0)は最も高く,その変動係数(35.2±10.0%)は最も低かった。(3)成人病予防の視点から,夕食の優位性がP/S比(1.38±0.52),S:M:Pの比(1:1.5:1.2),n-6/n-3比(3.6±1.8)などの脂質栄養指標の面から,概観できた

Ethnic comparison in takotsubo syndrome : novel insights from the International Takotsubo Registry

© The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Background: Ethnic disparities have been reported in cardiovascular disease. However, ethnic disparities in takotsubo syndrome (TTS) remain elusive. This study assessed differences in clinical characteristics between Japanese and European TTS patients and determined the impact of ethnicity on in-hospital outcomes. Methods: TTS patients in Japan were enrolled from 10 hospitals and TTS patients in Europe were enrolled from 32 hospitals participating in the International Takotsubo Registry. Clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes were compared between Japanese and European patients. Results: A total of 503 Japanese and 1670 European patients were included. Japanese patients were older (72.6 ± 11.4 years vs. 68.0 ± 12.0 years; p < 0.001) and more likely to be male (18.5 vs. 8.4%; p < 0.001) than European TTS patients. Physical triggering factors were more common (45.5 vs. 32.0%; p < 0.001), and emotional triggers less common (17.5 vs. 31.5%; p < 0.001), in Japanese patients than in European patients. Japanese patients were more likely to experience cardiogenic shock during the acute phase (15.5 vs. 9.0%; p < 0.001) and had a higher in-hospital mortality (8.2 vs. 3.2%; p < 0.001). However, ethnicity itself did not appear to have an impact on in-hospital mortality. Machine learning approach revealed that the presence of physical stressors was the most important prognostic factor in both Japanese and European TTS patients. Conclusion: Differences in clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes between Japanese and European TTS patients exist. Ethnicity does not impact the outcome in TTS patients. The worse in-hospital outcome in Japanese patients, is mainly driven by the higher prevalence of physical triggers.Open Access funding provided by Universität Zürich. CT has been supported by the H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al-Thani Research Programme and the Swiss Heart Foundation. L.S.M. has been supported by EU HORIZON 2020 (SILICOFCM ID777204). J.R.G has received a grant “Filling the gap” from the University of Zurich. The InterTAK Registry is supported by The Biss Davies Charitable Trust.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio