Suicide rates during social crises: Changes in the suicide rate in Japan after the Great East Japan earthquake and during the COVID-19 pandemic

We aimed to observe the changes in suicide rates after the Great East Japan Earthquake and during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as typical cases of social crises, in Japan. A descriptive epidemiological study was conducted using data on the number of deaths by suicide published by the National Police Agency. The suicide rate ratio during the crisis—the monthly suicide mortality rate in the year of the crisis divided by the average suicide mortality rate in the three years before the crisis—was used as the indicator. After the earthquake, in March 2011 the suicide rate was 18% lower than the average mortality rate for the previous three years. However, it increased by 18% in May and 8% in June; increased mortality was observed among women. The suicide rate began to decline after October 2011. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the suicide rate decreased from February to June 2020. The declines in April and May were significant at 20% and 18%, respectively. From July onwards, the suicide rate of women began to rise, and from October, the overall suicide also began to increase. The rise in female suicide rates was significant, especially in October, with an increase of 70%. Thus, during these crises, suicide rates fell temporarily but then rose, especially among women. The period of increase in suicide rates was longer during the COVID-19 pandemic than after the earthquake. Therefore, there is an urgent need to promote measures for suicide prevention currently, and during a future crisis

Hemodynamic Analysis of a Microanastomosis Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

[Background] Technical issues in free flap transfer, such as the selection of recipient vessels and the positioning and method of anastomosis of the vascular pedicle, have been the subject of vigorous debate. Recent developments in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) have enabled the analysis of blood flow within microvessels. In this study, CFD was used to analyze hemodynamics in a microanastomosis. [Methods] In the fluid calculation process, the fluid domain modelizes microvessels with anastomosis. The inlet flow conditions were measured as venous waveform, and the fluid is simulated as blood. Streamlines (SL), wall shear stress (WSS), and oscillatory shear index (OSI) at the anastomosis were visualized and analyzed for observing effects from the flow field. [Results] Some flow disruption was evident as the SL passed over the sutures. The maximum recorded WSS was 13.37 Pa where the peak of a suture was exposed in the lumen. The local maximum value of the OSI was 0.182, recorded at the base of the anastomosis on the outflow side. [Conclusion] In the ideal anastomosis, the SL is disrupted as little as possible by the sutures. The WSS indicated that thrombus formation is unlikely to occur at suture peaks, but more likely to occur at the base of sutures, where the OSI is high. Tight suture knots are important in microanastomosis

Immunological detection of D-β-aspartate-containing protein in lens-derived cell lines

Alpha-crystallin is the major protein of the mammalian lens and its average molecular weight is approximately 800 kDa. It is composed of two kinds of structurally and functionally related polypeptides, αA-and αB-crystallin subunits, each with a molecular weight of 20 kDa Recently, we prepared a polyclonal antibody against peptide Gly-Leu-D-β-Asp-Ala-Thr-Gly-Leu-D-β-Asp-Ala-ThrGly-Leu-D-β-Asp-Ala-Thr (anti-peptide 3R antibody) that corresponded to three repeats of positions 149-153 in human αA-crystallin [11]. This antibody cross-reacted specifically with D-β-Asp-151-containing αA-crystallin. Because formation of D-Asp is accompanied by isomerization to form the β-Asp (isoaspartate) residue, three isomers of Asp residues, L-β-Asp, D-α-Asp and D-β-Asp isomers, are formed in the protein Cell culture systems are used widely for the analysis of cellular functions related to particular organ systems. For lens research, it is of particular interest to find conditions that reflect the situation within this organ. In order to establish whether the D-β-Asp-containing protein is present in cultured lens cells, we cultured two cell lines, αTN4-1 and N/N1003A, which are commonly used in lens research Conclusions: The results indicate that the N/N1003A cell line expressed a 50 kDa D-β-Asp-containing protein, which may share a common amino acid sequence with αA-and αB-crystallin

Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Inhibitors Permit Regulatory T Cell Reconstitution and Inhibit Experimental Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remains a major late complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). In a previous study, impaired thymic negative selection of the recipients permitted the emergence of pathogenic T cells that cause chronic GVHD using MHC class II-deficient (H2-Ab1 KO) B6 into OH model and CD4(+) T cells isolated from chronic GVHD mice caused chronic GVHD when administered into the secondary recipients. In this study, we evaluated the kinetics of regulatory T cell (Treg) reconstitution in wild type B6 into C3H model. After myeloablative conditioning, host Tregs disappeared rapidly, followed by expansion of Tregs derived from the donor splenic T cell inoculum. However, the donor splenic T cell derived Treg pool contracted gradually and was almost completely replaced by newly generated donor bone marrow (BM)-derived Tregs in the late post-transplantation period. Next, we compared the effects of cyclosporine (CSA) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors on Treg reconstitution. Administration of CSA significantly impaired Treg reconstitution in the spleen and thymus. In contrast, BM-derived Treg reconstitution was not impaired in mTOR inhibitor-treated mice. Histopathological examination indicated that mice treated with GSA, but not mTOR inhibitors, showed pathogenic features of chronic GVHD on day 120. Mice treated with CSA until day 60, but not mTOR inhibitors, developed severe chronic GVHD followed by adoptive transfer of the pathogenic CD4(+) T cells isolated from H2-Ab1 KO into C3H model. These findings indicated that long-term use of CSA impairs reconstitution of BM-derived Tregs and increases the liability to chronic GVHD. The choice of immunosuppression, such as calcineurin inhibitor-free GVHD prophylaxis with mTOR inhibitor, may have important implications for the control of chronic GVHD after BMT

モウサイカンチュウ ノ チョウリュウドウ ヘリウム ノ ネツ デンタツ

We have measured the heat transfer in superfluid helium in a glass capillary tube. Heat supplied to the one end of the tube produces a thermal counterflow in the tube. The temperature difference (ΔT) across the tube was measured using a thermocouple (Au(0.03%Fe)-Nb Ii) and a SQUID detector. The obtained values of the vortex line density coefficint (γ) in the fully developed turbulent region (the second turbulent region) agree with the values calculated by Schwarz and also other authors. We observed a large peak of the relaxation time of the temperature difference at the first turbulent-second turbulent transition. This peak clearly distinguish the second turbulent from the first turbulent. The fluctuations of the temperature difference was observed at the turbulent-laminar transition. From the amplitude of the fluctuation we could determined the minimum vortex line density (critical line density) in a turbulent superfluid. Its temperature dependence is considered to be influenced by the normalfluid velosity

Efficient screening of long terminal repeat retrotransposons that show high insertion polymorphism via high-throughput sequencing of the primer binding site

Retrotransposons have been used frequently for the development of molecular markers by using their insertion polymorphisms among cultivars, because multiple copies of these elements are dispersed throughout the genome and inserted copies are inherited genetically. Although a large number of long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposon families exist in the higher eukaryotic genomes, the identification of families that show high insertion polymorphism has been challenging. Here, we performed an efficient screening of these retrotransposon families using an Illumina HiSeq2000 sequencing platform with comprehensive LTR library construction based on the primer binding site (PBS), which is located adjacent to the 5′ LTR and has a motif that is universal and conserved among LTR retrotransposon families. The paired-end sequencing library of the fragments containing a large number of LTR sequences and their insertion sites was sequenced for seven strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duchesne) cultivars and one diploid wild species (Fragaria vesca L.). Among them, we screened 24 families with a “unique” insertion site that appeared only in one cultivar and not in any others, assuming that this type of insertion should have occurred quite recently. Finally, we confirmed experimentally the selected LTR families showed high insertion polymorphisms among closely related cultivars