Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Associated Factors in Teachers of Physically and Intellectually Disabled Pupils

Teachers in schools for physically and intellectually disabled pupils are assumed to have a risk of developing usculoskeletal disorders including the cervicobrachial and lower back regions. To date, however, studies concerning these issues are extremely limited. The present study aimed at clarifying the magnitude of the musculoskeletal disorders among the teachers, its work-relatedness and associated factors. First, we conducted self-administered questionnaires and medical checkups simultaneously for 126 female nursery school nurses to ascertain the validity of questions and answer options which we developed for epidemiologic research. Questions "haveyou had any pain or stiffness in your neck, shoulders or arms in the past month?" and "have you had any pain or stiffness in your lower back?", and an answer option "almost all day, everyday" were found to correlate well with the results of clinical examinations and difficulties in daily activities. Secondly, we analyzed self-administered questionnaires of 975 teachers working for physically and intellectually disabled pupils at municipal schools in a city. The questions and answer options which had been validated in the first study were used. In the males 16％ and 20％ complained "almost all day, everyday" of the cervicobrachial and lower back symptoms, respectively, and in the females 20％ and 16％ in that order. Adjusted odds ratios of both symptoms increased with an increase in objective scores which were obtained by the homogeneity analysis and were considered to reflect the quantity of nursing care burden on the teachers. In case of the cervicobrachial symptom females against males had a significantly higher odds ratio than unity. These results demonstrated that the musculoskeletal symptoms complained of highly by the teachers were work-related, and that the question and answer options we developed could be useful parameters in epidemiologic research for the symptoms now widely prevailing in various workplaces

The Integration Between Housing and Transportation in Contemporary City and Regional Planning: Transit-Oriented Development for the San Luis Obispo Station

This transit-oriented development will help mitigate the housing crisis in California starting with San Luis Obispo at the local level by developing housing for all demographics. The project will be beneficial towards increasing the livability and connectivity of current residents, commuters, and visitors of the San Luis Obispo region. The project will also activate the spaces by providing a walkway and commercial development for people that were previously not present. The proposed development is projected to activate the area, with new amenities, while promoting the site’s existing uses; The existing cafe and restaurant within the project site will not be relocated nor impacted in economic yield as a result of this project. The TOD project has been designed to protect the historical sites in San Luis Obispo, which includes the Train Station and the Union Pacific building. As the surrounding buildings are designated as historically significant, preserving the style and look of the Train Station area as a whole is significant. An important objective of the project is that the Train Station project site shall conform to the pre-existing Spanish architectural style of the area. The project site is anticipated to blend the proposed development into the surrounding area while complimenting the current uses and architectural style

A FUNDAMENTAL STUDY ON BASEBALL BATTING MOVEMENT FOCUS ON SLAPPING

The purpose of this study is to generate baseball batting style to hit more certainly and to investigate effectiveness it. The idea for new batting referred to bunt and slap hitting used by softball. This new batting style was named A Kourituteki Batting (AKB). 4 male university students participate in this experiment. Subject tried to swing 30 fast balls thrown from pitching machine. 30 trials were divided into 3 groups (right-handed, left-handed, AKB). The result of AKB is higher than left-handed groups. And, the height of loin for AKB is higher than the other groups. This result shows that it may be possible for a using AKB hit a ball more in batter box him always in. This experiment will be useful for considering more developed batting technique in baseball after this

Potassium single cation ionic liquid electrolyte for potassium-ion batteries

Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) are a promising post-lithium-ion battery (LIB), as their resources are abundant and low-cost and may have a higher voltage than LIBs. However, the high operating voltage and extremely high reactivity of potassium metal require a chemically safe electrolyte with oxidative and reductive stabilities. In this study, a potassium single cation ionic liquid (K-SCIL), which contains only K⁺ as the cationic species and has a high electrochemical stability, low flammability, and low vapor pressure, is developed as an electrolyte for PIBs. The mixture of potassium bis(fluorosulfonyl)amide and potassium (fluorosulfonyl)(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide at a molar ratio of 55:45 had the lowest melting point of 67 °C. The K⁺ concentration in this K-SCIL is high (8.5 mol dm⁻³ at 90 °C) due to the absence of solvents and bulky organic cations. In addition, the electrochemical window is as wide as 5.6 V, which enables the construction of PIBs with a high energy density. A high current density can be achieved with this K-SCIL, owing to the absence of a K⁺ concentration gradient. The electrolyte was successfully used with a graphite negative electrode, enabling the reversible intercalation/deintercalation of K⁺, as confirmed by X-ray diffraction

COMPARISON OF WORLD ELITE AND JAPANESE ELITE THROWERS IN THE DISCUS THROW

The aim of this study is to clarify the differences between world elite and Japanese elite throwers in the discus throw by comparing their hip-shoulder and shoulder-arm separation angles. The performances of 12 male world elite discus throwers (the World group) and 12 male Japanese elite discus throwers (the National group) were analysed. The hip-shoulder and shoulder-arm separation through the throwing motion were greater in the World group than in the National group. In the World group, the hip-shoulder separation reached its local maximum at the middle of 2nd single support phase, and the shoulder-arm separation reached its local maximum around left-foot touchdown to the ground; whereas in the National group, the former reached its local maximum in the first half of 2nd single support phase, and the latter reached its local maximum in the middle of the delivery phase. Although the shoulder led hip in both the World and National groups, the shoulder led the arm in the National group and the arm led the shoulder in the World group at release. These results showed that the World group released the discus in front of the shoulder while utilising the kinematic-chain appropriately, while the National group released the discus with the arm still trailing behind the shoulder

Prevalence of Viral Frequency-Dependent Infection in Coastal Marine Prokaryotes Revealed Using Monthly Time Series Virome Analysis

海洋微生物も”密”ならウイルスに感染する --頻度依存的なウイルス感染を大阪湾で実証--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-02-24.Viruses infecting marine prokaryotes have a large impact on the diversity and dynamics of their hosts. Model systems suggest that viral infection is frequency dependent and constrained by the virus-host encounter rate. However, it is unclear whether frequency-dependent infection is pervasive among the abundant prokaryotic populations with different temporal dynamics. To address this question, we performed a comparison of prokaryotic and viral communities using 16S rRNA amplicon and virome sequencing based on samples collected monthly for 2 years at a Japanese coastal site, Osaka Bay. Concurrent seasonal shifts observed in prokaryotic and viral community dynamics indicated that the abundance of viruses correlated with that of their predicted host phyla (or classes). Cooccurrence network analysis between abundant prokaryotes and viruses revealed 6, 423 cooccurring pairs, suggesting a tight coupling of host and viral abundances and their “one-to-many” correspondence. Although stable dominant species, such as SAR11, showed few cooccurring viruses, a fast succession of their viruses suggests that viruses infecting these populations changed continuously. Our results suggest that frequency-dependent viral infection prevails in coastal marine prokaryotes regardless of host taxa and temporal dynamics

Leptin and high glucose stimulate cell proliferation in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells: reciprocal involvement of PKC-α and PPAR expression

AbstractGlucose concentration may be an important factor in breast cancer cell proliferation, and the prevalence of breast cancer is high in diabetic patients. Leptin may also be an important factor since plasma levels of leptin correlated with TNM staging for breast cancer patients. The effects of glucose and leptin on breast cancer cell proliferation were evaluated by examining cell doubling time, DNA synthesis, levels of cell cycle related proteins, protein kinase C (PKC) isozyme expression, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) subtypes were determined following glucose exposure at normal (5.5 mM) and high (25 mM) concentrations with/without leptin in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. In MCF-7 cells, leptin and high glucose stimulated cell proliferation as demonstrated by the increases in DNA synthesis and expression of cdk2 and cyclin D1. PKC-α, PPARγ, and PPARα protein levels were up-regulated following leptin and high glucose treatment in drug-sensitive MCF-7 cells. However, there was no significant effect of leptin and high glucose on cell proliferation, DNA synthesis, levels of cell cycle proteins, PKC isozymes, or PPAR subtypes in multidrug-resistant human breast cancer NCI/ADR-RES cells. These results suggested that hyperglycemia and hyperleptinemia increase breast cancer cell proliferation through accelerated cell cycle progression with up-regulation of cdk2 and cyclin D1 levels. This suggests the involvement of PKC-α, PPARα, and PPARγ

Corynebacterium ulcerans 0102 carries the gene encoding diphtheria toxin on a prophage different from the C. diphtheriae NCTC 13129 prophage

BACKGROUND: Corynebacterium ulcerans can cause a diphtheria-like illness, especially when the bacterium is lysogenized with a tox gene-carrying bacteriophage that produces diphtheria toxin. Acquisition of toxigenicity upon phage lysogenization is a common feature of C. ulcerans and C. diphtheriae. However, because of a lack of C. ulcerans genome information, a detailed comparison of prophages has not been possible between these two clinically important and closely related bacterial species. RESULTS: We determined the whole genome sequence of the toxigenic C. ulcerans 0102 isolated in Japan. The genomic sequence showed a striking similarity with that of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis and, to a lesser extent, with that of C. diphtheriae. The 0102 genome contained three distinct prophages. One of these, ΦCULC0102-I, was a tox-positive prophage containing genes in the same structural order as for tox-positive C. diphtheriae prophages. However, the primary structures of the individual genes involved in the phage machinery showed little homology between the two counterparts. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these results suggest that the tox-positive prophage in this strain of C. ulcerans has a distinct origin from that of C. diphtheriae NCTC 13129

Clinical Characteristics of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Diagnosed in Patients with Long COVID

Background and Objectives: COVID-19 can be serious not only in the acute phase but also after the acute phase and some patients develop ME/CFS. There have been few studies on patients with long COVID in whom ME/CFS was diagnosed by physicians based on standardized criteria after examinations and exclusion diagnosis and not based on only subjective symptoms. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the detailed characteristics of ME/CFS in patients with long COVID. Materials and Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was performed for patients who visited a COVID-19 aftercare clinic established in Okayama University Hospital during the period was from February 2021 to April 2022. Results: Clinical data were obtained from medical records for 281 patients, and 279 patients who met the definition of long COVID were included. The overall prevalence rate of ME/CFS diagnosed by three sets of ME/CFS criteria (Fukuda, Canadian and IOM criteria) was 16.8% (48.9% in male and 51.1% in females). The most frequent symptoms in ME/CFS patients were general fatigue and post-exertional malaise (89.4% of the patients), headache (34.0%), insomnia (23.4%), dysosmia (21.3%) and dysgeusia (19.1%). Dizziness, chest pain, insomnia and headache were characteristic symptoms related to ME/CFS. The male to female ratio in ME/CFS patients was equal in the present study, although ME/CFS was generally more common in women in previous studies. Given that patients with ME/CFS had more severe conditions in the acute phase of COVID-19, the severity of the acute infectious state might be involved in the pathophysiology of ME/CFS. Conclusions: The prevalence rate of ME/CFS and the characteristic sequelae in the long COVID condition were revealed in this study

Clinical Characteristics of Low Androgen Status in Males with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

To determine the clinical characteristics of low androgen status in adult males with diabetes, we retrospectively analyzed the medical records of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in whom serum free testosterone (FT) levels were examined for 1 year. Among the 46 patients (56 ± 1.5 years old), decreases in serum FT levels to < 8.5 pg/ml (indicating the occurrence of late-onset hypogonadism [LOH]) were detected in 18 (39%). The per-centages of patients with low FT levels were high in the ≥ 50 years age group (83%), the HbA1c < 7% group (67%), and the 25 ≤ BMI < 30 kg/m2 group (56%). The serum FT levels tended to decrease age-dependently. The level of HbA1c was significantly correlated with the Heinemann Aging Male Symptoms (AMS) score (R = 0.47). The low-FT group had decreased levels of hemoglobin. Of note, the serum FSH level (R = −0.32) was negatively correlated with the serum FT level, whereas the serum TSH level (R = 0.36) was positively correlated with the serum FT level. Collectively, these results revealed that many diabetic males may have low FT levels and that the AMS score is related to the HbA1c level. A slightly anemic condition, thyroid dysfunction, and obesity (class 1) might be involved in LOH in middle-aged diabetic males