Career development support in Singapore education system: The ECG approach

The aim of this paper is to examine the Education and Career Guidance (ECG) program in Singapore, and acquire implication for further development of Japanese carrier education. This research draws upon the previous studies and inspection tour in Singapore, focusing on the education system, structure of ECG, and implementation of ECG. The ECG program promotes lifelong learning ability to prepare the students for their future, provides three-tier-support system according to individual needs, deploys ECG counselor to promote the program, and assure the quality of the program and skills of ECG counselor and teachers by providing trainings. The finding implies that the future Japanese carrier education needs to deploy carrier education professionals, and provide the three tier-support system as well as to improve training system and implementation

Molecular Evolutionary Analysis of the Influenza A(H1N1)pdm, May–September, 2009: Temporal and Spatial Spreading Profile of the Viruses in Japan

BACKGROUND: In March 2009, pandemic influenza A(H1N1) (A(H1N1)pdm) emerged in Mexico and the United States. In Japan, since the first outbreak of A(H1N1)pdm in Osaka and Hyogo Prefectures occurred in the middle of May 2009, the virus had spread over 16 of 47 prefectures as of June 4, 2009. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We analyzed all-segment concatenated genome sequences of 75 isolates of A(H1N1)pdm viruses in Japan, and compared them with 163 full-genome sequences in the world. Two analyzing methods, distance-based and Bayesian coalescent MCMC inferences were adopted to elucidate an evolutionary relationship of the viruses in the world and Japan. Regardless of the method, the viruses in the world were classified into four distinct clusters with a few exceptions. Cluster 1 was originated earlier than cluster 2, while cluster 2 was more widely spread around the world. The other two clusters (clusters 1.2 and 1.3) were suggested to be distinct reassortants with different types of segment assortments. The viruses in Japan seemed to be a multiple origin, which were derived from approximately 28 transported cases. Twelve cases were associated with monophyletic groups consisting of Japanese viruses, which were referred to as micro-clade. While most of the micro-clades belonged to the cluster 2, the clade of the first cases of infection in Japan originated from cluster 1.2. Micro-clades of Osaka/Kobe and the Fukuoka cases, both of which were school-wide outbreaks, were eradicated. Time of most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) for each micro-clade demonstrated that some distinct viruses were transmitted in Japan between late May and early June, 2009, and appeared to spread nation-wide throughout summer. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that many viruses were transmitted from abroad in late May 2009 irrespective of preventive actions against the pandemic influenza, and that the influenza A(H1N1)pdm had become a pandemic stage in June 2009 in Japan

Development of Artificial Intelligence-Based Dual-Energy Subtraction for Chest Radiography

Recently, some facilities have utilized the dual-energy subtraction (DES) technique for chest radiography to increase pulmonary lesion detectability. However, the availability of the technique is limited to certain facilities, in addition to other limitations, such as increased noise in high-energy images and motion artifacts with the one-shot and two-shot methods, respectively. The aim of this study was to develop artificial intelligence-based DES (AI–DES) technology for chest radiography to overcome these limitations. Using a trained pix2pix model on clinically acquired chest radiograph pairs, we successfully converted 130 kV images into virtual 60 kV images that closely resemble the real images. The averaged peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM) between virtual and real 60 kV images were 33.8 dB and 0.984, respectively. We also achieved the production of soft-tissue- and bone-enhanced images using a weighted image subtraction process with the virtual 60 kV images. The soft-tissue-enhanced images exhibited sufficient bone suppression, particularly within lung fields. Although the bone-enhanced images contained artifacts on and around the lower thoracic and lumbar spines, superior sharpness and noise characteristics were presented. The main contribution of our development is its ability to provide selectively enhanced images for specific tissues using only high-energy images obtained via routine chest radiography. This suggests the potential to improve the detectability of pulmonary lesions while addressing challenges associated with the existing DES technique. However, further improvements are necessary to improve the image quality

北西グリーンランド, SIGMA-Aサイトにおける 2012年, 2013年の雪氷調査

Glaciological observations were conducted in 2012 and 2013 at the SIGMA-A site on the northwest Greenland ice sheet (78°03’06”N, 67°37’42”W, 1490 m a.s.l.) as part of the Snow Impurity and Glacial Microbe effects on abrupt warming in the Arctic (SIGMA) project.　The meteorological conditions during the two observations were quite different.　The meteorological condition during the 2012 observation period was warm, and heavy rainfall occurred during the observation period, thus the snow was very wet.　In contrast, the meteorological condition during the observation period in 2013 was cold, with a blowing snow event, thus the snow was quite dry. The glaciological observations in 2012 consisted of 1) snow-stake measurements, 2) snow pit observations, 3) grain size observations for validation of satellite-derived snow products, 4) snow specific surface area measurements using a near-infrared camera, 5) snow sampling for chemical analyses, and 6) drilling of firn cores with a hand auger.　The glaciological observations in 2013 consisted of 1) snow-stake measurements, 2) snow pit observations, and 3) snow sampling for chemical analyses

Protein Intake, Especially Vegetable Protein Intake, Is Associated with Higher Skeletal Muscle Mass in Elderly Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Background/Aims. Protein intake is important for maintaining muscle mass in general population. However, it remains to be elucidated the association between dietary protein intake and skeletal muscle mass in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods. In this cross-sectional study of 168 elderly patients with type 2 diabetes, we investigated the relationship between skeletal muscle index (SMI) and protein intake. Bioimpedance analysis was used for measurement for skeletal muscle mass (kg) and SMI (%), which was defined as skeletal muscle mass (kg)/total body weight (kg) × 100. Habitual food and nutrient intake were estimated by a questionnaire. Results. Protein intake was independently correlated with SMI after adjusting for age, hemoglobin A1c, C-peptide index, exercise, smoking, insulin treatment, total energy intake, and C-reactive protein (standardized regression coefficient = 0.664, P<0.001 in men and standardized regression coefficient = 0.516, P=0.005 in women). Additionally, the animal protein to vegetable protein ratio was negatively correlated with SMI after adjusting for covariates in men (standardized regression coefficient = −0.339, P=0.005). Conclusions. We found that total protein intake, especially vegetable protein intake, was positively associated with skeletal muscle mass in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes