Practical research on sports mental training focused on coach in field

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of sports mental training (SMT) focused on technical coaches. In case 1, a SMT was performed on a high school baseball team by a technical coach of baseball team. A content of the training was a basic psychological skill like the goal setting. Levels of psychological competitive ability were assessed by the Diagnostic Inventory of Psychological-Competitive Ability for Athletes (DIPCA) before and after the training. As a result, the training improved the confidence and strategy ability of the baseball players. These findings suggested that combination of the SMT and the practice for technical skills was effective for the confidence and strategy ability. In case 2, we assessed effects of a SMT for a high school volleyball team and its technical coach. As a direct approach method, the SMT was performed on all the players by a SMT coach once a month. Moreover, as an indirect approach method, the SMT was performed on the technical coach by the SMT coach everyday. As a result, the team was 3rd place in Kinki competition tournament. A style of coaching in the technical coach was changed. Although a next goal had been lost when losing a match before the training, the technical coach set the goal of the team again, aiming at the Kinki competition tournament. The team switched the feelings from the lost game. Moreover, a remarkable improvement of psychological skill was seen in confidence and strategy ability for technical coach. Therefore, these results suggested the effects of SMT by technical coach and the effects of SMT for technical coach

Omecamtiv mecarbil in chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, GALACTIC‐HF: baseline characteristics and comparison with contemporary clinical trials

Aims: The safety and efficacy of the novel selective cardiac myosin activator, omecamtiv mecarbil, in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is tested in the Global Approach to Lowering Adverse Cardiac outcomes Through Improving Contractility in Heart Failure (GALACTIC‐HF) trial. Here we describe the baseline characteristics of participants in GALACTIC‐HF and how these compare with other contemporary trials. Methods and Results: Adults with established HFrEF, New York Heart Association functional class (NYHA) ≥ II, EF ≤35%, elevated natriuretic peptides and either current hospitalization for HF or history of hospitalization/ emergency department visit for HF within a year were randomized to either placebo or omecamtiv mecarbil (pharmacokinetic‐guided dosing: 25, 37.5 or 50 mg bid). 8256 patients [male (79%), non‐white (22%), mean age 65 years] were enrolled with a mean EF 27%, ischemic etiology in 54%, NYHA II 53% and III/IV 47%, and median NT‐proBNP 1971 pg/mL. HF therapies at baseline were among the most effectively employed in contemporary HF trials. GALACTIC‐HF randomized patients representative of recent HF registries and trials with substantial numbers of patients also having characteristics understudied in previous trials including more from North America (n = 1386), enrolled as inpatients (n = 2084), systolic blood pressure < 100 mmHg (n = 1127), estimated glomerular filtration rate < 30 mL/min/1.73 m2 (n = 528), and treated with sacubitril‐valsartan at baseline (n = 1594). Conclusions: GALACTIC‐HF enrolled a well‐treated, high‐risk population from both inpatient and outpatient settings, which will provide a definitive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of this novel therapy, as well as informing its potential future implementation

Menkes disease, an inborn error of copper metabolism : pathogenetic mechanism and therapeutic strategy

国立情報学研究所の「学術雑誌公開支援事業」により電子化されました

Extremely Low Genomic Diversity of Rickettsia japonica Distributed in Japan

Rickettsiae are obligate intracellular bacteria that have small genomes as a result of reductive evolution. Many Rickettsia species of the spotted fever group (SFG) cause tick-borne diseases known as “spotted fevers”. The life cycle of SFG rickettsiae is closely associated with that of the tick, which is generally thought to act as a bacterial vector and reservoir that maintains the bacterium through transstadial and transovarial transmission. Each SFG member is thought to have adapted to a specific tick species, thus restricting the bacterial distribution to a relatively limited geographic region. These unique features of SFG rickettsiae allow investigation of how the genomes of such biologically and ecologically specialized bacteria evolve after genome reduction and the types of population structures that are generated. Here, we performed a nationwide, high-resolution phylogenetic analysis of Rickettsia japonica, an etiological agent of Japanese spotted fever that is distributed in Japan and Korea. The comparison of complete or nearly complete sequences obtained from 31 R. japonica strains isolated from various sources in Japan over the past 30 years demonstrated an extremely low level of genomic diversity. In particular, only 34 single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified among the 27 strains of the major lineage containing all clinical isolates and tick isolates from the three tick species. Our data provide novel insights into the biology and genome evolution of R. japonica, including the possibilities of recent clonal expansion and a long generation time in nature due to the long dormant phase associated with tick life cycles.Citation: Akter A, Ooka T, Gotoh Y, Yamamoto S, Fujita H, Terasoma F, Kida K, Taira M, Nakadouzono F, Gokuden M, Hirano M, Miyashiro M, Inari K, Shimazu Y, Tabara K, Toyoda A, Yoshimura D, Itoh T, Kitano T, Sato MP, Katsura K, Mondal SI, Ogura Y, Ando S, Hayashi T. Extremely Low Genomic Diversity of Rickettsia japonica Distributed in Japan. Genome Biol Evol. 2017 Jan 1;9(1):124-133. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evw304. PMID: 28057731; PMCID: PMC5381555

Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus Antigen Detection Using Monoclonal Antibodies to the Nucleocapsid Protein

<div><p>Background</p><p>Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a tick-borne infectious disease with a high case fatality rate, and is caused by the SFTS virus (SFTSV). SFTS is endemic to China, South Korea, and Japan. The viral RNA level in sera of patients with SFTS is known to be strongly associated with outcomes. Virological SFTS diagnosis with high sensitivity and specificity are required in disease endemic areas.</p><p>Methodology/Principal Findings</p><p>We generated novel monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against the SFTSV nucleocapsid (N) protein and developed a sandwich antigen (Ag)-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of N protein of SFTSV using MAb and polyclonal antibody as capture and detection antibodies, respectively. The Ag-capture system was capable of detecting at least 350–1220 TCID₅₀/100 μl/well from the culture supernatants of various SFTSV strains. The efficacy of the Ag-capture ELISA in SFTS diagnosis was evaluated using serum samples collected from patients suspected of having SFTS in Japan. All 24 serum samples (100%) containing high copy numbers of viral RNA (>10⁵ copies/ml) showed a positive reaction in the Ag-capture ELISA, whereas 12 out of 15 serum samples (80%) containing low copy numbers of viral RNA (<10⁵ copies/ml) showed a negative reaction in the Ag-capture ELISA. Among these Ag-capture ELISA-negative 12 samples, 9 (75%) were positive for IgG antibodies against SFTSV.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>The newly developed Ag-capture ELISA is useful for SFTS diagnosis in acute phase patients with high levels of viremia.</p></div

Reactivity of MAbs (9D3 and 2D11) to SFTSV N protein and other TBPVs.

<p>(A) The indirect immunofluorescence staining (IFA) of MAbs. Vero cells infected with SFTSV strain YG1, RVFV strain MP12, FORV, and PALV were stained with MAbs. Rabbit sera obtained from animals immunized with SFTSV or RVFV recombinant N protein, or infected with FORV or PALV, were used as positive controls in the IFA. (B) The immunohistochemical staining of SFTSV antigens with the developed MAbs. The lymph nodes collected from patient with SFTS and patients without SFTS were used for evaluation of utility of the MAbs in SFTS diagnosis with the IHC analysis.</p

The relationship of the results with the Ag-capture ELISA and qRT-PCR tests using SFTS-suspected patient serum samples.

<p>The relationship of the results with the Ag-capture ELISA and qRT-PCR tests using SFTS-suspected patient serum samples.</p