Self-Reported Academic Performance and Lifestyle Habits of School Children in Japan

Background and Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the lifestyle habits significantly associated with self-reported academic performance (AP) in children in grades 5 to 12 in Japan. Methods: A total of 2,114 completed questionnaires were analyzed. Factors examined included habits related to sleeping, eating, defecation, physical activity, and screen time, in addition to body mass index (BMI). Social jet lag (SJL) was calculated from sleeping factors and categorized into five groups according to its value: minus 1 or less (SJL 1), more than minus 1 and 0 or less (SJL 2), more than 0 and 1 or less (SJL 3), more than 1 and 2 or less (SJL 4), and more than 2 (SJL 5). The association between self-reported AP and other factors except for SJL was assessed by means of multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results: Factors significantly associated with good self-reported AP included female gender, lower grade, less sleepiness, lower BMI, intake of breakfast, less constipation, early wake-up time during the weekend, and short screen time during the weekend. The mean self-reported AP of SJL 3 was better than that of both SJL 5 and SJL 1. Conclusions: Self-reported AP was associated with gender, grade, BMI, sleep, breakfast, defecation, and screen time in children in grades 5 to 12 in Japan. It must be ensured that children take enough time to perform the indispensable human behaviors of sleeping, eating, defecation, and physical activity

Obesity, Insulin Resistance, Hypertension and Sleep in the Child

Sleep loss results in various effects on human health. The current mini-review introduces recent evidence on the relationship between sleep loss, obesity, insulin resistance, hypertension, and sleep apnea, with a special focus on children. Ten relationships are explained as follows: (1) sleep loss induces obesity; (2) obesity induces sleep apnea; (3) obesity induces insulin resistance; (4) obesity induces hypertension; (5) sleep loss induces insulin resistance; (6) sleep loss induces hypertension; (7) sleep apnea with obesity induces insulin resistance; (8) sleep apnea with obesity induces hypertension; (9) sleep apnea without obesity induces insulin resistance; and (10) sleep apnea without obesity induces hypertension. To ensure child health, it is important to be aware of the need for adequate sleep

Early rising children are more active than late risers

Jun KohyamaDepartment of Pediatrics, Tokyo Kita Shakai Hoken Hospital, Tokyo, JapanBackground: A low level of physical activity impacts mental as well as physical health. This study investigated the daily lifestyle habits that affect physical activity in young children.Methods: The relationship between physical activity, assessed by means of a Mini-Mitter Actiwatch device, and observed daily lifestyle habits was analyzed for 204 children, aged 12 to 40 months (average: 22.6 months), for whom 6-consecutive-day data from both the Actiwatch and sleep log were obtained.Results: An older age, male gender, and early waking time showed significant positive correlations with physical activity level. Multiple regression analysis revealed that these three variables were significant predictors of physical activity.Conclusion: Promoting an early rising time is suggested to be an important element of cultivating good health in young children.Keywords: physical activity, children, actigraphy, morning ligh

Neurochemical and Neuropharmacological Aspects of Circadian Disruptions: An Introduction to Asynchronization

Circadian disruptions are common in modern society, and there is an urgent need for effective treatment strategies. According to standard diagnostic criteria, most adolescents showing both insomnia and daytime sleepiness are diagnosed as having behavioral-induced sleep efficiency syndrome resulting from insomnia due to inadequate sleep hygiene. However, a simple intervention of adequate sleep hygiene often fails to treat them. As a solution to this clinical problem, the present review first overviews the basic neurochemical and neuropharmachological aspects of sleep and circadian rhythm regulation, then explains several circadian disruptions from similar viewpoints, and finally introduces the clinical notion of asynchronization. Asynchronization is designated to explain the pathophysiology/pathogenesis of exhibition of both insomnia and hypersomnia in adolescents, which comprises disturbances in various aspects of biological rhythms. The major triggers for asynchronization are considered to be a combination of light exposure during the night, which disturbs the biological clock and decreases melatonin secretion, as well as a lack of light exposure in the morning, which prohibits normal synchronization of the biological clock to the 24-hour cycle of the earth and decreases the activity of serotonin. In the chronic phase of asynchronization, involvement of both wake- and sleep-promoting systems is suggested. Both conventional and alternative therapeutic approaches for potential treatment of asynchronization are suggested

Committed neuronal precursors confer astrocytic potential on residual neural precursor cells

During midgestation, mammalian neural precursor cells (NPCs) differentiate only into neurons. Generation of astrocytes is prevented at this stage, because astrocyte-specific gene promoters are methylated. How the subsequent switch from suppression to expression of astrocytic genes occurs is unknown. We show in this study that Notch ligands are expressed on committed neuronal precursors and young neurons in mid-gestational telencephalon, and that neighboring Notch-activated NPCs acquire the potential to become astrocytes. Activation of the Notch signaling pathway in midgestational NPCs induces expression of the transcription factor nuclear factor I, which binds to astrocytic gene promoters, resulting in demethylation of astrocyte-specific genes. These findings provide a mechanistic explanation for why neurons come first: committed neuronal precursors and young neurons potentiate remaining NPCs to differentiate into the next cell lineage, astrocytes

Visualization of spatiotemporal activation of Notch signaling: Live monitoring and significance in neural development

AbstractNotch signaling plays various key roles in cell fate determination during CNS development in a context-dependent fashion. However, its precise physiological role and the localization of its target cells remain unclear. To address this issue, we developed a new reporter system for assessing the RBP-J-mediated activation of Notch signaling target genes in living cells and tissues using a fluorescent protein Venus. Our reporter system revealed that Notch signaling is selectively activated in neurosphere-initiating multipotent neural stem cells in vitro and in radial glia in the embryonic forebrain in vivo. Furthermore, the activation of Notch signaling occurs during gliogenesis and is required in the early stage of astroglial development. Consistent with these findings, the persistent activation of Notch signaling inhibits the differentiation of GFAP-positive astrocytes. Thus, the development of our RBP-J-dependent live reporter system, which is activated upon Notch activation, together with a stage-dependent gain-of-function analysis allowed us to gain further insight into the complexity of Notch signaling in mammalian CNS development

Safe and efficient method for cryopreservation of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural stem and progenitor cells by a programmed freezer with a magnetic field

AbstractStem cells represent a potential cellular resource in the development of regenerative medicine approaches to the treatment of pathologies in which specific cells are degenerated or damaged by genetic abnormality, disease, or injury. Securing sufficient supplies of cells suited to the demands of cell transplantation, however, remains challenging, and the establishment of safe and efficient cell banking procedures is an important goal. Cryopreservation allows the storage of stem cells for prolonged time periods while maintaining them in adequate condition for use in clinical settings. Conventional cryopreservation systems include slow-freezing and vitrification both have advantages and disadvantages in terms of cell viability and/or scalability. In the present study, we developed an advanced slow-freezing technique using a programmed freezer with a magnetic field called Cells Alive System (CAS) and examined its effectiveness on human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural stem/progenitor cells (hiPSC-NS/PCs). This system significantly increased cell viability after thawing and had less impact on cellular proliferation and differentiation. We further found that frozen-thawed hiPSC-NS/PCs were comparable with non-frozen ones at the transcriptome level. Given these findings, we suggest that the CAS is useful for hiPSC-NS/PCs banking for clinical uses involving neural disorders and may open new avenues for future regenerative medicine

My contemporaries in 20^<th> century.

De novo copy number variations (CNVs) identified in the 1210B2 iPSC-derived NSPCs. (XLSX 39 kb

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives