Morphological studies of Gross virus-induced lymphoblasts by scanning electron microscopy

The surface of Gross virus-induced murine lymphoblasts and C-type virus particles budding from these cells were investigated under the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The cells appeared spindle-shaped or roughly-rounded with extensive surface features consisting of microvilli, blebs and ruffled membranes. C-type virus particles were detected on the cell membrane as small spherical particles, distinguishable from the microvilli. Clustered virions were observed in some cases. However, the distribution of virions appeared to be random. The surface of the virion was smooth and had no globular units at high magnification. These morphological observations were confirmed in ultrathin sections.</p

Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) and Related Perfluorinated Compounds in Human Maternal and Cord Blood Samples: Assessment of PFOS Exposure in a Susceptible Population during Pregnancy

Fluorinated organic compounds (FOCs), such as perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), and perfluorooctane sulfonylamide (PFOSA), are widely used in the manufacture of plastic, electronics, textile, and construction material in the apparel, leather, and upholstery industries. FOCs have been detected in human blood samples. Studies have indicated that FOCs may be detrimental to rodent development possibly by affecting thyroid hormone levels. In the present study, we determined the concentrations of FOCs in maternal and cord blood samples. Pregnant women 17–37 years of age were enrolled as subjects. FOCs in 15 pairs of maternal and cord blood samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography–electrospray mass spectrometry coupled with online extraction. The limits of quantification of PFOS, PFOA, and PFOSA in human plasma or serum were 0.5, 0.5, and 1.0 ng/mL, respectively. The method enables the precise determination of FOCs and can be applied to the detection of FOCs in human blood samples for monitoring human exposure. PFOS concentrations in maternal samples ranged from 4.9 to 17.6 ng/mL, whereas those in fetal samples ranged from 1.6 to 5.3 ng/mL. In contrast, PFOSA was not detected in fetal or maternal samples, whereas PFOA was detected only in maternal samples (range, < 0.5 to 2.3 ng/mL, 4 of 15). Our results revealed a high correlation between PFOS concentrations in maternal and cord blood (r(2) = 0.876). However, we did not find any significant correlations between PFOS concentration in maternal and cord blood samples and age bracket, birth weight, or levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone or free thyroxine. Our study revealed that human fetuses in Japan may be exposed to relatively high levels of FOCs. Further investigation is required to determine the postnatal effects of fetal exposure to FOCs

Neurovirulent strains of herpes simplex virus type 1 are not necessarily competent for reactivatable latency.

Ability of two neurovirulent strains (F and +GC (LPV) Miyama) of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) to establish and maintain reactivatable latency in trigeminal ganglia (TG) was compared after intranasal inoculation of mice. The +GC (LPV) Miyama strain showed a very low rate of virus reactivation in explant cultures of TG, while the F strain showed a high rate of reactivation. These data indicate that neurovirulent strains of HSV-1 are not always competent for reactivatable latency, although most virulent strains of HSV-1 thus far reported were competent for reactivatable latency.&#60;/P&#62;</p

A transmission electron microscopic study of LLCMK 2 cells infected with Japanese encephalitis virus

LLCMK2 cells infected with Japanese encephalitis virus were studied by transmission electron microscopy, with a special consideration on the nature of white round granules of 0.4-1.3 μm dIameter with a scanning electron microscope. Virus particles were detected in cytoplasmic vacuoles with smooth-surfaced membranes, in those with rough-surfaced membranes and also in the perinuclear space. Besides the virus-enclosing vacuolar structures many lipid droplets were observed in the cytoplasm of infected cells, although they were few in control non-infected cells. These droplets were supposed to correspond to the white granules observed by a scanning electron microscope

Reactivatable latency of three avirulent strains of herpes simplex virus type 1 after intranasal inoculation in mice.

In order to elucidate the mechanism of latent infection of herpes simplex virus (HSV), reactivatable latency of three avirulent strains (SKO-1B, -GCr Miyama, SKa) of HSV type 1 was comparatively examined in a mouse latency model. The SKO-1B strain showed high rate of virus reactivation from explanted trigeminal ganglia without n-butyrate enhancement, while the other two strains showed a very low rate of virus reactivation in the absence of n-butyrate. In the presence of n-butyrate, however, the rate of the -GCr Miyama strain jumped to a comparable level with that of SKO-1B, although the rate of SKa remained at a low level. A more precise follow-up experiment changing the virus dose highlighted the difference of the ability to reactivate from the latent state between SKO-1B and -GCr Miyama. Virus titer in trigeminal ganglia during acute phase, infectivity to cell lines of neural origin, and susceptibility to acyclovir and phosphonoacetate were assayed to know the reasons for the variation in the ability of reactivatable latency among these strains. It was concluded that the reduced infectivity to neural cells, and limited ability of reactivatable latency shown by the SKa strain could mainly be attributed to the deficiency of thymidine kinase activity.&#60;/P&#62;</p

Prevalence of medical factors related to aging among older car drivers: a multicenter, cross-sectional, descriptive study

Aim An increasing number of older adults in Japan are at an increased risk of road traffic crashes. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of potential underlying medical factors that increase the risk of road traffic crashes among older people. Methods This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in 11 medical institutions in Japan using self-administered questionnaires and physical examination from January to May 2021. The background and social data, data on the use of nursing care insurance, and clinical data suggestive of polypharmacy, sarcopenia, cognitive impairment, and frailty/oral frailty were obtained. The prevalence of these factors was compared between everyday and occasional drivers. Results Data of 127 patients were collected; their median (interquartile range) age was 73 (70-78) years. Of the total participants, 82 were men (64.6%) and 45 were women (35.4%). There were 77 everyday drivers and 50 occasional drivers. Of these, 121 (95.3%) had not applied for nursing care insurance, but the numbers of those who required help 1 and 2 were 1 (0.8%) and 3 (2.4%), respectively. Prevalence of medical factors was as follows: polypharmacy, 27.6%; sarcopenia, 8.7%; dementia, 16.4%; frailty, 15.0%; and oral frailty, 54.3%; it was not significantly different between every day and occasional drivers. Intention to return the car license was significantly higher among the occasional drivers (2.6% vs. 14.0%; odds ratio: 6.7, 95% confidence interval: 1.2-70.6, p = 0.024). Conclusion We uncovered the prevalence of medical factors that can be associated with road traffic crashes among Japanese older people aged >= 65 years in our community

新見公立短期大学看護学科学生の高等学校における理科履修科目と生物学の基礎知識に関する調査の試み

The purpose of this study was to investigate the science literacy of college students to understand life sciences of college level. We examined the credits for sciences obtained in high schools among the nursing students enrolled in the first semester of Niimi College in 2003. Of 60 students, 57 (95.0%) students studied biology courses, 54 (90.0%) students studied chemistry courses, whereas 10 (16.7%) and 1 (1.7%) students studied physics and geology-meteorology-astronomy courses, respectively. Fifty-one (85.0%) students studied both chemistry and biology courses. According to the national curriculum standard of high school, gakushu-shido-yoryo, the science field is composed of 5 courses, which are the general science course and the 4 courses described above. Each course except for the general science course is divided into 3 subjects, which are the general subject (suffixed by IA), the basic subject (suffixed by IB), and the advanced subject (suffixed by II). Fifty-three students (93.3%) studied biology IB, whereas only 31 students (51.2%) studied biology II. An analysis of the term examination of microbiology indicated some students were not able to answer basic questions, such as differences between the eucaryote and the procaryote. These results suggested that some students might not have enough scientific knowledge to understand life sciences of college level

新見公立短期大学看護学科学生の高等学校における理科履修科目と科学リテラシーに関する調査(2)(創刊二十五周年記念号)

新見公立短期大学看護学科の入学時における自然科学系の学力(科学リテラシー)を把握することを目的とし,2003年度に実施した調査結果を参考にして,2004年度入学生を対象に高等学校における理科の履修状況,科目選択の動機,自然科学に対する関心,自然科学の基礎知識について調査した。その結果,2003年度入学生と同様に,2004年度入学生においても生物分野で,基礎的な内容を学ぶ生物IBを中心として履修した学生が多いことが示された。発展的な内容を学ぶ生物IIや化学分野では,必要に応じて一部の範囲を履修した学生の多く含まれていた。物理や地学の分野の履修者は少数であった。科目選択の動機は,大学等の入試準備が主であるものの,将来の進路に配慮したり,学問分野そのものへの興味が動機となっている学生が少なからず含まれていることが示された。自然科学に対しては,全般的な関心を示す学生が過半数であったが,その対象は生物学分野に著しく偏っている傾向が示唆された。科学的基礎知識の水準は比較的良好であったが,生物学分野においても,基本理念や医学系基礎科目を学ぶための基礎知識が不足している学生が多く含まれることが示唆された。We reported preliminary results about science literacy of nursing students in the previous issue of the Bulletin. Based on the report we have performed a precise study on the 62 nursing students enrolled in the first semester of Niimi College in 2004. The results of the investigation into options of science subjects in high schools showed that most of the students studied Basic Biology principally. Although many students studied Advanced Biology and subjects in the chemistry course, about a half of the students actually learned only a part of the subjects in case of need. A few students studied physics course, geology-meteorology-astronomy course and general science course. These results were almost identical to the previous report. Motives of the students for their options of science subjects in high schools were investigated. The results suggested the main reason was to prepare entrance examinations to colleges. However, nearly a half of the students chose science subjects, considering simultaneously the course to take the career to pursue in the future. Some students chose the subjects they were interested in. The results on the study of perception of science suggested that more than half of the students were interested in and preferred natural science; however, their concern was extremely limited in biology fields. Scientific knowledge of the students was investigated using the 10 test questions for analyzing knowledge of science and technology among Japanese citizens performed by an institute of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan. The level of the knowledge of the students was shown to be relatively high compared with that of the Japanese citizens, the average points of 7.3 to 5.1. The results suggested, however, that some students did not have enough knowledge about physics and even some fields of biology such as evolutional biology, human genetics and microbiology, which were included in the principle of biology or fundamental knowledge to learn medical sciences

新見公立短期大学看護学科学生の高等学校における理科履修科目と科学リテラシーに関する調査(3)

新見公立短期大学看護学科学生の入学時における自然科学系の学力(科学リテラシー)を把握することを目的として,2003年度以来の調査を基に2005年度入学生を対象として調査を実施した。その結果,従来と同様に,高等学校において理科の科目としては基礎的内容の生物IBを系統的に学び,発展的内容の生物IIや化学などその他の科目は必要に応じて履修した学生が多数を占めた。科目選択は,大学等の入試準備と将来の進路を考慮することを理由とするものが主であった。自然科学に対して比較的高い関心を示すが,その対象は生物学分野に偏っている傾向が示された。関心と嗜好の理由を調査したところ,自然科学分野に対して学校の科目と認識し,一般的な知的好奇心の対象ではないことが示唆された。科学的基礎知識の水準は,比較的良好であったが,正解率は2004年度入学生より低下傾向を示した。2005年度入学生の特徴として,高等学校における物理や化学系の科目の選択率が従来より高く,嗜好調査でも物理学および化学が好きとの回答が増加した。We investigated options of science subjects in high schools and science literacy among the nursing students enrolled in Niimi College in the Summer Semester of 2005 based on the studies performed in 2003 and 2004. The results were almost identical to those reported in the previous papers (The Bulletin of Niimi College 24, 113-120, 2003 and 25, 43-51, 2004) but some details. Most of the students studied Biology systematically in high schools, especially the Basic Biology (named Biology IB). More students studied chemistry and physics in high schools and were interested in the subjects than before. They were interested in natural science; however, their concern had a tendency to be limited to biological fields. The analysis of their preference for sciences suggested that most of the students did not recognize scientific fields as objects of intellectual curiosity but only school science subjects. Relation among their scientific knowledge, options of science subjects in high schools and preference for sciences is also discussed

新見公立短期大学における情報処理教育の現状

新見公立短期大学における情報処理教育を改善する事を目的とし、入学時および演習終了後に情報処理の習熟度を調査した。おもな調査内容はパソコンの使用経験、パソコンの基本的な操作、各ソフトウエアの技能についてである。その結果、中学校時代にパソコンの使用経験がある学生が一番多かった。パソコンの基本的な操作は特別に演習時間を設定しなくても、ソフトウエアを使用していく中で上達していることがわかった。ワープロソフトは「使用することにあまり自信がない」と答えた学生が情報処理の演習後は明らかに減少していた。表計算ソフトでは、計算式や簡単な関数を入力して計算することができるようになった。各ソフトウエアの技能の上達は情報処理の演習の時間が長いほど効果が上がった。2005年度より変更した情報処理教育のカリキュラムとシステムが一定の効果を上げているようである。We aimed to improve the information processing education of Niimi College. We investigated skill of the information processing before and after our lectures. Research contents were basic operation of personal computers and accomplishment of each software. As a result, a lot of students learned the personal computer in their junior high school days. Basic operation of the personal computer improved while using software. The number of students who answered, "I am not so confident to use it" decreased sharply after the lecture of wordprocessing. Students came to be able to handle equations and easy functions in the spreadsheet. The progress about the skill of each software went up greatly in proportion with numbers of the study hours. The new curriculum and the new system of the information processing education started in 2005 seem to be effective