Makino Botanical Garden

Data sharing does not apply to this article, as no new datasets were generated or analyzed in this case report.

A citizen-participatory survey using dandelions, a familiar plant, as an environmental indicator, was initiated in Osaka in the 1970s. Since then, the survey has expanded to the Kinki region and Western Japan, and in Kochi Prefecture, we have been participating in the Dandelion Survey: Western Japan 2010 and have started a distribution survey of Dandelion species in the prefecture in collaboration with citizens. The survey has been continued until the 2020 survey as a two-year survey, with one year of preliminary survey and one year of main survey. From the results of the survey in Kochi Prefecture in the Dandelion Survey: Western Japan 2020, the native species found in Kochi Prefecture were Kansai Tanpopo (Tanpopo means Japanese name of dandelion), Kushiba Tanpopo, Tsukushi Tanpopo, Yamazato Tanpopo, Kibishiro Tanpopo, Shirobana Tanpopo, and Kibanashiro Tanpopo (yellow flower variety of Shirobana Tanpopo), and the native species presumed to be naturalized in Japan were Tokai Tanpopo, Shinano Tanpopo, and Ezo Tanpopo, and the alien species were Seiyo (Seiyo means Western in Japanese) Tanpopo, Akami Tanpopo and a total of 13 taxonomic groups including native species presumed to be hybrids. The collected samples consisted of 38.2% native species, 60.6% alien species, and 1.1% domestic naturalized species, with alien species accounting for 60% of the samples. The proportion of meshes confirmed to be native involucral bract type alien species in all meshes where alien dandelions were confirmed has doubled in 10 years, and it is thought that the native involucral bract type alien species has doubled in 15 years from the number of collected meshes and samples. In addition, the flowering of Shirobana Tanpopo in the prefecture has been advancing at a rate of 0.9 days over 10 years, and it is presumed that the trend of earlier flowering is due to the long-term rise in temperature during the period when this phenomenon occurs. We have made efforts to promote awareness by holding exhibitions, training sessions, and issuing newsletters so that citizens can pay attention to and become familiar with the nature around them. After the survey, we published the “Dandelion Survey 2020: Western Japan Kochi Prefecture Report” as a summary of the survey results. This paper is based on this report (Hori Kiyotaka, Tanabe Yuki, Sakamoto Akira, Kokami Yasushi (eds) 2021. Dandelion Survey: Western Japan 2020 Kochi Prefecture Report. pp.63. Public Interest Incorporated Foundation Kochi Prefecture Makino Memorial Foundation. https://www.makino.or.jp/img_data/PAGE_science-new_2_23.pdf?4 ). We believe that this survey has provided many citizens with an opportunity to think about changes in the natural environment around them. The correspondence table between the Japanese names of dandelion and scientific names is shown in Table 8.1.

To discriminate allopolyploid species from their parental species in Drosera, a comparative analysis of biseriate glandular trichomes (BGTs) of D. tokaiensis and its parental species was carried out. Because accurate identification of allopolyploid species D. tokaiensis is difficult due to showing intermediate morphologies between the parental species D. rotundifolia and D. spatulata, the species confirmation of 11 strains of four Drosera species including D. anglica were performed by determining the somatic chromosome numbers first, and then, cytomorphological details of the BGTs were characterized. Except for D. anglica, the typical form of the BGT was a biseriate structure made up of three cell pairs (consisted of six cells): head part (two apical cells), stalk part (two stalk cells), and foot part (two basal cells). In D. tokaiensis and its parental species, the BGTs stained with DAPI exhibited a single nucleus in each cell. Among 16 cytomorphological BGT characters of the three species, the maximum value of the BGT width of D. spatulata was shorter than those of the minimum values of D. rotundifolia and D. tokaiensis. A canonical discriminant analysis showed that the BGTs gave a clear separation to distinguish D. tokaiensis from its parental species. In cross-validated discriminant analysis, the individual variation of BGTs robustly predicted the species of each BGT, demonstrating species specificity for simple and accurate species identification by the cytomorphological characters.

Finger trembling is a characteristic physical finding in Hirayama disease. Although conservative treatment is recommended to stop disease progression, surgery is optional in some cases. However, the postoperative recovery of finger trembling is scarcely reported. A 26-year-old Japanese female patient whose chief complaint was left finger trembling with active finger extension presented at our hospital. Hand weakness without muscle atrophy of the left arm was observed. MRI showed left-side oriented intramedullary signal change with concomitant cord atrophy at C4-5 and C5-6. The CT myelogram (CTM) on flexion showed anterior cord compression and anterior shift of posterior dura matter from C4 to C6. And CTM on extension showed the resolution of both findings. Electrophysiological studies showed active and chronic neuronal damage and preserved motor neuron pool of hand muscle. Since she had exhibited a gradual aggravation of symptoms over a period of 5 years, she underwent anterior cervical discectomy and fusion after careful assessment of both conservative and surgical treatment. Finger trembling recovered soon after surgery. Finger trembling is an unfamiliar physical finding in terms of postoperative recovery prediction. Anterior horn cell impairment is postulated as a cause of finger trembling. Postural restoration of spinal cord shape and cerebrospinal fluid around the cord with preserved neural function could facilitate functional recovery.

A 67-year-old male veterinarian presented with fatigue, anorexia, and diarrhea. Although there were no tick bite marks, we suspected severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) due to bicytopenia, mild disturbance of consciousness, and a history of outdoor activities. Thus, we started immunoglobulin therapy immediately. A serum reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for SFTS virus (SFTSV) was positive. The patient had treated a cat with thrombocytopenia 10 days prior to admission. The cat’s serum SFTSV RT-PCR test result was positive, and the whole genome sequences of the patient’s and cat’s SFTSV were identical, suggesting the possibility of transmission from the cat to the patient. Other cases of direct cat-to-human SFTV transmission have been reported recently. Mucous membranes should be protected, including eye protection, in addition to standard precautions, when in contact with any cat with suspected SFTS.

AimsThe aim of this study was to investigate clinical characteristics of frail patients based on a comprehensive frailty assessment in patients hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure (HF) (ADHF) in super‐aged regional Japanese cohort.Methods and resultsWe established the Kochi Registry of Subjects with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure (Kochi YOSACOI) study, which was a prospective multicentre community‐based cohort study in six participating hospitals in Kochi Prefecture, Japan. We enrolled 1061 patients (median age, 81 years; 50.0% men) hospitalized for ADHF between June 2017 and December 2019 in this registry. Patients were classified into the three groups by the severity of frailty using the Kihon Checklist: we identified frailty in 510 patients (53.7%), prefrailty in 293 patients (30.9%), and non‐frailty in 146 patients (15.4%). Compared with prefrail and non‐frail patients, frail patients were older (84 years interquartile range [IQR, 77–88] vs. 79 years [IQR, 69–86] and 72 years [IQR 65–81], P < 0.001) and more often had prior HF hospitalization (29.6% vs. 21.8% and 16.4%, P < 0.05), chronic kidney disease (81.6% vs. 71.7% and 61.0%, P < 0.01), anaemia (75.3% vs. 61.4% and 50.0%, P < 0.001), cerebrovascular accident (19.0% vs. 9.9% and 4.1%, P < 0.01). The proportion of patients with three or more comorbidities was larger in the frailty group than in the other groups (78.0% vs. 67.2% and 63.0%, P < 0.01). The frequency of functional decline in all domains increased with frailty status. Approximately 70% of frail patients were identified as functional decline in physical function and socialization domains. Fifty to sixty per cent of frail patients had functional decline in instrumental activities of daily living, cognitive function, and depression domains. The percentage of worsening walking ability during hospitalization was increasing with the frailty status (frailty, 27.5%; prefrailty, 21.8%; non‐frailty, 8.9%). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, frailty was associated with age [odds ratio (OR) 1.031, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.011–1.052, P = 0.003], prior HF hospitalization (OR 1.789, 95% CI 1.165–2.764, P = 0.008), brain natriuretic peptide level at discharge (OR 1.001, 95% CI 1.000–1.001, P = 0.020) and prior cerebrovascular accident (OR 2.549, 95% CI 1.484–4.501, P < 0.001).ConclusionsMore than half of patients with ADHF were frail and had functional decline across multiple domains, not only physical function domain. The Kihon Checklist provided useful and valuable information for easily identifying frail patients and comprehensive management of HF.

A new species Saussurea talungensis S.K.Ghimire & H.K.Rana, sp. nov. (sect. Strictae), from Talung valley of Humla district, Nepal, is described and illustrated. Morphologically, this species resembles Saussurea roylei and Saussurea lanata in habit, though it can be distinguished in having longer leaf petioles, purplish leaf margin, 1 or 3 capitula, shorter phyllaries, shorter receptacle bristles and the same anthers, comparatively shorter corolla with shorter lobes. Phylogenomic analysis also supports S. talungensis as a distinct species of Saussurea. Here, we provide taxonomic note, distribution map and phylogenomic inference to distinguish the new species and its allied members.

Herein we describe a 42-year-old female with mesenteric phlebosclerosis of her ascending colon. She visited our hospital due to abdominal pain, and computed tomography revealed edematous ascending colon and remarkable calcification of the ileocolic and right colic veins. She had been taking kampo medicine for nearly 20 years, and ‘drug-induced’ mesenteric phlebosclerosis was diagnosed. Treatment with fasting and intravenous infusion therapy did not alleviate the symptom, therefore she underwent resection of the right side of the colon. Subsequent pathological examination confirmed the preoperative diagnosis, and the postoperative recovery was uneventful.