Tenshi College

[Purpose] To examine the moisturizing effects of applying and spraying a moisturizer composed of a mixture of urea, glycerin, and purified water on dry skin in community-dwelling older adults.

Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) programs are beneficial for reducing the frequency of subsequent fractures and mortality in post-hip fracture patients. The aim of this study was to investigate recent changes in the rate of pharmaceutical treatment for osteoporosis in post-hip fracture surgery patients in the absence of FLS programs compared to the previous 10 and 20years, and whether introduction of a new reimbursement scheme in hip fracture care, launched in 2022 by the Japanese government, improved the pharmaceutical treatment rate after surgical intervention. Study 1 included 1490 post-hip fracture patients in seven hospitals without an FLS program. Study 2 included 396 osteoporosis patients who were covered by the new reimbursement scheme at five of the seven hospitals. Treatment-related variables and the number of patients who received the different pharmaceutical treatments at 0, 3, 6 and 12months after discharge from the hospital were examined. Two hundred and thirty-two of 1474 patients received anti-osteoporotic medication at hospital discharge, which was not a significant improvement in the rate of pharmaceutical treatment in comparison with that in our previous studies over 20years. On the other hand, introduction of the new reimbursement scheme at hospitals significantly improved the rate of pharmaceutical treatment, with 263 of the 391 patients receiving anti-osteoporotic medication at discharge, as well as a significant improvement. We demonstrated a significant improvement in the pharmaceutical treatment rate for osteoporosis in post-hip fracture surgery patients after introduction of the new reimbursement scheme launched by the Japanese government.

2019年あるいは2020年の秋期に全国7都市の保育所に在籍する3‐6歳児の幼児798名を対象に, 連続しない平日2日と休日2日の計4日間, 秤量記録法による食事調査を実施した。平日と休日それぞれの習慣的な栄養素等摂取量を算出し, 日本人の食事摂取基準 (2020年版) の各指標の基準と比較し評価した。習慣的な栄養素摂取量が推定平均必要量 (EAR) 未満の割合が平日に比べて休日で有意に多かった栄養素はビタミンA, B1, B2, C, カリウム, カルシウム, 鉄であった。休日と比較し, 平日では望ましい栄養素等摂取状況にあることが示唆された。しかし, カルシウムはEAR未満の幼児の割合が男女ともに平日で約40％以上, 休日で70％以上と高い値を示した。休日ではカルシウムの他にも, ビタミンA, B1, 鉄などの摂取不足が見られ, 幼児における栄養素等摂取状況の問題点が明らかとなった。保育所で提供される給食や間食からカルシウム等の不足しがちな栄養素を補給できるようにするとともに, 家庭での食事状況の改善の必要性が示唆された。

ABSTRACTListeria monocytogenes serotype 4b strains RF01 and RF06 were isolated from raccoon feces in Japan. Here, we report the draft genome sequences of the two isolated strains; the genome sizes were 2,918,024 and 2,872,491 bp, with 535× and 510× coverage, for the RF01 and RF06 strains, respectively.

Staphylococcus is a major bacterial species that contaminates retail meat products. The objective of this study was to clarify the prevalence, antimicrobial resistance and genetic determinants of Staphylococcus/Mammaliicoccus species in retail ground meat in Japan. From a total of 146 retail ground meat samples (chicken, pork, mixed beef/pork) purchased during a 5-month period, 10 S. aureus and 112 isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CoNS)/Mammaliicoccus comprising 20 species were recovered. S. aureus isolates were classified into five genetic types, i.e., coa-IIa/ST5, coa-VIc/ST352 (CC97), coa-VIIb/ST398, coa-Xa/ST15, and coa-XIc/ST9, which were all related to those of livestock-associated clones. All the staphylococcal isolates were mecA-negative and mostly susceptible to all the antimicrobials tested, except for ampicillin among S. aureus (resistance proportion; 50%). Among CoNS, the fosfomycin resistance gene fosB was prevalent (30/112; 26.8%), primarily in S. capitis, S. warneri, and S. saprophyticus. Phylogenetic analysis of fosB revealed the presence of seven clusters, showing broad diversity with 65–81% identity among different clusters. In the CoNS isolates from ground meat samples, fosB was assigned into three clusters, and S. saprophyticus harbored the most divergent fosB with three genetic groups. These findings suggested the circulation of multiple fosB-carrying plasmids among some CoNS species.

Abstract Reactive oxygen species (ROS) oxidize and activate the uncoupler protein 1 (UCP1) in brown adipose tissue (BAT) under physiological cold exposure and noradrenaline (NA) stimulation to increase thermogenesis. However, pathological significance and the endogenous regulator of the ROS-mediated BAT activation remain unclear. Here, we show that serum levels of selenoprotein P (SeP, encoded by Selenop) are negatively correlated with BAT activity in humans. SeP impairs UCP1 activity and thermogenesis. Physiological cold exposure downregulates Selenop in BAT. BAT-specific Selenop-deficient (BAT-Selenop KO) mice presented elevated NA-induced mitochondrial ROS production, sulfenylated UCP1, and enhanced thermogenesis and glucose uptake in BAT during cold exposure. SeP inhibits mitochondrial ROS by upregulating the expression of the antioxidant enzyme, glutathione peroxidase 4, and impairs glucose uptake in brown adipocytes. High fat/high sucrose diet upregulates Selenop in the liver and inhibits the NA-induced BAT thermogenesis in BAT-Selenop KO mice. Our data indicate that SeP, as the hepatokine and BATkine, is the first identified intrinsic factor inducing reductive stress that impairs UCP1 activation and thermogenesis in BAT, and therefore may be a potential therapeutic target for obesity and diabetes.

Supporting university faculty who are engaging in clinical research through continuing education can increase the effectiveness of education. This descriptive study aimed to describe the needs of nurses who are pursuing research and to clarify future activities to support their research. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Participants included 249 nurses currently working at seven different hospitals and who had conducted research supported by a university from FY2007 to FY2016. The questionnaire assessed the degree of difficulty of pursuing research and the need for support. In total, 177 nurses were included in the final analysis (valid response rate: 65.8%). The ethics review question had a median score of 3, indicating moderate difficulty. Both the methods and data analysis questions had median scores of 5 on the support need scale, indicating a high need for support, whereas the presentation question had a median score of 3 (moderate need for support). The literature review had the lowest percentage of participants who reported being satisfied with the support received, at 83.1%; however, 98.1% were satisfied with the support received for the ethics review. These results indicate that the following factors should be addressed to better support research among clinical nurses: teaching methods, reviewing the literature, selecting an appropriate research method, and analyzing the data. Our results also demonstrated that nurses were relatively dissatisfied with the methods of communication used in research. Nurses reported that future support should emphasize improving methods of support and effectively clarifying the needs of human resource development.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) plays an important role in body fat accumulation and the regulation of energy expenditure. Since the role of miRNAs in the pathogenesis of obesity and related metabolic diseases is contentious, we analyzed exosomal miRNAs in serum of healthy subjects with special references to BAT activity and body fat level. Forty male volunteers aged 20–30 years were recruited. Their BAT activity was assessed by fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and computed tomography after 2 h of cold exposure and expressed as a maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax). Exosomal miRNA levels was analyzed using microarray and real-time PCR analyses. The miR-122-5p level in the high BAT activity group (SUV ≧ 3) was 53% lower than in the low BAT activity group (SUVmax <3). Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed that the serum miR-122-5p level correlated negatively with BAT activity and the serum HDL-cholesterol, and it correlated positively with age, BMI, body fat mass, and total cholesterol and triglyceride serum levels. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that BAT activity was associated with the serum miR-122-5p level independently of the other parameters. These results reveal the serum exosomal miR-122-5p level is negatively associated with BAT activity independently of obesity.

Background:It has recently been reported that the fruit, stems and leaves ofActinidia argutahave various potential health effects including an antioxidant effect, anticancer effect, anti-allergic effect and α-glucosidase inhibitory effect. However, little is known about the biochemical properties of cysteine protease in the fruit juice ofA. arguta.Methods:Ion exchange chromatography to purify the cysteine protease from the fruit juice ofA. arguta, and some synthetic substrates to determinate the enzyme activity were used.Results:Cysteine protease was purified to homogeneity fromA. argutafruit juice by ion exchange chromatography. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was calculated to be approximately 25,500 by SDS-PAGE in the presence of β-ME. The enzyme rapidly hydrolyzed the substrate Z-Leu-Arg-MCA and moderately hydrolyzed other substrates including Boc-Val-Leu-Lys-MCA, Z-Val-Val-Arg-MCA and Z-Phe-Arg-MCA. Kinetic parameters for these four substrates were determined. TheKm,Vmax,KcatandKcat/Kmvalues for Z-Leu-Arg-MCA, the most preferentially cleaved by the enzyme, were 100 μM, 63.8 μmoles/mg/min, 27.26 sec-1and 0.2726 sec-1μM-1, respectively. Furthermore, the activity of the enzyme was strongly inhibited by inhibitors including antipain, leupeptin, E-64, E-64c, kinin-free-LMW kininogen and cystatin C. Those biochemical data indicated that the enzyme was a cysteine protease. The amino acid sequence of the first 21 residues of cysteine protease purified fromActinidia argutawas Val1-Leu-Pro-Asp-Tyr5-Val-Asp-Trp-Arg-Ser10-Ala-Gly-Ala-Val-Val15-Asp-Ile-Lys-Ser-Qln20-Gly. This sequence showed high homology to the sequences of actinidin fromAcinidia deliciosa(95.0%) and actinidin fromActinidia eriantha(90%). These three cysteine proteases were thought to be common allied species.Conclusion:The biochemical properties of the enzyme purified fromA. argutafruit juice were determined. These basic data are expected to contribute to the maintenance and improvement of human health as well as to the promotion of protein digestion and absorption through its proteolytic functions.