Tochigi Prefectural Police

In Kawasaki disease (KD), coronary arteritis occurring in infancy can lead to long-term sequelae, such as luminal dilatation, stenosis, intimal thickening, and calcification. However, the long-term evolution of these lesions, particularly the effect of superimposed atherosclerosis in adulthood, remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate coronary artery lesions in adults with a history of KD and clarify the relationship between sequelae of vasculitis and atherosclerosis. We analyzed 7 autopsy cases of sudden cardiac death in adults with a confirmed history of KD and documented coronary artery aneurysms. Clinical data, including acute-phase treatment history, body mass index, heart weight, coronary risk factors, and detailed coronary histopathology, were evaluated. All aneurysms were located at the coronary ostia and showed marked intimal thickening with severe calcification, leading to luminal narrowing. Thrombotic occlusion within the aneurysm was identified in 1 case. In 3 patients aged older than 30 years, atherosclerotic changes were observed in the thickened intima of persistent aneurysmal segments or dilated portions. One patient with a regressed aneurysm died of acute myocardial infarction caused by plaque rupture. Sequelae of vasculitis were widely distributed in nonaneurysmal coronary branches, and atherosclerotic changes were also noted in these regions. In adults with persistent coronary aneurysms due to KD, atherosclerotic lesions may develop not only in aneurysmal segments but also in nondilated arteries with scarring due to vasculitis. Individuals with prior KD and coronary aneurysms may require long-term management for thrombotic risk and the prevention of atherosclerosis, beginning in early adulthood.

Wild boars inhabit fields, hills, and farms across Japan, where they are fed on by numerous arthropods, including mosquitoes and ticks. Consequently, they are frequently exposed to arthropod-borne pathogens. In Toyama Prefecture, blood samples from captured wild boars have long been collected for classical swine fever virus antibody testing, with detailed records kept on the capture locations. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of antibodies against Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) using 3059 serum samples collected from wild boars over the past six years. A previously developed single-round infectious particles (SRIPs) assay system was employed for the analysis. We also examined the geographic distribution of antibody-positive wild boars. The results showed that antibody positivity rates for both JEV and SFTSV increased annually from 2019 to 2024. Geographical analysis revealed that JEV antibody-positive wild boars were distributed throughout Toyama Prefecture, whereas SFTSV antibody-positive wild boars were concentrated mainly in the northwestern region and along the western prefectural border. These findings suggest that JEV continue to pose an infection risk across the entire prefecture, while SFTSV has been actively spreading in the northwestern area during 2023–2024, raising concern over an increasing risk of human infection.

Abstract The two‐spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acarina, Tetranychidae), is a notorious agricultural pest known for its high dispersal ability. Understanding the dispersal patterns of T. urticae is crucial for studying its population dynamics and assessing the risk of gene dispersal related to acaricide resistance. We investigated the impact of surrounding landscapes on T. urticae occurrence and detected gene flow between nearby apple orchards. Land use data within 0.2–2 km radius buffers of the orchards were extracted and summarized using principal component analysis. The effects of landscape composition on the occurrence of T. urticae in apple orchards were analyzed using a hierarchical Bayesian model that considers spatial autocorrelation. In addition, we conducted a population genetic analysis on samples collected from five orchards. The results indicate that the best model was one at a 200‐m scale, revealing a positive correlation between forest area ratio and T. urticae occurrence. The population genetic analysis demonstrated distinct genetic structures within T. urticae populations across different orchards. However, we estimated gene flow among some orchards that were geographically close. These findings suggest that T. urticae may migrate from surrounding landscapes, particularly forests, and nearby orchards to apple orchards. These findings have substantial implications for developing control units based on the gene flow range of the two‐spotted spider mite, as well as for assessing the risk of infestation in each orchard.

Behavioral problems of foster children are an important issue for the maintenance of the foster care system, but they have not been adequately studied in Japan. We used the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) to investigate behavioral problems among foster children and to examine associated factors. Twenty-nine foster children and their foster parents and 479 non-foster children and parents were recruited for the foster and control groups, respectively. Both groups underwent statistical comparative analyses using data from their ECBI assessments. The ECBI has two scales: the Intensity Scale quantifies the severity of child behavioral problems, and the Problem Scale captures the caregiver's perceived difficulties handling each behavior. We conducted a retrospective investigation of the background of the foster parent-child pairs to explore potential causal relationships with behavioral problems. The mean intensity score for the foster group was significantly higher than that for the control group (p = 0.001). The mean problem scores for the foster group and the control group were not significantly different (p = 0.79). In the foster group, the retrospective investigation revealed two children with neurological or neurodevelopmental disorders, 17 with histories of abuse, and 10 with other issues. Intensity scores showed severe behavioral problems among foster children, perhaps caused by neurological disorders, abuse, parental mental health, or economic hardship. Problem scores showed no significant differences between groups. It can therefore be posited that foster parents might exhibit a more lenient parenting style when dealing with children who have a history of abuse by their biological parents.

イチゴ萎黄病（Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. fragariae）は，イチゴ栽培における難防除病害で，イチゴ萎黄病に対する抵抗性はイチゴ育種における重要形質の一つである．本研究では，抵抗性品種の育成の効率化を図るため，イチゴ萎黄病抵抗性に関する遺伝領域の解析を行った．罹病性品種「とちおとめ」と抵抗性品種「アスカウェイブ」を交雑したF1集団のランナー苗と培養苗を作出し，それぞれ異なる条件で接種試験を行った結果，F1集団の発病度の分布から「アスカウェイブ」の抵抗性は，一つの主働遺伝子と複数の量的形質遺伝子が関与していることが推察された．また，「とちおとめ」と「アスカウェイブ」の連鎖地図を用いてQTL解析を行った結果，「アスカウェイブ」の連鎖地図上に，主働遺伝子に連鎖すると考えられる1領域を含む複数のQTLが検出された．

The concealed information test (CIT) is a psychophysiological memory-detection technique. The judgment to assess whether an examinee recognizes crime-relevant information is based on the difference in autonomic responses between the crime-relevant information and the crime-irrelevant information. The present study examined the within-questionnaire consistency of the differential physiological responses, which is a key point in the above judgment. The mock theft CIT data obtained from 167 participants were modeled into three possible models, and Bayesian estimation of parameters and model selection were performed. Results of model selection implied that participants in the encoding group were not clearly divided into high consistency responders and non-responders. Bayesian estimates of parameters revealed that the within-questionnaire consistency of the differential physiological responses had different characteristics among the physiological measures. Most participants showed high consistency for heart rate and respiratory speed, while some participants show low consistency for skin conductance response, respiratory amplitude, and respiratory rate.

The spread of performance and image enhancing drugs (PIEDs) often requires forensic toxicology laboratories to identify unknown compounds without reference standards. We characterized the PIEDs melanotan II and bremelanotide, not legally marketed, in eight unknown samples confiscated by police together with anabolic steroids, hormone modulators, sexual enhancers and stimulants, intended for the black market of bodybuilders, using liquid chromatography-high resolution/high accuracy Orbitrap mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). The characterization was carried out by the accurate mass measurements of MH+ ionic species, the study of their isotopic patterns and the associated relative isotopic abundance (RIA) values, as well as the accurate mass measurements of collision-induced product ions obtained in fragmentation experiments. LC-HRMS confirmed itself as a powerful analytical tool to elucidate the elemental composition and structural characteristics of unknown compounds.

Recently, ad hoc networks are widely used according to the progress of IoT. LoRaWAN (Long-Rang Wide Area Network), one of the low-cost wide area networking technologies, draws attention by its outstanding performance in long-range low-power communication. LoRa is one of the implementations of LoRaWAN and is now used in many applications. LoRa uses CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance) to improve resilience against interference. However, in our experiences to implement the network by using LoRa, we had problems with performance degradation due to collision between channels.In this paper, firstly, we explain the problem that we found. Then we show the details of our experiments. We measured the degree of interference and found out the relation between adjacent channels and varying parameters in a different circumstance. We used two transmitters to measure interference under different channel distance, bandwidth, spreading factors, and distances. We found that the closer channel, the smaller bandwidth, or the larger spreading factor leads to a higher carrier sense rate (CSR) and longer interference distance. Then, we applied this result to our research field and discussed the solution to reduce adjacent interference.

Human norovirus (HuNoV) GII.P17-GII.17 (Kawasaki2014 variant) reportedly emerged in 2014 and caused gastroenteritis outbreaks worldwide. To clarify the evolution of both VP1 and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) regions of GII.P17-GII.17, we analyzed both global and novel Japanese strains detected during 2013–2017. Time-scaled phylogenetic trees revealed that the ancestral GII.17 VP1 region diverged around 1949, while the ancestral GII.P17 RdRp region diverged around 2010. The evolutionary rates of the VP1 and RdRp regions were estimated at ~2.7 × 10−3 and ~2.3 × 10−3 substitutions/site/year, respectively. The phylogenetic distances of the VP1 region exhibited no overlaps between intra-cluster and inter-cluster peaks in the GII.17 strains, whereas those of the RdRp region exhibited a unimodal distribution in the GII.P17 strains. Conformational epitope positions in the VP1 protein of the GII.P17-GII.17 strains were similar, although some substitutions, insertions and deletions had occurred. Strains belonging to the same cluster also harbored substitutions around the binding sites for the histo-blood group antigens of the VP1 protein. Moreover, some amino acid substitutions were estimated to be near the interface between monomers and the active site of the RdRp protein. These results suggest that the GII.P17-GII.17 virus has produced variants with the potential to alter viral antigenicity, host-binding capability, and replication property over the past 10 years.