Toyama Science Museum

Archaeological evidence indicates that dogs appeared in Japan at least 9300 years ago, during the Jomon period. The Jomon period dogs (Jomon dogs) retained the morphological characteristics of ancient domestic dogs throughout the Jomon period, possibly due to their geographical isolation from continental dogs. Therefore, we expect them to retain the genetic characteristics of ancient domestic dogs. To explore this possibility, we determined the mitochondrial genomes of five Jomon dogs, including one of the oldest dogs in Japan (7400-7200 cal BP), and seven late-8th-century Japanese dogs (Suwada dogs). We analyzed these sequences with 719 mitochondrial genomes of ancient and modern canids. The dog mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences have been grouped into six clades (haplogroups A-F), and clade A comprises six sub-clades (sub-haplogroups A1-A6). Classification of the Jomon dogs' mtDNA haplotypes revealed that these dogs belong to a nested A2/A3 sub-haplogroup not shared by other modern or ancient samples. The mtDNA sequences of Jomon dogs form a monophyletic clade which is sister to the A3 sub-clade in the phylogenetic trees. Network analysis showed that the Jomon dogs' mtDNA sub-clade diverged close to the base of the A2 and A3 haplotype network, which was centered by an ancient dog from South China. The Jomon dog mtDNAs diverged from A3 (~11500 years ago) soon after the A2 and A3 divergence (~12800 years ago), indicating early divergence of the Jomon dogs' sub-clade. These results suggest that the Jomon dogs were possibly introduced into the Japanese archipelago 11500-9300 years ago. The mtDNAs of late-8th-century dogs were more diverse and were different haplogroups than that of Jomon dogs, suggesting that other haplogroups likely replaced the haplogroup of Jomon dogs through the introduction of dogs that accompanied the migration of people into Japan in later periods.

BackgroundInterprofessional collaboration in the community is becoming essential in primary care, particularly collaboration between public health nurses and general practitioners. However, the precise value of such collaboration has not been sufficiently studied. The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative analysis of collaboration between general practitioners and public health nurses in the community to explore the details of the phenomenon and its possible impact on the community.MethodsSince 2015, The University of Toyama has been implementing the Collaborative Health Activities Project, in which general practitioners and public health nurses work together to promote community health. Focus group and individual interviews were conducted with participating staff, and the data were analyzed qualitatively.ResultsFifteen themes were generated, in six categories. The categories were as follows: enhanced roles of public health nurses and physicians in the community, new perspectives on the community, public health nurses' sense of trust and empathy toward physicians, bonds of solidarity between public health nurses and physicians, proactive change in residents, and supporting “hangout places”.ConclusionThe collaboration between general practitioners and public health nurses familiar with the same community fostered a sense of trust and empathy and created the bonds of solidarity between staff and residents. The results also suggest the collaboration may have a positive impact on the local community by inspiring residents to change proactively and supporting “hangouts” where residents and professionals can informally connect.

ABSTRACTThe Taishu horse in Tsushima is one of eight Japanese native breeds. The breed is on theverge of extinction due to a rapid decrease in numbers since the 1960s owing tomotorization in Japan. In this study, we aimed to confirm the pedigree information of 52horses by genotyping 31 microsatellites in order to avoid inbreeding. Parentageverification failed to identify genetic contradictions among trios (sires, dams, andfoals) registered with the Japan Equine Affairs Association (JEAA). Pedigree informationregistered at the JEAA was obtained and adequately understood. Additionally, the geneticdiversity of the Taishu horses was evaluated and compared with those of other Japanesenative breeds. The average values for the number of alleles, observed heterozygosity,expected heterozygosity, and inbreeding coefficient were 4.7, 0.643, 0.632, and −0.02,respectively. Using the Structure software, the 52 horses were classified into threesubgroups based on the individuals with more than 50% of specific genetic components. Thephylogenetic trees created based on neighbor-joining classification tended to beconsistent among the stallions. The effective population size was 27.5 and lower than thatrequired for maintaining 90% genetic variation in the source population over a period of100 years (47.5). Compared with the other Japanese breeds, the Taishu horse populationincluded in the current study exhibited moderate genetic diversity. Our study willcontribute to reconsideration of the breeding strategy of Taishu horses.

Tsuji, Yamato, Toshiaki Shiraishi, Kenta Sawada, Matsubara, Miki, Kosugi, Jun (2021): Differential Attraction of Large and Small Tunneling Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Geotrupidae and Scarabaeidae) to Native Mammal Dung in a Satoyama Forest in Central Japan. The Coleopterists Bulletin 75 (2): 376-381, DOI: 10.1649/0010-065X-75.2.376, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1649/0010-065x-75.2.376

Ether lipids are a minor group of glycerolipids but widespread in nature, playing a vital function as membrane lipids, signalling molecules, or buoyant material. We have discovered sulfoquinovosylchimyl alcohol (1), a sulfonate-substituted glyceroglycolipid, from a lake ball-forming green alga Aegagropilopsis moravica (family Pithophoraceae), with the guidance of antimicrobial activity. The structure of 1, including absolute configurations of all sterogenic centers, was established by extensive NMR analysis, chemical degradation studies, and finally by total synthesis. Lipid 1 is an ether variant of a lyso-form of sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol, a chloroplast-specific membrane lipid, and thus represents a new lipid class, sulfoquinovosylglyceryl ether. A high occurrence of mobile life form in the family Pithophoraceae and a unique behaviour of chloroplasts reported in closely related Aegagropila linnaei, the famous lake-ball alga, implies a possible role of lipid 1 or its acyl derivatives in ecological adaptation to dysphotic niches.

ABSTRACT We explored the dynamics of dwarf bamboo populations in a beech forest 11 years before and 30 years after clear-cutting. Repeated weeding or herbicide application (sodium chlorate) was used experimentally to reduce or eliminate dwarf bamboo prior to clear-cutting. At the beginning of the study, the understory comprised dense populations of two Sasa species, the dominant S. palmata and the less common S. kurilensis. Both weeding and herbicide application rapidly reduced the cover of S. palmata, but it began to recover prior to clear-cutting and soon exceeded initial cover values. Both weeding and herbicide application reduced the cover of S. kurilensis to near-negligible levels; the cover increased slowly after clear-cutting but remained below initial levels. Weeding or herbicide application resulted in different patterns with respect to height; height decreased rapidly in response to weeding, whereas herbicide application had more gradual effects. Height began to increase after clear-cutting, and S. palmata exceeded its initial height, reaching 1.5–2.0 m in the 10–15 years following clear-cutting. No tree recruits were found in sites where dwarf bamboo was left unmanaged. Weeding and herbicide application facilitated recruitment of Betula ermanii after clear-cutting, but recruits of Fagus crenata, which originally dominated the forest canopy, remained scarce or non-existent at 30 years after clear-cutting. We postulate that natural regeneration of Fagus is nearly impossible following clear-cutting in temperate beech forests in Japan with dense undergrowth of Sasa, even with advance measures to reduce or eliminate Sasa.

寄生線虫の一種，Srivastavanema musasabi （線虫綱，ヘリグモソマム上科） が富山県産ニホンモモンガ （Pteromys momonga） および北海道産エゾモモンガ （P. volans） から得られ，形態学的に記載された。これはこれらの2種のモモンガからの初記載であり，富山県と北海道からの新産地報告となる。