Sample records for kaihatsu chosa sapporo

  1. Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1992-09-20

    The city of Sapporo on the northernmost of the Japanese Home Island of Hokkaido (43.5N, 141.5E), host to the 1986 Winter Olympic Games is situated along the margin of a large valley which extends across the island from the Sea of Japan to the Pacific Ocean. The Valley is largely cultivated (the lighter green of the cultivated land distinguishes it from the gray urban development of Sapporo), but much of the island remains heavily forested.

  2. Informal urban green-space: comparison of quantity and characteristics in Brisbane, Australia and Sapporo, Japan.

    PubMed

    Rupprecht, Christoph D D; Byrne, Jason A

    2014-01-01

    Informal urban green-space (IGS) such as vacant lots, brownfields and street or railway verges is receiving growing attention from urban scholars. Research has shown IGS can provide recreational space for residents and habitat for flora and fauna, yet we know little about the quantity, spatial distribution, vegetation structure or accessibility of IGS. We also lack a commonly accepted definition of IGS and a method that can be used for its rapid quantitative assessment. This paper advances a definition and typology of IGS that has potential for global application. Based on this definition, IGS land use percentage in central Brisbane, Australia and Sapporo, Japan was systematically surveyed in a 10×10 km grid containing 121 sampling sites of 2,500 m2 per city, drawing on data recorded in the field and aerial photography. Spatial distribution, vegetation structure and accessibility of IGS were also analyzed. We found approximately 6.3% of the surveyed urban area in Brisbane and 4.8% in Sapporo consisted of IGS, a non-significant difference. The street verge IGS type (80.4% of all IGS) dominated in Brisbane, while lots (42.2%) and gaps (19.2%) were the two largest IGS types in Sapporo. IGS was widely distributed throughout both survey areas. Vegetation structure showed higher tree cover in Brisbane, but higher herb cover in Sapporo. In both cities over 80% of IGS was accessible or partly accessible. The amount of IGS we found suggests it could play a more important role than previously assumed for residents' recreation and nature experience as well as for fauna and flora, because it substantially increased the amount of potentially available greenspace in addition to parks and conservation greenspace. We argue that IGS has potential for recreation and conservation, but poses some challenges to urban planning. To address these challenges, we propose some directions for future research.

  3. Informal Urban Green-Space: Comparison of Quantity and Characteristics in Brisbane, Australia and Sapporo, Japan

    PubMed Central

    Rupprecht, Christoph D. D.; Byrne, Jason A.

    2014-01-01

    Informal urban green-space (IGS) such as vacant lots, brownfields and street or railway verges is receiving growing attention from urban scholars. Research has shown IGS can provide recreational space for residents and habitat for flora and fauna, yet we know little about the quantity, spatial distribution, vegetation structure or accessibility of IGS. We also lack a commonly accepted definition of IGS and a method that can be used for its rapid quantitative assessment. This paper advances a definition and typology of IGS that has potential for global application. Based on this definition, IGS land use percentage in central Brisbane, Australia and Sapporo, Japan was systematically surveyed in a 10×10 km grid containing 121 sampling sites of 2,500 m2 per city, drawing on data recorded in the field and aerial photography. Spatial distribution, vegetation structure and accessibility of IGS were also analyzed. We found approximately 6.3% of the surveyed urban area in Brisbane and 4.8% in Sapporo consisted of IGS, a non-significant difference. The street verge IGS type (80.4% of all IGS) dominated in Brisbane, while lots (42.2%) and gaps (19.2%) were the two largest IGS types in Sapporo. IGS was widely distributed throughout both survey areas. Vegetation structure showed higher tree cover in Brisbane, but higher herb cover in Sapporo. In both cities over 80% of IGS was accessible or partly accessible. The amount of IGS we found suggests it could play a more important role than previously assumed for residents' recreation and nature experience as well as for fauna and flora, because it substantially increased the amount of potentially available greenspace in addition to parks and conservation greenspace. We argue that IGS has potential for recreation and conservation, but poses some challenges to urban planning. To address these challenges, we propose some directions for future research. PMID:24941046

  4. Partial prevention of long-term femoral bone loss in aged ovariectomized rats supplemented with choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid.

    PubMed

    Calomme, M; Geusens, P; Demeester, N; Behets, G J; D'Haese, P; Sindambiwe, J B; Van Hoof, V; Vanden Berghe, D

    2006-04-01

    Silicon (Si) deficiency in animals results in bone defects. Choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid (ch-OSA) was found to have a high bioavailability compared to other Si supplements. The effect of ch-OSA supplementation was investigated on bone loss in aged ovariectomized (OVX) rats. Female Wistar rats (n = 58, age 9 months) were randomized in three groups. One group was sham-operated (sham, n = 21), and bilateral OVX was performed in the other two groups. OVX rats were supplemented orally with ch-OSA over 30 weeks (OVX1, n = 20; 1 mg Si/kg body weight daily) or used as controls (OVX0, n = 17). The serum Si concentration and the 24-hour urinary Si excretion of supplemented OVX rats was significantly higher compared to sham and OVX controls. Supplementation with ch-OSA significantly but partially reversed the decrease in Ca excretion, which was observed after OVX. The increase in bone turnover in OVX rats tended to be reduced by ch-OSA supplementation. ch-OSA supplementation increased significantly the femoral bone mineral content (BMC) in the distal region and total femoral BMC in OVX rats, whereas lumbar BMC was marginally increased. Femoral BMD was significantly increased at two sites in the distal region in OVX rats supplemented with ch-OSA compared to OVX controls. Total lumbar bone mineral density was marginally increased by ch-OSA supplementation. In conclusion, ch-OSA supplementation partially prevents femoral bone loss in the aged OVX rat model.

  5. Effect of oral intake of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid on hair tensile strength and morphology in women with fine hair.

    PubMed

    Wickett, R R; Kossmann, E; Barel, A; Demeester, N; Clarys, P; Vanden Berghe, D; Calomme, M

    2007-12-01

    The appearance of hair plays an important role in people's overall physical appearance and self-perception. Silicon (Si) has been suggested to have a role in the formation of connective tissue and is present at 1-10 ppm in hair. Choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid ("ch-OSA") is a bioavailable form of silicon which was found to improve skin microrelief and skin mechanical properties in women with photoaged skin. The effect of ch-OSA on hair was investigated in a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study. Forty-eight women with fine hair were given 10 mg Si/day in the form of ch-OSA beadlets (n = 24) or a placebo (n = 24), orally for 9 months. Hair morphology and tensile properties were evaluated before and after treatment. Urinary silicon concentration increased significantly in the ch-OSA supplemented group but not in the placebo group. The elastic gradient decreased in both groups but the change was significantly smaller in the ch-OSA group (-4.52%) compared to placebo group (-11.9%). Break load changed significantly in the placebo group (-10.8%) but not in the ch-OSA supplemented group (-2.20%). Break stress and elastic modulus decreased in both groups but the change was smaller in the ch-OSA group. The cross sectional area increased significantly after 9 months compared to baseline in ch-OSA supplemented subjects but not in the placebo group. The change in urinary silicon excretion was significantly correlated with the change in cross sectional area. Oral intake of ch-OSA had a positive effect on tensile strength including elasticity and break load and resulted in thicker hair.

  6. Effect of oral intake of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid on skin, nails and hair in women with photodamaged skin.

    PubMed

    Barel, A; Calomme, M; Timchenko, A; De Paepe, K; Paepe, K De; Demeester, N; Rogiers, V; Clarys, P; Vanden Berghe, D

    2005-10-01

    Chronic exposure of the skin to sunlight causes damage to the underlying connective tissue with a loss of elasticity and firmness. Silicon (Si) was suggested to have an important function in the formation and maintenance of connective tissue. Choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid ("ch-OSA") is a bioavailable form of silicon which was found to increase the hydroxyproline concentration in the dermis of animals. The effect of ch-OSA on skin, nails and hair was investigated in a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study. Fifty women with photodamaged facial skin were administered orally during 20 weeks, 10 mg Si/day in the form of ch-OSA pellets (n=25) or a placebo (n=25). Noninvasive methods were used to evaluate skin microrelief (forearm), hydration (forearm) and mechanical anisotropy (forehead). Volunteers evaluated on a virtual analog scale (VAS, "none=0, severe=3") brittleness of hair and nails. The serum Si concentration was significantly higher after a 20-week supplementation in subjects with ch-OSA compared to the placebo group. Skin roughness parameters increased in the placebo group (Rt:+8%; Rm: +11%; Rz: +6%) but decreased in the ch-OSA group (Rt: -16%; Rm: -19%; Rz: -8%). The change in roughness from baseline was significantly different between ch-OSA and placebo groups for Rt and Rm. The difference in longitudinal and lateral shear propagation time increased after 20 weeks in the placebo group but decreased in the ch-OSA group suggesting improvement in isotropy of the skin. VAS scores for nail and hair brittleness were significantly lower after 20 weeks in the ch-OSA group compared to baseline scores. Oral intake of ch-OSA during the 20 weeks results in a significant positive effect on skin surface and skin mechanical properties, and on brittleness of hair and nails.

  7. Have sperm counts deteriorated over the past 20 years in healthy, young Japanese men? Results from the Sapporo area.

    PubMed

    Itoh, N; Kayama, F; Tatsuki, T J; Tsukamoto, T

    2001-01-01

    Changes in semen quality of healthy men is a controversial issue throughout the world. It is suspected that many chemical endocrine disrupters may affect the quality of semen. Although exposure to them may be extensive in Japan, no evidence of changes in semen quality has been reported. In this study, changes in semen volume and sperm counts were analyzed over 20 years in the Sapporo area of Japan. Semen volume and sperm counts were measured in 254 and 457 normal, healthy volunteers who lived in the Sapporo area in 1975-1980 and 1998, respectively. Posters and handbills were used to recruit participants in both studies. Semen samples were collected by masturbation after 3 days or more of abstinence. There was no change in semen volume between 1975-1980 and 1998. Mean sperm counts were 70.9 +/- 47.3 x 10(6)/mL in 1975-1980 and 79.6 +/- 49.3 x 10(6)/mL in 1998. Sperm counts did not decline over about 20 years. No significant correlation between age and sperm counts was recognized in either study. The rates of subjects with oligozoospermia and azoospermia were the same in both studies. In the 1975-1980 study, 34 of 254 (13.4%) participants had a child, and in the 1998 study, 51 of 457 (11.2%) participants had a child. Mean sperm count was significantly (P < .02) lower in the earlier study (66.0 +/- 44.9 x 106/mL) than in the 1998 study (98.7 +/- 60.2 x 10(6)/mL). This is the first reliable report in which changes in sperm counts in Japan were studied. We conclude that there was no evidence of deterioration in sperm counts of normal healthy men who lived in the Sapporo area of Japan over 20 years. However, selection bias in the recruitment of volunteers and the issue of variable abstinence might have affected the results of these studies. Therefore, well-designed prospective studies should be performed in several different regions to extrapolate our results on sperm counts to healthy, young Japanese men in general. Key words: Fertility, endocrine disruptors

  8. A 12-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter study of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.

    PubMed

    Geusens, Piet; Pavelka, Karel; Rovensky, Jozef; Vanhoof, Johan; Demeester, Nathalie; Calomme, Mario; Vanden Berghe, Dirk

    2017-01-05

    The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid (ch-OSA) in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA). In a multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 211 patients with knee OA (Kellgren and Lawrence grade II or III) and moderate to moderately severe pain were randomly allocated to ch-OSA or placebo for 12 weeks. The primary outcome was the change in the WOMAC pain subscale from baseline to week 12. Secondary outcomes were changes from baseline to week 12 in WOMAC total, WOMAC stiffness, WOMAC physical function, Subject Global Assessment and levels of cartilage degradation biomarkers C-terminal telopeptide of collagen type II (CTX-II) and cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP). Pre-specified subgroup analyses included the effect of gender. A total of 166 (120 women, 46 men) patients were included in the analysis (87 and 79 in the ch-OSA and placebo group, respectively). In the total study population, no differences were observed between the two treatment groups for the different outcomes but significant treatment x gender interactions were found. In men taking ch-OSA, a significant improvement in WOMAC total, WOMAC stiffness and WOMAC physical function as well as a lower increase in biomarker levels of cartilage degradation was observed, but not in women. The change in WOMAC pain showed a similar positive trend in men taking ch-OSA. After 12 weeks of treatment, no effect was found of ch-OSA in the total study population on clinical parameters and biomarkers, but a gender interaction was observed. In men, ch-OSA was found effective in reducing symptoms of knee OA, which was associated with a slight but significant reduction of biomarkers that are related to cartilage degradation. The study was registered retrospectively: ISRCTN88583133 . Registration date: 2015-10-07.

  9. Landslide Investigation by Repeat Airborne LiDAR and Ground Monitoring in the Western Suburb of Sapporo, Japan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kasai, M.; Marutani, T.; Yoshida, H.

    2014-12-01

    This study presents landslide investigation using the combination of airborne LiDAR and ground monitoring data. The study site is located on the Teine Landslide (width: 2 km, Length: 6.5 km) in the western suburb of Sapporo city in Hokkaido Island, Japan, which collapsed more than 50,000 years ago. Since then streams have been developing and incising the landslide mass consisted of rock debris and volcanic deposits, presently causing a series of small deep-seated landslides along the banks. Because Sapporo is the economic center of Hokkaido and the suburb is expanding at the toe of the Teine slide, it is important to understand the behaviors of these active slopes to protect residents and infrastructures from unexpected disasters possibly triggered by an intense storm or earthquake. The LiDAR data for the area was first obtained by a manned helicopter in August 2010, and another survey by an unmanned helicopter is planned in autumn 2014 to estimate their activities from changes in the ground surfaces during the period from 2010 to 2014. Ground water level and landslide mass movements have also been monitored on site by using the coring holes for sampling since 2013. The combination of the data sets can make up the deficits of these methods, e.g., errors created through data processing for LiDAR survey and spatially limited information for ground monitoring, enabling to provide a solid three dimensional view of the slope movements. The notion obtained can be utilized to predict their future behaviors as well as to discover active but hiding landslides nearby. This study also showed that repeat monitoring of sites is a way of utilizing UAVs, particularly in terms of cost and convenience.

  10. Molecular distributions and stable carbon isotopic compositions of dicarboxylic acids and related compounds in aerosols from Sapporo, Japan: Implications for photochemical aging during long-range atmospheric transport

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aggarwal, Shankar G.; Kawamura, Kimitaka

    2008-07-01

    Molecular and stable carbon isotopic (δ13C value) compositions of dicarboxylic acids, ketoacids, and dicarbonyls in aerosol samples (i.e., total suspended particles) collected in Sapporo, northern Japan during spring and summer were determined to better understand the photochemical aging of organic aerosols during long-range transport from East Asia and Siberia. Their molecular distributions were characterized by the predominance of oxalic acid (C2) followed by malonic (C3) or occasionally succinic (C4) acids. Concentrations of total diacids ranged from 106-787 ng m-3 with ketoacids (13-81 ng m-3) and dicarbonyls (2.6-28 ng m-3) being less abundant. Water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) comprised 23-69% of aerosol organic carbon (OC). OC to elemental carbon (EC) ratios were high (3.6-19, mean: 8.7). The ratios of C3/C4 and WSOC/OC did not show significant diurnal changes, suggesting that the Sapporo aerosols were not seriously affected by local photochemical processes and instead they were already aged. δ13C values of the dominant diacids (C2 - C4) ranged from -14.0 to -25.3‰. Largest δ13C values (-14.0 to -22.4‰, mean: -18.8‰) were obtained for C2, whereas smallest values (-25.1 to -31.4‰, mean: -28.1‰) were for azelaic acid (C9). In general, δ13C values of C2 - C4 diacids became less negative with aerosol aging (i.e., WSOC/OC), presumably due to isotopic fractionation during photochemical degradation of diacids. By comparing the δ13C values of diacids in the Sapporo aerosols with different air mass source regions, we suggest that although initial δ13C values of diacids depend on their precursor sources, the enrichment in 13C can be ascribed to aerosol photochemical aging.

  11. Choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid supplementation as an adjunct to Calcium/Vitamin D3 stimulates markers of bone formation in osteopenic females: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial

    PubMed Central

    Spector, Tim D; Calomme, Mario R; Anderson, Simon H; Clement, Gail; Bevan, Liisa; Demeester, Nathalie; Swaminathan, Rami; Jugdaohsingh, Ravin; Berghe, Dirk A Vanden; Powell, Jonathan J

    2008-01-01

    Background Mounting evidence supports a physiological role for silicon (Si) as orthosilicic acid (OSA, Si(OH)4) in bone formation. The effect of oral choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid (ch-OSA) on markers of bone turnover and bone mineral density (BMD) was investigated in a double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Methods Over 12-months, 136 women out of 184 randomized (T-score spine < -1.5) completed the study and received, daily, 1000 mg Ca and 20 μg cholecalciferol (Vit D3) and three different ch-OSA doses (3, 6 and 12 mg Si) or placebo. Bone formation markers in serum and urinary resorption markers were measured at baseline, and after 6 and 12 months. Femoral and lumbar BMD were measured at baseline and after 12 months by DEXA. Results Overall, there was a trend for ch-OSA to confer some additional benefit to Ca and Vit D3 treatment, especially for markers of bone formation, but only the marker for type I collagen formation (PINP) was significant at 12 months for the 6 and 12 mg Si dose (vs. placebo) without a clear dose response effect. A trend for a dose-corresponding increase was observed in the bone resorption marker, collagen type I C-terminal telopeptide (CTX-I). Lumbar spine BMD did not change significantly. Post-hoc subgroup analysis (baseline T-score femur < -1) however was significant for the 6 mg dose at the femoral neck (T-test). There were no ch-OSA related adverse events observed and biochemical safety parameters remained within the normal range. Conclusion Combined therapy of ch-OSA and Ca/Vit D3 had a potential beneficial effect on bone collagen compared to Ca/Vit D3 alone which suggests that this treatment is of potential use in osteoporosis. NTR 1029 PMID:18547426

  12. Successive deaths of a captive snow leopard (Uncia uncia) and a serval (Leptailurus serval) by infection with feline panleukopenia virus at Sapporo Maruyama Zoo.

    PubMed

    Sassa, Yukiko; Yamamoto, Hideaki; Mochizuki, Masami; Umemura, Takashi; Horiuchi, Motohiro; Ishiguro, Naotaka; Miyazawa, Takayuki

    2011-04-01

    Feline parvoviruses were isolated from frozen samples of intestines taken from a snow leopard (Uncia uncia) and a serval (Leptailurus serval) that died successively at Sapporo Maruyama Zoo in Hokkaido, Japan. Isolates possessed an antigenic epitope for both the feline panleukopenia virus (FPLV) and mink enteritis virus, identified with a hemagglutination inhibition test. Sequencing analyses of the VP2 region of the isolates revealed that the two isolates were identical and of the FPLV-type. These results suggested that FPLV was introduced from a feral cat which entered the zoo and transmitted the virus inside the zoo.

  13. Sex-specific differences in effect of prenatal exposure to dioxin-like compounds on neurodevelopment in Japanese children: Sapporo cohort study.

    PubMed

    Nakajima, Sonomi; Saijo, Yasuaki; Miyashita, Chihiro; Ikeno, Tamiko; Sasaki, Seiko; Kajiwara, Junboku; Kishi, Reiko

    2017-11-01

    Consistent reports are not available on the effects of dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD)/ polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) (dioxin-like compounds [DLCs]) on child neurodevelopment. Further, the effect of background-level exposure to individual DLC isomers is not known. We carried out the Sapporo cohort study to evaluate the effect of prenatal exposure to each DLC isomer on child neurodevelopment at 6 and 18 months of age, and assessed sex-specific differences in these effects. The levels of all and each individual DLC isomers were estimated in maternal peripheral blood. Neurodevelopment was evaluated using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-2nd Edition for 6-month-old infants (n = 190) and 18-month-old children (n = 121). In male children, levels of 10 DLC isomers were significantly negatively associated with the Psychomotor Developmental Index (PDI) at 6 months of age after adjustment for potential confounding variables. However, at 18 months of age, these associations were absent. In female children, the level of only one DLC isomer was significantly negatively associated with PDI at 6 months of age. However, in contrast to the male children, the levels of six DLC isomers in 18-month-old female children were significantly positively associated with the Mental Developmental Index. These findings indicate that adverse neurodevelopmental effects of prenatal background-level exposure to DLCs may be stronger in male children. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Perspectives in medical education 7. Observations on clinical training at a "US-style" residency program at Teine Keijinkai Hospital in Sapporo, Japan.

    PubMed

    Rao, R Harsha

    2009-06-01

    The residency program at Teine Keijinkai Hospital in Sapporo has successfully implemented a training philosophy that is focused on the development of clinical skills and critical thinking in Japanese residents. Several elements contribute to its success. The first and foremost is visionary physician leadership, beginning with the pioneers who implemented the philosophy, and continuing through the current leadership, which has sustained the original vision. A close second is the administrative and financial commitment to invest in producing more clinically accomplished Japanese physicians, long before that need was officially recognized. Third is the program's explicit aim of adhering to international norms by requiring three years of training, promulgating a benevolent, not paternalistic teaching philosophy and encouraging an interactive and interrogatory learning ethic. Fourth is the year-round presence of a US-trained Physician-in-Residence, to sustain the focus on clinical skills and international norms. Fifth is a long-term relationship with the Internal Medicine Training Program at the University of Pittsburgh, providing a conduit for ongoing academic exchange and programmatic advice. Last, but not least, is its avowed intention of being viewed as an "American-style program" with a preference for English fluent applicants, which acts as a magnet for trainees motivated to acquire clinical skills and competencies, with an eye to future training in the US. All these elements contribute to the program's unique focus on teaching clinical skills and critical thinking. Others who are striving with varying degrees of success to implement a similar philosophy in Japan may benefit from studying its example.

  15. Frequency of Chlamydia trachomatis in Ureaplasma-positive healthy women attending their first prenatal visit in a community hospital in Sapporo, Japan.

    PubMed

    Yamazaki, Tomohiro; Matsumoto, Megumi; Matsuo, Junji; Abe, Kiyotaka; Minami, Kunihiro; Yamaguchi, Hiroyuki

    2012-04-02

    Although Chlamydia trachomatis is the most commonly reported pathogen that causes urogenital infection such as urethritis or cervicitis, Ureaplasma parvum and Ureaplasma urealyticum, which are commensals in the genital tract, have also now been recognized as contributors to urogenital infection. However, whether the presence of either U. parvum or U. urealyticum is related to that of C. trachomatis in the urogenital tract remains unknown. We therefore attempted to estimate by PCR the prevalence of C. trachomatis, U. parvum and U. urealyticum in endocervical samples obtained from healthy women attending their first prenatal visit in Sapporo, Japan. The samples were taken from 303 apparently healthy women, and the extracted DNAs (n = 280) were used for PCR detection targeting C. trachomatis, U. parvum and U. urealyticum. Statistical analysis of the data was performed by Fisher's exact test. PCR detection revealed that the prevalence of C. trachomatis, U. parvum and U. urealyticum was 14.3% (40/280), 41.7% (117/280) and 8.9% (25/280), respectively. C. trachomatis ompA genotype D was most frequently identified. Surprisingly, either C. trachomatis or Ureaplasma spp. was detected in almost half of the healthy women. Mixed infection of C. trachomatis with either U. parvum or U. urealyticum was also observed in 9.2% (26/280) of the women. There was a significant association between C. trachomatis and either U. parvum (p = 0.023) or Ureaplasma total (p = 0.013), but not U. urealyticum (p = 0.275). This study demonstrated that the presence of Ureaplasma had a significant effect on the presence of C. trachomatis in the genital tract of healthy women, suggesting that mixed infection is an important factor in bacterial pathogenesis in the genital tract.

  16. Mothers' Attachment Status as Determined by the Adult Attachment Interview Predicts Their 6-Year-Olds' Reunion Responses: A Study Conducted in Japan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Behrens, Kazuko Y.; Hesse, Erik; Main, Mary

    2007-01-01

    Following a 1986 study reporting a predominance of ambivalent attachment among insecure Sapporo infants, the generalizability of attachment theory and methodologies to Japanese samples has been questioned. In this 2nd study of Sapporo mother-child dyads (N = 43), the authors examined attachment distributions for both (a) child, based on M. Main…

  17. Comparison of the life cycle and photoperiodic response between northern and southern populations of the terrestrial slug Lehmannia valentiana in Japan.

    PubMed

    Udaka, Hiroko; Numata, Hideharu

    2010-09-01

    The terrestrial slug Lehmannia valentiana was first recorded in Japan in the late 1950s and is now distributed throughout the country. Previous studies have revealed that in Osaka, southwestern Japan, L. valentiana reproduces from November to April. In the present study, in order to clarify the climatic adaptations of L. valentiana in Japan, we examined the life cycle of this slug in Sapporo, northern Japan. In the Sapporo population, the ratio of gonad weight to body weight reached a maximum in September. Most slugs had mature sperm from late August to April and large oocytes from September to April. Thus, the Sapporo population of L. valentiana commenced reproduction two months earlier than the Osaka population. We also examined the effect of various photoperiodic conditions on growth and reproductive maturation in both the Osaka and Sapporo populations. The effect of photoperiod on growth was different in the two populations. In both populations, however, reproductive maturation was induced by short days of photophase 14 h or less, and there was no obvious difference between the two populations, even though reproductive maturation in the wild commences in different seasons. This indicates the possibility that L. valentiana adapts to climatically different regions without changes in its critical daylength in photoperiodic response.

  18. [Postgraduate training program in neurology at the regional hospitals in Hokkaido area].

    PubMed

    Matsumoto, Akihisa

    2007-11-01

    In the new post graduate training system, the 55% of interns in the Hokkaido area choosed the post graduate training at the general hospitals and 45% of them choosed the medical universities (Hokkaido university, Asahikawa medical university, Sapporo medical university). Furthermore, 23% of interns in Hokkaido area choosed the general hospitals and medical universities in Sapporo city. As to the post graduate training system in neurology, 5 hospitals included the neurology for at least 1 month to 3 months. On the other hand, in one general hospital in Sapporo city, the clinical training of neurology was not included in the post graduate training system. During 2 years of the new post graduate training system, only 25% of the interns could rotate the neurological department. Since the neurology training course is necessary for the post graduate training system, it is suggested to need to support the opportunity to rotate the neurology for the interns.

  19. Extreme air pollution events in Hokkaido, Japan, traced back to early snowmelt and large-scale wildfires over East Eurasia: Case studies.

    PubMed

    Yasunari, Teppei J; Kim, Kyu-Myong; da Silva, Arlindo M; Hayasaki, Masamitsu; Akiyama, Masayuki; Murao, Naoto

    2018-04-25

    To identify the unusual climate conditions and their connections to air pollutions in a remote area due to wildfires, we examine three anomalous large-scale wildfires in May 2003, April 2008, and July 2014 over East Eurasia, as well as how products of those wildfires reached an urban city, Sapporo, in the northern part of Japan (Hokkaido), significantly affecting the air quality. NASA's MERRA-2 (the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2) aerosol re-analysis data closely reproduced the PM 2.5 variations in Sapporo for the case of smoke arrival in July 2014. Results show that all three cases featured unusually early snowmelt in East Eurasia, accompanied by warmer and drier surface conditions in the months leading to the fires, inducing long-lasting soil dryness and producing climate and environmental conditions conducive to active wildfires. Due to prevailing anomalous synoptic-scale atmospheric motions, smoke from those fires eventually reached a remote area, Hokkaido, and worsened the air quality in Sapporo. In future studies, continuous monitoring of the timing of Eurasian snowmelt and the air quality from the source regions to remote regions, coupled with the analysis of atmospheric and surface conditions, may be essential in more accurately predicting the effects of wildfires on air quality.

  20. REVERSETRANSCIPTION-PCR ASSAYS FOR THE DETECTION OF BOVINE ENTERIC CALICIVIRUSES (BEC) AND ANALYSIS OF THE GENETIC RELATIONSHIPS AMONG BEC AND HUMAN CALICIVIRUSES

    EPA Science Inventory

    Two genetically distinct bovine enteric caliciviruses (BEC) have been identified: the Norwalk-like-viruses (NLV), which are genetically related to human NLV, and the distinct NB-like BEC, which is most closely related to Sapporo-like viruses and lagoviruses, but potentially may ...

  1. Comparison of Community Response to Road Traffic Noise in Japan and SWEDEN—PART i: Outline of Surveys and DOSE-RESPONSE Relationships

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    SATO, T.; YANO, T.; BJÖRKMAN, M.; RYLANDER, R.

    2002-02-01

    To investigate cross-cultural differences in the community response to road traffic noise, social surveys were conducted in Gothenburg, Sweden, and Kumamoto and Sapporo, Japan, using the same questionnaire and noise measurement method. Typical residential areas with detached houses and apartments were selected as the target areas in each city. The questionnaire comprised 40 questions relating to environmental, housing and personal factors. The key questions concerned annoyance caused by road traffic noise. The total numbers of respondents were 1142 in Gothenburg, 837 in Kumamoto and 780 in Sapporo. The response rates were 68·8, 69·3 and 57·5% respectively. After the questionnaires were completed, noise measurements were made in each area. Community responses were compared on the basis of the dose-response relationships. There were no systematic differences between community responses in Sapporo and Kumamoto, which have the same culture. People living in detached houses in Gothenburg were more annoyed by the same road traffic noise than the people living in Japanese cities. There were no systematic differences among the three cities with regard to activity disturbances indoors, but significant disturbance of activities and resting in gardens or on balconies was noted in Gothenburg. The difference in activity disturbance was due to the differences between lifestyles in the two countries. People living in detached houses were more annoyed by the house vibration caused by road traffic than those living in apartments and people were annoyed by the exhaust from road traffic to the same extent as noise.

  2. Research and Clinical Center for Child Development Annual Report, 1997-1998, No. 21.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Shing-Jen, Ed.; Furutsuka, Takashi, Ed.; Shirotani, Yukari, Ed.

    This annual report discusses several topics related to the work of the Clinical Center for Child Development at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. The articles are: (1) "The Study of Mothers' Parenting Practices with Child's Withdrawn Behaviors and Temperament" (Sueko Toda); (2) "Structure, Developmental Change, and Sex…

  3. Reuse of heat energy in wastewater: implementation examples in Japan.

    PubMed

    Funamizu, N; Iida, M; Sakakura, Y; Takakuwa, T

    2001-01-01

    Sewage and treated water can be a heat source in urban area due to large heat capacity, thus recovery and reuse of its energy is one of the most desirable plans for the sewerage system. In this paper, characteristics of heat energy in wastewater, reuse plans, and some experiences in Japan are presented. Full-scale reuse projects for heating and cooling in the Tokyo Metropolitan Districts and project for melting snow in Sapporo City are discussed. The key factors found in experience of Tokyo were setting the heat pumps near the demand points and the technical developments of equipment to prevent system from clogging, corrosion, and decrease in the heat transfer efficiency. It was also found through the project for melting snow in Sapporo that the key factor in public acceptance was the multi-purpose use of the sewerage system both for melting snow in winter and retaining rain water in summer.

  4. Research and Clinical Center for Child Development Annual Report, 1996-1997, No. 20.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Shing-Jen, Ed.; Furutsuka, Takashi, Ed.; Shirotani, Yukari

    This annual report discusses several topics related to the work of the Clinical Center for Child Development at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. The articles are: (1) "Other's Voice/Own Voice: (Re)production of Other's Voice and Its Apprenticeship in Japanese Young Children" (Shing-Jen Chen); (2) "Intersubjectivity during…

  5. Research and Clinical Center for Child Development Annual Report, 1990-1991, No. 14.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wakai, Kunio, Ed.

    This annual report by the Research and Clinical Center for Child Development at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan contains 10 articles by Japanese and American researchers on various aspects of children's cognitive and affective development. The following articles are presented: (1) "Making the Cut: Early Schooling and Cognitive…

  6. Research and Clinical Center for Child Development Annual Report, 1999-2000, No. 23.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Shing-Jen, Ed.; Fujino, Yuki, Ed.

    This annual report presents several articles related to the work of the Clinical Center for Child Development at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. The articles are: (1) "Intrinsic Musicality: Rhythm and Prosody in Infant-Directed Voices" (Niki Powers); (2) "Movable Cognitive Studies with a Portable, Telemetric Near-Infrared…

  7. Exploring Educators' Perspectives: How Does Learning through "Happiness" Promote Quality Early Childhood Education?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ikegami, Kiiko; Agbenyega, Joseph Seyram

    2014-01-01

    The quality of early childhood education has dominated current debates in the ways educators develop and implement learning programs for children yet conceptions of quality vary contextually and culturally. This qualitative case study explored the insider perspectives of six early childhood educators in Sapporo, Japan regarding their conceptions…

  8. The Effects of Marital Support, Social Network Support, and Parenting Stress on Parenting: Self-Efficacy among Mothers of Young Children in Japan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Suzuki, Sawako

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated whether Japanese women's perceived marital and social support affect their parenting self-efficacy directly or indirectly through their levels of parenting stress. Participants were 98 mothers of children in the second grade living in Sapporo or Osaka, Japan. Data collected through surveys were submitted to a structural…

  9. Connecting Indigenous Ainu, University and Local Industry in Japan: The Urespa Project

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maeda, Koji; Okano, Kaori H.

    2013-01-01

    This paper examines how collaboration amongst university, indigenous community and private sector companies can promote Ainu participation in higher education, drawing on a case study of the Urespa Project in Sapporo University, Japan. In this project, the university offers scholarships to Ainu students, requiring them to take a special course in…

  10. Boys, Be Ambitious: William Smith Clark and the Westernisation of Japanese Agricultural Extension in the Meiji Era

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gowen, Garrett; Friedensen, Rachel; Kimball, Ezekiel

    2016-01-01

    This article examines the historiography related to the 1876 founding of Sapporo Agricultural College, the first institution of its kind in Japan. Focusing specifically on the involvement of William Smith Clark, who previously served as the president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, it argues that the nascent imperial ambitions harboured…

  11. Research and Clinical Center for Child Development Annual Report, 1998-1999. No. 22.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Shing-Jen, Ed.; Furutsuka, Takashi, Ed.; Shirotani, Yukari, Ed.

    This annual report presents several articles related to the work of the Clinical Center for Child Development at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. The articles are: (1) "Maternal Speech and Behavior during Mother-Infant Play: Comparison between the United States and Japan" (Sueko Toda, Marc H. Bornstein, and Hiroshi Azuma); (2)…

  12. AN EPIZOOTIC OF EMERGING NOVEL AVIAN POX IN CARRION CROWS (CORVUS CORONE) AND LARGE-BILLED CROWS (CORVUS MACRORHYNCHOS) IN JAPAN.

    PubMed

    Fukui, Daisuke; Nakamura, Makiko; Yamaguchi, Tsuyoshi; Takenaka, Makiko; Murakami, Mami; Yanai, Tokuma; Fukushi, Hideto; Yanagida, Kazumi; Bando, Gen; Matsuno, Keita; Nagano, Masashi; Tsubota, Toshio

    2016-04-28

    In 2006-10, an epizootic of emerging avian pox occurred in Carrion Crows ( Corvus corone ) and Large-billed Crows ( Corvus macrorhynchos ), leading to mortality of juvenile crows in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. We diagnosed 27 crows with proliferative skin lesions (19 carcasses and eight biopsied cases [one in zoo captivity]) as avian pox clinically, histopathologically by detection of Avipoxvirus-specific 4b core protein (P4b) gene, and epidemiologically. The fatal cases demonstrated intensively severe infection and aggressive lesions with secondary bacterial infection. Since the first identification of avian pox in Sapporo, Japan, in 2006, the frequency of mortality events has increased, peaking in 2007-08. Mortalities have subsequently occurred in other areas, suggesting disease expansion. In Sapporo, prevalence of avian pox evaluated by field censuses during 2007-12 was 17.6% (6.6-27.2%), peaked during 2007-08 and 2008-09, and then decreased. All diseased crows were juveniles, except for one adult. The number of crows assembling in the winter roosts had been stable for >10 yr; however, it declined in 2007-08, decreased by about 50% in 2008-09, and recovered to the previous level in 2009-10, correlated with the avian pox outbreak. Thus, avian pox probably contributed to the unusual crow population decline. All P4b sequences detected in six specimens in Sapporo were identical and different from any previously reported sequences. The sequence detected in the zoo-kept crow was distinct from any reported clades, and interspecies transmission was suspected. This report demonstrates an emerging novel avian pox in the Japanese avifauna and in global populations of Carrion Crows and Large-billed Crows. Longitudinal monitoring is needed to evaluate its impact on the crow population.

  13. Characterization of a Large Cluster of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 Viruses Cross-Resistant to Oseltamivir and Peramivir during the 2013-2014 Influenza Season in Japan

    PubMed Central

    Takashita, Emi; Kiso, Maki; Fujisaki, Seiichiro; Yokoyama, Masaru; Nakamura, Kazuya; Shirakura, Masayuki; Sato, Hironori; Odagiri, Takato; Kawaoka, Yoshihiro

    2015-01-01

    Between September 2013 and July 2014, 2,482 influenza 2009 pandemic A(H1N1) [A(H1N1)pdm09] viruses were screened in Japan for the H275Y substitution in their neuraminidase (NA) protein, which confers cross-resistance to oseltamivir and peramivir. We found that a large cluster of the H275Y mutant virus was present prior to the main influenza season in Sapporo/Hokkaido, with the detection rate for this mutant virus reaching 29% in this area. Phylogenetic analysis suggested the clonal expansion of a single mutant virus in Sapporo/Hokkaido. To understand the reason for this large cluster, we examined the in vitro and in vivo properties of the mutant virus. We found that it grew well in cell culture, with growth comparable to that of the wild-type virus. The cluster virus also replicated well in the upper respiratory tract of ferrets and was transmitted efficiently between ferrets by way of respiratory droplets. Almost all recently circulating A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses, including the cluster virus, possessed two substitutions in NA, V241I and N369K, which are known to increase replication and transmission fitness. A structural analysis of NA predicted that a third substitution (N386K) in the NA of the cluster virus destabilized the mutant NA structure in the presence of the V241I and N369K substitutions. Our results suggest that the cluster virus retained viral fitness to spread among humans and, accordingly, caused the large cluster in Sapporo/Hokkaido. However, the mutant NA structure was less stable than that of the wild-type virus. Therefore, once the wild-type virus began to circulate in the community, the mutant virus could not compete and faded out. PMID:25691635

  14. Remembering Professor Mamoru Tamura.

    PubMed

    Takahashi, Eiji

    2013-01-01

    Dr. Mamoru Tamura (1943-2011) was the honorary president of the ISOTT 2008 meeting in Sapporo, Japan, and has made numerous contributions to biomedical optics and functional near-infrared spectrometry. This chapter briefly describes Dr. Tamura's scientific achievements and contributions to the society based on the "Memorial lecture about Mamoru Tamura's contributions to biomedical optics" in ISOTT 2012 in Bruges, Belgium.

  15. Long-term changes (1980-2003) in total ozone time series over Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Białek, Małgorzata

    2006-03-01

    Long-term changes in total ozone time series for Arosa, Belsk, Boulder and Sapporo stations are examined. For each station we analyze time series of the following statistical characteristics of the distribution of daily ozone data: seasonal mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum of total daily ozone values for all seasons. The iterative statistical model is proposed to estimate trends and long-term changes in the statistical distribution of the daily total ozone data. The trends are calculated for the period 1980-2003. We observe lessening of negative trends in the seasonal means as compared to those calculated by WMO for 1980-2000. We discuss a possibility of a change of the distribution shape of ozone daily data using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and comparing trend values in the seasonal mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum time series for the selected stations and seasons. The distribution shift toward lower values without a change in the distribution shape is suggested with the following exceptions: the spreading of the distribution toward lower values for Belsk during winter and no decisive result for Sapporo and Boulder in summer.

  16. Bibliography on Cold Regions Science and Technology. Volume 41. Part 2

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1987-12-01

    Aletschgletscher [1984, p.9-25, eng, 41-622 Aleksandrov, B.M. Multivariate regression analysis of the process of frozen peat dehydration [1986. p.15-19...freezing of high- way bridge decks [1977. 5p., eng] 41-4604 Britton, K.B. Low temperature effects on sorption. hydrolysis ...snowy season in 1986 at Sapporo [1986. p.17-23. jpn) 41-3503 Ishikawa, S. Experimental decomposition of

  17. The solar exposure time required for vitamin D3 synthesis in the human body estimated by numerical simulation and observation in Japan.

    PubMed

    Miyauchi, Masaatsu; Hirai, Chizuko; Nakajima, Hideaki

    2013-01-01

    Although the importance of solar radiation for vitamin D3 synthesis in the human body is well known, the solar exposure time required to prevent vitamin D deficiency has not been determined in Japan. This study attempted to identify the time of solar exposure required for vitamin D3 synthesis in the body by season, time of day, and geographic location (Sapporo, Tsukuba, and Naha) using both numerical simulations and observations. According to the numerical simulation for Tsukuba at noon in July under a cloudless sky, 3.5 min of solar exposure are required to produce 5.5 μg vitamin D3 per 600 cm2 skin corresponding to the area of a face and the back of a pair of hands without ingestion from foods. In contrast, it took 76.4 min to produce the same quantity of vitamin D3 at Sapporo in December, at noon under a cloudless sky. The necessary exposure time varied considerably with the time of the day. For Tsukuba at noon in December, 22.4 min were required, but 106.0 min were required at 09:00 and 271.3 min were required at 15:00 for the same meteorological conditions. Naha receives high levels of ultraviolet radiation allowing vitamin D3 synthesis almost throughout the year.

  18. Clinicopathological characteristics of Xp11.2 translocation renal cell carcinoma in adolescents and adults: Diagnosis using immunostaining of transcription factor E3 and fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis.

    PubMed

    Hirobe, Megumi; Masumori, Naoya; Tanaka, Toshiaki; Kitamura, Hiroshi; Tonooka, Akiko; Hasegawa, Tadashi; Tsukamoto, Taiji

    2016-02-01

    To determine the rate and clinicopathological features of Xp11.2 translocation carcinoma using immunostaining of transcription factor E3 and fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis. We evaluated 638 patients with renal cell carcinoma treated at Sapporo Medical University Hospital, Sapporo, Japan, from 1990 to 2009 by reviewing all hematoxylin-eosin-stained sections and carrying out immunostaining of transcription factor E3 for all cases. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis was carried out for patients with positive immunostaining or with findings suspicious for Xp11.2 translocation carcinoma on hematoxylin-eosin-stained sections. In this analysis, we set a cut-off level for split signals of at least 10% of nuclei. Of the 631 patients, 20 (3.2%) were positive for immunostaining. Finally, five patients were diagnosed with Xp11.2 translocation carcinoma (0.8%). Four of these patients were female and aged less than 50 years, and three cases were diagnosed as stage IV with multiple regional lymph nodal or visceral metastases. The positive predictive value of immunostaining was 25%. Patients with Xp11 translocation renal cell carcinoma tend to be younger, more frequently female and diagnosed at a more advanced stage. Immunostaining followed by fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis is an accurate and cost-effective approach for diagnosis of Xp11 translocation renal cell carcinoma. © 2015 The Japanese Urological Association.

  19. The CIRP International Workshop on Concurrent Engineering for Product Realization (1st) Held in Tokyo, Japan on June 27 - 28, 1992

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-11-01

    7075 Dr. Samuel K.M.HO Dept. of Engineering Warwick University Coventry CV 47 AL UK 15 Tel.(44)203 524173 Fax.(44)203 524307 Mr. Mikio Inagaki...Nishi-8, Kita-ku Sapporo 060, JAPAN Tel. +81-11-716-211 ex.6447 Fax. +81-11-758-1619 Mr. Mikio Kitano 16 Motomachi Plant Toyota Moter Corporation 1...Hirosawa 2-1, Wako, Saitama 351-01 JAPAN Tel 81-484-65-6641 Fax 81-484-67-5942 Professor Hisayoshi Sato Director, Mechanical Engineering Laboratory

  20. Scientific report: highlights of 25th ICAR, 16-19 April 2012, Sapporo, Japan.

    PubMed

    Hodge, Anthony Vere

    2012-09-25

    Each year, the International Society for Antiviral Research (ISAR) organises a conference covering many differing aspects of antiviral research. The 25th International Conference on Antiviral Research (ICAR) was held in Japan. This special anniversary meeting was co-sponsored by the Japanese Association for Antiviral Therapy.This Workshop Report contains summaries of the four major lectures and each of the invited presentations in the Clinical symposium and in the three mini-symposia. Of the many interesting contributor presentations, there are brief summaries of a small selection of these. This report concludes with a few personal comments and observations.A brief summary of this report is included within the ISAR News published in this issue of AVCC.

  1. Long term trends in atmospheric concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nitropolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: A study of Japanese cities from 1997 to 2014.

    PubMed

    Hayakawa, Kazuichi; Tang, Ning; Nagato, Edward Gou; Toriba, Akira; Sakai, Shigekatsu; Kano, Fumio; Goto, Sumio; Endo, Osamu; Arashidani, Kei-Ichi; Kakimoto, Hitoshi

    2018-02-01

    Total suspended particulate matter (TSP) was collected during the summer and winter in five Japanese cities spanning Hokkaido to Kyushu (Sapporo, Kanazawa, Tokyo, Sagamihara and Kitakyushu) from 1997 to 2014. Nine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with four to six rings, including pyrene (Pyr) and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), were identified using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. Two nitropolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs), 1-nitropyrene (1-NP) and 6-nitrobenzo[a]pyrene (6-NBaP), were identified by HPLC with chemiluminescence detection. A comparison of PAH and NPAH concentrations and [NPAH]/[PAH] ratios such as [1-NP]/[Pyr] and [6-NBaP]/[BaP] revealed the following characteristics in the five cities: (1) In Sapporo, Kanazawa, Tokyo and Sagamihara, the concentrations of PAHs and NPAHs were high at the beginning of the sampling period and then steadily decreased, with NPAHs decreasing faster than PAHs. The large initial [1-NP]/[Pyr] ratios suggest that the major contributor was automobiles but subsequent decreases in this ratio suggest decreased automobile contributions. (2) By contrast, PAH concentrations in Kitakyushu did not decrease during the sampling period, though concentrations of NPAHs decreased. The consistently smaller [1-NP]/[Pyr] ratio and larger [6-NBaP]/[BaP] ratio in Kitakyushu suggests that the major contributor of PAHs was not automobiles but iron manufacturing which uses a large amount of coal. The sudden increase in atmospheric PAH concentrations in the winter of 2014 may also be due to iron manufacturing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Correction to "Influence of Dust and Black Carbon on the Snow Albedo in the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Version 5 Land Surface Model"

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yasunari, Teppei J.; Koster, Randal D.; Kau, K. M.; Aoki, Teruo; Sud, Yogesh C.; Yamazaki, Takeshi; Motoyoshi, Hiroki; Kokdama, Yuji

    2012-01-01

    The website information describing the forcing meteorological data used for the land surface model (LSM) simulation, which were observed at an Automated Meteorological Station CAWS) at the Sapporo District Meteorological Observatory maintained by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), was missing from the text. The 1-hourly data were obtained from the website of Kisyoutoukeijouhou (Information for available JMA-observed meteorological data in the past) on the website of JMA (in Japanese) (available at: http://www.jma.go.jpijmaimenulreport.html). The measurement height information of 59.5 m for the anemometer at the Sapporo Observatory was also obtained from the website of JMA (in Japanese) (available at: http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/menu/report.html). In addition, the converted 10-m wind speed, based on the AWS/JMA data, was further converted to a 2-m wind speed prior to its use with the land model as a usual treatment of off-line Catchment simulation. Please ignore the ice absorption data on the website mentioned in paragraph [15] which was not used for our calculations (but the data on the website was mostly the same as the estimated ice absorption coefficients by the following method because they partially used the same data by Warren [1984]). We calculated the ice absorption coefficients with the method mentioned in the same paragraph, for which some of the refractive index data by Warren [1984] were used and then interpolated between wavelengths, and also mentioned in paragraph [20] for the visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) ranges. The optical data we used were interpolated between wavelengths as necessary.

  3. An integrated service digital network (ISDN)-based international telecommunication between Samsung Medical Center and Hokkaido University using telecommunication helped radiotherapy planning and information system (THERAPIS).

    PubMed

    Huh, S J; Shirato, H; Hashimoto, S; Shimizu, S; Kim, D Y; Ahn, Y C; Choi, D; Miyasaka, K; Mizuno, J

    2000-07-01

    This study introduces the integrated service digital network (ISDN)-based international teleradiotherapy system (THERAPIS) in radiation oncology between hospitals in Seoul, South Korea and in Sapporo, Japan. THERAPIS has the following functions: (1) exchange of patient's image data, (2) real-time teleconference, and (3) communication of the treatment planning, dose calculation and distribution, and of portal verification images between the remote hospitals. Our preliminary results of applications on eight patients demonstrated that the international telecommunication using THERAPIS was clinically useful and satisfactory with sufficient bandwidth for the transfer of patient data for clinical use in radiation oncology.

  4. The solar UV exposure time required for vitamin D3 synthesis in the human body estimated by numerical simulation and observation in Japan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nakajima, Hideaki; Miyauchi, Masaatsu; Hirai, Chizuko

    2013-04-01

    After the discovery of Antarctic ozone hole, the negative effect of exposure of human body to harmful solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation is widely known. However, there is positive effect of exposure to UV radiation, i.e., vitamin D synthesis. Although the importance of solar UV radiation for vitamin D3 synthesis in the human body is well known, the solar exposure time required to prevent vitamin D deficiency has not been well determined. This study attempted to identify the time of solar exposure required for vitamin D3 synthesis in the body by season, time of day, and geographic location (Sapporo, Tsukuba, and Naha, in Japan) using both numerical simulations and observations. According to the numerical simulation for Tsukuba at noon in July under a cloudless sky, 2.3 min of solar exposure are required to produce 5.5 μg vitamin D3 per 600 cm2 skin. This quantity of vitamin D represents the recommended intake for an adult by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the 2010 Japanese Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs). In contrast, it took 49.5 min to produce the same amount of vitamin D3 at Sapporo in the northern part of Japan in December, at noon under a cloudless sky. The necessary exposure time varied considerably with the time of the day. For Tsukuba at noon in December, 14.5 min were required, but at 09:00 68.7 min were required and at 15:00 175.8 min were required for the same meteorological conditions. Naha receives high levels of UV radiation allowing vitamin D3 synthesis almost throughout the year. According to our results, we are further developing an index to quantify the necessary time of UV radiation exposure to produce required amount of vitamin D3 from a UV radiation data.

  5. Maternal and placental risk factors for light-for-gestational-age births.

    PubMed

    Aoyama, Keiko; Endo, Toshiaki; Saito, Tsuyoshi; Izumi, Hisako; Asakura, Sumiyo; Mori, Mitsuru

    2016-07-01

    We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate risk factors for births of light-for-gestational-age (LGA) infants. A survey was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Sapporo Medical University Hospital in Sapporo, Japan from 2013 to 2014. LGA and appropriate for gestational age (AGA) are defined as having a birthweight below the 10th percentile and between the 10th percentile and 90th percentile for gestational age at birth in the population standard of gestational age, sex, and parity, respectively. An odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence interval (95%CI) for LGA were calculated by analysis using the logistic regression model. In total, 307 inpatients (94.2%) participated in the study out of 326 consecutive post-partum inpatients. Among them, 37 infants and 237 infants were classified into the LGA and AGA groups, respectively. As a result of multivariable analysis, prevalence of gestational hypertension (OR = 8.96, 95%CI 1.81-44.35) and the presence of placental infarction (OR = 9.65, 95%CI 1.76-53.01) were significantly associated with an increased risk of LGA. Placentas weighing 510-603 g and ≥604 g were significantly associated with reduced risk of LGA (OR = 0.04, 95%CI 0.01-0.29 and OR = 0.03, 95%CI 0.01-0.32, respectively), and higher placental weights were significantly observed in the trend for reduced LGA risk (P for trend < 0.001). We found that the prevalence of gestational hypertension, lower placental weight, and the presence of placental infarctions were all independently associated with the risk of LGA. Placental abnormalities may be etiologically important for LGA risk, though further research is necessary. © 2016 Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

  6. Relationship between onset of spontaneous pneumothorax and weather conditions.

    PubMed

    Mishina, Taijiro; Watanabe, Atsushi; Miyajima, Masahiro; Nakazawa, Junji

    2017-09-01

    Spontaneous pneumothorax (SP) results from the rupture of blebs or bullae. It has been suggested that changes in weather conditions may trigger the onset of SP. Our aim was to examine the association between the onset of primary SP with weather changes in the general population in Sapporo, Japan. From January 2008 through September 2013, 345 consecutive cases with a diagnosis of primary SP were reviewed. All cases of primary SP developed in the area within 40 km from the Sapporo District Meteorological Observatory. Climatic measurements were obtained from the Observatory, which included 1-h readings of weather conditions. Logistic regression model was used to obtain predicted risks for the onset of SP with respect to weather conditions. SP occurred significantly when the atmospheric pressure decreased by - 18 hPa or less during 96 h before the survey date (odds ratio = 1.379, P = 0.026), when the pressure increased by 15 hPa or more during 72 h before the survey date (odds ratio = 1.095, P = 0.007) and when maximum fluctuation in atmospheric pressure over 22 hPa was observed during 96 h before the survey date (odds ratio = 1.519, P = 0.001). Other weather conditions, including the presence of thunderstorms, were not significantly correlated with the onset of pneumothorax. Changes in atmospheric pressure influence the onset of SP. Future studies on the relationship between the onset of SP and weather conditions on days other than before the onset and with large number of patients may enable us to predict the onset of SP in various regions and weather conditions. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

  7. Study on Improving Partial Load by Connecting Geo-thermal Heat Pump System to Fuel Cell Network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Obara, Shinya; Kudo, Kazuhiko

    Hydrogen piping, the electric power line, and exhaust heat recovery piping of the distributed fuel cells are connected with network, and operational planning is carried out. Reduction of the efficiency in partial load is improved by operation of the geo-thermal heat pump linked to the fuel cell network. The energy demand pattern of the individual houses in Sapporo was introduced. And the analysis method aiming at minimization of the fuel rate by the genetic algorithm was described. The fuel cell network system of an analysis example assumed connecting the fuel cell co-generation of five houses. When geo-thermal heat pump was introduced into fuel cell network system stated in this paper, fuel consumption was reduced 6% rather than the conventional method

  8. Importance of Interaction between Integrin and Actin Cytoskeleton in Suspension Adaptation of CHO cells.

    PubMed

    Walther, Christa G; Whitfield, Robert; James, David C

    2016-04-01

    The biopharmaceutical production process relies upon mammalian cell technology where single cells proliferate in suspension in a chemically defined synthetic environment. This environment lacks exogenous growth factors, usually contributing to proliferation of fibroblastic cell types such as Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Use of CHO cells for production hence requires a lengthy 'adaptation' process to select clones capable of proliferation as single cells in suspension. The underlying molecular changes permitting proliferation in suspension are not known. Comparison of the non-suspension-adapted clone CHO-AD and a suspension-adapted propriety cell line CHO-SA by flow cytometric analysis revealed a highly variable bi-modal expression pattern for cell-to-cell contact proteins in contrast to the expression pattern seen for integrins. Those have a uni-modal expression on suspension and adherent cells. Integrins showed a conformation distinguished by regularly distributed clusters forming a sphere on the cell membrane of suspension-adapted cells. Actin cytoskeleton analysis revealed reorganisation from the typical fibrillar morphology found in adherent cells to an enforced spherical subcortical actin sheath in suspension cells. The uni-modal expression and specific clustering of integrins could be confirmed for CHO-S, another suspension cell line. Cytochalasin D treatment resulted in breakdown of the actin sheath and the sphere-like integrin conformation demonstrating the link between integrins and actin in suspension-adapted CHO cells. The data demonstrates the importance of signalling changes, leading to an integrin rearrangement on the cell surface, and the necessity of the reinforcement of the actin cytoskeleton for proliferation in suspension conditions.

  9. Baseline Profile of Participants in the Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS).

    PubMed

    Michikawa, Takehiro; Nitta, Hiroshi; Nakayama, Shoji F; Yamazaki, Shin; Isobe, Tomohiko; Tamura, Kenji; Suda, Eiko; Ono, Masaji; Yonemoto, Junzo; Iwai-Shimada, Miyuki; Kobayashi, Yayoi; Suzuki, Go; Kawamoto, Toshihiro

    2018-02-05

    The Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS), known as Ecochil-Chosa in Japan, is a nationwide birth cohort study investigating the environmental factors that might affect children's health and development. We report the baseline profiles of the participating mothers, fathers, and their children. Fifteen Regional Centres located throughout Japan were responsible for recruiting women in early pregnancy living in their respective recruitment areas. Self-administered questionnaires and medical records were used to obtain such information as demographic factors, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, environmental exposure, medical history, and delivery information. In the period up to delivery, we collected bio-specimens, including blood, urine, hair, and umbilical cord blood. Fathers were also recruited, when accessible, and asked to fill in a questionnaire and to provide blood samples. The total number of pregnancies resulting in delivery was 100,778, of which 51,402 (51.0%) involved program participation by male partners. Discounting pregnancies by the same woman, the study included 95,248 unique mothers and 49,189 unique fathers. The 100,778 pregnancies involved a total of 101,779 fetuses and resulted in 100,148 live births. The coverage of children in 2013 (the number of live births registered in JECS divided by the number of all live births within the study areas) was approximately 45%. Nevertheless, the data on the characteristics of the mothers and children we studied showed marked similarity to those obtained from Japan's 2013 Vital Statistics Survey. Between 2011 and 2014, we established one of the largest birth cohorts in the world.

  10. Baseline Profile of Participants in the Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS)

    PubMed Central

    Nitta, Hiroshi; Nakayama, Shoji F.; Yamazaki, Shin; Isobe, Tomohiko; Tamura, Kenji; Suda, Eiko; Ono, Masaji; Yonemoto, Junzo; Iwai-Shimada, Miyuki; Kobayashi, Yayoi; Suzuki, Go; Kawamoto, Toshihiro

    2018-01-01

    Background The Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS), known as Ecochil-Chosa in Japan, is a nationwide birth cohort study investigating the environmental factors that might affect children’s health and development. We report the baseline profiles of the participating mothers, fathers, and their children. Methods Fifteen Regional Centres located throughout Japan were responsible for recruiting women in early pregnancy living in their respective recruitment areas. Self-administered questionnaires and medical records were used to obtain such information as demographic factors, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, environmental exposure, medical history, and delivery information. In the period up to delivery, we collected bio-specimens, including blood, urine, hair, and umbilical cord blood. Fathers were also recruited, when accessible, and asked to fill in a questionnaire and to provide blood samples. Results The total number of pregnancies resulting in delivery was 100,778, of which 51,402 (51.0%) involved program participation by male partners. Discounting pregnancies by the same woman, the study included 95,248 unique mothers and 49,189 unique fathers. The 100,778 pregnancies involved a total of 101,779 fetuses and resulted in 100,148 live births. The coverage of children in 2013 (the number of live births registered in JECS divided by the number of all live births within the study areas) was approximately 45%. Nevertheless, the data on the characteristics of the mothers and children we studied showed marked similarity to those obtained from Japan’s 2013 Vital Statistics Survey. Conclusions Between 2011 and 2014, we established one of the largest birth cohorts in the world. PMID:29093304

  11. Origins of chromite and magnetite in sedimentary rocks deposited in a shallow water environment in the 3.2 Ga Moodies Group, South Africa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Otake, T.; Sakamoto, Y.; Itoh, S.; Yurimoto, H.; Kakegawa, T.

    2012-12-01

    *Otake, T. totake@eng.hokudai.ac.jp Div. of Sustainable Resources Engineering, Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo, Japan Sakamoto, Y. yu.sakamoto12@gmail.com Dep. of Earth Science, Tohoku Univ., Sendai, Japan Itoh, S. sitoh@ep.sci.hokudai.ac.jp Dep. of Natural History Sciences, Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo, Japan Yurimoto. H. yuri@ep.sci.hokudai.ac.jp Dep. of Natural History Sciences, Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo, Japan Kakegawa, T. kakegawa@m.tohoku.ac.jp Dep. of Earth Science, Tohoku Univ., Sendai, Japan Geochemical data from ferruginous chemical sedimentary rocks (e.g., Banded Iron Formation: BIF) have been used to reconstruct the surface environments of early Earth. However, only a few studies have investigated the geochemical characteristics of BIFs deposited in a shallow water environment during the Archean, which may have differed from those deposited in a deep water environment. Therefore, we investigated geological, petrographic and geochemical characteristics of ferruginous rocks deposited in a shallow water environment in the Moodies group, in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. We obtained ferruginous rock samples in the Moodies group from both an outcrop and underground gold mine, and compared the characteristics of these samples. The 70 sedimentary rock samples were divided into groups based on the dominant Fe minerals they contain: Hematite-rich jaspilite (HM group), Magnetite-rich iron formation/shale/sandstone (MT group), and Siderite-rich sandstone (SD group). Samples in the HM group are predominantly composed of fine-grained quartz (< 20 μm) and hematite (< 5 μm), which are interpreted to be chemical precipitates. Samples in the MT group contain quartz, magnetite, siderite, ankerite, chlorite, biotite and chromite. The grain size of magnetite is much larger (20-150 μm) than that of hematite in the HM group. The magnetite is interpreted as a secondary mineral transformed from hematite during early diagenesis. Results of in situ oxygen isotope analysis by

  12. Measurement of multipath delay profile in land mobile satellite channels

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ikegami, Tetsushi; Arakaki, Yoshiya; Wakana, Hiromitsu; Suzuki, Ryutaro

    1993-01-01

    Mobile satellite communication channel has been evaluated mainly with fading statistics of signal. When bandwidth of transmitting signal becomes wider, frequency selectivity of fading becomes a significant factor of the channel. Channel characteristics, not only signal variation but multipath delay spread should be evaluated. A multipath measurement system is proposed and developed for mobile satellite applications. With this system and ETS-V satellite, multipath delay profiles are measured in various environments including Tokyo metropolis and Sapporo city at 1.5 GHz. Results show that the maximum excess delay is within 1 microsec and the maximum delay spread is 0.2 microsecs at elevation angles of 40 to 47 degrees. In wideband signal transmission of about 1 MHz and more, designers should consider the effect of selective fading due to the multipath of land mobile satellite channel.

  13. Decadal trend of black carbon and refractory carbonaceous aerosol in the western rim of the North Pacific Ocean: atmospheric concentration and the retrieved record of deposition flux

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kaneyasu, Naoki; Yamaguchi, Takashi; Noguchi, Izumi; Akiyama, Masayuki; Matsumoto, Kiyoshi

    2013-04-01

    The long-term trend of light absorbing carbonaceous aerosols (or black carbon: BC) or refractory carbonaceous aerosol (or elemental carbon: EC) concentration is reported at European background sites such as Mace Head, and that of aerosol absorption coefficient are monitored in many GAW sites. On the contrary, such long-term data are relatively scarce at around the western part of the North Pacific Ocean. Thus, to understand the long-term variation of in the area, BC in fine aerosol fraction has been measured at Chichi-jima Islands, Japan. Chichi-jima Island is located 1000 km south of the Japanese mainland, and 1800 km west of the coast line of the Asian continent. BC has been measured with an Aethalometer (Magee, AE-16 and AE-30) since December, 1998 with 1 hr time resolution. Mass flowmeter embedded inside the Aethalometer is calibrated with a rotational dry gas-meter once a year. Monthly averaged BC concentration shows an obvious seasonal variation, i.e. high concentration during late autumn-winter-spring period resulting from the transport from East Asia, with maximum daily concentration above 500 ng m-3. In summer, daily concentration was usually less than 20 ng m-3, due to the clean background airmass originating from the North Pacific Anticyclone. Decadal trend of the annual averaged BC concentration showed a increasing trend from 2000 to 2007 and started to decrease after 2008, which roughly coincides with the reported emission trend of SO2 in China (Lu et al., 2010). In addition, total (i.e., wet + dry) deposition record of refractory carbon at two sites in the northern Japan (Rishiri Island: a remote island site, and Sapporo City: an urban site) are retrieved. At these sites, the local government have been measuring the chemical components in precipitation water collected by deposition gauges. In the deposition gauge, a membrane filter made of cellulose-acetate is fixed at the bottom of the funnel to remove water-insoluble particles from the precipitated

  14. Etiology of Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Patients with Epilepsy: Experience of Tertiary Referral Hospital in Sapporo City, Japan.

    PubMed

    Miyata, Kei; Ochi, Satoko; Enatsu, Rei; Wanibuchi, Masahiko; Mikuni, Nobuhiro; Inoue, Hiroyuki; Uemura, Shuji; Tanno, Katsuhiko; Narimatsu, Eichi; Maekawa, Kunihiko; Usui, Keiko; Mizobuchi, Masahiro

    2016-05-15

    It has been reported that epilepsy patients had higher risk of sudden death than that of the general population. However, in Japan, there is very little literature on the observational research conducted on sudden fatal events in epilepsy. We performed a single-center, retrospective study on all the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients treated in our emergency department between 2007 and 2013. Among the OHCA patients, we extracted those with a history of epilepsy and then analyzed the characteristics of the fatal events and the background of epilepsy. From 1,823 OHCA patients, a total of 10 cases were enrolled in our study. The median age was 34 years at the time of the incident [9-52 years; interquartile range (IQR), 24-45]. We determined that half of our cases resulted from external causes of death such as drowning and suffocation and the other half were classified as sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). In addition, asphyxia was implicated as the cause in eight cases. Only the two near-drowning patients were immediately resuscitated, but the remaining eight patients died. The median age of first onset of epilepsy was 12 years (0.5-30; IQR, 3-21), and the median disease duration was 25 years (4-38; IQR, 6-32). Patients with active epilepsy accounted for half of our series and they were undergoing poly anti-epileptic drug therapy. The fatal events related to epilepsy tended to occur in the younger adult by external causes. An appropriate therapeutic intervention and a thorough observation were needed for its prevention.

  15. Where to deliver baits for deworming urban red foxes for Echinococcus multilocularis control: new protocol for micro-habitat modeling of fox denning requirements.

    PubMed

    Ikeda, Takako; Yoshimura, Masashi; Onoyama, Keiichi; Oku, Yuzaburo; Nonaka, Nariaki; Katakura, Ken

    2014-08-06

    Deworming wild foxes by baiting with the anthelmintic praziquantel is being established as a preventive technique against environmental contamination with Echinococcus multilocularis eggs. Improvement of the cost-benefit performance of baiting treatment is required urgently to raise and maintain the efficacy of deworming. We established a spatial model of den site selection by urban red foxes, the definitive host, to specify the optimal micro-habitats for delivering baits in a new modeling approach modified for urban fox populations. The model was established for two cities (Obihiro and Sapporo) in Hokkaido, Japan, in which a sylvatic cycle of E. multilocularis is maintained. The two cities have different degrees of urbanization. The modeling process was designed to detect the best combination of key environmental factors and spatial scale that foxes pay attention to most (here named 'heeding range') when they select den sites. All possible models were generated using logistic regression analysis, with "presence" or "absence" of fox den as the objective variable, and nine landscape categories customized for urban environments as predictor variables to detect the best subset of predictors. This procedure was conducted for each of ten sizes of concentric circles from dens and control points to detect the best circle size. Out of all models generated, the most parsimonious model was selected using Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) inspection. Our models suggest that fox dens in Obihiro are located at the center of a circle with 500 m radius including low percentages of wide roads, narrow roads, and occupied buildings, but high percentages of green covered areas; the dens in Sapporo within 300 m radius with low percentages of wide roads, occupied buildings, but high percentages of riverbeds and green covered areas. The variation of the models suggests the necessity of accumulating models for various types of cities in order to reveal the patterns of the model. Our

  16. The Hokkaido Birth Cohort Study on Environment and Children's Health: cohort profile-updated 2017.

    PubMed

    Kishi, Reiko; Araki, Atsuko; Minatoya, Machiko; Hanaoka, Tomoyuki; Miyashita, Chihiro; Itoh, Sachiko; Kobayashi, Sumitaka; Ait Bamai, Yu; Yamazaki, Keiko; Miura, Ryu; Tamura, Naomi; Ito, Kumiko; Goudarzi, Houman

    2017-05-18

    The Hokkaido Study on Environment and Children's Health is an ongoing study consisting of two birth cohorts of different population sizes: the Sapporo cohort and the Hokkaido cohort. Our primary study goals are (1) to examine the effects of low-level environmental chemical exposures on birth outcomes, including birth defects and growth retardation; (2) to follow the development of allergies, infectious diseases, and neurobehavioral developmental disorders and perform a longitudinal observation of child development; (3) to identify high-risk groups based on genetic susceptibility to environmental chemicals; and (4) to identify the additive effects of various chemicals, including tobacco smoking. The purpose of this report is to update the progress of the Hokkaido Study, to summarize the recent results, and to suggest future directions. In particular, this report provides the basic characteristics of the cohort populations, discusses the population remaining in the cohorts and those who were lost to follow-up at birth, and introduces the newly added follow-up studies and case-cohort study design. In the Sapporo cohort of 514 enrolled pregnant women, various specimens, including maternal and cord blood, maternal hair, and breast milk, were collected for the assessment of exposures to dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, perfluoroalkyl substances, phthalates, bisphenol A, and methylmercury. As follow-ups, face-to-face neurobehavioral developmental tests were conducted at several different ages. In the Hokkaido cohort of 20,926 enrolled pregnant women, the prevalence of complicated pregnancies and birth outcomes, such as miscarriage, stillbirth, low birth weight, preterm birth, and small for gestational age were examined. The levels of exposure to environmental chemicals were relatively low in these study populations compared to those reported previously. We also studied environmental chemical exposure in association with health outcomes

  17. Risk and promotive factors related to depressive symptoms among Japanese youth.

    PubMed

    Laser, Julie; Luster, Tom; Oshio, Toko

    2007-10-01

    Symptoms of depression include feelings of sadness, loneliness, suicidal ideation, and self-dislike. Adolescent depression is viewed as a problem in Japan, but there is little research on the correlates of depression in Japanese youth. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of depression in Japanese youth and to examine correlates of depression using a risk and promotive factor framework. This study examined the symptoms of depression among 802 Japanese youth attending postsecondary schools in the Sapporo area. Separate analyses were conducted for males and females to determine whether the importance of risk and promotive factors varied by gender. The results showed that many factors that had been linked to depressive symptoms in Western samples were predictive of depressive symptoms in Japanese youth. The risk and promotive factors accounted for 50% and 59% of the variance in depressive symptoms for the female and male subsamples, respectively.

  18. [A study of the transport of three dimensional medical images to remote institutions for telediagnosis].

    PubMed

    Hayashi, Takashi; Iwai, Mitsuhiro; Takahashi, Katsuhiko; Takeda, Satoshi; Tateishi, Toshiki; Kaneko, Rumi; Ogasawara, Yoko; Yonezawa, Kazuya; Hanada, Akiko

    2011-01-01

    Using a 3D-imaging-create-function server and network services by IP-VPN, we began to deliver 3D images to the remote institution. An indication trial of the primary image, a rotary trial of a 3D image, and a reproducibility trial were studied in order to examine the practicality of using the system in a real network between Hakodate and Sapporo (communication distance of about 150 km). In these trials, basic data (time and receiving data volume) were measured for every variation of QF (quality factor) or monitor resolution. Analyzing the results of the system using a 3D image delivery server of our hospital with variations in the setting of QF and monitor resolutions, we concluded that this system has practicality in the remote interpretation-of-radiogram work, even if the access point of the region has a line speed of 6 Mbps.

  19. [Effects of message and personal involvement on risk perception and acceptance].

    PubMed

    Masuchi, A; Takigawa, T

    1999-10-01

    The present study analyzed people's risk perception regarding driving a car with studded or non-studded winter tires. Subjects were 252 residents of Sapporo, where a recent municipal ordinance prohibited studded tires, allowing only non-studded ones. Questionnaire data were examined concerning (1) the relationship between risk perception and its acceptance, (2) the effect of an inserted message, which was either positive or negative about the use of non-studded tires, and (3) the role of personal involvement, assessed with Personal Involvement Inventory (Zaichkowsky, 1985), regarding winter driving. Results were as follows: (1) The use of non-studded tires was favorably judged because of social benefit, but subjects hesitated to choose them because of a higher perceived possibility of an accident. (2) The inserted message had significant effects on benefit evaluation and perceived accident possibility. The effects were weaker for drivers who had experienced driving a car with studded tires. And (3) personal involvement had a weak correlation with risk judgements of the present study.

  20. [Microorganism test systems and antibiograms useful for the proper use of antibacterial agents].

    PubMed

    Takahashi, Shunji

    2010-07-01

    Antimicrobial agents are used for the accurate diagnosis of infectious diseases and effective implementation of antibacterial chemotherapy. The role of microbiological technologists is to provide data from microorganism tests useful for rapid infection treatment. Gram strain can be used to observe microorganisms and neutrophils from specimens of a patient. It is also possible to estimate the kinds of microorganism. If bacterial infectious disease is negative, there is no need for antibacterial chemotherapy. The applied dose of antibacterial agents is different in every hospital. Also, there is a difference in the percentage antibacterial agent susceptibility of isolates. Antibiograms must be created to investigate local factors. For empiric therapy, antibiograms are useful when choosing antibacterial agents showing marked efficacy against the clinical isolate. Microorganism test systems which are useful for the proper use of antibacterial agents are necessary to facilitate safe antibacterial chemotherapy and prevent the development of resistant bacteria. We report a microorganism test system employed at the Sapporo City General Hospital.

  1. Hydroxy fatty acids in fresh snow samples from northern Japan: long-range atmospheric transport of Gram-negative bacteria by Asian winter monsoon

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tyagi, P.; Yamamoto, S.; Kawamura, K.

    2015-08-01

    Hydroxy fatty acids (FAs) in fresh snow from Sapporo, one of the heaviest snowfall regions in the world, have been studied to ascertain the airborne bacterial endotoxin concentrations and their biomass. The presence of β-hydroxy FAs (C9-C28), constituents of Gram-negative bacteria (GNB), suggests long-range transport of soil microbes. Likewise, the occurrence of α- and ω-hydroxy FAs (C9-C30 and C9-C28, respectively) in snow reveals their contribution from epicuticular waxes and soil microorganisms. Estimated endotoxin and GNB mass can aid in assessing their possible impacts on the diversity and functioning of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as lethal effects on pedestrians through dispersal of microbes. Air mass back trajectories together with hydroxy FAs unveil their sources from Siberia, Russian Far East and North China by the Asian monsoon. This study highlights the role of fresh snow that reduces the human health risk of GNB and endotoxin by scavenging from the air.

  2. Hydroxy fatty acids in fresh snow samples from northern Japan: long-range atmospheric transport of Gram-negative bacteria by Asian winter monsoon

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tyagi, P.; Yamamoto, S.; Kawamura, K.

    2015-12-01

    Hydroxy fatty acids (FAs) in fresh snow from Sapporo, one of the heaviest snowfall regions in the world, have been studied to ascertain the airborne bacterial endotoxin concentrations and their biomass. The presence of β-hydroxy FAs (C9-C28), constituents of the Gram-negative bacterium (GNB), suggests long-range transport of soil microbes. Likewise, the occurrence of α- and ω-hydroxy FAs (C9-C30 and C9-C28, respectively) in snow reveals their contribution from epicuticular waxes and soil microorganisms. Estimated endotoxin and GNB mass can aid in assessing their possible impacts on the diversity and functioning of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as lethal effects on pedestrians through dispersal of microbes. Air mass back trajectories together with hydroxy FAs reveal their sources from Siberia, the Russian Far East and northern China by the Asian monsoon. This study highlights the role of fresh snow that reduces the human health risk of GNB and endotoxin by the scavenging from air.

  3. POLISH STUDIES OF THE MEDICAL TRADITIONS OF THE AINU.

    PubMed

    Arabas, Iwona; Asada, Shoji

    2015-01-01

    Present knowledge of the history of Ainu culture is owed in significant part to Polish Far-East researchers Bronisław Piłsudski (1866-1918) and Wacław Sieroszewski (1858-1945). They were both exiled to Siberia for their patriotic activity at the time where Poles struggled for independence. Bronisław Piłsudski is known for using glass photographic plates and wax recording cylinders for recording the already disappearing culture of the Ainu people. It is thanks to his research that we are able today to trace back the names of over 100 plants that had therapeutic, and as believed by Ainu, also magical power. The plants with the highest therapeutic significance had common characteristics: strong effects, intensive scent and stings. Nowadays, the Ainu people constitute an ethnic minority in Japan (population of over 20 000) and are supported by the Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies at the Hokkaido University in Sapporo.

  4. Walker occupancy has an impact on changing airborne bacterial communities in an underground pedestrian space, as small-dust particles increased with raising both temperature and humidity.

    PubMed

    Okubo, Torahiko; Osaki, Takako; Nozaki, Eriko; Uemura, Akira; Sakai, Kouhei; Matushita, Mizue; Matsuo, Junji; Nakamura, Shinji; Kamiya, Shigeru; Yamaguchi, Hiroyuki

    2017-01-01

    Although human occupancy is a source of airborne bacteria, the role of walkers on bacterial communities in built environments is poorly understood. Therefore, we visualized the impact of walker occupancy combined with other factors (temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, dust particles) on airborne bacterial features in the Sapporo underground pedestrian space in Sapporo, Japan. Air samples (n = 18; 4,800L/each sample) were collected at 8:00 h to 20:00 h on 3 days (regular sampling) and at early morning / late night (5:50 h to 7:50 h / 22:15 h to 24:45 h) on a day (baseline sampling), and the number of CFUs (colony forming units) OTUs (operational taxonomic units) and other factors were determined. The results revealed that temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure changed with weather. The number of walkers increased greatly in the morning and evening on each regular sampling day, although total walker numbers did not differ significantly among regular sampling days. A slight increase in small dust particles (0.3-0.5μm) was observed on the days with higher temperature regardless of regular or baseline sampling. At the period on regular sampling, CFU levels varied irregularly among days, and the OTUs of 22-phylum types were observed, with the majority being from Firmicutes or Proteobacteria (γ-), including Staphylococcus sp. derived from human individuals. The data obtained from regular samplings reveled that although no direct interaction of walker occupancy and airborne CFU and OTU features was observed upon Pearson's correlation analysis, cluster analysis indicated an obvious lineage consisting of walker occupancy, CFU numbers, OTU types, small dust particles, and seasonal factors (including temperature and humidity). Meanwhile, at the period on baseline sampling both walker and CFU numbers were similarly minimal. Taken together, the results revealed a positive correlation of walker occupancy with airborne bacteria that increased with increases in

  5. Walker occupancy has an impact on changing airborne bacterial communities in an underground pedestrian space, as small-dust particles increased with raising both temperature and humidity

    PubMed Central

    Okubo, Torahiko; Osaki, Takako; Nozaki, Eriko; Uemura, Akira; Sakai, Kouhei; Matushita, Mizue; Matsuo, Junji; Nakamura, Shinji; Kamiya, Shigeru

    2017-01-01

    Although human occupancy is a source of airborne bacteria, the role of walkers on bacterial communities in built environments is poorly understood. Therefore, we visualized the impact of walker occupancy combined with other factors (temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, dust particles) on airborne bacterial features in the Sapporo underground pedestrian space in Sapporo, Japan. Air samples (n = 18; 4,800L/each sample) were collected at 8:00 h to 20:00 h on 3 days (regular sampling) and at early morning / late night (5:50 h to 7:50 h / 22:15 h to 24:45 h) on a day (baseline sampling), and the number of CFUs (colony forming units) OTUs (operational taxonomic units) and other factors were determined. The results revealed that temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure changed with weather. The number of walkers increased greatly in the morning and evening on each regular sampling day, although total walker numbers did not differ significantly among regular sampling days. A slight increase in small dust particles (0.3–0.5μm) was observed on the days with higher temperature regardless of regular or baseline sampling. At the period on regular sampling, CFU levels varied irregularly among days, and the OTUs of 22-phylum types were observed, with the majority being from Firmicutes or Proteobacteria (γ-), including Staphylococcus sp. derived from human individuals. The data obtained from regular samplings reveled that although no direct interaction of walker occupancy and airborne CFU and OTU features was observed upon Pearson's correlation analysis, cluster analysis indicated an obvious lineage consisting of walker occupancy, CFU numbers, OTU types, small dust particles, and seasonal factors (including temperature and humidity). Meanwhile, at the period on baseline sampling both walker and CFU numbers were similarly minimal. Taken together, the results revealed a positive correlation of walker occupancy with airborne bacteria that increased with increases

  6. Early snow melts and biomass burning over Eastern Eurasia and their impacts on the air quality in Northern Japan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yasunari, T. J.; daSilva, A.; Akiyama, M.; Hayasaki, M.; Murao, N.; Kim, K. M.

    2016-12-01

    We investigated monthly characteristics including a couple of large biomass burnings (BB) in Eastern Eurasia during 2003 and 2014, and the smoke impacts on Northern Japan. The new re-analyses data including the aerosol data assimilation, called MERRA-2, which was produced by the NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO), the monthly mean MODIS snow cover fraction (SCF) data (MOD10CM; further re-gridded), and the observations on PM2.5, elemental carbon (EC), and organic carbon (OC) in Sapporo city (Hokkaido, Japan), were used in our analyses. For the MERRA-2 and MODIS SCF data, we calculated 12-year climatology for each month and these anomalies from the climatology on the focused variables. Three-month means of the anomalies for the last three months until the BB months were calculated except for the SCF. For the SCF, the three-month mean anomalies until the one month before the BB months were also calculated. Here we start especially focusing on the identified fire months with the MERRA-2 data (May 2003, April 2008, and July 2014) in terms of these smoke impacts on the air qualities in Northern Japan (i.e., Hokkaido). We identified two types of biomass burning patterns within these three months. For the BBs in May 2003 and April 2008, the main BB areas were seen in the eastern part of the Lake Baikal. In July 2014, the main BB area was in the Sakha Republic and close to the Arctic region. Then, the MERRA-2 data overestimated the observations (EC, OC, and PM2.5) in Sapporo (Hokkaido, Japan) during the smoke transports, but the elevated timings were well reproduced. For all the three BB cases, abnormally reduced SCF were seen by the one month before the Eurasian BB generations (i.e., earlier than the BB generations). The positive and negative anomalies of 2-m temperature and surface soil wetness, covering the three-month until the BB months, were identified. These suggest that early snow-melting anomalies for these three years could make the following BB

  7. Quantification of Wilms' tumor 1 mRNA by digital polymerase chain reaction.

    PubMed

    Koizumi, Yuki; Furuya, Daisuke; Endo, Teruo; Asanuma, Kouichi; Yanagihara, Nozomi; Takahashi, Satoshi

    2018-02-01

    Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1) is overexpressed in various hematopoietic tumors and widely used as a marker of minimal residual disease. WT1 mRNA has been analyzed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR). In the present study, we analyzed 40 peripheral blood and bone marrow samples obtained from cases of acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and myelodysplastic syndrome at Sapporo Medical University Hospital from April 2012 to January 2015. We performed quantification of WT1 was performed using QuantStudio 3D Digital PCR System (Thermo Fisher Scientific‎) and compared the results between digital PCR and real-time PCR technology. The correlation between digital PCR and real-time PCR was very strong (R = 0.99), and the detection limits of the two methods were equivalent. Digital PCR was able to accurately detect lower WT levels compared with real-time PCR. Digital PCR technology can thus be utilized to predict WT1/ABL1 expression level accurately and should thus be useful for diagnosis or the evaluation of drug efficiency in patients with leukemia.

  8. Dose Effect of Cosmic Rays in Aircraft at SPE in Fall of 2003

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fujitaka, K.; Uchihori, Y.; Kitamura, H.; Nojima, K.; Takada, M.; Yasuda, N.; Okano, M.

    A large solar flare occurred in October 28, 2003, which caused a sensation around the world. Our group decided to measure the aviation dose promptly and started the survey within two days. Measurements have been conducted in Oct.30-Oct.30, Oct.30*-Nov.11*, Oct. 31-Oct.31, Oct.31*-Nov.3*, Nov.3-Nov.3, Nov.5-Nov.5, Nov.5*-Nov.7*, and Nov.6-Nov.6. Here, days with asterisks represent Tokyo to JFK (and vice versa) airport, while others represent Tokyo from/to Sapporo. Unfortunately, the measurement met the flare only once (Nov.3), but the dose was suppressed considerably in the nearby date, and a typical Forbush decrease is seen (Oct.31). While the dose measured in the Tokyo/JFK flight (Oct.31) varied largely, we cannot infer the net dose contribution from the flare. That is because any small variation of the dose tends to be masked by other large one. In short, we do not have to worry about effect of solar activity on board airplane in the present case.

  9. Developing weighted criteria to evaluate lean reverse logistics through analytical network process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zagloel, Teuku Yuri M.; Hakim, Inaki Maulida; Krisnawardhani, Rike Adyartie

    2017-11-01

    Reverse logistics is a part of supply chain that bring materials from consumers back to manufacturer in order to gain added value or do a proper disposal. Nowadays, most companies are still facing several problems on reverse logistics implementation which leads to high waste along reverse logistics processes. In order to overcome this problem, Madsen [Framework for Reverse Lean Logistics to Enable Green Manufacturing, Eco Design 2009: 6th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing, Sapporo, 2009] has developed a lean reverse logistics framework as a step to eliminate waste by implementing lean on reverse logistics. However, the resulted framework sets aside criteria used to evaluate its performance. This research aims to determine weighted criteria that can be used as a base on reverse logistics evaluation by considering lean principles. The resulted criteria will ensure reverse logistics are kept off from waste, thus implemented efficiently. Analytical Network Process (ANP) is used in this research to determine the weighted criteria. The result shows that criteria used for evaluation lean reverse logistics are Innovation and Learning (35%), Economic (30%), Process Flow Management (14%), Customer Relationship Management (13%), Environment (6%), and Social (2%).

  10. A sero-epidemiological survey of gelatin sensitization in young Japanese children during the 1979-1996 period.

    PubMed

    Saito, A; Kumagai, T; Kojima, H; Terai, I; Yamanaka, T; Wataya, Y; Umetsu, M; Umetsu, A; Yano, S

    2005-04-01

    Recently, an increasing number of adverse reactions in children inoculated with live attenuated virus vaccines containing gelatin have been reported. However, the distribution, magnitude and rate of gelatin sensitization in the Japanese population have not been established. Here, the purpose was to investigate the distribution of children with positive gelatin immunoglobulin G (IgG) and/or IgE in Japan and to ascertain whether the incidence of positive antigelatin antibody cases among the general population, as reflected in the sample employed here, has been increasing during the period in question. The presence of IgE and IgG antibodies were measured against gelatin in 1600 panel sera collected from different age groups of Japanese children in Hokkaido/Sapporo from 1979 through 1996. Among the subjects, 39 had gelatin IgG- and/or IgE-positive sera, and these were correlated with the time of obtaining the sera as well as with the age of the subjects. The older the subject and the later the period, the higher the sero-incidence. Japanese children have become increasingly sensitized to gelatin, especially since the mid-1990s.

  11. The gravity field observations and products at IGFS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barzaghi, Riccardo; Vergos, George; Bonvalot, Sylvain; Barthelmes, Franz; Reguzzoni, Mirko; Wziontek, Hartmut; Kelly, Kevin

    2017-04-01

    The International Gravity Field Service (IGFS) is a service of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) that was established in 2003 at the IAG/IUGG General Assembly in Sapporo (Japan). This service aims at coordinating the actions of the IAG services related to the Earth gravity field, i.e. the Bureau Gravimétrique International (BGI), the International Service for the Geoid (ISG), the International Geodynamics and Earth Tides Service (IGETS), the International Center for Global Earth Models (ICGEM) and the International Digital Elevation Model Service (IDEMS). Also, via its Central Bureau hosted at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), IGFS provides a link to the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) bureaus in order to communicate their requirements and recommendations to the IGFS-Centers. In this work, a presentation is given on the recent activities of the service, namely those related to the contributions to the implementation of: the International Height Reference System/Frame; the Global Geodetic Reference System/Frame; the new Global Absolute Gravity Reference System/Frame. Particularly, the impact that these activities have in improving the estimation of the Earth's gravity field, either at global and local scale, is highlighted also in the framework of GGOS.

  12. Risk factor analysis of bloodstream infection in pediatric patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

    PubMed

    Sarashina, Takeo; Yoshida, Makoto; Iguchi, Akihiro; Okubo, Hitoshi; Toriumi, Naohisa; Suzuki, Daisuke; Sano, Hirozumi; Kobayashi, Ryoji

    2013-01-01

    Bloodstream infection (BSI) is a recognized cause of morbidity and mortality in children after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). However, there are limited reports on BSI after HSCT in pediatric patients in multiple centers. This study was a retrospective cohort analysis of consecutive patients who underwent allogeneic and autologous HSCT at the Department of Paediatrics, Hokkaido University Hospital, between 1988 and 2009; the Department of Paediatrics, Sapporo Hokuyu Hospital, between 2007 and 2009; and the Department of Paediatrics, Asahikawa Medical University, between 1989 and 2009. A total of 277 patients underwent HSCT during the study period. In this multicenter analysis, cases of BSI after HSCT were recorded in the early posttransplant period (within the first 100 d), and BSI was observed in 24 of 277 HSCT patients. Multivariate analysis showed that nonmalignant disease was an independent factor associated with BSI after HSCT (hazard ratio 6.3 for aplastic anemia or Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome patients; confidence interval, 1.4-12.8; P = 0.012). We conclude that aplastic anemia and Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome were the novel risk factors for BSI in pediatric patients after HSCT.

  13. Identifying Crucial Issues in Climate Science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ikeda, Motoyoshi; Greve, Ralf; Hara, Toshika; Watanabe, Yutaka W.; Ohmura, Atsumu; Ito, Akihiko; Kawamiya, Michio

    2009-01-01

    Drastic Change in the Earth System During Global Warming; Sapporo, Japan, 24 June 2008; The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former U.S. vice president Al Gore indicates that global warming is recognized as a real phenomenon critical to human beings. However, humanity's knowledge concerning global warming is based on an uncertainty larger than 50% in the warming rate during the past century. Therefore, scientific clarification is needed to understand important mechanisms that potentially produce positive feedbacks in the Earth system-such mechanisms must be better understood before scientists can develop more reliable predictions. To plan for the future, a symposium was organized at Japan's Hokkaido University in association with the G8 Summit, where the most recent updates on the five urgent issues in climate science were discussed. These issues, considered to be crucial as severe impacts on human society continue to rise, included (1) causes and magnitude of sea level rise; (2) decay of glaciers and the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets; (3) disappearance of the summer Arctic sea ice; (4) carbon uptake or emission by the terrestrial ecosystem; and (5) marine ecosystem change resulting in carbon emissions.

  14. Importance of precipitation systems to control the climate in Tibetan Plateau

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ueno, K.; Sugimoto, S.

    2012-12-01

    Kenichi UENO kenueno@sakura.cc.tsukuba.ac.jp Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan Shiori SUGIMOTO shioris@ees.hokudai.ac.jp Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan Precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) play a crucial rule to control the atmosphere-land interaction, mass balance of glacier, vegetation growth, and significantly affects the life and society in the surrounding areas by means of causing heavy rain or drought. Key issues regarding to the precipitation mechanisms at three domains, such as 1) southern moisture entrance areas facing Indian monsoon and westerlies trough over the Himalayas, 2) active convections with longitudinal soil moisture and vegetation gradient over the plateau, and 3) leeward areas with convergences between the monsoon and northwesterly dry air mass to cause severe weathers, are summarized. To assess the sub-grid scale precipitation variability, satellite measurements with downscaling of numerical simulations are expected. Especially, precipitation type, such as snow or rain, is a critical parameter to model albedo changes and accumulation of snow. Pilot studies of discrimination precipitation types at the mountainous site in Japan are also introduced.; t;

  15. [Particle numbers in classified sizes of roadside dust caused by studded tires in the air at different heights from the pavement surface].

    PubMed

    Sato, T; Niioka, T; Kurasaki, M; Kojima, Y

    1996-07-01

    Increased use of motor vehicles has produced various risks to human health due to air pollution by noxious gases, heavy metals and roadside dust. Since the late 1970s, the wide spread use of studded tires for cars has caused pavement wear, resulting in not only economic losses, but also roadside air pollution in cold and snowy regions in Japan. The most serious environmental problem in Sapporo, a city with heavy snowfall, in the 1980s, was roadside dust derived from studded tires. The inhabitants suffered from this dust in the early winter and in the early spring when the streets were not covered with snow. To investigate the influence of such roadside dust upon human health, particle numbers in classified sizes of roadside dust were counted after the roadside dust in the air was collected with a device we constructed at 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 cm above the pavement surface. The results indicated that the concentration of roadside dust in the air did not greatly vary according to the height from the pavement surface. The results also suggested that xenogranuloma, reported in lungs of stray dogs, under roadside dust-pollution conditions such as those examined here, may occur in humans in the future.

  16. Assessment of air pollution of settlement areas in Ulaanbaatar city, Mongolia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ch, Sonomdagva; Ch, Byambatseren; Batdelger, B.

    2017-05-01

    The purpose of this study is to analyses mass concentration varied by its measurement of air pollution in Ulaanbaatar city, Mongolia. Ulaanbaatar city will have been increasing air pollution due to rapidly expanding vehicular population, growing industrial sector in last 10 years ago. In addition, people use to heat the carbon from 10 month in every year. This becomes a base cause of air pollution in Ulaanbaatar. We studied a change of mass concentration an air pollution elements in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. To research work, we used information that based on data of my measurements of air pollution and Metropolitan air quality agency until 2006 to 2016. This research important result is air pollution levels are limited to the areas around Ulaanbaatar areas are the most polluted in the center of city are the least polluted areas whereas Tolgoit, Sapporo, 1st Khoroolol, Amgalan, Shar Khad are moderately polluted and the areas around Baruun 4 zam, Factory, Zaisan, Nisekh are normally polluted. The results of pollution are illustrated four zones. By dividing the polluted areas into such zones, we are trying to make it easier to take preventive measures against the pollution itself and protective measures for safeguarding the health of mass population.

  17. Validity and reliability of the Cognitive Complaints in Bipolar Disorder Rating Assessment (COBRA) in Japanese patients with bipolar disorder.

    PubMed

    Toyoshima, Kuniyoshi; Fujii, Yutaka; Mitsui, Nobuyuki; Kako, Yuki; Asakura, Satoshi; Martinez-Aran, Anabel; Vieta, Eduard; Kusumi, Ichiro

    2017-08-01

    In Japan, there are currently no reliable rating scales for the evaluation of subjective cognitive impairment in patients with bipolar disorder. We studied the relationship between the Japanese version of the Cognitive Complaints in Bipolar Disorder Rating Assessment (COBRA) and objective cognitive assessments in patients with bipolar disorder. We further assessed the reliability and validity of the COBRA. Forty-one patients, aged 16-64, in a remission period of bipolar disorder were recruited from Hokkaido University Hospital in Sapporo, Japan. The COBRA (Japanese version) and Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (FCQ), the gold standard in subjective cognitive assessment, were administered. A battery of neuropsychological tests was employed to measure objective cognitive impairment. Correlations among the COBRA, FCQ, and neuropsychological tests were determined using Spearman's correlation coefficient. The Japanese version of the COBRA had high internal consistency, good retest reliability, and concurrent validity-as indicated by a strong correlation with the FCQ. A significant correlation was also observed between the COBRA and objective cognitive measurements of processing speed. These findings are the first to demonstrate that the Japanese version of the COBRA may be clinically useful as a subjective cognitive impairment rating scale in Japanese patients with bipolar disorder. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. A prospective study of factors associated with risk of turnover among care workers in group homes for elderly individuals with dementia.

    PubMed

    Suzumura, Miwa; Fushiki, Yasuhiro; Kobayashi, Kota; Oura, Asae; Suzumura, Shigeo; Yamashita, Masafumi; Mori, Mitsuru

    2013-01-01

    A prospective study was conducted to assess factors associated with risk of turnover among care workers in group homes (GHs) for elderly individuals with dementia. In January, 2010, 51 out of 238 GHs in Sapporo City responded to our request for participation in a survey. During February and March of 2010, 438 out of 700 care workers (62.6%) in the GHs returned a completed questionnaire to us. They were followed up with until March of 2012, and 395 subjects (90.1%) responded to our survey, which was conducted twice. Over the course of 2 years, 91 subjects left their jobs. Cox's proportional hazards model was used for analysis, adjusting for gender and age. Less provision of social support by supervisors, colleagues, family or friends was significantly associated with increased risk of turnover. Financial aids for off-the-job training was marginally significantly associated with reduced risk of turnover. Longer duration of working for frail elderly care was significantly associated with decreased risk of turnover. Habitual smoking was significantly associated with increased risk of turnover. Social support in the workplace may be important to reduce the risk of turnover in care workers at GHs. Further prospective studies are required in other areas in Japan.

  19. Elevated levels of antibodies against phosphatidylserine/prothrombin complex and/or cardiolipin associated with infection and recurrent purpura in a child: a forme fruste of antiphospholipid syndrome?

    PubMed

    Kinoshita, Yuri; Mayumi, Nobuko; Inaba, Motoyuki; Igarashi, Touru; Katagiri, Ichigen; Kawana, Seiji

    2015-07-15

    Antiphospholipid syndrome is an autoimmune disorder characterized by the occurrence of venous and arterial thrombosis, as well as morbidity in pregnancy, in the presence of anti-phospholipid antibodies. The diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome is usually established based on clinical and laboratory findings by strictly following the 2006 Sapporo classification. However, the diagnosis remains challenging owing to the ongoing debates on the serological criteria. We report a case we describe as forme fruste antiphospholipid syndrome in which these criteria were not fulfilled. Purpura appeared repeatedly in a female infant starting from the age of 6 months and following episodes of upper respiratory infections and vaccinations. The levels of anti-cardiolipin IgG antibodies and anti-phosphatidylserine/prothrombin complex antibodies were elevated in accordance with these events. Histopathological evaluation revealed multiple small vessel thrombi in the dermis and adipose tissue. After 2 weeks of treatment with aspirin and heparin, the cutaneous symptoms subsided. Infection has long been associated with antiphospholipid syndrome, and anti-phosphatidylserine/prothrombin antibodies are considered a new marker for the diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome. Forme fruste antiphospholipid syndrome should be considered even if the antiphospholipid syndrome diagnostic criteria are not completely fulfilled, especially in the presence of elevated levels of anti-phosphatidylserine/prothrombin antibodies and known preceding infections.

  20. The Vision and Challenges of Hokkaido Pharmaceutical University's Affiliated Pharmacy.

    PubMed

    Norose, Takahiko; Manabe, Tomohiro; Furuta, Seiichi; Watanabe, Kazuhiro

    2016-01-01

    Hokkaido Pharmaceutical University (HPU), according to its educational mission, seeks to "develop medical professionals who contribute to community medicine", and it has produced more than 6300 graduates since 1974. With recent medical advancements and a progressively aging society, the role of the pharmacist in community medicine has diversified and is increasing in importance. Therefore, in April 2012, the Hokkaido Pharmaceutical University Affiliated Pharmacy was established as a for-profit business of the Educational Foundation of the Hokkaido University of Science, the parent body of HPU. The pharmacy is located near the Sapporo station; it is operated by six pharmacists and four clerks, and supported by three faculty members who are engaged in providing HPU student education such as on-site clinical training, in addition to their pharmacy duties such as home care pharmaceutics. For the first two years it was open, the pharmacy focused on the establishment of pharmacy administration and fiscal consolidation. In April 2015, the Pharmacy Management Committee set the pharmacy's future vision, as well as its mid-term strategy, which consists of the four main components of pharmacy practices, education, research, and social contribution, in order for the pharmacy to serve as a model of community pharmacy.

  1. Aircraft-based Aerosol Size and Composition Measurements during ACE-Asia and CRYSTAL-FACE using an Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bahreini, R.; Jimenez, J.; Delia, A.; Flagan, R. C.; Seinfeld, J. H.; Jayne, J. T.; Worsnop, D. R.

    2002-12-01

    An Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) was deployed in an aircraft for the first time during the ACE-Asia field campaign. The AMS was operated on board the CIRPAS Twin Otter aircraft to measure the size-resolved chemical composition of the submicron aerosols in the outflow from Eastern Asia. Research flights were carried out from March 31 to May 1, 2001 in an area that covered 127 E-135 E and 32 N-38 N on longitude and latitude, respectively. The submicron aerosol was typically distributed in distinct layers (from the boundary layer to ~ 3700 m). This is consistent with other on-board measurements. The aerosol in the pollution layers was mainly composed of sulfate, ammonium, and organics separated by cleaner layers. Sub-micron nitrate aerosols were also detected in some layers. Since the molar ratio of positive to negative ions did not exceed one on most of the constant altitude legs of the flights, the particles were not completely neutralized. Sulfate and organics concentrations of up to 10 and 5 ug m-3 (STP), respectively, were measured on some pollution layers. AMS measurements of sulfate concentration and NH4/SO4 mass ratio (~0.16 on average) are consistent with previously reported measurements at Cheju Island, South Korea [Charmichael et al., 1997; Chen et al., 1997] and Sapporo, Japan [Kaneyasu et al., 1995]. The mass-weighed size distribution of the sub-micron sulfate was relatively constant from day to day and layer to layer, with an aerodynamic mode at 350-500 nm (vacuum aerodynamic diameter) and FWHM ~ 400 nm on most of the layers. Furthermore, the ratios between SO4/ NH4/ NO3/ Organics were approximately independent of size in the sub-micron size range. Comparisons of AMS data to other on-board aerosol measurements will be presented. In particular, the AMS mass concentration correlates well with the aerosol volume determined by the on-board Differential Automated Classifying Aerosol Detector (DCAD). In addition, preliminary results of airborne size

  2. Development of a Dynamic Operational Scheduling Algorithm for an Independent Micro-Grid with Renewable Energy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Obara, Shin'ya

    A micro-grid with the capacity for sustainable energy is expected to be a distributed energy system that exhibits quite a small environmental impact. In an independent micro-grid, “green energy,” which is typically thought of as unstable, can be utilized effectively by introducing a battery. In the past study, the production-of-electricity prediction algorithm (PAS) of the solar cell was developed. In PAS, a layered neural network is made to learn based on past weather data and the operation plan of the compound system of a solar cell and other energy systems was examined using this prediction algorithm. In this paper, a dynamic operational scheduling algorithm is developed using a neural network (PAS) and a genetic algorithm (GA) to provide predictions for solar cell power output. We also do a case study analysis in which we use this algorithm to plan the operation of a system that connects nine houses in Sapporo to a micro-grid composed of power equipment and a polycrystalline silicon solar cell. In this work, the relationship between the accuracy of output prediction of the solar cell and the operation plan of the micro-grid was clarified. Moreover, we found that operating the micro-grid according to the plan derived with PAS was far superior, in terms of equipment hours of operation, to that using past average weather data.

  3. Waste-to-energy incineration plants as greenhouse gas reducers: a case study of seven Japanese metropolises.

    PubMed

    Tabata, Tomohiro

    2013-11-01

    Municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration is a greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter; however, if GHG reductions, achieved by accounting for waste-to-energy, exceed GHG emissions, incineration can be considered as a net GHG reducer. In Japan, only 24.5% of MSW incineration plants perform energy recovery despite 80% of MSW being incinerated; therefore, there is great potential to extract more energy from MSW. In this study, the factors that should be considered to achieve net GHG reductions from incineration were analysed from a life cycle perspective. These considerations were then applied to the energy supply requirements in seven Japanese metropolises. Firstly, the carbon footprints of approximately 1500 incineration plants in Japan were calculated. Then, the incineration plants with negative carbon footprint values were classified as net GHG reducers. Next, the processes that contribute to the carbon footprint were evaluated, and two processes-plastic burning and electricity savings-were found to have the greatest influence. Based on the results, the energy supply requirements were analysed and discussed for seven metropolises (Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Takamatsu and Fukuoka) taking into account the energy demands of households. In Kobe, 16.2% of the electricity demand and 25.0% of the hot water demand could be satisfied by incineration to realise a net GHG reducer, although urban design for energy utilisation would be required.

  4. Atmospheric chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in East Asia.

    PubMed

    Kakimoto, Kensaku; Nagayoshi, Haruna; Konishi, Yoshimasa; Kajimura, Keiji; Ohura, Takeshi; Hayakawa, Kazuichi; Toriba, Akira

    2014-09-01

    This study estimates atmospheric concentrations of chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (ClPAHs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in East Asia using a Gas Chromatograph with High Resolution Mass Spectrometer (GC-HRMS). ClPAHs are ubiquitously generated from PAHs through substitution, and some ClPAHs show higher aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)-mediated activities than their parent PAHs. Atmospheric particles were collected using a high-volume air sampler equipped with a quartz-fiber filter. We determined the ClPAH concentrations of atmospheric particles collected in Japan (Sapporo, Sagamihara, Kanazawa, and Kitakyushu), Korea (Busan), and China (Beijing). The concentrations of ClPAHs were highest in the winter Beijing sample, where the total mean concentration was approximately 15-70 times higher than in the winter samples from Japan and Korea. The concentrations of Σ19ClPAHs and Σ9PAHs were significantly correlated in the Kanazawa and the Busan samples. This indicates that within those cities ClPAHs and PAHs share the same origin, implying direct chlorination of parent PAHs. Toxic equivalent concentrations (TEQs) of the total ClPAHs and PAHs were lowest in Kanazawa in the summer, reaching 1.18 and 2610fg-TEQm(-3) respectively, and highest in Beijing in the winter, reaching 627 and 4240000fg-TEQm(-3) respectively. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. PREFACE: ELC International Meeting on Inference, Computation, and Spin Glasses (ICSG2013)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kabashima, Yoshiyuki; Hukushima, Koji; Inoue, Jun-ichi; Tanaka, Toshiyuki; Watanabe, Osamu

    2013-12-01

    The close relationship between probability-based inference and statistical mechanics of disordered systems has been noted for some time. This relationship has provided researchers with a theoretical foundation in various fields of information processing for analytical performance evaluation and construction of efficient algorithms based on message-passing or Monte Carlo sampling schemes. The ELC International Meeting on 'Inference, Computation, and Spin Glasses (ICSG2013)', was held in Sapporo 28-30 July 2013. The meeting was organized as a satellite meeting of STATPHYS25 in order to offer a forum where concerned researchers can assemble and exchange information on the latest results and newly established methodologies, and discuss future directions of the interdisciplinary studies between statistical mechanics and information sciences. Financial support from Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas, MEXT, Japan 'Exploring the Limits of Computation (ELC)' is gratefully acknowledged. We are pleased to publish 23 papers contributed by invited speakers of ICSG2013 in this volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series. We hope that this volume will promote further development of this highly vigorous interdisciplinary field between statistical mechanics and information/computer science. Editors and ICSG2013 Organizing Committee: Koji Hukushima Jun-ichi Inoue (Local Chair of ICSG2013) Yoshiyuki Kabashima (Editor-in-Chief) Toshiyuki Tanaka Osamu Watanabe (General Chair of ICSG2013)

  6. Association between DNA methylation in cord blood and maternal smoking: The Hokkaido Study on Environment and Children's Health.

    PubMed

    Miyake, Kunio; Kawaguchi, Akio; Miura, Ryu; Kobayashi, Sachiko; Tran, Nguyen Quoc Vuong; Kobayashi, Sumitaka; Miyashita, Chihiro; Araki, Atsuko; Kubota, Takeo; Yamagata, Zentaro; Kishi, Reiko

    2018-04-04

    Maternal smoking is reported to cause adverse effects on the health of the unborn child, the underlying mechanism for which is thought to involve alterations in DNA methylation. We examined the effects of maternal smoking on DNA methylation in cord blood, in 247 mother-infant pairs in the Sapporo cohort of the Hokkaido Study, using the Infinium HumanMethylation 450K BeadChip. We first identified differentially methylated CpG sites with a false discovery rate (FDR) of <0.05 and the magnitude of DNA methylation changes (|β| >0.02) from the pairwise comparisons of never-smokers (Ne-S), sustained-smokers (Su-S), and stopped-smokers (St-S). Subsequently, secondary comparisons between St-S and Su-S revealed nine common sites that mapped to ACSM3, AHRR, CYP1A1, GFI1, SHANK2, TRIM36, and the intergenic region between ANKRD9 and RCOR1 in Ne-S vs. Su-S, and one common CpG site mapping to EVC2 in Ne-S vs. St-S. Further, we verified these CpG sites and examined neighbouring sites using bisulfite next-generation sequencing, except for AHRR cg21161138. These changes in DNA methylation implicate the effect of smoking cessation. Our findings add to the current knowledge of the association between DNA methylation and maternal smoking and suggest future studies for clarifying this relationship in disease development.

  7. A successful strategy for increasing the influenza vaccination rate of healthcare workers without a mandatory policy outside of the United States: a multifaceted intervention in a Japanese tertiary care center.

    PubMed

    Honda, Hitoshi; Sato, Yumiko; Yamazaki, Akinori; Padival, Simi; Kumagai, Akira; Babcock, Hilary

    2013-11-01

    Although mandatory vaccination programs have been effective in improving the vaccination rate among healthcare workers, implementing this type of program can be challenging because of varied reasons for vaccine refusal. The purpose of our study is to measure improvement in the influenza vaccination rate from a multifaceted intervention at a Japanese tertiary care center where implementing a mandatory vaccination program is difficult. Before-and-after trial. Healthcare workers at a 550-bed, tertiary care, academic medical center in Sapporo, Japan. We performed a multifaceted intervention including (1) use of a declination form, (2) free vaccination, (3) hospital-wide announcements during the vaccination period, (4) prospective audit and real-time telephone interview for healthcare workers who did not receive the vaccine, (5) medical interview with the hospital executive for noncompliant (no vaccine, no declination form) healthcare workers during the vaccination period, and (6) mandatory submission of a vaccination document if vaccinated outside of the study institution. With the new multifaceted intervention, the vaccination rate in the 2012-2013 season increased substantially, up to 97%. This rate is similar to that reported in studies with a mandatory vaccination program. Improved vaccination acceptance, particularly among physicians, likely contributed to the overall increase in the vaccination rate reported in the study. Implementation of comprehensive strategies with strong leadership can lead to substantial improvements in vaccine uptake among healthcare workers even without a mandatory vaccination policy. The concept is especially important for institutions where implementing mandatory vaccination programs is challenging.

  8. Airborne myxomycete spores: detection using molecular techniques

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kamono, Akiko; Kojima, Hisaya; Matsumoto, Jun; Kawamura, Kimitaka; Fukui, Manabu

    2009-01-01

    Myxomycetes are organisms characterized by a life cycle that includes a fruiting body stage. Myxomycete fruiting bodies contain spores, and wind dispersal of the spores is considered important for this organism to colonize new areas. In this study, the presence of airborne myxomycetes and the temporal changes in the myxomycete composition of atmospheric particles (aerosols) were investigated with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method for Didymiaceae and Physaraceae. Twenty-one aerosol samples were collected on the roof of a three-story building located in Sapporo, Hokkaido Island, northern Japan. PCR analysis of DNA extracts from the aerosol samples indicated the presence of airborne myxomycetes in all the samples, except for the one collected during the snowfall season. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of the PCR products showed seasonally varying banding patterns. The detected DGGE bands were subjected to sequence analyses, and four out of nine obtained sequences were identical to those of fruiting body samples collected in Hokkaido Island. It appears that the difference in the fruiting period of each species was correlated with the seasonal changes in the myxomycete composition of the aerosols. Molecular evidence shows that newly formed spores are released and dispersed in the air, suggesting that wind-driven dispersal of spores is an important process in the life history of myxomycetes. This study is the first to detect airborne myxomycetes with the use of molecular ecological analyses and to characterize their seasonal distribution.

  9. Correlations between Prenatal Exposure to Perfluorinated Chemicals and Reduced Fetal Growth

    PubMed Central

    Washino, Noriaki; Saijo, Yasuaki; Sasaki, Seiko; Kato, Shizue; Ban, Susumu; Konishi, Kanae; Ito, Rie; Nakata, Ayako; Iwasaki, Yusuke; Saito, Koichi; Nakazawa, Hiroyuki; Kishi, Reiko

    2009-01-01

    Background Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) are man-made, ubiquitous, and persistent contaminants in the environment, wildlife, and humans. Although recent studies have shown that these chemicals interfere with fetal growth in humans, the results are inconsistent. Objectives Our goal was to investigate the correlation between relatively low levels of PFOS and PFOA in maternal serum and birth weight and birth size. Methods We conducted a hospital-based prospective cohort study between July 2002 and October 2005 in Sapporo, Japan. A total of 428 women and their infants were involved in the study. We obtained characteristics of the mothers and infants from self-administered questionnaire surveys and from medical records. We analyzed maternal serum samples for PFOS and PFOA by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Results After adjusting for confounding factors, PFOS levels negatively correlated with birth weight [per log10 unit: β = −148.8 g; 95% confidence interval (CI), −297.0 to −0.5 g]. In addition, analyses stratified by sex revealed that PFOS levels negatively correlated with birth weight only in female infants (per log10 unit: β = −269.4 g; 95% CI, −465.7 to −73.0 g). However, we observed no correlation between PFOA levels and birth weight. Conclusion Our results indicate that in utero exposure to relatively low levels of PFOS was negatively correlated with birth weight. PMID:19440508

  10. The nature of the interaction of dimethylselenide with IIIA group element compounds.

    PubMed

    Madzhidov, Timur I; Chmutova, Galina A

    2013-05-16

    The first systematic theoretical study of the nature of intermolecular bonding of dimethylselenide as donor and IIIA group element halides as acceptors was made with the help of the approach of Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules. Density Functional Theory with "old" Sapporo triple-ζ basis sets was used to calculate geometry, thermodynamics, and wave function of Me2Se···AX3 complexes. The analysis of the electron density distribution and the Laplacian of the electron density allowed us to reveal and explain the tendencies in the influence of the central atom (A = B, Al, Ga, In) and halogen (X = F, Cl, Br, I) on the nature of Se···A bonding. Significant changes in properties of the selenium lone pair upon complexation were described by means of the analysis of the Laplacian of the charge density. Charge transfer characteristics and the contributions to it from electron localization and delocalization were analyzed in terms of localization and delocalization indexes. Common features of the complexation and differences in the nature of bonding were revealed. Performed analysis evidenced that gallium and indium halide complexes can be attributed to charge transfer-driven complexes; aluminum halides complexes seem to be mainly of an electrostatic nature. The nature of bonding in different boron halides essentially varies; these complexes are stabilized mainly by covalent Se···B interaction. In all the complexes under study covalence of the Se···A interaction is rather high.

  11. Patent foramen ovale and atrial septal aneurysm can cause ischemic stroke in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome.

    PubMed

    Tanaka, Yasutaka; Ueno, Yuji; Miyamoto, Nobukazu; Shimada, Yoshiaki; Tanaka, Ryota; Hattori, Nobutaka; Urabe, Takao

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the contributions of embolic etiologies, patent foramen ovale (PFO) and atrial septal aneurysm (ASA) to the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). We performed transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) examination for consecutive stroke patients who had been diagnosed with APS (APS group) to detect potential embolic sources. APS was diagnosed based on the modified Sapporo criteria. The control stroke group comprised age- and sex-matched cryptogenic stroke patients undergoing TEE. We assessed and compared the clinical characteristics and TEE findings between stroke patients with APS and control stroke groups. Among 582 patients, nine patients (nine women; mean age, 50 ± 18 years) were classified into the APS group. In 137 patients undergoing TEE, 41 age-matched female stroke patients were recruited to the control stroke group. Prevalences of PFO and ASA were significantly higher in the APS group than in the control stroke group (89 vs. 41 %, p = 0.027; 67 vs. 20 %, p = 0.015, respectively). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that PFO (odds ratio (OR), 13.71; 95 % confidence interval (CI), 1.01-185.62; p = 0.049) and ASA (OR, 8.06; 95 % CI, 1.17-55.59; p = 0.034) were independently associated with the APS group. PFO and ASA were strongly associated with the APS group, and could thus represent potential embolic sources in ischemic stroke patients with APS.

  12. Longterm and spatial variability of Aerosol optical properties measured by sky radiometer in Japan sites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aoki, K.

    2016-12-01

    Aerosols and cloud play an important role in the climate change. We started the long-term monitoring of aerosol and cloud optical properties since 1990's by using sky radiometer (POM-01, 02; Prede Co. Ltd., Japan). We provide the information, in this presentation, on the aerosol optical properties with respect to their temporal and spatial variability in Japan site (ex. Sapporo, Toyama, Kasuga and etc). The global distributions of aerosols have been derived from earth observation satellite and have been simulated in numerical models, which assume optical parameters. However, these distributions are difficult to derive because of variability in time and space. Therefore, Aerosol optical properties were investigated using the measurements from ground-based and ship-borne sky radiometer. The sky radiometer is an automatic instrument that takes observations only in daytime under the clear sky conditions. Observation of diffuse solar intensity interval was made every ten or five minutes by once. The aerosol optical properties were computed using the SKYRAD.pack version 4.2. The obtained Aerosol optical properties (Aerosol optical thickness, Ångström exponent, Single scattering albedo, and etc.) and size distribution volume clearly showed spatial and temporal variability in Japan area. In this study, we present the temporal and spatial variability of Aerosol optical properties at several Japan sites, applied to validation of satellite and numerical models. This project is validation satellite of GCOM-C, JAXA. The GCOM-C satellite scheduled to be launched in early 2017.

  13. PREFACE: Inverse Problems in Applied Sciences—towards breakthrough

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cheng, Jin; Iso, Yuusuke; Nakamura, Gen; Yamamoto, Masahiro

    2007-06-01

    These are the proceedings of the international conference `Inverse Problems in Applied Sciences—towards breakthrough' which was held at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan on 3-7 July 2006 (http://coe.math.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/sympo/inverse/). There were 88 presentations and more than 100 participants, and we are proud to say that the conference was very successful. Nowadays, many new activities on inverse problems are flourishing at many centers of research around the world, and the conference has successfully gathered a world-wide variety of researchers. We believe that this volume contains not only main papers, but also conveys the general status of current research into inverse problems. This conference was the third biennial international conference on inverse problems, the core of which is the Pan-Pacific Asian area. The purpose of this series of conferences is to establish and develop constant international collaboration, especially among the Pan-Pacific Asian countries, and to lead the organization of activities concerning inverse problems centered in East Asia. The first conference was held at City University of Hong Kong in January 2002 and the second was held at Fudan University in June 2004. Following the preceding two successes, the third conference was organized in order to extend the scope of activities and build useful bridges to the next conference in Seoul in 2008. Therefore this third biennial conference was intended not only to establish collaboration and links between researchers in Asia and leading researchers worldwide in inverse problems but also to nurture interdisciplinary collaboration in theoretical fields such as mathematics, applied fields and evolving aspects of inverse problems. For these purposes, we organized tutorial lectures, serial lectures and a panel discussion as well as conference research presentations. This volume contains three lecture notes from the tutorial and serial lectures, and 22 papers. Especially at this

  14. Effects of soil water content and grass recycling on N2O emission in an urban lawn under laboratory incubation study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nataningtyas, Dilin Rahayu; Morita, Shunsuke; Hatano, Ryusuke

    2017-12-01

    In the context of global warming, the increase of N2O gas production from the agricultural area has gained enhancing concern due to N2O is a potent greenhouse gas and an ozone depleted substance. While adding clipping grass has been accepted to replace N-fertilizer input in urban law management its effect on soil gas emission still questionable. A laboratory incubation study had been conducted to evaluate the effect of soil water content and grass recycling on greenhouse gas emission from an urban lawn. The soil samples were taken from Yurigahara Park, Sapporo, Hokkaido Japan. The 17 days at 25°C incubation study was started after adjusting soil water content to 35% and 50% with and without adding the clipping grass on soil surfaces. Greenhouse gas emissions were higher with the addition of grass, however, for NO and N2O considerably higher in 35% than 50% water content. The denitrification process was responsible for the N2O increase in this action. Soil chemical and microbial properties, pH, WEOC, NO3--N, NH4+-N and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) as well as N-grass content were also measured to know their correlation with N2O emission. The fine-scale heterogeneity occurred in the soil has impact on the variability of soil chemical properties that influenced the N2O emission. In the other hand, the effect of grass recycling appeared to increased soil N-inorganic contents and stimulated the N-gaseous concentration.

  15. Maternal smoking during pregnancy and genetic polymorphisms in the Ah receptor, CYP1A1 and GSTM1 affect infant birth size in Japanese subjects.

    PubMed

    Sasaki, S; Kondo, T; Sata, F; Saijo, Y; Katoh, S; Nakajima, S; Ishizuka, M; Fujita, S; Kishi, R

    2006-02-01

    Genetic susceptibility to tobacco smoke might have relation to adverse pregnancy outcomes. To estimate the effects of maternal smoking and genetic polymorphisms on infant birth weight and length, we conducted a prospective cohort study of 293 women who delivered singleton live births in Sapporo, Japan. Birth weight and length were significantly lower among infants born to continuously smoking women having the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) wild type genotype (Arg/Arg; 211 g +/- 76 g; 1.2 cm +/- 0.4 cm, p < 0.01 and p < 0.01, respectively), the CYP1A1 variant genotype (m1/m2 + m2/m2; 170 g +/- 64 g, 0.8 cm +/- 0.3 cm, p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively), or the GSTM1 null genotype (171 g +/- 58 g, 0.6 cm +/- 0.3 cm, p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively). When combinations of these genotypes were considered, birth weight and length were significantly lower for infants of continuously smoking women in the AhR wild type + CYP1A1 variant group (315 g +/- 116 g; 1.7 cm +/- 0.6 cm, p < 0.01 and p < 0.01, respectively) and in the CYP1A1 variant + GSTM1 null group (237 g +/- 92 g; 1.3 cm +/- 0.5 cm, p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). These genotypes did not confer adverse effects among women who had never smoked; therefore, maternal smoking in combination with maternal AhR, CYP1A1 and GSTM1 genetic polymorphisms may adversely affect infant birth size.

  16. Hydroxy fatty acids in snow pit samples from Mount Tateyama in central Japan: Implications for atmospheric transport of microorganisms and plant waxes associated with Asian dust

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tyagi, Poonam; Kawamura, Kimitaka; Bikkina, Srinivas; Mochizuki, Tomoki; Aoki, Kazuma

    2016-11-01

    We report here the source apportionment of atmospheric soil microorganisms and higher plant metabolites based on chemical markers (hydroxy fatty acids: FAs) in the snowpack samples collected from Mount Tateyama in central Japan during spring 2009 (N = 6) and 2011 (N = 7). A homologous series of β-hydroxy FAs (C9-C20), constituents of Gram-negative bacteria (GNB), in snowpacks clearly suggest a long-range atmospheric transport of dust-associated bacteria followed by scavenging by snowflakes. Similarly, higher atmospheric abundances of α-(C16-C32) and ω-(C9-C30)-hydroxy FAs in the snow layers containing Asian dust revealed contributions from soil microbes and higher plant epicuticular waxes. Moreover, covariation between the concentrations of hydroxy FAs and water-soluble Ca2+ (dust tracer), together with calculated air mass backward trajectories, demonstrated their source regions such as the Taklamakan Desert, Gobi Desert, and Loess Plateau. A close match of molecular distributions of hydroxy FAs (with the predominance of ω- and β-isomers) is noteworthy between snowpack (present study) and springtime aerosols from Chichijima Island in the western North Pacific (WNP). This observation suggests a "below-cloud scavenging" of transported dust particles and associated soil microbes in the East Asian outflow by snowflakes. These distributions are, however, contrary to those observed in the fresh snow samples from Sapporo, northern Japan (predominance of α-hydroxy FAs), which could be explained by "in-cloud" microbial oxidation processes. This comparison, therefore, provides additional insights regarding the aeolian transport of soil microbes in the East Asian outflow to the WNP, which has not been available.

  17. Pneumococcal vaccination reduces the risk of community-acquired pneumonia in children.

    PubMed

    Hasegawa, Junko; Mori, Mitsuru; Ohnishi, Hirofumi; Tsugawa, Takeshi; Hori, Tsukasa; Yoto, Yuko; Tsutsumi, Hiroyuki

    2017-03-01

    The seven-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) was introduced to Japan in 2009, after which there was a rapid decline in invasive pneumococcal disease. There are few data, however, on the effectiveness of PCV7 against community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). We conducted an ambispective cohort study among children aged 0-6 years old who attended day-care centers. A total of 624 children at 10 day-care centers in Sapporo, Japan participated in the study. The parents reported whether their child had received PCV7 one or more times, as well as the exact dates of vaccination from records in maternal and child health handbooks marked by pediatricians. Each CAP event was reported by parents according to doctor diagnosis. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95%CI of CAP incidence reduced by PCV7 inoculation. During the observational period, 94 subjects contracted CAP. After adjusting for potentially confounding variables, inoculation with PCV7 was significantly associated with a reduced risk of CAP (HR, 0.22; 95%CI: 0.13-0.34). On stratified analysis by age, PCV7 was significantly associated with a reduced risk of CAP in both children aged <3 years (HR, 0.31; 95%CI: 0.14-0.71), and those ≥3 years (HR, 0.20; 95%CI: 0.09-0.43). PCV7 is highly effective in reducing the risk of CAP in children attending day-care centers. © 2016 Japan Pediatric Society.

  18. The feasibility of aromatherapy massage to reduce symptoms of Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance: a pilot study.

    PubMed

    Araki, Atsuko; Watanabe, Kazuhiko; Eitaki, Yoko; Kawai, Toshio; Kishi, Reiko

    2012-12-01

    Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance (IEI) is an acquired disorder with multiple recurrent symptoms, which is associated with diverse environmental factors that are tolerated by the majority of people. IEI is an illness of uncertain aetiology, making it difficult to treat using conventional medicine. Therefore, there is a need for novel therapies to control the symptoms of IEI. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and impact of aromatherapy massage for individuals with IEI. Non-blinded crossover trial. IEI patients who attended a clinic in Sapporo city were recruited, and sixteen patients were enrolled. Participants were clinically examined by an experienced medical doctor and met the criteria included in the working definition of IEI disorder. During the active period, participants received four one-hour aromatherapy massage sessions every two weeks. During the control period, the participants did not receive any massages. Scores on the IEI-scales trigger checklist, symptoms, life impact, and the State Anxiety Inventory were assessed before and after each period. Short-term mood enhancement was evaluated using the Profiles of Mood Status (POMS) before and after sessions. Due to period effects, evaluation of the results had to be restricted to the first period, and the result showed no effect of intervention. All six sub-scales of the POMS improved after each session (mean score differences: 4.89-1.33, P<0.05). Aromatherapy was well tolerated by subjects with IEI; however, aromatherapy, as applied in this study, did not suggest any specific effects on IEI condition. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Respiratory acidosis prolongs, while alkalosis shortens, the duration and recovery time of vecuronium in humans.

    PubMed

    Yamauchi, Masanori; Takahashi, Hiromi; Iwasaki, Hiroshi; Namiki, Akiyoshi

    2002-03-01

    To determine the effects of respiratory acidosis and alkalosis by mechanical ventilation on the onset, duration, and recovery times of vecuronium. Randomized, prospective study. Operating rooms in the Sapporo Medical University Hospital and Kitami Red Cross Hospital. 90 ASA physical status I and II patients undergoing lower abdominal surgery. Patients were randomly allocated to one of three groups by arterial carbon dioxide tension level (PaCO2; mmHg) after induction: hyperventilation group (PaCO2 = 25-35), normoventilation group (PaCO2 = 35-45), and hypoventilation group (PaCO2 = 45-55). Anesthesia was maintained by spinal block with inhalation of 50% to 66% nitrous oxide in oxygen and intermittent intravenous administration of fentanyl and midazolam with tracheal intubation. After vecuronium 0.08 mg/kg was given, onset, duration, and recovery time were measured by mechanomyography (Biometer Myograph 2,000, Odense, Denmark). There were significant differences in the duration and recovery time of vecuronium among the normoventilation group (12.7 +/- 3.3 min and 11.8 +/- 2.8 min, respectively), the hyperventilation group (10.6 +/- 3.5 min and 9.2 +/- 2.7 min, respectively; p < 0.01), and the hypoventilation group (14.4 +/- 3.1 min and 15.0 +/- 3.7 min, respectively; p < 0.01) (mean SD). The closest significant correlation in this study was observed between recovery time and arterial blood pH (r = 0.57; p < 0.05). In humans, duration and recovery times of vecuronium are prolonged in respiratory acidosis and shortened in respiratory alkalosis.

  20. Serum surfactant protein D predicts the outcome of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis treated with pirfenidone.

    PubMed

    Ikeda, Kimiyuki; Shiratori, Masanori; Chiba, Hirofumi; Nishikiori, Hirotaka; Yokoo, Keiki; Saito, Atsushi; Hasegawa, Yoshihiro; Kuronuma, Koji; Otsuka, Mitsuo; Yamada, Gen; Takahashi, Hiroki

    2017-10-01

    Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal pulmonary disease with poor prognosis. Pirfenidone, the first antifibrotic drug, suppresses the decline in forced vital capacity (FVC) and improves prognosis in some, but not all, patients with IPF; therefore, an indicator for identifying improved outcomes in pirfenidone therapy is desirable. This study aims to clarify whether baseline parameters can be predictors of disease progression and prognosis in patients with IPF treated with pirfenidone. We retrospectively investigated patients with IPF who started treatment with pirfenidone between December 2008 and November 2014 at the Sapporo Medical University Hospital. Patients treated with pirfenidone for ≥6 months were enrolled in this study and were observed until November 2015. We investigated the association of clinical characteristics, pulmonary function test results, and blood examination results at the start of pirfenidone with the outcome of patients. Sixty patients were included in this study. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, % predicted FVC and serum surfactant protein (SP)-D levels were predictors of a ≥10% decline in FVC in the initial 12 months. In the Cox proportional hazards model, these two factors predicted progression-free survival. Pack-years, % predicted diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide, and SP-D levels predicted overall survival. The serum SP-D level was a predictor of disease progression and prognosis in patients with IPF treated with pirfenidone. In addition, this analysis describes the relative usefulness of other clinical parameters at baseline in estimating the prognosis of patients with IPF who are candidates for pirfenidone therapy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Monitoring of solar-UV exposure among schoolchildren in five Japanese cities using spore dosimeter and UV-coloring labels.

    PubMed

    Munakata, N; Ono, M; Watanabe, S

    1998-03-01

    To monitor personal exposure to biologically effective solar-UV radiation, Bacillus subtilis spores on a membrane filter and UV-coloring labels were incorporated into a monitoring badge. The samples were covered with one of three types of filter sheet, dependent on the season, to reduce the amounts of exposure to measurable levels. Five fifth- or sixth-grade classes of primary schools, each consisting of 30-40 children, were chosen in northern (Sapporo), central (Tsukuba and Tokyo), and southern (Miyazaki and Naha) cities in Japan. In all four season, each child wore a badge on an upper arm for the entire waking hours, changing it daily, for a week. Upon collection of the badges, the survival of spores and the extent of coloration of the label were determined. The results were used to estimate the amount of daily exposure to biologically effective UV radiation, expressed as the value of spore inactivation dose. Unexpectedly, the average amounts of exposure were not directly correlated with the outdoor UV irradiance: in the two southern cities, despite high outdoor irradiance from spring to autumn, the average amounts of exposure were less than 3.1% of the average irradiance. Highly concentrated exposures occurred in two central cities on three days when extensive outdoor exercise took place. These results contradict the simple notion that children's exposure is in proportion to the outdoor UV irradiance, and support the view that the extent of solar-UV exposure is primarily determined by life-style rather than living location.

  2. Monitoring of Solar‐UV Exposure among Schoolchildren in Five Japanese Cities Using Spore Dosimeter and UV‐coloring Labels

    PubMed Central

    Ono, Masashi; Watanabe, Shaw

    1998-01-01

    To monitor personal exposure to biologically effective solar‐UV radiation, Bacillus subtilis spores on a membrane filter and UV‐coloring labels were incorporated into a monitoring badge. The samples were covered with one of three types of filter sheet, dependent on the season, to reduce the amounts of exposure to measurable levels. Five fifth‐ or sixth‐grade classes of primary schools, each consisting of 30–40 children, were chosen in northern (Sapporo), central (Tsukuba and Tokyo), and southern (Miyazaki and Naha) cities in Japan. In all four seasons, each child wore a badge on an upper arm for the entire waking hours, changing it daily, for a week. Upon collection of the badges, the survival of spores and the extent of coloration of the label were determined. The results were used to estimate the amount of daily exposure to biologically effective UV radiation, expressed as the value of spore inactivation dose. Unexpectedly, the average amounts of exposure were not directly correlated with the outdoor UV irradiance: in the two southern cities, despite high outdoor irradiance from spring to autumn, the average amounts of exposure were less than 3.1% of the average irradiance. Highly concentrated exposures occurred in two central cities on three days when extensive outdoor exercise took place. These results contradict the simple notion that childrens' exposure is in proportion to the outdoor UV irradiance, and support the view that the extent of solar‐UV exposure is primarily determined by life‐style rather than living location. PMID:9600116

  3. A coupled melt-freeze temperature index approach in a one-layer model to predict bulk volumetric liquid water content dynamics in snow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Avanzi, Francesco; Yamaguchi, Satoru; Hirashima, Hiroyuki; De Michele, Carlo

    2016-04-01

    Liquid water in snow rules runoff dynamics and wet snow avalanches release. Moreover, it affects snow viscosity and snow albedo. As a result, measuring and modeling liquid water dynamics in snow have important implications for many scientific applications. However, measurements are usually challenging, while modeling is difficult due to an overlap of mechanical, thermal and hydraulic processes. Here, we evaluate the use of a simple one-layer one-dimensional model to predict hourly time-series of bulk volumetric liquid water content in seasonal snow. The model considers both a simple temperature-index approach (melt only) and a coupled melt-freeze temperature-index approach that is able to reconstruct melt-freeze dynamics. Performance of this approach is evaluated at three sites in Japan. These sites (Nagaoka, Shinjo and Sapporo) present multi-year time-series of snow and meteorological data, vertical profiles of snow physical properties and snow melt lysimeters data. These data-sets are an interesting opportunity to test this application in different climatic conditions, as sites span a wide latitudinal range and are subjected to different snow conditions during the season. When melt-freeze dynamics are included in the model, results show that median absolute differences between observations and predictions of bulk volumetric liquid water content are consistently lower than 1 vol%. Moreover, the model is able to predict an observed dry condition of the snowpack in 80% of observed cases at a non-calibration site, where parameters from calibration sites are transferred. Overall, the analysis show that a coupled melt-freeze temperature-index approach may be a valid solution to predict average wetness conditions of a snow cover at local scale.

  4. Short Sleep Duration and Poor Sleep Quality Increase the Risk of Diabetes in Japanese Workers With No Family History of Diabetes

    PubMed Central

    Kita, Toshiko; Yoshioka, Eiji; Satoh, Hiroki; Saijo, Yasuaki; Kawaharada, Mariko; Okada, Eisaku; Kishi, Reiko

    2012-01-01

    OBJECTIVE To investigate whether a difference in the risk for diabetes exists in Japanese workers with regard to sleep duration/quality and the presence or absence of a family history of diabetes (FHD). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The researchers conducted a prospective, occupational-based study of local government employees in Sapporo, Japan. Between April 2003 and March 2004, 3,570 nondiabetic participants, aged 35–55 years, underwent annual health checkups and completed a self-administered questionnaire that included information on sleep duration/quality and FHD at baseline. Having diabetes was defined as taking medication for diabetes or a fasting plasma glucose level of ≥126 mg/dL at follow-up (2007–2008). RESULTS A total of 121 (3.4%) new cases of diabetes were reported. In multivariate logistic regression models of workers without an FHD, and after adjustment for potential confounding factors, the odds ratio (95% CI) for developing diabetes was 5.37 (1.38–20.91) in those with a sleep duration of ≤5 h compared with those with a sleep duration of >7 h. Other risk factors were awakening during the night (5.03 [1.43–17.64]), self-perceived insufficient sleep duration (6.76 [2.09–21.87]), and unsatisfactory overall quality of sleep (3.71 [1.37–10.07]). In subjects with an FHD, these associations were either absent or weaker. CONCLUSIONS The current study shows that poor sleep is associated with a higher risk of developing diabetes in workers without an FHD. Promoting healthy sleeping habits may be effective for preventing the development of diabetes in people without an FHD. PMID:22210572

  5. Re-analysis of the association of temperature or sunshine with hyperthymic temperament using lithium levels of drinking water.

    PubMed

    Matsuzaki, Hideki; Terao, Takeshi; Inoue, Takeshi; Takaesu, Yoshikazu; Ishii, Nobuyoshi; Kohno, Kentaro; Takeshima, Minoru; Baba, Hajime; Honma, Hiroshi

    2017-12-01

    The Japanese archipelago stretches over 4000km from north to south and has four large islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Previously, using the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego-auto questionnaire version (TEMPS-A), we compared the hyperthymic scores of residents in Sapporo, Obihiro, Takaoka, Koshigaya, and Oita cities (which are located at latitudes of 43°N, 42°N, 36°N, 36°N and 33°N with various combinations of ambient temperament and sunshine in Japan, respectively). We found that latitude predicted significant variance in hyperthymic temperament, and that ambient temperature, but not sunshine, significantly affected hyperthymic temperament scores. However, the analysis failed to consider the effects of naturally occurring low-dose lithium on temperament. In addition to the TEMPS-A data previously collected, we measured lithium levels of the five cities. The effect of temperature, sunshine, and lithium levels on hyperthymic temperament was analyzed for the five cities. A stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that lithium levels as well as latitude, but not temperature or sunshine, predicted significant variance in hyperthymic temperament scores. Hyperthymic temperament scores were significantly and positively associated with lithium levels whereas they were significantly and negatively associated with latitude. The light, temperature, lithium exposure that residents actually received was not measured. The number of regions studied was limited. The findings might not be generalized to residents across Japan or other countries. The present findings suggest that lithium in drinking water may positively maintain hyperthymic temperament, and that latitude may negatively maintain it. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Maternal folate, alcohol and energy metabolism-related gene polymorphisms and the risk of recurrent pregnancy loss.

    PubMed

    Sata, F; Yamada, H; Kishi, R; Minakami, H

    2012-10-01

    Epidemiological studies have suggested that the condition of recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) may be multifactorial, with both genetic predisposition and environmental factors potentially involved in its pathogenesis. The aim of this study is to elucidate the associations between maternal folate, alcohol and energy metabolism-related gene polymorphisms and the risk of RPL. This case-control study, which involved 116 cases with two or more instances of RPL and 306 fertile controls, was performed in the city of Sapporo, Japan. The associations between eight single nucleotide polymorphisms of folate, alcohol and energy metabolism-related genes [methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), 5-methyltetrahydrofolate-homocysteine methyltransferase (MTR), 5-methyltetrahydrofolate-homocysteine methyltransferase reductase (MTRR), alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B), aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), beta-3-adrenergic receptor (ADRB3) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG)], and RPL were assessed. Without consideration of cigarette smoking or alcohol use, the risk of RPL significantly decreased in women with the MTHFR rs1801133 TT, MTR rs1805087 AG or ALDH2 rs671 AA genotype (P < 0.05). The risk of RPL associated with cigarette smoking and alcohol use decreased significantly in women carrying the MTHFR rs1801133 T allele [odds ratio (OR), 0.51; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.27-0.95]. Similarly, the risk of RPL significantly decreased in women carrying the MTR rs1805087 G allele (OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.23-0.85). Our findings suggest that maternal gene polymorphisms related to folate metabolism may decrease the risk of RPL. Molecular epidemiological studies are needed to unequivocally elucidate the multifactorial effects of both genetic and environmental factors on human fecundity.

  7. Optical monitoring systems for thermal spray processes: droplets behavior and substrate pre-treatments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kawaguchi, Y.; Kobayashi, N.; Yamagata, Y.; Miyazaki, F.; Yamasaki, M.; Tanaka, J.; Muraoka, K.

    2017-11-01

    Thermal spray is a technique to form molten droplets using either plasma- or combustion-heating, which impinge upon substrates to form coating layers for various purposes, such as anti-corrosion and anti-wear layers. Although it is an established technique having a history of more than a century, operations of spray guns together with preparing suitable substrate surfaces for obtaining good coating layers still rely on experienced technicians. Because of the necessity of meeting more and more stringent requirements for coating quality and cost from customers, there has been a strong need to try to monitor spray processes, so as to obtain the best possible spray coating layers. The basic requirements for such monitoring systems are *reasonably cheap, *easy operation for laypersons, *easy access to targets to be investigated, and *an in-situ capability. The purpose of the present work is to provide suitable optical monitoring systems for (1) droplets behavior and (2) substrate pre-treatments. For the former (1), the first result was already presented at the 17th laser-aided plasma diagnostics meeting (LAPD17) in 2015 in Sapporo, and the results of its subsequent applications into real spray environments are shown in this article in order to validate the previous proposal. Topic (2) is new in the research program, and the proof-of-principle experiment for the proposed method yielded a favorable result. Based on this positive result, an overall strategy is being planned to fulfill the final objective of the optical monitoring of substrate pre-treatments. Details of these two programs (1) and (2) together with the present status are described.

  8. Detection and genetic characterization of norovirus strains circulating among infants and children with acute gastroenteritis in Japan during 2004-2005.

    PubMed

    Phan, Tung Gia; Takanashi, Sayaka; Kaneshi, Kunio; Ueda, Yuichi; Nakaya, Shigekazu; Nishimura, Shuichi; Sugita, Kumiko; Nishimura, Tadashi; Yamamoto, Atsuko; Yagyu, Fumihiro; Okitsu, Shoko; Maneekarn, Niwat; Ushijima, Hiroshi

    2006-01-01

    A total of 752 fecal specimens collected during the period of July 2004 to June 2005 from infants and children with acute gastroenteritis from four different regions (Maizuru, Tokyo, Sapporo, and Osaka) of Japan were tested for the presence of norovirus by RT-PCR. It was found that 139 (18.5%) fecal specimens were positive for norovirus. Norovirus infection was detected almost all year round with the highest prevalence in January. Norovirus GII was the most predominant genogroup (98.6%; 137 of 139). The genotypes detected in this study were GI/1, GII/1, GII/3, GII/4, and GII/6. Of these, NoV GII/4 (known as the Lordsdale virus cluster) was re-emerging and became the leading genotype (77.7%). Meanwhile, the incidence of NoV GII/3 (known as the Arg320 virus cluster) has dropped rapidly, accounting for only 15.8%. Another interesting feature of the study was the identification of Picton03/AU-like recombinant NoV for the first time in Japan. Based on the genetic analysis, it was interesting to note that NoV GII/4 in 2004-2005 made a distinct cluster in comparison to other NoV GII/4 circulating in 2002-2003 and 2003-2004. Of note, "new recombinant variant designated GIIb" within NoV GII/3, which was first detected in Saga City, Japan in 2003-2004 in only one case, had increased, spreading widely in Japan and representing 45.5% (10 of 22). Further epidemiological studies should be conducted to determine whether this new recombinant variant strain will be dominant in Japan in the coming year.

  9. HPV self-sampling in Japanese women: A feasibility study in a population with limited experience of tampon use.

    PubMed

    Hanley, Sharon Jb; Fujita, Hiromasa; Yokoyama, Susumu; Kunisawa, Shiori; Tamakoshi, Akiko; Dong, Peixin; Kobayashi, Noriko; Watari, Hidemichi; Kudo, Masataka; Sakuragi, Noriaki

    2016-09-01

    Cervical cancer incidence and mortality is increasing in Japanese women under age 50. Screening uptake is low and proactive recommendations for human papillomavirus vaccination have been suspended. Other cervical cancer prevention initiatives are urgently needed. We assessed whether human papillomavirus self-sampling might be an acceptable alternative to physician-led screening, particularly in women with limited experience of tampon use. We also sought to identify any practical, logistical, or safety issues in women already attending for screening, before carrying out further large-scale studies in non-responders. In total, 203 women aged 20-49 attending their annual workplace healthcheck in Sapporo, northern Japan, performed unsupervised human papillomavirus self-sampling before undergoing a physician-led cervical smear and human papillomavirus test, and completing a measure of acceptability for both tests. Ninety per cent of participants stated they would use self-sampling again. They found instructions easy to follow and reported no issues with the usability of the self-sampling device. Compared with physician-led testing, women found self-sampling significantly less painful, less embarrassing and could relax more (p < 0.001), regardless of history of tampon use, which was associated with negative experiences in physician sampling (p = 0.034). Women lacked confidence the test had been performed correctly, despite no unsatisfactory samples. No safety issues were reported. Self-sampling was highly acceptable in this population of women. They could perform the test safely unsupervised, but lacked confidence the test has been carried out correctly. Japanese women need to be educated about the accuracy of human papillomavirus self-sampling and further large-scale studies are necessary in non-responders. © The Author(s) 2016.

  10. UV exposure of elementary school children in five Japanese cities.

    PubMed

    Ono, Masaji; Munakata, Nobuo; Watanabe, Shaw

    2005-01-01

    A 1 week UV-exposure measurement and outdoor-activity pattern survey was conducted for elementary school children for four seasons at five sites in Japan, i.e. Sapporo (43 degrees 05' N, altitude 40 m), Tsukuba (36 degrees 05' N, 20 m), Tokyo (35 degrees 40' N, 45 m), Miyazaki (31 degrees 60' N, 40 m) and Naha (26 degrees 10' N, 5 m), and UV exposure was measured directly and estimated using outdoor-activity records. The study site with largest UV exposure was Miyazaki, a southern rural area. Comparing the results for boys and girls, UV exposure was larger in boys. UV exposure was large in spring and summer and small in winter. The total amount of UV exposure in spring and summer contributed 57.7-73.4% of total exposure for the year. As a whole, 8.1% and 1.8% of the schoolchildren were exposed to more than 1 minimum erythemal dose (MED) and 2 MED of solar UV in a day, respectively. The estimated yearly UV exposure ranged from 49 207 J/m2 in Miyazaki to 31 520 J/m2 in Tsukuba. The actual UV exposure correlated to potential UV exposure, estimated using outdoor-activity records and ambient UV irradiance, but the ratio differed by season and site. The yearly average of percent UV exposure to ambient UV on a horizontal plane ranged from 9.9% in Tokyo to 4.0% in Naha. In the questionnaire survey on outdoor-activity pattern, a short question "How long did you spend time outdoors between 0900 and 1500 h?" gives the best estimates of UV exposure.

  11. [Education and training for tuberculosis in medical schools and in hospitals].

    PubMed

    1998-01-01

    tuberculosis ward. He concluded that in the medical school without tuberculosis ward, the tuberculosis education is virtually impossible, and it is necessary to carry out with hospitals that have tuberculosis ward. Doctor Honda from Sapporo Medical University reported that in the University Hospital, the Third Department of Internal Medicine holds 6 isolation sick-beds for tuberculosis (3 for men and 3 for women) which containing an exclusive day room and bath room, in 52 beds alloted to their department. They always give 2 or 3 lectures about tuberculosis to medical students and also give bed-side teaching using these beds. He concluded education on tuberculosis is necessary for the protection of doctor's delay, and the tuberculosis ward in the university is very useful in the education of tuberculosis to medical students, even the economical efficiency of these beds are low. Doctor Nakabayashi from Sapporo National Hospital reported that his hospital is a general hospital with 513 beds but has no tuberculosis-bed, and that this hospital is combined with Hokkaido Cancer Center and 91.7% of in-patients of pulmonary division are lung cancer and one or two residents are trained in pulmonary division by 6 months rotation. He also reported that in his hospital, 18 mycobacteria positive cases were treated through 1996, however the training for tuberculosis to residents are mainly by the differential diagnosis of tuberculosis with lung cancer through case conferences with staff doctors. Doctor Yosikawa from Daido Hospital reported as follows. In his hospital, tuberculosis-beds and other respiratory-beds are in the same nursing unit managed with the same standard for nursing, although tuberculosis-beds are separated from other respiratory-beds by door and have exclusive toilets and bath-room. The doctors could study general respiratory diseases and tuberculosis at the same time. Thirteen doctors have finished this training, and all of them could deepen their knowledge to tuberculosi

  12. Rainfall erosivity factor estimation in Republic of Moldova

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Castraveš, Tudor; Kuhn, Nikolaus

    2017-04-01

    Rainfall erosivity represents a measure of the erosive force of rainfall. Typically, it is expressed as variable such as the R factor in the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) (Wischmeier and Smith, 1965, 1978) or its derivates. The rainfall erosivity index for a rainfall event (EI30) is calculated from the total kinetic energy and maximum 30 minutes intensity of individual events. However, these data are often unavailable for wide regions and countries. Usually, there are three issues regarding precipitation data: low temporal resolution, low spatial density and limited access to the data. This is especially true for some of postsoviet countries from Eastern Europe, such as Republic of Moldova, where soil erosion is a real and persistent problem (Summer, 2003) and where soils represents the main natural resource of the country. Consequently, researching and managing soil erosion is particularly important. The purpose of this study is to develop a model based on commonly available rainfall data, such as event, daily or monthly amounts, to calculate rainfall erosivity for the territory of Republic of Moldova. Rainfall data collected during 1994-2015 period at 15 meteorological stations in the Republic of Moldova, with 10 minutes temporal resolution, were used to develop and calibrate a model to generate an erosivity map of Moldova. References 1. Summer, W., (2003). Soil erosion in the Republic of Moldova — the importance of institutional arrangements. Erosion Prediction in Ungauged Basins: Integrating Methods and Techniques (Proceedings of symposium HS01 held during IUGG2003 at Sapporo. July 2003). IAHS Publ. no. 279. 2. Wischmeier, W.H., and Smith, D.D. (1965). Predicting rainfall-erosion losses from cropland east of the Rocky Mountains. Agr. Handbook No. 282, U.S. Dept. Agr., Washington, DC 3. Wischmeier, W.H., and Smith, D.D. (1978). Predicting rainfall erosion losses. Agr. handbook No. 537, U.S. Dept. of Agr., Science and Education Administration.

  13. Medical students' attitudes towards peer physical examination: findings from an international cross-sectional and longitudinal study.

    PubMed

    Rees, Charlotte E; Wearn, Andy M; Vnuk, Anna K; Sato, Toshio J

    2009-03-01

    Although studies have begun to shed light on medical students' attitudes towards peer physical examination (PPE), they have been conducted at single sites, and have generally not examined changes in medical students' attitudes over time. Employing both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, the current study examines medical students' attitudes towards PPE at schools from different geographical and cultural regions and assess changes in their attitudes over their first year of medical study. Students at six schools (Peninsula, UK; Durham, UK; Auckland, New Zealand; Flinders, Australia; Sapporo, Japan and Li Ka Shing, Hong Kong) completed the Examining Fellow Students (EFS) questionnaire near the start of their academic year (T1), and students at four schools (Peninsula, Durham, Auckland and Flinders) completed the EFS for a second time, around the end of their academic year (T2). Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed a high level of acceptance for PPE of non-intimate body regions amongst medical students from all schools (greater than 83%, hips, at T1 and 94.5%, hips and upper body, at T2). At T1 and T2, students' willingness to engage in PPE was associated with their gender, ethnicity, religiosity and school. Typically, students least comfortable with PPE at T1 and T2 were female, non-white, religious and studying at Auckland. Although students' attitudes towards PPE were reasonably stable over their first year of study, and after exposure to PPE, we did find some statistically significant differences in attitudes between T1 and T2. Interestingly, attitude changes were consistently predicted by gender, even when controlling for school. While male students' attitudes towards PPE were relatively stable over time, females' attitudes were changeable. In this paper, we discuss our findings in light of existing research and theory, and discuss their implications for educational practice and further research.

  14. Cord Blood Bisphenol A Levels and Reproductive and Thyroid Hormone Levels of Neonates: The Hokkaido Study on Environment and Children's Health.

    PubMed

    Minatoya, Machiko; Sasaki, Seiko; Araki, Atsuko; Miyashita, Chihiro; Itoh, Sachiko; Yamamoto, Jun; Matsumura, Toru; Mitsui, Takahiko; Moriya, Kimihiko; Cho, Kazutoshi; Morioka, Keita; Minakami, Hisanori; Shinohara, Nobuo; Kishi, Reiko

    2017-10-01

    Bisphenol A (BPA) is widely used and BPA exposure is nearly ubiquitous in developed countries. While animal studies have indicated adverse health effects of prenatal BPA exposure including reproductive dysfunction and thyroid function disruption possibly in a sex-specific manner, findings from epidemiologic studies have not been enough to prove these adverse effects. Given very limited research on human, the aim of this study was to investigate associations between cord blood BPA levels and reproductive and thyroid hormone levels of neonates and whether associations differed by neonate sex. The study population included 514 participants of the Hokkaido study recruited from 2002 to 2005 at one hospital in Sapporo, Japan. The BPA level in cord blood was determined by ID-LC/MS/MS, and the limit of quantification was 0.040 ng/ml. We measured nine types of reproductive hormone levels in cord blood, and thyroid hormone levels were obtained from neonate mass screening test data. There were 283 subjects, who had both BPA and hormone levels measurements, included for the final analyses. The geometric mean of cord blood BPA was 0.051 ng/ml. After adjustment, BPA level was negatively associated with prolactin (PRL) (β = -0.38). There was an interaction between infant sex and BPA levels on PRL; a weak negative association was found in boys (β = -0.12), whereas a weak positive association was found in girls (β = 0.14). BPA level showed weak positive association with testosterone, estradiol, and progesterone levels in boys. No association was found between BPA and thyroid hormone levels. Our findings suggested that fetal BPA levels might be associated with changes in certain reproductive hormone levels of neonates in a sex-specific manner, though further investigations are necessary.

  15. Hygroscopic properties of ultrafine particles at an urban site in northern Japan during the summer of 2011

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jung, Jinsang; Kawamura, Kimitaka

    2013-04-01

    To investigate the hygroscopic property of ultrafine particles, hygroscopic growth factors [g(RH)] of size-segregated atmospheric particles were measured at an urban site in Sapporo, northern Japan, during the summer of 2011. Hygroscopic growth factors at 85% RH [g(85%)] of freshly formed nucleation mode particles ranged from 1.11 to 1.28 with an average of 1.16 ± 0.06. These values are similar to those of secondary organic aerosols, suggesting that low volatile organic vapors are important to the growth of nucleated clusters into quasi-stable aerosol particles larger than 3 nm. Higher g(85%) values (range: 1.21-1.31, AVG: 1.27 ± 0.04) were obtained for grown Aitken mode nucleated particles. This result may indicate that the growth of freshly formed nucleation mode particles to the Aitken mode particles at the urban site can be attributed to condensation not only of low volatility organic vapors but also of highly water-soluble inorganic compounds like sulfuric acid. Diel variations in the number concentrations of less-hygroscopic particles [g(85%) <1.05] were similar to those in NO concentrations, suggesting that less-hygroscopic particles are mainly produced by local anthropogenic emissions such as traffic. Higher g(85%) values (1.27 ± 0.05) were obtained at a dry particle diameter of 120 nm when the air masses originated from downwind areas of the Asian continent, whereas lower g(85%) values (1.19 ± 0.06) were obtained when clean marine air masses arrived in the urban site. These results indicate that the hygroscopic property of large Aitken and small accumulation mode particles (80-165 nm) are highly influenced by the long-range transport of atmospheric particles.

  16. Viral diarrhea in Japanese children: results from a one-year epidemiologic study.

    PubMed

    Phan, Tung Gia; Nguyen, Tuan Anh; Kuroiwa, Toshimasa; Kaneshi, Kunio; Ueda, Yuichi; Nakaya, Shigekazu; Nishimura, Shuichi; Nishimura, Tadashi; Yamamoto, Atsuko; Okitsu, Shoko; Ushijima, Hiroshi

    2005-01-01

    A total of 557 fecal specimens from infants and children with acute gastroenteritis in five places (Maizuru, Tokyo, Sapporo, Saga and Osaka) in Japan from July 2002 to June 2003 were tested for the presence of diarrheal viruses by RT-PCR, PRHA, RNA-PAGE and latex agglutination methods. Of these, 56.4% (314) were found positive for diarrheal viruses. Among them, group A rotavirus was the most prevalent (43.6%, 137 of 314) followed by norovirus (29.9%, 94 of 314), adenovirus (7.6%, 24 of 314), group C rotavirus (6.4%, 20 of 314), sapovirus (5.1%, 16 of 314) and astrovirus (1.6%, 5 of 314), respectively. A high rate (7.4%, 19 of 314) of viral mixed infections, including one triple infection (adenovirus, norovirus and astrovirus) was demonstrated. Norovirus infection that usually has a peak during November and January in Japan was detected year-round and highest in September in our study. Norovirus was subjected to molecular genetic analysis by sequencing. The results clearly indicated that norovirus group II was a dominant genogroup (94.3%, 100 of 106). It is noteworthy that noroviruses detected in this study were classified into 8 genotypes (GI/1, GI/4, GII/2, GII/3, GII/4, GII/5, GII/6 and GII/12). Of these, NVGII/4 was the predominant genotype, followed by NVGII/6, and these presented 75.6% (80 of 106) and 11.3% (12 of 106), respectively. Another interesting feature in our study was the sudden appearance and disappearance of SaitamaU16-like strains belonging to NVGII/6 in the short period (January 2003 to June 2003). Our findings confirmed the presence of many diarrheal viruses co-circulating among Japanese infants and children and showed the great genetic diversity among norovirus.

  17. Expression and Self-Assembly in Baculovirus of Porcine Enteric Calicivirus Capsids into Virus-Like Particles and Their Use in an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Antibody Detection in Swine

    PubMed Central

    Guo, Mingzhang; Qian, Yuan; Chang, Kyeong-Ok; Saif, Linda J.

    2001-01-01

    Porcine enteric calicivirus (PEC) causes diarrhea and intestinal lesions in pigs. PEC strain Cowden grows to low to moderate titers in cell culture but only with the addition of intestinal contents from uninfected gnotobiotic pigs (W. T. Flynn and L. J. Saif, J. Clin. Microbiol. 26:206–212, 1988; A. V. Parwani, W. T. Flynn, K. L. Gadfield, and L. J. Saif, Arch. Virol. 120:115–122, 1991). Cloning and sequence analysis of the PEC Cowden full-length genome revealed that it is most closely related genetically to the human Sapporo-like viruses. In this study, the complete PEC capsid gene was subcloned into the plasmid pBlueBac4.5 and the recombinant baculoviruses were identified by plaque assay and PCR. The PEC capsid protein was expressed in insect (Sf9) cells inoculated with the recombinant baculoviruses, and the recombinant capsid proteins self- assembled into virus-like particles (VLPs) that were released into the cell supernatant and purified by CsCl gradient centrifugation. The PEC VLPs had the same molecular mass (58 kDa) as the native virus capsid and reacted with pig hyperimmune and convalescent-phase sera to PEC Cowden in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blotting. The PEC capsid VLPs were morphologically and antigenically similar to the native virus by immune electron microscopy. High titers (1:102,400 to 204,800) of PEC-specific antibodies were induced in guinea pigs inoculated with PEC VLPs, suggesting that the VLPs could be useful for future candidate PEC vaccines. A fixed-cell ELISA and VLP ELISA were developed to detect PEC serum antibodies in pigs. For the fixed-cell ELISA, Sf9 cells were infected with recombinant baculoviruses expressing PEC capsids, followed by cell fixation with formalin. For the VLP ELISA, the VLPs were used for the coating antigen. Our data indicate that both tests were rapid, specific, and reproducible and might be used for large-scale serological investigations of PEC antibodies in swine. PMID:11283075

  18. The International River Interface Cooperative: Public Domain Software for River Flow and Morphodynamics (Invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nelson, J. M.; Shimizu, Y.; McDonald, R.; Takebayashi, H.

    2009-12-01

    The International River Interface Cooperative is an informal organization made up of academic faculty and government scientists with the goal of developing, distributing and providing education for a public-domain software interface for modeling river flow and morphodynamics. Formed in late 2007, the group released the first version of this interface (iRIC) in late 2009. iRIC includes models for two and three-dimensional flow, sediment transport, bed evolution, groundwater-surface water interaction, topographic data processing, and habitat assessment, as well as comprehensive data and model output visualization, mapping, and editing tools. All the tools in iRIC are specifically designed for use in river reaches and utilize common river data sets. The models are couched within a single graphical user interface so that a broad spectrum of models are available to users without learning new pre- and post-processing tools. The first version of iRIC was developed by combining the USGS public-domain Multi-Dimensional Surface Water Modeling System (MD_SWMS), developed at the USGS Geomorphology and Sediment Transport Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, with the public-domain river modeling code NAYS developed by the Universities of Hokkaido and Kyoto, Mizuho Corporation, and the Foundation of the River Disaster Prevention Research Institute in Sapporo, Japan. Since this initial effort, other Universities and Agencies have joined the group, and the interface has been expanded to allow users to integrate their own modeling code using Executable Markup Language (XML), which provides easy access and expandability to the iRIC software interface. In this presentation, the current components of iRIC are described and results from several practical modeling applications are presented to illustrate the capabilities and flexibility of the software. In addition, some future extensions to iRIC are demonstrated, including software for Lagrangian particle tracking and the prediction of

  19. Visualization of hospital cleanliness in three Japanese hospitals with a tendency toward long-term care

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background Hospital cleanliness in hospitals with a tendency toward long-term care in Japan remains unevaluated. We therefore visualized hospital cleanliness in Japan over a 2-month period by two distinct popular methods: ATP bioluminescence (ATP method) and the standard stamp agar method (stamp method). Methods The surfaces of 752 sites within nurse and patient areas in three hospitals located in a central area of Sapporo, Japan were evaluated by the ATP and stamp methods, and each surface was sampled 8 times in 2 months. These areas were located in different ward units (Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Obstetrics and Gynecology). Detection limits for the ATP and stamp methods were determined by spike experiments with a diluted bacterial solution and a wipe test on student tables not in use during winter vacation, respectively. Values were expressed as the fold change over the detection limit, and a sample with a value higher than the detection limit by either method was defined as positive. Results The detection limits were determined to be 127 relative light units (RLU) per 100 cm2 for the ATP method and 5.3 colony-forming units (CFU) per 10 cm2 for the stamp method. The positive frequency of the ATP and stamp methods was 59.8% (450/752) and 47.7% (359/752), respectively, although no significant difference in the positive frequency among the hospitals was seen. Both methods revealed the presence of a wide range of organic contamination spread via hand touching, including microbial contamination, with a preponderance on the entrance floor and in patient rooms. Interestingly, the data of both methods indicated considerable variability regardless of daily visual assessment with usual wiping, and positive surfaces were irregularly seen. Nurse areas were relatively cleaner than patient areas. Finally, there was no significant correlation between the number of patients or medical personnel in the hospital and organic or microbiological contamination. Conclusions

  20. Levoglucosan and Lipid Class Compounds in the Asian Dusts and Marine Aerosols Collected During the ACE-Asia Campaign

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kobayashi, M.; Simoneit, B. R.; Kawamura, K.; Mochida, M.; Lee, M.; Lee, G.; Huebert, B. J.

    2002-12-01

    In order to characterize organic aerosols in the Asian Pacific region, we collected filter samples at Gosan (formerly Kosan) and Sapporo sites as well as on mobile platforms (R.V. R.H. Brown and NCAR C-130) in the western North Pacific. The aerosol extracts were analyzed by capillary GC-MS employing a TMS derivatization technique. We identified over 100 organic compounds in the samples. They are categorized into seven different classes in terms of functional groups and sources. First, sugar-type compounds were detected in the aerosols, including levoglucosan, galactosan and mannosan, which are tracers for biomass burning. Second, a homologous series of fatty acids (C12-C30) and fatty alcohols (C12-C30) mainly from plant waxes and marine lipids were present. The third group includes dicarboxylic acids (>C3) and other atmospheric oxidation products. Although oxalic (C2) and malonic (C3) acids were not detected by this method, they are very abundant in the aerosols. The fourth group includes n-alkanes (C18-C35) which usually showed a strong odd/even predominance, suggesting an important contribution from higher plant waxes. The fifth includes polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) ranging from phenanthrene to coronene, all combustion products of petroleum and mainly coal. Saccharides were the sixth group and consisted mainly of a- and b- glucose, sucrose and its alditol, and minor amounts of xylitol, sorbitol and arabitol. These saccharides are tracers for soil dust. Phthalates were detected as the seventh class, with a dominance of dioctyl phthalate. The results suggest that organic aerosols originate primarily from (1) natural emissions of terrestrial plant wax and marine lipids, (2) smoke from biomass burning (mainly non-conifer fuels), (3) soil resuspension due to spring agricultural activity, (4) urban/industrial emissions from fossil fuel use (coal), and (5) secondary reaction products. These compounds are transported by the strong westerly winds and therefore

  1. Determination of trace elements in Ethiopian, Vietnamese, and Japanese women using high-resolution IC-PMS.

    PubMed

    Tekeste, Zinaye; Amare, Bemnet; Asfaw, Fanaye; Fantahun, Bereket; van Nguyen, Nhien; Nishikawa, Takeshi; Yabutani, Tomoki; Okayasu, Takako; Ota, Fusao; Kassu, Afework

    2015-10-01

    Humans and other living organisms require small quantities of trace elements throughout life. Both insufficient and excessive intakes of trace elements can have negative consequences. However, there is little information on serum level of trace elements in different populations. This study examines serum levels of trace elements in Ethiopian, Japanese, and Vietnamese women. Random samples of healthy women who were referred for routine hospital laboratory examinations in the cities of Hanoi, Sapporo, and Gondar were invited to participate in the study. Serum levels of magnesium, zinc, copper, iron, selenium, and calcium were determined using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. Furthermore, body mass index of each study participant was determined. The mean ± SD serum concentrations of zinc (μg/dL), copper (μg/dL), iron (μg/dL), selenium (μg/dL) and calcium (mg/dL), respectively, were 76.51 ± 39.16, 152.20 ± 55.37, 385.68 ± 217.95, 9.15 ± 4.21, and 14.18 ± 3.91 in Ethiopian women; 111.49 ± 52.92, 105.86 ± 26.02, 155.09 ± 94.83, 14.11 ± 3.41, and 11.66 ± 2.51 in Vietnamese women; and 60.69 ± 9.76, 107 ± 156, 268 ± 128, 8.33 ± 3.65, and 11.18 ± 0.68 in Japanese participants. Ethiopian women had significantly higher level of serum calcium than Vietnamese and Japanese women (both P < 0.05). Although the mean calcium concentration in Vietnamese women was higher than in women from Japan, the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Furthermore, compared with Japanese women, Ethiopian women had significantly high iron and copper concentrations (P < 0.05). Serum selenium and zinc levels were higher in Vietnamese than Ethiopian women. The study revealed a remarkable difference in serum concentrations of trace elements in women from different countries, implying differences in trace elements in the food or soil. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Acceptance of and attitudes towards human papillomavirus vaccination in Japanese mothers of adolescent girls.

    PubMed

    Hanley, Sharon J B; Yoshioka, Eiji; Ito, Yoshiya; Konno, Ryo; Hayashi, Yuri; Kishi, Reiko; Sakuragi, Noriaki

    2012-08-24

    To better understand how to achieve high uptake rates of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in Japan, we investigated acceptance of and attitudes towards HPV vaccination in 2192 mothers of girls aged 11-14 yrs. A school-based survey was conducted in five elementary and fourteen junior high schools in Sapporo, Japan. Responses from 862 participants were analyzed. Ninety-three percent of mothers would accept the vaccine for their daughter if free, but only 1.5% was willing to pay the minimum recommended price of ¥ 40,000. Vaccine acceptance was higher in mothers who had heard of HPV vaccine (adjusted odds ratio, aOR=2.58, confidence interval, CI=1.47-4.53), and who believed susceptibility to (aOR=2.30, CI=1.34-3.92) and severity of (aOR=3.73, CI=1.41-9.88) HPV to be high. Recommendations from a doctor (aOR=12.60, CI=7.06-21.48) and local health board (aOR=27.80, CI=13.88-55.86) were also positively associated with increased HPV vaccine acceptance. Concerns about side effects of both the HPV vaccine (aOR=0.03, CI=0.01-0.08) and routine childhood vaccines in general (aOR=0.11, CI=0.02-0.78) emerged as barriers to vaccination. Not participating in routine cervical screening also emerged as a deterrent (aOR=0.49, CI=0.27-0.91). While most mothers (66.8%) agreed that 10-14 yr was an appropriate age for vaccination, a further 30.6% believed >15 yr to be more appropriate. In conclusion, attitudes of Japanese mothers toward HPV vaccination are encouraging. While lower vaccine acceptance in mothers who do not undergo regular cervical screening needs further investigation, this study indicates that high uptake may be possible in a publically funded HPV vaccination program if physicians actively address safety concerns and justify why the vaccine is needed at a particular age. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Tropospheric Ozone Over the North Pacific from Ozonesdonde Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Oltmans, S. J.; Johnson, B. J.; Harris, J. M.; Thompson, A. M.; Liu, H. Y.; Voemel, H.; Chan, C. Y.; Fujimoto, T.; Brackett, V. G.; Chang, W. L.

    2003-01-01

    As part of the TRACE-P mission, ozone vertical profile measurements were made at a number of locations in the North Pacific. At most of the sites there is also a multi-year record of ozonesonde observations. From seven locations in the western Pacific (Hong Kong; Taipei; Jeju Island, Korea; and Naha, Kagoshima, Tsukuba, and Sapporo, Japan), a site in the central Pacific (Hilo, HI), and a site on the west coast of the U.S. (Trinidad Head, CA) both a seasonal and event specific picture of tropospheric ozone over the North Pacific emerges. At all of the sites there is a pronounced spring maximum through the troposphere. There are, however, differences in the timing and strength of this feature. Over Japan the northward movement of the jet during the spring and summer influences the timing of the seasonal maximum. The ozone profiles suggest that transport of ozone rich air from the stratosphere plays a strong role in the development of this maximum. During March and April at Hong Kong ozone is enhanced in a layer that extends from the lower free troposphere into the upper troposphere that likely has its origin in biomass burning in northern Southeast Asia and equatorial Africa. During the winter the Pacific subtropical sites (latitude -25N) are dominated by air with a low-latitude, marine source that gives low ozone amounts particularly in the upper troposphere. In the summer in the boundary layer at all of the sites marine air dominates and ozone amounts are generally quite low (less than 25 ppb). The exception is near large population centers (Tokyo and Taipei but not Hong Kong) where pollution events can give amounts in excess of 80 ppb. During the TRACE-P intensive campaign period (February-April 2001) tropospheric ozone amounts were rather typical of those seen in the long-term records of the stations with multi-year soundings.

  4. Visualization of hospital cleanliness in three Japanese hospitals with a tendency toward long-term care.

    PubMed

    Watanabe, Reina; Shimoda, Tomoko; Yano, Rika; Hayashi, Yasuhiro; Nakamura, Shinji; Matsuo, Junji; Yamaguchi, Hiroyuki

    2014-03-04

    Hospital cleanliness in hospitals with a tendency toward long-term care in Japan remains unevaluated. We therefore visualized hospital cleanliness in Japan over a 2-month period by two distinct popular methods: ATP bioluminescence (ATP method) and the standard stamp agar method (stamp method). The surfaces of 752 sites within nurse and patient areas in three hospitals located in a central area of Sapporo, Japan were evaluated by the ATP and stamp methods, and each surface was sampled 8 times in 2 months. These areas were located in different ward units (Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Obstetrics and Gynecology). Detection limits for the ATP and stamp methods were determined by spike experiments with a diluted bacterial solution and a wipe test on student tables not in use during winter vacation, respectively. Values were expressed as the fold change over the detection limit, and a sample with a value higher than the detection limit by either method was defined as positive. The detection limits were determined to be 127 relative light units (RLU) per 100 cm2 for the ATP method and 5.3 colony-forming units (CFU) per 10 cm2 for the stamp method. The positive frequency of the ATP and stamp methods was 59.8% (450/752) and 47.7% (359/752), respectively, although no significant difference in the positive frequency among the hospitals was seen. Both methods revealed the presence of a wide range of organic contamination spread via hand touching, including microbial contamination, with a preponderance on the entrance floor and in patient rooms. Interestingly, the data of both methods indicated considerable variability regardless of daily visual assessment with usual wiping, and positive surfaces were irregularly seen. Nurse areas were relatively cleaner than patient areas. Finally, there was no significant correlation between the number of patients or medical personnel in the hospital and organic or microbiological contamination. Ongoing daily hospital cleanliness is not

  5. Crustal and Upper Mantle Structure of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Harrison, A. J.; White, R. S.

    2003-12-01

    (Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan).

  6. Size distributions of dicarboxylic acids, ketoacids, α-dicarbonyls, sugars, WSOC, OC, EC and inorganic ions in atmospheric particles over Northern Japan: implication for long-range transport of Siberian biomass burning and East Asian polluted aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Agarwal, S.; Aggarwal, S. G.; Okuzawa, K.; Kawamura, K.

    2010-03-01

    To better understand the size-segregated chemical composition of aged organic aerosols in the western Pacific rim, day- and night-time aerosol samples were collected in Sapporo, Japan during summer 2005 using Andersen impactor sampler with 5 size bins: <1.1, 1.1-2.0, 2.0-3.3, 3.3-7.0, >7.0 μm. Samples were analyzed for the molecular compositions of dicarboxylic acids, ketoacids, α-dicarbonyls, and sugars, together with water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) and inorganic ions. Based on the analyses of backward trajectory and chemical tracers, we found that during campaign, the air masses were arrived from Siberia (biomass burning source region) on 8-9 August, China (anthropogenic source region) on 9-10 August and from the East China Sea/Sea of Japan (a mixed source receptor region) on 10-11 August. Most of the diacids, ketoacids, dicarbonyls, levoglucosan, WSOC, and inorganic ions, i.e., SO42-, NH42+ and K+ were enriched in fine particles (PM1.1) whereas Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cl- peaked in coarse sizes (>1.1 μm). Interestingly, OC, most sugar compounds and NO4

  7. Teleradiology mobile internet system with a new information security solution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Satoh, Hitoshi; Niki, Noboru; Eguchi, Kenji; Ohmatsu, Hironobu; Kusumoto, Masahiko; Kaneko, Masahiro; Moriyama, Noriyuki

    2014-03-01

    We have developed an external storage system by using secret sharing scheme and tokenization for regional medical cooperation, PHR service and information preservation. The use of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets will be accelerated for a PHR service, and the confidential medical information is exposed to the risk of damage and intercept. We verified the transfer rate of the sending and receiving of data to and from the external storage system that connected it with PACS by the Internet this time. External storage systems are the data centers that exist in Okinawa, in Osaka, in Sapporo and in Tokyo by using secret sharing scheme. PACS continuously transmitted 382 CT images to the external data centers. Total capacity of the CT images is about 200MB. The total time that had been required to transmit was about 250 seconds. Because the preservation method to use secret sharing scheme is applied, security is strong. But, it also takes the information transfer time of this system too much. Therefore, DICOM data is masked to the header information part because it is made to anonymity in our method. The DICOM data made anonymous is preserved in the data base in the hospital. Header information including individual information is divided into two or more tallies by secret sharing scheme, and preserved at two or more external data centers. The token to relate the DICOM data anonymity made to header information preserved outside is strictly preserved in the token server. The capacity of header information that contains patient's individual information is only about 2% of the entire DICOM data. This total time that had been required to transmit was about 5 seconds. Other, common solutions that can protect computer communication networks from attacks are classified as cryptographic techniques or authentication techniques. Individual number IC card is connected with electronic certification authority of web medical image conference system. Individual number IC

  8. DNA Microarray for Detection of Gastrointestinal Viruses

    PubMed Central

    Martínez, Miguel A.; Soto-del Río, María de los Dolores; Gutiérrez, Rosa María; Chiu, Charles Y.; Greninger, Alexander L.; Contreras, Juan Francisco; López, Susana; Arias, Carlos F.

    2014-01-01

    Gastroenteritis is a clinical illness of humans and other animals that is characterized by vomiting and diarrhea and caused by a variety of pathogens, including viruses. An increasing number of viral species have been associated with gastroenteritis or have been found in stool samples as new molecular tools have been developed. In this work, a DNA microarray capable in theory of parallel detection of more than 100 viral species was developed and tested. Initial validation was done with 10 different virus species, and an additional 5 species were validated using clinical samples. Detection limits of 1 × 103 virus particles of Human adenovirus C (HAdV), Human astrovirus (HAstV), and group A Rotavirus (RV-A) were established. Furthermore, when exogenous RNA was added, the limit for RV-A detection decreased by one log. In a small group of clinical samples from children with gastroenteritis (n = 76), the microarray detected at least one viral species in 92% of the samples. Single infection was identified in 63 samples (83%), and coinfection with more than one virus was identified in 7 samples (9%). The most abundant virus species were RV-A (58%), followed by Anellovirus (15.8%), HAstV (6.6%), HAdV (5.3%), Norwalk virus (6.6%), Human enterovirus (HEV) (9.2%), Human parechovirus (1.3%), Sapporo virus (1.3%), and Human bocavirus (1.3%). To further test the specificity and sensitivity of the microarray, the results were verified by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) detection of 5 gastrointestinal viruses. The RT-PCR assay detected a virus in 59 samples (78%). The microarray showed good performance for detection of RV-A, HAstV, and calicivirus, while the sensitivity for HAdV and HEV was low. Furthermore, some discrepancies in detection of mixed infections were observed and were addressed by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) of the viruses involved. It was observed that differences in the amount of genetic material favored the detection of the most abundant

  9. Research trends with food irradiation in Japan (in Japanese)

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Sato, T.

    Potatoes and onions are irradiated to prevent their germination for 8 months after harvest. Twenty-seven tons of potatoes were exposed to /sup 60/Co gamma irradiation at a dose rate of 7 x 10/sup 4/ R/hr. Potatoes irradiated with a dose of 7 to 15 Krads were stored for 8 months at room temperature, and were suitable market produce. Sapporo yellow onions, produced in Hokkaido and which passed the year-end for storage, were mainly studied. It was possible to prevent germination of the onions if irradiated at a dose of 3 to 10 Krads within the dormant period. Concerning rice, itmore » was suggested that prevention of the main harmful insects of rice, such as rice weevil, Sordidus zeamais and Sordidus oryzal, was possible by sterilization and inactivation through irradiation at a dose of 15 Krads. The sterilization dose for harmful insects of wheat was 5 to 7 Krads. Theoff flavor in the wheat was recognized immediately after irradiation at a dose of 20 Krads, but after three months wheat did not show off flavor even with 50 Krads irradiation. As a result, the volume of bread was larger in irradiated bread rather than in nonirradiated bread. Vienna sausage without preservatives was irradiated in 500 Krads under the condition of being kept in cold storage at 10 deg C. Its decomposition was delayed one week. The proper dose for boiled fishpaste was determined to be 300 Krads, and its preservation period was prolonged from 7 to 10 days to 21 days by irradiation. In mandarin oranges, off flavor was caused by a dose level of 50 Krads of /sup 60/Co gamma radiation. Therefore, irradiation of mandarin oranges has to depend on electron irnadiation, but problems remain regarding the irradiation technique. In a study of the safety of irradiated food, potato irradiation was permitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare at a dose of 15 Knads in August of 1972. Lastly, the condition of potato irradiation in the producing and consuming districts and economic problems are discussed

  10. Value of serum IgG4 in the diagnosis of IgG4-related disease and in differentiation from rheumatic diseases and other diseases.

    PubMed

    Yamamoto, Motohisa; Tabeya, Tetsuya; Naishiro, Yasuyoshi; Yajima, Hidetaka; Ishigami, Keisuke; Shimizu, Yui; Obara, Mikiko; Suzuki, Chisako; Yamashita, Kentaro; Yamamoto, Hiroyuki; Hayashi, Toshiaki; Sasaki, Shigeru; Sugaya, Toshiaki; Ishida, Tadao; Takano, Ken-Ichi; Himi, Tetsuo; Suzuki, Yasuo; Nishimoto, Norihiro; Honda, Saho; Takahashi, Hiroki; Imai, Kohzoh; Shinomura, Yasuhisa

    2012-06-01

    IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a novel disease entity that includes Mikulicz's disease, autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP), and many other conditions. It is characterized by elevated serum IgG4 levels and abundant IgG4-bearing plasmacyte infiltration of involved organs. We postulated that high levels of serum IgG4 would comprise a useful diagnostic tool, but little information is available about IgG4 in conditions other than IgG4-RD, including rheumatic diseases. Several reports have described cutoff values for serum IgG4 when diagnosing IgG4-RD, but these studies mostly used 135 mg/dL in AIP to differentiate from pancreatic cancer instead of rheumatic and other common diseases. There is no evidence for a cutoff serum IgG4 level of 135 mg/dL for rheumatic diseases and common diseases that are often complicated with rheumatic diseases. The aim of this work was to re-evaluate the usual cutoff serum IgG4 value in AIP (135 mg/dL) that is used to diagnose whole IgG4-RD in the setting of a rheumatic clinic by measuring serum IgG4 levels in IgG4-RD and various disorders. We therefore constructed ROC curves of serum IgG4 levels in 418 patients who attended Sapporo Medical University Hospital due to IgG4-RD and various rheumatic and common disorders. The optimal cut-off value of serum IgG4 for a diagnosis of IgG4-RD was 144 mg/dL, and the sensitivity and specificity were 95.10 and 90.76%, respectively. Levels of serum IgG4 were elevated in IgG4-RD, Churg-Strauss syndrome, multicentric Castleman's disease, eosinophilic disorders, and in some patients with rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, chronic hepatitis, and liver cirrhosis. The usual cut-off value of 135 mg/dL in AIP is useful for diagnosing whole IgG4-RD, but high levels of serum IgG4 are sometimes observed in not only IgG4-RD but also other rheumatic and common diseases.

  11. Size distributions of dicarboxylic acids, ketoacids, α-dicarbonyls, sugars, WSOC, OC, EC and inorganic ions in atmospheric particles over Northern Japan: implication for long-range transport of Siberian biomass burning and East Asian polluted aerosols

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Agarwal, S.; Aggarwal, S. G.; Okuzawa, K.; Kawamura, K.

    2010-07-01

    To better understand the size-segregated chemical composition of aged organic aerosols in the western North Pacific rim, day- and night-time aerosol samples were collected in Sapporo, Japan during summer 2005 using an Andersen impactor sampler with 5 size bins: Dp<1.1, 1.1-2.0, 2.0-3.3, 3.3-7.0, >7.0 μm. Samples were analyzed for the molecular composition of dicarboxylic acids, ketoacids, α-dicarbonyls, and sugars, together with water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) and inorganic ions. Based on the analyses of backward trajectories and chemical tracers, we found that during the campaign, air masses arrived from Siberia (a biomass burning source region) on 8-9 August, from China (an anthropogenic source region) on 9-10 August, and from the East China Sea/Sea of Japan (a mixed source receptor region) on 10-11 August. Most of the diacids, ketoacids, dicarbonyls, levoglucosan, WSOC, and inorganic ions (i.e., SO42-, NH4+ and K+) were enriched in fine particles (PM1.1) whereas Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cl- peaked in coarse sizes (>1.1 μm). Interestingly, OC, most sugar compounds and NO3- showed bimodal distributions in fine and coarse modes. In PM1.1, diacids in biomass burning-influenced aerosols transported from Siberia (mean: 252 ng m-3) were more abundant than those in the aerosols originating from China (209 ng m-3) and ocean (142 ng m-3), whereas SO42- concentrations were highest in the aerosols from China (mean: 3970 ng m-3) followed by marine- (2950 ng m-3) and biomass burning-influenced (1980 ng m-3) aerosols. Higher loadings of WSOC (2430 ng m-3) and OC (4360 ng m-3) were found in the fine mode, where biomass-burning products such as levoglucosan are abundant. This paper presents a case study of long-range transported aerosols illustrating that biomass burning episodes in the Siberian region have a significant influence on the chemical composition of carbonaceous aerosols in the western North Pacific rim.

  12. Magnetic Reconnection Controls Impacts of Solar Wind Ions at Mercury's Surface : Investigation By Global Hybrid Simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chanteur, G. M.; Modolo, R.; Leblanc, F.

    2014-12-01

    .1029/2012JA017898. Chanteur, G.M., R. Modolo, and F. Leblanc (2014), Effect of the Hermean Magnetic quadrupole on Magnetic Reconnection and Penetration of the SW Plasma Inside the Magnetosphere, AOGS, 11th annual meeting, Sapporo, Japan, July 28th - August 1st.

  13. The value of snow cover

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sokratov, S. A.

    2009-04-01

    Snow is the natural resource, like soil and water. It has specific properties which allow its use not just for skiing but also for houses cooling in summer (Swedish experience), for air fields construction (Arctic and Antarctic), for dams (north of Russia), for buildings (not only snow-houses of some Polar peoples but artistic hotel attracting tourists in Sweden), and as art material (Sapporo snow festival, Finnish events), etc. "Adjustment" of snow distribution and amount is not only rather common practice (avalanche-protection constructions keeping snow on slopes) but also the practice with long history. So-called "snow irrigation" was used in Russia since XIX century to protect winter crop. What is now named "artificial snow production", is part of much larger pattern. What makes it special—it is unavoidable in present climate and economy situation. 5% of national income in Austria is winter tourism. 50% of the economy in Savoy relay on winter tourism. In terms of money this can be less, but in terms of jobs and income involved this would be even more considerable in Switzerland. As an example—the population of Davos is 14000 in Summer and 50000 in Winter. Skiing is growing business. In present time you can find ski slopes in Turkey and Lebanon. To keep a cite suitable for attracting tourists you need certain amount of sunny days and certain amount of snow. The snow cannons are often the only way to keep a place running. On the other hand, more artificial snow does not necessary attract more tourists, while heavy natural snowfall does attract them. Artificial snow making is costly and requires infrastructure (ponds and electric lines) with very narrow range of weather conditions. Related companies are searching for alternatives and one of them can be "weather regulation" by distribution of some chemical components in clouds. It did not happen yet, but can happen soon. The consequences of such interference in Nature is hardly known. The ski tourism is not the

  14. Gender-specific association of exposure to non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls during pregnancy with methylation levels of H19 and long interspersed nuclear element-1 in cord blood in the Hokkaido study.

    PubMed

    Kobayashi, Sumitaka; Sata, Fumihiro; Miyashita, Chihiro; Miura, Ryu; Azumi, Kaoru; Kobayashi, Sachiko; Goudarzi, Houman; Araki, Atsuko; Ishizuka, Mayumi; Todaka, Takashi; Kajiwara, Jumboku; Hori, Tsuguhide; Kishi, Reiko

    2017-09-01

    Associations between prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and reduced birth-size, and between DNA methylation of insulin-like growth factor-2 (IGF-2), H19 locus, and long interspersed nuclear element-1 (LINE-1) and reduced birth-size are well established. To date, however, studies on the associations between prenatal exposure to PCBs and alterations in methylation of IGF-2, H19, and LINE-1 are lacking. Thus, in this study, we examined these associations with infant-gender stratification. We performed a prospective birth cohort study using the Sapporo cohort from the previously described Hokkaido Birth Cohort Study on Environment and Children's Health conducted between 2002 and 2005 in Japan. In the final 169 study participants included in this study, we measured the concentrations of various non-dioxin-like PCBs in maternal blood during pregnancy using high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry. IGF-2, H19 and LINE-1 methylation levels in cord blood were measured using the bisulfite pyrosequencing methods Finally, we assessed the associations between prenatal exposure to various PCBs and the gene methylation levels using multiple regression models stratified by infant gender. We observed a 0.017 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.003-0.031) increase in the log 10 -transformed H19 methylation levels (%) in cord blood for each ten-fold increase in the levels of decachlorinated biphenyls (decaCBs) in maternal blood among all infants. Similarly, a 0.005 (95% CI: 0.000-0.010) increase in the log 10 -transformed LINE-1 methylation levels (%) in cord blood was associated with each ten-fold increase in heptachlorinated biphenyls (heptaCBs) in maternal blood among all infants. In particular, we observed a dose-dependent association of the decaCB levels in maternal blood with the H19 methylation levels among female infants (P value for trend=0.040); likewise a dose-dependent association of heptaCB levels was observed with LINE-1

  15. [Symptoms of sick house syndrome and contributory factors; study of general dwellings in Hokkaido].

    PubMed

    Saijo, Yasuaki; Reiko, Kishi; Sata, Fumihiro; Katakura, Yoko; Urashima, Yukio; Hatakeyama, Akiko; Mukaihara, Norihiko; Kobayashi, Satoshi; Jin, Kazuo; Iikura, Yoji

    2002-11-01

    The aim of this study was to clarify the "Sick House Syndrome" which has recently received increasing attention, and to investigate relationships between symptoms and the state of general dwellings in Hokkaido. Questionnaires were sent to residents in 1775 dwellings, mainly solitary houses built or remodeled within the past few years by 24 construction companies in Sapporo and its environs, and answers was received from 564. The questionnaires included queries about building structure and characteristics, the residents' habits in the home, and subjective symptoms. We requested one resident who had the most severe symptoms in the dwelling to answer a questionnaire about symptoms. We classified the symptoms into 11 categories, and selected those that developed or were aggravated after the building or remodeling. We defined dwellings in which inhabitants complained of one or more categories of symptoms as the group with sick-house-related disease (developed or aggravated group: DA group), and those in which the inhabitants complained of two or more symptoms as the group with sick house syndrome (more than one organic symptom group: MO group)". Associations between symptoms and dwellings were then studied. There were 201 dwellings for which residents complained of symptoms (37.2%). Of these, 94 were in the DA group (16.7%), and 57 (10.1%) in the MO group. The symptoms that developed or were aggravated after building or remodeling of the dwellings were throat, 7.1%, dermal, 6.9%, psychoneural, 5.3%, eye, 5.1%, and nasal problems, 4.1%. Unpleasant odors form furniture were significant in both groups (DA: crude odds ratio (OR) 2.66, MO: OR 3.24). Use of aromatics was significant in group DA (OR 1.78). Condensation on windows and mold growth in the dwellings were significant in both groups (condensation on windows; DA: OR 2.98, MO: OR 3.32, mold growth; DA: OR 3.11, MO: OR 3.24). In addition, the percentage of dwellings for which residents complained of symptoms increased

  16. InSAR atmospheric correction using Himawari-8 Geostationary Meteorological Satellite

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kinoshita, Y.; Nimura, T.; Furuta, R.

    2017-12-01

    The atmospheric delay effect is one of the limitations for the accurate surface displacement detection by Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR). Many previous studies have attempted to mitigate the neutral atmospheric delay in InSAR (e.g. Jolivet et al. 2014; Foster et al. 2006; Kinoshita et al. 2013). Hanssen et al. (2001) investigated the relationship between the 27 hourly observations of GNSS precipitable water vapor (PWV) and the infrared brightness temperature derived from visible satellite imagery, and showed a good correlation. Here we showed a preliminary result of the newly developed method for the neutral atmospheric delay correction using the Himawari-8 Japanese geostationary meteorological satellite data. The Himawari-8 satellite is the Japanese state-of-the-art geostationary meteorological satellite that has 16 observation channels and has spatial resolutions of 0.5 km (visible) and 2.0 km (near-infrared and infrared) with an time interval of 2.5 minutes around Japan. To estimate the relationship between the satellite brightness temperature and the atmospheric delay amount. Since the InSAR atmospheric delay is principally the same as that in GNSS, we at first compared the Himawari-8 data with the GNSS zenith tropospheric delay data derived from the Japanese dense GNSS network. The comparison of them showed that the band with the wavelength of 6.9 μm had the highest correlation to the GNSS observation. Based on this result, we developed an InSAR atmospheric delay model that uses the Himawari-8 6.9 μm band data. For the model validation, we generated InSAR images from the ESA's C-band Sentinel-1 SLC data with the GAMMA SAR software. We selected two regions around Tokyo and Sapporo (both in Japan) as the test sites because of the less temporal decorrelation. The validation result showed that the delay model reasonably estimate large scale phase variation whose spatial scale was on the order of over 20 km. On the other hand, phase variations of

  17. Tropospheric ozone over the North Pacific from ozonesonde observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oltmans, S. J.; Johnson, B. J.; Harris, J. M.; Thompson, A. M.; Liu, H. Y.; Chan, C. Y.; VöMel, H.; Fujimoto, T.; Brackett, V. G.; Chang, W. L.; Chen, J.-P.; Kim, J. H.; Chan, L. Y.; Chang, H.-W.

    2004-08-01

    As part of the Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) mission, ozonesondes were used to make ozone vertical profile measurements at nine locations in the North Pacific. At most of the sites there is a multiyear record of observations. From locations in the western Pacific (Hong Kong; Taipei; Jeju Island, Korea; and Naha, Kagoshima, Tsukuba, and Sapporo, Japan), a site in the central Pacific (Hilo, Hawaii), and a site on the west coast of the United States (Trinidad Head, California) both a seasonal and event specific picture of tropospheric ozone over the North Pacific emerges. Ozone profiles over the North Pacific generally show a prominent spring maximum throughout the troposphere. This maximum is tied to the location of the jet stream and its influence on stratosphere-troposphere exchange and the increase in photochemical ozone production through the spring. Prominent layers of enhanced ozone in the middle and upper troposphere north of about 30°N seem to be more closely tied to stratospheric intrusions while biomass burning leads to layers of enhanced ozone in the lower and upper troposphere at Hong Kong (22°N) and Taipei (25°N). The lower free tropospheric layers at Hong Kong are associated with burning in SE Asia, but the upper layer may be associated with either equatorial Northern Hemisphere burning in Africa or SE Asian biomass burning. In the boundary layer at Taipei very high mixing ratios of ozone were observed that result from pollution transport from China in the spring and local urban pollution during the summer. At the ozonesonde site near Tokyo (Tsukuba, 36°N) very large enhancements of ozone are seen in the boundary layer in the summer that are characteristic of urban air pollution. At sites in the mid and eastern Pacific the signature of transport of polluted air from Asia is not readily identifiable from the ozonesonde profile. This is likely due to the more subtle signal and the fact that from the ozone profile and

  18. Behavioral Analysis of Visitors to a Medical Institution's Website Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods.

    PubMed

    Suzuki, Teppei; Tani, Yuji; Ogasawara, Katsuhiko

    2016-07-25

    Consistent with the "attention, interest, desire, memory, action" (AIDMA) model of consumer behavior, patients collect information about available medical institutions using the Internet to select information for their particular needs. Studies of consumer behavior may be found in areas other than medical institution websites. Such research uses Web access logs for visitor search behavior. At this time, research applying the patient searching behavior model to medical institution website visitors is lacking. We have developed a hospital website search behavior model using a Bayesian approach to clarify the behavior of medical institution website visitors and determine the probability of their visits, classified by search keyword. We used the website data access log of a clinic of internal medicine and gastroenterology in the Sapporo suburbs, collecting data from January 1 through June 31, 2011. The contents of the 6 website pages included the following: home, news, content introduction for medical examinations, mammography screening, holiday person-on-duty information, and other. The search keywords we identified as best expressing website visitor needs were listed as the top 4 headings from the access log: clinic name, clinic name + regional name, clinic name + medical examination, and mammography screening. Using the search keywords as the explaining variable, we built a binomial probit model that allows inspection of the contents of each purpose variable. Using this model, we determined a beta value and generated a posterior distribution. We performed the simulation using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods with a noninformation prior distribution for this model and determined the visit probability classified by keyword for each category. In the case of the keyword "clinic name," the visit probability to the website, repeated visit to the website, and contents page for medical examination was positive. In the case of the keyword "clinic name and regional name," the

  19. PREFACE: The Second International Conference on Inverse Problems: Recent Theoretical Developments and Numerical Approaches

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cheng, Jin; Hon, Yiu-Chung; Seo, Jin Keun; Yamamoto, Masahiro

    2005-01-01

    The Second International Conference on Inverse Problems: Recent Theoretical Developments and Numerical Approaches was held at Fudan University, Shanghai from 16-21 June 2004. The first conference in this series was held at the City University of Hong Kong in January 2002 and it was agreed to hold the conference once every two years in a Pan-Pacific Asian country. The next conference is scheduled to be held at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan in July 2006. The purpose of this series of biennial conferences is to establish and develop constant international collaboration, especially among the Pan-Pacific Asian countries. In recent decades, interest in inverse problems has been flourishing all over the globe because of both the theoretical interest and practical requirements. In particular, in Asian countries, one is witnessing remarkable new trends of research in inverse problems as well as the participation of many young talents. Considering these trends, the second conference was organized with the chairperson Professor Li Tat-tsien (Fudan University), in order to provide forums for developing research cooperation and to promote activities in the field of inverse problems. Because solutions to inverse problems are needed in various applied fields, we entertained a total of 92 participants at the second conference and arranged various talks which ranged from mathematical analyses to solutions of concrete inverse problems in the real world. This volume contains 18 selected papers, all of which have undergone peer review. The 18 papers are classified as follows: Surveys: four papers give reviews of specific inverse problems. Theoretical aspects: six papers investigate the uniqueness, stability, and reconstruction schemes. Numerical methods: four papers devise new numerical methods and their applications to inverse problems. Solutions to applied inverse problems: four papers discuss concrete inverse problems such as scattering problems and inverse problems in

  20. Behavioral Analysis of Visitors to a Medical Institution’s Website Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods

    PubMed Central

    Tani, Yuji

    2016-01-01

    Background Consistent with the “attention, interest, desire, memory, action” (AIDMA) model of consumer behavior, patients collect information about available medical institutions using the Internet to select information for their particular needs. Studies of consumer behavior may be found in areas other than medical institution websites. Such research uses Web access logs for visitor search behavior. At this time, research applying the patient searching behavior model to medical institution website visitors is lacking. Objective We have developed a hospital website search behavior model using a Bayesian approach to clarify the behavior of medical institution website visitors and determine the probability of their visits, classified by search keyword. Methods We used the website data access log of a clinic of internal medicine and gastroenterology in the Sapporo suburbs, collecting data from January 1 through June 31, 2011. The contents of the 6 website pages included the following: home, news, content introduction for medical examinations, mammography screening, holiday person-on-duty information, and other. The search keywords we identified as best expressing website visitor needs were listed as the top 4 headings from the access log: clinic name, clinic name + regional name, clinic name + medical examination, and mammography screening. Using the search keywords as the explaining variable, we built a binomial probit model that allows inspection of the contents of each purpose variable. Using this model, we determined a beta value and generated a posterior distribution. We performed the simulation using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods with a noninformation prior distribution for this model and determined the visit probability classified by keyword for each category. Results In the case of the keyword “clinic name,” the visit probability to the website, repeated visit to the website, and contents page for medical examination was positive. In the case of the

  1. Preliminary 3D In-situ measurements of the texture evolution of strained H2O ice during annealing using neutron Laue diffractometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Journaux, Baptiste; Montagnat, Maurine; Chauve, Thomas; Ouladdiaf, Bachir; Allibon, John

    2015-04-01

    experiment has been conducted in the frame of the ANR-funded DREAM project that focuses on the recrystallization processes in anisotropic materials. References [1] D. S. Russell-Head and C.J.L. Wilson., 2001, Journal of Glaciology, 24, 117-130. [2] Wilson, C.J.L., Peternell, M., Piazolo, S., Luzin, V., 2014, Journal of Structural Geology, Microdynamics of Ice, 61, 50-77. [3] M. Montagnat, T. Chauve, F. Barou, A. Tommasi, B. Beausir, C. Fressengeas., in prep. [4] T. H. Jacka and J. Li., 2000, In T. Hondoh, editor, Physics of Ice Core Records, pages 83-102. Hokkaido University Press, Sapporo. [5] S. Piazolo, C. J. L. Wilson, V. Luzin, C. Brouzet, and M. Peternell., 2013, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 14, 4185-4194. [6] B. Ouladdiaf et al., 2011, Journal of Applied Crystallography, 44, 392-397.

  2. Medical imaging, PACS, and imaging informatics: retrospective.

    PubMed

    Huang, H K

    2014-01-01

    Historical reviews of PACS (picture archiving and communication system) and imaging informatics development from different points of view have been published in the past (Huang in Euro J Radiol 78:163-176, 2011; Lemke in Euro J Radiol 78:177-183, 2011; Inamura and Jong in Euro J Radiol 78:184-189, 2011). This retrospective attempts to look at the topic from a different angle by identifying certain basic medical imaging inventions in the 1960s and 1970s which had conceptually defined basic components of PACS guiding its course of development in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as subsequent imaging informatics research in the 2000s. In medical imaging, the emphasis was on the innovations at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, in the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s and 1990s, research and training support from US government agencies and public and private medical imaging manufacturers became available for training of young talents in biomedical physics and for developing the key components required for PACS development. In the 2000s, computer hardware and software as well as communication networks advanced by leaps and bounds, opening the door for medical imaging informatics to flourish. Because many key components required for the PACS operation were developed by the UCLA PACS Team and its collaborative partners in the 1980s, this presentation is centered on that aspect. During this period, substantial collaborative research efforts by many individual teams in the US and in Japan were highlighted. Credits are due particularly to the Pattern Recognition Laboratory at Georgetown University, and the computed radiography (CR) development at the Fuji Electric Corp. in collaboration with Stanford University in the 1970s; the Image Processing Laboratory at UCLA in the 1980s-1990s; as well as the early PACS development at the Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, in the late 1970s, and film scanner and digital radiography developed by Konishiroku Photo Ind. Co. Ltd

  3. Application of tritium in precipitation and baseflow in Japan: a case study of groundwater transit times and storage in Hokkaido watersheds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gusyev, Maksym A.; Morgenstern, Uwe; Stewart, Michael K.; Yamazaki, Yusuke; Kashiwaya, Kazuhisa; Nishihara, Terumasa; Kuribayashi, Daisuke; Sawano, Hisaya; Iwami, Yoichi

    2016-07-01

    In this study, we demonstrate the application of tritium in precipitation and baseflow to estimate groundwater transit times and storage volumes in Hokkaido, Japan. To establish the long-term history of tritium concentration in Japanese precipitation, we used tritium data from the global network of isotopes in precipitation and from local studies in Japan. The record developed for Tokyo area precipitation was scaled for Hokkaido using tritium values for precipitation based on wine grown at Hokkaido. Then, tritium concentrations measured with high accuracy in river water from Hokkaido, Japan, were compared to this scaled precipitation record and used to estimate groundwater mean transit times (MTTs). A total of 16 river water samples in Hokkaido were collected in June, July, and October 2014 at 12 locations with altitudes between 22 and 831 m above sea level and catchment areas between 14 and 377 km2. Measured tritium concentrations were between 4.07 (± 0.07) TU and 5.29 (± 0.09) TU in June, 5.06 (± 0.09) TU in July, and between 3.75 (± 0.07) TU and 4.85 (± 0.07) TU in October. We utilised TracerLPM (Jurgens et al., 2012) for MTT estimation and introduced a Visual Basic module to automatically simulate tritium concentrations and relative errors for selected ranges of MTTs, exponential-piston ratios, and scaling factors of tritium input. Using the exponential (70 %) piston flow (30 %) model (E70 %PM), we simulated unique MTTs for seven river samples collected in six Hokkaido headwater catchments because their low tritium concentrations were no longer ambiguous. These river catchments are clustered in similar hydrogeological settings of Quaternary lava as well as Tertiary propylite formations near Sapporo city. However, nine river samples from six other catchments produced up to three possible MTT values with E70 % PM due to the interference by the tritium from the atmospheric hydrogen bomb testing 5-6 decades ago. For these catchments, we show that tritium in

  4. Alaska Volcano Observatory at 20

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eichelberger, J. C.

    2008-12-01

    The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) was established in 1988 in the wake of the 1986 Augustine eruption through a congressional earmark. Even within the volcanological community, there was skepticism about AVO. Populations directly at risk in Alaska were small compared to Cascadia, and the logistical costs of installing and maintaining monitoring equipment were much higher. Questions were raised concerning the technical feasibility of keeping seismic stations operating through the long, dark, stormy Alaska winters. Some argued that AVO should simply cover Augustine with instruments and wait for the next eruption there, expected in the mid 90s (but delayed until 2006), rather than stretching to instrument as many volcanoes as possible. No sooner was AVO in place than Redoubt erupted and a fully loaded passenger 747 strayed into the eruption cloud between Anchorage and Fairbanks, causing a powerless glide to within a minute of impact before the pilot could restart two engines and limp into Anchorage. This event forcefully made the case that volcano hazard mitigation is not just about people and infrastructure on the ground, and is particularly important in the heavily traveled North Pacific where options for flight diversion are few. In 1996, new funding became available through an FAA earmark to aggressively extend volcano monitoring far into the Aleutian Islands with both ground-based networks and round-the-clock satellite monitoring. Beyond the Aleutians, AVO developed a monitoring partnership with Russians volcanologists at the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The need to work together internationally on subduction phenomena that span borders led to formation of the Japan-Kamchatka-Alaska Subduction Processes (JKASP) consortium. JKASP meets approximately biennially in Sapporo, Petropavlovsk, and Fairbanks. In turn, these meetings and support from NSF and the Russian Academy of Sciences led to new international education and

  5. Dynamic interactions of proteins in complex networks

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Appella, E.; Anderson, C.

    2009-10-01

    Recent advances in techniques such as NMR and EPR spectroscopy have enabled the elucidation of how proteins undergo structural changes to act in concert in complex networks. The three minireviews in this series highlight current findings and the capabilities of new methodologies for unraveling the dynamic changes controlling diverse cellular functions. They represent a sampling of the cutting-edge research presented at the 17th Meeting of Methods in Protein Structure Analysis, MPSA2008, in Sapporo, Japan, 26-29 August, 2008 (http://www.iapsap.bnl.gov). The first minireview, by Christensen and Klevit, reports on a structure-based yeast two-hybrid method for identifying E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes that interact withmore » the E3 BRCA1/BARD1 heterodimer ligase to generate either mono- or polyubiquitinated products. This method demonstrated for the first time that the BRCA1/BARD1 E3 can interact with 10 different E2 enzymes. Interestingly, the interaction with multiple E2 enzymes displayed unique ubiquitin-transfer properties, a feature expected to be common among other RING and U-box E3s. Further characterization of new E3 ligases and the E2 enzymes that interact with them will greatly enhance our understanding of ubiquitin transfer and facilitate studies of roles of ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like proteins in protein processing and trafficking. Stein et al., in the second minireview, describe recent progress in defining the binding specificity of different peptide-binding domains. The authors clearly point out that transient peptide interactions mediated by both post-translational modifications and disordered regions ensure a high level of specificity. They postulate that a regulatory code may dictate the number of combinations of domains and post-translational modifications needed to achieve the required level of interaction specificity. Moreover, recognition alone is not enough to obtain a stable complex, especially in a complex cellular environment. Increasing

  6. [Current status of tuberculosis education in universities and future tasks].

    PubMed

    2000-02-01

    Symposium Topics and Presenters: 1. Education of tuberculosis in medial school: Kaoru SHIMOKATA (Department of Clinical Preventive Medicine, Nagoya University Daiko Medical Center) 2. From Medical University holding Tuberculous ward: Shosaku ABE (Third Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine), et al. 3. Necessity and Significance of Sanatorium ward associated with University Hospital: Saburo SONE, et al. (Third Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Tokushima School of Medicine) 4. A proposal on education and training for tuberculosis in medical school from aspect of sanitariums: Takeshi OGURA (Toneyama National Hospital) 5. How to avoid infecting TB and to prevent contracting TB while medical and nursing practices: Keiichi NAGAO (Health Sciences, Center, Chiba University), et al. 6. Special speech: A review of the year since TB patient rooms were included in a common ward as a part of ministry of welfare's model project: Shuji KURANE (Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Nippon Medical School) Tuberculosis began to rank first in mortality rate in Japan in the Meiji Era, and especially since it did not conform to the "national wealth and military strength" that was the national policy of the time due to the high mortality rates in the early decades of life, it was referred to as the "disease that was destroying the country" and the "pandemic disease." Even after entering the Showa Era, tuberculosis long occupied first place as the cause of death in Japan, and it raged unchecked for a period after World War II. However, the prognosis of tuberculosis as a whole improved considerably as a result of the development of antituberculosis agents, such as streptomycin, and the advent of rifampicin made it a curable disease. Its rank as a cause of death subsequently fell precipitously, and many of the TB wards that had been established in university hospitals were closed as the numbers of patients rapidly declined. At the

  7. Preface: Phonons 2007

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Perrin, Bernard

    2007-06-01

    Conference logo The conference PHONONS 2007 was held 15-20 July 2007 in the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM) Paris, France. CNAM is a college of higher technology for training students in the application of science to industry, founded by Henri Grégoire in 1794. This was the 12th International Conference on Phonon Scattering in Condensed Matter. This international conference series, held every 3 years, started in France at Sainte-Maxime in 1972. It was then followed by meetings at Nottingham (1975), Providence (1979), Stuttgart (1983), Urbana-Champaign (1986), Heidelberg (1989), Ithaca (1992), Sapporo (1995), Lancaster (1998), Dartmouth (2001) and St Petersburg (2004). PHONONS 2007 was attended by 346 delegates from 37 different countries as follows: France 120, Japan 45, Germany 25, USA 25, Russia 21, Italy 13, Poland 9, UK 9, Canada 7, The Netherlands 7, Finland 6, Spain 6, Taiwan 6, Greece 4, India 4, Israel 4, Ukraine 4, Serbia 3, South Africa 3, Argentina 2, Belgium 2, China 2, Iran 2, Korea 2, Romania 2, Switzerland 2, and one each from Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Egypt, Estonia, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Turkey. There were 5 plenary lectures, 14 invited talks and 84 oral contributions; 225 posters were presented during three poster sessions. The first plenary lecture was given by H J Maris who presented fascinating movies featuring the motion of a single electron in liquid helium. Robert Blick gave us a review on the new possibilities afforded by nanotechnology to design nano-electomechanical systems (NEMS) and the way to use them to study elementary and fundamental processes. The growing interest for phonon transport studies in nanostructured materials was demonstrated by Arun Majumdar. Andrey Akimov described how ultrafast acoustic solitons can monitor the optical properties of quantum wells. Finally, Maurice Chapellier told us how

  8. PREFACE: Buried Interface Sciences with X-rays and Neutrons 2010

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sakurai, Kenji

    2011-09-01

    The 2010 summer workshop on buried interface science with x-rays and neutrons was held at Nagoya University, Japan, on 25-27 July 2010. The workshop was organized by the Japan Applied Physics Society, which established a group to develop the research field of studying buried function interfaces with x-rays and neutrons. The workshop was the latest in a series held since 2001; Tsukuba (December 2001), Niigata (September 2002), Nagoya (July 2003), Tsukuba (July 2004), Saitama (March 2005), Yokohama (July 2006), Kusatsu (August 2006), Tokyo (December 2006), Sendai (July 2007), Sapporo (September 2007), Tokyo (December 2007), Tokyo-Akihabara (July 2009) and Hiratsuka (March 2010). The 2010 summer workshop had 64 participants and 34 presentations. Interfaces mark the boundaries of different material systems at which many interesting phenomena take place, thus making it extremely important to design, fabricate and analyse the structures of interfaces at both the atomic and macroscopic scale. For many applications, devices are prepared in the form of multi-layered thin films, with the result that interfaces are not exposed but buried under multiple layers. Because of such buried conditions, it is generally not easy to analyse such interfaces. In certain cases, for example, when the thin surface layer is not a solid but a liquid such as water, scientists can observe the atomic arrangement of the liquid-solid interface directly by using a scanning probe microscope, of which the tip is soaked in water. However, it has become clear that the use of a stylus tip positioned extremely close to the interface might change the structure of the water molecules. Therefore it is absolutely crucial to develop non-contact, non-destructive probes for buried interfaces. It is known that analysis using x-rays and neutrons is one of the most powerful tools for exploring near-surface structures including interfaces buried under several layers. In particular, x-ray analysis using 3rd

  9. On the actual variety of plate dynamical mechanisms and how mantle evolution affected them through time, from core formation to the Indian collision

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Osmaston, Miles

    2010-05-01

    , Potsdam 2009. [2] Osmaston MF (2009) Deep cratonic keels and a 2-layer mantle? Tectonic basis for some far-reaching new insights on the dynamical properties of the Earth's mantle: example motions from Mediterranean, Atlantic-Arctic and India. Geophys.Res.Abstr. 11, EGU2009-6359-6, EGU Gen. Assy 2009. [3] Hirth, G & Kohlstedt, DL (1996) Water in the oceanic upper mantle: implication for rheology, melt extraction, and the evolution of the lithosphere, EPSL 144, 93-108. [4] Osmaston, M. F. (2003) What drives plate tectonics? Slab pull, ridge push or geomagnetic torque from the CMB? A new look at the old players vis-a-vis an exciting new one. XXIII IUGG 2003, Sapporo, Japan. Abstracts CD, p. B129, Abstr #016795-2.