Regional assessment of medical care provision system by principal component analysis.

Introduction: The Japanese government has promoted policies ensuring standardized medical care across the secondary medical care areas (SMCAs); however, these efforts have not been evaluated, making the current conditions unclear. Multidimensional indicators could identify these differences; thus, this study examined the regional characteristics of the medical care provision system for 21 SMCAs in Hokkaido, Japan, and the changes from 1998 to 2018.

Materials And Methods: This study evaluated the characteristics of SMCAs by principal component analysis using multidimensional data related to the medical care provision system.

A novel site-specific chemical conjugation of IgG antibodies by affinity peptide for immunoassays.

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in site-specific modifications of antibodies used in immunoassays for disease diagnosis and as antibody therapeutics, such as antibody-drug conjugates. Previously, we established a site-specific chemical conjugation system using an IgG-Fc binding chemical conjugation affinity peptide (CCAP). CCAP could be used only for the modification of human IgG owing to the lack of affinity of CCAP to rodent IgG molecules.

A Transposon Mutagenesis System for Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum Based on an IS Family Insertion Sequence, IS.

Bifidobacteria are a major component of the intestinal microbiota in humans, particularly breast-fed infants. Therefore, elucidation of the mechanisms by which these bacteria colonize the intestine is desired. One approach is transposon mutagenesis, a technique currently attracting much attention because, in combination with next-generation sequencing, it enables exhaustive identification of genes that contribute to microbial fitness.

Isolation and transposition properties of ISBlo11, an active insertion sequence belonging to the IS3 family, from Bifidobacterium longum 105-A.

Transposon mutagenesis systems are still under development in bifidobacteria, partly because intrinsic active insertion sequences are not well characterized in bifidobacteria. Here, we isolated an active insertion sequence, ISBlo11, from Bifidobacterium longum 105-A using a sacB-based counterselection system, which is generally used to screen for active insertion sequences from bacterial genomes. ISBlo11 is 1432 bp long and belongs to the IS3 family.

Elevation of tau protein levels in the cerebrospinal fluid of children with West syndrome.

Purpose: West syndrome is an epileptic encephalopathy with a poor developmental outcome. Tau protein levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are reported to be markers of axonal damage and neurodegeneration. This study aimed to investigate axonal damage and the effects of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) therapy on axons in West syndrome, as measured by tau protein levels in CSF.