Genomic imputation of ancient Asian populations contrasts local adaptation in pre- and post-agricultural Japan.

Early modern humans lived as hunter-gatherers for millennia before agriculture, yet the genetic adaptations of these populations remain a mystery. Here, we investigate selection in the ancient hunter-gatherer-fisher Jomon and contrast pre- and post-agricultural adaptation in the Japanese archipelago. Building on the successful validation of imputation with ancient Asian genomes, we identify selection signatures in the Jomon, particularly robust signals from variants, which may have influenced dark pigmentation evolution.

An unusual configuration of two anomalies in the extensor digitorum profundus complex in a human.

The extensor digitorum profundus complex underwent degeneration of the ulnar segments during primate adaptation and evolution. This process resulted in the preservation of only the extensor pollicis longus and extensor indicis in some apes, including humans. Consequently, anatomical variations within the digitorum profundus complex in modern humans have been well-documented, with detailed reports on their frequency and patterns in previous studies.

Genomic insights into a tripartite ancestry in the Southern Ryukyu Islands.

A tripartite structure for the genetic origin of Japanese populations states that present-day populations are descended from three main ancestors: (1) the indigenous Jomon hunter-gatherers; (2) a Northeast Asian component that arrived during the agrarian Yayoi period; and (3) a major influx of East Asian ancestry in the imperial Kofun period. However, the genetic heterogeneity observed in different regions of the Japanese archipelago highlights the need to assess the applicability and suitability of this model. Here, we analyse historic genomes from the southern Ryukyu Islands, which have unique cultural and historical backgrounds compared with other parts of Japan.

Ancient genomics reveals tripartite origins of Japanese populations.

Prehistoric Japan underwent rapid transformations in the past 3000 years, first from foraging to wet rice farming and then to state formation. A long-standing hypothesis posits that mainland Japanese populations derive dual ancestry from indigenous Jomon hunter-gatherer-fishers and succeeding Yayoi farmers. However, the genomic impact of agricultural migration and subsequent sociocultural changes remains unclear.

Impact of Hands-on Experience of a Cadaver Dissection on the Professional Identity Formation of Health Sciences Students.

Background: In Japan, some nursing and health science universities that train nurses and/or clinical laboratory technicians have a curriculum in which students observe medical students performing a cadaver dissection. Observing a cadaver dissection is believed to affect the formation of a student's professional identity. This study aimed to investigate the effects of observing a cadaver dissection on the professional identity of nursing and clinical laboratory science students to find an effective educational support system for developing professional identity.

A paleopathological approach to early human adaptation for wet-rice agriculture: The first case of Neolithic spinal tuberculosis at the Yangtze River Delta of China.

The earliest evidence of human tuberculosis can be traced to at least the early dynastic periods, when full-scaled wet-rice agriculture began or entered its early developmental stages, in circum-China countries (Japan, Korea, and Thailand). Early studies indicated that the initial spread of tuberculosis coincided with the development of wet-rice agriculture. It has been proposed that the adaptation to agriculture changed human social/living environments, coincidentally favoring survival and spread of pathogenic Mycobacterial strains that cause tuberculosis.

[THE DISPERSION OF HERBACEOUS PLANT POLLEN IN ITO CITY, SHIZUOKA].

Background: Airborne pollen was examined in Ito City, Shizuoka for the purpose of treatment and prophylaxis pollen allergies because the patients with pollen allergy to herbaceous plants have recently increased.

Methods: Setting up a Durham's sampler, we measured airborne pollen identified and classified: Poaceae, Polygonaceae, Amaranthaceae, Urticaceae, Cannabaceae, Ambrosia and Artemisia indica.We studied whether each airborne pollen count has something to do with weather condition (2004-2015).

[Tree pollen dispersion in Ito City, Shizuoka Prefecture].

Background: The authors investigated the atmospheric tree pollen dispersion in Ito City, Shizuoka Prefecture for 12 years for the purpose of the prophylaxis and treatment of pollinosis.

Methods: We set up a Durham sampler on the rooftop of the three-story building in Ito City, and counted atmospheric pollen grouping first, Taxodiaceae and Cupressaceae; second, Pinaceae and Podocarpaceae; third, Betulaceae and Ulmaceae; last, Fagaceae. The counts of atmospheric tree pollen on season and the weather from January to June were treated statistically and analyzed on the computer program Microsoft Excel.

Inhibition of MEK and GSK3 supports ES cell-like domed colony formation from avian and reptile embryos.

As amniotes diversified, mammals may have modified mechanisms of cellular pluripotency along with the acquisition of a placenta. What then defined pluripotent states in the ancestral amniotes? To study the evolutionary background of pluripotency in amniotes, we tested the effects of extracellular effectors on primary culture cells from avian and reptile embryos in serum-free medium. When treated with a combination of a MEK inhibitor and a GSK3 inhibitor (2i condition), chicken early embryos formed domed colonies (DCs), which were morphologically indistinguishable from the colonies formed by mouse and rat naïve embryonic stem cells.

Nuclear Smad7 Overexpressed in Mesenchymal Cells Acts as a Transcriptional Corepressor by Interacting with HDAC-1 and E2F to Regulate Cell Cycle.

Smad family proteins are essential intracellular mediators that regulate transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) ligand signaling. In response to diverse stimuli, Smad7 is rapidly expressed and acts as a cytoplasmic inhibitor that selectively interferes with signals elicited from TGF-β family receptors. In addition, earlier works have indicated that retrovirally transduced Smad7 induces long-lasting cell proliferation arrest in a variety of mesenchymal cells through down-regulation of G1 cyclins.

A missense mutation in the ITGA8 gene, a cell adhesion molecule gene, is associated with schizophrenia in Japanese female patients.

Background: Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) play pivotal role in the development of the central nervous system (CNS) and have also been reported to play role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Missense mutations in the CAMs genes might alter the binding of their ligands, increasing the vulnerability to develop schizophrenia.

Methods: We selected 15 missense mutations in the CAMs genes of the CNS reported in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and examined the association between these mutations and schizophrenia in 278 patients and 284 control subjects (first batch).

Developmental variation in ecogeographic body proportions.

While ecogeographic variation in adult human body proportions has been extensively explored, relatively less attention has been paid to the effect of Bergmann's and Allen's rules on human body shape during growth. The relationship between climate and immature body form is particularly important, as immature mortality is high, mechanisms of thermoregulation differ between young and mature humans, and immature body proportions fluctuate due to basic parameters of growth. This study explores changes in immature ecogeographic body proportions via analyses of anthropometric data from children included in Eveleth and Tanner's (1976) Worldwide Variation in Human Growth, as well as limb proportion measurements in eight different skeletal samples.

[Pollen dispersion of Cryptomeria japonica and Cupressaceae in Ito city during 10 years].

Background: For a period of 10 years, ending in 2010, the authors investigated atmospheric pollen dispersion of Cryptomeria japonica and Cupressaceae in Ito City. We expect this investigation useful in treating patients with pollen allergy.

Methods: We set up a Durham sampler on a rooftop of the three-story building in Ito City and counted atmospheric pollen day by day.

Ontogeny of limb proportions in late through final Jomon period foragers.

This study reports on developmental patterning in the intralimb indices of Late/Final Jomon period (4000-2300 BP) people. Jomon foragers represent the descendants of migrants from Northeast Asia, who arrived in the Japanese Islands around 20,000 BP. Among adults, Jomon brachial indices are elevated and similar to warm adapted, low latitude people, while crural indices are intermediate and similar to people from moderate latitudes.

Basic study of a diagnostic modality employing a new electrical impedance tomography (EIT) method for noninvasive measurement in localized tissues.

The objective of this study is to develop a device for noninvasive local tissue electrical impedance tomography (EIT) using divided electrodes with guard electrodes and to validate its effectiveness using bioequivalent phantoms. For this purpose, we prepared a measurement device and bioequivalent phantoms, measured the electrical characteristics of the phantoms, and validated the method using the phantoms. Monolayer phantoms mimicking the brain and muscle and bilayer phantoms consisting of muscle and brain layers were prepared.

An exploratory study on perceptions of seismic risk and mitigation in two districts of Istanbul.

Istanbul is one of the world's cities most vulnerable to seismic events. According to seismologists, the probability of a severe earthquake in the next 30 years is approximately 40 per cent. Following an outline of the seismicity of this vital Turkish city and a summary of current seismic risks and mitigation studies, this paper presents the results of a survey conducted in two districts of Istanbul, Avcilar and Bakirkoy.

Current status of breast cancer screening in the world.

The mortality associated with breast cancer is decreasing in Europe and the United States. There are various reasons for these trends, including an increase in detection of early-stage breast cancers due to increased use of mammographic screening and the establishment of standardized systemic treatments based on evidence-based medicine. However, in Japanese women, both the morbidity and the mortality of breast cancer are increasing.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of the Pax6 paired domain bound to the Pax6 gene enhancer.

Pax6 is a member of the Pax family of transcription factors and is essential for eye development. Pax6 has two DNA-binding domains: the paired domain and the homeodomain. The Pax6 paired domain is involved in Pax6 gene autoregulation by binding to its enhancer.

Smad7 induces G0/G1 cell cycle arrest in mesenchymal cells by inhibiting the expression of G1 cyclins.

The major Smad pathways serve in regulating the expression of genes downstream of TGFbeta signals. In this study, we examined the effects of sustained Smad7 expression in cultured cells. Interestingly, Smad7 caused various mesenchymal cells, including NIH3T3 fibroblast and ST2 bone-marrow stromal cells, to undergo a marked morphological alteration into a flattened cell shape, but kept them alive for as long as 60 days.

BMP signaling through ACVRI is required for left-right patterning in the early mouse embryo.

Vertebrate organisms are characterized by dorsal-ventral and left-right asymmetry. The process that establishes left-right asymmetry during vertebrate development involves bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-dependent signaling, but the molecular details of this signaling pathway remain poorly defined. This study tests the role of the BMP type I receptor ACVRI in establishing left-right asymmetry in chimeric mouse embryos.

Craniofacial defects in mice lacking BMP type I receptor Alk2 in neural crest cells.

Neural crest cells (NCCs) are pluripotent migratory cells that contribute to the development of various craniofacial structures. Many signaling molecules have been implicated in the formation, migration and differentiation of NCCs including bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). BMPs signal through a receptor complex composed of type I and type II receptors.

Generation of structures formed by lens and retinal cells differentiating from embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells have the potential to give rise to all cell lineages when introduced into the early embryo. They also give rise to a limited number of different cell types in vitro in specialized culture systems. In this study, we established a culture system in which a structure consisting of lens, neural retina, and pigmented retina was efficiently induced from embryonic stem cells.

Pax6 autoregulation mediated by direct interaction of Pax6 protein with the head surface ectoderm-specific enhancer of the mouse Pax6 gene.

The Pax6 gene plays crucial roles in eye development and encodes a transcription factor containing both a paired domain and a homeodomain. During embryogenesis, Pax6 is expressed in restricted tissues under the direction of distinct cis-regulatory regions. The head surface ectoderm-specific enhancer of mouse Pax6 directs reporter expression in the derivatives of the ectoderm in the eye, such as lens and cornea, but the molecular mechanism of its control remains largely unknown.

Regulation of c-Fos and Fra-1 by the MEK5-ERK5 pathway.

Background: ERK5 is the newest subfamily member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, and is activated by various extracellular signals including growth factors. MEK5 is a specific activator of ERK5. c-Fos and Fra-1, well-known immediate early gene products, are members of the AP-1 family.