Psychological distress mediates the association between COVID-19-related discrimination and subsequent PTSD symptom severity in healthcare workers: a two-year follow-up study.

Background: Past research has suggested a cross-sectional association between COVID-19-related discrimination and PTSD symptom severity. However, no cohort study has examined the longitudinal association that better supports causal interpretation. Also, even if such an association genuinely exists, the specific pathway remains unclear.

Serum amino acid profiles in clinically normal Noma horses.

Plasma or serum amino acids are used to evaluate nutritional status and metabolic disorders. In this study, we aimed to set reference values of serum amino acid concentrations in the Noma horse, a Japanese native horse. Thirty-one horses were classified into six age groups: neonatal foal (0-4 days), foal (0.

Tsyn-Seq: a T-cell Synapse-Based Antigen Identification Platform.

Tools for genome-wide rapid identification of peptide-major histocompatibility complex targets of T-cell receptors (TCR) are not yet universally available. We present a new antigen screening method, the T-synapse (Tsyn) reporter system, which includes antigen-presenting cells (APC) with a Fas-inducible NF-κB reporter and T cells with a nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) reporter. To functionally screen for target antigens from a cDNA library, productively interacting T cell-APC aggregates were detected by dual-reporter activity and enriched by flow sorting followed by antigen identification quantified by deep sequencing (Tsyn-seq).

Colorless Polyimides Derived from 5,5'-bis(2,3-norbornanedicarboxylic anhydride): Strategies to Reduce the Linear Coefficients of Thermal Expansion and Improve the Film Toughness.

In this paper, novel colorless polyimides (PIs) derived from 5,5'-bis(2,3-norbornanedicarboxylic anhydride) (BNBDA) were presented. The results of single-crystal X-ray structural analysis using a BNBDA-based model compound suggested that it had a unique steric structure with high structural linearity. Therefore, BNBDA is expected to afford new colorless PI films with an extremely high glass transition temperature () and a low linear coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) when combined with aromatic diamines with rigid and linear structures (typically, 2,2'-bis(trifluoromethyl)benzidine (TFMB)).

Different photorespiratory mechanisms in conifer leaves, where peroxisomes have intrinsically low catalase activity.

Photorespiration is an essential metabolic mechanism associated with photosynthesis; however, little is known about the photorespiratory pathway of conifer gymnosperms. Metabolite analyses of the leaves of 27 tree species showed that the mean glycerate content in conifer leaves was lower than that in angiosperm leaves. We performed experiments where [ C]-serine was fed to detached shoots of a conifer (Cryptomeria japonica), via the transpiration stream, and compared the labeling patterns of photorespiratory metabolites with those of an angiosperm tree (Populus nigra), because glycerate is produced from serine via hydroxypyruvate in peroxisomes.

The association between experience of COVID-19-related discrimination and psychological distress among healthcare workers for six national medical research centers in Japan.

Background: Discrimination is an important determinant of negative mental health outcomes. This study determined the association between the experience of COVID-19-related discrimination and psychological distress among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Japan.

Methods: This cross-sectional study conducted a health survey among 5703 HCWs of six national medical and research centers in Japan from October 2020 to March 2021.

Projection of August 2021 pumice dispersion from the Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba eruption in the western North Pacific.

Marine hazards often occur unexpectedly. Long-term (> few weeks) projections are sometimes needed to predict the potential route of drifting targets (e.g.

Diet-derived metabolites and mucus link the gut microbiome to fever after cytotoxic cancer treatment.

Not all patients with cancer and severe neutropenia develop fever, and the fecal microbiome may play a role. In a single-center study of patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplant ( = 119), the fecal microbiome was characterized at onset of severe neutropenia. A total of 63 patients (53%) developed a subsequent fever, and their fecal microbiome displayed increased relative abundances of , a species of mucin-degrading bacteria ( = 0.

Decrease in overdispersed secondary transmission of COVID-19 over time in Japan.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been described as having an overdispersed offspring distribution, i.e. high variation in the number of secondary transmissions of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) per single primary COVID-19 case.

Development of liquid crystal displays and related improvements to their performances.

This review article comprises three contents: 1) a general introduction of liquid crystals (LCs) and their chronological developments until their current status, 2) the descriptions of the achievements of defect-free and optically high-quality LC displays (LCDs), and 3) the description of the new and alternative methods for improving existing LCD technologies in terms of high-speed response, viewing angles, and power consumption through nanoparticle doping and optical compensation on a laboratory level. When these technologies are successfully developed, they will be used in the industry, where the fabrication process will be performed in a large-clean room using automated robotics.

Rapid and comprehensive diagnostic method for repeat expansion diseases using nanopore sequencing.

We developed a diagnostic method for repeat expansion diseases using a long-read sequencer to improve currently available, low throughput diagnostic methods. We employed the real-time target enrichment system of the nanopore GridION sequencer using the adaptive sampling option, in which software-based target assignment is available without prior sample enrichment, and built an analysis pipeline that prioritized the disease-causing loci. Twenty-two patients with various neurological and neuromuscular diseases, including 12 with genetically diagnosed repeat expansion diseases and 10 manifesting cerebellar ataxia, but without genetic diagnosis, were analyzed.

Mucus-degrading Bacteroides link carbapenems to aggravated graft-versus-host disease.

The intestinal microbiota is an important modulator of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which often complicates allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Broad-spectrum antibiotics such as carbapenems increase the risk for intestinal GVHD, but mechanisms are not well understood. In this study, we found that treatment with meropenem, a commonly used carbapenem, aggravates colonic GVHD in mice via the expansion of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (BT).

COVID-19-related discrimination, PTSD symptoms, and psychological distress in healthcare workers.

To date, little effort has been made to examine if frontline workers who deal with COVID-19 patients are more likely to experience discrimination than second-line workers. Also, little information has appeared on how COVID-19-related discrimination affects PTSD symptoms in healthcare workers. We aimed to examine the association between COVID-19-related discrimination and frontline worker status.

Intratumoral heterogeneity of c-KIT mutations in a feline splenic mast cell tumor and their functional effects on cell proliferation.

A cat was presented with mast cell tumors (MCTs) of the skin and spleen. During the initial diagnosis, the exon 8 mutation of c-KIT was detected in the masses from skin and spleen by a commercial laboratory test. Consequently, treatment with toceranib was started.

Distal renal tubular acidosis and lethargy associated with zonisamide treatment in a dog with idiopathic epilepsy.

A 3-year-old neutered male golden retriever administered zonisamide for the treatment of seizures showed lethargy and had normal anion gap metabolic acidosis with hypokalaemia, hyperchloremia, and alkaline urine. The serum zonisamide concentration was close to the upper limit, which raised a suspicion of adverse effects of zonisamide. This is the first report showing that the fractional excretion of bicarbonate after compensation for the plasma bicarbonate concentration by a sodium bicarbonate infusion was approximately 5%, indicating distal renal tubular acidosis (RTA).