Elevated Proportions of Circulating CXCR5 Follicular Helper T Cells Reflect the Presence of Airway Obstruction in Asthma.

Materials And Methods: Using flow cytometry, we identified and quantified Group 2 innate lymphocytes, T helper 2 cells, follicular helper T cells, and T helper 17 cells in peripheral blood samples from 49 individuals with asthma. We then conducted cross-sectional analyses to assess relationships between levels of these immune cells and lung function parameters, including the percentage predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s (%FEV1). We also examined correlations between the proportions of immune cells and type 2 biomarkers.

Does macro-level general trust influence second language communication?: targeting prefectural capitals.

Objectives: This study investigated the macro-level effects of general trust on second language willingness to communicate (WTC) among Japanese individuals residing in 20 prefectural capitals. Previous research has shown the impact of individual-level general trust on WTC; however, macro-level effects have not been explored.

Results: Multilevel analysis in this research revealed that individual- and prefectural capital-level general trust had a positive influence on WTC in English for Japanese people.

Abiotic and biotic factors controlling the dynamics of soil respiration in a coastal dune ecosystem in western Japan.

In this study, we examined the abiotic and biotic factors controlling the dynamics of soil respiration (R) while considering the zonal distribution of plant species in a coastal dune ecosystem in western Japan, based on periodic R data and continuous environmental data. We set four measurement plots with different vegetation compositions: plot 1 on bare sand; plot 2 on a cluster of young Vitex rotundifolia seedlings; plot 3 on a mixture of Artemisia capillaris and V. rotundifolia; and plot 4 on the inland boundary between the coastal vegetation zone and a Pinus thunbergii forest.

The influence of psychological network on the willingness to communicate in a second language.

This study investigated the effect of the psychological network on the willingness to communicate in English among Japanese people. Previous studies have shown that psychological factors affect the willingness to communicate in English for Japanese people. However, the network structure of psychological factors and their effects have not been revealed yet.

Body size and digestive system shape resource selection by ungulates: A cross-taxa test of the forage maturation hypothesis.

The forage maturation hypothesis (FMH) states that energy intake for ungulates is maximised when forage biomass is at intermediate levels. Nevertheless, metabolic allometry and different digestive systems suggest that resource selection should vary across ungulate species. By combining GPS relocations with remotely sensed data on forage characteristics and surface water, we quantified the effect of body size and digestive system in determining movements of 30 populations of hindgut fermenters (equids) and ruminants across biomes.

The Influence of Socio-Ecological Networks on Willingness to Communicate in English for Japanese People.

This study investigates the effect of socio-ecological networks on the willingness to communicate (WTC) in English among Japanese people. Previous studies have shown that relational mobility (socio-ecological factor), which is defined as the availability of opportunities to choose new relationship partners, positively affects the WTC in English for Japanese people. However, the network structure of the variables of relational mobility and its effects have not been revealed yet.

[Acquired hypofibrinogenemia in patients with leukemia during steroid therapy].

Acquired hypofibrinogenemia is observed in patients with severe liver disease, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and high-volume perioperative fluid replacement. In lymphoblastic leukemia, hypofibrinogenemia is most frequently caused by the administration of L-asparaginase. Here we report the cases of two patients with acquired hypofibrinogenemia that occurred during steroid-containing chemotherapy treatment against lymphoblastic blast crisis of chronic myeloid leukemia in the first case and acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the second case.

The influence of networks of general trust on willingness to communicate in English for Japanese people.

This study investigates the effect of a network of general trust on the willingness to communicate in English among Japanese people. Previous studies have shown that general trust positively affects the willingness to communicate in English for Japanese people. However, the network structure of general trust and its effects have not yet been revealed.

A Single Pheromone Receptor Gene Conserved across 400 My of Vertebrate Evolution.

Pheromones are crucial for eliciting social and sexual behaviors in diverse animal species. The vomeronasal receptor type-1 (V1R) genes, encoding members of a pheromone receptor family, are highly variable in number and repertoire among mammals due to extensive gene gain and loss. Here, we report a novel pheromone receptor gene belonging to the V1R family, named ancient V1R (ancV1R), which is shared among most Osteichthyes (bony vertebrates) from the basal lineage of ray-finned fishes to mammals.

Movements of dams milked for fermented horse milk production in Mongolia.

Airag, (Fermented horse milk) is a traditional milk product in Mongolia. Herders separate foals from their dams and tie them at a milking site during the daytime to produce airag. To evaluate the effects of horse management on the movement of dams, we tracked three dams in a herd in camp 1 during summer and camp 2 during autumn of 2013 and analyzed their movements during the milking (daytime) and non-milking (nighttime) periods in an area famous for its high-quality airag.

High frequency of phylogenetically diverse reductive dehalogenase-homologous genes in deep subseafloor sedimentary metagenomes.

Marine subsurface sediments on the Pacific margin harbor diverse microbial communities even at depths of several hundreds meters below the seafloor (mbsf) or more. Previous PCR-based molecular analysis showed the presence of diverse reductive dehalogenase gene (rdhA) homologs in marine subsurface sediment, suggesting that anaerobic respiration of organohalides is one of the possible energy-yielding pathways in the organic-rich sedimentary habitat. However, primer-independent molecular characterization of rdhA has remained to be demonstrated.

[Psychological processes predicting the English communication behavior of Japanese high school students].

This study presents a new model of psychological processes to predict English communication behaviors of Japanese high school students. Various models have been proposed in Japan, based mainly on Canadian models, to predict second-language communication behaviors. This study shows problems with the previous models in Japan and introduces a new model from the perspective of "Expectancy-Value Theory".

Fragmentation of the habitat of wild ungulates by anthropogenic barriers in Mongolia.

Habitat loss and habitat fragmentation caused by anthropogenic activities are the main factors that constrain long-distance movement of ungulates. Mongolian gazelles (Procapra gutturosa) and Asiatic wild asses (Equus hemionus) in Mongolia are facing habitat fragmentation and loss. To better understand how their movements respond to potential anthropogenic and natural barriers, we tracked 24 Mongolian gazelles and 12 wild asses near the Ulaanbaatar-Beijing Railroad and the fenced international border between Mongolia and China between 2002 and 2012.

Health effects of dust storms: subjective eye and respiratory system symptoms in inhabitants in Mongolia.

The cross-sectional study described here aimed to investigate potential health effects associated with dust storms in Mongolia. The authors surveyed the subjective symptoms of the eyes (e.g.

Receptor for activated C kinase 1 stimulates nascent polypeptide-dependent translation arrest.

Nascent peptide-dependent translation arrest is crucial for the quality control of eukaryotic gene expression. Here we show that the receptor for activated C kinase 1 (RACK1) participates in nascent peptide-dependent translation arrest, and that its binding to the 40S subunit is crucial for this. Translation arrest by a nascent peptide results in Dom34/Hbs1-independent endonucleolytic cleavage of mRNA, and this is stimulated by RACK1.

Nutrient-regulated antisense and intragenic RNAs modulate a signal transduction pathway in yeast.

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae alters its gene expression profile in response to a change in nutrient availability. The PHO system is a well-studied case in the transcriptional regulation responding to nutritional changes in which a set of genes (PHO genes) is expressed to activate inorganic phosphate (Pi) metabolism for adaptation to Pi starvation. Pi starvation triggers an inhibition of Pho85 kinase, leading to migration of unphosphorylated Pho4 transcriptional activator into the nucleus and enabling expression of PHO genes.

The half-life of Ascaris lumbricoides prevalence in Japanese school children.

In the present study, we examined the dynamic of school-health-based parasite control and the related socio-economic influences. This is an ecological study based on data from 46 prefectures in Japan. The exponential decay of Ascaris lumbricoides prevalence was calculated by iterative least-squares method.

Health-related quality of life and recognition of desertification among inhabitants of the Loess Plateau region of China: findings for city and village communities.

This article elucidates the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) the recognition of desertification among people living in the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China. HRQOL was assessed with a three-dimensional survey of general health perception, vitality, and general mental health based on a 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). Scores for general health perception were approximately the same in the city and the village communities.

Elevation of antioxidant potency in mice brain by low-dose X-ray irradiation and its effect on Fe-NTA-induced brain damage.

The increase in lipid peroxide levels in mice brain following Fe3+ administration was about 50% of that when 1-methyl-4-phenyl 1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) was administered. This may be due to excessive oxidation by Fe3+, and was supported by the decrease in activities of antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathione peroxidase (GPX), Na+,K(+)-ATPase activity and membrane fluidity after Fe3+ administration. Relatively low-dose X-ray irradiation (0.

Obesity and the risk of diabetes mellitus in middle-aged Japanese men.

The morbidity of diabetes mellitus is increasing gradually in Japanese populations. It is important to clarify the risk factors of diabetes in Japanese populations in order to take adequate measures against the increasing morbidity of diabetes. In order to evaluate the link between past and concurrent obesity and diabetes in middle-aged Japanese men, we conducted a worksite-based historical cohort study in Okayama, Japan in 1999.

Comparative genomic sequence analysis of the human chromosome 21 Down syndrome critical region.

Comprehensive knowledge of the gene content of human chromosome 21 (HSA21) is essential for understanding the etiology of Down syndrome (DS). Here we report the largest comparison of finished mouse and human sequence to date for a 1.35-Mb region of mouse chromosome 16 (MMU16) that corresponds to human chromosome 21q22.

GTOP: a database of protein structures predicted from genome sequences.

Large-scale genome projects generate an unprecedented number of protein sequences, most of them are experimentally uncharacterized. Predicting the 3D structures of sequences provides important clues as to their functions. We constructed the Genomes TO Protein structures and functions (GTOP) database, containing protein fold predictions of a huge number of sequences.