Clinical usefulness of library and information services in Japan: The detailed use and value of information in clinical settings.

Objectives: Considering that there is a lack of evidence regarding the contribution of library and information services to evidence-based medicine in actual clinical practice in Japan, the purpose of the study is to explore the current status of use and value of library and information services in clinical settings to examine the usefulness of information in implementing evidence-based medicine (EBM) into practice.

Methods: A Web-based survey was conducted at seven sites (hospitals with 300-1,200 beds) and interviews conducted at five sites to investigate information behavior among health professionals (physicians, residents, and nurses) in 2016, replicating the Value Study carried out in the United States in 2010 and 2011. Using a critical incident technique, respondents answered questions about their information topics, information resources used, search location, access points, and evaluation of the information.

Fabrication and characterization of an all-solid tellurite-phosphate photonic bandgap fiber.

We present an all-solid tellurite-phosphate photonic bandgap fiber (PBGF) with two layers of high-index rods (TeO2-Li2O-WO3-MoO3-Nb2O5, TLWMN) in the cladding (TeO2-ZnO-Li2O-K2O-Al2O3-P2O5, TZLKAP). TLWMN and TZLKAP glasses have good compatibility for fabricating the all-solid PBGF. Photonic bandgap (PBG) properties are calculated by the plane wave expansion method (PWM), and the results agree well with the measured transmission spectrum.

International trends in health science librarianship part 11: Japan and Korea.

This is the 11th in a series of articles exploring international trends in health science librarianship. The previous article in this series looked at the Far East (Greater China, Hong Kong and Taiwan). The current issue surveys developments in Japan and Korea.

The role of readability in effective health communication: an experiment using a Japanese health information text on chronic suppurative otitis media.

Objectives: This study identifies the most significant readability factors and examines ways of improving and evaluating Japanese health information text in terms of ease of reading and understanding.

Methods: Six different Japanese texts were prepared based on an original short text written by a medical doctor for a hospital web site intended for laypersons regarding chronic suppurative otitis media. Four were revised for single readability factor (syntax, vocabulary, or text structure) and two were modified in all three factors.

Health information seekers in Japan: a snapshot of needs, behavior, and recognition in 2008.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the latest information-seeking behavior among health care consumers in Japan and to compare these behaviors with those recorded in similar surveys administered in Japan and the United States after 2000.

Method: The authors conducted a randomized, population-based, door-to-door survey in 2008. A total of 1,200 Japanese adults over 15 years of age completed the questionnaire.

Status of open access in the biomedical field in 2005.

Objectives: This study was designed to document the state of open access (OA) in the biomedical field in 2005.

Methods: PubMed was used to collect bibliographic data on target articles published in 2005. PubMed, Google Scholar, Google, and OAIster were then used to establish the availability of free full text online for these publications.

Purification and biochemical characterization of a membrane-bound [NiFe]-hydrogenase from a hydrogen-oxidizing, lithotrophic bacterium, Hydrogenophaga sp. AH-24.

Membrane-bound [NiFe]-hydrogenase from Hydrogenophaga sp. AH-24 was purified to homogeneity. The molecular weight was estimated as 100+/-10 kDa, consisting of two different subunits (62 and 37 kDa).

Isolation and characterization of a new facultatively autotrophic hydrogen-oxidizing Betaproteobacterium, Hydrogenophaga sp. AH-24.

A hydrogen-oxidizing bacterium strain AH-24 was isolated, which was classified in the genus Hydrogenophaga, based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence. The isolate possessed a typical yellow pigment of Hydrogenophaga species. Its closest relative was Hydrogenophaga pseudoflava, but the assimilation profile of sugar compounds resembled that of no species of Hydrogenophaga.

Expression and significance of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs (ADAMTS)-1 in an animal model of renal interstitial fibrosis induced by unilateral ureteral obstruction.

To evaluate the pathological roles of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs (ADAMTS)-1 in rat renal interstitial fibrosis, we examined the expression, localization and effect on growth of ADAMTS-1 in a normal rat kidney cell line (NRK-49F). Increased ADAMTS-1 mRNA expression was observed in the kidney by in situ hybridization after induction of unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) in male Wistar rats, the mRNA was localized in the renal tubular epithelial cells in the outer stripe of the outer medulla in the UUO kidney. On the other hand, no positive signals were observed in the sham-operated-kidney.

Molecular pathological evaluation of clusterin in a rat model of unilateral ureteral obstruction as a possible biomarker of nephrotoxicity.

In the present study, to determine the validity of considering clusterin as a possible biomarker of nephrotoxicity, the expression and distribution of clusterin in the rat UUO kidney were investigated. Real-time RT-PCR revealed an immediate increase in the clusterin mRNA level in the kidney, within 6 hours after UUO, and also maintenance of the mRNA expression level from day-1 to day-3 was 60-fold higher in the UUO kidney than in the sham kidney. ISH analysis revealed clusterin mRNA signals in the UUO renal tubular epithelium, whereas no signal was observed in the sham kidney.