Japanese Ones Research Articles

The Present and Near Future of Public Libraries as Social Institutions with a Comparative Viewpoint between U.S. and Japanese Ones

The Present and Near Future of Public Libraries as Social Institutions with a Comparative Viewpoint between U.S. and Japanese Ones

Influence of the Lactotripeptides Isoleucine–Proline–Proline and Valine–Proline–Proline on Systolic Blood Pressure in Japanese Subjects: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

BackgroundThe lactotripeptides isoleucine–proline–proline (IPP) and valine–proline–proline (VPP) have been shown to decrease systolic blood pressure (SBP) in several populations, but the size of the effect varies among studies. We performed a meta-analysis including all published studies to evaluate the SBP-lowering effect of IPP/VPP in Japanese subjects more comprehensively.Methods and FindingsEligible randomized controlled trials were searched for within four bibliographic databases, including two Japanese ones. Eighteen studies (including a total of 1194 subjects) were included in the meta-analysis. A random effect model using the restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimator was used for the analysis. The analysis showed that consumption of IPP/VPP induced a significant reduction in SBP as compared with placebo in Japanese subjects, with an estimated effect of -5.63 mm Hg (95% CI, -6.87 to -4.39, P<0.0001) and no evidence of publication bias. A significant heterogeneity between series was evident, which could be explained by a significant influence of the baseline blood pressure status of the subjects, the effect of IPP/VPP on SBP being stronger in hypertensive subjects (-8.35 mm Hg, P<0.0001) than in non-hypertensive subjects (-3.42mm Hg, P<0.0001). Furthermore, the effect of IPP/VPP on SBP remained significant when limiting the analysis to series that tested the usual doses of IPP/VPP consumed daily (below 5 mg/d), with estimated effects of -6.01 mm Hg in the overall population and -3.32 mm Hg in non-hypertensive subjects.ConclusionsResults from this meta-analysis show that IPP/VPP lactotripeptides can significantly reduce office SBP in Japanese subjects with or without overt hypertension, and for doses that can potentially be consumed as an everyday supplement. This suggests that these peptides could play a role in controlling blood pressure in Japanese subjects. The systematic review protocol was published on the PROSPERO register (CRD42014014322).

Multiple Rpp-gene pyramiding confers resistance to Asian soybean rust isolates that are virulent on each of the pyramided genes

Since Asian soybean rust (ASR) isolates in South America are highly virulent, diverse, and distantly related to Japanese ones, limited numbers of resistance resources are available in soybean breeding in that region. Pyramiding of available ASR resistance genes (Rpp) in a single soybean genotype may provide wider spectrum and higher level of ASR resistance to soybean. However, the desired combinations of genes conferring adequate resistance to highly virulent or distantly related ASR isolates have not yet been studied. In this study, seven pyramided lines carrying multiple Rpp genes have been developed and evaluated for their resistance against one ASR isolate from Japan and two from Brazil. Significantly higher resistance was observed in the pyramided lines, No6-12-B (Rpp4 + Rpp5), Oy49-4 (Rpp2 + Rpp3 + Rpp4), and No6-12-1 (Rpp2 + Rpp4 + Rpp5) compared to the original resistance sources, PI 230970 (Rpp2), Hyuuga (Rpp3), PI 459025 (Rpp4), and Kinoshita (Rpp5) carrying single Rpp genes. Although infection of the resistance sources with the highly virulent Brazilian ASR isolates resulted in susceptible phenotypes with moderate to abundant sporulation, highly resistant phenotypes with almost no sporulation were observed in the three Rpp-pyramided lines. Therefore, pyramided lines carrying these Rpp gene combinations are useful in soybean breeding for conferring broad spectrum, high resistance to ASR isolates that are virulent to the varieties carrying single resistance genes.

Yeats and Japan: The Dreaming of the Bones

‘Yeats and Japan: The Dreaming of the Bones’ first investigates how the Noh came to influence Yeats, then analyzes Yeats's Four Plays for Dancers, focusing on The Dreaming of the Bones, and explains how this Yeats play is adapted into a new Noh play, Hone-no-Yume, in which the places, names and situations were changed to Japanese ones. An account is then given of the latter's production. Fenolossa came to Japan with an appointment to teach Ethics and Logic at the University of Tokyo in 1987, where he studied Noh with Minoru Umewaka, a Noh master. He also translated some Noh plays with the help of his students. After his death in London, his manuscripts were handed over to Ezra Pound by his second wife, Mary, and it is through Pound that Yeats came to read them. Inspired by them Yeats wrote Four Plays for Dancers. At the Hawk’s Well was later translated into two different Noh plays by Mario Yokomichi, thus completing the circle from Japan to Ireland and back.

Business Comparison of Chinese Biggest Enterprises to Japanese Ones in Real Estate Industry

Business Comparison of Chinese Biggest Enterprises to Japanese Ones in Real Estate Industry

Genetic homogeneity between Korean and Japanese populations of the broad-leaved evergreen tree Machilus thunbergii (Lauraceae): A massive post-glacial immigration through the Korea Strait or something else?

The warm-temperate vegetation of Korea, currently limited to southern coastal areas, shifted during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) towards glacial refugia, putatively located in southern Japan. We hypothesized two scenarios of post-glacial re-colonization of warm-temperate species in relation to current levels of genetic diversity within their populations. If extant Korean populations originated from a single source (a single glacial refugium), we expect significantly lower levels of genetic diversity relative to those from Japan due to founder effects. Alternatively, if they were derived from multiple source populations, levels of genetic diversity within Korean populations will not be significantly reduced compared to those of Japanese ones. To test which of these scenarios is more likely, we investigated the patterns of genetic diversity in 14 populations (seven from southern Korea and seven from southern Japan) of the broad-leaved evergreen tree Machilus thunbergii, employing 11 allozyme loci. High levels of genetic variation in M. thunbergii were found both in southern Korea and southern Japan, with a considerable genetic homogeneity not only between the two regions but also between populations within the two regions. These results suggest a pattern of re-colonization after the LGM fitting the second scenario (immigration from multiple refugia), probably through multiple waves and/or with large founder populations.

Newspaper Reports on BSE around the Time of the Japan-US Trade Conflicts: Content Analysis of Japanese and US Dailies from 2002 to 2006

Mass media can affect how people understand and react to particular health risks. Reporting of health risks during the international trade disputes, resulting from the difference in safety regulations, therefore can play a pivotal role in resolving them. This study compared the newspaper reports on BSE-related events in major national dailies between Japan and the US around the period when BSE-infected cattle were discovered in the US and the import of US beef products was banned (between December 2002 and November 2006). During the study period, the number of BSE-related newspaper articles increased in both the US and Japan, but the visibility of the issue was more prominent and persistent in Japan than in the US. Geographically, most of the articles had a domestic focus, but they also reported the news of each trade partner. After the discovery of BSE cattle in the US, articles of commerce and trade issues were dominant in Japan, while the incidence of BSE, agriculture, and trade dominated in the US. Overall, the US-based newspapers carried more advocacy articles than the Japanese ones. In Japan, calls for stronger domestic policy decreased, but those for stronger foreign policy increased slightly. Meanwhile, in the US, calls for a stronger domestic policy increased slightly whereas those for weaker foreign policy dropped-both only temporarily. The major rationale for policy advocacy was the economy and health in both Japan and the US. However, the balance of competing policy objectives and the rational acceptance of BSE risks were argued more in the US papers than in the Japanese ones. In conclusion, during the BSE-related dispute on health and trade, the visibility and faces of the issues in newspapers differed between Japan and the US. Acceptance of BSE-related risks was argued differently, and those differences reflected and affected the public's perception of BSE issues, the related safety policies by the governments, and the configuration of social interests in each country. The differences evident in the media could serve as a vehicle for reappraising the existing policies as well as the possible international harmonization of risk management policies.

Specific muscle-tendon architecture in elite Kenyan distance runners.

The Achilles tendon moment arm (MA_AT) and foot lever ratio (FLR) can play important roles for force production and movement economy during locomotion. This notion has become more relevant, and suggestion has been given that the Kenyan runners belonging to the world elite would have specific anatomical, mechanical, and functional properties in their lower limbs and that this feature could be responsible for their high running economy. The present study aimed to characterize the AT of elite Kenyan distance runners as compared with Japanese ones, and to examine the potential relationship with their running performance. Ultrasonography was used to measure AT cross-sectional area and AT soleus and gastrocnemius lengths. MA_AT and FLR were calculated from the position of anatomical landmarks using sagittal plane photographs. MA_AT was significantly longer and the FLR lower in Kenyans than in Japanese. Independently of the group, the running performance was positively related to the MA_AT (r = 0.55, P < 0.001) and negatively to the FLR (r = -0.45, P = 0.002). These results suggest that longer MA_AT and lower FLR could be advantageous in elite Kenyan runners, by contributing to effective endurance running performance in a protective and economical way.

Doing Occidentalism in contemporary Japan: Nation anthropomorphism and sexualized parody in "Axis Powers Hetalia"

Axis Powers Hetalia (2006–present), a Japanese gag comic and animation series, depicts relations between nations personified as cute boys against a background of World War I and World War II. The stereotypical rendering of national characteristics as well as the reduction of historically charged issues into amusing quarrels between nice-looking but incompetent boys was immensely popular, especially among female audiences in Japan and Asia, and among Euro-American manga, anime, and cosplay fans, but it also met with vehement criticism. Netizens from South Korea, for example, considered the Korean character insulting and in early 2009 mounted a protest campaign that was discussed in the Korean national assembly. Hetalia's controversial success relies to a great extent on the inventive conflation of male-oriented otaku fantasies about nations, weapons, and concepts represented as cute little girls, and of female-oriented yaoi parodies of male-male intimacy between powerful "white" characters and more passive Japanese ones. This investigation of the original Hetalia by male author Hidekaz Himaruya (b. 1985) and its many adaptations in female-oriented dōjinshi (fanzine) texts and conventions (between 2009 and 2011, Hetalia was by far the most adapted work) refers to notions of interrelationality, intersectionality, and positionality in order to address hegemonic representations of "the West," the orientalized "Rest" of the world, and "Japan" in the cross-gendered and sexually parodied mediascape of Japanese transnational subcultures.

Human T-lymphotropic Virus Type I (HTLV-I) Proviral Load and Clinical Features in Iranian HAM/TSP Patients: Comparison of HTLV-I Proviral Load in HAM/TSP Patients.

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) was the first human retrovirus discovered (1), and it has been estimated that 10-20 million people worldwide are infected with HTLV-I (2). This virus is endemic in several regions of the world, such as southwestern Japan, the Caribbean basin, Central Africa, South America, the Melanesian Islands, and the Middle East (3, 4). The prevalence of HTLV-I infection in Iran (Mashhad) is estimated to be 2-3% of the entire population, and 0.7% among blood donors (5). Most of HTLV-I-infected individuals remain asymptomatic carriers (6). Whereas, small percentage of infected individuals develop the neoplastic disease adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), and the inflammatory condition HTLV-I- associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) (7). Only 5% of HTLV-I infected people develop HAM/TSP (8). HAM/TSP results in demyelination of the spinal cord and clinical manifestations of this disease include progressive muscle weakness and hyperreflexia of the lower limbs, sensory disturbance, urinary incontinence, and impotence (9-11). These symptoms are generally slowly progressive, while patients at older ages of onset show faster progression. Women are affected more frequently than men (12, 13). The precise pathophysiology of HAM/TSP is not yet clear but, previous studies suggested that both HTLV-I subgroups, host genetic and immunological factors may be associated with the development of HAM/TSP, particularly cytokine gene polymorphisms (14, 15). Proviral load is a major determinant of outcome for chronic virus infections such as HIV-1 and 2, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus. Also recent studies have suggested the important role of proviral load in the outcome of human T-lymphotropic virus-I infection (16). In patients with HAM/TSP, significantly higher proviral loads have been observed compared to asymptomatic carriers, suggesting that active HTLV-I viral replication plays a key role in the development of this disease. A recent study has shown that a high level of Tax expression and low CD8+ anti-viral efficiency are correlated with high proviral load (PVL) and HAM/TSP development (17). In a previous study the proviral load and host genetic risk factors for development of HAM/TSP between Iranian and Japanese HTLV-I infected individuals were compared, and it was found that the median HTLV-I proviral load of Iranian HAM/TSP patients was two-fold greater in HAM/TSP patients than in healthy carriers (HCs), whereas that of Japanese HAM/TSP patients was 13-fold greater than in HCs. In addition, The HTLV-I proviral load in Iranian HCs was significantly higher than Japanese HCs. These significant differences of proviral load between two populations reflect the role of genetic factors such as the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotype in populations. In this study the Iranian genome DNA samples were extracted from the whole blood but Japanese samples were from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The Iranian proviral load was probably underestimated in comparison with Japanese ones (18). The aim of this study was to evaluate the proviral load and clinical manifestation of HAM/TSP among Iranian to compare with other endemic parts of the world.

A Cultural Comparison of Conflict-Solution Styles Displayed in the Japanese, French, and German School Texts

The purpose of this study is to examine the ways how to solve the conflicts between parents and children by statistical analyses displayed in Japanese, French, and German school texts published in 2000. The results were as follows: (1) Japanese parents and children acting in those texts have much more compromising tendency to avoid conflicts than French and German ones. Japanese children are much more expected to behave in harmony with others by avoidance of any conflicts, whereas French and German ones by presenting their opinions for their solution; and (2) French and German parents and children use a much more verbal communication style than Japanese ones do. Those children are expected to express their own opinions much more than Japanese children. These results show that the solution styles of parent-child conflicts would be an interesting indicator reflecting culture and society.

일본 원전사고가 우리나라 소비자의 국내산 수산물 선호에 미친 영향

The purpose of this study lies in analyzing the effects of Fukushima nuclear plant incident, due to the earthquake in the northeastern part of Japan, on South Korean consumers'responses to domestic marine products. Survey results show that the response to the event by all consumers is not significant, but not by individual consumer. Empirical results show that if consumers are relatively more interested in health issues, if they consume mollusca relatively more among marine products and if they are with children under the age of 14, they increased the consumption of domestic marine products while decreased that of Japanese seafood. On the contrary, if consumers take shellfish products relatively more among seafood, they reduced the consumption of domestic marine products as well as Japanese ones.

What Japanese semiconductor enterprises can learn from the asset-light business model for sustainable competitive advantage

Over the two decades 1990–2010, Japanese companies’ overall share of the semiconductor market dropped sharply from 46 to just 20 per cent. During this period, the business models of many semiconductor companies around the world evolved to help them achieve their goals of improving operating performance and gaining market share. It is important for semiconductor companies, especially Japanese ones, to understand how the business models they adopted affected their companies’ sustainable competitive advantages. In this article, the operating efficiencies of 50 leading semiconductor companies were explored using a non-parametric frontier method – data envelopment analysis (DEA). The analysis showed that as capital investment rose in the competitive semiconductor industry, more and more semiconductor integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) have benefited from partnering with contract foundry companies and are moving towards a business model based on asset-light or pure manufacturing outsourcing (PMO), resulting in better operating performance and efficiency. The superior business models adopted by more successful IDMs could be benchmarks for other firms and applicable for Japanese semiconductor enterprises in particular. The Japanese semiconductor industry could learn from a well-crafted asset-light business model to refocus on their core competences, and hence rise again.

The Comparison of the Effect of Three Commercial Soybean Meal Samples (Iranian, Argentinean and Brazilian) on Performance and Internal Organs Weight of Japanese Quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) and Conducting Urease Test for These Soybeans

This experiment was carried out to compare and evaluate three commercial soybean meal samples (Iranian, Argentinean and Brazilian) and their effects on Body Weight Gain (BWG), Feed Intake (FI), Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) and visceral organs weight (carcass, liver, pancreas, spleen and heart as percentage of live body weight) of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica). A completely randomized design was used with three treatments and four replicates and in each, 20 parts were designed. Test treatments include: 1) basal diet + Iranian soybean meal, 2) basal diet + Argentinean soybean meal, 3) basal diet + Brazilian soybean meal. Raising duration was 42 days. Urease test was done on three soybean meal samples before test while results were negative. Also, results of using three commercial soybean samples showed no effect on body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, carcass, heart, liver and spleen weight in Japanese ones but results revealed that soybean samples have had significant effect on pancreas weight.

Determination of Phenolic Compounds in Adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) Germplasm

The aim of this study was to evaluate 30 phenolic compounds in adzuki bean germplasm. Adzuki 21653 had the highest content of total phenolics compounds (<TEX>$6597\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX>) while 104372 had the lowest concentration. The average total phenolic content of Japanese (<TEX>$2432\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX>) adzuki beans was higher than that of Korean (<TEX>$2256\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX>) adzuki beans. The average total phenolic contents were <TEX>$2507\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX> in small sized adzuki beans from Japan and <TEX>$2459\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX> in those from Korea. In large sized adzuki beans, the average total phenolic contents were <TEX>$1315\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX> in Japanese seeds and <TEX>$1232\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX> in Korean seeds. The average total phenolic contents in medium seeds were <TEX>$2369\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX> in Japanese adzuki beans and <TEX>$1397\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX> in Korean ones. In small seeds, the total phenolic contents of adzuki beans varied from <TEX>$524\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX> to <TEX>$6597\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX> in Japanese ones and from <TEX>$375\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX> to <TEX>$6569\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX> in Korean ones. Japanese and Korean adzuki beans were divided into landraces and wild adzuki beans. In this study, the wild adzuki beans showed higher contents of total phenolics than the native varieties. Specifically, the wild adzuki beans from Korea had the highest concentration of phenolics (<TEX>$3403\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX>). All adzuki bean germplasms were measured for their color and were classified into four groups accordingly: A; L < 30, +a, +b; B; L < 30, +a, -b, C; L > 50, +a, +b, D; L > 50, +a, -b. Especially, group B had the highest concentration of total phenolic compounds (<TEX>$2827\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX>), whereas group C had the lowest concentration (<TEX>$1882\;{\mu}g\;g^{-1}$</TEX>).

Trends in motor vehicle crash mortality in Europe, 1980–2007

Recent trends (1980–2007) in mortality from road traffic crashes in European countries, and, for comparative purposes, in the USA and Japan were reviewed. Data came from the World Health Organisation database. Age-standardised rates, at all ages and at 15–24, 25–64, ⩾65years, were computed. Joinpoint regression analyses to evaluate significant changes in trends were performed. In the European Union as a whole rates declined from 20.2 in 1987 to 13.5/100,000 in 2007 in men, and from 6.3 to 3.7/100,000 in women; European Union rates remained lower than USA, but higher than Japanese ones. In 2007, the highest male rates were in Lithuania (36.7/100,000), the Russian Federation (35.2), Ukraine (29.8), and Latvia (28.5), and the lowest ones in the Netherlands (6.2) and Sweden (6.9); the highest female rates were in the Russian Federation (11.3), Lithuania (9.7), Belarus, Latvia, and Ukraine (around 8), and the lowest ones in Switzerland (1.7), the UK, and Nordic countries (around 2). Mortality from motor vehicle crashes declined in northern and western European countries and – though to a lesser extent – in southern European countries, too. Mortality trends were also favourable in the Czech Republic and Poland since the mid 1990’s, whereas they were still upwards in Romania and the Russian Federation. No trend was observed in Hungary and Ukraine. Trends were consistent in various age groups considered. Thus, additional urgent and integrated intervention is required to prevent avoidable deaths from motor vehicle crashes, particularly in selected central and eastern European countries.

Difference in cultivation characteristics and genetic polymorphism between Chinese and Japanese strains of Wolfiporia cocos Ryvarden et Gilbertson (Poria cocos Wolf)

Poria, a dried sclerotium of Wolfiporia cocos Ryvarden et Gilbertson (Polyporaceae) has been used as a crude drug in both Chinese and Japanese (Kampo) traditional medicines. Recently, cultivated products of Chinese Poria strains have accounted for most of the market, while the cultivation of Japanese Poria strains has not been successful. Aiming to determine the relationship between the differences in cultivation characteristics and genetic polymorphism, we conducted a field cultivation experiment, a rot test, and rapid amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis of Poria strains collected from China and Japan: 3 Chinese and 7 Japanese strains. In field cultivation, although there was no marked inferiority of Japanese strains to Chinese ones in either mycelium propagation or the rate of sclerotium formation, Chinese strains formed whiter sclerotia with a mean size more than twice that of Japanese ones. Representatives of Chinese and Japanese strains, Yunnan and Kaimondake, respectively, were tested for wood-rotting ability. More wood was utilized and the wood color was darker in trials of the Yunnan strain. Amplifications of total DNA of these 10 fungal strains with 2 primers, PC-6 and PC-11, in RAPD analysis showed a difference in the amplicon profile between Japanese and Chinese strains, suggesting differences in their genetic background.

A knowledge cards classification method with conversion loss correction for incomplete translation dictionary

AbstractThis paper discusses a classification method on knowledge cards including Japanese and Chinese description in offshore software development company. On the basis of the existing classification system of Japanese questionnaire cards for market analysis, our proposed method extends its architecture with two parameters in addition to a terminology dictionary for translating Chinese words to Japanese ones as to Chinese knowledge cards. These two parameters are intended to compensate conversion error when using incomplete Chinese–Japanese translation dictionary. Two experimental results show that our method achieved better classification than that of hand‐translated Japanese cards of Chinese cards. We also discuss the causes of wrong classification. © 2011 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley &amp; Sons, Inc.

Cultural distance and internationalization: the world's largest food and drink multinationals

The authors analyze the expansion of the world's largest food and beverage multinational enterprises (hereafter, F & B MNEs) over 1996–2002 using a database that provides detailed information on the location and activities of more than 8,000 affiliates. The research provides abundant empirical support to the view that F & B MNEs operate on a worldwide scale and although their share of foreign to total affiliates is lower than in the average MNE they have a wide country spread. The great physical dispersion of the F & B MNEs' assets, however, does not necessarily imply expansion to cultural distant areas. World leaders in this industry are more likely to expand their operations to countries that display cultural characteristics similar to those of the home country. The authors observe differences concerning cultural distance among different companies. Western F & B MNEs seem more culturally rooted than Japanese ones, probably owing to differences in the product mix and the activities developed by the companies. A comparison of 1996, 2000, and 2002 data shows that F & B MNEs are gradually expanding to increasingly unfamiliar environments. Complementary analysis of 3,507 M&A operations involving the sampled MNEs between 1987 and 2003 confirms these findings. [Econ Lit classification: F230, L660, M210]. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Identifications of polyphyletic variants in acute hepatitis suggest an underdiagnosed circulation of hepatitis E virus in Argentina

Background In recent years, an increasing number of infections with genotype 3 hepatitis E virus (HEV) have been reported in western countries. Data in South America, however, are still scarce. Swine and human variants previously described in Argentina are closely related to a human Austrian one. Objective To identify whether HEV is still circulating in Argentina. Study design Sera and stool samples from adults and children with unexplained acute liver disease referred to our center during the last six years were prospectively studied. Dual infection with hepatitis A was retrospectively studied in a group of children with fulminant hepatic failure. Results Fifteen new cases (13 adults and 2 children), seven of whom required hospitalization, were diagnosed. Nine had detectable HEV RNA, and one had imported genotype 1. Subgenotype 3i HEV-related variants are still circulating. Five autochthonous sequences, related to European, American and Japanese ones, grouped in subgenotype 3a. One case had a subgenotype 3b variant. Discussion The polyphyletic variants widespread in Argentina suggest multiple sources of infection. Whether or not their reservoir is swine merits further investigation. Since hepatitis E is still considered rare, differential laboratory testing in unexplained acute liver disease is not routinely performed in Argentina. Broadening awareness of this disease is important in light of the decrease in hepatitis A incidence since universal vaccination was implemented in 2005. The diagnosis of hepatitis E with a combination of serological and molecular tools is needed to better understand its epidemiology and impact on the clinical management of patients with unexplained increased transaminases.