Kansai District In Japan Research Articles

Differential efficacy of TNF inhibitors with or without the immunoglobulin fragment crystallizable (Fc) portion in rheumatoid arthritis: the ANSWER cohort study.

Rheumatoid factor (RF) binds to the fragment crystallizable (Fc) portion of immunoglobulin. It could bind to the Fc portion of anti-TNF inhibitors (TNFi) and attenuate the clinical efficacy. We tried to determine whether the therapeutic efficacy of TNFi with Fc might be lower than that of TNFi without Fc in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with high titres of RF. The Kansai Consortium for Well-being of Rheumatic Disease Patients (ANSWER) cohort is an observational multi-center registry of patients with RA in the Kansai district of Japan. RA patients treated with TNFi were included and divided into two groups based on the structural characteristics between TNFi with Fc (infliximab, adalimumab, golimumab, and etanercept) and TNFi without Fc (certolizumab pegol). Patients were classified into 4 groups according to RF titre quartiles. The sequential disease activity score in 28 joints using erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR) was compared by Mann-Whitney U test between TNFi with and without Fc in each RF titre group. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze the effect of TNFi without Fc for the change of DAS28-ESR adjusted after potential confounders. A total of 705 RA patients were classified into four groups (RF1; RF 0-15.0IU/mL, RF2; 15.0-55.0, RF3; 55.0-166, RF4; 166-7555). In RF4, RA patients treated with TNFi without Fc had a significantly lower DAS28-ESR than those treated with TNFi with Fc [3.2 (2.3-4.2) vs. 2.7 (2.0-3.0)] after 12months. This effect of TNFi without Fc for the change of DAS28-ESR after 12months treatment retained in multivariate analysis in RF4. TNFi without Fc may be more efficacious than TNFi with Fc in RA patients with high RF titres.

A multicenter study of transient global amnesia for the better detection of magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities

The detection rate of diffusion-weighted (DWI) hyperintense lesions varies widely in patients with transient global amnesia (TGA). The aim was to examine the association of hyperintense lesions on DWI magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with patient characteristics, precipitating factors, clinical presentation and MRI settings in patients with TGA. In this multicenter retrospective observational study, using the standardized diagnosis entry system of electronic health records of four tertiary medical centers in the Kansai district of Japan, TGA patients (n=261) who underwent brain MRI within 28days of onset were examined. When the onset time was unavailable, the discovery time was used. Diffusion-weighted hyperintense lesions were observed in 79 patients (30%). There were no significant differences in age, sex, vascular risk factors, precipitating factors or clinical presentation between patients with and without DWI lesions. The detection rate increased linearly 24h after onset and then reached a plateau of 60%-80% by 84h. After 84h, the detection rate decreased rapidly. In a multivariate logistic regression model, MRI examination 24-84h after onset (odds ratio 7.00, 95% confidence interval 3.50-13.99) and a thin-slice (≤3mm) DWI sequence (odds ratio 7.59, 95% confidence interval 3.05-18.88) were independent predictors of DWI lesions. This study suggests that DWI hyperintense lesions in TGA are not associated with patient characteristics and clinical presentation. Brain MRI examination 24-84h after onset and thin-slice DWI sequences enhance the detection of DWI lesions in TGA patients.

Distribution of Anticancer Drugs in River Waters and Sediments of the Yodo River Basin, Japan

This article reviews the pollution status of anticancer drugs present in the Yodo River basin located in the Kansai district of Japan, covering both the soluble and insoluble (adsorbed on the river sediments and suspended solids) levels. Procedures ranging from sampling in the field and instrumental analytical methods to the data processing for mass balance estimation of the target basin are also described. All anticancer drugs concerned with this article were detected in sewage and river waters, where the presence of bicalutamide (BLT) was identified at considerably high concentrations (maximum 254 ng/L in the main stream, 151 ng/L in tributaries, and 1032 ng/L in sewage treatment plant (STP) effluents). In addition, sorption distribution coefficient (logKd) values showed a tendency to become higher in the silty sediments at Suita Bridge than in the sandy sediments at Hirakata Bridge; these trends were supported by the results of the laboratory-scale sorption experiment. STPs were concluded to be the main sources of the anticancer drug load in the river, and a mass flux evaluation revealed that the effect of attenuation in the river environment was small. The effectiveness of ozonation in the sewage treatment process for removal of these anticancer drugs was further confirmed. The present article should be of value for facilitating the environmental risk assessment of a wide range of drugs in a broader geographical area.

Development of Environmentally Friendly Farming in Kansai District of Japan

Development of Environmentally Friendly Farming in Kansai District of Japan

S192023 大阪工業大学・超小型人工衛星プロイテレスのシステム設計と構造系開発([S19202]小型宇宙システム(2))

The 15kg-class nano-satellite "PROITERES" (The Project of Osaka Institute of Technology Electric-Rocket-Engine onboard Small Space Ship) with electrothermal pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs) and high resolution camera is being developed in Osaka Institute of Technology. The mission of this satellite is powered flight of nano-satellite by PPTs in orbital and observation of Kansai district in Japan with a high-resolution camera. PROITERES will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (India) to the sun-synchronous orbit of 670 km in 2011.We developed Flight Model (FM) of the satellite, including electrothermal PPT system, high-resolution camera system, onboard computer system, communication system and grand station, electric power system, attitude control system etc, in 2010-2011. In this paper, we report all systems of PROITERES and its structure.

S1901-1-6 大阪工業大学・電気推進ロケットエンジン搭載超小型人工衛星プロイテレスの開発(小型宇宙システム(1),社会変革を技術で廻す機械工学)

The Project of Osaka Institute of Technology Electric-Rocket-Engine onboard Small Space Ship (PROITERES) was started at Osaka Institute of Technology in 2007. In PROITERES, a nano-satellite with electrothermal pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs) will be launched in 2010. The main mission is to achieve powered flight of nano-satellite by an electric thruster and to observe Kansai district in Japan with a high-resolution camera. The flight model of the satellite was successfully developed, and the satellite FM was under final test.

DEVELOPMENTAL FEATURES OF PRESENT-DAY CHILDREN IN JAPAN

Objectives: We tried to investigate the changes in developmental features of children between present-day and 20 years ago in Kansai district of Japan. Methods: We used the materials, which we collected for standardization of testing procedure (Kyoto Scale of Psychological Development) in 1983 and 2001. The data were individual assessments for 811 children in 1983 and 1115 children in 2001, aged 1–6 years old. The test consists of the postural-motor areas of 8 items, cognitive-adaptive areas of 54 items and language-social areas of 37 items. To analyze the change, we compared the '50%-passing ages' of each item between the data of 1983 and 2001. The '50%-passing ages' are conducted through data and mean the provable age (months) which 50% of children would satisfy requirements. Results: Comparing the 50%-passing ages of each item, the 2001 result came with more items than the 1983 result, in which the passing ages have delayed. It means that development of children has become slow. Most of delayed items belong to the cognitive-adaptive areas and the language-social areas. In many items of drawing pictures, the 50%-passing ages delayed especially; 'Copying square', 'Copying triangle' and 'Copying diamond' delayed about 6 months, 8 months and 11 months respectively. A few item showed acceleration, 'Naming 4 colors' advanced about 9 months. Conclusions: Before this investigation we thought that the developmental tendency of present-day children has been accelerating, because of the progress of early-age education. But these results indicate that the developmental tendency has delayed recently. Further more study is needed from now on.

An extensive outbreak of staphylococcal food poisoning due to low-fat milk in Japan: estimation of enterotoxin A in the incriminated milk and powdered skim milk

An extensive outbreak of staphylococcal food poisoning occurred in Kansai district in Japan. As many as 13,420 cases frequently ingested dairy products manufactured by a factory in Osaka City. The main ingredient of these dairy products was powdered skim milk manufactured by a factory in Hokkaido. Staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) (< or = 0.38 ng/ml) was detected in low-fat milk and approx. 3.7 ng/g in powdered skim milk. The total intake of SEA per capita was estimated mostly at approx. 20-100 ng. The assumed attack rate was considerably lower than those reported in previous outbreaks. SEA exposed at least twice to pasteurization at 130 degrees C for 4 or 2 s retained both immunological and biological activities, although it had been partially inactivated. The present outbreak was unusual in that the thermal processes had destroyed staphylococci in milk but SEA had retained enough activity to cause intoxication.

Clonal association of Staphylococcus aureus causing bullous impetigo and the emergence of new methicillin-resistant clonal groups in Kansai district in Japan.

A molecular epidemiological analysis was performed to reveal the clonal association of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from patients with bullous impetigo. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis with cluster analysis, genetic and phenotypic characterizations, and antimicrobial susceptibility profiling of 88 S. aureus strains isolated from outpatients at 4 hospitals in the Kansai district in Japan were undertaken. Three distinct clonal groups were identified: 2 of them carried the exfoliative toxin (ET) A gene (eta), and the other carried the ETB gene (etb). The former groups represent 2 eta-positive clonal groups that have not been described previously. All the strains in the more dominant eta-positive clonal group and some of the strains in the etb-positive clonal group were methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) showing borderline-to-moderate resistance to beta-lactams. These MRSA strains appear to be emerging clonal groups that have not been considered in previous epidemiological studies of ET-producing S. aureus in Japan and thus pose a significant threat for future treatment of patients with bullous impetigo and/or staphylococcal scalded-skin syndrome.

Clinical and biochemical presentation of primary hyperparathyroidism in Kansai district of Japan.

Although the number of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) has increased since biochemical screening came to be widely employed, few data are available concerning the clinical analysis of Japanese patients. We therefore tried to determine the recent clinical and biochemical state of Japanese patients with pHPT. Clinical and biochemical data were analyzed in a series of 103 pHPT patients who had been hospitalized in Kobe University Hospital during a 17 year period from 1979 to 1995. The data were obtained from the hospital records and additionally from information through questionnaires performed in 1995. Patients were 29 males and 74 females. The average ages at diagnosis were 53.4 +/- 16.0 (SD) year-old and 53.9 +/- 15.2 year-old, respectively. The major clinical symptoms were nephrolithiasis (35.9%), thirst/polyuria (33.0%), easy fatigability (20.4%) and back pain/lumbago (16.5%), but 19.4% of the patients were asymptomatic. Out of 87 cases who received parathyroidectomy, 10 (11.5%) were diagnosed with parathyroid carcinoma. Age- and sex-corrected bone mineral density (BMD) of the radius was significantly lower in the group with back pain/lumbago than in the group without the symptom. Similarly, radial BMD was lower in the group with a high serum alkaline phosphatase value. Patients with nephrolithiasis had a lower urinary calcium/creatinine ratio (UCa/ UCr; 0.305 +/- 0.188 mg/mg) than the patients without nephrolithiasis (0.400 +/- 0.160 mg/mg). This inconsistent result suggests that some important factors except urinary calcium would contribute to urinary stone formation in pHPT. Our data mostly agreed with previous reports on a Caucasian population except for a relatively high prevalence of parathyroid carcinoma, but the negative correlation between nephrolithiasis and urinary calcium was not easily explicable. This finding should be confirmed by analyzing a larger number of cases.

大阪湾における懸濁粒子の堆積過程

A metrologied survey and observation of the sedimentation distribution and the structure of the particulate matters (suspended particles) in the Osaka Bay has been made. Relatively high sedimentation rates were noticed around the central part of the bay rather than in the inner part of the bay where a large amount of the particulate matters are incessantly supplied from the Yodo River, one of the largest rivers in the Kansai District in Japan. From the estimation of mass balance for particulate matters in the bay, it is explained that 77% of the total yearly sedimental load is comprised of the particulate matters supplied by non-stationary phenomena including floods. It is imagined that the sedimentation rate is governed by such a large amount of the particulate matters and also imagined that the distribution of the sedimentation is likewise governed by an tidal current upon the behavior of river-forced estuarine plumes, which is remarkably different from a steady state tidal current. Very few difference of the organic carbons and heavy metal elements is exhibited in the total sedimental load in the central part of the bay or in the western seacoast district where the concentration of these elements is not so high and in the head of the bay where the concentration is very high. That is to say, it is indicated that these elements loaded in the bottom of the Osaka Bay spread in the whole area of the bay and are accumulated as sediments. With these facts, there is a possibility that erroneous judgment will be made when the transportation mechanism of the matters is considered. It is implied that the information concerning the sedimentation rate should concurrently be considered.

Intracytoplasmic Hepatitis B Surface Antigen and fiver Cell Dysplasia in 107 Autopsy Cases of Primary Carcinoma and Cirrhosis of the Livers in Kansai District of Japan

Intracytoplasmic Hepatitis B Surface Antigen and fiver Cell Dysplasia in 107 Autopsy Cases of Primary Carcinoma and Cirrhosis of the Livers in Kansai District of Japan

On the Causal Substance to Chick Blindness Occured in Kansai District of Japan

Since August in 1966, many blind chicks have been observed collectly in several areas of Kansai District in Japan. This study was conducted to establish the causal factor to chick blindness through five feeding experiments.Principal results obtained were as follows;1) Chick blindnss could be occured experimentally by the feeding with chick ration which was given to blind chicks in field condition. This result suggested that the cause of blindness should be exist in the ration given to chicks.2) Chich blindness occured experimentally by the supplement of fish meal which was mixed to the ration caused to the chick blindness in field condition. This fish meal contained the many white particles involved high level of nitrogen.3) As we could get a high nitrogen substance (M) that was considered to be mixed by a fish meal maker in order to elevate the nitrogen content of fish meal, the effects of M supplement to the chick ration were examined. Above 1.5% of M supplement to the ration resulted the occurance of blindness. Percent of chicks in blindness was provoked as to increase the level of M supplement, and all chicks were blind when 10% of M added to the ration.4) By the difference of specific gravity, M substance was divided into five portions (A, B, C, D, E). According to the microscopic observation, A, C and E consisted of relatively pure and homozygous substance respectively while B and D contained several different substances. Supplements of A, C and E to chick ration resulted experimentally that only C provokd the occurance of blindness. From the results of studies of infrared spectrum and column spectrography, it was suggested that major constituent of C portion might be ammeline.5) The experimental results of supplements of ammeline and other several cyanide compounds to chick ration showed that only ammeline provoked the occurance of blindness. The clinical symptoms and gross finding of retina of blind chicks suffered by ammeline supplement were almost same with those of the ones observed in field condition.6) From the above results, it was concluded that chick blindness occured in Kansal District since 1966 might be caused by the feeding of ration mixed with with the fish meal which included ammeline.