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Background: This study aims to determine the extent to which preschool teachers and childcare workers are aware of the presence of developmental problems among children and to what extent they share information with parents about their concerns regarding a child's development or diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Methods: We wrote to all 924 preschools and childcare centres in Japan's Nagano and Yamanashi prefectures to request participants. We then sent survey forms to the preschools and childcare centres that agreed to cooperate for three grades comprising 3‐, 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds in the school year 2020. We asked the staff member in charge of each child to complete the survey. The survey included questions about the teacher's concerns regarding the possibility of an NDD and whether the matter had been shared with the children's parents. Results: We obtained data for 10 354 children from 206 preschools and childcare centres (response rate = 22.3%). Among these children, 457 (4.4%) had an NDD diagnosis that their parents shared with the teachers. However, the teachers of 1274 children (12.3%) had concerns regarding their development but were not informed by the parents about the diagnosis, if any. These 1274 children included 775 (60.8%) cases where the teachers failed to share their concerns with parents because (1) the teachers could not communicate with parents (n = 119), (2) the teachers were not sure if there was a neurodevelopmental problem (n = 360) and (3) the parents were not aware of the problem (n = 296). Conclusions: Preschool teachers and childcare workers had concerns about the development of a substantial proportion of children in their charge. However, teachers and childcare workers did not share their concerns regarding many children's developmental problems with their parents. The findings suggest that there are challenges in information‐sharing between teachers/childcare workers and parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pathogenesis of anti-pituitary-specific transcription factor-1 (PIT-1) hypophysitis was gradually revealed as cases emerged. Our comprehensive analysis, including all reported cases, identified a new instance of anti-PIT-1 hypophysitis postimmune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. All 9 patients exhibited extremely low growth hormone (GH), prolactin (PRL), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels; 2 had a slightly atrophic pituitary gland; 4 had thymoma, and 5 had malignant neoplasms of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and other origins. Patients with thymoma showed multiple autoimmune diseases. HLA-A*24:02 and/or A*02:06 were present in six and DR53 in 5 cases analyzed. High anti-PIT-1 antibody titers and ectopic PIT-1 expression in the cytosol and nucleus of the tumor tissues were observed in patients with thymoma or DLBCL, whereas it was exclusively observed in the nuclei of a bladder cancer patient. These findings provide new insights into the pathophysiology of paraneoplastic autoimmune hypophysitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the flow of the nutrients iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and copper (Cu) during rice seed germination, we performed microarray analysis to examine the expression of genes involved in metal transport. Many kinds of metal transporter genes were strongly expressed and their expression levels changed during rice seed germination. Furthermore, imaging of the distribution of elements (Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu) was carried out using Synchrotron-based X-ray microfluorescence at the Super Photon ring-8 GeV (SPring-8) facility. The change in the distribution of each element in the seeds following germination was observed by in vivo monitoring. Iron, Mn, Zn, and Cu accumulated in the endosperm and embryos of rice seeds, and their distribution changed during rice seed germination. The change in the patterns of mineral localization during germination was different among the elements observed.

Iron is essential for most living organisms and is required for normal plant growth. Plants induce iron utilization systems under conditions of low iron availability, but the molecular mechanisms of this gene regulation system remain largely unknown. We identified the rice transcription factor IDEF1, which specifically binds the iron-deficiency-responsive cis-acting element IDE1. IDEF1 belongs to an uncharacterized branch of the plant-specific transcription factor family ABI3/VP1 and efficiently binds to the CATGC sequence within IDE1. IDEF1 transcripts are constitutively present in rice roots and leaves. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing IDEF1 under the control of the constitutive cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter transactivate IDE1-mediated expression only in iron-deficient roots. Transgenic rice plants expressing IDEF1 under the control of the iron-deficiency-inducible IDS2 promoter tolerate iron deficiency in hydroponic culture and calcareous soil. Conversely, transgenic rice plants with repressed IDEF1 expression are susceptible to early stage iron deficiency in hydroponic culture. Expression analysis of these transgenic plants revealed that IDEF1 positively regulates iron-deficiency-induced genes, including the ferrous iron transporter gene OsIRT1 and the iron-deficiency-induced transcription factor gene OsIRO2. These data suggest the presence of a sequential gene regulatory network that functions via novel cis element/trans factor interactions to promote the iron-deficiency response.

A highly sensitive quantitative method for assaying nicotianamine (NA) and 2'-deoxymugineic acid (DMA) using liquid chromatography electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-TOF-MS) was developed. This method requires fewer sample preparation steps than high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The amino and hydroxyl groups of NA and DMA were derivatized using 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl chloride, which improved their retention on a C18 reversed-phase column and facilitated separation. The amounts of NA and DMA in 10 μl of xylem sap from rice cultivated under Fe-sufficient and Fe-deficient conditions were quantified without concentration. In Fe-sufficient plants, the concentrations of NA and DMA were almost equal to that of Fe. In Fe-deficient plants, the concentration of NA did not change significantly, whereas that of DMA increased markedly.

Iron (Fe) is essential for most living organisms, and thus Fe deficiency poses a major abiotic stress in crop production. Plants induce Fe utilization systems under conditions of low-Fe availability, but the molecular mechanisms of gene regulation under Fe deficiency remain largely unknown. We identified a novel transcription factor in rice and barley, IDEF2, which specifically binds to the Fe deficiency-responsive cis-acting element 2 (IDE2), using yeast one-hybrid screening. IDEF2 belongs to an uncharacterized branch of the NAC transcription factor family and exhibits novel properties of sequence recognition. An electrophoretic mobility shift assay and cyclic amplification and selection of targets (CASTing) experiment revealed that IDEF2 predominantly recognizes CA[A/C]G[T/C][T/C/A][T/C/A] within IDE2 as the core binding site. IDEF2 transcripts are constitutively present in rice roots and leaves. Repression of the function of IDEF2 by RNA interference (RNAi) and chimeric repressor gene-silencing technology (CRES-T) caused aberrant Fe distribution between shoots and roots in rice grown hydroponically under Fe-sufficient or deficient conditions. These results reveal novel cis-element/trans-factor interactions that are functionally associated with iron homeostasis.