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To elucidate the relevance of gut dysbiosis in Parkinson’s disease (PD) in disease progression, we made random forest models to predict the progression of PD in two years by gut microbiota in 165 PD patients. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) of gut microbiota-based models for Hoehn & Yahr (HY) stages 1 and 2 were 0.799 and 0.705, respectively. Similarly, gut microbiota predicted the progression of Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) III scores in an early stage of PD with AUROC = 0.728. Decreases of short-chain fatty acid-producing genera, Fusicatenibacter, Faecalibacterium, and Blautia, as well as an increase of mucin-degrading genus Akkermansia, predicted accelerated disease progression. The four genera remained unchanged in two years in PD, indicating that the taxonomic changes were not the consequences of disease progression. PD patients with marked gut dysbiosis may thus be destined to progress faster than those without gut dysbiosis.

Cutting-edge technologies such as genome editing and synthetic biology allow us to produce novel foods and functional proteins. However, their toxicity and allergenicity must be accurately evaluated. Allergic reactions are caused by specific amino-acid sequences in proteins (Allergen Specific Patterns, ASPs), of which, many remain undiscovered. In this study, we introduce a data-driven approach and a machine-learning (ML) method to find undiscovered ASPs. The proposed method enables an exhaustive search for amino-acid sub-sequences whose frequencies are statistically significantly higher in allergenic proteins. As a proof-of-concept (PoC), we created a database containing 21,154 proteins of which the presence or absence allergic reactions are already known, and the proposed method was applied to the database. The detected ASPs in the PoC study were consistent with known biological findings, and the allergenicity prediction accuracy using the detected ASPs was higher than extant approaches.TeaserWe propose a computational method for finding statistically significant allergen-specific amino-acid sequences in proteins.

IoT-based measurement systems for manufacturing have been widely implemented. As components that can be implemented at low cost, BLE beacons have been used in several systems developed in previous research. In this work, we focus on the Kanban system, which is a measure used in manufacturing strategy. The Kanban system emphasizes inventory management and is used to produce only required amounts. In the Kanban system, the Kanban cards are rotated through the factory along with the products, and when the products change to a different process route, the Kanban card is removed from the products and the products are assigned to another Kanban. For this reason, a single Kanban cannot trace products from plan to completion. In this work, we propose a system that uses a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon to connect Kanbans in different routes but assigned to the same products. The proposed method estimates the beacon status of whether the Kanban is inside or outside a postbox, which can then be computed by a micro controller at low computational cost. In addition, the system connects the Kanbans using the beacons as paired connection targets. In an experiment, we confirmed that the system connected 70% of the beacons accurately. We also confirmed that the system could connect the Kanbans at a small implementation cost.

Canine induced pluripotent stem cells (ciPSCs) provide a platform for regenerative veterinary medicine, disease modeling, and drug discovery. However, in the conventional method, ciPSCs are maintained using chemically-undefined media containing unknown animal components under on-murine embryonic fibroblast feeder conditions, which were reported to modify cell surface of iPSCs and increases the risk of immune rejection when the cells are transplanted into patients. Moreover, in the conventional method, ciPSCs are mechanically passaged, which requires much time and effort. Therefore, the large-scale expansion of ciPSCs is difficult, which should be resolved for using ciPSCs in clinical application and research. Here, it was shown that StemFit® AK02N and iMatrix-511 could maintain the pluripotency of ciPSCs using conventional culture method. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the feeder-free and chemically-defined ciPSC culture systems using StemFit® AK02N and iMatrix-511 could stably maintain and allow the easy expansion of ciPSCs generated using N2B27 and StemFit® AK02N, without causing karyotype abnormalities. ciPSCs expressed several pluripotency markers and formed teratomas, including cells derived from three germ layers.

Reported data on the diversity and physiological capabilities of fungi inhabiting ice-free outcrops of continental Antarctica are limited. The present study aimed at investigating the occurrence of fungi on fragments of microbial mats on the lakeshore and lake water and compared it with fungal occurrence on terrestrial moss, using a culture-dependent method. Another purpose was to evaluate the responses of hyphal growth to temperature and the profiles of substrate utilization of fungal isolates under pure culture conditions. A total of 46 fungal isolates were obtained and grouped into eight taxa, with Phoma herbarum being the most frequent taxon, the occurrence of which was closely related to the nitrogen level of the substrata. The colony diameter growth rates of most fungal isolates under pure culture conditions increased linearly with temperature to reach the maximum at 20–25 °C, indicating that these fungi were mesophilic. Moreover, fungal isolates exhibited diversity and redundancy in their utilization of 71 carbon sources, having potentials to utilize an array of substrates including sugars, sugar alcohols, hexose-phosphates, amino acids, hexose acids, and carboxylic acids.

This article presents a numerically stable explicit time-domain finite element method (TD-FEM) for room acoustic simulation using an equivalent impedance model. Performance over a conventional explicit TD-FEM is demonstrated using numerical experiments. Both explicit TD-FEMs were based on simultaneous first-order ordinary differential equations. The conventional method has a stability problem derived from backward difference approximation of time derivative of sound pressure related to a dissipation term for treating absorption at a boundary. The numerically stable explicit TD-FEM avoids the stability problem through the combined use of first-order forward and backward difference approximation. A completely explicit algorithm is obtainable using a lumped dissipation matrix. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed explicit TD-FEM is stable for changing impedance values at boundary surfaces. In addition, numerical dissipation and dispersion error analyses revealed that both explicit TD-FEMs have small dissipation error. Moreover, the proposed method has slightly lower accuracy than the conventional explicit TDFEM. However, the proposed method is computationally more efficient than the conventional method for acoustics simulation of rooms with smaller impedance values at boundaries.

Recent wave-based room acoustic simulations in the time domain can incorporate frequency-dependent absorbing boundary conditions (BCs), by which time responses including a broad frequency component are calculable with a single computational run. However, their performance over the frequency-domain method remains poorly understood. This paper presents a discussion of the capabilities of a recently developed implicit time-domain finite element method (TD-FEM) for room acoustics simulation by comparison with a fourth-order accurate frequency-domain FEM (FD-FEM). First, the implicit TD-FEM accuracy is examined via an impedance tube problem, having frequency-dependent absorbing BCs at the tube end, where a specific acoustic admittance ratio of rigidly backed porous sound absorbers is imposed. Results indicate that the implicit TD-FEM has the same solution convergence rate as that of FD-FEM. The solution converges to the FD-FEM solution when using a sufficiently small time interval. A performance comparison of both methods is then made using two real-scale 2D room acoustic problems in an office room and a complexly shaped concert hall. Numerical results show that the implicit TD-FEM can be useful for acoustic simulation in practical-sized rooms at broad frequency ranges with markedly smaller computational costs than those of FD-FEM while maintaining similar accuracy.

We report here a manganese-catalyzed C–H methylation reaction of considerable substrate scope, using MeMgBr, a catalytic amount of MnCl2·2LiCl, and an organic dihalide oxidant. The reaction features ambient temperature, low catalyst loading, typically 1%, high catalytic turnover reaching 5.9 × 103, and no need for an extraneous ligand and illustrates a unique catalytic use of simple manganese salts for C–H activation, which so far has relied on catalysis by manganese carbonyls.

The kinetics of caffeine uptake into the interlayer nanospace of silicate nanosheets modified with benzylammonium (BA) was evaluated by in situ monitoring the basal spacing in aqueous media using transmission X-ray diffraction. An interlayer spacing of 0.58 nm in water before caffeine uptake indicates a monomolecular layer of BA and a few water layers in each interlayer. The interlayer space expanded by 0.10 nm upon caffeine uptake (intercalation) and saturated even in the presence of excess caffeine. Time-course profiles of the interlayer spacing and the uptake amount after injection of caffeine into the water slurry were obtained. At the initial period, the plot for the basal spacing was located above that for the adsorbed amount, suggesting that the rate of the interlayer spacing change was faster than that to attain the adsorption equilibrium. A first-order kinetic simulation fitted to the profile also indicates that the basal spacing included a rapid expansion of 0.08 nm within a few minutes and a slow expansion of 0.02 nm over several hours. Regarding the slow component, the rate constant for the basal spacing was lower than that for the amount of caffeine adsorbed, meaning that a steady-state basal spacing is reached after the adsorption equilibrium.

A catalytic amount of an inorganic iron salt such as Fe(acac)3 catalyzes borylation of various aryl and heteroaryl chlorides with bis(pinacolato)diboron, where the presence of potassium t-butoxide is crucially important. The alkoxide is considered to produce in situ an electron-rich iron alkoxide complex as the active species. The reaction requires only an iron salt and potassium t-butoxide as promoters and is easily scalable. The arylboron compound prepared by this reaction can be further coupled in situ with an aryl halide under the Suzuki–Miyaura conditions.

Since 2005, the authors have been working on a research and development project: the Agent Simulator of Shop-Around (ASSA). ASSA is mainly based on a cognitive scientific approach and the layer deconstruction of downtown visitor behavior through data analysis (including redundancy analysis and a series of previously conducted shop-around surveys). ASSA is activity based and has dynamic scheduling, but the agents are adaptive and behave with bounded rationality and learning. This study’s authors have previously reported several findings from their research experiences, and this work is the final phase of the ASSA project. The authors have analyzed the 2003 Osu survey data using ASSA ver.3 and visually verified and validated it. This study addresses the results of three different scenario policy simulations to both examine the potential of ASSA as a policy simulator and explore revised strategies of the overall ASSA project. It is concluded that ASSA has the potential performance for ensuring effective policy analysis.

In this chapter, I summarize previous research on models for shop-around behavior and demonstrate the significance of developing the agent-based model for shop-around behavior. Before going into detail about the model, a definition of shop-around behavior is given that focuses on its characteristics, planned actions, and improvised actions. Shop-around behavior is broken down into two axes: time sequence and processing target. I then describe the development of the agent-based pedestrian model that has a bounded rational planning function, an autonomous correction function, and a strengthening learning function that updates shop preferences based on walk-around results. The basis of the definition for shop-around behavior is “multi-purpose multi-stop.” I also present evaluation framework for this model consisting of five items in total, two for general evaluation and three for individual function evaluation.

Polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) has tremendous interests due to its attractive properties such as low-temperature operation and high power density. For PEFC, Pt nanoparticles (NPs) loaded on carbon support (Pt/C) is widely used as the cathode, in which large amount of costly Pt is required to accelerate the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics of PEFC [1]. However, NPs catalysts have some drawbacks such as low durability, and low catalytic activity due to aggregation. Moreover, high cost and limited availability of this precious metal hinder the large-scale commercialization. To overcome these challenges, development of low Pt cathode catalyst with high catalytic activity and durability for ORR in PEFC is highly desirable. Herein, Pt-alloy nanowires (NWs) catalyst was prepared with Co. Addition of a second metal into Pt to form Pt-metal alloy NWs catalyst can improve the electronic and geometric parameters of Pt metal, such as Pt-Pt interatomic distance and surface structure, and consequently enhances the ORR activity and stability of the catalyst [2]. To prepare the Pt-Co NWs/C catalyst, a simple and efficient method was used. For synthesis of Pt-Co NWs, 19.6 mg Pt(acac)2, 25.7 mg Co(acac)2, 135.0 mg glucose, 60.0 mg PVP (mw. 40000) and 1.8 mg W(CO)6 were mixed with 2 mL 1-octadecene (ODE) and 3 mL oleylamine (OAm). After sonication for 60 min, the mixed solution was further heated up to 140 ºC for 6 hours. Next, the Pt-Co NWs was obtained by centrifugation (9,000 rpm for 10 min), and subsequently a facile selective precipitation process was employed to purify NWs. For preparation of Pt-Co NWs/C catalysts, the ethanol reduction method was used. Pt-Co NWs/C catalyst was obtained by centrifugation, then washed with ethanol, and dried overnight. Subsequently, annealing treatment was performed under a mixing atmosphere of hydrogen and argon with an annealing temperature of 450 ºC for 12 h. After that, XRD, TEM, and EDX measurements were performed to examine the structures, morphology, and composition of the catalysts. Then, tree-electrode cell was used to evaluate the electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) estimated from hydrogen adsorption/desorption peak using cyclic voltammetry (CV). Current-voltage (I-V) measurements of the single cell (Pt loading of 0.1 mg-Pt cm−2-MEA) were performed at cell temperature of 80 ºC, a scan rate of 50 mV s−1, and a voltage range of 0.2-1.2 V. The accelerated durability test (ADT) was performed. Fig. 1 shows the XRD patterns of Pt-Co NWs/C catalyst, and compared with commercial Pt-Co/C and Pt/C catalysts. For Pt-Co NWs/C catalyst, some diffraction peaks were observed at ca. 2θ = 39.7º, 46.1º, and 67.4º assigned to (111), (200), and (220) reflections of Pt. The peak of Pt-Co NWs was slightly shifting to higher values as compared with the peak of standard Pt (JCPDS#88-2343). The shift in the peak position can be attributed to the formation of alloy crystal. Fig. 2 shows the TEM image of Pt-Co NWs. The nanocrystal exhibits a uniform morphology with a diameter of ca. 1.5 nm and a length of 64 nm. The chemical composition of the as-prepared catalyst is examined by EDX, which is consistent with the reported literatures. The area-specific activity of Pt-Co NWs/C estimated from the mass activity (0.80 V) divided by ECSA is ca. 0.70 mA cm−2, and the corresponding value of Pt-Co/C is ca. 0.13 mA cm−2, as shown in Fig. 3. Comparison of I-V polarization and power density curves obtained with Pt-Co NWs/C and commercial Pt-Co/C catalysts are shown in Fig. 4. Pt-Co NWs/C exhibits low cell voltage (0.37 V) than that of the commercial Pt-Co/C catalyst (0.46 V) at 1.0 A cm–2. Maximum power densities (Pmax) of Pt-Co NWs/C and Pt-Co/C are 0.39 W cm–2 and 0.59 W cm–2, respectively. However, the reduction of Pmax after ADT is suppressed for Pt-Co NWs/C catalyst. The Pmax losses for the Pt-Co NWs/C and Pt-Co/C are 3.4% and 20.9%, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the lifespan of a PEFC prepared with Pt-Co NWs/C catalyst under steady-state operation can be very long. The Pmax could be achieved by enhancing ECSA, since the area-specific activity of Pt-Co NWs/C is higher than that of commercial catalysts. Increasing activity of Pt-Co NWs/C would be a future task. Acknowledgement The authors would like to thank the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) for financial support of this work. References: F. Godínez-Salomon, R. Mendoza-Cruz, M. J. Arellano-Jimenez, M. Jose-Yacaman, C. P. Rhodes, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 9, 18660-18674 (2017). V. Č olić, A. S. Bandarenka, ACS Catal. 6, 5378-5385 (2016). Figure 1

This paper presents the applicability of an explicit time-domain finite element method (TD-FEM) using a dispersion reduction technique called modified integration rules (MIR) on room acoustics simulations with a frequency-independent finite impedance boundary. First, a dispersion error analysis and a stability analysis are performed to derive the dispersion relation and the stability condition of the present explicit TD-FEM for three-dimensional room acoustics simulations with an infinite impedance boundary. Secondly, the accuracy and efficiency of the explicit TD-FEM are presented by comparing with implicit TD-FEM using MIR through room acoustics simulations in a rectangular room with infinite impedance boundaries. Thirdly, the stability condition of the explicit TD-FEM is investigated numerically in the case with finite impedance boundaries. Finally, the performance of the explicit TD-FEM in room acoustics simulations with finite impedance boundaries is demonstrated in a comparison with the implicit TD-FEM. Although the stability of the present explicit TD-FEM is dependent on the impedance values given at boundaries, the explicit TD-FEM is computationally more efficient than the implicit method from the perspective of computational time for acoustics simulations of a room with larger impedance values at boundaries.

The Ninth Symposium on Polar Science/Ordinary sessions: [OB] Polar biology, Wed. 5 Dec. / Entrance Hall (1st floor), National Institute of Polar Research

The misdiagnosis rate of epilepsy is said to keep high from 5% to 30% because of dependency upon an individual judgment by each medical doctor in diagnosis and a quantitative index seems necessary to manage diagnosis uncertainty. To detect some change appearing in brain waves, we focus on introducing a Duffing oscillator model, which could provide reasonably good predictions for the dynamics of neuronal groups. The aim of this paper is to discuss indexes for epilepsy diagnosis by representing characteristics of electroencephalogram (EEG) quantitatively using a Duffing oscillator model. The model parameters are directly identified to adapt the characteristics of the temporal EEG variation to dynamical properties of the model quantitatively. Therefore, in animal experiments, we obtained time histories of the EEG data changed from normal EEG to the epileptic EEG. As a result, it is found that the parameter values related to non-linearity are extremely reduced as the epileptic EEG progresses with time. On the other hand, the input signal strength in epileptic EEG is much bigger than that of normal as expected. Moreover, the directly identified exciting frequency and the eigenfrequency determined by the identified parameter exist in wider band than that of normal as the epileptic EEG progresses with time. The change of the EEG due to epileptic seizure could reflect on the model parameters and it is shown that the model parameters have the possibility to use as supporting index of diagnosis about epilepsy. As a result, the proposed method could be used to support the decline of misdiagnosis rate of epilepsy.

We report here a manganese-catalyzed C-H methylation reaction of considerable substrate scope, using MeMgBr, a catalytic amount of MnCl

Symmetrical and unsymmetrical conjugated diynes are chemo-, regio-, and stereoselectively carbomagnesiated with a ­Grignard reagent at room temperature in the presence of a catalytic amount of FeCl2 without the need for an external ligand. The resulting magnesium intermediate can be further functionalized to give polysubstituted 1,3-enyne derivatives.

Renal expression of the klotho gene is markedly suppressed in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Since renal fibrosis is the final common pathology of CKD, we tested whether decreased Klotho expression is a cause and/or a result of renal fibrosis in mice and cultured renal cell lines. We induced renal fibrosis by unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) in mice with reduced Klotho expression ( kl/+ mice) and compared them with wild-type mice. The UUO kidneys from kl/+ mice expressed significantly higher levels of fibrosis markers such as α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), fibronectin, and transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1) than those from wild-type mice. In addition, in cultured renal fibroblast cells (NRK49F), the levels of α-SMA and PAI1 expression were significantly suppressed by addition of recombinant Klotho protein to the medium. The similar effects were observed by a TGF-β1receptor inhibitor (ALK5 inhibitor). These observations suggest that low renal Klotho expression enhances TGF-β1activity and is a cause of renal fibrosis. On the other hand, TGF-β1reduced Klotho expression in renal cultured epithelial cells (inner medullary collecting duct and human renal proximal tubular epithelium), suggesting that low renal Klotho expression is a result of renal fibrosis. Taken together, renal fibrosis can trigger a deterioration spiral of Klotho expression, which may be involved in the pathophysiology of CKD progression.

The mechanical properties and interfacial microstructure of slices of a friction stir welded aluminum alloy/stainless steel dissimilar lap joint were characterized. The strength in the center region and on the advancing side was larger than that at the retreating side. A sound joint that fractured at the base metal was obtained where the amorphous layer was formed due to the mechanical alloying effects of kneading, whereas interfacial fracture occurred where oxide films originally covered by the plate surfaces were mixed.

We propose a novel full-parallax 3D display system, called RePro3D, that is suitable for interactive 3D applications. The approach is based on retro-reflective projection technology in which several images from a projector array are displayed on a retro-reflective screen. When viewers look at the screen through a half mirror, they see a 3D image superimposed on the real scene without having to wear glasses. RePro3D has a sensor function to recognize user input, so it can support some interactive features, such as manipulation of 3D objects. In this paper, we describe the optical system of the high-density projector array. Then, we develop a prototype of RePro3D. The prototype shows parallax images that were displayed on a real scene from 42 different viewpoints. The user can touch the 3D image with his/her hands.

Latent chronic kidney disease (CKD) population appears to be a serious health problem in Japan. The purposes of the present study were to determine risk factors for CKD progression and to evaluate the rate of decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).A retrospective cohort study of adult patients with CKD was conducted at a University Hospital in Japan. The primary outcome was rate of change in eGFR over time. Age-based eGFR was calculated by the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease study equation for Japan. Blood and urine specimens were collected at study entry along with information regarding blood pressure (BP), body mass index and medications. Patients were monitored for up to 5 years.A total of 1115 patients were enrolled with mean (SD) age of 63.1 (16.5) years; 43.1% were women, and 16.4% had diabetes. At study entry, body mass index was 23.3 (3.9) kg/m(2), and mean BP was 125.4 (16.0) mmHg. Systolic BP, creatinine, uric acid and urinary protein levels differed significantly among patients grouped by CKD stages, and the values tended to increase in the higher disease stages. Time-to-event analysis showed that 3.45% of patients experienced a 50% eGFR decline. The slope of the eGFR decline was -1.01 (mL/min per 1.73 m(2)) per year, as assessed by repeated-measures analysis (-1.18 in men and -0.78 in women). In addition, the slope of the decline tended to be smaller in the higher CKD stages (stage 5, -0.31%; stage 4, -1.32%; stage 3, -0.75%; stage 2, -1.10%; stage 1, -2.33%). Serum creatinine and diabetes were identified as predictors of CKD progression by time-to-event analysis, but not by repeated-measures analysis. Conversely, urinary occult blood, blood glucose, and treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and anti-platelet agents were identified by repeated-measures analysis but not by time-to-event analysis.The slope of the eGFR decline was influenced by CKD stages, underlying diseases and medications taken by patients. Long-term follow-up of patients will provide critical insights into factors affecting progression of CKD.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a common complication in patients receiving hemodialysis (HD). Cilostazol is used for the treatment of ischemic symptoms in patients with PAD, based on its antiplatelet and vasodilating effects. In addition to these beneficial effects on clinical symptoms in PAD patients, cilostazol has been proposed to have additional effects on clinical symptoms in patients with restless legs syndrome (RLS) via the upregulation of dopamine. We performed an observational, prospective study to evaluate the effect of cilostazol on several clinical and biochemical parameters in HD patients with PAD and RLS. All the study patients received cilostazol treatment for 12 months. During the study period, several biochemical parameters, such as high-sensitivity CRP, von Willebrand antigen (VW-Ag), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and malondialdehyde-modified low-density lipoprotein, were monitored. A questionnaire on the physical status of PAD and RLS was also completed. 45 HD patients who received cilostazol were compared with a control group of 22 patients. The patients who continued cilostazol treatment exhibited a improvement in their serum inflammatory and biochemical parameters (VW-Ag, TG, HDL). Although PAD and RLS scores were not improved by multivariate analysis, several patients showed improvement of signs and symptoms which were included in the PAD or RLS scores. The treatment of HD patients with cilostazol improved some of the lipid-related and endovascular inflammatory biochemical parameters associated with PAD, and relieved the clinical symptoms and physical status of PAD in some cases.

In the tubular cells of patients with polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a reduced intracellular Ca(2+) level accelerates cell proliferation, resulting in cyst formation. Thus, whether calcium channel blockers (CCB) are useful for the treatment of hypertension in patients with PKD is questionable.Thirty-two outpatients with autosomal dominant PKD (ADPKD) were treated at Tokyo Women's Medical University between 2003 and 2008; these patients were studied retrospectively. Periods during which the antihypertensive drug prescriptions for CCB and/or renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors (RAAS-I; including angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin II receptor blocker) had not been changed for at least 1 year and during which time a diuretic agent had not been prescribed were selected from among the clinical histories of the 32 outpatients. Consequently, 31 periods of 31 patients were analyzed, and mean treatment duration was 2.4 years in this study. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was used to evaluate renal function. To evaluate the influence of CCB and RAAS-I with respect to the decrease of the eGFR, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), including confounding factors [baseline eGFR, mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP)], was used. Only CCB significantly contributed to a reduction in ∆eGFR in both a univariable ANCOVA and a multivariable ANCOVA. None of the confounding factors, RAAS-I, the baseline eGFR, or blood pressure, contributed to reductions in ∆eGFR.These results suggest that from a renoprotective perspective, CCB should possibly be avoided in patients with PKD unless treatment for resistant hypertension is necessary.

The area surveyed was Nagoya City Kanayama Terminal Station, a major transport centre established in 1989, currently with about 350,000 daily passengers of which approximately 70% are commuters. The city built a dynamic commercial center near the north entrance of the station. After the initial proposal and competition in 2003, the municipal corporation established a 15 year fixed-term leasehold and Asunal Kanayama was opened in March 2005 with 60 commercial facilities, a bus depot and taxi stands, and a three-story car and bicycle parking facility. Questionnaire surveys were conducted targeting visitors and this paper describes the differences between weekday and weekend visitors and their shop-visit patterns. The survey results showed from an attribute analysis that (1), visitors were mainly groups of families and friends shopping, eating and drinking on holidays, whereas on weekdays visitors consisted of office workers, many housewives and unemployed people, confirming the facilities attract a wide variety of customers. (2) The higher levels of the complex had a lower passage ratio but events and popular restaurants increased the number of visitors with a marked increase in shops visited, unscheduled visits, hours stayed and distance walked on holidays when, compared to weekdays. (3) The analysis results also showed new visitors were active in 3-Dimensional Shop-around behavior.JFL Classification: L82, O22

A 48-year-old woman who had bilateral swelling in the eyelids and submandibular region was admitted. Clinical findings suggested that her renal function had deteriorated. Laboratory data showed renal insufficiency (2.52 mg/dl), hypergammaglobulinemia (IgG 3,729 mg/dl, IgA 124 mg/dl, IgM 73 mg/dl). Gallium-67 scintigram indicated abnormal uptake in bilateral lacrimal glands, submandibular glands, and kidneys. A diagnosis of Mikulicz's disease and interstitial nephritis was made, since biopsy specimens of her lacrimal gland and minor salivary gland showed diffuse infiltration of lymphocytes. In addition, renal biopsy specimens showed diffuse severe interstitial infiltration of IgG4-positive mononuclear cells. Symptoms and laboratory data normalized in response to methylprednisolone semi-pulse therapy and prednisolone 50 mg/day. Mikulicz's disease was recently reported to be IgG4 associated disease. In our case, Mikulicz's disease complicated with diffuse severe interstitial nephritis was successfully treated by corticosteroid. The present case supports the hypothesis that IgG4-related autoimmune disease could be causes of Mikulicz's disease and interstitial nephritis.

Minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) usually is considered to have a good renal prognosis, but the frequency of relapses is a therapeutic challenge to physicians. The treatment of patients with multiple relapses remains a matter of controversy, because few controlled studies are available. We report the case of a 25-year-old man who experienced relapses of MCNS. Single-dose rituximab therapy (total dose 500 mg) was given during the fourth relapse. Complete remission occurred 10 days later, when no CD19/20-positive B cells were detected in the blood. This the first report of efficacy of single-dose rituximab therapy to treat multi-relapsing MCNS in an adult patient.

Cytosolic NADP+-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDPc) synthesizes reduced NADP (NADPH), which is an essential cofactor for the generation of reduced glutathione (GSH), the most abundant and important antioxidant in mammalian cells. We investigated the role of IDPc in kidney ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) in mice. The activity and expression of IDPc were highest in the cortex, modest in the outer medulla, and lowest in the inner medulla. NADPH levels were greatest in the cortex. IDPc expression in the S1 and S2 segments of proximal tubules was higher than in the S3 segment, which is much more susceptible to I/R. IDPc protein was also highly expressed in the mitochondrion-rich intercalated cells of the collecting duct. IDPc activity was 10- to 30-fold higher than the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, another producer of cytosolic NADPH, in various kidney regions. This study identifies that IDPc may be the primary source of NADPH in the kidney. I/R significantly reduced IDPc expression and activity and NADPH production and increased the ratio of oxidized glutathione to total glutathione [GSSG/(GSH+GSSG)], resulting in kidney dysfunction, tubular cell damage, and lipid peroxidation. In LLC-PK1cells, upregulation of IDPc by IDPc gene transfer protected the cells against hydrogen peroxide, enhancing NADPH production, inhibiting the increase of GSSG/(GSH+GSSG), and reducing lipid peroxidation. IDPc downregulation by small interference RNA treatment presented results contrasting with the upregulation. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that IDPc is expressed differentially along tubules in patterns that may contribute to differences in susceptibility to injury, is a major enzyme in cytosolic NADPH generation in kidney, and is downregulated with I/R.

A wide field of vision is important for driver safety and vehicle operability. However, the window area of vehicles is limited. Therefore, we developed head-tracked retro-reflective projection technology that displays vehicle blind spot information. The system enables the driver to observe the surroundings in the blind spot as if seeing through the inner wall of the vehicle. The system uses a head-mounted projector and multiple cameras. We describe the system design, the implementation of a prototype, and performance evaluation experiments. Early experiments showed that the system effectively displayed the blind spot information corresponding to the operator's looking around motion.

Oxidative stress-induced cell death plays a major role in the progression of ischemic acute renal failure. Using microarrays, we sought to identify a stress-induced gene that may be a therapeutic candidate. Human proximal tubule (HK2) cells were treated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and RNA was applied to an Affymetrix gene chip. Five genes were markedly induced in a parallel time-dependent manner by cluster analysis, including activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), p21(WAF1/CiP1) (p21), CHOP/GADD153, dual-specificity protein phosphatase, and heme oxygenase-1. H2O2 rapidly induced ATF3 approximately 12-fold in HK2 cells and approximately 6.5-fold in a mouse model of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury. Adenovirus-mediated expression of ATF3 protected HK2 cells against H2O2-induced cell death, and this was associated with a decrease of p53 mRNA and an increase of p21 mRNA. Moreover, when ATF3 was overexpressed in mice via adenovirus-mediated gene transfer, ischemia-reperfusion injury was reduced. In conclusion, ATF3 plays a protective role in renal ischemia-reperfusion injury and the mechanism of the protection may involve suppression of p53 and induction of p21.

This case report concerns a hemodialysis patient with arrhythmia. A 71-year-old man had undergone hemodiafiltration (HDF) for 17 years for the treatment of chronic glomerulonephritis. Because of repeated heart failure and chronic atrial fibrillation, he could not continue receiving standard hemodialysis, which is hemodialysis using bicarbonate dialysate including a small amount of acetate. Neither elevating the sodium concentration of the dialysate nor changing the HDF modality was effective. Acetate-free biofiltration (AFB) was initiated and this treatment dramatically ameliorated the patient's intradialytic acute hypotension and arrhythmia. The patient's quality of life subsequently improved and his scores on the Short-form 36 questionnaire (a measure of quality of life) increased. AFB is an HDF technique based on the continuous postdilution infusion of a sterile isotonic bicarbonate solution. Previous studies have reported that acetate induces chemical cytokines and vasodilator substances. AFB may be effective for preventing acute hypotension and arrhythmia during dialysis and may improve quality of life, including mental status.

Background: Sepsis is a common cause of acute renal failure (ARF) in clinical practice. However, the precise mechanism of endotoxin-induced ARF is not fully understood. There have been several reports that inhalation of carbon monoxide (CO) gas could be protective against acute rejection in intestine, lung, and kidney transplantation. Thus, we investigated the direct effect of CO in an experimental ARF model of septic shock induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Method: Mice were pretreated with [Ru(CO)3Cl2]2 (CO donor compounds) at various concentrations (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 µg) which were intravenously injected 24 h before intraperitoneal LPS injection. Biomarkers including myeloperoxidase activity and histochemical staining were evaluated. Results: The elevation of plasma creatinine was suppressed in CO donor-pretreated mice compared with vehicle-treated mice (creatinine 0.35 vs. 0.25; p < 0.05) 24 h after LPS injection. Renal myeloperoxidase activity slightly decreased in CO donor-pretreated mice. In the histological examination, neutrophil infiltration was significantly diminished in CO donor-treated mice. Real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed significant improvements in inflammatory related genes, such as TNFα, MCP-1, RANTES and IL4. Conclusion: Our results suggest the protective effect of the CO donor against endotoxin-induced renal injury; however, further study is needed to elucidate the mechanism.