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Grazing damage to pasture plants by cervids results in economic losses and substantially increases production costs for dairy farms. Understanding both temporal and spatial variations in the risk of grazing damage to sown grasslands by deer will help in deciding suitable timing for culling and in prioritizing pastures and meadows for the introduction of damage prevention management, such as fencing and culling. Here, we assessed both the season and the sown grassland characteristics that attracted more sika deer (Cervus nippon) on a dairy farm located in a mountainous area of Gunma Prefecture in central Japan. We conducted spotlight counts on the farm during 2012–2015 to record the number of deer in 32 management units utilized as pastures or meadows. Deer utilized the grasslands year-round, but their numbers fluctuated seasonally. Deer utilization was the highest in November and the lowest in February. During the snow-free season (April–November), there were more deer in fertilized management units but fewer in cattle-stocked management units. During the snow season (December–March), more deer were found in management units with steeper terrain. Factors affecting deer utilization differed by season: the quality and availability of pasture plants were the primary drivers of deer utilization in the snow-free season, but only the availability of pasture plants drove utilization in the snow season. Farm managers should consider damage control plans for deer based on the risk of grazing damage, which fluctuates depending on both the season and the characteristics of management units.

Similar to wild mammals on the continents, mange caused by the mange mite, Sarcoptes scabiei (Acari: Sarcoptidae) is spreading in wild mammals in most of Japan. We collected crusted or alopetic skin from 120 raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides viverrinus), three raccoons (Procyon lotor), six Japanese badgers (Meles anakuma), one Japanese marten (Martes melampus), one stray dog (Canis lupus familiaris), four wild boars (Sus scrofa leucomystax), and one Japanese serow (Capricornis crispus), mainly in an area where mangy wild animals have been increasingly noted in the past 4 yr. The second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) region of the ribosomal RNA gene and the partial 16S and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (cox-1) genes of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) were characterized in these skin samples. The ITS2 sequencing (404 base pairs [bp]) identified the causative mite for mangy skin lesions of 128 animals as S. scabiei, regardless of host origin. The cat mite (Notoedres cati) was the cause in one raccoon dog and one raccoon. Most mites had almost identical ITS2 nucleotide sequences to those recorded in a variety of mammals worldwide. Partial 16S and cox-1 fragments of mtDNA amplified and sequenced successfully (331 bp and 410 bp, respectively) showed an identical nucleotide sequence except for one site (C vs. T) for the former and four sites (G, C, C, C vs. A, T, T, T, respectively) for the latter fragment. These substitutions were always synchronized, with the two mitochondrial DNA haplotypes (i.e., C/GCCC and T/ATTT) appearing to separately colonize in geographic units. The T/ATTT haplotype fell into a clade where animal-derived mites worldwide dominated, whereas the C/GCCC haplotype formed a geographic branch unique to Japanese isolates. These results suggest that heterologous populations of monospecific S. scabiei are expanding their populations and distributions regardless of host species in an apparently local mange epizootic of wild mammals in Japan.

Concentrated feed, which contains high levels of digestible nutrients, is widely used as a food source for fattening cattle in Japan. However, it is also a valuable food resource for wild animals. Wild animals such as crows (Kitazaki and Tanida 1996; Nagano et al. 1998), raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) (Murakami and Arata 1998), and Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) (Maruyama 2003) steal feeds from cattle farms. In the US and UK, wild animals cause economic losses from depredation of cattle feed (Palmer 1976; Johnson and Timm 1987), and sometimes disease transmission (Garnett et al. 2002; Daniels et al. 2003; Palmer et al. 2004). Furthermore, high nutrition cattle feeds may improve the pest’s nutritive status leading to increase of pest populations. Nevertheless, there are few reports on depredation of cattle feed by wild animals. There is no information about which species are more attracted by the concentrated feed than others. Identifying which species steal cattle feed is valuable for developing countermeasures. In this study, the depredation of concentrated feed on a stock farm by wild mammals was investigated to identify which species steal the concentrated feed, and to establish daily and seasonal patterns of depredation.

The author measured 111 specimens (61 male, 50 female) of the Japanese red fox (Vulpes vulpes japonica) collected by the Tochigi Prefectural Museum during 1981–1991 and by the author during 1986–1994. Analyses of 16 parameters of external morphology of the specimens revealed sexual dimorphisms in linear parameters: total length, head and body length (HBL), and hind foot length (HFL) were significantly greater in males (5–6%: P < 0.001). Furthermore, analyses of these parameters using an allometric formula showed that the relative growth of HFL to HBL and shoulder height to HBL stops earlier in males than in females. The male/female ratios were large for body weight, body length, and parameters related to circumference, but they were mostly not significant because they are influenced by seasonal changes and body conditions that are influenced mainly by fat deposition. Greater thickness gives the visual impression of largeness, providing advantages for males to be selected by females. Consequently...

We investigated the preventive effects of a saccharified solution of rice, Oryza sativa subsp. japonica, against type IV and type I allergy in mice. The oral and/or percutaneous administration of the saccharified rice solution prevented type IV allergy at doses of 0.3 and 0.5 ml/mouse and at a dose of 10 μl/ear, respectively. With oral administration, the solution also suppressed type I allergy at doses of 0.25 and 0.5 ml/mouse. In the case of type IV allergy, administration of the saccharified rice solution suppressed the ear levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and tended to suppress the ear levels of interleukin-12. The non-dialysate prepared from the saccharified solution showed similar effects to the original solution, suggesting that the molecular weights of the active components are higher than ca. 14000. The saccharified rice solution also enhanced the antioxidative activities in the serum of mice with type IV allergy. These results suggest that the saccharified rice solution may be a convenient beneficial food material for prevention of allergies based on suppression of the increases in some proinflammatory cytokines and promotion of antioxidative activity.

The authors assess the capability of multi-purpose buoy system for tsunami warning, by calculating the number of potential tsunami casualty. The method is developed by integration of tsunami numerical models and GIS analysis with population database and fragility functions. The present method is applied to the potential tsunami events along the Sunda megathrust to assess the effect of tsunami casualty mitigation by implementing international/regional tsunami observation network of multi-purpose buoy system. The results imply that the international tsunami observation network can contribute to reduce the tsunami casualty along the Indian Ocean countries up to 60% by expecting the lead time to issue the early warning.

A highly enantioselective Michael reaction of beta-ketoesters with alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones promoted by a chiral scandium catalyst has been developed. In the presence of Sc(OTf)3 and (S,S)-6,6'-bis(1-hydroxy-2,2'-dimethylpropyl)-2,2'-bipyridine, the desired Michael reactions proceeded smoothly in dichloroethane at 40 degrees C to afford the corresponding adducts in good to high yields with excellent enantioselectivities in most cases. It was found in this reaction that a lower concentration of the reaction mixture was key to attaining high enantioselectivities.

The automotive catalyst technology is now faced with very difficult problems. As the result of automakers' efforts to produce more efficient and lower-emission vehicles, lean-burn gasoline engines have been introduced into the market. While these engines are much more efficient than conventional ones, NOx removal has become significantly more difficult. After enormous efforts, we succeeded in solving the problem, by inventing a new class of catalyst. We overcame two strict problems with the new type catalyst, which are sulfur poisoning and thermal deterioration.

A variety of neutral and cationic polymers based on polyamino acids were prepared and investigated as microcarriers for cell attachment and growth. Among neutral polymer particles including the alkylated poly(gamma-methyl L-glutamate) (PG) particles, in which the hydrophobicity changes as a function of the length of the alkyl groups, and hydroxy terminal PG particles, the PG particle with the longest alkyl chain (PG-C12) demonstrated the highest cell attachment rate and highest rate of cell growth. Moreover, the introduction of hydroxyl groups (PG-OH) led to a deterioration of cell growth. Cell growth on cationic particles having primary amino groups was drastically dependent upon the anion exchange capacity (AEC). A higher AEC for aminated PG microcarriers inhibited cell growth. In contrast, a higher AEC for cross-linked poly( epsilon -lysine) (PL) microcarriers facilitated cell growth. Cell growth on cationic particles clearly showed a good correlation with the pK(a,app) of the microcarriers, but not with their AEC. The particles with low and high pK(a) values possessed toxically acidic and basic pH microenvironments near the surface, respectively. These microenvironments had cytotoxic effects. On the other hand, no correlation between attachment rate constants and high cell growth was observed. The aminated particles, in which pK(a) were controlled at neutral pH, and PG-C12 produced obviously higher cell growth than did a commercially available microcarrier.

The modified gate re-oxidation is described, which is a very effective simple method of improving the memory retention characteristics of embedded dynamic random access memory (DRAM). This new method forms a gate bird's beak through furnace oxidation after the formation of a silicon nitride gate spacer. The amount of gate bird's beak formed by this method is self-adjusted according to the gate width of each transistor. Large gate bird's beaks are formed selectively for narrow gate transistors. Therefore, gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) current is suppressed for DRAM cell transistors, without any negative influence on high-speed random logic transistors. The modified gate re-oxidation sample has much better hot carrier reliability than the conventional gate re-oxidation sample. There is almost no difference in the dielectric reliability of gate oxide between the modified sample and the conventional sample. Consequently, this new process realizes the ideal embedded DRAM that has both a highly reliable memory region and a high-speed logic region.

Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company Limited manages ten suspension bridges including the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. Suspender ropes of suspension bridges are replaceable members; however the expense of replacement becomes high. In order to reduce the life cycle cost, we have developed a non-destructive technique that uses an electromagnetic method (main flux method) to identify internal corrosion of Centre Fit Rope Core (CFRC) type suspender ropes. We also have made the maintenance management plan of the suspender ropes so that we can select adequate repair method according to a corrosion level.The measurement by the main flux method can be used at not only general part but also anchor part of suspender ropes and the measurement accuracy is high.

One hundred and thirty carcasses of the red fox were collected in Tochigi Prefecture, by the Tochigi Prefectural Museum, from 1981 to 1991. The young/adult ratio of the sample was 1.60, which suggests that the hunting pressure has been relatively low in this area. Six percent of the animals were 5 years or older which compares to those taken in Hokkaido, but is higher than those in Europe and North America. The sex ratio for all specimens had a tendency towards male bias (0.587), but this bias was higher for the adult (0.605) than for the young (0.576). Among young (0 year-old) foxes, more individuals were killed on roads than by trapping or shooting (P

Background In primary systemic therapy in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2 + ) breast cancer, improvements in pathologic complete response (pCR) rate have been achieved by administering trastuzumab. Patients and Methods Patients with stage II or IIIA HER2 + operable breast cancer were randomly assigned to receive four 3-weekly cycles of FEC (5-fluorouracil 500 mg/m 2 , epirubicin 100 mg/m 2 , cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m 2 ) followed by 4 cycles of 3-weekly trastuzumab (8 mg/kg week 1 and then 6 mg/kg) with either 12 weekly doses of paclitaxel 80 mg/m 2 (FEC-PH) or 4 cycles of 3-weekly docetaxel 75 mg/m 2 (FEC-DH). Results Between March 2007 and June 2008, 102 patients were enrolled. Forty-nine patients receiving FEC-PH and 47 receiving FEC-DH were assessable for efficacy and safety. Eighty-four patients completed treatment and underwent surgery. There was no significant difference in the pCR rate between the 2 groups (46.9% [95% CI, 33.7%-60.6%] with FEC-PH vs. 42.6% [95% CI, 29.5%-56.8%] with FEC-DH; P = .67). Analysis by hormone receptor (HR) status showed pCR rates of 54.2% (32/59) in HR − tumors and 29.7% (11/37) in HR + tumors ( P = .02). Among HR − tumors, the pCR rates were 65.4% and 45.5% in patients treated with FEC-PH and FEC-DH, respectively ( P = .13). Conclusions There was no significant difference in pCR rate between FEC-PH and FEC-DH. Both regimens achieved higher pCR rates in HR − than HR + breast cancer, and there was a trend toward higher pCR in HR − tumors with FEC-PH compared with FEC-DH. Further investigation is warranted to explore the relationship between efficacy and HR status.