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Aim The oral health status of elderly adults has implications for general health problems. Polypharmacy for elderly adults is associated with an increased risk of potentially inappropriate medicines and many adverse drug events; however, no report has shown that polypharmacy itself is associated with complex oral problems. This study aimed to determine the association between polypharmacy and oral health status in patients admitted to the recovery and rehabilitation ward. Methods This cross-sectional study included 471 patients (age: 81.9 ± 7.7 years, women: n = 346). Oral health status was measured using the Oral Health Assessment Tool and poor oral health status was defined as a score of ≥3. Cases of patients taking six or more medications were defined as polypharmacy. Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the relationship between polypharmacy and oral health status. Age, sex, body mass index, number of comorbidities, cognitive and motor functions, and potentially inappropriate medicines were set as confounding factors. Results Using the Oral Health Assessment Tool, 51.0% (n = 240) of patients scored ≥3. The prevalence of patients with polypharmacy was 56.9% (n = 268). Polypharmacy was significantly associated with poor oral health status (odds ratio = 1.65, 95% confidence interval = 1.14-2.39, P = 0.007; adjusted odds ratio = 1.65, 95% confidence interval = 1.12-2.43, P = 0.011). Conclusions This study showed that polypharmacy was associated with poor oral health status. Focusing on the number of medications may be helpful in detecting oral problems. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2021; 21: 66-70.

Due to the increasing global frequency of disasters, disaster preparedness training is becoming more important. The fact that Japan has many earthquakes is well known worldwide. In the field of nursing, the importance of disaster preparedness education in universities has gradually increased in Japan. Many people lose their homes in earthquakes and have to live in shelters. The relationship between pneumonia and the oral cavity environment is understood; for example, in certain shelter environments that provide an insufficient water supply, oral cavity hygiene is affected. Keeping a clean oral cavity prevents death from pneumonia, especially in elderly people. To keep a clean oral cavity, the role of dental hygienists is important. In Japan, education on disaster preparedness and response for dental hygienists in vocational university/college is rarely provided. Therefore, this is the focus of our research. We administered an anonymous questionnaire survey to 119 dental hygienist training schools by mailing them surveys asking about their education on disaster preparedness and response for dental hygienists. In this paper, we report on the education on disaster preparedness and response for dental hygienists in vocational universities and colleges in Japan.

We previously reported that microRNA-205 (miR-205) is downregulated by overexpression of the receptor tyrosine kinase ErbB2 and that ectopic transfection of miR-205 precursor decreases ErbB2 tumorigenicity in soft agar. In this study, we further analyzed the regulatory mechanisms linking ErbB2 overexpression and miR-205 downregulation. In ErbB2-overexpressing breast epithelial cells, miR-205 expression was significantly increased by treatment with MEK inhibitor U0126 or PD98059, Raf-1 inhibitor ZM-336372, and ERK inhibitor SCH772984, but PI3K inhibitor LY294002 and p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580 had no effect. We established breast epithelial cells overexpressing RafCAAX, a constitutively active form of Raf-1, and showed that overexpression of RafCAAX dramatically reduced miR-205 expression. In RafCAAX-overexpressing cells, miR-205 expression was also significantly increased by SCH772984. Moreover, miR-205 expression was significantly increased by treatment with DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitor 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine and expression of several DNMT family members was increased in both ErbB2- and RafCAAX-overexpressing cells. DNA methylation analysis by bisulfite sequencing revealed that the putative miR-205 promoters were predominantly hypermethylated in both ErbB2- and RafCAAX-overexpressing cells. Reporter activity of the putative miR-205 promoters was reduced in both ErbB2-overexpressing and RafCAAX-overexpressing cells. Together, these findings indicate that ErbB2 signaling epigenetically suppresses miR-205 transcription via the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway.

知の創造プロセスに関する先行研究では、これまでいくつかのモデルが提唱されてきた。本稿で我々は、知の創造プロセスについて「増殖段階」「混在段階」「創造段階」の3段階からなる【知のネットワーク成長モデル】を新たに提唱する。本モデルが従来のモデルと異なる点は、知の創造理論について、数学の一分野であるノード(点)とエッジ(線)で結ばれた「グラフ」を用いたグラフ理論や、ライフサイエンスの分野である「タンパク質相互作用ネットワーク(PPI: Protein-Protein Interaction)」などを援用して、知の創造プロセスを提唱している点にある。さらに「混在段階」と「創造段階」の溝(キャズム)を越え、混在させた知に新しい価値を付加するためのセレンディピティの必要性についても言及している点にある。, In this paper we describe a novel knowledge creation model, the "three-step knowledge network model," which comprises the propagation step, the mixing step, and the creation step. This model uses knowledge networks first proposed by Willard Van Orman Quine's, and graph theory to describe the knowledge creation process. We use higher education as a example of knowledge creation that this model can describe, and in the future hope to apply this model to other phenomena.

Gene amplification and protein overexpression of erbB2 (Her2/neu) has been observed in approximately 20-30% of breast cancers. ErbB2-positive breast cancer is tend to be more aggressive than other types of breast cancer and therefore further investigation on the signaling pathways of erbB2 is needed for the therapeutic target for breast cancer treatment. Here we report that microRNA-205 (miR-205), a molecule also reported to be associated with breast cancer, is negatively regulated by erbB2 overexpression. Breast epithelial cells exogenously overexpressed with erbB2 decreased the expression of miR-205, whereas increased the expression of cyclin D1, cyclin E, cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2), cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4), and cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6). The decreased expression of miR-205 slightly increased by the transfection of erbB2 siRNA into the erbB2-overexpressing breast cancer epithelial cells. Overexpression of erbB2 enabled breast epithelial cells to grow anchorage-independently in soft agar, and the transfection of the precursor of miR-205 into the cells leaded to the decrease in the ability to grow in soft agar. These results suggest that down-regulation of miR-205 in erbB2-overexpressing breast epithelial cells is essential for erbB2-induced tumorigenesis, and miR-205 may have the potential to be a novel important alternative therapeutic target for erbB2-positive breast cancer.