Emerging drug resistance in Salmonella Typhi and S. Paratyphi is a substantial public health concern. We report what appears to be the first case and isolation of multidrug resistant S. Paratyphi A ...carrying CTXM-15-type extended-spectrum beta-lactamase from a Japanese traveller returning from India.
The concentration of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) in the blood of healthy animals is extremely low. However, milk contains a relatively large amount of PTHrP, and the changes in its ...levels in the early stages of lactation in cows remain unclear. To understand the characteristics of parturient changes in milk PTHrP content and the biological implications thereof, changes in milk PTHrP concentrations were measured at 7 time intervals between parturition and 21 days postpartum in 8 primiparous and 8 multiparous Holstein cows. Based on these results, milk samples were collected from 47 primiparous and 66 multiparous Holstein cows at 3 days postpartum to investigate the relationship between milk PTHrP concentration and the variables of cow age, milk yield, and milk calcium concentration. Milk PTHrP concentration in both parity groups was found to be lowest on the day of parturition (primiparous, 3.1±0.5nM and multiparous, 1.6±0.3nM) but to significantly increase on day 14 of lactation in primiparous cows (6.2±0.8nM) and day 7 of lactation in multiparous cows (4.1±0.2nM). Comparison of the 2 groups revealed that milk PTHrP concentrations in primiparous cows were higher than those of multiparous cows in the first 3 days of lactation. Although a significant negative relationship was found between milk PTHrP concentration and both age (r=−0.65) and milk calcium concentration (r=−0.19) at 3 days postpartum, no significant correlation was found between milk PTHrP concentration and milk yield. The study thus identified 3 unique characteristics of milk PTHrP concentration in the early stages of lactation: milk PTHrP concentration is higher in primiparous than multiparous cows, milk PTHrP concentration is lower in colostrum than later milk, and the difference in milk PTHrP concentration between primiparous and multiparous cows at 3 days postpartum is more strongly influenced by age than milk yield.
Two groups of 15
Rhizopus oryzae strains were grown in a liquid medium to analyse metabolic products such as lactic, fumaric, malic and other organic acids and ethanol. Group A produced a large ...amount of lactic acid, while group B produced a small amount. The addition of calcium carbonate to the medium of group A stimulated the production of lactic acid, but not fumaric and malic acids. As compared with group A, organic acids were only slightly synthesized in group B. Fumaric and malic acids appeared in the medium of group B, which was supplemented with calcium carbonate, but lactic acid was not detected. Myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic, oleic, stearic, linoleic and
γ-linolenic acids were determined for total lipids extracted from the fungal cells and subjected to principal component analysis. Group A contained high amounts of unsaturated fatty acids and differed from group B in the proportion of palmitic and
γ-linolenic acids. The content of
γ-linolenic acid increased by the addition of lactic acid to the medium and not by those of ethanol and NaCl. The physiological differences in
R.
oryzae strains may depend on the productivity of organic acids, reflecting the composition of fatty acids.
We report, for the first time, the long-awaited detection of diffuse gamma rays with energies between 100 TeV and 1 PeV in the Galactic disk. Particularly, all gamma rays above 398 TeV are observed ...apart from known TeV gamma-ray sources and compatible with expectations from the hadronic emission scenario in which gamma rays originate from the decay of π^{0}'s produced through the interaction of protons with the interstellar medium in the Galaxy. This is strong evidence that cosmic rays are accelerated beyond PeV energies in our Galaxy and spread over the Galactic disk.
Microgravity experiments on the thermocapillary convection in liquid bridge, called Marangoni Experiment in Space (MEIS), are carried out in "KIBO" of ISS. Three series of experiments, MEIS-1, 2, and ...4, have been conducted so far. This paper reports the results obtained from MEIS-4, in which 20cSt silicone oil (Pr 207) is used to generate large liquid bridges. They are suspended between coaxial disks that are 50mm in diameter, with their maximum length equal to 62.5mm. MEIS-4 aims at (1) determining the critical temperature difference for the onset of oscillatory flow; (2) realizing high Marangoni number conditions for high Pr fluid; (3) clarifying the effects of volume ratio, heating rate, hysteresis, and cooled disk temperature; and (4) observing whether the hydrothermal wave with azimuthal mode number m 0 appears or not. The main results are presented and compared with those obtained in MEIS-1 and 2, which utilized liquid bridges of 5cSt silicone oil (Pr 67).
Abstract
Background
Although the prevalence of drug addiction in Japan is lower than that of in European and/or American countries, the number of methamphetamine-related arrests in this decade has ...exceeded 10,000 every year, with 66.2% of the arrests made in 2017 being of re-offenders. This study was performed to assess the mental health status among prison inmates whose sentences were related to methamphetamine use.
Methods
Face-to-face individual interviews using a questionnaire including self-rated health questions (answered on a 4-point Likert scale) and the Kessler 6-item psychological distress scale (K6, range: 0-24) was established by the authors and conducted with 30 methamphetamine-dependent inmates (15 male and 15 female inmates) in Japan.
Results
The age of inmates ranged from the 20s to the 70s. The median time served in adulthood was 5 (range: 2 - 12) among male inmates, and 4.5 (range: 2 - 12) among female inmates (Mann-Whitney U test, P = 0.202). The median K6 scores were 4 (0-8) for the male inmates and 6 (1-17) for the female inmates (Mann-Whitney U test, P = 0.074). The cut-off point for K6 exhibited variation, and the authors considered a participant psychologically distressed if K6 was 10 or higher. Six (40.0%) female inmates were found to be psychologically distressed, which was a higher proportion than among the male inmates (0.0%) (Fisher's exact test, P = 0.017). Regarding self-rated health, 13 (86.7%) of both male and female inmates reported being in “very good/good health” (Cochran-Armitage Test, P ¬= 1.000). There was no statistical correlation between the K6 scores and the self-rated health scores among the male inmates (ρ = 0.148, P = 0.599) or the female inmates (ρ = -0.499, P = 0.058).
Conclusions
Although the interviewees were not representative samples, the male inmates demonstrated better mental health status than the female inmates did; however, there was no difference in self-rated health between the two genders.
Key messages
The male inmates demonstrated better mental health status than the female inmates did; however, there was no difference in self-rated health between the two genders. Gender differences in mental health status among inmates, should be considered when a drug addiction recovery program is implemented to ensure the successful prevention of relapse.
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