The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to change many behaviours, including physical distancing, hygiene measures and lifestyles. This study aimed to evaluate the indirect impact of the COVID-19 ...pandemic on the incidence of non–COVID-19 infections and medical care costs/visits using health insurance claims.
This was an observational study using patient-based administrative claims covering approximately 800,000 insured persons and their dependents in the Mie Prefecture in Japan.
This study identified non–COVID-19 infectious disease incidences, number of outpatient visits and healthcare costs between 2017 and 2021. Each year was divided into quarters. The adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRs) during the pandemic (January 2020 to September 2021) and during the prepandemic period (January 2017 to December 2019) were determined using Poisson regression.
The adjusted influenza IRRs from April 2020 were close to zero. The incidence of upper respiratory tract infections and bacterial pneumonia was significantly reduced (IRRs range: 0.39–0.73 and 0.43–0.84, respectively). Gastrointestinal and urinary tract infection incidences decreased by approximately 30% and 10%, respectively. In contrast, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including syphilis, gonococcal infection and Chlamydia trachomatis infection, did not decrease during the pandemic but increased significantly between April and June 2021 (adjusted IRR, 1.37; 95% confidence interval, 1.18–1.60). The adjusted IRRs for outpatient visits and healthcare costs were 0.86–0.93 and 0.91–0.97, respectively.
In contrast to other infections, STIs did not decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic. The IRR of STIs during the pandemic period is an area of public health concern. Appropriate screening and medical consultations are strongly recommended.
The acceleration mechanism of EUV and X-ray jets is still unclear. In general, there are two candidates for the mechanism. One is magnetic reconnection, and the other is chromospheric evaporation. We ...observed a relatively compact X-ray jet that occurred between 10:50 – 11:10 UT on 18 February 2011 by using the
Solar Dynamics Observatory
/
Atmospheric Imaging Assembly
, and the
X-ray Telescope
,
Solar Optical Telescope
, and
EUV Imaging Spectrometer
onboard
Hinode
. Our results are as follows: i) The EUV and X-ray observations show the general characteristics of X-ray jets, such as an arcade straddling a polarity inversion line, a jet bright point shown at one leg of the arcade, and a spire above the arcade. ii) The multi-wavelength observations and Ca
ii
H line image show the existence of a low-temperature (≈ 10 000 K) plasma (
i.e.
, filament) at the center of the jet. iii) In the magnetogram and Ca
ii
H line image, the filament exists over the polarity inversion line and arcade is also straddling it. In addition, magnetic cancellation occurs around the jet a few hours before and after the jet is observed. iv) The temperature distribution of the accelerated plasma, which was estimated from Doppler velocity maps, the calculated differential emission measure, and synthetic spectra show that there is no clear dependence between the plasma velocity and its temperature. For our third result, observations indicate that magnetic cancellation is probably related to the occurrence of the jet and filament formation. This suggests that the trigger of the jet is magnetic cancellation rather than flux emergence. The fourth result indicates that plasma acceleration accompanied by an X-ray jet seems to be caused by magnetic reconnection rather than chromospheric evaporation.
Absolute values of protein expression levels in cells are crucial information for understanding cellular biological systems. Precise quantification of proteins can be achieved by liquid ...chromatography (LC)–mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of enzymatic digests of proteins in the presence of isotope-labeled internal standards. Thus, development of a simple and easy way for the preparation of internal standards is advantageous for the analyses of multiple target proteins, which will allow systems-level studies. Here we describe a method, termed MS-based Quantification By isotopelabeled Cell-free products (MS-QBiC), which provides the simple and high-throughput preparation of internal standards by using a reconstituted cell-free protein synthesis system, and thereby facilitates both multiplexed and sensitive quantification of absolute amounts of target proteins. This method was applied to a systems-level dynamic analysis of mammalian circadian clock proteins, which consist of transcription factors and protein kinases that govern central and peripheral circadian clocks in mammals. Sixteen proteins from 20 selected circadian clock proteins were successfully quantified from mouse liver over a 24-h time series, and 14 proteins had circadian variations. Quantified values were applied to detect internal body time using a previously developed molecular timetable method. The analyses showed that single time-point data from wild-type mice can predict the endogenous state of the circadian clock, whereas data from clock mutant mice are not applicable because of the disappearance of circadian variation.
Sleep regulation involves interdependent signaling among specialized neurons in distributed brain regions. Although acetylcholine promotes wakefulness and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, it is ...unclear whether the cholinergic pathway is essential (i.e., absolutely required) for REM sleep because of redundancy from neural circuits to molecules. First, we demonstrate that synaptic inhibition of TrkA+ cholinergic neurons causes a severe short-sleep phenotype and that sleep reduction is mostly attributable to a shortened sleep duration in the dark phase. Subsequent comprehensive knockout of acetylcholine receptor genes by the triple-target CRISPR method reveals that a similar short-sleep phenotype appears in the knockout of two Gq-type acetylcholine receptors Chrm1 and Chrm3. Strikingly, Chrm1 and Chrm3 double knockout chronically diminishes REM sleep to an almost undetectable level. These results suggest that muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, Chrm1 and Chrm3, are essential for REM sleep.
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•Inhibition of TrkA+ cholinergic neurons causes a severe short-sleep phenotype in mice•Knockout of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors Chrm1 and Chrm3 reduces NREM sleep•Knockout of Chrm1 and Chrm3 reduces and fragments REM sleep, respectively•Chrm1 and Chrm3 are essential for REM sleep
The acetylcholine pathway has been proposed to be important for wakefulness and REM sleep, but genetic evidence has been missing. Using a knockout of acetylcholine receptor genes, Niwa et al. show that Chrm1 and Chrm3 double knockout chronically diminishes REM sleep to an undetectable level and causes a severe short-sleep phenotype.
Through numerical simulations, it is predicted that the gravitational waves (GWs) reflect the characteristics of the core-collapse supernova (CCSN) explosion mechanism. There are multiple GW ...excitation processes that occur inside a star before its explosion, and it is suggested that the GWs originating from the CCSN have a mode for each excitation process in terms of time-frequency representation. Therefore, we propose an application of the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT), which is a high-resolution time-frequency analysis method, to analyze these GW modes for theoretically probing and increasing our understanding of the explosion mechanism. The HHT defines frequency as a function of time, and is not bound by the trade-off between time and frequency resolutions. In this study, we analyze a gravitational waveform obtained from a three-dimensional general-relativistic CCSN model that showed a vigorous activity of the standing-accretion-shock-instability (SASI). We succeed in extracting the SASI induced GWs with high resolution on a time-frequency representation using the HHT and we examine their instantaneous frequencies.
Background
Skin lesions with atopic dermatitis (AD) are associated with dysregulated expression of LL‐37 and enhanced expression of IL‐22, thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), IL‐25, IL‐31, and ...oncostatin M. Vitamin D3 enhances LL‐37 production in keratinocytes. This study aimed to examine the serum levels of LL‐37 and vitamin D3 and their regulation of cytokine production in patients with AD.
Methods
Serum levels of LL‐37 and 25‐hydroxyvitamin D3 were analyzed by ELISA. The effects of 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 or LL‐37 on cytokine production in T cells or keratinocytes were analyzed by ELISA and real‐time PCR.
Results
Serum levels of LL‐37 and 25‐hydroxyvitamin D3 were decreased in patients with AD compared to normal donors and were correlated in both groups. Serum levels of LL‐37 correlated with those of oncostatin M and IL‐31 in normal donors and patients with AD, while 25‐hydroxyvitamin D3 levels did so only in normal donors. 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 increased LL‐37 production in human keratinocytes and neutrophils. 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 and LL‐37 enhanced the oncostatin M and IL‐31 production in CD3/28‐stimulated T cells, but did not alter IL‐25 and TSLP production in TNF‐α‐stimulated keratinocytes. In CD3/28‐stimulated T cells, 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 reduced the IL‐22 production, while LL‐37 enhanced it. These effects of 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 and LL‐37 were suppressed by vitamin D receptor antagonist and pertussis toxin, respectively.
Conclusions
Systemic vitamin D3 levels are reduced in patients with AD, which may contribute to decreased systemic LL‐37 levels. LL‐37 may systemically potentiate the oncostatin M and IL‐31 production in normal donors and patients with AD, while vitamin D3 may do so only in normal donors.
We propose and demonstrate polarization rotation of a terahertz (THz) electromagnetic wave by using two-dimensional gratings consisting of two displaced layers of gold film with complimentary chiral ...patterns with four-fold symmetry. We develop a time domain THz polarimetry method with three wire grid polarizers and distinguish optical activity from optical anisotropy. We obtain the isotropic polarization rotation of a terahertz wave free from the birefringence of the structures. Results indicate the possibility of controlling THz polarization with artificial chiral structures fabricated with thin metal films.
Induced differentiation is one of the most experience- and skill-dependent experimental processes in regenerative medicine, and establishing optimal conditions often takes years. We developed a ...robotic AI system with a batch Bayesian optimization algorithm that autonomously induces the differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelial (iPSC-RPE) cells. From 200 million possible parameter combinations, the system performed cell culture in 143 different conditions in 111 days, resulting in 88% better iPSC-RPE production than that obtained by the pre-optimized culture in terms of the pigmentation scores. Our work demonstrates that the use of autonomous robotic AI systems drastically accelerates systematic and unbiased exploration of experimental search space, suggesting immense use in medicine and research.
The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is essential for the survival and function of retinal photoreceptor cells. RPE dysfunction causes various retinal diseases including age-related macular ...degeneration (AMD). Clinical studies on ES/iPS cell-derived RPE transplantation for RPE dysfunction-triggered diseases are currently underway. Quantification of the diseased RPE area is important to evaluate disease progression or the therapeutic effect of RPE transplantation. However, there are no standard protocols. To address this issue, we developed a 2-step software that enables objective and efficient quantification of RPE-disease area changes by analyzing the early-phase hyperfluorescent area in fluorescein angiography (FA) images. We extracted the Abnormal region. This extraction was based on deep learning-based discrimination. We scored the binarized extracted area using an automated program. Our program's performance for the same eye from the serial image captures was within 3.1 ± 7.8% error. In progressive AMD, the trend was consistent with human assessment, even when FA images from two different visits were compared. This method was applicable to quantifying RPE-disease area changes over time, evaluating iPSC-RPE transplantation images, and a disease other than AMD. Our program may contribute to the assessment of the clinical course of RPE-disease areas in routine clinics and reduce the workload of researchers.
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