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Studies on the post-capture anti-predator tactics in juvenile Japanese eels
Full text link長崎大学学位論文 [学位記番号]博（水・環）甲第114号 [学位授与年月日]令和7年8月29日(2025-08-29)thesi
Association of poor sleep quality with clinical variables in nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease
No full textBackground: The high prevalence of poor sleep quality in patients with chronic respiratory diseases makes it an important clinical topic. However, the prevalence and characteristics of poor sleep quality in those with nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease and its association with clinical variables remain unclear. Methods: This retrospective study involved patients with nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease between June 2017 and May 2022. The prevalence of poor sleep quality was measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to and its association with clinical variables including age, sex, laboratory data, pulmonary function, respiratory symptoms, mental health, health-related quality of life, and physical function was assessed. Results: The median age of 233 participants was 65 years, with poor sleep quality present in 123 patients (52.8%) who were older, female, and unemployed with dyspnea, anxiety symptoms, low health-related quality of life, and low exercise capacity. Many reported that they "cannot get to sleep within 30 min," "wake up in the middle of the night or early morning," "have to get up to use the bathroom," "cannot breathe comfortably," or "cough or snore loudly." Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated a significant association between poor sleep quality, female sex, and low health-related quality of life. Conclusion: Our results suggested that for the patients in this study, a multidisciplinary management that considers poor sleep quality is required and assessment of sleep quality as a screening is needed.Respiratory Investigation, 63(2), pp.210-215; 2025journal articl
Drivers of food acquisition practices among adolescents in suburban food environments of Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Full text linkBackground: Dietary shifts among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries are exacerbating the double burden of malnutrition. Understanding the drivers of adolescent food acquisition and consumption practices and their lived experiences of the food environment is crucial for the effective development of targeted interventions and policies. Objective: To explore drivers of food acquisition and consumption practices among adolescents from two suburban schools in the food environments of Phonhong District, Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Methods: We implemented a Qualitative-Geographical Information System methodology, featuring participatory photography, follow-up photo-elicitation interviews and focus group discussions with 30 adolescents from April to July 2022. Thematic analysis triangulated key themes from photos, maps, and transcripts. Results: Drivers of food acquisition and consumption included interactions across external, interpersonal, and intrapersonal domains. The six key themes were food availability and accessibility, product properties and convenience, peers and social media, caregivers and household practices, affordability, desirability, and autonomy, and perceptions, beliefs, and social norms. Consumption of ultra-processed foods was driven by the availability and accessibility of these affordable products in schools. By contrast, consumption of fruits and vegetables was driven by parental food practices at home. Conclusion: A comprehensive multi-scalar approach is required to improve adolescent diets and nutrition in the suburban food environment of Lao PDR. This includes restricting the sale of ultra-processed foods in schools, promoting home gardening, increasing caregivers’ awareness and engagement with adolescents about the benefits of healthy food choices, and leveraging social media to encourage healthy eating behaviors.Global health action, 18(1), art. no. 2451475; 2025journal articl
Enhancement of coercivity in cobalt nanowire arrays electrodeposited from aqueous solutions containing citric acid
Full text linkCo nanowire arrays were prepared by pulsed-potential electrodeposition into nanopores of anodized aluminum oxide membranes (AAOMs) using an aqueous bath including citric acid. For comparison, Co nanowire arrays also synthesized by constant-potential electrodeposition. Based on the electron microscope images, the diameter and aspect ratio of electrodeposited nanowires were ca. 25 nm and ca. 1400, respectively. In addition, many crystal defects faults were introduced into the Co nanowires electrodeposited by pulsed-potential electrolysis. According to the XRD patterns, the crystallite size of Co nanowires electrodeposited from aqueous bath including citric acid decreased compared to that synthesized using a bath including boric acid. The formation of Co2+-citrate complexes suppressed the electrodeposition, and H2 gas generation seems to inhibit the movement and arrangement of Co atoms on the electrode surface (i.e., crystal growth process). The axial direction of nanowires, which were prepared using a bath including citric acid, corresponded to the c-axis of the HCP-Co crystal. In this work, the squareness and coercive force of Co nanowire arrays fabricated by pulsed-potential electrodeposition reached up to 0.93 and 2.68 kOe, respectively. It seems that magnetization reversal was suppressed because the magnetic domain structure within the crystal grains changed from multiple domains to a single domain. In addition, the crystal defects can cause domain-wall-pinning effect and enhance the hard magnetic characteristics of electrodeposited Co nanowire arrays. Furthermore, the synergism of crystallomagnetic and shape anisotropies improved the vertical magnetization characteristics.Journal of Materials Research and Technology, 35, pp.4132-4141; 2025journal articl
Sustained induction of autophagy enhances survival during prolonged starvation in newt cells
Full text linkSalamanders demonstrate exceptional resistance to starvation, allowing them to endure extended periods without food in their natural habitats. Although autophagy, a process involving evolutionarily conserved proteins, promotes survival during food scarcity, the specific mechanism by which it contributes to the extreme starvation resistance in newt cells remains unexplored. Our study, using the newt species Pleurodeles waltl, reveals that newt primary fibroblasts maintain constant autophagy activation during prolonged cellular starvation. Unlike normal mammalian fibroblasts, where autophagosome formation increases during acute starvation but returns to baseline levels after extended periods, newt cells maintain elevated autophagosome numbers even 4 d after autophagy initiation, surpassing levels observed in nutrient-rich conditions. Unique P. waltl mTOR orthologs show reduced lysosomal localization compared with mammalian cells in both nutrient-rich and starved states. However, newt cells exhibit dephosphorylation of mTOR substrates under starvation conditions, similar to mammalian cells. These observations suggest that newts may have evolved a distinctive system to balance seemingly conflicting factors: high regenerative capacity and autophagy-mediated survival during starvation.Life Science Alliance, 8(4), art. no. e202402772; 2025journal articl
Impact of Viral Co-Detection on the Within-Host Viral Diversity of Influenza Patients
Full text linkNumerous studies have documented the evidence of virus–virus interactions at the population, host, and cellular levels. However, the impact of these interactions on the within-host diversity of influenza viral populations remains unexplored. Our study identified 13 respiratory viral pathogens from the nasopharyngeal swab samples (NPSs) of influenza-like-illness (ILI) patients during the 2012/13 influenza season using multiplex RT-PCR. Subsequent next-generation sequencing (NGS) of RT-PCR-confirmed influenza A infections revealed all samples as subtype A/H3N2. Out of the 2305 samples tested, 538 (23.3%) were positive for the influenza A virus (IAV), while rhinovirus (RV) and adenoviruses (Adv) were detected in 264 (11.5%) and 44 (1.9%) samples, respectively. Among these, the co-detection of more than one virus was observed in ninety-six samples, and five samples showed co-detections involving more than two viruses. The most frequent viral co-detection was IAV–RV, identified in 48 out of the 96 co-detection cases. Of the total samples, 150 were processed for whole-genome sequencing (WGS), and 132 met the criteria for intra-host single-nucleotide variant (iSNV) calling. Across the genome, 397 unique iSNVs were identified, with most samples containing fewer than five iSNVs at frequencies below 10%. Seven samples had no detectable iSNVs. Notably, the majority of iSNVs (86%) were unique and rarely shared across samples. We conducted a negative binomial regression analysis to examine factors associated with the number of iSNVs detected within hosts. Two age groups—elderly individuals (>64 years old) and school-aged children (6–18 years old)—were significantly associated with higher iSNV counts, with incidence rate ratios (IRR) of 1.80 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.09–3.06) and 1.38 (95% CI: 1.01–1.90), respectively. Our findings suggest a minor or negligible contribution of these viral co-detections to the evolution of influenza viruses. However, the data available in this study may not be exhaustive, warranting further, more in-depth investigations to conclusively determine the impact of virus–virus interactions on influenza virus genetic diversity.Viruses, 17(2), art. no. 152; 2025journal articl
Cost-effectiveness of diabetes screening and diagnosis services for people with TB in the Philippines
Full text linkAim: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of death in low- and middle-income countries, and diabetes is a known risk factor for progression to active TB disease. While the Philippines national strategic plan for TB aims to screen 90 % of TB cases for diabetes, the cost-effectiveness of screening is not well known. Methods: We constructed a decision tree model to assess the cost-effectiveness of providing diabetes testing for 90% of people with an unknown diabetes status at their TB diagnosis and subsequent routine diabetes care, compared to the scenario of providing TB treatment only. Cost-effectiveness of the intervention was assessed from the provider and societal perspectives. Results: The intervention was cost saving. At a willingness to pay threshold per disability-adjusted-life-year of 50 % of gross domestic product per capita, the probability of the intervention being cost saving was 99 % from the provider and societal perspectives in people aged ≥18 years. The probability was highest in people with BMI >18.5 kg/m2 and in those aged >45 years. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that providing diabetes care for people with TB will be cost saving, and the intervention is likely to be most cost saving in people with BMI >18.5 kg/m2 or those aged >45 years.Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, 222, art. no. 112085; 2025journal articl
Impacts of Interactions Between Nearby Tidal Farms on Their Performance and Operation
Full text linkFollowing promising results from demonstration projects, the next stage in the development of tidal stream energy is the commercial exploitation of this resource. Many high energy density tidal sites are in interconnected channels and hence an interaction between nearby tidal farms is expected. In this study, the impacts of farm interactions are analyzed based on changes in the capacity factor and the length of offshore work windows estimated using results from a three-dimensional numerical hydrodynamic model. This study focuses on four nearby farms in the Goto Islands: two farms that are side-by-side in the same channel, and two other farms that are in parallel channels. The side-by-side farms reduce each other’s capacity factor by 5.37% and 2.22% due to velocity deficits in the turbine wakes of the adjacent farm. This decrease in current velocity leads to an increase in the length of offshore work windows, as these windows are defined by periods for which the current velocity at the turbine installation points is below a given threshold. Conversely, the interactions of farms in parallel channels are negligible in the case of the Goto Islands. These results highlight the importance of considering inter-array interactions to maximize energy generation and minimize installation and maintenance costs.Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology, 39(1), pp.47-55; 2025journal articl
日本の少年法について考える―2021年少年法改正論議を中心に―
Full text link多文化社会研究, 11, pp.459-475; 2025departmental bulletin pape