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This study presents a data-driven battery emulator using long short-term memory deep learning models to predict the charge-discharge behaviour of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). This study aimed to reduce the economic costs and time associated with the fabrication of large-scale automotive prototype batteries by emulating their performance using smaller laboratory-produced batteries. Two types of datasets were targeted: simulation data from the Dualfoil model and experimental data from liquid-based LIBs. These datasets were used to accurately predict the voltage profiles from the arbitrary inputs of various galvanostatic charge-discharge schedules. The results demonstrated high prediction accuracy, with the coefficient of determination scores reaching 0.98 and 0.97 for test datasets obtained from the simulation and experiments, respectively. The study also confirmed the significance of state-of-charge descriptors and inferred that a robust model performance could be achieved with as few as five charge-discharge training datasets. This study concludes that data-driven emulation using machine learning can significantly accelerate the battery development process, providing a powerful tool for reducing the time and economic costs associated with the production of large-scale prototype batteries., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Long-term durability and safety are required to develop Li-ion batteries that can operate at high voltages. However, side reactions, including the release of O 2 from the electrode and CO 2 from the organic electrolyte, occur at the positive-electrode/electrolyte interface during charging at high voltages. In this study, universal neural network potential (UNNP)-driven molecular dynamics (MD) calculations are used to investigate the mechanism of the reaction between Li x CoO 2 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) or Li x NiO 2 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1), as the positive-electrode material, and an ethylene-carbonate-based electrolyte, with a solid-liquid interface composed of ∼1700 atoms. Molecular CO 2 and O 2 evolve from the partially or fully Li-deintercalated Li x NiO 2 , while no gas-evolution reactions are observed for Li x CoO 2 . Hence, compared Li x NiO 2 , the LiCoO 2 electrode is more stable toward the decomposition of ethylene carbonate in the charged state. The decomposition reactions at the solid-liquid interface during charging are also analyzed using a NN force field. This study provides a robust approach involving MD simulations using UNNP to better understand the side reactions in electrochemical devices, which can guide manufacturers in selecting appropriate materials.

Background: Extracranial carotid artery aneurysms (ECAAs) are rare, and treatment guidelines are lacking. Few reports on endovascular treatments performed for ECAAs exist., Observations: A 73-year-old woman with a left giant cervical internal carotid artery aneurysm was treated with overlapping closed-cell stents. The aneurysm regrew 1 year after the treatment, and then a covered stent was deployed. Angioscopy was performed to confirm neointimal development to determine the appropriate stent position before the retreatment, and it revealed that the stent struts were embedded in thick neointima for the most part but that the neointima was thin around the aneurysm neck. Multiple holes connecting to the aneurysm were observed between the stent struts. A covered stent overlapped inside the closed-cell stents, and blood flow into the aneurysm completely disappeared., Lessons: When deploying the covered stent for recurrent aneurysms, angioscopy is useful for confirming neointimal development and determining the appropriate stent length and position. Angioscopic observations suggest that using stents with a higher mesh density and smaller pore size can reduce the neck hole size of the aneurysm and may achieve complete occlusion of the aneurysm. https://thejns.org/doi/10.3171/CASE24383.

Introduction: In facial motor-evoked potential monitoring, efforts to reduce peripheral stimulation are necessary because it can cause false-negatives. The effects of peripheral stimulation on Cz-C3/C4 and C3-C4 montages were compared., Methods: Facial motor-evoked potentials were recorded from bilateral orbicularis oculi (Oculi) and oris (Oris) muscles. The double-train approach combining single-pulse and five-train pulse stimulation was used to determine the effect of peripheral stimulation. If the five-train pulse produced a significant waveform, it was defined as "total success." In total success cases, "true success" was defined as a case in which no waveform appeared after the single pulse at the threshold level of the five-train pulse. The total and true success rates and the threshold value of Oculi and Oris were compared between Cz-C3/C4 and C3-C4 montages., Results: Thirty-six muscles each of Oculi and Oris of 18 patients were used for the analysis. True success was more likely to be obtained by the Cz-C3/C4 montage than the C3-C4 montage in Oculi (42% vs. 22%, p = 0.039). Both Oculi and Oris had higher thresholds to elicit facial motor-evoked potentials with the Cz-C3/C4 montage (Oculi: 101.7 vs. 71.4 mA, p = 0.038; Oris: 94.8 vs. 73.1 mA, p = 0.016)., Conclusions: Cz-C3/4 montage is more effective at reducing peripheral stimulation compared with the C3-4 montage. This effect was primarily seen in the orbicularis oculi muscle. It should be noted that the Cz-C3/C4 montage has a higher threshold than the C3-C4 montage in facial muscles. In facial motor-evoked potential monitoring, the Cz-C3/C4 montage may be more suitable to eliminate peripheral stimulation., Competing Interests: The authors have no funding or conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 by the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society.)

Background: A syringosubarachnoid (SS) shunt combined with keyhole hemilaminectomy is a beneficial procedure that can reduce the size of the skin incision and the risk of complications. However, ingenuity is needed to confirm the position of the syrinx during surgery. The authors present a case in which they treated syringomyelia in the upper thoracic spine using augmented reality (AR) to confirm syrinx formation, bone resection, and skin incision., Observations: Microscope-based AR was an appropriate and practical choice in this case. By placing the reference array at the Mayfield clamp, it was possible to use AR from the point of skin incision. Under AR navigation, an SS shunt tube can be placed in the short syrinx., Lessons: AR navigation enables pinpoint SS shunt tube insertion with minimal skin incision and bone resection. It is particularly useful for upper thoracic and small syrinx lesions. https://thejns.org/doi/10.3171/CASE24130.

Introduction: Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of bacterial pathogens isolated from patients with complicated urinary tract infections were analyzed using the national surveillance data, comprising 793 bacterial strains from eight clinically relevant species., Materials and Methods: Data were collected for the fourth national surveillance project from July 2020 to December 2021 by the Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, the Japanese Association for Infectious Disease, and the Japanese Society of Clinical Microbiology. Surveillance was supervised with the cooperation of 43 medical institutions throughout Japan., Results: Fluoroquinolone required a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 2-64 mg/L to inhibit the 330 tested Escherichia coli strains. The proportion of levofloxacin-resistant E. coli strains increased from 28.6% in 2008 to 29.6% in 2011, 38.5% in 2015, and 44.5% in 2021. The proportion of levofloxacin-resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa also increased from previous survey results, showing a continuing downward trend. Conversely, the proportion of levofloxacin-resistant strains of Enterococcus faecalis decreased relative to previous reports. Neither multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa nor carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae were detected. For methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the proportion of vancomycin-susceptible strains (MIC of 2 μg/mL) decreased from 14.7% to 7.7%., Discussion: Bacterial strains that produced extended-spectrum β-lactamase included E. coli (82/330 strains, 24.8%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (11/68 strains, 16.2%), and Proteus mirabilis (4/26 strains, 15.4%). As compared to previous surveillance reports, these strains showed an increase in proportion over the years., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Satoshi Takahashi received speaker honoraria from Fujirebio Inc. and research funding from Shino-Test Corporation, Roche Diagnostic K. K., Fujirebio Inc., and Abbott Japan Co., Ltd. Koichiro Wada received speaker honoraria from Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K., and MSD K.K. Shingo Yamamoto received speaker honoraria from MSD K.K., Fuso Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. and scholarship donations from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Bayer Yakuhin, Ltd. and research funding from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Tetsuya Matsumoto received speaker honoraria from MSD K.K., Pfizer Japan Inc., and Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and research funding from Kewpie Corporation., Biofermin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Kazumasa Matsumoto received research funding from Sysmex Corporation. Tohru Nakagawa received speaker honoraria from Astellas Pharma Inc., AstraZeneca K.K., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K., (Copyright © 2024 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and Japanese Society for Infection Prevention and Control. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been shown to modify excitability of the primary motor cortex (M1) and influence online motor learning. However, research on the effects of tDCS on motor learning has focused predominantly on simplified motor tasks. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether anodal stimulation of M1 over a single session of practice influences online learning of a relatively complex rhythmic timing video game. Fifty-eight healthy young adults were randomized to either a-tDCS or SHAM conditions and performed 2 familiarization blocks, a 20-minute 5 block practice period while receiving their assigned stimulation, and a post-test block with their non-dominant hand. To assess performance, a performance index was calculated that incorporated timing accuracy elements and incorrect key inputs. The results showed that M1 a-tDCS enhanced the learning of the video game based skill more than SHAM stimulation during practice, as well as overall learning at the post-test. These results provide evidence that M1 a-tDCS can enhance acquisition of skills where quality or success of performance depends on optimized timing between component motions of the skill, which could have implications for the application of tDCS in many real-world contexts., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Meek et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

In patients undergoing haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT), the intestinal microbiota plays an important role in prognosis, transplant outcome, and complications such as graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Our prior research revealed that patients undergoing HSCT substantially differed from healthy controls. In this retrospective study, we showed that administering Clostridium butyricum MIYAIRI 588 (CBM588) as a live biotherapeutic agent is associated with maintaining intestinal microbiota in the early post-HSCT period. Alpha diversity, which reflects species richness, declined considerably in patients who did not receive CBM588, whereas it remained consistent in those who received CBM588. In addition, β-diversity analysis revealed that CBM588 did not alter the gut microbiota structure at 7-21 days post-HSCT. Patients who developed GVHD showed structural changes in their microbiota from the pre-transplant period, which was noticeable on day 14 before developing GVHD. Enterococcus was significantly prevalent in patients with GVHD after HSCT, and the population of Bacteroides was maintained from the pre-HSCT period through to the post-HSCT period. Patients who received CBM588 exhibited a contrasting trend, with lower relative abundances of both genera Enterococcus and Bacteroides. These results suggest that preoperative treatment with CBM588 could potentially be beneficial in maintaining intestinal microbiota balance., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The Japanese surveillance committee conducted a third nationwide surveillance of antimicrobial susceptibility of acute uncomplicated cystitis at 55 facilities throughout Japan between April 2020 and September 2021. In this surveillance, we investigated the susceptibility of Escherichia coli (E. coli), Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae), and Staphylococcus saprophyticus (S. saprophyticus) for various antimicrobial agents by isolating and culturing bacteria from urine samples. In total, 823 strains were isolated from 848 patients and 569 strains of target bacteria, including E. coli (n = 529, 92.9 %), K. pneumoniae (n = 28, 4.9 %), and S. saprophyticus (n = 12, 2.2 %) were isolated. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of 18 antibacterial agents were determined according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute manual. In premenopausal patients, there were 31 (10.5 %) and 20 (6.8 %) fluoroquinolone (FQ)-resistant E. coli and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing E. coli, respectively. On the other hand, in postmenopausal patients, there were 75 (32.1 %) and 36 (15.4 %) FQ-resistant E. coli and ESBL-producing E. coli, respectively. The rate of FQ-resistant E. coli and ESBL-producing E. coli in post-menopausal women was higher than that for our previous nationwide surveillance (20.7 % and 32.1 %: p = 0.0004, 10.0 % and 15.4 %; p = 0.0259). For pre-menopausal women, there was no significant difference in the rate of FQ-resistant E. coli and ESBL-producing E. coli between this and previous reports, but the frequency of FQ-resistant E. coli and ESBL-producing E. coli exhibited a gradual increase. For appropriate antimicrobial agent selection and usage, it is essential for clinicians to be aware of the high rate of these antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in acute uncomplicated cystitis in Japan., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Koichiro Wada received speaker honoraria from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Satoshi Takahashi received speaker honoraria from Fujirebio Inc. and research funding from Shino-Test Corporation, Roche Diagnostic K.K., Fujirebio Inc., and Abbott Japan Co., Ltd. Shingo Yamamoto received speaker honoraria from MSD K.K., Fuso Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. and scholarship donations from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Bayer Yakuhin, Ltd. and research funding from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Tetsuya Matsumoto received speaker honoraria from MSD K.K., Pfizer Japan Inc., and Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and research funding from Kewpie Corporation., Biofermin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Kazumasa Matsumoto received research funding from Sysmex Corporation. Shin Ito received research funding from Hologic, Inc., (Copyright © 2024 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and Japanese Society for Infection Prevention and Control. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Inexpensive and safe energy-storage batteries with high energy densities are in high demand (e.g., for electric vehicles and grid-level renewable energy storage). This study focused on using NaFeCl 4 , comprising ubiquitous elements, as an electrode material for all-solid-state sodium-ion batteries. Monoclinic NaFeCl 4 , expected to be the most resource-attractive Fe redox material, is also thermodynamically stable. The Fe 2+/3+ redox reaction of the monoclinic NaFeCl 4 electrode has a higher potential (3.45 V vs. Na/Na + ) than conventional oxide electrodes (e.g., Fe 2 O 3 with 1.5 V vs. Na/Na + ) because of the noble properties of chlorine. Additionally, NaFeCl 4 exhibits unusually high deformability (99% of the relative density of the pellet) upon uniaxial pressing (382 MPa) at 298 K. NaFeCl 4 operates at 333 K in an electrode system containing no electrolyte, thereby realizing next-generation all-solid-state batteries with high safety. A high energy density per positive electrode of 281 Wh kg -1 was achieved using only a simple powder press., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This qualitative study explored the motivators and barriers for genetic testing for individuals with aniridia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 participants. The main findings highlighted the complex and interrelated factors involved in the decision-making process, including family planning, learning about the specific pathogenic variant of the disease and having access to genetic testing. Benefits and potential risks of genetic testing for aniridia were also discussed. For participants, gaining knowledge about their condition was perceived as a benefit, while administrative issues and concerns around privacy were identified as risks. Increased access to quality information about genetic testing and to the service and associated resources are needed to better support people living with aniridia., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Eagle jugular syndrome (EJS), recently identified as a cause of cerebrovascular disease (CVD) due to venous obstruction by an elongated styloid process (SP), is reported here alongside a case of concurrent de novo cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM). This study aims to explore the potential causal relationship between EJS and de novo CCM through a comprehensive literature review., Method: Systematic literature reviews, spanning from 1995 to 2023, focused on EJS cases with definitive signs and symptoms and de novo CCM cases with detailed clinical characteristics. Data on the pathophysiology and clinical manifestations of EJS, as well as potential risk factors preceding de novo CCM, were collected to assess the relationship between the two conditions., Result: Among 14 patients from 11 articles on EJS, the most common presentation was increased intracranial hypertension (IIH), observed in 10 patients (71.4%), followed by dural sinus thrombosis in four patients (28.6%). In contrast, 30 patients from 28 articles were identified with de novo CCM, involving 37 lesions. In these cases, 13 patients developed CCM subsequent to developmental venous anomalies (43%), seven following dural arteriovenous fistula (dAVF) (23%), and two after sinus thrombosis (6%). In a specific case of de novo brainstem CCM, the development of an enlarged condylar emissary vein, indicative of venous congestion due to IJV compression by the elongated SP, was noted before the emergence of CCM., Conclusion: This study underscores that venous congestion, a primary result of symptomatic EJS, might lead to the development of de novo CCM. Thus, EJS could potentially be an indicator of CCM development. Further epidemiological and pathophysiological investigations focusing on venous circulation are necessary to clarify the causal relationship between EJS and CCM., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.)

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is one of the important pathogens of sexually transmitted infections. N. gonorrhoeae is rapidly becoming antimicrobial resistant, and there are few drugs that are effective in the initial treatment of gonorrhea. To understand the trends of antimicrobial susceptibility of N. gonorrhoeae, the Surveillance Committee of the Japanese Society of Infectious Diseases, the Japanese Society for Chemotherapy, and the Japanese Society of Clinical Microbiology conducted the third nationwide antimicrobial susceptibility surveillance of N. gonorrhoeae isolated from male urethritis. The specimens were collected from male patients with urethritis at 30 facilities from May 2016 to July 2017. From the 159 specimens collected, 87 N. gonorrhoeae strains were isolated, and 85 were tested for susceptibility to 21 antimicrobial agents. All strains were non-susceptible to penicillin G. Seven strains (8.2%) were β-lactamase-producing strains. The rates of susceptibility to cefixime and cefpodoxime were 96.5% and 52.9%, respectively. Three strains were non-susceptible with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.5 mg/L for cefixime. None of the strains were resistant to ceftriaxone or spectinomycin. The susceptibility rate for ciprofloxacin was 23.5% (20 strains), and no strains showed intermediate susceptibility. The susceptibility rate against azithromycin was 81.2%, with one strain isolated with a MIC of 8 mg/L against azithromycin. The results of this surveillance indicate that ceftriaxone and spectinomycin, which are currently recommended for gonococcal infections in Japan, appear to be effective. It will be necessary to further expand the scale of the next surveillance to understand the current status of drug-resistant N. gonorrhoeae in Japan., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Satoshi Takahashi received speaker honoraria from MSD K.K., Fujirebio Inc. and research funding from Shino-Test Corporation, Roche Diagnostic K.K., Fujirebio Inc., and Abbott Japan Co., Ltd. Shingo Yamamoto received speaker honoraria from MSD K.K., Fuso Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. and scholarship donations from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Bayer Yakuhin, Ltd. and research funding from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Tetsuya Matsumoto received speaker honoraria from MSD K.K., Pfizer Japan Inc., and Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and research funding from Kewpie Corporation., Biofermin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Hiroyuki Nishiyama received research funding from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Kazumasa Matsumoto received research funding from Sysmex Corporation. Junichi Inokuchi received research funding from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., (Copyright © 2023 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and Japanese Society for Infection Prevention and Control. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Efforts to optimize known materials and enhance their performance are ongoing, driven by the advancements resulting from the discovery of novel functional materials. Traditionally, the search for and optimization of functional materials has relied on the experience and intuition of specialized researchers. However, materials informatics (MI), which integrates materials data and machine learning, has frequently been used to realize systematic and efficient materials exploration without depending on manual tasks. Nonetheless, the discovery of new materials using MI remains challenging. In this study, we propose a method for the discovery of materials outside the scope of existing databases by combining MI with the experience and intuition of researchers. Specifically, we designed a two-dimensional map that plots known materials data based on their composition and structure, facilitating researchers' intuitive search for new materials. The materials map was implemented using an autoencoder-based neural network. We focused on the conductivity of 708 lithium oxide materials and considered the correlation with migration energy (ME), an index of lithium-ion conductivity. The distribution of existing data reflected in the materials map can contribute to the development of new lithium-ion conductive materials by enhancing the experience and intuition of material researchers., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Introduction: Antifungal agents are not always efficient in resolving vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), a common genital infection caused by the overgrowth of Candida spp., including Candida albicans , or in preventing recurrent infections. Although lactobacilli (which are dominant microorganisms constituting healthy human vaginal microbiota) are important barriers against VVC, the Lactobacillus metabolite concentration needed to suppress VVC is unknown., Methods: We quantitatively evaluated Lactobacillus metabolite concentrations to determine their effect on Candida spp., including 27 vaginal strains of Lactobacillus crispatus, L. jensenii, L. gasseri, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus , and Limosilactobacillus vaginalis , with inhibitory abilities against biofilms of C. albicans clinical isolates., Results: Lactobacillus culture supernatants suppressed viable fungi by approximately 24%-92% relative to preformed C. albicans biofilms; however, their suppression differed among strains and not species. A moderate negative correlation was found between Lactobacillus lactate production and biofilm formation, but no correlation was observed between hydrogen peroxide production and biofilm formation. Both lactate and hydrogen peroxide were required to suppress C. albicans planktonic cell growth. Lactobacillus strains that significantly inhibited biofilm formation in culture supernatant also inhibited C. albicans adhesion to epithelial cells in an actual live bacterial adhesion competition test., Discussion: Healthy human microflora and their metabolites may play important roles in the development of new antifungal agent against C. albicans -induced VVC., Competing Interests: HaK, SE, AM, KO, and MT are employees of Miyarisan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; however, they have no conflicts of interest to declare regarding this study. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Takano, Kudo, Eguchi, Matsumoto, Oka, Yamasaki, Takahashi, Koshikawa, Takemura, Yamagishi, Mikamo and Kunishima.)

The mhg1 (NCU02695/ada-23) gene encodes the mitochondrial high-mobility group box (HMG-box or HMGB) protein in Neurospora crassa. The mhg1 KO strain (mhg1 KO ) has mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) instability and a short lifespan; however, the function of MHG1 remains unclear. To investigate the role of this protein in the maintenance of mtDNA, domain deleted MHG1 proteins were expressed in the mhg1 KO strain, and their effects were analyzed. We identified two putative HMG-domains, HMGBI and HMGBII. Although deletion of the HMG-box did not abolish MHG1's mitochondrial localization, the mhg1 KO phenotype of a severe growth defect and a high sensitivity to mutagens could not be restored by introduction of HMG-box deleted mhg1 gene into the KO strain. It was indicated that recombinant full-length MHG1, i.e., mitochondrial targeting sequence (MTS) containing protein, did not exhibit explicit DNA binding, whereas the MHG1 protein truncated for the MTS sequence did in vitro by an electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Furthermore, recombinant MHG1 protein lacking MTS and HMG-domains, either HMGBI or HMGBII, had DNA affinity and an altered band shift pattern compared with MTS-truncated MHG1 protein. These results suggest that cleavage of MTS and appropriate DNA binding via HMG-domains are indispensable for maintaining mtDNA in N. crassa., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper., (Copyright © 2022 British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

NASICON-type LiZr 2 (PO 4 ) 3 (LZP) has attracted significant attention as a solid oxide electrolyte for all-solid-state Li-ion or Li-metal batteries owing to its high Li-ion conductivity, usability in all-solid-state batteries, and electrochemical stability against Li metal. In this study, we aim to improve the Li-ion conductivity of Li-rich NASICON-type LZPs doped with CaO and SiO 2 , i.e. , Li 1+ x +2 y Ca y Zr 2- y Si x P 3- x O 12 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3, 0 ≤ y ≤ 0.3) (LCZSP). Herein, a total of 49 compositions were synthesised, and their crystal structures, relative densities, and Li-ion conductivities were characterised experimentally. We confirmed the improvement in Li-ion conductivity by simultaneous replacement of Zr and P sites with Ca and Si ions, respectively. However, the intuition-derived determination of the composition exhibiting the highest Li-ion conductivity is technically difficult because the compositional dependence of the relative density and the crystalline phase of the sample is very complex. Bayesian optimisation (BO) was performed to efficiently discover the optimal composition that exhibited the highest Li-ion conductivity among the samples evaluated experimentally. We also optimised the composition of the LCZSP using multi-task Gaussian process regression after transferring prior knowledge of 47 compositions of Li 1+ x +2 y Y x Ca y Zr 2- x - y P 3 O 12 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.376, 0 ≤ y ≤ 0.376) (LYCZP), i.e. , BO with transfer learning. The present study successfully demonstrated that BO with transfer learning can search for optimal compositions two times as rapid as the conventional BO approach. This approach can be widely applicable for the optimisation of various functional materials as well as ionic conductors., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Li-metal rechargeable batteries are an attractive option for devices that require an extremely high specific energy density, high robustness, and long-term durability, such as high-altitude platform stations. However, Li dendrite growth during charge-discharge cycling causes short-circuit problems. One technical solution is to form an intermediate layer between the Li metal and electrolyte. This interfacial layer should possess mechanical strength, electrochemical stability in the presence of Li, and Li-ion conductivity. In this study, the Li-ion conductivity of spinel-type LiAl 5 O 8 was investigated using first-principles density functional theory and force field molecular dynamics calculations. The calculation results confirmed that stoichiometric LiAl 5 O 8 compounds do not exhibit Li-ion conductivity, whereas off-stoichiometric compounds with excess Li show long-range Li-ion diffusion. The evaluated activation energy was 0.28 eV, which is as low as that of well-known fast Li-ion conductors, such as garnet-type Li 7 La 3 Zr 2 O 12 . However, the extrapolated Li-ion conductivity at 298 K was relatively low (~ 10 -6 S/cm) owing to the limited formation of migration pathways., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

All-solid-state Li-ion batteries are of considerable interest as safer alternatives to Li-ion batteries containing flammable organic electrolytes. To date, however, achieving sufficient charging and discharging rates, in addition to capacity, at room temperature using these all-solid-state batteries has been challenging. To overcome these issues, material simulations and informatics investigations of a relatively new Na superionic conductor (NASICON)-type LiZr 2 (PO 4 ) 3 (LZP) electrolyte were conducted to elucidate its characteristics and material functions. The following thermodynamic and/or kinetic properties of NASICON-type Li-ion conductive oxides were investigated with respect to the crystal structure mainly using material simulation and informatics approaches: (1) the electrochemical stabilities of LZP materials with respect to Li metal and (2) Li-ion conductivities in the bulk and at the grain boundaries. An efficient materials informatics search method was employed to optimise the material functions of the LZP electrolyte via Bayesian optimisation. This study should promote the application of LZP in all-solid-state batteries for use in technologies such as mobile devices and electric vehicles and enable more complex composition and process control.

Background: Compared with several reports of cerebral vasospasm after clipping for unruptured cerebral aneurysm, only one study to date has reported cerebral vasospasm after coil embolization. Herein, the authors report a rare case of cerebral vasospasm after coil embolization for unruptured cerebral aneurysm., Observations: A 58-year-old woman with an unruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm was referred to our department. Stent-assisted coil embolization was performed for the aneurysm, and no obvious adverse events were observed on cerebral angiography obtained immediately after the operation. However, the patient developed mild headache and slight restlessness soon after the operation and new-onset disorientation, left hemispatial neglect, and left hemiplegia the day after the operation. Emergency brain magnetic resonance imaging and cerebral angiography indicated vasospasm in the right middle cerebral artery, and intra-arterial injection of fasudil hydrochloride hydrate was performed to dilate the middle cerebral artery. Blood flow in the middle cerebral artery immediately improved, and she was discharged without neurological deficits 8 days after the operation., Lessons: Immediate intervention is necessary to prevent cerebral infarction in patients with cerebral vasospasm, which may occur even after coil embolization for unruptured cerebral aneurysm.

Tetracyclines (TCs) are widely used for livestock, and the high prevalence of TC-resistant Escherichia coli in livestock has become a serious concern worldwide. In Japan, the National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance in 2016 aimed to reduce the TC resistance rate in E. coli derived from livestock. Flavophospholipol (FPL), used as a feed additive, has an inhibitory effect on the spread of plasmid-mediated antimicrobial resistance. The number of TC-resistant E. coli was determined in pigs administered TCs and/or FPL to clarify the effect of FPL on reducing the number of TC-resistant E. coli in pigs. TC-resistant E. coli and their plasmids were then analyzed. The pigs were divided into four groups: control, doxycycline (DOXY; a TC), FPL, and a DOXY-FPL combination. Their feces were collected from the nursing period to the day before being transported to the slaughterhouse, followed by estimation of TC-resistant E. coli (colony-forming units [CFU]/g). The number of TC-resistant E. coli increased with the use of DOXY, suggesting that DOXY administration provides a selective pressure for TC-resistant E. coli. Supplementation with FPL as a feed additive significantly suppressed the increase in the number of TC-resistant E. coli, especially during the DOXY administration period. Transfer and growth inhibition analyses were performed for TC-resistant isolates. FPL inhibited the conjugational transfer and growth of a few TC-resistant E. coli isolates. These results suggest that FPL is effective against the spread of TC-resistant E. coli., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The Urogenital Sub-committee and the Surveillance Committee of the Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and the Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology conducted the second nationwide surveillance of the antimicrobial susceptibility of Chlamydia trachomatis. In this second surveillance study, clinical urethral discharge specimens were collected from patients with urethritis in 26 hospitals and clinics from May 2016 to July 2017. Based on serial cultures, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) could be determined for 41 isolates; the MICs (MIC 90 ) of ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, tosufloxacin, sitafloxacin, doxycycline, minocycline, erythromycin, clarithromycin, azithromycin and solithromycin were 2 μg/ml (2 μg/ml), 1 μg/ml (0.5 μg/ml), 0.25 μg/ml (0.25 μg/ml), 0.125 μg/ml (0.063 μg/ml), 0.125 μg/ml (0.125 μg/ml), 0.25 μg/ml (0.25 μg/ml), 0.031 μg/ml (0.031 μg/ml), 0.25 μg/ml (0.125 μg/ml), and 0.016 μg/ml (0.008 μg/ml), respectively. In summary, this surveillance project did not identify any strains resistant to fluoroquinolone, tetracycline, or macrolide agents in Japan. In addition, the MIC of solithromycin was favorable and lower than that of other antimicrobial agents. However, the MIC of azithromycin had a slightly higher value than that reported in the first surveillance report, though this might be within the acceptable margin of error. Therefore, the susceptibility of azithromycin, especially, should be monitored henceforth., (Copyright © 2021 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Obesity induces severe disorders such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular events, and the number of people with obesity is increasing all over the world. Furthermore, it is possible that obesity increases the risk of cognitive dysfunction via the acceleration of oxidative damage. Tocotrienols, which are part of the vitamin E family, have antioxidant and anti-obesity effects. However, the effects of tocotrienols on high-fat diet-treated mice have not been completely elucidated. In this study, we assessed changes in body weight, spatial reference memory acquisition, liver lipid droplet size, blood brain barrier-related protein expressions and antioxidative defense systems in high-fat diet-treated mice in the presence or absence of tocotrienols. The results showed that tocotrienols significantly inhibited body weight gain and lipid droplet synthesis. Although the amount was very small, it was confirmed that tocotrienols surely reached the brain in the perfused brain. Treatment with tocotrienols was tended to improve cognitive function in the control mice. However, tocotrienols did not modulate blood brain barrier-related protein expressions or antioxidative defense systems. These results indicate that treatment with tocotrienols could be effective for the prevention of obesity and cognitive dysfunction. Further extended research is needed to elucidate the relationship between anti-obesity and antioxidant effects of tocotrienols, especially in the brain., Competing Interests: No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed., (Copyright © 2021 JCBN.)

Background: In the Canadian Province of British Columbia (BC), the BC Mental Health Act permits involuntary care for treating mental disorders. However, the Act has also been applied to provide involuntary care to individuals with a primary substance use disorder, in the absence of specific guidelines and legislation, and with insufficient understanding of perspectives of people who use drugs (PWUD) regarding this approach., Methods: As part of a larger mixed-methods research project providing an overview of involuntary care for severe substance use disorders in BC, three focus groups were convened with: PWUD, families and caregivers, and Indigenous community stakeholders. This analysis examines perspectives from the focus group of PWUD, consisting of nine participants from local and regional drug user and advocacy organizations regarding involuntary care. A qualitative descriptive approach and thematic analysis were conducted, using a coding framework developed deductively and inductively, and participant perspectives were interpreted drawing on problematization theory., Results: Participants did not endorse the use of involuntary care, instead emphasizing significant changes were needed to address shortcomings of the wider voluntary care system. When asked to conceptualize what an acceptable involuntary care scenario might look like (under hypothetical and ideal conditions), participants recommended it should include: individual control and autonomy, peer advocacy in decision-making, and elimination of police and criminal justice system involvement from treatment encounters. Participants saw involuntary care to be an inappropriate approach given the shortcomings of the current system, noting also problems inherent in its use to manage severe SUDs and imminent harm, and prioritized alternate approaches to offsetting risks., Conclusion: Improving voluntary care for substance use, along with addressing the social determinants of health that put individuals at risk of problematic substance use and harm, were prioritized in participant perspectives. Participant comments regarding the use of involuntary care bring forward alternate solutions in the context of the opioid overdose crisis, and a reconceptualization of the 'problem' of managing severe substance use disorders., Competing Interests: Declarations of Interest None., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Endometritis has a major impact on fertility in postpartum dairy cows. Since previous studies showed an association between reproductive microbiota and perinatal disease, we monitored both bovine uterine and vaginal microbiota in primiparous cows to elucidate the effect of early postpartum microbiota on endometritis. Uterine and vaginal samples were collected at time points from pre-calving to 35 days postpartum (DPP), and analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing, combined with ancillary bacterial culture. A total of seven healthy cows and seven cows diagnosed with endometritis on 35 DPP were used in the current study. The uterine and vaginal microbiota showed a maximum of 20.1% shared amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) at linked time points. 16S rRNA based analysis and traditional culture methods revealed that Trueperella showed a higher abundance in both uterus and vagina of the endometritis group compared to the healthy group on 21 DPP ( U -test p < 0.05). Differential abundance analysis of the uterine microbiota showed that Enterococcus and six bacterial genera including Bifidobacterium were unique to the healthy group on the day of calving (0 DPP) and 28 DPP, respectively. In contrast, Histophilus and Mogibacteriaceae were characteristic bacteria in the vagina pre-calving in cows that later developed endometritis, suggesting that these bacteria could be valuable to predict clinical outcomes. Comparing the abundances of bacterial genera in the uterine microbiota, a negative correlation was observed between Trueperella and several bacteria including Lactobacillus . These results suggest that building an environment where there is an increase in bacteria that are generally recognized as beneficial, such as Lactobacillus , may be one possible solution to reduce the abundance of Trueperella and control endometritis., Competing Interests: HK, SH, KO, MT, and SK are employed by Miyarisan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Kudo, Sugiura, Higashi, Oka, Takahashi, Kamiya, Tamura and Usui.)

It remains unclear how epidural pneumatosis affects the efficacy of neuraxial anesthesia. Spontaneous pneumomediastinum (Hamman syndrome) with epidural pneumatosis is rare. Regardless of its etiology, general anesthesia with positive pressure ventilation in patients with pneumomediastinum carries the risk of pneumothorax. We present a 19-year-old patient with Hamman syndrome and epidural pneumatosis who required emergency laparotomy. Effective analgesia was obtained using neuraxial anesthesia with a combined spinal-epidural anesthesia technique., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 International Anesthesia Research Society.)

Introduction: The aim of this study was to monitor the development of drug-resistant bacteria isolated from acute uncomplicated cystitis (AUC) and to evaluate methodology of the survey conducted by collecting only clinical data., Methods: We enrolled female patients at least 16 years of age diagnosed with AUC in 2018. Patient information including age, menopausal status, and results of bacteriological examination were collected and analyzed regardless of bacterial identification, antimicrobial susceptibility testing or extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) detection method., Results: A total of 847 eligible cases were collected. Escherichia coli (E. coli) was the most frequently isolated bacterial species at about 70%, with proportions of fluoroquinolone-resistant E. coli (QREC) and ESBL-producing E. coli isolates at 15.6% and 9.5% of all E. coli isolates, respectively. The proportion of Staphylococcus saprophyticus (S. saprophyticus) was significantly higher in premenopausal women. Regarding the drug susceptibility of E. coli, isolates from Eastern Japan had significantly higher susceptibility to cefazolin, cefotiam and cefpodoxime and lower susceptibility to levofloxacin in postmenopausal women. ESBL-producing E. coli isolates had a high susceptibility to tazobactam-piperacillin, cefmetazole, carbapenems, aminoglycosides, and fosfomycin. In S. saprophyticus, the susceptibility to β-lactams including carbapenems was 40-60%., Conclusions: The proportions of QREC and ESBL-producing E. coli were increasing trends and lower susceptibility to LVFX in postmenopausal women was observed. Such surveillance, consisting of the collecting only clinical data, could be conducted easily and inexpensively. It is expected to be continuously performed as an alternative survey to conventional one collecting bacterial strains., (Copyright © 2021 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease that leads to severe respiratory failure (RF). It is known that host exposure to viral infection triggers an iron-lowering response to mitigate pathogenic load and tissue damage. However, the association between host iron-lowering response and COVID-19 severity is not clear. This two-center observational study of 136 adult hospitalized COVID-19 patients analyzed the association between disease severity and initial serum iron, total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), and transferrin saturation (TSAT) levels. Serum iron levels were significantly lower in patients with mild RF than in the non-RF group; however, there were no significant differences in iron levels between the non-RF and severe RF groups, depicting a U-shaped association between serum iron levels and disease severity. TIBC levels decreased significantly with increasing severity; consequently, TSAT was significantly higher in patients with severe RF than in other patients. Multivariate analysis including only patients with RF adjusted for age and sex demonstrated that higher serum iron and TSAT levels were independently associated with the development of severe RF, indicating that inadequate response to lower serum iron might be an exacerbating factor for COVID-19.

Background: While depression is a leading contributor to burden of disease in Vietnam, there is a critical gap in depression care due to the shortage of mental health specialists and extremely limited mental health services in general health care settings. We have previously reported the effectiveness of a supported self-management (SSM) task-sharing intervention for depression, delivered by social collaborators (lay social workers). The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing the effectiveness of delivery of SSM by social collaborators and delineate areas for further attention that are relevant for scale-up., Methods: A hundred and ten (110) key informant interviews were conducted with three stakeholder groups (patients, social collaborators, experts) from eight provinces in Vietnam. Participants were identified through records from a recently completed randomized trial that showed the effectiveness of SSM in community-based settings in Vietnam. Qualitative descriptive methods and thematic analysis were used to examine the interviews. A coding framework and corresponding themes were developed deductively, based on the findings from the randomized trial and the literature, and through inductive analysis, to describe the contextual factors that impacted the social collaborators' role in successfully implementing the SSM intervention., Results: Our analysis identified the following benefits of working with social collaborators: (1) increased awareness of mental health in the family and community; (2) reduced stigma; (3) a better understanding that depression is treatable; (4) increased help-seeking; and (5) improved access to care. There were also significant challenges, including social collaborator characteristics (age, education, pre-existing training and skills) and contextual factors influencing their work (roles and responsibilities, training, compensation, support from government)., Conclusions: Engaging social collaborators in the delivery of SSM in the community can help fill a critical gap in depression care in Vietnam. However, several contextual challenges that are an impediment to increased engagement and sustainable integration into health and social systems need to be resolved through policy change to regulate their practice, define their scope of work, and provide adequate remuneration.

Background: Patient awareness surveys on polypharmacy have been reported previously, but no previous study has examined the effects of sending feedback to health professionals on reducing medication use. Our study aimed to conduct a patient survey to examine factors contributing to polypharmacy, feedback the results to health professionals, and analyze the resulting changes in the number of polypharmacy patients and prescribed medications., Methods: After conducting a questionnaire survey of patients in Study 1, we provided its results to the healthcare professionals, and then surveyed the number of polypharmacy patients and oral medications using a before-after comparative study design in Study 2. In Study 1, we examined polypharmacy and its contributing factors by performing logistic regression analysis. In Study 2, we performed a t-test and a chi-square test., Results: In the questionnaire survey, significant differences were found in the following 3 items: age (odds ratio (OR) = 3.14; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.01-4.91), number of medical institutions (OR = 2.34; 95%CI = 1.50-3.64), and patients' difficulty with asking their doctors to deprescribe their medications (OR = 2.21; 95%CI = 1.25-3.90). After the feedback, the number of polypharmacy patients decreased from 175 to 159 individuals and the mean number of prescribed medications per patient decreased from 8.2 to 7.7 (p < 0.001, respectively)., Conclusions: Providing feedback to health professionals on polypharmacy survey results may lead to a decrease in the number of polypharmacy patients. Factors contributing to polypharmacy included age (75 years or older), the number of medical institutions (2 or more institutions), and patients' difficulty with asking their physicians to deprescribe their medications. Feedback to health professionals reduced the percentage of polypharmacy patients and the number of prescribed medications., Trial Registration: UMIN. Registered 21 June 2020 - Retrospectively registered, https://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index-j.htm.

2D van der Waals ferroelectrics have emerged as an attractive building block with immense potential to provide multifunctionality in nanoelectronics. Although several accomplishments have been reported in ferroelectric switching for out-of-plane ferroelectrics down to the monolayer, a purely in-plane ferroelectric has not been experimentally validated at the monolayer thickness. Herein, an in-plane ferroelectricity is demonstrated for micrometer-size monolayer SnS at room temperature. SnS has been commonly regarded to exhibit the odd-even effect, where the centrosymmetry breaks only in the odd-number layers to exhibit ferroelectricity. Remarkably, however, a robust room temperature ferroelectricity exists in SnS below a critical thickness of 15 layers with both an odd and even number of layers, suggesting the possibility of controlling the stacking sequence of multilayer SnS beyond the limit of ferroelectricity in the monolayer. This work will pave the way for nanoscale ferroelectric applications based on SnS as a platform for in-plane ferroelectrics.

The antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of bacterial pathogens isolated from patients with complicated urinary tract infections were analyzed using national surveillance data. The data consisted of 881 bacterial strains from eight clinically relevant species. The data were collected for the third national surveillance project from January 2015 to March 2016 by the Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, the Japanese Association for Infectious Disease, and the Japanese Society of Clinical Microbiology. Surveillance was undertaken with the cooperation of 41 medical institutions throughout Japan. Fluoroquinolone required a MIC 90 of 2-64 mg/L to inhibit the 325 Escherichia coli strains tested and the proportion of levofloxacin resistant E. coli strains increased to 38.5% from 29.6% in 2011 and 28.6% in 2008. The proportion of levofloxacin resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecalis decreased from previous reports and the proportion of multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae remained low. Among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains, strains with reduced susceptibility to vancomycin (minimum inhibitory concentration, 2 μg/mL) increased to 14.7% from 5.5%. Bacterial strains that produced extended-spectrum β-lactamase included E. coli (79 of 325 strains, 24.3%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (9 of 177 strains, 7.7%), and Proteus mirabilis (6 of 55 strains, 10.9%). The proportion of extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae strains increased from previous surveillance reports., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Shingo Yamamoto has received speaker's honorarium from Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd., and scholarship donations from Astellas Pharma Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Pfizer Japan Inc., and Bayer Yakuhin, Ltd. Satoshi Takahashi has received speaker honoraria from Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. and MSD K.K., and research grants from Shino-Test Corporation and Abbott Japan Co., Ltd. Ryoichi Hamasuna has received speaker's honorarium from Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. Shinichiro Minamitani is an employee of Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. Tetsuya Matsumoto has received speaker's honorarium from MSD K.K. and Pfizer Japan Inc. Hiroshi Kiyota and Hiroki Yamada have received scholarship donations from Taisho Toyama Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd., Astellas Pharma Inc., Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and Sanofi K.K. Kazuhiro Tateda received speaker honoraria from Pfizer Japan Inc., MSD K.K., Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., Taisho Toyama Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd., research funding from Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd., Nippon Becton Dickinson Company, Ltd., Asahi Kasei Pharma Corporation, Eidia Co., Ltd., Eiken Chemical Co. Ltd., Nissui Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Spero OpCo, Inc., Shimadzu Corporation, Hitachi Ltd., Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., MSD K.K., Denka Company Limited, KD-ICONS Co. Ltd., and grant support from Taisho Toyama Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., Asahi Kasei Pharma Corporation, Shionogi & Co., Ltd., Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd., Pfizer Japan Inc., Astellas Pharma Inc., and FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd., and scholarship donations from Taisho Toyama Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., Asahi Kasei Pharma Corporation, Shionogi & Co., Ltd., Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd., Pfizer Japan Inc., Astellas Pharma Inc. and FUJIFILM Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd., and has an endowed department sponsored by Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd., Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Astellas Pharma Inc., Taisho Toyama Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., MSD K.K. and Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. Hiroyuki Nishiyama has received speaker's honorarium from MSD K.K., AstraZeneca K.K., Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Astellas Pharma Inc., research funding from Astellas Pharma Inc., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and scholarship donations from Astellas Pharma Inc., Novartis Pharma K.K., Pfizer Japan Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., (Copyright © 2020 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Li metal electrode is the ultimate choice use in Li ion batteries as high-energy storage systems. An obstacle to its practical realization is Li dendrite formation. In this study, the desolvation resistance of the Li metal electrode, which is strongly related to the inhibition of Li dendrite formation, is investigated. By applying a Laplace transform impedance technique, the desolvation/solvation resistances were successfully separated and analyzed in cells using liquid electrolytes containing different lithium salts, revealing asymmetry in the desolvation/solvation resistances of Li metal electrodes. The desolvation resistances, which supposedly require large amounts of energy derived from the strong interaction between Li + ion and solvents, were smaller than the solvation resistances. It has also been revealed that the larger resistance in the desolvation process is effective for suppressing Li dendrite formation further.

Solid electrolytes with high Mg-ion conductivity are required to develop solid-state Mg-ion batteries. The migration energies of the Mg 2+ ions of 5,576 Mg compounds tabulated from the inorganic crystal structure database (ICSD) were evaluated via high-throughput calculations. Among the computational results, we focused on the Mg 2+ ion diffusion in Mg 0.6 Al 1.2  Si 1.8 O 6 , as this material showed a relatively low migration energy for Mg 2+ and was composed solely of ubiquitous elements. Furthermore, first-principles molecular dynamics calculations confirmed a single-phase Mg 2+ ion conductor. The bulk material with a single Mg 0.6 Al 1.2 Si 1.8 O 6 phase was successfully prepared using the sol-gel method. The relative density of the sample was 81%. AC impedance measurements indicated an electrical conductivity of 1.6 × 10 -6 Scm -1 at 500°C. The activation energy was 1.32 eV, which is comparable to that of monoclinic-type Mg 0.5 Zr 2 (PO 4 ) 3 ., (© 2020 The Author(s). Published by National Institute for Materials Science in partnership with Taylor & Francis Group.)

Efficient and large-scale removal of humic acid (HA) from aqueous environments is required since HA causes human health and esthetic issues. Hydro-garnet compounds, Ca 3 Al 2 (SiO 4 ) 3- x (OH) 4 x , have recently been suggested as HA adsorbents not only due to their superior adsorption behaviors but also because they are ubiquitous element-derived compounds. In this study, the adsorption behavior of formic acid to hydro-garnets was investigated by means of first-principles density functional theory (DFT) computations. Formic acid was chosen owing to its reasonable computational cost and inclusion of carboxylic acid as HA. Comparisons of adsorption energies for formic acid among various compounds (including platinum and kaolinite) indicate that hydro-garnet compounds are promising due to their lower (more stable) adsorption energies. Also, the optimization of composition x enables selective adsorption of formic acid against solvent water molecules. Relationships between surface electronic/atomistic structures and adsorption properties are discussed., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.)

Background: This study tested the effectiveness of a supported self-management (SSM) intervention to reduce symptoms of depression among adults compared with enhanced treatment as usual in community-based and primary care settings in Vietnam., Methods: The cluster randomized trial included 376 adults in 32 communes in eight provinces. Eligible participants scored > 7 on the SRQ-20 depression scale. Patients with severe symptoms were excluded and referred to tertiary care. Randomization took place at the commune level. The immediate intervention group included 16 communes with 190 participants and the delayed group included 16 communes with 186 participants. Participants in communes randomized to the immediate intervention group received a two-month course of SSM, consisting of a workbook and supportive coaching. Those in communes randomized to the delayed group received enhanced treatment as usual and, for ethical purposes, received the SSM intervention after 4 months. The primary outcome is the effect of SSM on reduction in depression scores as indicated by a reduced proportion of participants with SRQ-20 scores > 7 at 2 months after commencement of SSM intervention. Blinding was not possible during intervention delivery but outcome assessors were blinded. Analysis was intention-to-treat., Results: At 2 months, 26.4% of the intervention group and 42.3% of the delayed group had SRQ-20 scores > 7. The adjusted odds ratio of having depression between the intervention and control was 0.42 (p < 0.0001), 95% CI (0.28, 0.63). Receiving the intervention thus reduces the odds of having depression by 58%, compared with receiving the control after 2 months of treatment. No adverse events were reported., Conclusions: Results suggest that SSM is effective for decreasing depression symptoms among adults in community-based settings in Vietnam. Trial Registration This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT03001063., Competing Interests: Competing interestsNVH is a representative of MOLISA, which provided matched funding for the study. He did not influence the study design, data collection or interpretation of results. All other authors have no conflict to declare., (© The Author(s) 2020.)

Sequence data is now widely used to observe relationships among organisms. However, understanding structure of the qualitative data is challenging. Conventionally, the relationships are analysed using a dendrogram that estimates a tree shape. This approach has difficulty in verifying the appropriateness of the tree shape; rather, horizontal gene transfers and mating can make the shape of the relationship as networks. As a connection-free approach, principal component analysis (PCA) is used to summarize the distance matrix, which records distances between each combination of samples. However, this approach is limited regarding the treatment of information of sequence motifs; distances caused by different motifs are mixed up. This hides clues to figure out how the samples are different. As any bases may change independently, a sequence is multivariate data essentially. Hence, differences among samples and bases that contribute to the difference should be observed coincidentally. To archive this, the sequence matrix is transferred to boolean vector and directly analysed by using PCA. The effects are confirmed in diversity of Asiatic lion and human as well as environmental DNA. Resolution of samples and robustness of calculation is improved. Relationship of a direction of difference and causative nucleotides has become obvious at a glance.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) can cause severe gastrointestinal disease and colonization among food handlers. In Japan, STEC infection is a notifiable disease, and food handlers are required to undergo routine stool examination for STEC. However, the molecular epidemiology of STEC is not entirely known. We investigated the genomic characteristics of STEC from patients and asymptomatic food handlers in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was performed on 65 STEC isolates obtained from 38 patients and 27 food handlers by public health surveillance in Miyagi Prefecture between April 2016 and March 2017. Isolates of O157:H7 ST11 and O26:H11 ST21 were predominant (n = 19, 29%, respectively). Non-O157 isolates accounted for 69% (n = 45) of all isolates. Among 48 isolates with serotypes found in the patients (serotype O157:H7 and 5 non-O157 serotypes, O26:H11, O103:H2, O103:H8, O121:H19 and O145:H28), adhesion genes eae, tir, and espB, and type III secretion system genes espA, espJ, nleA, nleB, and nleC were detected in 41 to 47 isolates (85-98%), whereas isolates with other serotypes found only in food handlers were negative for all of these genes. Non-O157 isolates were especially prevalent among patients younger than 5 years old. Shiga-toxin gene stx1a, adhesion gene efa1, secretion system genes espF and cif, and fimbrial gene lpfA were significantly more frequent among non-O157 isolates from patients than among O157 isolates from patients. The most prevalent resistance genes among our STEC isolates were aminoglycoside resistance genes, followed by sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim resistance genes. WGS revealed that 20 isolates were divided into 9 indistinguishable core genomes (<5 SNPs), demonstrating clonal expansion of these STEC strains in our region, including an O26:H11 strain with stx1a+stx2a. Non-O157 STEC with multiple virulence genes were prevalent among both patients and food handlers in our region of Japan, highlighting the importance of monitoring the genomic characteristics of STEC., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Plasma levels of chemerin, an adipocytokine produced from the adipose tissues and liver, are associated with metabolic syndrome and coronary artery disease (CAD). Chemerin and its analog, chemerin-9, are known to bind to their receptor, ChemR23. However, whether chemerin and chemerin-9 affect atherogenesis remains to be elucidated. We investigated the expression of chemerin and ChemR23 in human coronary arteries and cultured human vascular cells. The effects of chemerin and chemerin-9 on atheroprone phenomena were assessed in human THP1 monocytes, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) and aortic lesions in Apoe -/- mice. In patients with CAD, a small amount of ChemR23, but not chemerin, was expressed within atheromatous plaques in coronary arteries. Chemerin and ChemR23 were expressed at high levels in THP1 monocytes, THP1-derived macrophages, and HUVECs; however, their expression in HASMCs was weak. Chemerin and chemerin-9 significantly suppressed the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced mRNA expression of adhesion and pro-inflammatory molecules in HUVECs. Chemerin and chemerin-9 significantly attenuated the TNF-α-induced adhesion of THP1 monocytes to HUVECs and macrophage inflammatory phenotype. Chemerin and chemerin-9 suppressed oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL)-induced macrophage foam cell formation associated with down-regulation of CD36 and up-regulation of ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1). In HASMCs, chemerin and chemerin-9 significantly suppressed migration and proliferation without inducing apoptosis. In the Apoe -/- mice, a 4-week infusion of chemerin-9 significantly decreased the areas of aortic atherosclerotic lesions by reducing intraplaque macrophage and SMC contents. Our results indicate that chemerin-9 prevents atherosclerosis. Therefore, the development of chemerin analogs/ChemR23 agonists may serve as a novel therapeutic target for atherosclerotic diseases., (© 2019 The Author(s). Published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society.)

The Japanese Surveillance Committee conducted a second nationwide surveillance of antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of uropathogens responsible for acute uncomplicated cystitis (AUC) in premenopausal patients aged 16-40 years old at 31 hospitals throughout Japan from March 2015 to February 2016. In this study, the susceptibility of causative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus saprophyticus) for various antimicrobial agents was investigated by isolation and culturing of organisms obtained from urine samples. In total, 324 strains were isolated from 361 patients, including E. coli (n = 220, 67.9%), S. saprophyticus (n = 36, 11.1%), and K. pneumoniae (n = 7, 2.2%). The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 20 antibacterial agents for these strains were determined according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) manual. At least 93% of the E. coli isolates showed susceptibility to fluoroquinolones and cephalosporins, whereas 100% of the S. saprophyticus isolates showed susceptibility to fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides. The proportions of fluoroquinolone-resistant and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing E. coli strains were 6.4% (13/220) and 4.1% (9/220), respectively. The antimicrobial susceptibility of K. pneumoniae was retained during the surveillance period, while no multidrug-resistant strains were identified. In summary, antimicrobial susceptibility results of our second nationwide surveillance did not differ significantly from those of the first surveillance. Especially the numbers of fluoroquinolone-resistant and ESBL-producing E. coli strains were not increased in premenopausal patients with AUC in Japan., (Copyright © 2019 Japanese Society of Chemotherapy and The Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Flavophospholipol (FPL) is an antimicrobial feed additive that has been approved for use in livestock animals and has the potential to decrease horizontal dissemination of antimicrobial resistance genes. Since previous studies showed that FPL has an inhibitory effect on plasmid transfer, in vitro experiments have proven the efficacy of FPL in reducing the conjugative transfer of plasmids encoding the extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) and vanA genes. These are among the most important antimicrobial resistance loci known. ESBL-producing Escherichia coli and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VRE) were exposed to several concentrations of FPL, and transfer frequency and plasmid curing activity were determined. FPL inhibited the conjugative transfer of plasmids harboring ESBL and vanA genes in a concentration-dependent manner in all strains. Further transfer experiments revealed that FPL could decrease or increase transfer frequency depending on plasmid type when transfer frequency was at low levels. The plasmid curing activity of FPL was also observed in ESBL-producing E. coli in a concentration-dependent manner, suggesting that they partially contribute to the inhibition of conjugative transfer. These results suggest that the use of FPL as a feed additive might decrease the dissemination of ESBL and vanA genes among livestock animals.