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Background Using cohort data from the Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS), we previously reported that the risk of sleep deprivation in 1-year-old children was reduced with a higher maternal intake of fermented foods, particularly miso. The present study, which evaluates children from the same cohort at 3 years of age, is a continuation of that work. Methods After applying exclusion criteria to 104,062 records in the JECS dataset, we evaluated 64,200 mother-child pairs in which the child was 3 years old. We examined the association of the dietary intake of fermented foods during pregnancy with child sleep duration < 10 h at the age of 3 years. Results Multivariable logistic regression analysis with the lowest quartile used as a reference revealed adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for the second through fourth quartiles of 0.98 (0.90–1.06), 0.93 (0.85–1.01), and 0.85 (0.78–0.94) for cheese intake. Conclusions The consumption of fermented foods during pregnancy is associated with reduced risk of sleep deprivation in 3-year-old children, albeit in a limited way.

Background Reduction in neonatal deaths has been a major challenge globally. To prevent neonatal deaths, improvements in newborn care have been promoted worldwide. The World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office has been promoting the Early Essential Newborn Care (EENC), a package of specific simple and cost-effective interventions, in their region. However, mere introduction of EENC cannot reduce neonatal deaths unless quality of care is ensured. In Lao PDR, the government introduced self-managed continuous monitoring as a sustainable way to improve the quality of care described in the EENC. Methods A clustered randomized controlled trial was designed to compare the effectiveness of self-managed continuous monitoring with external supervisory visits to monitor health workers’ satisfactory EENC performance and their knowledge and skills related to the EENC in Lao PDR. Determinants of EENC performance will be measured with a structured questionnaire developed based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, which predicts future behaviour. During self-managed continuous monitoring activities, health workers in each district hospital will conduct periodical peer reviews and feedback sessions. Fifteen district hospitals will be randomly allocated into the self-managed continuous monitoring (intervention) and the supervision (control) groups. Fifteen health workers routinely involved in maternity and newborn care including physicians, midwives and other health staff will be recruited from each hospital (effect size 0.6, intra-cluster correlation coefficient 0.06, 5% alpha error and 80% power). We will compare the change in the mean score of the determinants before and one year after randomisation between the two groups. We will also compare the retention of knowledge and skills related to the EENC between the two groups. The expected enrolment period is July 20th, 2017 to July 20th, 2018. Discussion This is the first cluster randomized trial to evaluate a self-managed continuous monitoring system for quality maintenance of newborn care in a resource-limited country. This research is conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and international organizations; therefore, if effective, this intervention would be applied in larger areas of the country and the region. Trial registration This trial was registered at UMIN-CTR on 15th of June, 2017. Registration number is UMIN000027794. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-018-3311-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and subsequent tsunamis that occurred in 2011 caused extensive and severe structural damage and interrupted numerous research activities; however, the majority of such activities have been revived, and further public health researches and activities have started to follow the population affected by the disaster. In this mini-review, we overview our recent activities regarding epidemiologic studies in Miyagi Prefecture, the region most affected by the GEJE. Through our study processes, we were able to identify the particular characteristics of vulnerable populations, and provide ideas that may help save lives and reduce the amount of damage caused by a future disaster. Long-term follow-up and care of survivors is essential in affected areas, and health professionals should pay particular attention to various diseases, e.g., cardiovascular complications and mental disorders. Furthermore, building up resilience and social relationships in the community is beneficial to survivors. Ongoing cohort studies conducted before disasters can help minimize biases regarding the survivors’ pre-disaster information, and emerging cohort studies after disasters can find potential helpful novel indices. To identify characteristics of vulnerable populations, save lives, and reduce the amount of damage caused by a future disaster, constant research that is consistently improved by new data needs to be performed.

Common genetic variations of the transcription factor 7-like 2 gene (encoded by TCF7L2), one of the T cell factor/lymphoid enhancer-binding factor transcription factors for the converging wingless-type MMTV integration site family (Wnt)/β-catenin signalling pathway, are known to be associated with type 2 diabetes. Individuals with at-risk alleles of TCF7L2 exhibit impaired insulin secretion. Although previous studies using animal models have revealed the existence of a relationship between the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway and glucose homeostasis, it remains unclear whether TCF7L2 in the pancreatic beta cells might be causally involved in insulin secretion in vivo. In this study, we investigated the role of TCF7L2 expressed in the pancreatic beta cells in glucose homeostasis. Three independent groups of genetically engineered mice (DN mice) were generated, in which expression of the dominant-negative form of Tcf7l2 was driven under a rat insulin promoter. Phenotypes of both adult and newborn mice were evaluated. The levels of genes and proteins expressed in isolated islets were determined by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blot analysis, respectively. Adult DN mice showed impaired glucose tolerance and decreased insulin secretion in both oral and intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests. Marked reduction of the beta cell area and whole-pancreas insulin content was observed in both the adult and newborn DN mice. Islets from the DN mice showed decreased gene expressions of Ccnd1, Ccnd2, Irs1, Irs2, Ins1, Ins2 and Mafa, consistent with the deleterious effects of the dominant-negative form of Tcf7l2 on beta cell proliferation and insulin production. TCF7L2 expressed in the pancreatic beta cells plays a crucial role in glucose metabolism through regulation of the beta cell mass.

Pioglitazone (PIO) is widely used as an insulin-sensitizing agent in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but it also causes an increase in body weight in a dose-dependent manner. Beraprost sodium (BPS), a stable prostaglandin I2 analog, is used clinically for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease and primary pulmonary hypertension. BPS has recently been demonstrated to promote insulin-induced glucose uptake by skeletal muscle. In this study, we examined whether low-dose PIO (PIO-L; 3 mg/kg/day) plus BPS treatment might exert antidiabetic effects without causing body weight gain in obese/diabetic KKAy mice. Treatment with PIO-L plus BPS tended to improve the hepatic insulin resistance and significantly improved the skeletal muscle insulin resistance, yielding a similar degree of hyperglycemia improvement to that obtained with high-dose PIO (PIO-H; 30 mg/kg/day) treatment. Moreover, the increase in body weight observed following PIO-H treatment was not observed following PIO-L plus BPS treatment. An increase in plasma adiponectin levels, which have been shown to be negatively correlated with hepatic glucose production, but not with the glucose disappearance rate during hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp, was observed in the animals treated with PIO-L, PIO-L plus BPS, and PIO-H. This suggests that the improvement in hepatic insulin resistance was associated, at least in part, with an increase in the plasma adiponectin levels observed during PIO treatment. In contrast, treatment with BPS, which failed to increase the plasma adiponectin levels, ameliorated skeletal, but not hepatic insulin resistance. PIO-L plus BPS treatment may represent efficacious treatment for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes without causing body weight gain.

The aim of this study is to elucidate to what degree adiponectin is involved in TZD-mediated amelioration of neointimal formation. We investigated the effect of 3- or 8-weeks’ pioglitazone on cuff-induced neointimal formation in adiponectin-deficient (APN-KO) and wild-type (WT) mice. Pioglitazone for 3 weeks reduced neointimal formation in the WT mice with upregulation of the plasma adiponectin levels, but failed to reduce neointimal formation in the APN-KO mice, suggesting that pioglitazone suppressed neointimal formation by adiponectin-dependent mechanisms. Pioglitazone for 3 weeks suppressed vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation and increased AdipoR2 expression in the WT mice. In vitro, globular adiponectin activated AMPK through both AdipoR1 and AdipoR2, resulting in the inhibition of VSMC proliferation. Interestingly, 8-weeks’ pioglitazone was reduced neointimal formation in APN-KO mice to degree similar to that seen in the WT mice, suggesting that pioglitazone can also suppress neointimal formation via a mechanism independent of adiponectin. Pioglitazone for 8 weeks completely abrogated the increased VSMC proliferation, along with a reduction of cyclin B1 and cyclin D1 expressions and cardiovascular risk profile in the APN-KO mice. In vitro, pioglitazone suppressed these expressions, leading to inhibition of VSMC proliferation. Pioglitazone suppresses neointimal formation via both adiponectin-dependent and adiponectin-independent mechanisms.

In this study, the combustion properties of wood pellets were evaluated using a cone calorimeter, which is usually used to verify the fireproof performance of architectural materials. In contrast to the conventional methods including combustion calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis, a cone calorimeter can estimate various combustion parameters, e.g., changes of heat release rate (HRR), weight decrease during burning process, ignition time, and flame-out and burn-out time as well as combustion heat, in a single experimental run with no pretreatment for sample size reduction. The following results were obtained by the combustion test of Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) and larch (Larix kaempferi) wood pellets having various volume densities. Ignition time of wood pellet became slower with increasing volume density of the pellets. However, burn-out time was not clearly correlated to volume density. The heat release values measured by cone calorimeter could be comparable to those from the conventional combustion calorimeters, and flaming heat values of the bark pellets were always lower in comparison with pellets made of xylem, although total heat release was almost the same.

Autoantibodies induce various autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We previously described that CD4+CD25−LAG3+ regulatory T cells (LAG3+ Treg) are regulated by Egr2, a zinc-finger transcription factor required for the induction of T-cell anergy. We herein demonstrate that LAG3+ Treg produce high amounts of TGF-β3 in an Egr2- and Fas-dependent manner. LAG3+ Treg require TGF-β3 to suppress B-cell responses in a murine model of lupus. Moreover, TGF-β3- and LAG3+ Treg-mediated suppression requires PD-1 expression on B cells. We also show that TGF-β3-expressing human LAG3+ Treg suppress antibody production and that SLE patients exhibit decreased frequencies of LAG3+ Treg. These results clarify the mechanism of B-cell regulation and suggest therapeutic strategies., B cells reactive against self antigens can cause autoimmune disease, but are normally suppressed by regulatory T cells (Tregs). Here the authors show that a subset of Tregs can suppress lupus in a mouse model by making TGF-β3 cytokine and by engaging an inhibitory PD-1 receptor on B cells.

A bacterial consortium capable of simultaneously degrading the fungicide, carbendazim, and the herbicide, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) was obtained by enrichment of soil samples collected from paddy fields in Japan. This consortium was acclimated in a continuously fed culture with 20 μM carbendazim and 2 mM 2,4-D as sole carbon sources using a glass column reactor. By denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, we observed changes in the bacterial population following the degradation of the both pesticides. This acclimated consortium completely degraded up to 100 μM carbendazim and 3 mM 2,4-D within 36 and 24 h, respectively, in batch culture, but a lag time was observed after precultivation in a rich medium. The immobilization of the consortium on a polyester support enhanced the degradation ability of this consortium compared with the use of free cells. This microbial consortium could be useful for bioremediation at sites contaminated with these pesticides.