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Epidemiological studies in Japan, including the Nakajima study and the Tsurugaya study, have indicated that green tea consumption may improve cognitive impairment. Catechins, which are typical polyphenols contained in green tea, have been reported to have antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects. However, their impact on human cognitive function remains unclear. Therefore, we performed a double-blind, randomized, controlled study to investigate the effect of 336.4 mg of decaffeinated green tea catechins (GTC) on cognitive function after a single dose and after 12 weeks of daily intake. This study included Japanese adults between the ages of 50 and 69 years with a Mini-Mental State Examination Japanese version score of >24 and self-assessed cognitive decline. The Cognitrax testing battery was used to evaluate cognitive function. The incorrect response rate on the Continuous Performance Test significantly decreased after a single dose of GTC. After 12 weeks of daily GTC intake, the response time for Part 4 of the 4-part Continuous Performance Test, which is a two-back test, was shortened. These results suggest that daily intake of GTC might have beneficial effects on working memory.

A rapid enantiomeric separation and simultaneous determination method based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) was developed for phenethylamine-type abused drugs using (R)-(-)-4-(N,N-dimethylaminosulfonyl)-7-(3-isothiocyanatopyrrolidin-1-yl)-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole ((R)-(-)-DBD-Py-NCS) as the chiral fluorescent derivatization reagent. The derivatives were rapidly enantiomerically separated by reversed-phase UHPLC using a column of 2.3-µm octadecylsilica (ODS) particles by isocratic elution with water-methanol or water-acetonitrile systems as the mobile phase. The proposed method was applied to the analysis of products containing illicit drugs distributed in the Japanese market. Among the products, 1-(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)butan-2-amine (BDB) and 1-(2-methoxy4,5-methylenedioxyphenyl)propan-2-amine (MMDA-2) were detected in racemic form. Furthermore, the method was successfully applied to the analysis of hair specimens from rats that were continuously dosed with diphenyl(pyrrolidin-2-yl)methanol (D2PM). Using UHPLC-fluorescence (FL) detection, (R)- and (S)-D2PM from hair specimens were enantiomerically separated and detected with high sensitivity. The detection limits of (R)- and (S)-D2PM were 0.12 and 0.21 ng/mg hair, respectively (signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) = 3)., (Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Most cases of acute gastroenteritis and foodborne disease are not ascertained by public health surveillance because the ill person does not always seek medical care and submit a stool sample for testing, and the laboratory does not always test for or identify the causative organism. We estimated the total burden of acute gastroenteritis in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, using data from two 2-week cross-sectional, population-based telephone surveys conducted in 2006 and 2007. To estimate the number of acute gastroenteritis illnesses caused by Campylobacter, Salmonella, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Miyagi Prefecture, we determined the number of cases for each pathogen from active laboratory-based surveillance during 2005 to 2006 and adjusted for seeking of medical care and submission of stool specimens by using data from the population-based telephone surveys. Monte Carlo simulation was used to incorporate uncertainty. The prevalence of acute gastroenteritis in the preceding 4 weeks was 3.3% (70 of 2,126) and 3.5% (74 of 2,121) in the winter and summer months, yielding an estimated 44,200 episodes of acute gastroenteritis each year in this region. Among people with acute gastroenteritis, the physician consultation rate was 32.0%, and 10.9% of persons who sought care submitted a stool sample. The estimated numbers of Campylobacter-, Salmonella-, and V. parahaemolyticus -associated episodes of acute gastroenteritis were 1,512, 209, and 100 per 100,000 population per year, respectively, in this region. These estimates are significantly higher than the number of reported cases in surveillance in this region. Cases ascertained from active surveillance were also underrepresented in the present passive surveillance, suggesting that complementary surveillance systems, such as laboratory-based active surveillance in sentinel sites, are needed to monitor food safety in Japan.

Many psychotropic substances are illegally available on the streets and/or via the Internet. This wide distribution has become a serious social problem. To control this problem, many substances have been controlled as 'designated substances' (Shitei-Yakubutsu) in Japan since April 2007 by the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, including tryptamines, phenethylamines and piperazines. In the present study, simultaneous determination methods using HPLC with multi-channel electrochemical detection (MECD) were developed for the designated substances. The proposed methods utilizing online electrochemical oxidation are the first report on the simultaneous determination of various designated substances. The methods involve direct determination and require no complicated pretreatments such as fluorescence labeling. The designated substances were separated by reversed-phase chromatography using a TSK-gel ODS-100V (4.6 × 250 mm, i.d., 3 µm) and gradient elution by a mixture of potassium phosphate buffer, methanol and acetonitrile. The total separation of 31 designated substances was successfully performed but required long chromatographic run times. Thus, the designated substances were divided into three groups: (1) tryptamines, (2) phenethylamines and (3) piperazines and others. They were then analyzed by HPLC-MECD as another separation method. The suitable applied voltages for each designated substance were determined based upon the hydrodynamic voltammogram. The limits of detection (signal-to-noise ratio of 3) of the designated substances for the most suitable voltages were in the range of 17.1 pg (5-MeO-MIPT) to 117 ng (indan-2-amine). The calibration curves based on the peak heights were linearly related to the amounts of the designated substances (R(2) > 0.999). Good accuracy and precision by intra-day assay and inter-day assay were also obtained using the present procedures. The proposed methods were applied to the analyses of the designated substance in several real samples., (Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

A simultaneous determination method based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) with fluorescence (FL) detection and electrospray-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF-MS) was developed for 16 "designated substances" (Shitei-Yakubutsu) controlled by the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law in Japan. These substances were first labeled with 4-(N,N-dimethylaminosulfonyl)-7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole at 60 degrees C for 2 h in 0.1 M borax (pH 9.3). The resulting fluorophores were well separated by reversed-phase chromatography using an Acquity UPLC BEH C(18) column (1.7 microm, 100 mm x 2.1 mm i.d.) by isocratic elution with a mixture of water and acetonitrile-methanol (20:80) containing 0.1% formic acid. The separated derivatives were sensitively detected by both FL and TOF-MS. However, the determination of several designated substances by FL detection showed interference from endogenous substances in biological samples. Therefore, the determination in real samples was carried out by a combination of UPLC separation and ESI-TOF-MS detection. The structures of the designated substances were identified from the protonated-molecular ions [M+H](+) obtained from the TOF-MS measurement. The calibration curves obtained from the peak area ratios of the internal standard (I.S.), i.e., 3-phenyl-1-propylamine, and the designated substances versus the injection amounts showed good linearity. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) and the limits of quantification (S/N = 10) in 0.1 mL of human plasma and urine for the present method were 0.30-150 pmol and 1.0-500 pmol, respectively. Good accuracy and precision (according to intraday and interday assays) were also obtained with the present procedure. This method was applied to analyses of human plasma, urine and real products.

To estimate the human health burden of foodborne infections caused by Campylobacter, Salmonella, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Japan, an epidemiological study was conducted in Miyagi Prefecture. Laboratory-confirmed infections among patients with diarrhea caused by the three pathogens were ascertained from two clinical laboratories in the prefecture from April 2005 to March 2006. To estimate the number of ill persons who were not laboratory-confirmed, we estimated physician-consultation rates for patients with acute diarrhea by analyzing foodborne outbreak investigation data for each pathogen and the frequency at which stool specimens were submitted from a physician survey. Each factor was added to a Monte-Carlo simulation model as a probability distribution, and the number of laboratory-confirmed cases was extrapolated to estimate the total number of ill persons. The estimated incidence of foodborne infections per 100,000 per year in this region estimated by this model was 237 cases for Campylobacter, 32 cases for Salmonella, and 15 cases for V. parahaemolyticus. Simulated results indicate a significant difference between our estimated incidence and the reported cases of food poisoning in this region. An enhanced surveillance system is needed to complement the present passive surveillance on foodborne illnesses in Japan to identify food safety issues more precisely, and to monitor the effectiveness of risk management options.

The education system for medical technologists has recently been revolutionized, their educational periods vary from 2 to 9 years, and some already have doctoral degrees. In such a new situation, our faculty thinks that the most important point for new medical technologists is the ability to have a broad view of the clinical fields, especially the view of patients. Special training in bed-side education and a stint in several divisions, such as the surgical operation room, rehabilitation. radiological examination room, pharmacy, central storage room of medical records, and medical informatics, and so on, of the hospital is a powerful tool to obtain a broad view of the various clinical fields and can be essential for developing high performance medical technologists. As nine years have passed since starting this education, we evaluated this practice through systematic personal communication. As a result, it was found to be extremely effective for many reasons such as having a continuous image of the patient when they examine the blood sample in the hospital laboratory, showing advanced laboratory performance, and having no mental barrier to visiting the wards and so on. The abilities of our alumni are praised highly by many large scale hospitals around the country and 50% of them are working in the clinical laboratory division of these hospitals. About 40% are working in the division of research and development in various companies. We express sincere thanks to the director and all cooperative individuals for this course in the Osaka University Hospital.

Allele and genotype frequencies for 15 short tandem repeat (STR) polymorphisms--D3S1358, TH01, D21S11, D18S51, Penta E, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, D16S539, CSF1PO, Penta D, vWA, D8S1179, TPOX and FGA--in a Japanese population were estimated. No deviations of the observed allele frequency from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium expectations were found for any of the systems studied. Between 2 new pentanucleotide STR loci, Penta E and Penta D, for which there is only limited data regarding the allelic distribution in Japanese, the Penta E locus was found to be highly polymorphic and exhibited a tri- or tetra-modal distribution pattern having allelic peaks with 5, 11, 15 and 20 repeats. The distribution was significantly different from that of the other ethnic groups. Statistical parameters of forensic importance, the power of discrimination (PD), observed and expected heterozygosity values (H), polymorphism information content (PIC), power of discrimination (PD), matching probability (pM), power of exclusion (PE), and typical paternity index (PI), were calculated for the loci. These parameters indicated the usefulness of the loci in forensic personal identification and paternity testing among Japanese. The systems Penta E, FGA, D18S51 and D8S1179 were the most informative. This method was successfully applied to forensic personal identification and paternity testing among Japanese, thereby confirming its efficacy for forensic practice.

The difference in the allele frequencies of two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the second exon of the myoglobin gene between Japanese and other populations is reported. These SNPs are the substitutions of (A79G) and (T109C), and they were investigated by a single polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) analysis followed by direct sequencing. The substitutions were always linked and two alleles were found in the samples used: the A-T allele with no substitution at positions (79A) and (109T) and the G-C allele with substitutions of (79G) and (109C). The frequencies of these alleles were 0.755 and 0.245, respectively, and they were found to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The distribution of alleles in the Japanese population was significantly different from that reported among whites, blacks, and Hispanics (p < 0.0001).

Sexual difference in severity of the cleft palate was studied in 179 patients. An appreciable correlation was found between the severity of cleft and sex: more females showing higher levels of severity, and no sexual difference existing in less severe cases. The results of our current investigations suggested close correlation between the pathogenic factors and sex in the above patients with cleft palate.

Since 1981 we have been conducting investigations in Aichi Prefecture where our institution is located in close cooperation with Medical Association of Obstetrics-Gynecologists and member physicians of the Midwives Association. In addition, we surveyed 111 institutions in Gifu Prefecture for the patient who was delivered from January 1, 1986 to December 31, 1987 to learn the incidence and type classification of cleft lip and/or palate in the general population Gifu. Consequently, we acquired the date of 20667 newborns. It was found as a result that 35 babies had these abnormalities and that ratio of the birth of such newborns was one for 590.5 deliveries. Among 35 cleft infants 12 (34.3%) with cleft lip and palate, 5 (14.3%) cleft palate. Looking at the estimates from the results of our investigation, the annual number of newborns with these disease in the Gifu Prefecture was 41.6 to 41.9 in 1986, 33.5 to 33.6 in 1987 with 95 percent confidence limits.