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Objective Serum uric acid (SUA) levels in humans are mainly regulated by urate transporters. Recent genome-wide association studies suggested that common variants of the human sodium-dependent phosphate cotransporter type 1 gene ( NPT1/SLC17A1) influence SUA. NPT1 has been reported to mediate urate transport, but its physiologic role in regulating SUA in humans remains unclear. Furthermore, the findings of replication studies of the relationship between NPT1 variants and gout have been inconsistent. The aims of this study were to investigate the effect of NPT1 on gout and to determine its physiologic role. Methods Five hundred forty-five male Japanese patients with gout and 1,115 male Japanese control subjects were genotyped for rs1165196 (I269T), a common missense variant in NPT1. Analyses of the association between rs1165196 and gout were then conducted, focusing especially on renal underexcretion (RUE) gout. Immunohistochemical analysis and functional analysis using Xenopus oocytes were also performed. Results Single-nucleotide polymorphism rs1165196 significantly decreased the risk of RUE gout (odds ratio 0.73, P = 0.031) but did not confer a risk for all gout ( P = 0.123). The immunohistochemical analysis revealed that human NPT1 is localized to the apical membrane of the renal proximal tubule. The functional analysis using Xenopus oocyte expression systems showed that rs1165196 increases NPT1-mediated urate export. Conclusion This study showed that NPT1 is a urate exporter located in the renal proximal tubule in humans, and that its common gain-of-function variant, rs1165196, causes RUE gout, a major subtype of gout. These findings enable us to deepen our understanding of the physiologic role of NPT1 as a renal urate exporter as well as its pathophysiologic role in gout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the shift from wood to steel and the influence of war and peace in the development of all-steel construction of railcars in Japan from the 1880s to the 1950s. Wooden construction of railcars dominated Japan before the 1920s since wood was cheap and readily available. But safety concerns led to half-wood, half-steel railcars. The demands for steel in World War II meant less steel for railcars despite the safety issues. By war's end, only 47% of coaches were functional.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) causes acute or chronic hepatitis in humans and can be transmitted via the fecal-oral route. Pigs are one of the main reservoirs for this infection. Sixty pigs, 4–5 months of age, on a swine herd in Japan had detectable anti-HEV IgG antibodies, and five (8.3%) of them had ongoing infection of genotype 3 HEV. Five HEV strains obtained from the viremic pigs shared 98.8–100% nucleotide identity, and one representative strain (swHE1606845), whose entire genomic sequence was determined in this study, differed by 14.1–19.6% from the reported HEV strains of subtypes 3a–3k and by 14.7–19.1% from other genotype 3 HEV strains whose subtypes have not yet been assigned. swHE1606845 showed a higher nucleotide p-distance value of ≥0.143 with the genotype 3 HEV strains of subtypes 3a–3k and ≥0.152 with other genotype 3 strains of unassigned subtypes. A SimPlot analysis revealed a lack of recombination events. These results indicate that swHE1606845 is a candidate member of a novel subtype of genotype 3. Further efforts to identify the swHE1606845-like novel strain are warranted to clarify the origin of this strain and to determine the complete nucleotide sequences of two additional swHE1606845-like strains for assigning a new subtype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Underground brine waste containing high concentrations of ammonium and with a salinity of 3% is usually generated during the production of methane gas and iodine in the gas field of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. In this study, one swim-bed reactor, packed with a novel acrylic fiber biomass carrier (Biofringe), was applied to the partial nitritation treatment of this kind of underground brine waste. A stable nitrite production rate of 1.6 kg NO2-N m−3 d−1 was obtained under a nitrogen loading rate of 3.0 kg-N m−3 d−1, at a pH of 7.5 and a temperature of 25 °C. Nitrate production was negligible and the effluent NO2-N/NO x -N ratio was above 98% due to the successful inhibition of nitrite-oxidizing bacterial activity. Free ammonia was considered to be the main factor for inhibiting the activity of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. A microbial community shift was demonstrated by 16S rRNA analysis, and it was shown that the ammonium-oxidizing bacteria became the predominant species after successful nitrite accumulation was observed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is a major reproductive health issue with multifactorial causes, affecting 2.6% of all pregnancies worldwide. Nearly half of the RPL cases lack clinically identifiable causes (e.g., antiphospholipid syndrome, uterine anomalies, and parental chromosomal abnormalities), referred to as unexplained RPL (uRPL). Here, we perform a genome-wide association study focusing on uRPL in 1,728 cases and 24,315 female controls of Japanese ancestry. We detect significant associations in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region at 6p21 (lead variant=rs9263738; P = 1.4 × 10 -10 ; odds ratio [OR] = 1.51 [95% CI: 1.33-1.72]; risk allele frequency = 0.871). The MHC associations are fine-mapped to the classical HLA alleles, HLA-C*12:02, HLA-B*52:01, and HLA-DRB1*15:02 (P = 1.1 × 10 -10 , 1.5 × 10 -10 , and 1.2 × 10 -9 , respectively), which constitute a population-specific common long-range haplotype with a protective effect (P = 2.8 × 10 -10 ; OR = 0.65 [95% CI: 0.57-0.75]; haplotype frequency=0.108). Genome-wide copy-number variation (CNV) calling demonstrates rare predicted loss-of-function (pLoF) variants of the cadherin-11 gene (CDH11) conferring the risk of uRPL (P = 1.3 × 10 -4 ; OR = 3.29 [95% CI: 1.78-5.76]). Our study highlights the importance of reproductive immunology and rare variants in the uRPL etiology., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: With the implementation of mass vaccination campaigns against COVID-19, the safety of vaccine needs to be evaluated., Objective: We aimed to assess the incidence and risk factors for immediate hypersensitivity reactions (IHSR) and immunization stress-related responses (ISRR) with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine., Methods: This nested case-control study included recipients who received the Moderna vaccine at a mass vaccination center, Japan. Recipients with IHSR and ISRR were designated as cases 1 and 2, respectively. Controls 1 and 2 were selected from recipients without IHSR or ISRR and matched (1 case: 4 controls) with cases 1 and cases 2, respectively. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors associated with IHSR and ISRR., Results: Of the 614,151 vaccine recipients who received 1,201,688 vaccine doses, 306 recipients (cases 1) and 2478 recipients (cases 2) showed 318 events of IHSR and 2558 events of ISRR, respectively. The incidence rates per million doses were estimated as IHSR: 266 cases, ISRR: 2129 cases, anaphylaxis: 2 cases, and vasovagal syncope: 72 cases. Risk factors associated with IHSR included female, asthma, atopic dermatitis, thyroid diseases, and a history of allergy; for ISRR, the risk factors were younger age, female, asthma, thyroid diseases, mental disorders, and a history of allergy and vasovagal reflex., Conclusion: In the mass vaccination settings, the Moderna vaccine can be used safely owing to the low incidence rates of IHSR and anaphylaxis. However, providers should be aware of the occurrence of ISRR. Although recipients with risk factors are associated with slightly increased risks of IHSR and ISRR, this is not of sufficient magnitude to warrant special measures regarding their vaccination., (Copyright © 2022 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: The influence on enamel fluoride uptake of reducing the NaF concentration of a mouthrinse solution by half, from 0.05-0.025%, was examined in elementary school children., Methods: The participatory elementary school had employed school-based fluoride mouthrinse with 0.05% NaF solution since 1983, and in 1993, the NaF content was lowered to 0.025%. Dental examination and enamel biopsy of maxillary central incisors were performed just before the NaF content reduction for children who had received the daily 0.05% NaF mouthrinse for 2-5 years since 6 years of age. During 1993-95, dental examination and enamel biopsy were undertaken for newly enrolled 6-year-old children, and the same subjects were re-examined after 2 years. The same series of examinations were conducted for the control group, which consisted of children belonging to another elementary school without a fluoride program., Results: The enamel fluoride concentration of 8-year-old children who used the 0.025% NaF mouthrinse for 2 years was 1810 +/- 535 ppm, reaching the same order as that in children who continued using the 0.05% NaF mouthrinse (1863 +/- 1358 ppm), and was significantly higher than that of children without fluoride programs (1113 +/- 303 ppm). There was no considerable increase of mean DMFT values due to the NaF content reduction., Conclusions: It was concluded that a daily 0.025% NaF mouthrinse provides the similar fluoride content for enamel as 0.05% NaF mouthrinse as long as the rinsing frequency is maintained.