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Background: This study aimed to review the activities of the Kobe City Initial‐phase Intensive Support Team for Dementia pre‐ and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, to compare the characteristics of the target population and the performance of the team's activities, and determine the impact of the pandemic on the team's project. Methods: The summary data obtained at the time of consultation, team activities, and participants' characteristics were extracted from 662 participants who started to receive support between April 2018 and March 2022. Statistical analysis was performed by dividing the participants into the following two groups: pre‐ and during COVID‐19 pandemic groups. Results: There was no significant difference in the number of new cases or cases that led to a dementia diagnosis between the pre‐ and during COVID‐19 pandemic groups. However, there were significant differences in the number of home visits and rate of introduction of medical care between the two groups. In our study population, the number of participants with financial management difficulties and delusions increased and the number of participants who refused visitations slightly decreased. Conclusion: The Kobe City Initial‐phase Intensive Support Team was able to continue its activities during the pandemic partly because the team is an independent, dedicated team. During the pandemic, there was an increase in the number of participants who were isolated because they were deprived of opportunities to interact with others, and who developed delusions and other psychiatric symptoms. Despite this situation, the professional team responded quickly through individual assessment of the individual needs by continuous outreach, taking into account the infection situation, and thus this outreach team functioned well even under the COVID‐19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To clarify the epidemiology of enterovirus D68 (EV‐D68), an enterovirus rarely identified in the 20th century, we performed seroepidemiological analysis against EV‐D68 using sera collected in 1976, 1985, 1990, 1999, 2009, and 2019, as well as Yamagata isolate (EVD68/Yamagata.JPN/2023‐89), in Yamagata, Japan. The neutralizing antibody (Ab)‐positive rates for those under 20 years old were 61.0%, 82.5%, 84.3%, 46.7%, 50.5%, and 67.9%, in each year, whereas the rates for those above 20 years old were between 93.4% and 99.1%. Generally, geometric mean titers (GMTs）increased with age among children and the total GMT in each year was 25.4, 49.2, 37.2, 30.8, 29.5, and 33.9, from 1976 to 2019, respectively. The findings in this Yamagata‐based study showed that the seroprevalence of EV‐D68 over the last four decades has increased with age among children, as a susceptible group, and then reaches a plateau of over approximately 80% among adults. This study clearly revealed that EV‐D68 was stably transmitted among children in the 20th century, when EV‐D68 detection was quite rare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identified a child coinfected with influenza B viruses of B/Yamagata and B/Victoria lineages, in whom we analyzed the occurrence of genetic reassortment. Plaque purification was performed using a throat swab specimen from a 9-year-old child, resulting in 34 well-isolated plaques. The genomic composition of eight gene segments (HA, NA, PB1, PB2, PA, NP, M, and NS genes) for each plaque was determined at the lineage level. Of the 34 plaques, 21 (61.8%) had B/Phuket/3073/2013 (B/Yamagata)-like sequences in all gene segments, while the other 13 (38.2%) were reassortants with B/Texas/02/2013 (B/Victoria)-like sequences in 1–5 of the 8 segments. The PB1 segment had the most B/Victoria lineage genes (23.5%; 8 of 34 plaques), while PB2 and PA had the least (2.9%; 1 of 34 plaques). Reassortants with B/Victoria lineage genes in 2–5 segments showed the same level of growth as viruses with B/Yamagata lineage genes in all segments. However, reassortants with B/Victoria lineage genes only in the NA, PB1, NP, or NS segments exhibited reduced or undetectable growth. We demonstrated that various gene reassortments occurred in a child. These results suggest that simultaneous outbreaks of two influenza B virus lineages increase genetic diversity and could promote the emergence of new epidemic strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Influenza viruses can cause zoonotic infections that pose public health risks. Surveillance of influenza A and B viruses is conducted globally; however, information on influenza C and D viruses is limited. Longitudinal monitoring of influenza C virus in humans has been conducted in several countries, but there has been no long‐term monitoring of influenza D virus in humans. The public health risks associated with the influenza D virus therefore remain unknown. Methods: We established a duplex real‐time RT‐PCR to detect influenza C and D viruses and analyzed respiratory specimens collected from 2144 patients in Japan with respiratory diseases between January 2018 and March 2023. We isolated viruses and conducted hemagglutination inhibition tests to examine antigenicity and focus reduction assays to determine susceptibility to the cap‐dependent endonuclease inhibitor baloxavir marboxil. Results: We detected three influenza C viruses belonging to the C/Kanagawa‐ or C/Sao Paulo‐lineages, which recently circulated globally. None of the specimens was positive for the influenza D virus. The C/Yokohama/1/2022 strain, isolated from the specimen with the highest viral RNA load and belonging to the C/Kanagawa‐lineage, showed similar antigenicity to the reference C/Kanagawa‐lineage strain and was susceptible to baloxavir. Conclusions: Our duplex real‐time RT‐PCR is useful for the simultaneous detection of influenza C and D viruses from the same specimen. Adding the influenza D virus to the monitoring of the influenza C virus would help in assessing the public health risks posed by this virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keiwa College, a small liberal arts college in Niigata, Japan, has developed a number of on-campus and community-based teacher training programmes to benefit our students in the teacher education course in the Department of English and Communication and in-service English teachers in the area. These programmes provide students with opportunities to observe classes and acquire real classroom experiences both on campus and at local schools before they start the teaching practice. Local English teachers are also offered some practical workshops to enhance their English proficiency as well as their teaching skills. The authors call these interactions between the college and the community the "feedback cycle". This paper introduces some of the programmes they have developed for the feedback cycle over the years.

Abstract Background The use of cell culture for the diagnosis of human metapneumovirus (hMPV) infection is uncommon at present and molecular method such as reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR) has been widely and most commonly used as the preferred test. We aimed to compare the results of virus isolation using Vero E6 cells with real-time RT-PCR for the detection of hMPV, since such a comparison data is not available. Methods Between December 2007 and July 2008, we obtained 224 nasopharyngeal swab specimens from patients with acute respiratory infection and tested by the two methods. Results Forty-three (19.2%) were found positive by cell culture and 62 (27.7%) by real-time RT-PCR. Cell cultures were positive for 42 of 62 specimens found positive by real-time RT-PCR (67.7% sensitivity) and for 1 of 162 specimens found negative by real-time RT-PCR (99.4% specificity), respectively. The sensitivity of the cell culture was 76.2-87.5% (mean 81.8%) when specimens were collected within 3 days after the onset of symptoms, and the sensitivity decreased to 50% or less thereafter. Among specimens collected within 3 days after symptom onset, all of the real-time RT-PCR positive specimens having a viral load of more than 1.25×105 copies/ml were found positive by cell culture. Conclusions Cell culture using Vero E6 cell line has 81.8% sensitivity compared with the real-time RT-PCR method, when specimens are collected within 3 days after the onset of symptoms. Thus, this method is a useful method for epidemiological and virological research even in facilities with minimal laboratory resources.

Abstract Background Oseltamivir is the preferred antiviral drug for influenza, but oseltamivir-resistant A(H1N1) viruses have circulated worldwide since the 2007-2008 influenza season. We aimed to determine the rate of oseltamivir resistance among A(H1N1) isolates from Yamagata, Japan, to compare the virological characteristics between isolates from the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons, and to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of oseltamivir. Results Oseltamivir resistance, determined by detecting the H275Y mutation in the neuraminidase (NA) gene, was observed in 2.5% (2 of 79) and 100% (77 of 77) of isolates from the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons, respectively. Antigenic analysis suggested that antigenically different variants of A(H1N1) viruses circulated in the 2008-2009 season. Growth testing demonstrated that the ability of the 2008-2009 isolates to replicate in MDCK cells was similar to those of the oseltamivir-susceptible isolates from the 2007-2008 season. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that two oseltamivir-resistant viruses isolated in the 2007-2008 season were closely related to other oseltamivir-susceptible viruses in Yamagata but were different from oseltamivir-resistant viruses isolated in Europe and North America in the 2007-2008 season. The oseltamivir-resistant viruses isolated in Japan in the 2008-2009 season were phylogenetically similar to oseltamivir-resistant isolates from Europe and North America during the 2007-2008 season. Furthermore, the median duration of fever after the start of oseltamivir treatment was significantly longer in oseltamivir-resistant cases (2 days; range 1-6 days) than in oseltamivir-susceptible cases (1.5 days: range 1-2 days) (P = 0.0356). Conclusion Oseltamivir-resistant A(H1N1) isolates from Yamagata in the 2007-2008 season might have acquired resistance through the use of oseltamivir, and the 2008-2009 oseltamivir-resistant isolates might have been introduced into Japan and circulated throughout the country. Influenza surveillance to monitor oseltamivir-resistance would aid clinicians in determining an effective antiviral treatment strategy.

Human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV‐OC43) is divided into genotypes A to H based on genetic recombination including the spike (S) gene. To investigate the longitudinal transition of the phylogenetic feature of the HCoV‐OC43 S gene in a community, phylogenetic analysis of the S1 region of the S gene was conducted using 208 strains detected in Yamagata during 2010 to 2017 with reference strains of the genotype. The S1 sequences were divisible into four groups: A to D. All Yamagata strains belonged to either group B or group D. In group B, 46 (90.2%) out of 51 Yamagata strains were clustered with those of genotype E reference strains (cluster E). In group D, 28 (17.8%) and 122 (77.7%) out of 157 Yamagata strains were clustered, respectively, with genotype F and genotype G reference strains. In cluster G, 28 strains formed a distinct cluster. Monthly distributions of HCoV‐OC43 in Yamagata in 2010 to 2017 revealed that group B and group D appeared one after another. In group B, the cluster E strains were prevalent recurrently. In conclusion, epidemics of HCoV‐OC43 in Yamagata, Japan might be attributable to two genetically different groups: group B showed a recurrent epidemic of strains belonging to a single phylogenetic cluster and group D showed epidemic strains belonging to multiple clusters. Highlights: Longitudinal transition of the phylogenetic feature of the HCoV‐OC43 spike gene in a community. Epidemics of HCoV‐OC43 in Yamagata, Japan might be attributable to two genetically different groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]