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This study is a retrospective evaluation of the long-term benefits of rural housing reconstruction in Dujiangyan city (DJY) after the Wenchuan earthquake from a land unification perspective based on statistical data, field investigation, literature review, and a case study. Research shows after the Wenchuan earthquake, during rural housing reconstruction, DJY optimized land development strategies through planning guidance, promoted marketized transfers of land resources, clarified the attribution of land rights through policy support to protect the interests of disaster victims, established equilibrium in the interests of the government, market, and masses, and coordinated the functions of life, production, and ecology through categorized reconstruction. Practice proves that implementation of post-earthquake housing reconstruction, guided by land unification and land-use transformation, reshapes rural form and the rural-urban relationship, thereby facilitating rural revitalization and integrated rural-urban development.

This paper is a systematic study on the reconstruction planning and policy implementation of the Wenchuan earthquake. It mainly summarizes the whole process of reconstruction from the perspective of post-disaster housing reconstruction. From both macro and micro scales, it carries out an in-depth analysis of the emergency response and reconstruction mechanisms adopted by the central and local governments after the earthquake occurred. The content mainly includes housing disaster assessment, housing reconstruction process management, and housing reconstruction particular policies, which are the key factors affecting post-disaster reconstruction benefits. To better explain the great success of the Wenchuan earthquake recovery and reconstruction policy for housing reconstruction, this paper conducts a detailed investigation of the reconstruction planning, policies, implementation and results of the housing reconstruction in Dujiangyan central city. The study found that the diversification of the Dujiangyan housing reconstruction development model has mostly met the different needs of the victims. The participation of multiple entities such as the market and social institutions has accelerated the economic recovery of post-disaster reconstruction and promoted the early completion of housing work; The unique system introduced during the reconstruction process not only protected the interests of the victims, but also effectively solved the complex property rights problem in rural areas, achieved the goal of saving land and integrating resources, and replaced a large number of land resources for the government. Keywords: Wenchuan earthquake, Post-disaster housing reconstruction, Reconstruction mode and policy, Reconstruction management

A facultatively anaerobic organoheterotroph, designated JAM-BA0302T, was isolated from a deep subseafloor sediment at a depth of 247.1 m below the seafloor off the Shimokita Peninsula of Japan in the north-western Pacific Ocean (Site C9001 , water depth 1180 m). Cells of strain JAM-BA0302T showed gliding motility and were thin, long rods with peritrichous fimbriae-like structures. Growth occurred at 4–37 °C (optimum 30 °C; doubling time 8 h), at pH 5.4–8.3 (optimum pH 7.5) and with 5–60 g NaCl l−1 (optimum 20–25 g l−1). The isolate utilized proteinaceous substrates such as yeast extract, tryptone, casein and Casamino acids with O2 respiration or fermentation. Strain JAM-BA0302T was a piezotolerant bacterium that could grow at pressures as high as 25 MPa under aerobic conditions and 10 MPa under anaerobic conditions. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 43.2 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain JAM-BA0302T was most closely related to yet-undescribed strains recently isolated from various marine sedimentary environments (>99.6 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) and was moderately related to Sunxiuqinia elliptica DQHS-4T, isolated from a sea cucumber farm sediment (95.5 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) within the Bacteroidetes . The phylogenetic analysis suggested that the isolate should belong to the genus Sunxiuqinia . However, low DNA–DNA relatedness (. We propose here a novel species of the genus Sunxiuqinia , with the name Sunxiuqinia faeciviva sp. nov. The type strain is JAM-BA0302T ( = JCM 15547T = NCIMB 14481T).

A novel, facultatively anaerobic bacterium (strain JAM-BA0501T) was isolated from a deep subseafloor sediment sample at a depth of 247 m below seafloor off the Shimokita Peninsula of Japan in the north-western Pacific Ocean (Site C9001, 1180 m water depth). Cells of strain JAM-BA0501T were Gram-negative, filamentous, non-spore-forming and motile on solid medium by gliding. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain JAM-BA0501T indicated a distant relationship to strains representing genera within the order Bacteroidales , such as Alkaliflexus imshenetskii Z-7010T (91.1 % similarity), Marinilabilia salmonicolor ATCC 19041T (86.2 %) and Anaerophaga thermohalophila Fru22T (89.3 %). The new isolate produced isoprenoid quinones with menaquinone MK-7 as the major component, and the predominant fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 and anteiso-C15 : 0. The DNA G+C content of the isolate was 42.9 mol%. Based on its taxonomic distinctiveness, strain JAM-BA0501T is considered to represent a novel species of a new genus within the family Marinilabiliaceae , for which the name Geofilum rubicundum gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Geofilum rubicundum is JAM-BA0501T ( = JCM 15548T = NCIMB 14482T).

An alkaline κ-carrageenase, Cgk-K142, was found in the culture broth of a deep-sea bacterium, Pseudoalteromonas tetraodonis JAM-K142. A gene for the enzyme was cloned and expressed. Purified recombinant Cgk-K142 (rCgk-K142) showed an optimal pH of about 8.8 in glycine-NaOH buffer at 30 °C and of about 8.0 in MOPS buffer at 50 °C. The optimal temperature for the enzyme was 55 °C at pH 8.0. rCgk-K142 was unstable, but λ- and ι-carrageenans, non-degradative substrate homologs, extensively enhanced its stability. The nucleotide sequence of the gene for Cgk-K142 comprised 1,194 bp, and the deduced amino acid sequence (397 amino acids) showed a high level of similarity to the κ-carrageenase of P. carrageenovora, with 94% identity. Another gene for a κ-carrageenase-like protein was found downstream of the gene for Cgk-K142. The nucleotide sequence of that gene consisted of 966 bp (321 amino acids), and it showed the highest similarity, at 64% identity, to protein CgkB of P. carrageenovora, which has been reported as an incomplete 57-amino acid sequence.

Four arabinan-degrading enzymes are produced by Bacillus subtilis JAM A-3-6, which was isolated from a subseafloor sediment core from 0.5 m below seafloor at a water depth of 1,180 m off the Shimokita Peninsula in Japan. One of the enzymes (AbnAF25) was purified from a culture broth. The molecular mass of the enzyme was around 28 kDa as judged by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The optimal pH and temperature were pH 6.3 and 60°C in phosphate buffer. AbnAF25 degraded well debranched arabinan, linear arabinan, and arabino-oligosaccharaides, but not arabinoxylan, arabinogalactan or p-nitrophenyl-α-L-arabinofuranoside, which classifies the enzyme as an endo-1,5-α-L-arabinanase. The end products from linear arabinan were mainly arabinose, arabinobiose and arabinotriose. The gene for AbnAF25 was cloned and sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequence of the enzyme revealed the highest similarity to the arabinanase of B. amyloliquefaciens with 83% identity. As AbnAF25 did not show the definite characterization of a subseafloor enzyme, strain JAM A-3-6 seems to be probably dropped or co-sedimented with a soil component.

Retrofitting of existing houses is the most urgent problem. In this paper, we examined financial support system for retrofitting of existing houses. Concretely, We thought about price of the furtherance with care to the following matters. 1. Decision making structure of inhabitants, 2. Suspicion of evaluation only by economic rationality, 3. The evaluation considered uncertainty.

"A meta-enzyme approach" is proposed as an ecological enzymatic method to explore the potential functions of microbial communities in extreme environments such as the deep marine subsurface. We evaluated a variety of extra-cellular enzyme activities of sediment slurries and isolates from a deep subseafloor sediment core. Using the new deep-sea drilling vessel "Chikyu", we obtained 365 m of core sediments that contained approximately 2% organic matter and considerable amounts of methane from offshore the Shimokita Peninsula in Japan at a water depth of 1,180 m. In the extra-sediment fraction of the slurry samples, phosphatase, esterase, and catalase activities were detected consistently throughout the core sediments down to the deepest slurry sample from 342.5 m below seafloor (mbsf). Detectable enzyme activities predicted the existence of a sizable population of viable aerobic microorganisms even in deep subseafloor habitats. The subsequent quantitative cultivation using solid media represented remarkably high numbers of aerobic, heterotrophic microbial populations (e.g., maximally 4.4x10(7) cells cm(-3) at 342.5 mbsf). Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the predominant cultivated microbial components were affiliated with the genera Bacillus, Shewanella, Pseudoalteromonas, Halomonas, Pseudomonas, Paracoccus, Rhodococcus, Microbacterium, and Flexibacteracea. Many of the predominant and scarce isolates produced a variety of extra-cellular enzymes such as proteases, amylases, lipases, chitinases, phosphatases, and deoxyribonucleases. Our results indicate that microbes in the deep subseafloor environment off Shimokita are metabolically active and that the cultivable populations may have a great potential in biotechnology.

Hadal oceans at water depths below 6,000 m are the least-explored aquatic biosphere. The Challenger Deep, located in the western equatorial Pacific, with a water depth of ∼11 km, is the deepest ocean on Earth. Microbial communities associated with waters from the sea surface to the trench bottom (0 ∼10,257 m) in the Challenger Deep were analyzed, and unprecedented trench microbial communities were identified in the hadal waters (6,000 ∼10,257 m) that were distinct from the abyssal microbial communities. The potentially chemolithotrophic populations were less abundant in the hadal water than those in the upper abyssal waters. The emerging members of chemolithotrophic nitrifiers in the hadal water that likely adapt to the higher flux of electron donors were also different from those in the abyssal waters that adapt to the lower flux of electron donors. Species-level niche separation in most of the dominant taxa was also found between the hadal and abyssal microbial communities. Considering the geomorphology and the isolated hydrotopographical nature of the Mariana Trench, we hypothesized that the distinct hadal microbial ecosystem was driven by the endogenous recycling of organic matter in the hadal waters associated with the trench geomorphology.

The rectum is spared in most patients with spontaneous ischemic colitis because of its abundant collateral blood supply, and thus ischemic proctitis is a rare clinical entity. In most reported cases, it has been of acute onset after aortoiliac surgery, radiotherapy, or other vascular intervention. This report describes the endoscopic diagnosis and the treatment of recurrent rectal hemorrhage in apatient withspontaneous chronic ischemic proctitis. Chronic ischemic proctitis should be included in the differential diagnosis of lower-GI bleeding, especially for elderly, bed-ridden patients with atherosclerotic disease.

There are many reports of reduction of zinc level and rise of copper level in serum of patients with liver disease. However, there are a few reports that compare the trace elements in tumor tissues and nontumor tissues of the liver with hepatoma. We studied trace element distribution in tumor tissues and nontumor tissues of liver with hepatoma and compared them with data from normal liver tissues. Zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), selenium (Se), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and iron (Fe) were chosen as the trace elements to be observed. We observed falls of Zn, Cd, and Hg levels in tumor tissues and the rise of Cu level as a result of this investigation. Zn, Cd, and Hg levels in tumor tissues were significantly lower than those in nontumor tissues and Zn, Cd, and Hg levels in nontumor tissues were significantly lower than in normal liver tissues. This tendency was clearer for Cd and Hg than for Zn. Although the distribution of Cu was not significant, a distribution contrary to that of Zn was shown. These findings indicate that the distribution of Zn, Cd, and Hg can serve as supportive evidence that could be useful as a tumor marker. Selenium showed almost the same accumulation tendency among tumor tissues, nontumor tissues, and normal livers. Although correlation was observed among most metals in the normal liver, there was almost no correlation in tumor tissues.

A case of gastrointestinal cancer-associated antigen (CA19-9)-positive bronchioloalveolar carcinoma accompanied by bronchorrhea and respiratory failure successfully treated with corticosteroids is reported. The patient was treated with pulse methylprednisolone at a dose of 1,000 mg/day for three days, followed by oral prednisolone (60 mg/day). Within 2 days, the sputum volume decreased from >100 ml/day to 20 ml/day and it was finally controlled to 0-10 ml/day. The reduction in the sputum volume was associated with alleviation of dyspnea and hypoxemia. The levels of CA19-9 in the serum and the sputum were extremely high and an immunocytochemical study showed that the tumor cells were stained by CA19-9 antibody. This case demonstrates the therapeutic value of corticosteroids in the treatment of bronchorrhea in subjects with bronchioloalveolar carcinoma.

A novel pectate lyase of a deep subseafloor bacterium, Georgenia muralis strain JAM 3H7-3 (JCM19733), was purified to homogeneity from a culture broth by an anion exchange chromatography, followed by heat treatment of the enzyme solution at 60 °C for 30 min, and a gel filtration in the presence of SDS. The purified enzyme (Pel-S2) had a molecular mass of ~51 kDa by SDS-PAGE and ~75 kDa by gel filtration. In contrast, without heat treatment, the purified enzyme in SDS sample buffer was found to consist of 23- and 23.5-kDa polypeptides by SDS-PAGE. The enzyme was gradually inactivated by heat treatment with and without SDS in parallel with a shift of polypeptides molecular masses from 23 and 23.5 to 51 kDa on SDS-PAGE. Pel-S2 degraded pectate optimally at pH 10 in a glycine buffer and temperature of 50 °C. The enzyme showed relatively broad substrate specificity toward pectic acid and pectin.

A recent case of angiomyolipoma (AML) with a prominent component of polygonal epithelioid cells is described. A 27-year-old Japanese male with tuberous sclerosis presented with massive abdominal tumors increasing progressively in size. The patient died of respiratory disturbance and the autopsy revealed massive tumors in the bilateral kidneys, liver and lymph nodes, subependymal giant cell glioma of the brain and lymphangiomyomatosis of the lungs. The giant tumors were an unusual type of AML with a component of polygonal epithelioid cells, which showed a hepatocellular carcinoma-like pattern in some areas. Smooth muscle components comprising spindle cells, short or plump spindle cells and polygonal epithelioid cells frequently exhibited positive staining for HMB-45 but negative staining for epithelial cell markers. The unusual AML presented in this case was thought to be of low-grade malignancy and slow growing. It has been suggested that angiomyolipomas with diffuse areas of epithelioid cell component are potentially malignant. Immunostainings positive for HMB-45 but negative for epithelial cell markers are considered to be useful in differentiating AML with polygonal epithelioid cell component from other tumors, especially from renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma.

There has been much progress in understanding the nitrogen cycle in oceanic waters including the recent identification of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and anaerobic ammonia oxidizing (anammox) bacteria, and in the comprehensive estimation in abundance and activity of these microbial populations. However, compared with the nitrogen cycle in oceanic waters, there are fewer studies concerning the oceanic benthic nitrogen cycle. To further elucidate the dynamic nitrogen cycle in deep-sea sediments, a sediment core obtained from the Ogasawara Trench at a water depth of 9760 m was analysed in this study. The profiles obtained for the pore-water chemistry, and nitrogen and oxygen stable isotopic compositions of pore-water nitrate in the hadopelagic sediments could not be explained by the depth segregation of nitrifiers and nitrate reducers, suggesting the co-occurrence of nitrification and nitrate reduction in the shallowest nitrate reduction zone. The abundance of SSU rRNA and functional genes related to nitrification and denitrification are consistent with the co-occurrence of nitrification and nitrate reduction observed in the geochemical analyses. This study presents the first example of cooperation between aerobic and anaerobic nitrogen metabolism in the deep-sea sedimentary environments.

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were injected subcutaneously with 0.6 mg cadmium (Cd)/kg/day for 8 wk. The subsequent changes in renal proximal tubules were studied histologically, histochemically, and ultrastructurally. The urinary and tissue Cd concentrations were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. After 4 wk of exposure, apoptosis was observed predominantly in segment S3 along with epithelial regeneration in the affected tubules, and these changes gradually became more pronounced as the experimental period was prolonged. The apoptotic cells were shed into the lumen and were found to contain a large quantity of Cd. Apoptotic cells were counted in paraffin sections after various periods of exposure to Cd. Nuclear bromodeoxyuridine uptake, mitotic count, and nuclear density were used as indicators of tubular regeneration. A correlation was found between the numerical increase of apoptotic cells and the rate of urinary Cd excretion, and the rate of increase in the tissue Cd concentration had a tendency to reduce after 4 wk as the rate of urinary Cd increased. These observations suggest that apoptosis might be helpful for the efficient excretion of Cd into urine. Progressive increases in the preceding indicators of regeneration were observed. From our results, it appears that Cd-induced tubular damage, i.e., cell deletion due to apoptosis, is reversible as a result of marked epithelial regeneration. On the basis of these histological changes, the critical concentration of Cd required to produce renal tubular damage was estimated to be 600 μg/g dry tissue.

To investigate the changes of spermatozoa by high doses of vitamin B6, (B6), the alterations in spermatozoa and testis of rats after the administration of high doses of B6 were evaluated quantitatively and morphometrically. Wistar rats of 11 weeks of age were intraperitoneally injected with 63,125,250 and 500 mg/kg of B6 daily 5 times per week for 6 weeks. Using the spermatozoa taken from the epididymis and ductus deferens, the number, motility and nuclear morphology of spermatozoa were examined. After preparing 7 parameters for the nuclear morphology, the morphometry was performed by an IBAS version 2 (Zeiss) image analysis system. The number of spermatocytes and spermatids in representative stages of spermatogenesis was counted per Sertoli cell histologically. Mild deformation of spermatozoa nuclei occurred in the 63 mg or more exposure groups. In the 125 and 250 mg groups, the decrease in number as well as motility of spermatozoa together with slight decrease of spermatids in late maturation phase (mature spermatids) and the delay in spermia-tion appeared. Phagocytosis of mature spermatids by Sertoli cells was clearly increased in the 250 mg group. The alteration and the decreased number of spermatozoa are suggested to have mainly resulted from alteration of mature spermatids and the increased phagocytosis of mature spermatids by Sertoli cells. Computer-assisted morphometry of spermatozoa nuclei was useful not only to evaluate morphological changes objectively but also to discern them early. Acta Pathol Jpn 42: 861–869, 1992.

In this study, the effects of methylcobalamin on testicular damage induced by ethylene oxide (EtO) were studied. When Wistar male rats inhaled EtO at 500 ppm, 6 h a day, 3 days a week, for 6 weeks, testicular damage was observed histopathologically and by some other parameters. Subcutaneous injection of methylcobalamin at 500 micrograms/kg, 5 times/week was found to ameliorate the damage. However, the degree of the methylcobalamin effect differed among the parameters examined in this study. Decrease in testicular weight due to EtO exposure was completely prevented by methylcobalamin, and decrease in testicular mature spermatid count and LDH-X activity was fairly well prevented. The degree of prevention of alteration in the epididymis, such as epididymal weight, epididymal sperm count and sperm abnormality rate, was significant but not complete. EtO caused apparent alterations in glutathione metabolism in the testes, but methylcobalamin did not affect such alterations induced by EtO. From these results, it has been determined that methylcobalamin has definite preventive effects on testicular toxicity of EtO.

Male Wistar rats were exposed to ethylene oxide (EO) at concentrations of 50, 100, or 250 ppm for six hours a day, on five days a week for 13 weeks. Dose effect relations of inhaled EO on spermatogenesis were evaluated from testicular and epididymal weights, histopathological changes and lactate dehydrogenase X (LDH X) activity in the testis, and sperm counts and sperm head abnormalities in the epididymis. At 250 ppm, a decrease in epididymal weights, slight degenerations in the seminiferous tubules, decreased sperm counts, and increased numbers of abnormal sperm heads in the tail of the epididymis were found; these were not seen at lower doses. When the abnormal sperm heads were classified into immature types and teratic types, the number of immature heads increased only at 250 ppm. On the other hand, the teratic type had increased at doses of 50 and 100 ppm EO when compared with the control group. Hence, subchronic inhalation of EO at low concentrations affects spermatogenesis in rats.

The first case of gelatinous drop-like corneal dystrophy in one eye and band-shaped spheroidal corneal degeneration in the other eye was reported. She was a member of Japanese family with gelatinous drop-like corneal dystrophy. A close association between gelatinous drop-like corneal dystrophy and band-shaped spheroidal corneal degeneration was suggested.

We report on a 59-year-old man with epididymal lymphangiectasis. The patient had noticed somewhat intermittent intrascrotal painless swelling. The interstitium of the right caput epididymis exhibited a number of large, dilated lymphatic vessels forming irregular channels among and around the epididymal ducts. The afferent epididymal ducts showed dilatation similar to that of the lymphatic vessels except for focal cuboid epithelial linings. Spermatogenesis in the right testis was preserved. Lymphangiectasis in the epididymis is infrequent and needs to be differentiated from other intrascrotal lesions.

Although testicular damage caused by ethylene oxide vapor (EtO) has been previously reported, the morphological changes occurring in seminiferous tubules remain unclear. We examined the time course of the testicular lesion induced by EtO in order to clarify its morphogenesis. Wistar rats were exposed to 500 ppm EtO for 6 hr per day, 3 times per week for 2, 4, 6, or 13 weeks through inhalation. In the 2-week exposure group, Sertoli cells often showed condensation and retraction of the cytoplasm, and dilatation of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In apical Sertoli cells, processes which encapsulated the heads of elongate spermatids, ectoplasmic specializations, and tubulobulbar complexes were often deformed and many elongate spermatids were degenerated. In the 4- and 6-week exposure groups, many degenerated Sertoli cells were present, and deformed germ cells, sometimes with multinucleation, appeared to make direct contact with each other without interlocation of Sertoli cell lateral processes. A few scattered immature Sertoli cells were evident in the 6-week exposure group. In the 13-week exposure group, seminiferous tubules containing almost all types of germ cells reappeared, mixed with atrophic tubules containing Sertoli cells only. In the former tubules, Sertoli cells often possessed regularly regenerated lateral processes, which were interposed between germ cells. These results indicate that the germ cell damage may be associated with damage to Sertoli cells. In spite of the intermittent exposure, focal regeneration of Sertoli cells appeared after 6 weeks of exposure to EtO and preceded patchy recovery of germ cells. Therefore, the data suggest that Sertoli cell regeneration may permit regeneration of germ cells.

Histopathological, histochemical, and electron microscopic examinations were performed on beagles after a long-term oral cadmium (Cd) administration of > 8 years. Although renal atrophy was remarkable in groups receiving doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg body weight/day, bone lesions could not be demonstrated by roent-genological and histopathologic examination. It was noticed that concomitant regeneration or recovery and cell death of the epithelium occurred in the proximal convoluted tubules. The cell death was consistent with apoptosis, a special feature of cell death, which was shown to play a major part in the tubular damage of cadmium by electron microscopic examination. Fatty degeneration of the pars recta tubules was seen to show dose-dependence. The intrarenal cadmium was localized predominantly in the cytoplasm of the proximal tubular epithelium by histochemical and ultraccntrifugal cell fractionation examinations. Although no remarkable changes were found in the other organs, aggregates of siderophages in the liver and focal hemorrhage in the spleen, known as spontaneous lesions, might be related to Cd intoxication. In conclusion, the present study revealed that no bone lesions occur with Cd administration in adult beagles in spite of long-term administration. An excessive cell death to regeneration or recovery in the proximal tubules might result in the renal cortical atrophy. No remarkable changes were seen in the glomeruli and distal nephrons, which were in good agreement with Cd distribution.

This is an autopsy report of multiple primary cancers observed in a patient who had clinically been diagnosed as chronic arsenic poisoning. An 88-year-old man, non-smoker, had worked in an arsenic mine for 6 years from the age of 47. He had undergone operations for Bowen's disease and gastric cancer at ages 80 and 86, respectively. At autopsy, squamous cell carcinoma of the lung and a polypoid lesion in the piriform recess were found. Furthermore, microscopic examination revealed latent prostatic adenocarcinoma and oncocytoma in the kidney. The polypoid lesion of the piriform recess appeared to originate from the duct of the minor salivary gland in the pharynx, showing an adenoid cystic carcinoma-like pattern with squamous cell carcinoma in part. The cause of death was thought to be respiratory failure due to bronchopneumonia and pulmonary edema as well as hydrothorax, and chronic heart failure following ischemic heart disease. Bowen's disease was followed by four internal malignant tumors, even though the etiological relation between these cancers and arsenic is not clear.