Chiba University

A reliable method of determining the base frequency (Fb) for utterances of various speaking styles is critical to enabling stable command labeling in the Fujisaki model. To achieve stable command labeling for diverse expressions of speech, a linear fitted model was developed using the ten percentile F0 of each utterance from three corpora of various speaking styles (read, acted, and spontaneous) as the independent variable to estimate a consistent Fb for each utterance. To assess the robustness of the model for unknown utterances, the model was applied to test data, including both open and corpus-open data not used for the model development, and the difference between the estimated Fb and the trained labelers’ annotated Fb was calculated. As a result, the obtained estimation model was found to fit well to the manually labeled Fbs by exhibiting a small root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.096 and a high coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.89 for the closed dataset. Moreover, the model also exhibited a small RMSE of 0.091 and a high R² of 0.92 for the corpus-open dataset. The results revealed that the proposed model can reliably estimate the Fb of utterances with various speaking styles.

Various attempts have been made to use abscisic acid (ABA) as a plant bioregulator (PBR). Recently, a new ABA formulation, produced through microbial fermentation, has been commercialized in Japan as a PBR for improving grape peel color. Nonetheless, the horticultural application of ABA remains limited compared to other plant hormones. Generally, the vital functions of ABA include the regulation of abiotic stress tolerance and plant dormancy via metabolic changes associated with the antioxidant system and the modulation of sugar biosynthesis/translocation, respectively. These metabolic changes are crucial for the quality of fruit, suggesting the potential of ABA for promoting the production of high-quality fruit. In non-climacteric fruit, ABA plays a pivotal role in anthocyanin pigmentation, a significant component of the antioxidant machinery. Studies in grapes and strawberries have shown that the responses to ABA differ depending on the type of ABA agonist used and the specific organs to which it is applied. Herein, the influence of ABA on climacteric fruit exhibiting ethylene-regulated ripening is discussed. ABA-mediated ethylene induction followed by ripening suggests a shared regulatory mechanism that underlies ripening in both climacteric and non-climacteric fruits that involves crosstalk between ABA and ethylene. This review firstly summarizes the historical challenges with ABA and its agonist for application as PBRs and discusses the role of ABA in the ripening of non-climacteric fruit, particularly grapes. Subsequently, the molecular background of ABA in both climacteric and non-climacteric fruit ripening is explained, with a focus on peel coloration, sugar synthesis, and aroma volatile synthesis.

Himawari-8/9 is a next-generation Japanese Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) meteorological satellite with an onboard sensor – the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI). Because Himawari-8/9 AHI observe the Earth's hemispheres every 10 min with multiple spectral bands, AHI providing an unprecedented opportunity to facilitate its observation datasets are expected to be a new data source for terrestrial monitoring in terms of mitigating cloud contaminations. Estimation of land surface reflectance (LSR) is crucial in quantitative terrestrial monitoring. In this study, we aimed to develop a method for estimating the LSR and angular-adjusted LSR of the Himawari-8/9 AHI using the look-up table based Second Simulation of a Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum Vector (6SV) Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) and kernel-driven semi-empirical bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model. The estimated LSR underwent evaluation and inter-comparison through two distinct approaches: ray-matching and estimating angular-adjusted LSR. Ray-matching of the obtained data pairs with the MODIS LSR product shows that the correlation coefficients (r) for all bands are greater than 0.86 at low latitudes. Angular-adjusted LSRs estimated using AHI time-series data at mid-latitudes also show good agreement with MODIS (r > 0.5), particularly the red and near-infrared bands (r > 0.9). The results obtained by our method are in high agreement with those calculated using the reference aerosol optical thickness (AOT) (r > 0.98). Our findings highlight the potential application of our methodology to other GEO satellites for high-frequency terrestrial monitoring at continental to global scales.

Objective: Changes in sleep are common among parents in the perinatal period. This study aimed to describe objective and subjective sleep quality in men during their partner's pregnancy and its association with depressive symptoms. Methods: We used cross-sectional data from a prospective observational study. Men in Japan with primiparous partners after 20 weeks of gestation were recruited. Objective and subjective sleep were measured using actigraphy and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, respectively, and depressive symptoms were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. This study was approved by the ethics committee of the principal investigator's institution. Results: A total of 15 men provided valid data for analysis. Actigraphy data showed that, on average, participants slept for 420.3 min per night, took 6.4 min to fall asleep, were awake for 11.3 min per night, and awoke 0.7 times during the night, with 97.4% sleep efficiency. There were no significant associations between sleep parameters and depressive symptoms, except for sleep latency (r = −0.59, p <.05). Conclusions: All participants had good sleep quality and few depressive symptoms, and there were no associations between overall sleep quality and depressive symptoms during pregnancy. This study provides baseline data for assessing changes in sleep after childbirth. Importantly, changes in sleep patterns after childbirth may stress fathers and lead to paternal depression. This illustrates the value of prenatal education, which covers postpartum sleep guidelines and information on infant care to help expectant fathers cope with sleep disruptions and adjust to fatherhood.

A questionnaire survey was designed and performed to assess the current status of “next generation” hepatobiliary and pancreatic (HBP) surgeons regarding surgical training, career, recruiting, and work‐life balance in Japan. Using a valid email address, a questionnaire was sent to members of the Japanese Society of Hepato‐Biliary‐Pancreatic Surgeons (JSHBPS) who were under 45 years old. The questionnaire comprised 50 questions across the following four sections: (i) board certification of JSHBPS, (ii) research activity and overseas study, (iii) recruiting, and (iv) work‐life balance. A questionnaire survey was sent to 1735 HBP surgeons and responses were received from 303 members (17.5%). In a survey with 303 respondents, over 45.9% were above 41 years old, 93.7% were male, and 91.0% were affiliated with university surgery departments. About 25.1% were JSHBPS board‐certified, while 72.7% of uncertified doctors aspired for the certification. Research activity was deemed crucial by 74.9%. Recruitment targeting postgraduate years 1–5 was recommended, with the technical difficulty of surgery being the main reason for choosing HBP. Regarding work‐life balance, excessive work and classical work style were regarded as a hindrance to the sustainability of working practices. This survey highlighted that next generation HBP surgeons are highly motivated to acquire advanced surgical skills and recognize the importance of research experience. However, they are facing long working hours and insufficient training opportunities. Fundamental reforms, such as revising the training curriculum, improving work styles, and enhancing recruitment, are necessary steps forward to ensure the sustainability of HBP surgery in Japan.

Asahi City, located at north-east area in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, cooperating with Novo Nordisc pharma Ltd. and Chiba University, as a public-private-academic collaboration, have directed the Cities Changing Diabetes Project to reduce patients suffering from Diabetes Mellitus since 2021. In the project, we, the walkable city promoting team, established 4 walking routes in the city in order to modify behaviors of citizens, because they have no walking custom in the lifestyle. We would like to describe how we have been promoting the current project.

In recent years, internationalization of East Asian traditional medicine is progressing, as evidenced by the inclusion of a chapter on traditional medicine in the 11th revision of the WHO’s International Classification, and the standardization of East Asian traditional medicine in ISO which has been promoted mainly in China. It is also important for Kampo medicine, to disseminate information overseas. In these streams, both the Editing Committee for Dictionary (Jun, 2016-Jun, 2020) and the Editing Committee for Kampo Medicine literature (Jun, 2020-Jun, 2023) were able to publish “The Dictionary of Kampo Medicine―Basic terms” in 2020 and “Complete Kampo Medicine (Japanese version)” in 2022. In publishing the “Complete Kampo Medicine,” it was useful to quote the underlying description of the “Introduction to Kampo (Japanese version)” published in 2002 by our Association and the “Textbook of Japanese Traditional Medicine” published in 2012 created in the team with a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. The next steps for this committee are to expand and revise the “Dictionary of Kampo Medicine” and to translate “Complete Kampo Medicine” into English. We believe that by publishing these textbooks, we will be able to more powerfully prevailing Kampo medicine to the world.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is one of the most common malignancies. Recently, the role of brain-expressed X-linked 4 (BEX4) in cancer progression has received increasing attention. This study aimed to investigate the function of BEX4 in ccRCC and to reveal the underlying mechanisms. We first confirmed that BEX4 was significantly downregulated in ccRCC by bioinformatics analysis and that patients with low BEX4 expression tended to have prolonged overall survival time. Subsequently, we confirmed that BEX4 inhibited ccRCC cell proliferation in vitro and tumorigenesis in vivo through a series of cell function assays and the establishment of a nude mouse xenograft model, respectively. Mechanistically, we found that BEX4 positively regulates the expression of Src homology 2 domain-containing 4A (SH2D4A), an inhibitor of the NOTCH pathway, which further promoted the tumor-suppressive effects of BEX4. In addition, our study confirmed that the promoting effect of BEX4 on SH2D4A was achieved by inhibiting the deacetylase sirtuin 2 (SIRT2) activity. On this basis, we found that there was a competition between acetylation and ubiquitination modifications at the K69 site of SH2DA4 and that BEX4-induced upregulation of acetylation at the k69 site stabilizes SH2D4A protein expression by inhibiting ubiquitination at the same site. In addition, dual-luciferase assays showed that the transcriptional activity of BEX4 was positively regulated by activation transcription factor 3 (ATF3). Our study suggests that BEX4 plays a role in inhibiting tumor progression in ccRCC and maybe a new diagnostic and therapeutic target for ccRCC patients.

It is imperative in a forensic investigation to determine the identity of an unidentified corpse, for which a crucial starting point is to establish population affinity as part of the biological profile supplied by the forensic anthropologist. The present study investigates the feasibility of using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) images to quantify craniometric variation between Japanese and Malay populations relative to the estimation of population affinity in a forensic context. The Japanese and Malay samples comprise MDCT scans of 252 (122 female; 130 male) and 182 (84 female; 98 male) adult individuals, respectively. A total of 18 measurements were acquired, and two machine learning methods (random forest modeling, RFM; support vector machine, SVM) were applied to classify population affinity. The accuracy of the two-way pooled-sex model was 88.0% for RFM and 94.5% for SVM, respectively. The four-way population and sex model produced an overall classification accuracy of 81.3% for RFM and 91.7% for SVM. The sex-specific models of population affinity showed correct rates of classification of more than 90% in both females (90.8% for RFM and 97.6% for SVM) and males (91.2% for RFM and 97.4% for SVM). Our findings clearly indicate that the cranial measurements acquired in MDCT images can be used for the forensic classification of Japanese and Malay individuals and thus serve as a reference for forensic anthropologists attempting to identify unidentified remains.

We sought to understand the impact of multimorbidity (MM) on the trajectories of functional decline in the last three years of life among older people in Japan. We used nationwide longitudinal cohort data with 6-year follow-up and analyzed 3731 functionally independent residents aged 65 years and older. The primary outcome was the five trajectory groups of functional disability in the last three years of life, defined by group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM). The explanatory variable was two alternative definitions of MM: basic MM (BMM; two or more comorbid diseases) versus complex MM (CMM; three or more body system disorders due to disease). A multinomial logistic regression analysis showed both MMs were associated with earlier trajectories of functional decline (maximum odds ratio: BMM 1.12 [0.99–1.27]; CMM 1.29 [1.16–1.44]). Preventing MMs, especially CMM, by providing appropriate care and support could contribute to healthy longevity by delaying the onset of functional disability.

Ferns belong to species-rich group of land plants, encompassing more than 11,000 extant species, and are crucial for reflecting terrestrial ecosystem changes. However, our understanding of their biodiversity hotspots, particularly in Southeast Asia, remains limited due to scarce genetic data. Despite harboring around one-third of the world’s fern species, less than 6% of Southeast Asian ferns have been DNA-sequenced. In this study, we addressed this gap by sequencing 1,496 voucher-referenced and expert-identified fern samples from (sub)tropical Asia, spanning Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam, to retrieve their rbcL and trnL-F sequences. This DNA barcode collection of Asian ferns encompasses 956 species across 152 genera and 34 families, filling major gaps in fern biodiversity understanding and advancing research in systematics, phylogenetics, ecology and conservation. This dataset significantly expands the Fern Tree of Life to over 6,000 species, serving as a pivotal and global reference for worldwide barcoding identification of ferns.

Objective The objective of this review is to examine community-dwelling older people’s experiences of advance care planning with health care professionals. Introduction The importance of health care professionals initiating advance care planning for patients has been reported; however, because of the shift from institutionalized to community care, community-dwelling older people have fewer opportunities to discuss these plans with health care professionals compared with those living in other settings. The timely initiation of advance care planning and sustainable discussions among older people, their families, and community health care professionals is necessary and may improve palliative and end-of-life care. Inclusion criteria Studies with participants aged 60 years and older who have experience with advance care planning and live in their own homes in the community were included. We considered qualitative studies and the qualitative component of mixed methods studies published between January 1999 and April 2023 in English or Japanese. Methods MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, JSTORE, Scopus, Japan Medical Abstract Society, and CiNii were searched for published papers, and Google Scholar, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, and MedNar were searched for unpublished papers and gray literature. Study selection, critical appraisal, data extraction, and data synthesis were conducted by 2 independent reviewers using the JBI approach and JBI standardized tools. Findings were pooled using a meta-aggregation approach. The synthesized findings were graded using the ConQual approach for establishing confidence in the output of qualitative research syntheses and presented in a Summary of Findings. Results Five studies published between 2017 and 2022 were included in the review. Each study’s total score was between 6 and 8 out of 10 on the JBI critical appraisal checklist for qualitative research. We extracted 28 findings and aggregated them into 7 categories, generating 3 synthesized findings: i) A trusting relationship with health professionals is essential for older people’s decision-making. Health professionals’ attitudes, knowledge, and skills play a role in this, influencing the perceived quality of care; ii) Shared decision-making and patient-centered communication are essential. Older people feel ambiguity toward end-of-life decision and advance care planning and they want their wishes to be heard in any situation to maintain their autonomy and quality of life; iii) Older people need the appropriate forms and accessible and coordinated care to begin advance care planning. Conclusion Qualitative studies on community-dwelling older people’s experiences of advance care planning with health care professionals are scarce. The experiences have illustrated that trusting relationships influence people’s perception of the quality of care they receive; there is uncertainty about their future; and they have varying feelings or attitudes toward their impending death, including denial and avoidance. This review highlighted the need for appropriate forms, and accessible and coordinated care to begin advance care planning; thus, an approach that meets the individual’s health and psychosocial status should be selected carefully. Further research is recommended to include older populations from broader geographical and cultural backgrounds and to assess and evaluate the different advance care planning approaches and their implementation processes among groups of community-dwelling older people with different health and psychosocial statuses. Review registration PROSPERO CRD42020122803

We encountered two cases of onychomycosis caused by Aspergillus (A.) subramanianii and A. sclerotiorum . These species belong to the Aspergillus section Circumdati , which is reportedly common in a wide range of habitats. The members of section Circumdati rarely cause onychomycosis. We report the second and fifth cases of A. subramanianii and A. sclerotiorum in the world. Positive findings in dermatophyte antigen kits helped us to diagnose these infections. These isolates were sensitive to ravuconazole, with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.5 μg/mL. They were successfully treated with oral fosravuconazole. We discuss 14 cases of onychomycosis caused by Aspergillus section Circumdati .