[Achievements and Challenges of a Sakado "Shokuiku (Food and Nutrition Education)" Program Implemented in All Elementary and Middle Schools in Sakado-city, Saitama Prefecture].

Objective　Since 2006, Sakado city in Saitama prefecture, Japan, has been implementing the Sakado "Shokuiku (food and nutrition education)" Program in collaboration with Kagawa Nutrition University. The present study aimed to evaluate the program, and to discuss its achievements and future challenges.Methods　This program targeted all students from the 5th through the 8th grade. Data from surveys conducted with students and teachers during the school year from 2006 through 2014 were to analyze the program's implementation process and to evaluate its impact. For process evaluation, two surveys conducted with teachers were used. Survey A pertained to the status of program implementation and students' reaction towards each lesson conducted at schools. Survey B pertained to school teachers' involvement in the program and changes of teaching content and interest in food and nutrition education after its implementation, to assess their reaction towards the program. For impact evaluation, three surveys conducted with students were used. Specifically, Survey C aimed to confirm the effectiveness of the 4-year program, Survey D assessed the same in each grade, and Survey E examined the attitudes and behaviors of students who completed the 4-year program.Results　More than 70% of the classes were able to implement the program successfully in the fourth year of elementary school and the second year of middle school. Further, 80% of the classes utilized all the educational materials, and more than 50% of the students understood almost all the contents of the program. Teachers in elementary school and male teachers in middle school, who had attended the teacher training program and/or had implemented the program, were more likely to interest in nutrition education. The impact evaluation did not reveal any significant long-term effects on students; however, their dietary attitudes related to Educational Goal 2 ("eat a well-balanced diet considering its health benefits") improved after each year of participation in the program. More than 90% of the 8th grade students answered that they were happy to have participated in this program.Conclusion　The continual implementation of this nutrition program increased teachers' interest in food and nutrition education and improved some dietary attitudes of students. Future challenges include improving program content, promoting continued implementation, and identifying broader approaches to include students' family and significant others from different generations.

Familial acanthosis nigricans with p.K650T FGFR3 mutation.

Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is a pigmentary skin disorder, which may present in association with clinical disorders such as obesity and malignancy. Occasionally, this unique skin manifestation is seen in alliance with several skeletal disorders, such Crouzon syndrome, achondroplasia and hypochondroplasia (HCH). These orthopedic disorders are known to have genetic changes in FGFR3. Recently, AN was reported in HCH with p.K650T mutation in FGFR3, and to date, there are only three reports, comprising 18 cases, describing AN harboring this specific gene mutation. Herein, we detail three new cases of AN with p.K650T FGFR3 mutation, and review the 21 known cases.

Gene transfection efficiency into dendritic cells is influenced by the size of cationic liposomes/DNA complexes.

Cationic liposomes have attracted recent attention as DNA vaccine carriers that can target dendritic cells (DCs). In general, cationic liposome/DNA complexes (lipoplexes) are taken up by various cells via clathrin-mediated endocytosis, caveolae-mediated endocytosis, macropinocytosis, or phagocytosis, with the mode of endocytosis determining further intracellular trafficking pathways. Moreover, the physicochemical properties of cationic lipoplexes, including lipid composition, shape, size, and charge, influence transfection efficiency, affecting uptake and subsequent intracellular pathways. To develop cationic liposomes as potential DNA vaccine carriers, the objective of this study was to study the effect of lipoplex size on DNA transfection efficiency in DCs. We explored the size-dependent endocytosis pathway and the intracellular trafficking of cationic lipoplexes using bone marrow derived dendritic cells (BMDCs). Our results indicated that small-sized lipoplexes (approximately 270nm diameter) were taken up by BMDCs via caveolae-mediated endocytosis, which led to a non-degradative pathway, whereas larger-sized lipoplexes (approximately 500nm diameter) were taken up by BMDCs via clathrin-mediated endocytosis and micropinocytosis, which led to a lysosomal degradation pathway. These findings suggest that, by regulating the size of lipoplexes, it may be possible to develop cationic liposomes as DNA vaccine therapies for targeting DCs.

Microbial denitrification dominates nitrate losses from forest ecosystems.

Denitrification removes fixed nitrogen (N) from the biosphere, thereby restricting the availability of this key limiting nutrient for terrestrial plant productivity. This microbially driven process has been exceedingly difficult to measure, however, given the large background of nitrogen gas (N2) in the atmosphere and vexing scaling issues associated with heterogeneous soil systems. Here, we use natural abundance of N and oxygen isotopes in nitrate (NO3 (-)) to examine dentrification rates across six forest sites in southern China and central Japan, which span temperate to tropical climates, as well as various stand ages and N deposition regimes. Our multiple stable isotope approach across soil to watershed scales shows that traditional techniques underestimate terrestrial denitrification fluxes by up to 98%, with annual losses of 5.6-30.1 kg of N per hectare via this gaseous pathway. These N export fluxes are up to sixfold higher than NO3 (-) leaching, pointing to widespread dominance of denitrification in removing NO3 (-) from forest ecosystems across a range of conditions. Further, we report that the loss of NO3 (-) to denitrification decreased in comparison to leaching pathways in sites with the highest rates of anthropogenic N deposition.

Efficacy and safety of preprandial versus postprandial administration of low-dose cyclosporin microemulsion (Neoral) in patients with psoriasis vulgaris.

A study of therapeutic drug monitoring indicated that cyclosporin administered before meals produces higher blood concentrations than an equivalent dose administered after meals. Our objective was to compare the efficacy of cyclosporin administered before and after meals, respectively, in psoriasis vulgaris patients. We performed an open trial study. Patients were randomly assigned to receive cyclosporin before (group B, n = 20) or after meals (group A, n = 17), and were followed up in 10 dermatology clinics. The difference between groups was evaluated in severity. The percent reduction in psoriasis area and severity index score from baseline was 29.8% in group A and 75.4% in group B (A vs B, P = 0.00005). Two patients in each group withdrew due to abnormality of laboratory data. Short-term, low-dose treatment with cyclosporin before rather than after meals is suggested as a new effective treatment regimen for psoriasis, with the added advantage of lowering costs.