How we secured a COVID-19 convalescent plasma procurement scheme in Japan.

BACKGROUND: In order to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, a COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) procurement program was initiated in Japan in April 2020. The program was a collaboration between a government-managed national hospital, an infectious disease research institute, and a blood banking organization. Each party assumed different responsibilities: recruitment, SARS-CoV-2 antibody profiling, and plasmapheresis; conduction of screening tests; and SARS-CoV-2 blood testing, respectively. METHODS: We adopted a two-point screening approach before the collected CCP was labeled as a CCP product for investigational use, for which we mainly tested anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody eligibility and blood product eligibility. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein titer was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the IC50 value was denoted as the neutralizing activity. Blood donor eligibility was extended beyond the normal blood donation guidelines to include a broader range of participants. After both eligibility criteria were confirmed, participants were asked to revisit the hospital for blood donation, which is a unique aspect of the Japanese CCP program, as most donations are taking place in normal blood donation venues in other countries. Some donors were re-scheduled for repeat plasma donations. As public interest in anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies increased, test results were given to the participants. RESULTS: As of September 17, 2020, our collection of CCP products was sufficient to treat more than 100 patients. As a result, projects for administration and distribution are also being conducted. CONCLUSIONS: We successfully implemented a CCP procurement scheme with the goal to expand to other parts of the country to improve treatment options for COVID-19.

Inactivation of antibiotic resistant bacteria and their resistance genes in sewage by applying pulsed electric fields.

We evaluated the suitability of pulsed electric field (PEF) technology as a new disinfection option in the sewage treatment plants (STPs) that can inactivate antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). It was shown that PEF applied disinfection could inactivate not only vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), but also vanA resistance gene. Cultivable VRE could be effectively inactivated by PEF applied disinfection, and were reduced to below the detection limit (log reduction value of VRE > 5 log). Although the vanA also showed a reduction of more than 4 log, it remained in the order of 105 copies/mL, suggesting that ARGs are more difficult to be inactivated than ARB in PEF applied disinfection. Among parameters in each applying condition verified in this study, the initial voltage was found to be the most important for inactivation of ARB and ARGs. Furthermore, frequency was a parameter that affects the increase or decrease of the duration time, and it was suggested that the treatment time could be shortened by increasing the frequency. Our results strongly suggested that PEF applied disinfection may be a new disinfection technology option for STPs that contributes to the control of ARB and ARGs contamination in the aquatic environments.

An early-flowering einkorn wheat mutant with deletions of PHYTOCLOCK 1/LUX ARRHYTHMO and VERNALIZATION 2 exhibits a high level of VERNALIZATION 1 expression induced by vernalization.

Using heavy-ion beam mutagenesis of Triticum monococcum strain KU104-1, we identified a mutant that shows extra early-flowering; it was named extra early-flowering 3 (exe3). Here, we carried out expression analyses of clock-related genes, clock downstream genes and photoperiod pathway genes, and found that the clock component gene PHYTOCLOCK 1/LUX ARRHYTHMO (PCL1/LUX) was not expressed in exe3 mutant plants. A PCR analysis of DNA markers indicated that the exe3 mutant had a deletion of wheat PCL1/LUX (WPCL1), and that the WPCL1 deletion was correlated with the mutant phenotype in the segregation line. We confirmed that the original strain KU104-1 carried a mutation that produced a null allele of a flowering repressor gene VERNALIZATION 2 (VRN2). As a result, the exe3 mutant has both WPCL1 and VRN2 loss-of-function mutations. Analysis of plant development in a growth chamber showed that vernalization treatment accelerated flowering time in the exe3 mutant under short day (SD) as well as long day (LD) conditions, and the early-flowering phenotype was correlated with the earlier up-regulation of VRN1. The deletion of WPCL1 affects the SD-specific expression patterns of some clock-related genes, clock downstream genes and photoperiod pathway genes, suggesting that the exe3 mutant causes a disordered SD response. The present study indicates that VRN1 expression is associated with the biological clock and the VRN1 up-regulation is not influenced by the presence or absence of VRN2.

A Survey of Introductory Statistics Courses at University Faculties of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Japan.

A survey of introductory statistics courses at Japanese medical schools was published as a report in 2014. To obtain a complete understanding of the way in which statistics is taught at the university level in Japan, it is important to extend this survey to related fields, including pharmacy, dentistry, and nursing. The current study investigates the introductory statistics courses offered by faculties of pharmaceutical sciences (six-year programs) at Japanese universities, comparing the features of these courses with those studied in the survey of medical schools. We collected relevant data from the online syllabi of statistics courses published on the websites of 71 universities. The survey items included basic course information (for example, the course names, the targeted student grades, the number of credits, and course classification), textbooks, handouts, the doctoral subject and employment status of each lecturer, and course contents. The period surveyed was July-September 2015. We found that these 71 universities offered a total of 128 statistics courses. There were 67 course names, the most common of which was "biostatistics (iryou toukeigaku)." About half of the courses were designed for first- or second-year students. Students earned fewer than two credits. There were 62 different types of textbooks. The lecturers held doctoral degrees in 18 different subjects, the most common being a doctorate in pharmacy or science. Some course content differed, reflecting the lecturers' academic specialties. The content of introductory statistics courses taught in pharmaceutical science programs also differed slightly from the equivalent content taught in medical schools.