[Details and Background on the Origins of Modern Female Doctors in the Meiji Era: Research on the Minutes of the Central Board of Health (see text) in Hosokawa Junjiro's (see text) Monographs Goen-Sosho (see text) and Materials of the Bureau of Hygiene (see text)].

This research is based on materials of the Bureau of Hygiene (see text) and the minutes of the Central Board of Health (see text) contained in Hosokawa Junjiro's (see text) monograph Goen Sosho (see text). It showed that the movement toward allowing the qualification of modern female doctors in Japan was going on in various parts of Japan from 1881 or earlier. This history shows the presence of many female doctors in the Edo Period. At an extraordinary meeting of the Central Board of Health, an advisory body of the Bureau of Hygiene, the qualification of female doctors was approved of in 1881. This was based on an article in the yororyo law (see text) about female doctors contained in the ancient laws of Japan. As a result, the Department of the Interior allowed female doctors in June, 1884. At this time, five females took the national examination for medical practitioners. The following year, Ogino Ginko (see text) became the first modern female doctor in Japan. Owing to the yororyou law about female doctors, and the efforts of many other females who wanted to become doctors, the first modern female doctors in Japan came into being.

Increased levels of a particular phosphatidylcholine species in senescent human dermal fibroblasts in vitro.

Plasma membranes are essential components of living cells, and phospholipids are major components of cellular membranes. Here, we used liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry to investigate changes in the membrane phospholipid content that occur in association with aging. Our results indicate that the levels of a particular species of phosphatidylcholine comprised of stearic acid and arachidonic acid increased with age. To determine the reason for the increased levels of this particular phosphatidylcholine, we examined the effect of highly unsaturated fatty acids, such as arachidonic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid, on cellular aging. Applied arachidonic acid was incorporated into phosphatidylcholine molecules, but neither arachidonic acid nor other related unsaturated fatty acids had any effect. We conclude that increased levels of this distinctive phosphatidylcholine are a result of in vitro senescence.