Prevalence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender among Japanese university students: a single institution survey.

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the prevalence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) among Japanese youth, we conducted a survey research that targeted university students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants were first-year students (n=1597) at Ibaraki University, Japan (Phase 1 study) or second- to fourth-year students (n=944) at the university who were randomly preferred in the survey (Phase 2 study). Surveys measured gender identity and sexual orientation, partly using the gender identity scale (GIS). RESULTS: The prevalence of LGBT youth among university students were 2.7%, 0.5%, 5.3%, and 0.8% (Phase 1 study) or 1.4% (Phase 2 study), respectively. The GIS scores of the transgender group were significantly lower than those of the female, male, and LGB groups (p<0.01). DISCUSSION: This is the first to clarify the prevalence of LGBT among youth in Japan. It has been suggested that such individuals in Japan, as in other countries, are at risk for physical and mental health concerns, thereby necessitating social and medical intervention. Further investigation in these areas will be needed.

Japanese university students' views on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals based on previous encounters.

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the acceptability of sexual minorities according to Japanese youth, we conducted a survey targeting university students. METHODS: Participants were second- to fourth-year students (n=945) at Ibaraki University, Japan, who were randomly chosen for the survey to measure their attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. We divided the respondents into two groups: one group who had encounters with LGBT people, and one group with no such experience. Chi-square tests were used to compare responses between the groups. RESULTS: More than 60% of the students considered LGBT people to be acceptable; the group with prior encounters had greater levels of acceptance compared to the group without such encounters. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to clarify the acceptability of sexual minorities among university students in Japan. Our data suggested that having contact with LGBT people in school life may help build an inclusive educational system.

Recognition of, interest in, and understanding of induced pluripotent stem cells and regenerative medicine in Japanese students.

We studied the recognition of, interest in, and understanding of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and regenerative medicine in a total of 2659 junior high school, senior high school, and university students. The number of valid responses received was 2396 (90.1%). We report the following seven observations [1]. More than 80% of students reported recognition of iPS cells, regenerative medicine, and Professor Shinya Yamanaka, and a similar number were interested in and supportive of regenerative medicine [2]. Regenerative medicine was viewed as a medical treatment option. However, females were more cautious regarding use of regenerative medicine as a treatment compared with males [3]. Approximately 90% of students were interested in the latest medical care. Among the new treatment methods, they more frequently selected those that they were more familiar with and perceived less invasive to be ideal [4]. Regarding organ or tissue donation in regenerative medicine, students focused more on the characteristics of the donors [5]. Approximately 90% were supportive of storing their own cells. However, approximately 50% of students supported storing iPS cells for use in regenerative medicine [6]. Most students were anxious regarding the side effects, safety, and treatment costs of regenerative medicine, but supported the need of education regarding regenerative medicine [7]. More than 70% of students thought that education of regenerative medicine was necessary for the public. These findings suggest the importance of social approach, in addition to medical approach such as research and development, to improve QOL in community by developing the public understanding of regenerative medicine through science communication and school education, for the establishment of systems to promote this field.

[Self-cultivation and cultural activities of a rural doctor of the late Edo era: the example of Tsuji Genjun].

This monograph aims to clarify the relation of the self-cultivation of a traditional doctor to his cultural activities in rural society in the late EDO era. The author considered the life history of TSUJI Genjun (a court surgeon of the TSUCHIURA Han- one of the feudal clans under the TOKUGAWA shogunate), especially in regard to his rural cultural activities. While pursuing his sincere medical work, Genjun intently practiced various forms of traditional culture work, for example, tanka poetry, Chinese poetry, southern school Chinese painting, Japanese calligraphy, and tea ceremony. A characteristic of his cultural practices is the fact that he was not only a dilettante but was also self-cultured. Genjun's cultural life and his activities show a typical pattern of rural intellectuals.

Nearest-neighbor configuration in (GaIn)(NAs) probed by x-ray absorption spectroscopy.

Ga(1-x)In(x)N(y)As(1-y) is a promising material system for the fabrication of inexpensive "last-mile" optoelectronic components. However, details of its atomic arrangement and the relationship to observed optical properties is not fully known. Particularly, a blueshift of emission wavelength is observed after annealing. In this work, we use x-ray absorption fine structure to study the chemical environment around N atoms in the material before and after annealing. We find that as-grown molecular beam epitaxy material consists of a nearly random distribution of atoms, while postannealed material shows segregation of In toward N. Ab initio simulations show that this short-range ordering creates a more thermodynamically stable alloy and is responsible for blueshifting the emission.

New human myelodysplastic cell line, TER-3: G-CSF specific downregulation of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV.

We have established a new hematopoietic cell line from a patient with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), which was refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB). This cell line, designated TER-3, depends on several cytokines for long-term survival and growth, and requires interleukin-3 (IL-3) for continuous growth. Cytochemical analysis revealed that TER-3 cells are weakly dianisidine positive and nonspecific esterase positive, but peroxidase negative. The surface marker profile shows that the TER-3 cells are strongly positive for myeloid, lymphoid, and megakaryocytic antigens such as CD15, CD19, and CD61, and negative for some common multilineage antigens such as CD13, CD33, and CD34. Thus, this cell line has a multilineage phenotype, suggesting that the transformation event occurred in multipotent stem cells. Dianisidine- and nonspecific esterase-positive TER-3 cells increase with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) rather than with IL-3. These results suggest that the cell line is useful for understanding the mechanism underlying G-CSF-associated hematopoietic cell differentiation and activation in the patient with MDS.