A Cluster of Hepatitis A Infections Presumed to be Related to Asari Clams and Investigation of the Spread of Viral Contamination from Asari Clams.

In a cluster of hepatitis A infections that occurred in Nagano Prefecture in 2017, hepatitis A virus (HAV) was detected in asari clams (reference food) and the patients' fecal samples. Initially, the asari clams were suspected to be the infection source. However, the exact infection route remained unknown because a patient who had not consumed an asari clam dish also developed the disease. Suspecting a secondary infection originating from the asari clams, we investigated the presence of HAV genomes in water used for washing and soaking the frozen asari clams and detected HAV in the soaking water. These results suggest that soaking water is a risk factor for secondary contamination because of the leakage of HAV accumulated in midgut gland of the asari clam. During the asari clam sand removal process, the water used to clean asari clams spread across a wide area in a concentric fashion, raising concerns that this process may aggravate contamination. In addition to HAV, diarrhea viruses, such as norovirus, have often been detected in bivalves, including asari clams. Thus, handling these foodstuffs requires adequate care.

The interactive effect of exercise intensity and task difficulty on human cognitive processing.

The interactive effect of exercise intensity and task difficulty on human cognitive processing was investigated using the P3 component of an event-related brain potential (ERP). Exercise intensity was established using Borg's rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale, and task difficulty was manipulated using a modified flanker task comprised of incongruent and neutral trials. Twelve participants (22 to 30 y) performed the flanker task during a baseline session, and again after light (RPE: 11), moderate (RPE: 13), and hard (RPE: 15) cycling exercise. Results indicated that the P3 amplitude increases across task conditions following light and moderate cycling, but not during hard cycling, relative to baseline, suggesting that P3 amplitude may change in an inverted U fashion by as a result of acute exercise intensity. Additionally, the expected delay in P3 latency for incongruent relative to neutral trials was observed during the baseline condition. However, following acute exercise these task condition differences diminished across exercise intensities. Moreover, reaction times following all exercise conditions were shorter when compared to the baseline condition. These findings suggest that P3 latency is more sensitive to task difficulty manipulated by a flanker task than behavioral measures, and P3 latency during trials requiring greater executive control processes might be more sensitive to the effects of acute exercise than tasks requiring minimal effort.

Changes in arousal level by differential exercise intensity.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of exercise intensity on arousal level. METHODS: Twelve subjects (22-33 years) performed a S1-S2 reaction time task consisting of warning stimulus (S1) and imperative stimulus (S2) in a control condition, and again after low, medium, and high intensity pedaling exercises. During this task, contingent negative variation (CNV) and spontaneous electroencephalogram before S1 were measured as indicators for arousal level. RESULTS: CNV amplitude after high intensity pedaling exercise was significantly smaller than after medium pedaling exercise. Compared to the control condition, relative power value of alpha waves increased after the high intensity exercise. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that arousal level was reduced after high intensity exercise and reached a state near optimal level after medium intensity exercise. The findings also suggested that changes in CNV amplitude by differences in exercise intensity followed an inverted-U shaped dose response curve. SIGNIFICANCE: The present study supported the view that CNV amplitude and arousal level followed an inverted-U relationship. It is concluded that differences in exercise intensity influenced arousal level.

Resource allocation and somatosensory P300 amplitude during dual task: effects of tracking speed and predictability of tracking direction.

OBJECTIVE: The amount of attentional resources allocated to a task is determined by the intrinsic demands, also denoted as task load or difficulty of the task. Effects of resource allocation on the somatosensory N140 and P300 were investigated in an inter-modal situation using a dual-task methodology. METHODS: Under a dual-task condition, subjects concurrently performed a visuomotor tracking task and a somatosensory oddball task, while they performed just the oddball task under an oddball-only condition. In the tracking task, the subjects tracked the target line, which was presented on an oscilloscope and automatically moved, with the line which represented their own force generated by grip movement with the left hand. Tracking speed (experiment 1) and tracking predictability (experiment 2) were manipulated to vary task difficulty. N140, P300, and reaction time (RT) in the oddball task and tracking accuracy in the tracking task were measured. RESULTS: The P300 and N140 amplitudes were reduced in the dual-task condition compared to those in the oddball-only condition. The fastest tracking speed produced lower tracking accuracy and later RT. However, the tracking speed did not affect the P300 or N140 amplitudes. In contrast, the P300 amplitude was smaller when the change in tracking direction was unpredictable than when it was predictable, without any differences in tracking accuracy or RT, N140. CONCLUSIONS: The differences in behaviors among N140, P300, and RT following manipulation of task difficulty support the multiple-resource hypothesis, which defines functionally separate pools of resources. SIGNIFICANCE: The present study may show that the P300 amplitude reflects modality-unspecific resource at more central level, and that the N140 amplitude involves perceptual resource.

Differential influences of exercise intensity on information processing in the central nervous system.

The influence of exercise intensity on information processing in the central nervous system was investigated using P300 and no-go P300 event-related potentials. Twelve subjects (22-33 years) performed a go/no-go reaction time task in a control condition, and again after high-, medium-, and low-intensity pedaling exercises. Compared to the control condition, P300 amplitude decreased after high-intensity pedaling exercise and increased after medium-intensity pedaling exercise. There was no change after low-intensity pedaling exercise. These results suggested that the amount of attentional resources devoted to a given task decreased after high-intensity exercise and increased after medium-intensity exercise. The findings also suggest that changes in P300 amplitude are an inverted U-shaped behavior of differences in exercise intensity. In addition, no-go P300 amplitude showed the same changes as P300 amplitude at different exercise intensities. This indicates that differences in exercise intensity influenced not only the intensity of processing the requirement for a go response, but also processing of the need for a no-go response. It is concluded that differences in exercise intensity influenced information processing in the CNS.

Somatosensory event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with stopping ongoing movement.

The somatosensory event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with stopping ongoing movement and increasing muscular tension were examined. 14 healthy right-handed volunteers, 10 men and 4 women (21-29 years old, M age +/- SD, 24.1 +/- 2.5 yr.) performed a stop/increase reaction task. They were requested to perform an elbow extension movement with the right arm and to maintain 20% of the maximum voluntary contraction forces (MVC) before the electrical stimuli were delivered to either the left index finger or the left little finger. They executed one of two movements from the sustained contraction state: they had to stop the muscular tension following the left little finger stimulus or increase the muscular tension from 20% to 40% of the maximum voluntary contraction forces following the left index finger stimulus. The reaction time and somatosensory sequence P100-N140-P300 components of event-related potentials were recorded for each electrical stimulus, respectively. The reaction time was longer to the increase reaction condition than to the stop reaction condition. Neither P100 nor N140 components showed significant differences between stop and increase reaction conditions. The P300 to the stop reaction condition was of greater amplitude and latency than those of the increase reaction condition. These results suggest that stopping the ongoing movement processing requires a longer stimulus evaluation time and is more demanding than increasing reaction processing.