[Examining attitudes toward mutual support in daily life and their associated factors within a community-based integrated care system: Findings of the "Survey to Enrich the Lives of Miyamae Ward Residents"].

Objectives　This study aimed to examine current relationships with neighbors among city dwellers and determine the factors associated with providing and accepting support in daily life.Methods　The "Survey to Enrich the Lives of Miyamae Ward Residents" was conducted with 1,000 people aged ≥30 years residing in Miyamae Ward, Kawasaki City. The survey items included baseline characteristics (e.g., sex, age, and residential status), relationships with neighbors, inclination to share personal information, and inclination to provide/accept support for the instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). To identify the factors associated with providing and accepting support for IADL, logistic regression analyses were performed with the following independent variables: baseline characteristics, neighborly relationships, inclination to share personal information, and inclination to provide support for the IADL.Results　We analyzed 407 respondents with complete responses. Among the different levels of neighborly relationships, 11.8% of the respondents were "cooperative with neighbors in daily life," 33.3% would "only stand and talk," 46.0% would "only exchange greetings," and 9.0% had "no relationships with neighbors." Among those willing to provide support, the highest proportions of responses were for "Calling on/watching over others" (60.1%) and "Helping to throw out garbage" (51.7%). In contrast, less than 30% of respondents were willing to seek support from neighbors and volunteers for these two activities. The factors significantly associated with a willingness to provide support were women and relationships with neighbors at the "stand and talk" level or higher. A disinclination to share personal information was inhibitory to providing support. The factors significantly associated with a willingness to accept support were women and the inclination to provide support according to IADL. Home ownership was inhibitory to accepting support.Conclusion　Fixed residential status and longer residence durations did not necessarily contribute to closer relationships with neighbors in urban areas. Although the respondents generally only exchanged greetings with neighbors, closer relationships are needed to facilitate a willingness to provide support to others. While many respondents were willing to provide simple assistance in daily life, rather fewer would seek help for the same activities. However, the acceptance of support was associated with the inclination to provide support, indicating a correlation between these two attitudes. In order to further encourage mutual support in daily life in urban areas, it is necessary to not only improve the level of relationships with neighbors, but also to implement initiatives that increase opportunities for people to gain experience providing support.

[Outbreaks of tuberculosis in facilities used by an unspecified number of people near a train station - problems regarding tuberculosis in urban areas ].

OBJECTIVES: To report on the mass outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) in an urban area and to discuss current issues regarding the problem of TB in the metropolis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Case studies were mainly carried out. Discussions on the route of infection are based on the results of DNA fingerprinting analysis for M. tuberculosis and on information obtained by epidemiological research. RESULTS: In an approximately 500-meter vicinity around Kawasaki Station in Kawasaki City, nine incidences of people contracting TB were reported during the period of one year and five months starting February 2005. Seven of the nine patients were resistant for streptomycin, and the tubercle bacilli of five patients showed identical patterns based on DNA fingerprinting analysis. These nine patients were relatively young, ranging from 16 years to 55 years in age, and three of the patients were homeless. The area for daily activities for all nine patients is a neighborhood of Kawasaki Station. Based on results from an epidemiologic survey, it is suspected that nine patients had come into contact with each other TB patient in places such as "Net cafes" before they developed TB. DISCUSSION: Based on the epidemiological and bacteriological results, the route of infection related to this series of TB outbreak is considered to be facilities used by an unspecified number of people such as "Net cafes." Such "Net cafes" are open 24 hours a day and are used by an unspecified number of people, who go to such places to Internet or enjoy comic books. Recently, there are many "Net cafes" in the city, and has become to be used as temporary places to sleep, not only by young people but also by socially vulnerable people, such as the homeless. This study suggests that infection can happen easily once someone begins to discharge TB bacilli in such environments, due to young people, who for the most part are not infected with TB bacilli, and high-risk people, who have higher probability of developing the disease, sharing a closed space for a long period of time. Such social environments may also affect the distribution of TB to lean towards urban areas. The TB control program in the metropolis should be planned and carried out giving consideration to social aspects.

Self-activation of serine/threonine kinase AfsK on autophosphorylation at threonine-168.

A Hanks-type protein kinase AfsK autophosphorylates on threonine residue(s) and phosphorylates AfsR, a global regulator for secondary metabolism in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2). Mass spectrometry of a tryptic digest of the autophosphorylated form of AfsK deltaC corresponding to the kinase catalytic domain (Met-1 to Arg-311) of AfsK, together with subsequent site-directed mutagenesis of the candidate amino acids, identified threonine-168 as a single autophosphorylation site. Threonine-168 is located in the activation loop that is known for some Ser/Thr kinases to modulate kinase activity on phosphorylation of one or more threonine residues within the loop. Consistent with this, mutant T168D, in which Thr-168 was replaced by Asp, became a constitutively active kinase; it phosphorylated AfsR to the same extent as AfsK deltaC produced in and purified from Escherichia coli cells during which a considerable population of it had been already phosphorylated intermolecularly. All these findings show that autophosphorylation or intermolecular phosphorylation of threonine-168 in AfsK accounts for the self-activation of its kinase activity.

A single target is sufficient to account for the biological effects of the A-factor receptor protein of Streptomyces griseus.

In the model of the A-factor (2-isocapryloyl-3R-hydroxymethyl-gamma-butyrolactone) regulatory cascade in Streptomyces griseus, A-factor binds ArpA, the A-factor receptor protein, that has bound to the adpA promoter and dissociates it from the DNA, thus inducing the transcription of adpA. AdpA switches on the transcription of a number of genes required for secondary metabolism and morphological differentiation, forming an AdpA regulon. Consistent with this model, arpA null mutants produced streptomycin and a yellow pigment in larger amounts and formed aerial hyphae from an earlier growth stage than the wild-type strain. On the other hand, mutant MK2, expressing a mutant ArpA (Trp119Ala), neither produced secondary metabolites nor formed aerial hyphae, because this A-factor-insensitive mutant ArpA always bound to and repressed the adpA promoter due to the amino acid replacement of Trp-119 with Ala. Introduction of adpA under the control of a foreign promoter into mutant MK2 restored all of the phenotypes that we could observe, which suggests that the only significant target of ArpA is adpA. In contrast to other gamma-butyrolactone regulatory systems, disruption of arpA had no effect on A-factor production, indicating that ArpA does not regulate A-factor biosynthesis. Instead, A-factor production was found to be repressed by AdpA in a two-step regulatory feedback loop.