Junior high school students' awareness of older adults' daily lives and social resources available for older adults: Focus on S city.

Objective In order to assess the impact of educational content on students, this study investigated junior high school students' awareness of older adults' daily lives and the social resources available for older adults.Methods Participants were 967 second-year students at a public junior high school in S city. A complete enumeration survey was conducted using anonymous self-administered questionnaires. The survey items obtained information about participants' demographic characteristics, their perceptions of older adults' daily life, and their awareness of the social resources for older adults.Results Of the 555 returned questionnaires (57.4%), 490 (50.7%) valid responses were analyzed. A total of 158 participants (32.2%) lived with their grandparents, and 232 participants (47.3%) had some experience living with their grandparents, most of whom still lived independently. Further, 303 participants (61.8%) met their grandparents at least once or twice a week. The mean age of participants' grandparents was 72.2 years. The mean age that the participants regarded a person as "elderly" was 71.3 years. Participants' perceptions of older adults' daily lives included decreased physical ability due to aging, need and desire to stay in touch with family and/or friends, and enjoying hobbies and pleasurable activities. Participants who met their grandparents at least once or twice a week perceived elderly life as more cheerful compared to participants who met their grandparents once or twice a month or less. The participants were familiar with some social resources for older adults such as "administrative disaster-prevention wireless communication system," "transportation service by car," and "visiting nurse." Female participants were aware of significantly more social resources compared to male participants, as were participants who met their grandparents at least once or twice a week compared to those who met their grandparents once or twice a month or less.Conclusion Although participants were aware of the age-related physical changes, they were unaware of the difficulties associated with these changes in the daily lives of older adults. Gender and frequency of contact with grandparents may have contributed to junior high school students' awareness of social resources for older adults.

Development of an absolute quantification method for ribosomal RNA gene copy numbers per eukaryotic single cell by digital PCR.

Recent increase of Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) causes world-wide ecological, economical, and health issues, and more attention is paid to frequent coastal monitoring for the early detection of HAB species to prevent or reduce such impacts. Use of molecular tools in addition to traditional microscopy-based observation has become one of the promising methodologies for coastal monitoring. However, as ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes are commonly targeted in molecular studies, variability in the rRNA gene copy number within and between species must be considered to provide quantitative information in quantitative PCR (qPCR), digital PCR (dPCR), and metabarcoding analyses. Currently, this information is only available for a limited number of species. The present study utilized a dPCR technology to quantify copy numbers of rRNA genes per single cell in 16 phytoplankton species, the majority of which are toxin-producers, using a newly developed universal primer set accompanied by a labeled probe with a fluorophore and a double-quencher. In silico PCR using the newly developed primers allowed the detection of taxa from 8 supergroups, demonstrating universality and broad coverage of the primer set. Chelex buffer was found to be suitable for DNA extraction to obtain DNA fragments with suitable size to avoid underestimation of the copy numbers. The study successfully demonstrated the first comparison of absolute quantification of 18S rRNA copy numbers per cell from 16 phytoplankton species by the dPCR technology.

Health behaviors of foreign mothers in Japan regarding their young children and the factors that affect these behaviors: A qualitative study.

AIM: The number of foreign residents in Japan is increasing and these residents therefore should no longer be disregarded as members of Japanese society. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the health behaviors of foreign mothers in Japan regarding their children and the factors that affected these behaviors. METHODS: A qualitative descriptive research design was used, involving a content analysis. Six focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 24 foreign mothers who were members of childrearing circles. RESULTS: The health behaviors were classified as "Gathering information about child health management," "Preventing obstructions to child health care," "Perceiving the child's health condition," "Deciding to take the child to a healthcare facility," "Selecting adequate healthcare facilities," and "Managing at home when the child is sick." The factors that affected the health behaviors were classified as "Japanese culture and customs," "Child's health condition," "Culture and customs of the mother's native country," "Family," "Mother's health perception," "Healthcare facility and healthcare provider," "Friends," "Mother's health condition," "Internet," "Becoming accustomed to life in Japan," and "Japanese language ability." Gathering information, preventing obstructions to child health care, and perceiving the child's health condition were the most common behaviors. The main factors that affected the health behaviors were the culture and customs of both Japan and the mother's native country and the child's health condition. CONCLUSION: It is recommended that healthcare professionals support foreign mothers to gather adequate and appropriate information regarding health, particularly child health, considering not only the culture and customs of the mother's native country, but also of the host country.

Nutritional intake of Aplanochytrium (Labyrinthulea, Stramenopiles) from living diatoms revealed by culture experiments suggesting the new prey-predator interactions in the grazing food web of the marine ecosystem.

Labyrinthuleans (Labyrinthulea, Stramenopiles) are recognized as decomposers in marine ecosystems but their nutrient sources are not fully understood. We conducted two-membered culture experiments with labyrinthuleans and diatoms to discover where labyrinthuleans obtain their nutrients from. The results showed that Aplanochytrium strains obtained nutrients by consuming living diatoms. Aplanochytrium cells did not release digestive enzymes into the medium, but adhered to diatom cells via the tip of their characteristic ectoplasmic net system to obtain nutrients from them. The chloroplast and cell contents of the diatoms shrank and were absorbed, and then the number of Aplanochytrium cells rapidly increased as multiple aplanospores were released. To estimate the effect of labyrinthulean organisms including Aplanochytrium on marine ecosystem, we explored the dataset generated by the Tara Oceans Project from a wide range of oceanic regions. The average proportion of all labyrinthulean sequences to diatom sequences at each station was about 10%, and labyrinthulids, oblongichytrids, and aplanochytrids were the major constituent genera, accounting for more than 80% of labyrinthuleans. Therefore, these groups are suggested to greatly affect the marine ecosystem. There were positive correlations between aplanochytrids and phototrophs, green algae, and diatoms. At many stations, relatively large proportions of aplanochytrid sequences were detected in the size fraction larger than their cell size. This implied that Aplanochytrium cells increased their particle size by adhering to each other and forming aggregates with diatoms that are captured by larger zooplankton in the environment, thereby bypassing the food web pathway via aplanochytrids to higher predators. The intake of nutrients from diatoms by aplanochytrids represents a newly recognized pathway in the grazing food chain in the marine ecosystem.

Taming chlorophylls by early eukaryotes underpinned algal interactions and the diversification of the eukaryotes on the oxygenated Earth.

Extant eukaryote ecology is primarily sustained by oxygenic photosynthesis, in which chlorophylls play essential roles. The exceptional photosensitivity of chlorophylls allows them to harvest solar energy for photosynthesis, but on the other hand, they also generate cytotoxic reactive oxygen species. A risk of such phototoxicity of the chlorophyll must become particularly prominent upon dynamic cellular interactions that potentially disrupt the mechanisms that are designed to quench photoexcited chlorophylls in the phototrophic cells. Extensive examination of a wide variety of phagotrophic, parasitic, and phototrophic microeukaryotes demonstrates that a catabolic process that converts chlorophylls into nonphotosensitive 132,173-cyclopheophorbide enols (CPEs) is phylogenetically ubiquitous among extant eukaryotes. The accumulation of CPEs is identified in phagotrophic algivores belonging to virtually all major eukaryotic assemblages with the exception of Archaeplastida, in which no algivorous species have been reported. In addition, accumulation of CPEs is revealed to be common among phototrophic microeukaryotes (i.e., microalgae) along with dismantling of their secondary chloroplasts. Thus, we infer that CPE-accumulating chlorophyll catabolism (CACC) primarily evolved among algivorous microeukaryotes to detoxify chlorophylls in an early stage of their evolution. Subsequently, it also underpinned photosynthetic endosymbiosis by securing close interactions with photosynthetic machinery containing abundant chlorophylls, which led to the acquisition of secondary chloroplasts. Our results strongly suggest that CACC, which allowed the consumption of oxygenic primary producers, ultimately permitted the successful radiation of the eukaryotes throughout and after the late Proterozoic global oxygenation.

Pomegranate extract improves a depressive state and bone properties in menopausal syndrome model ovariectomized mice.

Pomegranate is known to contain estrogens (estradiol, estrone, and estriol) and show estrogenic activities in mice. In this study, we investigated whether pomegranate extract is effective on experimental menopausal syndrome in ovariectomized mice. Prolongation of the immobility time in forced swimming test, an index of depression, was measured 14 days after ovariectomy. The bone mineral density (BMD) of the tibia was measured by X-ray absorptiometry and the structure and metabolism of bone were also analyzed by bone histomorphometry. Administration of pomegranate extract (juice and seed extract) for 2 weeks to ovariectomized mice prevented the loss of uterus weight and shortened the immobility time compared with 5% glucose-dosed mice (control). In addition, ovariectomy-induced decrease of BMD was normalized by administration of the pomegranate extract. The bone volume and the trabecular number were significantly increased and the trabecular separation was decreased in the pomegranate-dosed group compared with the control group. Some histological bone formation/resorption parameters were significantly increased by ovariectomy but were normalized by administration of the pomegranate extract. These changes suggest that the pomegranate extract inhibits ovariectomy-stimulated bone turnover. It is thus conceivable that pomegranate is clinically effective on a depressive state and bone loss in menopausal syndrome in women.