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Japan has seen a resurgence of covid-19, and the effective reproduction number has been above 1 for two months. The daily confirmed cases reached nearly 2000 in early August. 1

While the epidemiological impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been relatively moderate in East-Asian countries, the pandemic has significantly impacted on citizens’ lives and livelihoods, and Japan is no exception. In the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan managed unprecedented quarantines and realized the difficulty of controlling COVID-19, finally recording a relatively high number of deaths per million in the Western Pacific region. However, scant research has highlighted the distinctive features of Japan’s reaction and the challenges encountered. To clarify these points and examine Japan’s first response to COVID-19, we performed a content analysis. Minutes of expert meetings were analyzed from multiple viewpoints, including epidemiology, health systems, border control, and health communication. The obscure evolution of the testing strategy, the usefulness of retrospective contact tracing, the rapid scientific risk assessment, a sluggish expansion of health system capacity and response in border control, and misunderstanding between risk communication and crisis communication are made evident by our analysis. Examining previous responses and gathering lessons learned in each country will improve global responses to COVID-19 and strengthen regional health security. Therefore, while investing in public health and ensuring transparency, Japan needs to clarify the previous decision-making process of each countermeasure towards COVID-19.

We succeeded in the design and synthesis of multifunctional chemical probes of the HIF-1alpha inhibitor carboranylphenoxyacetanilide (1) that combine photoaffinity labeling and click reaction to identify the target protein. HSP60 was identified as a primary target protein of 1 using the chemical probes 2 and 3. Furthermore, HSP60 inhibitor 4 suppressed hypoxia-induced HIF activation, indicating that HSP60 affects HIF-1alpha accumulation directly or indirectly.

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Poly-γ-glutamate (PGA) is a chiral polyamide material that possesses a nylon-like backbone, a bionylon polymer. We examined the PGA productivity of Bacillus megaterium and found NaCl-responsive PGA production in the bacterium. In the system of B. megaterium, salt would be significant in controlling the yield, molecular size, and stereochemistry of bionylon.

https://www.who.int/news/item/30-01-2020-statement-on-the-secondmeeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-( 2005)-emergency-committeeregarding-the-outbreak-of-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov) † https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/strategy-to-achieve-global-covid-19vaccination-by-mid-2022 § The strategy brief outlined updated goals, steps, targets, and operational priorities to guide countries, policy makers, civil society, manufacturers, and international organizations in their ongoing efforts through 2022. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/ global-covid-19-vaccination-strategy-in-a-changing-world--july-2022-update ¶ Older adult definitions vary by country, ranging from persons aged ≥45 years to those aged ≥65 years.coverage with a complete COVID-19 vaccination series** for ** Definition of complete primary series might vary among countries and by vaccine product. National authorities have ultimate authority on scheduling decisions within their jurisdictions; however, WHO makes recommendations for COVID-19 vaccine products that have undergone Emergency Use Listing review. Vaccine fact sheets including these definitions according to WHO recommendations can be found at https://extranet.who.int/pqweb/vaccines/ vaccinescovid-19-vaccine-eul-issued.

No abstract