Twenty-two university students with unilateral functional instability of the ankle participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups. Subjects in both groups were trained to stand on the affected limb on an ankle disk. In group 1, two pieces of 1-cm wide nonelastic adhesive tape were applied to the skin around the lateral malleolus from the distal third of the lower leg to the sole of the foot before the training sessions. Subjects in group 2 participated in the training sessions without the application of the adhesive tape. Training was performed for 10 minutes a day, five times per week, for a period of 10 weeks. Subjects were tested for postural sway while standing on the affected limb before, during, and after the training period. In group 1, postural sway values decreased significantly after 4 weeks compared with the pretraining performance, and they were within the normal range after not more than 6 weeks of training. In group 2, the values did not improve significantly compared with the pretraining performance until after 6 weeks of training, and they were not within the normal range until after 8 weeks of training. The findings suggest that the 2-week earlier correction of postural sway in group 1 was due to an increased afferent input from skin receptors that were stimulated by the traction of the adhesive tape.

Using the intra-bone marrow injection (IBMI) technique, we recently identified human cord blood-derived CD34- severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID)-repopulating cells (SRCs) with extensive lymphomyeloid reconstituting ability. In this study, we further investigated the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) characteristics of these cells in terms of proliferative and migratory potentials. The absolute numbers of CD45+ and CD34+ cells generated by 1 CD34- SRC are significantly higher than those generated by 1 CD34+ SRC. It is interesting that CD34- SRCs have significantly higher migratory and proliferative abilities than CD34+ SRCs. Moreover, only 2 CD34- SRCs transplanted to primary recipients consistently showed secondary reconstituting capacity. This finding suggested the more homogenous nature of CD34- SRCs than that of the population of CD34+ SRCs. These results provided further evidence that CD34- SRCs are functionally different from CD34+ SRCs and that they are a distinct class of primitive HSCs.

Abstract

In the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD), water levels at some stations have increased. However, the factors that cause this rise in the VMD have not been identified. We considered four factors that may have contributed to the water level rise: (1) increased runoff from upstream, (2) sea-level rise, (3) land subsidence, and (4) decrease in flood mitigation function because of construction of high dykes. We analysed daily maximum and minimum water levels, and mean daily water levels from 24 monitoring stations from 1987 to 2006. Using daily and annual water level differences, we classified the delta into two groups: one is dominated by flows from upstream, while the other is tide dominated. We then tested the trends of annual maximum and minimum water levels using the Mann-Kendall test, and identified the slope of the trend using the method of Sen. The areas of dyke construction were estimated using the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and Land Surface Water Index (LSWI) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. Results show (1) river inflow has little impact on rising water levels in the VMD, (2) the influence of high dykes on water level rise could not be quantified in this study, and (3) both maximum and minimum water levels significantly increased in the tide-dominated area. Trend of annual minimum water level can be considered as the sum sea-level rise and land subsidence. Therefore, we attribute 6.05 mm year À1 (80%) to land subsidence and 1.42 mm year À1 (20%) to sea level rise, indicating that inundations have been severe in the VMD, caused primarily by land subsidence. Figure 9. Dyke construction areas and trends of annual maximum water level (mm year À1 ). Red areas highlight where high dykes have been constructed 844 Y. FUJIHARA ET AL.

Abstract:The first nationwide nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) for hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-l) of voluntarily donated blood after serological pre-screening and before release of cellular components and plasma for fractionation was implemented by the Japanese Red Cross Blood Transfusion Services. From February 1, 2000 to April 30, 2001, specimens from 6,805,010 units of serologically negative donation were screened in minipools of 50 samples within 24 hr after blood donation by NAT using multiplex HBV/HCV/HIV-l reagent for blood transfusion including short shelf-life platelets. Among them, 112 HBV DNA-positives, 25 HCV RNA positives and 4 HIV-l RNA positives were screened out and we could prevent transfusion of these NAT positive units. Subtypes/genotypes of HBV DNA, adr/C, adw/A, adwlB, adw/C, ayr/C and aywlD were found and adr/C was predominant. A total of 61.6 % of them (69/112) were negative by overnight EIA. Sixth three of HBV NATpositive samples carried virus loads less than 10 4 copies ImL and 92.1 % of them (58/63) were negative by overnight EIA. The virus growth curves of HBV in 6 cases obtained by retrospective and prospective follOW-Up study showed exponential straight lines in the early stage of serological window periods and the log times ofHBV growth (10 fold increase) in serological window period were between 4.6 and 7.6 days. NAT screening with highly sensitive reagents in pool of specimens is useful to exclude blood units with low level of HBV and HBV mutants from blood transfusion.

To determine the effects of recent warming trends on agricultural production in Japan, in 2003 and 2005, surveys of the public institutes of agricultural research in 47 prefectures were conducted. The results suggest that recent warming trends have already significantly affected nearly all types of crops and livestock in Japan. All 47 prefectures reported warming effects on fruit tree cultivation and over 70% of prefectures recognized the effects on rice, vegetable and flower cultivation. Horticultural crops and rice are likely to be more sensitive to global warming than other agricultural crops and livestock. Our survey elucidated many effects of recent warming, such as phenological changes in many crops, increases in fruit coloring disorders and incidences of chalky rice kernels, reductions in yields of wheat, barley, vegetables, flowers, milk and eggs, and alterations in the type of disease and pest.

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