A phase 3, multicenter, open‐label, 52‐week study investigated the efficacy and safety of adalimumab 80 mg at week 0 followed by adalimumab 40 mg every other week (option to escalate to 80 mg when necessary) in Japanese patients with generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP). Adults (aged 15–75 years) with GPP, total skin score (overall erythema area, erythema area with pustules, and edema area) of 3 or more, and erythema with pustules (skin score, ≥1) based on the 2014 Japanese Dermatological Association severity index of GPP were enrolled. The primary efficacy end‐point was clinical response at week 16 (non‐responder imputation), defined as achieving remission (total skin score, 0) or improvement from baseline (reduction of ≥1 point from a baseline total skin score of 3 or ≥2 points from a baseline total skin score of ≥4). Of 10 enrolled patients (mean disease duration, 10.6 years), seven patients, including three with the dose escalated to 80 mg every other week before week 15, achieved clinical response at week 16, and five achieved clinical response at week 52. Mean change from baseline total GPP score was −4.6 at week 16 ( n = 8) and −6.0 at week 52 ( n = 5); change in total skin score was −3.1 ( n = 8) and −4.2 ( n = 5), respectively. Nine patients experienced one or more adverse events and three experienced serious adverse events. The most common adverse events were nasopharyngitis, pruritus and hypoalbuminemia. In conclusion, adalimumab was effective and well tolerated for up to 52 weeks in the treatment of Japanese patients with GPP.

Clock genes that pleiotropically control circadian rhythm and the time of mating may cause allochronic reproductive isolation in the melon fly Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae). Flies with a shorter circadian period (ca. 22 h of locomotor activity rhythm) mated 5 h earlier in the day than those with a longer circadian period (ca. 30 h). Mate-choice tests demonstrated significant pre-mating isolation between populations with short and long circadian periods. Pre-mating isolation did not occur when the mating time was synchronized between the two populations by photoperiodic controls, indicating that reproductive isolation is due to variations in the time of mating and not any unidentified ethological difference between the two populations. We cloned the period (per) gene of B. cucurbitae that is homologous to the per gene in Drosophila. The relative level of per mRNA in the melon fly exhibited a robust daily fluctuation under light : dark conditions. The fluctuation of per expression under dark : dark conditions is closely correlated to the locomotor rhythm in B. cucurbitae. These results suggest that clock genes can cause reproductive isolation via the pleiotropic effect as a change of mating time.

Differences in mating time between populations can give rise to premating reproductive isolation. Tephritid fruit flies exhibit large variation in mating time among intra-or inter-specific populations. We previously cloned the clock gene period from two strains of melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae; in one the individuals mate early during the day, whereas in the other the individuals mate later. These strains were originally established by divergent artificial selection for developmental time, 'short' and 'long', with early and late mating times, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequences of PERI-OD proteins for these two strains were reported to be identical. Here we cloned another clock gene cryptochrome (cry) from the two strains, and found two stable amino acid substitutions in the strains. In addition, the allele frequency at the two polymorphic sites of cry gene correlated with the circadian locomotor period (t) across strains, whereas the expression pattern of cry mRNA in the heads of flies taken from the short strain significantly differed from that from the long strain. These findings suggest that variation in the cry gene is related to differences in the circadian behaviour in the two strains, thus implying that the cry gene may have an important role in reproductive isolation.

SUMMARYBackground subtraction is widely used as an effective method for detecting moving objects in a video image. However, background subtraction requires a prerequisite in that image variation cannot be observed, and the range of application is limited. Proposed in this research paper is a method for detecting moving objects by using background subtraction that can be applied to cases in which the image has varied due to varying illumination. This method is based on two object detection methods that are based on different lines of thinking. One method compares the background image and the observed image using invariant features of illumination. The other method estimates the illumination conditions of the observed image and normalizes the brightness before carrying out background subtraction. These two methods are complementary, and highly precise detection results can be obtained by ultimately integrating the detection results of both methods.

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic skin disease characterized by recurrent painful inflamed nodules/abscesses and draining fistulas that negatively impact quality of life. Adalimumab, a monoclonal antibody against tumor necrosis factor‐α, has been approved in the EU, USA and Japan for the treatment of moderate to severe HS. This is an interim analysis of an ongoing phase 3, multicenter, open‐label, single‐arm study of the safety and efficacy of adalimumab weekly dosing in Japanese patients with moderate to severe HS. Fifteen patients received adalimumab 160 mg at week 0, 80 mg at week 2 and 40 mg every week thereafter starting at week 4. The fulfillment of Hidradenitis Suppurativa Clinical Response was assessed under adalimumab treatment; clinical response was assessed by skin pain, total abscess and inflammatory nodule count and modified Sartorius score; and quality of life and safety were assessed. At week 12, 86.7% of patients achieved clinical response, with improvements at week 12 across the primary and secondary end points generally sustained through week 24. Adalimumab weekly dosing was generally safe and well tolerated with no new safety findings through week 24. These results suggest that adalimumab is effective and well tolerated in Japanese patients with moderate to severe HS.