An outbreak of epidemic keratoconjunctivitis occurred at the department of ophthalmology of a hospital in Yokohama, involving 14 inpatients, 12 outpatients, and 2 doctors.Adenovirus type 37 (Ad-37) was isolated from the conjunctival swab in 12 of 18 cases. In neutralization tests, the isolates showed some cross-reaction with adenovirus type 19 (Ad-19).The Ad-37 isolates were indistinguishable from each other and from the prototype Ad-37, but distinct from the prototype Ad-19 in the restriction endonuclease analysis of viral DNA.
Early-warning systems for natural disasters are important tools for disaster risk reduction. In 2005, the Japanese government initiated a new nationwide early-warning system for landslide disasters. The system uses the RBFN method to set the criterion (Critical Line: CL) primarily based on rainfall data recorded as not triggering disasters. Moreover, after large earthquakes, the thresholds (CL) are scaled down by 20-50%, considering the seismic disturbances in the slopes. In this study, we examined the validity of these ratios by analyzing disasters which occurred during the seven months after the Great East Japan Earthquake. As a result, we found that the use of interim CL improved the landslide capture rate by 18.8%, indicating that the interim standard is effective. The required minimum ratio of scaling down the interim CL is 20-30% in areas affected by more than level 5+ earthquakes without changes of landslide capture rates. The required minimum ratios are expected to reduce false predictions.
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