Daito Bunka University

In Japan, measles elimination was declared by WHO in 2013. Outbreaks of rubella were also controlled to elimination. Routine immunization of infants for varicella was begun in October 2014. By contrast, mumps has had outbreaks every 4-5 years.

This study was conducted to elucidate associations between outbreaks in children and antibody titers in adults for measles, rubella, varicella, and mumps.

Participants were university students during 2012-2020. When entering university, they were tested using enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for IgG antibodies for the four diseases. Subsequently, we regressed antibody titer data on pediatric outbreaks with lags of several days to 60 days. The estimation procedures were robust regression for the log of titer, logistic regression for the protection level, and the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Particularly, we excluded effects of outliers who were presumed to have been infected recently prior.

Estimation results demonstrated that an outbreak occurring among children affects immunity in young adults with a several day lag, and particularly within a 60 day lag for rubella, varicella, and mumps. However, no such association with measles was found for measles.

We identified the possibility of natural boosting for rubella, varicella, and mumps, but no natural boosting was found for measles.

Brain development begins with neurogenesis in progenitor zones and ends with expansive, intricately-patterned cellular diversity in the adult brain. We took advantage of bioelectric interactions between DNA and embryonic tissue to perform "stereo-tracking," a developmental targeting strategy that differentially labels cells at different depths within progenitor zones. This 3D labeling was achieved by delivery of plasmids with distinct electrokinetic mobilities in utero. We applied stereo-tracking with light sheet imaging in the cerebellum and identified that Purkinje cells follow embryonically committed developmental trajectories, linking distinct progenitor zone subfields to the mature topography of the cerebellar cortex. We additionally identified an unexpected subcellular structure on the axon initial segment of Purkinje cells that we termed "axon bubbles." These structures were revealed by glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-linked surface labeling and confirmed by electron microscopy. Our findings demonstrate organization of neural progenitor zones in three dimensions, exemplifying the potential of stereo-tracking to uncover new biology within developing systems.

In C. elegans , the mev-1 gene mutation leads to increased mitochondrial dysfunction and embryonic abnormal apoptosis, thereby shortening the lifespan. A mutation in the ced-3 gene encoding an ortholog of mammalian caspases reduces the excessive embryonic apoptosis and recovers the lifespan of the mev-1 mutant. Here, we report the difference between temporary in early development and continuous knockdowns of the ced-3 gene. We found that CED-3 /caspase is essential to the abnormal apoptosis in the mev-1 mutant, not only during development but also during aging. These findings indicate an association of CED-3 /caspase with age-related cellular dysfunction even in somatic cells.