The radiation accident at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, which occurred on April 26, 1986, led to large-scale environmental releases of radioactivity. Its consequences-radionuclide contamination of soils, agricultural products, wild mushrooms, and berries-manifest even after decades. One of the regions most affected by the Chornobyl accident was the Zhytomyr region (Polissya). The soils of Ukrainian Polissya (North of Ukraine) have high 137Cs transfer factors, leading to corresponding food contamination, especially of milk and forest products. The current study aimed to calculate and analyze the individual daily dietary intake of 137Cs in a cohort of rural residents based on regular sampling and radioactivity measurement of each family's daily food rations and considering each cohort member's quantitative food consumption indicators over 2 years. Monthly studies of 137Cs activity concentration in foodstuff were performed to cover diet radioactivity peculiarities and estimate their impact on corresponding daily intake for the selected cohort (11 families, 2 to 6 members per family, 34 persons in total) lived in village Narodychi, Zhytomyr oblast (region) during of November 2015 to October 2017. This study included a detailed quantitative recording of the foodstuff consumed diet according to the specially developed questionnaire for each family member for one selected day of each month and laboratory gamma-spectroscopy measurement of 137Cs activity concentration in foodstuff samples covering diet consumed by each family, the same day including three meals. Daily intake of 137Cs was calculated by combining daily family questionnaire data and individual data on 137Cs activity concentration in the respective family on the same day. Individual annual exposure dose estimates were made on corresponding dietary statistical 137Cs intake estimates and age-dependent dose coefficients. Foodstuff 137Cs radioactivity measurements showed that domestic vegetables, fruits, and berries contain one to dozens of Bq/kg. Milk and dairy dishes contain tens to several hundred when ready-made first and second courses of meat, including those adding forest mushrooms, sometimes containing up to several hundred Bq/kg. Calculations show that the daily intake of 137Cs from the diet for different cohort members ranged from 0.1 to 704 Bq. It depends on radioactivity changes during the year in the family food basket and individual preferences in food consumption of corresponding family members, especially of milk and products prepared with milk, and to a greater extent of foodstuff of forest origin: wild berries and mushrooms, and it was higher for males. Statistical data of daily 137Cs intake varies greatly by cohort members and families. Conservative estimates of the cohort's irradiation dose for each year are below 0.33 mSv/year when the corresponding mean is almost twice as high in the second year. It has been shown that the individual's annual effective irradiation dose is determined by the family's food basket and eating habits. Educational work on avoiding certain foods should be essential in preventing high 137Cs intake from food.

On 11 March 2011, Japan experienced a massive earthquake and tsunami that triggered the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident, resulting in the release of large amounts of cesium-134 and -137 into the atmosphere. In addition to the food radioactivity control in the markets throughout the country, radiocesium concentrations in locally grown foods were voluntarily inspected and the results were shown to the residents by the local government to raise their awareness of the internal radiation contamination risk from low knowledge in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture. In this longitudinal study, local food products for in-home consumption were evaluated by seven different food radioactivity measuring devices in Nihonmatsu City from 2011–2017. Radiocesium was detected in local foods in Nihonmatsu City even six years after the FDNPP accident. The highest number of products tested was in 2012, with the number steadily decreasing thereafter. Most foods had contamination levels that were within the provisional regulation limits. As edible wild plants and mushrooms continue to possess high radiocesium concentrations, new trends in radioactivity in foods like seeds were discovered. This study highlights that the increased risk of radiation exposure could possibly be due to declining radiation awareness among citizens and food distributors. We recommend the continuation of food monitoring procedures at various points in the food processing line under the responsibility of the government to raise awareness for the reduction of future risks of internal exposure.

Although antibiotics to inhibit bacterial growth and small compounds to interfere with the productive life cycle of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have successfully been used to control HIV infection, the recent emergence of the drug-resistant bacteria and viruses poses a serious concern for worldwide public health. Despite intensive scrutiny in developing novel antibiotics and drugs to overcome these problems, there is a dilemma such that once novel antibiotics are launched in markets, sooner or later antibiotic-resistant strains emerge. Thus, it is imperative to develop novel methods to avoid this vicious circle. Here, we discuss the possibility of using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived, innate-like T cells to control infection and potential application of these cells for cancer treatment. Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells belong to an emerging family of innate-like T cells that link innate immunity to adaptive immunity. MAIT cells exert effector functions without priming and clonal expansion like innate immune cells, and relay the immune response to adaptive immune cells through production of relevant cytokines. With these characteristics, MAIT cells are implicated in a wide range of human diseases such as autoimmune, infectious, and metabolic diseases, and cancer. Circulating MAIT cells are often depleted by these diseases and often remain depleted even after appropriate remedy because MAIT cells are susceptible to activation-induced cell death and poor at proliferation in vivo, which threatens the integrity of the immune system. Because MAIT cells have a pivotal role in human immunity, supplementation of MAIT cells into immunocompromised patients suffering from severe depletion of these cells may help recapitulate or recover immunocompetence. The generation of MAIT cells from human iPSCs has made it possible to procure MAIT cells lost from disease. Such technology creates new avenues for cell therapy and regenerative medicine for difficult-to-cure infectious diseases and cancer, and contributes to improvement of our welfare.

Introduction On March 11, 2011, Japan experienced its largest recorded earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0. The resulting tsunami caused massive damage to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant reactors, and the surrounding environment was contaminated with radioactive materials. During this period, some residents were exposed to high levels of radiation (up to 5 millisieverts [mSv]), but since then, many residents have been exposed to low levels of radiation (< 1 mSv). This study was conducted to assess the effects of lifestyle and attitude factors on external radiation exposure among Fukushima residents. Methods This community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in Nihonmatsu City of the Fukushima Prefecture from May to July 2014. The population survey targeted 6,884 children between the ages of 0-15 years, and a personal radiation badge and questionnaire were administered to each of the residences. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the impact of lifestyle and attitude factors on external radiation dose. Results The study participants (population size [n] = 4,571) had an additional mean radiation dose of 0.65 mSv/year, which is small as compared to the mean radiation dose 6 months after the disaster (1.5 mSv/year), in 2012 (1.5 mSv/year), and in 2013 (1.0 mSv/year). External radiation doses statistically varied by socio-demographic and lifestyle factors. Participants living in wooden residences (p-value<0.001) and within 100 meters of a forest (p = 0.001) had higher radiation exposure. Conversely, participants with a cautious attitude towards radiation had lower radiation exposure (beta [b] = -0.124, p = 0.003). Conclusion Having a cautious attitude towards radiation and being aware of exposure risks proved to be significant in the reduction of external radiation dose. Therefore, in the event of future radiation disasters, attitudes towards and awareness of radiation should be considered in the reduction of exposure risk and implementation of radiation protection.

Background: In-stent neoatherosclerosis (NA) is a cause of late stent failure. Late stent failure remains a challenging issue after stenting, and its causal mechanism has not been elucidated. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of late stent failure with or without NA by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Methods and results: Among 179 patients who had undergone coronary stent implantation (bare metal stent and drug-eluting stent), 22 patients experienced late stent failure with and without NA identified by OCT. The presence of lipid-laden plaque or calcification inside the stent was defined as NA. The 22 patients were divided into two groups according to OCT images: 13 patients with NA (NA group) and 9 patients without NA (non-NA group). OCT analysis also showed that thrombus was more frequently observed and maximum intimal thickness was significantly larger in the NA than in the non-NA group (35.7 % vs 0.0 % and 1.26 mm vs 0.98 mm, p<0.05, respectively). In terms of characteristics, in-stent restenosis lesions and use of oral anticoagulants occurred at a lower frequency, and the minimal lumen diameter was significantly smaller in the NA group than in the non-NA group (7.7 % vs 44.4 %, 0.0 % vs 66.7 %, and 0.33 mm vs 0.83 mm, p<0.05, respectively). Conclusion: In-stent restenosis and use of anticoagulants may be associated with the mechanism of in-stent neoatherosclerosis.

Thyroid 131I activities were determined for five human subjects from a disaster medical assistance team of Fukui Prefectural Hospital. The team was dispatched to the Tamura City Sports Park, 40 km from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. They were exposed to a radioactive plume on 15 March 2011. In vivo measurements at Fukui Prefectural Hospital were conducted around 17 h after the team left the park. A thyroid counter equipped with a 51-mm-diameter × 51-mm-thick NaI(Tl) detector with a 20-mm-thick lead collimator was used. Mock iodine (133Ba and 137Cs) with a thyroid uptake neck phantom was used for calibration. On 16 March 2011, at 11:30, thyroid activity of a member of the team age 53 y, who was never administered stable iodine, was 268 ± 38 Bq. The remaining four men, aged 49, 35, 34, and 27 y, ingested two stable iodine pills (a total of 100 mg of potassium iodide) approximately 36 h before being exposed to the plume. Their thyroid activity values were 249 ± 86 Bq, 676 ± 107 Bq, 569 ± 96 Bq, and 1,082 ± 119 Bq, respectively. An inverse relationship between age and thyroid activity was observed among those who ingested potassium iodide before exposure, indicating that stable iodine administration may have a protective effect. Thyroid 131I activity was reduced by approximately 70% in the oldest person. This can be explained by the iodine metabolism in the thyroid of younger individuals being significantly faster than that of older individuals.

Thyroid I activities were determined for five human subjects from a disaster medical assistance team of Fukui Prefectural Hospital. The team was dispatched to the Tamura City Sports Park, 40 km from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. They were exposed to a radioactive plume on 15 March 2011. In vivo measurements at Fukui Prefectural Hospital were conducted around 17 h after the team left the park. A thyroid counter equipped with a 51‐mm-diameter 51‐mm-thick NaI(Tl) detector with a 20‐mm‐thick lead collimator was used. Mock iodine (Ba and Cs) with a thyroid uptake neck phantom was used for calibration. On 16 March 2011, at 11:30, thyroid activity of a member of the team age 53 y, who was never administered stable iodine, was 268 ± 38 Bq. The remaining four men, aged 49, 35, 34, and 27 y, ingested two stable iodine pills (a total of 100 mg of potassium iodide) approximately 36 h before being exposed to the plume. Their thyroid activity values were 249 ± 86 Bq, 676 ± 107 Bq, 569 ± 96 Bq, and 1,082 ± 119 Bq, respectively. An inverse relationship between age and thyroid activity was observed among those who ingested potassium iodide before exposure, indicating that stable iodine administration may have a protective effect. Thyroid I activity was reduced by approximately 70% in the oldest person. This can be explained by the iodine metabolism in the thyroid of younger individuals being significantly faster than that of older individuals. Health Phys. 109(6):573–581; 2015

The present study continues our previous research on investigating the biological effects of low-level gamma radiation in rice at the heavily contaminated Iitate village in Fukushima, by extending the experiments to unraveling the leaf proteome. 14-days-old plants of Japonica rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Nipponbare) were subjected to gamma radiation level of upto 4 µSv/h, for 72 h. Following exposure, leaf samples were taken from the around 190 µSv/3 d exposed seedling and total proteins were extracted. The gamma irradiated leaf and control leaf (harvested at the start of the experiment) protein lysates were used in a 2-D differential gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) experiment using CyDye labeling in order to asses which spots were differentially represented, a novelty of the study. 2D-DIGE analysis revealed 91 spots with significantly different expression between samples (60 positive, 31 negative). MALDI-TOF and TOF/TOF mass spectrometry analyses revealed those as comprising of 59 different proteins (50 up-accumulated, 9 down-accumulated). The identified proteins were subdivided into 10 categories, according to their biological function, which indicated that the majority of the differentially expressed proteins consisted of the general (non-energy) metabolism and stress response categories. Proteome-wide data point to some effects of low-level gamma radiation exposure on the metabolism of rice leaves.

Previous reports have suggested that right ventricular apical pacing may lead to cardiac dysfunction. Septal pacing is thought to be superior to apical pacing in the prevention of cardiac dyssynchrony, however, there have been no reports on the contribution of septal pacing to improving clinical outcome.We retrospectively evaluated factors associated with cardiac events in patients with right ventricular pacing.The study population consisted of 256 consecutive patients newly implanted with permanent pacemakers and followed-up for 29 ± 18 months. Cardiac events, consisting of cardiac death or heart failure requiring hospitalization, occurred in 22 patients. Kaplan-Meier curves revealed that patients with a high percentage of ventricular pacing (> 90%, n = 101, group H) had a higher incidence of cardiac events than patients with a low percentage of ventricular pacing (< 10%, n = 83, group L) (P = 0.002). In group H, multivariate analysis showed that age (HR: 1.174, 95%CI: 1.066-1.291, P = 0.001), ejection fraction (EF) (HR: 0.898, 95%CI: 0.836-0.964, P = 0.003), QRS duration during cardiac pacing (HR: 1.059, 95%CI: 1.017-1.103, P = 0.006), and existing basal cardiac diseases (HR: 13.080, 95%CI: 2.463-69.479, P = 0.003) were significant predictors of cardiac events, although pacing site had no significant association with prognosis (P = 0.56).Higher age, lower EF, longer QRS duration during cardiac pacing, and existing basal cardiac diseases are associated with poor prognosis in patients with a high percentage of ventricular pacing.

Background: Recently, coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) findings of positive vessel remodeling (PR) and low-attenuation plaque (LAP) have been reported to be associated with the development of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). The aim of this study was to examine the CTA detected vulnerable plaque characteristics by using intracoronary optical coherence tomography (OCT). Method and Result: A total of 16 patients with 16 lesions underwent PCI by using intracoronary OCT, after coronary CTA examination, were enrolled in this study. The CTA detected vulnerable plaque (CT-VP) was defined as LAP (<30 hounsfield unit (HU)) with PR of at least 110%. The lesions were divided into a CT-VP and a non CT-VP group. The CT-VP was observed in 7 lesions (43.7%) of all 16 lesions. Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) was more frequent in the CT-VP group than in the non CT-VP group (71.4% vs 11.1%, p<0.001). OCT examination revealed that the frequency of lipid-rich plaque (100% vs 33.3%, p<0.001), thin-cap fibroatheroma (TCFA) (71.4% vs 22.2%, p<0.01), plaque rupture (42.8% vs 11.1%, p<0.05), thrombus (57.1% vs 11.1%, p<0.01) and macrophage accumulation (100% vs 44.4%, p<0.01) were significantly higher in the CT-VP compared with the non CT-VP group. Conclusion: Our OCT study revealed that the CT-VP was correlated with OCT detected lipid-rich plaque, TCFA and macrophage accumulation leading plaque rupture and thrombus formation, which might contribute to the development of ACS.

An oceanographic investigation within 1.0km radius of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) was carried out in September 2013, independent of the Government of Japan. Samples of seawater and seafloor sand were collected near the sewage outlets and in front of the harbor at the FDNPP. The level of seawater radioactivity did not show evidence of immediate harm to the health of th e people. However, sedimentation of radionuclides to the seafloor was estimated from the results of seaf loor sand. We found strontium-90 at detectable levels in the sand samples of all three points. As far as th e impact of biological concentration is concerned, it would be essential to monitor the radioactivity of seawater deeper down and seafloor sand rather than that of subsurface. Regulation for both total volume and concentration should be considered.

In the summer of 2012, 1 year after the nuclear accident in March 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, we examined the effects of gamma radiation on rice at a highly contaminated field of Iitate village in Fukushima, Japan. We investigated the morphological and molecular changes on healthy rice seedlings exposed to continuous low-dose gamma radiation up to 4 µSv h(-1), about 80 times higher than natural background level. After exposure to gamma rays, expression profiles of selected genes involved in DNA replication/repair, oxidative stress, photosynthesis, and defense/stress functions were examined by RT-PCR, which revealed their differential expression in leaves in a time-dependent manner over 3 days (6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h). For example, OsPCNA mRNA rapidly increased at 6, 12, and 24 h, suggesting that rice cells responded to radiation stress by activating a gene involved in DNA repair mechanisms. At 72 h, genes related to the phenylpropanoid pathway (OsPAL2) and cell death (OsPR1oa) were strongly induced, indicating activation of defense/stress responses. We next profiled the transcriptome using a customized rice whole-genome 4×44K DNA microarray at early (6h) and late (72 h) time periods. Low-level gamma radiation differentially regulated rice leaf gene expression (induced 4481 and suppressed 3740 at 6 h and induced 2291 and suppressed 1474 genes at 72 h) by at least 2-fold. Using the highly upregulated and downregulated gene list, MapMan bioinformatics tool generated diagrams of early and late pathways operating in cells responding to gamma ray exposure. An inventory of a large number of gamma radiation-responsive genes provides new information on novel regulatory processes in rice.

Mental health consequences of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident in Fukushima in 2011 may be observed in a longer term. In this report, lessons learned from the past disasters in Japan, and the present overview of experiences, mental and psychological distress among the people living in Fukushima are discussed. Development of a scale concerning radiation and mental health, referring to previously developed scale in Chernobyl, would be helpful in determining the degree of the distress as burnout and PTSD-like symptoms triggered by fears around radiation have been already witnessed in our preliminary study. A long-term monitoring and follow-up will be required not only by taking advantage of the scale but also by learning from the attitudes of and interactions with the residents.