Tuberculosis (TB) in immigrants is becoming a challenge in eliminating TB in Japan. We investigated the epidemiology of TB in foreign students in Japan in 2015–2019. A total of 2007 foreign students with TB whose median age was 22.5 years (1243 (61.9%) were males) were registered. The notification rates peaked in 2016 at 164.0 per 100 000 population and decreased towards 2019. Of the 2007, 535 were from Vietnam, 444 from China and 395 from Nepal. The notification rates were 596.6 per 100 000 person-years (PYs) for Myanmar, 595.4 for the Philippines and 438.6 for Cambodia. The rates were much higher than those of the general populations in their countries of origin for Myanmar, the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, Mongolia, Vietnam and China. In comparison with the years 2010–2014, the notification rates for foreign students decreased for the students from Nepal, Vietnam and China. The TB notification rate of the foreign students in Japan can be a good surrogate indicator for the risk of TB among the immigrant subpopulation in Japan and should continuously be monitored. Those who are at higher risk of TB may be annually screened for TB to prevent TB outbreaks.

Since 1993, reports on tuberculosis (TB) outbreaks have been collected in Japan; however, there has never been an overall analysis of these TB outbreaks. We aim to provide one here. The TB outbreak data were obtained from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and are described in terms of time, place and transmission site. The average number of TB cases and latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) were compared by the transmission site. Some 605 TB outbreaks with 3491 TB cases were reported in 1993–2015 with an increasing trend (r = 0.45), during which time 728 777 TB cases were reported nationwide. On an average, TB outbreaks occurred more often in April to May (5.5 outbreaks per 2 months) than in December to January (3.4). The most common transmission sites were workplaces (n = 255), followed by health facilities (n = 144), schools (n = 60) and welfare facilities (n = 48). Psychiatric hospitals and nursing homes had the highest average number of TB cases per outbreak (8.5 each), whereas schools and prisons had the highest numbers of LTBI cases (29.1 and 38.9, respectively). Countries, particularly those that have resources to investigate TB outbreaks, should collect and analyse findings of TB outbreaks, as it informs surveillance systems and eventually strengthens general health systems.

In January 2012, an inpatient in a ward of a psychiatric hospital with nearly 300 beds in Kanagawa, Japan, was diagnosed with sputum smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). Here we characterise the TB outbreak cases and identify the population at risk. TB was diagnosed when a person tested bacteriologically positive for TB or was determined to have TB by a physician. A latent TB infection (LTBI) case was defined as a person tested positive by interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA). A total of 125 contacts were screened via IGRA and chest X-ray. In all, 15 TB and 15 LTBI cases were found by the end of October 2012, and thereafter no additional TB case was found. Of the 15 TB cases, eight were culture-positive and all the isolates had identical variable number tandem repeat patterns. Twenty-four of the 56 (42.9%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 29.7–56.8) inpatients in the ward had either TB or LTBI with a relative risk of 8.6 (95% CI 1.2–59.3), compared to the staff members who did not work full-time in the ward (one of 20 (5.0%, 95% CI 0.0–24.9)). We recommend that psychiatric hospitals conduct periodic screening of staff members and inpatients for TB to prevent nosocomial TB outbreaks.

We present ALMA detection of the [O iii] 88 μm line and 850 μm dust continuum emission in a Y-dropout Lyman break galaxy, MACS0416_Y1. The [O iii] detection confirms the object with a spectroscopic redshift to be z = 8.3118±0.0003. The 850 μm continuum intensity (0.14 mJy) implies a large dust mass on the order of 4×106M⊙. The ultraviolet-to-far infrared spectral energy distribution modeling, where the [O iii] emissivity model is incorporated, suggests the presence of a young (τage ≍ 4 Myr), star-forming (SFR ≍ 60M⊙yr−1), and moderately metal-polluted (Z ≍ 0.2Z⊙) stellar component with a stellar mass of 3 × 108M⊙. An analytic dust mass evolution model with a single episode of star formation does not reproduce the metallicity and dust mass in ≍ 4 Myr, suggesting an underlying evolved stellar component as the origin of the dust mass.

In November 2016, a woman in her 30s who stayed at an insecure, temporary housing facility, a manga café in Tokyo, Japan, for a year was diagnosed with sputum smear-positive tuberculosis (TB). Since the café had 31 staff members and provided with accommodation to many people, the local health office initiated a contact investigation. This study aims to characterise the cases found in the outbreak. A TB case was defined as a person tested bacteriologically positive for TB, or was determined to have TB by a physician. A latent TB infection case was defined as a person tested positive by interferon-γ release assay. From January 2016 through November 2017, there were 31 staff members at the manga café, of which, six developed TB disease (one smear-negative, culture-positive and five smear- and culture-negative) in addition to seven LTBI. Another long-term customer was found having sputum smear-positive TB. Variable numbers tandem repeat (VNTR) test revealed that the index patient and the long-term customer had the identical type of VNTR; however, one staff member had a different VNTR. Local health authorities should intensify screening long-term customers of such facilities for TB regularly as well as once a TB outbreak occurs.

There exists an urgent need to develop iterative risk assessment strategies of zoonotic diseases. The aim of this study is to develop a method of prioritizing 98 zoonoses derived from animal pathogens in Japan and to involve four major groups of stakeholders: researchers, physicians, public health officials, and citizens. We used a combination of risk profiling and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Profiling risk was accomplished with semi-quantitative analysis of existing public health data. AHP data collection was performed by administering questionnaires to the four stakeholder groups. Results showed that researchers and public health officials focused on case fatality as the chief important factor, while physicians and citizens placed more weight on diagnosis and prevention, respectively. Most of the six top-ranked diseases were similar among all stakeholders. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and Ebola fever were ranked first, second, and third, respectively.

We report the formation and optical properties of site-controlled InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded in GaAs nanowires (NWs) by selective metalorganic chemical vapor deposition for application to single photon sources. InAs/GaAs QD-in-NWs with various InAs thicknesses are realized on patterned GaAs(111)B substrates in the form of InAs/GaAs heterostructures and identified by structural analyses using scanning transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence characterization. Sharp excitonic emission peaks at 10 K from single QD-in-NWs with the narrowest exciton linewidth of 87 μeV are observed. Light emission from the single QD-in-NW shows photon antibunching which evidences single photon emission from high-quality QD-in-NWs.

To quantitatively evaluate OBT production after a nighttime wet deposition of atmospheric HTO onto land surface, numerical experiments using a sophisticated tritium transport model (SOLVEG-II) were conducted. For a nighttime rain actually observed at a grassland site, two hypothetical scenarios for wet deposition of HTO were made; 0.1-folded and 10-folded case, each having rain HTO concentration at 0.1 folds and 10 folds of equilibrium concentration of ground-level air HTO concentration. Calculation results showed atmospheric HTO concentration after the rain at 10-folded case was more than an order of magnitude larger than that at 0.1-folded case, affected by interception and evaporation of rain HTO with leaves, and, by a larger HTO re-emission from soil. After the rain, due to these heightened atmospheric HTO, TFWT concentration in leaf cellular water at 10-folded case kept an order, or more, larger than that at 0.1-folded case. As a result, OBT produced in leaves over nine-day after the rain at 10-folded case was 18 times larger than that at 0.1-folded case. We therefore concluded that nighttime wet deposition of HTO pronouncedly increases OBT formation if rain HTO concentration exceeds equilibrium concentration for the air HTO near the ground.

The eastern English Channel, the narrow channel of water separating northern France and southeast England is an area of intense human use of the array of resources concentrated into its relative small area. The vulnerability of living resources and their habitats brought together French and British maritime experts within a common project (called CHARM): to create an atlas of marine resource habitats in the eastern English Channel so as to provide planners and decision-makers with the necessary information to help managing the use of its living and non-living resources. This multidisciplinary and richly illustrated atlas provides abundant information on the legal framework and physical environment; benthic invertebrates, fish and their habitats; fishing activities; and a first attempt at developing a trophic network model (using ECOPATH software) and a marine conservation planning exercise (using MARXAN software, at a spatial resolution of 25 km$^{2})$. Although most of the data used were collected elsewhere, some were collected especially for the project. Similarly, most of the analyses performed on the data where entirely original for this geographical area. The CHARM atlas has significantly improved the knowledge about the eastern Channel while contributing to the recognition that such holistic or multidisciplinary approaches to exploited marine systems are necessary to efficiently and durably manage their resources use.

The genetic variation of Armillaria mellea sensu stricto was studied within and among non-heterothallic populations from Japan and Africa, and heterothallic populations from Europe and North America, using somatic incompatibility tests and RAPD analysis. Non-heterothallic isolates from Japan and Africa were divided into four somatic compatibility (SI) groups (A, B, C and D). SI group A contained half of all Japanese isolates and all African isolates. SI groups B and C each contained four Japanese isolates and D contained one isolate. All European and North American isolates were clearly separated from each other by somatic incompatibility tests. From the RAPD analysis, three distinct groups were separated (non-heterothallic, European and North American groups). The non-heterothallic group was divided into three subgroups (Ia, Ib and Ic). Subgroup Ia and Ib corresponded to SI groups A and B, however, Ic contained SI groups C and D. Subgroup Ia, in which 12 of 14 isolates had the same haplotype, showed a little variation. Non-heterothallic populations were less variable than heterothallic populations. The distribution of the isolates belonging to each SI group overlapped within Japan.

A comparative study was conducted on the ontogenetic variation in morphometry of a total of 29 shell-bearing molluscan species occurring on an intertidal stony shore in south-western Japan. The relationships between shell size and total weight and between shell size and flesh weight were all highly significant on logarithmic scales with the slopes having values of about three. The arcsine-transformed proportion of shell weight out of total weight varied among and within different morphological/taxonomic groups, ranging from 58.6% in Acanthochiton defilippi to 76.4% in Nerita albicilla. The allometry of shell weight was analysed by regressing the arcsine transformed values of the proportion of shell weight against total weight in each species. The slope (β) of the regression varied substantially among different taxa, with all three possible cases, i.e. β > 0, β [ape ] 0 and β < 0, being observed. Thus, depending on molluscan species, the proportion of shell mass either (1) increases, (2) does not change, or (3) decreases with increasing body mass. Variation in the value of β was to some extent explained by the proportion of shell mass of young individuals of each species; species with relatively high proportions of shell mass in small individuals tended to have low β. Interspecifically, it was shown that shell mass scaled in proportion to body mass for this assemblage of 29 species. Consideration was given to the theoretical background of variation in shell morphometry, with particular reference to the shell as a defence structure.

The effect of hydrofluoric acid (HF) concentration in conventional LiPF6/EC+DEC electrolyte on the properties of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) films formed on synthetic graphite electrode and the electrochemical performance were studied using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), elemental analysis and electrochemical measurement. The morphology and composition of SEI are affected by a small amount of HF in the electrolyte. Higher F content in the SEI was observed when high HF electrolyte were used, although the irreversible capacities used for formation of SEI were nearly the same value. The cycleability of the synthetic graphite electrode was greatly improved when surface film contains larger amount of LiF.