Biology subjects

Fujii, T.

Publications and source records attributed to Fujii, T..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2018

A survey of public attitudes towards third-party reproduction in Japan in 2014

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine public attitudes towards third-party reproduction and the disclosure of conception through third-party reproduction.\n\nMethods: We conducted the web-based survey for the public attitude towards third-party reproduction in February 2014. Twenty-five hundred people were recruited with equal segregation of age (20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s) and gender. We analyzed the association between gender, age, infertility, and ethical view using a questionnaire regarding donor sperm, donor oocyte, donor embryo, gestational surrogacy, and disclosure to offspring.\n\nResults: Of the respondents, 36.2% approved and 26.6% disapproved with gamete or embryo donation. The frequency of those who approved was the lowest in females in the 50-59 years age group, and was significantly higher in males or females with infertility. Secondly, 40.9% approved and 21.8% disapproved with gestational surrogacy. The frequency of those who approved gestational surrogacy was higher in males or females with infertility. Thirdly, 46.3% of respondents agreed and 20.4% disagreed with \"offspring have the right to know their origin\". Those who disagreed were primarily in the 50-59 age group of both genders, and disagreement was significantly higher in the infertility group compared with non-infertility group.\n\nConclusion: In this study, public attitudes were affected by gender, age, and experience of infertility. These study findings are important in understanding the attitude towards third-party reproduction and disclosure to the offspring. Respondents having indecisive attitudes were >30%, which might indicate an increased requirement for information and education to enhance the discussion on the ethical consensus on third-party reproduction in Japan.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2018

Characterization of genomic DNA of lactic acid bacteria for activation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells .

Lactococcus lactis strain Plasma (LC-Plasma) possesses strong activity of stimulating plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) via the TLR9-Myd88 pathway. To reveal the effective genome structure for pDCs stimulatory activity, we performed an in vitro screening, using randomly selected DNA fragments from the LC-Plasma genome. The results showed that CpG motifs are necessary factor for active DNA fragment, but the copy number of CpG motifs did not show strong correlation to the pDCs stimulatory activity of DNA fragment. We also found that the G+C contents of DNA fragments have significant negative effects on pDCs stimulatory activity. We also performed bioinformatics analysis of genome of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and investigated the relation between CpG copy number in the genome and pDCs stimulatory activity. We found that strains of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with high copy number of CpG motifs in the low-G+C region of the genome had higher probability of having high pDCs stimulatory activity. Three species, L.lactis subsp. lactis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, and Pediococcus pentosaceus were the typical examples of high pDCs stimulatory activity LAB.\n\nImportanceThis study provides a new perspective on the structure of DNA fragments that are able to activate pDCs via the TLR9-Myd88 pathway. The information from this study should be useful for designing new DNA fragments, including phosphodiesterbond-DNA oligomers containing CpG motifs and DNA-containing vaccines. This work also presented an in silico screening method for identifying bacterial species that are able to activate pDCs. Therefore, this study should be useful for providing data for the development of vaccine adjuvants and therapeutics for infectious and allergic diseases.

microbiology↗