We now enjoy an affluent, comfortable and efficient lifestyle that human beings have long dreamt of. And yet we feel lurking anxiety about the present and the future. Some youths do not have any definite aim in life or foresight, and some people are alarmed by nature destruction, environmental pollution, erratic climate change, global warming and so on.When it comes to medical care, there are serious shortages of physicians in rural areas and in specific departments such as obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics. The average life expectancy of Japanese has increased, but various forms of disease including cancer and dementia debase the quality of life.Affluent urban life today is supported by the countryside, which undertakes foodproduction and preserves the natural environment. The government should make more efforts to correct disparities between urban and rural areas in population, economics, culture, and medical care.We live now at a crossroads in the 4-billion-year long history of life on the earth. The thread of genes has continued to the pressent. It must be handed down to posterity. Advances in medical technology have contribute greatly to the protection of our life and genes. Indigenous forests have unsophisticatedly fostered our health, physical and mental, soul, and have protected our genes.We humans and other animals alike are consumers in the ecosystems on the earth. Greenplants are the only producers, and bacteria and fungi are decomposers. Green plants, especially multi-layered native forests that enrich green plants, are the very foundation of human existence.Japanese were particularly zealous in protecting and bequeathing native forests in each community, and reforesting after destroying forests to construct paddy fields, roads and villages just as other peoples did in other partsof the world.Native forests in most areas of Japan are laurel forests. Main tree species of laurel forests have evergreen thick watery leaves and deep taproots grabbing thesoil. So, multi-layered native forests have the function of environmental protection including noise insulation, windbreaking, air and water purification, and water retention, as well as the function of disaster mitigation, minimizing damage from storms, earthquakes, fires and tsunamis.Forests absorb CO2 in the air through photosynthesis and fix carbon as an organic compound in the tree body. This helps curb global warming. In the age of deteriorating biodiversity, it is worthy of special mention that there are so many tree species and so many species of birds, insects and small animals in an indigenous forest as well as bacteria and fungi living in the soil. Thus, indigenous forests maintain rich biodiversity, and are the real green environments that protect our life, heart and genes.However, indigenous forests are rapidly vanishing from almost all the areas of the world. Where native forests still remain, they should be preserved. Where native forests are destroyed, they should be restored and regenerated by all possible mean. We conduct phytosociological field surveys to determine main tree species of a given district, nurse their potted seedlings until theroot system fully develops in the containers, and plant them mixed and densely with local citizens. In this ecological plantation survival rate is good, and seedlings grow steadily to form a quasi-natural forest in 10-15 years.Every one of us should plant seedlings for ecological reforestation here and now, especially around hospitals and clinics, and spread the reforestation movement to the whole world to protect our own life, heart and genes.
Forests ; seconds ; protect ; Green color ; medical care

PURPOSE: To evaluate the usefullness of color vision test for early detection of abnormal choroidal circulation of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) METHODS: We investigated the color vision defect in central serous chorioreinopathy at active and resolved phase on both eyes and to identify the relation between fluorescein angiography (FAG), indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) finding and color vision defect. We examined the color vision with the Neitz anomaloscope OT-II, Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue test, Ishihara pseudoisochromatic plate in 72 eyes of typical acute CSCR patients. We also performed ICGA in 13 eyes revealed color vision defect in fellow eye and 13 eyes not revealed color vision defect in fellow eye at resolved phase. RESULTS: Dyschromatopsia was detected in CSCR at active and resolved phase on both eyes. Most of them showed blue-yellow color defect. Location of leaking point was associated with red-green color defect in active affected eyes. Dyschromatopsia of fellow eyes at resolved phase was associated with abnormal choroidal circulation on ICGA finding. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that color vision test, as a non-invasive screening test, might be useful for early detection of abnormal choroidal circulation of CSCR.
Angiography ; Central Serous Chorioretinopathy* ; Choroid ; Color Vision Defects ; Color Vision* ; Fluorescein Angiography ; Humans ; Indocyanine Green ; Mass Screening

OBJECTIVETo establish a highly sensitive and specific dual-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (D-FISH) method used for chromosomal localization of foreign genes in double transgenic mice.

METHODSTwo strains of double transgenic mice were used in this experiment, one was integrated with the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) and the enhanced green fluorescence protein (eGFP), the other was with the short hairpin RNA interference(RNAi) and beta(654). Splenic cells cultured in vitro were arrested in metaphase by colchicine and hybridized with digoxigenin-labeled and biotinylated DNA probes, then detected by rhodamine-conjugated avidin and FITC-conjugated anti-digoxigenin.

RESULTSDual-color fluorescence signals were detected on the same metaphase in both transgenic mice strains. In HSV-tk/eGFP double transgenic mice, strong green fluorescence for HSV-tk and red for eGFP were observed and localized at 2E5-G3 and 8A2-A4 respectively. In beta(654)/RNAi mice, beta(654) was detected as red fluorescence on chromosome 7D3-E2, and RNAi showed random integration on chromosomes. It was detected as green fluorescence on chromosome 12B1 in one mouse, while on 1E2.3-1F and 3A3 in the other.

CONCLUSIONHighly sensitive and specific D-FISH method was established using the self-prepared DNA probes, and chromosomal localization of the foreign genes was also performed in combination with G-banding in double transgenic mice. This technology will facilitate the researches in transgenic animals and gene therapy models.

Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Color ; Green Fluorescent Proteins ; genetics ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; methods ; Mice ; Mice, Transgenic ; Physical Chromosome Mapping ; methods ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Simplexvirus ; enzymology ; Thymidine Kinase ; genetics ; Transgenes

PURPOSE: To report a case of central serous chorioretinopathy with peripapillary retinoschisis. CASE SUMMARY: A 64-year-old male presented with abnormal color vision of the left eye, which occurred 6 months prior to his visit. At the initial visit, a funduscopic examination revealed retinal elevation with suspected serous retinal detachment around the optic disc in the left eye. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography showed subretinal fluid on the nasal side of the optic disc and retinoschisis on the temporal side of the optic disc in the left eye. Fluorescein angiography revealed multiple leakages in the left eye. Indocyanine green angiography revealed choroidal vascular hyperpermeability in both eyes. Based on these results, the patient was diagnosed with chronic central serous chorioretinopathy and was treated with argon laser photocoagulation at the leakage points. After 8 weeks of laser therapy, optical coherence tomography indicated that there was no retinoschisis or subretinal fluid in the macula, nasal, or temporal sides of the optic disc. CONCLUSIONS: Peripapillary retinoschisis due to central serous chorioretinopathy improves with argon laser photocoagulation at leakage sites.
Angiography ; Argon ; Central Serous Chorioretinopathy ; Choroid ; Color Vision ; Fluorescein Angiography ; Humans ; Indocyanine Green ; Laser Therapy ; Light Coagulation ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retinal Detachment ; Retinaldehyde ; Retinoschisis ; Subretinal Fluid ; Tomography, Optical Coherence