The impact of weight change, physical activity, and sedentary behavior on endometrial cancer risk among the Asian population is uncertain. We investigated the association of those factors with endometrial cancer risk among Japanese women with a low body mass index level. We performed a large-scale nationwide cohort study consisting of 33,801 female participants aged 40-79 years. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of incident endometrial cancer. The mean body mass index of participants was 22.8 kg/m . During a median follow-up of 14.8 years, 79 participants developed endometrial cancer. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, body mass index over 23.0 kg/m was linearly associated with the risk of endometrial cancer. The HR (95%CI) per 5 kg/m increase was 1.80(1.28-2.54). Weight increment ≥+5 kg since age 20 was associated with an increased risk of endometrial cancer compared to a weight change of -5 to <+5 kg (the multivariable HR (95% CI) was 1.96(1.12-3.40)). WM-1119 price Compared with females who were mainly sitting at the worksite, those who were mainly standing and moving were at lower risk; the multivariable HRs (95% CIs) were 0.79(0.39-1.59) and 0.46(0.22-0.97), respectively, p for trend= 0.042. Hours of physical exercise, daily walking, and TV viewing were not associated with endometrial cancer risk. Overweight and weight gain were positively associated with the risk of endometrial cancer, while worksite physical activity was inversely associated with the risk.Overweight and weight gain were positively associated with the risk of endometrial cancer, while worksite physical activity was inversely associated with the risk. Active engagement in intellectually enriching activities reportedly lowers the risk of cognitive decline; however, few studies have examined this association, including engagement in traditional cultural activities. This study aimed to elucidate the types of cultural engagement associated with lower risk of cognitive impairment. We examined the association between cultural engagement and cognitive impairment using Cox proportional hazards models in a cohort of 44,985 participants (20,772 males and 24,213 females) aged 65 years or older of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study from 2010 to 2016. Intellectual activities (e.g., reading books, magazines, and/or newspapers), creative activities (e.g., crafts and painting), and traditional cultural activities (e.g., poetry composition [haiku], calligraphy, and tea ceremony/flower arrangement) were included among cultural engagement activities. Over a follow-up period of six years, incident cognitive disability was observed in 4,198 respondents (9.3%). After adjusting for potential confounders such as depression and social support, intellectual activities were protectively associated with the risk of cognitive impairment (hazard ratio, HR for those who read and stated that reading was their hobby 0.75 [95% confidence interval, CI 0.66-0.85] and those who read but did not consider reading a hobby 0.72 [95% CI, 0.65-0.80]). Engagement in creative activities was also significantly correlated with lower risk of cognitive impairment (crafts 0.71 [95% CI, 0.62-0.81] and painting 0.80 [95% CI, 0.66-0.96]). The association between traditional cultural activities and the risk of cognitive impairment was not statistically significant. Engagement in intellectual and creative activities may be associated with reduced risk of dementia.Engagement in intellectual and creative activities may be associated with reduced risk of dementia.A novel anaerobic heterotrophic strain, designated strain sy52T, was isolated from a hydrothermal chimney at Suiyo Seamount in the Pacific Ocean. A 16S rRNA gene analysis revealed that the strain belonged to the family Petrotogaceae in the phylum Thermotogae. The strain was mesophilic with optimum growth at 48°C and the phylum primarily comprised hyperthermophiles and thermophiles. Strain sy52T possessed unique genomic characteristics, such as an extremely low G+C content and 6 copies of rRNA operons. Genomic analyses of strain sy52T revealed that amino acid usage in the predicted proteins resulted from adjustments to mesophilic environments. Genomic features also indicated independent adaptions to the mesophilic environment of strain sy52T and Mesotoga species, which belong to the mesophilic lineage in the phylum Thermotogae. Based on phenotypic and phylogenetic evidence, strain sy52T is considered to represent a novel genus and species in the family Petrotogaceae with the proposed name Tepiditoga spiralis gen. nov., sp. nov.We focused on the use of abiotic MnO2 to develop reactors for enriching manganese-oxidizing bacteria (MnOB), which may then be used to treat harmful heavy metal-containing wastewater and in the recovery of useful minor metals. Downflow hanging sponge (DHS) reactors were used under aerobic and open conditions to investigate the potential for MnOB enrichment. The results of an experiment that required a continuous supply of organic feed solution containing Mn(II) demonstrated that MnOB enrichment and Mn(II) removal were unsuccessful in the DHS reactor when plain sponge cubes were used. However, MnOB enrichment was successful within a very short operational period when sponge cubes initially containing abiotic MnO2 were installed. The results of a microbial community analysis and MnOB isolation revealed that MnOB belonging to Comamonadaceae or Pseudomonas played a major role in Mn(II) oxidation. Successful MnOB enrichment was attributed to several unidentified species of Chitinophagaceae and Gemmataceae, which were estimated to be intolerant of MnO2, being unable to grow on sponge cubes containing MnO2. The present results show that MnO2 exerted anti-bacterial effects and inhibited the growth of certain non-MnOB groups that were intolerant of MnO2, thereby enabling enriched MnOB to competitively consume more substrate than MnO2-intolerant bacteria.Soils are characterized by diverse biotic and abiotic constituents, and this complexity hinders studies on the effects of individual soil components on microorganisms in soil. Although artificial soils have been used to overcome this issue, anoxic soils have not yet been examined. We herein aimed to create artificial soil that reproduces anaerobic methane production by soil from a rice field. Organic materials and mineral particles separated from rice field soil were mixed to prepare an artificial soil matrix; the matrix was added with a small volume of a soil suspension as a microbial inoculum. When the microbial inoculum was added immediately after matrix preparation, anaerobic decomposition was markedly less than that by original soil. When the inoculum was added 9-15 days after soil matrix preparation, anaerobic CO2 and methane production was markedly activated, similar to that by original soil after 40 days of incubation, which suggested that the maturation of the soil matrix was crucial for the reproduction of anaerobic microbial activities.