Background Diagnostic errors are prevalent and associated with increased economic burden; however, little is known about their characteristics at the national level in Japan. This study aimed to investigate clinical outcomes and indemnity payment in cases of diagnostic errors using Japan's largest database of national claims. Methods We analyzed characteristics of diagnostic error cases closed between 1961 and 2017, accessed through the national Japanese malpractice claims database. We compared diagnostic error-related claims (DERC) with non-diagnostic error-related claims (non-DERC) in terms of indemnity, clinical outcomes, and factors underlying physicians' diagnostic errors. Results All 1,802 malpractice claims were included in the analysis. The median patient age was 33 years (interquartile range = 10-54), and 54.2% were men. Deaths were the most common outcome of claims (939/1747; 53.8%). In total, 709 (39.3%, 95% CI: 37.0%-41.6%) DERC cases were observed. The adjusted total billing amount, acceptance rate, adjusted median claims payments, and proportion of deaths were significantly higher in DERC than non-DERC cases. Departments of internal medicine and surgery were 1.42 and 1.55 times more likely, respectively, to have DERC cases than others. Claims involving the emergency room (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 5.88) and outpatient office (adjusted OR = 2.87) were more likely to be DERC than other cases. The initial diagnoses most likely to lead to diagnostic error were upper respiratory tract infection, non-bleeding digestive tract disease, and "no abnormality." Conclusions Cases of diagnostic errors produced severe patient outcomes and were associated with high indemnity. These cases were frequently noted in general exam and emergency rooms

Flooding due to worldwide climate change can drastically affect crop production. To overcome the detrimental effects of flooding during maize growth, we have been developing flooding-tolerant maize via DNA marker-assisted selection using a flooding-tolerant teosinte, Zea nicaraguensis, as a donor parent. Over the last decade, quantitative trait locus (QTL) information on flooding-tolerancerelated traits in Zea species has been obtained at the NARO Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science, and near-isogenic lines containing one or more QTLs have been developed for several flooding-tolerance-related traits, such as the capacity to form constitutive aerenchyma, tolerance to flooding under reducing soil conditions, and ability to form adventitious roots at the soil surface. In field trials, we have been accumulating data demonstrating the effectiveness of teosinte-derived QTLs on flooding tolerance, and are preparing to release a flooding-tolerant F 1 maize hybrid within a few years. In addition, we have just started a project to clone Qft-rd4.07-4.11 by using next-generation sequencing, which would make it possible to extend the use of this QTL to other upland crops.

Japanese public sectors are now expected to breed high‐yielding silage maize varieties highly adapted to the Japanese climates in order to support the governmental policy to raise the feed self‐sufficiency ratio from 26% (in 2008) to 38% by 2020. ‘Genomewide selection (GwS)’ is a technique to substitute a part of phenotyping with molecular marker genotyping, and is thought to be suitable to accumulate favorable genes in many minor quantitative trait loci (QTLs) whereby yield is thought to be controlled. The purpose of this study was to use computer simulations to evaluate the potential of GwS from the viewpoint of maize breeding sections of Japanese public sectors interested in rapider yield improvement through selection at early breeding stages. It was assumed in each repeat of the simulation experiments that eight S1 (first selfing generation) candidates were selected from 1000 solely on their molecular marker information obtained from testcross investigation with GwS. The experiments indicated that (i) shorter intervals of molecular marker loci led to moderately larger selection response (SR) when the intervals were more than 20 cM, but not when they were less than 20 cM, (ii) higher heritability unexceptionally led to larger SR, and (iii) larger training population size led to slightly larger SR in most cases. The results suggest that it is important for the success of GwS to obtain high heritability in the field for testcross investigation, and that GwS will be a powerful tool for maize breeding sections of Japanese public sectors targeting rapider yield improvement.

A toothpick inoculation method was applied for evaluating the disease severity and infection frequency of Pythium root rot, which seriously restricts forage corn production in Japan. Seven corn hybrids were inoculated with toothpicks infested with Pythium arrhenomanes, the causal pathogen of the disease. Between 2011 and 2013, toothpicks were inserted into holes of the bottom stalks of corn plants just above the ground at the silking stage. At the inoculation plots throughout the experimental years, the infection frequencies of highly susceptible hybrids were stable even under suboptimal climate conditions. Therefore, we have concluded that the toothpick method is useful especially for discarding highly susceptible hybrids based on the data obtained from a single year. Further experiments will be required to overcome such problems as the low correlation between hybrids and their parental inbreds, and the development of more accurate screening systems for selecting resistant genotypes.