The latest pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has shocked the world. Unfortunately, the socio-economic impact of this pandemic is estimated to be deeper and last longer than the 2008 global financial crisis. The International Labor Organization (ILO) reports that 38% of the world's working population faces risk of unemployment and significant pay cuts due to the COVID-19 disaster. Universities around the world are being forced to cancel classes and provide remote education, including online classes and on demand self-directed learning in order to curb the spread of infection. In addition, COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way universities contribute to the community. As Philip Kotler, US business scholar, states, we must accept this as the “new normal.” The Japanese Ministry of Education, MEXT had announced through the national university reform policy published on June 18^th of 2019 that “in order to realize a sustainable, diverse, inclusive society, universities play a role that can only be fulfilled by such institutions where knowledge gathers across disciplines, national borders and generations”. As the world changes and universities play an increasingly central role in society, we will introduce some of the various contributions that regional universities have made to the local community thus far, focusing on promotion of agriculture and food industries.

抄録全体を表示

In 2006, the Basic Act on Education was revised, and all Japanese universities were given new roles to contribute not only to education and research but to “generously share achievements with society” and “contribute to social development.” The following year, a similar statement was added to Article 83, Paragraph 2 of the School Education Act, and “social contribution” was codified as the third mission that the university should fulfill in Japan. Under these circumstances, society has been demanding more direct and comprehensive “social contributions” from universities. In order for a university to continue to be an organization that contributes to society, it is of paramount importance to engage in daily dialogue with stakeholders, share values, and foster a sense of unity through various educational and research activities. In recent years, regional universities have been increasingly expected to generate vitality in the local culture and economy. In particular, regional national universities have been required to contribute to society, not only by solving regional issues but by creating new industry through industry-academia-government collaboration. In such a context, measures to support the social contribution of universities, such as the COC (Center of Community) program, the COI-STREAM (Center of Innovation- Science and Technology based Radical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program), the Regional Innovation Ecosystem program, and the FKII (Field for Knowledge Integration and Innovation), have been launched one after another. The theme is to provide “Support for promotion of agriculture and the food industry by local universities.” I will first give an overview of local promotion projects centered on universities by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Through introducing the progress of these projects, I am more than happy to share information with readers about the University's Social Responsibility (USR).

抄録全体を表示

Isoflavones are flavonoid compounds found in legumes. In soybeans, there are 12 kinds of isoflavones consisted of 3 aglycones (genistein, daidzein, and glycitein), their 3 glycosides (genistin, daidzin, and glycitin), 3 malonylated glycosides, and 3 acetylated glycosides. Isoflavones have an estrogenic effect and are known to have various functions such as palliating menopause, preventing osteoporosis, and preventing prostate and breast cancer. Isoflavone aglycones have been reported to be more effective in exerting estrogenic activity than glycosides. In this study, we attempted to efficiently obtain a lactic acid bacterial strain that converts isoflavone glycosides to aglycone in Shinshu miso. Using a selective medium to which genistin or daidzin was added as a carbon source, colonies of lactic acid bacteria strains were obtained from miso raw material. The genistin and daidzin metabolic activity of the obtained strains was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. The estrogenic activity of the culture supernatants of these lactic acid bacterial strains was evaluated using the responsiveness of MCF-7 cells as an index. Lactic acid bacterial strains belonging to Pediococcus pentosaceus and Enterococcus lactis were obtained from the colonies formed on selection medium. Both of the obtained strains metabolized genistin and daidzin to their aglycons. In addition, progesterone receptor (PgR)- and growth regulation by estrogen in breast cancer 1 (GREB1)-induction of estrogenic activity were significantly enhanced by culturing these strains in medium supplemented with genistin and daidzin. In the future, it is expected that these strains will be used for the development of Shinshu miso with enhanced isoflavone activity at Nagano Prefecture, which advances the “Hakko Choju” project.

抄録全体を表示

Kagawa Prefecture is a major olive producing region in Japan. The commercial cultivation of olives is primarily conducted to produce olive fruits which are the main raw material for olive oils and pickles. Regular pruning is essential for efficient fruit production. The pruned olive leaves have previously been discarded up until 2000. Olive leaves contain a large amount of polyphenols (such as oleuropein) with high antioxidant properties; so Kagawa Prefecture has attempted to utilize pruned olive leaves as food since 2000. Working with Kagawa Prefecture and local companies we have been developing a safe and highly functional powder (olive leaf powder) and highly concentrated extracts (highly concentrated olive leaf extracts) with less bitterness from pruned olive leaves. This olive leaf powder is used not only for processed foods, but also as feed for producing high quality cultured fish (yellowtail, red sea bream, and so on). The highly concentrated olive leaf extracts have been used for olive tea and other foods. Furthermore, we have found that water extracts prepared from olive leaf powder can greatly improve the physical properties of gelled foods, such as chicken sausage and egg white gel. We are exploring the potential of the olive leaf water extracts as a gel texture improver. Pruned olive leaves had previously been discarded as an unused resource, but are now being used for a variety of purposes in the food arena due to the efforts of industry, local government and universities. Recently, commercial cultivation of olives has been active in various regions of Japan; so, the amount of available olive leaves is increasing. Since olive leaves have many functions including antioxidant activity, quality improvement of cultured fish, and food gel enhancing properties, we expect that the utilization of olive leaves will increase and spread in the future.

抄録全体を表示

In this article, we describe new grape cultivars, bred at Kagawa University or Shinshu University, and local branding of these wines. These new grape cultivars were originated from wild species native to East Asia. Commonly, wine grapes are bred from European grapes, Vitis vinifera , and prefer a dry climate for growth. High temperatures suppress grape skin coloration. It is difficult to cultivate most wine grapes in the high temperatures and humid summers of Japan. In Kagawa Prefecture there are many extremely hot days and sultry nights in the summer; so, it is necessary to breed new grape cultivars that do not have unappealing coloration under inappropriate climates. It is very rare for Nagano Prefecture to have hot and humid days, and, thus, it is important to breed new cold-resistant grape cultivars there. For making the new unique wine grapes, Kagawa University and Shinshu University utilized the wild grapes native to East Asia. Kagawa University used the wild grape Vitis ficifolia var. ganebu whose distribution areas are in the subtropical zone in Japan, and Shinshu University used the progeny of Vitis amurensis whose distribution areas are the subarctic zone in Far East Asia. Kagawa University's new wine grape is ‘Kadainou R-1’, which is a hybrid between Vitis ficifolia var. ganebu and ‘Muscat of Alexandria’. This cultivar is heat tolerant. Shinshu University's new wine grape is ‘Shindai W-3’, which was selected from Vitis amurensis chance seedlings. ‘Shindai W-3’ is cold tolerant. Each wine made from these two grapes has highly functional components.

抄録全体を表示

The number of patients with lifestyle-related diseases is still high. The prevention and treatment of lifestyle-related diseases require the coordination of various lifestyle improvement activities. In particular, diet-related initiatives have attracted a great deal of attention in all generations and are relatively easy to implement. Improving the health awareness of local residents and establishing a healthy diet will facilitate the prevention and improvement of lifestyle-related diseases. Therefore, it is important for local residents to cooperate and revitalize their communities to actively address local issues.
We have shown that “sticky barley” (white fiber, a new variety of Japanese Sweet Barley) developed by Nagano Agricultural Experiment Station can have health benefits. Furthermore, the utilization of domestic sticky barley in industry, including expansion of production and its application, will lead to regional revitalization because sticky barley can be cultivated on degraded land, and subsequent food processing, distribution, and sales will support diversified businesses and facilitate sixth sector industrialization. We are currently developing regional revitalization activities that involve local specialty products and cultural activities in areas with intermediate mountain ranges, based on promoting the eating and cultivation of sticky barley.
Support of an environment where residents can voluntarily participate in various activities, such as industry–academia–government collaboration projects in which educational and research institutions, universities and private companies may collaborate on research and development, is being promoted. This leads to creation of new businesses that promote a community-based system for sustainable lifestyle-related disease prevention leading to societal enrichment. Encouraging local residents to think of their place in daily life and work as a place of research and development focusing on health promotion (i.e., a lab), a place to obtain and analyze data, and a place to become involved in creating new ideas, will promote the development of a living healthcare lab where new value can be created.

抄録全体を表示

Food safety and food security was threatened by addition of certain pesticides in food packaging in 2008 in a Chinese factory. As self-sufficiency in Japanese food production is below 40%, Japan has to import a lot of food materials and food products from all over the world. Before delivering foods to consumers, accidental contamination of ingredients by pathogens or toxic chemicals caused by human actions must be avoided. So, the Career Development Program on Food Safety was established in the Graduate School of Agriculture, Kagawa University in 2009 with support from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology. All graduate participants from Asian countries in the Career Development Program are highly motivated with excellent communication skills and are now working in Japanese food and food related companies in Japan or in Japanese enterprises oversea. We must consider how to work closely together with foreign sources of food production when importing food for our elderly society and shrinking Japanese population.

抄録全体を表示

Tea, made from young shoots of tea plants, is one of the most popular beverages worldwide and offers a wealth of health benefits. Tea health functions result from unique functional components contained in tea leaves, e.g. theanine, catechins and caffeine, that are also necessary for tea quality. Therefore, it is important to improve the content of unique functional components in tea leaves by cultivation, breeding and biotechnology. In Japanese green tea cultivation, it is possible to regulate the content of these functional components by the season and timing of planting, nitrogen fertilization and covering culture. While a part of the molecular mechanisms involved in the biosynthesis of these components is understood, details are not yet completely clarified. Further research is required to elucidate the molecular mechanism of the accumulation and the relationship among the components to efficiently establish innovative cultivation methods and new cultivars. Next generation sequencing systems are also accelerating the construction of a genomic breeding platform for tea plants. In the future, it will be necessary to establish an efficient tailor-made breeding and cultivation system that can customize individual teas adapted to each cultivation area based on environmental factors and molecular information about the tea itself.

抄録全体を表示

Escherichia coli is one of the bacterial species constituting normal intestinal flora in warm-blooded animals including humans. However, E. coli has acquired virulence from various foreign genes associated with plasmids, phages and/or transposons. As a result, some E. coli strains have become pathogenic to humans. Pathogenic E. coli can be broadly classified into two groups, namely, intestinal pathogenic (diarrheagenic) E. coli (DEC) and extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) such as uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC). Furthermore, there are at least 5 kinds of E. coli among DEC including enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC), enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) or Vero toxin-producing E. coli (VTEC) and enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC). But other types of pathogenic E. coli, which might be also associated with diarrhea and/or enteritis in humans, have been reported and have attracted attention. These include diffusely adherent E. coli (DAEC), EAST-1- producing E. coli (EAST-EC), adherent-invasive E. coli (AIEC), and cytolethal distending toxin [CDT]-producing E. coli (CTEC). In addition, hybrid types of E. coli containing virulence genes associated with two different pathotypes (EAEC/ETEC, ETEC/EHEC, ExPEC/EHEC) have been increasingly recognized in the world. In this review, recent knowledge about DEC, in terms of its bacteriological and pathogenic properties and its epidemiology, focusing on not only 5 kinds of DEC but also other types of pathogenic E. coli, is described.

抄録全体を表示

An is the general term for foodstuffs that are made from flour in China. The Chinese ideal view of life is generally associated with eternal youth and longevity. To realize this ideal, it is thought that daily meals are the most important because foodstuffs function as medicine. Consequently, Dim sum (Chinese snack) was introduced based on the thought that digestible flour foods are more healthy than granular food. An was established and developed as the stuffing for Dim sum. The foodstuffs of An are the meats of animals, poultry, etc. and the plant foodstuffs of pulses, nuts and seeds, vegetables, etc. All these foodstuffs can have medicinal functions. Therefore, Chinese An is a processed food developed on the basis of medicinal properties.

抄録全体を表示