Search

Carbon-ion radiotherapy (CIRT) offers superior dose distributions and greater biological effectiveness than conventional photon-based radiotherapy (RT). Due to its higher linear energy transfer and relative biological effectiveness, CIRT is particularly effective against radioresistant tumors and those located near critical organs. Since the first dedicated CIRT facility was established in Japan in 1994, CIRT has demonstrated remarkable efficacy against various malignancies, including head and neck tumors, skull base and upper cervical spine tumors, non-small-cell lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, and bone and soft tissue sarcomas. This narrative review provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of CIRT, highlighting its clinical indications and future directions. According to clinical studies, CIRT achieves high local control rates with manageable toxicity across multiple cancer types. For instance, in head and neck tumors (e.g., adenoid cystic carcinoma and mucosal melanoma), CIRT has achieved local control rates exceeding 80%. In early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer, CIRT has resulted in local control rates over 90% with minimal toxicity. Moreover, CIRT has shown promise in treating challenging cases of hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancer, where conventional therapies are limited. Nonetheless, the global adoption of CIRT remains limited due to high costs and complexity. Future directions include conducting randomized controlled trials to establish high-level evidence, integrating new technologies such as ultrahigh-dose-rate (FLASH) therapy, and expanding CIRT facilities globally with strategic planning and cost-effectiveness analyses. If these challenges are addressed, CIRT is poised to play a transformative role in cancer treatment, improving survival rates and the quality of life.

Background: Rapid detection of the causative agents is essential for determining the appropriate treatment for patients with lower respiratory tract infections. We evaluated the performance of the Biofire FilmArray pneumonia panel (FA-PE; BioFire Diagnostics, USA) in the identification of bacterial pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes in endotracheal aspirate specimens. Methods: A total of 43 non-duplicated endotracheal aspirates were included in this study. The performance of the FA-PE was assessed using the routine culture method as the reference standard. Results: The FA-PE demonstrated 92.9% sensitivity and 79.3% specificity for the identification of 15 bacterial targets compared to routine bacterial culture. Four antimicrobial resistance genes in 43 specimens were detected by the FA-PE. The most frequently detected resistance genes were mecA/C and SCCmec in three specimens, followed by CTX-M in one specimen. Conclusion: The FA-PE offers a rapid diagnostic method for lower respiratory tract infections. It may be useful at the early stage of pneumonia, before routine culture and antimicrobial susceptibility results are available.

The 21st Century is characterised by technological advances which is the Fourth Industrial Revolution, climate change, and the COVID19 pandemic, for examples. The role of mathematics in each of these phenomena has been central and crucial. As such, it is an opportune time now to take stock of events that are (re-)shaping the world, so that we can better facilitate mathematics education in schools. Three themes are identified and discussed in this article, namely the convergence of mathematics pedagogical approaches, mathematics proficiencies, and students' mathematical wellbeing.

Purpose: Central venous stenosis is a recurring problem affecting dialysis access patency. Increasing evidence suggests that the use of drug-coated balloons (DCBs) improves target lesion primary patency (TLPP) in dialysis access. However, few studies have investigated the use of DCBs specifically in central venous stenosis. Thus, this study presents our initial experience with DCBs in the central vein of a dialysis access circuit. Materials and Methods : : This is a retrospective cohort study of all hemodialysis patients who underwent central vein angioplasty with DCB between February 2017 and March 2018 at Singapore General Hospital. We compared the primary patency post DCB angioplasty to the primary patency of the patient’s previous plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA). Results : : We observed a 100% anatomic and procedural success rate with no complications. The median follow-up period was 151 days (interquartile range, 85.5-234 days) and no patients were lost to follow-up. The 30- and 90-day TLPPs after DCB were 93.3% and 75.7%, respectively. The mean primary patency in our study group post-DCB during the follow-up period was 164 days (vs. 140 days in the POBA group). However, no statistically significant difference was detected. Conclusion : : DCB showed a similar TLPP to that for POBA in treating central venous stenosis with a trend toward a longer re-intervention-free period for DCB. However, there were numerous confounding factors and a well-designed randomized controlled trial is warranted to assess the true utility of DCB in treating central venous stenosis.

Rice panicle blast occurred severely in southern provinces of Korea in 2014. The proportion of panicle blast incidence area to cultivated area of rice were 11.0% and 14.6% in Jeollanam-do and Gyeongsangnam-do, respectively. To identify the causal factors of the outbreak, we investigated weather conditions in August, amount of cultivated area of mainly grown cultivars, and nitrogen contents in plants with different disease incidences in 2014. ‘Saenuri,’ ‘Ilmibyeo,’ ‘Unkwang,’ ‘Dongjin 1 ho,’ ‘Nampyeongbyeo,’ and ‘Hwangkeumnuri’ were mainly grown cultivars. Monthly average of daily air temperature in August 2014 was 3.2°C and 3.1°C less than 2018 in Haenam and Miryang, respectively. Rainfall in August 2014 was 70.0% and 42.0% greater than 2018 in Haenam and Miryang, respectively. The numbers of blast warning days in August calculated nationwide using a forecast model for blast infection were higher in 2014 than in 2018, and they were in high level throughout the country in 2014. Nitrogen contents in plant samples from high-incidence plots were significantly higher than those from low-incidence plots. Consequently, excessive use of nitrogen fertilizers was the main factor for the disease outbreak at the level of specific farms, in addition to the collective cultivation of susceptible cultivar, low temperatures and frequent rainfalls in August.

Background : Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with fluid retention, which increases total body water (TBW) and leads to changes in intracellular water (ICW) and extracellular water (ECW). This complicates accurate assessments of body composition. Analysis of bioelectrical impedance may improve the accuracy of evaluation in CKD patients and multiple machines and technologies are available. We compared body composition by bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) against multi-frequency bioimpedance analysis (BIA) in a multi-ethnic Asian population of stable, non-dialysis CKD patients. Methods : We recruited 98 stable CKD patients comprising 54.1% men and 70.4% Chinese, 9.2% Malay, 13.3% Indian, and 8.2% other ethnicities. Stability was defined as no variation in serum creatinine > 20% over three months. Patients underwent BIS analyses using a Fresenius body composition monitor, while BIA analyses employed a Bodystat Quadscan 4000. Results : Mean TBW values by BIS and BIA were 33.6 ± 7.2 L and 38.3 ± 7.4 L; mean ECW values were 15.8 ± 3.2 L and 16.9 ± 2.7 L; and mean ICW values were 17.9 ± 4.3 L and 21.0 ± 4.9 L, respectively. Mean differences for TBW were 4.6 ± 1.9 L (P < 0.001), for ECW they were 1.2 ± 0.5 L (P < 0.001), and for ICW they were 3.2 ±1.8 L (P < 0.001). BIA and BIS measurements were highly correlated: TBW r = 0.970, ECW r = 0.994, and ICW r = 0.926. Compared with BIA, BIS assessments of fluid overload appeared to be more associated with biochemical and clinical indicators. Conclusion : Although both BIA and BIS can be used for body water assessment, clinicians should be aware of biases that exist between bioimpedance techniques. The values of body water assessments in our study were higher in BIA than in BIS. Ethnicity, sex, body mass index, and estimated glomerular filtration rate were associated with these biases.

In 2015, symptoms of die-back on Rosa hybrida were observed in Taean, Korea. The aims of this study were to determine the cause of die-back on Rosa hybrida and characterize the pathogen. The fungal isolates were obtained and used for pathogenicity test, morphological and molecular analyses. The pathogenicity test on healthy branches of Rosa hybrida produced die-back, as the original symptoms. For the morphological study, the isolates were inoculated onto potato dextrose agar and incubated for 7 days at 25°C. The colonies grew up quickly and turned white to gray in color. Conidia were observed under an optical microscope. The features of conidia were ellipsoidal, grayish brown in color, 20-31×11-17 µm in size and had one septum. Molecular analyses of the ITS region, TEF and TUB genes were conducted to confirm the identity of the pathogen. The phylogenetic tree of the multi-gene sequences indicated that the causal agent was Lasiodiplodia pseudotheobromae. This study is the first report of die-back caused by Lasiodiplodia pseudotheobromae on Rose (Rosa hybrida).

Herein we report a rare case of an intracortical chondroma with the histologic appearance of an enchondroma but located within the cortical bone.

Objectives : Although Chronic tension-type headache(CTTH) is one of the most common symptom in primary headache, there is no definite mechanisms. But muscular factors and psychological factors is supposed to be related with CTTH according to many other studies and pressure pain threshold(PPT) is used to measure muscular factors. Methods 1. We performed this study with 63 patients fulfilling the International Headache Societ criteria for chronic tension-type headache and 20 healthy control group and measured the PPT of temporal muscle and trapezius muscle. 2. We investigated the correlation between clinical characteristic and PPT. 3. Each of the CTTH groups and Control group is divided to four group again - HNP, Spondylosis, Sprain, Normal according to Cervical spine X-ray. Results 1. The PPT of temporal muscle and trapezius muscle in the CTTH is significantly lower than that of Control. 2. In CTTH group, the PPT has significant positive relation with duration of headache and continued time of headache. And the PPT has significant inverse relation with Frequency of headache and Level of headache. 3. In CTTH group, spondylosis group has the highest PPT and normal group is second. And there are significant difference between spondylosis group and the others. Conclusion : We found that PPT is strongly significant to measure muscular factor in CTTH.

The Netherlands Fibroblast growth Factor 23 (FGF23) is independently associated with cardiovasculair outcome. A reduction of dietary phosphorus intake in healthy individuals leads to a decrease of FGF23. Data on the potency of phosphate binders to lower FGF23 in CKD stage 3 are conflicting. We treated 18 normophosphatemic CKD stage 3 patients with a fixed dose of sevelamer-carbonate (Renvela®) 2,4 g powder for suspension, before breakfast and diner. Patients remained on their usual diet. Laboratory data were collected 2 weeks prior to baseline, at start of sevelamer, at week 8 following sevelamer treatment and after a wash-out of 2 weeks. We measured serum phosphorus, PTH, FGF23, estimated GFR (by the MDRD formula) and 24–h urinary phosphate excretion. General Estimated Equation was used to evaluate the effect of phosphorusbinding on 24–h urinary phosphate excretion and on FGF23. patientcharacteristics n 18 Age(year) 54 (46,1-62,2) Sex (m/f) 7 / 11 race (% caucasian) 66 eGFR (ml/min/1.73m2) 41.2 ± 9.6 FGF23 (U/l) 158 (116-216) PTH (pmol/l) 7.5(5,4-41,8) Phosphate (mmol/l) 1.09 ± 0.19 Proteinuria (g/24 h) 0,7 (0,2-1,6) Results are as follows; phosphorus binding by sevelamer significantly lowered urinary phosphate excretion, from a median of 26.25 mmol/24 h to 17.5 mmol/l. Other parameters showed no sgnificant association with urinary phosphate excretion. The serum phosphate was unchanged during treatment. Creatinin clearance was significantly associated with FGF23 (p0.03). FGF23 did not change significant following phosphorus binding therapy. In conclusion; although 8 weeks sevelamer treatment significantly lowered 24 h urinary phosphate excretion, there was no reduction in FGF23 levels in this group of CKD stage 3 patients.

In this study, the Korean veterinary medical devices management system was evaluated relative to systems in the USA, EU, and Japan. Veterinary medical devices are regulated in Korea based on the Medical Appliance Act of 1997. This was initially supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Korea Animal Health Products Association, and subsequently by the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (QIA) in 2000. These devices were classified approximately 1,400 categories as instruments, supplies, artificial insemination apparatus, and other categories. Each of these devices was assigned to four regulatory grades by the QIA in 2007. The ranking system for veterinary medical devices was implemented in 2014 with 820 products from 162 companies registered by that year. However, in vitro diagnostic devices (IVDDs) for animals were managed as medical devices and biological medicine. In vitro diagnostic reagents for treating infection diseases are not subjected to either a classification or grading system. Veterinary medical devices are currently exempt from good manufacturing practices (GMP) and device tracking requirements. Due to gradual growth of the domestic veterinary medical devices market since 2008, regulation of these devices should be improved with re-examination of IVDDs and GMP certification for the effective operating system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nationwide survey on radiation safety management in Korean animal hospitals was conducted. By 2013, 53 radiation generators were registered as veterinary medical devices (41 X-ray generators and 12 computed tomography scanners). Additionally there were six approved laboratories for radiation equipment and protection facility, and five approved laboratories for radiation exposure of employees, respectively. By March 2013, 2,030 out of 3,829 animal hospitals operated radiation-generating devices. Among these devices, 389 (19.2%) out of 2,030 were not labeled with the model name and 746 (36.7%) were not labeled with production dates. Thus, most veterinary X-ray generators were outdated (42.6%) and needed replacements. When periodic inspections of 2,018 animal hospitals were performed after revision of the Veterinarians Act in 2011, the hospitals were found to be equipped with appropriate radiation generators and protection facilities. Among 2,545 employees exposed to radiation at the hospitals, 93.9% were veterinarians, 4.3% were animal nurse technicians, and 18% held other positions. Among 169 employees supervised by administrators, none of those had a weekly maximum operating load that exceeded 10 mA·min. This study suggests that the radiation safety management system of animal hospitals was general good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, trends in the sales of antimicrobials for use in livestock facilities and fisheries from 2003 to 2012 were investigated with regard to antimicrobial group, antimicrobial usage, and animal species. The overall amount of antimicrobials sold each year from 2003 to 2007 was 1,500 tons, after which they decreased, with the lowest sales being 936 tons in 2012. The total volume of antimicrobials used for feed additives decreased markedly by 94% from 2003 to 2012, which was mainly attributed to banning of feed additives. However, antimicrobial consumption through self prescription by farmers for disease prevention and treatment increased by 25% from 2003 to 2012. The largest volume of antimicrobials sold was for use in pigs (48∼57%), followed by poultry (18∼24%), fisheries (11∼25%), and cattle (5∼8%). Tetracycline was the highest selling antimicrobial, followed by penicillins and sulfonamides, although the overall sale of all three antimicrobials gradually decreased over the study period. This study demonstrated that the total consumption of antimicrobials has gradually decreased since 2008. Nevertheless, usage by nonprofessionals increased, which can ultimately cause emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. Thus, early establishment of veterinary prescription guidelines for prudent use of antimicrobials is urgently needed in Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the images of men as nurses held by high school boys, and to provide basic data about the desirability of nursing as a career choice for them. Method: Q-methodology which provides a method of analyzing the subjectivity of each item was used: The 35 high school boys classified 31 selected Q-statements into a normal distribution using a 9-point scale. The collected data was analyzed by the pc-QUNAL program. Results: Among the high school boys, three types of images of men as nurses were identified. Type I; A promising occupation for men through active way of thinking, Type II; Men working in a woman oriented field of work, Type III; A promising profession without any gender stereotype. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that specific strategies should be developed to promote the choice of nursing among high school boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]