Search

Tomoko Takayama,1 Yoji Inoue,1 Rie Yokota,2 Masayo Hayakawa,1 Chikako Yamaki,1 Yasushi Toh3 1Cancer Information Service Division, Center for Cancer Control and Information Services, National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan; 2Department of Health Communication, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; 3National Hospital Organization, Kyushu Cancer Center, Fukuoka, JapanCorrespondence: Tomoko TakayamaCancer Information Service Division, Center for Cancer Control and Information Services, National Cancer Center, 5-1-1, Tsukiji, Chuo-Ku, Tokyo, 104-0045, JapanTel +81-3-3542-2511 Ex. 1621Fax +81-3-3547-8577Email totakaya@ncc.go.jpPurpose: It is crucial for health professionals to understand patients’ and families’ views and preferences (PVPs) to enhance their adherence to treatments and subsequent satisfaction. Regularly and consistently collecting comprehensive information on the needs and concerns of patients/families and utilizing the information is vital for improving clinical practice and the healthcare environment. As an initial approach, this study aimed to develop a new system for appropriately collecting PVPs regarding cancer from nationwide medical staff and consider the potential utilization of PVPs in clinical practice.Methods: Web-based anonymous surveys were conducted with medical staff in nationwide cancer care hospitals in Japan. The surveys queried the questions, values, desires, and experiences expressed by cancer patients or their families on five topics, namely two cancer sites (colorectal and esophageal cancers) and three symptoms and signs (lymphedema, urinary symptoms, and tingling/numbness/pain) within the past year. The PVPs were compared to the five topics and staff medical specialties, and those on tingling/numbness/pain were analyzed qualitatively.Results: Among the 904 medical staff who responded to this survey, the PVPs encountered by the staff differed according to the topic and staff medical specialty. Tingling/numbness/pain was the most frequently encountered symptom, and urinary symptoms were the least encountered. Only half or fewer of the medical staff had information available regarding urinary symptoms and tingling/numbness/pain. Further, qualitative content analysis of the expressed PVPs regarding tingling/numbness/pain raised clinical questions on this topic that led to the construction of a “Questions & Answers” section on a public website in Japan.Conclusion: This study suggests that collecting PVPs through nationwide cancer-related medical staff might be an efficient way to understand the specific requirements of patients/families. It would also be possible to document PVP trends according to changes in the environments of patients/families by nationwide, consistent, and continuous PVP collection.Keywords: patient’s needs, cancer information, health communication, quality of health care, trends in patients’ preferences

Akiko Yamamoto,1 Annabelle A Okada,1 Atsuhiko Sugitani,1,2 Daisuke Kunita,1 Tosho Rii,1 Reiji Yokota1 1Department of Ophthalmology, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; 2Department of Ophthalmology, Kugayama Hospital, Tokyo, Japan Purpose: To describe outcomes of intravitreal ranibizumab using a pro re nata regimen for treatment-naive exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD), in Japanese patients over the first 2 years. Methods: Clinical records were retrospectively reviewed of 48 eyes of 48 patients with treatment-naive exudative AMD who underwent intravitreal ranibizumab therapy. After three monthly injections (induction), patients were examined monthly, and subsequent injections were performed as needed (pro re nata) for any residual activity, by fundus biomicroscopy and imaging studies, regardless of severity. Results: Twenty-nine (60%) of the patients were men, and 19 (40%) were women; the mean age was 76.1 years. Of the 48 eyes evaluated, 17 (35%) had findings consistent with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, and five (10%) with retinal angiomatous proliferation. A mean of 6.0 ranibizumab injections were given in the first year, 3.5 in the second year, and 9.5 over the 2-year period. The best-corrected visual acuity (logarithm of minimum angle of resolution) improved significantly, from 0.35 at baseline to 0.21 at 12 months (P < 0.01), and remained stable at 0.21 at 24 months (P < 0.01). The mean central macular thickness decreased significantly, from 355.4 µm at baseline to 237.9 µm at 12 months (P < 0.01) and 247.7 µm at 24 months (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Improved visual acuity and decreased central macular thickness were observed and maintained over a 2-year period, in a Japanese population receiving 3 monthly induction injections followed by a pro re nata regimen of ranibizumab for exudative AMD. Keywords: optical coherence tomography, polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, retinal angiomatous proliferation

The parallel scaling of classical molecular dynamics simulations is limited by the communication of the 3D fast Fourier transform of the particle-mesh electrostatics methods, which are used by most molecular simulation packages. The Fast Multipole Method (FMM) has much lower communication requirements and would, therefore, be a promising alternative to mesh based approaches. However, the abrupt switch from direct particle-particle interactions to approximate multipole interactions causes a violation of energy conservation, which is required in molecular dynamics. To counteract this effect, higher accuracy must be requested from the FMM, leading to a substantially increased computational cost. Here, we present a regularization of the FMM that provides analytical energy conservation. This allows the use of a precision comparable to that used with particle-mesh methods, which significantly increases the efficiency. With an application to a 2D system of dipolar molecules representative of water, we show that the regularization not only provides energy conservation but also significantly improves the accuracy. The latter is possible due to the local charge neutrality in molecular systems. Additionally, we show that the regularization reduces the multipole coefficients for a 3D water model even more than in our 2D example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanism of CO oxidation reaction on oxygen-precovered Pt(111) surfaces has been studied by using time-resolved near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. The whole reaction process is composed of two distinct paths: (1) a reaction of isolated oxygen atoms with adsorbed CO, and (2) a reaction of island-periphery oxygen atoms after the CO saturation. CO coadsorption plays a role to induce the dynamic change in spatial distribution of O atoms, which switches over the two reaction paths. These mechanisms were confirmed by kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. The effect of coadsorbed water in the reaction mechanism was also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which examined the relationship between changes in compositional short-range order and field-induced anisotropy in an amorphous alloy. Method of the study; Results and discussion; Conclusion.