Search

Stress fractures are a limitation for athletes not only in sports performance but in activities of daily living. Thus, preventing them is crucial. In female athletes, a triad of symptoms including low energy availability, functional hypothalamic amenorrhea and osteoporosis are considered risk factors for stress injuries, but biomarkers predictive of these outcomes are not available. Here, we evaluated 56 female university athletes and found that 13 had a history of stress bone injuries. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that dysmenorrhea including amenorrhea, but not reduced food intake or body weight loss, was significantly associated with stress injuries. When we subdivided subjects into stress fracture and non-fracture groups, we found that serum levels of creatine kinase (CK) and lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH) were significantly higher in the fracture group, while osteocalcin and uncarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC), which are bone forming parameters, significantly decreased. Low vitamin D levels are associated with stress fractures, but serum vitamin D levels were higher in fracture compared to non-fracture subjects. We followed up 32 subjects for one year, and three exhibited new stress injuries during that period. A history of stress fracture history is significantly associated with experiencing a new stress fracture. We also found that subjects with new fracture performed significantly greater exercise activity than did non-fracture subjects. Taken together, our data indicate that increased serum CK and LDH and decreased serum osteocalcin and ucOC are biomarkers of stress injuries, and evaluating these markers along with dysmenorrhea, stress fracture history or high sports activity could predict future stress fractures in female athletes.

AIM To develop a Japanese version of the short-form FAMCARE Scale (Ornstein, 2015) for family caregivers of terminal cancer patients at home. METHODS The survey was conducted with 316 family caregivers of terminal cancer patients at home selected as eligible participants in 11 major regions in Japan (the Tokyo metropolitan area, and the prefectures of Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Nara, Hyogo, Kagawa, Ehime, and Saga). Construct validity was confirmed using a confirmatory factor analysis, and the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer (CQOLC) scale was administered to assess criterion-related validity. RESULTS A total of 120 family caregivers provided valid responses. The mean±standard deviation of the age of the family caregivers was 64.6±12.0 years, and 91 (75.8%) were female. A factor analysis of the results showed that the Japanese version of the 10-item and 5-item short-form FAMCARE Scale was a unidimensional construct, and a confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a goodness of fit index of 0.910 and 0.972, an adjusted goodness of fit index of 0.835 and 0.916, a comparative fit index of 0.968 and 0.992, and a root mean square error of approximation of 0.095 and 0.081, respectively. The Cronbach's α coefficients of the 10- and 5-item scales were 0.95 and 0.93, respectively. The scale scores were significantly correlated with the family caregiver's quality of life (CQOLC) (10-item r=0.304, P

平成20年5月から12月にかけて，九州大学病院皮膚科と関連病院皮膚科に通院中の，そう痒性皮膚疾患を有する患者107例(平均年齢は52.1±19.0歳，男女比=45 : 62)を対象として，少なくとも1 週間のベシル酸べポスタチン投与後に，そう痒の改善と日中の眠気，夜間の睡眠，服用に適した錠剤の色と形状，満足度などについてアンケート調査を行った。日中のそう痒の改善は全体で88.6％，夜間のそう痒の改善は89.5％で，疾患別にみると蕁麻疹群(日中 : 94.3％，夜間 : 97.1％)は湿疹・皮膚炎群(日中 : 87.2％，夜間 : 89.4％)に比べて有意に改善していた(P

前立腺癌が疑われ，生検前にMRI検査が施行された91症例中37症例に癌が認められた。生検をコントロールとしてMRIの診断能を検討するとaccuracy 0.84，sensitivity 0.95，specificity 0.76であった。拡散強調画像が撮像できた26症例 (前立腺癌14症例) においてapparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) 値とprostate specific antigen (PSA) 値は有意に逆相関を認めた。正常辺縁域の平均ADC値は1.51±0.20×10-3mm2/sec，正常中心域の平均ADC値は1.47±0.12×10-3mm2/sec，前立腺癌部の平均ADC値は0.97±0.23×10-3mm2/secであり正常辺縁域と前立腺癌部においてp

The purposes of the present study were (a) to use both a relational-anxiety Go/No-Go Association Task (GNAT) and an avoidance-of-intimacy GNAT in order to assess an implicit Internal Working Model (IWM) of attachment; (b) to verify the effects of both measured implicit relational anxiety and implicit avoidance of intimacy on information processing. The implicit IWM measured by GNAT differed from the explicit IWM measured by questionnaires in terms of the effects on information processing. In particular, in subliminal priming tasks involving with others, implicit avoidance of intimacy predicted accelerated response times with negative stimulus words about attachment. Moreover, after subliminally priming stimulus words about self, implicit relational anxiety predicted delayed response times with negative stimulus words about attachment.

57歳，男性。左側腹部から始まり躯幹四肢に拡大するそう痒を伴う小水疱，紅斑を認めた。病理組織所見では表皮の海綿状態，基底層の液状変性や真皮内の単核球，好酸球浸潤を認め多形滲出性紅斑様の像であった。また蛍光抗体直接法では陰性であった。ステロイド内服を開始したところ皮疹は軽快した。患者は約2年前より健康食品としてウコンを内服していた。後日施行したウコンのパッチテストでも陽性を示し，ウコンによる多形滲出性紅斑様薬疹と診断した。

The sex expression of Tilia japonica is functional andromonoecy (an andromonoecious system with abortion of perfect flowers). Some of protandrous flowers are aborted after shedding pollen grains and thus are functionally male flowers (FMF). When both male and female organs are retained in a flower, the plants can more flexibly regulate sex allocation, or resource allocation to male and female functions than true andromonoecious plants, which is considered as an adaptive significance of functional andromonoecy. However, the plants have to pay some costs of female organ in FMF. For functional andromonoecious plants, there is a conflict between flexibility and cost in determining the timing of flower abortion, or arrest investing in female functions in a flower. We clarified that (i) differentiation of the timing of flower abortion caused two types of FMF: short-style (SS) and normal-style (NS) flowers; (ii) SS can be produced at a lower cost than NS, and (iii) plants having NS can flexibly regulate sex allocation following a sudden change in conditions. Hence, we concluded that differentiation of the timing of flower abortion makes a compromise of the conflict. We also found that NS is more frequent than SS, and we discuss the adaptive significance of keeping potential fertility.

Tilia japonica Simonkai has morphologically perfect flowers with stamens and a pistil. However, some flowers fall without developing into immature fruits. We clarified that: (i) the flower abscission is a facultative abortion, (an abscission layer was observed at the base of the stalk of aborted flowers); (ii) fallen flowers have functional stamens (the flowers are protandrous and they had shed germinable pollen grains before the flower abscission); and (iii) fallen flowers have a non-functional pistil (they were abscised before stigma opening). The aborted flowers were functional male flowers, although they were morphologically perfect. Hence, the functional sex expression of T. japonica is andromonoecous having both perfect and male flowers within an individual tree.

S100A13 is a member of the S100 family of EF-hand-containing calcium-binding proteins and plays an important role in the secretion of fibroblast growth factor-1 and interleukin 1alpha, two pro-angiogenic factors released by the endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi-independent non-classical secretory pathway. Human S100A13 was heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli, purified and crystallized by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method using PEG 3350 as the precipitant. The crystals diffracted X-rays from a synchrotron-radiation source to 1.8 A resolution and the space group was assigned as primitive orthorhombic P2(1)2(1)2(1).

Summary OBJECTIVE The thyroid gland is physiologically stimulated in normal early pregnancy. However, clinical thyrotoxicosis in normal pregnancy has not been well described. In order to clarify this we examined thyroid function and thyrotoxic symptoms in relation to emesis in normal pregnancy. We also investigated the possible mechanism of gestational thyrotoxicosis. DESIGN Thyroid function was evaluated in view of the clinical thyrotoxic symptoms and the severity of gestational emesis in early pregnancy of 51 normal women. Two pregnant women who showed clinical thyrotoxicosis were followed serially during and after pregnancy. MEASUREMENTS Serum free T4, free T3 and TSH were measured by radioimmunoassay and hCG by fluoroimmunoassay. Thyroid-stimulating activity of pregnancy sera was measured by cAMP increase in cultured FRTL-5 cells. RESULTS Fifty-one pregnant women were divided into three groups: those without emesis (n= 24), with emesis (n= 19) and with hyperemesis (n= 8). Serum free T4 and free T3 were higher in the hyperemesis group (P

Leaf area index (LAI) is a key biophysical variable in most process-based models of forest ecosystems and water cycles. We compared the LAI of two types of tropical seasonal forest in Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia. The two forest types are extremes of crown-cover density, i.e., closed dry evergreen forest (DEF) and open dry deciduous forest (DDF), suggesting marked spatial variation in forest site conditions such as soil moisture. Monthly changes in LAI were estimated indirectly using a plant canopy analyzer and hemispherical photographs. Both methods of LAI estimation showed instrument errors, i.e., low reproducibility in the plant canopy analyzer data and LAI-saturation in hemispherical photograph data; nevertheless, LAI values differed between DEF and DDF. The average LAI from three years of measurements was about 4.6 times higher in DEF than in DDF. DDF exhibited much greater seasonality than DEF. The annual minimum LAI averaged 76% and 84% of the annual maximum LAI for DDF and DEF, respectively. LAI showed high peaks in the rainy season and decreased in the dry season. However, in DEF, LAI decreased twice annually, at the beginning of the dry season and the beginning of the rainy season. Seasonal changes in LAI could be approximated using a third-degree Fourier-series equation.

The effect of pentobarbital sodium (PB) on noradrenaline (NA) release in the medial preoptic area was studied in ovariectomized rats by a microdialysis method coupled to HPLC. Dialyzates were collected at 6-min intervals before and after the injection in freely moving rats. PB injected i.p. at a dose of 35 mg/kg caused a marked, approximately 40-50% decrease in NA release, which became evident 50 min after the injection and lasted for another 60 min during which the observation was performed. The results suggest that the anesthetic effect of barbiturates is related to the reduction in NA release in the brain.

We evaluated the effect of the beta-adrenergic receptor blocking agent nadolol on serum levels of free thyroid hormones in 20 untreated patients with Graves' disease, aged between 17 and 57 years (mean +/- SD, 32.9 +/- 10.5). All the patients were treated with 30 mg of nadolol alone once-daily for 2 weeks, and clinical and laboratory parameters before and after the treatment were compared. Systolic blood pressure was depressed significantly (P0.001) from 132.7 +/- 11.1 mmHg to 122.8 +/- 10.9 mmHg. The resting pulse rate was also reduced significantly (from 110.3 +/- 9.2/min to 86.0 +/- 13.2/min, P0.001). Serum free thyroxine levels were reduced significantly from 7.1 +/- 3.1 ng/dl to 5.7 +/- 3.6 ng/dl (P0.05) and serum free triiodothyronine levels were reduced from 21.9 +/- 5.6 pg/ml to 17.2 +/- 6.9 pg/ml (P0.01). In the present study, the beta-adrenergic receptor blocking agent nadolol was newly found to have a reducing effect on serum free thyroxine, as well as free triiodothyronine concentrations.

An autopsy case of renal cell carcinoma with extensive peliosis hepatis is reported. The patient was a 34-year-old female, who had had a left nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma but died of multiple metastases one year and 4 months after surgery, despite chemotherapy and interferon treatment. At autopsy, the liver was enlarged markedly with multiple metastatic nodules and the non-neoplastic hepatic parenchyma had a spongy appearance, due to diffusely scattered, blood-filled cystic lesions. Histological examination showed the oval to irregular shaped blood-filled spaces were lined by hepatic cell cords and located mainly in the periportal area. In addition, almost all of the sinusoids were dilated and communicated with the cystic blood-filled spaces, which also communicated directly with branches of the portal veins at various levels. Several interlobular portal branches were obstructed. The causative mechanism of peliosis hepatis has yet to be elucidated, although some causative conditions have been proposed. In this case, renal cell carcinoma may have caused the sinusoidal dilatation and the vascular changes in the portal areas, such as obstruction of terminal portal branches, may have contributed to its formation.