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The spatial search problem aims to find a marked vertex of a finite graph using a dynamic with two constraints: (1) The walker has no compass and (2) the walker can check whether a vertex is marked only after reaching it. This problem is a generalization of unsorted database search and has many applications to algorithms. Classical algorithms that solve the spatial search problem are based on random walks and the computational complexity is determined by the hitting time. On the other hand, quantum algorithms are based on quantum walks and the computational complexity is determined not only by the number of steps to reach a marked vertex, but also by the success probability, since we need to perform a measurement at the end of the algorithm to determine the walker's position. In this work, we address the spatial search problem on Johnson graphs using the coined quantum walk model. Since Johnson graphs are vertex- and distance-transitive, we have found an invariant subspace of the Hilbert space, which aids in the calculation of the computational complexity. We have shown that, for every fixed diameter, the asymptotic success probability is $1/2$ after taking $\pi\sqrt N/(2\sqrt 2)$ steps, where $N$ is the number of vertices of the Johnson graph., Comment: 15 pages

The ocean is suffering the adverse effects of climate change and intense human activities. When addressing these ocean risks, ensuring sufficient finance to sustain the marine ecosystem and resources is an ever-present challenge. Blue finance is a crucial tool to ensure ocean sustainability, aligned with economic growth. This article provides a conceptual understanding of this emerging concept and explores the potential of using legal and institutional mechanisms to increase investment in ocean development programs. By reviewing existing blue financing practices and identifying opportunities and challenges, we find the significant challenge is to develop connections between all stakeholders to illustrate potential incentives for increasing private investment and public donations. As such, we propose a regulatory-driven financing mechanism incorporating the core concepts of blue finance in the context of marine governance, both at the international and domestic levels. Our proposed approach would boost blue financing by seeking a balance between economic growth and ocean sustainability.

In this study, n-type SiC Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) with various doping concentrations ([Formula: see text]–[Formula: see text]) were fabricated, and their forward and reverse current–voltage ( I– V) characteristics were analyzed focusing on tunneling current. Numerical calculation with the fundamental formula of tunneling current gives good agreement with experimental forward and reverse I– V curves in the heavily doped SiC SBDs ([Formula: see text]). The analysis of the energy where electron tunneling most frequently occurs revealed that field emission (FE) tunneling dominates conduction instead of thermionic field emission (TFE) under a higher electric field in reverse-biased heavily doped SiC SBDs, while forward I– V characteristics are described only by TFE. In addition, the critical electric field for the TFE–FE transition is quantitatively clarified by carefully considering the sharply changing electric field distribution in SiC with a high donor concentration.

To report experience with focal brachytherapy (FB) and compare its clinical outcomes with those of radical prostatectomy (RP) in localized prostate cancer.Fifty-one patients with low- to intermediate-risk prostate cancer underwent low-dose-rate FB. Survival rates free from biochemical failure (BF), additional treatment (AT) including re-FB, and whole-gland or systemic salvage therapy (ST) were calculated and oncological risk factors were investigated. Patient-reported outcomes on genitourinary function were also assessed. Using propensity scoring, 51 pair-matched RP patients were selected. Oncological control, urinary continence, and ejaculation status after FB and RP were compared.During a median 5.7-year follow-up, BF, AT, and ST occurred in 12 (24%), 10 (20%), and 4 FB patients (8%), respectively. 6 of 10 AT patients were managed with re-FB alone. In the RP cohort, 3 patients (6%) underwent ST. 5-year BF-free survival rate after FB was 79%. Compared to 5-year ST-free survival rate of 94% after RP, ST-free and AT-free survival rates after FB were 93% (P = 0.813) and 87% (P = 0.049), respectively. Multivariate analyses of FB-treated patients showed that time to PSA nadir was negatively associated with BF and AT (hazard ratio 0.84 and 0.83, respectively, P0.001 for each). The difference in oncological outcomes between low- and intermediate-risk categories was not significant. At 2 years after FB and RP, pad-free continence rates were 100% and 81%, respectively (P = 0.001). Ejaculation was preserved in 67% and 0% of patients who had been capable of ejaculation at baseline, respectively (P0.001).In low- to intermediate-risk prostate cancer, FB-treated patients achieved superior genitourinary function compared to pair-matched RP patients. The need for ST was not substantially different between the 2 treatment cohorts. Over half of patients requiring AT could be managed by re-focal treatment rather than whole-gland ST. Early PSA nadir may predict poor oncological control after FB.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a common cancer that is increasing in incidence because of the increased prevalence of risk factors, including tobacco use, hypertension, and obesity, and the improved detection of these tumors due to increased use of imaging. Localized renal cancer now accounts for more than 60%-70% of new RCC cases. Renal masses suggestive of cancer include enhancing solid renal lesions and Bosniak III and IV complex cystic lesions. Most of these tumors are detected incidentally, and many are slow growing with little propensity to metastasize. Radiologists have a vital role in evaluation of these tumors and subsequent patient counseling. Options for managing RCC include radical nephrectomy (RN), partial nephrectomy (PN), thermal ablation, and active surveillance. However, historically, the use of these strategies has varied among practices. Improved understanding of the biologic features of these tumors and data indicating the heterogeneous clinical course of many clinically localized renal tumors led to the development of the American Urological Association (AUA) Localized Renal Cancer Panel Guidelines in 2009, and these guidelines were updated in 2017. The format of the updated guidelines has moved from management recommendations based on index patients to individualized decision making, taking into account patient age and comorbidities, tumor characteristics, and important renal function considerations. A distinct role for RN is defined for cases of tumors with increased oncologic potential in patients with a normal contralateral kidney. Beyond this, nephron-sparing options, particularly PN, should be a priority. The updated guidelines also recommend increased use of renal mass biopsy, thermal ablation, and active surveillance in appropriately selected patients. The 2017 AUA guidelines are reviewed, with emphasis on the implications for practicing radiologists. ©RSNA, 2018.

Objectives To evaluate the trends and safety of robot-assisted partial nephrectomy during the initial 2-year period after government approval for this type of procedure in April 2016. Methods This nationwide retrospective study included 3722 received robot-assisted partial nephrectomy cases carried out from April 2016 to March 2018 in 124 participating institutions. The institutions were divided into lower- and higher-volume institutions according to the median of 19 robot-assisted partial nephrectomy cases during the study period. Surgical outcomes between 616 cases from lower-volume institutions and 3106 cases from higher-volume institutions were compared using propensity score matching. Results During the study period, both the number of robot-assisted partial nephrectomy surgeries and the number of institutions in which the surgery was carried out steadily increased. Overall, the median anesthesia time was 217 min, the median postoperative length of stay was 9 days, and the proportion of blood transfusions, complications and readmissions were 0.8%, 5.1% and 1.0%, respectively. There were no significant differences in anesthesia time, incidence of blood transfusions, and complication rates between the lower-volume and higher-volume institutions. However, a slightly, but significantly, longer postoperative length of stay and a lower incidence of readmission were observed in lower-volume institutions both before and after propensity score matching. Conclusions Robot-assisted partial nephrectomy has become widespread during the initial 2-year period after government approval with an acceptable safety profile, regardless of the institutional caseloads. This technique has become a standard of care for stage 1 renal cancer patients in Japan.

Streptococcus pneumoniae causes pneumonia by infecting the alveolar epithelium via binding to host receptors, such as the platelet-activating factor receptor (PAFR). Although chronic periodontitis has been identified as a pneumonia risk factor, how periodontopathic bacteria cause pneumonia is not known. We found that S. pneumoniae adhered to PAFR expressed on A549 human alveolar epithelial cells stimulated by Porphyromonas gingivalis culture supernatant, and this was abrogated by a PAFR-specific inhibitor. Among the major virulence factors of P. gingivalis (lipopolysaccharide, fimbriae and gingipains [Rgps and Kgp]), PAFR expression and pneumococcal adhesion were executed in an Rgp-dependent manner. Lipopolysaccharide and fimbriae did not induce PAFR expression. Hence, our findings suggest that P. gingivalis enhances pneumococcal adhesion to human alveoli by inducing PAFR expression and that gingipains are responsible for this.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy and safety profiles of first-line etoposide, ifosfamide and cisplatin and primary prophylaxis with pegfilgrastim as first-line chemotherapy for disseminated germ cell cancer. METHODS This study reviewed 154 consecutive patients with previously untreated disseminated germ cell cancer who received first-line etoposide, ifosfamide and cisplatin between 1995 and 2020. Of these, 54 patients were managed with primary prophylaxis using pegfilgrastim (primary prophylaxis group), and 100 were managed with the therapeutic use of short-acting granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (non-primary prophylaxis group). RESULTS The International Germ Cell Cancer Collaborative Group classification identified 90 (58%)/40 (26%)/24 (16%) patients with good/intermediate/poor prognosis, respectively. Overall, 139 patients (90%) were disease free after etoposide, ifosfamide and cisplatin with/without post-chemotherapy surgery. The median relative dose intensity of etoposide, ifosfamide and cisplatin was 96%, and there was a significant difference between the primary prophylaxis and non-primary prophylaxis groups (100% vs 90%, P

We investigate near-Fermi-energy (${E}_{F}$) element-specific electronic and spin states of ferromagnetic van der Waals (vdW) metal ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{5}\mathrm{Ge}{\mathrm{Te}}_{2}$. The soft x-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SX-ARPES) measurement provides spectroscopic evidence of localized Fe $3d$ band. We also find prominent hybridization between the localized Fe $3d$ band and the delocalized Ge/Te $p$ bands. This picture is strongly supported from direct observation of the remarkable spin polarization of the ligand $p$ bands near ${E}_{F}$, using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements. The strength of XMCD signal from ligand element Te shows the highest value, as far as we recognize, among literature reporting finite XMCD signal for nonmagnetic element in any systems. Combining SX-ARPES and elemental selective XMCD measurements, we collectively point to an important role of giant spin polarization of the delocalized ligand Te states for realizing itinerant long-range ferromagnetism in ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{5}\mathrm{Ge}{\mathrm{Te}}_{2}$. Our finding provides a fundamental elemental selective viewpoint for understanding mechanism of itinerant ferromagnetism in low-dimensional compounds, which also leads to insight for designing exotic magnetic states by interfacial band engineering in heterostructures.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the incidence of perioperative infections without antimicrobial prophylaxis in patients undergoing clean surgeries for adrenal and renal tumors. METHODS We prospectively enrolled 1362 consecutive patients who underwent minimally invasive adrenalectomy (n = 303), radical nephrectomy (n = 499), and partial nephrectomy (n = 560) using the gasless laparoendoscopic single-port surgery technique between 2005 and 2019. In 1059 patients, antimicrobial prophylaxis was not administered. The remaining 303 patients were considered at high risk for infection and received single-dose antimicrobial prophylaxis. The endpoint was the incidence of perioperative infections within 1 month from the surgery date. Perioperative infections were classified into surgical site infections, urinary tract infections, and remote infections. RESULTS Seventy-four patients whose collecting systems were opened during partial nephrectomy were excluded, and the remaining 1013 patients with nonuse of antimicrobial prophylaxis and 275 patients with single-dose antimicrobial prophylaxis were retrospectively analyzed. The incidence of superficial surgical site infections, deep/organ-space surgical site infections, urinary tract infections, and remote infections was 1.6%, 0.7%, 2.8%, and 1.3%, respectively, in patients with nonuse of antimicrobial prophylaxis and 0.4%, 1.8%, 1.5%, and 1.5%, respectively, in patients with single-dose antimicrobial prophylaxis. All patients who developed perioperative infections were successfully treated. No clinical or surgical variables were significantly associated with the incidence of surgical site infections. One limitation of the present study was its nonrandomized and noncontrolled design. CONCLUSIONS In minimally invasive clean surgeries for adrenal and renal tumors, antimicrobial prophylaxis is not necessary when individual risk of infection is considered low.

The rotational Brownian motion of colloidal spheres in dense suspensions reflects local hydrodynamics and contact forces, which are both key to nonlinear rheological phenomena such as shear-thickening and jamming, and transport in crowded environments, including intracellular migration and blood flow. To fully elucidate the role of rotational dynamics experimentally, it is crucial to measure the translational and rotational motion of all spheres simultaneously. Here, we directly access hydrodynamic and frictional coupling in colloidal suspensions up to arbitrarily high volume fractions using compositionally uniform colloidal spheres with an off-center, fully embedded core. We reveal interparticle hydrodynamic rotation-rotation coupling in charged colloidal crystals. We also find that higher local crystallinity in denser hard-sphere crystalline sediments enhances rotational diffusivity and that nearly arrested particles exhibit a stick-slip rotational motion due to frictional coupling. Our findings shed new light on the largely unexplored, local rotational dynamics of spherical particles in dense particulate materials.

The status of our basic understanding of the physics and structure of glasses is presented in the light of recent developments in the experimental, phenomenological, and numerical approach to the description of real systems. Spontaneous and induced dynamic heterogeneities appear in the supercooled state of liquids and become frozen intact below the glass transition point. In most cases, mesoscopic heterogeneities due to partial microphase separation are frozen in glasses. Thus, glasses can be described as dynamically arrested heterogeneous supercooled liquids with more solid-like and liquid-like nanoscale regions. The critical issue is that, depending on material type and temperature, the heterogeneities exhibit different size distributions with the solid-like regions probably displaying a degree of hidden quasi-order. This scenario naturally explains some of the important physical properties of real glasses. FullText for HTML: https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/133/56002

The therapeutic benefit of immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy is limited to a subset of patients in urothelial carcinoma (UC). Previous studies showed the immunogenicity of cisplatin and irradiation. Here, we investigated whether chemoradiotherapy (CRT), a combination of cisplatin and irradiation, could improve the efficacy of postirradiation anti&ndash, programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) treatment in UC. In our advanced UC patient cohort, patients with CRT showed a significantly better objective response rate (75%/22%) and overall survival (88%/30% at 12 months) following later pembrolizumab therapy compared to those without. Then, we created syngeneic UC mouse models by inoculating MB49 cells s.c. in C57BL/6J mice to examine the potential of CRT to enhance antitumor immunity in conjunction with postirradiation anti&ndash, PD-1 treatment. Nonirradiated tumors of the mice treated with CRT/postirradiation anti&ndash, PD-1 treatment had a significantly slower growth rate and a significantly higher expression of cytotoxic T cells compared to those of the mice treated with anti&ndash, PD-1 treatment alone. The mice treated with CRT/postirradiation anti&ndash, PD-1 treatment showed the best survival. Mechanistically, CRT provoked strong direct cytotoxicity and increased expressions of immunogenic cell death markers in MB49 cells. Therefore, the combination of cisplatin and irradiation induces immunogenic cell death and potentiates postirradiation anti&ndash, PD-1 treatment efficacy in UC.

Scaffolds are certain tensors arising in the study of association schemes, and have been (implicitly) understood diagrammatically as digraphs with distinguished "root" nodes and with matrix edge weights, often taken from Bose-Mesner algebras. In this paper, we first present a slight modification of Martin's conjecture (2021) concerning a duality of scaffolds whose digraphs are embedded in a closed disk in the plane with root nodes all lying on the boundary circle, and then show that this modified conjecture holds true if we restrict ourselves to the class of translation association schemes, i.e., those association schemes that admit abelian regular automorphism groups., Comment: 13 pages

To evaluate the clinical characteristics of genuine- and induced-oligometastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (OM-CRPC) and assess the therapeutic effect of progressive-site directed therapy (PSDT). We performed a retrospective analysis of 45 patients with OM-CRPC. Whole-body diffusion-weighted MRI (WB-DWI) was used to diagnose oligo-progressive disease. Based on the clinical and radiological findings, the OM-CRPCs were classified as genuine or induced. PSDT was performed with the intent to ablate all the progressive sites detected on WB-DWI with radiotherapy. Systemic therapy remained unchanged during and after PSDT. A total of 31 (69%) and 14 (31%) patients were diagnosed with genuine- and induced-OM-CRPC, respectively. The genuine-OM-CRPC group had significantly fewer patients treated with taxane-based chemotherapy and new hormonal drugs than the induced-OM-CRPC group. Of these, 26 OM-CRPC patients were treated with PSDT, and a 50% PSA decline was observed in 14 (93%) of 15 patients with genuine-OM-CRPC and 4 (36%) of 11 patients with induced-OM-CRPC (P = 0.033). Further, the duration of PSA-progression-free survival was significantly longer in the genuine-OM-CRPC group than in the induced-OM-CRPC group (8.7 vs. 5.8 months, P = 0.040). PSDT can be a promising treatment option for genuine-OM-CRPC. The procedure might also be considered effective for induced-OM-CRPC, although there was less therapeutic benefit of PSDT in patients with induced-OM-CRPC than in patients with genuine-OM-CRPC.

We show a unique route of colloid gelation where topological percolation generates little mechanical stress., Phase separation often leads to gelation in soft and biomatter. For colloidal suspensions, we have a consensus that gels form by the dynamical arrest of phase separation. In this gelation, percolation of the phase-separated structure occurs before the dynamical arrest, leading to the generation of mechanical stress in the gel network. Here, we find a previously unrecognized type of gelation in dilute colloidal suspensions, in which percolation occurs after the local dynamical arrest, i.e., the formation of mechanically stable, rigid clusters. Thus, topological percolation generates little mechanical stress, and the resulting gel is almost stress-free when formed. We also show that the selection of these two types of gelation (stressed and stress-free) is determined solely by the volume fraction as long as the interaction is short-ranged. This universal classification of gelation of particulate systems may have a substantial impact on material and biological science.

Two or more liquid states may exist even for single-component substances, which is known as liquid polymorphism, and the transition between them is called liquid–liquid transition (LLT). On the other hand, the existence of two or more amorphous states is called polyamorphism, and the transition between them is called amorphous–amorphous transition (AAT). Recently, we have accumulated a lot of experimental and numerical evidence for LLT and AAT. These intriguing phenomena provide crucial information on the fundamental nature of liquid and amorphous states. Here, we review the recent progress in this field and discuss how we can physically rationalize the existence of two or more liquids (glasses) for a single-component substance. We also discuss the relationship between liquid-, amorphous-, and crystal-polymorphisms, putting a particular focus on the roles of thermodynamics, mechanics, and kinetics.

The gelation of colloidal particles interacting through a short-range attraction is widely recognized as a consequence of the dynamic arrest of phase separation into colloid-rich and solvent-rich phases. However, the microscopic origin behind the slowing down and dynamic arrest of phase separation remains elusive. In order to access microscopic structural changes through the entire process of gelation in a continuous fashion, we used core–shell fluorescent colloidal particles, laser scanning confocal microscopy, and a unique experimental protocol that allows us to initiate phase separation instantaneously and gently. Combining these enables us to track the trajectories of individual particles seamlessly during the whole phase-separation process from the early stage to the late arresting stage. We reveal that the enhancement of local packing and the resulting formation of locally stable rigid structures slow down the phase-separation process and arrest it to form a gel with an average coordination number of z = 6–7. This result supports a mechanical perspective on the dynamic arrest of sticky-sphere systems based on the microstructure, replacing conventional explanations based on the macroscopic vitrification of the colloid-rich phase. Our findings illuminate the microscopic mechanisms behind the dynamic arrest of colloidal phase separation, the emergence of mechanical rigidity, and the stability of colloidal gels.

The analytical formula of the transmission function of the inter-layer intra-band tunneling is derived for coupled narrow two-dimensional materials. Analytical models of the intra-band tunneling conductance G, the transmission function of the inter-layer band-to-band tunneling, and the maximum band-to-band tunneling current I max, are also obtained. G and I max are shown to exhibit different characteristics depending on the channel length.

The Terwilliger algebra $T(x)$ of a finite connected simple graph $\Gamma$ with respect to a vertex $x$ is the complex semisimple matrix algebra generated by the adjacency matrix $A$ of $\Gamma$ and the diagonal matrices $E_i^*(x)=\operatorname{diag}(v_i)$ $(i=0,1,2,\dots)$, where $v_i$ denotes the characteristic vector of the set of vertices at distance $i$ from $x$. The twisted Grassmann graph $\tilde{J}_q(2D+1,D)$ discovered by Van Dam and Koolen in 2005 has two orbits of the automorphism group on its vertex set, and it is known that one of the orbits has the property that $T(x)$ is thin whenever $x$ is chosen from it, i.e., every irreducible $T(x)$-module $W$ satisfies $\dim E_i^*(x)W\leqslant 1$ for all $i$. In this paper, we determine all the irreducible $T(x)$-modules of $\tilde{J}_q(2D+1,D)$ for this "thin" case., Comment: 22 pages

Patients with ulcerative colitis or colonic Crohn’s disease have a significantly increased risk of developing colorectal cancer. Bovine lactoferrin (bLF) reportedly inhibited the development of colon cancer in rats and mice, and in a placebo controlled trial, ingestion of bLF inhibited the growth of intestinal polyps. In addition, in a case study, a patient with Crohn’s disease was reported to have remained in remission for over 7 years while ingesting 1 g of bLF daily. Thus, bLF has an inhibitory effect on colon carcinogenesis, and it may also promote remission of Crohn’s disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of bLF in a mouse model of colorectal cancer related to irritable bowel disease (IBD). The mice were divided into 4 groups: (i) no treatment; (ii) treated with bLF only; (iii) treated with azoxymethane plus dextran sulfate sodium (AOM + DSS); and (iv) treated with AOM + DSS + bLF. AOM was used to initiate intestinal cancer, and DSS was used to induce IBD-like inflammation in the intestine of the C57BL/6 mice. At the end of the study, the mice treated with AOM + DSS + bLF had a better fecal score, fewer lesions in the colon, and less weight loss than the mice treated with AOM + DSS without bLF. However, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups with respect to tumor burden.

A 78-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of esophageal cancer and gastric cancer. Gastroscopy showed a type 2 tumor located in the cardia from the lower esophagus, and a pathological examination showed malignant melanoma. Based on the physical examination and other imaging tests, the patient was diagnosed with primary amelanotic malignant melanoma of the esophagus, but the tumor was unresectable due to extensive lymph node metastasis. According to the guideline, immune checkpoint inhibitor(nivolumab)was used for treatment, but because the tumor progressed after 2 courses and the performance status of the patient worsened, aggressive treatment was ended. Six weeks after finishing treatment, computed tomography showed that the tumor had shrunk to some extent. The patient ultimately died from aspiration pneumonia 4 months after the first consultation. The patient was thought to have had an immune-related adverse event, with the tumor showing pseudoprogression.

Sarcopenia, the degenerative and systemic loss of skeletal muscle mass, is a multifactorial syndrome reflecting frailty, poor general health status, and the possible presence of cancer cachexia. Here, we aimed to investigate the effect of sarcopenia on the efficacy of pembrolizumab in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC). This retrospective study included 28 patients with aUC treated with pembrolizumab as a second or later-line therapy. Sarcopenia was determined based on computed tomography images. Associations of sarcopenia with objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. In total, 19 (68%) patients had sarcopenia. ORR was 21% in the patients with sarcopenia, while those without sarcopenia showed significantly higher ORR (67%, P = 0.019). PFS was significantly shorter in patients with sarcopenia than in those without (median, 3 vs. 15 months, P = 0.038). Although the statistical significance was not reached, OS was shorter in patients with sarcopenia than in those without (median, 7 months vs. not reached; P = 0.086). Our preliminary results demonstrated that more than half of patients with aUC who received pembrolizumab had sarcopenia, which was significantly associated with poor therapeutic efficacy. This indicates the clinical relevance of sarcopenia in pembrolizumab therapy for patients with aUC.

Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) is generally an opportunistic oral pathogen that adheres to mammalian mucosal sites, triggering a host inflammatory response. In general, Fn is normally found within the human oral cavity; however, it was previously reported that Fn is a risk factor for certain respiratory diseases. Surprisingly, this was never fully elucidated. Here, we investigated the virulence potential of heat-killed Fn on primary human tracheal, bronchial, and alveolar epithelial cells. In this study, we measured the secretion of inflammatory- (IL-8 and IL-6), stress- (total heme and hydrogen peroxide), and cell death-related (caspase-1 and caspase-3) signals. We established that the inflammatory response mechanism varies in each epithelial cell type: (1) along tracheal cells, possible Fn adherence would trigger increased heme secretion and regulated inflammatory response; (2) along bronchial cells, potential Fn adherence would simultaneously initiate an increase in secreted H2O2 and inflammatory response (ascribable to decreased secreted heme amounts); and (3) along alveolar cells, putative Fn adherence would instigate the increased secretion of inflammatory responses attributable to a decrease in secreted heme levels. Moreover, regardless of the epithelial cell-specific inflammatory mechanism, we believe these are putative, not harmful. Taken together, we propose that any potential Fn-driven inflammation along the respiratory tract would be initiated by differing epithelial cell-specific inflammatory mechanisms that are collectively dependent on secreted heme.

We reveal a spatiotemporal fluctuation of local orders inside intermediates during colloidal crystallization., Most systems have more than two stable crystalline states in the phase diagram, which is known as polymorphism. Crystallization in such a system is often under strong influence of competing orderings linked to those crystals. However, how such competition affects crystal nucleation and ordering toward the final crystalline state is largely unknown. This is primarily because the competition takes place locally and thus is masked by large positional fluctuations. We develop a unique method to correctly identify local symmetries by removing their distortions due to positional fluctuations. This allows us to experimentally access the spatiotemporal fluctuations of local symmetries at a single-particle level in crystallization of a charged colloidal system near the body-centered cubic–face-centered cubic border. Thus, we successfully reveal the crucial roles of competing ordering in the initial selection of polymorphs and the final grain boundary motion toward the most stable state from a microscopic perspective.

Surgical resection is commonly performed for augmented bladder cancer, yet an optimal treatment strategy for augmented bladder cancer with lymph node metastasis has not been established. Here, we report a case that achieved 7 years of survival after radical cystectomy and mesenteric lymph node dissection for squamous cell carcinoma arising from augmented bladder with lymph node metastasis. Extended surgery could be a useful treatment option for locally advanced augmented bladder cancer including mesenteric lymph node metastasis.

Relative $t$-designs in the $n$-dimensional hypercube $\mathcal{Q}_n$ are equivalent to weighted regular $t$-wise balanced designs, which generalize combinatorial $t$-$(n,k,\lambda)$ designs by allowing multiple block sizes as well as weights. Partly motivated by the recent study on tight Euclidean $t$-designs on two concentric spheres, in this paper we discuss tight relative $t$-designs in $\mathcal{Q}_n$ supported on two shells. We show under a mild condition that such a relative $t$-design induces the structure of a coherent configuration with two fibers. Moreover, from this structure we deduce that a polynomial from the family of the Hahn hypergeometric orthogonal polynomials must have only integral simple zeros. The Terwilliger algebra is the main tool to establish these results. By explicitly evaluating the behavior of the zeros of the Hahn polynomials when they degenerate to the Hermite polynomials under an appropriate limit process, we prove a theorem which gives a partial evidence that the non-trivial tight relative $t$-designs in $\mathcal{Q}_n$ supported on two shells are rare for large $t$., Comment: 37 pages

A key question in glass physics is what the origin of slow glassy dynamics is. The liquid structure is a natural candidate; however, an apparently severe counterexample has been known. Two model glass-forming liquids, with the standard Lennard-Jones interaction potential and its Weeks-Chandler-Andersen variation without the attractive tail, exhibit very similar structures at the two-body level but drastically different dynamical behaviors in the supercooled states. Here we look at the liquid structure through a (many-body) structural order parameter Θ characterizing the packing capability of local particle arrangements. We show that the structures of these two systems seen by Θ are actually very different at a many-body level, but, quite surprisingly, the macroscopic structure (Θ)-dynamics (τ_{α}) relationships commonly follow a Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann-like function. Furthermore, the mutual information analysis reveals strong local structure-dynamics correlations. Therefore, we conclude that attractive interactions affect the liquid structure in a nonperturbative manner, but a general structural origin of slow dynamics holds for these systems.

A 79-year-old male presented with right inguinal mass and right leg pain. Laparoscopic right hemicolectomy was performed for transverse colon cancer(type 1, muc, pSS, pN1a, pStage Ⅲa)3 years and 6 months ago. We resected the mass located in the spermatic cord and reconstructed it using the Direct Kugel Patch. Histopathological examination revealed mucinous carcinoma and was diagnosed as a metastatic lesion. Local recurrence was detected in the spermatic cord 1 year after resection, and radical inguinal orchiectomy was performed. Six months after the surgery performed for local recurrence, repeated recurrence was detected in the mesh used for reconstruction. Because this recurrence time was short, the patient opted for chemotherapy; however, this resulted in tumor growth, and surgery had to be scheduled. We performed extended resection of the abdominal wall and reconstruction using the fascia lata tensor muscle flap. Although intestinal obstruction, aspiration pneumonia, and skin flap necrosis were observed, the patient was discharged on the 85th postoperative day and remained alive without recurrence for 17 months. Mucinous carcinoma tends to cause local recurrence and requires adequate surgical margin resection. Extended excision should be considered in such cases of repeated local recurrence without distant metastases.

An association between the development of overall or specific immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and outcomes of immune checkpoint inhibitors has recently been suggested. To address this emerging association in patients with urothelial cancer receiving pembrolizumab, we conducted a multicenter retrospective analysis, which is the first and largest in an Asian cohort as well as a systematic literature review. We retrospectively evaluated 97 patients with advanced urothelial cancer treated with pembrolizumab as second- or later-line treatment between January 2018 and March 2019. irAEs were categorized by the involved organs and graded using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0. Associations between irAEs and pembrolizumab efficacy, including objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS), were evaluated. In our review of the literature, 28 studies, including 9 studies involving patients with urothelial cancer and 19 studies reporting the association between outcomes and spectrum of irAEs, were analyzed. Patients with irAEs had significantly higher ORR (52% vs. 16%, P .01), longer PFS (11.0 months vs. 3.6 months, P .01) and OS (median not reached vs. 13.1 months, P = .12) than in patients without irAEs. Endocrine (P = .02), pneumological (P = .06), and other (gastrointestinal, hematological, hepatic) (P = .04) irAEs were associated with increased ORR, whereas skin irAEs were not. Endocrine irAEs (P = .04) was associated with improved OS, whereas pneumological and skin irAEs were not. The association between the occurrence of irAEs and clinical efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors was consistently supported by the multiple studies we reviewed. The association between clinical outcomes and the spectrum of organs/systems affected by irAEs seems to be inconsistent and could be dependent on tumor type. irAEs were associated with a higher ORR and better survival of patients with advanced urothelial cancer treated with pembrolizumab.

It is believed that the slow liquid diffusion and geometric frustration brought by a rapid, deep quench inhibit fast crystallization and promote vitrification. Here we report fast crystal growth in charged colloidal systems under deep supercooling, where liquid diffusion is extremely low. By combining experiments and simulations, we show that this process occurs via wall-induced barrierless ordering consisting of two coupled steps: the step-like advancement of the rough interface that disintegrates frustration, followed by defect repairing inside the newly formed solid phase. The former is a diffusionless collective process, whereas the latter controls crystal quality. We further show that the intrinsic mechanical instability of a disordered glassy state subject to the crystal growth front allows for domino-like fast crystal growth even at ultra-low temperatures. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of fast crystal growth and may be useful for applications related to vitrification prevention and crystal-quality control.

A space-spanning network structure is a basic morphology in phase separation of soft and biomatter, alongside a droplet one. Despite its fundamental and industrial importance, the physical principle underlying such network-forming phase separation remains elusive. Here, we study the network coarsening during gas-liquid-type phase separation of colloidal suspensions and pure fluids, by hydrodynamic and molecular dynamics simulations, respectively. For both, the detailed analyses of the pore sizes and strain field reveal the self-similar network coarsening and the unconventional power-law growth more than a decade according to ℓ ∝ t1/2, where ℓ is the characteristic pore size and t is the elapsed time. We find that phase-separation dynamics is controlled by mechanical relaxation of the network-forming dense phase, whose limiting process is permeation flow of the solvent for colloidal suspensions and heat transport for pure fluids. This universal coarsening law would contribute to the fundamental physical understanding of network-forming phase separation., The domain growth in phase separation is usually believed to be controlled by material transport. Tateno and Tanaka find that when phase separation causes strong dynamic asymmetry between the two phases, mechanical relaxation dominates and leads to a universally valid scaling law

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Image quantitation facilitates its integration with other data. However, apparent diffusion coefficient value (ADCV) of prostate cancer (PC) is of limited usefulness beca...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Nocturia, which not only lowers quality of life but also increases all-cause mortality, is one of the most distressing symptoms in elderly populations. Nocturia can be ca...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) implantation is the standard treatment for severe male sphincteric urinary incontinence (UI). Although AUS can remarkably improve vario...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Previous studies revealed that androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Limited data suggested that GnRH antagonists were...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:There is little scientific evidence regarding the use of antimicrobial prophylaxis (AMP) in clean urologic surgeries for adrenal and renal tumors. According to the AUA gu...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Mixed reality (MR) is a novel tool that is expected to assist medical imaging. A wearable MR device allows its wearer to view holographic 3-dimensional (3D) images projec...