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A sliding graft copolymer (SGC) with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) side chains was prepared by ester formation between terminal carboxyl groups of oxidized PEG methyl ether with molecular weight of 2000 (mPEG2000-COOH) and hydroxyl groups of a polyrotaxane consisting of PEG and cyclodextrins (CDs). Formation of the SGC structure was confirmed by 1H NMR, attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transformed infrared, and gel permeation chromatography. The SGC was soluble in good solvents of PEG and insoluble in poor solvents of PEG. Estimation of the number of grafted mPEG chains suggested a 'rope-curtain' like structure, in which an mPEG chain is connected to each CD ring. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several areas of the macaque brain are known to be related to the reward during the performance of saccadic eye-movement tasks. Neurons in the supplementary eye field (SEF) have been reported to be involved in the prediction and detection of a reward. We describe a group of neurons in the SEF that became active during the period of reward delivery after saccades toward a specific direction, but showed weaker activity in other directions, although the same amount of reward was given in each direction. Moreover, this directional reward activity was modulated by the reward size. Our results demonstrate that the SEF cells may reflect both reward amount and target positions toward which a movement was rewarded, and suggest that they may play an important role in providing information about the value of each saccade according to the spatial target location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prediction of RNA structure from sequence remains an unsolved problem, and progress has been slowed by a paucity of experimental data. Here, we present Ribonanza, a dataset of chemical mapping measurements on two million diverse RNA sequences collected through Eterna and other crowdsourced initiatives. Ribonanza measurements enabled solicitation, training, and prospective evaluation of diverse deep neural networks through a Kaggle challenge, followed by distillation into a single, self-contained model called RibonanzaNet. When fine tuned on auxiliary datasets, RibonanzaNet achieves state-of-the-art performance in modeling experimental sequence dropout, RNA hydrolytic degradation, and RNA secondary structure, with implications for modeling RNA tertiary structure.

Purpose: This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effects of implant placement sites on the biomechanical behavior of implant-assisted removable partial dentures (IARPDs) using finite element analysis (FEA)., Study Selection: Two reviewers independently conducted manual searches of the PubMed, Scopus, and ProQuest databases for articles investigating implant location in IARPDs using FEA, according to the 2020 Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses statement. Studies published in English up to August 1, 2022, were included in the analysis based on the critical question., Results: Seven articles meeting the inclusion criteria were systematically reviewed. Six studies investigated mandibular Kennedy Class I and one study investigated mandibular Kennedy Class II. Implant placement reduced the displacement and stress distribution of the IARPD components, including dental implants and abutment teeth, regardless of the Kennedy Class type and dental implant placement site. Most of the included studies showed that, based on the biomechanical behavior, the molar region, rather than the premolar region, is the preferred implant placement site. None of the selected studies investigated the maxillary Kennedy Class I and II., Conclusions: Based on the FEA regarding mandibular IARPDs, we concluded that implant placement in both the premolar and molar regions improves the biomechanical behaviors of IARPD components, regardless of the Kennedy Class. Implant placement in the molar region results in more suitable biomechanical behaviors compared with implant placement in the premolar region in Kennedy Class I. No conclusion was reached for Kennedy Class II due to the lack of relevant studies.

Objective: To cross-sectionally assess erectile and ejaculatory functions after tetramodal bladder-sparing therapy consisting of transurethral resection, chemoradiotherapy, and consolidative partial cystectomy in patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer., Materials and Methods: Among 72 enrolled male patients who underwent tetramodal bladder-sparing therapy from 2006 to 2019, 42 who visited the outpatient clinic from February to October 2020 received questionnaires. Erectile function, ejaculatory function, and quality of life were assessed using the International Index of Erectile Function short form, the Male Sexual Health Questionnaire Ejaculatory Dysfunction short form, and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy., Results: Among the 42 patients, 9 were excluded because of incomplete responses and 33 were eligible for analyses. The median (range) age at survey and the time from treatment completion to responding to the questionnaires was 70 (50-87) years and 4.2 (0.4-14.0) years, respectively. The median International Index of Erectile Function short form-5 score was 11 (5-25), and 3 (9.1%) and 9 (27.3%) patients had no and mild erectile dysfunction, respectively. The Male Sexual Health Questionnaire Ejaculatory Dysfunction short form results showed that 23 (69.7%) patients responded that they could ejaculate. Patients with higher Male Sexual Health Questionnaire Ejaculatory Dysfunction short form scores had better erectile function and quality of life than those with lower Male Sexual Health Questionnaire Ejaculatory Dysfunction short form scores., Conclusion: Preservation of erectile and ejaculatory functions was demonstrated in muscle invasive bladder cancer patients treated with tetramodal bladder-sparing therapy. In addition to lower urinary tract function, preservation of male sexual function, especially ejaculatory function, in bladder-sparing therapy can be an advantage over radical cystectomy.

Objective: To evaluate the time course of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) after artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) implantation based on individual longitudinal changes of patient-reported outcomes., Methods: This retrospective study included 66 male patients with severe urinary incontinence who were treated with primary AUS implantation between 2009 and 2019. International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF) and International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) questionnaires were used to evaluate continence status and LUTS preoperatively, 1, 3, and 12 months after activation, and then annually. The annual changes in scores were calculated with a linear mixed model., Results: Of the 66 patients, 63 (95%) achieved complete or social continence (number of pads used ≤1/d) at 1 month after activation. Mean preoperative ICIQ-SF, IPSS, and IPSS-quality of life (QOL) score were 18.9, 14.9, and 5.4, respectively; the corresponding scores at 1 month after activation were 4.5, 9.0, and 1.7 (all P < .001), respectively. During the mean follow-up period of 36 months, the annual changes in the scores from 1 month after activation were 0.51 (P = .002), -0.30 (P = .184), and 0.19 (P < .001), respectively. As for individual IPSS items, while incomplete emptying, frequency, urgency, and weak stream improved significantly 1 month after activation, no significant changes from 1 month after activation were observed except for longitudinal deterioration of incomplete emptying score (0.08/y, P = .029)., Conclusion: Continence status and QOL score markedly improved by AUS implantation immediately, but deteriorated over time. Improved LUTS were maintained without a worsening trend, however., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

We report a case of a 75-year-old man with cystic micropapillary neoplasm of peribiliary glands detected preoperatively by radiologic examination. Enhanced computed tomography showed a low-density mass 2.2 cm in diameter in the right hepatic hilum and a cystic lesion around the common hepatic duct. Under a diagnosis of perihilar cholangiocarcinoma, right hepatectomy with caudate lobectomy and bile duct resection were performed. Pathological examination revealed perihilar cholangiocarcinoma mainly involving the right hepatic duct. The cystic lesion was multilocular and covered by columnar lining epithelia exhibiting increased proliferative activity and p53 nuclear expression; it also contained foci of micropapillary and glandular proliferation. Therefore, the lesion was diagnosed as a cystic micropapillary neoplasm of peribiliary glands and resembled flat branch-type intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of the pancreas. Histological examination showed the lesion was discontinuous with the perihilar cholangiocarcinoma. Immunohistochemistry showed the cystic neoplasm was strongly positive for MUC6 and that the cholangiocarcinoma was strongly positive for MUC5AC and S100P. These results suggest these two lesions have different origins. This case warrants further study on whether this type of neoplasm is associated with concomitant cholangiocarcinoma as observed in pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm with concomitant pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma.

The aim of this research is to develop an information support system for tele-auscultation. In auscultation, a doctor requires to understand condition of applying a stethoscope, in addition to auscultatory sounds. The proposed system includes intuitive navigation system of stethoscope operation, in addition to conventional audio streaming system of auscultatory sounds and conventional video conferencing system for telecommunication. Mixed reality technology is applied for intuitive navigation of the stethoscope. Information, such as position, contact condition and breath, is overlaid on a view of the patient's chest. The contact condition of the stethoscope is measured by e-textile contact sensors. The breath is measured by a band type breath sensor. In a simulated tele-auscultation experiment, the stethoscope with the contact sensors and the breath sensor were evaluated. The results show that the presentation of the contact condition was not understandable enough for navigating the stethoscope handling. The time series of the breath phases was usable for the remote doctor to understand the breath condition of the patient.

Increasing evidence suggests that cancers contain a small subset of cancer-initiating cells, so-called cancer stem cells (CSCs) that are capable of regenerating a tumor after chemoradiation therapy. Sphere forming ability is known to be one of properties of CSCs, but the significance remains unclear. The present study focused on sphere formation of human hepatoma cells in three-dimensional culture in order to evaluate the analogy between sphere forming ability and stemness of cancer cells in vitro. Under three-dimensional culture condition, HepG2, Hep3B and PLC/PRF/5 cells demonstrated the sphere formation while SK-Hep1 and Huh-7 cells did not. The population of G0/G1 phase increased in the spheres compared with the monolayer (67 vs. 38%). In spite of no significant difference in stem cell surface markers (CD44, CD90, CD133, EpCAM and ABCG2), remarkable up-regulation of p27 CDK inhibitor was observed in sphere forming cells. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed the nuclear expression of p27 in the whole of the sphere, but weak expression of p21 only at the peripheral area. The spheres acquired chemoresistance to cisplatin compared with the monolayers (58.9 vs. 16.2 µM in IC50). This model was useful for assessment of the role of cell-cycle quiescence in the stemness and chemoresistance of cancer cells.