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The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of radiation for bulk CH3NH3PbBr3 crystals was quantified by using omnidirectional photoluminescence spectroscopy. The angle-resolved photoluminescence revealed that the emission with photon energies higher than the absorption-edge shows a Lambertian distribution and that the light extraction efficiency is determined by the escaping cone. The IQE value strongly depends on the photo-excitation density (P), and a CH3NH3PbBr3 crystal fabricated under the methylammonium-rich conditions gave the maximum IQE of 62.5% under P = 28 W/cm2. A further increase in P gave rise to the decrease in IQE due to the Auger effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prehabilitation during neoadjuvant therapy has the potential to improve clinical outcomes. However, information on its global dissemination status is limited. This Japanese nationwide survey investigated the implementation status of and barriers to prehabilitation during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer in hospitals., Methods: This multicenter nationwide survey was conducted by post. The eligible facilities were 155 Japanese hospitals that had been certified within the last 10 years as authorized institutes for board-certified esophageal surgeons by the Japan Esophageal Society. We administered an original questionnaire to investigate the current status of prehabilitation during NAC., Results: The response rate was 75% (117/155 facilities). Forty-six facilities (39%) provided prehabilitation during NAC. The most frequently selected reasons for not providing or providing insufficient prehabilitation were lack of human resources, issues with the reimbursement of medical fees, difficulty in providing continuous prehabilitation during repeated inpatient and outpatient care, the lack of established standard prehabilitation programs, challenges in providing multidisciplinary prehabilitation, and difficulty in managing physical symptoms., Conclusion: We observed that the implementation rate of prehabilitation during NAC was low. Critical reasons were not only the lack of medical resources but also the lack of evidence-based standard prehabilitation programs during NAC and the lack of evidence for how to continuously deliver prehabilitation during NAC to patients with physical symptoms., (© 2024. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to The Japan Esophageal Society.)

We developed a novel hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection-monitoring system using a luminescent, 11-amino acid reporter (HiBiT). We performed high-throughput antiviral screening using this system to identify anti-HBV compounds. After the infection of primary human hepatocytes with the recombinant virus HiBiT-HBV, which contains HiBiT at its preS1, 1262 compounds were tested in a first screening using extracellular HiBiT activity as an indicator of viral infection. Following a second screening, we focused on the compound skimmianine, which showed a potent antiviral effect. When skimmianine was added at the same time as HiBiT-HBV infection, skimmianine inhibited HiBiT activity with EC 50 of 0.36 pM, CC 50 of 1.67 μM and a selectivity index (CC 50 :EC 50 ratio) of 5,100,000. When skimmianine was added 72 h after HiBiT-HBV infection, the EC 50 , CC 50 and selectivity index were 0.19 μM, 1.87 μM and 8.79, respectively. Time-lapse fluorescence imaging analysis using another recombinant virus, ReAsH-TC155HBV, with the insertion of tetra-cysteine within viral capsid, revealed that skimmianine inhibited the accumulation of the capsid into hepatocytes. Furthermore, skimmianine did not inhibit either attachment or internalization. These results imply that skimmianine inhibits the retrograde trafficking of the virus after internalization. This study demonstrates the usefulness of the recombinant virus, HiBiT-HBV, for high-throughput screening to identify anti-HBV compounds.

Although endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) is beneficial in improving asthma symptoms, its impact on the lung function in patients with asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis remains unclear. We herein report a case of severe asthma with eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis, in which ESS substantially improved airflow limitation and concomitantly reduced fractional exhaled nitric oxide and blood eosinophil counts. ESS likely relieved airflow limitation by suppressing type 2 inflammatory pathways. This case highlights ESS as a promising strategy for achieving clinical remission in patients with severe asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis.

Transparent roofs and walls offer a compelling solution for harnessing natural light. However, traditional glass roofs and walls face challenges such as glare, privacy concerns, and overheating issues. In this study, we present a polymer-based micro-photonic multi-functional metamaterial. The metamaterial diffuses 73% of incident sunlight, creating a more comfortable and private indoor environment. The visible spectral transmittance of the metamaterial (95%) surpasses that of traditional glass (91%). Furthermore, the metamaterial is estimated to enhance photosynthesis efficiency by ~9% compared to glass roofs. With a high emissivity (~0.98) close to that of a mid-infrared black body, the metamaterial is estimated to have a cooling capacity of ~97 W/m 2 at ambient temperature. The metamaterial was about 6 °C cooler than the ambient temperature in humid Karlsruhe. The metamaterial exhibits superhydrophobic performance with a contact angle of 152°, significantly higher than that of glass (26°), thus potentially having excellent self-cleaning properties., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Despite the potential of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) to reduce atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence after radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA), its prescription is not routine. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CR in this setting. Inclusion criteria comprised randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing CR with usual care in patients with AF following RFCA. We performed a comprehensive search of six databases up to August 17, 2023, and conducted a thorough risk of bias assessment. We synthesized safety outcomes using AF recurrence rates to calculate relative risks (RR). Furthermore, we conducted a meta-analysis on peak oxygen uptake (VO 2 peak) and the six-minute walk test (6MWT) to gauge efficacy, utilizing mean differences (MD) for comparison. The GRADE framework was employed to determine the certainty of evidence, with two independent reviewers completing all processes. Our analysis encompassed eight studies with 772 participants aged 55-70 years engaged in moderate-intensity CR for a median of six months. Results showed no significant difference in AF recurrence after CR (RR = 0.69 (0.41-1.14)), with low evidence certainty due to heterogeneity. Subgroup analyses suggested a poor risk reduction effect in patients with obesity and persistent AF. Significant improvements were observed in VO 2 peak and 6MWT outcomes (VO 2 peak; MD = 2.53 (0.78-4.28), 6MWT; MD = 38.81 (0.65-76.97)), with moderate-certainty evidence. While CR may decrease AF recurrence after RFCA, its effectiveness varies, potentially diminishing in patients with obesity or persistent AF. Moderate gains in physical performance were achieved with minimal adverse events. Further RCTs are warranted to confirm these findings., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Kurasawa et al.)

Objective: The mechanical condition and tactile evaluation of skin are essential for the development of skin care products. Most of the existing commercial instruments and studies aim to evaluate the skin surface by pressing it for hardness or by using imaging sensors, but there have been few instrumental measurements employing rubbing motion. Here, we have developed a sensor specialized for tactile sensation and the contact phenomenon during skin rubbing., Methods: The developed sensor has three features: It can measure body parts including cheeks and arms, automate the rubbing motion of the probe and measure vibration and friction simultaneously. It is hand-held, with metal probes that rub the skin surface while rotating under a motor drive; it has an accelerometer and a force sensor beneath the probe measuring vibration and friction forces. To evaluate the validity of the sensor's measurements, artificial skin models were measured using the developed sensor and commercially available sensors and the results were compared. The relationship between the sensor output, surface roughness measurement and sensory evaluation was also investigated. Additionally, we evaluated the inter-rater reliability when measuring actual skin., Results: The measurements of five artificial skin models with different surface shapes showed a high correlation (r = 0.99) between the vibration intensity values evaluated by the developed sensor and those measured by a tri-axial acceleration sensor attached to a fingernail. The correlation coefficient between the vibration intensity values and surface roughness was r = 0.91, and the correlation with the sensory evaluation score of roughness was r = 0.99. The friction coefficients measured by the developed sensor and the force plate had r = 0.93, based on measurements of five artificial skin models with different friction conditions. The inter-rater correlation coefficients between the three participants of the developed sensor were as high as 0.92 and 0.94 for the vibration and friction measurements respectively., Conclusion: The vibration intensities and friction coefficients from the sensor were highly correlated with those of the conventional sensor. The inter-rater reliability was also high. The developed sensor can be useful for tactile evaluation in skin-care product development., (© 2023 Society of Cosmetic Scientists and Societe Francaise de Cosmetologie.)

Electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) by a phase-retarded coupling is theoretically investigated using a dimer composed of a plasmonic and dielectric particle. This phase-retarded coupling originates from the particles interacting with each other through their scattered intermediate fields (in between near and far fields). Our analysis based on the coupled-dipole method and an extended coupled-oscillator model indicates that EIA by the phase-retarded coupling occurs due to constructive interference in the scattered fields of the particles. By employing the finite element method, we demonstrate that the absorption of the plasmonic particle is dramatically enhanced by tuning the interparticle distance and achieving constructive interference. In contrast to EIA by near-field coupling, which has been intensively researched using coupled plasmonic systems, EIA by a phase-retarded coupling enables us to strengthen the absorption of plasmonic systems more significantly. This significant absorption enhancement is expected to be beneficial to advancing various applications, such as energy harvesting and radiative cooling., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Background: Patients with advanced lung cancer tend to experience dyspnea. Pulmonary rehabilitation has been reported as a method for relieving dyspnea. However, exercise therapy imposes a high burden on patients, and it is difficult to sustain in many cases. Inspiratory muscle training (IMT) imposes a relatively low burden on patients with advanced lung cancer; however, its benefits have not been demonstrated., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 71 patients who were hospitalized for medical treatment. The participants were divided into an exercise therapy group and an IMT load + exercise therapy group. Changes in maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) and dyspnea were examined using a two-way repeated measures analysis of variance., Results: MIP variations significantly increase in the IMT load group, with significant differences between baseline and week 1, between week 1 and week 2, and between baseline and week 2. The analysis also showed that the variations in dyspnea decreased in the IMT load + exercise therapy group with significant differences between baseline and week 1 and between baseline and week 2., Conclusions: The results show that IMT is useful and has a high persistence rate in patients with advanced lung cancer who present dyspnea and cannot perform high-intensity exercise therapy.

This paper presents a novel experimental case study in which tactile sensation is analyzed as 4-dimensional subjective data consisting of stimulus, participant, evaluation term, and temporal components, using a temporal measurement approach. Specifically, the skin and lotion interaction was evaluated using the Temporal Check-All-That-Apply (TCATA) method. Two practical analysis examples were conducted to experimentally demonstrate the potential use cases of time-series subjective tactile data. In the first example, stimulus classification accuracy was compared between different sampling periods, including the whole and late periods, with the latter being akin to the conventional Semantic Differential (SD) method condition. The results indicate that the whole and early periods exhibit higher accuracy compared to the latest period, implying that temporal measurements may capture more stimulus characteristics than the conventional approach. In the second example, cluster analysis based on the time-series subjective data was conducted. The results revealed that the participants were classified into two distinct clusters, with the trends of time-series changes being significantly different between the clusters.

Background: Although pulmonary function tests (PFTs) are important in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD), they cannot be easily performed in a primary healthcare setting. This study aimed to examine the usefulness of the difference between pulse oxygen saturation (SpO2) at rest and the lowest SpO2 during the 1-min sit-to-stand test (delta SpO2-1STST) for predicting pulmonary function impairment., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 116 patients with ILD who underwent 1STST and PFTs., Results: The delta SpO2-1STST and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLco) strongly correlated (ρ = 0.70). The delta SpO2-1STST was effective in predicting impaired gas exchange (cut-off value, -4%; AUC, 0.86; sensitivity, 74%; specificity, 87%)., Conclusions: The Delta SpO2-1STST may be a reasonable tool for predicting abnormalities in PFTs., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest K.O. reports the receipt of personal fees (honoraria) from Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd. outside the submitted work. T.K. reports the receipt of personal fees (honoraria) from Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd. outside the submitted work. K.M. (Kazuto Matsunaga) reports the receipt of personal fees (honoraria) from AstraZeneca K.K., GlaxoSmithKline K.K., Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Novartis Pharma K.K., Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd., and Sanofi K.K., outside the submitted work. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2023 The Japanese Respiratory Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Economic and decision-making theories suppose that people would disengage from a task with near zero success probability, because this implicates little normative utility values. However, humans often are motivated for an extremely challenging task, even without any extrinsic incentives. The current study aimed to address the nature of this challenge-based motivation and its neural correlates. We found that, when participants played a skill-based task without extrinsic incentives, their task enjoyment increased as the chance of success decreased, even if the task was almost impossible to achieve. However, such challenge-based motivation was not observed when participants were rewarded for the task or the reward was determined in a probabilistic manner. The activation in the ventral striatum/pallidum tracked the pattern of task enjoyment. These results suggest that people are intrinsically motivated to challenge a nearly impossible task but only when the task requires certain skills and extrinsic rewards are unavailable., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness and clinical outcomes of inpatient rehabilitation for patients with severe COVID-19 in Japan. Methods: Patients with severe COVID-19 who underwent rehabilitation during hospitalization were included. The Medical Research Council (MRC) score and short physical performance battery (SPPB), such as physical function assessment and the intensive care unit (ICU) mobility scale, the functional status score for the ICU, and Barthel index as activities of daily living (ADLs) were evaluated at admission and discharge or transfer from the hospital. The correlation between SPPB at discharge and each factor at admission were also analyzed. Furthermore, the prevalence of sarcopenia was evaluated by defining SPPB of <9 points at discharge as sarcopenia. Results: The median age of the total of 23 patients was 59 years (interquartile range (IQR): 47−67), 73.9% were male, and the median PaO2/FiO2 at admission was 172.0 (IQR: 123.0−209.0). All physical function and ADL parameters were significantly improved from the time of admission to discharge (p = 0.014 for the MRC score and p < 0.001 for all others). Moreover, SPPB at discharge significantly correlated with WBC (Spearman’s rho = −0.473, p = 0.041), C-reactive protein (Spearman’s rho = −0.468, p = 0.044), and exhibited a significant trend with PaO2/FiO2 (Spearman’s rho = 0.429, p = 0.067) and age (Spearman’s rho = 0.409, p = 0.083). Although the median Barthel index at discharge was 90 points, 47% of patients had sarcopenia as defined by an SPPB of <9 points. Conclusions: Early rehabilitation for patients with severe COVID-19 improved physical function and ADLs during hospitalization. However, 47% of patients had the same level of sarcopenia at discharge.

Nano- and microstructures have been developed for asymmetric light transmission (ALT) filters operating in a wide wavelength range. One of the most straightforward structures with ALT properties is a dielectric corner reflector (DCR) comprising a one-dimensional grating of a triangular shape on one surface. The DCR possesses strong reflection only for one-way light illumination due to multiple total internal reflections (TIRs) inside the triangular grating. For triangular structures being much larger than the wavelength of light, the reflection properties are expected to be fully described by geometrical optics. However, geometrical optics do not account for the Goos-Hänchen (GH) shift, which is caused by the evanescent wave of the TIR. In this work, the reflection mechanism of DCRs is elucidated using the finite element method and a quantitative model built by considering the GH shift. The reduction in reflection of the DCR is dominated by diffraction of the evanescent wave at the corner of the triangular structure. Our model is based on simple mathematics and can optimize the DCR geometry for applications addressing a wide wavelength range such as radiative cooling., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

A plasmonic-photonic structure based on colloidal lithography was designed for a scalable radiative cooling system and its absorption properties were theoretically investigated. The structure comprises a SiO 2 core, which is on top of an Au reflector and partially covered by an indium tin oxide (ITO) shell. This simple and scalable structure possesses a strong selective absorption in the primary atmospheric transparency window (8-13 µm). The strong selective absorption is attributed to a mode splitting of the localized surface plasmon (LSP) of the ITO shell. To understand the mechanisms of the mode splitting, a quantitative analysis was conducted using a coupled-oscillator model and a coupled-dipole method. The analysis revealed that the mode splitting is induced by a strong coupling between the LSP of the ITO shell and a magnetic dipole Mie resonance of the SiO 2 core.

Leptin transmits information about energy stored in the periphery to the reproductive axis and is an essential signal for puberty initiation in mammals; however, to date, few studies have focused on the direct effects of leptin stimulation on reproductive factors in fish. This study demonstrated the effect of leptin stimulation on important reproductive factors and ovarian development in the marine teleost chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus). We prepared recombinant leptin and conducted functional analyses through in vitro bioassays using primary pituitary cells, long-term leptin treatment administered to pre-pubertal females, and intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration. The results showed that leptin stimulation strongly induced gonadotropin (follicle-stimulating hormone: FSH and luteinizing hormone: LH) secretion from pituitary cells collected from pre-pubertal females, and that long-term leptin treatment significantly promoted ovarian development and triggered pubertal onset. Furthermore, ICV administration of leptin did not affect kisspeptin gene expression but significantly upregulated gonadotropin-releasing hormone 1 (gnrh1), fshb and lhb gene expression in sexually immature females. These results strongly suggest leptin as an important signal for reproductive-axis activation in chub mackerel., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The quantification of stickiness experienced upon touching a sticky or adhesive substance has attracted intense research attention, particularly for application to haptics, virtual reality, and human-computer interactions. Here, we develop and evaluate a device that quantifies the feeling of stickiness experienced upon touching an adhesive substance. Keeping in mind that a typical pressure distribution sensor can only measure a pressing force, but not a tensile force, in our setup, we apply an offset pressure to a pressure distribution sensor and measure the tensile force generated by an adhesive substance as the difference from the offset pressure. We propose a method of using a magnetic force to generate the offset pressure and develop a measuring device using a magnet that attracts magnetic pin arrays and pin magnets; the feasibility of the method is verified with a first prototype. We develop a second prototype that overcomes the noise problems of the first, arising from the misalignment of the pins owing to the bending of the magnetic force lines at the sensor edges. We also obtain measurement results for actual samples and standard viscosity liquids. Our findings indicate the feasibility of our setup as a suitable device for measuring stickiness.

Undesirable habitual or addictive behaviors are often difficult to change. The issue of "behavior change" has long been studied in various research fields. Several models for behavior change have converged to the hypothesis that attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy are important determinants of intentions and behavior. To improve the accuracy of behavior-change models, some researchers have tried to combine behavioral economics models with existing models for behavior change. However, these attempts have failed because the existing models [e.g., Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)] are not consistent with Expected Utility Theory (EUT), which underlies various behavioral economics models. In the present paper, we clarify the corresponding components between existing models for behavior change and EUT, and propose a new model, the Decision-Theoretic Model of behavior change (DTM), which is a natural extension of ordinary EUT.

Light-induced melatonin suppression in children is reported to be more sensitive to white light at night than that in adults; however, it is unclear whether it depends on spectral distribution of lighting. In this study, we investigated the effects of different color temperatures of LED lighting on children's melatonin secretion during the night. Twenty-two healthy children (8.9 ± 2.2 years old) and 20 adults (41.7 ± 4.4 years old) participated in this study. A between-subjects design with four combinations, including two age groups (adults and children) and the two color temperature conditions (3000 K and 6200 K), was used. The experiment was conducted for two consecutive nights. On the first night, saliva samples were collected every hour under a dim light condition (<30 lx). On the second night, the participants were exposed to either color temperature condition. Melatonin suppression in children was greater than that in adults at both 3000 K and 6200 K condition. The 6200 K condition resulted in greater melatonin suppression than did the 3000 K condition in children (P < 0.05) but not in adults. Subjective sleepiness in children exposed to 6200 K light was significantly lower than that in children exposed to 3000 K light. In children, blue-enriched LED lighting has a greater impact on melatonin suppression and it inhibits the increase in sleepiness during night. Light with a low color temperature is recommended at night, particularly for children's sleep and circadian rhythm., (© 2018 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society.)

Although classical decision-making studies have assumed that subjects behave in a Bayes-optimal way, the sub-optimality that causes biases in decision-making is currently under debate. Here, we propose a synthesis based on exponentially-biased Bayesian inference, including various decision-making and probability judgments with different bias levels. We arrange three major parameter estimation methods in a two-dimensional bias parameter space (prior and likelihood), of the biased Bayesian inference. Then, we discuss a neural implementation of the biased Bayesian inference on the basis of changes in weights in neural connections, which we regarded as a combination of leaky/unstable neural integrator and probabilistic population coding. Finally, we discuss mechanisms of cognitive control which may regulate the bias levels.

A plasmonic broadband light absorber, whose absorption is insensitive to incident angles and polarizations, in the UV to near-infrared regions is demonstrated. In experimental observations, the maximum average absorption of 83% over a wavelength range from 300 to 1000 nm was confirmed. Our proposed plasmonic absorber is based on a three-layer stack of metal-insulator-metal, and the top metal layer is nanostructured by colloidal lithography. This structure is composed of Al, which is an excellent and cost-effective plasmonic material. This fabrication simplicity and economical material allows us to produce a large-scale device of solar absorbers.

Leptin directly regulates kisspeptin neurons in the hypothalamus and gonadotropin secretion from the pituitary, making it a central player in the onset of mammalian puberty. Recently, we identified two leptin genes (lepa and lepb) and a single leptin receptor (lepr) in the marine perciform fish chub mackerel; however, the expression of these genes did not correlate with the expression of important reproductive genes or ovarian stage during female puberty. Here, we expand upon these initial observations by evaluating the expression of lepa, lepb, and lepr during pubertal transition and under differential feeding conditions in the male chub mackerel. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) showed that lepa was primarily expressed in the liver of pubertal and gonadal recrudescence adults, as well as in the brain of adult fish; lepb was primarily expressed in the brain of all fish tested; and lepr was widely expressed in a variety of tissues. qRT-PCR analyses revealed significant increases in the hepatic expression of lepa in accordance with testicular stage, whereas pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone (fshβ) expression increased in unison with hepatic lepa. In contrast, expression of both brain lepa and lepb dramatically decreased during pubertal transition, with brain kisspeptin 1 (kiss1) expression strongly correlating with leptin expression patterns. In pre-pubertal males, lepa, lepb, and lper gene expression in the brain, pituitary gland, and liver decreased in fish given a high feed diet, relative to the controlled feeding group. Taken together, these results indicate high sexual specificity of leptin expression, suggesting a possible role for leptin signaling in endocrine and neuroendocrine functions during spermatogenesis in the pubertal male chub mackerel., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells that regulates the amount of fat stored in the body and conveys nutritional status to the reproductive axis in mammals. In the present study we identified two subtypes of leptin genes (lepa and lepb) and a leptin receptor gene (lepr) from chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) and there gene expression under different feeding conditions (control and high-feed) and pubertal development stages was analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR. The protein lengths of LepA, LepB and LepR were 161 amino acids (aa), 163 aa and 1149 aa, respectively and both leptin subtypes shared only 15% similarity in aa sequences. In pubertal females, lepa was expressed in the brain, pituitary gland, liver, adipose tissue and ovary; however, in adult (gonadal maturation after the second in the life) females, lepa was expressed only in the liver. lepb was expressed primarily in the brain of all fish tested and was expressed strongly in the adipose tissue of adults. lepr was characterized by expression in the pituitary. The high-feed group showed a high conditioning factor level; unexpectedly, hepatic lepa and brain lepr were significantly more weakly expressed compared with the control-feed group. Furthermore, the expression levels of lepa, lepb and lepr genes showed no significant differences between pre-pubertal and post-pubertal fish. On the other hand, pituitary fshβ and lhβ showed no significant differences between different feeding groups of pre-pubertal fish. In contrast, fshβ and lhβ expressed abundantly in the post-pubertal fish of control feed group. Based on these results, whether leptin plays an important role in the nutritional status and pubertal onset of chub mackerel remains unknown., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A viral adsorption-elution method using a flat/disk-type electronegative membrane (diameter of 47-90 mm) has been widely utilized to concentrate viruses in relatively small volumes of water (up to 10 L) due to limited filtration area. In the present study, we aimed to develop a virus concentration method that is based on the same principle and yet allows concentration of large volumes of water using a cartridge-type electronegative membrane. We modified two electronegative membrane-based methods for this purpose (i.e., Mg(2+) method and Al(3+) method) and determined recovery efficiencies of poliovirus and murine norovirus inoculated in water samples. The virus recovery efficiency of the Al(3+) method substantially decreased as the volume of water sample increased. In contrast, Mg(2+) method showed stable virus recovery efficiencies (10-54 %) even when 40 to 1,000 L of river and tap water samples were processed. The volume of the concentrate (400 mL) can be further reduced to 1.5 mL by a Centricon plus-70 centrifugal ultrafiltration device with overall recovery efficiencies of 8.8-16 %. Our results demonstrated that the newly developed virus concentration method enables detection of as low as 10(1) copies/L of viruses in water samples.

Kisspeptin (Kiss) and its cognate receptor (Kiss1R), implicated in the neuroendocrine control of GnRH secretion in mammals, have been proposed to be the key factors in regulating puberty. However, the mechanisms underlying the initiation of puberty in fish are poorly understood. The chub mackerel Scomber japonicus expresses two forms of Kiss (kiss1 and kiss2) and two Kiss receptor (kissr1 and kissr2) genes in the brain, which exhibit sexually dimorphic changes during the seasonal reproductive cycle. This indicates that the kisspeptin system plays an important role in gonadal recrudescence of chub mackerel; however, the involvement of the kisspeptin system in the pubertal process has not been identified. In the present study, we examined the mRNA expression of kiss1, kiss2, kissr1, kissr2, and gnrh1 (hypophysiotropic form) in the brain of a chub mackerel during puberty. In male fish, kiss2, kissr1 and kissr2 levels increased significantly at 14weeks post-hatch (wph), synchronously with an increase in type A spermatogonial populations in the testis; kiss2 and gnrh1 levels significantly increased at 22wph, just before the onset of meiosis in the testes. In female fish, kiss2 increased significantly at 14wph, synchronously with an increase in the number of perinucleolar oocytes in the ovary; kiss1 and kiss2 levels significantly increased concomitantly with an increase in the kissr1, kissr2, and gnrh1 levels at 24wph, just before the onset of vitellogenesis in oocytes. The present results suggest positive involvement of the kisspeptin-GnRH system in the pubertal process in the captive reared chub mackerel., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A case of thoracic flexion myelopathy is reported in a 36-year-old man. The patient had a history of gradually progressing transverse thoracic myelopathy. Conventional myelography in the neutral position failed to reveal cord compression; however, a severe block of the dye column was evident on studies in the flexed position. Excellent recovery from this condition was obtained with posterolateral fusion of the thoracic spine in the neutral position.

A 26 year-old man, who was treated for meningitis in our hospital previously, was rehospitalized 1 year later because he developed disturbance of consciousness, gait disturbance and urinary incontinence. Blood examination revealed accelerated ESR, elevated GPT, slight elevation of serum Ca, strong positive CRP, and a decrease in PHA and Con A. ACE was within normal range and tuberculin reaction was negative. Lumbar puncture revealed that the initial pressure was 310 mmH2O, cells were 152/3, and protein was 343 mg/dl. Bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy was absent in chest X ray film. Head CT revealed enlarged lateral ventricles and irregularly enhancing nodular lesions in the anterior half of the falx cerebri, and abnormally strong enhancement of the choroid plexus. Ventriculoperitoneal shunt was performed. As a diagnosis was difficult to obtain from the clinical data, biopsy of the nodular lesions was performed. The histopathologic diagnosis was sarcoidosis. Steroid hormone was administered thereafter, and the nodular lesions of the falx disappeared in the follow-up. In the literature, only 8 cases of sarcoidosis of the dura mater have been reported. Since intracranial sarcoidosis is a part of systemic sarcoidosis, its diagnosis is not difficult in most cases. However, in cases difficult to diagnose as in our case, biopsy may be necessary. When nodular lesion occurs in the dura mater, sarcoidosis must be included as a possibility in the differential diagnosis in addition to the usual meningioma, lymphoma, and metastatic brain tumor.

A 63-year-old woman was admitted to the coronary care unit of Hyogo College of Medicine because of cardiogenic shock. She previously had been hospitalized in the Gynecology Department for the treatment of recurrent uterine cancer. She had poor appetite due to chemotherapy which was given for 10 days prior to her admission. On admission, echocardiography and cardiac catheterization revealed hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and extensive left ventricular wall motion abnormalities. Coronary arteriography showed no coronary artery disease. Left ventriculography as well as echocardiography performed on the 21st post-admission day revealed that the wall motion abnormalities had completely resolved and the systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve (SAM) was no longer evident. The systolic pressure at the apex of the left ventricle was 200 mmHg on admission. The increased ventricular pressure and the simultaneous resolution of the wall motion abnormality and SAM suggest that marked obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract is more likely to be involved in transient ventricular wall motion abnormality rather than acute myocardial ischemia. The mechanism of the SAM in the present case seemed to be related to a Venturi effect which was augmented by the decreased preload due to hypovolemia. In addition, papillary muscle contraction seemed to pull the mitral valve toward the interventricular septum during systole.

Cerebral vasospasm after SAH from AVMs is rare. Only few reports have been made. Vasospasm was confirmed in 4 out of 13 patients with SAH from AVMs at the Sagamihara National Hospital in the past 5 years. The incidence of vasospasm following rupture of AVM is higher than those in previous reports ranging between 8 and 12 percent. This high incidence (31%) might be attributable to the timing from the last SAH attack until angiography. The existence of massive subarachnoid blood clots around the arteries of the circle of Willis is the most important factor causing vasospasm after SAH from AVMs.

A case of the anterior choroidal artery aneurysm combined with the abnormal intracranial vascular net-work was reported. The patient was 43-year-old male who was attacked by subarachnoid hemorrhage in February 25th 1975. When he was admitted to our clinic 30 days after the ictus, his general status was good and the neurological examination showed no particular findings except only slightly accelerated deep tendon reflexes on the left side. Cerebrospinal fluid still remained xanthochromic although no nuchal rigidity was denoted. Based on the angiographic four vessel studies, the circulatory condition of the patient's brain was summarized as follows; the internal carotid arteries were stenosed or occluded between the C1 and C2 segment on both sides, and abundant collateral circulation was developed mainly around the circle of Willis making an angiographically peculiar vascular net-work in tha base of the brain. Another angiographic finding to be noticed was a berry aneurysm which originated from the distal part of the left anterior choirdal artery. No special treatment was performed on him. He was discharged without any neurological residuals. It would be difficult to find out any hemodynamic relationship between the occlusion of the internal carotid arteries and occurence of the aneurysm. But the abnormally dilated anterior choroidal artery might suggest that the vessel wall of this artery would be burdened in the abnormal distension stress due to the increased transaxial pressure in this artery. Unqder such a hemodynamically stressed state, it would be possible the aneurysm like outpouching of the vessel wall being developed in some fragile portion of the artery functioning as a prominent collateral circulation.

Intracranial malignant germ cell tumors such as embryonal carcinoma, endodermal sinus tumor, and choriocarcinoma are neoplasms of poor prognosis in the pediatric age group. Recently evidences of effectiveness of combination chemotherapy using cisplatin, vinblastine, and bleomycin (PVB therapy) have been reported. The authors experienced two cases with these tumors treated with radiation therapy and PVB therapy. PVB therapy was performed along with irradiation in hoping the effect of radiation sensitizer of cisplatin. Both patients showed no signs of tumor recurrence and no re-elevation of tumor makers even in the cerebrospinal fluid after more than ten months from the onset. Cisplatin has radiation sensitizing effect besides antitumor activity, but its permeability through the blood-CSF barrier is very poor. Also true is that germ cell tumors often disseminate in the cerebrospinal fluid. From these points, combination of irradiation and chemotherapy using cisplatin seems reasonable, though the superiority of this radiochemotherapy to simple PVB therapy can not be concluded from the present experience. Side effects of this combination therapy were the same as PVB therapy alone and tolerable.

A 1.5-year-old girl with a convulsion attack due to intracerebral granuloma in the right frontal lobe is reported. Her serum was positive with anti-human ascaris antibody, although no ova of the parasites were detected in the feces. She had grown up intimately with several cats in the home. These findings suggested that the granuloma was due to larva migrans of toxocara, which cross-reacts immunologically with human ascaris. Histological examination of the granuloma revealed no eosinophilic infiltration. No systemic reactions such as eosinophilia and hepatomegaly were found except for elevation of protein in cerebrospinal fluid. These were similar to those of ocular type of toxocara larva migrans.

A case of chromophobe adenoma with capsular calcification combined with Rathke's cleft cysts is presented. A 28-year-old woman presented with a seven-year history of amenorrhea. Several months before admission to our department of neurosurgery on November 6, 1982, she developed galactorrhea and difficulty in reading because of visual failure. Neurological examination on admission revealed bitemporal hemianopsia, visual disturbance, left optic atrophy. Plain skull films and CT scan showed suprasellar capsular calcification. The patients hormonal status was assessed pre- and postoperatively. The basal serum prolactin (PRL) level was elevated at 790ng/ml, but other hormone basal plasma levels were within normal limits despite decrease in FSH, LH, The LH, FSH and PRL demonstrated a blunted response to LH-RH (100 micrograms). Both TSH and PRL demonstrated a blunted response to TRH (500 micrograms). The GH showed no response to insulin tolerance test (0.1 U/kg). On November 24, right frontal craniotomy was performed. A grayish bulging mass was noted surrounded by a calcified layer(2-3 mm) in the suprasellar region. When incised this calcified hard layer, showed multi-small cysts with yellow fluid. Under the cyst layer, there was a soft mass which was curetted easily. Histologically, under the ossified layer, there were multi-small cysts, lined by a single layer of ciliated columnar epithelium. The central soft mass was regarded as a chromophobe adenoma with no calcified body. Following partial removal of the tumor, there was prompt improvement in clinical signs and plasma PRL level.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)