To investigate the relationship between macular choroidal thickness measured by high-penetrating swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) and angiographic findings in central serous ...chorioretinopathy (CSC).
Prospective cross-sectional case series.
Thirty-four patients with CSC (44 eyes) and 17 volunteer subjects (17 normal eyes).
All subjects underwent a comprehensive ophthalmologic and SS-OCT prototype examination. All patients with CSC also underwent simultaneous fluorescein angiography (FA) and indocyanine green angiography (IA). Mean regional choroidal thickness measurements on the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) layout and squared sector grids were obtained by 3-dimensional raster scanning using SS-OCT.
Macular choroidal thickness and angiographic abnormalities.
Mean whole macular choroidal thickness in eyes with CSC (total, 329.3±83.0 μm; classic CSC, 326.9±83.1 μm; chronic CSC, 325.4±93.3 μm; and multifocal posterior pigment epitheliopathy, 359.0±15.5 μm) was greater than that in normal eyes (233.0±67.0 μm) (P < 0.001). In unilateral cases, mean whole macular choroidal thickness was greater in eyes with unilateral CSC than in unaffected fellow eyes (P=0.021). There was no significant difference in choroidal thickness between active eyes and resolved eyes in any of the ETDRS sectors. Mean choroidal thickness was greater in areas with leakage on FA than in areas without leakage (P=0.001). Mean choroidal thickness was greater in areas with choroidal vascular hyperpermeability and in areas with punctate hyperfluorescent spots on IA than in unaffected areas (P<0.001 for both).
Increased choroidal thickness was observed in the whole macular area of eyes with any of the CSC subtypes. Choroidal thickness was related to leakage from the retinal pigment epithelium, choroidal vascular hyperpermeability, and punctate hyperfluorescent lesions. These findings provide evidence that CSC may be caused by focally increased hydrostatic pressure in the choroid.
HEXACO, Dark Triad and altruism in daily life Oda, Ryo; Matsumoto-Oda, Akiko
Personality and individual differences,
February 2022, 2022-02-00, 20220201, Volume:
185
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The Big-Five personality traits contribute to altruistic behaviors in daily life; the degree to which each trait contributes varies according to the recipient. Similarly, factors of the HEXACO model ...are also expected to contribute to altruistic behaviors according to the relationship between the parties involved. Furthermore, the Dark Triad is another important model of personality structure that may influence altruistic behavior. This pre-registered study investigated the relationship between the traits of the HEXACO and Dark Triad personality models and the frequency of altruistic behaviors measured by the SRAS-DR. Extraversion contributed to altruistic behaviors toward all three types of recipients (family, friends/acquaintances, strangers). Agreeableness contributed only to altruistic behaviors toward strangers, while openness to experience significantly contributed to altruism toward friends/acquaintances and strangers. Previous reports that extraversion and openness from the five-factor model contribute to altruism toward strangers were replicated for a broader range of participants using HEXACO traits for extraversion and openness. Our results suggest that the primary factor explaining individual differences in altruistic behaviors toward strangers is the tendency to be actively involved in the external world, reflected in a person's sociability and inquisitiveness, rather than empathy or the tendency to be fair.
•We examined the relationship between the HEXACO and Dark Triad traits and altruism.•Honesty-humility, emotionality and DT did not contribute to any types of altruism.•Extraversion commonly contributed to all the types of altruism.•Agreeableness contributed to altruism only toward strangers.•Openness contributed to altruism toward friends/acquaintances and strangers.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
To study the choroidal thickness in healthy subjects by swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) at longer wavelength.
The macular area of 31 eyes (31 healthy volunteers) was studied with ...an SS-OCT prototype system, which uses a tunable laser as a light source operated at 100,000 Hz A scan repetition rate in the 1-μm wavelength region. Three-dimensional volumetric measurement comprised of 512 × 128 A scans was acquired in 0.8 second. From a series of OCT images, a chroidal thickness map of the macular area was created by manual segmentation. To evaluate interoperator reproducibility, the choroidal thickness in each section from 10 subjects was determined independently by two observers.
SS-OCT at the 1-μm wavelength region allowed visualization of the fine structure of the choroid as well as that of the retina. Mean choroidal thickness and volume in the macula area were, respectively, 191.5 ± 74.2 μm and 5.411 ± 2.097 mm(3). The mean choroidal thickness of the outer nasal area was significantly thinner than that of all other areas (P < 0.05). The measurements by the two independent observers were significantly identical; the intraclass correlation coefficient in mean choroidal thickness was between 0.945 and 0.980 in each area. The macular choroidal thickness was significantly correlated with axial length after adjustment for age (P < 0.001), and with age after adjustment for axial length (P < 0.001).
SS-OCT system at 1 μm provides macular choroidal thickness maps and allows one to evaluate the choroidal thickness more accurately.
Cytokines play a very important role in nearly all aspects of inflammation and immunity. The term 'interleukin' (IL) has been used to describe a group of cytokines with complex immunomodulatory ...functions - including cell proliferation, maturation, migration and adhesion. These cytokines also play an important role in immune cell differentiation and activation. Determining the exact function of a particular cytokine is complicated by the influence of the producing cell type, the responding cell type and the phase of the immune response. ILs can also have pro- and anti-inflammatory effects, further complicating their characterisation. These molecules are under constant pressure to evolve due to continual competition between the host's immune system and infecting organisms; as such, ILs have undergone significant evolution. This has resulted in little amino acid conservation between orthologous proteins, which further complicates the gene family organisation. Within the literature there are a number of overlapping nomenclature and classification systems derived from biological function, receptor-binding properties and originating cell type. Determining evolutionary relationships between ILs therefore can be confusing. More recently, crystallographic data and the identification of common structural motifs have led to a more accurate classification system. To date, the known ILs can be divided into four major groups based on distinguishing structural features. These groups include the genes encoding the IL1-like cytokines, the class I helical cytokines (IL4-like, γ-chain and IL6/12-like), the class II helical cytokines (IL10-like and IL28-like) and the IL17-like cytokines. In addition, there are a number of ILs that do not fit into any of the above groups, due either to their unique structural features or lack of structural information. This suggests that the gene family organisation may be subject to further change in the near future.
Patients diagnosed preoperatively with ductal carcinoma
(DCIS) breast cancer have the potential to develop invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). The present study investigated the usefulness of ...exosome-encapsulated microRNA-223-3p (miR-223-3p) as a biomarker for detecting IDC in patients initially diagnosed with DCIS by biopsy. The potential association between miR-223-3p and clinicopathological characteristics was examined in patients with breast cancer. Exosomes of 185 patients with breast cancer were separated from plasma by ultracentrifugation. Initially a microRNA (miRNA) microarray was examined to reveal the invasion specific miRNAs using exosomes collected from 6 patients with breast cancer, including 3 DCIS patients, 3 IDC patients and 3 healthy controls. In the miR microarray analysis the miR-223-3p levels of IDC patients demonstrated the highest fold-change compared with those in the DCIS patients and healthy controls. The potential of miR-223-3p for cell proliferation and cell invasion were examined
using MCF7 cells transfected with the miR-223-3p gene. MCF7 cells transfected with the miR-223-3p gene significantly promoted cell proliferation and cell invasive ability (P<0.05). The plasma exosomal miR-223-3p levels of the other 179 patients with breast cancer and 20 healthy controls were measured using TaqMan miR assays. The exosomal miR-223-3p levels of the patients with breast cancer were significantly increased compared with the healthy controls (P<0.01). A statistically significant association was observed between the exosomal miR-223-3p levels and histological type, pT stage, pN stage, pathological stage, lymphatic invasion and nuclear grade (P<0.05). The exosomal miR-223-3p levels of IDC patients (stage I) and upstaged IDC patients (stage I) were significantly higher compared with the DCIS patients (P<0.05). These results suggest that exosomal miR-223-3p may be a useful preoperative biomarker to identify the invasive lesions of DCIS patients diagnosed by biopsy. In addition, plasma exosome-encapsulated miR-223-3p level was significantly associated with the malignancy of breast cancer.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Due to the increasing complexity of cancer treatment, ensuring safety and maintaining the quality of life during treatment are important issues. Patient‐reported outcomes (PROs) in oncology are ...essential for assessing patient symptoms. A feasibility study was undertaken on breast cancer patients by building a PRO data collection system based on LINE, one of the most popular social network service applications in Japan. In this study, one or more predefined PRO questions for each breast cancer patient's clinical situation were sent to the patient’s LINE application daily. The patient selected a predefined answer by tapping the screen, but no free‐text answers were allowed. Seventy‐three patients were enrolled. The median observation period was 435 days (84‐656 days), and the total number of PROs collected was 16,417, with a mean of 224.9 reports per patient. Patients on adjuvant endocrine therapy were notified of 2.5 questions per week, and the median number of responses per week and response rate were 2.387 (1.687‐11.627) and 95.5%, respectively. Analyzing the results by age group, the number of responses from those aged 60 and above was equal to or higher than that of the younger age group. It was also possible to track each patient’s PROs accurately. These results suggested that the design of the system, based on an application used daily, instead of using specifically prepared applications for collecting electronic PROs, was the reason for the favorable acceptance from patients and the satisfactory response rate from all age groups, including the elderly.
This study aimed to determine the feasibility of the LINE electronic patient‐reported outcome (ePRO) system to be accepted by breast cancer patients and to successfully collect ePRO data using LINE, which is the most popular social network service application in Japan. Our study suggests that the acceptance of the system by the patients was favorable, and the response rate was satisfactory. Therefore, building a PRO reporting system based on the applications frequently used by the citizens of a country is likely to contribute to improving the response rate.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Background Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) plays an important role in the endogenous aldehyde detoxification of various types of cells. ALDH2*2, a variant allele of the ALDH2 polymorphism rs671, ...leads to decreased enzymatic activity. ALDH2*2 may enhance tumor antigen presentation due to aldehyde-induced DNA damage while suppressing peripheral blood T cell counts and T cell activation. Methods On the basis of our hypothesis that rs671 affects the sensitivity of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), we evaluated the effects of rs671 on patients with thoracic malignancies who started ICI therapy in 2016-2019. The cohort consisted of 105 cases, including 64 cases with adenocarcinoma and 30 cases with squamous cell carcinoma, 49 of whom were ALDH2*2 carriers. The first ICI was PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor (Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab, or Atezolizumab) in all cases. Results The best response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy (partial response/stable disease/progressive disease) was 36%/50%/14% in the rs671(-) cases; however, the response was relatively poor in the rs671(+) cases (27%/29%/45%, respectively) (p = 0.002). The hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) of disease progression within the observation period of 6 months for the rs671(+) cases was estimated to be 5.0 (2.5-10) after the adjustment for covariates, including sex, Brinkman index, treatment line, tumor tissue programmed death-ligand 1 positivity rate, tumor tissue EGFR mutation. This association was also maintained in a stratified analysis, suggesting that ALDH2*2 is an independent negative predictive factor for the short-term prognosis of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy. Thus, the progression-free survival (PFS) ratio of the rs671(+) cases decreased rapidly after ICI initiation but was eventually higher than that of the rs671(-) cases (restricted mean survival time in 12 months from 2 to 3 years afterward was 1.3 times that of the rs671(-) cases). Moreover, the highest PFS ratio after 2 years among sub-groups was found in the first-line treatment sub-group of rs671(+) group (40%). Conclusions Our study suggests that rs671 may be an accurate and cost-effective predictor of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor treatment, in which optimal case selection is an important issue. Keywords: ALDH2, rs671, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Thoracic malignancy
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first reported in December 2019, spread worldwide in a short period, resulting in numerous cases and associated deaths; however, the toll was relatively low in ...East Asia. A genetic polymorphism unique to East Asians, Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 rs671, has been reported to confer protection against infections.
We retrospectively investigated the association between the surrogate marker of the rs671 variant, the skin flushing phenomenon after alcohol consumption, and the timing of COVID-19 incidence using a web-based survey tool to test any protective effects of rs671 against COVID-19.
A total of 807 valid responses were received from 362 non-flushers and 445 flushers. During the 42 months, from 12/1/2019 to 5/31/2023, 40.6% of non-flushers and 35.7% of flushers experienced COVID-19. Flushers tended to have a later onset (Spearman's partial rank correlation test, p = 0.057, adjusted for sex and age). Similarly, 2.5% of non-flushers and 0.5% of flushers were hospitalized because of COVID-19. Survival analysis estimated lower risks of COVID-19 and associated hospitalization among flushers (p = 0.03 and <0.01, respectively; generalized Wilcoxon test). With the Cox proportional hazards model covering 21 months till 8/31/2021, when approximately half of the Japanese population had received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) of COVID-19 incidence was estimated to be 0.21 (0.10-0.46) for flusher versus non-flusher, with adjustment for sex, age, steroid use, and area of residence.
Our study suggests an association between the flushing phenomenon after drinking and a decreased risk of COVID-19 morbidity and hospitalization, suggesting that the rs671 variant is a protective factor. This study provides valuable information for infection control and helps understand the unique constitutional diversity of East Asians.
Predation is widely recognized as an important selective pressure on prey animals such as baboons (Papio spp.), which face high leopard (Panthera pardus) predation risk, particularly at night. ...Baboons regularly sleep on cliff faces and in trees at night, ostensibly to avoid such predators. Despite retreating to such “refuges,” baboons are most often killed by leopards at or near their sleeping sites. Because of the challenges of studying nocturnal behavior and human‐averse predators, few systematic data exist to reveal how leopard ranging near baboon sleeping sites influences baboons’ selection of sites and behavior at those sites. To investigate leopard‐baboon dynamics at sleeping sites we deployed GPS/VHF radio collars on six representatives of four baboon groups and four leopards during a 14‐month field study in Kenya. We used locations recorded every 15 min to identify baboons’ cliffside and riverine sleeping sites, the frequency and duration of leopard visits to these sites, and baboons’ adjustments in site use after leopard visits. Collared leopards visited riverine sites more frequently than cliffside sites, whereas most baboon groups strongly preferred cliffside sites, suggesting that leopard visits were often due to factors other than baboon presence, and that baboons used cliffside sites to reduce their risk of leopard predation. Regardless of type, collared leopards remained near baboon‐occupied sleeping sites longer than vacant ones, indicating interest in hunting baboons then. Baboons at riverine sites departed later on mornings after leopard visits. Baboon groups occasionally shared sleeping sites simultaneously, possibly reducing risk through dilution. However, they did not reduce risk by frequently changing sleeping sites, minimizing detection at sleeping sites, or after leopard visits, arriving earlier the next evening or moving to a different site. Future research should explore if baboons readily detect nocturnal leopard presence and if predation‐related changes in sleeping site use have cascading ecological effects.
Leopards visited baboon sleeping sites at night largely independent of baboon presence. Baboons preferred cliffside sleeping sites, which leopards visited less often than riverine sites. Leopards spent more time at sleeping sites that were occupied by baboons at night, indicating an interest in hunting them then. Baboon groups may reduce their risk of leopard predation by sharing sleeping sites and delaying morning departure times at riverine sites. Baboons did not change sites frequently, arrive early, or minimize nocturnal vocalizations as would be expected if these behaviors function as antipredator strategies.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
According to recent reports, individuals with reduced aldehyde dehydrogenase activity may require more energy for the detoxification of aldehydes. Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), an ALDH isozyme, ...is responsible for detoxifying acetaldehyde, an intermediate metabolite of ethanol. Because the variant allele of the rs671 polymorphism of ALDH2 results in a substantial reduction in enzymatic activity, carriers of this variant allele may have a higher energy demand when consuming alcohol than non-carriers. However, no studies have evaluated this phenomenon to date.
To test the hypothesis, we statistically examined the interactive effects between the rs671 and ethanol consumption on energy intake using cross-sectional data from a population-based cohort study, the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort Study, which was conducted in Saga city between 2005-2007 (N = 12,068).
General linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, ethanol consumption, current smoking status, years of education, dietary restriction, medical history, and physical activity level revealed that energy intake was higher in variant allele carriers than in non-carriers among individuals with alcohol drinking habits, whereas no such correlation was observed among those without drinking habits (≤2 g ethanol/day) (p = 0.03 for interaction between rs671 and ethanol consumption). Energy intake excluding energy from alcoholic beverages, carbohydrate intake, protein intake, and fat intake, showed similar tendencies (p for interaction = 0.01, 0.01, 0.04, and 0.07, respectively).
These findings support the hypothesis that increased energy intake is required for the detoxification of aldehydes in individuals with low ALDH activity. This epidemiological evidence provides a possible scientific basis for understanding aldehyde detoxification mechanisms and suggests a novel phenotype of the ALDH2 rs671 polymorphism.
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