Pancreatic cancer frequently involves cancer‐associated thromboembolism, which is strongly associated with poor prognosis. Tissue factor, a blood coagulation factor largely produced in cancer ...patients as a component of extracellular vesicles, plays a key role in the incidence of cancer‐associated thromboembolism in patients with pancreatic cancer. However, no prospective studies have been published on the relationship between tissue factor and cancer‐associated thromboembolism or patient clinical characteristics, including recent chemotherapy regimens. Thus, we aimed to address this in a Japanese cohort of 197 patients and 41 healthy volunteers. Plasma tissue factor levels were measured by ELISAs preevaluated by tissue factor specificity. Multivariable analysis was used to identify independent predictors of cancer‐associated thromboembolism. We found that the cancer‐associated thromboembolism rate in the patient cohort was 6.6% (4.6%, venous thromboembolism; 2.0%, arterial thromboembolism). Tissue factor levels of 100 pg/mL or higher at patient registration were predictive of cancer‐associated thromboembolism, with positive and negative predictive values of 23.1% and 94.6%, respectively. Multivariable analysis showed that plasma tissue factor levels were an independent predictive factor for cancer‐associated thromboembolism, with a risk ratio of 5.54 (95% confidence interval, 1.02‐30.09). Unlike in healthy volunteers and patients without cancer‐associated thromboembolism, tissue factor levels were highly correlated with extracellular vesicles’ procoagulant activity in patients developing cancer‐associated thromboembolism. Taken together, our data show that the tissue factor levels at patient registration were a predictive factor for cancer‐associated thromboembolism in this cohort of patients with pancreatic cancer.
Tissue factor levels were highly correlated with extracellular vesicles’ procoagulant activity in patients with pancreatic cancer who developed cancer‐associated thromboembolism. Tissue factor levels before the start of systemic chemotherapy were a predictive factor of cancer‐associated thromboembolism in a Japanese cohort of patients with pancreatic cancer.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
BN-embedded nonacene, tridecacene, and heptadecacene frameworks were constructed using one-shot quadruple, sextuple, and octuple borylation reactions, respectively. The key to success is the ...judicious choice of borylating reagents and long-chain alkyl-substituted carbazolyl groups as boron-trapping groups, which suppressed the decrease in HOMO energy and insolubilization associated with borylation. Based on the product yields, each electrophilic C–H borylation proceeded in >99% yield, which is the best efficiency reported so far for C–H borylation reactions. Owing to the multiple resonance effects of boron and nitrogen, the prepared acenes exhibited ultra-narrowband green thermally activated delayed fluorescence with full-width at half-maximum of 12–16 nm; moreover, their k RISC values were in the order of 105 s–1. We fabricated an organic light-emitting diode by employing the nonacene as an emitter, which exhibited high external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 28.7%. The device also showed a minimum efficiency roll-off with an EQE of 25.8% at 1000 cd m–2.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Mechanical and passive ventilation strategies directly impact indoor air quality. Passive ventilation has recently become widespread owing to its ability to reduce energy demand in buildings, such as ...the case of natural or cross ventilation. To understand the effect of natural ventilation on indoor environmental quality, outdoor–indoor flow paths need to be analyzed as functions of urban atmospheric conditions, topology of the built environment, and indoor conditions. Wind-driven natural ventilation (e.g., cross ventilation) can be calculated through the wind pressure coefficient distributions of outdoor wall surfaces and openings of a building, allowing the study of indoor air parameters and airborne contaminant concentrations. Variations in outside parameters will directly impact indoor air quality and residents’ health. Numerical modeling can contribute to comprehend these various parameters because it allows full control of boundary conditions and sampling points. In this study, numerical weather prediction modeling was used to calculate wind profiles/distributions at the atmospheric scale, and computational fluid dynamics was used to model detailed urban and indoor flows, which were then integrated into a dynamic downscaling analysis to predict specific urban wind parameters from the atmospheric to built-environment scale. Wind velocity and contaminant concentration distributions inside a factory building were analyzed to assess the quality of the human working environment by using a computer simulated person. The impact of cross ventilation flows and its variations on local average contaminant concentration around a factory worker, and inhaled contaminant dose, were then discussed.
•This dynamic downscaling study joins outdoor settings to personal inhalation risk.•Wind pressure coefficient is used to transport outdoor to indoor parameters.•A computer simulated person is used to predict inhaled contaminant.•Variation in cross-ventilation during the day affects inhaled contaminant volume.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
The problem of enumerating connected induced subgraphs of a given graph is classical and studied well. It is known that connected induced subgraphs can be enumerated in constant time for each ...subgraph. In this paper, we focus on highly connected induced subgraphs. The most major concept of connectivity on graphs is vertex connectivity. For vertex connectivity, some enumeration problem settings and enumeration algorithms have been proposed, such as k-vertex connected spanning subgraphs. In this paper, we focus on another major concept of graph connectivity, edge-connectivity. This is motivated by the problem of finding evacuation routes in road networks. In evacuation routes, edge-connectivity is important, since highly edge-connected subgraphs ensure multiple routes between two vertices. In this paper, we consider the problem of enumerating 2-edge-connected induced subgraphs of a given graph. We present an algorithm that enumerates 2-edge-connected induced subgraphs of an input graph G with n vertices and m edges. Our algorithm enumerates all the 2-edge-connected induced subgraphs in O(n3m|SG|) time, where SG is the set of the 2-edge-connected induced subgraphs of G. Moreover, by slightly modifying the algorithm, we have a O(n3m)-delay enumeration algorithm for 2-edge-connected induced subgraphs.
Ophthalmic quinolone preparations are widely used for the treatment of eye diseases; however, there are only a few reported cases of immediate hypersensitivity due to such medications. Here, we ...present a case of immediate hypersensitivity induced by an ophthalmic administration of quinolones in a 20‐year‐old female with bacterial conjunctivitis. The results of skin prick and basophil activation tests suggest that it involved a type Ib reaction associated with Mas‐related G‐protein coupled receptor X2. The present case cautions us to be aware of quinolone immediate hypersensitivity caused by topical ophthalmic preparations, which can easily be overlooked, because it may predict severe hypersensitivity reactions to systemic administration.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Anesthesia can affect respiratory, circulatory, and endocrine systems but is necessary for certain experimental procedures such as echocardiography and blood sampling in small animals. We have now ...investigated the effects of four types of anesthesia pentobarbital sodium (PENT), ketamine-xylazine (K/X), and low- or high-dose isoflurane (ISO) on hemodynamics, cardiac function, and glucose and lipid metabolism in Sprague-Dawley rats. Aortic pressure, heart rate, and echocardiographic parameters were measured at various time points up to 45 min after the induction of anesthesia, and blood was then collected for measurement of parameters of glucose and lipid metabolism. Systolic aortic pressure remained constant in the PENT group, whereas it showed a biphasic pattern in the K/X group and a gradual decline in the ISO groups. Marked bradycardia was observed in the K/X group. The serum glucose concentration was increased and the plasma insulin level was reduced in the K/X and ISO groups compared with the PENT group. The concentrations of free fatty acids and norepinephrine in plasma were increased in the K/X group. Despite the metabolic effects of K/X and ISO, our results suggest that the marked bradycardic effect of K-X renders this combination appropriate for measurement of Doppler-derived indexes of left ventricular diastolic function, whereas the relative ease with which the depth of anesthesia can be controlled with ISO makes it suitable for manipulations or data collection over long time periods. On the other hand, PENT may be best suited for experiments that focus on measurement of cardiac function by M-mode echocardiography and metabolic parameters.
Malignant gastric outlet obstruction (MGOO) occasionally occurs due to pancreaticobiliary cancer. Endoscopic duodenal stenting (DS) is a common treatment for MGOO. However, it has been reported that ...DS does not have sufficient patency time for it to be used in patients who have a potentially increased lifespan. Nowadays, systemic chemotherapy for pancreaticobiliary cancer has developed, and its anti-tumour effect would make time to stent dysfunction longer. Therefore, we retrospectively evaluated the association between objective response to systemic chemotherapy, followed by DS and time to stent dysfunction in patients with advanced pancreaticobiliary cancer.
This retrospective study included 109 patients with advanced pancreaticobiliary cancer who received systemic chemotherapy after DS. Patients who showed complete or partial response were defined as responders. The rest were defined as non-responders. Time to stent dysfunction was compared between responders and non-responders using the landmark analysis at 2 months after DS. Death without recurrence of MGOO was considered as a competing risk for time to stent dysfunction.
Combination and monotherapy regimens were adopted for 46 and 63 patients, respectively. Median progression-free survival and overall survival were 3.2 months (95% confidence interval CI, 2.4-4.0) and 6.0 months (95% CI, 4.6-7.3). Objective response was observed in 21 patients (19.3%). Median time to stent dysfunction was 12.5 months (95% CI, 8.4-16.5) in the entire cohort. In 89 patients, responders had a lower cumulative incidence of stent dysfunction than non-responders: 9.5 and 19.1% at 6 months, and 19.0 and 27.9% at 1-year, respectively. There was difference of time to stent dysfunction between responders and non-responders among patients who received combination regimen as the first-line treatment with p-value of 0.009: cumulative incidence was 0 and 42.9% at 6 months, and 9.3 and 57.1% at 1-year, respectively.
Longer time to stent dysfunction is expected when systemic chemotherapy following DS suppresses tumour progression; DS is slated to be a standard treatment for MGOO even in patients with pancreaticobiliary cancer and a long lifespan.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Although the cardiotoxicity of anti-cancer drugs is an important issue, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. To develop a sensitive assay system for cardiotoxicity, we examined effects of ...anti-cancer drugs on contractile functions of human iPS cell-derived cardiomyocytes by using non-invasive motion field imaging analysis with extended drug exposure time. We succeeded in continuously measuring stable contractile function. The continued exposure revealed that the difference in cardiotoxicity between cardiotoxic doxorubicin and less toxic erlotinib was more evident after 8 days of treatment than with 3 days of treatment, suggesting that continued exposure improved the predictive power for cardiotoxicity of anti-cancer drugs.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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