This article examined long-term effects of using navigation tools on wayfinding and spatial orientation, through a survey analysis of the experience of using navigation tools and spatial aptitudes, ...and a behavioral experiment of real-world navigation. Experience of tool use was measured in terms of regular use (time length and frequency) and accumulated experience (time length multiplied by frequency). The survey analysis showed that frequent users of pedestrian navigation systems tended to be low on sense of direction and mental rotation. In contrast, longtime users of maps tended to be high on sense of direction and favor survey navigation strategies. The behavioral experiment showed that people who had more accumulated experience of using in-car navigation systems traveled less efficiently and learned the configurations of traveled routes less accurately with a mobile tool and a paper map. The analysis of long-term effects through structural equation modeling showed that spatial aptitudes and accumulated experience of tool use independently affect wayfinding and spatial orientation and that the negative effects of accumulated experience were larger than the positive effects of spatial aptitudes. The results and implications are discussed in relation to existing studies of short-term effects and spatial thinking.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma（HCC） depends on tumor extension as well as hepatic function.Hepatic functional reserve is recognized as a factor affecting survival in the treatment of ...HCC;the ChildPugh classif ication system is the most extensively used method for assessing hepatic functional reserve in patients with chronic liver disease,using serum albumin level to achieve accurate assessment of the status of protein metabolism.However,insuff icient attention has been given to the status of amino acid（AA） metabolism in chronic liver disease and HCC.Fischer＇s ratio is the molar ratio of branched-chain AAs（BCAAs：leucine,valine,isoleucine） to aromatic AAs（phenylalanine,tyrosine） and is important for assessing liver metabolism,hepatic functional reserve and the severity of liver dysfunction.Although this ratio is diff icult to determine in clinical situations,BCAAs/tyrosine molar concentration ratio（BTR） has been proposed as a simpler substitute.BTR correlates with various liver function examinations,including markers of hepatic f ibrosis,hepatic blood flow and hepatocyte function,and can thus be considered as reflecting the degree of hepatic impairment.This manuscript examines the literature to clarify whether BTR can serve as a prognostic factor for treatment of HCC.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common malignancy and the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus accounts for ...approximately 75%-80% of HCC cases worldwide. In particular, chronic HBV infection is a predominant risk factor for HCC in Asia and Africa. Hepatic resection and radiofrequency ablation are increasingly used for the curative treatment of HCC, and good local control can be achieved. However, the high rate of recurrence is a major obstacle to improving prognosis. A high viral load of HBV DNA is the most important correctable risk factor for recurrence. Furthermore, interferon and/or nucleotide analogues may decrease HBV DNA. Therefore, these drugs may decrease recurrence. In this article, treatment strategies for HBV-related HCC are described in order to reduce recurrence and improve survival.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. With advances in imaging diagnostics, accompanied by better ...understanding of high-risk patients, HCC is now frequently detected at an early stage; however, the prognosis remains poor. The recurrence rate after treatment of HCC is higher than that associated with cancers of other organs. This may be because of the high incidence of intrahepatic distant recurrence and multicentric recurrence, especially with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma. The Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) classification has recently emerged as the standard classification system for the clinical management of patients with HCC. According to the BCLC staging system, curative therapies (resection, transplantation, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, percutaneous ethanol injection therapy, percutaneous microwave coagulation therapy and percutaneous radiofrequency ablation) can improve survival in HCC patients diagnosed at an early stage and offer a potential long-term cure. However, treatment strategies for recurrent disease are not mentioned in the BCLC classification. The strategy for recurrence may differ according to the recurrence pattern, i.e., intrahepatic distant recurrence vs multicentric recurrence. In this article, we review recurrent HCC and the therapeutic strategies for reducing recurrent HCC, especially HCV-related HCC.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major cause of cancer death,and chronic hepatitis B is a serious worldwide problem.The epidemiology of HCC is distinctive.Hepatitis B virus (HBV) plays a major ...role in hepatocarcinogenesis.Prevention of HBV-related HCC is a key issue in current hepatology.This paper describes the prevention and clinical features of HBVrelated HCC,along with a short review of the disease.
Recently, lithium‐ion batteries have been attracting more interest for use in automotive applications. Lithium resources are confirmed to be unevenly distributed in South America, and the cost of the ...lithium raw materials has roughly doubled from the first practical application in 1991 to the present and is increasing due to global demand for lithium‐ion accumulators. Since the electrochemical equivalent and standard potential of sodium are the most advantageous after lithium, sodium based energy storage is of great interest to realize lithium‐free high energy and high voltage batteries. However, to the best of our knowledge, there have been no successful reports on electrochemical sodium insertion materials for battery applications; the major challenge is the negative electrode and its passivation. In this study, we achieve high capacity and excellent reversibility sodium‐insertion performance of hard‐carbon and layered NaNi0.5Mn0.5O2 electrodes in propylene carbonate electrolyte solutions. The structural change and passivation for hard‐carbon are investigated to study the reversible sodium insertion. The 3‐volt secondary Na‐ion battery possessing environmental and cost friendliness, Na+‐shuttlecock hard‐carbon/NaNi0.5Mn0.5O2 cell, demonstrates steady cycling performance as next generation secondary batteries and an alternative to Li‐ion batteries.
Based upon high capacity and reversibility Na insertion of hard‐carbon and layered NaxNi0.5Mn0.5O2 electrodes, the novel Na‐ion battery of hard‐carbon/NaNi0.5Mn0.5O2 is fabricated and electrochemically tested in organic electrolyte solutions. The 3‐volt Na‐ion battery with environmentally and cost friendly materials demonstrates steady cycling performance and is expected to be an alternative to secondary Li‐ion batteries.
Sn powder electrodes with polyacrylate binder are examined in aprotic Na cells. The Sn electrodes demonstrate electrochemical redox reaction to reversibly form Sn-Na intermetallic phases, such as ...Na15Sn4 in the voltage region between 0.0 and 0.7V vs. Na whereas Si, Ge, and Pb electrodes show less or no specific capacity in Na cells. The reversibility of the Sn electrodes is improved by polyacrylate as a binder and restriction of potential range between 0.0 and 0.8V. When fluoroethylene carbonate is added to propylene carbonate solution containing NaClO4, the Sn electrode performance with polyacrylate is further improved. The Sn electrode delivers ca. 500mAh g−1 for more than 20cycles, which is about two times larger reversible capacity compared with a hard-carbon negative electrode for Na-ion batteries.
► Sn shows highest redox activity in Na cell among C, Si, Ge, Sn, and Pb. ► The redox reaction is based on reversible formation of Sn-Na alloy phase. ► Composite Sn electrode with polyacrylate binder delivers ca. 500mAh g−1. ► The capacity retention is improved by fluoroethylene carbonate electrolyte additive.
Background
We recently reported the real-world changes in the etiologies of liver cirrhosis (LC) based on nationwide survey data and assessed the etiologies of LC with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
...Methods
Fifty-five participants from 68 institutions provided data on 23,637 patients with HCC-complicated LC. The changing trends in etiologies were assessed. We further analyzed the data from 29 hospitals that provided the annual number of newly identified HCC-complicated LC patients from 2008 to 2016 (
N
= 9362) without any missing years and assessed the transition in the real number of newly identified HCC-complicated LC cases.
Results
In the overall cohort, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (60.3%) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (12.9%) were the leading and third-most common causes of HCC-complicated LC in Japan, respectively. HCV infection was found to be the leading cause throughout Japan. The rate of viral hepatitis-related HCC decreased from 85.3 to 64.4%. Among non-viral etiologies, notable increases were observed in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)-related HCC (from 1.5 to 7.2%) and alcoholic liver disease (ALD)-related HCC (from 8.5 to 18.6%). Regarding the real number of newly diagnosed patients, the number of patients with viral hepatitis-related HCC decreased, while the number of patients with non-viral HCC, particularly NASH-related HCC, increased.
Conclusions
Viral hepatitis has remained the main cause of HCC in Japan. However, the decrease in viral hepatitis-related HCC, particularly HCV-related HCC highly contributed to the etiological changes. In addition, the increased incidence of non-viral HCC, particularly NASH-related HCC, was involved in the changing etiologies of HCC-complicated LC in Japan.
This article discusses spatial thinking in geographic information science (GIScience), through an empirical examination of experts' and students' geospatial conceptions and thematic map reading. The ...first study examined the structures in which GIScience concepts are conceptualized by experts and students. In experts' conceptions, clusters for geospatial data, GIS applications, geospatial entities-operations-relations, and maps were identified. In students' conceptions, similar clusters were observed but they were structured differently, with the terms interrelated less closely. High-spatial students' conceptions corresponded to those of experts to a greater degree. The second study examined geospatial reasoning and showed that thematic map reading consisted of various components differing in their relationship with spatial ability. High-spatial students tackled thematic map reading by identifying more spatial distributions and comparing multiple maps more frequently. They did not necessarily make more statements about reasons for the observed patterns. It is important to distinguish spatial thinking and thinking about space, the latter of which involves geographical, beyond purely spatial, components.
Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists are frequently used for the treatment of primary aldosteronism. Steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists may have antagonistic actions on androgen ...receptors, agonistic actions on progesterone receptors, and antagonistic actions on mineralocorticoid receptors. Because anti-androgen effects may cause body fat accumulation and skeletal muscle atrophy, there are concerns that this drug may have adverse effects on body composition. Therefore, in this randomized prospective study, we compared the adverse effects of spironolactone, a steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, and esaxerenone, a nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, on sex hormone levels and body composition in patients with primary aldosteronism without severe renal dysfunction. The serum concentration of free testosterone was significantly higher in the spironolactone group than in the esaxerenone group in both males and females. However, the levels of estradiol, progesterone, luteinizing hormone, and follicle stimulating hormone did not significantly increase. Changes in body fat percentage and muscle mass rate were not significantly different between the two groups. No patient showed a serum potassium level ≥6.0 mEq/L; however, serum potassium levels were significantly higher in the spironolactone group than in the esaxerenone group. These data indicate that spironolactone may have antagonistic effects on androgen receptors. Esaxerenone did not show any apparent adverse effects, suggesting that it can be safely used in patients with primary aldosteronism.
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