Proper management of adverse events is crucial for the safe and effective implementation of anticancer drug treatment. Showa University Hospital uses our interview sheet (assessment and risk control ...ARC sheet) for the accurate evaluation of adverse events. On the day of anticancer drug treatment, a nurse conducts a face-to-face interview. As a feature of the ARC sheet, by separately describing the symptoms the day before treatment and the day of treatment and sharing the information on the medical record, it is possible to clearly determine the status of adverse events. In this study, we hypothesized that the usefulness and points for improvement of the ARC sheet would be clarified by using and evaluating a patient questionnaire.
This study included 174 patients (144 at Showa University Hospital (Hatanodai Hospital) and 30 at Showa University Koto Toyosu Hospital (Toyosu Hospital) who underwent pre-examination interviews by nurses and received cancer chemotherapy at the outpatient center of Hatanodai and Toyosu Hospital. In the questionnaire survey, the ARC sheet's content and quality, respondents' satisfaction, structural strengths, and points for improvement were evaluated on a five-point scale.
The patient questionnaire received responses from 160 participants, including the ARC sheet use group (132 people) and the non-use group (28 people). Unlike the ARC sheet non-use group, the ARC sheet use group recognized that the sheet was useful to understand the adverse events of aphthous ulcers (
= 0.017) and dysgeusia (
= 0.006). In the satisfaction survey questionnaire, there was a high sense of security in the pre-examination interviews by nurses using the ARC sheet.
The ARC sheet is considered an effective tool for comprehensively evaluating adverse events. Pre-examination interviews by nurses using ARC sheets accurately determined the adverse events experienced by patients with anxiety and tension due to confrontation with physicians.
The low-lying level structure of 59V and 61V was investigated for the first time. The neutron knockout reaction and inelastic proton scattering were applied for 61V while the neutron knock-out ...reaction provided the data for 59V. Four and five new transitions were determined for 59V and 61V, respectively. Based on the comparison to our shell-model calculations using the Lenzi-Nowacki-Poves-Sieja (LNPS) interaction, three of the observed γ rays for each isotope could be placed in the level scheme and assigned to the decay of the first 11/2− and 9/2− levels. The (p,p′) excitation cross sections for 61V were analyzed by the coupled-channels formalism assuming quadrupole plus hexadecapole deformations. Due to the role of the hexadecapole deformation, 61V could not be unambiguously placed on the island of inversion.
Objective Textural processing is an ultimate issue for elucidating naturally occurring tactile phenomenon in humans. However, this has not yet been accomplished on the electrophysiological basis due ...to the difficulty in adjusting the stimulus parameters among the different textural materials. We addressed this issue by using a novel textural stimulator and somatosensory evoked magnetic fields (SEFs). Methods We adopted a non-magnetic motor-driven textural stimulator to maintain constant angular velocity and friction force, and evaluated SEFs in 10 healthy participants. Three different textiles were randomly presented to the right index finger: nanofiber textiles (fine-textured) with and without checked pattern, and nylon textile (non-textured). Results SEFs were consistently recorded in the primary somatosensory area (SI) at around 50–100 ms, whereas those of the secondary somatosensory areas were variable among the participants. The SI responses were significantly larger for the fine-textured stimuli, but the checked pattern did not affect the amplitude. Conclusions/Key message Current study is the first to provide evidence for textural processing in SI by means of SEF. Interestingly, not all the textural properties were reflected to the SEFs despite that SI is important for spatial information processing. Thus, a higher-order processing should be assessed using time-frequency analysis.
To determine whether a significant correlation exists between the visual acuity or foveal thickness and the status of the inner and outer segment junction (IS/OS) of the photoreceptor in patients ...with retinitis pigmentosa (RP).
Three hundred eyes of 163 patients with RP were examined with the optical coherence tomography (OCT). The IS/OS appeared as a distinct, highly reflective line just vitread of the retinal pigment epithelium in the OCT3 images. The IS/OS line was graded into three groups. The correlations between the grade of the IS/OS and age, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), and central foveal thickness (CFT) were determined.
Grade 1 included 93 eyes (31.0%) in which an IS/OS line was not seen, Grade 2 included 67 eyes (22.3%) with an abnormal IS/OS, and Grade 3 included 140 eyes (46.7%) with a normal IS/OS. The correlation between the IS/OS grade and age was not significant (P=0.5536). The IS/OS grade was significantly correlated with BCVA and CFT (both P<0.0001). The BCVA was significantly better in Grade 3 eyes than Grades 1 and 2 (both P<0.0001). The CFT was significantly thinner in Grade 1 eyes than in Grades 2 and 3 (both P<0.0001). In Grade 3, the mean length of the IS/OS was 2.51+/-1.42 mm (+/-SD). The length of the IS/OS was significantly correlated with the BCVA (P<0.0001, r=-0.375).
The presence of the IS/OS was associated with better visual acuity and thicker fovea in RP patients. The absence of an IS/OS may reflect a foveal dysfunction in RP patients.
The aim of the present study was to assess the primary and secondary resistance of Helicobacter pylori strains to clarithromycin, amoxicillin, furazolidone, tetracycline, and metronidazole, the ...conventional antibiotics presently used in Brazilian children and adolescents.
Seventy-seven consecutive H pylori strains, 71 of 77 strains obtained from patients without previous eradication treatment for H pylori infection, and 6 strains from patients in whom previous eradication treatment had failed.
Global rate of resistance was 49.3% (38/77): 40% of strains were resistant to metronidazole, 19.5% to clarithromycin, and 10.4% to amoxicillin. All of the tested H pylori strains were susceptible to furazolidone and tetracycline. Multiple resistance were detected in 18.2% (14/77 patients) of the strains: 6 of 14 (43%) simultaneously resistant to clarithromycin and metronidazole; 5 of 14 (36%) to amoxicillin and metronidazole; 2 of 14 (14%) to amoxicillin, clarithromycin, and metronidazole; and 1 of 14 (7%) to clarithromycin and amoxicillin.
The high resistance rate to metronidazole and clarithromycin observed in clinical H pylori isolates can exclude these antimicrobials in empirical eradication treatment in Brazil. Otherwise, furazolidone and tetracycline presented no resistance. Properly assessing the risks and benefits, these 2 antimicrobials and their derivatives could be used in empirical eradication schedules, both associated with amoxicillin, which showed a low resistance rate despite its wide use in pediatric patients.
The Borromean halo nucleus 6He has been studied by a kinematically complete measurement of Coulomb and nuclear breakup into α + 2n on Pb and C targets at 70 MeV/nucleon. Fully quantum-mechanical ...four-body breakup calculations reproduce the energy and angular differential cross sections below Erel∼1 MeV for both targets. The model used here reproduces the 6He ground-state properties as well as α-n and n-n scattering data and predicts an average opening angle 〈θnn〉 of 68∘ between the two halo neutrons. However, the model underestimates the breakup cross sections for higher Erel, indicating a possible contribution from the inelastic breakup. Alternatively, we examine the empirically modified calculations that reproduce the energy-differential cross sections for a wide range of scattering angles for both targets. The extracted B(E1) peaks at Erel∼1.4 MeV and amounts to 1.6(2) e2fm2 for Erel ≤ 20 MeV, resulting 〈θnn〉 = 56−10+9 degrees. In either interpretation, the current results show evidence of the dineutron spatial correlation in 6He.
Surface structures on the nanometer size scale can impart new and exciting properties to bulk materials. Nanoscopic structures on hydrophobic materials can result in superhydrophobicity and ...structural coloration. We present an interdisciplinary experiment that introduces undergraduate students to nanotechnology by manipulating the superhydrophobicity and structural coloration of blue Morpho butterfly wings. The use of detergents can change the surface of the wing from superhydrophobic to hydrophilic, while the use of common solvents can change the ambient index of refraction and shift coherently scattered light to longer wavelengths. Superhydrophobicity and alteration of the index of refraction are readily observable using Morpho menelaus and Morpho rhetenor butterflies: water beads up and rolls off untreated butterfly wings, while detergent-treated wings get wetted by water and change color from bright blue to green. This experiment is a fun and impactful introduction to fundamental physical principles involving solvation and properties of light that exposes students to materials science concepts that go beyond the solution-phase chemistry normally experienced in a general chemistry course.
Thin zirconium nitride films were prepared on Si(100) substrates at room temperature by ion beam assisted deposition with a 2 keV nitrogen ion beam. Arrival rate ratios ARR(N/Zr) used were 0.19, ...0.39, 0.92, and 1.86. The chemical composition and bonding structure of the films were analyzed with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Deconvolution results for Zr 3d, Zr 3p
3/2, N 1s, O 1s, and C 1s XPS spectra indicated self-consistently the presence of metal Zr
0, nitride ZrN, oxide ZrO
2, oxynitride Zr
2N
2O, and carbide ZrC phases, and the amounts of these compounds were influenced by ARR(N/Zr). The chemical composition ratio N/Zr in the film increased with increasing ARR(N/Zr) until ARR(N/Zr) reached 0.92, reflecting the high reactivity of nitrogen in the ion beam, and stayed almost constant for ARR(N/Zr)
≥
1, the excess nitrogen being rejected from the growing film. A considerable incorporation of contaminant oxygen and carbon into the depositing film was attributed to the getter effect of zirconium.
The low-lying level structure of 63V was studied for the first time by the inelastic proton scattering and the proton knock-out reaction in inverse kinematics. The comparison of the newly observed ...γ-ray transitions at 696(8) keV and 889(16) keV with our shell-model calculations using the Lenzi-Nowacki-Poves-Sieja interaction established two excited states proposed to be the first 11/2− and 9/2− levels. The (p,p′) excitation cross sections were analyzed by the coupled channel formalism assuming pure quadrupole as well as quadrupole+hexadecapole deformations. This resulted in large deformation parameters placing 63V in the island of inversion located below 68Ni.
Metastatic prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death in men. The rate of response to androgen ablation is high, but most patients relapse as a result of the outgrowth of ...androgen-independent tumor cells. The androgen receptor, which binds testosterone and stimulates the transcription of androgen-responsive genes, regulates the growth of prostate cells. We analyzed the androgen-receptor genes from samples of metastatic androgen-independent prostate cancers to determine whether mutations in the gene have a role in androgen independence.
Complementary DNA was synthesized from metastatic prostate cancers in 10 patients with androgen-independent prostate cancer, and the expression of the androgen-receptor gene was estimated by amplification with the polymerase chain reaction. Exons B through H of the gene were cloned, and mutations were identified by DNA sequencing. The functional effects of the mutations were assessed in cells transfected with mutant genes.
All androgen-independent tumors expressed high levels of androgen-receptor gene transcripts, relative to the levels expressed by an androgen-independent prostate-cancer cell line (LNCaP). Point mutations in the androgen-receptor gene were identified in metastatic cells from 5 of the 10 patients examined. One mutation was in the same codon as the mutation found previously in the androgen-independent prostate-cancer cell line. The mutations were not detected in the primary tumors from of the two patients. Functional studies of two of the mutant androgen receptors demonstrated that they could be activated by progesterone and estrogen.
Most metastatic androgen-independent prostate cancers express high levels of androgen-receptor gene transcripts. Mutations in androgen-receptor genes are not uncommon and may provide a selective growth advantage after androgen ablation.
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