Introduction
Goal attainment scaling (GAS) is a method to assess the patient experience of whether a treatment is successful and capture outcomes across a diverse range of goal areas. However, this ...approach has not yet been used in assessing the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in Japan. GAS was first developed by Kiresuk and Sherman in the 1968, it is increasingly recognised as a sensitive method for recording patient-centred outcomes throughout the course of treatment.
Objectives
To demonstrate the effectiveness of vortioxetine on patient’s goal achievement and depressive symptoms, emotional, cognitive, overall function and quality of life.
Methods
VGOAL-J is a prospective, multi-center, observational cohort study of outpatients initiating vortioxetine treatment for MDD in Japan. Patients with a diagnosis of MDD according to DSM-5 who are 18 to 65 years will be enrolled from 20 sites in Japan and followed for 24 weeks. A total number of 120 patients is planned for enrolment. Primary outcome measures are GAS-D, WPAI, secondary outcome measures include Montgomery – Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), Perceived Deficits Questionnaire-Depression 5-item (PDQ-D-5), Oxford Depression Questionnaire (ODQ), EuroQol-5 Dimension (EQ-5D). Safety will be also assessed with Adverse Events collected during the study.
Results
The results will be disseminated in late 2022 and provide new insights on GAS-D as an effective strategy to assess MDD treatment in Japan.
Conclusions
We expect to observe patients treated with vortioxetine achieving their treatment goals as assessed by GAS-D and improvements on patient- and clinician-reported measures in real-world settings.
Disclosure
Prof. K. Watanabe reports consultancies undertaken for Eli Lilly, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, Taisho Toyama Pharmaceutical, and Takeda Pharmaceutical, honoraria received from Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, J
This contribution presents the state of the art of economy-wide material flow accounting. Starting from a brief recollection of the intellectual and policy history of this approach, we outline system ...definition, key methodological assumptions, and derived indicators. The next section makes an effort to establish data reliability and uncertainty for a number of existing multinational (European and global) material flow accounting (MFA) data compilations and discusses sources of inconsistencies and variations for some indicators and trends. The results show that the methodology has reached a certain maturity: Coefficients of variation between databases lie in the range of 10% to 20%, and correlations between databases across countries amount to an average R2 of 0.95. After discussing some of the research frontiers for further methodological development, we conclude that the material flow accounting framework and the data generated have reached a maturity that warrants material flow indicators to complement traditional economic and demographic information in providing a sound basis for discussing national and international policies for sustainable resource use.
Summary
This contribution presents the state of the art of economy‐wide material flow accounting. Starting from a brief recollection of the intellectual and policy history of this approach, we ...outline system definition, key methodological assumptions, and derived indicators. The next section makes an effort to establish data reliability and uncertainty for a number of existing multinational (European and global) material flow accounting (MFA) data compilations and discusses sources of inconsistencies and variations for some indicators and trends. The results show that the methodology has reached a certain maturity: Coefficients of variation between databases lie in the range of 10% to 20%, and correlations between databases across countries amount to an average R2 of 0.95. After discussing some of the research frontiers for further methodological development, we conclude that the material flow accounting framework and the data generated have reached a maturity that warrants material flow indicators to complement traditional economic and demographic information in providing a sound basis for discussing national and international policies for sustainable resource use.
Local adaptation is important in evolutionary processes and speciation. We used multiple tests to identify several candidate genes that may be involved in local adaptation from 1026 loci in 14 ...natural populations of Cryptomeria japonica, the most economically important forestry tree in Japan. We also studied the relationships between genotypes and environmental variables to obtain information on the selective pressures acting on individual populations. Outlier loci were mapped onto a linkage map, and the positions of loci associated with specific environmental variables are considered. The outlier loci were not randomly distributed on the linkage map; linkage group 11 was identified as a genomic island of divergence. Three loci in this region were also associated with environmental variables such as mean annual temperature, daily maximum temperature, maximum snow depth, and so on. Outlier loci identified with high significance levels will be essential for conservation purposes and for future work on molecular breeding.
To validate the five-item version of the Perceived Deficits Questionnaire for Depression (PDQ-D-5) for assessing subjective cognitive function in Japanese patients with major depressive disorder ...(MDD) using data from the PERFORM-J study.
A total of 518 Japanese outpatients diagnosed with MDD were assessed on severity of depressive symptoms, cognitive function, social and work function, and quality of life (QoL) over 6 months following initiation of antidepressant therapy. This post hoc analysis evaluated the internal consistency and convergent validity of the PDQ-D-5 in relation to the original PDQ-D-20. Correlations of scores on these measures were examined at each time point and over time. The same set of analyses was explored between PDQ-D-5 and the Patient Health Questionnaire-nine-item (PHQ-9), Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), five-level version of EQ-5D (EQ-5D-5L), Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) questionnaire.
PDQ-D-5 scores showed good internal consistency. Strong positive correlations were observed between PDQ-D-5 and PDQ-D-20 at each time point (correlation coefficient: baseline, 0.94; month 1, 0.94; month 2, 0.96; month 6, 0.96) and over time (0.92) (all p < 0.0001). Longitudinally, there were positive correlations between PDQ-D-5 scores versus those on the PHQ-9, MADRS, and SDS. Similarly, negative correlations were noted between PDQ-D-5 scores and EQ-5D-5L and DSST scores to a variable degree. There were moderate positive correlations over time between PDQ-D-5 and all WPAI subscale scores except those on absenteeism.
PDQ-D-5 scores rated in Japanese patients with MDD were found to adequately represent scores on the PDQ-D-20. The short version also showed associations with several measures of functional outcome, depression severity and QoL. This validates the PDQ-D-5 as a feasible and clinically reliable tool to assess subjective experience on cognition, which is applicable to time-limited consultations.
UMIN000024320.
The supernova remnant G347.3-0.5 (J1713.7-3946) is known as one of the unique SNRs that emit TeV g-rays, as well as nonthermal X-rays. We present a detailed study of molecular gas toward this SNR ...obtained with the 4 m millimeter and submillimeter telescope NANTEN at an angular resolution of 2'.6. This study has revealed that several intensity peaks and the overall distribution of the molecular gas with radial velocities from -12 to -3 km s super(-1) show a remarkably good correlation with the X-ray features, strongly supporting the recently derived kinematic distance around 1 kpc, as opposed to the 6 kpc previously claimed. In addition, we show that absorption of X-rays is caused by local molecular gas at softer X-ray bands. Subsequent measurements of the submillimeter J = 3-2 transition of CO made with the ASTE 10 m and CSO 10.4 m submillimeter telescopes toward three of the molecular intensity peaks have revealed higher excitation conditions, most likely higher temperatures above 630 K, in contrast to the typical gas temperature, 10 K, in low-mass dark clouds. This temperature rise is most likely caused by enhanced heating by the high-energy events in the SNR, where possible mechanisms include heating by X-rays, g-rays, and/or cosmic-ray protons, although we admit that additional radiative heating by young protostars embedded may be working as well. In one of the CO peaks, we have confirmed the presence of broad molecular wings of 620 km s super(-1) velocity extent in the CO J = 3-2 transition. Two alternative interpretations for the wings are presented; one is shock acceleration by the blast wave, and the other is molecular outflow driven by an embedded protostar. The SNR evolution is well explained as the free expansion phase based on the distance of 1 kpc. The molecular data set should be valuable for making a further detailed comparison with the g-ray and X-ray distributions in order to examine the cosmic-ray acceleration quantitatively.
Friction tests were conducted with a direct-acting automotive valvetrain to evaluate the effect of the axial cross-sectional shape of the cam on friction using various cam shapes from concave to ...convex. The results revealed that friction levels could be understood as a function of the contact ratio between the cam and mating valve lifter regardless of the cam cross-sectional shape. A flat shape with a high contact ratio was found to have the lowest level of friction. Compared to a convex-shaped cam of the same height, a concave cam tended to show higher friction because of the lower contact ratio with the valve lifter. The results of finite element method (FEM) calculations also showed that the higher contact pressure of concave cams in the contact area was a factor that caused greater friction.
Exploiting the mechanically controllable break junction technique, we have measured the conductance of atom-sized contacts of Fe, Co, and Ni at room temperature under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. The ...conductance histogram of Fe exhibits a broad peak around 2.5G0 (G0≡2e2/h), whereas those of Co and Ni show no conductance peaks. However, the histograms of Co and Ni display different structures: While the Co histogram is simply flat, the Ni histogram reveals an appreciable background. Our experimental results are compared with previous results obtained at cryogenic and room temperatures, and the observed peak missing in our room-temperature histograms of Co and Ni is discussed.
► Room-temperature conductance of Fe, Co, and Ni atom-sized contacts in UHV. ► A conductance peak is found in the histogram of Fe but not in those of Co and Ni. ► The conductance histograms of Ni and Co are featureless but essentially different. ► Our results indirectly prove the proposed contact stabilization in solutions. ► No integer and fractional quantized peaks are observed.
PDF
