Erosive Esophagitis in Women With Metabolic Syndrome

Obesity and metabolic syndrome (MS) are strongly associated with erosive esophagitis (EE). The prevalence of MS and EE, and the distribution of adipose tissue have been known to differ markedly between men and women. Although the prevalence of EE in men with MS is known to be higher in visceral fat type MS (V-type MS) than in subcutaneous fat type MS (S-type MS), the association between EE and the types of MS in women with MS is unclear. This study was a cross-sectional study elucidating the association between EE and the types of MS in women with MS. Subjects were 454 women with MS who underwent a regular health check-up. A distinction was made between V-type MS and S-type MS and the prevalence of EE and the association between EE and other data were elucidated. Although there were some significant different factors in characteristics between V-type MS and S-type MS, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of EE between V-type MS and S-type MS. The presence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) was significantly lower than in subjects with EE (13.7%) than in subjects without EE (41.9%). The frequency of hiatal hernia was significantly higher in subjects with EE (60.8%) than in subjects without EE (24.6%). Logistic regression analysis showed hiatal hernia (odds ratio: 4.673; 95% confidence interval: 2.448–8.920; P < 0.001), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) (2.325; 1.110–4.870; P < 0.05), and the presence of H. pylori (0.239; 0.101–0.567; P < 0.005) were significant predictors of the prevalence of EE. V-type MS may not be such an important factor for the prevalence of EE in women with MS as in men with MS. The absence of H. pylori, hiatal hernia, and HbA1c may be more important for the prevalence of EE than the types of MS in women with MS

Clinical and Enzymatic Investigation of Induction of Oxygen Free Radicals by Ischemia and Reperfusion in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Adjacent Liver

Serum concentration of thiobarbituric acid (TBA) reactants in the hepatic vein were measured before and after transient dearterialization of the liver in five human subjects bearing unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). During 1 hour of the occlusion of the hepatic artery, change inTBA reactants level was slight. However, the mean value of TBA reactants in 1 hour after the reflow increased to 1.50 ± 0.11 nmol/ml (mean ± S.E.) and was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those before hepatic dearterialization (1.28 ± 0.11 nmol/ml) and just before the release of occlusion (1.32 ± 0.09 nmol/ml)

Inferior Vena Caval Thrombosis After Traumatic Liver Injury

We report here the case of a 35-year-old man who presented with inferior vena cava thrombosis (IVCT) after blunt hepatic trauma. The IVCT was incidentally detected by computed tomography (CT) 35 days after deep parenchymal suturing and suture approximation for liver lacerations. The patient denied any symptoms of thrombophlebitis. However, he had presented with significantly elevated values of FDP-D-dimer and a modest increase in plasminogen concentration, which indicated that he had been in a hypercoagulable and hypofibrinolytic state after the operation. He had not undergone any prophylactic anticoagulant therapy because of his concomitant subarachnoid hemorrhage and huge hepatic hematoma. The patient was treated with an emercy thrombectomy. Posttraumatic IVCT is extremely rare phenomenon. We should consider IVCT in patients with a severe hepatic injury, particularly if their coagulation system change into hypercoagulable and hypofibrinolytic state. Additionally, this case made us reflect on the treatment of traumatic liver injury

Repeated Hepatic Dearterialization for Unresectable Liver Metastases From Gastric Cancer: Review of Five Cases

A novel method of repeated hepatic dearterialization was evaluated in five patients with multiple metastases from gastric cancer in both hepatic lobes. After gastrectomy with extensive lymph node dissection (R2/3), all patients underwent implantation of a vascular occluder around the hepatic artery. Cannulation of the hepatic artery was added for later chemotherapy. The hepatic artery was occluded repeatedly for 1 hour twice daily in combination with intrahepatic infusion of anticancer drugs for as long as possible. Three of five patients demonstrated marked tumour regression with unexpectedly long survival (16 months in two patients and one still alive at 15 months). Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels decreased to almost normal in four patients who had initially high levels. The present experiences seems to indicate that long survival can be hoped for in patients with advanced gastric cancer with unresectable liver metastases

Radiation resistance of praseodymium-doped aluminum lithium fluorophosphate scintillator glasses for laser fusion experiments

We report the gamma (γ)-ray radiation resistance of praseodymium (Pr3+)-doped aluminum lithium fluorophosphate scintillator glasses. For its assessment as a scintillator material for laser fusion experiments, a 20Al(PO3)3-80LiF-PrF3 (Pr3+-doped APLF) glass was irradiated with γ-rays from a cobalt-60 (60Co) source resulting in an absorbed dose of 5.2 kGy. Although γ-ray-irradiation results in increased absorption due to phosphorus-oxygen hole centers (POHCs) and PO32− electron centers (PO3 ECs), these radiation-induced defects do not modify the glass emission as both non-irradiated and γ-ray-irradiated glasses exhibit similar emission spectra and decay times under optical and X-ray excitation. The emission peaks observed also correspond to the different interconfigurational 4f5d → 4f2 and intraconfigurational 4f2 transitions of Pr3+ ions which are neither oxidized nor reduced by irradiation. Our results show that Pr3+-doped APLF glass still maintains its characteristic fast decay time and that γ-ray irradiation does not affect the glass scintillation mechanisms.Shinohara K., Empizo M.J.F., Cadatal-Raduban M., et al. Radiation resistance of praseodymium-doped aluminum lithium fluorophosphate scintillator glasses for laser fusion experiments. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 62, 010613 (2023); https://doi.org/10.35848/1347-4065/aca0d4

Elastic Scattering Time–Gated Multi–Static Lidar Scheme for Mapping and Identifying Contaminated Atmospheric Droplets

Numerical simulations are performed to determine the angular dependence of the MIe scattering cross-section intensities of pure water droplets and pollutants such as contaminated water droplets and black carbon as a function of the wavelength of the incident laser light, complex refractive index, and size of the scatterer. Our results show distinct scattering features when varying the various scattering parameters, thereby allowing the identification of the scattering particle with specific application to the identification of atmospheric pollutants including black carbon. Regardless of the type of scatterer, the scattering intensity is nearly uniform with a slight preference for forward scattering when the size of the particle is within 20% of the incident laser’s wavelength. The scattering patterns start to exhibit distinguishable features when the size parameter equals 1.77, corresponding to an incident laser wavelength of 0.355 μm and a particle radius of 0.1 μm. The patterns then become increasingly unique as the size parameter increases. Based on these calculations, we propose a time-gated lidar scheme consisting of multiple detectors that can rotate through a telescopic angle and be placed equidistantly around the scattering particles to collect the backscattered light and a commercially available Q-switched laser system emitting at tunable laser wavelengths. By using a pulsed laser with 10-ns pulse duration, our scheme could distinguish scattering centers that are at least 3 m apart. Our scheme called MIe Scattering Time-gated multi-Static LIDAR (MISTS–LIDAR) would be capable of identifying the type of atmospheric pollutant and mapping its location with a spatial resolution of a few meters.Mui L.V., Hung T.N., Shinohara K., et al. Elastic Scattering Time–Gated Multi–Static Lidar Scheme for Mapping and Identifying Contaminated Atmospheric Droplets. Applied Sciences (Switzerland) 13, 172 (2023); https://doi.org/10.3390/app13010172

First Data Release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program

The Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) is a three-layered imaging survey aimed at addressing some of the most outstanding questions in astronomy today, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The survey has been awarded 300 nights of observing time at the Subaru Telescope and it started in March 2014. This paper presents the first public data release of HSC-SSP. This release includes data taken in the first 1.7 years of observations (61.5 nights) and each of the Wide, Deep, and UltraDeep layers covers about 108, 26, and 4 square degrees down to depths of i~26.4, ~26.5, and ~27.0 mag, respectively (5sigma for point sources). All the layers are observed in five broad bands (grizy), and the Deep and UltraDeep layers are observed in narrow bands as well. We achieve an impressive image quality of 0.6 arcsec in the i-band in the Wide layer. We show that we achieve 1-2 per cent PSF photometry (rms) both internally and externally (against Pan-STARRS1), and ~10 mas and 40 mas internal and external astrometric accuracy, respectively. Both the calibrated images and catalogs are made available to the community through dedicated user interfaces and database servers. In addition to the pipeline products, we also provide value-added products such as photometric redshifts and a collection of public spectroscopic redshifts. Detailed descriptions of all the data can be found online. The data release website is https://hsc-release.mtk.nao.ac.jp/.Comment: 34 pages, 20 figures, 7 tables, moderate revision, accepted for publication in PAS

Synthesis and asymmetric hydrogenation of (3E)-1-benzyl-3-[(2-oxopyridin-1(2H)-yl)methylidene]piperidine-2,6-dione

The synthesis of (3E)-1-benzyl-3-[(2-oxopyridin-1(2H)-yl)methylidene]piperidine-2,6-dione 4 from N-benzylglutarimide was achieved in three steps. The asymmetric hydrogenation of 4 gave either the product of partial reduction (10) or full reduction (13), depending on the catalyst which was employed, in high ee in each case. Attempts at asymmetric transfer hydrogenation (ATH) of 4 resulted in formation of a racemic product