Seasonality of Mean Birth Weight and Mean Gestational Period in Japan

Seasonal variations of mean birth weight from January 1974 to December 1983 and of mean gestational period from January 1979 to December 1983 in Japan are analyzed by time-series analysis. This analysis decomposes the variation in a series into trend, seasonal variation, other cyclic changes, and a remaining irregular fluctuation. The results of the present analysis support the existence of a seasonal rhythm of mean birth weight and mean gestational period in Japan with statistical significance (p \u3c 0.001). Seasonal patterns of mean birth weight show two peaks in May and October-November and two troughs in June-September and December. Mean gestational periods shows two peaks in October and February-March and a deep trough in winter and a much smaller one in June-September. Two time series demonstrated a coincidence in monthly variations with statistical significance. These results indicate that a part of seasonality in birth weight could be explained by the seasonal variations in mean gestational period

Impact of dapagliflozin on left ventricular diastolic function of patients with type 2 diabetic mellitus with chronic heart failure

Abstract Background The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of sodium glucose cotransporter type 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors on left ventricular (LV) diastolic function of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with heart failure (HF). Methods This trial was a prospective multicenter study of 58 T2DM patients with stable HF at five institutions in Japan. Patients who had been taking at least one antidiabetic drugs other than SGLT2 inhibitors started the administration of 5 mg/day of dapagliflozin. The physical examinations, blood tests, and echocardiography were performed at baseline and 6 months after administration of dapagliflozin. The primary endpoint was defined as a change in mitral inflow E and mitral e′ annular velocities (E/e′) between baseline and 6 months after the administration of dapagliflozin. The secondary end points consisted of a change in brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), LV mass index (LVMI) and left atrial volume index (LAVI). Results E/e′ significantly decreased from 9.3 to 8.5 cm/s (p = 0.020) 6 months after administration of dapagliflozin. LAVI and LVMI significantly decreased from 31 to 26 mL/m2 (p = 0.001), and from 75.0 to 67.0 g/m2 (p < 0.001), respectively, 6 months after administration of dapagliflozin. No significant change was observed in BNP (from 27.9 to 28.9 pg/mL; p = 0.132) 6 months after administration of dapagliflozin, except for a significant decrease from 168.8 to 114.3 pg/mL (p = 0.012) in patients with BNP ≥ 100 pg/mL. Conclusion This prospective multicenter trial showed the beneficial effect of SGLT2 inhibitors on LV diastolic functional parameters for T2DM patients with HF. Our findings may thus offer a new insight into the management of T2DM patients. Trial registration UMIN000019789, Registered 28 September 2014, Date of registration: 11/14/2015, Date of enrolment of the first participant to the trial: 6/15/2016, Date of enrolment of the last participant to the trial: 12/9/201

The 2006 radio outbursts of a microquasar cygnus X-3 : Observations and data

We present the results of the multi-frequency observations of radio outburst of the microquasar Cyg X-3 in February and March 2006 with the Nobeyama 45-m telescope, the Nobeyama Millimeter Array, and the Yamaguchi 32-m telescope. Since the prediction of a flare by RATAN-600, the source has been monitored from Jan 27 (UT) with these radio telescopes. At the eighteenth day after the quench of the activity, successive flares exceeding 1 Jy were observed successfully. The time scale of the variability in the active phase is presumably shorter in higher frequency bands. 1 We also present the result of a follow-up VLBI observation at 8.4 GHz with the Japanese VLBI Network (JVN) 2.6 days after the first rise. The VLBI image exhibits a single core with a size of &lt; 8 mas (80 AU). The observed image was almost stable, although the core showed rapid variation in flux density. No jet structure was seen at a sensitivity of Tb = 7.5 × 105 K