Citations (this article cites 24 articles hosted on the SAGE Journals Online and HighWire Press platforms):

the experience of Japanese elderly people online TOMOKO KANAYAM

Diagnosis of Leiomyosarcoma after Uterine Artery Embolization for Multiple Leiomyomas

Uterine sarcoma is significantly rarer than leiomyoma and has poor prognosis. Moreover, the diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma is difficult because its symptoms, including pelvic pain, uterine mass, and/or uterine bleeding, are very similar to those of leiomyoma. There are a few cases of leiomyosarcoma wherein leiomyoma was treated with uterine artery embolization (UAE); these reports revealed that the symptoms of hypermenorrhea or/and pelvic pain persisted even after UAE. Symptoms persisting even after UAE treatment for leiomyomas, especially multiple leiomyomas, should be investigated to rule out leiomyosarcoma. Therefore, long-term follow-up is needed. Here, we describe a case of a 39-year-old woman diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma 3 years after undergoing UAE for multiple leiomyomas

The Ionomic Study of Vegetable Crops

Soil contains various essential and nonessential elements, all of which can be absorbed by plants. Plant ionomics is the study of the accumulation of these elements (the ionome) in plants. The ionomic profile of a plant is affected by various factors, including species, variety, organ, and environment. In this study, we cultivated various vegetable crop species and cultivars under the same field conditions and analyzed the level of accumulation of each element in the edible and nonedible parts using ionomic techniques. The concentration of each element in the edible parts differed between species, which could be partly explained by differences in the types of edible organs (root, leaf, seed, and fruit). For example, the calcium concentration was lower in seeds and fruit than in other organs because of the higher dependency of calcium accumulation on xylem transfer. The concentration of several essential microelements and nonessential elements in the edible parts also varied greatly between cultivars of the same species, knowledge of which will help in the breeding of vegetables that are biofortified or contain lower concentrations of toxic elements. Comparison of the ionomes of the fruit and leaves of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and eggplant (S. melongena) indicated that cadmium and boron had higher levels of accumulation in eggplant fruit, likely because of their effective transport in the phloem. We also found that homologous elements that have been reported to share the same uptake/transport system often showed significant correlation only in a few families and that the slopes of these relationships differed between families. Therefore, these differences in the characteristics of mineral accumulation are likely to affect the ionomic profiles of different families

Salivary Alpha-Amylase Activity Levels in Catatonic Schizophrenia Decrease after Electroconvulsive Therapy

Background. Dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in schizophrenia has been detected by electrophysiological methods, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Several studies have suggested that measuring salivary alpha-amylase activity levels is useful for evaluating the ANS activity and that sAA levels increase in schizophrenia and correlate with Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) scores. However, no study has examined the relationship between sAA activity levels and symptoms of schizophrenia with catatonic state. Methods. We present the case of a 59-year-old female with persistent catatonic schizophrenia treated by electroconvulsive therapy. We evaluated the ANS activity by measuring sAA activity levels before and after ECT, and we evaluated her symptoms using the BPRS and Bush–Francis Catatonia Rating Scale (BFCRS). Results. ECT was highly effective and BPRS and BFCRS scores substantially decreased. sAA activity levels decreased from 125 kU/l to 33 kU/l. Conclusions. sAA activity levels could be a potential biomarker of schizophrenia with catatonic state