Contributions of phase resetting and interlimb coordination to the adaptive control of hindlimb obstacle avoidance during locomotion in rats: a simulation study.

Obstacle avoidance during locomotion is essential for safe, smooth locomotion. Physiological studies regarding muscle synergy have shown that the combination of a small number of basic patterns produces the large part of muscle activities during locomotion and the addition of another pattern explains muscle activities for obstacle avoidance. Furthermore, central pattern generators in the spinal cord are thought to manage the timing to produce such basic patterns. In the present study, we investigated sensory-motor coordination for obstacle avoidance by the hindlimbs of the rat using a neuromusculoskeletal model. We constructed the musculoskeletal part of the model based on empirical anatomical data of the rat and the nervous system model based on the aforementioned physiological findings of central pattern generators and muscle synergy. To verify the dynamic simulation by the constructed model, we compared the simulation results with kinematic and electromyographic data measured during actual locomotion in rats. In addition, we incorporated sensory regulation models based on physiological evidence of phase resetting and interlimb coordination and examined their functional roles in stepping over an obstacle during locomotion. Our results show that the phase regulation based on interlimb coordination contributes to stepping over a higher obstacle and that based on phase resetting contributes to quick recovery after stepping over the obstacle. These results suggest the importance of sensory regulation in generating successful obstacle avoidance during locomotion

Evaluation of Measures to Raise Disaster Preparedness Awareness Utilizing Disaster Prevention Administrative Radio Broadcasting in Nishigo Village, Fukushima Prefecture

In this study, we conducted an action research in Nishigo Village, Fukushima Prefecture, one of the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, to see if there was any positive change in the residents\u27 awareness of disaster risk reduction by providing them with disaster preparedness information every week for one year utilizing the disaster prevention administrative radio broadcasting equipment. As a result, it was found that this local media had the potentiality to raise the awareness of the residents, although the contact rate of the residents to the information was low.本研究は、科学研究費助成事業（学術研究助成基金助成金）基盤研究（C）、研究課題名「地域防災活動を推進するローカルメディアの創発」（課題番号17K00471）の助成を受けています

Liver autophagy-induced valine and leucine in plasma reflect the metabolic effect of sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor dapagliflozin

BACKGROUND: Sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are anti-diabetic drugs for type 2 diabetes that lower blood glucose levels and body weight. It is of special interest that SGLT2 inhibitors also improve liver metabolism and fatty liver. Liver is an important organ in regulation of energy metabolism, but the metabolic action of SGLT inhibitors in liver remains unclear. METHODS: We investigated the factors associated with the beneficial effects of dapagliflozin, a SGLT2 inhibitor, in the liver after confirming its glucose-lowering and weight loss effects using an obesity and diabetes mouse model. We also performed clinical study of patients with type 2 diabetes to explore candidate biomarkers that reflect the beneficial action of dapagliflozin in the liver. FINDINGS: In animal study, dapagliflozin induced autophagy in the liver (LC3-II to LC3-I expression ratio: P < 0·05 vs. control), and valine and leucine levels were increased in plasma (P < 0·01 vs. control) as well as in liver (P < 0·05 vs. control). Thus, increased plasma valine and leucine levels are potential biomarkers for improved liver metabolism. Clinical study found that valine and leucine levels were markedly higher in patients treated with dapagliflozin (valine: P < 0·05 vs. control, leucine: P < 0·01 vs. control) than those not treated after one week intervention. INTERPRETATION: Dapagliflozin improves liver metabolism via hepatic autophagy, and plasma valine and leucine levels may reflect its metabolic effect. FUNDING: AstraZeneca K.K., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd., and Japan Foundation for Applied Enzymology, and MSD Life Science Foundation International

Helical tomotherapy for asymptomatic chemotherapy-refractory or -unfit multiple (3 or more) metastases

Background: Despite chemotherapy innovations, prognosis of patients with chemotherapy-refractory or -unfit multiple metastases (CRMM/CUMM) remains poor. In this prospective study, the efficacy and toxicity of helical tomotherapy for CRMM/CUMM were evaluated. Materials and methods: Between 2014 and 2020, asymptomatic patients with CRMM/CUMM with ≥ 3 lesions and no prior radiotherapy of the targets were enrolled. Patients who had intolerable toxicities to chemotherapy and those who refused chemotherapy were included in the CRMM and CUMM groups, respectively. Prostate cancer patients and patients with metastases mainly localized in the liver, lung, or brain were excluded. By helical tomotherapy, up to 10 lesions per patient were irradiated in order of volume. The standard dose was 50–60 Gy in 25–30 fractions. Results: Forty-five patients (median age, 63 years; 35 CRMM/10 CUMM) were enrolled. Primary tumors included lung, gynecological, and gastrointestinal cancers. The most frequently treated targets were lymph node metastases, followed by peritoneal/pleural disseminations and bone tumors. The 1-year survival rate was 51% (median, 12.5 months). In the 35 patients with CRMM, the median survival time was 12.5 months, and the median pre-radiation chemotherapy period was 8.8 months (p &gt; 0.05). The 6-month target control rate was 78%. Acute adverse events (grade ≥ 2) occurred in 33 patients: hematologic toxicities in 23, dermatitis in 6, and others in 8. Late grade ≥ 2 toxicities occurred in 6 patients: pneumonitis in 4 and gastric hemorrhage in 2. Conclusion: Tomotherapy for CRMM/CUMM resulted in median survival times &gt; 1 year. This treatment should be investigated further in larger prospective studies

Hydrostatic Compression Effects on Fifth-Group Element Superconductors V, Nb, and Ta Subjected to High-Pressure Torsion

In fifth-group element superconductors V, Nb, and Ta, the increase in superconducting transition temperature (Tc) was attempted by using both high-pressure torsion (HPT) and additional hydrostatic pressure (HP) compression. The former brings about the grain refinement and strain accumulation in the unit-cell level. The additional compression for severely strained superconductors triggers strengthening intergrain-contact and/or structural deformation in the unit-cell level. The manner of the appearance of the above two effects depends on the kind of elements: First, in V, there is no prominent effect of HPT, comparing to the hydrostatic compression effects on its non-strained material. Next, in Ta, the effect of strengthening intergrain-contact appears at small hydrostatic compression, resulting in temporal increase in Tc. Finally, Nb exhibits prominent increase in Tc by both effects and, in particular, the structural deformation in the unit-cell level promotes the increase in Tc. Thus, the accumulation of residual strain in the level of starting material can be a promising work to manipulate Tc under HP compression

アタッチメントに関わる母親の敏感性概念の検討

This study reconsidered the validity of the maternal sensitivity construct by multilevel assessments of mothers\u27 behaviors during mother-infant play interactions with toys in 40 mother-infant pairs at 6 months of age. To score maternal sensitivity, Ainsworth\u27s maternal sensitivity scale, and three types of behavioral rating were introduced.; 1)the maternal sensitivity scales to infant positive affect, negative affect and intention; 2)micro-analysis of behaviors in mothers, infants and mother-infant interactions; 3)content analysis of maternal speech. The results showed that Ainsworth\u27s maternal sensitivity was highly correlated to sensitivity to infant\u27s intention and frequency of maternal specific speech in which mothers spoke for infants with reading infants\u27 mind but it was not related to any individual behaviors both in mothers and infants. These results indicated that maternal ability to take infant\u27s point of view is the most important to enhance infant attachment security

4か月児の社会的随伴性の弁別に及ぼす親の遊戯性の効果

Double Video paradigm(DVP) studies have found contradictory evidence regarding the young infants\u27 ability to discriminate their mother\u27s \u27Replay\u27 image from \u27Live\u27. This study examined the hypothesis that 4-month-old infants with high-levels-of-playful-behavior mothers are more likely to discriminate social contingency in the DVP. We also examined the relationships between the infants\u27 DVP behaviors and mothers\u27 free-play behaviors with their infant at home at home at 3 months of infant\u27s age. The results supported our hypothesis. Further, when the mothers\u27 behaviors were reduced as Playful Companion(PC) and Sensitive Support(SS), the level of PC more related to the infants\u27 detection of social contingency than SS. The different functions of mothers\u27 \u27playfulness\u27 and \u27sensitivity\u27 in communication with their infants are discussed

The Japanese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2020 (J-SSCG 2020)

The Japanese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2020 (J-SSCG 2020), a Japanese-specific set of clinical practice guidelines for sepsis and septic shock created as revised from J-SSCG 2016 jointly by the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine, was first released in September 2020 and published in February 2021. An English-language version of these guidelines was created based on the contents of the original Japanese-language version. The purpose of this guideline is to assist medical staff in making appropriate decisions to improve the prognosis of patients undergoing treatment for sepsis and septic shock. We aimed to provide high-quality guidelines that are easy to use and understand for specialists, general clinicians, and multidisciplinary medical professionals. J-SSCG 2016 took up new subjects that were not present in SSCG 2016 (e.g., ICU-acquired weakness [ICU-AW], post-intensive care syndrome [PICS], and body temperature management). The J-SSCG 2020 covered a total of 22 areas with four additional new areas (patient- and family-centered care, sepsis treatment system, neuro-intensive treatment, and stress ulcers). A total of 118 important clinical issues (clinical questions, CQs) were extracted regardless of the presence or absence of evidence. These CQs also include those that have been given particular focus within Japan. This is a large-scale guideline covering multiple fields; thus, in addition to the 25 committee members, we had the participation and support of a total of 226 members who are professionals (physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, clinical engineers, and pharmacists) and medical workers with a history of sepsis or critical illness. The GRADE method was adopted for making recommendations, and the modified Delphi method was used to determine recommendations by voting from all committee members.As a result, 79 GRADE-based recommendations, 5 Good Practice Statements (GPS), 18 expert consensuses, 27 answers to background questions (BQs), and summaries of definitions and diagnosis of sepsis were created as responses to 118 CQs. We also incorporated visual information for each CQ according to the time course of treatment, and we will also distribute this as an app. The J-SSCG 2020 is expected to be widely used as a useful bedside guideline in the field of sepsis treatment both in Japan and overseas involving multiple disciplines.other authors: Satoru Hashimoto,Daisuke Hasegawa,Junji Hatakeyama,Naoki Hara,Naoki Higashibeppu,Nana Furushima,Hirotaka Furusono,Yujiro Matsuishi,Tasuku Matsuyama,Yusuke Minematsu,Ryoichi Miyashita,Yuji Miyatake,Megumi Moriyasu,Toru Yamada,Hiroyuki Yamada,Ryo Yamamoto,Takeshi Yoshida,Yuhei Yoshida,Jumpei Yoshimura,Ryuichi Yotsumoto,Hiroshi Yonekura,Takeshi Wada,Eizo Watanabe,Makoto Aoki,Hideki Asai,Takakuni Abe,Yutaka Igarashi,Naoya Iguchi,Masami Ishikawa,Go Ishimaru,Shutaro Isokawa,Ryuta Itakura,Hisashi Imahase,Haruki Imura,Takashi Irinoda,Kenji Uehara,Noritaka Ushio,Takeshi Umegaki,Yuko Egawa,Yuki Enomoto,Kohei Ota,Yoshifumi Ohchi,Takanori Ohno,Hiroyuki Ohbe,Kazuyuki Oka,Nobunaga Okada,Yohei Okada,Hiromu Okano,Jun Okamoto,Hiroshi Okuda,Takayuki Ogura,Yu Onodera,Yuhta Oyama,Motoshi Kainuma,Eisuke Kako,Masahiro Kashiura,Hiromi Kato,Akihiro Kanaya,Tadashi Kaneko,Keita Kanehata,Ken-ichi Kano,Hiroyuki Kawano,Kazuya Kikutani,Hitoshi Kikuchi,Takahiro Kido,Sho Kimura,Hiroyuki Koami,Daisuke Kobashi,Iwao Saiki,Masahito Sakai,Ayaka Sakamoto,Tetsuya Sato,Yasuhiro Shiga,Manabu Shimoto,Shinya Shimoyama,Tomohisa Shoko,Yoh Sugawara,Atsunori Sugita,Satoshi Suzuki,Yuji Suzuki,Tomohiro Suhara,Kenji Sonota,Shuhei Takauji,Kohei Takashima,Sho Takahashi,Yoko Takahashi,Jun Takeshita,Yuuki Tanaka,Akihito Tampo,Taichiro Tsunoyama,Kenichi Tetsuhara,Kentaro Tokunaga,Yoshihiro Tomioka,Kentaro Tomita,Naoki Tominaga,Mitsunobu Toyosaki,Yukitoshi Toyoda,Hiromichi Naito,Isao Nagata,Tadashi Nagato,Yoshimi Nakamura,Yuki Nakamori,Isao Nahara,Hiromu Naraba,Chihiro Narita,Norihiro Nishioka,Tomoya Nishimura,Kei Nishiyama,Tomohisa Nomura,Taiki Haga,Yoshihiro Hagiwara,Katsuhiko Hashimoto,Takeshi Hatachi,Toshiaki Hamasaki,Takuya Hayashi,Minoru Hayashi,Atsuki Hayamizu,Go Haraguchi,Yohei Hirano,Ryo Fujii,Motoki Fujita,Naoyuki Fujimura,Hiraku Funakoshi,Masahito Horiguchi,Jun Maki,Naohisa Masunaga,Yosuke Matsumura,Takuya Mayumi,Keisuke Minami,Yuya Miyazaki,Kazuyuki Miyamoto,Teppei Murata,Machi Yanai,Takao Yano,Kohei Yamada,Naoki Yamada,Tomonori Yamamoto,Shodai Yoshihiro,Hiroshi Tanaka,Osamu NishidaGuideline