Experience of mother who have completed natural weaning

　本研究は、自然卒乳の迎え方と、自然卒乳を迎えた母親の心情を明らかにすることを目的とした。自然卒乳後の母親 10 名に半構成的面接を行い、逐語録を作成し、その内容を質的記述的に分析した。自然卒乳時の母子の様子と自然卒乳後の母親の心情について、類似性を見出した。　自然卒乳の迎え方は、 1 ) 子どもから突然飲まなくなった卒乳 ２ ) 授乳せずに過ごした状況がきっかけとなった卒乳 ３ ) 徐々に授乳回数が減りいつの間にかなくなった卒乳、の３ パターンがあった。　自然卒乳後、卒乳の事実をスムーズに受けいれられた母親と、受けいれがたい母親がいた。前者は卒乳後間もなく【授乳がなくなったことによるメリットの実感】があった。後者は卒乳後【授乳を介した密着感を失う淋しさ】【想い描いていた卒乳より早い卒乳による未完了感】【理想の卒乳ができなかった心残り】があり卒乳の事実を受けいれがたかった。しかし、【授乳がなくなったことによるメリットの実感】【自分から卒乳した子どもの成長の称賛】により、徐々に卒乳の事実を受け入れていた。【理想の卒乳ができなかった心残り】は面接時にも抱かれ続けていたが、面接を通して卒乳までの授乳体験を語り直すことで【全授乳期間における価値ある体験の再認識】が生じ、自分の卒乳のかたちとして受け入れようとしていた。以上より、自然卒乳後、卒乳の事実を受けいれがたい母親のこころに寄り添う支援の必要性が示唆された。This study was performed to clarify the acceptance of natural weaning and the feelings of mothers who experienced natural weaning. We conducted a semi-structured interview survey with 10 mothers who have experienced natural weaning, developed word-for-word interview records, and analyzed the content by a qualitative and descriptive method. We found similarities in the behaviors of mothers and children at the time of natural weaning and the feelings of mothers after natural weaning. There are three types of natural weaning: 1) the child suddenly does not suckle from the breast; ２) the mother stops breastfeeding triggered by a certain period without breastfeeding; and ３) the frequency of breastfeeding gradually decreases unintentionally, resulting in natural weaning. Some mothers accepted natural weaning without difficulty but others had feelings of unease. Mothers of the former type felt “the advantage of being free from breastfeeding after completing weaning,” while those of the latter type felt “loneliness due to the loss of the intimate attachment with their children via breastfeeding,” “incomplete because of earlier weaning than expected,” and “regret because the course of ideal weaning did not proceed as planned” and they had difficulty in accepting that weaning had occurred. However, these latter mothers gradually accepted that they had completed weaning because they felt “the advantage of being free from breastfeeding after completing weaning” and “admiration of the growth of their children who completed weaning.” During the interview, they still expressed “regret because the course of ideal weaning did not proceed as planned”; however, by reviewing the experience from the start to end of breastfeeding, they “recognized the worthwhile experience of breastfeeding” and tried to accept their own experience. The results of this study suggested that there is a necessity for mental support of mothers who have difficulty in accepting the experience of weaning

Brachytherapy in Japan

This study aimed to assess the current state of brachytherapy (BT) resources, practices and resident education in Japan. A nationwide survey was undertaken encompassing 177 establishments facilitating BT in 2022. Questionnaires were disseminated to each BT center, and feedback through online channels or postal correspondence was obtained. The questionnaire response rate was 90% (159/177), and every prefecture had a response in at least one center. The number of centers in each prefecture ranged from 0.6 to 3.6 (median: 1.3) per million population. The annual number of patients in each center ranged from 0 to 272 (median: 31). While most prefectures provided intracavitary (IC) BT for gynecological cancers and interstitial (IS) BT for prostate cancer, only one-third of the prefectures provided IS BT for cancer sites other than the prostate. The institutional image-guided BT implementation rate was 71%. IC and IS BT was performed for 15.4% of IC BT cases of gynecological cancer. Only 47% of the BT training centers answered that they could provide adequate training in BT for residents. The most common reason for this finding was the insufficient number of patients in each center. The results show that, although BT has achieved uniformity in terms of facility penetration, new technologies are not yet widespread enough. Furthermore, IS BT, which requires advanced skills, is limited to a few BT centers, and considerable number of BT training centers do not have sufficient caseloads to provide the necessary experience for their residents

Safety confirmation of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte patch transplantation for ischemic cardiomyopathy: first three case reports

IntroductionWith the expected increase in patients with heart failure and ischemic 15 cardiomyopathy, the development of myocardial regenerative medicine using cell transplantation as a novel treatment method is progressing. This first-in-human clinical trial aimed to confirm the safety of cardiomyocyte patch transplantation derived from allogeneic induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells based on the results of several preclinical studies.Study designThe inclusion criteria were left ventricular ejection fraction of 35% or less; heart failure symptoms of New York Heart Association class III or higher despite existing therapies such as revascularization; and a 1-year observation period that included a 3-month immunosuppressive drug administration period after transplantation of iPS cell-derived cardiomyocyte patches to evaluate adverse events, cardiac function, myocardial blood flow, heart failure symptoms, and immune response.ResultsIn the first three cases of this trial, no transplanted cell-related adverse events were observed during the 1-year observation period, and improvement in heart failure symptoms was observed. In addition, improvements in left ventricular contractility and myocardial blood flow were observed in two of the three patients. Regarding immune response, an increase in transplant cell-specific antibody titer was observed in all three patients after immunosuppressive drug administration. In one patient with poor improvement in cardiac function and myocardial blood flow, an increase in antibody titer against HLA-DQ was observed even before cell transplantation.ConclusionsOur case findings demonstrate that the transplantation of iPS cell-derived cardiomyocyte patches for ischemic cardiomyopathy can be safely performed; however, further investigation of the therapeutic effect and its relationship with an immune response is needed by accumulating the number of patients through continued clinical trials

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) for AKARI

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) is one of two focal plane instruments on the AKARI satellite. FIS has four photometric bands at 65, 90, 140, and 160 um, and uses two kinds of array detectors. The FIS arrays and optics are designed to sweep the sky with high spatial resolution and redundancy. The actual scan width is more than eight arcmin, and the pixel pitch is matches the diffraction limit of the telescope. Derived point spread functions (PSFs) from observations of asteroids are similar to the optical model. Significant excesses, however, are clearly seen around tails of the PSFs, whose contributions are about 30% of the total power. All FIS functions are operating well in orbit, and its performance meets the laboratory characterizations, except for the two longer wavelength bands, which are not performing as well as characterized. Furthermore, the FIS has a spectroscopic capability using a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS). Because the FTS takes advantage of the optics and detectors of the photometer, it can simultaneously make a spectral map. This paper summarizes the in-flight technical and operational performance of the FIS.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in the AKARI special issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japa

パーキンソン病患者の歩行障害に関する動作解析(自然科学系)

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease of the elderly with characteristic symptoms Including gait abnormality. This study was carried out to reveal whether the provision of a goal affects the walking for patients with PD. Ten patients with PD aged 60-77 as well as 6 normal volunteers aged 64-72, as a control group, were examined. All these subjects were tested to walk straight forward 10 meters, with and without a chair (as a goal) placed forward to sit on. Walking of these subjects were analyzed by estimation of temporal, distance and kinematic factors on motion pictures taken by video camera system. When the goal was provided, patients with PD walked significantly slower with shorter step length than in non-provision. Besides, the goal restricted their knee joint movement and increased the ratio of double supporting period. These results suggest that patients with PD may be less able to walk with a goal provided than without one

Study on Water Science

In this study, we intended to clarify the effect of various treatments such as magnetic and ultraviolet light irradiation on acidic electrolyzed aqueous solutions and alkali halide aqueous solutions. The results indicated that the available chloride concentration of acidic electrolyzed aqueous solution was decreased by these treatments. It was proved that hydroxyl radicals and bound water varied by these treatments in the alkali halide aqueous solution. It was proved that the most effective treatment in aqueous solutions relates to the salt concentration in both the acidic electrolyzed aqueous solution and the alkali halide aqueous solution

The Constrained Maximal Expression Level Owing to Haploidy Shapes Gene Content on the Mammalian X Chromosome.

X chromosomes are unusual in many regards, not least of which is their nonrandom gene content. The causes of this bias are commonly discussed in the context of sexual antagonism and the avoidance of activity in the male germline. Here, we examine the notion that, at least in some taxa, functionally biased gene content may more profoundly be shaped by limits imposed on gene expression owing to haploid expression of the X chromosome. Notably, if the X, as in primates, is transcribed at rates comparable to the ancestral rate (per promoter) prior to the X chromosome formation, then the X is not a tolerable environment for genes with very high maximal net levels of expression, owing to transcriptional traffic jams. We test this hypothesis using The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) and data from the Functional Annotation of the Mammalian Genome (FANTOM5) project. As predicted, the maximal expression of human X-linked genes is much lower than that of genes on autosomes: on average, maximal expression is three times lower on the X chromosome than on autosomes. Similarly, autosome-to-X retroposition events are associated with lower maximal expression of retrogenes on the X than seen for X-to-autosome retrogenes on autosomes. Also as expected, X-linked genes have a lesser degree of increase in gene expression than autosomal ones (compared to the human/Chimpanzee common ancestor) if highly expressed, but not if lowly expressed. The traffic jam model also explains the known lower breadth of expression for genes on the X (and the Z of birds), as genes with broad expression are, on average, those with high maximal expression. As then further predicted, highly expressed tissue-specific genes are also rare on the X and broadly expressed genes on the X tend to be lowly expressed, both indicating that the trend is shaped by the maximal expression level not the breadth of expression per se. Importantly, a limit to the maximal expression level explains biased tissue of expression profiles of X-linked genes. Tissues whose tissue-specific genes are very highly expressed (e.g., secretory tissues, tissues abundant in structural proteins) are also tissues in which gene expression is relatively rare on the X chromosome. These trends cannot be fully accounted for in terms of alternative models of biased expression. In conclusion, the notion that it is hard for genes on the Therian X to be highly expressed, owing to transcriptional traffic jams, provides a simple yet robustly supported rationale of many peculiar features of X's gene content, gene expression, and evolution