Qualitative investigation of the factors that generate ambivalent feelings in women who give birth after receiving negative results from non-invasive prenatal testing

Background: Women who receive negative results from non-invasive prenatal genetic testing (NIPT) may find that they later have mixed or ambivalent feelings, for example, feelings of accepting NIPT and regretting undergoing the test. This study aimed to investigate the factors generating ambivalent feelings among women who gave birth after having received negative results from NIPT. Methods: A questionnaire was sent to women who received a negative NIPT result, and a contents analysis was conducted focusing on ambivalent expressions for those 1562 women who responded the questionnaire. The qualitative data gathered from the questionnaire were analyzed using the N-Vivo software package. Results: Environmental factors, genetic counseling-related factors, and increased anticipatory anxiety, affected the feeling of ambivalence among pregnant women. Furthermore, pregnant women desired more information regarding the detailed prognosis for individuals with Down syndrome and living with them and/or termination, assuming the possibility that they were positive. Conclusions: Three major interrelated factors affected the feeling of ambivalence in women. Highlighting and discussing such factors during genetic counseling may resolve some of these ambivalences, thereby enhancing the quality of decisions made by pregnant women

Inter-application communication during LHD consecutive short pulse discharge experiment

LHD short pulse experiments are executed every three minutes. After the end of the discharge, the scientists must collect, analyze, visualize the last acquired data of the discharge, and prepare for the next discharge. From the beginning, the computer environment of the LHD (Large Helical Device) experiment has been built as a network distributed system, and various computers have been used for data acquisition or physical analysis. When one program is finished on one computer, that computer must send the results in order to the other computers to run programs. Smooth communication is required in order to finish all the tasks before the next discharge. To exchange the information among the applications running on the different computers, the authors have tried various methods, such as a commercial software to share the memory over the network, simple network file sharing method, IP multicast, web interfaces, and others. The purpose of this paper is to share our experiences of trial and error to build the network distributed systems for the consecutive plasma discharge experiments

Risk stratification for the prognosis of patients with chemoresistant urothelial cancer treated with pembrolizumab

The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors to treat urothelial carcinoma (UC) is increasing rapidly without clear guidance for validated risk stratification. This multicenter retrospective study collected clinicopathological information on 463 patients, and 11 predefined variables were analyzed to develop a multivariate model predicting overall survival (OS). The model was validated using an independent dataset of 292 patients. Patient characteristics and outcomes were well balanced between the discovery and validation cohorts, which had median OS times of 10.2 and 12.5 mo, respectively. The final validated multivariate model was defined by risk scores based on the hazard ratios (HRs) of independent prognostic factors including performance status, site of metastasis, hemoglobin levels, and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio. The median OS times (95% confidence intervals [CIs]) for the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups (discovery cohort) were not yet reached (NYR) (NYR–19.1), 6.8 mo (5.8-8.9), and 2.3 mo (1.2-2.6), respectively. The HRs (95% CI) for OS in the low- and intermediate-risk groups vs the high-risk group were 0.07 (0.04-0.11) and 0.23 (0.15-0.37), respectively. The objective response rates for in the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups were 48.3%, 28.8%, and 10.5%, respectively. These differential outcomes were well reproduced in the validation cohort and in patients who received pembrolizumab after perioperative or first-line chemotherapy (N = 584). In conclusion, the present study developed and validated a simple prognostic model predicting the oncological outcomes of pembrolizumab-treated patients with chemoresistant UC. The model provides useful information for external validation, patient counseling, and clinical trial design

Diabetes mellitus itself increases cardio- cerebrovascular risk and renal complications in primary aldosteronism

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism following peer review. The version of record Aya Saiki, Michio Otsuki, Daisuke Tamada, Tetsuhiro Kitamura, Iichiro Shimomura, Isao Kurihara, Takamasa Ichijo, Yoshiyu Takeda, Takuyuki Katabami, Mika Tsuiki, Norio Wada, Toshihiko Yanase, Yoshihiro Ogawa, Junji Kawashima, Masakatsu Sone, Nobuya Inagaki, Takanobu Yoshimoto, Ryuji Okamoto, Katsutoshi Takahashi, Hiroki Kobayashi, Kouichi Tamura, Kohei Kamemura, Koichi Yamamoto, Shoichiro Izawa, Miki Kakutani, Masanobu Yamada, Akiyo Tanabe, Mitsuhide Naruse, Diabetes Mellitus Itself Increases Cardio-Cerebrovascular Risk and Renal Complications in Primary Aldosteronism, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 105, Issue 7, July 2020, Pages e2531–e2537 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaa177

Integrated radiation monitoring and interlock system for the LHD deuterium experiments

The Large Helical Device (LHD) successfully started the deuterium experiment in March 2017, in which further plasma performance improvement is envisaged to provide a firm basis for the helical reactor design. Some major upgrades of facilities have been made for safe and productive deuterium experiments. For radiation safety, the tritium removal system, the integrated radiation monitoring system, and the access control system have been newly installed. Each system has new interlock signals that will prevent any unsafe plasma operation or plant condition. Major interlock extensions have been implemented as a part of the integrated radiation monitoring system, which also has an inter-connection to the LHD central operation and control system. The radiation monitoring system RMSAFE (Radiation Monitoring System Applicable to Fusion Experiments) is already operating for monitoring γ(X)-rays in LHD. Some neutron measurements have been additionally applied for the deuterium experiments. The LHD data acquisition system LABCOM can acquire and process 24 h every day continuous data streams. Since γ(X)-ray and neutron measurements require higher availability, the sensors, controllers, data acquisition computers, network connections, and visualization servers have been designed to be duplicated or multiplexed for redundancy. The radiation monitoring displays in the LHD control room have been carefully designed to have excellent visual recognition, and to make users immediately aware of several alerts regarding the dose limits. The radiation safety web pages have been also upgraded to always show both dose rates of γ(X)-rays and neutrons in real time

The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3-2 keV with high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5-80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4-12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40-600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

On the origin and evolution of the asteroid Ryugu: A comprehensive geochemical perspective

Presented here are the observations and interpretations from a comprehensive analysis of 16 representative particles returned from the C-type asteroid Ryugu by the Hayabusa2 mission. On average Ryugu particles consist of 50% phyllosilicate matrix, 41% porosity and 9% minor phases, including organic matter. The abundances of 70 elements from the particles are in close agreement with those of CI chondrites. Bulk Ryugu particles show higher δ18O, Δ17O, and ε54Cr values than CI chondrites. As such, Ryugu sampled the most primitive and least-thermally processed protosolar nebula reservoirs. Such a finding is consistent with multi-scale H-C-N isotopic compositions that are compatible with an origin for Ryugu organic matter within both the protosolar nebula and the interstellar medium. The analytical data obtained here, suggests that complex soluble organic matter formed during aqueous alteration on the Ryugu progenitor planetesimal (several 10’s of km), <2.6 Myr after CAI formation. Subsequently, the Ryugu progenitor planetesimal was fragmented and evolved into the current asteroid Ryugu through sublimation

小唾液腺腫瘍の臨床病理学的検討

Minor salivary gland tumors were clinicopathologically evaluated. Between 1990 and 2000, 31 patients with minor salivary gland tumors (10 males and 21 females between 12 and 75 years of age, mean age : 49.9 years) were treated in our department. Minor salivary gland tumors most frequently occurred in the palate in 19 patients, followed by 5 in the buccal mucosa, 4 in the lips, and 1 in the oropharynx. Histopathological examinations revealed 20 benign and 11 malignant tumors. Pleomorphic adenoma accounted for the majority (19 cases) of the benign tumors. Malignant tumors consisted of 3 mucoepidermoid carcinomas, 3 adenoid cystic carcinomas, 1 adenocarcinoma, 1 acinic cell carcinoma, 1 salivary duct carcinoma, 1 tubular adenocarcinoma, and 1 basal cell adenocarcinoma. All cases of benign tumors were successfully treated by extirpation without tumor recurrence. Of the 11 cases of malignant tumors, 7 were treated by surgery alone, 1 was treated by surgery after chemotherapy, and 3 were treated by surgery after chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Primary lesions recurred in 2 of these patients. The outcomes of patients with malignant tumors were as follows : 6 patients survived without other complications, 3 died of uncontrollable tumors, and 2 died of other diseases. Of the 3 patients who died of uncontrollable tumors, 2 died of primary lesions and 1 died of cervical lymph node metastasis