Serum levels of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D in nondialyzed patients with chronic renal failure

Serum levels of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D in nondialyzed patients with chronic renal failure.BackgroundIn patients with chronic renal failure (CRF), abnormalities in vitamin D metabolism are known to be present, and several factors could contribute to the abnormalities.MethodsWe measured serum levels of three vitamin D metabolites, 1,25(OH)2D, 24,25(OH)2D and 25(OH)D, and analyzed factors affecting their levels in 76 nondialyzed patients with CRF (serum creatinine> 1.6 and < 9.0 mg/dl), 37 of whom had diabetes mellitus (DM-CRF) and 39 of whom were nondiabetic (nonDM-CRF).ResultsSerum levels of 1,25(OH)2D were positively correlated with estimated creatinine clearance (CCr; r = 0.429; P < 0.0001), and levels of 24,25(OH)2D were weakly correlated with CCr (r = 0.252, P < 0.05); no correlation was noted for 25(OH)D. Serum levels of all three vitamin D metabolites were significantly and positively correlated with serum albumin. Although there were no significant differences in age, sex, estimated CCr, calcium and phosphate between DM-CRF and nonDM-CRF, all three vitamin D metabolites were significantly lower in DM-CRF than in nonDM-CRF. To analyze factors influencing vitamin D metabolite levels, we performed multiple regression analyses. Serum 25(OH)D levels were significantly and independently associated with serum albumin, presence of DM and serum phosphate (R2 = 0.599; P < 0.0001). 24,25(OH)2D levels were significantly and strongly associated with 25(OH)D (β; = 0.772; R2 = 0.446; P < 0.0001). Serum 1,25(OH)2D levels were significantly associated only with estimated CCr (R2 = 0.409; P < 0.0001).ConclusionsThese results suggest that hypoalbuminemia and the presence of DM independently affect serum 25(OH)D levels, probably via diabetic nephropathy and poor nutritional status associated with diabetes, and that 25(OH)D is actively catalyzed to 24,25(OH)2D in CRF, probably largely via extrarenal 24-hydroxylase. Serum levels of 1,25(OH)2D were significantly affected by the degree of renal failure. Thus, this study indicates that patients with CRF, particularly those with DM, should receive supplements containing the active form of vitamin D prior to dialysis

血清ペプシノゲン検査に基づく胃がん発生率と有効性に関する15年間のコホート研究

Objectives : The incidence of and mortality from gastric cancer in Japan have remained high and prophylaxis is important. However, the number of the individuals undergoing gastric mass radiography has decreased in recent years because the examination has a big burden at the time of the consultation. Many studies have reported the ease and effectiveness of the pepsinogen test and a higher incidence of gastric cancer in positive groups. However, the longest survey period was 10 years. Therefore, we conducted a 15-year cohort study to examine the validity of the testing period and the incidence of gastric cancer in serum pepsinogen positive and negative groups at a private company utilizing pepsinogen test. Methods : Subjects were 4383 employees who received a pepsinogen test. Subjects were followed for 15 years. For the purpose of examining the three periods over five-, 10-, and 15-year periods, we analyzed the validity of testing during each period, carried out a log-rank test, and analyzed hazard ratio in the Cox proportional hazard model. Results : The number of individuals who developed gastric cancer during the survey was nine in the five-year negative group, 18 in the five-year positive group, 16 in the 10-year negative group, 27 in the 10-year positive group, 31 in the 15-year negative group, and 29 in the 15-year positive group. The sensitivity of testing was 0.667 over the first five years, 0.628 over 10 years, and 0.483 over 15 years, and the specificity was 0.744 over the first five years, 0.745 over 10 years, and 0.745 over 15 years. The five-year incidence of gastric cancer was 57 per 100,000 person years in the negative group and 350 per 100,000 person years in the positive group. The ten-year incidences were 53 per 100,000 person years in the negative group and 279 per 100,000 person years in the positive group. The 15-year incidence was 75 per 100,000 person years in the negative group and 231 per 100,000 person years in the positive group. The hazard ratio of the positive group toward the negative group was 4.98 over the first five years, 4.71 over 10 years, and 2.76 over 15 years (p＜0.001). Conclusions : This study clarified that the first five years after the testing showed the highest hazard ratio and validity, therefore, the validity of testing was approximately 10 years. 【目的】我が国の胃がんの死亡率及び罹患率は現在も上位であり、その予防対策は重要で ある。けれども、近年X線の胃集団検診の受診者は、受診時の負担が大きいことから減少 している。一方職域の胃がん予防対策は、法的義務が無いため、企業により様々であるが 地域同様減少している。多くの先行研究では、血清ペプシノゲン検査法が簡便で有益とし ており、陽性群に発症率が高いとしているが、調査期間は最長10年であり、15年間の調査 はなかった。そこで、一企業において15年間の“陽性群”と“陰性群”での発症率の違い と検査の有効性の期間を検討することを目的にコホート調査を行った。 【方法】ペプシノゲン検査を受診した4,383名を15年間追跡した。５年間、10年間、15年間の ３期間に区切って各期間の検査の有効性を算出し、発症率をLog-rankで検定し、発症危険 度をCox比例ハザードで分析した。 【結果】追跡期間中に陰性群と陽性群のそれぞれの胃がん発症数は、５年間で９人と18人、 10年間で16人と27人、15年間で31人と29人であった。検査の感度は５年間で0.667、10年間 で0.628、15年間で0.483であり、特異度は、５年間で0.744、10年間で0.745，15年間で0.745 であった。発症率では、５年間の陰性群と陽性群で57、350per 100,000 person yearsであり、 10年では53、279 per 100,000 person years であり、15年では 75、231 per 100,000 person yearsであった。陰性群に対する陽性群の発生危険度は、５年間4.98、10年間4.71、15年間 2.76であった (p＜0.001)。 【結論】胃がんの発症率及び発症危険度や検査の有効性が最も高かったのは、2000年まで の５年間であり、検査の有効性は、約10年であることが明らかになった。Thesis of Takami Okuno / 奥野 敬生 博士論文 金沢大学医薬保健学総合研究科（保健学専攻

Two-Layered Audio-Visual Speech Recognition for Robots in Noisy Environments

Abstract — Audio-visual (AV) integration is one of the key ideas to improve perception in noisy real-world environments. This paper describes automatic speech recognition (ASR) to improve human-robot interaction based on AV integration. We developed AV-integrated ASR, which has two AV integration layers, that is, voice activity detection (VAD) and ASR. However, the system has three difficulties: 1) VAD and ASR have been separately studied although these processes are mutually dependent, 2) VAD and ASR assumed that high resolution images are available although this assumption never holds in the real world, and 3) an optimal weight between audio and visual stream was fixed while their reliabilities change according to environmental changes. To solve these problems, we propose a new VAD algorithm taking ASR characteristics into account, and a linear-regression-based optimal weight estimation method. We evaluate the algorithm for auditoryand/or visually-contaminated data. Preliminary results show that the robustness of VAD improved even when the resolution of the images is low, and the AVSR using estimated stream weight shows the effectiveness of AV integration. I