Platinum and anthracycline therapy for advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

Because metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) is rare, standard chemotherapy has not been fully established. In Japan, combination platinum and anthracycline chemotherapy has been used for elderly patients with advanced CSCC because of its low toxicity. However, the clinical benefit of this therapy has not been fully examined. We retrospectively examined the response rate of combination platinum and anthracycline chemotherapy for metastatic CSCC. Eight patients received combination chemotherapy for metastatic lesions; there were lymph node lesions in 6 patients and skin and lung lesions in one patient each. The combination regimens were as follows: cisplatin (CDDP) (60-90 mg/m(2)/day, day 1) and adriamycin (ADM) (20-40 mg/m(2)/day, day 1 or 2) was administered in 5 patients; CDDP (10-15 mg/m(2)/day, days 1-5) and epirubicin (epi-ADM) (10-15 mg/m(2)/day, days 1-5) was administered in 2 patients; and carboplatin (CBDCA) (200-400 mg/m(2)/day, day 1) and ADM (20-40 mg/m(2)/day, day 1 or 2) was administered in one patient. The responses were as follows: complete response in 2 patients (CDDP + ADM for lung metastasis, CDDP + epi-ADM for lymph node metastasis), partial response in 1 (CDDP + ADM for lymph node metastasis), stable disease in 2, and progressive disease in 3. A durable response was observed in 2 patients showing complete responses (58 and 112 months). The clinical effect of the combination of platinum and anthracycline for metastatic CSCC was limited despite the findings of two patients showing durable complete responses.ArticleINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY. 18(3):506-509 (2013)journal articl

Combined associations of regular exercise and work-related moderate-to-vigorous physical activity with occupational stress responses: a cross-sectional study

ObjectiveThe association between work-related moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and higher levels of stress response is recognized, but whether this association is moderated by regular exercise remains unclear. This cross-sectional study investigated whether exercise-based physical activity (PA) associates with lower levels of stress responses moderated by work-related MVPA.MethodsThe study participants comprised 863 workers from 35 small and medium-sized enterprises in Shimane prefecture, Japan, collected through convenient sampling from April 2021 to August 2022. The Brief Job Stress Questionnaire was used to assess stress responses. Work-related MVPA and exercise-based PA were measured using questionnaires. Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the combined variables of work-related MVPA and exercise-based PA. The reference group had no weekly exercise-based PA and >60 min of work-related MVPA.ResultsWhen work-related MVPA exceeded 60 min/day, flexibility activity or walking for ≥5 days/week (B = −3.53, 95% CI = −5.96, −1.11; B = −2.53, 95% CI = −4.90, −0.16) and muscle-strengthening activity 1–3 times/week (B = −3.52, 95% CI = −6.91, −0.12) were significantly associated with lower psychological stress response. Flexibility activity (B = −1.74, 95% CI = −3.01, −0.46) showed a similar link with physical stress response. When work-related MVPA was below 60 min/day, flexibility activity (B = −3.23, 95% CI = −6.01, −0.44; B = −3.29, 95% CI = −5.94, −0.63) or walking (B = −4.03, 95% CI = −6.62, −1.45; B = −3.10, 95% CI = −5.76, −0.44) practice 1–4 times/week and ≥5 times/week was significantly associated with lower psychological stress response.ConclusionExercise-based PA greatly and consistently associates with a lower level of stress responses moderated by work-related MVPA

Moiré superlattice and two-dimensional free-electron-like states of indium triple-layer structure on Si(111)

We studied the growth of an indium triple-atomic-layer film and the two-dimensional free-electron-like electronic states on Si(111) by low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES). By depositing In on the In/Si(111)- √ 7 × √ 3-rect surface below 100 K, followed by brief postannealing up to 140 K, we successfully obtained well-crystalline films exhibiting sharp superstructure LEED spots. We revealed an (11 × 11) superlattice of the triple-layer structure, while both LEED and STM showed a (5.5 × 5.5) pseudoperiodicity. This pseudoperiodicity was attributed to the moiré interference between the Si(111)-(11 × 11) lattice (a = 3.84 Å) and the In (13 × 13) hexagonal lattice, which has a lattice constant of 3.25 Å, with the ratio very close to 13/11. ARPES measurements unveiled two free-electron-like states with Fermi wave vectors of 1.32 and 1.46 Å⁻¹. We also observed replica Fermi surfaces, which are associated with the reciprocal lattice vectors of both the (1 × 1) Si(111) and the In hexagonal layers. This further confirms the hexagonal atomic arrangement of the In triple-layer structure

The factorial structure of the mini mental state examination (MMSE) in Japanese dementia patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is one of the most commonly used instruments in the evaluation of global cognitive status. Few studies have investigated the relationship among its components in terms of factorial structure in Japanese individuals suffering from dementia. The aims of this study were: 1) to analyze the factorial structure of MMSE in Japanese dementia patients, 2) to clarify the MMSE static structure in identifying different cognitive profiles and understanding how these profiles are related to levels of dysfunction in subsets of dementia patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>30,895 consecutive outpatients with dementia were evaluated. The 11 subtests composing the MMSE and the global MMSE score were analyzed. Factor analysis based on principal component analysis with Promax rotation was applied to the data representing the frequency of failures in each subtest as identified by the MMSE.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Factor analysis identified three factors that explained approximately 44.57% of the total variance. The first factor, immediate memory, essentially constituted a simple index of the reading and writing subtests. The second factor, orientation and delayed recall, expressed the ability to handle new information. The third factor, working memory, was most closely related to the severity of dementia at the time of test administration.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Japanese dementia patients appear to develop difficulty handling new information in the early stages of their disease. This finding, and our finding that there is a factor associated with disease severity, suggest that understanding the specific factors related to subtest items, which underlie the total MMSE score may be useful to clinicians in planning interventions for Japanese patients in the early stages of dementia.</p

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Correlators of double scaled SYK at one-loop

Abstract In this paper, we study one-loop contributions in the double-scaling limit of the SYK model from the chord diagrams and Liouville type effective action. We compute and clarify the meaning of each component consisting of the one-loop corrections for the two- and time-ordered four-point functions of light operators. We also reproduce the exact expression of the out-of-time-ordered four-point function at arbitrary temperatures within the one-loop level, which were previously computed from different methods

Changes in the Immune Cell Repertoire for the Treatment of Malignant Melanoma

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have been used for the treatment of various types of cancers, including malignant melanoma. Mechanistic exploration of tumor immune responses is essential to improve the therapeutic efficacy of ICIs. Since tumor immune responses are based on antigen-specific immune responses, investigators have focused on T cell receptors (TCRs) and have analyzed changes in the TCR repertoire. The proliferation of T cell clones against tumor antigens is detected in patients who respond to treatment with ICIs. The proliferation of these T cell clones is observed within tumors as well as in the peripheral blood. Clonal proliferation has been detected not only in CD8-positive T cells but also in CD4-positive T cells, resident memory T cells, and B cells. Moreover, changes in the repertoire at an early stage of treatment seem to be useful for predicting the therapeutic efficacy of ICIs. Further analyses of the repertoire of immune cells are desirable to improve and predict the therapeutic efficacy of ICIs

Application of a computer vision technique to animal-borne video data: extraction of head movement to understand sea turtles’visual assessment of surroundings

Proceedings of the 5th Bio-Logging Science Symposium[Background] An animal-borne video recording system has recently been developed to study the behavior of free-ranging animals. In contrast to other types of sensor data (i.e., acceleration), video images offer the advantage of directly acquiring information without analysis. However, most previous findings have only been obtained through visual observation of image data. Here, we demonstrate a new method of data analysis for animal-borne videos using a computer vision technique referred to as template matching. As a case study, we tracked the horizontal head movements of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) to investigate how they move their heads to look around the underwater environment. [Results] Template matching allowed tracking of head movements with high accuracy (0.34 ± 0.12 % and 0.52 ± 0.29 % of the root-mean-square error on the x- and y-coordinates, respectively), high true (86.2 ± 8.1 %), and low false extraction rates (6.6 ± 8.4 %). However the program sometimes failed because the turtle’s head would move out of range of the video. During cruising swimming, green turtles did not significantly move their heads to one side, moving with a ratio of 50.5:49.5 (left: right). Green turtles moved their heads from side to side more widely and more slowly before (12.0 ± 4.6 point and 0.25 ± 0.03 Hz, respectively) and after taking a breath (27.5 ± 2.9 point and 0.27 ± 0.03 Hz) compared to during cruising swimming (8.4 ± 3.8 point and 0.32 ± 0.01 Hz). Before feeding, turtles moved their heads slowly (0.23 ± 0.03 Hz) and narrowly (9.3 ± 3.6 point). Our combined approach using video and gyro loggers revealed that when making a turn, turtles always turned their heads to the side 1.38 ± 0.77 s before turning their body. [Conclusions] Our method enables researchers to quantitatively extract information regarding vision cognition and behavioral responses in green turtles in the wild that could not otherwise be obtained from other sensors used in previous studies. This new method using a combination of computer vision and bio-logging (e.g., gyroscope) can serve as a powerful tool in animal behavior and ecological studies