Patient affect and caregiver burden in dementia

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies focusing on the burden of caregivers of dementia patients have been published. However, there have been few studies focusing on positive affect as an important factor affecting the caregiver burden, and only a few studies comparing the caregiver burden between different dementia diseases have been reported. METHODS: Three hundred and thirty-seven consecutive caregivers of people with dementia participated in this study. The caregiver burden was evaluated by the short version of the Japanese version of the Zarit Burden Interview. RESULTS: Positive affect scores had a significant relationship with the scores of the short version of the Zarit Burden Interview. Caregivers for patients with dementia with Lewy bodies or frontotemporal dementia suffered from a greater burden than those for patients with Alzheimer's disease dementia. CONCLUSIONS: The caregiver burden differed between people caring for patients with different dementia diseases. Positive affect of dementia patients has a significant relationship with caregiver burden, independently from neuropsychiatric symptoms of patients

Гомосексуальный субъект в пространстве публичного: нарративное измерение камин-аута

<div><p>Background</p><p>Although <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> (<i>H</i>. <i>pylori</i>) infection is closely associated with the development of peptic ulcer, its involvement in pathophysiology in the lower intestinal tract and gastrointestinal (GI) motility remains unclear. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a gut hormone produced in the lower intestinal tract and involved in GI motility. Here, we investigated the effect of <i>H</i>. <i>pylori</i> infection on the link between GLP-1 expression and motility of the GI tract.</p><p>Methods</p><p>C57BL/6 mice were inoculated with a <i>H</i>. <i>pylori</i> strain. Twelve weeks later, the <i>H</i>. <i>pylori</i>-infected mice underwent <i>H</i>. <i>pylori</i> eradication treatment. GI tissues were obtained from the mice at various time intervals, and evaluated for the severity of gastric inflammatory cell infiltration and immunohistochemical expression of GLP-1 and PAX6 in the colonic mucosa. Gastrointestinal transit time (GITT) was measured by administration of carmine-red solution.</p><p>Results</p><p>GLP-1 was expressed in the endocrine cells of the colonic mucosa, and PAX6 immunoreactivity was co-localized in such cells. The numbers of GLP-1- and PAX6-positive cells in the colon were significantly increased at 12 weeks after <i>H</i>. <i>pylori</i> infection and showed a positive correlation with each other. The GITT was significantly longer in <i>H</i>. <i>pylori</i>-infected mice than in non-infected controls and showed a positive correlation with GLP-1 expression. When <i>H</i>. <i>pylori</i>-infected mice underwent <i>H</i>. <i>pylori</i> eradication, GITT and PAX6/GLP-1 expression did not differ significantly from those in untreated <i>H</i>. <i>pylori</i>-infected mice.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p><i>H</i>. <i>pylori</i> infection may impair GI motility by enhancing the colonic GLP-1/PAX6 expression.</p></div

Observations of hard X-rays of auroral origin with Polar Patrol Balloons No. 8 and 10

In the Polar Patrol Balloon (PPB) project, two balloons named PPB-8 and -10 were launched in rapid succession to form a cluster of balloons during their flight on January 13, 2003, from Syowa Station, Antarctica. In order to make the two-dimensional images for auroral X-rays and to obtain the energy spectra of auroras with energy range from 30 keV to 778 keV, the same instruments for hard X-rays were installed on PPB-8 and -10, respectively. These detection systems observed several auroral X-ray events during the flight. In particularly on January 25, 2003, strong auroral events were detected at about 0919 UT by PPB-10 and at 0927 UT by PPB-8. The aurora observed by PPB-10 was observed after about 8 min by PPB-8 located a 650 km west of PPB-10. The energy spectra of the bright aurora at 0919 UT and 0927 UT for PPB-10 and -8 is obtained as E0 = (78+-5) keV and (70+-5) keV, respectively

From University to Work III Part 2 : How Students seek for ""Good Jobs"" in Non-Selective 4-Year-Colleges

This is the second report using the same survey data for non-selective college students in business major. In this report, we analyze the process of students\u27job seeking activities. We find that the timing and kinds of job seeking activities among those students are more diverse and less standardized than those from selective colleges. This less standardized feature of activities makes the process of job search for those non-selective college students more vague and more difficult. As a result, we also find that there are students, who stop or never start job seeking

Career Choice among General High School Students in Urban Cities : A Survey of Students with No Jobs No Colleges

Recent national statistics show that about 10% of new high school graduates don\u27t have any jobs or college education after high school; they are called MUGYOSHA in Japanese. Especially in urban areas, students from lower ranked general high schools tend to be those MUGYOSHA. Many of those students don\u27t commit themselves to any activities to seek for jobs or college education after graduation. Why are they inactive in exploring their future careers? How do they perceive their own "aptitude and ability"? How is their career consciousness structured? What experiences they have in and out of school influence their career perspectives? Based on questionnaire survey of 1098 high school students in 11 general high schools in the Tokyo Metropolitan area, we pursue those questions. We obtain the following findings. 1. Students career consciousness is structured with 6 elements, and the main three elements are present-orientation, understanding own aptitude, and commitment to meritocratic values. 2. School\u27s career guidance activities have little impact on those elements of career consciousness, although students outside school life have much influence on them. 3. Students\u27family background influences formation of career consciousness, and final careers, by restricting students\u27chances to enter colleges. 4. After controlling such other variables as gender, grades, economic family background, and high school rank, those three main elements of career consciousness have independent effects on students\u27chance to be MUGYOSHA. According to those findings, we discuss that with limited resources to socialize students into jobs, lower ranked general high schools face difficulties to help students find their own future career, under strong values of self-decision and self-responsibility of new-liberal education reforms

Inhibitory action of iron on erythropoietin via oxidative stress-HIF-2α pathway

Renal anemia is a major complication in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Iron supplementation, as well as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, are widely used for treatment of renal anemia. However, excess iron causes oxidative stress via the Fenton reaction, and iron supplementation might damage remnant renal function including erythropoietin (EPO) production in CKD. EPO gene expression was suppressed in mice following direct iron treatment. Hypoxia-inducible factor-2 alpha (HIF-2α), a positive regulator of the EPO gene, was also diminished in the kidney of mice following iron treatment. Anemia-induced increase in EPO and HIF-2α expression was also inhibited by iron-treatment. In in vitro experiments using EPO-producing HepG2 cells, iron stimulation reduced the expression of the EPO gene, as well as HIF-2α. Moreover, iron treatment augmented oxidative stress, and iron-induced reduction of EPO and HIF-2α expression was restored by tempol, an anti-oxidant compound. HIF-2α interaction with the EPO promoter was inhibited by iron treatment, and was restored by tempol. These findings suggested that iron supplementation reduced EPO gene expression via an oxidative stress-HIF-2α-dependent signaling pathway

Therapeutic activity of glycoengineered anti-GM2 antibodies against malignant pleural mesothelioma

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare and highly aggressive neoplasm that arises from the pleural, pericardial, or peritoneal lining. Although surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and combinations of these therapies are used to treat MPM, the median survival of such patients is dismal. Therefore, there is a compelling need to develop novel therapeutics with different modes of action. Ganglioside GM2 is a glycolipid that has been shown to be overexpressed in various types of cancer. However, there are no published reports regarding the use of GM2 as a potential therapeutic target in cases of MPM. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of the anti-GM2 antibody BIW-8962 as an anti-MPM therapeutic using in vitro and in vivo assays. Consequently, the GM2 expression in the MPM cell lines was confirmed using flow cytometry. In addition, eight of 11 cell lines were GM2-positive (73%), although the GM2 expression was variable. BIW-8962 showed a significant antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity activity against the GM2-expressing MPM cell line MSTO-211H, the effect of which depended on the antibody concentration and effector/target ratio. In an in vivo orthotropic mouse model using MSTO-211H cells, BIW-8962 significantly decreased the incidence and size of tumors. Additionally, the GM2 expression was confirmed in the MPM clinical specimens. Fifty-eight percent of the MPM tumors were positive for GM2, with individual variation in the intensity and frequency of staining. These data suggest that anti-GM2 antibodies may become a therapeutic option for MPM patients. In this study, the anti-GM2 antibody BIW-8962 first showed a significant ADCC activity against malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) cell line and therapeutic activity in an in vivo orthotropic mouse model using the cell line. Additionally, the GM2 expression was confirmed in the MPM clinical specimens. These data suggest that anti-GM2 antibodies may become a therapeutic option for MPM patients. © 2014 The Authors. Cancer Science published by Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd on behalf of Japanese Cancer Association

The Japanese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2016 (J-SSCG 2016)

Background and purposeThe Japanese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2016 (J-SSCG 2016), a Japanese-specific set of clinical practice guidelines for sepsis and septic shock created jointly by the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine, was first released in February 2017 and published in the Journal of JSICM, [2017; Volume 24 (supplement 2)] https://doi.org/10.3918/jsicm.24S0001 and Journal of Japanese Association for Acute Medicine [2017; Volume 28, (supplement 1)] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jja2.2017.28.issue-S1/issuetoc.This abridged English edition of the J-SSCG 2016 was produced with permission from the Japanese Association of Acute Medicine and the Japanese Society for Intensive Care Medicine.MethodsMembers of the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine were selected and organized into 19 committee members and 52 working group members. The guidelines were prepared in accordance with the Medical Information Network Distribution Service (Minds) creation procedures. The Academic Guidelines Promotion Team was organized to oversee and provide academic support to the respective activities allocated to each Guideline Creation Team. To improve quality assurance and workflow transparency, a mutual peer review system was established, and discussions within each team were open to the public. Public comments were collected once after the initial formulation of a clinical question (CQ) and twice during the review of the final draft. Recommendations were determined to have been adopted after obtaining support from a two-thirds (> 66.6%) majority vote of each of the 19 committee members.ResultsA total of 87 CQs were selected among 19 clinical areas, including pediatric topics and several other important areas not covered in the first edition of the Japanese guidelines (J-SSCG 2012). The approval rate obtained through committee voting, in addition to ratings of the strengths of the recommendation, and its supporting evidence were also added to each recommendation statement. We conducted meta-analyses for 29 CQs. Thirty-seven CQs contained recommendations in the form of an expert consensus due to insufficient evidence. No recommendations were provided for five CQs.ConclusionsBased on the evidence gathered, we were able to formulate Japanese-specific clinical practice guidelines that are tailored to the Japanese context in a highly transparent manner. These guidelines can easily be used not only by specialists, but also by non-specialists, general clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, clinical engineers, and other healthcare professionals