Trends in cause specific mortality across occupations in Japanese men of working age during period of economic stagnation, 1980-2005: retrospective cohort study

Objective To assess the temporal trends in occupation specific all causes and cause specific mortality in Japan between 1980 and 2005

A new species of Xenoturbella from the western Pacific Ocean and the evolution of Xenoturbella

BackgroundXenoturbella is a group of marine benthic animals lacking an anus and a centralized nervous system. Molecular phylogenetic analyses group the animal together with the Acoelomorpha, forming the Xenacoelomorpha. This group has been suggested to be either a sister group to the Nephrozoa or a deuterostome, and therefore it may provide important insights into origins of bilaterian traits such as an anus, the nephron, feeding larvae and centralized nervous systems. However, only five Xenoturbella species have been reported and the evolutionary history of xenoturbellids and Xenacoelomorpha remains obscure.ResultsHere we describe a new Xenoturbella species from the western Pacific Ocean, and report a new xenoturbellid structure - the frontal pore. Non-destructive microCT was used to investigate the internal morphology of this soft-bodied animal. This revealed the presence of a frontal pore that is continuous with the ventral glandular network and which exhibits similarities with the frontal organ in acoelomorphs.ConclusionsOur results suggest that large size, oval mouth, frontal pore and ventral glandular network may be ancestral features for Xenoturbella. Further studies will clarify the evolutionary relationship of the frontal pore and ventral glandular network of xenoturbellids and the acoelomorph frontal organ. One of the habitats of the newly identified species is easily accessible from a marine station and so this species promises to be valuable for research on bilaterian and deuterostome evolution

Application of neutron diffraction technique to industrial materials

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科As an important industrial problem, the rolling contact fatigue damage is accumulated in rails during the repeated passage of trains over the rails, and rail failures may occur from the cracks grown in the rails. In order to prevent such rail failures, the estimation of the behavior of internal rail cracks is required based on the exact engineering analysis model as well as conducting rail test to search rail defects. The purposes of this paper are to apply the neutron stress measurement to rails, and to obtain residual stress state in the rails for the above purpose. The rail samples used were those that have been used in service line in Japan for about six years (222 million gross tons). The neutron measurement was conducted using the Residual Stress Analyzer (RESA) of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). The present measurement of stresses in rails by the neutron diffraction method was the first attempt in Japan

Naturally absorbed lithium may prevent suicide attempts and deliberate self-harm while eicosapentaenoic acid may prevent deliberate self-harm and arachidonic acid may be a risk factor for deliberate self-harm: The updated different findings in new analyses

BackgroundSince our previous investigation on the effects of trace lithium, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and arachidonic acid (AA) on deliberate self-harm and suicide attempts in 2018, to our knowledge, no replication study has been conducted on this topic.Subjects and methodsWe increased 37 new patients and totally 234 patients were re-analyzed to further investigate the association of suicide-related behaviors with levels of trace lithium, EPA, DHA, and AA in a different way to avoid multicollinearity.ResultsHigher lithium levels were significantly associated with fewer suicide attempts and deliberate self-harm, higher EPA levels were significantly associated with fewer deliberate self-harm, and higher AA levels were significantly associated with more deliberate self-harm.DiscussionAlthough the sample size was only slightly larger than the previous study, the present results were clearly different from the previous ones due to the use of different statistical analyses to avoid multicollinearity.ConclusionThe present findings suggest that naturally absorbed lithium may protect against suicide and deliberate self-harm, while naturally absorbed EPA may protect against deliberate self-harm. However, naturally absorbed AA may be a risk factor for deliberate self-harm

Early treatment with tolvaptan improves diuretic response in acute heart failure with renal dysfunction

Background: Poor response to diuretics is associated with worse prognosis in patients with acute heart failure (AHF). We hypothesized that treatment with tolvaptan improves diuretic response in patients with AHF. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of the AQUAMARINE open-label randomized study in which a total of 217 AHF patients with renal impairment (eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m(2)) were randomized to either tolvaptan or conventional treatment. We evaluated diuretic response to 40 mg furosemide or its equivalent based on two different parameters: change in body weight and net fluid loss within 48 h. Results: The mean time from patient presentation to randomization was 2.9 h. Patients with a better diuretic response showed greater relief of dyspnea and less worsening of renal function. Tolvaptan patients showed a significantly better diuretic response measured by diuretic response based both body weight [-1.16 (IQR -3.00 to -0.57) kg/40 mg vs. -0.51 (IQR -1.13 to -0.20) kg/40 mg; P <0.001] and net fluid loss [ 2125.0 (IQR 1370.0-3856.3) mL/40 mg vs. 1296.3 (IQR 725.2-1726.5) mL/40 mg; P <0.001]. Higher diastolic blood pressure and use of tolvaptan were independent predictors of a better diuretic response. Conclusions: Better diuretic response was associated with greater dyspnea relief and less WRF. Early treatment with tolvaptan significantly improved diuretic response in AHF patients with renal dysfunction