Changes in Sexuality of Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients Under Hormone Therapy in Japan: a Case Study

Background: Hormone therapy is an important treatment for male patients with prostate cancer. However, it can produce changes in the genitalia and sexuality of the patients. Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relations between changes in male genitalia and sexuality in the castration-resistant prostate cancer patients. It also proposed concrete interventions to ease pain and fear towards body image changes. Methods: This study used a descriptive qualitative design. The subjects were two castration-resistant prostate cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and endocrine therapy. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using verbatim reports and content analysis. Results: The study indicated that the effects of hormone therapy treatment on the sexuality were largely categorized as: “surprises and anxieties about the shrinkage of male genitalia”, “masculinity loss”, “difficulty adapting the situation”, and “connection with others”. Conclusion: It became clear that the prostate cancer patients had pains not only for prognosis, but also for physical changes, relationship changes with others and sexuality changes through their treatments

High-order volterra model predictive control and its application to a nonlinear polymerisation process

Model Predictive Control (MPC) has recently found wide acceptance in the process industry, but the existing design and implementation methods are restricted to linear process models. A chemical process involves, however, severe nonlinearity which cannot be ignored in practice. This paper aims to solve this nonlinear control problem by extending MPC to nonlinear models. It develops an analytical framework for nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC), and also offers a third-order Volterra series based nonparametric nonlinear modelling technique for NMPC design which relieves practising engineers from the need for first deriving a physical-principles based model. An on-line realisation technique for implementing the NMPC is also developed. The NMPC is then applied to a Mitsubishi Chemicals polymerisation reaction process. The results show that this nonlinear MPC technique is feasible and very effective. It considerably outperforms linear and low-order Volterra model based methods. The advantages of the approach developed lie not only in control performance superior to existing NMPC methods, but also in relieving practising engineers from the need for deriving an analytical model and then converting it to a Volterra model through which the model can only be obtained up to the second order

Breast Cancer Knowledge and Preventive Behavior Among Filipino Women in a Rural Area: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The incidence and mortality rates of breast cancer are high among Filipino women. The lack of knowledge on preventive behavior and early detection related to breast cancer is considered a reason. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the association between knowledge about breast cancer and selected sociodemographic characteristics, daily life factors, reproductive factors, and perceived breast cancer risk factors. Patients and Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design. The study population consisted of 527 women. Interviews were conducted by the investigators. The contents of the questionnaire collected basic characteristics of the respondents, including their sociodemographic profiles, their knowledge of breast cancer risk factors, preventive behaviors, early detection, and their daily life and reproductive factors. Predictor variables were analyzed using a Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, and a t-test. Multivariate logistic regression was applied for any significant differences (P < 0.005) among the predictor variables. One-way ANOVA and Tukey’s HDS were used to evaluate the association between education level and reproductive factors. Results: Less than half of the women (42.7%) had knowledge on breast cancer risk factors, and an equivalent number had knowledge on breast cancer symptoms. Women with higher educational levels were noted to give birth to their first child at a significantly older age and have a significantly lower number of childbirths. Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated that body mass index, education history, knowledge about symptoms, knowing how to conduct a breast self-examination, family history of cancer, and passive smoking could predict breast cancer knowledge. Conclusions: Women who were aware of risk factors for breast cancer possessed a higher education level and had knowledge of the association of risk factors with preventive behaviors and early detection. However, a minority of women (42.7%) knew enough about breast cancer, preventive behaviors, and what actions to take for early detection

Nonparametric nonlinear model predictive control

Model Predictive Control (MPC) has recently found wide acceptance in industrial applications, but its potential has been much impeded by linear models due to the lack of a similarly accepted nonlinear modeling or databased technique. Aimed at solving this problem, the paper addresses three issues: (i) extending second-order Volterra nonlinear MPC (NMPC) to higher-order for improved prediction and control; (ii) formulating NMPC directly with plant data without needing for parametric modeling, which has hindered the progress of NMPC; and (iii) incorporating an error estimator directly in the formulation and hence eliminating the need for a nonlinear state observer. Following analysis of NMPC objectives and existing solutions, nonparametric NMPC is derived in discrete-time using multidimensional convolution between plant data and Volterra kernel measurements. This approach is validated against the benchmark van de Vusse nonlinear process control problem and is applied to an industrial polymerization process by using Volterra kernels of up to the third order. Results show that the nonparametric approach is very efficient and effective and considerably outperforms existing methods, while retaining the original data-based spirit and characteristics of linear MPC

Agricultural policy reform and less-favoured areas policy: application of EU policy to Japan

This paper aims to overview Japan’s implementation of the EU’s Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) direct payment support. Furthermore, we discuss the limitations of Japan’s LFA payments to the development of rural policy. Japan’s LFA direct payment policy was formed through adjustments to the small-scale Monsoon Asia terraced paddy field farming which still strongly relies on the community function. It has been effective in preventing further increases in farmland abandonment. However the long-term effectiveness of this policy is questionable due to the likelihood of further depopulation and ageing in Japan’s LFAs. We suggest the need for a conceptual shift from current support that maintains the status quo to one that emphasises investment in rural regeneration

Evidence for Carrier-Induced High-Tc Ferromagnetism in Mn-doped GaN film

A GaN film doped with 8.2 % Mn was grown by the molecular-beam-epitaxy technique. Magnetization measurements show that this highly Mn-doped GaN film exhibits ferromagnetism above room temperature. It is also revealed that the high-temperature ferromagnetic state is significantly suppressed below 10 K, accompanied by an increase of the electrical resistivity with decreasing temperature. This observation clearly demonstrates a close relation between the ferromagnetism with extremely high-Tc and the carrier transport in the Mn-doped GaN film.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Numerical simulation of fully nonlinear interaction between steep waves and 2D floating bodies using the QALE-FEM method

This paper extends the QALE-FEM (quasi arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian finite element method) based on a fully nonlinear potential theory, which was recently developed by the authors [Q.W. Ma, S. Yan, Quasi ALE finite element method for nonlinear water waves, J. Comput. Phys, 212 (2006) 52–72; S. Yan, Q.W. Ma, Application of QALE-FEM to the interaction between nonlinear water waves and periodic bars on the bottom, in: 20th International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies, Norway, 2005], to deal with the fully nonlinear interaction between steep waves and 2D floating bodies. In the QALE-FEM method, complex unstructured mesh is generated only once at the beginning of calculation and is moved to conform to the motion of boundaries at other time steps, avoiding the necessity of high cost remeshing. In order to tackle challenges associated with floating bodies, several new numerical techniques are developed in this paper. These include the technique for moving mesh near and on body surfaces, the scheme for estimating the velocities and accelerations of bodies as well as the forces on them, the method for evaluating the fluid velocity on the surface of bodies and the technique for shortening the transient period. Using the developed techniques and methods, various cases associated with the nonlinear interaction between waves and floating bodies are numerically simulated. For some cases, the numerical results are compared with experimental data available in the public domain and good agreement is achieved