Loneliness Factors in Older People and the Influence on Attitudes Toward Informal Care: A Study of Older Chinese People in Urban Areas.

Objectives: Loneliness is thought to be more likely to occur in older people and influences their lives. This study aimed to verify the influence of loneliness in older Chinese people on their attitudes toward informal care, as well as the demographic, social, and economic factors that may cause loneliness.

Methods: Data was collected from older (age: >60 years) using an online questionnaire.

Continuous drainage for the treatment of gastric cancer with pericardial metastasis and cardiac tamponade: A case report.

Key Clinical Message: Signet-ring cell gastric carcinomas presenting as pericardial effusion early in diagnosis are rare and associated with high mortality and a poor prognosis. There are two interesting aspects of this case: primary gastric carcinoma presenting as cardiac tamponade and the metastatic behavior of gastric signet-ring cell carcinoma.

Abstract: This report describes an 83-year-old man diagnosed to have cardiac tamponade due to massive pericardial effusion.

Reinfection Diagnosed by Endoscopic and Histologic Recurrence in a Patient with Gastric Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue Lymphoma.

infection is a major cause of gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. Successful eradication can induce a complete remission (CR); however, it takes a long time. In this case, the recurrence of gastric MALT lymphoma was observed by endoscopic and histologic findings during a 11-year follow-up and due to reinfection twice.

Comparative pharmacokinetics of new curcumin preparations and evidence for increased bioavailability in healthy adult participants.

Objective: Theracurmin, which contains the curcumin composition, CR-033P, has been demonstrated to be highly bioavailable. To compare the pharmacokinetics of the three compositions, CR-033P, CR-043P using modified starch as an alternative to the dispersant gum ghatti used in the CR-033P, and TS-P1 containing the newly developed amorphous curcumin, a randomized double-blind crossover study (3-way, 3-period) was conducted.

Materials And Methods: A single dose of the curcumin capsules (TS-P1 45 mg, CR-033P 90 mg, and CR-043P 90 mg) was administered to healthy adult participants.

Expression of Grainyhead-like 2 in the Process of Ductal Development of Mouse Mammary Gland.

Grainyhead-like 2 (Grhl2) is a transcription factor regulating cell adhesion genes. Grhl2 acts as an epithelial-mesenchymal transition suppressor, and it is a proto-oncogene involved in estrogen-stimulated breast cancer proliferation. However, its expression during ovarian hormone-dependent mammary ductal development remains obscure.

Intramammary infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus increases IgA antibodies to iron-regulated surface determinant-A, -B, and -H in bovine milk.

The aim of this study was to identify virulence factors that have high immunogenicity. An in vivo-expressed Staphylococcus aureus antigen was identified by probing bacteriophage expression libraries of S. aureus with antibodies in bovine mastitis milk.

Evaluating the usefulness of breast strain elastography for intraductal lesions.

Purpose: Strain elastography for imaging lesion stiffness is being used as a diagnostic aid in the malignant/benign discrimination of breast diseases. While acquiring elastography in addition to B-mode images has been reported to help avoid performing unnecessary biopsies, intraductal lesions are difficult to discriminate whether they are malignant or benign using elastography. An objective evaluation of strain in lesions was performed in this study by measuring the elasticity index (E-index) and elasticity ratio (E-ratio) of lesions as semi-quantitative numerical indicators of the color distribution of strain.

Author Correction: A spatial similarity of stereochemical environments formed by amino acid residues defines a common epitope of two non-homologous proteins.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

A spatial similarity of stereochemical environments formed by amino acid residues defines a common epitope of two non-homologous proteins.

It is critical for development of high-quality antibodies in research and diagnostics to predict accurately their cross-reactivities with "off-target" molecules, which potentially induce false results. Herein, we report a good example of such a cross-reactivity for an off-target due to a stereochemical environment of epitopes, which does not simply depend on amino acid sequences. We found that significant subpopulation of a polyclonal peptide antibody against Bcnt (Bucentaur) (anti-BCNT-C antibody) cross-reacted with a completely different protein, glutamine synthetase (GS), and identified four amino acids, GYFE, in its C-terminal region as the core amino acids for the cross-reaction.

Optimal lesion size index to prevent conduction gap during pulmonary vein isolation.

Introduction: A novel real-time lesion size index (LSI) that incorporates contact force (CF), time, and power has been developed for safe and effective catheter ablation. The optimal LSI was evaluated to eliminate gap formation during pulmonary vein isolation (PVI).

Methods And Results: Consecutive patients were enrolled, who underwent their first PVI using a fiber-optic CF-sensing catheter for atrial fibrillation between December 2016 and October 2017.

General anesthesia improves contact force and reduces gap formation in pulmonary vein isolation: a comparison with conscious sedation.

Compared to conscious sedation (CS), the use of general anesthesia (GA) in pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is associated with a lower recurrence rate of atrial fibrillation (AF). GA may improve catheter stability and mapping system accuracy compared to CS, but its influence on contact force (CF) parameters during ipsilateral PVI has not previously been investigated. The study population comprised 176 consecutive patients (107 in GA group and 69 in CS group) with AF who underwent their first PVI procedure.

Optimal Force-Time Integral for Pulmonary Vein Isolation According to Anatomical Wall Thickness Under the Ablation Line.

Background: Low contact force and force-time integral (FTI) during catheter ablation are associated with ineffective lesion formation, whereas excessively high contact force and FTI may increase the risk of complications. We sought to evaluate the optimal FTI for pulmonary vein (PV) isolation based on atrial wall thickness under the ablation line.

Methods And Results: Contact force parameters and FTI during anatomical ipsilateral PV isolation for atrial fibrillation and atrial wall thickness were assessed retrospectively in 59 consecutive patients for their first PV isolation procedure.

Chronic Ischemia Induced by Woven Coronary Artery Anomaly with Typical Atrial Flutter: Insights from Multiple Imaging Devices.

A 75-year-old man with a 120-bpm tachycardia and typical atrial flutter was admitted. Echocardiography showed a dilated left ventricle with anterior and apical wall akinesia. Tachycardia was terminated with cavotricuspid isthmus ablation.

Retinoid X receptor agonists modulate Foxp3⁺ regulatory T cell and Th17 cell differentiation with differential dependence on retinoic acid receptor activation.

Retinoic acid (RA) enhances TGF-β-dependent differentiation of Foxp3(+) inducible regulatory T cells (iTregs) and inhibits Th17 differentiation by binding to the RA receptor (RAR)/retinoid X receptor (RXR) heterodimer. The major physiologic RA, all-trans-RA, binds to RAR but not to RXR at physiological concentrations. It remained unclear whether RXR-mediated stimulation affected the iTregs and Th17 differentiation.

Early infantile growth and cardiovascular risks in adolescent Japanese women.

Objective: Early life events connected with the risk of later disease can occur not only in utero, but also in infancy. In study of the developmental origins of health and disease, the relationship between infantile growth patterns and adolescent body mass index and blood pressure is one of the most important issues to verify.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed the correlation of current body mass index and systolic blood pressure of 168 female college students with their growth patterns in utero and in infancy.

Influence of proton pump inhibitor treatment on Helicobacter pylori stool antigen test.

Aim: To investigate the effects of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) treatment on stool antigen test using the TestMate pylori enzyme immunoassay.

Methods: This study assessed 28 patients [16 men and 12 women; mean age (63.1 ± 5.

Efficient induction of CCR9 on T cells requires coactivation of retinoic acid receptors and retinoid X receptors (RXRs): exaggerated T Cell homing to the intestine by RXR activation with organotins.

The active vitamin A metabolite retinoic acid (RA) imprints gut-homing specificity on lymphocytes upon activation by inducing the expression of α4β7 integrin and CCR9. RA receptor (RAR) activation is essential for their expression, whereas retinoid X receptor (RXR) activation is not essential for α4β7 expression. However, it remains unclear whether RXR activation affects the RA-dependent CCR9 expression on T cells and their gut homing.

Comparison of monoclonal antibody-based stool antigen tests to determine the results of Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy.

Objective: Stool antigen tests using monoclonal antibody are used to test the results of eradication therapy of Helicobacter pylori. A newly developed test using multiple monoclonal antibodies is considered to have higher sensitivity. The aim of this study was to examine whether monoclonal antibody-based stool antigen tests are equally applicable to determine the results of eradication therapy.

Applicability of a monoclonal antibody-based stool antigen test to evaluate the results of Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy.

The (13)C-urea breath test (UBT) is widely used to examine the results of eradication therapy for Helicobacter pylori. We examined whether a stool antigen test can be used as efficiently as UBT. (i) Ninety-four patients infected with H.

GM-CSF and IL-4 synergistically trigger dendritic cells to acquire retinoic acid-producing capacity.

Retinoic acid (RA) produced by intestinal dendritic cells (DCs) imprints gut-homing specificity on lymphocytes and enhances Foxp3(+) regulatory T-cell differentiation. The expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) 1A in these DCs is essential for the RA production. However, it remains unclear how the steady-state ALDH1A expression is induced under specific pathogen-free (SPF) conditions.

No association between the ryanodine receptor 3 gene and autism in a Japanese population.

Aim: Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a complex genetic etiology. Chromosome 15q11-q14 has been proposed to harbor a gene for autism susceptibility because deletion of the region leads to Prader-Willi syndrome or Angelman syndrome, having phenotypic overlap with autism. Here we studied the association between autism and the ryanodine receptor 3 (RyR3) gene, which is located in the region.