Background: The expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) within large language models (LLMs) has the potential to streamline healthcare delivery. Despite the increased use of LLMs, disparities in their performance particularly in different languages, remain underexplored. This study examines the quality of ChatGPT responses in English and Japanese, specifically to questions related to anaesthesiology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To clarify the association between forced expiration and the abdominal muscles by assessing the relationship between expiratory mouth pressure and abdominal muscle activity in healthy young males.
Methods: Twenty-five males underwent forced expiration at 20, 30, 50, 75, and 100% of the maximal expiratory mouth pressure. Mouth pressure was measured using a bridge-type transducer connected to a mouth pressure meter.
Earlier, we developed a multinetwork elastomer (MNE) by using a covalent bond, hydrogen bond, and clay plane bond. By taking advantage of the characteristics of each cross-linking, the thermoplastic elastomer shows excellent compression set resistance (indicators of how much it recovers when the rubber is compressed), good flowability, and high tensile properties. In the previous report, it was thought that the cross-linked part was hydrogen bonded to the end face of the clay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimer's disease (AD) is a type of dementia characterized by the deposition of amyloid β, a causative protein of AD, in the brain. Shati/Nat8l, identified as a psychiatric disease related molecule, is a responsive enzyme of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) synthesis. In the hippocampi of AD patients and model mice, the NAA content and Shati/Nat8l expression were reported to be reduced.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study used ultrasound shear wave elastography (SWE) to revalidate whether surface electromyographic (EMG) electrodes placed on the oblique externus abdominis (OE) can detect only the OE activity without the confounding activity of the underlying oblique internus abdominis (OI). During left and right trunk rotations, the EMG activity was acquired using surface EMG electrodes placed on the right OE. Shear wave velocity (V ) values of the right OE and OI were acquired using SWE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe reviewed a case of bilateral sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) blockade with liposomal bupivacaine for sinus surgery. The case was complicated by severe postoperative hypertension refractory to antihypertensives and needing intensive care unit (ICU) admission. While SPG blockade has been used to treat headaches and provide perioperative analgesia, this complication and a possible mechanism have not been described.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Omega
November 2021
A high-performance elastomer was obtained by a multinetworking system of a covalent bond, hydrogen bond, and clay plane bond. By taking advantage of the characteristics of each cross-linking, the thermoplastic elastomer shows excellent compression set resistance, good flowability, and high tensile properties. The hydrogen bond gives flowability due to the bond cleavage under heating.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFButyric acid produced in the intestine by butyric acid-producing bacteria (BAPB) is known to suppress excessive inflammatory response and may prevent chronic disease development. We evaluated whether fiber-rich barley intake increases BAPB in the gut and concomitantly butyric acid in feces. Eighteen healthy adults received granola containing functional barley (BARLEYmax) once daily for four weeks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 22-year-old man, with a medical history significant for posttraumatic stress disorder and chronic pain, underwent ankle surgery at the United States Naval Hospital, Yokosuka, Japan. His immediate postoperative course was complicated by episodic muscle rigidity, necessitating admission for diagnostic evaluation. The differential was necessarily broad and included local anesthetic toxicity, medication mediated effect, seizures, serotonin syndrome, and malignant hyperthermia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report a case of polyangiitis overlap syndrome of giant cell arteritis (GCA) and granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and conduct a literature review of polyangiitis overlap syndrome. The patient was 73-year-old male who developed cranial-type GCA and GPA simultaneously and was successfully treated with rituximab. Rituximab might be effective for not only GPA but also GCA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is a systemic inflammatory disease in the elderly of unknown etiology. While glucocorticoids are the mainstay of treatment for PMR, various glucocorticoid-related adverse events are common. Recently, several studies have reported the efficacy of tocilizumab (TCZ), an anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibody, for PMR treatment in addition to an accompanying reduction, or even tapering-off, of glucocorticoids in some cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe safe treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in dental office office-based settings can be quite complex without a current understanding of the etiology, course, severity, and current treatment modalities of the disease. The additional concerns of providing sedation and/or general anesthesia to patients with COPD in settings outside of a hospital demand thorough investigation of individual patient presentation and realistic development of planned treatment that patients suffering from this respiratory condition can tolerate. Along with other co-morbidities, such as advanced age and potential significant cardiovascular compromise, the dental practitioner providing sedation or general anesthesia must tailor any treatment plan to address multiple organ systems and mitigate risks of precipitating acute respiratory failure from inadequate pain and/or anxiety control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo)
June 2019
Curcumin is known to have potent anti-inflammatory effects. We have reported that acute curcumin ingestion attenuates eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. This study aimed to examine the effect of curcumin ingestion timing (before or after exercise) on the changes in muscle damage markers after eccentric exercise.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe safe treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in dental office-based settings can be quite complex without a current understanding of the etiology, course, severity, and treatment modalities of the disease. The additional concerns of providing sedation and/or general anesthesia to patients with COPD in settings outside of a hospital demand thorough investigation of individual patient presentation and realistic development of planned treatment that patients suffering from this respiratory condition can tolerate. Along with other comorbidities, such as advanced age and potential significant cardiovascular compromise, the dental practitioner providing sedation or general anesthesia must tailor any treatment plan to address multiple organ systems and mitigate risks of precipitating acute respiratory failure from inadequate pain and/or anxiety control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe examined the effect of curcumin (CUR) ingestion before or after exercise on changes in muscle damage and inflammatory responses after exercise. We conducted two parallel experiments with different CUR ingestion timings using a double-blind crossover. In Exp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The plantar fascia is exposed to repetitive tensile stress induced by cyclic loads associated with daily activities, such as walking and running. Due to overuse or abnormal foot alignment, insertional and distal (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To examine the influence of pennation angle on measurement of shear wave elastography, this study utilised the propagation view mode that can reveal shear wave propagation in human pennate muscle in vivo.
Approach: The validity of the propagation view mode was qualitatively confirmed by observation of shear wave propagation in tissue-mimicking phantoms. Shear wave velocity of the medial gastrocnemius (MG) was evaluated in 15 healthy males.
Background: Surgical management of malignant bowel obstruction carries with high morbidity and mortality. Placement of a trans-anal decompression tube (TDT) has traditionally been used for malignant bowel obstruction as a bridge to surgery. Recently, colonic metallic stent (CMS) as a bridge to surgery for malignant bowel obstruction, particularly left-sided malignant large bowel obstruction (LMLBO) caused by colorectal cancer, has been reported to be both a safe and feasible option.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRespir Physiol Neurobiol
June 2018
This study assessed the shear modulus of the diaphragm at various submaximal inspiratory mouth pressure levels by ultrasound shear wave elastography. In 14 healthy male subjects, diaphragmatic shear moduli were assessed at end expiration during resting breathing and at submaximal inspiratory tasks at 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75% of the maximal inspiratory mouth pressure. The shear modulus increased along with mouth pressure, and the mouth-pressure-shear-modulus relationship fit the second-order polynomial regression equation (r = 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo examine the effect of long-term daily training on athletes' skeletal muscle, this study determined the relation between their muscle thickness and passive muscle stiffness, and compared the muscle thickness and muscle stiffness between athletes and non-athletes. Participants were elite Japanese athletes (278 men, 200 women) from various sports and non-athletes (35 men, 35 women). Rectus femoris (RF) muscle thickness was measured using B-mode ultrasonography and was normalized to the total body mass (muscle thickness/body mass).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPassive ankle joint stiffness is affected by all structures located within and over the joint, and is greater in men than in women. Localized muscle stiffness can be assessed by ultrasound shear wave elastography, and muscle architecture such as fascicle length and pennation angle can be measured by B-mode ultrasonography. Thus, the authors assessed localized muscle stiffness of the medial gastrocnemius (MG) with consideration of individual variability in the muscle architecture, and examined the association of the muscle stiffness with passive ankle joint stiffness and the sex-related difference in the joint stiffness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To prospectively evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of a six-week extended dosing interval with tocilizumab (TCZ) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in sustained remission.
Methods: Patients who received over six doses of intravenous TCZ in clinical remission (disease activity score [DAS] 28 - erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR] ≤ 2.6) maintained over 3 months between December 2013 and December 2015 were included.
The purpose of this study is to report the efficacy and safety of a combination of tocilizumab (TCZ) and high-dose corticosteroid (CS) in two patients with microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) and review the published current clinical evidence on TCZ in patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (AAV), except for large vessel vasculitis (LVV) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). Two MPA patients were treated with TCZ at 8 mg/kg every month for 1 year and CS (prednisolone 1 mg/kg/day for 2 weeks, followed by tapering) in a prospective single-arm, single-center, cohort, open-label pilot study (UMIN clinical trials: 000012072). We performed a systematic literature search (PubMed and ICHUSHI [Japan Medical Abstracts Society] until June 30, 2017) to identify published reports on patients with all vasculitis other than LVV/PMR, who were treated with TCZ.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground Pulsed cyclophosphamide or mycophenolate mofetil for lupus nephritis has limited efficacy. We previously reported a case of mixed-class IV + V lupus nephritis successfully treated with cyclophosphamide and tacrolimus. This study assessed the efficacy and safety of multitarget therapy with cyclophosphamide and tacrolimus for the treatment of lupus nephritis.
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