Seasonal ultrastructural changes in apocrine gland cells in back skin of male brown bears (Ursus arctos).

Oily secretions from the back skin are involved in the marking behavior of male brown bears (Ursus arctos), and apocrine glands in back skin are activated during the breeding season. Here, we investigated seasonal changes in the intracellular organelles of apocrine gland cells in the back skin of male brown bears using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and osmium-maceration scanning electron microscopy (OM-SEM). The morphological features of mitochondria and intracellular granules, and secretory mechanisms obviously differed between breeding and non-breeding seasons.

Reliability and validity of the Children's Depression Inventory-Japanese version.

Background: Depression has major negative consequences for individuals and society, and psychological assessment tools for early disease detection are needed. The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of an updated Japanese version of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI-J) and set a cut-off score for the detection of depression.

Methods: The participants consisted of 465 children and adolescents aged 7-17 years.

Testicular regulation of seasonal change in apocrine glands in the back skin of the brown bear (Ursus arctos).

Brown bears communicate with other individuals using marking behavior. Bipedal back rubbing has been identified as a common marking posture. Oily substances are secreted via enlarged sebaceous glands in the back skin of male bears during the breeding season.

Effect of leaflet-based intervention on family members of terminally ill patients with cancer having delirium: historical control study.

Objective: We aimed to assess leaflet-based intervention effects on family-perceived distress, the need for improvements in professional care for delirium, and family knowledge of delirium causes.

Methods: Leaflet-based intervention effects were assessed by comparing responses of family members given in the leaflet with those of a historical control group not receiving it.

Results: Knowledge of delirium causes was significantly more likely to be correct in the intervention group, while there were no significant differences in family-perceived distress or need for improvements in professional care for delirium between the 2 groups.

Usefulness of the leaflet-based intervention for family members of terminally ill cancer patients with delirium.

Background And Objective: Delirium in terminally ill cancer patients causes considerable distress to family members. The aim was to determine the family-perceived usefulness of a leaflet about delirium in terminally ill cancer patients.

Methods: Family members received a leaflet about delirium designed for this study as a part of routine practice.

Ultrasonography and 3D-CT Follow-Up of Extrahepatic Portal Vein Aneurysm: A Case Report.

Extrahepatic portal vein aneurysm is a rare disorder. From 1956 to 2008, we found only 43 published English-language reports, including 67 cases, using Pub Med. We report a case of a 77-year-old woman who had complaints of lower abdominal fullness and residual urine.

Hepatocellular carcinoma in a Hokkaido brown bear (Ursus arctos yesoensis).

Hepatocellular carcinoma with metastases to lymph nodes and adrenal glands was found in a 26-year-old male Hokkaido brown bear (Ursus arctos yesoensis). Left hepatic lobe was largely replaced by well-differentiated neoplastic cells, whereas poorly differentiated tumor cells had proliferated in part of the left hepatic lobe, in scattered nodules in the remaining liver tissue, and at the metastatic sites. Immunoreactivity for hepatocyte antigen (hepatocyte paraffin 1 antibody) and alpha-fetoprotein was observed in both well- and poorly differentiated neoplastic cells in the liver and metastatic foci.

Feasibility study of adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine and split-dose cisplatin for completely resected non-small-cell lung cancer.

Introduction: Recent clinical trials have shown significant survival benefits from postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for resected non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, due to the comparatively low compliance in recent clinical trials, this study investigated the feasibility of adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine plus split-dose cisplatin for completely resected NSCLC.

Methods: Gemcitabine at a dose of 1000 mg m(-2) and cisplatin at 40 mg m(-2) were given intravenously on days 1 and 8 every 4 weeks for a maximum of four cycles.

Diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma: a multi-institutional clinicopathological study.

Purpose: The relative rarity of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) in Japan makes it difficult to perform a large-scale clinicopathological study of this tumor at a single institute. Thus, we performed a multiinstitutional study to evaluate the current status of diagnosis and treatment in Japan.

Methods: We analyzed the records of 65 patients with MPM, obtained from the 13 institutions comprising the Japanese Chiba Multicenter Study Group.

Delayed contrast enhancement of MRI in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Fibrotic lesions in the myocardium exhibit delayed contrast enhancement (DCE) on MR images. On the other hand, plexiform fibrosis is observed in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), indicating an association of this condition with the pathogenesis of heart failure and arrhythmia. To examine the occurrence and extent of DCE and its relation to cardiac function and arrhythmia in HCM, we studied 59 patients with HCM who had undergone MRI.

[Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with mid-ventricular obstruction complicated by apical aneurysm appearing as delayed contrast hyperenhancement on magnetic resonance imaging: two case reports].

Case 1: A 52-year-old man presented with a chief complaint of palpitation. Diabetes mellitus was pointed out in 1992. Electrocardiography (ECG) revealed left ventricular hypertrophy in 1997.

Detection of sentinel lymph nodes in patients with papillary thyroid cancer.

Objectives: To determine the feasibility of sentinel lymph node biopsy as a means of evaluating the cervical lymph nodes of patients with papillary thyroid cancer.

Methods: Isosulfan blue dye was injected around the tumour of 68 patients with papillary thyroid cancer; sentinel lymph node biopsy was performed in addition to subtotal thyroidectomy and central and modified lateral neck lymph node dissections. Surgical specimens were examined by routine processing to determine whether metastasis was present.