Plantar cutaneous sensation is independently associated with postural balance and lower limb motor function in older adults: the Shizuoka study.

Purpose: A relationship between decreased plantar cutaneous sensation and impaired balance function has been reported in patients with peripheral neuropathy and diabetes. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between plantar sensation and postural balance, as well as the association between plantar sensation and sarcopenia-related motor function in community-dwelling older adults.

Methods: The participants included 1659 community-dwelling older adults with a mean age of 74 ± 5 years, of which 43% were male patients.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle biopsy needle can facilitate histological diagnosis of type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis.

Background: The choice between 22-gauge endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle biopsy (EUS-FNB) and EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) for histological diagnosis of type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is unclear. We retrospectively examined the detection rate of histological findings for AIP using EUS-FNA/FNB.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with type 1 AIP using EUS-FNB (Franseen needle) or EUS-FNA (conventional needle) with 22-gauge needles at our hospital between 2012 and 2023 were included in this study.

Thin Delivery Stents Can Obviate the Need for Additional Fistula Dilatation of Large Diameter in Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Hepaticogastrostomy.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided hepaticogastrostomy (EUS-HGS) often requires fistula dilation owing to the placement of a large diameter of the delivery stent. The recently developed delivery devices, which are as thin as 5.9/6.

Effects of fremanezumab on migraine-associated symptoms and medication use in Japanese and Korean patients with episodic migraine: Exploratory endpoint analysis of a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Objective: To describe exploratory endpoints from a previous phase 2b/3 placebo-controlled trial conducted in Japan and Korea, specifically investigating the effect of fremanezumab or placebo on migraine-associated symptoms and acute headache medication use in patients with episodic migraine (EM).

Background: EM is associated with non-head pain symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, photophobia, or phonophobia, which contribute substantially to the disease burden, healthcare resource utilization, and impaired quality of life. Current EM treatments include a mix of nonspecific/migraine-specific acute headache medications, but medication overuse can induce headaches and progression from EM to chronic migraine (CM).

Diagnosis of isolated hilar-/extrahepatic-type IgG-4-related sclerosing cholangitis can be increased by improved recognition of this condition-A Japanese multicenter analysis.

Background: Patients with isolated IgG4-related sclerosing cholangitis (IgG4-SC) often undergo unnecessary resection. The aim of this study was to validate the revised Japanese diagnostic criteria for isolated IgG-4-SC and to improve awareness about this condition in the population.

Methods: This was a Japanese retrospective multicenter study.

Time to intravenous diuretic administration in patients hospitalized with heart failure: An observational study.

Aims: To help establish optimized treatment strategies for congestion in patients with acute heart failure, this study aimed to provide a detailed summary of real-world diuretic use in hospitalized patients with heart failure requiring urgent therapy in Japan.

Methods And Results: This observational study used a Japanese medical records database to extract data of patients admitted to hospital with a heart failure diagnosis and an intravenous diuretic prescription from the day before admission to 2 days after. Time from hospital visit to first dose, second dose, and maximum dose of intravenous diuretics were determined.

Pulmonary Flow Management by Combination Therapy of Hemostatic Clipping and Balloon Angioplasty for Right Ventricular-Pulmonary Artery Shunt in Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.

Controlling pulmonary blood flow in patients who have undergone Norwood palliation, especially early postoperatively, is challenging due to a change in the balance of systemic and pulmonary vascular resistance. We applied a combination therapy of clipping and balloon angioplasty for right ventricle-pulmonary artery (RV-PA) shunt to control pulmonary blood flow, but the influence of the combination therapy on the PA condition is uncertain. Retrospectively analysis was conducted of all infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome who had undergone Norwood palliation with RV-PA shunt at Okayama University Hospital from January 2008 to September 2022.

Cortical theta phase synchronization involved in mismatch-driven perceptual alternation in binocular rivalry.

When two conflicting images are presented to each eye, a phenomenon called binocular rivalry occurs in which we initially perceive one image, and then our perception switches to the other over time. An enhancement of θ-band phase coherence in visual mismatch oscillatory response (vMOR) is reported to be involved in the facilitation of perceptual alternation when the deviant stimulus is presented unconsciously. In this study, we investigated the modulation effect of θ-band transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) on perceptual alternation in binocular rivalry, with a focus on its relationship with the θ-band vMOR.

The complete mitochondrial genome of freshwater gammarid (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Gammaridae).

This study presents the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of , a freshwater crustacean found in the western regions of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu in Japan. The entire genome is 16,429 bp in length, encoding a standard set of 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and 22 transfer RNA genes, as well as the putative control regions. The mitochondrial genome of is characterized by a high concentration of A and T nucleotides (67.

Tropomyosin induces the synthesis of magnesian calcite in sea urchin spines.

Calcium carbonate is present in many biominerals, including in the exoskeletons of crustaceans and shells of mollusks. High Mg-containing calcium carbonate was synthesized by high temperatures, high pressures or high molecular organic matter. For example, biogenic high Mg-containing calcite is synthesized under strictly controlled Mg concentration at ambient temperature and pressure.

Preliminary assessment of genetic variation in the Japanese endemic freshwater crab, , based on mitochondrial DNA sequences.

, a freshwater crab species endemic to Japan, has the largest distribution range amongst the 19 known species in the country. Due to its low dispersal capability and restricted habitat to freshwater, it serves as an excellent model for understanding gene flow between geographically isolated populations. In this study, we analysed the genetic relationships of 26 populations collected from different locations in the Japanese archipelago using two mitochondrial DNA regions - cytochrome oxidase subunit I ( and cytochrome b ().

Timing of Worsening Renal Function in Patients Hospitalized for Heart Failure Exacerbation Who Were Being Treated With Intravenous Diuretic Therapy.

Background: This retrospective observational study investigated the incidence of worsening renal function (WRF) in patients hospitalized for heart failure (HF) and treated with intravenous diuretics in Japan.

Methods and results: Associations between WRF at any point and HF treatments, and the effects of WRF on outcomes were evaluated (Diagnosis Procedure Combination database). Of 1,788 patients analyzed (mean [±SD] age 80.

IgG4-related pancreatobiliary diseases could be associated with onset of pancreatobiliary cancer: A multicenter cohort study.

Background: The risk and prognosis of pancreatobiliary cancer and in patients with autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) and IgG4-related sclerosing cholangitis (IgG4-SC) remain unclear. Therefore, we retrospectively investigated the risk of pancreatobiliary cancer and prognosis in patients with AIP and IgG4-SC.

Methods: Patients with AIP and IgG4-SC at seven centers between 1998 and 2022 were investigated.

A dodecamethoxy[6]cycloparaphenylene consisting entirely of hydroquinone ethers: unveiling in-plane aromaticity through a rotaxane structure.

[n]Cycloparaphenylenes ([n]CPPs, where n is the number of phenylene groups), consisting of 1,4-linked phenylene unit, have attracted much attention due to their cyclic π-conjugated structures and physical properties. However, functionalizing of the benzene rings of smaller [n]CPPs (n < 7) has been a challenge due to ring strain and steric hindrance of the substituents that hampers their synthesis. Here we show successful synthesis of a new [6]CPP derivative with twelve methoxy groups at the 2,5-positions of all benzene rings by utilizing our developed CPP synthesis method via a macrocyclic gold complex.

Relationship between stable cesium concentration and body size of Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus and the effect of a size-dependent shift in diet.

To understand the relationship between the radioactive cesium (Cs) concentration in muscle of Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus and the species' biological characteristics (size, sex, and age) under conditions of ecological equilibrium (i.e., distributed among ecosystem components over sufficient time, and with nearly constant ratios of Cs concentration in organisms to the concentration in water) as existed before the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS), Japan, in 2011, we examined stable Cs, as it is thought to exist in equilibrium in the environment and behave similarly to radioactive Cs in aquatic animals.

The combination of locomotive syndrome and poor sleep quality is a risk factor of falls among community-dwelling middle-aged and older women: A cross-sectional study.

Aim: The combination of locomotive syndrome (LS) and poor sleep quality (PQ) has not yet been shown to result in falls or to affect bone conditions in old age and middle age. [Correction added on 1 December 2023, after first online publication: The preceding sentence has been updated for clarity.] METHODS: This cross-sectional study enrolled 2233 community-dwelling middle-aged to older Japanese women.

Preparation of gold nanoparticles using low-temperature heating of the dry residue of a droplet of an HAuCl solution in air.

In the present study, by heating a quartz glass substrate having the dry residue of a 10 μL droplet of a solution of HAuCl and a counter substrate facing to the dry residue from room temperature to one hundred and several tens of degrees Celsius in 20 min in air, highly dense gold nanoparticles were produced on the counter substrate. A gold nanoparticle substrate produced by this simple method was utilized as a substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering analysis.