Utilizing infectious disease surveillance for epidemic warnings of respiratory syncytial virus infections in Japan from 2015 to 2019.

Japan's National Epidemiological Surveillance of Infectious Diseases (NESID) has implemented a warning system for detecting epidemics in smaller districts, such as public health center (PHC) areas. This system is applied to influenza and pediatric infectious diseases but not to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, whose incorporation is essential for early epidemic detection. We aimed to propose criterion values for the epidemic warning system of RSV infection within PHC areas.

Relationship between severe radiodermatitis and skin barrier functions in patients with head and neck cancer: A prospective observational study.

Objective: Severe radiodermatitis with erosion is a painful condition that affects quality of life; therefore, developing methods for its prevention is an urgent issue. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the morphological characteristics of the development and healing processes of severe radiodermatitis in patients with head and neck cancer and to explore the association between skin barrier function and development of severe radiodermatitis.

Methods: In this prospective observational study, the cervical regions of patients with head and neck cancer who underwent radiotherapy at a university hospital from October 2022 to March 2023 were photographed, and morphological characteristics of the development and healing process of severe radiodermatitis were extracted using the qualitative sketch method.

Efficacy and safety of intradialytic parenteral nutrition using ENEFLUID® in malnourished patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis: An exploratory, multicenter, randomized, open-label study.

The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of intradialytic parenteral nutrition (IDPN) using ENEFLUID® (310 kcal, 550 mL) in mild-moderate malnutrition patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis. A total of 40 adult patients with a Nutritional Risk Index-Japanese Hemodialysis (NRI-JH) score of 5-10 were enrolled in this multicenter, randomized, open-label study. Patients in the intervention group received IDPN using ENEFLUID® via the dialysis circuit 3 times a week for 12 weeks; those in the control group did not.

The relationship between intravenous olfactory test and taste disorder in patients with olfactory disorder.

Background: The intravenous olfactory test (alinamin test [AT]) is a retronasal olfactory assessment and may evaluate the flavour disorder; however, studies assessing whether AT accurately determines the severity of taste disorders are lacking. Our study aims to evaluate the relationship between AT and subjective taste disorders in the patiensts with olfactory disorder.

Methods: Between April 2019 and March 2020, 228 patients visited our smell clinic reporting olfactory disorders.

Visual Upward/Downward Motion Elicits Fast and Fluent High-/Low-Pitched Speech Production.

Participants tend to produce a higher or lower vocal pitch in response to upward or downward visual motion, suggesting a pitch-motion correspondence between the visual and speech production processes. However, previous studies were contaminated by factors such as the meaning of vocalized words and the intrinsic pitch or tongue movements associated with the vowels. To address these issues, we examined the pitch-motion correspondence between simple visual motion and pitched speech production.