Exploring Nile Red Staining as an Analytical Tool for Surface-Oxidized Microplastics.

Microplastics (MPs), defined as plastic particles smaller than 5 mm, have garnered considerable attention owing to their potential biological impact on human health. These particles exhibit a range of physicochemical properties, including size, shape, and surface oxidation. Nile Red is a prominent tool for detecting microplastics, enabling staining for dynamic analyses within biological systems.

Advantages of Robotic Total Mesorectal Excision With Partial Prostatectomy Compared With Open Surgery for Rectal Cancer: A Single-Center Retrospective Cohort Study.

Aim: Robotic total mesorectal excision (TME) with resection of adjacent organs has been increasingly used for locally advanced rectal cancer; however, few studies have focused on robotic TME with partial prostatectomy. Therefore, this study aimed to demonstrate the advantages of robotic TME with partial prostatectomy compared with open surgery for rectal cancer.

Method: This retrospective cohort study examined consecutive patients with rectal cancer who underwent robotic or open TME with partial prostatectomy at a high-volume center in Japan from April 2003 to March 2022.

Role of anthropogenic forcing in Antarctic sea ice variability simulated in climate models.

Antarctic sea ice extent has seen a slight increase over recent decades, yet since 2016, it has undergone a sharp decline, reaching record lows. While the precise impact of anthropogenic forcing remains uncertain, natural fluctuations have been shown to be important for this variability. Our study employs a series of coupled model experiments, revealing that with constant anthropogenic forcing, the primary driver of interannual sea ice variability lies in deep convection within the Southern Ocean, although it is model dependent.

Development of an Integrating Sphere-Based Wide-Range Light Source System for the Linearity Evaluation of a Photodetector Used in Radiation Detection and Bioanalysis Instruments.

We developed a compact wide-range light source system for evaluating the linearity of photomultiplier tube (PMT) output. This system utilizes two integrating spheres equipped with a continuously variable slit and output aperture to modulate a stabilized light-emitting diode light source, producing an output light range as wide as seven orders of magnitude. To verify the wide linearity range of the integrating sphere system, three silicon photodiodes coupled with electric current readers monitored the light intensity and simultaneously confirmed each other's linearity.

Evaluation of an ionization chamber characteristics for 222Rn calibration.

The National Metrology Institute of Japan plan to use an inner-through-type ionization chamber (IC) as a working standard to calibrate radon monitors. Novel methods to calibrate the IC were described, and the calibration factor, CF [Bq m -3 A-1], of the IC with its expanded uncertainty (k = 2) was evaluated to be (2.0 ± 0.

Surgical Management of Infective Endocarditis Complicated by Budd-Chiari Syndrome.

Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) is a relatively rare comorbidity, particularly in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. The difficulty arises when we try to drain blood from the obstructed lower body circulation to establish extracorporeal circulation. Herein, we describe a patient who developed a persistent fever after undergoing neurosurgery for a head arteriovenous fistula, wherein blood cultures confirmed infection.

Improvements in visual function early after cataract surgery in eyes implanted with multifocal intraocular lenses.

Purpose: To compare the improvements in all-distance visual acuity (VA) and contrast sensitivity early after cataract surgery among eyes implanted with multifocal and monofocal intraocular lenses (IOLs).

Study Design: Nonrandomized comparative study.

Methods: Forty-two eyes with a trifocal IOL (Alcon, PanOptix), 42 eyes with a combined bifocal and extended-depth-of-focus (EDF) IOL (Johnson & Johnson, Synergy), and 84 eyes with a monofocal IOL were recruited.

Treatment of polyethylene microplastics degraded by ultraviolet light irradiation causes lysosome-deregulated cell death.

Background: Microplastics (MPs), plastic particles < 5 mm in size, are prevalent in the environment, and human exposure to them is inevitable. To assess the potential risk of MPs on human health, it is essential to consider the physicochemical properties of environmental MPs, including polymer types, size, shape, and surface chemical modifications. Notably, environmental MPs undergo degradation due to external factors such as ultraviolet (UV) rays and waves, leading to changes in their surface characteristics.

[Basics and Innovations in Antibody-Drug Conjugates].

The efficacy of antibody-drug conjugates(ADCs)has been well-established in clinical use, prompting ongoing research and development efforts to advance the field of ADCs further. This chapter provides overview of the structure and mechanism of action of ADCs, detailing the roles of its components: the antibody, the payload, and the linker. ADCs leak from cancer vessels to bind to specific antigens on the surface of tumor cells.

C-Mannosyl tryptophan is a novel biomarker for thrombocytosis of myeloproliferative neoplasms.

C-Mannosyl tryptophan (CMW), a unique glycosylated amino acid, is considered to be produced by degradation of C-mannosylated proteins in living organism. Although protein C-mannosylation is involved in the folding and secretion of substrate proteins, the pathophysiological function in the hematological system is still unclear. This study aimed to assess CMW in the human hematological disorders.

Systematic Preparation of a 66-IgG Library with Symmetric and Asymmetric Homogeneous Glycans and Their Functional Evaluation.

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies possess a conserved -glycosylation site in the Fc domain. In FcγRIIIa affinity column chromatography, unglycosylated, hemiglycosylated, and fully glycosylated IgG retention times differ considerably. Using retention-time differences, 66 different trastuzumab antibodies with symmetric and asymmetric homogeneous glycans were prepared systematically, substantially expanding the scope of IgGs with homogeneous glycans.

Incidence and risk factors for perineal hernia after robotic abdominoperineal resection: a single-center, retrospective cohort study.

Background: Perineal hernia (PH) is a late complication of abdominoperineal resection (APR) that may compromise a patient's quality of life. The frequency and risk factors for PH after robotic APR adopting recent rectal cancer treatment strategies remain unclear.

Methods: Patients who underwent robotic APR for rectal cancer between December 2011 and June 2022 were retrospectively examined.

High water temperature triggers early sexual maturation in the juvenile red spotted grouper Epinephelus akaara: Via regulation of reproduction-related hormones in the brain-pituitary-gonadal axis.

The red spotted grouper Epinephelus akaara is a marine species of economic importance and also at risk of extinction. This study investigated the effects of high water temperature on the growth and maturation of juvenile E. akaara females.

Simulation study for design of long counter for standard neutron fields from 1 keV to 20 MeV at NMIJ/AIST.

A De-Pangher-type long counter was designed for neutron measurements in standard neutron fields based on the results of simulations using the MCNP6 code at the National Metrology Institute of Japan, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The effects of six parameters in the design on the energy response of the long counter were investigated. The energy response was then quantitatively evaluated for eight design candidates selected from the investigation.

A Transcriptomic Dataset of Embryonic Murine Telencephalon.

Sex bias is known in the prevalence/pathology of neurodevelopmental disorders. Sex-dependent differences of the certain brain areas are known to emerge perinatally through the exposure to sex hormones, while gene expression patterns in the rodent embryonic brain does not seem to be completely the same between male and female. To investigate potential sex differences in gene expression and cortical organization during the embryonic period in mice, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of gene expression for the telencephalon at embryonic day (E) 11.

Protocol for the nationwide registry of patients with polycystic kidney disease: japanese national registry of PKD (JRP).

Background: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) and autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD) are major genetic polycystic kidney diseases that can progress to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Longitudinal data on the clinical characteristics associated with clinical outcomes in polycystic kidney disease (PKD), including the development of ESKD and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are lacking in Japan. To address this unmet need the authors are establishing a novel, web-based, Nationwide Cohort Registry Study-the Japanese Registry of PKD (JRP).

Oversampling effect in pretraining for bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) to localize medical BERT and enhance biomedical BERT.

Background: Pretraining large-scale neural language models on raw texts has made a significant contribution to improving transfer learning in natural language processing. With the introduction of transformer-based language models, such as bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT), the performance of information extraction from free text has improved significantly in both the general and medical domains. However, it is difficult to train specific BERT models to perform well in domains for which few databases of a high quality and large size are publicly available.

Short-term and long-term outcomes after robotic radical surgery for rectal gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

Background: The optimal approach for ensuring both complete resection and preservation of anal function in rectal gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) remains unknown. The aim of this study was to clarify short-term and long-term outcomes after robotic radical surgery for rectal GIST.

Methods: A total of 13 patients who underwent robotic radical surgery for rectal GIST between December 2011 and April 2022 were included.

Polyethylene, whose surface has been modified by UV irradiation, induces cytotoxicity: A comparison with microplastics found in beaches.

Microplastics, plastic particles 5 mm or less in size, are abundant in the environment; hence, the exposure of humans to microplastics is a great concern. Usually, the surface of microplastics found in the environment has undergone degradation by external factors such as ultraviolet rays and water waves. One of the characteristics of changes caused by surface degradation of microplastics is the introduction of oxygen-containing functional groups.