Construct validity, responsiveness, and interpretability of the Spinal Cord Injury Functional Ambulation Inventory (SCI-FAI).

Objective: We investigated the construct validity, responsiveness, and interpretability of the Spinal Cord Injury Functional Ambulation Inventory (SCI-FAI) to determine its usefulness in measuring the functional level of gait.

Patients And Methods: This was a prospective observational study following the checklist of the Consensus-Based Standards for Selecting Health Measurement Instruments. The SCI-FAI consists of three items: Gait Parameter, Assistive Devices, and Temporal.

Chemodivergent Reactions of Aromatic Ring-Annulated Hexahydrocyclopentafurans with Various Aldehydes.

Hexahydro-2-cyclopenta[]furan fused to electron-rich aromatic rings reacts with various aromatic aldehydes in different modes to build diverse frameworks. The reaction of a dimethoxybenzene-fused cyclopentafuran generated diquinanes fused with a hydrofuran ring, indenopyrans, or diarylindanes depending upon the type of aromatic aldehydes, whereas an indole-annulated cyclopentafuran generated another type of diquinane fused with hydrofuran ring or benzylidenecyclopentafuran. The chemodivergence is due to the different properties between indole- and dimethoxybenzene-fused hydrocyclopentafurans.

Morphologic changes in the posterior glenoid rim is independently associated with rotator cuff impingement in baseball players.

Background: The morphological changes in the posterior glenoid rim are unknown in relation to the area of rotator cuff tendons pinched within the glenohumeral joint in the throwing shoulders of baseball players. Therefore, this study aimed to clarify whether these changes are associated with the area of impingement in baseball players.

Methods: Overall, 25 asymptomatic male college baseball players (average age19.

Rib cage contributions to inspiratory capacity in patients with cervical spinal cord injury.

Background: Cervical spinal cord injury (CSI) often leads to impaired respiratory function, affecting the overall well-being of patients. This study aimed to investigate the influence of rib cage motion on inspiratory capacity in CSI patients.

Methods: We conducted a study with 11 CSI patients, utilising respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP).

In vitro throughput screening of anticancer drugs using patient-derived cell lines cultured on vascularized three-dimensional stromal tissues.

The development of high-throughput anticancer drug screening methods using patient-derived cancer cell (PDC) lines that maintain their original characteristics in an in vitro three-dimensional (3D) culture system poses a significant challenge to achieving personalized cancer medicine. Because stromal tissue plays a critical role in the composition and maintenance of the cancer microenvironment, in vitro 3D-culture using reconstructed stromal tissues has attracted considerable attention. Here, a simple and unique in vitro 3D-culture method using heparin and collagen together with fibroblasts and endothelial cells to fabricate vascularized 3D-stromal tissues for in vitro culture of PDCs is reported.

Effect of inorganic material surface chemistry on structures and fracture behaviours of epoxy resin.

The mechanisms underlying the influence of the surface chemistry of inorganic materials on polymer structures and fracture behaviours near adhesive interfaces are not fully understood. This study demonstrates the first clear and direct evidence that molecular surface segregation and cross-linking of epoxy resin are driven by intermolecular forces at the inorganic surfaces alone, which can be linked directly to adhesive failure mechanisms. We prepare adhesive interfaces between epoxy resin and silicon substrates with varying surface chemistries (OH and H terminations) with a smoothness below 1 nm, which have different adhesive strengths by ~13 %.

Surface Forces Characterization of Concentrated PMMA Brush Layers under Applied Load and Shear.

Concentrated polymer brushes (CPBs) are known to exhibit excellent lubrication properties. However, the frictional behaviors of CPBs vary, depending on their preparation and operating conditions. In order to understand such complicated properties, it is necessary to determine their structures and correlate them with their properties, during shear motion.

Feasibility and safety study of wearable cyborg Hybrid Assistive Limb for pediatric patients with cerebral palsy and spinal cord disorders.

Introduction: The wearable cyborg Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) is the world's first cyborg-type wearable robotic device, and it assists the user's voluntary movements and facilitates muscle activities. However, since the minimum height required for using the HAL is 150 cm, a smaller HAL (2S size) has been newly developed for pediatric use. This study aimed to (1) examine the feasibility and safety of a protocol for treatments with HAL (2S size) in pediatric patients and (2) explore the optimal method for assessing the efficacy of HAL.

Uveitis associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors or BRAF/MEK inhibitors in patients with malignant melanoma.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency and characteristics of uveitis associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) or BRAF/MEK inhibitors (B/MIs) in patients with malignant melanoma. Patients diagnosed with malignant melanoma who underwent radical or local resection for malignant melanoma, regardless of clinical stage or postoperative adjuvant therapy, at Hiroshima University Hospital from January 2015 to June 2021 were enrolled in a retrospective cohort. The medical records of patients were collected to estimate the prevalence of ocular adverse events.

Chat agents respond more empathetically by using hearsay experience.

As the responses of chat dialogue systems have become more natural, the empathy skill of dialogue systems has become an important new issue. In text-based chat dialogue systems, the definition of empathy is not precise, and how to design the kind of utterance that improves the user's impression of receiving empathy is not clear since the main method used is to imitate utterances and dialogues that humans consider empathetic. In this study, we focus on the necessity of grasping an agent as an experienceable Other, which is considered the most important factor when empathy is performed by an agent, and propose an utterance design that directly conveys the fact that the agent can experience and feel empathy through text.

Diversity of Chlamydiales detected in pet birds privately kept in individual homes in Japan.

Chlamydia-related bacteria of the Chlamydiales order have recently been described as emerging pathogens that cause pneumonia and abortion in animals and humans. We investigated the presence of Chlamydiales using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by targeting the 16S rRNA gene of a broad range of Chlamydiales in 827 fecal samples from pet birds kept in individual homes in Japan. Of the 827 samples, 493 (59.

Evaluation of neurotoxicity of anticancer drugs using nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism.

It is well established that platinum-based drugs, including oxaliplatin (L-OHP) and cisplatin (CDDP), as well as microtubule inhibitors paclitaxel (PTX) and vincristine (VCR), are associated with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). In this study, we examined and compared the characteristics of neuropathies induced by L-OHP, CDDP, PTX, and VCR to evaluate whether Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) could serve as a model organism for human CIPN.

Rational design and structure-activity relationship studies reveal new esterified C-diterpenoid alkaloid analogues active against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells.

Although various diterpenoid alkaloids have been evaluated recently for antiproliferative activity against human tumor cell lines, little information is available regarding the antiproliferative effects of C-diterpenoid alkaloids against MCF-7 cells. Six new diterpenoid alkaloid derivatives (13, 14, 22, 23, 25, 26) were prepared by C-11 and 15 esterification of kobusine (6). The natural parent alkaloid 6 and all synthesized derivatives (7 - 27, 12a, 15a, 15b, 18a, 18b) were evaluated for antiproliferative activity against MCF-7 cells.

Viscosity of Nanoconfined Branched-Chain Fatty Acids Studied by Resonance Shear Measurements.

Lubricant performance can be improved using additives such as organic friction modifiers (OFMs) and is influenced by their conformation and properties in the space confined between the substrate surfaces, rendering the detailed property analysis of confined OFMs and lubricants a matter of high practical significance. To date, studies on fatty acids as confined OFMs have mainly focused on linear- and unsaturated-chain molecules, leaving branched-chain structures underexplored. To bridge this gap, we used resonance shear measurements in this study to probe the viscosity of two branched-chain C fatty acids (isostearic acid T and isostearic acid) confined between mica surfaces at different applied normal loads () and surface separation distances ().

A comparison between the shoulder shifting test and seated reaching test by bland-altman plot: A pilot study.

Background: The Seated Reach Test (SRT) is an assessment tool for evaluating the sitting balance of individuals with a spinal cord injury (SCI). We developed the Shoulder Shifting Test (SST), which is a tool for measuring the reaching distance of individuals with difficulty in raising their arms, such as individuals with tetraplegia.

Objective: To investigate the agreement between the SST and the SRT and the usefulness of the SST.

Discovery of C-Diterpenoid Alkaloid Kobusine Derivatives Exhibiting Sub-G1 Inducing Activity.

Although many diterpenoid alkaloids have been evaluated recently for antiproliferative activity against human cancer cell lines, little data have been offered relating to the antiproliferative effects of hetisine-type C-diterpenoid alkaloids, such as kobusine (), likewise as their derivatives. A total of 43 novel diterpenoid alkaloid derivatives (, , , , , , , , , , , , , ) were prepared by C-11 and -15 esterification of . Antiproliferative effects of the natural parent compound () and all synthesized kobusine derivatives against human cancer cell lines, including a triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell line as well as a P-glycoprotein overexpressing multidrug-resistant subline, were assessed.

Responsiveness and minimal clinically important differences of the Trunk Assessment Scale for Spinal Cord injury (TASS).

Objective: To confirm the responsiveness and minimal clinically important differences (MCIDs) of the Trunk Assessment Scale for Spinal Cord Injury (TASS).

Participants And Methods: We evaluated 48 Japanese individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) (age 64.1 ± 10.