A Case of Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor with Liver Metastases Demonstrating the Possibility of Enhanced ACTH Production by the SACI Test.

Objective: ACTH-producing pancreatic NETs have a propensity to metastasize, and in patients with metastases, there is no established method yet to precisely determine if the excess ACTH is produced by the primary or the metastatic tumors. Localizing the source of production of ACTH in such cases is important for devising suitable treatment strategies and evaluating the benefit of local therapies from the viewpoint of control of Cushing's syndrome.

Methods: We performed the selective arterial calcium injection (SACI) test combined with selective portal and hepatic venous sampling in a 32-year-old female patient with ectopic ACTH-producing pancreatic NET and liver metastases.

Decline in independence after three years and its association with dietary patterns and IADL-related factors in community-dwelling older people: an analysis by age stage and sex.

Background: Few studies have shown age stage and sex differences in the association among dietary patterns and various health factors related to disability in older people. This study aimed to reveal the differences of characteristics, including several dietary patterns, associated with a decline in independence over 3 years in community-dwelling independent older people. Specifically, we examined data by age stage, for people between 65 and 75 years (earlier-stage) and people aged 75 years or above (later-stage), and sex.

[Association between feelings of happiness among community-dwelling, independent, elderly individuals in an Okinawan farm village and survival three years later].

Objectives　As an indicator of subjective wellbeing, feelings of happiness assessed based on simple items have not been fully elucidated in terms of its relation to survival during old age. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the predictive validity of feelings of happiness assessed using a 4-item measure is high as an indicator of assessing survival three years later, using a variety of factors as adjustment variables among independent, elderly individuals living in a farm village in Okinawa, wherein a spirit of mutual help is prevalent among the residents.Methods　From a longitudinal study conducted in 2012, a total of 1,471 respondents (638 men, 833 women), excluding participants who needed long-term care and non-respondents of their feelings of happiness, completed a detailed questionnaire.

Dietary quality and its structural relationships among equivalent income, emotional well-being, and a five-year subjective health in Japanese middle-aged urban dwellers.

Background: Although dietary quality in middle-age and the prime age of a person's work career might be determined by positive emotional well-being based on socioeconomic status (SES), causation among determinants of dietary quality still remains unclear. Our purpose was to elucidate the structural relationships among five-year prior dietary quality, equivalent income, emotional well-being, and a five-year subjective health by sex and age group separately.

Methods: In 2003, 10,000 middle-aged urban dwellers aged 40-64 years, who lived in ward A in the Tokyo metropolitan area, were randomly selected and a questionnaire survey was conducted by mail.

Speciation of iodine in solid environmental samples by iodine K-edge XANES: application to soils and ferromanganese oxides.

A method was developed for speciation of iodine in solid materials using X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES). This method was used to identify the iodine species (mainly inorganic iodine) in environmental samples. It was shown that the XANES spectra of iodide and iodate sorbed within solid materials can be simulated by the linear combination of the spectra of iodide and iodate ions in water.