Feasibility and Preliminary Effectiveness of Behavioral Activation for Patients with Cancer and Depression in Japan.

Background: Though the effectiveness of behavioral activation (BA) for patients with cancer and depression were reported, there is no evidence in Japan.

Objectives: This study aimed at examining the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of BA for patients with cancer and depression in Japan.

Methods: This pre-post study without a control group was conducted in patients with cancer and depression in Japan.

Behavioral activation for depression in patients with advanced cancer: study protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Background: Though behavioral activation (BA) has been shown to be effective for depression, evidence in patients with advanced cancer has not been established. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a BA program on depression in this population.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial with a wait-list control group (waiting group) of 38 patients with advanced cancer and depression will be conducted at three sites in Japan.

The mediating effect of activity restriction on the relationship between perceived physical symptoms and depression in cancer survivors.

Purpose: Several studies have explored factors causing depression in cancer survivors, including perceived physical symptoms. Another critical factor in the depression symptomatology of cancer survivors is activity restriction (AR). We investigated how AR mediate the effects of perceived pain and fatigue on depression in cancer survivors.

Interaction Effects of Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System and Cost/Probability Biases on Social Anxiety.

Introduction: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) symptoms are maintained by cognitive biases, which are overestimations of the severity and likelihood of negative social events (cost/probability biases), and by sensitivity to rewards and punishments that are determined according to behavioral inhibition/behavioral activation systems (BIS/BAS). Cost/probability biases might activate the behavioral immune system and exacerbate the avoidance of social events. Earlier studies have proposed that low BIS or high BAS decrease SAD symptoms; BIS/BAS may even change the effects of cognitive biases on SAD symptoms.

Behavioral activation therapy for depression and anxiety in cancer patients: a case series study.

Background: Behavioral activation therapy (BAT) directly addresses activities that individuals value most highly, and may be easily applicable to cancer patients. However, there is no established evidence of the use of BAT in this population. In this study, we examined the possibility of a BAT program for depression and anxiety in cancer patients.

Incidence of Thyroid Cancer Among Children and Young Adults in Fukushima, Japan, Screened With 2 Rounds of Ultrasonography Within 5 Years of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Accident.

Importance: Ultrasonographic (US) screening for thyroid cancer was performed in the Fukushima Health Management Survey after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station accident. Clinical characteristics of thyroid cancers screened by US among children and young adults during the first 5 years after the accident were analyzed.

Objectives: To evaluate the number of detected thyroid cancers by age group within 5 years of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station accident and to compare the basic clinical characteristics and demographic patterns in first- and second-round examinations.

Comparative Analysis of the Growth Pattern of Thyroid Cancer in Young Patients Screened by Ultrasonography in Japan After a Nuclear Accident: The Fukushima Health Management Survey.

Importance: Thyroid cancer generally grows at a very slow rate in adults, and overdiagnosis is a global issue. However, the detection of early-stage thyroid cancer by screening is not well described in young patients. To prevent overdiagnosis, it is essential to understand the natural course of thyroid cancer growth detection by ultrasonography screening in young patients.

ING2, a tumor associated gene, enhances PAI‑1 and HSPA1A expression with HDAC1 and mSin3A through the PHD domain and C‑terminal.

Inhibitor of growth 2 (ING2) is involved in chromatin remodeling and it has previously been suggested that ING2 may regulate gene expression. The authors previously identified matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP13) as a target gene of ING2 in colorectal cancer. The aim of the present study was to identify novel genes regulated by ING2 and histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) and to clarify the biological significance of the ING2 structure.

Cognitive behavioral therapy changes functional connectivity between medial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices.

Background: Depression is characterized by negative self-cognition. Our previous study (Yoshimura et al. 2014) revealed changes in brain activity after cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression, but changes in functional connectivity were not assessed.

Dysfunction of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex underlying social anxiety disorder: A multi-channel NIRS study.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by strong fear and anxiety during social interactions. Although ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) activity in response to emotional stimuli is related to pathological anxiety, little is known about the relationship between VLPFC activity and social anxiety. This study aimed to investigate whether VLPFC activity was involved in SAD and whether VLPFC activity was related to the level of social anxiety.

Psychosocial difficulties in adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood cancer.

Background: With a large number of children surviving cancer worldwide, numerous investigations have assessed psychological and social adjustment among childhood cancer survivors. According to these studies, it is unclear whether childhood cancer survivors successfully adjust to daily life after being discharged from hospital, especially for adolescent and young adult survivors who have unique needs and concerns. The primary aim of this study was to identify the factors underlying psychosocial difficulties faced by adolescent and young adult survivors in their day-to-day lives after being discharged from hospital.

Constrictive pericarditis caused by immunoglobulin G4-related disease.

An 81-year-old man with congestive heart failure was admitted to our hospital. Computed tomography of the chest revealed pericardial thickening without calcification. Ultrasonic echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated diastolic dysfunction.

The relationship between positive and negative automatic thought and activity in the prefrontal and temporal cortices: a multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) study.

Background: Recently, neurobiological studies of the cognitive model of depression have become vastly more important, and a growing number of such studies are being reported. However, the relationship between the proportion of positive and negative automatic thought and activity in the prefrontal and temporal cortices has not yet been explored. We examined the relationship between brain activity and the proportion of positive and negative automatic thought in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), using multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).

Intramural haematoma should be referred to as thrombosed-type aortic dissection.

Objectives: Intramural haematoma is defined pathologically as aortic dissection without an intimal tear. We therefore believe that this term is inappropriate as an acute clinical diagnosis, and instead, use the term 'thrombosed-type acute aortic dissection'. We compared the features of thrombosed-type acute aortic dissection with those of classic dissection.

Acute aortic dissection associated with sleep apnea syndrome.

Background: Sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) is an independent risk factor for hypertension which is a major risk factor for acute aortic dissection. The purposes of this study were to assess the prevalence of SAS in patients with acute aortic dissection, delineate the characteristics of patients who have acute aortic dissection with SAS.

Methods: Of 95 consecutive patients with acute aortic dissection, 13 had episodes of sleep apnea and nocturnal hypoxemia.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for depression changes medial prefrontal and ventral anterior cingulate cortex activity associated with self-referential processing.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), an effective treatment for depression, targets self-referential processing of emotional stimuli. We examined the effects of CBT on brain functioning during self-referential processing in depressive patients using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Depressive patients (n = 23) and healthy participants (n = 15) underwent fMRI scans during a self-referential task using emotional trait words.

Clinicians' perspectives on support for children with a parent who is diagnosed with breast cancer.

Background: There are few data on clinicians' perspectives regarding support for children who have a parent who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to survey the attitudes of physicians and nurses regarding the care of children who had a parent diagnosed with breast cancer.

Methods: A survey was mailed to 898 physicians and 135 nurses who were members of the Japanese Breast Cancer Society in 2009.

Effects of depression on reward-based decision making and variability of action in probabilistic learning.

Background And Objectives: Depression is characterized by low reward sensitivity in behavioral studies applying signal detection theory. We examined deficits in reward-based decision making in depressed participants during a probabilistic learning task, and used a reinforcement learning model to examine learning parameters during the task.

Methods: Thirty-six nonclinical undergraduates completed a probabilistic selection task.

[A case of carcinoma associated with anal fistula resected after preoperative chemoradiotherapy].

A 66-year-old man with a 39-year history of anal fistula was admitted to our hospital for anal pain and bleeding. Fistulectomy was carried out for anal fistula. Histological examination of the specimen revealed carcinoma associated with anal fistula.

Psychosocial functioning in patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression after group cognitive behavioral therapy.

Background: Although patients with Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD) often have impaired social functioning, few studies have investigated the effectiveness of psychosocial treatment for these patients. We examined whether adding group cognitive behavioral therapy (group-CBT) to medication would improve both the depressive symptoms and the social functioning of patient with mild TRD, and whether any improvements would be maintained over one year.

Methods: Forty-three patients with TRD were treated with 12 weekly sessions of group-CBT.

Rostral anterior cingulate cortex activity mediates the relationship between the depressive symptoms and the medial prefrontal cortex activity.

Background: Depression is characterized by enhanced self-referential processing of negative emotional stimuli. Imaging studies have suggested that activation of both the medial prefrontal (MPFC) and anterior cingulate cortices (ACC) is associated with self-referential processing. However, whether this pattern of activation occurs in depressed individuals during the self-referential processing of the emotional stimuli had not been investigated to date.

Total arch replacement for incomplete double aortic arch associated with patent ductus arteriosus in an adult.

The patient was a 52-year-old man. A plain chest radiograph showed widening of the superior mediastinum. Three-dimensional computed tomography revealed a thoracic aortic aneurysm involving an incomplete double aortic arch (Stewart's IB type 4) with a patent ductus arteriosus.