Symmetry Induced Enhancement in Finite-Time Thermodynamic Trade-Off Relations.

Symmetry imposes constraints on open quantum systems, affecting the dissipative properties in nonequilibrium processes. Superradiance is a typical example in which the decay rate of the system is enhanced via a collective system-bath coupling that respects permutation symmetry. Such a model has also been applied to heat engines.

Comparisons of the Sensitivity of Histopathological and Immunohistochemical Analyses With Blood Hormone Levels for Early Detection of Antithyroid Effects in Rats Treated With Promoters of Thyroid Hormone Metabolism.

Although blood triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels are useful for detecting antithyroid compounds in rodent toxicity studies, there are challenges with high variability due to sampling conditions. Here, we compared histopathological and immunohistochemical findings with blood hormone levels in rats treated with promoters of thyroid hormone metabolism to explore useful markers for hypothyroidism. Six-week-old male and female Sprague-Dawley rats (5/group) were administered phenobarbital sodium salt (NaPB) or nicardipine hydrochloride (NCD) by gavage for 28 days.

Long-term treatment with the streptococcal exotoxin streptolysin O inhibits vascular smooth muscle contraction by inducing iNOS expression in endothelial cells.

Streptolysin O (SLO), a bacterial toxin produced by common hemolytic streptococci, including Streptococcus pyogenes and resident microbiota, may be associated with inflammation in the cardiovascular system. We previously reported that short-term treatment with SLO at relatively high concentrations (10-1000 ng/mL) diminished acetylcholine-induced, endothelial-dependent relaxation in a concentration-dependent manner. However, the vascular function effects of long-term exposure to SLO at lower concentrations are poorly understood.

Understanding Community Health Care Through Problem-Based Learning With Real-Patient Videos: Single-Arm Pre-Post Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Japan faces a health care delivery challenge due to physician maldistribution, with insufficient physicians practicing in rural areas. This issue impacts health care access in remote areas and affects patient outcomes. Educational interventions targeting students' career decision-making can potentially address this problem by promoting interest in rural medicine.

Enhanced vascular contraction induced by exposure to angiotensin II mediated by endothelin-1 biosynthesis following PKCβ activation.

Protein kinase C (PKC) reportedly plays a role in the pathogenesis of many vascular dysfunction-related conditions. In this study, we investigated whether PKCβ is associated with vascular contractile changes induced by angiotensin II (Ang II) exposure. Long-term (24 h) treatment of rat aortae and mesenteric arteries in Ang II-containing culture medium enhanced 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)-induced vascular contraction in a dose-dependent manner, in association with enhanced phosphorylation of PKCβ S660.

A Case of X-Linked Agammaglobulinemia and COVID-19 in a Japanese Infant.

An infant was diagnosed as having X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) at age 3 months and was receiving immunoglobulin replacement therapy. He developed SARS-CoV-2 infection at age 7 months and was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin, remdesivir, and dexamethasone. His respiratory symptoms improved quickly, and the infection resolved.

Feasibility and Clinical Outcomes of Vasa Vasorum Embolization for Atypical Type 2 or Type 5 Endoleaks after Endovascular Aneurysm Repair.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and clinical outcomes of vasa vasorum embolization for preventing continuous aneurysmal expansion after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who underwent vasa vasorum embolization between August 2018 and May 2022. Vasa vasorum embolization was attempted in cases of continuous aneurysmal expansion after EVAR, where the vasa vasorum was identified through catheter angiography.

Fast score is associated with patient-reported outcomes in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.

Backgrounds: People with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) frequently report fatigue. This symptom is associated with hepatic inflammation and fibrosis. FibroScan-aspartate aminotransferase (FAST) score is a noninvasive measurement tool that can be used to assess the severity of MASLD.

S-1/irinotecan/oxaliplatin chemotherapy achieved a pathological complete remission in advanced pancreatic carcinoma.

Chemotherapy has been developed for many years for malignancies, including advanced pancreatic cancer, downsizing the primary site, thereby enabling complete cure with the combination of conversion surgery. Pathological complete remission from operation samples was usually identified as a promising indication for a good prognosis for many carcinomas. Several case reports consisting of pathological complete remission after chemotherapy application have been reported but no case of pathological complete remission that resulted from successful extensive resection by surgery after S-1, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin (SIROX) chemotherapy.

Thermomagnetic Anomalies by Magnonic Criticality in Ultracold Atomic Transport.

We investigate thermomagnetic transport in an ultracold atomic system with two ferromagnets linked via a magnetic quantum point contact. Using the nonequilibrium Green's function approach, we show a divergence in spin conductance and a slowing down of spin relaxation that manifest in the weak effective-Zeeman-field limit. These anomalous spin dynamics result from the magnonic critical point at which magnons become gapless due to spontaneous magnetization.

Effectiveness of a report writing training program using peer review: evidence from first- year medical students.

Background: Report writing in class provides basic training for academic writing. However, report writing education in medical schools in Japan has rarely been reported and no teaching strategy has been established for it.

Methods: This study developed a report writing program using peer review for first-year medical students consisting of two 120-minute classes.

Hybrid Training System Consisting of Synchronized Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation for Voluntary Exercise Using an Articular Motion Sensor.

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is widely used for improving muscle strength, preventing muscle atrophy, and decreasing pain. Recently, NMES has become a substitute for exercise therapy for metabolism improvement and functional capacity improvement. However, NMES has several disadvantages.

Impact of group work on the hidden curriculum that induces students' unprofessional behavior toward faculty.

Background: Hidden curriculum (HC) can limit the effects of professionalism education. However, the research on how HC triggers unprofessional behavior among medical students is scant. Furthermore, there is no established approach for how faculty members may create a context, such as an educational environment and education system, that prevents students' unprofessional behavior.

Effect of a workplace-based learning program on clerkship students' behaviors and attitudes toward evidence-based medicine practice.

In clinical clerkship (CC), medical students can practice evidence-based medicine (EBM) with their assigned patients. Although CC can be a valuable opportunity for EBM education, the impact of EBM training, including long-term behavioral changes, remains unclear. One hundred and nine fourth- and fifth-year medical students undergoing CC at a medical school in Japan attended a workplace-based learning program for EBM during CC (WB-EBM), which included the practice of the five steps of EBM.

Effectiveness of Lung Ultrasound Training Utilizing a High-Fidelity Simulator.

Background: The usefulness of lung ultrasound (LUS) has been demonstrated. However, it is unclear whether diagnostic techniques using LUS are accepted by all physicians. A simple simulation-based educational program may improve the LUS skills of beginners, but it has not been fully assessed.

Suppression of the plasmon-quenching effect on light amplification in 20-μm-diameter plasmonic whispering gallery mode resonators fabricated from bowl-shaped organic/metal thin films.

Bowl-shaped plasmonic whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators were fabricated from a 10-nm-thick metal (Al, Ag, or Au) plasmonic layer that was covered with a 100-nm-thick 4,4'-bis(-carbazolyl)-1,1'-biphenyl spacer layer and a 250-nm-thick 2,7-bis[9,9-di(4-methylphenyl)-fluoren-2-yl]-9,9-di(4-methylphenyl)fluorene light-emitting layer; the layer structure was grown on a 20-μm-diameter silica microsphere. When compared with a reference structure without the plasmonic layer, the resonators, which included either Al or Ag, showed almost the same threshold excitation intensities for generation of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). This result indicates that the ease of light amplification in the plasmonic resonators was comparable to that in the reference structure.

Device parameter to evaluate exciton energy transfer in organic whispering-gallery-mode microresonators and its dependence on the amplified spontaneous emission threshold.

Exciton energy transfer in organic whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) resonators and its effect on the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) threshold have been investigated using the stilbene-based energy donor 4,4'-bis[(-carbazole)styryl]biphenyl (BSB-Cz) and the coumarin-based energy acceptor 2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1,1,7,7,-tetramethyl-1,5,11-10-(2-benzothiazolyl)quinolizino[9,9a,1gh]coumarin (C545T). Using the stacked-layer structure of BSB-Cz/C545T/BSB-Cz, we fabricated bowl-shaped microresonators on silica microspheres with a total thickness of 250 nm fixing the thickness of the C545T layer to 1 nm. The ASE threshold depended on the thicknesses of the top and bottom BSB-Cz layers, which affect the magnitude of the energy transfer.

Wigner-Araki-Yanase Theorem for Continuous and Unbounded Conserved Observables.

The Wigner-Araki-Yanase (WAY) theorem states that additive conservation laws imply the commutativity of exactly implementable projective measurements and the conserved observables of the system. Known proofs of this theorem are only restricted to bounded or discrete-spectrum conserved observables of the system and are not applicable to unbounded and continuous observables like a momentum operator. In this Letter, we present the WAY theorem for possibly unbounded and continuous conserved observables under the Yanase condition, which requires that the probe positive operator-valued measure should commute with the conserved observable of the probe system.