The impact of infectious diseases department on the incidence of hospital-onset bacteremia and fungemia at a tertiary care center: a retrospective cohort study.

Introduction: Cases of hospital-onset bacteremia and fungemia (HOBF) are on the rise in Japanese hospitals, but little is known about their incidence in hospitals and how it relates to the availability of services provided by infectious diseases departments.

Methods: We herein investigated the monthly incidence density of HOBF per 1,000 patient days from 2013 through 2023 at a tertiary care hospital in Japan. The incidence of overall HOBF and pathogen-specific HOBF, including those caused by Enterobacterales, , coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS), and species, was tracked.

Serial Changes in Cranial Asymmetry During Helmet Therapy for Deformational Plagiocephaly.

Background: To analyze the serial changes in cranial asymmetry (CA) during helmet therapy for deformational plagiocephaly (DP).

Methods: The subjects were 159 patients with DP who visited National Center for Child Health and Development between October 2011 and March 2014 and completed helmet therapy. The authors retrospectively collected information from medical records and analyzed the rate of improvement of deformation.

Changes in Personal Behaviors During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Nationwide Three-Year Longitudinal Study in Japan.

Few longitudinal studies have examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on personal behaviors. This study investigated changes in four social behaviors among the Japanese public during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, using four-wave longitudinal data (2020-2023) from the Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey (JACSIS). In total, 8622 respondents continuously participated in the surveys.

On the road to comfort: Evaluating the influence of motion predictability on motion sickness in automated vehicles.

Automated vehicles could increase the risk of motion sickness because occupants are not involved in driving and do not watch the road. This paper aimed to investigate the influence of motion predictability on motion sickness in automated vehicles, as better motion anticipation is believed to mitigate motion sickness. In a simulator-based study, twenty participants experienced two driving conditions differing only in turn directions.

Association of Individual Behaviors With Infection Prevention Measures and COVID-19 Development: A Japanese Cross-Sectional Study.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people often modified their behaviors and performed individual infection control practices despite the uncertain effectiveness of these in preventing COVID-19. A cross-sectional study using a nationwide internet survey (Japan COVID-19 Society Internet Survey) was conducted from September 2022 through October 2022. The questionnaire consisted of individual-level social distancing behaviors and infection prevention measures, and COVID-19 vaccination status.

Prevalence and trends in persistent symptoms following COVID-19 in Japan: A nationwide cross-sectional survey.

Introduction: Even during the endemic phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of persistent symptoms on patients and healthcare systems remains significant. Thus, a more comprehensive understanding of these symptoms is essential.

Methods: Using data from the Japan Society and New Tobacco Internet Survey conducted in February 2023, this cross-sectional study investigated the prevalence of, and changes in, persistent COVID-19 symptoms.

Performance of artificial intelligence-based software for the automatic detection of lung lesions on chest radiographs of patients with suspected lung cancer.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the commercially available artificial intelligence-based software CXR-AID for the automatic detection of pulmonary nodules on the chest radiographs of patients suspected of having lung cancer.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study included 399 patients with clinically suspected lung cancer who underwent CT and chest radiography within 1 month between June 2020 and May 2022. The candidate areas on chest radiographs identified by CXR-AID were categorized into target (properly detected areas) and non-target (improperly detected areas) areas.

Relation between learning process and morphology of transport tube network in plasmodium of .

The question of whether a single-celled organism without a brain could have functions such as learning and memory has been the subject of much debate in recent years. The plasmodium of the true slime mold, , is an ideal model organism for such a question. The plasmodium exhibits behaviors that resemble intelligence, including solving mazes, mimicking optimal rail transportation networks, predicting the weather, and solving traveling salesman problems.

Deep learning-based cardiothoracic ratio measurement on chest radiograph: accuracy improvement without self-annotation.

Background: A reproducible and accurate automated approach to measuring cardiothoracic ratio on chest radiographs is warranted. This study aimed to develop a deep learning-based model for estimating the cardiothoracic ratio on chest radiographs without requiring self-annotation and to compare its results with those of manual measurements.

Methods: The U-net architecture was designed to segment the right and left lungs and the cardiac shadow, from chest radiographs.

Comparison of 18 F-FDG PET Findings of Pegfilgrastim-Induced Aortitis With Other Types of Large-Vessel Vasculitis : A Retrospective Observational Study.

Purpose Of The Report: To elucidate the PET/CT findings of pegfilgrastim-induced aortitis (PFIA) and compare them with those of other large-vessel vasculitis.

Methods: We enrolled 45 patients diagnosed with the following: PFIA, n = 8; Takayasu arteritis (TA), n = 12; giant cell arteritis (GCA), n = 6; and immunoglobulin G4-related aortitis (IgG4-A), n = 19. Records of PET/CT performed before treatment initiation were collected.

Factors associated with COVID-19 booster vaccine hesitancy: a nationwide, cross-sectional survey in Japan.

Objectives: COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy/fatigue is increasing as the pandemic enters the endemic phase. The present study aimed to explore current perceptions about COVID-19 booster vaccination among the Japanese public.

Study Design: This was a cross-sectional study.

Deep learning-based automatic detection for pulmonary nodules on chest radiographs: The relationship with background lung condition, nodule characteristics, and location.

Purpose: Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD), which assists in the interpretation of chest radiographs, is becoming common. However, few studies have evaluated the benefits and pitfalls of CAD in the real world. This study aimed to evaluate the independent performance of commercially available deep learning-based automatic detection (DLAD) software, EIRL Chest X-ray Lung Nodule, in a cohort that included patients with background pulmonary abnormalities often encountered in clinical situations.

Biomimetic Design of a Robustly Stabilized Folded State Enabling Seed-Initiated Supramolecular Polymerization under Microfluidic Mixing.

We have investigated the folding and assembly behavior of a cystine-based dimeric diamide bearing pyrene units and solubilizing alkyl chains. In low-polarity solvents, it forms a 14-membered ring through double intramolecular hydrogen bonds between two diamide units. The spectroscopic studies revealed that the folded state is thermodynamically unstable and eventually transforms into more energetically stable helical supramolecular polymers that show an enhanced chiral excitonic coupling between the transition dipoles of the pyrene units.

Prolonged Symptoms after COVID-19 in Japan: A Nationwide Survey of the Symptoms and Their Impact on Patients' Quality of Life.

Background: Clinical details of long COVID are still not well understood because of potential confounding with a wide range of pre-existing comorbidities.

Methods: The present study used datasets from a nationwide, cross-sectional, online survey. We determined which prolonged symptoms were more likely to be associated with post-COVID condition after adjusting for a wide range of comorbidities and baseline characteristics.

Computer-Aided Detection of Subsolid Nodules on Chest Computed Tomography: Assessment of Visualization on Vessel-Suppressed Images.

Objectives: This study aimed to clarify the performance of automatic detection of subsolid nodules by commercially available software on computed tomography (CT) images of various slice thicknesses and compare it with visualization on the accompanying vessel-suppression CT (VS-CT) images.

Methods: A total of 95 subsolid nodules from 84 CT examinations of 84 patients were included. The reconstructed CT image series of each case with 3-, 2-, and 1-mm slice thicknesses were loaded into a commercially available software application (ClearRead CT) for automatic detection of subsolid nodules and generation of VS-CT images.

Promotion of antimicrobial stewardship following issuance of the antimicrobial resistance national action plan in Japan: A systematic review of 2016-2020.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) represents a global threat with the potential to cause a significant healthcare burden. In 2016, the Japanese Government issued the national action plan (NAP) for AMR. Since issuance of this plan, several studies on antimicrobial stewardship programmes (ASPs) have been published in Japan.

Post-sign-off events in infectious disease consultation and the incidence of nonadherence to infectious disease recommendations in the post-sign-off period: A retrospective cohort study.

Objective: Infectious diseases (ID) consultation has contributed to improving outcomes in hospitalized patients. However, the timing of signing off on ID consultation varies, depending on the consulting ID physician. We studied the descriptive epidemiology of treatment-related adverse events (ADEs) occurring after the ID physician has signed off on consultation and the epidemiology and predictors of nonadherence to ID recommendations in the post-sign-off period.

Molding Helmet Therapy for Severe Deformational Brachycephaly: Position of Eurion and Therapeutic Effect.

Background: Molding helmet therapy is used routinely for moderate to severe deformational plagiocephaly. However, there have been few reports of its use for deformational brachycephaly (DB). The incidence and severity of DB are high in the Asian population, including Japanese people, but there are no reports of treatment for severe cases.

Can solid pseudopapillary neoplasm of the pancreas without degeneration be diagnosed with imaging? a comparison study of the solid component of solid pseudopapillary neoplasm, neuroendocrine neoplasm, and ductal adenocarcinoma.

Purpose: To investigate the MR findings of the solid components within pancreatic solid pseudopapillary neoplasms (SPNs) to characterize solid SPN without degeneration.

Methods: After case matching, 23 patients with SPNs, 23 with pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PNENs), and 46 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs) were included in this retrospective comparative study. The MR findings of the solid components within the pancreatic tumors were assessed qualitatively and semi-quantitatively.

Changes in intravenous and oral antimicrobial prescriptions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: an experience at a tertiary-care center.

Antimicrobial use during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic at a tertiary-care center was analyzed using interrupted time-series analysis. Among intravenous antimicrobials, the use of azithromycin and third-generation cephalosporins significantly decreased during the current pandemic. Similarly, the use of oral antimicrobials, including azithromycin and fluoroquinolones, also decreased.