Single-particle tracking of polymer aggregates inside disordered porous media.

The diffusion motions of individual polymer aggregates in disordered porous media were visualized using the single-particle tracking (SPT) method because the motions inside porous media play important roles in various fields of science and engineering. In the aggregates diffused on the surfaces of pores, continuous adsorption and desorption processes were observed. The relationship between the size of the aggregates and pore size was analysed based on diffusion coefficients, moment scaling spectrum (MSS) slope analysis, and diffusion anisotropy analysis.

Usefulness of Hospital and Community Pharmacists Collaborating to Manage Capecitabine-induced Severe Hand-foot Syndrome in Patients with Breast Cancer.

Background: The management of capecitabine-related hand-foot syndrome (HFS) is critical to avoid progression of the syndrome through early detection and early response; management of HFS involves joint medication management by physicians and pharmacists (hospital and community pharmacists). This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of collaborative medication management in cancer patients with HFS by comparing its effectiveness with the traditional response using monitoring reports from community pharmacists.

Patients And Methods: Medical records of 120 breast cancer patients who received capecitabine therapy between September 2017 and August 2023 were retrospectively reviewed.

Ulcerative Colitis in Pregnancy: A Japanese Multicenter Cohort Study Focusing on Their Mutual Influence.

Objective To investigate the clinical course of ulcerative colitis (UC) during pregnancy, focusing on their mutual influence. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 58 patients with UC who had 73 pregnancies and 3 patients with newly developed UC during pregnancy. We recorded the rate of relapse of UC; the relationship between medication use and UC relapse during pregnancy; treatment for relapse; and the incidence of pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn abnormalities.

SAIL66, a next generation CLDN6-targeting T-cell engager, demonstrates potent antitumor efficacy through dual binding to CD3/CD137.

Background: Ovarian cancer remains a formidable challenge in oncology, necessitating innovative therapeutic approaches. Claudin-6 (CLDN6), a member of the tight junction molecule CLDN family, exhibits negligible expression in healthy tissues but displays aberrant upregulation in various malignancies, including ovarian cancer. Although several therapeutic modalities targeting CLDN6 are currently under investigation, there is still a need for more potent therapeutic options.

Resistance exercise in early-stage ALS patients, ALSFRS-R, Sickness Impact Profile ALS-19, and muscle transcriptome: a pilot study.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients lack effective treatments to maintain motor and neuromuscular function. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a home-based exercise program on muscle strength, ALS scores, and transcriptome in ALS patients, Clinical Trials.gov #NCT03201991 (28/06/2017).

A primordial noble gas component discovered in the Ryugu asteroid and its implications.

Ryugu is the C-type asteroid from which material was brought to Earth by the Hayabusa2 mission. A number of individual grains and fine-grained samples analysed so far for noble gases have indicated that solar wind and planetary (known as P1) noble gases are present in Ryugu samples with concentrations higher than those observed in CIs, suggesting the former to be more primitive compared to the latter. Here we present results of analyses of three fine-grained samples from Ryugu, in one of which Xe concentration is an order of magnitude higher than determined so far in other samples from Ryugu.

removal in down-flow hanging sponge reactors: insights from laboratory reactor studies.

Down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) reactors, employed in domestic wastewater treatment, have demonstrated efficacy in eliminating and other potentially pathogenic bacteria. The aim of this study was to elucidate the mechanism of removal of by employing a cube-shaped polyurethane sponge carrier within a compact hanging reactor. An removal experiment was conducted on this prepared sponge.

Prognostic value of the 21-Gene Breast Recurrence Score® assay for hormone receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor 2-negative advanced breast cancer: subanalysis from Japan Breast Cancer Research Group-M07 (FUTURE trial).

Purpose: This study aimed to determine whether the 21-Gene Breast Recurrence Score® assay from primary breast tissue predicts the prognosis of patients with hormone receptor-positive and human epidermal growth factor 2-negative advanced breast cancers (ABCs) treated with fulvestrant monotherapy (Group A) and the addition of palbociclib combined with fulvestrant (Group B), which included those who had progression in Group A from the Japan Breast Cancer Research Group-M07 (FUTURE trial).

Methods: Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared using the log-rank test and Cox regression analysis based on original recurrence score (RS) categories (Low: 0-17, Intermediate: 18-30, High: 31-100) by treatment groups (A and B) and types of ABCs (recurrence and de novo stage IV).

Results: In total, 102 patients [Low: n = 44 (43.

Nano-particle motion in a monolithic silica column using the single-particle tracking method.

Porous materials are used in a variety of industrial applications owing to their large surface areas, large pore volumes, hierarchical porosities, and low densities. The motion of particles inside the pores of porous materials has attracted considerable attention. We investigated nano-particle motion in a porous material using the single-particle tracking method.

Risk Factors for Eribulin-induced Severe Neutropenia in Patients With Recurrent Breast Cancer.

Background/aim: Eribulin is an effective chemotherapeutic agent for advanced and metastatic breast cancer. However, severe neutropenia occurs in 30-40% of patients and interferes with the recommended treatment schedule. Neutropenia is a major cause of treatment interruptions, delays, or even relative dose reductions.

Quantitative detection and reduction of potentially pathogenic bacterial groups of Aeromonas, Arcobacter, Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex, and Mycobacterium in wastewater treatment facilities.

Water quality parameters influence the abundance of pathogenic bacteria. The genera Aeromonas, Arcobacter, Klebsiella, and Mycobacterium are among the representative pathogenic bacteria identified in wastewater. However, information on the correlations between water quality and the abundance of these bacteria, as well as their reduction rate in existing wastewater treatment facilities (WTFs), is lacking.

Efficacy, safety, and biomarker analysis of nivolumab in combination with abemaciclib plus endocrine therapy in patients with HR-positive HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer: a phase II study (WJOG11418B NEWFLAME trial).

Background: Hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer is a disease for which no immune checkpoint inhibitors have shown promise as effective therapies. Cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors synergistically increased the effectiveness of antiprogrammed cell death protein-1 (anti-PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibodies in preclinical studies.

Methods: This non-randomized, multicohort, phase II study evaluated the efficacy and safety of the anti-PD-1 antibody nivolumab 240 mg administered every 2 weeks in combination with the CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib 150 mg twice daily and either fulvestrant (FUL) or letrozole (LET) as a first-line or second-line treatment for HR-positive HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

Real-World Predictors of Severe Neutropenia Associated with Palbociclib and Endocrine Therapy for Metastatic Breast Cancer in Japanese Patients.

Therapy for patients of metastatic breast cancer based on palbociclib, a cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor, has been approved in Japan. However, the risk factors for palbociclib-induced severe neutropenia in Japanese patients are rarely reported. Hence, the present study is aimed to identify the risk factors for adverse events requiring palbociclib dose reduction or discontinuation, and to identify the factors necessary to identify a more stable strategy for treatment continuation.

Programmed death ligand 1-positive immune cells in primary tumor or metastatic axillary lymph nodes can predict prognosis of triple-negative breast cancer even when present at < 1% in the tumor region.

Background: The efficacy of pre-operative systemic treatment (PST) combined with immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has been recognized recently as being independent of the degree of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) positivity of infiltrating immune cells, especially for patients with axillary lymph node metastasis (ALNM).

Methods: TNBC patients with ALNM were treated surgically between 2002 and 2016 in our facility (n = 109), of whom 38 received PST before resection. The presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) expressing CD3, CD8, CD68, PD-L1 (detected by antibody SP142) and FOXP3 at primary and metastatic LN sites was quantified.

A dehydrated space-weathered skin cloaking the hydrated interior of Ryugu.

Without a protective atmosphere, space-exposed surfaces of airless Solar System bodies gradually experience an alteration in composition, structure and optical properties through a collective process called space weathering. The return of samples from near-Earth asteroid (162173) Ryugu by Hayabusa2 provides the first opportunity for laboratory study of space-weathering signatures on the most abundant type of inner solar system body: a C-type asteroid, composed of materials largely unchanged since the formation of the Solar System. Weathered Ryugu grains show areas of surface amorphization and partial melting of phyllosilicates, in which reduction from Fe to Fe and dehydration developed.

Vitamin C transporter SVCT1 serves a physiological role as a urate importer: functional analyses and in vivo investigations.

Uric acid, the end product of purine metabolism in humans, is crucial because of its anti-oxidant activity and a causal relationship with hyperuricemia and gout. Several physiologically important urate transporters regulate this water-soluble metabolite in the human body; however, the existence of latent transporters has been suggested in the literature. We focused on the Escherichia coli urate transporter YgfU, a nucleobase-ascorbate transporter (NAT) family member, to address this issue.

Copper-Nanocoated Ultra-Small Cells in Grain Boundaries Inside an Extinct Vent Chimney.

Chemosynthetic organisms flourish around deep-sea hydrothermal vents where energy-rich fluids are emitted from metal sulfide chimneys. However, microbial life hosted in mineral assemblages in extinct chimneys lacking fluid venting remains largely unknown. The interior of extinct chimneys remains anoxic where the percolation of oxygenated seawater is limited within tightly packed metal sulfide grains.

Significance of prostate/pancreatic/skin cancer family history for detecting BRCA2 pathogenic variant careers among patients with breast cancer.

Background: When considering BRCA1/2 genetic testing for diagnosis of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC), family history (FH) of breast and ovarian cancer is commonly considered. However, FH of other HBOC-related cancers, such as prostate, pancreatic, and skin cancer (malignant melanoma), is often overlooked.

Methods: Among 945 patients who received genetic testing of BRCA1/2 at our hospital between October 2010 and September 2021, we compared the FH of 123 patients diagnosed with HBOC and 669 other patients who had breast cancer and had a documented FH.

Effect of formic acid inflow on microbial properties of the anaerobic granular sludge in a UASB reactor.

In the production of natural rubber, formate or acetate is added to the latex solution to coagulate the rubber; therefore, the wastewater contains high concentrations of organic acids, requiring the application of anaerobic treatment technology. In this study, a two-phase continuous flow experiment using a laboratory-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) was conducted to investigate the influence of formate inflow on the microbial and physical characteristics of the retained granular sludge. In phase 1, acetate-based wastewater was used as feed, while in phase 2, formate-based wastewater was used as feed.

N-C bond formation between two anilines coordinated to a ruthenium center in -form affording a 3,5-cyclohexadiene-1,2-diimine moiety.

Ruthenium complexes containing two anilines or its derivatives, -[Ru(NHCH)(bpy)] ([1]) and -[Ru(NHCH(4-CH))(bpy)] ([2]), were oxidized by four molar equivalents of (NH)[Ce(SO)]·2HO to give -phenylcyclohexa-3,5-diene-1,2-diimineruthenium(ii) complexes, -[Ru(HCH CH)(bpy)] ([4]) and -[Ru(HCH(4-CH)CH(4-CH))(bpy)] ([5]), respectively, through an N-C bond formation between two aniline ligands -coordinated to the ruthenium center.

SLC23A3 is a renal hypoxanthine transporter.

LLC-PK1 renal cells show Na-dependent and Na-independent hypoxanthine uptake. While the latter is inhibited by adenine, neither are inhibited by xanthine. In rats, intestinal Na-dependent hypoxanthine transporter Slc23a4 is not expressed in the kidney, and its action is inhibited by xanthine.

Xanthine Oxidoreductase Inhibitors Suppress the Onset of Exercise-Induced AKI in High HPRT Activity - Double Knockout Mice.

Background: Hereditary renal hypouricemia type 1 (RHUC1) is caused by URAT1/SLC22A12 dysfunction, resulting in urolithiasis and exercise-induced AKI (EIAKI). However, because there is no useful experimental RHUC1 animal model, the precise pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying EIAKI have yet to be elucidated. We established a high HPRT activity - double knockout (DKO) mouse as a novel RHUC1 animal model for investigating the cause of EIAKI and the potential therapeutic effect of xanthine oxidoreductase inhibitors (XOIs).