The effect of breast density on the missed lesion rate in screening digital mammography determined using an adjustable-density breast phantom tailored to Japanese women.

Objective: Despite the high risk of missing lesions in mammography, the missed lesion rate is yet to be clinically established. Further, no breast phantoms with adjustable breast density currently exist. We developed a novel, adjustable-density breast phantom with a composition identical to that of actual breasts, and determined the quantitative relationship between breast density and the missed lesion rate in mammography.

Prediction of glandularity and breast radiation dose from mammography results in Japanese women.

Glandularity has a marked impact on the incidence of breast cancer and the missed lesion rate of mammography. The aim of this study was to develop a novel model for predicting glandularity and patient radiation dose using physical factors that are easily determined prior to mammography. Data regarding glandularity and mean glandular dose were obtained from 331 mammograms.

Pharmacokinetics of fucoxanthinol in human plasma after the oral administration of kombu extract.

Dietary fucoxanthin has been reported to exert several physiological functions, and fucoxanthinol is considered to be the primary active metabolite of fucoxanthin. However, there is no information about the pharmacokinetics of fucoxanthinol in human subjects. In the present study, eighteen human volunteers were orally administered kombu extract containing 31 mg fucoxanthin, and their peripheral blood was collected 5 min before and 0·5, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 24 h after the treatment.

The distribution and accumulation of fucoxanthin and its metabolites after oral administration in mice.

The pharmacokinetics of dietary fucoxanthin, one of the xanthophylls in brown sea algae, is little understood. In the present study, mice were orally administered fucoxanthin, and the distribution and accumulation of fucoxanthin and its metabolites fucoxanthinol and amarouciaxanthin A were measured in the plasma, erythrocytes, liver, lung, kidney, heart, spleen and adipose tissue. In a single oral administration of 160 nmol fucoxanthin, fucoxanthinol and amarouciaxanthin A were detectable in all specimens tested in the present study, but fucoxanthin was not.