A Food Intake Estimation System Using an Artificial Intelligence-Based Model for Estimating Leftover Hospital Liquid Food in Clinical Environments: Development and Validation Study.

Background: Medical staff often conduct assessments, such as food intake and nutrient sufficiency ratios, to accurately evaluate patients' food consumption. However, visual estimations to measure food intake are difficult to perform with numerous patients. Hence, the clinical environment requires a simple and accurate method to measure dietary intake.

The Changes in Broad-spectrum Antimicrobial Consumption during the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Japanese Acute Tertiary-care Hospital: An Interrupted Time-series Analysis.

Objective The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread worldwide, and hospitals in Japan have been forced to respond to the situation. This study evaluated the broad-spectrum antimicrobial use before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in an acute tertiary-care hospital. Methods This single-center, retrospective study was conducted between January 2019 and June 2021.

The importance of infectious disease specialists consulting on a weekly basis in a Japanese tertiary care hospital: A retrospective observational study.

Limited data are available regarding part-time infectious disease consultations (IDCs) and their importance in tertiary care teaching hospitals in Japan. This is a retrospective review of IDCs from June 2016 to March 2021 and describes IDC services provided by part-time infectious disease specialists once a week for 4 hours, and their impact on the quality of medical care, including antimicrobial stewardship. Data, such as the requesting department, requesting reasons, and final diagnoses, were analyzed.

Impact of the antimicrobial stewardship program on hospital-acquired candidemia.

Antibiotic stewardship programs reduce antibiotic use without negative clinical outcomes. However, epidemiological data describing the relationship between implementing antimicrobial stewardship and candidemia incidence are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of antibiotic stewardship on the incidence of hospital acquired candidemia.

Accuracy of an Artificial Intelligence-Based Model for Estimating Leftover Liquid Food in Hospitals: Validation Study.

Background: An accurate evaluation of the nutritional status of malnourished hospitalized patients at a higher risk of complications, such as frailty or disability, is crucial. Visual methods of estimating food intake are popular for evaluating the nutritional status in clinical environments. However, from the perspective of accurate measurement, such methods are unreliable.

Effects of Palonosetron on Nausea and Vomiting Induced by Multiple-Day Chemotherapy: A Retrospective Study.

Patients who undergo multiple-day chemotherapy sessions experience hard-to-treat nausea and vomiting. Currently, there is no effective standard treatment for this condition. This study compared the preventive effect of first-generation 5-hydroxytryptamine 3 receptor antagonists (5-HT RAs) and second-generation 5-HT RAs palonosetron in multiple-day chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

Possible Dissemination of a Panton-Valentine Leukocidin-Positive Livestock-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus CC398 Clone in Tokyo, Japan.

In the last decade, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been identified in livestock animals, such as swine, poultry, and veal calves, and has been termed livestock-associated MRSA (LA-MRSA). LA-MRSA sequence type (ST) 398 strains can effectively infect and colonize humans, with subsequent human-to-human transmission in both community and hospital settings. Unlike other countries, LA-MRSA had not been reported in Japanese patients until 2019.

Change during an 8-Year Period in Streptococcus Pyogenes emm Types in Pharyngeal Isolates from Children with Noninvasive Infections.

Background: Streptococcus pyogenes, or group A streptococcus (GAS), is one of the most common bacterial pathogens in children. GAS can cause such nonserious and noninvasive diseases as pharyngitis and skin infection, as well as serious, invasive diseases like streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. One factor that makes GAS pathogenic is the type-specific M protein on its cell surface.

Body fat mass is correlated with serum transthyretin levels in maintenance hemodialysis patients.

Serum transthyretin (TTR), also known as prealbumin, is a reliable nutritional indicator and an independent prognostic factor for maintenance hemodialysis patients. However, we recently reported that serum TTR levels did not affect protein-energy wasting (PEW). In this study, we investigated factors affecting serum TTR levels in 60 maintenance hemodialysis patients.

Factors affecting radiation exposure dose in nursing staff during (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography.

Objectives: We evaluated factors associated with increased radiation exposure dose in nursing staff who assisted patients with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) examinations.

Methods: The Barthel Index and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score were obtained before PET/CT examinations in 193 patients (mean age ± SD, 77.7 ± 8.

A conceptual definition of vocational rehabilitation based on the ICF: building a shared global model.

Background: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is a conceptual framework and classification system by the World Health Organization (WHO) to understand functioning. The objective of this discussion paper is to offer a conceptual definition for vocational rehabilitation (VR) based on the ICF.

Method: We presented the ICF as a model for application in VR and the rationale for the integration of the ICF.

Progressive leukoencephalopathy associated with aluminum deposits in myelin sheath.

A 20-year-old woman with progressive leukoencephalopathy developed mental and motor disabilities and fell into a coma after suffering head trauma and febrile episodes from infancy. Brain imaging showed massive abnormal signals in the white matter. The electron spectroscopic imaging of biopsied brain tissue confirmed the electron-dense deposits to be associated with aluminum accumulation in the myelin sheath.

Assessment of vocational opportunities and continuing job placement for persons with mental disabilities: factors indicating levels of necessary support.

We determined primary factors in allocating support for vocational opportunities and continuing job placement for clients with mental disabilities. The study analyzed 29 items regarding work attitudes and vocational skills for 70 clients as assessed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Rehabilitation Center for the Physically and Mentally Disabled. The evaluations were performed using the situational assessment approach with a 3-point support scale system assigned through observation of behavior.

[Various central nervous system involvements in dystrophinopathy: clinical and genetic considerations].

Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies, generically called dystrophinopathy, are caused by mutations of the dystrophin gene. It is not surprising that mutations of the dystrophin gene cause various neurological symptoms, since dystrophin protein is found in the brain tissue as well as in the muscle fiber cell membrane. However, few studies have reported on the frequency of central nervous complications other than mental retardation.

[Drug-induced hypersensitivity due to phenytoin].

This study aimed to clarify factors associated with intravenous administered phenytoin-induced hypersensitivity reaction. The incidence of hypersensitivity was significantly more frequent in boys than in girls (P < 0.05).

Epidermal growth factor directs sex-specific steroid signaling through Src activation.

Estrogens and androgens exert many biological effects that do not require interactions of their receptors with chromosomal DNA. However, it has been a long-standing question how the sex steroid receptors provoke signal transduction outside the nucleus. Here we have shown that epidermal growth factor (EGF) directs sex-specific steroid signaling through Src activation.

[Tracheostomy for home-care patients with severe motor and intellectual disabilities].

We discuss here the indication and complications of tracheostomy performed in 57 home-care pateints with severe motor and intellectual disabilities (SMID) during the past 13 years at our hospital. Thirty-five cases underwent tracheostomy following emergency endotracheal intubation for acute respiratory failure. Recently, the number of cases without preceding endotracheal intubation have increased.

Congenital cytomegalovirus infection diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction with the use of preserved umbilical cord.

We report a patient with congenital cytomegalovirus infection diagnosed retrospectively by real time polymerase chain reaction with the use of a preserved umbilical cord. The patient had mild developmental delay without apparent hearing loss at the diagnosis. Congenital cytomegalovirus infection was suspected on the basis of magnetic resonance imaging that showed abnormal signal intensities in the gray-white matter junction.

[Clinical symptoms of the Rett syndrome patients with MECP2 gene abnormalities].

Mutations in a gene on the X-chromosome encoding methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2) cause Rett syndrome. We examined clinical symptoms of 27 patients with Rett syndrome (aged 2 to 37 years), diagnosed by the criteria of the Rett Syndrome Diagnostic Criteria Work Group. having MECP2 gene mutations.

Gene expression profiling of human erythroid progenitors by micro-serial analysis of gene expression.

We compared the expression profiles of highly purified human CD34+ cells and erythroid progenitor cells by micro-serial analysis of gene expression (microSAGE). Human CD34+ cells were purified from granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-mobilized blood stem cells, and erythroid progenitors were obtained by cultivating these cells in the presence of stem cell factor, interleukin 3, and erythropoietin. Our 10,202 SAGE tags allowed us to identify 1354 different transcripts appearing more than once.

Codevelopment of dendritic cells along with erythroid differentiation from human CD34(+) cells by tumor necrosis factor-alpha.

Objective: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) inhibits erythropoiesis and enhances nonerythroid colony formation. The present study examines the nature of these nonerythroid cells and investigates their physiologic role in relation to erythroid progenitor cells.

Materials And Methods: Highly purified human CD34(+) cells underwent erythroid differentiation in the presence of multiple cytokines, including stem cell factor (SCF), interleukin-3 (IL-3), and erythropoietin (EPO), with and without TNF-alpha.

Treatment and outcome in patients with febrile convulsion associated with epileptiform discharges on electroencephalography.

The aim of this study is to determine the efficacy of prophylactic treatment for patients with febrile convulsions (FCs) in whom electroencephalograms (EEGs) revealed epileptiform discharges. We retrospectively investigated 43 patients who met the following criteria: (a) at least one FC during the study period; (b) epileptiform discharges were first recognized; (c) no unevoked seizures before epileptiform discharges were first seen; (d) normal psychomotor development and no neurological abnormality; and (e) follow-up >3 years. The clinical characteristics, treatment, and a later occurrence of FCs or unevoked seizures were studied.

A case of infantile Alexander disease with a milder phenotype and a novel GFAP mutation, L90P.

Alexander disease is a leukoencephalopathy that usually presents during infancy with developmental delay, macrocephaly and seizures. Several sequencing analyses have identified mutations in the gene encoding glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) of patients with Alexander disease. We described a girl who developed seizures in infancy with atypical CT findings and in whom a novel heterozygous mutation, L90P (283T --> C), was detected in exon 1 of the GFAP gene.

[Post-operative cardiac rehabilitation programs for early returning to daily life activities: self-measurement of heart rate and blood pressure during staying at home trial].

Background And Objectives: Recently, early mobilization and discharge after cardiac surgery have been recommended. However, many patients are anxious about returning to daily life soon after undergoing heart operations. To resolve this problem, an individualized rehabilitation plan for each patient is important.

Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript peptide produces anxiety-like behavior in rodents.

Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) peptide (CART-(55-102)) is involved in the suppression of food intake. We now report that CART-(55-102) is involved in anxiety in rodents. Intracerebroventricularly administered CART-(55-102) as well as intraperitoneal administration of N-methyl-beta-carboline-3-carboxamide (FG-7142), a selective GABA(A)/benzodiazepine receptor inverse agonist, reduced time spent in the open arms in the elevated plus-maze task in mice.