Practice of sustainable fashion design considering customer emotions and personal tastes.

This study aimed to determine a sustainable design practice approach that can satisfy customer emotions and personal tastes, which designers need in the early stages of the SFD process, and improve environmental performance. The research was conducted through a case study and interviews. For case studies, the specific design methods of fashion brands, which have been ranked sustainable over the last 3 years in the world's top fashion magazines favored by the public, were researched.

Patient Clothing as a Healing Environment: A Qualitative Interview Study.

Patients' emotional responses to the hospital environment can be considered as important as medical technology and equipment. Therefore, this study investigated their experiences to determine whether the pattern using hospital identity (HI) elements, a widely used design method for patient clothing in university hospitals, can affect their emotional response and contribute to healing. It aimed to identify whether controlling the motif characteristics, arrangement, and spacing in this pattern design, and the direction between motifs, could be a method to design patient clothing for healing.

Clinical outcomes of subtotal cholecystectomy performed for difficult cholecystectomy.

Purpose: Laparoscopic subtotal cholecystectomy (LSC) can be an alternative surgical technique for difficult cholecystectomies. Surgeons performing LSC sometimes leave the posterior wall of the gallbladder (GB) to shorten the operation time and avoid liver injury. However, leaving the inflamed posterior GB wall is a major concern.

The safety and efficacy of percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage in elderly patients with acute cholecystitis before laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Purpose: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is the standard management for acute cholecystitis. Percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage (PTGBD) may be an alternative interim strategy before surgery in elderly patients with comorbidities. This study was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of PTGBD for elderly patients (>60 years) with acute cholecystitis.

Involvement of transcription repressor Snail in the regulation of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) by transforming growth factor-β.

Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), a catalytic subunit of telomerase, is the primary determinant for telomerase enzyme activity, which has been associated with cellular immortality. Expression of the hTERT gene is regulated by various extracellular (external) stimuli and is aberrantly up-regulated in more than 90% of cancers. Here we show that hTERT gene expression was repressed in response to transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) by a mechanism dependent on transcription factors Snail and c-Myc.

Synchronous double primary squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the extrahepatic bile duct: a case report.

Introduction: Synchronous double cancers of the bile duct are exceptionally rare. We here report a case of synchronous squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the extrahepatic bile duct.

Case Presentation: A 67-year-old Asian man visited our clinic complaining of jaundice and dark urine.

Clinical outcome for laparoscopic cholecystectomy in extremely elderly patients.

Purpose: Extremely elderly patients who present with complicated gallstone disease are less likely to undergo definitive treatment. The use of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in older patients is complicated by comorbid conditions that are concomitant with advanced age and may increase postoperative complications and the frequency of conversion to open surgery. We aimed to evaluate the results of LC in patients (older than 80 years).

The advantages of early trauma team activation in the management of major trauma patients who underwent exploratory laparotomy.

Purpose: Trauma team activation (TTA) has been shown to have fundamental impact on trauma patients' outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the short-term outcomes of use of a new TTA protocol in the management of major trauma patients who underwent exploratory laparotomy.

Methods: The medical records of trauma patients who had been treated by the new TTA protocol (NT) over 18 months were compared with those of trauma patients treated by the old TTA protocol (OT) over 18 months.

Interaction of PKCα with the armadillo repeats facilitates the N-terminal phosphorylation of β-catenin.

Protein kinase Cα (PKCα) phosphorylates the Ser33/37/Thr41 residues of β-catenin, which lacks a typical PKCα canonical sequence, but little is known about its underlying mechanism. Here we showed that Ser33/Ser37/Thr41 of β-catenin fragments encompassing the armadillo repeats 1-5 (β-catenin1-781, β-catenin1-682, and β-catenin1-422) are phosphorylated by PKCα whereas β-catenin1-138 lacking these repeats is not phosphorylated. Binding-site analysis revealed that PKCα directly interacts with β-catenin through the sites on the armadillo repeats 1-5.

The effect of laser diode irradiation on wound healing of rat skin.

Background: Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER) diode irradiation (LDI) has some beneficial effects on the wound healing. However, little is known about the biochemical effect of LDI on wound healing. We have performed animal study to clarify the effect of LDI on wound healing based on microscopic findings.

Ischemic esophageal necrosis secondary to traumatic aortic transection.

Esophageal necrosis with perforation secondary to traumatic aortic transection is extremely rare but usually fatal. A 47-year-old man complained of sudden swallowing difficulty 6 days after blunt trauma. Computed tomography showed a ruptured aorta and the midesophagus shifted to the right side with luminal obliteration because of the ruptured aorta.