Relationship between the perioperative prognostic nutritional index and postoperative gait function in elderly hip fractures.

Objectives: We investigated the relationship between the perioperative nutritional status and postoperative walking ability in patients with hip fractures.

Methods: We included 246 surgically treated elderly patients with hip fractures who were ambulatory before the injury. Patients were divided into two groups: group A, who were able to walk at discharge, and group B, who were unable to walk at discharge.

Diamond-rich crystalline nanosheets seeded with a Langmuir monolayer of arachidic acid on water.

The enigmatic self-assembling ability of nanodiamond (ND) particles has been discovered herein. Diamond-rich crystalline nanosheets with thickness of approximately ∼25 nm were grown from a Langmuir monolayer of arachidic acid (AA) at the interface between air and a dilute aqueous ND solution. Their fine rectangular shapes with uniform uniaxial birefringence indicate appreciable crystallinity, thus supporting that they are hydrated colloidal crystals of homogeneous ND particles.

Psychometric evaluation of the Ethical Caring Competency Scale in nursing.

Background: An ethical competence list for nurses could guide educators and managers in the field of health care to both support the development of ethical conduct and improve the assessment of ethical competence in health care.

Aim: This study aimed to verify the reliability and validity of the Ethical Caring Competency Scale (ECCS) and to obtain suggestions for its use as an evaluation form in rubric format among a sample of Japanese nurses.

Research Design: This research employed a descriptive and cross-sectional design.

variants in and cause neurodevelopmental disorders.

Objective: () and () isoforms of Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) play a pivotal role in neuronal plasticity and in learning and memory processes in the brain. Here, we explore the possible involvement of - and -CaMKII variants in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Methods: Whole-exome sequencing was performed for 976 individuals with intellectual disability, developmental delay, and epilepsy.

Impact of placental weight and fetal/placental weight ratio Z score on fetal growth and the perinatal outcome.

To classify the infants into 9 blocks based on the deviation of both placental weight (PW) and fetal/placental weight ratio (F/P) Z score and compared the incident rate of perinatal death in each of the small for date (SFD) vs. appropriate for date (AFD) vs. heavy for date (HFD) groups.

The efficacy and safety of degarelix, a GnRH antagonist: a 12-month, multicentre, randomized, maintenance dose-finding phase II study in Japanese patients with prostate cancer.

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of degarelix, a new gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist, for achieving and maintaining serum testosterone suppression (≤0.5 ng/ml) during the 12-month treatment of Japanese patients with prostate cancer.

Methods: This Phase II study was conducted as a multicentre, randomized, parallel-group, open-label study.

Sex identification using the ZFX and ZFY genes in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus).

We investigated sex determination via the ZFX and ZFY genes using PCR-RFLP in the common marmoset. We designed a novel primer set to detect ZFX and ZFY. A 483-bp band from the ZFX gene and a 471-bp band from the ZFY gene were amplified.

Changes in cervical neutrophil elastase levels during the menstrual cycle.

Purpose: Cervical mucus plays an important role in host defense mechanisms and is involved in the ascendance of sperm. To determine the change of neutrophil mediators contained in cervical mucus, we measured total neutrophil elastase (NE) levels throughout the menstrual cycle.

Methods: Cervical NE concentrations in 31 healthy women having regular ovulatory cycles were measured during the follicular, ovulatory and luteal phases.

Dynamic changes of striatal dopamine D2 receptor binding at later stages after unilateral lesions of the medial forebrain bundle in Parkinsonian rat models.

Our previous study regarding the changes of D(2) receptor in nigrostriatal dopamine system at an early stage (4 weeks after lesion) indicated a different functional activity of striatal D(2) receptor between two different rat parkinsonian models, lesioning with 6-hydroxydopamine in the striatum and in the medial forebrain bundle (MFB). In the present study, we further examined binding of D(2) receptor as well as pre-synaptic dopamine transporter (DAT) at later stages (6 months after lesion) both in the striatal and MFB lesion models. The D(2) receptor binding in MFB model at 6 months after lesion was significantly lower than that at 4 weeks after lesion, albeit it was still higher than the normal side.

Different striatal D2-like receptor function in an early stage after unilateral striatal lesion and medial forebrain bundle lesion in rats.

Unilateral striatal lesion and complete medial forebrain bundle (MFB) lesion by 6-hydroxydopamine in rats have been widely used as Parkinson disease (PD) models. However, the difference of pre- and post-synaptic dopamine (DA) system in these two models are not well concerned. In order to investigate the pathophysiologic difference between the MFB lesion rats and striatal lesion rats, we studied the variation of pre-synaptic DA transporter and post-synaptic D(2)-like receptor in nigrostriatal DA system using binding assay, behavioral test and a small animal PET.

Landiolol, an ultra-short-acting beta 1-adrenoceptor antagonist, does not alter the electroencephalographic effect of isoflurane in swine model.

Background: beta-Adrenergic blocking agents may interact with anaesthetics, and several studies suggest that beta-blockers attenuate electroencephalographic responses during general anaesthesia. We have investigated the influence of landiolol, an ultra-short-acting beta 1-adrenoceptor antagonist, on the electroencephalographic effect of isoflurane in pigs.

Methods: Ten swine were anaesthetized through inhalation of 2% isoflurane.

Increased expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in placentas of p57(Kip2) null embryos.

Placentas of mice lacking p57(Kip2) expression have trophoblastic hyperplasia. To elucidate the mechanism underlying this phenomenon, we studied expression of two angiogenic factors, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and placenta growth factor (PlGF). Immunohistochemical analysis with anti-VEGF antibodies indicated that VEGF expression was stronger and more clearly detectable in placentas of p57(Kip2) null embryos compared to wild-type placentas.