Magnetic resonance imaging safety in Asia-Oceania: call for action.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) safety is a critical concern in the Asia-Oceania region, as it is elsewhere in the world, due to the unique and complex MRI environment that demands attention. This call-for-action outlines ten critical steps to enhance MRI safety and promote a culture of responsibility and accountability in the Asia-Oceania region. Key focus areas include strengthening education and expertise, improving quality assurance, fostering collaboration, increasing public awareness, and establishing national safety boards.

Short-term efficacy and safety of PreserFlo MicroShunt in Japanese patients with medically treated primary open-angle glaucoma.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy and safety of PreserFlo MicroShunt (PMS) combined with mitomycin C in patients with medically treated primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).

Study Design: A retrospective observational study.

Methods: The study examined 83 eyes from 83 patients with medically treated glaucoma surgery naive POAG.

Visualization of porcine and human aqueous humor outflow tract anatomies with transparency enhancement.

Purpose: There is no established method for visualizing the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the aqueous humor outflow tract. This study attempted to visualize the 3D structures of porcine and human ocular tissues, particularly the aqueous humor outflow tract using a transparency reagent composed of 2, 2-thiodiethanol.

Study Design: Clinical and experimental.

Intraoperative vascular anastomosis occlusion due to cold agglutinin disease during brain surgery: a case report.

Background: Cold agglutinin disease (CAD) is an autoimmune hemolytic anemia that induces blood coagulation and hemolysis upon exposure to cold temperatures. Strict temperature control is essential to mitigate these effects, especially during surgical procedures where hypothermia is possible.

Case Presentation: A 57-year-old male, 165 cm and 72 kg, diagnosed with CAD, underwent cerebral vascular anastomosis.

Is it time for a paper mill blacklist?

Paper mills represent one of science's greatest threats to the integrity of the entire scientific enterprise because they have become entrenched in a culture of the commercialization and corruption of science's assets, whether these be authorships, data sets, entire papers, editorial positions, or influence during editorial processes to favor a culture of unfair publication practices. This journal, which has taken proactive and exemplary steps to deal with this plague of fakery, is no stranger to the workings of such academic criminality, as exemplified by a string of retractions resulting from paper mill interference and association. This letter posits that a public database, and blacklist, of known paper mills is needed, as well as of authors who have a track record of using paper mills, but recognizes that the establishment of such a blacklist may pose practical, legal, and ethical challenges to its implementation and maintenance.

Effectiveness and cytokine profile of combined anti-vascular endothelial growth factor and corticosteroid therapy for chronic retinal vein occlusion.

Purpose: To investigate whether sub-Tenon injection of triamcinolone acetonide (STTA) combined with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) prolongs the recurrence intervals of macular edema (ME) for chronic retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and to investigate the differences in intraocular inflammatory cytokines between good responders (GRs) and non-responders (NRs).

Methods: This retrospective, observational study involved 42 eyes of 42 patients with ME due to chronic RVO who had received only anti-VEGF for ≥ 1 year and were transitioned to combination therapy. GRs were defined as patients whose recurrence intervals were prolonged by ≥ 2 weeks compared with patients receiving anti-VEGF alone.

Multicenter study of thermal ablation versus partial thyroidectomy for paratracheal papillary thyroid microcarcinoma.

Objective: To compare the clinical outcomes of patients with unifocal paratracheal papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) after thermal ablation (TA) vs. partial thyroidectomy (PT).

Materials And Methods: This retrospective multicenter study included 436 patients with unifocal, clinical N0 paratracheal PTMC who underwent TA (210 patients) or PT (236 patients) between June 2014 and December 2020.

Gold(I)-Catalyzed [2 + 2] and [3 + 2] Cycloadditions of 1,1-Difluoroallenes with Aldehydes: Switchable Syntheses of Fluorinated Oxetanes and Furans.

1,1-Difluoroallenes underwent regioselective [2 + 2] and [3 + 2] cycloadditions with aldehydes using Au(I) catalysts. An AuCl catalyst enabled an α,β-selective [2 + 2] cycloaddition of 1,1-difluoroallenes, yielding ()-3-alkylidene-2,2-difluorooxetanes. Conversely, an AuCl(IPr)-AgSbF catalyst facilitated an α,γ-selective [3 + 2] cycloaddition, followed by dehydrofluorination to produce aromatized 2-fluorofurans.

Formation of Nanowindow between Graphene Oxide and Carbon Nanohorn Assisted by Metal Ions.

This study presents a novel nanostructured material formed by inserting oxidized carbon nanohorns (CNHox) between layered graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets using metal ions (M) from nitrate as intermediates. The resulting GO-CNHox-M structure effectively mitigated interlayer aggregation of the GO nanosheets. This insertion strategy promoted the formation of nanowindows on the surface of the GO sheets and larger mesopores between the GO nanosheets, improving material porosity.

Isolation of Antiplasmodial Oxazoles and Isoflavonoids from the Roots of and Total Synthesis of Oxazole-type Alkaloids.

A chemical examination of a root extract of led to the isolation and identification of 23 compounds, including oxazole-type alkaloids and isoflavonoid derivatives. Notably, three oxazole-type alkaloids (, , and ) and two isoflavonoid derivatives ( and ) were obtained from a natural source for the first time. In addition, derived 2,5-diphenyloxazoles and their derivatives were synthesized.

The transmembrane protein TMEM196 controls cell proliferation and determines the floor plate cell lineage.

The neural tube, the embryonic precursor to the vertebrate central nervous system, comprises distinct progenitor and neuronal domains, each with specific proliferation programs. In this study, we identified TMEM196, a novel transmembrane protein that plays a crucial role in regulating cell proliferation in the floor plate in chick embryos. TMEM196 is expressed in the floor plate, and its overexpression leads to reduced cell proliferation without affecting the pattern formation of the neural tube.

Generative Model for Constructing Reaction Path from Initial to Final States.

Mapping the chemical reaction pathways and their corresponding activation barriers is a significant challenge in molecular simulation. Given the inherent complexities of 3D atomic geometries, even generating an initial guess of these paths can be difficult for humans. This paper presents an innovative approach that utilizes neural networks to generate initial guesses for reaction pathways based on the initial state and learning from a database of low-energy transition paths.

Impact of time to treatment initiation on the development of cachexia and clinical outcomes in lung cancer.

Background: Pre-cancer onset of cachexia raises uncertainties regarding the optimal timing for early intervention in lung cancer patients. We aimed to examine changes in physical function, nutritional status, and cachexia incidence in patients with lung cancer from the initial visit to treatment initiation and determine the effect of these changes on lung cancer treatment.

Methods: This single-center retrospective cohort study enrolled patients suspected of having advanced lung cancer who visited Kansai Medical University Hospital between January and February 2023 and were definitely diagnosed with the disease.

Symptomatic Accessory Navicular Treated With Endoscopic Accessory Navicular and Partial Navicular Resection.

Background: This study aims to report the results of the patients with symptomatic accessory navicular (AN) who underwent endoscopic AN and partial navicular resection.

Methods: The medical records of patients with type 2 symptomatic AN who underwent the aforementioned surgery at our hospital from November 2019 to May 2022 with a follow-up of >2 years were reviewed. Data on clinical, radiographic, and patient-reported outcomes were obtained.

"Fly to New World": Meeting report of the 16th Japanese Drosophila research conference (JDRC16).

The 16th Japanese Drosophila Research Conference (JDRC16) was held at the Sendai International Center from September 17 to 19 2024. It had been 2 years since the last JDRC15 held in Nagoya. The conference brought together 231 researchers, including 22 researchers from overseas, creating a vibrant and diverse platform for scientific exchange.

The response to pericapsular soft tissue and pelvic realignment therapy may be partially predicted by the relevant factors influencing the program's response of the candidates with hip osteoarthritis for joint replacement.

Objective: To explore the risk factors for discontinuation of pericapsular soft tissue and pelvic realignment (PSTP-R) therapy derived from Shiatsu in the candidates with osteoarthritis for total hip replacement (THR) (i.e., candidates for total hip replacement) treated from 2017 to 2020, and to identify the effect modifiers of PSTP-R therapy for patients who continued therapy for 6 months.

Aberrant alpha-smooth muscle actin expression in the lateral ventricle of knockout rats.

() is a causative gene for genetic hydrocephalus found in hemorrhagic hydrocephalus () mice. The knockout (KO) rat has subcortical heterotopia with frequent brain hemorrhage as seen in mice. In this study, we report aberrant alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression in the wall of lateral ventricle of the KO rats.

Cultural Differences in Visual Attention Emerge in Infancy.

East Asians are more likely than North Americans to attend to visual scenes holistically, focusing on the relations between objects and their background rather than isolating components. This cultural difference in context sensitivity-greater attentional allocation to the background of an image or scene-has been attributed to socialization, yet it is unknown how early in development it appears, and whether it is moderated by social information. We employed eye-tracking to investigate context-sensitivity in 15-month-olds in Japan (n = 45) and the United States (n = 52).

Lactococcus lactis subsp. Lactis boosts stress resistance and host defense mechanisms in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Aims: To investigate the effects of Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis strains LL100933 and LL12007 on the host defense mechanisms of Caenorhabditis elegans against pathogenic infections and stressors.

Methods And Results: C.

Granulocyte and Monocyte Adsorption Therapy in Patients With Sepsis: A Feasibility Study.

Background: The pathogenesis of sepsis is thought to be linked to a dysregulated immune response, particularly that involving neutrophils. We have developed a granulocyte adsorption column as a "decoy organ," which relocates the massive inflammation in organs in the body to a blood purification column. This study was conducted to assess the safety and experimental effectiveness of granulocyte monocyte adsorption apheresis-direct hemoperfusion (G1-DHP) in the treatment of patients with sepsis, using a prospective, multicenter design.

Non-canonical imprinting, manifesting as post-fertilization placenta-specific parent-of-origin dependent methylation, is not conserved in humans.

Genomic imprinting is the parent-of-origin dependent monoallelic expression of genes often associated with regions of germline-derived DNA methylation that are maintained as differentially methylated regions (gDMRs) in somatic tissues. This form of epigenetic regulation is highly conserved in mammals and is thought to have co-evolved with placentation. Tissue-specific gDMRs have been identified in human placenta, suggesting that species-specific imprinting dependent on unorthodox epigenetic establishment or maintenance may be more widespread than previously anticipated.