Japan

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify the care needs of family caregivers of elderly patients with early-stage dementia and examine support measures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey with 115 primary caregivers of outpatients who visited A City Community General Support Center or B University Hospital Department of Neurology for memory loss consultation. The questionnaire content included demographic characteristics, the care needs scale for caregivers of the elderly with early-stage dementia (Care Needs Scale), and the Japanese short version of the Zarit Burden Interview...

INTRODUCTION: Despite a recent increase in the representation of female authors in scientific literature, a significant gap persists concerning the inclusion of women in research. This necessitates the analysis of published literature from a gender perspective. This study aimed to provide gender distribution in authorship in the 100 most-cited articles on food-borne pathogen outbreaks from 1990 to 2020. METHODS: Bibliometric analysis was conducted using the Scopus database...

BACKGROUND: The spider fauna of the Ogasawara Islands, oceanic islands located 1,000 km south of mainland Japan was comprehensively examined by the National Museum of Nature and Science in 2011, which revealed that approximately 70% of the spider fauna was composed of non-native species. Following the preceding study, however, only descriptions of several new species have been added and no major updates have been made for the overall spider fauna of the Islands. NEW INFORMATION: The faunistic survey of spiders conducted on Chichi-jima Island, the largest island in the Ogasawara Islands in 2023 revealed the presence of two ground-dwelling spider species, Oedignathascrobiculata Thorell, 1881 (Araneae, Liocranidae) and Boagriusqiong Lin & Li, 2022 (Araneae, Palpimanidae) on the Island...

PURPOSE: Recent reports of the Zenith Alpha abdominal endovascular graft (Zenith Alpha AAA, Cook, Inc., Bloomington, Indiana) have demonstrated an unexpectedly high incidence of limb graft occlusion (LGO). The purpose of this study was to prospectively evaluate the performance of the Zenith AAA in Japan, with a specific focus on LGO. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All endovascular aneurysm repairs (EVARs) for abdominal aortic aneurysms performed using the Zenith Alpha AAA from July 2020 to October 2021 in 23 Japanese hospitals were prospectively evaluated...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare neoplastic disease associated with the functional tumour suppressor genes TSC1 and TSC2 and causes structural destruction in the lungs, which could potentially increase the risk of lung cancer. However, this relationship remains unclear because of the rarity of the disease. METHODS: We investigated the relative risk of developing lung cancer among patients diagnosed with LAM between 2001 and 2022 at a single high-volume centre in Japan, using data from the Japanese Cancer Registry as the reference population...

INTRODUCTION: Oral frailty leads to poor nutritional status, which, in turn, leads to frailty. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine regional differences in the prevalence of oral frailty and to identify factors associated with oral frailty using 3-level multilevel models. METHODS: This study comprised 165,164 participants aged ≥65 y without long-term care requirements in the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study. The dependent variable was oral frailty, which was calculated based on age, number of teeth, difficulty in eating tough foods, and choking...

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the cost-effectiveness of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) using the SAPIEN 3 (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA) compared to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in low- and intermediate-risk patients from a Japanese public healthcare payer perspective. METHODS: A Markov model cost-effectiveness analysis was developed. Clinical and utility data were extracted from a systematic literature review. Cost inputs were obtained from analysis of the Medical Data Vision claims database and supplemented with a targeted literature search...

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates Japanese gay and bisexual men's experiences of seeking help for emotional support from others regarding their sexual orientation concerns. It examines the relationship between their help-seeking and presence of gay and bisexual peers, duration between questioning their sexual orientation and accepting it, and experience of coming out to family members by multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey using a self-reported paper questionnaire...

OBJECTIVE: Suicide prevention has been focused on primary prevention as a group rather than individuals. However, we aimed to identify sociodemographic and environmental characteristics of individuals with suicidal thoughts among rural residents in Japan. METHODS: In 2015, a cross-sectional home visit survey was conducted in a rural town in Akita Prefecture. A total of 1,844 residents aged ≥ 20 years (response rate, 65%) answered a self-administered questionnaire about suicidal thoughts in the past one month...

Smoking has detrimental effects on the cardiovascular system; however, some studies have reported better clinical outcomes after thrombolysis for ischemic stroke in smokers than in nonsmokers, a phenomenon known as the smoking paradox. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the smoking paradox in patients with ischemic stroke receiving reperfusion therapy. Data were collected from a multicenter hospital-based acute stroke registry in Fukuoka, Japan. The 1148 study patients were categorized into current and noncurrent smokers...

BACKGROUND: Previous clinical trials presented efficacy and safety of Janus kinase 1 inhibitor upadacitinib through 52 weeks for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD). OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness and safety of upadacitinib through 48 weeks in real-world clinical practice for Japanese AD patients (aged ≥12 years). METHODS: This retrospective study included 287 patients with moderate-to severe AD treated with 15 mg ( n  = 216) or 30 mg ( n  = 71) of upadacitinib daily...

The PRESERFLO™ MicroShunt (MP; Santen Inc., Osaka, Japan) is a minimally invasive bleb surgery (MIBS) manufactured to treat primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), with lower postoperative adverse effects than with conventional filtering surgeries. We describe here the case study of a 58-year-old woman who presented with bilateral severe myopia with bilateral advanced POAG and unreached target pressure under quadritherapy, who was successfully managed by PM surgery. A review of the literature completes our observation...

BACKGROUND: Febrile seizures (FS) are the most common neurological disorder in pediatric age. FS affect 2% to 12% of children and result from a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors. Effective management and unambiguous recommendations are crucial for allocating health care resources efficiently and ensuring cost-effectiveness in treating FS. METHODS: This systematic review compares existing guidelines to provide insights into FS management. Seven guidelines published between 1991 and 2021, from Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Mexico, India, and Italy, were included...

PURPOSE: To clarify how body mass index (BMI) affects the development and temporal trend of breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL). METHODS: This is a prospective study in which patients with operable breast cancer were registered in a single institute between November 2009 and July 2010. The incidence of lymphedema at 1, 3, and 5 years after surgery was assessed according to BMI, and the trend of newly developed BCRL was examined. Obesity was defined as BMI ≥25 in accordance with the Japan Society for the Study of Obesity...

This study ventures into the exploration of potential poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) degradation in alpine environments. PHB-degrading bacteria were identified in both campus soil, representing a residential area, and Mt. Kurodake soil, an alpine region in Hokkaido, Japan. Next-generation sequencing analysis indicated that the campus soil exhibited higher microbial diversity, while Ralstonia insidiosa C1, isolated from Mt. Kurodake soil, displayed the highest proficiency in PHB degradation. R. insidiosa C1 efficiently degraded up to 3% (w/v) of PHB and various films composed of other biopolymers at 14 °C...

The emergence of the pointing gesture is a major developmental milestone in human infancy. Pointing fosters preverbal communication and is key for language and theory of mind development. Little is known about its ontogenetic origins and whether its pathway is similar across different cultures. The goal of this study was to examine the theoretical proposal that social pointing is preceded by a non-social use of the index finger and later becomes a social-communicative gesture. Moreover, the study investigated to which extent the emergence of social pointing differs cross-culturally...

The brain networks for the first (L1) and second (L2) languages are dynamically formed in the bilingual brain. This study delves into the neural mechanisms associated with logographic-logographic bilingualism, where both languages employ visually complex and conceptually rich logographic scripts. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, we examined the brain activity of Chinese-Japanese bilinguals and Japanese-Chinese bilinguals as they engaged in rhyming tasks with Chinese characters and Japanese Kanji...

This study elucidates the mass transfer mechanism of myoglobin (Mb) within a single silica particle with a 50 nm pore size at various pH levels (6.0, 6.5, 6.8, and 7.0). Investigation of Mb distribution ratio (R) and distribution kinetics was conducted using absorption microspectroscopy. The highest R was observed at pH 6.8, near the isoelectric point of Mb, as the electrostatic repulsion between Mb molecules on the silica surface decreased. The time-course absorbance of Mb in the silica particle was rigorously analyzed based on a first-order reaction, yielding the intraparticle diffusion coefficient of Mb (Dp )...

A metallacrown-type ionophore, 2,3-pyridinediolate-bridged (3,5-dimethylanisole)ruthenium trinuclear complex, has a high extraction selectivity for Li+ , but the extraction reaction is very slow. To solve this problem, the effect of temperature on the rapidity and equilibrium of the extraction of Li+ and Na+ as picrates from water to toluene with the metallacrown was investigated in this study. While the extraction of Li+ requires 6 h of shaking for equilibration at 25 °C, the distribution ratio becomes nearly constant after 4 h and 2 h of shaking at 37 °C and 50 °C, respectively...

BACKGROUND: Early inclusion of Japan in the global development program could be a key factor in reducing the drug lag, making participation in phase I multiregional clinical trials (Ph. I MRCTs) an important consideration for oncology drug development in Japan. We aimed to investigate the factors associated with the inclusion of Japan in Ph. I MRCTs in oncology. METHODS: We compared the trial design, target population, type of primary tested drug, trial conduct profile, and sponsor profile for Ph...