Four-year treatment continuation rates of osteoporosis drugs with different dosing intervals throughout Japan.

INTRODUCTION: There are approximately 13 million patients with osteoporosis in Japan; however, only 20% of them receive treatment. This study compared the 4-year continuation rates of osteoporosis drugs at different dosing intervals across throughout Japan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Receipt data were analyzed to determine the continuation of osteoporosis medication in patients who began treatment at 210 hospitals throughout Japan between October 2016 and September 2017. Continuation rates were compared using Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests. RESULTS: The 4-year continuation rates of daily, weekly, monthly, semi-annual, and yearly medications nationwide were 8.6%, 16.5%, 13.5%, 31.0%, and 26.0%, respectively. The 4-year continuation rates for semi-annual and yearly drugs were significantly higher than daily, weekly, monthly drugs. CONCLUSION: Throughout Japan, the 4-year treatment continuation rates of daily, weekly, monthly, semi-annual, and yearly osteoporosis drugs all decreased over time. However, the continuation rates of semi-annual and yearly drugs in the fourth year were significantly higher than those for the other dosing regimens. Therefore, injectable drugs with dosing intervals ≥6 months may improve continuation rates of osteoporosis drugs. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2023; 23: 665-670.

Inverse-model-based cuffless blood pressure estimation using a single photoplethysmography sensor.

This paper proposes an inverse-model-based cuffless method for estimating blood pressure using a single photoplethysmography sensor. The proposed method, which is based on the relationship between blood pressure and the features of pulse waves, employs an inverse estimation and uses the blood pressure as the explanatory variable. Using this method, the blood pressure can be estimated with high accuracy even in situations where the pulse wave features are scattered, as the method uses the dynamic signal-to-noise ratio of the Taguchi method. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we employed it to measure the systolic blood pressure. It could be confirmed that the estimation accuracy of the proposed method is higher than that of similar methods.

Influence of shoot architectural position on shoot growth and branching patterns in Cleyera japonica.

The influence of shoot architectural position on shoot growth and branching patterns was examined in saplings of Cleyera japonica Thunb. (Theaceae), an understory, broad-leaf evergreen woody species. Shoot length varied with branching order and the vertical position of the branch in the crown. In the upper crown, shoot length decreased with increasing branching order, whereas in the lower crown, differences in shoot length among branching orders were not significant. These results demonstrate that it is important to consider not only individual shoots, but also the relationships between shoots in terms of their architectural positions when studying the development of crown architecture in trees. Shoot branching patterns also varied with branching order and the vertical position of the branch in the crown. In the upper crown, branching was mainly sylleptic. In the middle of the crown, mainly proleptic branches were produced. In the lower crown, there was little branching. The importance of these trends in shoot growth and shoot branching patterns in terms of carbon production efficiency is discussed.

Shoot growth patterns in saplings of Cleyera japonica in relation to light and architectural position.

To gain further insight into crown development, the influences of shoot architectural position (branch order) and light environment on patterns of shoot growth of Cleyera japonica Thunberg (Theaceae) were investigated. Annual shoot length and light environment were positively correlated within same-order branches. Shoot length differed significantly among branch orders: shoot length was greater for the lower-order branches when light environments were comparable. Lower-order branches lengthened to a certain extent even if light availability was relatively low, whereas higher-order branches did not grow vigorously even when light availability was relatively high. Within same-order branches, branching was independent of the light environment of the shoot. Sylleptic shoot production differed significantly among branch orders, with most sylleptic shoots being produced on second-order branches. It is concluded that both light condition and architectural position of shoots must be considered when examining the mechanisms underlying crown development.

Relationships between light, leaf nitrogen and nitrogen remobilization in the crowns of mature evergreen Quercus glauca trees.

We estimated the amount of nitrogen (N) remobilized from 1-year-old leaves at various positions in the crowns of mature Quercus glauca Thunb. ex Murray trees and related this to the production of new shoots. Leaf N concentration on an area basis (Na) and total N (Nt= Na x lamina area of all leaves on a shoot) were related to photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) on the leaves of current-year and 1-year-old shoots. When new shoots (S02 shoots; flushed in 2002) flushed, only a portion of the leaves on the previous year's shoots (S01 shoots; flushed in 2001) were shed. After the S02 shoots flushed, S01 shoots were defined as 1-year-old shoots (S01* shoots). Both Na and Nt were positively correlated with PPF for S01 shoots, but not for S01* shoots. The fraction of remobilized N (% of the maximum Na in S01 leaves) from remaining leaves was 5-35%, with the fraction size being positively correlated with the number of S02 shoots on an S01* shoot (new shoot number). However, the mean fraction of remobilized N from fallen leaves was 45% and was unrelated to new shoot number. The total amount of N remobilized from both fallen and remaining leaves was 1-20 mg per S01* shoot. Total remobilized N was positively correlated with new shoot number. There was a statistically significant positive relationship between the light-saturated net photosynthetic rate on a leaf area basis (Amax) and Na for both S01* and S02 leaves. However, when we compared leaves with similar Na, Amax of S01* leaves was only half that of S02 leaves, indicating that 1-year-old leaves had lower instantaneous N-use efficiency (Amax per unit Na) than current-year leaves. Ratios of chlorophyll a:b and Rubisco:chlorophyll were lower in S01* leaves than in S02 leaves, indicating that 1-year-old leaves were acclimatized to lower light environments. Thus, in Q. glauca, the N allocation theory (i.e., that N is distributed according to local PPF) applied only to the current-year shoots. Although the amount of foliar N in 1-year-old shoots was not strongly affected by the PPF on 1-year-old leaves, it was affected by interactions with current-year shoots.