Influence of LINE-Assisted Provision of Information about Human Papillomavirus and Cervical Cancer Prevention on HPV Vaccine Intention: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

We conducted a prospective, randomized two-arm, parallel group, and open label trial to investigate whether the use of LINE would increase HPV vaccine intention among not completely vaccinated university students. In June 2020, we recruited students aged between 18 and 35 years from four universities in Japan. Among the 357 enrollees (female, 53%), 178 and 179 participants were randomized into the LINE and Mail groups, respectively. At baseline, within three years, vaccine intention was observed in 40% vs. 42% of participants, respectively. At the first intervention, which provided similar PDF leaflets about HPV vaccine and cervical cancer prevention, there was no significant difference in vaccine intention between the two groups. However, at the second intervention of LINE-assisted knowledge intervention for 5 days per week for 7 weeks, the LINE group had a higher proportion of vaccine intention than the no intervention group (66% vs. 44%, OR: 2.62, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.59-4.35) in per-protocol analysis. The significance remained in the intention-to-treat analysis of multiply imputed datasets. Although LINE did not directly increase HPV vaccine intention compared to conventional posts, the LINE-assisted provision of information was effective in improving HPV vaccine intention among Japanese university and college students.

HPV vaccine intention among university students during suspension of active recommendation in Japan.

In Japan, active recommendation of the human papillomavirus vaccine was withheld between 2013 and 2021 due to adverse reaction reports. This resulted in low vaccine coverage with reports from less than 1%. This study aimed to investigate if knowledge and health-belief related factors associated with vaccine intention among young adolescents with the hope that our findings may be helpful in promotion campaigns. We recruited students in four colleges and universities in Akita Prefecture from 2020 to 2021 who had never been vaccinated. A total of 318 students (male 54%, mean age 21 years) responded to a self-administered questionnaire; only 6% reported immediate vaccine intention, and 61% reported no such intention or "do not know." The correct percentages of 20-item knowledge about HPV vaccine-related morbidity, mortality, and prevention were very low regardless of gender (average males 41.4% vs. females 39.6%). Multivariable logistic regression models demonstrated that in males, higher levels of literacy, perceived susceptibility, and place for vaccination (logistical barrier) were associated with HPV vaccine intention, whereas "no need now" was associated with less intention. In females, a higher level of knowledge was significantly associated with vaccine intention, whereas "concerns of adverse effects" were associated with less intention.

Effects of a rice diet and phytase addition on growth performance, tissue weights, phosphorus and nitrogen retention, and on liver threonine dehydrogenase, malic enzyme and fatty acid synthase activities in broiler chicks.

This experiment was conducted to clarify the nutritional functions of rice and phytase addition for broiler chicks. Thirty-six 7-day-old male chicks (ROSS 308 strain) were assigned to one of the four treatment groups: corn- or rice-based diet groups and each diet with added phytase (2000 phytase units/kg diet) groups (corn + P or rice + P groups). The non-phytate phosphorus (npP) content in the diets with added phytase was approximately half of the requirement. Body weight gain and feed intake in the rice group was significantly higher than those in the corn group. Breast and thigh muscle weights and nitrogen retention in the rice group were significantly higher than that in the corn group. Although the efficiency of phosphorus retention (%) in the corn + P group was significantly higher than that in the corn group, no significant difference was observed between the rice and rice + P groups. Liver threonine dehydrogenase activity in the corn group was significantly higher than in the other three groups. These results indicate that rice is superior to corn as a starter diet in broiler chicks, and that phytase action in the rice-based diet was less than that in the corn-based diet.

Visualization of neural activity in insect brains using a conserved immediate early gene, Hr38.

Many insects exhibit stereotypic instinctive behavior [1-3], but the underlying neural mechanisms are not well understood due to difficulties in detecting brain activity in freely moving animals. Immediate early genes (IEGs), such as c-fos, whose expression is transiently and rapidly upregulated upon neural activity, are powerful tools for detecting behavior-related neural activity in vertebrates [4, 5]. In insects, however, this powerful approach has not been realized because no conserved IEGs have been identified. Here, we identified Hr38 as a novel IEG that is transiently expressed in the male silkmoth Bombyx mori by female odor stimulation. Using Hr38 expression as an indicator of neural activity, we mapped comprehensive activity patterns of the silkmoth brain in response to female sex pheromones. We found that Hr38 can also be used as a neural activity marker in the fly Drosophila melanogaster. Using Hr38, we constructed a neural activity map of the fly brain that partially overlaps with fruitless (fru)-expressing neurons in response to female stimulation. These findings indicate that Hr38 is a novel and conserved insect neural activity marker gene that will be useful for a wide variety of neuroethologic studies.

Relation between serum levels of cell-free DNA and inflammation status in hepatitis C virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma.

Our study revealed that the level of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is increased in the serum of patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To gain insight into the mechanism underlying this phenomenon, we examined the association between cfDNA levels and various clinicopathological factors in 96 patients with HCV-related HCC and 99 non-HCC patients with HCV. Using pooled DNA microarray data, we profiled the expression patterns of inflammatory cytokine genes in 14 primary tumors from the group of HCC patients. We found that there were positive associations between the cfDNA level, aspartate aminotransferase levels and the number of leukocytes and neutrophils in patients with HCV-related HCC but not in non-HCC patients with HCV. The serum cfDNA level was not associated with other clinicopathological factors in HCC or non-HCC patients. A cluster analysis based on the inflammatory cytokine gene data revealed that HCCs with a high serum cfDNA level had increased levels of several inflammatory cytokine genes, suggesting that the serum cfDNA level is associated with the inflammatory status in primary tumors in HCV-related HCC.

Elevated levels of circulating cell-free DNA in the blood of patients with hepatitis C virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Circulating cell-free DNA is present in increased amounts in the blood of patients with one of several forms of cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A real-time PCR assay with glutathione S-transferase pi (GSTP1) gene was used to measure cell-free DNA levels in the sera of 52 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV), which included 30 HCV carriers without known HCC and 16 HCV-negative non-cancer patients (controls). RESULTS: Cell-free DNA levels were significantly higher in the sera from HCC patients than in the sera from HCV carriers or the control subjects. Cell-free DNA levels were associated with the degree of tumor differentiation and size but not patient age, gender, TNM stage or levels of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) or protein induced by vitamin K absence (PIVKA-II). The cell-free DNA assay had a sensitivity of 69.2% and a specificity of 93.3% in discriminating HCC and HCV carriers at the optimal cut-off value of 73.0 ng/ml, with an area of 0.90 (95% CI, 0.83-0.96) under the receiver operating characteristic curve. The discriminative power of cell-free DNA was superior to that of AFP or PIVKA-II. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that levels of circulating cell-free DNA are significantly increased in sera of patients with HCV-associated HCC, suggesting that circulating cell-free DNA may be a good biomarker specific for HCV-associated HCC.