Comparison of body composition and muscle mass by age in amateur soccer players.

[Purpose] This study aimed to elucidate the changes in body composition components associated with aging in amateur male soccer players. Specifically, we investigated the alterations in the phase angle and regional muscle mass distribution. [Participants and Methods] The study included a cohort of 163 male participants categorized into three age groups: U15 (12-15 years), U18 (16-18 years), and O19 (≥19 years). Precise body composition assessments were performed, employing the InBodyS10 body composition scale. [Results] The findings revealed substantial age-related disparities in various body composition parameters. Data revealed a consistent trend of increasing basic body composition metrics with age. Notably, the body fat percentage progressively increased with age. Muscle mass and phase angle exhibited age-related increases with nuanced variations in different anatomical regions. [Conclusion] In the general Japanese population, muscle mass tends to decrease with age after 18 years. However, in this study on amateur soccer players, we observed a plateau in the height and lower limb phase angle around the age of 18 years, whereas muscle mass exhibited an increasing trend.

Association between the phase angle and muscle-tendon complex function in Japanese athletes: a comparative study.

[Purpose] In this study, we investigated the association between the phase angle and the muscle-tendon complex in Japanese athletes and the effects of aging on this association. [Participants and Methods] The study included 61 adult male high school soccer players. Body composition was evaluated using an analyzer, and grip strength and rebound jump index were measured to evaluate muscle-tendon complex function. Study participants were categorized into two groups, and statistical analyses were performed for intergroup comparison of outcomes and to determine the correlation between the phase angle and muscle-tendon complex function. [Results] We observed significant intergroup differences in the phase angle, total body muscle mass, grip strength, and rebound jump index. Additionally, we observed a significant positive correlation between the phase angle and grip strength in adult soccer players. [Conclusion] Our results showed a correlation between the phase angle and muscle-tendon complex function in mature adult athletes but not in high school athletes. These findings suggest that the phase angle may serve as an indicator of muscle quality and overall physical condition in adult athletes. Further research is warranted to investigate the association between the phase angle and other performance measures to gain a better understanding of soccer players' athletic abilities.

Female athlete triad cross-sectional study of soccer players by level of competition.

[Purpose] To determine the actual status of the Female Athlete Triad (low energy availability, menstrual dysfunction, and bone mineral density loss) in soccer players. [Participants and Methods] The survey was conducted between February 1 and March 1, 2022. It included 115 females between the ages of 12 and 28 registered with the Japan Football Association, from teams at different levels. [Results] Players in the top league did not differ in height and weight but were older and had a better understanding of caloric intake. There were no differences in amenorrhea or history of bone fractures based on league. [Conclusion] Of the female soccer players in the four different levels of competition, only the players in the top league had a better understanding of available energy and took preventive measures against the Female Athlete Triad.

Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic analysis of vancomycin in patients with Enterococcus faecium bacteraemia: a retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES: The trough concentration of vancomycin and the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC)/minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ratio are crucial in determining vancomycin efficacy against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. However, the use of similar pharmacokinetic principles in determining antibiotic efficacy against other gram-positive cocci is lacking. We performed a pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic analysis (association of target trough concentration values and AUC/MIC with therapeutic outcome) of vancomycin in patients with Enterococcus faecium bacteraemia. METHODS: Between January 2014 and December 2021 we performed a retrospective cohort study of patients with E. faecium bacteraemia treated with vancomycin. Patients who received renal replacement therapy or had chronic kidney disease were excluded. Clinical failure, the primary outcome, was defined as a composite of 30-day all-cause mortality, vancomycin-susceptible infection requiring change of treatment, and/or recurrence. AUC24 was estimated using a Bayesian estimation approach based on an individual vancomycin trough concentration. The MIC for vancomycin was determined using a standardised agar dilution method. Additionally, classification was used to identify the vancomycin AUC24/MIC ratio associated with clinical failure. RESULTS: Of the 151 patients identified, 69 were enrolled. All MICs of vancomycin for E. faecium were ≤1.0 µg/mL. The AUC24 and AUC24/MIC ratio were not significantly different between the clinical failure group and the clinical success group (432±123 µg/mL/hour vs 488±92 µg/mL/hour; p=0.075). However, 7 of 12 patients (58.3%) in the clinical failure group and 49 of 57 patients (86.0%) in the clinical success group had a vancomycin AUC24/MIC ratio ≥389 (p=0.041). No significant association between trough concentration or AUC24 ≥600 µg/mL×hour and acute kidney injury was observed (p=0.365 and p=0.487, respectively). CONCLUSION: The AUC24/MIC ratio is associated with the clinical outcome of vancomycin administration in E. faecium bacteraemia. In Japan, where vancomycin-resistant enterococcal infection is rare, empirical therapy with a target AUC24 ≥389 should be recommended.

Prospective analysis of factors precluding the initiation of durvalumab from an interim analysis of a phase II trial of S-1 and cisplatin with concurrent thoracic radiotherapy followed by durvalumab for unresectable, locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer in Japan (SAMURAI study).

Background: The standard of care for unresectable, locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC) is chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by durvalumab, based on the PACIFIC trial. Disease progression and pneumonitis were reported as the main reasons to preclude the initiation of durvalumab in multiple retrospective studies. However, the transition rate and the reasons for failure to proceed to consolidation therapy with durvalumab after CRT were not evaluated prospectively. Although phase II studies in Japan have shown high efficacy and tolerability of CRT with cisplatin + S-1 (SP), no prospective study using durvalumab after SP-based CRT has yet been reported. We therefore conducted a phase II study to verify the efficacy and safety of durvalumab following SP-based CRT. In this interim analysis, we report the transition rate and the reasons for its failure. Methods: In treatment-naïve LA-NSCLC, cisplatin (60 mg/m2, day 1) and S-1 (80-120 mg/body, days 1-14) were administered with two 4-week cycles with concurrent thoracic radiotherapy (60 Gy) followed by durvalumab every 2 weeks for up to 12 months. The primary endpoint was 12 month progression-free survival rate. Results: Fifty-nine patients were enrolled, of whom 86.4% (51/59) proceeded to durvalumab. All of them initiated durvalumab within 42 days after CRT [median 18 days (range: 3-38)], including 27.5% (14/51) in <14 days. Common reasons for failure to proceed to durvalumab were disease progression (2/59, 3.4%) and adverse events (6/59, 10.2%). Among the latter cases, four resumed treatment and proceeded to durvalumab within 42 days on off-protocol. The objective response rate and the disease control rate were 62.7% and 93.2%, respectively. The incidences of ⩾grade 3 pneumonitis, febrile neutropenia, and esophagitis were 0%, 8.5%, and 3.4%, respectively. Conclusion: Regarding durvalumab after CRT, this interim analysis of the SAMURAI study clarified the high transition rate, early introduction, and reasons for failure to proceed to consolidation therapy, which were not determined in the PACIFIC trial. Trial registration: Japan Registry of Clinical Trials, jRCTs031190127, registered 1 November, 2019, https://jrct.niph.go.jp/latest-detail/jRCTs031190127.

Increased Arbekacin Clearance in Patients With Febrile Neutropenia.

BACKGROUND: Arbekacin (ABK) is used to treat infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and is used widely for the treatment of febrile neutropenia (FN). As ABK has a narrow therapeutic concentration window, the dosage must be adjusted via therapeutic drug monitoring. However, the influence of the physiology of patients with FN on the pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters of ABK remains unclear. Therefore, we examined this influence on ABK PK parameters. METHOD: We performed a retrospective cohort study using data from patients with a hematologic malignancy who were ≥18 years and had been administered ABK. We excluded patients who did not receive therapeutic drug monitoring and had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of <30 mL/min, because clinically sufficient data would not be available. RESULT: Of the 99 enrolled patients, 25 did not have FN and 74 had FN. Arbekacin clearance (CLabk) was shown to correlate with eGFR in patients with FN (r = 0.32, P = 0.0062) and without FN (r = 0.50, P = 0.01). CLabk was higher in patients with FN than in those without FN. In addition, in the eGFR of <100 mL/min group (normal renal function), CLabk and CLabk/eGFR were also higher in patients with FN than in those without FN. CONCLUSIONS: CLabk was increased in patients with FN and normal renal function; therefore, we propose an increased ABK dose for patients with FN and normal renal function.

CO2-Selective Absorbents in Air: Reverse Lipid Bilayer Structure Forming Neutral Carbamic Acid in Water without Hydration.

Emission gas and air contain not only CO2 but also plentiful moisture, making it difficult to achieve selective CO2 absorption without hydration. To generate absorbed CO2 (wet CO2) under heating, the need for external energy to release the absorbed water has been among the most serious problems in the fields of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) and direct air capture (DAC). We found that the introduction of the hydrophobic phenyl group into alkylamines of CO2 absorbents improved the absorption selectivity between CO2 and water. Furthermore, ortho-, meta-, and para-xylylenediamines (OXDA, MXDA, PXDA, respectively) absorbed only CO2 in air without any hydration. Notably, MXDA·CO2 was formed as an anhydrous carbamic acid even in water, presumably because it was covered with hydrophobic phenyl groups, which induces a reverse lipid bilayer structure. Dry CO2 was obtained from heating MXDA·CO2 at 103-120 °C, which was revealed to involve chemically the Grignard reaction to form the resulting carboxylic acids in high yields.

Depletion of Neural Crest-Derived Cells Leads to Reduction in Plasma Noradrenaline and Alters B Lymphopoiesis.

Hematopoietic stem cells and their lymphoid progenitors are supported by the bone marrow (BM) microenvironmental niches composed of various stromal cells and Schwann cells and sympathetic nerve fibers. Although neural crest (NC) cells contribute to the development of all the three, their function in BM is not well understood. In this study, NC-derived cells were ablated with diphtheria toxin in double-transgenic mice expressing NC-specific Cre and Cre-driven diphtheria toxin receptor with yellow fluorescent protein reporter. We found that yellow fluorescent protein-expressing, NC-derived nonhematopoietic cells in BM expressed hematopoietic factors Cxcl12 and stem cell factor The ablation of NC-derived cells led to a significant decrease in B cell progenitors but not in hematopoietic stem cells or myeloid lineage cells in BM. Interestingly, plasma noradrenaline was markedly decreased in these mice. The i.p. administration of 6-hydroxydopamine, a known neurotoxin for noradrenergic neurons, led to a similar phenotype, whereas the administration of a noradrenaline precursor in NC-ablated mice partially rescued this phenotype. Additionally, the continuous administration of adrenergic receptor ß antagonists partially decreased the number of B cell progenitors while preserving B lymphopoiesis in vitro. Taken together, our results indicate that NC-derived cell depletion leads to abnormal B lymphopoiesis partially through decreased plasma noradrenaline, suggesting this as a novel mechanism regulated by molecules released by the sympathetic neurons.

Energyless CO2 Absorption, Generation, and Fixation Using Atmospheric CO2.

From an economic and ecological perspective, the efficient utilization of atmospheric CO2 as a carbon resource should be a much more important goal than reducing CO2 emissions. However, no strategy to harvest CO2 using atmospheric CO2 at room temperature currently exists, which is presumably due to the extremely low concentration of CO2 in ambient air (approximately 400 ppm=0.04 vol%). We discovered that monoethanolamine (MEA) and its derivatives efficiently absorbed atmospheric CO2 without requiring an energy source. We also found that the absorbed CO2 could be easily liberated with acid. Furthermore, a novel CO2 generator enabled us to synthesize a high value-added material (i.e., 2-oxazolidinone derivatives based on the metal catalyzed CO2-fixation at room temperature) from atmospheric CO2.

Dual emissions from ruthenium(II) complexes having 4-arylethynyl-1,10-phenanthroline at low temperature.

A [Ru(phen)3](2+) complex (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) having an arylethynyl group at the 4-position of one of the three phen ligands (aryl: (dimesityl)borylduryl group = [RuBE](2+) or duryl group = [RuDE](2+)) showed dual emissions at low temperature in propylene carbonate (PC). The shorter emission lifetime components (τ(em)(s) ≈ 13 µs) that originated from the lowest-energy excited triplet states (T1) of the complexes were almost independent of temperature (T = 77-320 K), while the longer emission lifetime components (τ(em)(l)), as the T2 emissions appeared below the fluid-to-glass transition temperature (Tg ≈ 220 K) in PC, were almost constant at 27 µs in the range of T = 77-220 K. The τ(em)(s) components of the complexes were assigned to the emissions from the metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) excited states possessing relatively large ligand-centered (LC) excited-state characters (T1(MLCT/LC)), while the τ(em)(l) components were shown to be originating from the T2(MLCT) excited states. The T2(MLCT) states of the complexes became nonemissive above Tg in PC due to fast nonradiative decay through solvent reorganization around the T2(MLCT) excited states. The photophysical properties of the complexes were also shown to be characterized by the presence of the arylethynyl units at the 4-positions of the phen ligands.

Air-stable cationic gold(I) catalyst featuring a Z-type ligand: promoting enyne cyclizations.

An air-stable cationic Au(I) complex featuring a Z-type ligand (boron atom) as a σ-acceptor was developed for elucidating the effect of B on catalytic reactions. An enyne cyclization in the presence of either [Au→B](+) or [Au](+) showed that [Au→B](+) promotes the reactivity, which enabled the effective construction of not only five- and six-membered rings, but also seven-membered rings.

Rhodium(I)-catalyzed cycloisomerization of alkene-substituted allenylcyclopropanes: stereoselective formation of bicyclo[4.3.0]nonadienes.

A productive channel for pent-up energy: The [{RhCl(CO)2 }2 ]-catalyzed ring-opening of both E and Z 1-cyclopropylocta-1,2,6-trienes exclusively produced cis-4,5-dimethylbicyclo[4.3.0]nona-1(9),2-dienes with three contiguous stereogenic centers. When this transformation was applied to the 1,2,7-triene double-bond isomers, the same products were formed in a completely stereoselective manner.

Revised chirality of the acyl group of 8'-O-(3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl)-8'-hydroxyabscisic acid.

8'-O-(3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl)-8'-hydroxyabscisic acid is a stable conjugate of the first metabolite of abscisic acid, 8'-hydroxyabscisic acid, that is spontaneously isomerized to phaseic acid. The chirality of the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl group of the conjugate was revised to S based on an HPLC analysis of the diastereomer derived from mevalonolactone obtained by reduction of the conjugate with lithium borohydride.

Arabidopsis CYP707As encode (+)-abscisic acid 8'-hydroxylase, a key enzyme in the oxidative catabolism of abscisic acid.

Abscisic acid (ABA) is involved in a number of critical processes in normal growth and development as well as in adaptive responses to environmental stresses. For correct and accurate actions, a physiologically active ABA level is controlled through fine-tuning of de novo biosynthesis and catabolism. The hydroxylation at the 8'-position of ABA is known as the key step of ABA catabolism, and this reaction is catalyzed by ABA 8'-hydroxylase, a cytochrome P450. Here, we demonstrate CYP707As as the P450 responsible for the 8'-hydroxylation of (+)-ABA. First, all four CYP707A cDNAs were cloned from Arabidopsis and used for the production of the recombinant proteins in insect cells using a baculovirus system. The insect cells expressing CYP707A3 efficiently metabolized (+)-ABA to yield phaseic acid, the isomerized form of 8'-hydroxy-ABA. The microsomes from the insect cells exhibited very strong activity of 8'-hydroxylation of (+)-ABA (K(m) = 1.3 microm and k(cat) = 15 min(-1)). The solubilized CYP707A3 protein bound (+)-ABA with the binding constant K(s) = 3.5 microm, but did not bind (-)-ABA. Detailed analyses of the reaction products confirmed that CYP707A3 does not have the isomerization activity of 8'-hydroxy-ABA to phaseic acid. Further experiments revealed that Arabidopsis CYP707A1 and CYP707A4 also encode ABA 8'-hydroxylase. The transcripts of the CYP707A genes increased in response to salt, osmotic, and dehydration stresses as well as ABA. These results establish that the CYP707A family plays a key role in regulating the ABA level through the 8'-hydroxylation of (+)-ABA.