Thermomechanical performance of continuous carbon fibre composite materials produced by a modified 3D printer.

First of all, this article aimed to evidence the role of a modified printer developed for continuous carbon fibre reinforced PolyAmide (cCF/PA6-I) together with the use of a fully open slicing step on the printing quality and the longitudinal/transverse tensile and in-plane shear properties. A comprehensive assessment of the microstructure and properties with a similar material (cCF/PA6-I), but produced with a commercial printer (i.e., Markforged® MarkTwo) has been achieved. Our customised printer and the open slicer used have made possible to better control the print conditions (i.e., layer height and distance between filaments), to reduce the porosity from more than 10% to about 2% and improve the mechanical properties. Moreover, the understanding of the behaviour of these 3D printed composites with wide-ranging external temperatures is mandatory for future use in a severe environment and/or development of new thermally active 4D printed composites. The 3D printed cCF/PA6-I composites have been then thermomechanically characterised along different printing directions (0, 90 and ± 45°) from -55 to +100 °C. Unlike the longitudinal properties that hardly change with temperature, the transverse and in-plane shear stiffness and strength of these 3D printed composites were particularly sensitive to temperature variations, with decreases of 25-30% and 30-55%, respectively. This was due to the high sensitivity of the polymer matrix, the fibre/matrix and interfilament interfaces when the composites were loaded along those directions, because damages induced by internal thermal stresses. Fractography has also been carried out to reveal damage mechanisms.

Preoperative underweight is associated with adverse postoperative events in patients undergoing microvascular reconstruction surgery for oral and maxillofacial cancer.

We aimed to describe the prevalence of postoperative complications and evaluate its relationship with underweight, obesity, preoperative nutritional status, and systemic inflammation status in patients undergoing microvascular reconstruction for oral and maxillofacial cancer. Patients who were ≥20 years old and underwent microvascular reconstruction surgery between January 2009 to June 2019 were investigated. Patient demographics including body mass index, prognostic nutritional status, and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio were collected. Logistic regression analysis was applied to evaluate these impacts on postoperative complications. A postoperative complication was defined as a Clavien-Dindo classification more than or equal to II. Of the 145 patients included in the analysis, 83 patients (57.2%) experienced postoperative complications, belonging to a Clavien-Dindo classification Ⅱ (n=71), Ⅲb (n=11), and Ⅳa (n=1). Multiple logistic regression revealed that a body mass index less than 18.5 kg/m2 (odds ratio 6.19, 95% confidential interval 1.34-28.6, P=0.02) was related to postoperative complications. Another multiple logistic regression model including all explanatory factors found that underweight (P=0.03) was related to postoperative complications. This retrospective study showed that preoperative underweight was associated with postoperative complications as evaluated by the Clavien-Dindo classification.

Experimental Infection with Baylisascaris Potosis in Chickens.

The larvae of the genus Baylisascaris can cause larva migrans in mammals and birds. This study investigated the larval migration of Baylisascaris potosis, the roundworm of kinkajou (Potos flavus), in chickens and the associated clinical manifestations of the host. Thirty-six 3-week-old chickens divided into 6 groups were orally inoculated with 3,000 B. potosis eggs/chick. Each group of chicken was necropsied at days 1, 2, 3, 7, 30 and 90 PI (post inoculation), and the number of larvae in various organs were counted until day 90 PI. No clinical signs were observed in chickens during the study. Larvae were detected from the liver, lungs or breast-muscles of 13/36 (36.1%) chickens. The mean total number of larvae in the liver, lungs and breast-muscles at days 1, 2, 3, 7, 30 and 90 PI were 0.34, 0.17, 1.66, 1.01, 0.17 and 0, respectively. No larvae were found in the brain, eyes, hid-limb muscles, heart, kidneys and spleen. Although infectivity of larvae in egg-inoculated chickens was low, the present study demonstrated that B. potosis larvae can migrate in chickens tissues up to day 30 PI. The result suggests that chickens can serve as a paratenic host for B. potosis and may underline a public health importance of B. potosis infection as a potential foodborne disease in humans.

COVID-19 preventive behaviours among people with anxiety and depressive symptoms: findings from Japan.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to examine COVID-19 preventive behaviours among individuals with mental health problems. STUDY DESIGN: This is a pooled cross-sectional study. METHODS: Online survey data were analysed from 2000 Japanese adults collected in April and May 2020. Information was obtained on 13 COVID-19 preventive behaviours and anxiety and depressive symptoms using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale and Patient Health Questionnaire-9, respectively. Linear regression analysis was used to examine the associations. RESULTS: In models adjusted for demographic and socio-economic factors, anxiety (coefficient: -0.77, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -1.30, -0.24) and depressive symptoms (coefficient: -0.82, 95% CI: -1.34, -0.30) were both associated with significantly lower engagement in COVID-19 preventive behaviours. CONCLUSION: Our results highlight the importance of facilitating the performance of preventive behaviours in individuals with mental health problems to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in this population.

Postoperative adjuvant therapy for patients with loco-regionally advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma who are at high risk of recurrence.

Extranodal extension (ENE) of lymph node metastasis and the presence of a positive or close margin (PCM) are major risk factors for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma recurrence. This retrospective multicentre cohort study compared the prognostic impact of postoperative radiotherapy (RT) and concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients at high risk of recurrence. One hundred and eighteen patients with PCM and/or ENE who underwent definitive surgery plus either adjuvant RT or CCRT using cisplatin for OSCC were investigated. The cohort-wide 5-year loco-regional control (LRC), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) rates (the main outcome measures) were 54.3%, 35.8%, and 43.2%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that age ≥64 years (hazard ratio (HR) 0.584), cT3-4 stage (HR 1.927), ≥4 metastatic lymph nodes (HR 1.912), and PCM (HR 2.014) were significant independent predictors of OS. Moreover, postoperative CCRT with cisplatin was associated with a significantly improved LRC rate, but not with improved DFS or OS rates, compared to postoperative RT (HR 0.360). Given that CCRT with cisplatin does not significantly improve survival, additional clinical trials will be required to validate new regimens that further improve the outcomes of patients with loco-regionally advanced OSCC going forward.

Nationwide survey on cerebral amyloid angiopathy in Japan.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A nationwide survey was conducted to understand the epidemiology of cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related intracerebral hemorrhage (CAA-related ICH) and cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related inflammation/vasculitis (CAA-ri) in Japan. METHODS: To estimate the total number and clinical features of patients with CAA-related ICH and CAA-ri between January 2012 and December 2014 and to analyze their clinical features, questionnaires were sent to randomly selected hospitals in Japan. RESULTS: In the first survey, 2348 of 4657 departments responded to the questionnaire (response rate 50.4%). The total numbers of reported patients with CAA-related ICH and CAA-ri were 1338 and 61, respectively, and their total numbers in Japan were estimated to be 5900 [95% confidence interval (CI) 4800-7100] and 170 (95% CI 110-220), respectively. The crude prevalence rates were 4.64 and 0.13 per 100 000 population, respectively. The clinical information of 474 patients with CAA-related ICH obtained in the second survey was as follows: (i) the average age of onset was 78.4 years; (ii) the prevalence increased with age; (iii) the disease was common in women; and (iv) hematoma most frequently occurred in the frontal lobe. Sixteen patients with CAA-ri for whom data were collected in the second survey had the following characteristics: (i) median age of onset was 75 years; (ii) cognitive impairment and headache were the most frequent initial manifestations; and (iii) focal neurological signs, such as motor paresis and visual disturbance, were frequently observed during the clinical course. CONCLUSIONS: The numbers of patients with CAA-related ICH and CAA-ri in Japan were estimated.

Sesamin suppresses aging phenotypes in adult muscular and nervous systems and intestines in a Drosophila senescence-accelerated model.

OBJECTIVE: Sesamin is a major lignan constituent of sesame and possesses various health-promoting effects. Previous studies have demonstrated that sesamin extends the lifespan of Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans and corrects oxidative damage-related tissue dysfunction in mammals. To understand its anti-aging effects, we aimed to determine whether sesamin restores tissue function hampered by oxidative damage and suppresses several aging-related phenotypes using Drosophila senescence-accelerated models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We elucidated the anti-aging effects of sesamin on several aging-related phenotypes in the muscle, brain and midgut using the senescence-accelerated models (Sod1n1 mutant and Sod1-depleted flies) by immunostaining experiments. We determined the expression levels of several anti-oxidative and DNA repair genes using quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). We also identified the metabolite of sesamin in Drosophila by LC-MS/MS. RESULTS: We confirmed that sesamin (0.35 and 2 mg/ml) extended the lifespan of the fly models. As observed in mammals, it can be absorbed and metabolized by Drosophila adults. The sesamin feeding suppressed the age-dependent impairment of locomotor activity and inhibited the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in their bodies. Sesamin delayed the age-dependent accumulation of damaged proteins in the muscle, partially suppressed the loss of dopaminergic neurons in adult brains displaying ROS accumulation, and suppressed the accumulation of DNA damage and hyperproliferation of intestinal stem cells. Four antioxidative genes and two DNA repair genes were simultaneously upregulated in sesamin-fed adults.  CONCLUSIONS: These observations represent the first direct evidence of the anti-aging effects of sesamin at the individual level. We propose that sesamin exerts anti-aging effects in the muscles, brain and midgut by inducing antioxidative and DNA repair genes, resulting in extended lifespan in flies.

Versatility of HDA19-deficiency in increasing the tolerance of Arabidopsis to different environmental stresses.

Histone acetylation is controlled by HATs and HDACs, which are essential epigenetic elements that regulate plant response to environmental stresses. A previous study revealed that a deficiency in an HDAC isoform (HDA19) increases tolerance to high salinity stress in the Arabidopsis wild-type Col-0 background. Here, the increased tolerance of hda19 to drought and heat stresses is demonstrated. Results indicate that hda19 plants have greater tolerance than wild-type plants to stress conditions. The data indicate that the stress response pathway coordinated by HDA19 plays a pivotal role in increasing tolerance to a variety of different abiotic stresses in Arabidopsis, including salinity, drought, and heat. The greater level of tolerance of hda19 plants to several different environmental stresses suggests that HDA19 represents a promising target for pharmacological manipulation in order to enhance abiotic stress tolerance in plants. ABBREVIATIONS: HAT, histone acetyltransferase; HDAC, histone deacetylase; HSF, heat shock transcription factor; RPD3, reduced potassium dependency 3; SIRT, Silent Information Regulator 2.

Information-to-work conversion by Maxwell's demon in a superconducting circuit quantum electrodynamical system.

Information thermodynamics bridges information theory and statistical physics by connecting information content and entropy production through measurement and feedback control. Maxwell's demon is a hypothetical character that uses information about a system to reduce its entropy. Here we realize a Maxwell's demon acting on a superconducting quantum circuit. We implement quantum non-demolition projective measurement and feedback operation of a qubit and verify the generalized integral fluctuation theorem. We also evaluate the conversion efficiency from information gain to work in the feedback protocol. Our experiment constitutes a step toward experimental studies of quantum information thermodynamics in artificially made quantum machines.

Quantum Szilard Engine with Attractively Interacting Bosons.

We show that a quantum Szilard engine containing many bosons with attractive interactions enhances the conversion between information and work. Using an ab initio approach to the full quantum-mechanical many-body problem, we find that the average work output increases significantly for a larger number of bosons. The highest overshoot occurs at a finite temperature, demonstrating how thermal and quantum effects conspire to enhance the conversion between information and work. The predicted effects occur over a broad range of interaction strengths and temperatures.

Clinical efficacy of dual-phase scanning using (68)Ga-DOTATOC-PET/CT in the detection of neuroendocrine tumours.

AIM: To investigate whether delayed scanning at approximately 90 minutes post-injection of (68)Ga-labelled 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N',N″,N‴-tetraacetic acid-d-Phe(1)-Tyr(3)-octreotide (DOTATOC) had any clinical benefits regarding the evaluation of neuroendocrine tumours (NETs), relative to conventional combined positron-emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) at 60 minutes post-injection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-four patients who underwent DOTATOC-PET/CT for suspected or known NETs were retrospectively reviewed. PET/CT was performed twice at approximately 60 and 90 minutes post-injection. For visual analysis, a five-point grading scale (0: definitely normal to 4: definitely abnormal) was used, and grade 3-4 lesions were regarded as positive. For quantitative analysis, the time course of the maximum standardised uptake value (SUVmax) in each lesion and the mean SUV of physiological uptake in the liver were evaluated. RESULTS: Of the 54 patients, 43 had a total of 132 lesions. In interpreting the early images, there were four grade 3 lesions, and the remaining 128 lesions were grade 4. All 132 lesions were grade 4 in the delayed images. SUVs and tumour-to-liver ratios for hepatic lesions were slightly higher in delayed scanning than in early scanning (SUV, 26.8±21.2 versus 28.2±21.2 [p<0.01]; tumour-to-liver ratio, 5.9±4.5 versus 6.2±4.6 [p<0.01]), which did not affect the detection rate. Additionally, bone and peritoneal metastases had slightly higher SUVs at delayed imaging (p<0.05), but there was no difference in diagnostic performance. No significant difference in the SUVs for pancreatic lesions and primary sites in the bowel were observed between the early and delayed scans. CONCLUSION: Delayed scanning may be helpful for improving diagnostic confidence in some cases, although it provided no specific merits for diagnostic accuracy in detecting primary or metastatic NETs.

Diagnostic Significance of Cortical Superficial Siderosis for Alzheimer Disease in Patients with Cognitive Impairment.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Because the diagnostic significance of cortical superficial siderosis for Alzheimer disease and the association between cortical superficial siderosis and the topographic distribution of cerebral microbleeds have been unclear, we investigated the association between cortical superficial siderosis and clinicoradiologic characteristics of patients with cognitive impairment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 347 patients (217 women, 130 men; mean age, 74 ± 9 years) who visited our memory clinic and underwent MR imaging (3T SWI). We analyzed the association between cortical superficial siderosis and the topographic distribution of cerebral microbleeds plus clinical characteristics including types of dementia. We used multivariate logistic regression analysis to determine the diagnostic significance of cortical superficial siderosis for Alzheimer disease. RESULTS: Twelve patients (3.5%) manifested cortical superficial siderosis. They were older (P = .026) and had strictly lobar cerebral microbleeds significantly more often than did patients without cortical superficial siderosis (50.0% versus 19.4%, P = .02); the occurrence of strictly deep and mixed cerebral microbleeds, however, did not differ in the 2 groups. Alzheimer disease was diagnosed in 162 (46.7%) patients. Of these, 8 patients (4.9%) had cortical superficial siderosis. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis for the diagnosis of Alzheimer disease, lacunar infarcts were negatively and independently associated with Alzheimer disease (P = .007). CONCLUSIONS: Although cortical superficial siderosis was associated with a strictly lobar cerebral microbleed location, it was not independently associated with Alzheimer disease in a memory clinic setting. Additional studies are required to investigate the temporal changes of these cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related MR imaging findings.

Factors Affecting Steady-state Plasma Concentrations of Enantiomeric Mirtazapine and its Desmethylated Metabolites in Japanese Psychiatric Patients.

INTRODUCTION: This study evaluated the effects of the CYP2D6*10 genotype on steady-state plasma concentrations of enantiomeric mirtazapine (MIR) and N-desmethylmirtazapine (DMIR) in Japanese patients. METHODS: Subjects were 77 Japanese patients treated with racemic MIR. Steady-state plasma concentrations of MIR and DMIR enantiomers were measured using stereoselective liquid chromatography. Polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the CYP2D6 genotypes. RESULTS: After correcting for dose and body weight, smokers (n=15) had significantly lower S-(+)-MIR than nonsmokers (n=55) (15.1±17.8 vs. 23.9±17.8 ng/mL/mg/kg, Kruskal-Wallis test, p=0.034). One-way analysis of variance revealed that CYP2D6*10 homozygotes had significantly higher corrected plasma concentrations of S-(+)-MIR than the no-variant allele group (p=0.034). Multiple regression analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between the number of CYP2D6*10 alleles and corrected plasma concentrations of S-(+)-MIR. These results yielded the following final model: corrected plasma concentration of S-(+)-MIR=15.9+7.30×(number of CYP2D6*10 alleles) (R=0.279, p=0.023, coefficient of determination (R(2))=0.078). CONCLUSION: Homozygous CYP2D6*10 alleles and smoking have a significant impact on the metabolism of S-(+)-MIR in Japanese patients.

Exosomal microRNA in serum is a novel biomarker of recurrence in human colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Functional microRNAs (miRNAs) in exosomes have been recognised as potential stable biomarkers in cancers. The aim of this study is to identify specific miRNAs in exosome as serum biomarkers for the early detection of recurrence in human colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: Serum samples were sequentially obtained from six patients with and without recurrent CRC. The miRNAs were purified from exosomes, and miRNA microarray analysis was performed. The miRNA expression profiles and copy number aberrations were explored using microarray and array CGH analyses in 124 CRC tissues. Then, we validated exosomal miRNAs in 2 serum sample sets (90 and 209 CRC patients) by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. RESULTS: Exosomal miR-17-92a cluster expression level in serum was correlated with the recurrence of CRC. Exosomal miR-19a expression levels in serum were significantly increased in patients with CRC as compared with healthy individuals with gene amplification. The CRC patients with high exosomal miR-19a expression showed poorer prognoses than the low expression group (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Abundant expression of exosomal miR-19a in serum was identified as a prognostic biomarker for recurrence in CRC patients.

Circulating tumour cell-derived plastin3 is a novel marker for predicting long-term prognosis in patients with breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Identification of promising biomarkers that predict the prognosis of patients with breast cancer is needed. In this study, we hypothesised that the expression of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related biomarker plastin3 (PLS3) in peripheral blood could be a prognostic factor in breast cancer. METHODS: We examined PLS3 expression in breast cancer cell lines with epithelial and mesenchymal traits and in circulating tumour cells (CTCs) obtained from the peripheral blood of breast cancer patients. We investigated PLS3 expression in the peripheral blood of 594 patients with breast cancer to evaluate the clinical significance of PLS3 expression. RESULTS: Robust PLS3 expression was observed in different breast cancer cell lines (Hs578t, MCF-7, MDA-MB-468, and MDA-MB-231) as well as in a bone marrow derived cancer cell line (BC-M1). In both the training (n=298) and validation (n=296) sets, PLS3 expression was observed in CTCs of patients with breast cancer. PLS3-positive patients showed significantly poorer overall and disease-free survival than PLS3-negative patients (P=0.0001 and 0.003, respectively). Subset analysis revealed that this prognostic biomarker was relevant in patients with stage I-III cancer, particularly in patients with luminal-type and triple-negative-type tumours. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrated that PLS3 was expressed in CTCs undergoing the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in patients with breast cancer. Furthermore, PLS3 may be an excellent biomarker for identifying groups at risk of recurrence or with a poor prognosis.