The extracellular-to-total body water ratio reflects improvement in the activities of daily living in patients who experienced acute stroke.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the relationship between bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) parameters, including the extracellular water-to-total body water ratio (ECW/TBW), and the activities of daily living (ADL) improvement, in patients who experienced acute stroke. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included 307 patients (mean age, 72 years; 39 % female) who experienced acute stroke and were admitted to the stroke unit of the Nippon Medical School Hospital (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan) between April 2021 and March 2022. The Functional Independence Measure (FIM) was assessed at initial rehabilitation and discharge, and FIM effectiveness was calculated as ADL improvement in the participating acute care hospitals. BIA markers included the skeletal muscle mass index (SMI), phase angle (PhA), and ECW/TBW. Multiple linear regression models were used to estimate the relationship between the FIM effectiveness and each BIA marker. RESULTS: The mean (±SD) FIM effectiveness was 0.45 ± 0.36. The proportions of low SMI (male, <7.0 kg/m2; female, <5.7 kg/m2) and low PhA (male <5.36 degrees, female <3.85 degrees), were 48.9 % and 43.3 %, respectively. In addition, the proportions of of low (<0.36), normal (0.36-0.40), and high (>0.4) ECW/TBW ratios were 1.3 %, 78.5 %, and 20.2 %, respectively. After adjustments for demographic and clinical variables, low PhA, low ECW/TBW, and high ECW/TBW were all significantly associated with FIM effectiveness (P < 0.05), with ß coefficients of -0.126, -0.089, and -0.117, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Low and High ECW/TBW and low PhA levels were negatively correlated with improvements in ADL. The ECW/TBW ratio may be an additional indicator of rehabilitation trainability in patients who experience acute stroke.

The two-row malting barley cultivar 'New Sachiho Golden' with null lipoxygenase-1 improves flavor stability in beer and was developed by marker-assisted selection.

Lipoxygenase-1 (LOX-1) null 'New Sachiho Golden' is a two-row malting barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar released in 2015 that was developed at the Tochigi Prefectural Agricultural Experimental Station by backcross breeding using the high-yield leading cultivar 'Sachiho Golden' as a recurrent parent and the LOX-1 null mutant 'Daikei LM1' as a non-recurrent parent. To develop 'New Sachiho Golden' we used a simple LOX activity assay and marker-assisted selection. This is the first LOX-1 null malting barley cultivar in Japan that is resistant to barley yellow mosaic virus (types I-III). Agronomic characteristics and malting qualities of 'New Sachiho Golden' were similar to those of 'Sachiho Golden', except that 'New Sachiho Golden' had no LOX activity in ungerminated grains and had clearly lower LOX activity during malting than 'Sachiho Golden'. The concentrations of a trans-2-nonenal (T2N) precursor in wort and beer made from 'New Sachiho Golden' were significantly lower than in those made from 'Sachiho Golden', both before and after storage.

The cutoff values of functional independence measure scores for predicting discharge destination in the early stroke phase.

This study aimed to determine cutoff values of functional independence measure (FIM) scores to predict the discharge destinations of patients with acute stroke. The sample included 318 patients with acute stroke (mean age, 72.0 years; women, 39%). The discharge destination was categorized into three groups: home, postacute rehabilitation (hospital with convalescent rehabilitation wards), and postacute care (institution without convalescent rehabilitation wards). We assessed FIM after lifting bed restriction. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of the FIM scores for predicting discharge destinations, with postacute rehabilitation as a reference. Cutoff values of motor and cognitive FIM scores for distinguishing home from postacute rehabilitation and postacute care from postacute rehabilitation were determined using receiver operating characteristic curves. The proportion of home, postacute rehabilitation, and postacute care were 34.6%, 41.8%, and 23.6%, respectively. After adjustments for clinical variables, the ORs (95% CIs) for motor and cognitive FIM scores for home versus postacute rehabilitation were 1.08 (1.04-1.11) and 1.05 (0.98-1.12). Furthermore, those for postacute care versus postacute rehabilitation were 1.01 (0.98-1.04) and 0.92 (0.87-0.98). The cutoff values of the motor and cognitive FIM scores for distinguishing home from postacute rehabilitation were 37.5 (sensitivity: 0.92; specificity: 0.64) and 23.5 (sensitivity: 0.78; specificity: 0.67). Furthermore, those for distinguishing postacute care from postacute rehabilitation were 15.5 (sensitivity, 0.81; specificity, 0.51) and 12.5 (sensitivity, 0.74; specificity, 0.64). The identified cutoff values may serve as early indicators for predicting discharge destinations from acute stroke care.

A barley Hordoindoline mutation resulted in an increase in grain hardness.

Barley seed proteins, Hordoindolines, are homologues of wheat Puroindolines, which are associated with grain hardness. Barley Hordoindoline genes are known to comprise Hina and Hinb, and Hinb consists of two Hinb genes, Hinb-1 and Hinb-2. Two types of allele were found for Hina, Hinb-1 and Hinb-2 genes, respectively, among Japanese two- and six-rowed barley lines. One of the alleles of Hinb-2 (Hinb-2b) had a frame-shift mutation resulting in an in-frame stop codon. For two-rowed barley lines, grain hardness was significantly higher among lines with the Hinb-2b than those with the wild type Hinb-2 gene (Hinb-2a). Protein spots corresponding to HINa, HINb-1, and HINb-2 were identified by 2D-gel electrophoresis among barley lines with Hinb-2a. Among the lines with Hinb-2b, HINa and HINb-1 were expressed at similar levels as those in the wild type, but HINb-2 was not detected. A DNA (cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence) marker was developed to distinguish between the Hinb-2a and Hinb-2b gene sequences. Analysis of grain hardness among F(2) lines derived from a cross between a line with Hinb-2a (Shikoku hadaka 115) and a line with the Hinb-2b (Shikoku hadaka 84) showed significantly higher grain hardness in the mutant lines. From these results, the Hinb-2b frame-shift (null) mutation might play a critical role in barley grain hardness. The DNA marker will be useful in barley breeding to select lines having harder grain texture.

Effects of phenolic compounds on the browning of cooked barley.

Barley grain products undergo browning when cooked. To evaluate effects of phenolic compounds on browning, various amounts of (+)-catechin, proanthocyanidins, or related phenolic compounds were added to aqueous barley extracts or barley pastes, which were heated at 90 degrees C for 1 or 2 h, respectively. In barley extract, (+)-catechin, procyanidin B3 (PCB3), prodelphinidin B3 (PDB3), and a trimer of gallocatechin-gallocatechin-catechin (PDT1) dose-dependently elevated absorbance at 420 nm after heating. PDB3 caused browning faster than PCB3 and (+)-catechin. In barley paste, PDB3 and PDT1 decreased the L* value and increased the a* and b* values of the paste dose-dependently after heating and PCB3 and (+)-catechin did so to a lesser extent. Caffeic acid promoted the browning in both of the extract and paste, while protocatechuic acid, eriodictyol, and (+)-taxifolin promoted it in the extract and myricetin and quercetin promoted it in the paste. Compounds promoting browning have catechol or pyrogallol structures in common.

The development and use of a chest phantom for optimizing scanning techniques on a variety of low-dose helical computed tomography devices.

PURPOSE: To develop a chest phantom for determining the optimal scan conditions for chest computed tomography (CT) screening. METHODS: The basic structure of the phantom is an arms-elevated-positioned anthropomorphic chest phantom. The internal structure includes simulated tumors (which are assumed to be the target lesions of chest CT screening examinations) placed at the levels of the lung apex, the bifurcation of the trachea, and the lung base of both simulated lungs. The image contrast of the simulated tumors is taken as the difference in CT value and is specified as 1 of 2 target values: Delta270 and Delta100. An opening for placement of a dosimeter is provided on the central axis of the phantom. Initial field tests were conducted focusing on the scan conditions for chest CT screening. RESULTS: Images similar to those obtained in chest CT screening examinations and clearly showing pathologic changes were obtained. The dose measurement at the center was 2.0 mGy. The diameters of the simulated tumors that could be detected were 6 mm for Delta270 and 10 mm for Delta100. CONCLUSION: The use of this phantom makes it possible to determine the optimal scan conditions for chest CT screening based on objective evaluation criteria.