A new sexannulate species of the genus Orobdella Oka, 1895, Orobdella mononokesp. n., is described on the basis of five specimens collected from Yakushima Island, Japan. Orobdella mononokesp. n. differs from other sexannulate Orobdella species in its possessing the following combination of characters: dorsal surface bicolor in life, I-XIII, XXVII and caudal sucker grayish purple, XIV-XXVI amber, male gonopore at XI c11/c12, female gonopore at XIII b2, 8 + 1/2 between gonopores, tubular but bulbous at junction with crop gastroporal duct, epididymides in XV-XIX, and atrial cornua ovate. Phylogenetic analyses using nuclear 18S rDNA and histone H3, and mitochondrial COI, tRNA(Cys), tRNA(Met), 12S rDNA, tRNA(Val) and 16S rDNA markers show that Orobdella mononokesp. n. is closely related to Orobdella esulcata Nakano, 2010 from Kyushu, Japan, and two species, Orobdella dolichopharynx Nakano, 2011 and Orobdella shimadae Nakano, 2011, from the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan.

The exclusive reaction γp→K^{+}π^{-}Σ^{+} was measured for the first time using linearly polarized photons at beam energies from 1.85 to 2.96 GeV. Angular distributions in the rest frame of the K^{+}π^{-} system were fitted to extract spin-density matrix elements of the K^{*0} decay. The measured parity spin asymmetry shows that natural-parity exchange is dominant in this reaction. This result clearly indicates the need for t-channel exchange of the κ(800) scalar meson.

AIMS To evaluate the association of low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol with the risk of stroke, diabetes-related vascular events and mortality in elderly diabetes patients. METHODS This study was carried out as a post-hoc landmark analysis of a randomized, controlled, multicenter, prospective intervention trial. We included 1173 elderly type 2 diabetes patients (aged ≥ 65 years) from 39 Japanese institutions who were enrolled in the Japanese elderly diabetes intervention trial study and who could be followed up for 1 year. A landmark survival analysis was carried out in which follow up was set to start 1 year after the initial time of entry. RESULTS During 6 years of follow up, there were 38 cardiovascular events, 50 strokes, 21 diabetes-related deaths and 113 diabetes-related events. High low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was associated with incident cardiovascular events, and high glycated hemoglobin was associated with strokes. After adjustment for possible covariables, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol showed a significant association with increased risk of stroke, diabetes-related mortality and total events. The adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were 1.010 (1.001-1.018, P = 0.029) for stroke, 1.019 (1.007-1.031, P < 0.001) for diabetes-related death and 1.008 (1.002-1.014; P < 0.001) for total diabetes-related events. CONCLUSIONS Higher non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was associated with an increased risk of stroke, diabetes-related mortality and total events in elderly diabetes patients.

AIM To evaluate long-term, multiple risk factor intervention on physical, psychological and mental prognosis, and development of complications and cardiovascular disease in elderly type 2 diabetes patients. METHODS Our randomized, controlled, multicenter, prospective intervention trial included 1173 elderly type 2 diabetes patients who were enrolled from 39 Japanese institutions and randomized to an intensive or conservative treatment group. Glycemic control, dyslipidemia, hypertension, obesity, diabetic complications and atherosclerotic disease were measured annually. Instrumental activity of daily living, cognitive impairment, depressive symptoms and diabetes burden were assessed at baseline and 3 years. RESULTS There was no significant difference in clinical or cognitive parameters at baseline between the two groups. The prevalence of low activities of daily living, depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment was 13%, 28% and 4%, respectively, and was similar in the two groups. A small, but significant difference in HbA1c between the two groups was observed at 1 year after the start of intervention (7.9% vs 8.1%, P < 0.05), although this significant difference was not observed after the second year. With the exception of coronary revascularization, there was no significant difference in fatal or non-fatal events between the two groups. Composite events were also similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS This study showed no significant differences in fatal or non-fatal events between intensive and conventional treatment. The present study might clarify whether treatment of risk factors influences function and quality of life in elderly diabetic patients.

BACKGROUND: Remnant-like lipoprotein particles (RLP) have been measured by cholesterol as RLP-C for CHD risk assessment in the fasting plasma. However, RLP-triglyceride (TG) is a better marker of the characteristics of remnant lipoproteins in the postprandial plasma, especially in plasma with TG concentrations <150mg/dl. METHOD: The RLP-TG and RLP-C concentrations in subjects undergoing a health check-up and in volunteers receiving an oral fat load were determined in the fasting and postprandial plasma. TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, apoB 100, apoB48, RLP apoB-100 and RLP apoB48 were also determined. RESULTS: When fasting TG concentrations were <150mg/dl, the 95th percentile of RLP-TG was 20mg/dl and the RLP-C 7.5mg/dl in healthy subjects. The prevalence of RLP-TG and RLP-C above the cut-off values with a TG concentration <150mg/dl was significantly higher in the metabolic syndrome cases than in the controls. RLP-TG increased significantly in plasma to >20mg/dl after an oral fat load in cases with TG concentrations >80mg/dl. Further, RLP apoB100, but not RLP apoB48 was highly correlated with the increase of TG in the postprandial plasma. CONCLUSION: RLP-TG and RLP-C were increased significantly above the cut-off values in the postprandial plasma in healthy volunteers from a TG concentration >80mg/dl. RLP apoB100, but not RLP apoB48, increased significantly when the plasma TG increased after an oral fat load despite the increase of plasma apoB48. The results show that the major lipoproteins which were increased in postprandial plasma were VLDL remnants, not CM remnants.

Postoperative pneumonia is a serious complication following pulmonary resection. Aspiration of oesophageal reflux contents is known to cause pulmonary complications in patients with a history of gastrectomy. In this study, we compared the incidence of postoperative pneumonia in patients with or without previous gastrectomy. A retrospective review was conducted of clinical charts for patients who underwent radical pulmonary resection for non-small cell lung cancer from January 2006 to December 2010. Pneumonia was diagnosed with chest computed tomography findings in all cases. A total of 333 patients underwent pulmonary resections during the study period. Twenty-seven patients (8.1%) had a history of gastrectomy. Eight patients (2.2%) had postoperative pneumonia. All eight patients who developed postoperative pneumonia did not have pneumonia before pulmonary resection. Of the aforementioned 27 patients, five (18.5%) developed pneumonia postoperatively, whereas only three of 325 patients who did not have a history of gastrectomy (0.9%) had pneumonia (P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, a history of gastrectomy had the highest impact on the odds ratio (8.81) for postoperative pneumonia. A significantly higher incidence of postoperative pneumonia was found in patients with a history of gastrectomy. Prophylactic treatment, such as premedication with ranitidine, should be considered in those patients.

Magnetoelectric (ME) properties were investigated for an XY-like spin glass (SG) system, Ni_{x}Mn_{1-x}TiO_{3} with an ilmenite structure. The ME effect is usually observed in systems with peculiar couplings between a crystal lattice and a magnetic order. Nonetheless, we found an antisymmetric ME effect with nonzero ME tensor elements below T_{ME}=8-10  K in samples showing SG transitions. At T_{ME}, no specific heat anomaly was observed, suggesting the absence of long-range magnetic order. We discuss the origin of the ME effect in the XY-like SG system in terms of an alignment of toroidal moments.

One of the vertical magnetic recordings medium materials of the hard disk drive (HDD) is a Fe/Pt thin film. The development of ultra-high density magnetic recording medium in next generation is expected the magnetic disks such as HDD with capacity enlargement of the data. In order to study effectiveness of the proposed sputtering method, we evaluated micro structure, magnetic and the mechanical properties of a Fe/Pt thin film by some sputtering process conditions. From research results, effect sputtering conditions on micro-structure and mechanical properties of Fe/Pt nano film are verified.

The augmentation index (AIx) is a measure of pulse wave reflection from peripheral muscular conduit arteries, and is assumed to increase with stiffened arteries. A white matter lesion (WML) is generally regarded as a chronic ischemic lesion, which is associated with cerebral small-vessel arteriosclerosis. The aim of this study is to elucidate the effect of pulse wave reflection on the brain. Carotid AIx was measured in a total of 205 neurologically normal adults. The correlations between AIx and WML were investigated. Two categories of WML were evaluated, periventricular hyperintensity (PVH) and deep and subcortical white matter hyperintensity (DSWMH). On univariate analysis, AIx was significantly correlated with the grades of PVH and DSWMH (P=0.0001, respectively). On multivariate analysis, AIx was correlated with PVH and DSWMH, independent of other risk factors such as age or blood pressure. Pulse wave reflection from small vessels may influence the genesis of WML.Hypertension Research advance online publication, 1 March 2012; doi:10.1038/hr.2012.24.

A new quadrannulate Orobdella Oka, 1895 species, Orobdella koikeisp. n., is described on the basis of six specimens collected from Hokkaido, Japan. In addition, an emended description of quadrannulate Orobdella kawakatsuorum Richardson, 1975 is also provided. Orobdella koikei differs from other quadrannulate species of Orobdella in possessing the following combination of characters: color dorsally brown, IV uniannulate, male gonopore at XI b6, gastropore and female gonopore at XIII a1, 1/2 + 4 + 1/2 between gonopores, XXV triannulate, tubular but bulbous at junctions with gastropore and crop gastroporal duct, epididymides in XVII to XIX, and atrial cornua ovate. The phylogenetic position of the newly described species is estimated using mitochondrial COI, tRNA(Cys), tRNA(Met), 12S rDNA, tRNA(Val) and 16S rDNA markers. Orobdella koikei is a sister taxon of Orobdella kakawatsuorum according to the molecular phylogenetic analyses.