When science develops outside state patronage: Dutch studies in Japan at the turn of the nineteenth century

It is one of the peculiar features of the movement of translation of Western scientific treatises from Dutch into Japanese, known as Dutch learning (rangaku), that if first originated in Nagasaki with a group of Japanese interpreters. This group differed from the scholarly community of the capital, Edo, by both training and social status. This article shows how this difference contributes to explaining some of the particularities of rangaku in its initial phase. A case in point is Shizuki Tadao's introduction of Newtonian physics and astronomy. Yet, Sugita Genpaku, a major representative of the Edo scholarly community, gave an account of the beginning of Dutch learning that attempted to minimise, or even to erase, the contribution of the Nagasaki interpreters, who were dismissed as unscholarly. This attempt, too, is best understood in the light of the difference between the two communities.     

Apple pectin and a polyphenol-rich apple concentrate are more effective together than separately on cecal fermentations and plasma lipids in rats

To evaluate the effect of apple components on cecal fermentations and lipid metabolism, rats were fed diets containing 5 g/100 g apple pectin (PEC), 10 g/100 g high polyphenol freeze-dried apple (PL) or both (PEC + PL). The cecal pH was slightly acidic (6.49) only in rats fed the PEC + PL diet (controls, 7.02). The cecal short-chain fatty acid pool was enlarged by all the apple fractions, with a peak of 560 micromol in rats fed the PEC + PL diet compared with 189 micromol in controls. Butyrate concentrations were 2-fold greater in rats fed the PL diet than in controls. Substantial concentrations of galacturonate and succinate (approximately 40 mmol/L) were found in the cecum of rats fed the PEC diet and, to a lesser extent, the PEC + PL diet. The PEC + PL diet significantly lowered plasma cholesterol, whereas both the PL and PEC + PL diets lowered plasma triglycerides. Liver cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were lower in rats fed the PEC and PEC + PL diets. Fecal bile acid excretion was markedly reduced, whereas sterol excretion was significantly increased by dietary PEC. Rats fed the PEC and PEC + PL diets also had lower apparent cholesterol absorption than controls (30 compared with 43%). In conclusion, apple pectin and the polyphenol-rich fraction were more effective when fed combined together than when fed separately on large intestine fermentations and lipid metabolism, suggesting interactions between fibers and polyphenols of apple.     

Activity of chemotherapy in the palliative treatment of salivary gland tumors: review of the literature

Chemotherapy is sometimes used as palliation for patients with salivary gland tumors not amenable to curative treatment. However, if chemotherapy improves survival is unknown. To identify some prognostic parameters in this disease, we conducted an extensive review of the literature. The prognostic value of the baseline clinical characteristics and the different chemotherapy regimens used was assessed using the Cox proportional hazards regression model on the available individual data. In addition, the effect of the different chemotherapy drugs on median survival time was evaluated using meta-weighted linear regression with dummy covariates referring to each chemotherapy drug. The total number of patients included in these studies that fit our inclusion criteria was 264 patients. By reviewing carefully the papers and by contacting the different authors, we were able to retrieve the individual data of 205 patients. In the multivariate Cox analysis, only the use of platinum-based chemotherapy was identified as an independent predictor of an increased survival (P = 0.01). These results were confirmed in a meta-analysis where median survival was increased by 2.5 (95% IC:0.7-4.4) and 4.9 (95% IC:0.45-9.4) months for patients treated with platinum (P = 0.007) and anthracyclin-based (P = 0.03) chemotherapy, respectively. Although exploratory, our analysis suggests that treatment with a platinum-based chemotherapy regimen may be an independent factor of better survival for patients with incurable salivary gland neoplasms.     

CT angiography after coronary artery bypass graft surgery

CT angiography is an emerging technique for the noninvasive assessment of coronary artery disease. The diagnostic performance of different generation CT scanners has been investigated for the detection of significant stenosis (≥ 50% lumen diameter reduction) in patients after coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG). The temporal and spatial resolution of CT scanners are important determinants for reliable evaluation of bypass grafts and native coronary arteries. Important drawbacks of 64-slice CT angiography remain the evaluation of severely calcified native coronary segments and distal graft anastomosis site. Future developments in the latest CT scanners head toward the use of wider detectors and improved coverage, which may be relevant in post-CABG patients. Despite technical advances, the role of CT angiography in the follow-up of patients after bypass surgery has not yet been established.     

Back and hip extensor muscles fatigue in healthy subjects: task-dependency effect of two variants of the Sorensen test

Paraspinal muscle fatigability during various trunk extension tests has been widely investigated by electromyography (EMG), and its task-dependency is established recently. Hip extensor muscle fatigability during the Sorensen test has been reported. The aim of the present experiments was to evaluate the task-dependency of back and hip extensor muscle fatigue during two variants of the Sorensen test. We hypothesized that the rate of muscular fatigue of the hip and back extensor muscles varies according to the test position. Twenty healthy young males with no history of low back pain volunteered to participate in this cross-sectional study. They were asked to perform two body weight-dependent isometric back extension tests (S1 = Sorensen test; S2 = modified Sorensen on a 45° Roman chair). Surface EMG activity of the paraspinal muscles (T10 and L5 levels) and hip extensor muscles (gluteus maximus; biceps femoris) was recorded, and muscular fatigue was assessed through power spectral analysis of the EMG data by calculating the rate of median power frequency change. We observed hip extensor muscle fatigue simultaneously with paraspinal muscle fatigue during both Sorensen variants. However, only L5 level EMG fatigue indices showed a task-dependency effect between S1 and S2. Hip extensor muscles appear to contribute to load sharing of the upper body mass during both Sorensen variants, but to a different extent because L5 level fatigue differs between the Sorensen variants. Our findings suggest that task-dependency has to be considered when EMG variables are compared between two types of lumbar muscle-fatiguing tasks.