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Abstract We designed this multi-center prospective study with the following objectives: (1) the cross-sectional validation of extracellular vesicles (EV) mRNA markers to detect urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) before transurethral resection of bladder cancer (TURBT), and (2) the longitudinal validation of EV mRNA markers to monitor non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) recurrence after TURBT. EV mRNA markers evaluated in this study were KRT17, GPRC5A, and SLC2A1 in addition to two additional markers from literatures, MDK and CXCR2, and measured by quantitative RT-PCR with normalization by a reference gene (ALDOB). Diagnostic performances of EV mRNA markers were compared to conventional markers. Regarding the first objective, we confirmed that EV mRNA biomarkers in urine were higher in UBC patients, particularly those with higher stage/grade tumors, than in those without UBC (n = 278 in total) and the diagnostic performance of EV mRNA MDK and KRT17 outperformed conventional biomarkers with AUC 0.760 and 0.730, respectively. Concerning the second objective, we prospectively analyzed the time courses of EV mRNA markers while NMIBC patients (n = 189) (median follow-up 19 months). The expression of EV mRNA KRT17 was significantly high in patients with recurrence, while it gradually decreased over time in those without recurrence (p

Abstract The Body Image Scale (BIS) is a 10-item tool that measures the body images of cancer patients. This study aims to validate the Japanese version of the BIS for bladder cancer patients. A multicenter cross-sectional survey was used to identify the participants, which included Japanese bladder cancer patients. The percentage of missing responses, internal consistency, and known-group validity were evaluated. The correlations between the BIS and two HRQOL instruments (the Bladder Cancer Index and the SF-12) were assessed to determine convergent validity. Among 397 patients, 221 patients were treated by transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) endoscopically, 49 patients underwent cystectomy with neobladder, and 127 patients underwent cystectomy involving stoma. The percentage of missing responses in the BIS ranged from 8.1 to 15.6%. Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.924. Higher BIS scores indicate negative body image, and the median BIS score for patients with native bladders after TURBT (0.5) was significantly lower than those of the patients with neobladder (4.0) and stoma formation (7.0), which indicated the discriminatory ability of the BIS. Each domain of the Bladder Cancer Index and the role summary score of the SF-12 correlated to the BIS scores, which confirmed the convergent validity. A range of BIS scores were identified among patients who reported similar physical summary scores and mental summary scores of the SF-12. This study confirmed the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the BIS for bladder cancer patients.

Abstract Background Radiation therapy (RT) for women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) undergoing breast‐conserving surgery (BCS) may be overtreatment for some, especially for those in which DCIS is eradicated, and ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR) risk approaches the contralateral breast cancer (CBC) level. The aim of this study was to clarify whether the polygon method, a new systematic method of en face (tangential, shaved) margin assessment, can identify a subset of DCIS that can be safely treated by BCS alone. Methods A key tool of the polygon method is an adjustable mold that prevents the “pancake phenomenon” (flattening) of breast tissue after surgical removal so that the specimen is fixed in the shape of a polygonal prism. This preanalytical procedure enables us to command a panoramic view of entire en face margins 3‐5‐mm deep from the real peripheral cut surfaces. Competing risk analysis was used to quantify rates of IBTR and CBC and to evaluate risk factors. Results From 2000 to 2013, we identified 146 DCIS patients undergoing BCS with a contralateral breast at risk. In 100 DCIS patients whose margin was negative by the polygon method, 5 IBTR (3 DCIS and 2 invasive ductal carcinoma [IDC]) and 10 CBC (6 DCIS and 4 IDC) cases were identified during a median follow‐up of 7.6 years (range, 0.9‐17.4). Five‐ and 10‐year cumulative incidence rates were 3.0% and 5.3% for IBTR, and 7.1% and 13.3% for CBC, respectively. Thus, patients with a negative margin consistently showed at least twofold lower IBTR than CBC despite omission of RT. Conclusions Japanese women classified with a negative margin by the polygon method show a very low risk of IBTR and account for approximately half of CBC cases. In this subset of DCIS patients, additional RT is not beneficial.

A transformable wheel designed in this study is proposed to meet the increasingly complex travel requirements of people because it is urgent to provide a smooth and barrier-free travel scheme in complex and changeable urban land. The transformable wheel, with 10 pivoting-head parts, allows vehicles with the wheels to surmount low-height obstacles that deliberately complicates the terrain such as blind roads, small steps, bumps and door sills, and to achieve low-consumption travel. In this study, we demonstrate that the transformable wheels improve its performance by nearly 30% under the road conditions of low-height obstacles and is especially suitable for carts and suitcases passing through low-height obstacles such as blind lanes and low stairs.

Trajectory tracking control of input-constrained systems is an essential problem in many control applications, including robotics. In this paper, we propose a constrained tracking controller for input affine nonlinear systems with convex input constraints based on tracking control Lyapunov functions (TCLFs). To deal with general convex input constraints, we first solve a convex optimization problem that minimizes the time derivative of TCLFs subject to convex input constraints; we refer to its optimal solution as minimizing input. Then, the proposed trajectory tracking is constructed by using the minimizing input and an appropriate scaling function. We prove that the proposed controller locally achieves trajectory tracking and satisfies the given convex input constraints. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller by numerical simulations of a wheeled mobile robot.