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Aims/Introduction Crossing capillaries in the finger nailfold might potentially be a novel diabetic retinopathy (DR) biomarker that could be assessed non‐invasively in the clinical setting. However, the association between crossing capillaries and DR is controversial. This study aimed to investigate the association between the percentage of crossing capillaries in the finger nailfold and DR in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods This cross‐sectional study enrolled 108 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients (aged 40–75 years) who visited the outpatient diabetic clinic at Osaka University Hospital, Osaka, Japan, between May and October 2019. Capillary morphology was assessed using nailfold capillaroscopy based on the simple capillaroscopic definitions of the European League Against Rheumatism Study Group. Details of DR and other laboratory data were obtained from medical records. The association between the tertile of the percentage of the crossing capillary and DR was analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. Results After adjusting for age, sex, diabetes duration, glycated hemoglobin, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, and use of renin–angiotensin system inhibitor and antihyperlipidemic medication, the percentage of crossing capillaries was significantly associated with DR (multivariable‐adjusted odds ratios for increasing tertiles of the percentage of crossing capillary: 1 [reference], 2.05 [95% confidence interval 0.53–7.94], and 4.33 [95% confidence interval 1.16–16.21]; P‐trend = 0.028). Conclusions A higher percentage of crossing capillaries in the nailfold was associated with a higher risk of DR, independent of traditional risk and inhibiting factors, in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus., Crossing capillaries in the finger nailfold might potentially be a novel diabetic retinopathy biomarker that could be assessed non‐invasively in a clinical setting. We investigated the association between crossing capillaries and diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. A higher percentage of crossing capillaries in the nailfold was associated with a higher risk of diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, independent of traditional risk and inhibiting factors.

AIM: Increased crossing of finger nailfold capillaries could be a novel visual marker of early microvascular damage among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Although abdominal obesity is an important driver of early microvascular damage, its association with an increase in the percentage of crossing capillaries remains uncertain. We investigated the association between abdominal obesity and an increase in the percentage of crossing capillaries in the finger nailfold in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: This cross-sectional study enrolled 123 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients (age 40–75 years) who visited the outpatient diabetic clinic at Osaka University Hospital between May and October 2019. Abdominal obesity was defined as a waist circumference ≥ 90 cm in women and ≥ 85 cm in men. Capillary morphology was assessed by nailfold capillaroscopy based on the simple capillaroscopic definitions of the European League Against Rheumatism Study Group. The association between abdominal obesity and a high percentage of crossing capillaries in the finger nailfold (defined as the highest tertile of crossing capillaries) was analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: After adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, regular exercise, duration of diabetes, glycated hemoglobin, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, abdominal obesity was significantly associated with a high percentage of crossing capillaries (multivariable-adjusted odds ratios [95% confidence interval] = 2.70 [1.05–6.90], p = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS: Abdominal obesity may play an important role in the increase in the percentage of crossing capillaries in the finger nailfold in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s13340-020-00480-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to evaluate the validity of Eurolung risk models in a Japanese population and assess their utility as predictive indicators for the prognosis. METHODS Between 2007 and 2014, 612 anatomic lung resections were performed among 694 lung cancer patients in our institution. We analysed the cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality and compared them with the predicted results. We also investigated the association between the Eurolung aggregate risk scores and the long-term outcomes using the Kaplan–Meier method and a multivariable analysis. RESULTS The percentage of cardiopulmonary complications was lower than that predicted by Eurolung 1 (22.4% vs 24.6%). The mortality rate was significantly lower than predicted by Eurolung 2 (0.7% vs 3.0%). The morbidity rate was stratified by Aggregate Eurolung 1. The stratification of the mortality rate by the Eurolung 2 aggregate score was also in line with the increase in score, although the observed number of deaths was quite small (4 cases). The 5-year overall survival was clearly separated according to the stratified Aggregate Eurolung 1 and 2 (P CONCLUSIONS Eurolung risk models cannot be directly applied to the patients in our institution. However, Eurolung aggregate risk scores were helpful not only for stratifying morbidity and mortality after anatomic lung resection but also for predicting the long-term outcomes.

Recent research on consumption and subjective well-being has revealed that experiential purchases and prosocial spending promote happiness by enhancing the purchasers’ social relationships. This study (N = 1523) explored whether undergraduate students’ consumption behaviors during summer break would be associated with their post-break happiness, and whether the consumption–happiness relationship would be mediated by a positive influence on their social relationships. The results showed that both experiential purchases and prosocial spending during summer break were associated with greater post-break happiness, but only when these purchases had a positive influence on the purchasers’ social relationships. These effects remained significant after controlling for respondents’ personality traits, financial standing, and sex. Moreover, both experiential purchases and prosocial spending were more likely to have a positive influence on social relationships than luxury purchases. These results are congruent with ...

The present study examined effects of the perception of a communicative context on the transmission of information. The study specifically tested whether a communicator could transmit information for a recipient depending on the perceived relevance between the message recipient and the target of the communication. Thirty-six participants were assigned the role of communicator, and they were all informed that the recipient was from the marketing department of "Company A". In the high relevance condition (i.e., own product condition), the target was a computer made by Company A. On the other hand, in the low relevance condition (i.e., other product condition), the target was a computer made by a rival Company B. Results showed that communicators reproduced and transmitted a greater amount of negative information than that of positive information in the high relevance condition. In the low relevance condition, communicators referred to both negative and positive information in almost equal amount. This is interpreted that communicators could transmit adequate information depending on the perception of the relevance between the recipient and the target. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that the effect of relevance between the recipient and the target on the memory was mediated by the contents of the message and evaluation. This shows that evaluation facilitated the communicators' memory about the target. Characteristics of social cognition in a communicative context are discussed.