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The photodecomposition behavior of cationic porphyrin ZnTMAP4+ (zinc tetrakis-(N,N,N-trimethylanilinium-4-yl) porphyrin) in water and complexed with clay nanosheets was investigated by light irradiation to the Soret band of ZnTMAP4+. The decomposition of ZnTMAP4+ was observed by UV–visible absorption spectroscopy. While the decomposition quantum yield (ϕdec) was 3.4 × 10−4 in water, that was 9.4 × 10−7 on the exfoliated clay nanosheets. It was revealed that the photostability of ZnTMAP4+ was stabilized by the complex formation with clay. When ZnTMAP4+ was intercalated between the stacked clay nanosheets, ϕdec was further decreased to 4.9 × 10−7. The photostability increased by 361 times and 693 times for the exfoliated and stacked state, respectively. These results indicate that the flat clay surface has the potential to control intra- and intermolecular photochemical reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective approach to stabilize emulsions is to increase the rigidity of oil-water (O/W) interfacial films by adsorbing molecular assemblies such as lamellar phases around the emulsion particles. In this study, we aimed to analyze the structure of a lamellar phase adsorbed at an O/W interface and to clarify the effect of the structure and physicochemical properties of the lamellar phase on the dispersion stability of emulsions. The adsorption of the lamellar phase at the O/W interface of the emulsions was confirmed by freeze-fracture transmission electron microscopy of O/W emulsions prepared by diluting and dispersing gels formed with polyglycerol fatty acid esters, water, and cetyl isooctanoate (CIO). The structure of the lamellar phase adsorbed at the O/W interface was analyzed in detail through small-angle X-ray scattering measurement and indirect Fourier transform analysis. The lamellar phase adsorbed at the O/W interface was shown to have an interdigitated structure with low CIO content, whereas it changed to a non-interdigitated structure with increasing CIO content. Furthermore, the adsorbed lamellar phases with interdigitated structures and high rigidity provide the emulsion with higher dispersion stability.

We conducted this study to determine the short-term treatment outcomes of multidisciplinary approaches to chronic pain management for outpatients in Japan. We evaluated pain reduction and improvement in quality of life (QOL) after treatment. We analyzed 32 patients who had experienced intractable chronic pain for > 3 months. The patients received multidisciplinary therapeutic self-managed exercise instructions and then underwent evaluations 1 and 3 months after the treatment. We used the Pain Disability Short Form-36 (SF-36), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), and Pain Disability Assessment Scale (PDAS) to evaluate QOL. Although the pain levels were the same before and after the physical exercise program, the patients showed significant improvements in physical function on the SF-36 (48.5 vs. 54.5, 3 months vs. 1 month; p=0.0124), the magnification subscale on the PCS (6.8 vs. 5.9, 1 month vs. before; p=0.0164) and the PDAS (29.2 vs. 23.4, 3 months vs. before; p=0.0055). Chronic pain should be treated with a biopsychosocial approach, but time constraints and costs have limited the implementation of multidisciplinary and behavioral approaches to chronic pain management. Our findings demonstrate that clinical improvements are possible for patients with chronic pain, using multidisciplinary team resources widely available in Japanese clinical practice., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.