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Purpose: Breast cancer incidence rates in Japan have been increasing recently. The incidence rates show bimodal age distribution in the developed countries. The latest studies have thrown new light on a close association between etiologic subtypes and the bimodal age distribution. To determine whether bimodal age distributions are also present in Japanese breast cancer, we investigated Japanese breast cancer incidence rates by age and biological features involved in incidence rates.Methods: Using Japanese breast Cancer Registry data, we examined age-at-diagnosis frequency distributions of breast cancer for 2017 and their hormone receptors (estrogen and progesterone) and HER2 status. Japanese female population data were referred to the registry of Statistics Bureau of Japan. Results: We included 94,612 breast cancer cases for 2017 in Japan. The number of breast cancer cases showed bimodal age distributions at 45-49 years and 65-69 years. However, the age distributions altered to unimodal age distribution with slight peaked at 45-49 years by adjusting with Japanese female population. Estrogen and progesterone receptor rates showed higher level at 45-49 years than other age groups (92.3% and 86.8%, respectively). HER2 expression rates showed lower rates (12.2%) at 45-49 years than other age groups.Conclusions: Japanese breast cancer incidence rates showed unimodal age distribution with slight peaks at 45-49 years. Luminal type breast cancer accounted for younger ages at 45-49 than elderly. Etiology of Japanese female breast cancer was different from the developed countries represented as bimodal age distribution. Citation Format: Ken Uchida, Hitoshi Ohashi, Hiroko Nogi. Breast cancer incidence rates in Japan showed unimodal age distribution [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-12-33.

BACKGROUND: Japan is the globe’s fastest ageing country: 32.0 % of the female population are 65 or older in 2021. The birth rate was 1.30 children per woman in 2021. Japan’s population has been constantly shrinking since 2011 with aging. The number of breast cancer cases has increased rapidly in the course of low birth rate and aging population. Breast cancer has increased and accounted for the first place of all of cancers in Japanese women. OBJECTIVES; Number of breast cancer has increased recently and accounted for the first place of all of female cancers in Japan. Detailed analytics of the increase and aging of breast cancer are not studied. We elucidate the transformation of Japanese breast cancer by ages at diagnosis over the past decade. MATERIALS: We used the registry data of Japanese Breast Cancer Society and Statistics Bureau of Japan in 2018. Female breast cancer new cases were 59,389 patients in 2008 and 93,858 patients in 2018, respectively. The total female population was 65.441 million in 2008 and 64.911 million in 2018, respectively. 65 years and older women accounted for 23.4% in 2008 and 31.0 % in 2018, respectively. METHODS: We compared incidences and incidence rates of breast cancer by ages in 2008 and 2018, respectively. We used the statistical method of Ameijeiras-Alonso et al for mode assessment. RESULTS; Total number of incidences and incidence rates of breast cancer in 2018 were higher than those in 2008 among all ages. Difference of number of incidences were maximum in age of 60-69 in both years. Difference of incidence rates in both years reached maximum in age of 75-79. Incidence rates in 2008 showed unimodal age distribution with the gentle peak. Incidence rates in 2018 showed bimodal age distribution with two peaks of 45-49 and 65-69. CONCLUSIONS; Incidences and incidence rates of breast cancer increased rapidly among all ages in this decade in Japan. The incidence rates increased most in ages of 75-79 and turned into bimodal age distribution in 2018. Citation Format: Ken Uchida, Hitoshi Ohashi, Hiroko Nogi, Satoki Kinoshita, Ryouko Nosaka, Makiko Kamio. Breast cancer incidence rates in Japan turned into bimodal age distribution in this decade. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-03-08.

Early studies characterizing the keratin (K) profile of various epithelial tissues indicated that breast carcinoma is K7 positive and K20 negative, but not all breast carcinomas show this profile. Triple-negative carcinoma (TNC) has been characterized by negativity for estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR), and Her2/neu protein. TNC is more likely to metastasize to the viscera and present as a metastatic poorly different carcinoma. In our study, on the basis of immunohistochemical staining of ER, PgR, and Her2/neu, 75 of the 290 patients with invasive breast carcinoma were judged to have TNC. K20 expression was detected in 6 of 75 patients with TNC, and non-TNC was negative in all 215 cases (P = .0003). K7 expression was also detected in 72 of 75 TNC cases. However, non-TNC was negative in 26 of 215 cases, which was significant (P = .0457). An aberrant profile of K was observed in the TNC group, indicating that caution is needed in determining the site of primary tumors using immunohistochemical algorithms. It should be kept in mind that patients with TNC show highly variable K profiles in practical diagnosis.

Purpose: Tissue dysoxia is thought to be a fundamental cause of the organ failure that occurs as a result of shock. Plasma lactate has been frequently measured as an indicator of the state of systemic tissue metabolism. On the other hand, tissue lactate levels can directly indicate a disorder in the state of cytological tissue metabolism. The continuous monitoring of lactate levels in subcutaneous tissue will reflect the state of tissue dysoxia more precisely than levels of lactate in the plasma lactate. We have investigated the differences in the levels of plasma and tissue lactate using a microdialysis (MD) technique in an animal septic shock model. Method: Male 8-week-old Wistar/ST rats were used. We prepared an animal model by injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into the abdominal cavity. LPS was given to 9 animals in the experimental group while physiological saline was given to 6 animals in the control group. A MD probe was used to quantify the lactate levels in the subcutaneous tissue. The mean arterial pressure, blood gas content and lactate levels were measured every 50 min up to 400 min after injection and compared between both groups. Result: The MAP of both groups showed similar changes after injection. Plasma lactate levels in the LPS group showed a significant increase after 100 min and reached a plateau from 150 min to 250 min. Subcutaneous lactate in the LPS group showed a significant increase after 150 min. Subcutaneous pyruvate in the LPS group showed a significant increase after 100 min. The lactate/pyruvate (L/P) ratio in the subcutaneous tissue showed a sustained increase from 300 min in the LPS group. Conclusion: Monitoring plasma lactate levels is useful for the early assessment of anaerobic metabolism before hypotension. Plasma lactate levels did not increase during some periods. This phenomenon was due to the balance between production and utilization. However, tissue lactate showed a chronological increase. These results suggest that the measurement of tissue lactate levels is reliable for assessing local energy metabolic disturbances. Under conditions of septic shock, an increase in lactate levels was found to be a sensitive marker of tissue metabolism disorder.

The present experiments were carried out to investigate the usefulness of measuring peripheral tissue metabolism for the clinical assessment of shock. Male Wistar/ST rats (8 weeks-old) were used. All rats were placed in a supine position while anesthetized. A tube for measuring arterial pressure and collecting blood samples was cannulated into the femoral artery. For microdialysis, the introducer was inserted into the subcutaneous tissue in the abdominal wall. Blood was exsanguinated to maintain the mean arterial pressure at 40 +/- 5 mmHg. Mean arterial pressure, arterial blood gas and serum lactate levels were measured. Microdialysis was performed to quantify the levels of lactate and pyruvate in the subcutaneous tissue. Six rats died due to hemorrhagic shock by 350 min (Group D) while six rats had survived for the 350 min period after exsanguination (Group A). These data was obtained at intervals of 50 min after exsanguination up to a period of 250 min and compared between Groups A and D. In Group A, serum lactate levels did not increase throughout the entire period of observation. Serum lactate levels in Group D transiently increased, but did not show a dramatic increase during the blood pressure maintenance period. In particular, serum lactate levels increased again after a period of more than 150 min following exsanguination. Lactate levels in the subcutaneous tissue gradually increased and were significantly higher in Group D than that in Group A after 150 min. The L/P ratio in Group A remained fairly constant during the period of observation. In contrast, the L/P ratio in Group D increased gradually, and was significantly higher than that in Group A after 100 min. It was concluded that the continuous increase in the L/P ratio in the subcutaneous tissue in Group D was indicative of tissue circulatory failure and of an abnormality in tissue oxygen metabolism prior to the detection of the collapse of compensatory mechanisms appearing in the vital signs. These findings suggest that measuring the L/P ratio is useful for the clinical assessment and monitoring of shock.

Thermo- and pH-Responsive Poly(A-ProOMe)- graft -poly(AAc) Membrane for Selective Separation of Metal Ions

Thermo- and pH-responsive gel membranes were synthesized by γ -ray grafting of pH-responsive poly(acrylic acid) (AAc) onto thermo-responsive polymer gel of acryloyl- L -proline methyl ester (A-ProOMe). The gel membranes of poly(A-ProOMe) with 15 mol% graft chains of AAc exhibited both thermo- and pH-responses. Under the condition (pH 6.0, 30°C) in which the thermo-sensitive unit shrinks and the pH-sensitive unit swells, the selective permeation of Li ion over Co and Ni ions can be achieved.

Thermally induced coupling of gelation and phase separation in polysaccharide aqueous solutions has a complex feature because of critical and tricritical phenomena, thermally induced hydrophobic interaction, and molecular-weight distribution of the polysaccharide. To elucidate the process, the criticality of a hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) aqueous solution was assessed, and then dielectric relaxation and fluorescence intensity experiments were carried out. The diffusion coefficient of the solution with a weight fraction of HPMC being 0.06 could be extrapolated to zero at the cloud-point curve which showed the criticality of the solution. The fluorescence intensity increased at a temperature much lower than the cloud point and the gel point, especially for concentrated solutions, indicating the hydrophobic interaction as the driving force of the gelation coupled by the phase separation. Dielectric relaxation measurements by time-domain reflectometry revealed two characteristic relaxations of chain motions around 100 MHz and orientation of free water around 20 GHz , which is accompanied by a low-frequency tail reflecting hydration water.

The impedance effect on the ion transport of lithium chloride through temperature- and pH-sensitive gel membranes was investigated. Both conductance and loss tangent show a relatively tigh value at temperatures near the lower critical solution temperature (14°C), followed by an abrupt drop with a further rise in temperature. The Figure show an example of changes in absolute complex conductance (Y), real conductance (G), and imaginary conductance (B) for a poly(acryloyl-L-proline methyl ester) gel membrane.

Poly(acryloyl-L-proline-methyl ester) (1) has optically active side chain, and constitutes thermoresponsive hydrogels upon crosslinking. In this study, we have prepared uncrosslinked polymer of 1 with a 10-kGy irradiation dose of γ-ray. For this polymer, 1, variable temperature circular dichroism (CD) and 1 H NMR spectra have been studied in the range of 0-30 °C. The intense CD spectrum at 0 °C suggests that the side chains in 1 have an ordered orientation. The CD intensity decreases gradually with increasing temperature. The decreased intensity of CD spectra indicates that the disordering occurs for the side-chain orientation. The CD band shape changes discontinuously at 20 °C. In the 1 H NMR spectra, signals disappear above 20 °C. These spectral change at 20 °C indicate that the phase transition occurs at around 20 °C from swollen to shrunken phase. Even after the phase transition, the CD spectra are still changing with isochromic point at 212 nm. It appears that the side-chain conformation is still changing from one state to the other state in the shrunken phase polymers.

Breast cancer has been the most prevalent cancer in Japan since the 1990s. The mortality from breast cancer is increasing in Japan, whereas in other industrialized countries it has been decreasing since 1990. On the other hand, Japan faces unparalleled growth in its aging population. The aim of this study was to report the mammography screening among Japanese women and the related upcoming changes in the population pyramid of Japan. The reference data for our study were obtained from the Center for Cancer Control and Information Services, Japan Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Japanese Cancer Society, and the National Institute of Population and Social Security. The survey data were obtained from breast cancer and mammography screenings in the Tokyo Prefecture in 2008. The following parameters were analyzed: annual breast cancer incidence, current screening rates, average life-span, and predicted demographic statistics. Our results showed that breast cancer incidence and mortality have been increasing annually in Japan. The average age of breast cancer patients increased to 58.40 years in 2010. The incidence of breast cancer in women aged 65 years and older increased from 25.3 to 32.9 % in the last 10 years and is expected to continue to increase in the future. The check-up rate was 16.0–20.0 % for women aged 65–74 years and 43.0–46.0 % for women aged 40–54 years. According to our questionnaire survey, concerns about breast cancer and mammography screening were high in the young and low in the elderly women. The Japanese population aged 65 years and older was 30,740 (24.1 %) in 2012 and is estimated to increase by 40 % over the next 20 years despite Japan’s declining population size. Breast cancer incidence has increased in Japan, even among patients aged 65 years and older. Breast cancer has become increasingly prevalent in older Japanese women. As the population pyramid of Japan changes, women aged 65 years and older, who think that there is no longer need to receive mammography screening and are not educated regarding self-examinations, should be encouraged to receive regular check-ups for breast cancer.

Reported in this paper are our experimental studies which were made to ensure the feasibility of applying a diffractive lens element to a lithographic projection lens. The studies include lens design, diffractive element fabrication and the method, exposure experiments and the results, and some analysis of the results. It can be concluded from the results that the application is possible although improving the diffraction efficiency of the diffractive element is a significant issue for practical use.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Waste of seawater used for cooling water for machines in some kinds of industries in a littoral district in Sakai City, comes under the application of BOD control of the pollution control ordinance in Osaka Prefecture. But unfortunately the BOD measurement method of seawater sample has not been established. In order to establish the measurement method, we studied the strength of activation of aerobic bacteria in the incubation water used and the dilution water. From our results it was proved that we can use the incubation seawater consisting of more than 10(3) cells/ml general bacteria count and more than 0.50 microgram/l ATP (Adenosin triphosphate) as the incubation water and the artificial seawater as the dilution water.

Experiments were conducted to evaluate washing to reduce a degree of contamination with microoganisms on working wears. Seven pieces of cloth (4×5cm) each were stuck on 7 positions of each working wear, and sterilized. The pieces were contaminated either by dropping a solution with bacteria, or by wearing and working in chicken house for 1 week.The wears were washed by an electric washer. Counts of bacteria on the pieces were measured before and after washing the wears and drying various treatments. A degree of bacterial contamination on the cloths was reduced after washing. But it could not eliminated bacteria on the cloths. It is desirable that working wears after washing should be exposed to direct sun-beam for drying.

No antibodies against Salmonella pullorum, Mycoplasma gallisepticum, Mycoplasma synoviae, Haemophilus gallinarum, fowl pox virus, Marek's disease virus, herpes virus of turkey, infectious laryngotracheitis virus, avian adenovirus, avian reovirus, infectious bursal disease virus, reticuloendotheliosis virus, avian leukosis virus, avian encephalomyelitis virus and Newcastle disease virus were detectable in the sera obtained from these chickens in 3 generations at various ages. Antibodies against infectious bronchitis virus were detected in the sera of the 3rd generations at 66, 74 and 108 weeks of age. The performance of these chickens was nearly the same as that of conventional healthy chickens in the poultry industry, with no tendency to decline.