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Yu Nakanishi,1 Hiroshi Iwamoto,1 Shintaro Miyamoto,1 Satoshi Nakao,1 Naoko Higaki,1 Kakuhiro Yamaguchi,1 Shinjiro Sakamoto,1 Yasushi Horimasu,1 Takeshi Masuda,1 Naoko Matsumoto,2 Taku Nakashima,1 Yojiro Onari,3 Kazunori Fujitaka,1 Yoshinori Haruta,4 Hironobu Hamada,5 Soichiro Hozawa,6 Noboru Hattori1 1Department of Molecular and Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan; 2Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital & Atomic-Bomb Survivors Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan; 3Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hiroshima Mazda Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan; 4Haruta Respiratory Clinic, Hiroshima, Japan; 5Department of Physical Analysis and Therapeutic Sciences, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan; 6Hiroshima Allergy and Respiratory Clinic, Hiroshima, JapanCorrespondence: Hiroshi Iwamoto, Department of Molecular and Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 734-8551, Japan, Tel +81-82-257-5196, Email iwamotohiroshig@gmail.comPurpose: Asthma guidelines recommend considering the patient preference to optimize medication choices. Patient preference for inhaler medication may affect asthma outcomes, but evidence regarding this is lacking. This study investigated the associations between patient preference for inhaler medications and asthma outcomes.Patients and Methods: A multicenter questionnaire survey was conducted among 351 adult patients with asthma treated with regular inhaled corticosteroids. Agreement between patients’ preferences and current medication was evaluated using two questions: matched preference was defined as patients answering that the current inhaler medication was the most preferred treatment and they were satisfied with it. Mismatched preference was defined as when patients reported that the current inhaler medication was not the most preferred treatment and/or they were not satisfied with it. We investigated the factors associated with patient preference for asthma inhaler medications.Results: In total, 269 (76.6%) patients were classified into the matched preference group and 82 (23.4%) patients into the mismatched preference group. Multivariate analyses showed that matched preference was independently associated with higher asthma control test scores (P< 0.001), fewer exacerbations (P=0.009), less regular oral corticosteroid use (P=0.009), and better inhaler adherence (P=0.006) than the mismatched preference group. In subgroup analysis, younger age was associated with matched preference in patients using dry powder inhalers but not in those using pressurized metered dose inhalers.Conclusion: The use of preference-matched inhaler medication was associated with better asthma outcomes. Evaluation of patients’ preference for inhaler medication might provide useful information for individualized treatment with asthma inhaler medications.Keywords: patient preference, asthma control, inhaled corticosteroids, inhaler adherence, shared decision-making

Toshiharu Azma,1,2 Akira Nishioka,1 Saori Ogawa,3 Hiroshi Nagasaka,2 Nobuyuki Matsumoto2 1Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Kohnodai Hospital, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Ichikawa, Chiba 272-8516, Japan; 2Department of Anesthesiology, Saitama Medical University Hospital, Moroyama-cho, Iruma-gun, Saitama 350-0495, Japan; 3Department of Dental Anesthesiology, Matsumoto Dental University, Shiojiri, Nagano 399-0781, Japan Background: The enhanced expression of endogenous opioid peptides, including β-endorphin, has been implicated in the mechanism of action of pulsed radio frequency (PRF) application in pain modulation. Because thermal effects cannot be separated from the physical property of PRF application to biological tissues, we evaluated whether temperatures higher than that of the normal body temperature (37°C) modulate mRNA expression for the precursor of β-endorphin, proopiomelanocortin (POMC) in human monocytic cells THP-1. We also attempted to examine whether mechanisms other than thermal effects also modulate such gene expression. Methods and results: The mRNA for POMC in THP-1 cells increased by a 15-minutes incubation at 42°C, 45°C, or 70°C without PRF application as compared with that in cells incubated at 37°C. On the other hand, gene expression for POMC in cells incubated at 20°C as well as at 37°C with PRF application for 15 minutes increased as compared to that in cells incubated at 37°C without PRF application. Continuous radio frequency at 70°C but not PRF provoked apoptotic cell death at 1–2 hour, and necrotic cell death at 24 hours after the RF application. Conclusion: A simple experimental system using human monocytic cells in culture demonstrated that a 15 minute elevation of temperature above 37°C enhanced gene expression for POMC in THP-1 cells, while a 15 minute application of PRF to these cells incubated at 37°C or lower, also enhanced gene expression, indicating that temperature-independent mechanisms as well as thermal effects may be involved in such gene expression. Keywords: pulsed radio frequency electric field, human monocytic cells, THP-1, proopiomelanocortin, β-endorphin, necrosis, apoptosis, apoptotic vesicle

We present new absolute archaeointensity data from six archaeological sites situated in the Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The materials studied are well-dated fragments from pottery, ceramic coffins and haniwa artefacts. Their ages range from 160 AD to 675 AD, covering the Late Yayoi and Kofun periods. Rock magnetic experiments suggest the presence of magnetite and/or Ti-magnetite as the main carrier of the remanence, with a possible minor contribution of higher coercivity minerals. After thermal demagnetization experiments, the most magnetically stable samples were selected for archaeointensity analysis performed following the double-heating method proposed by Thellier and modified by Coe. Partial thermoremanent magnetization (pTRM) checks and pTRM tail-checks were performed for monitoring possible chemical alterations during heating. All measurements were corrected for both anisotropy and cooling-rate effects. Successful archaeointensity determinations, following rigorous selection criteria, were obtained for samples from all the investigated archaeological sites. Compared with literature data from Japan, the new high-quality data show significantly lower intensity values. They also reveal possible fast secular variation changes during the Late Yayoi period and very weak geomagnetic intensity field around 630 AD. Such values offer evidence of a possible recurrence of weak intensity field in East Asia, suggesting an ancient recurrence of the West Pacific Anomaly. The new data might change the archaeomagnetic field models interpretations in the area, even though more data are still necessary to better understand the secular variation in Japan and the temporal evolution of the geomagnetic field's behaviour in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]