Background We investigated the efficacy and safety of 60, 120, or 240 mg of Z-360, which is a highly potent cholecystokinin2-receptor-selective antagonist, combined with gemcitabine in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.Methods Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1:1:1 ratio to one of four treatment groups. Patients received 1000 mg/m2 gemcitabine for each cycle and Z-360 tablets of 60 mg (GZ 60 mg group), 120, 240 mg or placebo tablets (Gem group) orally twice daily. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS).ResultsThe median OS was 1.3 months longer in the GZ 60 mg group compared with the Gem group (8.5 vs. 7.2 months) and the risk of death was reduced by 19% compared with the Gem group, although there were no statistically significant differences. The study treatments were well tolerated.ConclusionsIn this Phase II study, no statistically significant differences between the GZ groups and Gem group were detected in any analysis. However, Z-360 in dose of 60 mg tends to improve OS in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer with low toxic effect. Further exploratory trials with other agents such as gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel might be beneficial.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00280-017-3351-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

It is observed that measured critical current of Cable-in-Conduit-Conductor (CICC) for ITER TF coil are lower than expected. This is partly explained an imbalance of the contact resistance at the joint between double pancakes which causes an unbalanced current distribution in a cable and hence during a slow temperature increase some strands reach the critical current earlier than other. In order to estimate the contact resistances, we identify the three-dimensional positions of all strands inside the CICC, and then evaluate the contact parameters such as number and length of the strands which appear on the cable surface and have contact with a copper sleeve. It is observed that many strands do not appear on the surface of the cable, and can lead to unbalanced current distribution. We developed a numerical code to analyze all strand positions in the CICC. We evaluated the contact parameters by using the numerical code, and then compared them with those evaluated from the measured strand positions. It is found that since both results are in good agreement, the numerical code is available for evaluating the contact parameters. By using the code, we can optimize the contact parameters by varying the twist pitches of all staged subcables. The results show that all strands appear at the surface of the cable and have contact with the copper sleeve, and moreover the contact parameters have been improved.

Perceptual video quality considerably affects the quality of experience (QoE) of watching television (TV) broadcasts. Viewing conditions, such as the screen size and viewing distance, impact the perceived quality. We performed subjective evaluation experiments on 8K (7,680×4,320) ultra-high definition (UHD) compressed videos under seven viewing conditions (combinations of 31.5-, 55-, and 85inch displays and 0.75, 1.5, and 3.0 H (times of screen height) of viewing distance). Distorted videos compressed by the versatile video coding (VVC)/H.266 were used in four types of encoding resolution, from 2K (1,920×1,080) to 8K, at a wide bitrate settings range of 3-80 Mbps. We derived a simple regression equation predicting the mean opinion score (MOS) using the hierarchical linear model (HLM), investigating the factors influencing subjective video quality. In this equation, MOS is expressed as a linear combination of terms including intercept and bitrate associated with sequence and encoding resolution, screen size, and viewing distance; it indicates that the smaller the screen, or the further the viewing distance, the fewer artifacts are perceived, as following empirical rules. Furthermore, we confirmed that the derived model is accurate as the Pearson linear and Spearman rank order correlation coefficients between predicted and actual MOS values were more than 0.97.INDEX TERMS 8K ultra-high definition television (UHDTV), hierarchical linear model (HLM), subjective evaluations, versatile video coding (VVC)/H.266, video quality assessments, viewing conditions.

In order to investigate superconducting properties such as long decay time constants, current imbalances and critical current degradations, we need detailed information about all strand locations in the cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC), and hence we develop a new estimation method to obtain all strand locations. It is very difficult to estimate all strand positions because all strands in the real CICC are squeezed into the conduit and are not regularly arranged but displaced. In order to estimate these strand displacements due to the compression, we introduce mechanical potential energy among strands, and hence we search the minimum energy locations which should be realized in the conductor. In order to calculate this process, we perturb all strands from the original locations and continue these processes by using a genetic algorithm until the potential energy is minimized. This analytical method is very useful to simulate all strand positions and allows us to investigate all the electromagnetic phenomena in the CICCs.Index Terms-Cable-in-conduit conductor, contact length, loop length, strand displacement, strand positions, twist deformation.

In recent years, engineering plastics have been used as materials for denture bases, which have been formed by the injection or compression molding method. The results of evalution of these dentures worn intraorally have been published. In this report, we focused on the method whereby polysulfone was preformed to a shape suiting denture base fabrication (Ube Industries Ltd.); polysulfone dentures, constructed by using a systematic method called UB Denture System, were placed in the mouths of 21 patients; and their clinical courses were followed. The findings of these observations are presented.