A modified ethanol injection method for liposomes containing soybean phosphatidylcholine (SPC), cholesterol (Ch), beta-sitosterol beta-D-glucoside (Sit-G) and oleic acid (OA) was developed, that can produce homogeneous unilamellar liposomes without the use of sonication and dialysis. In this method, water is poured into a concentrated lipid-ethanol solution and then ethanol is removed in an evaporator. Dilution with water causes spontaneous formation of small and homogenous unilamellar vesicles from micellar aggregate. The size of liposomes can be controlled by the ratio of ethanol to water. OA and Sit-G were distributed at the surface of liposomes and were recognized by Concanavalin A, respectively. This easy and quick method for preparation of liposomes may be applicable in many areas.

BackgroundAlthough dysgeusia is a common adverse event in chemotherapy patients; it has not been evaluated using objective methods, and its prevalence and frequency have not been quantified.MethodsSalt-impregnated taste strips were used to objectively assess dysgeusia in patients receiving chemotherapy at Akita University (n = 38) and those off chemotherapy (n = 9). Participant characteristics, and ongoing and previous chemotherapies were evaluated, and their associations with dysgeusia analyzed.ResultsDysgeusia developed in 38.8% (14/38) of chemotherapy patients, and was most prevalent in patients receiving 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or its oral analogs (48.1%, 13/27). Particularly, dysgeusia developed in 55.6% (10/18) of patients receiving oral 5-FU analogs; however, prevalence in patients receiving and off chemotherapy was not significantly different. Patients aged ≥70 years also tended to experience dysgeusia (75.0%, 6/8).ConclusionsAssociation with dysgeusia may be higher for some chemotherapeutic drugs. Dysgeusia should be routinely assessed in chemotherapy patients with objective methods such as paper strips; interventions for its prevention may be required.

AimThere are no effective, tolerable, and established medications for preventing delirium in critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). We investigated whether suvorexant was effective in preventing ICU delirium.MethodsThis randomized controlled study evaluated 70 adult patients (age ≥20 years) admitted to the mixed medical ICU of the Tokyo Medical University Hospital (Tokyo, Japan) between May 2015 and February 2017. Patients were randomized using a sealed envelope method to receive either suvorexant (n = 34; 15 mg for elderly patients and 20 mg for younger adults) or conventional treatment (n = 36) for a 7‐day period. The primary outcome was delirium incidence based on the definition in the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.ResultsNo significant between‐group differences were observed in the demographic or clinical characteristics. Kaplan−Meier estimates revealed that time to delirium onset was significantly longer in the suvorexant group than in the conventional group (P < 0.05).ConclusionSuvorexant might be effective in preventing delirium in ICU patients.

Sequential FOLFOX followed by an irinotecan-based regimen is unfavorable in patients with CIMP-positive tumors. High frequencies of mutation in EGFR-related genes in CIMP-positive tumors may cause the lower response to anti-EGFR antibody therapy seen in patients with wild-type KRAS and CIMP-positive tumors.