Aim Dienogest (DNG) is highly effective for relieving pain caused by endometriosis and adenomyosis. However, women with severe uterine swelling due to adenomyosis who take DNG usually experience metrorrhagia. This study aimed to examine the safety of DNG usage in women with adenomyosis. Methods This study included 20 women who were prescribed DNG for adenomyosis in our hospital from January 2016 to December 2016. We retrospectively analyzed women's clinical background characteristics (age, the use of the gonadotropin‐releasing hormone agonist as pre‐treatment of DNG, the uterus size [major axis, minor axis, maximum thickness in the myometrium, and length of the uterine body] by transvaginal ultrasonography [TVUS], hemoglobin level, and the presence of metrorrhagia during treatment). These variables were compared between the DNG continuation and discontinuation groups using the Mann–Whitney U test. Results Thirteen women continued DNG, and seven discontinued DNG within 12 months because of metrorrhagia. The uterine size was significantly larger in the discontinuation group than in the continuation group. All uterine measurements had high Spearman rank correlation coefficients (ρ > 0.8, P < 0.05). In six of seven cases in the discontinuation group, adenomyosis was in the anterior wall. Measuring the uterus size and locating adenomyosis by TVUS are simple methods of predicting DNG discontinuation. Conclusion We consider that DNG can be safely administered in women with adenomyosis if the uterine size is <6 cm in the minor axis and the main lesion of adenomyosis is located in the posterior uterine wall.

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Octopus laqueus is a small tropical octopus found in Okinawa, Japan and the greater Indo-Pacific. Octopus are often viewed as solitary animals but O. laqueus live in close proximity in the wild, and will potentially encounter one another on a regular basis, raising the possibility of social tolerance. Adopting shared den occupancy in aquaria as a potential measure of social tolerance in O. laqueus, we studied the animals' preference for shared dens over solitude. We characterized dependence of sharing preference on sex, den availability and den occupancy density. We designed two simple social tolerance assays in aquaria with a total of 45 daily measurements: (i) Pots Equal, with equal numbers of octopuses and dens and (ii) Pots Limited, with a 3:1 ratio of octopuses to dens. We found that O. laqueus will socially tolerate other individuals by sharing tanks and dens and with typically no loss to cannibalism or escape. However, animals also exhibit significant levels of social repulsion, and individuals often chose a solitary den when given the option. The patterns of den occupancy are observed to be consistent with a maximum entropy model that balances seeking shelter against avoiding other animals. The model accurately captures and predicts the data and can be generalized to other organisms and their social interactions. Overall, in O. laqueus the preference for a den is stronger than the preference to be solitary. The animals are tolerant of others with a mixture of sizes in the tank and even in a den, a reported first for octopuses outside mating. The relaxed disposition and social tolerance of O. laqueus make it a promising species to work with in the lab to explore social and potentially other behaviors in octopuses.

Octopus laqueus is a small tropical octopus found in Okinawa, Japan and the greater Indo-Pacific. Octopus are often viewed as solitary animals but O. laqueus live in close proximity in the wild, and will potentially encounter one another on a regular basis, raising the possibility of sociality in the species. To test for social tolerance and social repulsion in O. laqueus, animals were kept in communal tanks, and the number of dens and sex composition was varied per tank, with a set mixture of sizes and with den occupancy tracked per individual. We found that O. laqueus will socially tolerate other individuals by sharing tanks and dens, including several animals in contact and sharing a den under den-limited conditions, and with typically no loss to cannibalism or escape. January 21, 2019 1/27However, animals also exhibit significant levels of social repulsion, and individuals often chose a solitary den when given the option. The patterns of den occupancy are observed to be consistent with a maximum entropy model. Overall, the preference to have a den is stronger than the preference to be solitary in O. laqueus, and the animals are socially tolerant of others in the tank and in a den or shelter, a first for octopuses outside mating. The relaxed disposition and social tolerance of O. laqueus make it a promising species to work with in lab, and for development into a genetic model for social behavior in octopuses. Introduction 1Octopus are traditionally viewed as solitary animals that do not form social 2 aggregations, have relatively few and simple reciprocal interactions, and rarely make 3 physical contact outside aggression and mating [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Further, species are known to be 4 cannibalistic in the laboratory and in the field [8][9][10][11]. However, recent studies [12][13][14] 5 suggest that classifying octopus as merely asocial is overly simplistic. Here and 6 elsewhere in the descriptive sections of this manuscript, we adopt the conventional 7 nomenclature of the field; however, definitions and conventions are not universally 8 shared even within the field, and the predictive value of this nomenclature is unresolved. 9Our aim is to investigate functional and predictive -as opposed to descriptive -10 characterizations of "sociality;" such a characterization is proposed in materials and 11 methods, and may not necessarily correspond directly to customary notions of sociality. 12 'Asocial'animals by definition reject or lack the capability for social interaction; they 13 are non-interacting, typically ignoring one another. In contrast, some species of octopus 14 show localized aggregated distributions with moderate to high densities, depending on 15 various factors, such as habitat, season, temperature, size, maturity, and prey in the 16 field [1, 14-21]. 17 Octopus aggregations are unlikely to represent gregarious attraction between 18 individuals outside mating [1, 15, 17], but would likely require some amount of social 19 tolerance to minimize frequent aggressive or lethal interactions. Further,...

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