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Background: At birth, the ductus arteriosus (DA) merges with the aortic arch in the slightly caudal side of the origin of the left subclavian artery (SCA). Since the SCAs (7th segmental arteries) were fixed on the level of the 7th cervical-first thoracic vertebral bodies, the confluence of DA should migrate caudally. We aimed to describe timing and sequence of the topographical change using serial sagittal sections of 36 human embryos and foetuses (CRL 8-64 mm; 5-10 weeks), Those made easy evaluation of the vertebral levels possible in a few section.Materials and Methods: The DA or 6th pharyngeal arch artery seemed to slide down in front of the sympathetic nerve trunk along 1.0-1.2 mm from the second cervical vertebral level at 5-6 weeks and, at 6 weeks (CRL 14-17 mm), the DA confluence with aorta reached the 7th cervical level. Because of the highly elongated common carotid artery, the sliding of DA confluence seemed to be much shorter than the cervical vertebrae growing from 1 mm to 2.4 mm.Results: At the final topographical change at 6-7 weeks, the DA confluence further descended to a site 1-vertebral length below the left SCA origin. From 6 to 9 weeks, a distance from the top of the aortic arch to the left SCA origin was almost stable: 0.3-0.5 mm at 6 weeks and 0.4-0.6 mm at 9 weeks.Conclusions: The heart descent and the caudal extension of the trachea and bronchi, those occurred before the DA sliding, were likely to be a major driving force for the sliding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Médica MD is the property of Comite Editorial de la Revista Medica MD and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Médica MD is the property of Comite Editorial de la Revista Medica MD and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The magnetic sensor is used in various fields such as industrial, automobile, IT and biomagnetism. The MI sensor is a magnetic sensor based on the MI (Magneto Impedance) effect discovered by K. Mori etal. in 1993. The MI element with a pickup coil produced by a plating process is used in electromagnetic compasses. Although it can detect 1-1000 µT level, higher performance in sensitivity and noise level is required. Here, the effect of wire length, magnetic property of the amorphous magnetic wire, the number of coil turns and number of cores on the sensor characteristics was investigated. Then based on the above investigations, the designed MI element was test produced. It was found that the designed element shows dramatically higher sensitivity and 1/100 noise, as compared to the currently used MI element (AMI306). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Colloquium Exactarum is the property of Asociacao Prudentina de Educacao e Cultura (APEC) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We demonstrate a peristaltic micropump that utilizes traveling waves on polymer membranes to transport liquids. This micropump requires no valves and, more importantly, the traveling waves can be generated by a single actuator. These features enable the design of simple, compact devices. This micropump has a hydraulic displacement amplification mechanism (HDAM) that encapsulates an incompressible fluid with flexible polymer membranes made of polydimethyl siloxane. A microchannel is attached to the top side of the HDAM. We used a cantilever-type piezoelectric actuator to oscillate the flexible membrane at the bottom of the HDAM, while the top-side membrane drives the liquid in the channel. This format enables rectangular parallelepiped micropumps as compact as 36 mm long, 10 mm wide and several millimeters high, depending on the channel height. Experiments using the fabricated micropumps equipped with microchannels of various heights revealed that the flow rate was dependent on the ratio of the amplitude of the traveling waves to the height of the fluidic channel. The manufactured micropump could successfully generate a maximum flow rate of 1.5 ml minâ'1 at 180 mW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The response of Asian monsoon variability to orbital forcing is still unclear, and all hypotheses are controversial. We present a record of the sea surface temperature difference (ΔSST) between the South China Sea and the other Western Pacific Warm Pool regions as a proxy for the intensity of the Asian winter monsoon, because the winter cooling of the South China Sea is caused by the cooling of surface water at the northern margin and the southward advection of cooled water due to winter monsoon winds. The ΔSST showed significant precession cycles during the last 150 kyr. In the precession cycle, the maximum winter monsoon intensity shown by the ΔSST corresponded to the May perihelion and was delayed behind the maximum ice volume. The East Asian winter monsoon was anti-phase with the Indian summer monsoon and the summer monsoon precipitation in central Japan. The timing of the maximum phase of the East Asian winter monsoon was different from previous results in terms of the March perihelion (ice volume maxima) and June perihelion (minimum of Northern Hemisphere winter insolation). We infer that the variation of the East Asian winter monsoon was caused by a physical mechanism of inter-hemispheric heat balance. The East Asian winter monsoon was intensified by the Northern Hemisphere cooling, which was caused by the combined effect of cooling by the ice volume forcing and the decrease in winter insolation, or by decreased heat transfer from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere owing to the weak Indian summer monsoon at the May perihelion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract   A microscopic theory of transverse acoustic impedance of superfluid 3He is presented. We calculate the stress tensor of superfluid 3He as a response to the oscillating rough wall. For that purpose, we extend a quasi-classical theory with the random S-matrix model for the rough wall to time dependent problems. By this formulation, we can take into account the pair breaking mechanism. Our numerical results show good agreement with the recent experiments in both the A-phase and the B-phase. We discuss that the frequency and the temperature dependence of the transverse acoustic impedance is dominated by the pair excitations involving the surface bound states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No Heading A microscopic theory of transverse acoustic impedance of superfluid 3He at low temperatures is presented. we calculate the stress tensor of superfluid 3He as a response to the oscillating rough wall. For that purpose, we extend a quasi-classical theory based on the random S-matrix model to time dependent problems. We show that by virtue of the pair breaking mechanism the transverse impedance can be finite even at T=0 K. This is in contrast to the theories using the quasi-particle distribution function which predict that the impedance tends to zero like a Yosida function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No Heading We discuss the NMR properties of a non-unitary state which has recently been proposed by Fomin as a candidate for the A-like phase of superfluid 3He in aerogel. The new state is robust against the anisotropic scattering by the aerogel strands. We solve Leggettt’s equation for the robust state. Two transverse resonances as well as a longitudinal resonance are obtained. We find that in the pulsed-NMR the free induction frequency depends on the tipping angle ? as (1 + cos ?). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No Heading Impurity effect on the fourth sound propagation in the superfluid 3He-aerogel system confined in a channel is discussed on the basis of a two-fluid theory in which phenomenological parameters are determined microscopically within the homogeneous scattering model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In previous studies, significantly elevated levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) have been reported in patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). On the other hand, plasma tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) have been significantly higher in mild sleep apneics than in normal controls. However, this study included a small number of patients and milder cases of OSAHS. Objectives andMethods: To assess the involvement of IL-6 and TNF-α in VEGF increases in patients with severe OSAHS, serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-α were determined in patients with severe OSAHS (n = 110) and compared to those of controls (n = 45) using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: No significant increase in IL-6 or TNF-α was detected in the present study cohort. However, the body mass index was significantly correlated with the severity of the apnea-hypopnea index. Conclusions: These data suggest that the elevation in VEGF is not directly related to IL-6 or TNF-α levels. However, the question of whether VEGF is the cause or the result of OSAHS remains to be determined. Further studies are needed to clarify the role of IL-6 and TNF-α in the pathogenesis of OSAHS, in which obesity should be entered as an independent factor.Copyright © 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sister chromatid cohesion in meiosis is established by cohesin complexes, including the Rec8 subunit. During meiosis I, sister chromatid cohesion is destroyed along the chromosome arms to release connections of recombined homologous chromosomes (homologues), whereas centromeric cohesion persists until it is finally destroyed at anaphase II. In fission yeast, as in mammals, distinct cohesin complexes are used depending on the chromosomal region; Rec8 forms a complex with Rec11 (equivalent to SA3) mainly along chromosome arms, while Psc3 (equivalent to SA1 and SA2) forms a complex mainly in the vicinity of the centromeres. Here we show that separase activation and resultant Rec8 cleavage are required for meiotic chromosome segregation in fission yeast. A non-cleavable form of Rec8 blocks disjunction of homologues at meiosis I. However, displacing non-cleavable Rec8 restrictively from the chromosome arm by genetically depleting Rec11 alleviated the blockage of homologue segregation, but not of sister segregation. We propose that the segregation of homologues at meiosis I and of sisters at meiosis II requires the cleavage of Rec8 along chromosome arms and at the centromeres, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The TOR protein is a phosphoinositide kinase-related kinase widely conserved among eukaryotes. Fission yeast tor1 encodes an ortholog of TOR, which is required for sexual development and growth under stressed conditions. We isolated gad8, which encodes a Ser/Thr kinase of the AGC family, as a high-copy suppressor of the sterility of a tor1 mutant. Disruption of gad8 caused phenotypes similar to those of tor1 disruption. Gad8p was less phosphorylated and its kinase activity was undetectable in tor1Δ cells. Three amino acid residues corresponding to conserved phosphorylation sites in the AGC family kinases, namely Thr387 in the activation loop, Ser527 in the turn motif and Ser546 in the hydrophobic motif, were important for the kinase activity of Gad8p. Tor1p was responsible for the phosphorylation of Ser527 and Ser546, whereas Ksg1p, a PDK1-like kinase, appeared to phosphorylate Thr387 directly. Altogether, Tor1p, Ksg1p and Gad8p appear to constitute a signaling module for sexual development and growth under stressed conditions in fission yeast, which resembles the mTOR-PDK1-S6K1 system in mammals and may represent a basic signaling module ubiquitous in eukaryotes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind velocity, vertical stand structure and sea-salt distribution were measured at various heights inside a plantation of coastal pine forest, with thinning and unthinning, to assess whether any relationships exist between the wind profile, stand structure and sea-salt distribution in the coastal pine forest. The vertical stand structure, i.e., optical stratification porosity (OSP), which is defined as vertical distribution of the proportion of sky hemisphere not obscured by tree elements inside a forest stand, was determined for each height by computer analysis of digital images taken with a hemispherical lens. The distribution of OSP in the coastal forest follows the Lambert-Beer's law with absorbency coefficient (&b.nu;). The relative windspeed within canopy can be described using the exponential form with the attenuation coefficient (&b.nu;). The sea-salt was collected using salt gauze (a surgical dressing of loosely woven cotton) both inside and outside the coastal forest, and the distribution of sea-salt within canopy was also in accordance with an exponential function. The relationships among windspeed, OSP and seasalt indicate that the distributions of both sea-salt and windspeed within canopy were very closely correlated with the distribution of OSP. A linear relationship between OSP and sea-salt has been found. Additionally, linear regression between coefficients &b.nu; and α has been obtained as well. Based on these relationships between OSP, wind and sea-salt in the coastal forest, the sea-salt distribution and wind profile within the canopy of the coastal forest can be predicted according to OSP. These results may therefore be useful in analyzing the effects of seasalt on vegetation and evaluating the filter functions of coastal forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate an inverse problem of determining a shape of a part of the boundary of a bounded domain in $\mathcal R^3$ by a solution to a Cauchy problem of the Laplace equation. Assuming that the unknown part is a Lipschitz continuous surface, we give a logarithmic conditional stability estimate in determining the part of boundary under reasonably a priori information of an unknown part. The keys are the complex extension and estimates for a harmonic measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the Kelvin–Voigt model for the viscoelasticity, and prove a Carleman estimate for functions without compact supports. Then we apply this Carleman estimate to prove the Lipschitz stability in determining a spatial varying function in an external source term of Kelvin–Voigt model by a single measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the transport equation in where is a bounded domain, and discuss two inverse problems which consist of determining a vector-valued function or a real-valued function by initial values and data on a subboundary of . Our results are conditional stability of Hölder type in a subdomain D provided that the outward normal component of is positive on . The proofs are based on a Carleman estimate where the weight function depends on H. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phase transitions show large responses in physical properties including electrical conductivity changes caused by thermodynamic parameter control or by external stimuli. Thus, an element that shows electronic phase changes in response to input signal may help to provide efficient electronic devices. Strongly correlated electron systems such as Mott insulators are promising candidates for this purpose because they exhibit a large number of electronic phase transitions. Recently, much progress has been made in phase-transition transistors based on organic Mott insulators. In this paper, we review organic transistors that exhibit an insulator-to-metal or an insulator-to-superconductor transition induced by external stimuli such as electric fields, strain, and light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider an inverse problem of reconstructing two spatially varying coefficients in an acoustic equation of hyperbolic type using interior data of solutions with suitable choices of initial condition. Using a Carleman estimate, we prove Lipschitz stability estimates which ensure unique reconstruction of both coefficients. Our theoretical results are justified by numerical studies on the reconstruction of two unknown coefficients using noisy backscattered data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report experimental measurements and theoretical analysis of Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations in a Dirac cone system: the α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3 organic metal under hydrostatic pressure. The measured SdH oscillations reveal anomalies at high magnetic fields B where the 1/B oscillations periodicity is lost above 7 T. We interpret these unusual results within a theoretical model that takes into account intrinsic distortions of the α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3 Dirac cones such as a parabolic particle-hole asymmetric correction. Others possible causes, such as a cone tilting or a Zeeman effect, are carefully ruled out. The observations are consistent among α-(BEDT-TTF)2I3 samples with different Fermi levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine how the gamma knife surgery (GKS) affects the neurocognitive function of patients with brain metastases who included in prospective multi-institute study for brain metastases (JLGK0901). Method: Until Dec 2010, 859 patients were eligible for JLGK0901. We monitored neurocognitive function using Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) before GKS and at 4 and 12 months after GKS. We evaluated MMSE change, effects of pre-treatment status to MMSE score. We also divided into following 2 groups regarding pre-treatment MMSE score: Group A, MMSE score ≥27; Group B, ≤27. Neurocognitive change was defined as 3-point change in the MMSE score. Results: We evaluated MMSE for 776 patients (90.3%) before GKS. The mean score of MMSE was 27.2 ± 3.1 (mean ± standard deviation). Age >65, total tumor volume >3 cm³ and KPS£ 80 were significantly related to lower MMSE score. We obtained MMSE score of 350 patients (45.1%) at 4 months after GKS and 111 patients (14.3%) at 12 months after GKS. The MMSE scores were 28.1 ± 2.5 and 27.7 ± 3.6 at 4 months and 12 months after GKS, respectively. MMSE score significantly was increased at 4 months after GKS, respectively. There was no significant difference in MMSE score between pre-and 12 months after GKS. In most of group A patients, MMSE scores were stable during follow-up. Half of group B patients experienced improvement of MMSE scores. In both groups, neurocognitive deterioration was detected in approximately 10% of the patients. Conclusion: Minimum risk of deteriorating neurocognitive function was confirmed at least up to 12 months after GKS. No major adverse effects due to GKS occurred in this cohort. Follow-up of the patients study will be completed in 2013. This result will be updated in final report of JLGK0901 Disclosure: No significant relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Gamma knife (GK) radiosurgery against metastatic brain tumor generally enables the focal control of tumor leading to the better prognosis of patients. In some cases, however, we need to plan additional treatment against focally recurred tumor at the site of initial GK treatment. In such cases, as differential diagnosis between radiation injury and active tumor is often difficult using Gd enhanced MRI, we have come to apply 11C methionine images with positron emission tomography (MET-PET) for the treatment of focally recurred tumor after initial GK. We retrospectively compared the prognosis of patients between PET based treatment and MR based treatment. Methods: 2502 patients with brain metastases underwent GK at Katsuta hospital Mito Gamma House. 134 of them (5.4%) revealed to have focal recurrence at the site of the initial treatment. 87 of them underwent the second GK based on MR information (N=53, MR group)or on MET-PET information (N=34, PET group). Characteristics of patients and the overall survival of two groups of patients were statistically compared. Results: 1) Sex, age, the site of initial organ, KPS, RPA class, control status of initial cancer, metastates to the other organs, rate of multilple brain metastases were the factors compaired among groups. Sex and age distribution was significantly different between MR group and PET group, but there was no difference in the other factors between groups. 2) When we compaired the GK treatment protocol, total irradiation volume was significantly smaller, and the minimal irradiation dose was significantly higher in PET group than in MR group. 3) Overall survival period after the second GK was significantly longer in PET group (median survival time, 18.1 months) than in MR group (median survival time, 8.6 months)(p=0.007). 4)Multifactorial statistical analysis using proportional hazard model was conducted to analyze the contribution of the use of MET-PET on the post-treatment survival period by adding the other factors mentioned above. Of all factors, use of MET-PET (p=0.018, OR=0.55, 95%CI 0.33-0.90) and KPS (p=0.0015) significantly correlated to the post-treatment survival period, but the other factors did not. Conclusions: Our retrospective analysis revealed that, when we perform the additional GK treatment against focally recurred tumor at the site of the initial treatment, use of PET metabolic image significantly contribute to the better prognosis of patients. Disclosure: No significant relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We tested the validity of two prognostic indices for brain metastasis (BM) patients treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). The two indices are Diagnosis-Specific Graded Prognostic Assessment (DS-GPA) and our recently-proposed index, Modified Recursive Partitioning Analysis (RPA), in which all patients were categorized into three sub-classes (RPA I+IIa, IIb and IIc+III, Yamamoto et al, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2012;83: 399-1405). Methods: This was a two-institution, institutional review board-approved, retrospective cohort study using two prospectively accumulated databases including 4608 BM patients who underwent SRS alone, without whole brain radiotherapy, for BMs during the 1998-2011 period. Primary cancer categories were non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC, 2827 patients), small cell lung cancer (SCLC, 460), gastro-intestinal cancer (GIC, 582), breast cancer (BC, 547) and renal cell cancer (RCC, 192). The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the absolute risk of each event. Results: There were statistically significant survival differences among patients stratified into four groups based on the DS-GPA systems (p<0.001) in all five original cancer categories. In the NSCLC category, there were statistically significant mean survival time (MST) differences (p<0.001) among the four groups without overlapping of 95% confidence intervals (CIs) between any two pairs of groups with the DS-GPA system. Among the SCLC, GIC, BC and RCC categories, MST differences between some pairs of groups failed to reach statistical significance with this system. There were, however, statistically significant MST differences (p<0.001) among the three groups without overlapping of 95% CIs between any two pairs of groups with the Modified RPA system in all five categories. Conclusions: The DS-GPA system is applicable to our set of patients with NSCLC only. However, the Modified RPA system was shown to be applicable to patients with five primary cancer categories. This index should be considered when designing future clinical trials involving BM patients. Disclosure: No significant relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Although stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) alone for patients with ≥4-5 tumors is not a standard treatment, a trend for patients with =5 tumors to undergo SRS alone is already apparent. Our aim is to reappraise whether SRS treatment results for tumor numbers ≥5 differ from those with 1-4. Methods: This institutional review board-approved, retrospective cohort study used our prospectively accumulated database including 2553 consecutive patients who underwent SRS, not in combination with concurrent whole brain radiotherapy, for brain metastases (METs) during the 1998-2011 period. These 2553 patients were divided into two groups; 1553 with tumor numbers of 1-4 (group A) and 1000 with ≥5 (group B). Because there was considerable bias in pre-SRS clinical factors between groups A and B, a case-matched study was conducted. Ultimately, 1096 (548 each in groups A and B) patients were selected. The standard Kaplan-Meier method was used to determine post-SRS survival and the post-SRS neurological death-free survival times. Competing risk analysis was applied to estimate cumulative incidences of local recurrence, re-SRS for new lesions, neurological deterioration and SRS-induced complications. Results: Post-SRS median survival time (MST, months) was significantly longer in the 548 group-A (7.9, 95% confidence interval [CI]; 7.0-8.9) than in the 548 group-B patients (7.0, CI; 6.2-7.8, hazard ratio [HR]; 1.176 [95% CI; 1.039-1.331], p=0.01). However, incidences of neurological death were very similar, 10.6% in group-A and 8.2% in group-B patients (p=0.21). There was no significant difference between the two groups in neurological death-free survival intervals (HR; 0.945, 95% CI; 0.636-1.394, p=0.77). Furthermore, competing risk analyses showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups in cumulative incidences of local recurrence (HR; 0.577, 95% CI; 0.312-1.069, p=0.08), repeat SRS (HR; 1.133, 95% CI; 0.910-1.409, p=0.26), neurological deterioration (HR; 1.868, 95% CI; 0.608-1.240, p=0.44) and major SRS-related complications (HR; 1.105, 95% CI; 0.490-2.496, p=0.81). Conclusions: Our retrospective study suggests increased tumor number to be an unfavorable factor for longer survival. However, the post-SRS MST difference, 0.9 months, between the two groups is not clinically meaningful. Furthermore, patients with ≥5 METs have non-inferior results, as compared to those with 1-4, in terms of neurological death, local recurrence, repeat SRS, maintenance of good neurological state and SRS-related complications. A randomized controlled trial should be conducted to test our hypothesis. Disclosure: No significant relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: By the end of 2012, we will have finished a multi-institute observational prospective study (abbreviation; JLGK0901, UMIN ID; 1812, http: /www. umin.ac.jp/), which is designed to prove the non-inferiority of gamma knife surgery (GKS) alone treatment for patients with 5-10 brain metastases (BM) versus 2-4 BM. Methods: 1206 patients with 1-10 newly diagnosed BM (<10 cc volume of the largest BM, <15 cc total tumor volume, no findings of CSF dissemination and KPS <70%) were enrolled at 23 facilities in Japan between March 2009 and February 2012. No attempt at pre-treatment randomization was made. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS); other endpoints were tumor control, new distant lesion(s), salvage treatment, functional preservation including neuro-cognitive function, toxicities and cause of death. Results: There were 480 females, 726 males, with a mean age of 66 (range; 30-91) years. The primary organs were the lung in 918 patients (76.1%), breast in 125 (10.4%), colon in 54 (4.5%), kidney in 36 (3.0%) and others in 73 (6.1%). BM number was one in 460 (38.1%), 2-4 in 536 (44.4%) and 5-10 in 210 (17.4%) patients. As of August 2012, the median post-GKS follow-up time among censored observations (447 patients) was 15.4 (range; 0.8-41.0) months, and 739 patients (62.3%) had died. The median survival time was 12.1 (95% confidence interval; 11-13.1) months. The tumor control rates at one year were 95.5% for tiny (<1cc), 80.9% for small (1-4cc) and 66.5% for medium-sized (4-1 0cc) BM. New lesion-free and salvage treatment-free survival rates at 1 year were 41.1%, 58.9%. Functional preservation rates were 88.5% at 1 year, 79.9% at 2 years and 74.5% at 3 years. Neurological deaths were verified in 59 patients and neurological death-free rates were 95.3% at 1 year, 88.0% at 2 years and 86.2% at 3 years. Conclusions: Based on our previous retrospective investigations, the JLGK0901 study is anticipated to prove the non-inferiority of GKS as the sole treatment for patients with 5-10 brain BM as compared to those with 2-4 in terms of OS (Serizawa et al. JNS 113: 48-52, 2010). Interim analysis comparing groups according to BM numbers in this on-going study is prohibited by the protocol. However, the final results comparing OS between the 2-4 and 5-10 BM groups will be disclosed at this meeting. Disclosure: No significant relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider an inverse problem of recovering a time-dependent factor of an unknown source on some subboundary for a diffusion equation with time fractional derivative by nonlocal measurement data. Such fractional-order equations describe anomalous diffusion of some contaminants in heterogeneous media such as soil and model the contamination process from an unknown source located on a part of the boundary of the concerned domain. For this inverse problem, we firstly establish the well-posedness in some Sobolev space. Then we propose two regularizing schemes in order to reconstruct an unknown boundary source stably in terms of the noisy measurement data. The first regularizing scheme is based on an integral equation of the second kind which an unknown boundary source solves, and we prove a convergence rate of regularized solutions with a suitable choice strategy of the regularizing parameter. The second regularizing scheme relies directly on discretization by the radial basis function for the initial-boundary value problem for fractional diffusion equation, and we carry out numerical tests, which show the validity of our proposed regularizing scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this note, we prove that for the Navier–Stokes equations, a pair of Dirichlet and Neumann data and pressure uniquely correspond to a pair of Dirichlet data and surface stress on the boundary. Hence the two inverse boundary value problems in Imanuvilov and Yamamoto (2015 Inverse Probl.31 035004) and Lai et al (Arch. Rational Mech. Anal.) are the same. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider inverse boundary value problems for the Navier–Stokes equations and the isotropic Lamé system in two dimensions. The question of global uniqueness for these inverse problems, without any smallness assumptions on unknown coefficients, has been a longstanding open problem for the Navier–Stokes equations and the isotropic Lamé system in two dimensions. We prove the global uniqueness for both inverse boundary value problems. Our methodology is the same for both systems. The key is the construction of complex geometric optics solutions after decoupling the systems into weakly coupling systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent experiments (Yamamoto et al 2012 Nature Nanotechnology7 247) used the transport of electrons through an Aharonov–Bohm (AB) interferometer and two coupled channels (at both ends of the interferometer) to demonstrate a manipulable flying qubit. Results included in-phase and anti-phase (AB) oscillations of the two outgoing currents as a function of the magnetic flux, for strong and weak inter-channel coupling, respectively. Here we present new experimental results for a three terminal interferometer, with a tunnel coupling between the two outgoing wires. We show that in some limits, this system is an even simpler realization of the ‘two-slit’ experiment. We also present a simple tight-binding theoretical model which imitates the experimental setup. For weak inter-channel coupling, the AB oscillations in the current which is reflected from the device are very small, and therefore the oscillations in the two outgoing currents must cancel each other, yielding the anti-phase behavior, independent of the length of the coupling regime. Technically, the tight binding equations within the two coupled wires have four solutions for each electronic energy. In the ‘anti-phase’ region all of these solutions are wave-like, oscillating with the distance along the wires. As the coupling between the wires increases, two of these solutions become evanescent, and their amplitudes decay as the electron moves in the wires. In this regime, the amplitudes of the two remaining ‘running’ waves are proportional to each other, with a ratio which is practically flux-independent. As a result, the two outgoing currents are proportional to each other, yielding the ‘in phase’ behavior. For larger coupling all the solutions are evanescent, and the outgoing currents become very small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is an effective primary treatment for small volume metastatic brain tumors. Radiation induced necrosis is majorcomplication of SRS, early diagnosis and adequate treatment is important to avoid neurological deterioration . However, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish radiation necrosis from tumor recurrence after SRS. Methionine (Met) PET can directly evaluate tumor viability, it can distinguish radiation necrosis and tumor recurrence with high specificity and sensitivity. However, Met PET is not routinely available in clinical practice. Recently, MRI T1/T2 mismatch method was reported (Kano, 2010, Neurosurgery). We tried to validate the accuracy of this T1/T2 mismatch method using methionine(Met)-PET as gold standard. Methods: 144 lesions of 84 patients, who underwent gamma knife surgery for metastatic brain tumors, were evaluated by MRI T1/T2 mismatch method and Met-PET. Judgement of MRI T1/T2 match or mismatch was decided by two neurosurgeons, who are blind to clinical information and results of Met-PETS. In Met PET studies, T/N ratio above 1.4 is judged tumor recurrence based on the former article of others with validation in our institute. Results: 57 lesions were judged match (40%), 87 lesion mismatch (60%) by MRI T1/T2 mismatch method. On the other hand, 57 matched lesions were judged as 38 recurrence (T/N ratio>1.4; 67%) and 19 necrosis (T/N ratio < 1.4; 33%) with Met PET. 87 mismatched lesions included 46 recurrence (53%) and 41 necrosis (47%). Sensitivity of T1/T2 mismatch method for accurate diagnosis of tumor recurrence was 48%, and specificity was 67%. Conclusions: MRI T1/T2 mismatch method tends to judge tumor recurrence as mismatch, when tumor recurrence and radiation necrosis are mixed in the same lesion. In such cases, as Met PET can survey the uptake of tracer among whole lesions, it could provide more accurate diagnosis than MRI. MRI T1/T2 mismatch method has great advantage that relatively reliable assessment is made in routine surveillance MRI. However, we need such caution to use MRI for differential diagnosis between tumor recurrence and radiation injury for SRS treated patients. Disclosure: No significant relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: To evaluate outcomes as well as risks of new tumor development after stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for recurrent or residual intracranial hemangioblastomas. Methods: Six participating centers of the North American Gamma Knife Consortium and 13 participating Japanese Gamma Knife centers identified 186 patients with 517 hemangioblastomas who underwent SRS. There were 80 patients with 335 hemangioblastomas associated with von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL) and 106 patients with 182 sporadic hemangioblastomas. The median tumor volume was 0.2 cc in VHL patients and 0.7 cc in patients with sporadic hemangioblastomas. The median margin dose was 18 Gy in VHL patients and 15 Gy in sporadic hemangioblastomas. Results: At a median follow-up of 5 years (0.5-18 years), 20 patients had died from disease progression and nine patients had died from other causes. The overall survival from initial diagnosis was 95% at 5 years and 87% at 10 years. The overall survival after SRS was 94% at 3 years, 90% at 5 years, and 74% at 10 years. Factors associated with longer survival after SRS included younger age, no neurological symptoms, fewer tumors, and higher KPS. Thirty (38%) of 80 VHL patients and 15 (14%) of 106 sporadic hemangioblastoma patients developed new tumors. The 5-year rate of developing a new tumor was 39% for VHL patients and 21% for sporadic hemangioblastoma patients. Factors associated with a reduced risk of developing a new tumor included younger age, fewer tumors, and sporadic rather than VHL-associated hemangioblastomas. The progression-free survival of the treated tumors was 92% at 3 years, 89% at 5 years, and 79% at 10 years. Factors associated with an improved progression-free survival included VHL-associated hemangioblastoma, solid tumor, smaller tumorvolumeand highermarginaldose. In VHL patients, progression-free survival was 99% at 1 year, 95% at 3 years, 93% at 5 years, and 82% at 10 years. Only solid tumor was associated with improved progression-free survival. In sporadic hemangioblastoma patients, progression-free survival was 94% at 1 year, 87% at 3 years, 81% at 5 years, and 75% at 10 years. Factors associated with an improved progression-free survival included solid tumor, smaller tumor volume and higher marginal dose. Twelve patients (6%) developed adverse radiation effects (ARE) after SRS and one patient died due to ARE. Conclusion: SRS is an important tool in selected patients with hemangioblastomas, and it is associated with a satisfactory tumor control rate as well as risk of adverse radiation effects. Disclosure: No significant relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Debate continues as to whether stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) or stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) should be chosen for patients with pituitary tumors touching or even compressing the optic apparatus (OA). We describe our personal experiences with SRS for such patients. Methods: This institutional review board-approved, retrospective cohort study used our prospectively accumulated database including 26 consecutive patients (16 females, 10 males, mean age; 62 [range; 32-85] years) who underwent SRS using a gamma knife for the aforementioned condition during the 1998-2003 period. There were 24 non-functioning tumors and two growth hormone-producing tumors. Among the 24 patients with non-functioning tumors, 22 tumors manifested with visual disturbances in 19 and diplopia, headache and hypo-pituitarism in one each. The other two tumors were found incidentally. Before SRS, surgical removal had been performed in 23 patients, once in 13, twice in 8 and four times in two. The median tumor volume was 5.1 (range; 1.8-24.2) cc. To avoid excess irradiation to the OA, the tumor was not totally covered with the selected peripheral doses. Instead, the lower part of the tumor was covered with a 50% or a 60% isodose gradient; i.e., 55-98% (mean; 86%, median; 88%) of the entire tumor received the selected doses. Median doses at the tumor periphery and OA were 12.0 Gy and 11.6 Gy (ranges; 10.0-18.0 Gy and 8.5-18.6 Gy), respectively. Results: Post-SRS MR imaging performed 11-169 (median; 99) months after SRS demonstrated tumor shrinkage in 16 patients (61.5%), unchanged tumor size in seven (26.9%) and growth in the other three (11.5%). Among the three patients whose tumors grew, surgery was required in two, 11 and 85 months after SRS, while the other has been observed without further procedures (FP), to date. Using the Kaplan-Meier method, the actuarial FP-free rates at the 5th and 10th post-SRS year were calculated to be 96.2% and 90.5%. Neither SRS-induced optic neuropathy nor endocrinological impairment occurred. Conclusion: In patients with pituitary tumors touching or even compressing the OA, SRS achieves good long-term results. The opinion that SRT is the only appropriate treatment is thus unwarranted. Disclosure: No significant relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Little is known about post-stereotacitic radiosurgery delayed complications (DCs) in long-surviving patients with brain metastases (MET). We studied the actual incidence and predictors of DCs. We also examined DC treatment and pathogenesis based on histopathological studies. Methods: This was an institutional review board-approved, retrospective cohort study using our database. Among our consecutive series of 2000 brain MET patients who underwent stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) using a gamma knife during the 1991-2008 period, 167 (8.4%, 89 females, 78 males, mean age; 62 [range; 19-88] years) who survived for at least three years after SRS were studied. In this report, DCs were defined as Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) neuro-toxicity grade II or worse occurring >2 years after SRS. Also, even cases with DCs of RTOG grade 0 were included if neurosurgical intervention was required. Results: Among the 167 patients, 17 (10.2%, 18 lesions) experienced DCs (mass lesions with or without cyst in eight, cyst alone in eight, edema in two) occurring 24.0-121.0 (median; 57.5) months after SRS. Actuarial incidences of DCs estimated by competing risk analysis were 4.2% at the 60th and 21.2% at the 120th post-SRS month. Among various pre-SRS clinical factors, univariate analysis demonstrated tumor volume-related factors, i.e., largest tumor volume (HR; 1.091, 95% CI; 1.018-1.154, p=.0174) and tumor volume =10 cc vs > 10 cc (HR; 4.343, 95% CI; 1.444-12.14, p=.0108) to be the only significant predictors of DCs. Univariate analysis revealed no correlations between DCs and radiosurgical parameters, i.e., radiosurgical doses, conformity and gradient indexes, and brain volumes receiving >5 Gy and >12 Gy. Post-SRS, an area of prolonged enhancement at the irradiated lesion was shown to be a possible risk factor for developing DCs (HR; 8.751, 95% CI; 1.785-157.9, p=.0037). Neurosurgical interventions were performed in 13 patients (14 lesions); mass removal for six lesions and Ommaya reservoir placement for the other eight, and results were favorable. Histological studies were performed in six patients and no tumor cells were found. Characteristic histological features were hypocellular scar tissue consisting of fibrosis with degenerative cells, sinusoid formation, variously-sized vessels, endothelial proliferation, various stages of hemorrhage and hemosiderin deposits. Conclusions: Long-term follow-up is crucial for SRS-treated brain MET patients as the risk of complications long after treatment is not insignificant. However, even when DCs occur, favorable outcomes can be expected with timely neurosurgical intervention. Disclosure: No significant relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we prove Lipschitz stability results for inverse source problems relative to parabolic equations. We use the method introduced by Imanuvilov and Yamamoto in 1998 based on Carleman estimates. What is new here is that we study a class of one-dimensional degenerate parabolic equations. In our model, the diffusion coefficient vanishes at one extreme point of the domain. Instead of the classical Carleman estimates obtained by Fursikov and Imanuvilov for non degenerate equations, we use and extend some recent Carleman estimates for degenerate equations obtained by Cannarsa, Martinez and Vancostenoble. Finally, we obtain Lipschitz stability results in inverse source problems for our class of degenerate parabolic equations both in the case of a boundary observation and in the case of a locally distributed observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have measured the kinetic energies of fragment ions from Ar clusters (average cluster size [?]N[?][?] 10-600) exposed to intense extreme ultraviolet free electron laser pulses (l [?] 61 nm, I[?] 1.3x 1011 W cm[?]2). For small clusters ([?]N[?][?] 200), the average kinetic energy of ions strongly increases with increasing the cluster size, indicating a promotion of the multiple ionization, whereas the average kinetic energy is observed to be saturated for [?]N[?][?] 200. Considering how many photoelectrons can escape from the cluster, it was found that the size dependence of the ion kinetic energy exhibited the frustration of direct photoionization, which resulted from the strong Coulomb potential of the highly ionized cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]