Search

Ken Nishihara,1 Hisashi Kawai,2 Takeshi Kera,2,3 Hirohiko Hirano,4 Yutaka Watanabe,2 Yoshinori Fujiwara,2 Kazushige Ihara,5 Hunkyung Kim,2 Masashi Tanaka,4 Shuichi Obuchi2 1Department of Physical Therapy, Saitama Prefectural University, Saitama, Japan; 2Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan; 3Department of Physical Therapy, Takasaki University of Health and Welfare, Gunma, Japan; 4Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital, Tokyo, Japan; 5Department of Social Medicine, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Aomori, Japan Purpose: The purpose of this study was to clarify the reference values of muscle thicknesses by age and to elucidate the association of muscle thickness with physical function in a large group of community-dwelling elderly individuals.Participants and methods: The muscle thicknesses of the rectus femoris (RF), vastus intermedius (VI), and quadriceps femoris (QF) in 777 of 831 enrolled elderly individuals were measured by ultrasonography, and physical function was measured using knee extension strength (KES), one-legged stance, walking, Timed Up and Go, and grip strength tests. Muscle thickness data were divided by sex and categorized into 5-year age groups. Differences in muscle thickness and KES among the age groups were examined, and correlations between muscle thickness and physical function test results were compared by age. The non-parametric independent two-sample Mann–Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Spearman’s correlation coefficients were used in the statistical analysis.Results: Thickness of the RF showed fewer significant differences among all groups and less decreases compared to thickness of the VI in older age groups, especially in men. Thicknesses of the RF, VI, and QF correlated with KES in almost all the thicknesses of muscles in the 65–69 and 70–74 years age groups in men and in almost all age groups in women. The decrease in muscle thicknesses and degree of correlations with aging were different between men and women.Conclusions: Reductions in the thicknesses of the muscles and KES differed by age group and sex. Our results could be used for prescribing exercise in community-dwelling elderly individuals of varying ages. Keywords: community-dwelling elderly individual, physical function, muscle thickness, ultrasonogram

There are occasional reports of unexpected pathological findings during neck dissection, including benign inclusions (BIs) in cervical lymph nodes, comprising squamous epithelial, glandular, thyroid, neval and mesothelial cells. BIs can mimic regional lymph node metastases, therefore, pathological diagnosis is important. However, criteria for immunohistochemical diagnosis of BIs are not established. We report a 73-year-old woman with tongue cancer with squamous metaplasia and a glandular BI in a regional lymph node. Clinical and radiographic assessment of the lesion led to diagnosis of tongue squamous cell carcinoma (T3N2bM0, Stage IVa). The patient underwent right-side total neck dissection with wide local excision of the tongue tumor. All the lymph nodes in the dissection specimen were pathologically negative. In contrast, one BI in a level III lymph node was found incidentally. We could not diagnose this lesion clearly by routine pathological examination because of the lack of criteria for immunohistochemical diagnosis of BIs. To the best of our knowledge, BIs comprising squamous metaplasia and small glandular elements in the regional lymph nodes of patients with head and neck cancer have not been reported. We histologically predicted the lesion as BI, which was confirmed by additional immunohistochemical staining for cytokeratin 13 and 17. Clinicians should avoid misdiagnosis of metastases, which could lead to incorrect tumor staging and inadequate adjuvant therapy for patients with lymph node BIs. To distinguish BIs from metastases clearly, we recommend additional immunohistochemical staining for cytokeratin 13 and 17 in routinely stained sections of regional lymph nodes in patients with squamous cell carcinoma., 論文

Ken Nishihara,1 Hisashi Kawai,2 Hiroyuki Hayashi,3 Hideo Naruse,4 Akihito Kimura,4 Toshiaki Gomi,5 Fumihiko Hoshi1 1Department of Physical Therapy, Saitama Prefectural University, Saitama, Japan; 2Health Promotion Management Office, Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan; 3Center for University-wide Education, Saitama Prefectural University, Saitama, Japan; 4Faculty of Health Sciences, Tokyo Ariake University of Medical and Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan, 5Faculty ofNursing, Tokyo Ariake University ofMedical and Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan Background: The skeletal muscle echo intensity (EI) during ultrasound imaging has been investigated to evaluate the muscle quality. However, EI fluctuates according to the scanning conditions.Methods: The motor functions and ultrasound images of 19 elderly (73±3.2 years) and 19 young (22±1.5 years) individuals were investigated and an EI frequency component was assessed for more reliable evaluations. Healthy elderly and young subjects participated in this study. The motor functions were assessed during walking and according to the knee extension muscle strength. The muscle thicknesses of rectus femoris (RF), vastus intermedius (VI), and quadriceps femoris (QF) were investigated. EIs were calculated and the mean frequencies of the regions of interest (MFROIs) for RF and VI were analyzed. Results: EIs and MFROIs were greater in elderly subjects than in young subjects (P

Adrenocortical carcinomas are extremely rare aggressive tumors arising from the adrenal cortex. Histopathologically, differential diagnosis between adrenocortical carcinoma and pheochromocytoma is often difficult. We report two autopsy cases of adrenocortical carcinoma. The first case was a 20-year old man. He had abdominal discomfort and increasing swelling of the lower legs. Computer tomography (CT) detected a tumor of 16 cm in diameter at the right retroperitoneum space and multiple liver nodules. Although he was treated with chemotherapy, he died of the cardiovascular failure accompanying inferior vena cava tumor embolism after 4 days of initial chemotherapy. The second case was a 57-year old woman. She felt easy fatigability. Abdominal ultrasonography and CT detected a tumor of 20 cm in diameter at the left retroperitoneum space and multiple liver nodules. She was also treated with chemotherapy and mitotane. However, she died 13 months after the initial diagnosis. Autopsies were conducted in both cases. Histologically, both tumors were composed of polygonal shaped cells with marked atypia. Immunohistochemically, both showed positive for synaptophysin, carletinin, inhibin, melan A and steroidogenic factor 1 and negative for chromogranin, suggesting that both tumors were adrenal cortex origin. Moreover, both cases were categorized into malignancy according to Weiss criteria. Thus, we diagnosed both cases were aderenocortical carcinoma. We report here two autopsy cases of aggressive advanced adrenocortical carcinoma, emphasizing the utility of the immunohistochemical panel.

論文(Article)

Due to potential level of energy intensity 178m2Hf is an extremely interesting isomer. One possible way to produce this isomer is irradiation of nat-Ta or nat-W samples with high energy protons. Irradiation of nat-Ta and nat-W samples performed for other purposes provides an opportunity to study the corresponding reactions. This paper pre-sents the 178m2Hf independent production cross sections for both targets measured by the gamma-ray spectrometry method. The reaction excitation functions have been obtained for the proton energies from 40 up to 2600 MeV. The experimental results were compared with calculations by various versions of the intranuclear cascade model in the well-known codes: ISABEL, Bertini, INCL4.5+ABLA07, PHITS, CASCADE07 and CEM03.02. The isomer ratio for the nat-Ta(p,x)178m2Hf reaction is evaluated on the basis of the available data., 8 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, submitted to Phys. Rev. C

We show the resunts of three dimensional PIC (Particle-In-Cell) simulation of relativistic electron-plasma flow that the cofiguration of plasma flow has a sylindrical form. We investigate two different cases of the initial magnetic field condition. In the simulation (A), there are no magnetic field and electric field in the initial stage, and in the simulation (B), there are uniform magnetic field that is parallel to the plasma flow are generated by the Weibel-type electromagnetic counter-streaming instability [1] and then a shell current structure driven by the charge separation sppears. In the simulation (B), the electric fields parallel to the flow are generated by the electrostatic beam instability because initial strong magnetic field prevent electromagnetic instability.

178m2-Hf is an extremely interesting isomeric state due to its potential energy capacity level. One possible way to obtain it is by irradiation of a nat-Ta sample with a high-current proton accelerator. Up to now, there was no information in the international experimental nuclear data base (EXFOR) for this reaction. Irradiations of nat-Ta samples performed for other purposes provide an opportunity to address this question. This paper presents the 172m2-Hf independent production cross-sections determined by gamma-ray spectrometry. The nat-Ta(p,x)172m2-Hf excitation function is studied in the 20-3500 MeV energy range. Comparisons with results by several nuclear models (ISABEL, Bertini, INCL4.5+ABLA07, PHITS, CASCADE07, and CEM03.02) used as event-generators in modern transport codes are also reported. However, since such models are generally not able to separately predict ground and isomeric states of reaction products, only 178-Hf independent and cumulative cross-section data are compared., 5 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, Proc. 11th Int. Topical Meeting on Nucl. Appl. of Accelerators (AccApp2013), August 5-8, Bruges, Belgium

We have developed a new numerical analysis model for galvanic corrosion that can calculate ions movement,reactions and electroneutrality. In this model, major species and reactions were considered, and ion density distributionis corrected by solving Poisson's equation to satisfy electroneutrality. Reactions are calculated basedon chemical equilibrium. Galvanic corrosion of a Fe/Zn couple in a NaCl, MgCl2 solutions and artificial seawater was calculated by this model. The distributions of pH, ion density and corrosion products were discussedin these solutions. The distributions of corrosion product obtained by the numerical analysis model agreedwell with those measured by FT-IR method qualitatively. In 500ppm NaCl solution, Zn(OH)2, ZnCl2/6Zn(OH)2and ZnCO3 were precipitated on the Zn and near the Fe/Zn interface, while there were little precipitations onthe Fe far from the Fe/Zn interface. On the other hand, Mg(OH)2 was precipitated on the Fe in 500ppm MgCl2solution and 1/100 artificial sea water. Mg(OH)2 may contribute to corrosion protection of the Fe in the solutionincluding Mg2+. It is noted that Mg(OH)2 can be precipitated only in the cathodically protected area becausethe solubility product constant of Mg(OH)2 is larger than that of Fe(OH)2.

Nuclide production cross sections measured at ITEP for the targets of nat-Cr, 56-Fe, nat-Ni, 93-Nb, 181-Ta, nat-W, nat-Pb, 209-Bi irradiated by protons with energies from 40 to 2600 MeV were used to estimate the predictive accuracy of several popular high-energy transport codes. A general agreement of the ITEP data with the data obtained by other groups, including the numerous GSI data measured by the inverse kinematics method was found. Simulations of the measured data were performed with the MCNPX (Bertini and ISABEL options), CEM03.02, INCL4.2+ABLA, INCL4.5+ABLA07, PHITS, and CASCADE.07 codes. Deviation factors between the calculated and experimental cross sections have been estimated for each target and for the whole energy range covered by our measurements. Two-dimensional diagrams of deviation factor values were produced for estimating the predictive power of every code for intermediate, not measured masses of nuclei-targets and bombarding energies of protons. Further improvements of all tested here codes are recommended. In addition, new measurements at ITEP of nuclide yields from a 208-Pb target irradiated by 500 MeV protons are presented. A good agreement between these new data and the GSI measurements obtained by the inverse kinematics method was found ...

26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 3665-3668, We proposed an UV accelerated test condition for an EVA encapsulant, based on analysis of long term field exposed PV modules. We found that strong UV irradiation into EVA encapsulant test sample led to the fast decomposition of UV absorber formulated in EVA encapsulant, which has never seen in the field exposed PV modules. Thus, the integrating UV intensity of 60 W/m2 and black panel temperature of 110OC using a xenon weather-o-meter were suitable as an UV accelerated test condition. With this proposed test condition, which shows that 1 week exposure by xenon light corresponds to 1 year field exposure, we can predict discoloration rate of EVA encapsulant. In addition, we evaluated change in peel strength to glass for Mitsui’s and the other commercially available EVA encapsulants during UV accelerated test with the proposed condition. There was no large change in peel strength for our EVA encapsulant during the UV accelerated test. On the other hand, we observed that the competitor’s EVA encapsulant showed the large decrease of peel strength to glass at early stage, even no change in yellowness index (YI). This result indicates not only YI change but also peel strength change should be evaluated for design of reliable PV module and encapsulant.

Molecular Dynamic (MD) approach is applied to study the converging cylindrical shock waves in a dense Lennard-Jones (LJ) fluid. MD method is based on tracking of the atom motions and hence it has an fundamental advantages over hydrodynamic methods which assumes shocks as a structureless discontinuity and requires an equation of state. Due to the small thickness of shock fronts in liquid the two million particles is enough to simulate propagation of a cylindrical shocks in close detail. We investigate stability of converging shocks with different perturbation modes and its mixture. It was shown that in a case of relatively large initial ripples the Mach stems are formed. Supersonic jets generated by interaction of reflected shocks in downstream flow are observed. We also study the Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability of an interface between two Lennard-Jones liquids of different mass densities. Surprisingly, mode 3 ripples grow very slow in comparison with higher mode numbers and growth rate of a higher mode decay slower., published in Proc. of the 2nd Int. Conference on Inertial Fusion Science and Applications, IFSA2001, Kyoto, Japan, Sept. 9-14, 2001. Edited by K. A. Tanaka, D. D. Meyerhofer, J. Meyer-ter-Vehn (Paris: Elsevier, 2002) pp. 106-109

A high accurate self-consistent Monte-Carlo method including charged and neutral particle motion and resonance photon transport is developed and applied to simulation of positive column discharge in Argon. The distribution of power loss across the tube is investigated. It is shown that negative slope of current-voltage gradient curve can not be explained by only one factor. Diffusion of metastable atoms to the tube wall in the case of low current ($0.2-3$mA) responds for the most part of negative slope. For the high currents the variation of radiation power loss makes a main contribution to the amplitude of negative slope., 8 pages, 6 figures

In order to achieve a high quality, i. e. monoergetic, intense ion beam, we propose the use of a double layer target. The first layer, at the target front, consists of high-Z atoms, while the second (rear) layer is a thin coating of low-Z atoms. The high quality proton beams from the double layer target, irradiated by an ultra-intense laser pulse, are demonstrated with three dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations.

Physical Review Letters

この論文は国立情報学研究所の電子図書館事業により電子化されました。

A case of hemangioma calcificans is presented. On CT scan, the tumor shows no mass effect but is accompanied by circumscribed low density which is deemed to indicate brain atrophy and an enlarged subarachnoid space. A case of this tumor surrounded by peritumoral brain atrophy has not been reported before.