Search

The importance of multidisciplinary discussion (MDD) for diagnosing interstitial lung disease (ILD) is emphasized by several international guidelines. While initial diagnoses are often provisional and require periodic re-evaluation, there is a lack of literature regarding the role of follow-up MDD in clinical practice.

Frozen shoulder (FS) is a pathological condition that involves a painful and stiff shoulder joint, most commonly in people aged 40-60 years. Most literature supports treatment with physical therapy (PT), although some studies have demonstrated years of continuing pain and functional deficits. Manipulation under anesthesia is effective at eliminating the contracture of intra-articular lesions for refractory FS. This study aimed to compare whether manipulation under anesthesia or PT is a more effective treatment in refractory FS.

Adhesive capsulitis (AC) is characterized by pain and limited range of motion, caused by stiffness of the joint capsule and coracohumeral ligament. On the other hand, there have been few reports on muscle stiffness in AC. The purpose of this study was to assess muscle stiffness in patients of AC with a portable and noninvasive device, Myoton PRO. We hypothesized that muscle stiffness around shoulder joint increases in AC.

Statins have demonstrated to be effective for treating chondrodysplasia and its effects were believed to be associated with the fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3). Statins promoted the degradation of FGFR3 in studies using disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cells and model mice, however, recent studies using normal chondrocytes reported that statins did not degrade FGFR3. In order to further investigate the effects of statins in endochondral ossification, this study examined the influence of statins on Indian hedgehog (Ihh), another important component of endochondral ossification, and its related pathways. The chondrocyte cell line ATDC5 was used to investigate changes in cell proliferation, mRNA, and protein expression levels. In addition, an organ culture of a mouse metatarsal bone was performed followed by hematoxylin-eosin staining and fluorescent immunostaining. Results indicated that expression level of Ihh increased with the addition of statins, which activated the Ihh pathway and altered the localization of Ihh. Changes in cholesterol modification may have affected Ihh diffusibility; however, further experiments are necessary. A reactive increase in parathyroid hormone–related protein (PTHrP) was observed in addition to changes in the Wnt pathway through secreted-related protein 2/3 and low-density lipoprotein 5/6. This led to the promotion of cell proliferation, increase of the hypertrophic chondrocyte layer, inhibition of apoptosis, and decrease in mineralization. This study demonstrated that statins had an influence on Ihh, and that the hyperfunction of Ihh may prevent premature cell death caused by FGFR3-related chondrodysplasia through an indirect increase in the expression of PTHrP.

The symptoms of chronic calcifying tendinitis consist of shoulder contracture and impingement sign. However, there have been no reports about the use of imaging studies to differentiate these 2 clinical symptoms. A “burning sign” caused by abnormal blood flow was previously reported in the shoulder joint in patients with frozen shoulder by dynamic magnetic resonance imaging. This burning sign was related to pain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the dynamic magnetic resonance imaging findings in patients with symptomatic chronic calcifying tendinitis and to examine the relationship between the location of the burning sign and the physical findings.

The impact of dementia on the survival of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) remains unclear. This study sought to describe the risk factors influencing in-hospital mortality in patients with pulmonary TB and comorbid dementia.

Cryogenic atomic layer etching (ALE) represents a promising technique for achieving subnanoscale material removal in semiconductor processes, owing to its unique self-limiting surface-adsorbing reactions. This paper presents a cryogenic ALE method for SiN, utilizing surface modification with a hydrogen fluoride (HF) dose and an Ar etch step for removing the modification layer. The surface reactions and etching mechanism were examined using in situmonitoring techniques, including spectroscopic ellipsometry and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). Our observations reveal a self-limiting etching behavior for SiN and a reduction in the etch amount per cycle (EPC) with a decreasing substrate temperature. During the HF dose step, in situ ATR-FTIR spectra indicate the formation of a surface-adsorbed layer containing ammonium fluorosilicate (AFS) on the SiN surface. Subsequently, during the Ar plasma etching step, both the AFS layer and the surface-adsorbed species were removed. At lower substrate temperatures, the stability of the AFS layer and surface-absorbed species increased, resulting in a reduction in EPC. Through the control of Ar ion energy and substrate temperature, the manipulation of EPC ranging from several nanometers to a few angstroms in atomic layer etching is achieved, offering potential utility in nanoscale device applications utilizing silicon nitride.

A frozen shoulder (FS) is characterized by pain and limited range of motion (ROM). Although physical assessment of ROM is important for diagnosing and staging FS, ROM cannot be accurately assessed in clinical practice because of pain and muscle contraction. This study aimed to measure changes in shoulder joint ROM before and after anesthesia (ΔROM) in patients with FS and investigate the factors affecting these changes.

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities of Pt/Au(111) and Pt/Au(100) bimetallic surfaces prepared using molecular beam epitaxy were evaluated in this study. Surface structures of the bimetallic surfaces were verified using a scanning tunneling microscope under ultra-high vacuum conditions. The deposition of a 0.3-nm-thick Pt on a clean Au(111) at 300 K (300K-Pt0.3nm/Au(111)) generated a corrugated Pt(111) epitaxial layer on which monoatomic-height Pt islands are present. The ORR activity estimated from the kinetically controlled current density at 0.9 V vs. RHE was ca. two times greater than that of the clean Pt(111). In contrast, the 473K-Pt0.3nm/Au(111) as well as 300K-Pt0.3nm/Au(100) exhibited small hydrogen-related charges, thereby were less ORR active than the corresponding clean Pt substrate surfaces. These results suggest that atomic arrangements of surface Pt atoms, particularly the morphologies of the most dense plane of Pt(111), correlate with the enhancement in the ORR activity of Pt-Au bimetallic nanoparticles.

The density of states modulation of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is induced by the encapsulation of two different kinds of metallofullerenes (Pr@C82and Sc3C2@C80). We report the observation of the modulated density of states using scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy, where the modulation is successfully reproduced by density functional theory calculation. The metallofullerene molecules in SWCNTs strongly affect the local band structures of SWCNTs. The present findings show that the local electronic structures of SWCNTs can be modified by not only varying the geometric structures of SWCNTs but also the varieties of metallofullerenes encapsulated.

We investigated electrochemical properties for the Pt-Au bimetallic surfaces prepared by 0.3-nm-thick Pt depositions on Au(111), (110), and (100) substrates (Pt0.3nm/Au(hkl)) by molecular beam epitaxy. The Pt0.3nm/Au(111) surface prepared at the substrate temperature of 300 K (300K-Pt0.3nm/Au(111)) showed a corrugated Pt(111) epitaxial surface on which 3-5 nm size monoatomic height Pt islands are located. Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of the surface was enhanced by a factor of ca. 2 relative to that of the clean Pt(111) surface. In contrast, the topmost surfaces of 473K-Pt0.3nm/Au(111), 300K-Pt0.3nm/Au(100), and 300K-Pt0.3nm/Au(110) were composed of both Pt and Au atoms, and the ORR activities were lower than those for corresponding clean surfaces. The specific ORR activities for the Pt0.3nm/Au(111) and Pt0.3nm/Au(100) surfaces estimated after recording CV curves of 0.05-1.7 V were enhanced relative to the as-prepared samples, although the activity of the Pt0.3nm/Au(110) surface was slightly decreased by the wide region CV recording. These results suggest that atomic arrangements of surface Pt atoms, particularly the most dense plane of Pt(111), determine the ORR activity enhancement for Pt-Au bimetallic surfaces.

We investigated the atomic-scale structure and electrochemical stability of a Pt-enriched topmost surface (Pt-enriched Ni/Pt(111)) prepared through monolayer Ni deposition on Pt(111) at 823 K using molecular beam epitaxy. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction patterns and an ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopic (UHV-STM) image of the Pt-enriched Ni/Pt(111) surface showed that the surface has long-range-ordered six-fold symmetry with atomic-scale corrugations. Although the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of the as-prepared Pt-enriched surface was eight times higher than that of clean Pt(111), the ORR activity degraded steeply during potential cycles between 0.6 and 1.0 V in O2-saturated 0.1 M HClO4. After 1000 potential cycles, the enhancement factor was estimated to be 2. An STM image collected after the potential cycles showed island-like structures (ca. 5-9 nm in diameter and 0.4-0.8 nm in height). Furthermore, the intensity of the Ni 2p core-level band for the as-prepared sample decreased after the 1000 potential cycles, revealing dissolution of the Ni atoms located at the subsurface layer. This experimental study clearly demonstrates that the underlying-Ni-induced specific surface strains and electronic state of the Pt-enriched topmost surface sorely contribute to the remarkable ORR activity of the Ni/Pt(111) surface.

We studied oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities for outermost surfaces of 0.3 nm thick Co deposited on Pt(111) (Co0.3 nm/Pt(111)) bimetallic systems fabricated using molecular beam epitaxy at various Co deposition temperatures. Results show that Co0.3 nm/Pt(111) fabricated at temperatures lower than 393 K displays extra low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) spots outside the integer ones, indicating incoherent epitaxial growth of Co. A new IR band that is attributed to linearly bonded carbon monoxide (CO) on the Pt site influenced by neighboring Co atoms emerges at 2052 cm–1for 333 K fabricated Co0.3 nm/Pt(111), in addition to the CO–Pt and CO–Co bands. With increasing fabrication temperature, the new band shifts to higher frequencies and reaches 2082 cm–1for 773 K fabricated Co0.3 nm/Pt(111), which has a diffuse (1×1) LEED pattern. We evaluated the dependence of the deposition temperature on the lattice parameters of the Co0.3 nm/Pt(111) and ascribed the band at 2082 cm–1to adsorbed CO on a Pt-enriched topmost surface having 6-fold symmetry. Although the incoherent epitaxial Co layer was unstable in 0.1 M HClO4aqueous solution, the Pt-enriched topmost surface is rather stable and the ORR activity is 10 times higher than that for clean Pt(111). The activities for Pt0.3 nm,0.6 nm/Co0.3 nm/Pt(111) artificial sandwich (superlattice) surfaces were also evaluated. The obtained results indicate that the Co atoms located at the second atomic layer strongly modify the electrocatalysis of the topmost surface.

In order to investigate the propagation of polymerization in the template with linear polymer chain, ATRP of methacryloyl type multi‐vinyl monomers of pol(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) backbone with and without styryl groups on the chain ends was carried out. Change of hydrodynamic radii of products and conversion of vinyl group were analyzed by GPC and FT‐IR, respectively.When the multi‐vinyl monomer concentration was less than 0.3 wt%, gelation was completely hindered. The kinetic plots of polymerization of multi‐vinyl monomers with and without styryl group on the chain ends agreed well.

Template polymerization of poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl methacrylate)s (number-average molecular weight:  3.47 × 104, an average number of vinyl group in molecule:  163.4) prepared from poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) was carried out by using a copper-mediated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). When the concentration of poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl methacrylate) was less than 0.31 wt %, the polymerization was limited in the molecule and proceeded in a living manner at 25 °C. An apparent polymerization rate, 5.0 × 10-5s-1, which was very close to that of the copper-mediated ATRP in bulk, indicates that the vinyl groups were highly concentrated in the molecule. The intensity of ethyl group detected by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy drastically decreased by polymerization, the gel permeation chromatography peak shifted to lower molecular weight side, and the dependence of solution viscosity on share rate was increased. These suggested that the ladderlike molecule was formed by the template polymerization. Glass transition temperature of ladderlike molecule measured by differential scanning calorimetry was observed at 210 °C.

We previously reported a characteristic dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) change in patients with frozen shoulder (FS) and named this abnormal blood flow pattern the “burning sign”. In this study, a semiquantitative method was used to evaluate changes in this abnormal blood flow pattern on dynamic MRI after shoulder manipulation under ultrasound-guided cervical nerve root block (MUC) in patients with FS.

We investigated the electrochemical properties of various-monolayer (ML)-thick Pt-shell model surfaces. The m-ML-Pt shell/Au(111) (m = 1–3) was prepared through epitaxial growth of Pt on a clean Au(111) surface at 300 K, and the n-ML-Pt shell/Ni–Pt(111) (n = 1–4) was generated through thermal segregation of substrate Pt atoms during 1-ML-thick Ni deposition onto a clean Pt(111) surface at 823 K followed by additional epitaxial growth of Pt at 473 K in ultra-high-vacuum molecular beam epitaxy (UHV-MBE) systems. Surface structures of the Pt-shell surfaces were verified using a scanning tunneling microscope in UHV. Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities and structural stabilities of the shell surfaces were evaluated in oxygen-saturated 0.1 M HClO4. The results obtained reveal that not only surface strains but also nanoscale surface morphologies of the most dense plane of Pt(111) are correlated with ORR enhancements and that the 3-ML-thick Pt shell stabilizes the topmost surfaces of Pt/M bimetallic systems.

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities of Pt/Au(111) and Pt/Au(100) bimetallic surfaces prepared using molecular beam epitaxy were evaluated in this study. Surface structures of the bimetallic surfaces were verified using a scanning tunneling microscope under ultra-high vacuum conditions. The deposition of a 0.3-nm-thick Pt on a clean Au(111) at 300 K (300K-Pt0.3nm/Au(111)) generated a corrugated Pt(111) epitaxial layer on which monoatomic-height Pt islands are present. The ORR activity estimated from the kinetically controlled current density at 0.9 V vs. RHE was ca. two times greater than that of the clean Pt(111). In contrast, the 473K-Pt0.3nm/Au(111) as well as 300K-Pt0.3nm/Au(100) exhibited small hydrogen-related charges, thereby were less ORR active than the corresponding clean Pt substrate surfaces. These results suggest that atomic arrangements of surface Pt atoms, particularly the morphologies of the most dense plane of Pt(111), correlate with the enhancement in the ORR activity of Pt–Au bimetallic nanoparticles.

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and stability of a molecular beam epitaxially (MBE) prepared Pt-enriched Ni0.3nm/Pt(111) surface was investigated. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns, and a scanning tunneling microscopic (STM) image indicated that the Pt-enriched surface has long-range-ordered six-fold symmetry with atomic-scale corrugations. ORR activity was estimated by kinetically-controlled current density at 0.9 V vs. a reversible hydrogen electrode, and the as-prepared Pt-enriched surface showed 8-times-higher ORR activity than clean Pt(111). The activity steeply reduced during potential cycling between 0.6 V and 1.0 V. After 1000 potential cycles, the enhancement factor was 2.5 and a cyclic voltammetry (CV) curve exhibited an increase in (EC) electron charge for the Had&des region accompanied by the emergence of a 0.13 V redox feature caused by (110) surface defects. These results suggest that the electrochemical stability of the underlying Ni atoms determines the durability of Pt-Ni alloy catalysts.

We investigated electrochemical properties for the Pt–Au bimetallic surfaces prepared by 0.3-nm-thick Pt depositions on Au(111), (110), and (100) substrates (Pt0.3nm/Au(hkl)) by molecular beam epitaxy. The Pt0.3nm/Au(111) surface prepared at the substrate temperature of 300 K (300K–Pt0.3nm/Au(111)) showed a corrugated Pt(111) epitaxial surface on which 3–5 nm size monoatomic height Pt islands are located. Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of the surface was enhanced by a factor of ca. 2 relative to that of the clean Pt(111) surface. In contrast, the topmost surfaces of 473K–Pt0.3nm/Au(111), 300K–Pt0.3nm/Au(100), and 300K–Pt0.3nm/Au(110) were composed of both Pt and Au atoms, and the ORR activities were lower than those for corresponding clean surfaces. The specific ORR activities for the Pt0.3nm/Au(111) and Pt0.3nm/Au(100) surfaces estimated after recording CV curves of 0.05–1.7 V were enhanced relative to the as-prepared samples, although the activity of the Pt0.3nm/Au(110) surface was slightly decreased by the wide region CV recording. These results suggest that atomic arrangements of surface Pt atoms, particularly the most dense plane of Pt(111), determine the ORR activity enhancement for Pt–Au bimetallic surfaces.

We investigated the atomic-scale structure and electrochemical stability of a Pt-enriched topmost surface (Pt-enriched Ni/Pt(111)) prepared through monolayer Ni deposition on Pt(111) at 823 K using molecular beam epitaxy. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction patterns and an ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopic (UHV-STM) image of the Pt-enriched Ni/Pt(111) surface showed that the surface has long-range-ordered six-fold symmetry with atomic-scale corrugations. Although the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of the as-prepared Pt-enriched surface was eight times higher than that of clean Pt(111), the ORR activity degraded steeply during potential cycles between 0.6 and 1.0 V in O2-saturated 0.1 M HClO4. After 1000 potential cycles, the enhancement factor was estimated to be 2. An STM image collected after the potential cycles showed island-like structures (ca. 5–9 nm in diameter and 0.4–0.8 nm in height). Furthermore, the intensity of the Ni 2p core-level band for the as-prepared sample decreased after the 1000 potential cycles, revealing dissolution of the Ni atoms located at the subsurface layer. This experimental study clearly demonstrates that the underlying-Ni-induced specific surface strains and electronic state of the Pt-enriched topmost surface sorely contribute to the remarkable ORR activity of the Ni/Pt(111) surface.