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The JAXA Hayabusa2 mission accomplished the formation of an artificial crater on the asteroid Ryugu. The aim of this work is to analyse the area surrounding the artificial crater and reveal spectral variability compared to the same region before the crater formation, to mineralogically and physically characterize the subsurface exposed material. The crater’s investigation focused on the analysis of two regions corresponding to the inner part of crater (the pit and the crater wall/floor), two areas related to ejecta deposited close to the crater, two areas of ejecta moved far from the crater, and two external areas. Each area was investigated both before and after the crater formation, by the study of the photometrically corrected spectral parameters: the 1.9 $\mu$m reflectance, the near-infrared spectral slope, and the depth of the bands at 2.7 and 2.8 $\mu$m. The subsurface material of the post-crater areas shows deeper absorption bands, a decrease in reflectance, and a reddening in spectral slope with respect to the surface material of pre-crater areas. The subsurface regolith could have experienced a lower OH devolatilization due to space weathering and/or could be composed of finer dark grains than the surface layer. The ejecta reached distances of $\sim $20 m from the impact point, mainly moving in the northern direction; nevertheless, a few ejecta also reached the south-eastern part of crater.

Samples of the carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu were brought to Earth by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. We analyzed 17 Ryugu samples measuring 1 to 8 millimeters. Carbon dioxide–bearing water inclusions are present within a pyrrhotite crystal, indicating that Ryugu’s parent asteroid formed in the outer Solar System. The samples contain low abundances of materials that formed at high temperatures, such as chondrules and calcium- and aluminum-rich inclusions. The samples are rich in phyllosilicates and carbonates, which formed through aqueous alteration reactions at low temperature, high pH, and water/rock ratios of

AIM: This study evaluated a convolutional neural network (CNN) for automatically delineating the liver on contrast-enhanced or non-contrast-enhanced CT, making comparisons with a commercial automated technique (MIM Maestro®). BACKGROUND: Intensity-modulated radiation therapy requires careful labor-intensive planning involving delineation of the target and organs on CT or MR images to ensure delivery of the effective dose to the target while avoiding organs at risk. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Contrast-enhanced planning CT images from 101 pancreatic cancer cases and accompanying mask images showing manually-delineated liver contours were used to train the CNN to segment the liver. The trained CNN then performed liver segmentation on a further 20 contrast-enhanced and 15 non-contrastenhanced CT image sets, producing three-dimensional mask images of the liver. RESULTS: For both contrast-enhanced and non-contrast-enhanced images, the mean Dice similarity coefficients between CNN segmentations and ground-truth manual segmentations were significantly higher than those between ground-truth and MIM Maestro software (p

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of a prototype root canal dressing containing surface pre-reacted glass-ionomer (S-PRG) fillers on repairing induced periapical lesions in a rat model. Calcium hydroxide [Ca(OH)2 ] was applied as a comparison in the healing process. METHODOLOGY: The pulp chambers of the maxillary first molars in 64 male Wistar rats aged 16 weeks were opened to induce periapical lesions. After 28 days, the mesial canal of each tooth was prepared, irrigated with 2.5% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) only (control group: irrigation) or followed by the respective dressing [Ca(OH)2 group, irrigation + Ca(OH)2 ; S-PRG group, irrigation + S-PRG], and restored with composite resin for 3 or 7 days (10/group). Four rats with healthy molars were used as blank controls. Descriptive analysis of the periapical radiographs, haematoxylin and eosin staining, and immunohistochemical observation were performed 3 and 7 days after treatment. The periapical gray value, CD68 macrophages, and osteoclasts (cathepsin-K) were quantified and statistically analyzed with Tukey's honest significant difference test. A significant difference was achieved when p values were

BackgroundThe role of completion lymph node dissection (CLND) in patients with sentinel lymph node (SLN)-positive melanoma continues to be debated. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated survival and recurrence rate in these patients who underwent CLND, compared with observation.MethodsA comprehensive MEDLINE and Embase database search was performed for cohort studies and RCTs published between January 2000 and June 2017 that assessed the outcomes of CLND compared with observation in patients with SLN-positive melanoma. The primary outcome was survival and the secondary outcome was recurrence rate. Studies were assessed for quality using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for RCTs and Newcastle–Ottawa Scale for cohort studies. Pooled relative risk or hazard ratio with 95 per cent confidence intervals were calculated for each outcome. The extent of heterogeneity between studies was assessed with the I2 test. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42017070152).ResultsFifteen studies (13 cohort studies with 7868 patients and 2 RCTs with 2228 patients) were identified for qualitative synthesis. Thirteen studies remained for quantitative meta-analysis. Survival was similar in patients who underwent CLND and those who were observed (risk ratio (RR) for death 0·85, 95 per cent c.i. 0·71 to 1·02). The recurrence rate was also similar (RR 0·91, 0·79 to 1·05).ConclusionPatients with SLN-positive melanoma do not have a significant benefit in survival or recurrence rate if they undergo CLND rather than observation.

The 27th of June 2018 the Japanese Haybusa-2 spacecraft approached the C-type Near Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu [1]. Haybusa2 is equipped with three remote sensing instruments such i.e. as the Thermal Infrared Imager TIR [2], the NIRS 3 spectrometer [3] and the Optical Navigation Camera-Telescopic (ONC-T) with a wideband and seven narrow band filters [4]. A Lidar instrument [5] allowed to reconstruct the shape model of the asteroid and to measure the altimetry, in order to perform a precise touchdown in sampling the asteroidal regolith. Additionally, by using the robotic landers Minerva-II and Mascot [6], Hayabusa 2 has conducted in situ surface experiments. Ryugu is a top-shaped Cb type asteroid and is covered by a large number of boulders [7,8]. It is one of the darkest object in our Solar System with a quite homogenous composition, including OH-rich materials [7,9]. We found that the NIRS3 data contains sensible variations, possibly linked to geomorphological structures, even though Ryugu surface varies only of few percent in reflectance. Our approach is to exploit the whole spectrometer dataset, to find correlation that could not be foreseen with traditional methods relying on fewer spectral points. Past experience on Mercury data shows that this is a sensible approach, in case of homogeneous featureless targets. We collect NIRS3 data from 20180711_l3a and 20180719_l3a counting around 20k useful spectra, covering almost the whole surface. The data were windowed between 1.8 and 3.1 um to avoid residual thermal effects at higher wavelength, obtaining a data matrix of 20k row x 75 feature or bands. Then we applied a PCA transformation step to retain 10 component or 98% of the total variance, effectively compressing the data from 75 to 10 components. Even though the PCA components per se doesn’t normally have a clear physical meaning, because they mix spectral feature in an unpredictable way, it is interesting to look at the results. The first PCA component has redder slope between 1.8 and 2.5 um, where the second has an inverted redder slope in the same range. The third is spectrally flatter, with an hint of absorption between 2.4 and 2.5 um. The concentration distribution of those three components is also worth investigating: the PCA.0 is anti-correlated with the equatorial bulge and higher in craters, PCA.1 is also higher in crater but not strongly anti-correlated with the equatorial bulge like PCA.0. PCA.3 this is clearly showing a north-south asymmetry. The PCA component order indicate also the importance in explaining total data variance. After that, we apply T-distributed Stochastic Neighbour Embedding (t-SNE)[10]: this converts similarities between data to joint probabilities, minimize the divergence between the joint probabilities of the low-dimensional embedding and the high-dimensional data, typically 2 or 3 dimensions. Essentially, we can feed high dimensional data and get a lower dimension 2D map representation were closer point are also close in the original data space that is easy to visualize. On top of that we partitioned the data point using an Agglomerative Clustering algorithm: starting from all separated data point it clusters the closest together, where closeness is calculated with complete linkage, i.e. the maximum distances between all observations in each pair of classes. Hierarchical algorithm has the nice advantage to show which partition is more stable via a dendrogram plot. In our case, a 6 classes parti tion show as the most suitable one. Results: The surface of Ryugu could be separated in 6 spectral classes, which have a similar spectral trend and are spatially coherent Classes (0,1,5,3) have same trend, but different albedo (from lower to higher reflectance). Class 0 and 1 (C0/C1) are inter-craters terrains, the former mostly in the north , the latter in the south, with minor outcrops in the other hemisphere. C0 is up to -2% darker than Global Mean Reflectance (GMR) and C1 up to +4% brighter. Class 2 (C2) is the darkest class (-5% GMR), and it is found mostly in craters interiors. machine learningClass 3 (C3) is the brightest (+5% GMR) and it is found on the the equatorial bulge, but interrupted by Urashima, Momotaro, Kintaro and Kolobock craters. Class 4 and 5 (C4/C5) are two different trend of intermediate terrains. Those are the closest to GMR with a 2% variation around GMR. C4 is mostly found in the north, where C5 in the south, with substantial outcrops in the other hemisphere. The most interesting difference is that C5 follows the global trend of being slightly bluer than GMR between 1.9 um and 2.5 um, but C4 shows an inverted trend, being redder then GMR. In conclusion, we find an automated approach to extract spatially coherent region on Ryugu surface based only on spectral data using almost the whole NIRS3 spectral range. Those classes show a significant spatial correlation with geomorphological feature and different spectral trends.

A 70-year-old man presented to our clinic with a 10-year history of recurrent pruritic erythema and plaques on his trunk and limbs. Based on the pathological findings and monoclonal rearrangement of the T-cell receptor (TCR)-Cβ1 gene, mycosis fungoides (T2N0M0B0 stage IB) was diagnosed. Despite combination therapy including histone deacetylase inhibitor (vorinostat), the symptoms slowly evolved into Sézary syndrome (SS; T4N1M0B2) over 4 years, with dense infiltrates due to atypical lymphocytes expressing CCR4 developing in the entire dermis. Anti-CCR4 monoclonal antibody (mogamulizumab) treatment was started. After seven courses, the CCR4-positive atypical lymphocytes decreased in the dermis to levels below those seen at the outset of treatment. To our knowledge, there is no previous report of a case of SS managed with vorinostat followed by mogamulizumab demonstrating such a remarkable change in the pathological state following treatment.

Background Few studies have been conducted on patterns of recurrence after resection for distal cholangiocarcinoma (DCC). The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence and pattern of recurrence after resection of DCC, and to evaluate prognostic factors for time to recurrence and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Methods Patients who underwent pancreatoduodenectomy with curative intent for DCC between 2001 and 2010 at one of 30 hospitals in Japan were reviewed retrospectively, with special attention to recurrence patterns. The Cox proportional hazards model was used for multivariable analysis. Results In the study interval, 389 patients underwent pancreatoduodenectomy for DCC with R0/M0 status. Recurrence developed in 213 patients (54·8 per cent). The estimated cumulative probability of recurrence was 54·3 per cent at 5 years. An initial locoregional recurrence occurred in 55 patients (14·1 per cent) and initial distant recurrence in 168 (43·2 per cent), most commonly in the liver. Isolated initial locoregional recurrence occurred in 45 patients (11·6 per cent). Independent prognostic factors for time to recurrence and RFS were perineural invasion (P = 0·001 and P = 0·009 respectively), pancreatic invasion (both P < 0·001) and lymph node metastasis (both P < 0·001). RFS worsened as the number of risk factors increased: the 5-year RFS rate was 70·6 per cent for patients without any risk factors, 50·3 per cent for patients with one factor, 31·8 per cent for those with two factors, and 13·4 per cent when three factors were present. Conclusion More than half of patients with DCC experienced recurrence after R0 resection, usually within 5 years. Perineural invasion, pancreatic invasion and positive nodal involvement are risk factors for recurrence.

Deployable Camera 3-D (DCAM3-D) is a small high-resolution camera equipped on Deployable Camera 3 (DCAM3), one of the Hayabusa2 instruments. Hayabusa2 will explore asteroid 162137 Ryugu (1999 JU3) and conduct an impact experiment using a liner shooting device called Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI). DCAM3 will be detached from the Hayabusa2 spacecraft and observe the impact experiment. The purposes of the observation are to know the impact conditions, to estimate the surface structure of asteroid Ryugu, and to understand the physics of impact phenomena on low-gravity bodies. DCAM3-D requires high imaging performance because it has to image and detect multiple targets of different scale and radiance, i.e., the faint SCI before the shot from 1-km distance, the bright ejecta generated by the impact, and the asteroid. In this paper we report the evaluation of the performance of the CMOS imaging sensor and the optical system of DCAM3-D. We also describe the calibration of DCAM3-D. We confirmed that the imaging performance of DCAM3-D satisfies the required values to achieve the purposes of the observation.

Previously, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) related to gait type was identified at position 22 999 655 of chromosome 23 in the coding region of DMRT3 (DMRT3:Ser301Ter) by showing that a cytosine (C) to adenine (A) mutation of this SNP induced pace in the Icelandic horse. We investigated the effect of DMRT3:Ser301Ter on the gait of Hokkaido Native Horses, a Japanese native breed, and examined genetic factors other than DMRT3 by exploring genome-wide SNPs related to gait determination. All animals exhibiting pace were AA for DMRT3:Ser301Ter, confirming the association of DMRT3:Ser301Ter with gait determination; however, 14.3% of the animals exhibiting trot also had AA for DMRT3:Ser301Ter, suggesting the presence of another factor(s) cooperatively working with DMRT3:Ser301Ter for gait determination. SNPs on chromosomes 13 and 23 were detected by genome-wide association analysis (false discovery rate

The fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of an impinging jet with a combined active–passive device were investigated. The combined device consisted of triangular tabs and a synthetic jet array that provided periodic disturbance to the jet’s shear layer. The Reynolds number based on the nozzle diameter ( D ) was 3.9 × 10 4 , and the nozzle-to-wall spacing ( L / D ) was 2. Four triangular tabs were attached to the nozzle outlet. The synthetic jets were issued at an angle of 30° against the primary jet. Under the triangular tab operation, the longitudinal vortices were generated and the transverse vortex of the primary jet collapsed. Moreover, the velocity of the primary jet increased because of contracted flow. Under the synthetic jet operation, the development of the transverse vortex was promoted due to the increased instability of the shear layer. The jet’s periodic disturbances strengthened because of the use of synthetic jets. The combined device operation led to increased velocity magnitude and periodic disturbance of the primary jet; thus, the peak RMS value of the velocity fluctuation was enhanced and the peak local Nusselt number near the stagnation point increased by 35% compared with cases where the device was not used. Additionally, the area-averaged Nusselt number was 10% larger than that obtained without the device. The heat transfer was governed by the jet’s velocity, RMS, and periodic velocity fluctuation. These results indicate that the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of an impinging jet could be controlled by optimizing the actuation conditions of the combined active–passive device.

Background Little is known about the value of portal vein (PV) resection in distal cholangiocarcinoma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of PV resection in distal cholangiocarcinoma. Methods Patients who underwent pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) for distal cholangiocarcinoma between 2001 and 2010 at one of 31 hospitals in Japan were reviewed retrospectively with special attention to PV resection. Short- and long-term outcomes were evaluated. Results In the study interval, 453 consecutive patients with distal cholangiocarcinoma underwent PD, of whom 31 (6·8 per cent) had combined PV resection. The duration of surgery (510 versus 427 min; P = 0·005) and incidence of blood transfusion (48 versus 30·7 per cent; P = 0·042) were greater in patients who had PV resection than in those who did not. Postoperative morbidity and mortality were no different in the two groups. Several indices of tumour progression, including high T classification, lymphatic invasion, perineural invasion, pancreatic invasion and lymph node metastasis, were more common in patients who had PV resection. Consequently, the incidence of R1/2 resection was higher in this group (32 versus 11·8 per cent; P = 0·004). Survival among the 31 patients with PV resection was worse than that for the 422 patients without PV resection (15 versus 42·4 per cent at 5 years; P < 0·001). Multivariable analyses revealed that age, blood loss, histological grade, perineural invasion, pancreatic invasion, lymph node metastasis and surgical margin were independent risk factors for overall survival. PV resection was not an independent risk factor. Conclusion PV invasion in distal cholangiocarcinoma is associated with locally advanced disease and several negative prognostic factors. Survival for patients who have PV resection is poor even after curative resection.

Purpose To determine whether maximum or average intensity projection (MIP or AIP, respectively) reconstructed from 4-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) is preferred for alignment to cone beam CT (CBCT) images in lung stereotactic body radiation therapy. Methods and Materials Stationary CT and 4DCT images were acquired with a target phantom at the center of motion and moving along the superior–inferior (SI) direction, respectively. Motion profiles were asymmetrical waveforms with amplitudes of 10, 15, and 20 mm and a 4-second cycle. Stationary CBCT and dynamic CBCT images were acquired in the same manner as stationary CT and 4DCT images. Stationary CBCT was aligned to stationary CT, and the couch position was used as the baseline. Dynamic CBCT was aligned to the MIP and AIP of corresponding amplitudes. Registration error was defined as the SI deviation of the couch position from the baseline. In 16 patients with isolated lung lesions, free-breathing CBCT (FBCBCT) was registered to AIP and MIP (64 sessions in total), and the difference in couch shifts was calculated. Results In the phantom study, registration errors were within 0.1 mm for AIP and 1.5 to 1.8 mm toward the inferior direction for MIP. In the patient study, the difference in the couch shifts (mean, range) was insignificant in the right-left (0.0 mm, ≤1.0 mm) and anterior–posterior (0.0 mm, ≤2.1 mm) directions. In the SI direction, however, the couch position significantly shifted in the inferior direction after MIP registration compared with after AIP registration (mean, −0.6 mm; ranging 1.7 mm to the superior side and 3.5 mm to the inferior side, P =.02). Conclusions AIP is recommended as the reference image for registration to FBCBCT when target alignment is performed in the presence of asymmetrical respiratory motion, whereas MIP causes systematic target positioning error.

"The efficient production of lactic acid, standardization of ingredients, protein hydrolysis, and the presence of an active starter were key factors for development of a controlled lactic acid fermentation of fish wastes and papaya. The maxima buffering capacities, proteases activities, protein and ash contents were considered for the selection of the suitable mixture of bones, fins, viscera, heads and dark meat. In addition, the overproduction of papaya is commonly presented in tropical countries, and herein, papaya surpluses were successfully employed as carbon source for Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation of tuna toward the production of added value protein hydrolysates. The maximum lactic acid produced, acidification rate constant and maximum acid production rate were estimated by Gompertz model with experimental data of 5 d of 1.27 mmol of lactic acid/g, 0.142 1/h and 0.067 mmol LA/gh, respectively. The highest degree of hydrolysis of 87.71% was achieved at 120 h. The radical-scavenging activity of the protein hydrolysates was determined by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy analyses based on the conversion of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free-radical. In addition, the lowest concentration of tuna protein hydrolysates (5.75 (g protein/mg) that gave the half-maximal inhibitory concentration was determined at 72 h of fermentation."

The characteristic improvements of salient-pole synchronous generators by inserting additional permanent magnets are investigated from both results of finite-element analyses and experiments. First, the assist effects of the magnets in a megavoltampere-class generator are analyzed by the finite-element method. It is clarified that the additional permanent magnets have the effects of reducing magnetic saturation at the rotor-pole bodies, as well as the effects of increasing the direct flux linkage of armature windings. It is also clarified that the output of the generator can be increased by more than 20% by inserting the magnets without any increase in total machine size and decrease in efficiency. Finally, the characteristic improvements are validated by the experiment of a small prototype generator. The experimental and calculated results are found to be in good agreement.

The hexagonal phase MoSi2 was grown using MoS2 powder as the source material by the molten salt method. The structural and morphological properties of the resultant silicides are characterized. As a comparison, the structural and compositional characterizations were made for the Mo-silicides grown on a Mo substrate and a Mo-Ti alloy compact. It was revealed that the homogeneity of the chemical composition of the silicides grown using MoS2 is improved, except for the existence of the Si source powders, though a small amount of S remained in the powder. The layered structure of MoS2 with a hexagonal crystalline structure would affect the growth morphology and enhance the formation of the hexagonal MoSi2. A simple growth procedure to fix the crystalline structure using an appropriate starting material under a preferable growth environment is proposed. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2012.55]

In this paper, we investigate the mechanism of output increase by inserting additional permanent magnets in salient-pole synchronous machines. The machines are modeled not only by finite element methods but also by a simple nonlinear magnetic circuit in order to express the assist effects of permanent magnets by simple theoretical expressions. The no-load saturation curves obtained by the finite element method and the magnetic circuit are compared with those of measurements in order to confirm the validities. It is clarified that the accuracy of the proposed magnetic circuit is nearly identical to that of the finite element method. Furthermore, the mechanism of the output increase by the permanent magnets is revealed by the theoretical expressions derived from the magnetic circuit equations.

The size dependence of the air oxidation for Mg nanoparticles is studied by Mg K-edge NEXAFS and AFM techniques. In the case of the exposure to the air for 3 days, the degree of the air oxidation for Mg nanoparticles increases with reduction of the size of Mg nanoparticle. However, the opposite size dependence is observed in the case of the exposure to the air for 25 days, i.e. the air oxidation reaction for the smaller Mg nanoparticles is more inhibited in the case of long term exposure to the air. This size dependence is attributed to the occupation of the free spaces between Mg nanoparticles, which protects against the incursion of the air component molecules into the multilayer of Mg nanoparticles. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2011.315]

The chemical state of interface between Pd and Mg layers has been investigated by XPS and NEXAFS methods. Since it is thought that the hydrogen storage ability strongly depends on the chemical state of the interface, we focus on the interface of the Pd—Mg. It is found that the different phase from bulk metal or oxide exists between Pd and Mg layers prepared by both DC magnetron sputtering and vacuum evaporation methods. From XPS and NEXAFS measurements, we have revealed that Pd loses the electron and Mg picks up one in this phase. It might be thought that the Pd—Mg alloy phase exists between Pd and Mg. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2011.438]

To evaluate the anisotropy of single crystals with a size of several tens of micrometers, we develop a technique for measuring the local transport properties along both the ab -plane and the c- axis using microsize devices fabricated by a focused ion beam process. We applied this technique to identify the resistivity anisotropy ( γ ρ = ρ c / ρ ab ) of the iron-pnictide superconductor PrFeAsO 0.7 synthesized under high-pressure. The obtained value of γ ρ ∼ 120 at 50 K indicates the presence of strong anisotropy, which is comparable to the anisotropy measured by other methods. The weak temperature dependence detected for the normalized resistivity along the c -axis (less than 10% difference at 280 K and 50 K) suggests a peculiar interlayer transport mechanism for PrFeAsO 0.7 .

SUMMARY Aims: Glimepiride, a third generation sulfonylurea (SU), is known to have extrapancreatic effects, but its vascular effect is unclear. We investigated the efficacy of glimepiride in improving arterial stiffness assessed by cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) in type 2 diabetic patients, compared with glibenclamide, a conventional SU. Methods: Forty type 2 diabetic patients were randomly assigned to two groups. One group was administered glimepiride 1.5 mg ⁄day, and the other group was administered glibenclamide 1.25 mg ⁄day for 6 months. Results: No significant difference in hypoglycaemic effect was observed between two groups. CAVI significantly decreased only in glimepiride group (9.4 ± 1.4 fi 8.9 ± 0.8, p < 0.05). Decrease in CAVI was greater in glimepiride group than in glibenclamide group ()0.50 ± 0.98 vs. )0.04 ± 0.57, p = 0.048). Urinary 8-hydroxy-2¢-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) decreased in glimepiride group and increased in glibenclamide group, and the changes were significantly different between groups ()1.5 ± 3.5 vs. + 1.8 ± 3.6, p = 0.009); whereas serum lipoprotein lipase mass increased in glibenclamide group and decreased in glibenclamide group, and the changes tended to be different between groups (+ 2.1 ± 19.1 vs. )7.4 ± 19.2, p = 0.096). Change in urinary 8-OHdG was a significant independent predictor for change in CAVI in all subjects. Conclusions: These results suggest that glimepiride improves CAVI compared with glibenclamide. Reduced oxidative stress and improved insulin resistance may contribute to the improvement of CAVI by glimerpiride. What’s known Diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for all manifestations of atherosclerotic vascular disease.

The assist effects of the permanent magnets in salient-pole synchronous generators are investigated by the electromagnetic field analysis. The flux and voltage are separated by the finite element analyses due to their origins. The measured and calculated results are compared in order to verify the calculation. It is revealed that there are two assist effects of the magnets on the improvement of the generator characteristics. One effect is the reduction in the size of the saturated region at the rotor core. The other effect is the direct flux linkage with the armature windings. The former effect is dominant at the rated load condition. The latter effect increases when the rotor core is oversaturated and compensates for the decrease in the former effect.

Background and Objective: A blood supply is indispensable for the regeneration of damaged or lost periodontal ligament (PDL) tissue. Mesenchymal stem cell-like activity of cells derived from the PDL has been identified by their capacity to form fibrous and osseous tissue and cementum. However, it remains to be clarified whether the cells have an ability to build the capillary network of blood vessels. This study evaluated the potential of cells derived from the PDL to construct a blood vessel-like structure and examined how growth factors controlled the multipotency of the cells. Material and Methods: The ability of a swine PDL fibroblast cell line, TesPDL3, to construct a blood vessel-like structure was evaluated on and in the self-assembling peptide scaffold, PuraMatrixTM. In addition, the ability of the cells to form mineralized nodules was evaluated on type I collagen-coated plastic plates. In some cases, fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-2 and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 were added to these cultures. The status of the expression of vascular and osteoblastic cell-specific markers in the cells was evaluated using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western blotting and immunofluorescence analyses. Results: The TesPDL3 cells not only formed mineralized nodules in response to BMP-2 stimulation but also constructed tube-like structures in response to FGF-2 stimulation. Intriguingly, FGF-2 inhibited the BMP-2-induced formation of mineralized nodules. Conversely, BMP-2 inhibited the FGF-2-induced formation of tube-like structures. Conclusion: Periodontal ligament fibroblasts have the potential to differentiate not only into osteoblastic but also into vascular cell lineages. The destiny of the cells was reciprocally regulated by BMP-2 and FGF-2.