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Purpose: To evaluate real‐world evidence for young Japanese patients with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) by retrospectively examining surgical procedures and clinical outcomes in the Japan Clinical Retina Study group. Methods: This was a multicentre retrospective study of the medical records of 562 young patients (384 males and 178 females; mean age: 33.0 ± 11.8 years) who had been diagnosed with RRD and who underwent surgical procedures in participating centres during the period between April 2013 and August 2016. Results: The selected surgeries were scleral buckling (SB) for 295 eyes (49.7%) and pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for 262 eyes (44.1%). Between the two surgical procedures, there was no significant difference in the primary anatomical reattachment rate (PARR, SB = 92.2%, PPV = 93.9%); improvements in vision were noted in both groups. The incidences of proliferative vitreoretinopathy and cataract formation within 1 year of PPV were 2.3% (p = 0.0047) and 6.5% (p = 0.0005), whereas they were 0% and 1.0% in the SB group, respectively. Conclusion: Scleral buckling (SB) and PPV were chosen with almost equal frequency for young patients with RRD. Clinical outcomes for SB and PPV exhibited a similar PARR. The incidence of cataract formation after PPV may constitute an important limitation of the procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical resistivity and its thermal coefficient (TCR) of TiW alloy thin films which were prepared by using two different sputtering systems have been investigated. System A is a DC-magnetron sputtering system equipped with a single composite-target that allows the contents controllable by an external field of solenoid as reported in previous papers (Sakurai and Takeda, Abstract of E-MRS 2005 Fall Meeting [1] and Sakurai et al., Solid State Phenom. 154, 175 (2009) [2]). The system A prepared specimens with the range of 21.6 to 36.6 at% of W-contents. The TCR varies from minus to plus at 32 at% of W-content. On the other hand, System B is a RF-magnetron sputtering system equipped with multi-targets and multi-sputtering-sources. The system B covered the whole binary composition ranges by controlling power ratio for two independent sputtering sources. The resistivity characteristics show a parabolic curve with the maximum value on Ti-rich contents. The TCR decreases at the contents that shows the maximum resistivity, but the TCR is always plus and does not cross zero. Difference of the properties by using the two systems will be discussed. In the system A, the background is exhausted by an oil diffusion pump and the pressure is higher (lower vacuum degree) than the background in the system B with a turbo molecular pump. This suggests that zero TCR would be achieved by introducing the controlled impurities (O2 or N2) into the binary alloy films. (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its discovery, unidirectional anisotropy appearing in exchange coupled ferromagnetic (F)/antiferromagnetic (AF) layers has been used to pin ferromagnetic layers of various spin devices. However, a fundamental understanding is still lacking. The author has already demonstrated a mechanism based on simply assuming a loosely coupled layer in the AF region, without imposing any restrictions on the classical Heisenberg spins, with perfect compensated and uncompensated AF interfaces on the simple cubic (sc) lattice. The difference between compensated and uncompensated is only the F/AF coupling form (spin flop or collinear) interaction, and unidirectional anisotropy does not depend on the compensated or uncompensated case, but appears as a result of introducing loose coupling in the AF region. The unidirectional anisotropy energy does not come from the F/AF interfaces, but from the inner AF coupling defects. As reported in our previous papers, a large decrease in AF interaction from 1/10 to 1/1000 of the usual AF interaction was necessary in order to obtain unidirectional anisotropy in the systems. Correspondence between loose coupling and the defect mode, cell size dependency in the fcc system, and thickness dependency are topics for future investigation. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 94(9): 36-44, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library (). DOI 10.1002/ecj.10352 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Aim: To examine the additive protective effects of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ agonist pioglitazone (Pio) and the angiotensin II receptor blocker candesartan (Cand) in a murine model of renal fibrosis: mice with unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO). Methods: Mice were randomly assigned into four groups that after UUO received i.p. injections of either Pio (10 mg/kg/day), Cand (1 mg/kg/day), Cand + Pio or vehicle for 10 days. Physiological parameters, the degree of renal fibrosis and molecules related to renal fibrosis were analysed, and sham-operated mice were used as controls. Results: Total collagen assay showed prominent renal fibrosis in the vehicle-treated mice, significantly attenuated renal fibrosis in the Cand-treated and the Pio-treated mice, and further attenuated renal fibrosis in the (Cand + Pio)-treated mice. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction revealed that this attenuation pattern was also evident in the expression of the mRNA for transforming growth factor-β, collagens I and III, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. Conclusion: Pioglitazone and candesartan have additive protective effects on renal fibrosis due to UUO in mice, suggesting that their use in combination would be an effective treatment for chronic kidney disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) as an aid to deciding the prognosis for lung carcinoma patients, comparing quantitatively the signal from the p53 gene (17p13.1) on chromosome 17, was studied. A dual-labeling technique was used, using probes for the centromeric region of chromosome 17 and for the p53 gene locus. FISH was used on frozen sections of 68 surgically resected lung carcinoma (20 adenocarcinoma; 37 squamous cell carcinoma; 11 large, small, and other cell carcinoma). Hybridization signals were counted for 100–200 interphase nuclei per specimen using a Zeiss confocal laser scanning microscope (Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany) equipped with a bandpass filter for diaminophenolindole and a longpass filter for rhodamine. Clinicopathologic data were evaluated using the Statistical Analysis System. Chromosome 17 polysomy (three or more signals) was greater in poorly differentiated than in well-differentiated lung carcinoma ( P < 0.05). p53 deletion correlated with p53 immunostaining ( P < 0.05). Thus, analysis by FISH using DNA probes for chromosome 17 and p53 may be of some, albeit limited, value in determination of prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]