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Post-pulmonary embolism (PE) syndrome is an important clinical condition that can affect the long-term prognosis after acute PE.We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of residual pulmonary thrombi and the thrombotic burden 1 year after acute PE, by using our refined computed tomography (CT) imaging method.In this prospective study, patients diagnosed with acute PE were recruited and examinations were conducted at 1 month, 6 months, and 1 year. Especially at 1 year, patients were evaluated multifacetedly, including by laboratory tests, quality-of-life, 6-min walking test, and enhanced CT.Fifty-two patients were enrolled. Two patients (3.8%) developed chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. A total of 43 patients completed evaluation at 1 year, among whom (74%) had residual thrombi, with a median modified CT obstruction index (mCTOI) of 10.7%. In multivariate analysis, residual thrombi at 1 month was the only factor significantly related to residual thrombi at 1 year (odds ratio, 103.4; 95% confidence interval, 4.2-2542.1). The tricuspid regurgitation pressure gradient ≥60 mmHg and left ventricular end-diastolic dimension at diagnosis were significantly related to mCTOI at 1 year (β = 0.367, P = .003; and β = -0.435, P = .001, respectively).Using our improved CT imaging protocol, we found a high prevalence of residual thrombi 1 year after acute PE. Furthermore, right ventricular overload was related to the thrombotic burden. The long-term treatment strategy of acute PE could be modified to include precise CT imaging.

Highlights • Vascular myelopathies include different aetiology and mechanism of damage. • The level of the lesion and the localization within the SC correlates with the clinical symptoms. • CT, MRI and angiography are essential for diagnosis and treatment playing a complementary role. • MRI is the gold standard for the evaluation of spinal cord lesions. • Spinal angiography is the gold standard for evaluation of spinal cord vasculature and vascular malformations., Background Vascular lesions of the spinal cord are rare but potentially devastating conditions whose accurate recognition critically determines the clinical outcome. Several conditions lead to myelopathy due to either arterial ischemia, venous congestion or bleeding within the cord. The clinical presentation varies, according with the different aetiology and mechanism of damage. Purpose The aim is to provide a comprehensive review on the radiological features of the most common vascular myelopathies, passing through the knowledge of the vascular spinal anatomy and the clinical aspects of the different aetiologies, which is crucial to promptly address the diagnosis and the radiological assessment.

Low Back Pain (LBP) is the most common spine disease and it is the most common cause of absence from work in developed countries. At lumbar level, the natural history of herniated disc is characterized by a disappearance of clinical symptoms in up to 60% with conservative treatment through simple rest for about 6 weeks and reduction of the disk heniation revealed by CT or MR scans within eight to nine months after the onset of back pain. Surgery is considered the treatment of choice for extruded, migrated and free fragment herniated disk associated to clinical symptomatology of cono-cauda syndrome, progressive foot droop and hyperalgic radiculopathy. patients with a small or contained herniated disk, without any benefit from conservative medical treatment, can be candidates for one of minimally invasive percutaneous techniques, whose outcome, though, depends on the characteristics of hernia itself and on the chosen technique. The aim of this paper is to discuss about O2-O3 treatment for symptomatic not extruded herniated disk at lumbar level, highlighting about indication inclusion exclusion criteria and our results.

Additional file 4: TableS4. Solutions to encourage IOP

Additional file 3: TableS3. Challenges to encourage IOP

Additional file 1: TableS1. Perception of the integration of oncology and palliative care programs in Japan

Additional file 2: TableS2. Qualitative analysis of opinions toward the integration of oncology and palliative care

We studied the evolution of cooperation in the framework of evolutionary game theory, implementing voluntary participation in the prisoner's dilemma. Although previous studies have tried to overcome the dilemma by introducing voluntary participation called a "loner," the question of which strategies among various strategies including voluntary participation are adaptive under competitive circumstances is still an unsolved puzzle. Here we have developed a model that consists of all possible strategies using a one-period memory of past actions. This model enables us to analyze a "melting pot" of strategies, wherein several strategies interact and compete with each other. Our results revealed that one strategy, in which one escapes if a partner defects or cooperates if a partner becomes a loner, dominates and maintains cooperation in an alternating prisoner's dilemma game. However, the so-called "win-stay, lose-shift" strategy dominates in a simultaneous prisoner's dilemma game. Our simulations clearly show that voluntary participation in the prisoner's dilemma game works in the alternating situation rather than the simultaneous one.

Background Few studies have assessed associations of non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC) in the overall diet with all-cause or specific mortality, and their results have been inconsistent. Objectives The present study investigated the association between dietary NEAC and all-cause or cause-specific mortality. Methods The study was a large-scale population-based prospective cohort study in Japan consisting of 42,520 men and 50,207 women aged 44-76 y, who had no history of cancer, stroke, ischemic heart disease, or chronic liver disease. We evaluated FFQ-based dietary NEAC with use of published databases in which the NEACs of individual foods were analyzed by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays. Dietary NEAC was calculated by multiplying the estimated NEAC with the consumed amount and summing up those values for all foods, and was categorized in quartiles. We identified death and cause of death with use of residential registry and death certificates. HRs and 95% Cls for death from the second survey, which was conducted from April 1995 to December 2014 were estimated with Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Results After 1,498,308 person-years of follow-up, 12,978 total deaths occurred. The multivariable-adjusted HRs (95% Cls) for all-cause mortality for the highest compared with the lowest quartile of FRAP and ORAC were 0.85 (0.80, 0.89) and 0.84 (0.79, 0.89), respectively. Dietary NEACs were inversely associated with mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD), but not from cancer. The multivariable-adjusted HRs (95% Cls) for CVD for the highest compared with the lowest quartile of FRAP and ORAC were 0.83 (0.75, 0.92) and 0.79 (0.70, 0.89), respectively. Conclusions Higher dietary NEACs from FRAP and ORAC were associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality and mortality from CVD in Japanese adults.

Basilar Artery Occlusion (BAO) is a devastating and challenging disease with a mortality and morbidity rateup to 90% and a severe residual deficit in more than 65% of survivors. Best treatmentstrategy for BAO combined with proximalvertebral stenosis or dissection (tandem occlusion) is not clear yet. We describe a case of acute stroke due to tandem occlusion of posterior circulation (acute V2 dissection plus BAO) treated by acute stent-assisted vertebro-basilar reconstruction (Telescoping StentsTechnique) with a long-term follow-up.

The incidence of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) is progressively increasing. Most cases arise from the digestive system, where ileum, rectum and pancreas represent the commonest site of origin. Liver metastases are frequently detected at diagnosis or during the follow-up. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is used in patients with pancreatic NETs (P-NETs) and liver metastases from P-NET but its role has not been standardized. The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate CEUS in patients with P-NETs and liver metastases from P-NET both as prognostic factor and predictor of response to therapy with somatostatin analogues (SSAs). CEUS was performed at the diagnosis of NET and 3, 6 and 12 months after the beginning of SSAs. CEUS pattern was compared with contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) pattern. There was a significant association between CEUS and CT pattern (X 2 = 79.0; p

Wearable sensorized smart textile are gaining interests in medicine for monitoring physiological parameters. Moreover, sensing solutions based on fiber optic technologies have shown promising results for applications in Magnetic Resonance (MR) environment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the functionality of an MR-compatible smart textile based on six fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors inside the MR environment for the monitoring of both respiratory and cardiac activities during apnea and quiet breathing stages. The proposed textile was tested on two healthy volunteers undergoing 1.5 Tesla MR examination. By analyzing the raw data collected by the six FBGs, respiratory parameters (i.e., respiratory rate, inspiratory and expiratory periods, inspiratory/respiratory ratio and inspiratory/expiratory ratio) have been computed. Thus, considering the raw data collected by the FBG sensor closest to the heart the resting heart rate was calculated by using the Fast Fourier transform (FFT). Results show that both the big displacements at low frequency (related to the breathing) and the small displacements at higher frequency (related to the heart activity) can be collected with the proposed system allowing the evaluation of both the respiratory and cardiac activities during quiet breathing and apnea without artifacts on images, providing useful information about patient condition. © 2017 IEEE.

The seismic response of two tall steel moment frame buildings and their variants is explored through parametric nonlinear analysis using idealized sawtooth-like ground velocity waveforms, with a characteristic period (T), amplitude (peak ground velocity, PGV), and duration (number of cycles, N). Collapse-level response is induced only by long-period, moderate to large PGV ground excitation. This agrees well with a simple energy balance analysis. The collapse initiation regime expands to lower ground motion periods and amplitudes with increasing number of ground motion cycles.

Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Much of the long-term disability occurs in patients with Emergent Large Vessel Occlusion (ELVO). In fact, in these patients, occlusion of a major intracerebral artery results in a large area of brain injury often resulting in

In recent decades, U.S. health care costs have risen much faster than the overall rate of inflation, and they now consume over 16 percent of gross domestic product, the highest proportion in the world (Anderson and Frogner 2000; Hartman et al. 1999). Despite higher costs, the quality of U.S. health care appears to be no better than that of other industrialized countries (Davis et al. 1992; Anderson and Frogner 2000). A focus on specialty care at the expense of primary care has been blamed in part for this gap between cost and outcome (Phillips, Dodoo, and Green 2005; Starfield et al. 2005a). Indeed, specialty utilization is much higher in the United States than in other countries (Forrest et al. 1999b, 2000), and effective primary care reduces the need for specialty care and enhances value (Starfield, Shi, and Macinko 2005b). There has been relatively little research on pediatric subspecialty utilization, with the last comprehensive study published over 10 years ago (Forrest et al. 1999a). That study and others demonstrated a broad array of medical and surgical subspecialties to which patients are referred and various reasons for referral, including assistance with diagnosis and management, need for surgery or other procedures, and parental request (Forrest et al. 1999a, 2000; Glade et al. 2006). In addition, research has shown that there is a wide variability in subspecialty referral rates among pediatricians, as well as lesser variability according to type of insurance, region, and demographics (Forrest et al. 1999a, 2000; Kuhlthau et al. 2002). In the current health care context, especially in light of efforts to develop more efficient models of care such as accountable care organizations (Luft 2009), a detailed understanding of specialty care utilization is needed. Thus, to update and further delineate the details of pediatric subspecialty utilization, we analyzed medical claims from a single large not-for-profit health insurer for a large cohort of pediatric primary care practices that are part of a network affiliated with a children's hospital. We sought to define the population-based subspecialty utilization rate and to examine patterns of subspecialty utilization that might be important in designing a system that could deliver higher value pediatric care.

SUMMARY Background The presence of abnormal microcapillaries detected by narrow band imaging (NBI) with magnifying colonoscopy has been reported to be a marker of colorectal neoplasia. Aim To investigate prospectively if NBI with magnification could help predict the histology of early colorectal neoplasia. Methods A series of 104 consecutive patients with 139 colorectal lesions were studied. All lesions were detected by conventional colonoscopy and subsequently evaluated by NBI with magnification. During NBI with magnification, the microvascular architecture observed on the surface of the detected lesions, capillary patterns (CP), was divided into nonneoplastic (CP I) and neoplastic (CP II and CP III) types. Only lesions endoscopically diagnosed as CP II or CP III were included in the study. All of the lesions were resected endoscopically or surgically and examined histologically for comparison. Results

System identification of structures using their measured earthquake response can play a key role in structural health monitoring, structural control and improving performance-based design. Implementation using data from strong seismic shaking is complicated by the nonlinear hysteretic response of structures. Furthermore, this inverse problem is ill-conditioned; for example, even if some components in the structure show substantial yielding, others will exhibit nearly elastic response, producing no information about their yielding behavior. Classical least-squares or maximum likelihood estimation will not work with a realistic class of hysteretic models because it will be unidentifiable based on the data. It is shown here that Bayesian updating and model class selection provide a powerful and rigorous approach to tackle this problem when implemented using a recently developed stochastic simulation algorithm called Transitional Markov Chain Monte Carlo. The updating and model class selection is performed on a previously-developed class of Masing hysteretic structural models that are relatively simple yet can give realistic responses to seismic loading. The theory for the Masing hysteretic models, and the theory used to perform the updating and model class selection, are presented and discussed. An illustrative example is given that uses simulated dynamic response data and shows the ability of the algorithm to identify hysteretic systems even when the class of models is unidentifiable based on the data.

Springer et al. (2003) contend that sequential declines occurred in North Pacific populations of harbor and fur seals, Steller sea lions, and sea otters. They hypothesize that these were due to increased predation by killer whales, when industrial whaling's removal of large whales as a supposed primary food source precipitated a prey switch. Using a regional approach, we reexamined whale catch data, killer whale predation observations, and the current biomass and trends of potential prey, and found little support for the prey-switching hypothesis. Large whale biomass in the Bering Sea did not decline as much as suggested by Springer et al., and much of the reduction occurred 50–100 yr ago, well before the declines of pinnipeds and sea otters began; thus, the need to switch prey starting in the 1970s is doubtful. With the sole exception that the sea otter decline followed the decline of pinnipeds, the reported declines were not in fact sequential. Given this, it is unlikely that a sequential megafaunal collapse from whales to sea otters occurred. The spatial and temporal patterns of pinniped and sea otter population trends are more complex than Springer et al. suggest, and are often inconsistent with their hypothesis. Populations remained stable or increased in many areas, despite extensive historical whaling and high killer whale abundance. Furthermore, observed killer whale predation has largely involved pinnipeds and small cetaceans; there is little evidence that large whales were ever a major prey item in high latitudes. Small cetaceans (ignored by Springer et al.) were likely abundant throughout the period. Overall, we suggest that the Springer et al. hypothesis represents a misleading and simplistic view of events and trophic relationships within this complex marine ecosystem.

A new Bayesian model updating approach is presented for linear structural models. It is based on the Gibbs sampler, a stochastic simulation method that decomposes the uncertain model parameters into three groups, so that the direct sampling from any one group is possible when conditional on the other groups and the incomplete modal data. This means that even if the number of uncertain parameters is large, the effective dimension for the Gibbs sampler is always three and so high-dimensional parameter spaces that are fatal to most sampling techniques are handled by the method, making it more practical for health monitoring of real structures. The approach also inherits the advantages of Bayesian techniques: it not only updates the optimal estimate of the structural parameters but also updates the associated uncertainties. The approach is illustrated by applying it to two examples of structural health monitoring problems, in which the goal is to detect and quantify any damage using incomplete modal data obtained from small-amplitude vibrations measured before and after a severe loading event, such as an earthquake or explosion.

Aims: To compare the pathological stage and surgical margin status in patients undergoing either immediate radical prostatectomy or 12 and 24 weeks of neoadjuvant hormonal treatment (NHT) in a prospective, randomised study. Methods: Whole mount sections of 393 radical prostatectomy specimens were evaluated: 128 patients had immediate surgery, 143 were treated for 12 weeks and 122 for 24 weeks with complete androgen blockade. Results: Histopathology revealed organ confined tumours in 40.4% of patients with clinical stage B disease in the immediate surgery group, whereas 12 and 24 weeks of NHT increased the number of organ confined tumours to 54.6% and 64.8%, respectively. Among patients with clinical stage C tumours, pathological staging found organ confined disease in 10.4%, 31.4%, and 61.2% in the immediate surgery, 12 weeks of NHT, and 24 weeks of NHT groups, respectively. Preoperative NHT caused a significant decrease in positive margins both in patients with clinical stage B and C disease. The extent of margin involvement was not influenced by preoperative treatment. Conclusions: Neoadjuvant androgenic suppression is effective in reducing both the pathological stage and the positive margin rate in patients with stage B and C prostatic cancer undergoing radical surgery. Some beneficial effects are evident in those patients treated for 24 weeks, and it is reasonable to assume that the optimal duration of NHT is longer than three months.

The Japan Hadron Facility (JHF) accelerator complex comprises a 50-GeV main synchrotron, a 3-GeV rapid-cycling synchrotron, and a 400-MeV linac. The accelerators provide high-intensity, high-energy proton beams for various scientific fields. These high-intensity, high-energy accelerators, especially the 50-GeV main synchrotron, impose tight demands on the injection/extraction septum magnets for a thin structure, large aperture and high operating field. But to manufacture high field septum magnets on the condition of a large aperture is very difficult because of its extraordinarily strong electromagnetic force due to the self-field. To cope with these tight demands, new design concepts of septa are required. An opposite-field septum magnet system is one of the solutions to realize a thin septa or very high-field septum magnets.

The phase behavior of oxyethylene hydrogenated castor oil (HCO10) in the oil/water system has been studied with three different oils, a polar oil, glycerol tris(2-ethyl hexanoic) ester (TEH) and two hydrocarbons, hexadecane and n -octane. For the TEH system, the triangular phase diagram is found to be dominated by a liquid crystalline phase at 25°C whereas a large portion of this phase melts to give a single-phase microemulsion at 35°C. For the hexadecane system, the single phase region in the triangular phase diagram is much smaller than that for TEH. These single-phase regions are almost isolated from the water/surfactant or oil/surfactant axes for both the oils. Since the surfactant is a commercial surfactant and contains many components with different polyoxyethylene chains, the theory for multisurfactant systems was applied to evaluate the hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) of HCO10. The HLB number of this surfactant is calculated by mixing it with a pure polyoxyethylene-type surfactant, C 12 EO 6 , whose HLB number is known. HLB numbers calculated from different oils agree well with each other.

The mechanism of collapse of tall steel moment-frame buildings is explored through three-dimensional nonlinear analyses of two 18-story steel moment-frame buildings under earthquake excitation. Both fracture-susceptible and perfect-connection conditions are investigated. Classical energy-balance analysis shows that only long-period excitation imparts energy to tall buildings large enough to cause collapse. Under such long-period motion, the shear-beam analogy alludes to the existence of a characteristic mechanism of collapse or a few preferred mechanisms of collapse for these buildings. Numerical evidence from parametric analyses of the buildings under a suite of idealized sawtooth-like ground-motion time histories, with varying period (T), amplitude (peak ground velocity, PGV), and duration (number of cycles, N), is presented to support this hypothesis. Damage localizes to form a quasi-shear band over a few stories. When the band is destabilized, sidesway collapse is initiated, and gravity takes over. Only one to five collapse mechanisms occur out of a possible 153 mechanisms in either principal direction of the buildings considered. Where two or more preferred mechanisms do exist, they have significant story-overlap, typically separated by just 1 story. It is shown that a simple work-energy relation applied to all possible quasi-shear bands combined with plastic analysis principles can systematically identify all the preferred collapse mechanisms.

This article outlines a new approach to rapidly estimate the damage to tall buildings immediately following a large earthquake. The preevent groundwork involves the creation of a database of structural responses to a suite of idealized ground‐motion waveforms. The postevent action involves (1) rapid generation of an earthquake source model, (2) near real‐time simulation of the earthquake using a regional spectral‐element model of the earth and computing synthetic seismograms at tall building sites, and (3) estimation of tall building response (and damage) by determining the best‐fitting idealized waveforms to the synthetically generated ground motion at the site and directly extracting structural response metrics from the database. Here, ground‐velocity waveforms are parameterized using sawtoothlike wave trains with a characteristic period (T), amplitude (peak ground velocity, PGV), and duration (number of cycles, N). The proof‐of‐concept is established using the case study of one tall building model. Nonlinear analyses are performed on the model subjected to the idealized wave trains, with T varying from 0.5 s to 6.0 s, PGV varying from 0.125 m/s, and N varying from 1 to 5. Databases of peak transient and residual interstory drift ratios (IDR), and permanent roof drift are created. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the rapid response approach by applying it to synthetic waveforms from a simulated 1857‐like magnitude 7.9 San Andreas earthquake. The peak IDR, a key measure of structural performance, is predicted well enough for emergency response decision making.

This work represents an effort to develop one plausible realization of the effects of the scenario event on tall steel moment-frame buildings. We have used the simulated ground motions with three-dimensional nonlinear finite element models of three buildings in the 20-story class to simulate structural responses at 784 analysis sites spaced at approximately 4 km throughout the San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, and the Los Angeles Basin. Based on the simulation results and available information on the number and distribution of steel buildings, the recommended damage scenario for the ShakeOut drill was 5% of the estimated 150 steel moment-frame structures in the 10–30 story range collapsing, 10% red-tagged, 15% with damage serious enough to cause loss of life, and 20% with visible damage requiring building closure.

Vascular involvement in neurofibromatosis type I is a well-recognized but rare feature of the disease. This case report is the first such describing acute aortic dissection and rupture in a patient who also had incidental aneurysms of his carotid and iliac arteries. A review of the literature about pathogenesis and management strategies is also presented. (J Vasc Surg 2001;34:364-6.)

This study illustrates the usefulness of vertebral biopsy in osteoporotic patients previously treated with vertebroplasty (VP) who present at follow-up with a new fracture in a vertebral so-ma adjacent or distant from the collapsed vertebral body. Five hundred and fifty patients with osteoporotic vertebral collapse underwent a minimally invasive treatment with vertebroplasty (VP) for a total of 980 vertebral bodies. The approach was unipedicular in 520 patients and bipedicular in 30. Only cases with unclear findings at MR or CT (23 patients) were scheduled for a vertebral biopsy before VP treatment. The biopsy results were positive for haematological disease in only eight patients. A vertebral biopsy was carried out during re-treatment with VP in all patients who presented a vertebral refracture in the three month follow-up at a site adjacent to or distant from the previously treated vertebra (21 patients). We have found new fractures of adjacent vertebrae in 15 patients and new fractures of distant vertebrae in 16 patients at three month follow-up examination. Five of the 31 cases (16%) of spinal refracture, where during vertebroplasty treatment a bone biopsy and a sternal medullary aspiration had been carried out, an anatomopathological response to multiple myeloma was responsible for the refracture. It is useful to perform a spinal bone biopsy during re-treatment of the vertebroplasty procedure to rule out multiple myeloma or other disease as the cause of the new collapse in patients with osteoporotic disease presenting a new vertebral fracture in an adjacent or distant site from the previously collapsed vertebral body.

Counts of migrating whales depend on accurate sightings data. In this study, teams of shore-based observers independently tracked whale pods during the southbound migration of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) while a routine (“standard watch”) census was underway. A comparison of sighting records showed that time and location accuracy was limited to 45 s, 3 ◦ (magnetic) horizontally, and 0.0057 ◦ (0.2 reticles) vertically. Of 242 attempts to track whale groups, 72 failed, 120 were “good tracks,” and 83 qualified as “best tracks” because they had ≥8 sightings/pod, ≥16-min observation time, and unequivocal matches to sightings in the standard watch during uncompromised visibility. Between paired tracking teams, 39 attempts to conduct concurrent tracks resulted in 21 “good tracks” with complete agreement in 71% of the cases. Of 133 comparisons between trackers and the standard watch, 43% of the pod-size estimates were the same, but the standard watch overestimated 10% of the pods and underestimated 47%. Thus, according to results from tracking teams, pods recorded as size 1 by observers on the standard watch should be corrected by +0.6; pods of 2 by +0.5; pods of 3 by +0.8; and pods >3 (4–10) were overestimated and should be corrected by −0.6.

The presence of abnormal microcapillaries detected by narrow band imaging (NBI) with magnifying colonoscopy has been reported to be a marker of colorectal neoplasia.To investigate prospectively if NBI with magnification could help predict the histology of early colorectal neoplasia.A series of 104 consecutive patients with 139 colorectal lesions were studied. All lesions were detected by conventional colonoscopy and subsequently evaluated by NBI with magnification. During NBI with magnification, the microvascular architecture observed on the surface of the detected lesions, capillary patterns (CP), was divided into non-neoplastic (CP I) and neoplastic (CP II and CP III) types. Only lesions endoscopically diagnosed as CP II or CP III were included in the study. All of the lesions were resected endoscopically or surgically and examined histologically for comparison.Ninety-seven per cent (n = 103) of colorectal neoplastic lesions with CP II were histologically diagnosed as low-grade dysplasia. Eighty-seven per cent (n = 31) of the colorectal neoplastic lesions with CP III were high-grade dysplasia or invasive cancer.Capillary patterns observed by NBI with magnification could be used to assess the degree of atypia in early colorectal neoplasia.

The Bayesian model updating procedure is a powerful and general approach to update the uncertainties in a model response by using the information from available data. It is based on the well-known theorem of Bayes, which states that a posterior (updated) probability distribution for the model parameters conditioned on the data available is proportional to the product between the prior probability distribution and the likelihood function. Herein, the problem of establishing empirical earthquake groundmotion attenuation laws is addressed; in particular, two kinds of regression models are considered. The model parameters are represented by the coefficients of the regression models, and the data consist of a database of strong-motion records from actual earthquakes, where the magnitudes and epicentral distances are known.

We report our experience in the treatment of thoracic and lumbosacral spinal pain due to vertebral bone fractures. This pathology can be related to osteoporosis but also to metastatic disease and less frequently vertebral haemangioma. From April 2001 through December 2004 we treated 238 patients for a total of 455 vertebral bodies. 175 patients had osteoporosis, 70 had metastasis and 13 had vertebral haemangioma. Sacroplasty was performed in six patients to obtain a cement filling of sacral metastasis. The procedures were mostly performed under fluoroscopy and only in cases of metastasis or sacroplasty was CT/fluoroscopy guidance preferred for optimal filling of the area of osteolysis. We evaluated the results at six and 18 months follow-up and analysed the incidence of new vertebral fractures, vascular and disk leakage and the incidence of major and minor complications. Biopsy was performed only in doubtful cases. We obtained different results considering the etiology of the disease. We obtained a 92% success rate at six months follow-up and 89% success at 18 months follow-up in osteoporosis, a 77% and 72% success rate at six and 18 months follow-up in metastastic patients, and no change at six and 18 months follow-up in patients with vertebral haemangioma in which the success rate was of 95%. We noted extravertebral leakage in 41% of vertebral bodies of which 31% were treated at the level of the vascular space and only 10% at the level of the disk space, and symptomatic in only two cases (acute compressive radiculitis, medically treated and resolved within a month). Six patients presented new fractures in the adjacent vertebral body and 30% had a partial recovery in the height of the vertebral body with kyphosis curve reduction. Vertebroplasty is a good technique to obtain spine pain relief and has a low incidence of side effects. Good quality equipment is important to obtain these results.

In order to estimate a field disturbance of a guiding field of a synchrotron due to an eddy current, magnetic fields in a bending magnet have been measured. The magnet was excited by a sinusoidal current with a repetition of 30 Hz. Two search coils were used in the measurements. One is a reference coil and the other is a measurement coil. An imaginary part of an eddy field was derived from the phase difference between two coil signals. The results were compared with a simple two-dimensional model.

A new type of fast beam chopper was developed and installed at the HIMAC facility. Test operations of the chopper have been carried out. The chopper is basically a periodic beam-energy transformer that performs 10% modulation of beam's kinetic energy. The modulated fraction of the beam is chopped off by the downstream RFQ due to the relatively narrow injection energy window of the RFQ. Some of the recent test results with the chopper are presented. Measured chopped beams show sharp spikes at the pulse edges. Their origin is studied by numerical calculations. Another topic is the beam injection studies at the HIMAC's main-ring with the use of the chopped beams.

We present a case report of a 33-year-old woman with back pain for several months which was resistant to medical treatment. Thoracolumbar MRI and multidetector CT showed an aneurysmal bone cyst intersecting the body and pedicles of L5. Minimally invasive treatment was performed with percutaneous injection of osteoconductive cement (Cerament) to induce sclerosis and bone remodeling of the bone cyst lesion with an analgesic effect. Before treatment, spinal angiography was performed to exclude arterial afferents. No bone biopsy was done. Under general anesthesia and fluoroscopic guidance, a first vertebroplasty was performed by a bilateral transpedicular approach using the osteoconductive cement followed 2 months later by a second treatment with CT-fluoro-guided direct injection of Cerament. No complications occurred during the procedure. At 4 and 6 months follow-up the MRI/CT showed sclerotic bone remodeling of the walls of the aneurysmal cyst with clinical improvement.

This paper introduces a new type of chopper, which is similar to a beam transformer first discussed by R. Wideroe (1928). It is based on the fact that the RFQ has a rather small energy window. A pulsed beam transformer that provides 10% energy modulation to the beam in front of an RFQ can effectively chop the beam. It has fast rise- and fall-time and a short physical length. A prototype, which consists of a cavity and a high voltage pulsed power supply, has been constructed and tested. Two types of magnetic materials were tried for making the core of the cavity-the Finemet and the ferrite Philips 4M2. While the former gave good performance, the latter failed the test. Results from the bench measurements and a plan for beam tests are briefly described.