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Malnutrition measured by the geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) was reported to be associated with poor prognosis for patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). However, the optimal cut-off value of preprocedural GNRI for critical limb ischemia (CLI) and intermittent claudication (IC) is unknown. We aimed to determine its optimal cut-off value for CLI or IC patients requiring endovascular revascularization.We explored data of 2246 patients (CLI: n = 1061, IC: n = 1185) registered in the Tokyo-taMA peripheral vascular intervention research COmraDE (TOMA-CODE) registry, which prospectively enrolled consecutive PAD patients who underwent endovascular revascularization in 34 hospitals in Japan from August 2014 to August 2016. The optimal cut-off values of GNRI were assessed by the survival classification and regression tree (CART) analyses, and the survival curve analyses for major adverse cardiovascular and limb events (MACLEs) were performed for these cut-off values.In addition to the first cut-off value of 96.2 in CLI and 85.6 in IC, the survival CART provided an additional cut-off value of 78.2 in CLI and 106.0 in IC for further risk stratification. The survival curve was significantly stratified by the GNRI-based malnutrition status in both CLI [high risk: 47.7% (51/107), moderate: 30.1% (118/392), and low: 10.2% (53/520), log-rank p 0.001] and IC [high risk: 14.3% (7/49), moderate: 4.5% (29/646), and low: 0.5% (2/407), log-rank p 0.001]. The multivariate Cox-proportional hazard analysis showed that a higher GNRI was significantly associated with a better outcome in both CLI [hazard ratio (HR) per 1-point increase: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.96-0.98, p 0.001] and IC (HR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.91-0.97, p 0.001).Preprocedural nutritional status significantly stratified future events in patients with PAD. Given that the optimal cut-off value of GNRI in CLI was almost 10-points lower than that of IC, using a disease-specific cut-off value is important for risk stratification.

Purpose:Hypoglycemia is a common and life-threatening complication in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. Current guidelines recommend glucagon for treating hypoglycemia in out-of-hospital settings; however, glucagon is reportedly underused in such patients. We conducted a doctor-oriented, questionnaire-based survey of pediatricians and physicians to determine the glucagon prescription rate and identify the reason(s) for its underuse in T1DM patients.Methods:A questionnaire was mailed to 415 pediatricians and 200 physicians employed at 66 facilities with >100 general wards throughout Hyogo, Japan. The following variables were surveyed: doctor’s specialty, glucagon prescription rate, familiarity with glucagon use guidelines, barriers to prescribing glucagon, and attitude changes after education.Results:After 16 doctors were found to have retired, 599 doctors were enrolled; 305 (187 pediatricians and 118 physicians) returned a completed questionnaire. In all, 45 pediatricians and 104 physicians were treating T1DM patients, of whom 24% and 28% reported prescribing glucagon, respectively. The guideline familiarity rate among pediatricians was lower than that among physicians. The major barrier to prescribing glucagon was the complex preparation procedure required by patients/caregivers. More than half of the doctors who did not prescribe glucagon began doing so after being educated about the guidelines.Conclusion:The glucagon prescription rate was low among both pediatricians and physicians in Japan.

A Japanese woman aged in her late 30s with severe insulin resistance and bodily features including a triangular face, prominent forehead, small chin, large and low‐set ears, and ocular depression was investigated. A similar phenotype was not observed in other family members with the exception of her son, suggesting that the condition was caused by a de novo mutation that was transmitted from mother to son. Exome analysis showed the presence in the proband and her son of a c.1945C>T mutation in PIK3R1, a common mutation associated with SHORT (short stature, hyperextensibility of joints and/or inguinal hernia, ocular depression, Rieger anomaly, and teething delay) syndrome. Administration of a sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor lowered the proband's hemoglobin A1c level and allowed a reduction in her insulin dose without treatment‐related adverse events including ketoacidosis, exaggerated loss of body mass or hypoglycemia. Sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors might thus offer an additional option for the treatment of genetic syndromes of severe insulin resistance.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal progressive muscle wasting disease of childhood. Titin in sarcomere is digested by calcium dependent protease. To explore muscle damage in DMD, the urinary concentrations of the N-terminal fragment of titin were determined using a newly developed enzyme linked immune sorbent assay kit. The urinary titin concentrations were normalized to creatinine (Cr). A total of 145 urine samples were obtained at a single Japanese hospital from 113 DMD patients aged 3-29years. Normalized urinary titin concentration was 965.8±1011.9 (Mean±SD) pmol/mg Cr in patients with DMD. This was nearly 700-fold higher than healthy children (1.4±0.8pmol/mg Cr). The concentration was significantly higher in DMD than in BMD patients who had significantly higher urinary titin than normal. Urinary titin in DMD patients tended to decrease with age. The median concentration of urinary titin in the youngest (aged 3-7years) and oldest (aged ≥16years) groups was 1468.3 and 411.3pmol/mg Cr, respectively, with significant difference. Urinary concentration of titin correlated significantly with serum creatine kinase concentration, the best-known biomarker of DMD. The N-terminal fragment of titin in urine has potential as a diagnostic and clinical biomarker for DMD.

Background One of the main complications in patients with muscular dystrophies is cardiac dysfunction. The literature on cardiac involvement in patients with Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD) is limited. Aim To compare cardiac involvement between patients with FCMD and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Methods We compared cardiac involvement between 30 patients with FCMD and 181 patients with DMD using echocardiography and serum biomarkers. All patients were receiving regular checkups at Kobe University Hospital. We used single regression analysis to compare echocardiographic parameters, age, and serum biomarkers. Results Almost all clinical and echocardiographic parameters were lower in patients with FCMD than DMD. The brain natriuretic peptide concentration in patients with FCMD showed no correlation with age or left ventricular ejection fraction ( r = 0.231, p = 0.22 and r = 0.058, p = 0.76, respectively). A log-rank test revealed that the risk of left ventricular systolic dysfunction was lower in patients with FCMD than DMD ( p = 0.046, hazard ratio = 0.348). Conclusion The clinical progression of cardiac dysfunction is significantly milder in patients with FCMD than DMD, while skeletal muscle involvement is significantly worse in patients with FCMD. These data suggest that the pathophysiological findings of FCMD can be explained by less severe cardiac dysfunction in FCMD than DMD.

Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) are caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene and are characterized by severe and mild progressive muscle wasting, respectively. Short stature has been reported as a feature of DMD in the Western hemisphere, but not yet confirmed in Orientals. Height of young BMD has not been fully characterized. Here, height of ambulant and steroid naive Japanese 179 DMD and 42 BMD patients between 4 and 10 years of age was retrospectively examined using height standard deviation score (SDS). The mean height SDS of DMD was -1.08 SD that was significantly smaller than normal (p

Background Glutaryl carnitine (C5DC) in dried blood spots is used as a biomarker for glutaric aciduria type 1 (GA-1) screening. C5DC, however, is the only screening marker for this condition, and various pathological conditions may interfere with C5DC metabolism. Recently, C5DC elevation has been reported in cases of renal insufficiency. Method Five patients who were positive for GA-1 on newborn screening with tandem mass spectrometry between September 2012 and March 2015 at Kobe University Hospital were enrolled in this study. Results GA-1 was not confirmed on urinary organic acids analysis in any of the patients. C5DC decreased immediately in four patients, but one patient, who had high C5DC for at least 4 months, was diagnosed with bilateral renal hypoplasia. Conclusion In the case of persistently elevated C5DC, renal insufficiency should be considered as a differential diagnosis.

We introduce SitusCall, a new system that enhances group communication in emergencies quickly. The sytem allows users to communicate face-to-face with location information through a smartphone. To detect a user's position, the system employs GPS and several beacons, and any nearby user can simply select certain other users to initiate communication. Thus, it does not require personal authentication information, such as an email address or a telephone number. Also, SitusCall affords communication with a flexible streaming layout. The system provides several predefined layouts for face-to-face communication from which users can select to communicate with other connected users. Yet our approach is so simple and direct that it is useful for emergency cases. For example, if a person wants to announce evacuation information (e.g., about dangerous places or conditions) to other people nearby, he or she can simply select icons and connect with those people instantly and share information with them. In this paper, we describe SitusCall in terms of its design, implementation, evaluation, and applications.

With the development of IoT applications, a wide variety of healthcare systems are available. A decrease in birthrate and an aging population have led to increased importance of health care for older adults. In such environments, a monitoring system is useful, in which a targeted person can be continuously viewed through a camera, and reports regarding the person's health can be automatically transmitted through email. However, the application does not take security into account enough because most systems are connected to the Internet. The system should be protected from a wide variety of risks to keep both personal data and sensors safe. Therefore, we developed SinkNet. This program connects several sensors and constructs a private network that can automatically perform a series of actions for client devices, such as collecting logs, detecting problems through machine learning, and checking to avoid and solve problems. In addition, SinkNet manipulates multiple sensors and recognizes living habits (e.g., hand and face washing, gargling) from the sound of water flow and talks interactively to users through synthetic sounds. This paper describes SinkNet, focusing on its implementation and initial evaluation.

Few long-term cohort studies have addressed changes in the ambulatory capacity of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and no reports have evaluated the factors associated with ambulatory capacity in Japanese.The longitudinal changes in 10-meter run/walk ability and associated factors were retrospectively investigated using general practice data. The factors associated with loss of this ability before the age of 10 years were explored by logistic regression analysis using parameters of genetic mutations, corticosteroid use, the manual muscle test (MMT), and the joint range of motion (ROM). Explanatory variables of MMT grade included hip flexors, knee flexors, and knee extensors; ROM included hip extension, knee extension, and ankle dorsiflexion.Among 418 patients diagnosed with DMD, 145 patients underwent the 10-meter run/walk test between March 1999 and July 2015. The median age at loss of 10-meter walking ability was 10.4 (interquartile range: 9.2-11.3) years. The 10-meter run/walk speed began to decline 3 years before the loss of 10-meter walking ability, and the median was1 m/s 1 year before the loss of 10-meter walking ability. MMT grade for knee flexors and ROM for hip and knee extension were identified as independent predictors. Based on the change over time of these three items, limitation of the hip extension ROM preceded knee flexor weakness and limitation of the knee extension ROM.This knowledge can be used in optimizing rehabilitation programs and evaluating effect of treatment for DMD patients.

Incidence and neonatal risk factors for short stature in preterm children born small for gestational age (SGA) have not been fully investigated in Japan. In this prospective study, infants born ≤32 weeks’ gestational age (GA) from 2004–2015 were enrolled and followed for 3 years. Incidence of short children born SGA and short stature treated with growth hormone (GH) were investigated. Neonatal risk factors were analysed using univariate and multivariate analyses. GA cut-off value was determined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. Of 604 infants born ≤32 weeks’ GA, 76 (13%) were SGA at birth. Twenty-seven infants (36%) developed short stature at age 2 and 14 infants (19%) received GH treatment at age 3. GA, birthweight, birth length, birth head circumference, and chronic lung disease at 36 weeks’ corrected GA were determined as risk factors by univariate analyses (p

Background Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the most common inherited muscular disease in childhood, is caused by dystrophin deficiency because of mutations in the DMD gene. Although DMD is characterized by fatal progressive muscle wasting, cardiomyopathy is the most important nonmuscle symptom threatening the life of patients with DMD. The relationship between cardiac involvement and dystrophin isoforms has not been analyzed. Methods and Results The results of 1109 echocardiograms obtained from 181 Japanese DMD patients with confirmed mutations in the DMD gene were retrospectively analyzed. Patients showed an age-related decline in left ventricular ejection fraction. Patients were divided by patterns of dystrophin isoform deficiency into 5 groups. The cardiac dysfunction-free survival was significantly higher in the group with mutations in the Dp116 coding region than the others, whereas no significant differences in the other 3 groups. At age 25 years, the cardiac dysfunction-free rate was 0.6 in the Dp116 group, but only 0.1 in others. PCR amplification of Dp116 transcript in human cardiac muscle indicated promoter activation. Conclusions Left ventricular ejection fraction in DMD declined stepwise with age. Cardiac dysfunction was less frequent in Dp116-deficient than other patients with DMD. Dp116 transcript was identified in human cardiac muscle for the first time. These results indicate that Dp116 is associated with cardiac involvement in DMD.

Background: The clinical features of patients with very early-onset acquired demyelinating syndrome (ADS) with the anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody are unknown. We investigated the clinical characteristics and described detailed treatment of weekly intramuscular interferon β-la (IFNβ-1a) in children aged

Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) infection is associated with upper and lower respiratory tract symptoms such as fever, cough, and wheezing. Pediatric patients with EV-D68 infection easily develop more severe respiratory complications compared to patients infected with other species of enterovirus, and consequently, have a higher rate of hospitalization and admission to intensive care units. Therefore, the clinical picture of respiratory complications associated with EV-D68 infection needs to be elucidated. Here, we report a 4-year-old girl of EV-D68 infection that required artificial respiration management within 24 h from the onset of cold symptoms. The patient was diagnosed with interstitial pneumonia on the basis of chest imaging findings with patchy, funicular and frosted glassy shadows, increased blood markers of surfactant protein-A, surfactant protein-D and sialylated carbohydrate antigen KL-6, and increased neutrophils and lymphocytes in the bronchoalveolar lavage. Steroids showed a remarkable effect in her treatment. Further investigations are needed to confirm the efficacy of steroids for interstitial pneumonia due to EV-D68 infection. As rapid deterioration of respiratory status is observed in EV-D68 infection, the possibility of interstitial pneumonia may be considered.

Objective: To determine whether dried umbilical cords (UCs) are useful for retrospective diagnosis of intrauterine enterovirus (EV) infection.Methods: Dried UCs in two patients with neonatal EV sepsis and 10 neonates without infectious signs were enrolled. Viral RNA was extracted from their dried UCs, and nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed.Results: Infection routes estimated by the clinical course were intrauterine infection in Case 1 and post-natal horizontal infection in Case 2. EV-RNA was detected from dried UC in Case 1, but not in Case 2 and 10 neonates.Conclusions: This report showed the potential use of dried UCs for retrospective diagnosis of intrauterine EV infection.

Background: The histological resemblance between extramammary Paget disease and Bowen disease has been described since Bowen’s original article was published in 1912. Methods: We herein describe a case of vulval primary extramammary Paget disease in a 61-year-old women with the histological features of Bowen disease. Results: Histological examination of a biopsy specimen showed acanthosis with full-thickness cellular atypia, focal hyperkeratosis and parakeratosis in the epidermis, and no characteristic Paget cells were observed. However, histological examination of an operative specimen revealed areas characteristic of Paget disease and Bowen disease. Overall, the areas characteristic of Bowen disease and Paget disease occupied 6% and 32% of the total operative specimen, respectively. The two areas were sharply separated. Immunohistochemical findings showed carcinoembryonic antigen to be expressed in areas containing Paget cells, but not in the areas characteristic of Bowen disease. Cytokeratin 7 (CK7) (OV-TL 12/30) and CK8 (35βH11) were strongly expressed in both of these areas. The staining for high-molecular-weight cytokeratins was negative in both of these areas. Conclusions: Our findings indicated that primary extramammary Paget disease and squamous cell carcinoma in situ arose multifocally from a common cell in the epidermis.

Background Activated mast cells enhance the uptake of mast cell–derived proteoglycan–low-density lipoprotein complexes by macrophages. Objective We sought to investigate mast cell contribution to the pathogenesis of xanthoma. Methods Twenty cases of xanthelasma palpebrarum and 6 cases of tuberous xanthoma lesions were analyzed using immunohistochemical staining. Results Xanthelasma lesions contained up to 5-fold more tryptase-stained mast cells than tuberous xanthoma lesions. Tuberous xanthoma lesions especially showed extensive staining of tryptase around mast cells and within some macrophages and foam cells. More than 99% of mast cells in xanthelasma lesions contained both tryptase and chymase. Approximately 60% of mast cells represented only tryptase in tuberous xanthoma lesions where the ratio of macrophages to tryptase-stained mast cells was extremely high (15:1) as compared with xanthelasma lesions (2:1). Limitations A change in mast cell phenotype has not been necessarily proven. Conclusion Mast cells are activated under the microenvironment in which macrophages predominate rather than mast cells, which thus reflects the clinical phenotypes of xanthoma lesions.

Most switchboards are used for a long term of about 30 years. As for the switchboard, the situation of the use and maintenance is individually and greatly different. So the life-expectancy presumption technique of the switchboards has not been established. We executed the deterioration diagnosis for the switchboards that had been used for 30 years. We paid attention to the surface deterioration of the insulation materials that is the main element that decides the life-expectancy of the switchboards. We evaluated the life-expectancy presumtion technique of aged switchboards based on MTS (Mahalanobis Taguchi system) method. This technique attracts attention in recent years. And we confirmed the presumption result was corresponding to the result of the verification with temperature controlled bath actually.

In order to conduct a detailed investigation of the piston effect, the peculiar heat transportation phenomenon in critical fluids, an ultra-sensitive high-speed density measurement system was developed using a very thin heater, a sensitive interferometer and a large-capacity high-speed data acquisition system. As the first step of the investigation, an experiment was conducted to measure the velocity of sound in CO2 near its critical point. Short heat pulses suppressing the disturbance of natural convection were applied to a small cell filled with almost-critical CO2 fluid and were detected by the measurement system. Because the pulses propagated through the cell at the velocity of sound and were reflected several times between the cell walls, the velocity could be precisely determined by measuring the time intervals between successive reflections. The resulting velocity profile versus temperature showed good agreement with theoretical prediction and numerical simulations. This result validated the density measurement system, and it is considered that the measurement system will be a very effective tool for further studies on critical phenomena with the aid of numerical simulation.

53歳，女性。下顎では色素沈着を残し，下腿では色素沈着を残さない固定薬疹が繰り返し出現した。パッチテスト(皮疹部および無疹部)およびスクラッチパッチテスト(無疹部)は陰性。ミノサイクリン5mg投与による内服誘発テストでは，下顎と下腿に皮疹が再燃し，前額にも紅斑が新生した。病理組織像では下腿に比べ下顎の真皮にメラノファージが著明に多く認められた。免疫組織化学では，トリプターゼ陽性肥満細胞が下腿と比較して下顎の特に真皮乳頭層において有意に多く認められた。肥満細胞由来のケミカルメディエーターやサイトカインが，メラノサイトのメラニン合成やメラニンのケラチノサイトへの輸送を促進することも色素沈着を増強させる因子であると考えた。

We have formed a micro-texture on a pico-slider’s air-bearing surface to reduce the vibration when the slider comes into contact with the disk. The contact between slider and disk was controlled by adjusting the ‘interference height.’ Our measurements show that, at a giving interference height there is a significant less vibration in the textured slider. This lower amplitude of vibration is attributed to the lower friction force, which is in turn due to the smaller area of contact. We have also introduced the concept of interference area and found that it provides a good explanation of measured vibration.

The dynamic behavior of pico sliders is investigated during slider-disk contacts as a function of velocity, pitch angle, crown height, and lubricant thickness using laser Doppler vibrometry and acoustic emission sensors. Analog and digital filtering methods are applied to distinguish air bearing and slider body resonances from frequencies related to disk runout, load beam design, and gimbal structure. Sliders with high pitch angle and small crown were found to exhibit smaller vibration amplitudes after slider-disk contacts than sliders with low pitch angle or large crown. The lubricant thickness of the disk was found to affect both the glide avalanche height of the disk and the dynamic behavior of the slider. The results show that roll and pitch frequencies of the air bearing increase with decreasing disk velocity.

Generalized eruptions associated with radiotherapy such as erythema multiforme (EM), Steven-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis are uncommon reactions. A few cases of generalized eruptions during and after radiotherapy have been reported with the use of anticonvulsants and anticancer drugs. However, no reports have described mucocutaneous reactions associated with radiotherapy and concurrent use of anastrozole, an aromatase inhibitor. This report describes EM occurring after radiotherapy performed during breast-conserving treatment for breast cancer in a patient who was taking oral anastrozole.

A novel flying height-attitude testing system was developed based on white-light interferometry. Flying heights at three desired locations on the slider surface can be determined simultaneously with this system and, thus, slider attitude can be fully determined from the measurement results. Load and unload processes were systematically studied with this system and some details were revealed.

For nuclear power plants, the four major requirements are 1) high safety, 2) high reliability, 3) economical competitiveness, and 4) minimum environmental impact. However, it is still difficult to completely avoid problems concerning structural materials caused by stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and for piping systems caused by flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) and liquid drop impingement (LDI). Since especially FAC and LDI are uncertain phenomena as pipe wall thinning, there are the piping rupture accident risks on all piping systems under the specific conditions. In Japan, after August 2004, the accident of the secondary pipe rupture in Mihama Power Plant Unit 3, The Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. (KEPCO), R&D projects on pipe wall thinning phenomena and mechanism have been employed by many organizations. On the other hand, evaluation of the safety and reliability of piping systems of long term operating plants and with the special attention to seismic condition have been requested. It was requested to enable evaluation of pipe wall thinning and its reliability with more accuracy. This project was programmed under the government budget from 2006 to 2010 fiscal year according to the Strategy Load-Map for Ageing Management generated by the society of industry, government and academia [1]. As the milestone for the first half decade of the load-map, the project had these achievements: 1) Establish computer program for FAC simulation, 2) Clarify droplet behavior for LDI prediction, 3) Simplified calculation model of pipe wall thinning for seismic evaluation, 4) Evaluate safety margin of thinned piping by FAC or LDI.Copyright © 2011 by ASME

A new measuring technique has been developed for the purpose of analyzing the slider/disk collision phenomena. Very small piezoelectric sensors are mounted on the slider. These sensors detect elastic waves (acoustic emission) in the slider which are induced by the collisions at the slider rail surface. In order to obtain input collision force quantitatively, the transfer function of the slider, sensor, and electric circuit is measured by the breaking pencil lead method. The inverse operation is also performed by using source wave analysis. Force amplitude of the order of 4˜20 mN and contact time of the order of 5˜22 μ are detected. Two types of collision force are observed. One has large amplitude and narrow time width and is conjectured to arise from collisions with hard projections. The other has small amplitude and wide time width and is conjectured to arise from collisions with soft projections. Presented as a Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers paper at the ASME/STLE Tribology Conferenc...

The volunteer siting of disposal facilities for vitrified high-level radioactive waste (HLW) and TRU waste in Japan results in a particular need for flexibility to allow repositories to be tailored to specific sites. Instead of a single reference concept, a “catalogue” of designs for individual repository components is being developed, which can then be combined to form optimum solutions for particular site boundary conditions. As highlighted in a companion paper – Makino et al: Supporting Development of Practical Designs for a Japanese HLW Repository –, which puts the repository design process in the context of the Japanese HLW programme, the complexity of this work justifies use of advanced Knowledge Engineering approaches. In this paper three components are described – development of the knowledge base, assessing tacit system understanding and production of innovative solutions to resolve conflicts between requirements.

In Greater Tokyo, many people commute by train between the suburbs and downtown Tokyo for 1 to 2 h per day. The spread of influenza in the suburbs of Tokyo should be studied, including the role of commuters and the effect of government policies on the spread of disease. We analyzed the simulated spread of influenza in commuter towns along a suburban railroad, using the individual-based Monte Carlo method, and validated this analysis using surveillance data of the infection in the Tokyo suburbs. This simulation reflects the mechanism of the real spread of influenza in commuter towns. Three measures against the spread of influenza were analyzed: prohibition of traffic, school closure, and vaccination of school children. Prohibition of traffic was not effective after the introduction of influenza into the commuter towns, but, if implemented early, it was somewhat effective in delaying the epidemic. School closure delayed the epidemic and reduced the peak of the disease, but it was not as effective in decreasing the number of infected people. Vaccination of school children decreased the numbers not only of infected children but also of infected adults in the regional communities.

A 5-month-old boy was noted to have brown macules with palpable infiltration on the head, trunk, and extremities a few weeks after birth, with recurrent episodes of generalized flushing and blistering in some of the macules. These lesions developed into yellowish plaques after 1 year of topical treatment with clobetasol propionate. Serum lipid levels were within normal limits. The appearance of the yellowish lesions was similar to that of the xanthelasmoid type of cutaneous mastocytosis. The brown macules showed infiltration of a large number of mast cells and a small number of scattered foam cells, whereas in the yellowish plaques, the number of foam cells was greatly increased. The yellowish plaques regressed spontaneously within a year after cessation of topical corticosteroid treatment. Immunohistochemical analysis found that the foam cells were stained with monocyte/macrophage markers including HAM56, and with SRA-C6, a monoclonal antibody to macrophage scavenger receptor class A (CD204). Therefore, the yellowish plaques were considered to be plane xanthoma associated with cutaneous mastocytoma.

We investigated the friction force between the trailing edge of the center pad or rail of negative pressure sliders and the textured disk surface as a function of flying height at reduced air pressure. In addition, we proposed the simple contact model and compared experimental friction force with calculated contact force to evaluate the influence of slider design parameters on the contact force. Results show that the contact force is significantly influenced by the pitch air-bearing stiffness, the distance between the pivot point and the contact point, and the interference pitch angle defined as the difference between the flying pitch angle on the smooth glass disk and the contact pitch angle on the textured disk.

Summary form only given. Further reduction of magnetic head-disk spacing towards 8/spl sim/10 nm will require proper testing tools for in-depth experimental analysis of 3 dimensional dynamic stability of the slider in both the track following process and the load/unload process. The authors proposed and developed a novel flying height-attitude testing system that measures flying height simultaneously at three desired locations on the slider surface.