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In Chap. 3, we discussed the Asian North American theologian Peter Phan and the events that surrounded the reception to and interpretation of his book Being Religious Interreligiously. That presentation was meant to illustrate the general contours that comprise the “what and the what-not” of an Asian North American contextual hermeneutical style characterized by hybridity. Upon further examination, the figure of Phan himself presents an interesting case study that can illustrate the central role of the theological interpreter in the enterprise of theology or religious discourse as suggested by David Tracy’s description of theology-as-hermeneutics mentioned in Chap. 2. To reiterate, the theological/religious interpreter (aka, “theologian”) is the one who engages a “classic” (such as a biblical passage or a theological/religious topic/notion) in a hermeneutical conversation, intentionally making his or her own particular background, context, and “preunderstandings” bear upon this activity. It is this same person who, in the course of the conversation, influences or reinterprets and/or is influenced or changed by the classics with which she/he engages in conversation.

The so-called first Christian emperor, Constantine (often also called “the Great”),1 remains to this day an elusive and controversial figure in that there seems to be no consensus on whether his mark on Christianity was predominantly positive or negative: He continues to be revered as a saint and/or conscientious ruler by some, yet maligned as the corruptor of Christianity by others.2 Whatever opinion one may hold of him, Christians and, indeed, the whole Western world, still lie in his shadow because of the decisive influence that his policies and actions have had and continue to exert first on Christianity and then, also on the Western world at large. For this reason, I feel that there is always room for yet another study on a Constantinian topic that will hopefully shed a little more light on the various historical and, yes, also theological problems that Constantine and his legacy present to us.

What is Asian North American contextual hermeneutics? How is it done? How is it “performed”? We are still in the process of further delineating the characteristics of this interpretive enterprise deeply rooted in our actual Asian North American lives and, indeed, in our very identities as Asian North Americans. With that in mind, this chapter is designed to give some illustrations based on a concrete event that may aid in understanding the nature of Asian North American contextual hermeneutics better.

As we saw in the last chapter, hybrids trying to maintain the yin and yang balance of the often very diverse and even conflicting worlds that coexist within themselves just cannot tolerate positions which make some kind of superiority claim. Their hybrid experiences have taught them time and again that a claim of superiority is often merely an expression of imbalanced and asymmetrical power relations. Many hybrids consider different cultural worlds and even faith traditions simply as diverse, yet valid, ways of being human and religious.

To explain what I am trying to do in this chapter,1 I would like to propose the following image or metaphorical scenario. Imagine that there is a support group for “often misunderstood people” that meets regularly to discuss important issues, which concern the members. At a particular meeting, the suggested discussion topic is “the oft-misunderstood hybrid identity.” In this meeting we find in attendance a certain Mark-Hajime Kurosawa, an Asian North American teaching Religious Studies at a liberal arts college. There is also a certain Chris Canon (full name: Christian N.T. Canon) present. These two happen to find themselves as dialogue partners in one of the sharing sessions of the meeting. To his surprise, Mark-Hajime finds out that Chris is the famous Christian N.T. (New Testament) Canon revered by Christians throughout history as the normative expression of their faith and identity.

In the introduction to this work, I suggested that there are two main functions of hybridity as a conceptual tool: to analyze theology and religious language in a critical manner. The first one, the negative dimension, is to point out unhealthy symptoms of religion that impede it from becoming a harbinger of hope and a force for unity and peace in the world. The second, more positive function, is to suggest ways by which religion and theology could view and interpret human reality in a way that overcomes or transcends the typical binary division of the world into “us” and “them” and, thus, enhance compassion, peace, harmony, respect, and justice among entities which could be very different from each another.

AQ: Can this word be changed to 'monoculturalism' here and elsewhere in the text as 'monoculturality' is not found in any dictionary?

Although extremely rare, pancreatic SFT does occur. ICC is effective, and indeed essential, for diagnosing such a mesenchymal tumor, especially when there is extensive myxoid change.

The performance of latest devices with electromagnetic induction method for the measurement of cover depth of rebar was confirmed by some experiments. The result is as follows. 1) The accuracy of latest devices was almost in the range of the standard value of JASS5T-608. 2) Mixture proportion of concrete and the age of specimen did not influence measurement values of latest devices with electromagnetic induction method.

The survey accuracy of cover depth of rebar of RC member by the devices with electromagnetic induction method was confirmed by the experiment. As a result, it was shown that measurement of actual RC members was possible. In addition, there was the case that we have to use A method or B method of JASS5 T-608.

GaN crystals were overgrown on GaN nanocolumn platforms with a Be-doped coalesced layer by rf-plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy (rf-MBE). The overgrown GaN included large micrometer-scale hexagonal columnar crystals. These microcrystals were named ‘microcolumns’ and showed high optical properties comparable to those of GaN bulk crystals grown by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE).

Spherical particles of nanoporous silica (with a diameter of 600 nm) containing mercaptopropylsilyl groups on the pore surface were synthesized by a modified Stober method and subsequently silylate...

Guidelines for selecting the shape formed by metal discharged from a narrow Al line were developed. By controlling electromigration in the line, either relatively large microspheres, thin wires, or relatively small microspheres could be formed. Our starting point was a passivated polycrystalline Al line with a slit and small holes at the anode end of it. In the discussion, we describe how the temperature of a part of a wire, T*, at the moment when the part is completely discharged from the hole, affects the shape of the microstructural feature formed from the metal. High, intermediate, and low values of T* were found to correspond to the formation of large microspheres, thin wires, and small microspheres, respectively. The experimental results are explained in the discussion.

GaN nanocolumns are one-dimensional high-quality dislocation-free nano-crystals. The effect of Be-doping on GaN nanocolumns was investigated using InGaN/GaN nanocolumn LED structure grown by RF-plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy. Be was doped into the upper cladding region of the nanocolumn light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Be is expected to be a p-type dopant of GaN with a shallow accepter level, but p-type conductivity was not obtained in these experiments. However, we observed a remarkable enhancement of the lateral growth of the GaN nanocolumn by Be doping; that is, the surface of the Be-doped region became smooth and continuous with increasing Be doping concentration. The root mean square (RMS) surface roughness was reduced from 35 to 10 nm with increasing Be cell temperature from 710 to 975 °C. Cross-sectional TEM observation revealed that no threading dislocations were generated in the observed area at the conjunction boundary between neighboring nanocolumns during lateral growth. This suggests that a high-quality overgrowth layer with a low threading dislocation density can be realized on Be-doped GaN nanocolumns. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) mobilizes peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) derived from bone marrow. We hypothesized that intraspinal transplantation of PBSCs mobilized by G-CSF could promote functional recovery after spinal cord injury. Spinal cords of adult nonobese diabetes/severe immunodeficiency mice were injured using an Infinite Horizon impactor (60 kdyn). One week after the injury, 3.0 μl of G-CSF-mobilized human mononuclear cells (MNCs; 0.5 × 105/μl), G-CSF-mobilized human CD34-positive PBSCs (CD34; 0.5 × 105/μl), or normal saline was injected to the lesion epicenter. We performed immunohistochemistry. Locomotor recovery was assessed by Basso Mouse Scale. The number of transplanted human cells decreased according to the time course. The CD31-positive area was significantly larger in the MNC and CD34 groups compared with the vehicle group. The number of serotonin-positive fibers was significantly larger in the MNC and CD34 groups than in the vehicle group. Immunohistochemistry revealed that the number of apoptotic oligodendrocytes was significantly smaller in cell-transplanted groups, and the areas of demyelination in the MNC- and CD34-transplanted mice were smaller than that in the vehicle group, indicating that cell transplantation suppressed oligodendrocyte apoptosis and demyelination. Both the MNC and CD34 groups showed significantly better hindlimb functional recovery compared with the vehicle group. There was no significant difference between the two types of transplanted cells. Intraspinal transplantation of G-CSF-mobilized MNCs or CD34-positive cells promoted angiogenesis, serotonergic fiber regeneration/sparing, and preservation of myelin, resulting in improved hindlimb function after spinal cord injury in comparison with vehicle-treated control mice. Transplantation of G-CSF-mobilized PBSCs has advantages for treatment of spinal cord injury in the ethical and immunological viewpoints, although further exploration is needed to move forward to clinical application.

In previous studies, we applied receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to the signal-to-noise ratio distributions in the signal and noise windows of multifocal VEP (mfVEP) response. The areas under the curve thus obtained (SNR-AUC) were found to quantitatively detect glaucomatous visual field damage. The present study evaluated the reproducibility of SNR-AUC and the Humphrey visual field (HVF) global indices in 37 eyes with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG; POAG group) and in 30 controls (control group) within a 2-year period. The HVF SITA standard 24-2 and mfVEP were recorded at three separate sessions for each individual. The intersession variability for SNR-AUC, mean deviation (MD), and pattern standard deviation (PSD) was evaluated using the repeated measures of analysis of variance and Bland–Altman plots. The logarithmically converted coefficients of variation (CV) of PSD and SNR-AUC were compared between the control and POAG groups. Linear regression analyses were performed on the logarithmic CV of SNR-AUC against the average MD, PSD, and SNR-AUC. SNR-AUC in the POAG group was significantly lower and its CV was greater compared with the control group (P

BACKGROUND Trichoblastoma is a rare benign skin appendage tumor constituted mostly of follicular germinative cells. It can arise on any part of the body except the palms, soles, nail units and mucosal membranes. No case of it in breast skin has been reported before. Furthermore, fine needle aspiration cytology findings on this lesion have not been described before. CASE A 76-year-old female presented with a firm nodule in her left breast. The tumor was well demarcated, about 1.5 cm in diameter. Fine needle aspiration cytology revealed clusters composed of relatively uniform cells with a high nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio. In the midst of some clusters, the tumor cells had a more abundant cytoplasm. Fibrocellular interstitium or dense cyanophilic acellular material occasionally was attached to them. The tumor cells had oval or fusiform nuclei that had fine, evenly dispersed chromatin. To exclude a diagnosis of breast cancer, it is important to recognize that the clusters are composed of basaloid cells with focal squamous eddies and that there is at least focally peripheral palisading. The histopathologic diagnosis was trichoblastoma. CONCLUSION Fine needle aspiration cytology can distinguish trichoblastoma from malignant diseases of the breast and may be used to diagnose the lesion in conjunction with clinical findings.

経過中に尿, 膀胱洗浄液および乳慶腹水中に腫瘍細胞が出現し, その原発巣組織型推定が困難であった肝細胞癌・胆管細胞癌の混合型 (以下cHCC-CC) の1例を経験したので報告する.症例は65歳, 男性.1993年5月, 肝機能異常を指摘されたが放置.1994年9月, 全身倦怠感などが出現し, 1995年1月, 肝硬変と多発性肝癌の診断にて当院紹介入院.多発性肝癌は治療適応なく, その病理組織学的診断は確定していなかった.経過中, 乳靡腹水, 尿および膀胱洗浄液の細胞診にて, 異型性の強い大型の核とライトグリーン好染性ないしは空胞状所見を伴うレース状胞体を有する悪性細胞の出現が認められ, 腎細胞癌もしくは腺癌と考えられたが, その原発巣組織型特定は困難であった.その後肝性脳症を併発し死亡.剖検でcHCC-CCと診断され, 前立腺転移, 全身のリンパ節転移を含む広範な転移がみられた.尿中に出現した腫瘍細胞はcHCC-CCの前立腺転移によるものと考えられた.乳慶腹水の原因は, 傍大動脈リンパ節への腫瘍転移によるリンパ管閉塞に起因するものと考えられた.

We report the fabrication of GaN/AlGaN nanocolumn LEDs on n-(111) Si substrates by RF-MBE for the first time. Clear diode characteristics with a turn-on voltage of 4 V and an ultraviolet emission spectrum with a peak wavelength of 354 nm were observed at room temperature. When the Al composition of p-AlxGa1–xN was changed from 8.8% to 25.1%, the high Al content led a narrowing of the FWHM compared withthat for low Al contents due to the suppression of carrier overflow. We measured the electroluminescence (EL) under dc and pulsed operations. The integrated EL intensity under the pulsed operation was 3 times as strong as that under the dc operation at 100 mA due to the reduced generation of heat. The thermal resistance was estimated to be 40 °C/W from the EL peak wavelength difference between the dc and pulsed operations. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Biohybrid systems, formed by combining biological cells and artificial components has a potential to resolve the current technical limits of traditional microactuators. We demonstrate fabrication of microstructures, which can be coupled to Vorticella convallaria. Structures were fabricated by microfluidic in situ photolithography techniques, and movable components were developed. We evaluated viability of V. convallaria in a photocurable polymer solution or in a buffer after fabrication of structure. A device for trapping a cell was fabricated to combine V. convallaria and polymerized microstructures. Our developed method provides one strategy to integrate bioactuators with artificial structures in microsystems.

The zeta potential of nanoliposomes with a diameter below 100 nm has been studied by the combined use of on-chip microcapillary electrophoresis (μCE) and sensitive fluorescence imaging. Tracking the electrophoretic migration of individual nanoliposomes has enabled the accurate evaluation of the zeta potential distribution of nanoliposomes and the first observation of its abnormal broadening due to a statistical fluctuation phenomenon specific to the "nanoscale world." The materials used for liposome preparation were phosphocholine as the neutral lipid, phosphatidylserine as the anionic lipid, and cholesterol. The size of the liposomes encapsulating calcein, a fluorescent dye used for imaging convenience, was tailored by extrusion through polycarbonate membrane filters of different pore sizes ranging from 50 to 1000 nm. The on-chip μCE system comprised a μCE chip, a laser source, an inverted microscope, and an electron-multiplying charge-coupled device camera. The electrophoresis experiment using this system revealed that the relative standard deviation of the zeta potential distribution of nanoliposomes is inversely proportional to their diameter and apparently increases below 100 nm. This abnormal broadening of zeta potential distribution of nanoliposomes is explained by prominent discreteness effect of the number of anionic lipid molecules in nanoliposomes.

We aimed to determine semiquantitative evaluation criteria for Crohn-like lymphoid reaction (CLR). We reviewed 1,032 patients with colorectal cancer and evaluated CLR by counting all peritumoral lymphoid aggregates (LAs) and by measuring the maximum diameter of the largest LA. The maximum diameter of the largest LA, rather than the number, had a significant impact on survival. Active CLR determined by the 1-mm rule was significantly associated with MLH1/MSH2 immunohistochemical staining deficiency. The group with LAs 1 mm or larger had lower recurrence (P = .0008) and a higher survival rate (P < .0001) than that without LAs 1 mm or larger. These results were similarly observed in another cohort of 500 patients with colorectal cancer. The k values for CLR evaluation among 8 observers were 0.67 for the 1-mm rule and 0.50 for Graham’s criteria. The size of the largest LA best reflects the specific characteristics of CLR, and the 1-mm rule is expected to improve assessment reproducibility.

A clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of neuroprotective therapy using granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) for patients with worsening symptoms of compression myelopathy. During this trial, we found that neuropathic pain associated with thoracic myelopathy was dramatically reduced after G-CSF administration in two cases.A 32-year-old man with compression of the spinal cord at levels T7-T10 complained of spastic gait associated with spontaneous severe pain from his back to his chest. G-CSF 10 µg/kg/day was administered for 5 consecutive days; his pain was reduced 1 day after the initial G-CSF administration. One month after administration, he underwent spinal fusion surgery for decompression of the spinal cord. Six months after G-CSF administration, he showed recovery from myelopathy and no recurrence of pain. A 68-year-old man with spastic gait and bilateral thigh pain caused by ossified ligamentum flavum at T11-T12 was treated with G-CSF 10 µg/kg/day for 5 days; his pain was reduced 1 day after initial administration. One month later, he underwent a T10-T12 laminectomy. Three months after G-CSF administration, his thigh pain began to attenuate. At 6 months after administration, he showed recovery from myelopathy, and his pain was still improved compared with that before administration.G-CSF may have a therapeutic effect on spinal neuropathic pain.

In order to promote reuse of parts for achieving sustainable society, we are developing part agent system. A part agent that consists of a network agent and radio frequency identification technologies manages information of the corresponding part throughout its life cycle and provides users with advices on maintenance of the part. In this paper, a framework is proposed to create appropriate advices based on life cycle information of the part. To be used in the framework, a method was developed to estimate reusability of a part against operations of a user based on causal network on failures.

To confirm the feasibility and safety of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) for treating spinal neuropathic pain associated with compression myelopathy, we have initiated an open-label single-center prospective clinical trial.Between January 2009 and February 2011, 17 patients were accrued and were divided into two groups. One group included 7 patients who complained of pain associated with worsening symptoms of myelopathy (progressing myelopathy-related pain group). The other group included 10 patients who complained of pain that persisted after surgery for compression myelopathy (post-operative persistent pain group). All patients underwent intravenous administration of G-CSF (10 μg/kg/day) for 5 consecutive days. Pain severity was evaluated using a visual analog scale (VAS) before and after G-CSF administration.In 14 of the 17 patients, pain was relieved within several days after G-CSF administration. Pain disappeared completely in 3 patients. In the progressing myelopathy-related pain group, the mean VAS score was 71.4/100 before G-CSF administration, and decreased to 35.9/100 at 1 week after G-CSF administration (p0.05). In the post-operative persistent pain group, the mean VAS score was 72.0/100 before G-CSF administration, and decreased to 51.7/100 at 1 week after G-CSF administration (p0.05). No severe adverse events occurred during or after G-CSF administration.The present results provide us with the possibility that G-CSF has a pain-relieving effect for neuropathic pain in patients with compression myelopathy.

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective clinical study. OBJECTIVE To report the surgical outcomes of patients with cervical myelopathy associated with athetoid cerebral palsy and to assess whether a halo vest is necessary for postoperative external immobilization. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Although a halo vest has remained the first choice for postoperative external immobilization of patients with cervical myelopathy associated with cerebral palsy, simplification of this method has been attempted in recent years. Studies focusing on postoperative external immobilization are rare. METHODS Since 2001, 20 patients underwent surgery with posterior instrumented fusion or posterior fixation and anterior decompression with fusion with a year or longer follow-up. Before 2004, all patients were given a halo vest for postoperative external immobilization. After 2004, halo vests were not used, and when abnormal involuntary neck movements were severe, an intramuscular injection of botulinum toxin was administered before and after surgery. Surgical outcomes, surgical methods and complications were compared between the group that used a halo vest and the group that did not use a halo vest. RESULTS In the halo vest group, the average Japanese Orthopedic Association score was 6.9 points before surgery and 9.3 points at 1-year follow-up. The average recovery rate was 25.0%. In the group without halo vest use, the average Japanese Orthopedic Association score was 5.8 points before surgery and 9.9 points at 1-year follow-up. The average recovery rate was 35.7%. The group without halo vest use achieved outcomes equal to those achieved in the group with halo vest use. The frequency of complications was less without halo vest use than with halo vest use. CONCLUSION No inferiority in clinical outcomes was seen if postoperative halo vest use was omitted. Progress in surgical instrumentation and injection of botulinum toxin may explain this result.

The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic value of peritumoral deposits (PTDs) in colorectal cancer (CRC).A total of 695 patients with pT3/T4 CRC (1980 to 1999) were reviewed. Tumor deposits located ≥2 mm from the front of the direct spread in the primary tumor were evaluated as PTDs.PTDs were observed in 111 patients (16.0%). The incidence of PTDs increased according to increasing N stage: 7% for N0, 22% for N1, and 39% for N2 (P.0001). Five-year disease-specific survival was 85.0% in patients without PTDs and 59.5% in those with PTDs (P.0001). Multivariate analysis showed that PTDs affected disease-specific survival independent of T and N stages. A significant prognostic impact of PTDs was similarly observed in another cohort comprising 474 patients with pT3/T4 CRC (2000 to 2005). The κ values among 8 observers were .70 for PTDs and .32 for the conventional growth pattern.PTDs have considerable prognostic relevance and offer improved judgment reproducibility in assessing the invasive margin of CRC.

Study design Consecutive case series and literature review. Objective To describe the utility of 3-dimensional computed tomographic angiography (3D CTA) for evaluating vertebral artery (VA) anomalies before surgery. Summary of background data Recent advances in instrumentation surgery at the craniovertebral junction (CVJ) enable us to perform rigid internal fixation. However, the risk of VA injury as a complication of the surgery has become a major problem. Thus, the importance of preoperative evaluation of the VA course has been emphasized. Methods Cases of 100 consecutive patients who underwent CVJ instrumentation surgery since July 1998 were analyzed. Occipitocervical/thoracic or C1-C2 posterior fusion was performed for atlantoaxial subluxation (AAS) in 59 patients and cervical fixation including C2 was required for middle-to-lower cervical lesions in 41 patients. Twenty-seven patients with AAS had a congenital skeletal anomaly (CSA) at the CVJ including os odontoideum and occipitalization of C1 (AAS-CSA[+] group). Anomalous VAs at the extra- and intraosseous regions were evaluated by 3D CTA. Results No neurovascular injury occurred during surgery. Abnormal courses of the VA at the extraosseous region were detected in 10 cases: 2 had fenestration and 8 had a persistent first intersegmental artery. All 10 cases were in the AAS-CSA(+) group. A high-riding VA was detected in 31 cases. Fourteen out of the 31 cases were in the AAS-CSA(+) group, indicating 51.9% of the AAS-CSA(+) group had high-riding VA. In the AAS-CSA(+) group, a C1-C2 transarticular screw and C2 pedicle screw were actually inserted in 58% and 31% of the planned insertions, respectively. Conclusion The present findings suggest that the frequency of an abnormal VA at the extra- and intraosseous regions is increased when patients have AAS and CSA at the CVJ. Using preoperative 3D CTA, we can precisely identify anomalous VAs and thereby reduce the risk of their intraoperative injury.

STUDY DESIGN An open-labeled multicenter prospective controlled clinical trial. OBJECTIVE To confirm the feasibility of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) administration for patients with thoracic myelopathy. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Although G-CSF is best known as an important cytokine commonly used to treat neutropenia, it also has nonhematopoietic functions. Previous experimental studies have shown that G-CSF can enhance tissue regeneration of several organs, such as the heart and the brain. We previously reported that G-CSF promotes functional recovery after spinal cord injury in rodents. On the basis of those findings, we started a clinical trial of neuroprotective therapy, using G-CSF for patients with worsening symptoms of thoracic myelopathy. METHODS Patients whose Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score for thoracic myelopathy had decreased 2 points or more during a recent 1-month period were eligible for entry. After giving informed consent, patients were assigned to G-CSF and control groups. The G-CSF group (n = 10) received G-CSF 10 μg/kg per day intravenously for 5 consecutive days. The control group (n = 14) received similar treatments as the G-CSF group except for G-CSF administration. The primary outcome was JOA recovery rate at 1 month after G-CSF administration or initial treatment. RESULTS There was greater improvement in neurological functioning between baseline and 1-month follow-up in the G-CSF group (JOA recovery rate: 29.1 ± 20.5%) than in the control group (JOA recovery rate: 1.1 ± 4.2%) (P < 0.01). No serious adverse events occurred during or after the G-CSF administration. CONCLUSION The results provide evidence that G-CSF administration caused neurological recovery in patients with worsening symptoms of thoracic compression myelopathy.

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is a cytokine that is clinically used to treat neutropenia. G-CSF also has non-hematopoietic functions and could potentially be used to treat neuronal injury. To confirm the safety and feasibility of G-CSF administration for acute spinal cord injury (SCI), we have initiated a phase I/IIa clinical trial of neuroprotective therapy using G-CSF.The trial included a total of 16 SCI patients within 48 h of onset. In the first step, G-CSF (5 μg/kg/day) was intravenously administered for 5 consecutive days to 5 patients. In the second step, G-CSF (10 μg/kg/day) was similarly administered to 11 patients. We evaluated motor and sensory functions of patients using the American Spinal Cord Injury Association (ASIA) score and ASIA impairment scale (AIS) grade.In all 16 patients, neurological improvement was obtained after G-CSF administration. AIS grade increased by one step in 9 of 16 patients. A significant increase in ASIA motor scores was detected 1 day after injection (P0.01), and both light touch and pin prick scores improved 2 days after injection (P0.05) in the 10 μg group. No severe adverse effects were observed after G-CSF injection.These results indicate that intravenous administration of G-CSF (10 μg/kg/day) for 5 days is essentially safe, and suggest that some neurological recovery may occur in most patients. We suggest that G-CSF administration could be therapeutic for patients with acute SCI.

This paper shows that the augmentation of a remote person's positional movement enhances social telepresence. There are three possible ways of representing a remote person's movement toward the user in visual communication: a) the remote person's movement toward the remote camera, b) the remote camera's zooming in to enlarge the remote person's picture, and c) a forward movement of the display that is displaying the remote person. We conducted an experiment to see the relationship among these three ways and the effects of a remote camera's zooming and a display's movement on social telepresence. In the experiment, we observed that the remote person's movement lowered the reality of conversations, and the remote camera's zooming lowered the visual quality. However, social telepresence was enhanced when both the person's movement and the camera's zooming occurred simultaneously. We also observed that a 6-centimeter movement of the display enhanced social telepresence, whether the remote person moved or not.

Based on the neuroprotective effects of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) on experimental spinal cord injury, we initiated a clinical trial that evaluated the safety and efficacy of neuroprotective therapy using G-CSF for patients with worsening symptoms of compression myelopathy.We obtained informed consent from 15 patients, in whom the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score for cervical myelopathy decreased two points or more during a recent 1-month period. G-CSF (5 or 10 μg/kg/day) was intravenously administered for five consecutive days. We evaluated motor and sensory functions of the patients and the presence of adverse events related to G-CSF therapy.G-CSF administration suppressed the progression of myelopathy in all 15 patients. Neurological improvements in motor and sensory functions were obtained in all patients after the administration, although the degree of improvement differed among the patients. Nine patients in the 10-μg group (n=10) underwent surgical treatment at 1 month or later after G-CSF administration. In the 10-μg group, the mean JOA recovery rates 1 and 6 months after administration were 49.9±15.1 and 59.1±16.3%, respectively. On the day following the start of G-CSF therapy, the white blood cell count increased to more than 22,700 cells/mm3. It varied from 12,000 to 50,000 and returned to preadministration levels 3 days after completing G-CSF treatment. No serious adverse events occurred during or after treatment.The results indicate that G-CSF administration at 10 μg/kg/day is safe for patients with worsening symptoms of compression myelopathy and may be effective for their neurological improvement.

In the reactions of decaisopropylbicyclo[2.2.0]hexasilane (1) with hydrobromic acid and hydrochloric acid, the bridgehead Si–Si bond of 1 was selectively cleaved to give 1-halo-1,2,2,3,3,4,5,5,6,6-decaisopropylcyclohexasilanes. The X-ray crystallographic analysis of the products indicates that the cis-addition of the acids to the Si–Si bond is preferable.

Zhang et al. proposed a method for content-based phishing detection (CBD) and reported its high performance in detecting phishing sites written in English. However, the evaluations of the CBD method performed by Zhang et al. and others were small-scale and simply measured the detection and error rates, i.e, they did not analyze the causes of the detection errors. Moreover, the effectiveness of the CBD method with non-English sites, such as Japanese and Chinese language sites, has never been tested. This paper reports our in-depth evaluation and analysis of the CBD method using 843 actual phishing sites (including 475 English and 368 Japanese sites), and explains both the strengths of the CBD method and its limitations. Our work provides a base for using the CBD method in the real world.

It is not always easy for many persons to prepare documents with constructive form and logical story. This is because the work of document preparation is one of creative activities of individual persons with their own knowledge, experiences, motivations, etc. The logically organized document is defined as one with logical story-like scenario. In this paper, we propose an experimental method for composing the logically organized documents. The main idea is to design and implement the composition process as the working procedure with query list and logic tree. The query list defines what should be discussed in the document, while the logic tree specifies how to write down topics. This paper makes these roles in the composition process clear and then reports our interaction through the interface on the prototype system.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) including exosomes and microvesicles have attracted considerable attention in the fields of cell biology and medicine. For a better understanding of EVs and further exploration of their applications, the development of analytical methods for biological nanovesicles has been required. In particular, considering the heterogeneity of EVs, methods capable of measuring individual vesicles are desired. Here, we report that on-chip immunoelectrophoresis can provide a useful method for the differential protein expression profiling of individual EVs. Electrophoresis experiments were performed on EVs collected from the culture supernatant of MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells using a measurement platform comprising a microcapillary electrophoresis chip and a laser dark-field microimaging system. The zeta potential distribution of EVs that reacted with an anti-human CD63 (exosome and microvesicle marker) antibody showed a marked positive shift as compared with that for the normal immunoglobulin G (IgG) isotype control. Thus, on-chip immunoelectrophoresis could sensitively detect the over-expression of CD63 glycoproteins on EVs. Moreover, to explore the applicability of on-chip immunoelectrophoresis to cancer diagnosis, EVs collected from the blood of a mouse tumor model were analyzed by this method. By comparing the zeta potential distributions of EVs after their immunochemical reaction with normal IgG, and the anti-human CD63 and anti-human CD44 (cancer stem cell marker) antibodies, EVs of tumor origin circulating in blood were differentially detected in the real sample. The result indicates that the present method is potentially applicable to liquid biopsy, a promising approach to the low-invasive diagnosis of cancer.

We evaluated the serum level of soluble Fas ligand (sFasL) in patients with natural killer lymphocyte proliferative disorders (NK- LPD). The serum sFasL level was elevated in neoplastic groups of aggressive NK leukaemia, indolent NK leukaemia and NK lymphoma, all of which contained clonal EBV-DNA. In NK leukaemia the serum sFasL level was significantly higher than that found in others. However, it was not elevated in the patients with reactive NK-LPD and in one patient with NK leukaemia in remission. These findings indicate that the serum sFasL level is a useful indicator in evaluating disease activity.