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Purpose : To compare data on brain tumors derived from intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) and arterial spin labeling (ASL) imaging with multiple parameters obtained on dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) perfusion MRI and to clarify the characteristics of IVIM and ASL perfusion data from the viewpoint of cerebral blood flow (CBF) analysis. Methods : ASL-CBF and IVIM techniques as well as DSC examination were performed in 24 patients with brain tumors. The IVIM data were analyzed with the two models. The relative blood flow (rBF), relative blood volume (rBV) corrected relative blood volume (crBV), mean transit time (MTT), and leakage coefficient (K2) were obtained from the DSC MRI data. Results : The ASL-CBF had the same tendency as the perfusion parameters derived from the DSC data, but the permeability from the vessels had less of an effect on the ASL-CBF. The diffusion coefficient of the fast component on IVIM contained more information on permeability than the f value. Conclusion : ASL-CBF is more suitable for the evaluation of perfusion in brain tumors than IVIM parameters. ASL-CBF and IVIM techniques should be carefully selected and the biological significance of each parameter should be understood for the correct comprehension of the pathological status of brain tumors.

The observation of walking improves gait ability in chronic stroke survivors. It has also been suggested that activation of the mirror neuron system contributes to this effect. However, activation of the mirror neuron system during gait observation has not yet been assessed in sub-acute stroke patients. The objective of this study was to clarify the activation of mirror neuron system during gait observation in sub-acute stroke patients and healthy persons. In this study, we sequentially enrolled five sub-acute stroke patients who had undergone gait training and nine healthy persons. We used fMRI to detect neuronal activation during gait observation. During the observation period in the stroke group, neural activity in the left inferior parietal lobule, right and left inferior frontal gyrus was significantly higher than during the rest period. In the healthy group, neural activity in the left inferior parietal lobule, left inferior frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, left superior temporal lobule and right and left middle temporal gyrus was significantly higher than during the rest period. The results indicate that the mirror neuron system was activated during gait observation in sub-acute stroke patients who had undergone gait training and also in healthy persons. Our findings suggest that gait observation treatment may provide a promising therapeutic strategy in sub-acute stroke patients who have experienced gait training.

研究の目的 : 多変量解析とGISを用いて、乳幼児を対象とする日本の予防接種率の地域差の実態を把握し、その要因を検討する。研究の背景 : 公衆衛生上の課題である予防接種率の地域差の特定と改善を目的として、多様な地域スケールからその要因を分析する研究が行われている。しかしながら、日本における既往研究では個人を対象とした研究が多く、接種率の地域差の検討や関連要因を用いた生態学的研究もほとんど行われてこなかった。研究手法 : 日本の1737の市区町村における7種類19回の予防接種を対象として、重回帰分析と市区町村―都道府県間の階層を用いたマルチレベル分析を行った。被説明変数には推計した2013年から2018年までの予防接種率を、説明変数には9つの個人要因と4つの環境要因を用いた。これらの変数の作成には国勢調査などの政府統計を用いた。予防接種率の分布図と予測モデルの残差プロットを用いて、地理的な関連要因を探索した。結果 : 一人当たり課税所得と乳幼児健診受診率は市区町村レベルで、世帯の児童数は都道府県レベルで全般的に有意な関連を示した。その他の変数は予防接種の種類や接種時期(回数)によって関連の有無が異なった。接種率は西日本で低く、大都市圏で高い傾向がみられた。残差は内陸部と接種率の偏差が大きい地域に多く見られた。考察 : 市区町村の所得格差と都道府県の世帯あたり児童数の差が、地域の接種率の格差に関連すると示唆された。また、人口減少と高齢化が進む小規模地域には接種率に関連する固有の因子が存在する可能性がある。結論 : 接種率の向上には、その地域の社会経済的状況や人口構造、地域の文脈、予防接種の種類、それらの要因の影響するスケールを踏まえた施策が求められる。, Objective: Examining geographical variation and the factors of infant immunization coverage in Japan. Background: Incomplete vaccination coverage is one of the largest public health threats. Many interdisciplinary studies have investigated factors that might increase immunization rates or cause Vaccine Hesitancy. However, most studies in Japan have focused on individuals and few studies have considered regional disparities of vaccination coverage. Methods: We conducted a multiple regression analysis and a multilevel analysis (municipality-prefecture hierarchy) for 19 vaccinations in 1737 municipalities in Japan, during 2013-2018. The dependent variable was the estimated vaccination rate, and nine individual factors and four environmental factors were used as explanatory variables. Data were collected from publicly available sources. We used distribution maps of vaccination rates and residuals of the predictive models to explore geographical factors. Results: In general, per capita taxable income and infant health checkup rate showed generally significant positive associations at the municipal level, and the number of children in the household negative association at the prefectural level. Other factors showed various associations depending on the type and the timing of vaccines. Vaccination rates were likely to be lower in western Japan and higher in metropolitan areas. Residuals were found mostly in inland areas and areas with large deviations in vaccination rates. Discussion: These results suggested that vaccination rates were associated with regional differences in municipal income inequality and in the number of children per household in prefectures. Smaller villages with declining and aging populations might have unique factors. Conclusions: To increase vaccination coverage among infants, it requires to consider the effect size at various spatial scales, in addition to compositional and contextual effects as the socioeconomic status, demographic structure, the local contexts, and the type of vaccination.

2020年度宇宙科学情報解析シンポジウム(2021年2月19日. オンライン開催), Space Science Informatics Symposium FY2020(February 19, 2021. Online Meeting), 資料番号: SA6000159012

第21回宇宙科学シンポジウム (2021年1月6日-7日. オンライン開催), 21st Space Science Symposium (January 6-7, 2021. Online Meeting), 著者人数: 16名, 資料番号: SA6000163088, レポート番号: g10-4

In clinical magnetic resonance imaging, gadolinium-based contrast agents are commonly used for detecting brain tumors and evaluating the extent of malignancy. We present a new method to evaluate relaxivity (r1) and contrast agent concentration separately in contrast-enhanced lesions using quantitative parameter mapping (QPM). Furthermore, we also aimed to estimate the extracellular pH (pHe) of tumor lesions. We demonstrated that it is possible to evaluate pathophysiological tumor changes due to therapeutic efficacy by measuring r1 in contrast-enhanced lesions. In this study, the primary brain tumor group showed significantly higher r1 values than other brain disease groups (P < 0.001). Moreover, mean pHe value showed a trend for tumor malignancy having a lower pHe value and primary brain tumor having a significantly lower pHe than other brain diseases (P < 0.001). Our results might suggest that QPM can separately quantify r1 and CA concentration in brain tumors and that pHe brain tumor mapping could serve as a tumor biomarker. In conclusion, our method has potential clinical applications for assessing the treatment effects.

第30回アストロダイナミクスシンポジウム (2020年7月20-21日. オンライン開催), The 30th Workshop on JAXA Astrodynamics and Flight Mechanics 2020 (July 20-21, 2020. Online Meeting), 資料番号: SA6000158003, レポート番号: A-3

Additional file 1: Figure S1. Work flow of the identification non-surgically treated NTM-PD patients. Figure S2. Levels of GPL core serum IgA antibody before and after combinational antibiotic treatment. Overall levels (a) and (b) individual patient levels of GPL core serum IgA antibody in the non-conversion, culture conversion, non-recurrence, and culture conversion and non-recurrence subgroups. All results are expressed as individual data before and after surgery. P values were calculated using the Friedman matched-pair test with Benjamini, Krieger and Yekutieli’s two-stage correction. Figure S3. MLST score obtained by mlstverse. Isolates from two reccurent patients [26] and one refractory patient (c) were sequenced and analyzed. Identified species were showed with strain name with the highest score. (a) reccurent case 1 (patient no. 35), (b) reccurent case 2 (patient no.11), (c) refractory case, (patient no. 4). Table S1. Baseline characteristics of matched paires. Table S2. Analysis of reduction levels of GPL core serum antibody after surgery.

Additional file 1 Supplementary Figure 1. Whole genomic comparison of M. toneyamachurisand M. mucogenicumgroup. A) Mutual similarity using average nucleotide identity. B) Phylogenetic tree generated by core genome consisting of 455 genes. Supplementary Figure 2. The colony formation of TY81 on Tryptic Soy Agar at 30 °C at day 7. Scale bar indicates 2 mm.

A 71-year-old man visited a local urologist with the complaint of continuous painful erection for three days. Penile cavernosal blood data showed acidosis and hypoxia. Thus he was diagnosed with ischemic priapism. After penile aspiration and injection of phenylephrine, erection was temporary improved. The blood platelet count was 94.5×104/μl and myeloproliferative disease was suspected. He was referred to our hospital and visited us the following day. Since priapism relapsed, we aspirated corpus cavernosum of the penis and injected phenylephrine which was successful. A bone marrow biopsy and genetic test were performed at the department of hematology and the diagnosis of essential thrombocythemia with JAK2 gene mutation was confirmed. By treatment with hydroxyurea, the blood platelet count decreased without priapism recurrence.