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A 77-year-old man diagnosed with primary myelofibrosis (PMF), successfully controlled by thalidomide and prednisolone, was referred to us for massive subcutaneous bleeding involving the face, body, and all four limbs. Hemostatic studies showed prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time, decreased factor VIII coagulation, and a high factor VIII inhibitor titer, resulting in a diagnosis of acquired hemophilia A (AHA) for which he was treated with prednisolone and cyclophosphamide on admission. He developed right femoral intramuscular hemorrhage soon after immunosuppressive therapy and was treated with rituximab combined with activated prothrombin complex concentrates. Furthermore, he suffered complications of respiratory failure with increasing throat hemorrhaging. Recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) was administered combined with methylprednisolone pulse therapy. Bleeding, including respiratory failure, was ameliorated with rFVIIa. Immunosuppressive rituximab therapy resolved AHA with marked efficacy. He died of Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonitis. Autopsy showed transformation from PMF to acute myeloid leukemia.

Intersigmoid hernia is a rare form of internal hernia. Here, we report a case of intersigmoid hernia and provide a brief review of the 62 cases involving the mesosigmoid reported in Japan from 2000 to 2013. In the current case, a 26-year-old man with no previous history of abdominal surgery presented with abdominal pain and vomiting. Abdominal computed tomography revealed an extensively dilated small bowel and a closed loop of small bowel in the mesosigmoid. The patient was diagnosed with an intestinal obstruction due to an incarcerated internal hernia involving the mesosigmoid. There was no blood flow obstruction at the incarcerated bowel. An elective single-incision laparoscopic surgery was performed after decompression of the bowel using ileus tube. As the ileum herniated into the intersigmoid fossa, the patient was diagnosed with an intersigmoid hernia. The incarcerated small bowel was reduced in order to make it viable, and the hernial defect was closed with interrupted sutures. The patient had an uneventful recovery and was discharged on postoperative day five.

A unique scale worm Hesperonoe hwanghaienssi Uschakov and Wu, 1959 (Polychaeta: Polynoidae) was collected from tidal flats in Japan and is described here taxonomically as the second record of this species since its original description from Chinese specimens. Some morphological features of our specimens differed slightly from the original description of this species. Marked differences in growth pattern, morphology of elytra and microhabitat were demonstrated between juveniles (1.8 mm or less in body width) and adults (1.9 mm or more). We estimated the outline of the life history of the scale worm by sampling it in various seasons. The scale worm was commensal with the burrowing shrimp Upogebia major. Juveniles of the scale worm were commonly attached to the ventral or lateral surface of the thorax or abdomen of the host throughout May to September in Isahaya Bay in the Ariake Sea, Kyushu. In July 1998, 89% of the host shrimps were infested by the scale worm. Several juveniles (maximum: 7) of the scale worm often aggregated on a host body, with no adults found on the hosts. The adults were collected from sediment samples. These results suggest that the juveniles mainly live on the surface of the host body and that they later detach themselves from the host body and live freely on the inner surface of the burrow of the host.

We show the experimental data of selective ethanol separation from ethanol–water solution, using ultrasonic atomization. Pure ethanol could be obtained directly from a solution with several mol% ethanol–water solution at 10 °C. This result can be explained in terms of parametric decay instability of capillary wave, in which high localization and accumulation of acoustic energy occur, leading to ultrasonic atomization. That is, parametric decay instability condenses the energy of longitudinal waves in a highly localized surface area of the capillary wave, and causes ultrasonic atomization.

Poly(vinylidene fluoride/trifluoroethylene)single crystalline (SC) films, which were prepared by uniaxial stretching followed by crystallization in the paraelectric phase, are highly double-orientated, that is, the orthorhombic c-axis, and the axes perpendicular to the (110)/(200) planes of fully extended chain crystals, are preferentially oriented parallel to the stretching axis and normal to the film surface, respectively. The thickness dependence of orientation distributions of these axes in SC films were evaluated using wide-angle X-Ray diffraction. The results revealed that the orientation factors of the c-axis and the axes perpendicular to the (110)/(200) planes increase with decreasing film thickness. It is suggested that the preferential orientation of the axes perpendicular to the (110)/(200) planes to the direction parallel to the film normal, which is developed in the hexagonal phase, is very high near the film surface, but it becomes gradually weaker as the distance from the surface increases. The formation mechanism of the orientational order is discussed, and a model for the preferential orientation distribution of the crystal planes is proposed.

A 62-year-old man with transfusion-dependent severe aplastic anemia received immunosuppressive therapy (IST) with rabbit antithymocyte globulin and cyclosporine A in April 2010. However, his transfusion dependency did not improve. As more than 100 red blood cell (RBC) transfusions had been performed, he was administered iron chelation therapy (ICT) with deferasirox (DFX) to improve iron overload starting in July 2011. Consequently, both RBC and platelet transfusion dependency gradually improved concomitant with a decrease in serum ferritin. The bone marrow (BM) biopsy findings before administration of DFX showed severe iron accumulation and strong positive immunostaining for 8-OHdG, a marker of oxidative stress due to free iron. One year after ICT, the number of BM hematopoietic cells was increased and both iron deposition and oxidative stress were decreased. These findings suggest that DFX may contribute to hematological improvement in patients with IST-refractory aplastic anemia.

A 49-year-old woman presented with pharyngeal and cervical lymph node swelling in December 2010. Biopsy of the pharynx demonstrated follicular lymphoma which secreted large volumes of immunoglobulin M (IgM) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β). Bone marrow aspiration yielded a dry tap, and bone marrow biopsy demonstrated myelofibrosis associated with lymphoma cells on admission. The plasma concentration of TGF-β was elevated and monoclonal IgM gammopathy was detected. After only one course of chemotherapy with CHOP plus rituximab, remission of both lymphoma and myelofibrosis was achieved. Bone marrow aspiration became possible, and TGF-β and IgM levels normalized. Thus, the myelofibrosis was reversible.

A preconcentration system attached to a GC/C/MS (gas chromatography/combustion/mass spectrometer) was developed to determine the carbon-isotope composition of methane in volcanic gases with extremely low concentration. With this system, we can analyze the carbon isotope ratio (13C/12C) of 0.7 - 6 nmol methane with a precision of ±1.6‰, unlike other conventional methods without preconcentration (150 - 1000 nmol CH4 with a precision of ±0.2‰). This system was test-ed with volcanic gas samples from Satsuma-Iwojima volcano, suggesting a mixture of magmatic and thermogenic origins for methane.

Purpose: To evaluate the functional planning using CT-pulmonary ventilation imaging for conformal SBRT. Methods: The CT-pulmonary ventilation image was generated using the Jacobian metric in the in-house program with the NiftyReg software package. Using the ventilation image, the normal lung was split into three lung regions for functionality (high, moderate and low). The anatomical plan (AP) and functional plan (FP) were made for ten lung SBRT patients. For the AP, the beam angles were optimized with the dose-volume constraints for the normal lung sparing and the PTV coverage. For the FP, the gantry angles were also optimized with the additional constraint for high functional lung. The MLC aperture shapes were adjusted to the PTV with the additional 5 mm margin. The dosimetric parameters for PTV, the functional volumes, spinal cord and so on were compared in both plans. Results: Compared to the AP, the FP showed better dose sparing for high- and moderate-functional lungs with similar PTV coverage while not taking care of the low functional lung (High:−12.9±9.26% Moderate: −2.0±7.09%, Low: +4.1±12.2%). For the other normal organs, the FP and AP showed similar dose sparing in the eight patients. However, the FP showed that the maximum doses for spinal cordmore » were increased with the significant increment of 16.4Gy and 21.0Gy in other two patients, respectively. Because the beam direction optimizer chose the unexpected directions passing through the spinal cord. Conclusion: Even the functional conformal SBRT can selectively reduce high- and moderatefunctional lung while keeping the PTV coverage. However, it would be careful that the optimizer would choose unexpected beam angles and the dose sparing for the other normal organs can be worse. Therefore, the planner needs to control the dose-volume constraints and also limit the beam angles in order to achieve the expected dose sparing and coverage.« less

A photo-stimulated luminescent (PSL) material, BaFBr 0.85 I 0.15 : Eu 2+ , was irradiated by 1 and 2 MeV He + ions. The radiation effects were compared with that of fission neutrons, 137 Cs and 60 Co gamma-rays. Deterioration of PSL signals was measured as a function of total fluence for ions and neutrons or dose for gamma-rays. Relative deteriorations for neutrons and gamma-rays were compared with that of 1 MeV He + ion irradiation. A self-generation of PSL signals depending on fluence and storage time was observed.

Genetic divergence among ten populations of small- and large-egg forms of the brackish-water polychaete Hediste japonica complex was investigated on 14 isozyme loci by electrophoretic analysis. The two forms were distinguishable by complete allele substitutions at five loci, resulting in high genetic differentiation (Nei's D: 0.533 to 0.662). No genetic evidence of hybridization between the two forms was detected in sympatric populations in three rivers. These results indicate that the two forms are reproductively isolated, clearly showing that the two forms are distinct species. The genetic differentiation among populations was higher in the large-egg form (D: 0.005 to 0.111, GST: 0.435) than that in the small-egg form (D: 0.000 to 0.001, GST: 0.020). This genetic difference between the two forms seems to be attributable to a difference in their life histories. The average expected heterozygosity was low in populations of both the large-egg form (0.005 to 0.068) and the small-egg form (0.014 to 0.038) in comparison with other marine invertebrates.

書誌情報のみ, Bibliographic data Only

Spectroscopic and kinetic studies indicate that oxo-carboxylato-molybdenum(VI) bis-dithiolene complexes, (Mo(VI)O(p-X-OBz)L2), have been generated at low temperature as active site structural models for the type II class of pyranopterin molybdenum DMSOR family enzymes. A DFT analysis of low energy charge transfer bands shows that these complexes possess a Mo-S(dithiolene) π-bonding interaction between the Mo(d(xy)) redox active molecular orbital and a cis S(p(z)) donor orbital located on one of the dithiolene ligands.

We study how well the Gaussian approximation is valid for computing the covariance matrices of the convergence power and bispectrum in weak gravitational lensing analyses. We focus on its impact on the cosmological parameter estimations by comparing the results with and without non-Gaussian error contribution in the covariance matrix. We numerically derive the covariance matrix as well as the cosmology dependence of the spectra from a large set of N-body simulations performed for various cosmologies and carry out Fisher matrix forecasts for tomographic weak lensing surveys with three source redshifts. After showing the consistency of the power and bispectra measured from our simulations with the state-of-the-art fitting formulas, we investigate the covariance matrix assuming a typical ongoing survey across 1500 deg^2 with the mean source number density of 30 arcmin^{-2} at the mean redshift z_s=1.0. Although the shape noise contributes a significant fraction to the total error budget and it mitigates the impact of the non-Gaussian error for this source number density, we find that the non-Gaussian error degrades the cumulative signal-to-noise ratio up to the maximum multipole of 2000 by a factor of about 2 (3) in the power (bi-) spectrum analysis. Its impact on the final cosmological parameter forecast with 6 parameters can be as large as 15% in the size of the one-dimensional statistical error. This can be a problem in future wide and deep weak lensing surveys for precision cosmology. We also show how much the dark energy figure of merit is affected by the non-Gaussian error contribution and demonstrate an optimal survey design with a fixed observational time., Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures. Maches version published by the Physical Review D

It is crucial to understand and model a behavior of galaxy biasing for future ambitious galaxy redshift surveys. Using 40 large cosmological N-body simulations for a standard LambdaCDM cosmology, we study the cross-correlation coefficient between matter and the halo density field, which is an indicator of the stochasticity of bias, over a wide redshift range 0\le z \le 3. The cross-correlation coefficient is important to extract information on the matter density field, e.g., by combining galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements. We compare the simulation results with integrated perturbation theory (iPT) proposed by one of the present authors and standard perturbation theory (SPT) combined with a phenomenological model of local bias. The cross-correlation coefficient derived from the iPT agrees with N-body simulation results down to r~15 (10) h^{-1}Mpc within 0.5 (1.0) % for all redshifts and halo masses we consider. The SPT with local bias does not explain complicated behaviors on quasilinear scales at low redshifts, while roughly reproduces the general behavior of the cross-correlation coefficient on fully nonlinear scales. The iPT is powerful to predict the cross-correlation coefficient down to quasilinear regimes with a high precision., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures. Maches version published by the Physical Review D

Artificial skeletal muscle tissues composed of cells are expected to be used for applications of regenerative medicine and drug screening. Generally, however, the physical forces generated by tissue-engineered skeletal muscle are lower than those of skeletal muscle tissues found in the body. Local hyperthermia is used for many diseases including muscle injuries. It was recently reported that mild heat treatment improved skeletal muscle functions. In this study, we investigated the effects of mild heat treatment on the tissue-engineered skeletal muscle tissues in vitro. We used magnetite cationic liposomes to label C2C12 myoblast cells magnetically, and constructed densely packed artificial skeletal muscle tissues by using magnetic force. Cell culture at 39°C promoted the differentiation of myoblast cells into myotubes. Moreover, the mild and transient heat treatment improved the contractile properties of artificial skeletal muscle tissue constructs. These findings indicate that the culture method using heat treatment is a useful approach to enhance functions of artificial skeletal muscle tissue.

Extraskeletal chondroma is an unusual benign tumor, which rarely arises in the diaphragm. We report a case of chondroma of the diaphragm in a 31-year-old woman. Initially, a benign liver tumor with calcification was suspected, based on pre and intraoperative examination findings. Although parts of the tumor were contiguous with the diaphragm, its connections with the diaphragm were much narrower than its connection with the liver, which suggested a liver tumor. Pathological examination subsequently revealed that the chondroma was contiguous with the diaphragm and that there was a distinct border between the tumor and the liver; thus, the tumor was diagnosed as a chondroma of the diaphragm.

✓ Olfactory evoked potentials (OEPs), obtained by electrical stimulation of the olfactory mucosa, were recorded in dogs and humans to develop an objective method for evaluating olfactory functions. In dogs, OEPs were recorded from the olfactory tract and the scalp. The latency of the first negative peak was approximately 40 msec. A response was not obtained after stimulation of the nasal mucosa and disappeared after sectioning of the olfactory nerve. With increasing frequencies of repetitive stimulation, the amplitude was reduced, suggesting that the response was synaptically mediated. These results demonstrate that evoked potentials from the olfactory tract and the scalp following electrical stimulation of the olfactory mucosa originate specifically from the olfactory system. In humans, a stimulating electrode with a soft catheter was fixed on the olfactory mucosa. The OEPs from the olfactory tract, recorded with a negative peak of approximately 27 msec, had similar characteristics to OEPs found in dogs. The OEPs from the olfactory tract in humans also originate specifically from the olfactory system. The authors postulate that OEPs obtained by electrical stimulation of the olfactory mucosa may prove useful for intraoperative monitoring of olfactory functions.

Summary A mature female of the polychaete Lumbrineris latreilli spawns an egg mass in which many unfertilized eggs are embedded in jelly matrix. Unfertilized eggs which were mechanically separated from the jelly matrix just after spawning lost the capacity for sperm binding, and therefore became unfertilizable. Fertilizability was restored by the addition of jelly fragments to the dejellied eggs. These results show that the jelly matrix is essential for successful fertilization, especially for establishing sperm-egg binding. Electron microscopy revealed that sperm-egg binding occurs between the head-tip of the acrosome-reacted spermatozoa and the outer surface of the chorion. The sperm acrosome reaction was not induced by the jelly matrix alone. Some interactions between the jelly matrix and spermatozoa may be prerequisite for induction of the acrosome reaction, which takes place on the outer margin of the chorion.

We demonstrate a method to reduce the thermal conductivity of fully dense (above the rigidity percolation threshold) amorphous thin films below the minimum limit by systematically changing the coordination number through hydrogenation. Studying a-SiO:H, a-SiC:H, and a-Si:H thin films, we measure the thermal properties using time-domain thermoreflectance to show that thermal conductivity can be reduced below the amorphous limit by a factor of up to two. By experimentally investigating the thermophysical parameters that determine thermal conductivity, we show that sound speed, atomic density, and heat capacity cannot explain the measured reduction in thermal conductivity, revealing that the coordination number can significantly alter the scattering length scale of heat carriers. Reformulating the minimum limit to consider the propensity for energy to transfer through the non-hydrogen network of atoms, we observe greatly improved agreement with experimental data.

Purpose: A validation study using human or sheep for CT pulmonary ventilation (CT-V) imaging are inefficient and partially unstable. In this study, we designed and developed non-rigid phantom ventilating air to quantitatively evaluate the CT-V image. Methods: The phantom consisted of an acryl cylinder filled with polyurethane foam designed to pulmonic alveoli and a polyurethane membrane was attached to the inferior end of the phantom to simulate a lung diaphragm. Also, trachea-shaped polyurethane tubes were covered by the foam and the tubes passed through the outside in order to exchange a gas. Lung arteries were also modeled with polyurethane and were located adjacent to the trachea model. Two 3D-CT scans were performed at exhale and inhale using an air contrast agent of xenon gas, respectively. The exhale 3D-CT was deformed to the inhale 3D-CT using the in-house program with the NiftyReg. Sixteen landmarks were assigned around trachea and lung arteries in the inhale image and the deformed exhale image. Target Registration Error (TRE) for each landmark between the two images was calculated for commissioning of our program. CT-V image was generated using Jacobian determinant metrics (JD). Subsequently, HU value change between the two images was measured. The correlation coefficient was calculated between the JD and the HU change. Results: The deformable and ventilation phantom shows a variety of displacement for each landmark (1 mm − 20 mm). The mean TRE was 4.5 ± 4.7 mm (Maximum: 12.3 mm). The relationship between the JD and the HU change shows high correlation. (R = −0.86). At the several landmarks where TRE values were over 3 mm, the correlation was poor. Conclusion: The phantom may be a useful QA tool to validate CT-V imaging. We will improve our deformable image registration program for CT-V imaging with the efficient way using the phantom.

Purpose: Irregular respiratory patterns affects dose outputs in respiratorygated radiotherapy and there is no commercially available quality assurance (QA) system for it. We designed and developed a patient specific QA system for respiratory-gated radiotherapy to estimate irradiated output. Methods: Our in-house QA system for gating was composed of a personal computer with the USB-FSIO electronic circuit connecting to the linear accelerator (ONCOR-K, Toshiba Medical Systems). The linac implements a respiratory gating system (AZ-733V, Anzai Medical). During the beam was on, 4.2 V square-wave pulses were continually sent to the system. Our system can receive and count the pulses. At first, our system and an oscilloscope were compared to check the performance of our system. Next, basic estimation models were generated when ionization-chamber measurements were performed in gating using regular sinusoidal wave patterns (2.0, 2.5, 4.0, 8.0, 15 sec/cycle). During gated irradiation with the regular patterns, the number of the pulses per one gating window was measured using our system. Correlation between the number of the pulses per one gating and dose per the gating window were assessed to generate the estimation model. Finally, two irregular respiratory patterns were created and the accuracy of the estimation was evaluated. Results: Compared to the oscilloscope, our system worked similarly. The basic models were generated with the accuracy within 0.1%. The results of the gated irradiations with two irregular respiratory patterns show good agreement within 0.4% estimation accuracy. Conclusion: Our developed system shows good estimation for even irregular respiration patterns. The system would be a useful tool to verify the output for respiratory-gated radiotherapy.

A chemically-modified Sephadex G10, on which a stearyl group and a quaternary ammonium base are introduced, was developed as a new adsorbent for carboxylic acids, and was applied to their separation analysis by using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Almost all carboxylic acids were quantitatively adsorbed on the chemically-modified Sephadex G10 at pH 8 without any interference from other inorganic ions included in environmental samples. Elution of the adsorbed carboxylic acids from the chemically-modified Sephadex G10 was easily accomplished using a dilute hydrochloric acid solution. A separation analysis by reversed-phase HPLC for preconcentrated carboxylic acids in environmental water was attained using an in-line color reaction for the carboxylic acids. The determination limits were 10-7M for a 100ml sample volume. The relative standard deviations were less than 2%.

This study is concerned with enhancing the heat transfer rate in a falling film layer of ethylene glycol on an inclined rectangular tray by applying ultrasonic waves irradiated from the bottom of the tray. The heat transfer coefficient in a falling film layer of ethylene glycol was determined by the measured temperature distributions under various conditions of liquid flow rate, power supplied to an ultrasonic vibrator and frequency of the ultrasonic wave. The evaporation rate of water from a failing film of ethylene glycol/water mixture was also measured.As a result, the enhancing effect of ultrasonic irradiation on the heat transfer coefficient was obtained with increasing liquid flow rate. It was found that ultrasonic irradiation of 23.6 kHz was more effective to enhance the heat transfer rate in a falling film layer than 46.9 kHz ultrasonic waves. The heat transfer coefficient in a falling film layer was increased by ultrasonic irradiation in the order about 30%, which was obtained at a film Reynolds number of 50.0 by using 23.6 kHz ultrasonic waves. It was recognized that ultrasonic waves increased the evaporation rate of water in a falling film of ethylene glycol/water mixture.

Dietary items of the Japanese eel Anguilla japonica inhabiting estuaries were examined by analyses of the gut (stomach and intestine) contents in two areas in Kyushu, western Japan. In a small estuary in Kagoshima Bay, where seven eel guts were examined, almost all of the dietary organisms consisted of Hemigrapsus crabs and Hediste polychaetes, both of which commonly occurred on tidal flats of this site during our survey on the macrobenthic fauna. In another large estuary in the innermost part of the Ariake Sea, where 14 eel guts were examined, 11 macrobenthic species (nine crustaceans, a polychaete, and a gastropod) were found in the gut contents, mostly consisting of mudflat-specific species. The dietary items are almost completely different not only between the two estuaries, but also among three neighboring sites within the large estuary in the Ariake Sea. These results show that Japanese eels feed on various macrobenthic invertebrates inhabiting estuarine tidal flats at each site. The variety of the prey species occupying different habitats indicates that their foraging areas extend to a wide range of estuarine tidal flats from the upper to lower littoral zones. The physalopterid nematode Heliconema anguillae was found parasitic in eel stomachs in both estuaries. The prevalence of the nematode was higher in the estuary in Kagoshima Bay (100%) than that in the Ariake Sea (43%), although the intensity in the former (4-94 nematodes per infected stomach) was comparable to that of the latter (2-96). The relationship between the nematode infection and the dietary items of Japanese eels is discussed.

A two-dimensional matrix Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 (PZT) ceramics array has been developed to evaluate the principle of an imaging system using a coded wavefront. In this paper, the fabrication process of a PZT 40 ×40 element array for transmitter and receiver is described. Signals modulated by the Walsh functions were used for driving the transmitter array elements. Three-dimensional images were successfully obtained for a standard ultrasonic phantom. It is shown that this method is applicable in medical diagnosis.

A 1-year-old boy developed autoimmune hemolytic anemia after a negative direct anti-globulin test. The concentration of erythrocyte membrane-associated immunoglobulin G, determined using an immunoradiometric assay, correlated with disease activity. He was positive for cytomegalovirus (CMV) both serologically and by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, indicating that his autoimmune hemolytic anemia was directly caused by CMV infection. Since anti-CMV immunoglobulin G was not absorbed by the patient's erythrocytes, cross-reaction between erythrocyte antigens and CMV was not likely a causative factor for hemolysis.

This paper describes a development of a robot scooter platform for intelligent personal mobility robot. Recently, a lot of personal mobility has been used by aged and handicapped people. Intelligent mobility robot provides safer and more convenient transfer service such as driving support and automatic transfer. It is necessary to develop a platform equipped with sensors, electronic devices and intelligent navigation functions. In this paper, we describe the hardware components and the configuration of the robot platform. The navigation system, including the functions of localization using grid map matching, path following, and obstacle avoidance, is implemented on the proposed robot platform. We also present the results of an open-field experiment in Tsukuba Challenge 2010 and evaluate the proposed systems. The newly developed robot scooter successfully and autonomously ran a 1.1 km course in a normal living environment.

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is a rare pediatric myeloid neoplasm characterized by excessive proliferation of myelomonocytic cells. Somatic mutations in genes involved in GM-CSF signal transduction, such as NRAS, KRAS, PTPN11, NF1, and CBL, have been identified in more than 70% of children with JMML. In the present study, we report 2 patients with somatic mosaicism for oncogenic NRAS mutations (G12D and G12S) associated with the development of JMML. The mutated allele frequencies quantified by pyrosequencing were various and ranged from 3%-50% in BM and other somatic cells (ie, buccal smear cells, hair bulbs, or nails). Both patients experienced spontaneous improvement of clinical symptoms and leukocytosis due to JMML without hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. These patients are the first reported to have somatic mosaicism for oncogenic NRAS mutations. The clinical course of these patients suggests that NRAS mosaicism may be associated with a mild disease phenotype in JMML.

Homolka's perlite protocol (HPP) for cryopreservation of fungal cultures was evaluated in 12 strains (7 species) of cryosensitive basidiomycete cultures maintained in NBRC culture collection by investigating viability, time to recover, and basic morphological study after freezing and storing at -80 degree C for 6 months. The viability of the fungal strains was 60 percent in Phallus hadriani and 100 percent in remaining 11 strains, indicating the efficacy of HPP method for cryopreservation of some cryosensitive basidiomycetes. The HPP method was modified by changing the addition of cryoprotectant (glycerol) from prior precultivation to post precultivation, limiting the cryoprotectant exposure time to 48 hours, and increasing the glycerol concentration from 5 percent to 12 percent. The viability of P. hadriani strain increased from 60 percent to 100 percent with the modified perlite protocol after storage at -80 degree C for 6 months.

Based on a suite of state-of-the-art high-resolution $N$-body simulations, we revisit the so-called halofit model (Smith et al. 2003) as an accurate fitting formula for the nonlinear matter power spectrum. While the halofit model has been frequently used as a standard cosmological tool to predict the nonlinear matter power spectrum in a universe dominated by cold dark matter, its precision has been limited by the low-resolution of $N$-body simulations used to determine the fitting parameters, suggesting the necessity of improved fitting formula at small scales for future cosmological studies. We run high-resolution $N$-body simulations for 16 cosmological models around the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) best-fit cosmological parameters (1, 3, 5, and 7 year results), including dark energy models with a constant equation of state. The simulation results are used to re-calibrate the fitting parameters of the halofit model so as to reproduce small-scale power spectra of the $N$-body simulations, while keeping the precision at large scales. The revised fitting formula provides an accurate prediction of the nonlinear matter power spectrum in a wide range of wavenumber ($k \leq 30h$\,Mpc$^{-1}$) at redshifts $0 \leq z \leq 10$, with 5% precision for $k\leq1 h$ Mpc$^{-1}$ at $0 \leq z \leq 10$ and 10% for $1 \leq k\leq 10 h$ Mpc$^{-1} $ at $0 \leq z \leq 3$. We discuss the impact of the improved halofit model on weak lensing power spectra and correlation functions, and show that the improved model better reproduces ray-tracing simulation results., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, minor changes, references added, accepted for publication in ApJ

A molecular species analysis of polyunsaturated fatty acid-enriched fish oil, a complex and labile mixture of various triacylglycerols, was carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography/fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (HPLC/FAB-MS)•with a frit-FAB interface. Positive and negative ion FAB mass spectra and mass chromatograms provided indications of the possible combination of fatty acids in each triacylglycerol component. The actual triacylglycerol retention time values obtained by mass spectrometry were compared with those predicted by the relative retention potential index theory. The two values coincided well with each other. This method thus facilitates the identification of components overlapping in HPLC without fractionation.

The electrochemiluminescence of tris(2, 2′-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) [Ru(bpy)32+] was applied to high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid was separated by a C18 reversed-phase column with a mobile phase containing 15mM NaH2PO4-K2HPO4 (pH 6.5). The eluted ascorbic acid was mixed with 0.5mM Ru(bpy)32+ within the flow tube. The solution then passed through a thin layer flow cell equipped with a glassy carbon electrode and both ascorbic acid and Ru(bpy)32+ were oxidized at +1.5V (vs. Ag/AgCl). The reaction of electrolytically formed Ru(bpy)33+ with oxidized ascorbic acid emitted light. The detection limit was 10pmol for ascorbic acid at an S/N ratio of 3, and the linear calibration range was 0.06-80nmol. The method was successfully applied to determination of ascorbic acid in soft drinks and apple juice.

酸性降下物の環境影響評価を行うためには,硫酸,硝酸などの強酸だけでなく,カルボン酸などの弱酸の定量が重要であるが,環境水中では微量のカルボン酸は安定ではない.そこで,環境試料中の微量のカルボン酸を正確に分析することを目的として,カルボン酸を安定に保存する方法を検討した.その結果,0.015M塩酸酸性としてポリ容器に入れ,2℃の冷蔵庫に保存すれば乳酸以外のカルボン酸は少なくとも6か月は安定に保存できることが分かった.乳酸もこの条件下で3か月は安定に保存できる.但し,環境水に含まれるカルボン酸はここで検討した5×10-5Mよりも低濃度であることが多いので,採取した環境試料はこの条件下で保存してもできるだけ早く,できれば1か月以内に分析に供することが望ましい.

This paper describes a system that helps electric carts avoid collisions. In Japan, electric carts are widely used by elderly and disabled people. However, accidents often occur due to driving errors. Because electric carts have specific features that result in an inner/outer track difference, the drivers are forced to move their upper bodies significantly to visually confirm the safety of their carts. Therefore, we developed an electric cart with an assistance system for collision avoidance. When the system detects obstacles near the cart, it reduces the speed to assist the driver in avoiding a collision with the obstacles.

A tremendous amount of radioactivity was discharged because of the damage to cooling systems of nuclear reactors in the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011. Fukushima and its adjacent prefectures were contaminated with fission products from the accident. Here, we show a geographical distribution of radioactive iodine, tellurium, and cesium in the surface soils of central-east Japan as determined by gamma-ray spectrometry. Especially in Fukushima prefecture, contaminated area spreads around Iitate and Naka-Dori for all the radionuclides we measured. Distributions of the radionuclides were affected by the physical state of each nuclide as well as geographical features. Considering meteorological conditions, it is concluded that the radioactive material transported on March 15 was the major contributor to contamination in Fukushima prefecture, whereas the radioactive material transported on March 21 was the major source in Ibaraki, Tochigi, Saitama, and Chiba prefectures and in Tokyo.

We demonstrate a novel rapid direct detection method for immunohistochemistry, using a bioluminescent probe. An anti-CEA antibody-fused far-red bioluminescent protein can monitor the accumulation of this type of probe in tumour tissues. The bimodal spectrum (λ(max) = 460 and 675 nm) of this bioluminescent probe is extremely stable under different conditions of pH and ion concentration. The sensitivity of our bioluminescent labelling was at the same level of enzymatic labelling, e.g. peroxidase, as an indirect system. Our novel technique is simple and can shorten the pretreatment time of paraffin sections to around 30 min. The utility of our bioluminescent labelling covers all imaging in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo, suggesting that our antibody-fused bioluminescent probe has the potential to detect tumour antigens with a high sensitivity in routine immune histological examinations.

We perform high resolution ray-tracing simulations to investigate probability distribution functions (PDFs) of lensing convergence, shear, and magnification on distant sources up to the redshift of $z_s=20$. We pay particular attention to the shot noise effect in $N$-body simulations by explicitly showing how it affects the variance of the convergence. We show that the convergence and magnification PDFs are closely related with each other via the approximate relation $\mu=(1-\kappa)^{-2}$, which can reproduce the behavior of PDFs surprisingly well up to the high magnification tail. The mean convergence measured in the source plane is found to be systematically negative, rather than zero as often assumed, and is correlated with the convergence variance. We provide simple analytical formulae for the PDFs, which reproduce simulated PDFs reasonably well for a wide range of redshifts and smoothing sizes. As explicit applications of our ray-tracing simulations, we examine the strong lensing probability and the magnification effects on the luminosity functions of distant galaxies and quasars., Comment: 15 pages, 19 figures, minor changes, references added, accepted for publication in ApJ

Understanding a behavior of galaxy biasing is crucial for future galaxy redshift surveys. One aim is to measure the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) within the precision of a few percent level. Using 30 large cosmological N-body simulations for a standard LCDM cosmology, we study the halo biasing over a wide redshift range. We compare the simulation results with theoretical predictions proposed by Matsubara (2008) which naturally incorporate the halo bias and redshift-space distortions into their formalism of perturbation theory with a resummation technique via the Lagrangian picture. The power spectrum and correlation function of halos obtained from Lagrangian resummation theory (LRT) well agree with N-body simulation results on scales of BAOs. Especially nonlinear effects on the baryon acoustic peak of the halo correlation function are accurately explained both in real and redshift space. We find that nonlinearity and scale dependence of bias are fairly well reproduced by 1-loop LRT up to k=0.35hMpc^{-1} (z=2 and 3) within a few percent level in real space and up to k=0.1hMpc^{-1} (z=2) and 0.15hMpc^{-1} (z=3) in redshift space. Thus, the LRT is very powerful for accurately extracting cosmological information in upcoming high redshift BAO surveys., 15 pages, 9 figures. Maches version published by the Physical Review D

We conducted a survey regarding irregular bowel movement in gastrectomized patients. Their defecation frequency, intestinal microflora, and intestinal environment were studied and compared with those of healthy controls.As a first step, a questionnaire survey on bowel movement, involving 769 patients and 312 healthy controls (total: 1,081 subjects), was carried out. As a second step, the defecation frequency (scoring of the survey results conducted to evaluate the state of constipation/diarrhea), intestinal microflora, and intestinal environment were evaluated in 190 gastrectomized patients with irregular bowel movement and 31 controls identified in the first survey.First step: Of the 769 patients, 58% complained of irregular bowel movements (constipation, diarrhea, or their alternate occurrence), and their frequency of complaints was significantly higher (p 0.01) than that in the healthy controls (33%). Second step: The levels of the most predominant obligate anaerobe and harmful bacteria in the feces were lower and higher, respectively, the fecal pH was lower, the fecal water content was lower, and the level of putrefactive metabolites in the feces was higher in the gastrectomized patients than in the healthy controls. The intestinal flora and environment were more disrupted in the totally gastrectomized than in the partially gastrectomized patients.Many gastrectomized patients with irregular bowel movements exhibited significant changes showing impaired intestinal microflora and metabolite levels.

Currently, patients with peritoneal dissemination of gastric cancer must accept a poor prognosis because there is no standard effective therapy. To inhibit peritoneal dissemination it is important to inhibit interactions between extracellular matrices (ECM) and cell surface integrins, which are important for cancer cell adhesion. Although nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) is involved in various processes in cancer progression, its involvement in the expression of integrins has not been elucidated. We used a novel NF-κB inhibitor, dehydroxymethylepoxyquinomicin (DHMEQ), to study whether NF-κB blocks cancer cell adhesion via integrins in a gastric cancer dissemination model in mice and found that DHMEQ is a potent suppressor of cancer cell dissemination. Dehydroxymethylepoxyquinomicin suppressed the NF-κB activity of human gastric cancer cells NUGC-4 and 44As3Luc and blocked the adhesion of cancer cells to ECM when compared with the control. Dehydroxymethylepoxyquinomicin also inhibited expression of integrin (α2, α3, β1) in in vitro studies. In the in vivo model, we injected 44As3Luc cells pretreated with DHMEQ into the peritoneal cavity of mice and performed peritoneal lavage after the injection of cancer cells. Viable cancer cells in the peritoneal cavities were evaluated sequentially by in vivo imaging. In mice injected with DHMEQ-pretreated cells and lavaged, live cancer cells in the peritoneum were significantly reduced compared with the control, and these mice survived longer. These results indicate that DHMEQ could inhibit cancer cell adhesion to the peritoneum possibly by suppressing integrin expression. Nuclear factor-kappa B inhibition may be a new therapeutic option for suppressing postoperative cancer dissemination.