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To investigate the neuronal mechanism of the process of selection of a target from an array of stimuli, we analysed neuronal activity of the lateral prefrontal cortex during the response period of a serial probe reproduction task. During the response period of this task, monkeys were trained to select a memorized target object from an array of three objects and make a saccadic eye movement toward it. Of 611 neurons, 74 neurons showed visual response and 56 neurons showed presaccadic activity during the response period. Among visual neurons, 27 showed array- and target-selectivity. All of these array- and target-selective visual responses were recorded from the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC). Among 56 neurons with presaccadic activity, nine showed target-selective activity, 17 showed target- and direction-selective activity, and 23 showed direction-selective activity. The target-selective, and the target- and direction-selective activities were recorded from the VLPFC, and the direction-selective activities were recorded from VLPFC and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The starting time of the activity was earlier for the target-selective, and target- and direction-selective activities in VLPFC, intermediate for the direction-selective activities in VLPFC, and later for the direction-selective activities in DLPFC. These results suggest that VLPFC plays a role in the process of selection of a target object from an array of stimuli, VLPFC and DLPFC play a role in determining the location of the target in space, and DLPFC plays a role in selecting a direction and making a decision to generate a saccadic eye movement.

To determine whether embryos cultured with a low oxygen level (2%) brought about beneficial effects on the outcome of ART.This is a sequential case-control embryo-culture study. Embryos were cultured either with a gas mixture containing 2% OThe cleavage rate in the low-oxygen group (94.4%) was similar to that (94.7%) in the conventional group. The mean number of blastomeres on Day 3 in the low-oxygen group (mean ± SE) was 6.5 ± 1.9, and this was significantly lower than in the conventional group (6.8 ± 1.9,Overall, culture of embryos at the low oxygen level did not significantly improve ART results compared with embryos grown in 5% oxygen. The study suggests that a low oxygen level worsens embryo morphology but does not impair embryo viability.

In the estimation of gene networks from microarray gene expression data, we propose a statistical method for quantification of the hidden confounders in gene networks, which were possibly removed from the set of genes on the gene networks or are novel biological elements that are not measured by microarrays. Due to high computational cost of the structural learning of Bayesian networks and the limited source of the microarray data, it is usual to perform gene selection prior to the estimation of gene networks. Therefore, there exist missing genes that decrease accuracy and interpretability of the estimated gene networks. The proposed method can identify hidden confounders based on the conflicts of the estimated local Bayesian network structures and estimate their ideal profiles based on the proposed Bayesian networks with hidden variables with an EM algorithm. From the estimated ideal profiles, we can identify genes which are missing in the network or suggest the existence of the novel biological elements if the ideal profiles are not significantly correlated with any expression profiles of genes. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first study to theoretically characterize missing genes in gene networks and practically utilize this information to refine network estimation.

Since an early phase of design intrinsically contains uncertainties from various sources of variations, design performances are fluctuating or reflect uncertainty caused by uncertain design variables. Analysis tool such as finite element method (FEM) is useful for structural analysis. However, using unique point solution does not express information about uncertainties. Designers need to figure out an outline of the structural feature and have to obtain a design idea under some uncertain design information in a structural design at the early phase of design. We have proposed a preference set-based design (PSD) method that generates a ranged set of design solutions that satisfy sets of performance requirements. This study proposes a structural design method for the early phase of design based on the PSD method that is possible to analyze structure with design uncertainty by elastic FEM and obtain a ranged set of design solutions. That is, a design method for analyzing structures and obtaining a ranged set of design solutions with uncertainties of material property and dimension of structure (coordinates of geometry) under fluctuating distribution of performance characteristics of stress and displacement is proposed. In order to illustrate the availability of our approach, design problem of 3-dimensional truss structure is solved.Copyright © 2010 by ASME

OBJECTIVE: We examined whether the presence and severity of endometriosis affect the reproductive outcome of infertile patients. STUDY DESIGN: The conception rates of 2080 infertile women, 1263 who had endometriosis and 817 who did not have endometriosis, were analyzed retrospectively by means of the χ 2 test. Depending on the stage of the disease patients who had endometriosis-associated infertility underwent expectant management, danazol therapy, or minor or major conservative surgery. The patients who failed to conceive after these conventional treatments were enrolled in the in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer program. RESULTS: The conception rates were virtually identical regardless of the presence or absence of endometriosis (30.7% vs 30.0%). The outcome of in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer was not affected either by the presence or the severity of the disease. CONCLUSION: Endometriosis had no impact on the reproductive outcome of infertile patients in this series unless the anatomy of the pelvic organs was heavily distorted, which can occur in the advanced stages of the disease.

The corrosion fatigue process under cyclic torsion was investigated in annealed carbon steel. The results obtained were as follows. (1) During the fatigue process in laboratory air and salt water at the high stress amplitude region, slip bands appeared on the smooth specimen surface and cracks initiated from some of these slip bands. These cracks propagated in the direction of the specimen axis at mode II and thereafter branched and propagated in the direction inclined 45° to the specimen axis at mode I. (2) During the corrosion fatigue process at the low stress amplitude region, cracks initiated at corrosion pits and directly propagated in the direction inclined 45° to the specimen axis at mode I. (3) In torsional fatigue tests, the decreasing rate of fatigue strength due to the corrosive environment was smaller than that of rotating bending tests. (4) Differences in the initiations and growth behavior of corrosion pits between the torsional corrosion fatigue test and the rotating bending corrosion fatigue tests were not observed.

62歳の男性。他医にて高血圧に対して処方されたリシノプリル服用後より全身に紅斑が出現した。種々の外用治療に抵抗性であったが,リシノプリル服用中止により治療に対して良好な反応が得られるようになった。白色ワセリン外用と内服PUVAにより皮疹は劇的に改善したが,治療中に,両眼瞼に限局してKobner現象と考えられる紅斑が認められた。文献的にリシノプリル服用によって乾癬が発症したという報告は1例のみである。

RCS (radar cross section) measurement by the compact range method was performed using an 8-element small antenna array instead of one large antenna. The span of each antenna is 800 mm; 4 of the 8 antennas are used for transmission and the other 4 antennas are used for receiving. The transmission antennas and the receiving antennas are placed in cross relation with each other.

The advancement in computer networks and information technologies has been rapidly changing the manufacturing environment from the environment in industrial age to it in information era. The engineering philosophy has been shifted from concurrent engineering to collaborative engineering among the respective areas of expertise in the design space. Handling the uncertainties in the initial design has a great importance especially for the collaborative engineering. Due to the complexity of today’s products and the incorporated overlapping activities between the lifecycle functions, the multi-objective optimized design is necessary. We have proposed a preference set-based design method that enables the flexible and robust design under various sources of uncertainties while capturing designer’s preference. This paper discusses the availability of our proposal for obtaining the multi-objective satisfactory solution in the collaborative engineering by applying to an automotive front-side frame and a material design problem of multilayer porous absorber and insulator.

Analysis tool such as FEM which can analyze structure with design uncertainty is needed for considering the structural property of the products from the early phase of design dealing with various uncertainties. This paper describes the application of the concept of Set-Based Concurrent Engineering (SBCE) to FEM. The methodology of the set-based FEM analysis of 2D truss structure is presented. A prototype program is developed to obtain the interval solutions satisfying the requirements of deformation and rigidity.Copyright © 2009 by ASME

In order to clarify the effects of the fluid flow rate and stress amplitude on the initiation and growth behavior of corrosion pits, round, smooth specimens were rotated at various speeds in sodium chloride aqueous solution. The results are summarized as follows: (1) The pit growth behavior was adequately predicted by Eq. (1), regardless of the fluid flow rated and stress amplitudes. (2) The pit initiation time decreases with an increase in the fluid flow rate and stress amplitudes. (3) For small pits whose sizes are about 0.03mm, the pit growth rates increase with an increase in the fluid flow rate, while the growth rates for pits above 0.08mm are independent of the fluid flow rate and smaller than those of 0.03 mm. The pit growth rates in the case of 100 MPa are 5～10 times larger than those of the nonstressing condition.

The impact design on the disposal process referred to as the late stage of the product life cycle, is becoming important. Product lifecycle management tools based on the 3Rs, reuse, recycle, and/or reduce, using exsiting design technologies is needed. To consider environmental loads at the early stages of product design leads to significant reductions in the environmental loads for the whole product life cycle. In the present paper, we propose an object-oriented design system that helps the designer to consider environmental loads at the early stage of product design using a combination of 3D-CAD and an application of evaluation methods for determining environmental loads. Our proposed system compiles existing evaluation formulae and material data for the environmental loads. Designers just create the 3D-CAD solid model which has the attribute information in the 3D-CAD model itself, such as designer’s intention, disposal process, material properties, and so on. The present study applies the proposed system to the evaluation of the environmental loads of an example problem, that is, an office chair model created using 3D-CAD.

The aim of this study was to identify the factors that contribute to the decision to choose single embryo transfer (SET). Two hundred and nine patients who underwent ART treatment in our clinics between April 2006 and May 2007 were enrolled in this study. All patients had elected to undergo SET before the start of each treatment cycle; a questionnaire was administered to all patients prior to the SET procedure. The mean age of the patients was 34.6 years old (range: 24–45 years). The mean number of redundant embryos was 3.7 (range: 1–17), and the pregnancy rate per embryo transfer was 25.7%. A total of 121 patients (57.9%) who underwent SET returned their questionnaires. Based on the results of questionnaire, 56.2% of patients who received SET waived their right to choose between single and double embryo transfer. Among patients who selected SET, 67.6% believed that the pregnancy rate resulting from double embryo transfer (DET) is significantly greater than that associated with SET, and 25% of patients wanted to have twins. The majority of patients (80.9%) who underwent SET understood that multi-fetal pregnancy increases the risk of complications during gestation and delivery. Among all patients who completed the questionnaire, 72.8% believed that the number of transferred embryos should not be controlled by law. The results of the present study show that greater than one-half of patients who underwent SET were faced with a dilemma––the difficult choice between their own desires and their clinician’s recommendation.

Haplotype inference is an indispensable technique in medical science, especially in genome-wide association studies. Although the conventional method of inference using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm by Excoffier and Slatkin is one standard approach, as its calculation cost is an exponential function of the maximum number of heterozygous loci, it has not been widely applied. We propose a method of haplotype inference that can empirically accommodate up to several tens of single nucleotide polymorphism loci in a single haplotype block while maintaining criteria that are exactly equivalent to those of the EM algorithm. The idea is to reduce the cost of calculating the EM algorithm by using a haplotype-grouping preprocess exploiting the symmetrical and inclusive relationships of haplotypes based on the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Testing of the proposed method using real data sets revealed that it has a wider range of applications than the EM algorithm.

Gene profiling of Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) was performed using an oligonucleotide DNA microarray representing 26,689 TIGR Oryzias latipes Gene Indices (OLGIs). We first confirmed the high correlation coefficients (>0.94) of gene expression in individual medaka grown under the standard procedures. Secondly, we exposed male medaka to estrogenic compounds [17β-estradiol (E2), 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), nonylphenol (NP), octylphenol (OP), and bisphenol A (BpA)], and assessed estrogenic compounds-induced changes in mRNA expression with the medaka microarray. Histological analysis showed the production of testisova in the testes of male medaka exposed to the estrogenic chemicals. Microarray analysis of the chemical-treated male medaka identified estrogenic compoundsresponsive OLGIs, although many of those OLGIs were not sex-specific. Based on the mRNA expression profiles, assessment of the degree of feminization/demasculinization using the combination of Pearson correlation coefficient (CC) and Euclidean distances was also attempted in order to estimate the impact of hormonally active chemicals. The calculated feminization factors indicate that E2 and EE2 treatment “weakly feminized” male medaka (∼50%), while NP, OP, or BpA treatment did not significantly feminize male medaka (

This paper describes an experimental study of the flow past a square cylinder of finite length with rounded side-corners placed on a ground plane. The surface-pressure distributions on the square cylinder were measured, and the local and mean drag coefficients were determined from the surface-pressure distributions. Furthermore, the effects of rounding side-corners on the Strouhal number of shedding vortices and on the velocity profiles in the near-wake have been discussed. As a result, it is concluded that the drag coefficient decreases rapidly in the range of 0≤2R/d≤0.3, and the drag reduction by a slight rounding of the corners becomes more effective as the value of H/D increases.

To investigate the neural mechanisms of motion-defined shape processing, we recorded single unit activity in the middle temporal area (MT) while monkeys performed a shape discrimination task under the shape-from-motion (SFM) condition, where a motion cue is critical for shape perception. About 40% of MT neurons responded differentially to shapes under the SFM condition. The differential responses to shapes could not be explained by either the heterogeneous structure of the receptive field or the amount of motion signal. On the other hand, under the shape-from-luminance (SFL) condition, where a luminance cue is critical for shape perception, the proportion of neurons showing differential responses to shapes was smaller than that under the SFM condition and the magnitudes of differential responses themselves were weaker. Thus, the requirement for motion processing for shape perception may facilitate a differential response to shapes under the SFM condition. We compared neuronal activities during the shape discrimination task with those during the direction discrimination task under the SFM condition. Differential responses to shapes were observed more frequently during the shape discrimination task than during the direction discrimination task. Thus, the motion-defined shape processing influenced MT activity.

A noise suppression sheet (NSS) is used for decoupling of the noise path, suppressing RF noise current, and reducing radiation. A microstrip line (MSL) test fixture is also used for measuring the radiation suppression ratio (Rrs) [1] as the antenna. The ratio is derived from a comparison before and after the NSS installation in accordance with CLSPR22, the 3m or 10m test method in an anechoic chamber, or an open-area test site. A new method for determining the Rrs that can replace the 3m and 10m test methods is described here. This new compact 3m method involves the use of a NSS sample, dielectric lens, receiving antenna, and network analyzer. The features of this method are as follows: 1) there is no anechoic chamber, 2) it is compact, 3) it is easy to change the sample because of the vertical system design, and 4) it requires no power amplifier or low noise amplifier because the EM wave is not spread.

We compared neuronal activities in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and the inferior temporal cortex (IT) during the retrieval of an object from the working memory. About one third of IT neurons showed color- and target-selective (CT) or target-selective (T) response during the color cue period of the serial probe reproduction (SPR) task. These object-selective (CT and T) responses in IT could be correlated with the retrieval process of an object from the memorized multiple objects because no objects were presented during this period. However, proportion of CT and T responses was smaller in IT than in VLPFC, where two thirds of neurons showed object-selective response. In addition, object-selective response started earlier in VLPFC than in IT. These results suggest that VLPFC retrieves particular object information from the working memory and sends the retrieved object information to IT. The fact that the responses in the error trials did not decrease in IT suggests that IT is not a critical area for the retrieval process from the working memory.

In-vivo voltammetry has successfully been used to detect dopamine release in rodent brains, but its application to monkeys has been limited. We have previously detected dopamine release in the caudate of behaving Japanese monkeys using diamond microelectrodes (Yoshimi 2011); however it is not known whether the release pattern is the same in various areas of the forebrain. Recent studies have suggested variations in the dopaminergic projections to forebrain areas. In the present study, we attempted simultaneous recording at two locations in the striatum, using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) on carbon fibers, which has been widely used in rodents. Responses to unpredicted food and liquid rewards were detected repeatedly. The response to the liquid reward after conditioned stimuli was enhanced after switching the prediction cue. These characteristics were generally similar between the ventral striatum and the putamen. Overall, the technical application of FSCV recording in multiple locations was successful in behaving primates, and further voltammetric recordings in multiple locations will expand our knowledge of dopamine reward responses.

In-vivo voltammetry has successfully been used to detect dopamine release in rodent brains, but its application to monkeys has been limited. We have previously detected dopamine release in the caudate of behaving Japanese monkeys using diamond microelectrodes (Yoshimi 2011); however it is not known whether the release pattern is the same in various areas of the forebrain. Recent studies have suggested variations in the dopaminergic projections to forebrain areas. In the present study, we attempted simultaneous recording at two locations in the striatum, using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) on carbon fibers, which has been widely used in rodents. Responses to unpredicted food and liquid rewards were detected repeatedly. The response to the liquid reward after conditioned stimuli was enhanced after switching the prediction cue. These characteristics were generally similar between the ventral striatum and the putamen. Overall, the technical application of FSCV recording in multiple locations was successful in behaving primates, and further voltammetric recordings in multiple locations will expand our knowledge of dopamine reward responses.

When using an automotive collision avoidance radar or a communication system with other automobiles or with communication points on the roadsides, electromagnetic (EM) wave reflection from the road surface and from fences beside the road may cause disturbance in the communication. Therefore, the road and any fences along the road must have large EM wave absorption effects. If the complex relative permittivity epsivr(epsivr) and the value of the complex relative permeability mur(mur) of a large flat plate can be measured by the free space method, it would be easy to develop roads and fences that have large electromagnetic wave absorption.This paper presents: a) measurement theory of epsivr and mur by using large flat plate, b) plane wave method using dielectric lenses, c) measurement technique of a epsivr and mur,and d) the results agreed with the ones obtained by an S parameter coaxial line method.

Many studies have shown that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is involved in the processing of emotional information. However, although some lines of study showed that the OFC is also involved in negative emotions, few electrophysiological studies have focused on the characteristics of OFC neuronal responses to aversive information at the individual neuron level. On the other hand, a previous study has shown that many OFC neurons code relative preference of available rewards. In this study, we aimed to elucidate how reward information and aversive information are coded in the OFC at the individual neuron level. To achieve this aim, we introduced the electrical stimulus (ES) as an aversive stimulus, and compared the neuronal responses to the ES-predicting stimulus with those to reward-predicting stimuli. We found that many OFC neurons showed responses to both the ES-predicting stimulus and the reward-predicting stimulus, and they code relative preference of not only the reward outcome but also the aversive outcome. This result suggests that the same group of OFC neurons code both reward and aversive information in the form of relative preference.

We analyzed neuronal activities of visual area V4 of monkeys performing a delayed visual search task. To examine the temporal profile of factors influencing the neuronal activities, we conducted multiple regression analyses at 5 ms steps. During the period from 110 to 155 ms after the stimulus onset, there were neurons whose activity was suppressed when a target was presented near but beyond the neuron's receptive field (RF) compared to that when a target was within the RF. We referred this suppressive effect as an early period modulation. During the period from 155 to 280 ms after the stimulus onset, V4 activities were suppressed when a target was presented in any location outside of the neuron's RF. We referred this suppressive effect as a late period modulation. The magnitudes of the effect were equivalent across target locations when a target was beyond its RF. At the population level, while the modulation in the early period was correlated with stimulus selectivity, the modulation in the late period did not show such a correlation. These results suggest that V4 neurons have at least two distinct phases of modulations and those modulations contribute to select a target in the visual search task.

Subjective musculoskeletal symptoms are more frequently complained about in cold store work and in related conditions than in normal temperature work. This cross sectional study was undertaken (a) to explore the prevalence of subjective symptoms in winter among a group of female workers engaged in classification of cold storage goods, and in a group of female checkers in several supermarkets of a large consumer cooperative; and (b) to give recommendations for improving the winter working conditions of these workers. The subjects consisted of 46 workers engaged in classification of cold storage goods, 56 checkers operating a laser scanner in supermarkets and 59 office workers (control group). Work loads for the three groups were estimated according to the recommended criteria. A self-administered questionnaire covering age, occupational career, smoking, alcohol drinking and physical exercise, present or past history of diseases, individual protective measures against cold, and subjective symptoms (54 items) was used. The air temperature of the working site at the opening time for classification workers was 4.8 degrees C which was significantly lower than those measured for the other two work places (12.1 degrees C and 15.8 degrees C). About 70 to 80% of classification workers complained of cold sensation in different body regions, as well as shoulder stiffness, and problems related to the back. The supermarket checkers and office workers had a high prevalence of cold sensation in their feet. The frequencies of using warm clothes and foot heaters, as an individual measure to work comfortably in winter among the classification workers and the checkers were significantly higher than that among the office workers. We concluded that work difficulty due to moderate cold exposure among workers in the consumer cooperative could be reduced by some physical activity as well as proper clothes.

To study the prefrontal neuronal mechanism for the encoding and mnemonic processing of multiple objects, the order of object presentation, and the retrieval of an object among objects in the working memory, we recorded neuronal activity from the lateral prefrontal cortex while two monkeys performed the serial probe reproduction task. In the task, two objects (C1 and C2) were presented sequentially interleaved with a delay (D1) period, and after the second delay (D2) period, a color cue was presented. Monkeys were trained to select one target object on the basis of the color stimulus. During the C1 and C2 periods, we found responses that depended on the order of presentation (order-selective response). During the D1 and/or D2 periods, two-thirds of the neurons with object-selective delay-period activity showed order-selective activity coding either C1 or C2. Neurons with larger response magnitudes during the C2 period showed order-selective delay-period activity during the D2 period. These order-selective responses during the C2 period could also contribute to order-selective delay-period activity, and order-selective delay-period activity during the D1 and D2 periods could play an essential role in storing information on both the object and the temporal order of presentation. During the color cue period, two-thirds of the neurons with responses showed target object selectivity (CT and T responses), although the target object was not presented during this period. The CT and T responses could play a critical role in the retrieval of an item among various items in the working memory.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of the Stress and Stress-Coping Questionnaire (SSCQ) for female nursing groups. Subjects were 300 female nurses employed at hospitals. Mean age was 32.9 +/- 8.9 yr and mean number of years of work experience was 11.9 +/- 8.0 yr. Data for the study were collected via the self-completed SSCQ, which all subjects completed. In order to asses the validity of the SSCQ, subjects were also asked to complete a 60-question General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) that assessed mental well being. Based on the results of factor analysis, the original version of the SSCQ, comprising 153 questions in 10 subscales, was revised to the nurse-specific SSCQ-N, comprising 123 questions and 15 subscales. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for subscales varied from 0.70 to 0.83, showing a significant correlation with the point score of the GHQ, for demonstrating criterion-related validity in the SSCQ. These results verify the usefulness for female nursing groups of the SSCQ for assessing mental well being and suggesting ways to manage stress in nurses.

Adaptive natural gradient descent (ANGD) method realizes natural gradient descent (NGD) without needing to know the input distribution of learning data and reduces the calculation cost from a cubic order to a square order. However, no performance analysis of ANGD has been done. We have developed a statistical-mechanical theory of the simplified version of ANGD dynamics for soft committee machines in on-line learning; this method provides deterministic learning dynamics expressed through a few order parameters, even though ANGD intrinsically holds a large approximated Fisher information matrix. Numerical results obtained using this theory were consistent with those of a simulation, with respect not only to the learning curve but also to the learning failure. Utilizing this method, we numerically evaluated ANGD efficiency and found that ANGD generally performs as well as NGD. We also revealed the key condition affecting the learning plateau in ANGD.

A gene-expression microarray datum is modeled as an exponential expression signal (log-normal distribution) and additive noise. Variance-stabilizing transformation based on this model is useful for improving the uniformity of variance, which is often assumed for conventional statistical analysis methods. However, the existing method of estimating transformation parameters may not be perfect because of poor management of outliers. By employing an information normalization technique, we have developed an improved parameter estimation method, which enables statistically more straightforward outlier exclusion and works well even in the case of small sample size. Validation of this method with experimental data has suggested that it is superior to the conventional method.

Uterine artery embolization (UAE) for leiomyoma is becoming accepted as an alternative to surgical treatment. However, gynecologists who have treated follow-up patients are greatly concerned about the postoperative course after UAE. One significant complication after UAE is infection owing to obstruction resulting from the sloughing of necrotic fibroids that interfere with the passage of intrauterine discharge. In our UAE procedures, the incidence of infection requiring hospitalization was 3.6%, and one patient (0.22%) had to undergo hysterectomy. Transcervical resection (TCR) using hysteroscopy is an extremely effective surgical intervention for removing necrotic fibroids for reserve of the uterus. However, additional treatment for intrauterine abnormalities after UAE may rest on whether or not the hysteroscopic procedure was performed. Although ovarian function after UAE seems to be maintained in patientsor = 44 years of age, serious complications include intrauterine adhesions that appear as amenorrhea or hypomenorrhea and lead to infertility. The results of our hysteroscopic evaluation after UAE in 7 patients who wished to conceive was intrauterine adhesion in four patients, subendometrial liner scar in one patient, and yellowing of the endometrium in three patients. However, in spite of impairment of the endometrium, the pregnancy rate after UAE in our study was 5/10(50.0%). It is essential that the indications of UAE for patients who wish to conceive be decided according to careful individual evaluation, and cautious follow-up is necessary.

Motivation: Given the vast amount of gene expression data, it is essential to develop a simple and reliable method of investigating the fine structure of gene interaction. We show how an information geometric measure achieves this Results: We introduce an information geometric measure of binary random vectors and show how this measure reveals the fine structure of gene interaction. In particular, we propose an iterative procedure by using this measure (called IPIG). The procedure finds higher-order dependencies which may underlie the interaction between two genes of interest. To demonstrate the method, we investigate the interaction between the two genes of interest in the data from human acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells. The method successfully discovered biologically known findings and also selected other genes as hidden causes that constitute the interaction Availability: Softwares are currently not available but are possibly made available in future at http://www.mns.brain.riken.go.jp/~nakahara/DNA_pub.html where all the related information is also linked. Contact: hiro@brain.riken.go.jp * To whom correspondence should be addressed.

This paper has described the “All-Around View” System that is proposed as one approach to monitoring the circumstances around a vehicle. This system uses multiple cameras used for photographing the situation around the host vehicle and presents that information to the driver the form of an easy-to-understand virtual plan view. It has been confirmed that the eye-point conversion system employed for the multiple cameras is feasible both technologically and in terms of compatibility with the car design. In continuing this research on visual aids for improving the driver’s awareness of the vehicle environment, this authors of this paper plan to investigate a system configuration that uses fewer cameras in future work.

Conventional structural optimization methods are difficult to apply to the early process of design referred to as conceptual design, in which diverse design solutions are to be obtained. This paper described a design method that obtains diverse design solutions. As a first step, a form-generation system that generates diverse forms is proposed. In this case, the diversity of organism was noted, and the form-generation method was referred to ‘induction’ and ‘apical dominance’ in the developmental process of organism. The proposed system, consisting of a generation process and an optimization process, was applied to the structural design of chairs, and the diversity of solutions was analyzed. As a result, it is shown that, as compared with conventional structural optimization methods, the proposed method obtains design solutions of adequate diversity. The results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed system for obtaining diverse design solutions.Copyright © 2003 by ASME

Background: Traditionally, Typus melancholicus (TM) was considered, a priori, to represent unidimensionality. Recent studies have suggested that TM is not a personality trait, but rather a constellation of personality traits. The purpose of this study was to examine whether TM on Kasahara’s Inventory for the Melancholic Type Personality (KIMTP), considered to represent one of the valid TM questionnaires, is comprised of personality dimensions, and if so, which dimension is essential for distinguishing depressive subjects from control subjects. Subjects and Methods: To clarify the dimensionality of TM scores on KIMTP, factor analysis of the TM scores was conducted using principal factor analysis followed by varimax rotation. Comparisons were then made between endogenous depressive patients (n = 38), nonendogenous depressive patients (n = 20), and healthy volunteers (n = 81) for total KIMTP score and factor scores using analysis of covariance, adjusting for sex and age. Results: Factor analysis of KIMTP revealed 2 distinct clusters of items, i.e. ‘harmony in personal relationships’ (factor 1) and ‘social norms’ (factor 2). Endogenous and nonendogenous depressive patients showed significantly higher KIMTP total and factor 1 scores than did control subjects. However, no significant differences were observed for KIMTP total score and scores of individual factors between endogenous and nonendogenous depressive patients. Conclusions: The present results indicate that TM on KIMTP represents a constellation of personality traits, and that the factor ‘harmony in personal relationship’ possesses the essential meaning for assessing TM.

The permutation symmetry of the hidden units in multilayer perceptrons causes the saddle structure and plateaus of the learning dynamics in gradient learning methods. The correlation of the weight vectors of hidden units in a teacher network is thought to affect this saddle structure, resulting in a prolonged learning time, but this mechanism is still unclear. In this paper, we discuss it with regard to soft committee machines and on-line learning using statistical mechanics. Conventional gradient descent needs more time to break the symmetry as the correlation of the teacher weight vectors rises. On the other hand, no plateaus occur with natural gradient descent regardless of the correlation for the limit of a low learning rate. Analytical results support these dynamics around the saddle point., 7 pages, 6 figures

To examine interactions between primate prefrontal neurons having memory fields, we examined whether primate prefrontal delay-period activity produced by a visual cue presented inside the neuron's memory field is affected by an additional visual cue presented inside or outside the memory field in 39 prefrontal neurons. Delay-period activity was either diminished (43%) or enhanced (16%) when an additional cue was presented at a certain area in the visual field. Since functional interactions among neighboring prefrontal neurons were present, these modulation could be caused by the interactions between neurons having memory fields in different positions.

Motion is one of the most efficient cues for shape perception. We conducted behavioral experiments to examine how monkeys perceive shapes defined by motion cues and whether they perceive them as humans do. We trained monkeys to perform a shape discrimination task in which shapes were defined by the motion of random dots. Effects of dot density and dot speed on the shape perception of monkeys were examined. Human subjects were also tested using the same paradigm and the test results were compared with those of monkeys. In both monkeys and humans, correct performance rates declined when density or speed of random dots was reduced. Both of them tended to confuse the same combinations of shapes frequently. These results suggest that monkeys and humans perceive shapes defined by motion cues in a similar manner and probably have common neural mechanisms to perceive them.

The concordance between self- and observer-ratings was investigated for items on Kasahara's Inventory for the Melancholic Type Personality (KIMTP). Subjects consisted of 44 patients diagnosed with an ICD-10 diagnostic criteria for research (DCR) depressive episode (F32) or recurrent depressive disorder (F33) unipolar affective disorder, and 44 observers. Thirty-one of the 44 patients were diagnosed with endogenous depression. The observers consisted of five parents, eight children, thre siblings, 25 spouses, and three partners. Concordance was tested with Student's paired t-test and one-way analysis of variance intraclass correlation coefficient (ANOVA ICC). There was no statistical difference between the mean total self-rating score and the mean total observer-rating score in the endogenous depression group, but the mean total self-rating score was significantly higher than the mean total observer-rating score in the non-endogenous depression group. When the self and observer tests in this non-endogenous depression group were compared on an item-by-item basis, most items tended to receive higher scores from the self-raters than from the observer-raters. The ICC had good concordance for mean total self- and observer-ratings in the endogenous depression group but not the non-endogenous depression group. On an item-by-item basis, concordance was high between self- and observer-raters for more items in the endogenous depression group than in the non-endogenous depression group. There were some important differences between self- and observer-ratings for certain items in the non-endogenous depression group. Patients in this group tended to give higher scores to items representing Typus melancholicus in relation to scores given by observers.

The etiology of spasmodic dysphonia (SD) is still unknown. In the present study, cortical function of a 59-year-old male patient with adductor type SD was examined during phonation with positron emission tomography (PET). Magnetic resonance imaging showed no organic abnormality in the brain. However, PET showed remarkable activities during phonation in the left motor cortex, Broca's area, the cerebellum, and the auditory cortices, whereas the supplementary motor area (SMA) was not activated. The SMA is known to function for motor planning and programming and is usually activated in normal phonation. Several previous reports have shown that the damage of the SMA caused a severe disturbance of voluntary vocalization. In the present case, it was suggested that the functional deficit of the SMA might be related to SD.

We investigated the mental health of 47 subjects (30 men, mean age 63.8+/-7.7; 17 women, mean age 68.9+/-8.7) with the 60-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). All the subjects lived at home in a Japanese rural community and were examined from 2 to 3 years after suffering a stroke. Among the subjects, 18 (38.3%) had GHQ scores of 17 or more, which indicated a mental health problem (MHP). The following variables were included in multiple logistic regression analysis: age, sex (men/women), grade of motor paralysis (no/slight/moderate/severe), side of motor paralysis (no/left side/right side/both sides: in analysis, we used dummy variables), paresthesia (no/yes), rehabilitation (need no rehabilitation or participate in rehabilitation/fail to participate in rehabilitation), social support (not needed or sufficient/insufficient) and overall physical recovery (1/2/3: 1 = 67-100, 2 = 34-66, and 3 = 0-33 on a visual analog scale 100 mm long, 100 meaning full recovery). In univariate analysis all variables except age and sex showed statistically significant associations with MHP. In multivariate analysis, only one variable, overall physical recovery', had a statistically independent association with the status of MHP (Odds ratio 4.39, 95% confidence interval 1.46-13.19). The results of logistic regression analysis indicate that the presence of an MHP is more strongly dependent upon subjective assessment about overall physical recovery after stroke than upon physical impairments and the other psychosocial variables. Therefore, in the community setting, the visual analog scale of overall physical recovery is considered to be a simple, valid method for assessing MHP following stroke.