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Takuma Yuri,1,2 Nariyuki Mura,1,3,4 Kyosuke Hoshikawa,4 Hugo Giambini,2 Hiromi Fujii,1 Yoshiro Kiyoshige1,4 1Graduate School of Health Sciences, Yamagata Prefectural University of Health Sciences, Yamagata, Japan; 2Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA; 3Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Yoshioka Hospital, Tendo, Japan; 4Department of Physical Therapy, Yamagata Prefectural University of Health Sciences, Yamagata, JapanCorrespondence: Takuma YuriGraduate School of Health Sciences, Yamagata Prefectural University of Health Sciences, 260 Kamiyanagi, Yamagata, 990-2212, JapanTel +81-23-686-6741Email d2167013@yachts.ac.jpPurpose: Ultrasound elastography has been used to evaluate the skeletal muscle stiffness as a biomarker for sarcopenia assessment. However, there is no consensus with respect to the size and location of the region of interest in assessing such fat infiltrated muscle. The objective of this study was to determine which cross-sectional area should be measured in torn disuse muscle with fat infiltration to accurately measure muscle activity using real-time tissue elastography (RTE).Methods: Twenty-seven patients, whose rotator cuff muscle with torn tendon was successfully repaired, were followed by programmed rehabilitation. RTE measurements of the supraspinatus muscle were obtained during muscle contraction before and one-year after surgery so that the activity value was defined as the difference between elastography measurements at rest and elastography measurements during contraction. Given that the patients with successfully repaired and completed rehabilitation showed an increased activity value, the sensitivity for three regions of interest; posterior portion of the anterior-middle subregion (AM-p), anterior region (AR), and whole cross-sectional area of the supraspinatus (whole) were compared with the number of patients showing an increase in activity values as sensitivity analysis.Results: The sensitivity showing an increase in activity values was 74.1% for the AM-p area, 70.4% for the AR area, and 81.5% for the whole area. Intraclass correlation coefficient1,3 was 0.87– 0.97 for the AM-p area, 0.88– 0.98 for the AR area and 0.92– 0.99 for the whole area.Conclusion: The whole cross-sectional area is suitable to measure muscle activity in muscle with fat infiltration. The results in this study will provide some beneficial information when ultrasound elastography is used for the assessment of sarcopenia muscle with fat infiltration.Keywords: ultrasound elastography, region of interest, sarcopenia, fat infiltration, supraspinatus muscle

Research describing the dynamic characteristics of dislocations within silicon crystals doped with boron is presented. The etch pit technique is used to investigate the effects of varying boron concentrations.

The dynamic behavior of dislocations in heavily germanium (Ge)-doped silicon (Si) crystals with concentrations up to 2.5 × 10[sup 20] cm[sup -3], and Ge and boron (B) codoped Si crystals with concentrations of 4×10[sup 19] and 9×10[sup 18] cm[sup -3], respectively, is investigated using the etch pit technique in comparison with that in undoped and B-doped Si crystals. Strong suppression of the generation of dislocations from a surface scratch is found for Ge and B codoped Si in comparison with that observed for Ge-doped and B-doped Si. The velocity of dislocations in Ge and B codoped Si crystals is found to be lower than that of dislocations in B-doped, Ge-doped, and undoped Si. The coexistence of Ge and B impurities in Si is considered to be effective at immobilizing and retarding the velocity of dislocations in Si. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD), water levels at some stations have increased. However, the factors that cause this rise in the VMD have not been identified. We considered four factors that may have contributed to the water level rise: (1) increased runoff from upstream, (2) sea-level rise, (3) land subsidence, and (4) decrease in flood mitigation function because of construction of high dykes. We analysed daily maximum and minimum water levels, and mean daily water levels from 24 monitoring stations from 1987 to 2006. Using daily and annual water level differences, we classified the delta into two groups: one is dominated by flows from upstream, while the other is tide dominated. We then tested the trends of annual maximum and minimum water levels using the Mann-Kendall test, and identified the slope of the trend using the method of Sen. The areas of dyke construction were estimated using the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and Land Surface Water Index (LSWI) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. Results show (1) river inflow has little impact on rising water levels in the VMD, (2) the influence of high dykes on water level rise could not be quantified in this study, and (3) both maximum and minimum water levels significantly increased in the tide-dominated area. Trend of annual minimum water level can be considered as the sum sea-level rise and land subsidence. Therefore, we attribute 6.05 mm year−1 (80%) to land subsidence and 1.42 mm year−1 (20%) to sea level rise, indicating that inundations have been severe in the VMD, caused primarily by land subsidence. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulk single crystals of the perovskite Li x La (1− x )/3 NbO 3 , which is one of the materials used as the solid electrolyte in all-solid lithium-ion batteries, have been grown for the first time by the directional solidification method. The ionic conductivity measured in the growth direction of a single crystal wafer of Li x La (1− x )/3 NbO 3 with x =0.08 showed a maximum value of 1.9×10 −4 Scm −1 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]