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By applying the particle-number projection to the finite-temperature BCS theory to the state densities in the rare-earth nuclei and comparing its results to the SMMC ones, we investigate effects of the particle-number conservation on the collective enhancement factor for the state densities. Once we restore the particle-number conservation, the rapid decay of vibrational enhancement disappears. This suggests that the vibrational collectivity may survive up to higher energy and the relevant enhancement factor is insensitive to the excitation energy.

The smoking of crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," is a growing drug abuse problem in the United States. The toxic effects of methamphetamine smoking have not been well described. We describe two patients with cardiovascular toxic effects associated with the smoking of crystal methamphetamine. In our first patient, the use of smokeable methamphetamine was associated with the subsequent development of pulmonary edema and a dilated cardiomyopathy. In our second patient, the smoking of crystal methamphetamine likely produced diffuse vasospasm that resulted in acute myocardial infarction, cardiogenic shock, and death. The recognition of potentially lethal cardiac complications associated with the smoking of crystal methamphetamine is of extreme significance and should be emphasized to potential abusers of this drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients often experience multiple prolonged symptoms following acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) recovery, defined as long coronavirus disease (COVID). Patients with long COVID may experience dyspnea during acute and post-acute phases. Therefore, this study aimed to identify specific risk factors for dyspnea in patients with long COVID., Methods: Hospitalized patients with COVID-19, aged ≥18 years, were enrolled in this multicenter cohort study conducted at 26 medical institutions across Japan. Clinical data during hospitalization and patient-reported outcomes after discharge at the 3, 6, and 12-month follow-ups were retrieved from medical records and paper-based or smartphone application-based questionnaires, respectively., Results: Generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) analysis of prolonged dyspnea at each time point during follow-up showed that this symptom was associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (odds ratio [OR], 2.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31-5.74), asthma (OR, 2.21; 95%CI, 1.17-4.16), and ventilator management (OR, 3.10; 95%CI, 1.65-5.83). In addition, patients with COPD (44.4%) and ventilator management (25.0%) were more frequently associated with delayed dyspnea onset. The generalized estimating equations analysis results with multiple imputed datasets, conducted as a sensitivity analysis, confirmed the adjusted GLMM analysis results., Conclusions: Prolonged dyspnea was associated with COPD, asthma, and severe infection that required mechanical ventilation in the Japanese population with long COVID. Further investigation is needed to clarify its mechanism and develop prophylactic and therapeutic strategies for dyspnea in patients with long COVID., (Copyright © 2024 [The Author]. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Aspergillus fumigatus is a pathogenic fungus known to be associated with severe asthma and allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis. However, the precise mechanisms underlying airway inflammation remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the direct modulation of human eosinophils by A. fumigatus and identified the specific mechanism of airway inflammation., Methods: Eosinophils isolated from healthy subjects were stimulated with extracts of A. fumigatus. Multi-omics analysis, comprising transcriptomic and proteomic analyses, was performed. The expression of specific factors was evaluated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and flow cytometry. Mechanistic analyses were performed using NOD2 inhibitor and N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC)., Results: The A. fumigatus extract changed the expression of adhesion molecules (CD62L and CD11b) and CD69 on the surface of eosinophils, without affecting their viability, via nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 2 (NOD2) but not protease activity. Investigation using kinase inhibitors showed that A. fumigatus extract-induced modulation was partly mediated via p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases. Multi-omics analysis revealed that A. fumigatus-induced gene and protein expression profiles were characterized by the upregulation of oxidative stress-related molecules, including heat shock proteins (HSP90AA1, HSP90AB1, SRXN1, and HMOX1). NOD2 inhibitor and NAC differentially inhibited A. fumigatus-induced inflammatory changes. Additional multi-omics analysis identified that NOD2 signaling induced gene signatures different from those of interleukin (IL)-5 and elicited synergistic change with IL-5., Conclusions: A. fumigatus modulates human eosinophils via NOD2 and oxidative stress-mediated signaling. NOD2 signaling potentiated IL-5-induced activation, suggesting its pathogenic role in type 2 inflammation. NOD2 inhibitors and antioxidants can have therapeutic potential against A. fumigatus-related allergic disorders., (Copyright © 2024 Japanese Society of Allergology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Clinical studies have demonstrated that IL-4, a type 2 cytokine, plays an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis and eosinophilic asthma. However, the direct effect of IL-4 on eosinophils remains unclear., Objective: We aimed to elucidate the inflammatory effects of IL-4 on the functions of human eosinophils., Methods: A multiomics analysis comprising transcriptomics, proteomics, lipidomics, quantitative RT-PCR, and flow cytometry was performed by using blood eosinophils from healthy subjects stimulated with IL-4, IL-5, or a combination thereof., Results: Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses revealed that both IL-4 and IL-5 upregulate the expression of γ-gultamyl transferase 5, a fatty acid-metabolizing enzyme that converts leukotriene C 4 into leukotriene D 4 . In addition, IL-4 specifically upregulates the expression of IL-1 receptor-like 1 (IL1RL1), a receptor for IL-33 and transglutaminase-2. Additional transcriptomic analysis of cells stimulated with IL-13 revealed altered gene expression profiles, characterized by the upregulation of γ-gultamyl transferase 5, transglutaminase-2, and IL1RL1. The IL-13-induced changes were not totally different from the IL-4-induced changes. Lipidomic analysis revealed that IL-5 and IL-4 additively increased the extracellular release of leukotriene D 4 . In vitro experiments revealed that STAT6 and IL-4 receptor-α control the expression of these molecules in the presence of IL-4 and IL-13. Analysis of eosinophils derived from patients with allergic disorders indicated the involvement of IL-4 and IL-13 at the inflamed sites., Conclusions: IL-4 induces the proallergic phenotype of IL1RL1 high eosinophils, with prominent cysteinyl leukotriene metabolism via STAT6. These cellular changes represent potential therapeutic targets for chronic rhinosinusitis and eosinophilic asthma., Competing Interests: Disclosure statement Supported by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Program (KAKENHI) (grants 15H05897, 15H05898, and 20H00495 [to M.A.]), Japan Science and Technology Agency program Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (JST-ERATO) (grant JPMJER2101 [to M.A.]), Research Grant on Allergic Disease and Immunology from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (grant 22ek0410097 [to J.M.]), JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (grant 20K17239 [to J.M.]), RIKEN Special Postdoctoral Researchers Program (to J.M.), GSK Japan Research Grant 2018 (to J.M.), and Grant-in-Aid for Research of the ONO Medical Research Foundation (to J.M.). Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: J. Miyata, K. Masaki, H. Kabata, and K. Fukunaga report receiving research grant support from GSK and AstraZeneca. J. Miyata and K. Fukunaga report receiving payments for lectures from GSK, AstraZeneca, and Sanofi. K. Masaki reports receiving payments for lectures from GSK and AstraZeneca, and GSK. H. Kabata reports receiving payments for lectures from AstraZeneca and Sanofi. The rest of the authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Ultrasound guidance has become the gold standard for obtaining vascular access. Angle information, which indicates the entry angle of the needle into the vein, is required to ensure puncture success. Although various image processing-based methods, such as deep learning, have recently been applied to improve needle visibility, these methods have limitations, in that the puncture angle to the target organ is not measured. We aim to detect the target vessel and puncture needle and to derive the puncture angle by combining deep learning and conventional image processing methods such as the Hough transform. Median cubital vein US images were obtained from 20 healthy volunteers, and images of simulated blood vessels and needles were obtained during the puncture of a simulated blood vessel in four phantoms. The U-Net architecture was used to segment images of blood vessels and needles, and various image processing methods were employed to automatically measure angles. The experimental results indicated that the mean dice coefficients of median cubital veins, simulated blood vessels, and needles were 0.826, 0.931, and 0.773, respectively. The quantitative results of angular measurement showed good agreement between the expert and automatic measurements of the puncture angle with 0.847 correlations. Our findings indicate that the proposed method achieves extremely high segmentation accuracy and automated angular measurements. The proposed method reduces the variability and time required in manual angle measurements and presents the possibility where the operator can concentrate on delicate techniques related to the direction of the needle., (© 2024. Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine.)

Background: Multiple prolonged symptoms are observed in patients who recover from an acute COVID-19 infection, which is defined as long COVID. General fatigue is frequently observed in patients with long COVID during acute and post-acute phases. This study aimed to identify the specific risk factors for general fatigue in long COVID., Methods: Hospitalized patients with COVID-19 aged over 18 years were enrolled in a multicenter cohort study at 26 medical institutions. Clinical data during hospitalization and patient-reported outcomes after discharge were collected from medical records, paper-based questionnaires, and smartphone apps., Results: Among prolonged symptoms through 1-year follow-ups, general fatigue was the most interfering symptom in daily life. Patients with protracted fatigue at all follow-up periods had lower quality of life scores at the 12-month follow-up. Univariate logistic regression analysis of the presence or absence of general fatigue at the 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month follow-ups identified asthma, younger age, and female sex as risk factors for prolonged fatigue. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that asthma was an independent risk factor for persistent fatigue during the 12-month follow-up period. Longitudinal changes in the symptoms of patients with or without asthma demonstrated that general fatigue, not cough and dyspnea, was significantly prolonged in patients with asthma., Conclusions: In a Japanese population with long COVID, prolonged general fatigue was closely linked to asthma. A preventive approach against COVID-19 is necessary to avoid sustained fatigue and minimize social and economic losses in patients with asthma., (Copyright © 2023 Japanese Society of Allergology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Radiography plays an important role in medical care, and accurate positioning is essential for providing optimal quality images. Radiographs with insufficient diagnostic value are rejected, and retakes are required. However, determining the suitability of retaking radiographs is a qualitative evaluation., Objective: To evaluate skull radiograph accuracy automatically using an unsupervised learning-based autoencoder (AE) and a variational autoencoder (VAE). In this study, we eliminated visual qualitative evaluation and used unsupervised learning to identify skull radiography retakes from the quantitative evaluation., Methods: Five skull phantoms were imaged on radiographs, and 1,680 images were acquired. These images correspond to two categories: normal images captured at appropriate positions and images captured at inappropriate positions. This study verified the discriminatory ability of skull radiographs using anomaly detection methods., Results: The areas under the curves for AE and VAE were 0.7060 and 0.6707, respectively, in receiver operating characteristic analysis. Our proposed method showed a higher discrimination ability than those of previous studies which had an accuracy of 52%., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the proposed method has high classification accuracy in determining the suitability of retaking skull radiographs. Automation of optimal image consideration, whether or not to retake radiographs, contributes to improving operational efficiency in busy X-ray imaging operations.

Background: Multiple prolonged symptoms are observed in patients who recover from acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), defined as long COVID. Cough and sputum are presented by patients with long COVID during the acute and post-acute phases. This study aimed to identify specific risk factors for cough and sputum in patients with long COVID., Methods: Hospitalized patients with COVID-19 aged 18 years were enrolled in a multicenter cohort study at 26 medical institutions. Clinical data during hospitalization and patient-reported outcomes after discharge were collected from medical records, paper-based questionnaires, and smartphone apps., Results: At the 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups, there were no differences in the incidence rates of wet and dry coughs. In contrast, the proportion of patients presenting sputum without coughing increased over time compared to those with sputum and coughing. Univariate analyses of cough and sputum at all follow-up visits identified intermittent mandatory ventilation (IMV), smoking, and older age as risk factors for prolonged symptoms. At the 12-month follow-up, persistent cough and sputum were associated with the characteristics of severe COVID-19 based on imaging findings, renal and liver dysfunction, pulmonary thromboembolism, and higher serum levels of LDH, KL-6, and HbA1C. The Kaplan-Meier curves showed that the severity of acute COVID-19 infection was correlated with prolonged cough and sputum production. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that IMV ventilator management were independent risk factors for prolonged cough and sputum at 12 months., Conclusions: In a Japanese population with long COVID, prolonged cough and sputum production were closely associated with severe COVID-19. These findings emphasize that a preventive approach including appropriate vaccination and contact precaution and further development of therapeutic drugs for COVID-19 are highly recommended for patients with risk factors for severe infection to avoid persistent respiratory symptoms., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread rapidly since 2019, and the number of reports regarding long COVID has increased. Although the distribution of long COVID depends on patient characteristics, epidemiological data on Japanese patients are limited. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the distribution of long COVID in Japanese patients. This study is the first nationwide Japanese prospective cohort study on long COVID., Methods: This multicenter, prospective cohort study enrolled hospitalized COVID-19 patients aged ≥18 years at 26 Japanese medical institutions. In total, 1200 patients were enrolled. Clinical information and patient-reported outcomes were collected from medical records, paper questionnaires, and smartphone applications., Results: We collected data from 1066 cases with both medical records and patient-reported outcomes. The proportion of patients with at least one symptom decreased chronologically from 93.9% (947/1009) during hospitalization to 46.3% (433/935), 40.5% (350/865), and 33.0% (239/724) at 3, 6, and 12 months, respectively. Patients with at least one long COVID symptom showed lower quality of life and scored higher on assessments for depression, anxiety, and fear of COVID-19. Female sex, middle age (41-64 years), oxygen requirement, and critical condition during hospitalization were risk factors for long COVID., Conclusions: This study elucidated the symptom distribution and risks of long COVID in the Japanese population. This study provides reference data for future studies of long COVID in Japan., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest Norihiro Harada reports personal fees from AstraZeneca K.K., GlaxoSmithKline, Kyorin, Novartis Japan, Sanofi and grants from AstraZeneca, Daikin, Kyorin, SRL Medisearch, outside the submitted work. Other authors have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

We conducted a subgroup analysis of a study on the long-term effects of COVID-19 (long COVID) in Japan to assess the effect of vaccination on long COVID symptoms. We assessed the clinical course of 111 patients with long COVID at the time of vaccination. The follow-up period was one year from the onset of COVID-19 or until the administration of the third vaccine dose. Of the 111 patients, 15 (13.5%) reported improvement, four (3.6%) reported deterioration, and 92 (82.9%) reported no change in their long COVID symptoms after vaccination. The most common long COVID symptoms before vaccination were alopecia, dyspnea, muscle weakness, fatigue, and headache among participants whose symptoms improved. Reduced dyspnea and alopecia were the most frequently reported improvements in symptoms after vaccination. Some symptoms persisted, including sleep disturbance, myalgia, and hypersensitivity. Vaccination did not appear to have a clinically important effect on patients with long COVID symptoms., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

This study proposes a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) classification for the quality control and validation of breast positioning criteria in mammography. A total of 1631 mediolateral oblique mammographic views were collected from an open database. We designed two main steps for mammographic verification: automated detection of the positioning part and classification of three scales that determine the positioning quality using DCNNs. After acquiring labeled mammograms with three scales visually evaluated based on guidelines, the first step was automatically detecting the region of interest of the subject part by image processing. The next step was classifying mammographic positioning accuracy into three scales using four representative DCNNs. The experimental results showed that the DCNN model achieved the best positioning classification accuracy of 0.7836 using VGG16 in the inframammary fold and a classification accuracy of 0.7278 using Xception in the nipple profile. Furthermore, using the softmax function, the breast positioning criteria could be evaluated quantitatively by presenting the predicted value, which is the probability of determining positioning accuracy. The proposed method can be quantitatively evaluated without the need for an individual qualitative evaluation and has the potential to improve the quality control and validation of breast positioning criteria in mammography., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

No biomarkers have been identified in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) for predicting fibrosis progression or prognosis in progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease (PF-ILD). We investigated BALF biomarkers for PF-ILD diagnosis and prognosis assessment. Overall, 120 patients with interstitial pneumonia who could be diagnosed with PF-ILD or non PF-ILD were enrolled in this retrospective study. PF-ILD was diagnosed according to Cottin's definition. All patients underwent bronchoscopy and BALF collection. We evaluated blood and BALF parameters, high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) patterns, and spirometry data to identify factors influencing PF-ILD diagnosis and prognosis. On univariate logistic analysis, age, sex, the BALF white blood cell fraction (neutrophil, lymphocyte, eosinophil, and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio), BALF flow cytometric analysis (CD8), and an idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis/usual interstitial pneumonia pattern on HRCT were correlated with PF-ILD diagnosis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that sex (male), age (cut-off 62 years, area under the curve [AUC] 0.67; sensitivity 0.80; specificity 0.47), white blood cell fraction in BALF (NLR, neutrophil, and lymphocyte), and CD8 in BALF (cut-off 34.2; AUC 0.66; sensitivity, 0.74; specificity, 0.62) were independent diagnostic predictors for PF-ILD. In BALF, the NLR (cut-off 8.70, AUC 0.62; sensitivity 0.62; specificity 0.70), neutrophil count (cut-off 3.0, AUC 0.59; sensitivity 0.57; specificity 0.63), and lymphocyte count (cut-off 42.0, AUC 0.63; sensitivity 0.77; specificity 0.53) were independent diagnostic predictors. In PF-ILD patients (n = 77), lactate dehydrogenase (cut-off 275, AUC 0.69; sensitivity 0.57; specificity 0.78), Krebs von den Lungen-6 (cut-off 1,140, AUC 0.74; sensitivity 0.71; specificity 0.76), baseline forced vital capacity (FVC) (cut-off 1.75 L, AUC 0.71; sensitivity, 0.93; specificity, 0.46), and BALF neutrophil ratio (cut-off 6.0, AUC 0.72; sensitivity 0.79; specificity 0.80) correlated with death within 3 years. The BALF cellular ratio, particularly the neutrophil ratio, correlated with the diagnosis and prognosis of PF-ILD. These findings may be useful in the management of patients with interstitial pneumonia., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Watase et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Reports of eosinophilic pneumonia (EP) as a side effect of dupilumab administration are limited in previous studies. Herein, we report two cases in which EP developed subsequent to the administration of dupilumab for eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis (ECRS). Case 1: A 55-year-old woman presented with ECRS, eosinophilic otitis media, and bronchial asthma, and was treated with dupilumab for ECRS. Five weeks later, fever and dyspnea developed, and infiltration shadows were observed in her lungs. The peripheral blood eosinophil count (PBEC) was 3848/μL (26%), bronchoalveolar lavage fluid showed eosinophilic infiltration, and EP was subsequently diagnosed. Her condition improved following prednisolone treatment. Case 2: A 59-year-old man presented with fatigue and dyspnea after receiving dupilumab for ECRS. He had infiltrative shadows throughout his left lung field, and his PBEC was 4850/μL (26.5%). Prednisolone was initiated, and his condition improved. EP developed in both patients during the period of elevated PBEC after dupilumab administration, and dupilumab was suspected to be the causative agent in their EP. Hence, EP should be considered as a differential diagnosis when fever and dyspnea appear following dupilumab administration.

We encountered a case of a 73-year-old man with acute myeloid leukemia who developed Trichosporon asahii systemic infection while on itraconazole prophylaxis during severe neutropenia. Cryptococcal antigen was useful for diagnosis. Although itraconazole was ineffective in protecting against trichosporonosis, treatment was successful with voriconazole following liposomal amphotericin B.

The volume of the temporal horn of the lateral ventricle (THLV) on brain computed tomography (CT) images is important for neurologic diagnosis. Our purpose in this study was to develop a z-score-based semi-quantitative analysis for estimation of the THLV volume by using voxel-based morphometry. The THLV volume was estimated by use of a z-score mapping method that consisted of four main steps: anatomic standardization, construction of a normal reference database, calculation of the z score, and calculation of the mean z score in a volume of interest (VOI). A mean z score of the CT value obtained from a VOI around the THLV was used as an index for the THLV volume. CT scans from 50 subjects were evaluated. For evaluation of the accuracy of this method for estimating the THLV volume, the THLV volume was determined manually by neuroradiologists (serving as the reference volume). A mean z score was calculated from the VOI for each THLV of the 50 subjects by use of the proposed method. The accuracy of this method was evaluated by use of the relationship between the mean z score and the reference volume. The quadratic polynomial regression equation demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between the mean z score and the reference volume of the THLV (R (2) = 0.94; P < 0.0001). In 92 of 100 THLVs (92 %), the 95 % prediction interval of the regional mean z score captured the reference volume of the THLV. The z-score-based semi-quantitative analysis has the potential quantitatively to estimate the THLV volume on CT images.

Brain edema is a potentially fatal pathological state that often occurs after brain injuries such as ischemia and trauma. However, therapeutic agents that fundamentally treat brain edema have not yet been established. We previously found that endothelin ETB receptor antagonists attenuate the formation and maintenance of vasogenic brain edema after cold injury in mice. In this study, the effects of ETB antagonists on matrixmetalloproteinase (MMP)9 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A expression were examined in the cold injury model. Cold injury was performed in the left brain of male ddY mice (5-6 weeks old) for the induction of vasogenic edema. Expression of MMP9 and VEGF-A mRNA in the mouse cerebrum was increased by cold injury. Immunohistochemical observations showed that the MMP9 and VEGF-A were mainly produced in reactive astrocytes in the damaged cerebrum. Intracerebroventricular administration of BQ788 (10 μg) or IRL-2500 (10 μg) (selective ETB antagonists) attenuated brain edema and disruption of the blood-brain barrier after cold injury. BQ788 and IRL-2500 reversed the cold injury-induced increases in MMP9 and VEGF-A expression. The induction of reactive astrocytes producing MMP9 and VEGF-A in the damaged cerebrum was attenuated by BQ788 and IRL-2500. These results suggest that attenuations of astrocytic MMP9 and VEGF-A expression by ETB antagonists may be involved in the amelioration of vasogenic brain edema., (© 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Detection of the extremely weak signals in spectroscopy over an extremely wide frequency region is central to diverse sciences, including materials science, biology, astronomy and chemistry. Here we show a new type of atomic-scale spectroscopy, heterodyne scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (HSTS), which is based on the innovative application of the nonlinear heterodyne-mixing detection at the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) heterojunction of STM tip-vacuum-sample. The principle of HSTS is identical to that of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) space telescope in terms of using heterojunction for detecting extremely weak signals by converting from terahertz region to lower frequency regions. The MIM detector of ALMA, which is composed of niobium-titanium-nitride (NbTiN) tip-insulator-NbTiN, is very similar in shape and size to that of HSTS. We successfully detect a heterodyne beat signal f₃(= |f₂- f₁) and intermodulation distortion via tunnelling current by superimposing two different AC signals, f₁ and f₂, onto the DC tunnelling current at a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface. We then obtain spectra of the localized electronic states of HOPG by using f₃. HSTS can be performed with a high resolution and over a wide energy range, including the terahertz range.

Studies of spin dynamics in low-dimensional systems are important from both fundamental and practical points of view. Spin-polarized scanning tunnelling microscopy allows localized spin dynamics to be characterized and plays important roles in nanoscale science and technology. However, nanoscale analysis of the ultrafast dynamics of itinerant magnetism, as well as its localized characteristics, should be pursued to advance further the investigation of quantum dynamics in functional structures of small systems. Here, we demonstrate the optical pump-probe scanning tunnelling microscopy technique, which enables the nanoscale probing of spin dynamics with the temporal resolution corresponding, in principle, to the optical pulse width. Spins are optically oriented using circularly polarized light, and their dynamics are probed by scanning tunnelling microscopy based on the optical pump-probe method. Spin relaxation in a single quantum well with a width of 6 nm was observed with a spatial resolution of ∼ 1 nm. In addition to spin relaxation dynamics, spin precession, which provides an estimation of the Landé g factor, was observed successfully.

Brain edema is a potentially fatal pathological condition that often occurs in stroke and head trauma. Following brain insults, endothelins (ETs) are increased and promote several pathophysiological responses. This study examined the effects of ETB antagonists on brain edema formation and disruption of the blood-brain barrier in a mouse cold injury model (Five- to six-week-old male ddY mice). Cold injury increased the water content of the injured cerebrum, and promoted extravasation of both Evans blue and endogenous albumin. In the injury area, expression of prepro-ET-1 mRNA and ET-1 peptide increased. Intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of BQ788 (ETB antagonist), IRL-2500 (ETB antagonist), or FR139317 (ETA antagonist) prior to cold injury significantly attenuated the increase in brain water content. Bolus administration of BQ788, IRL-2500, or FR139317 also inhibited the cold injury-induced extravasation of Evans blue and albumin. Repeated administration of BQ788 and IRL-2500 beginning at 24 h after cold injury attenuated both the increase in brain water content and extravasation of markers. In contrast, FR139317 had no effect on edema formation when administrated after cold injury. Cold injury stimulated induction of glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive reactive astrocytes in the injured cerebrum. Induction of reactive astrocytes after cold injury was attenuated by ICV administration of BQ788 or IRL-2500. These results suggest that ETB receptor antagonists may be an effective approach to ameliorate brain edema formation following brain insults.

The hyperdense middle cerebral artery (MCA) dot sign representing a thromboembolus is one of the important computed tomography (CT) findings for acute stroke on unenhanced CT images. Our purpose in this study was to develop an automated method for detection of the MCA dot sign of acute stroke on unenhanced CT images. The algorithm of the method which we developed consisted of 5 major steps: extraction of the sylvian fissure region, initial identification of MCA dots based on the morphologic top-hat transformation, feature extraction of candidates, elimination of false positives (FPs) by use of a rule-based scheme, and classification of candidates using a support vector machine (SVM) classifier with four features. Our database comprised 297 CT images obtained from seven patients with the MCA dot sign. The performance of this scheme for classification of the MCA dot sign was evaluated by means of a leave-one-case out method. The performance of the classification by use of the SVM achieved a maximum sensitivity of 97.5% (39/40) at a FP rate of 1.28 per image. The sensitivity for detection of the MCA dot sign was 97.5% (39/40) with a FP rate of 0.5 per hemisphere. The method we developed has the potential to detect the MCA dot sign of acute stroke on unenhanced CT images.

Introduction: Vildagliptin can be used in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and renal impairment. However, there have been few reports investigating the clinical effectiveness of vildagliptin in diabetic patients undergoing hemodialysis. No previous studies have evaluated the use of vildagliptin in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis. The authors determined the usefulness of vildagliptin for treating type 2 diabetic patients receiving chronic dialysis, including peritoneal dialysis., Methods: A retrospective study of ten diabetic patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis and five diabetic patients undergoing hemodialysis who were treated with 50 mg/day of vildagliptin was performed. Clinical parameters were investigated for a period of 6 months starting from the vildagliptin therapy., Results: The hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels were significantly reduced after baseline in both the peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis groups, whereas the hemoglobin levels did not change during the follow-up period. The mean change in the HbA1c level (ΔHbA1c) was -0.6 ± 0.9% and -0.5 ± 0.7% among the patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis, respectively. The glycated albumin (GA) levels were also significantly reduced compared with baseline in the peritoneal dialysis group, although the serum albumin levels did not change. The mean change in the GA level (ΔGA) was -3.4 ± 3.1% and -2.1 ± 2.5% among the patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis, respectively. Stepwise multivariate analyses demonstrated the level of HbA1c at baseline to be significantly associated with the ΔHbA1c and that the level of GA at baseline was significantly associated with the ΔGA., Conclusion: Vildagliptin exhibits effectiveness in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus undergoing peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis. The degree of improvement in the HbA1c and GA levels was dependent on these levels at baseline, similar to the findings of previous reports of subjects without end-stage kidney disease.

In this work, the authors present an effective denoising method to attempt reducing the noise in mammographic images. The method is based on using hierarchical correlation of the coefficients of discrete stationary wavelet transforms. The features of the proposed technique include iterative use of undecimated multi-directional wavelet transforms at adjacent scales. To validate the proposed method, computer simulations were conducted, followed by its applications to clinical mammograms. Mutual information originating from information theory was used as an evaluation measure for selection of an optimal wavelet basis function. We examined the performance of the proposed method by comparing it with the conventional undecimated discrete wavelet transform (UDWT) method in terms of processing time-consuming and image quality. Our results showed that with the use of the proposed method the computation time can be reduced to approximately 1/10 of the conventional UDWT method consumed. The results of visual assessment indicated that the images processed with the proposed UDWT method showed statistically significant superior image quality over those processed with the conventional UDWT method. Our research results demonstrate the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

We propose a method for improving image quality in medical images by using a wavelet-based approach. The proposed method integrates two components: image denoising and image enhancement. In the first component, a modified undecimated discrete wavelet transform is used to eliminate the noise. In the second component, a wavelet coefficient mapping function is applied to enhance the contrast of denoised images obtained from the first component. This methodology can be used not only as a means for improving visual quality of medical images but also as a preprocessing module for computer-aided detection/diagnosis systems to improve the performance of screening and detecting regions of interest in images. To confirm its superiority over existing state-of-the-art methods, the proposed method is experimentally evaluated via 30 mammograms and 20 chest radiographs. It is demonstrated that the proposed method can further improve the image quality of mammograms and chest radiographs, as compared to two other methods in the literature. These results reveal the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of a conventional discrete wavelet transform (DWT) method and a modified undecimated discrete wavelet transform (M-UDWT) method applied to mammographic image denoising. Mutual information, mean square error, and signal to noise ratio were used as image quality measures of images processed by the two methods. We examined the performance of the two methods with visual perceptual evaluation. A two-tailed F test was used to measure statistical significance. The difference between the M-UDWT processed images and the conventional DWT-method processed images was statistically significant (P<0.01). The authors confirmed the superiority and effectiveness of the M-UDWT method. The results of this study suggest the M-UDWT method may provide better image quality as compared to the conventional DWT.

Object: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of developmental canal stenosis in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM), and the correlation between surgical results and degree of developmental canal stenosis., Methods: A total of 112 patients who eventually had surgical treatment for CSM were evaluated. Male patients whose sagittal spinal diameter was < 14 mm and females whose sagittal diameter was < 13 mm even at one level were classified as having developmental canal stenosis. Two groups of patients were used in this study; the "positive" group (57 cases) included patients with developmental canal stenosis preoperatively, whereas the "negative" group (55 cases) excluded such patients. Lateral functional radiographs obtained in patients in the 2 groups were compared for range of motion and clinical results., Results: Developmental canal stenosis was found in 50.9% of all cases. Based on clinical results, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups., Conclusions: Patients with CSM showed a high incidence of preoperative developmental canal stenosis. However, there were no significant differences in clinical results between patients with and without this disorder. These results indicate that developmental canal stenosis is not a factor that influences surgical results.

This paper presents a simple and straightforward method for synthetically evaluating digital radiographic images by a single parameter in terms of transmitted information (TI). The features of our proposed method are (1) simplicity of computation, (2) simplicity of experimentation, and (3) combined assessment of image noise and resolution (blur). Two acrylic step wedges with 0-1-2-3-4-5 and 0-2-4-6-8-10 mm in thickness were used as phantoms for experiments. In the present study, three experiments were conducted. First, to investigate the relation between the value of TI and image noise, various radiation doses by changing exposure time were employed. Second, we examined the relation between the value of TI and image blurring by shifting the phantoms away from the center of the X-ray beam area toward the cathode end when imaging was performed. Third, we analyzed the combined effect of deteriorated blur and noise on the images by employing three smoothing filters. Experimental results show that the amount of TI is closely related to both image noise and image blurring. The results demonstrate the usefulness of our method for evaluation of physical image quality in medical imaging.

This study aimed to assess the effects of examination stress on salivary cortisol, immunoglobulin A (IgA), and chromogranin A (CgA) in nursing students. Saliva samples were collected from 15 healthy females before and immediately after the one-hour examination, and two hours after the examination. Salivary cortisol, IgA, and CgA concentrations were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Both IgA and CgA concentrations statistically increased immediately after the examination (P < 0.05) and decreased two hours after the examination. No significant differences were observed between before and after the examination in the salivary cortisol concentration. These findings suggest that the acute stress due to the examination is associated with raised salivary IgA and CgA, but not cortisol.

Although radiographic image quality is considered difficult to evaluate in a straightforward and systematic manner, it may be possible by using an index of transmitted information. As a preliminary study, relations between transmitted information and two image characteristics, namely, image noise and image blurring, were evaluated by simulation. The value of transmitted information was decreased if image noise and image blurring increased. The relationships were corroborated on an experimental basis. This paper suggests the possibility of a simple, straightforward method for synthetically evaluating radiographic images by a single parameter in terms of transmitted information.

Unattended fingerprint identification systems need to reject input attempts by a replica. Previously, we proposed detecting the color changes of a finger during an input action as a signature of liveliness. To improve its reliability, a dual-LED imaging system is investigated. It employs two LEDs with peak emissions at 530 and 630 nm to cover the spectral ranges where live fingers show characteristic changes. Using nine types of replicas and the live fingers of 42 participants, we have recorded and analyzed 153 input trials. The two groups of data are successfully separated by some defined criteria.