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Takahiro Fuji,1 Jun Arai,1 Yumi Otoyama,1 Yuta Nio,2,3 Ikuya Sugiura,1 Yoko Nakajima,1 Atsushi Kajiwara,1 Yuki Ichikawa,1 Shojiro Uozumi,1 Yuu Shimozuma,1 Manabu Uchikoshi,1 Masashi Sakaki,1 Hisako Nozawa,1 Kenji Momo,2 Tadanori Sasaki,3 Hitoshi Yoshida1 1Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; 2Department of Hospital Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Showa University Hospital, Tokyo, Japan; 3Department of Pharmacy, Showa University Hospital, Tokyo, JapanCorrespondence: Jun Arai, Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 142-8666, Japan, Tel +81-3-3784-8535, Fax +81-3-3784-7553, Email araiguma10@med.showa-u.ac.jpAbstract: Systemic chemotherapy has shown a significant survival benefit in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, it is associated with various immune-related adverse events (irAEs). We report a case with grade 3 diarrhea and grade 2 colitis following systemic chemotherapy, successfully treated with prednisolone. An 89-year-old man was incidentally detected with a 140-mm hypervascular intrahepatic nodule on contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT). Washout of the contrast medium was also detected, and protein induced by vitamin K deficiency or antagonists-II (PIVKA-II) was elevated. Since the Albumin–Bilirubin (ALBI) grade was 2a without any distant metastasis, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) was performed to treat the HCC, but several intrahepatic nodules were seen in both lobes. Therefore, the patient was treated with lenvatinib for 1 year and 4 months. A complete response according to modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (mRECIST) criteria was achieved in 2 months; however, multiple hypervascular nodules were detected again. Since the ALBI grade was 1, a second round of chemotherapy with atezolizumab and bevacizumab was initiated. Although a complete response was achieved, the therapy was discontinued due to grade 3 diarrhea and grade 2 colitis after the sixth course. Based on the stool analysis and culture, CECT, and colonoscopy, the diagnosis was atezolizumab-associated colitis. Diarrhea was controlled following the oral administration of 0.5 mg/kg/day of prednisolone, and atezolizumab-bevacizumab therapy was successfully reinitiated without recurrence of colitis. The management of irAEs is important for a significant survival benefit. Systemic chemotherapy with atezolizumab and bevacizumab can be resumed despite a grade 3 irAE due to atezolizumab.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, immune checkpoint inhibitors, immune-related adverse events, ICI-mediated colitis, IL-17, PIVKA-II

Noninvasive biomarkers of anti-tumoral efficacy are of great importance to the development of therapeutic agents. Tumor oxygenation has been shown to be an important indicator of therapeutic response. We report the use of intracellular labeling of tumor ce

We have previously reported that the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs12553612 in IFNA8 is associated with better overall survival of glioma patients with the AA-genotype compared with patients with the AC-genotype. As rs12553612 is located in the IF

Breakdown (BD) characteristics in vacuum are strongly dependent on the electrode surface conditions, such as surface roughness. However, there is little known concerning the details of the relationship between the surface roughness and BD conditioning effect. In practical application, it is important to clarify how the surface roughness affects the breakdown conditioning characteristics, especially for the non-uniform field configuration. This paper discusses the effect of surface roughness on breakdown conditioning characteristics under non-uniform electric field in vacuum under applications of negative standard lightning impulse voltage. For this purpose, we examined the BD conditioning of a rod-to-plane electrode made of SUS304 and Cu-Cr. The surface roughness of [R.sub.a] is controlled from 0.3 to 2.5 [micro]m. Experimental results revealed that the enhancement of surface roughness of electrodes increases the number of BD to complete the conditioning effect. We explained the results from the observed results of the electrode surface. Consequently, we could clarify the effect of surface roughness on the conditioning effect under non-uniform electric field in vacuum quantitatively. Index Terms--Vacuum, conditioning effect, non-uniform electric field, lightning impulse voltage, vacuum circuit breaker, electrode surface roughness.

Vacuum circuit breakers (VCBs) have been developed and widely applied in Japan to meet the requirements of increasing energy consumption and also in national security of various areas. As a result, for example, a 168 kV two break porcelain type and a 100 kA one break VCB have already appeared in the Japanese market and they are currently being exported to world-wide markets. VCBs interrupt currents in vacuum, and this means they do not exhaust dissolved gases which are sometimes harmful to the human body or cause effects on the environment. Therefore, by its nature, the recycling of materials and safety to the human body have been realized, and also no global warming effects would be expected. Energy is extremely essential and important in human daily life, and many types of circuit breakers play important roles in electrical power transmission and distribution systems to maintain the systems reliability and safety by switching the systems under several conditions. Since vacuum circuit breakers possess a lot of advantages such as high current interrupting capabilities, small size, and low cost, they will be used much more in the future, and at this moment, we believe it is very worthy to discuss and consider thoroughly future trends of VCBs. In this paper, the results of the developments in Japan will be reviewed, the reflection of the results will be stated, and the subjects of engineering in the 21st century will be discussed. These will include recycling, safeguards to the human body and the fireless nature of VCBs; and it will be demonstrated that the developmental works of VCBs are being wonderfully explored in Japan now and in the future. Index Terms--History, Japan, Vacuum circuit breakers, Vacuum interrupters.

In this paper, we quantitatively investigated the impulse conditioning mechanism under non-uniform electric field electrodes in a vacuum. A negative standard lightning impulse voltage was applied between rod and plane electrodes whose materials were Cu-Cr, stainless steel and Cu and the gap lengths were d = 5 and 10 mm, respectively. Experimental results revealed the transition of the breakdown (BD) spot region on the rod electrode and the corresponding BD field strength in the conditioning process. As a result, we found that the BD spot region started at the tip of the rod electrode and moved to the wider region of the rod electrode with lower electric field as the shots of the voltage application increased before the saturation of the BD voltage. Finally, by analyzing the results with an electric field strength, we propose that 'the conditioning degree' along the electrode surface distributed directly proportional to the electric field distribution under a non-uniform electric field in a vacuum, irrespective of the electrode materials. Index Terms--Vacuum, conditioning effect, non-uniform electric field, impulse voltage, Cu-Cr, up-and-down method, vacuum circuit breaker, conditioning degree.

B4C-Al2O3 composite powder was produced by aluminothermic reduction in Al/B2O3/C system. In this research, microwave heating technique was used to synthesize desired composite. The ball milling of powder mixtures was performed in order to study the effect of mechanical activation on the synthesis process. The synthesis mechanism in this system was investigated by examining the corresponding binary sub-reactions. The self-sustaining reduction of boron oxide by Al was recognized to be the triggering step in overall reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]