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Although previous studies have suggested that motor adaptation through motor imagery training of similar tasks can improve retention and generalization of motor learning, the benefits of mental and physical training remain unclear for different task difficulties. Two experiments were conducted in this study. The first experiment aimed to determine whether there were differences in movement time (MT) when drawing circles based on three conditions in accordance with Fitts’ law. The results showed significant differences in MT among the three conditions (p

ObjectivesEvaluation of sarcopenia accompanied by systemic inflammation status is a more beneficial prognostic marker than sarcopenia alone in various cancers. However, few studies have focused on this combination in patients with head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC). In this study, we investigated how the combination of sarcopenia and systemic inflammation could affect survival in patients with HNSCC. Moreover, we explored which systemic inflammation markers could be better prognostic indicators when accompanied by sarcopenia.Materials and methodsWe retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with HNSCC treated between 2012 and 2016. Sarcopenia was defined by the skeletal muscle area measured on a computed tomography image slice at the level of the third cervical vertebra. The neutrophil/lymphocyte, platelet/lymphocyte, and lymphocyte/monocyte ratios (NLR, PLR, and LMR, respectively) were used as systemic inflammation markers that were combined with sarcopenia to evaluate prognosis.ResultsA total of 100 patients were enrolled, and 71 patients were considered sarcopenia. Patients with sarcopenia had significantly lower LMR and higher NLR and PLR. They also showed worse overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). The comparative assessment of multiple combination patterns of sarcopenia and systemic inflammation indices proved that sarcopenia plus LMR considered as most reliable indicator for prognosis in HNSCC patients. Sarcopenia plus low LMR was a significantly poor prognostic factor both for OS and PFS with greater HR values than sarcopenia alone.ConclusionsThe combination of sarcopenia and LMR was considered the most sensitive prognostic factor in patients with HNSCC, suggesting it might be beneficial for identifying poor outcome risks.

In face-to-face communication, talkers perceive various affects and emotions of other talkers as the eye-impressions such as highlight or dilated pupil. In the previous studies, focusing on the eye-impressions in social robots, various expression methods such as changing the LED color or blinking the LED were proposed and developed. However, it is difficult to generate the affective expressions with the highlight that has an optical reflection characteristic on the surface of the eyeball by using the LED. Therefore, in order to enhance the eye-impressions of social robots, it is expected to develop an expressible method with the affective highlight. In this study, we proposed an affective highlight to enhance the eye-impressions of social robots. This method introduces a virtual lighting in virtual space and can generate rich affective expressions by controlling various parameters of the virtual lighting such as brightness or colors. In addition, we developed a speech-driven pupil response system that applied the affective highlight to the pupil response interface which has been developed. This system can generate the affective expressions by the dilation of pupil response that is synchronized with the talker’s speech as well as the highlight expression with talker’s intentional input. The effectiveness of the developed system with the affective highlight was demonstrated by sensory evaluations.

Pupils give favorable impressions to humans depending on their size. Focusing on effects of the pupil size, various pupil sizes were evaluated using human images as stimulations in previous researches. However, it is difficult to express an extreme pupil size in a face image due to a limited area of eyes. In addition, the evaluation of pupil size itself is hard because impressions in human images are formed depending on not only the pupil size but also other facial parts. In order to evaluate impressions of the pupil size itself, it is desirable to extract only the pupil and exclude other facial parts. In this study, we analyzed impressions on various pupil sizes that combined the dilation / contraction using two kinds of pupil expression media that have been developed so far. In the analysis, the impression evaluation obtained by the SD method was factor-analyzed. As the result of factor analysis, three factors were extracted: acceptability, reliability, and curiosity. Acceptability and reliability factors had a certain peak, and curiosity factor was proportional to the pupil size. These analysis results demonstrated that a certain dilated area of pupil could form a favorable impression regardless of pupil expression media.

Dilated pupil response has effects on favorable impression to human. Focusing on the pupil response in human-robot interaction, we have developed a pupil response system using hemisphere displays and confirmed that the pupil response is effective for enhancing affective conveyance in human-robot interaction. In this study, for the basic research of realizing a friendly communication during embodied interaction between human and robot, we analyzed the pupil response during body contact that is closely related to affinity using a pupil measurement device. On the basis of the analysis results, we developed a pupil response pet-robot for enhancing affinity in human-robot interaction. This pet-robot generates the pupil response based on the body contact using small displays in which the 3D CG model of pupil and iris is represented, and can impress cuteness and familiarity. The effectiveness of the developed pet-robot with dilation of the pupil response at 2.0 times during body contact was demonstrated by sensory evaluations.

Pupil response plays an important role in expression of talker’s affect in an embodied interaction and communication. Focusing on the pupil response in human voice communication, we analyzed the pupil response during utterance, and demonstrated that the pupil enlarges and contracts in synchronization with the burst-pause (ON-OFF) of the utterance. In addition, it was confirmed that the pupil response is effective for enhancing affective conveyance by using the developed system in which an interactive CG character generates the pupil response based on the synchronization with the burst-pause of utterance. In this study, we developed a video communication system with a virtual pupil CG superimposed on the partner’s pupil for enhancing affective conveyance. This system generates a virtual pupil response in synchronization with the talker’s burst-pause of utterance. We performed a communication experiment under the condition that the virtual pupil CG is generated by being synchronized with the talker’s burst-pause of utterance. The effectiveness of the system was demonstrated by means of sensory evaluations of 12 pairs of participants in the video communication.

Abstract Background Transoral videolaryngoscopic surgery (TOVS) was developed as a new distinct surgical procedure for hypopharyngeal cancer (HPC) and supraglottic cancer (SGC) staged at up to T3. However, long-term treatment outcomes of TOVS remain to be validated. Methods Under a straight broad intraluminal view provided by combined use of a distending laryngoscope and a videolaryngoscope, we performed en bloc tumor resection via direct bimanual handling of the ready-made straight-form surgical instruments and devices. We retrospectively analyzed functional and oncologic outcomes of 72 patients with HPC (n = 58) or SGC (n = 14) whose minimum follow-up was 24 months or until death. Results The cohort comprised nine patients of Tis, 23 of T1, 33 of T2, and 7 of T3. Among 36 patients (50%) who underwent neck dissection simultaneously, all but one were pathologically node-positive. Twelve patients underwent postoperative concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT) as adjuvant treatment, and another four patients underwent radiation or CCRT for second or later primary cancer. The endotracheal tube was removed in an operation room in all but two patients who underwent temporary tracheostomy. Pharyngeal fistula was formed transiently in two patients. The median time until patients resumed oral intake and could take a soft meal was 2 and 5 days, respectively. Eventually, 69 patients (96%) took normal meals. The 5-year cause-specific survival (CSS), overall survival (OS), larynx-preserved CSS, and loco-regional controlled CSS were 87.3%, 77.9%, 86.0%, and 88.0%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed N2-3 as an independent prognostic factor in both CSS (hazard ratio [HR] = 25.51, P = 0.008) and OS (HR = 4.90, P = 0.022), which indirectly reflected higher risk of delayed distant metastasis. Conclusions Considering its sound functional and oncological outcomes with various practical advantages, TOVS can be a dependable, less invasive, and cost-effective surgical option of an organ-function preservation strategy for HPC and SGC.

In human interaction and communication, not only verbal messages but also nonverbal behaviors such as facial expressions, body movements, gazes and pupil responses play an important role in expressions of talker’s affect. These expressions encourage to read the emotional cues and to cause the sharing of embodiment and empathy. We focused on the pupil response which is closely related to human affect, and developed an embodied communication system in which an interactive CG character generates the pupil response as well as communicative actions and movements such as nodding and body movements by speech input. In addition, it was confirmed that the pupil response is effective for supporting the embodied interaction and communication using the developed system. In this paper, in order to realize the smooth interaction between human and robot, we developed a pupil response system using hemispherical displays for enhancing affective conveyance. This system looks like robot’s eyeballs and expresses vivid pupil response by speech input. We carried out a sensory evaluation experiment under the condition that the developed system speaks. The results demonstrated that the system effectively enhances affective conveyance.

We have already developed an embodied communication system with the pupil response and demonstrated that the pupil response plays an important role in realizing smooth human interaction and communication. Therefore, the pupil response has possibilities to enhance a sharing of empathy and to convey rich affects such as a pleasure with laugh. Hence, in order to develop communication systems which enhance empathy, it is desired to design the media representation of pupil response. In this paper, focusing on the laugh with pleasure emotion as a typical pleasure affect, we analyzed the relation between laugh and pupil response using a pupil measurement device, and developed a pupil response system for inducing empathy by laugh response based on speech input. In addition, we evaluated the pupil response with the laugh by using the developed system. The results demonstrated that the dilated pupil response with the laugh is effective for enhancing empathy.

We have developed a speech-driven embodied entrainment character called “InterActor” that has functions of both speaker and listener for supporting human interaction and communication. This character would generate communicative actions and movements such as nodding, body movements, and eyeball movements by using only speech input. In this study, we focus specifically on the pupillary responses related to human emotions in embodied interaction and communication. Pupillary responses in human face-to-face communication are analyzed using an embodied communication system with a line-of-sight measurement device. Based on the analysis results, we enhance the functions of the character and develop an advanced speech-driven embodied entrainment character system for conveying empathy. Using only speech input, this system changes the pupil size of characters based on the analysis. Through sensory evaluation, we perform experiments to determine the effects of the developed system. The results reveal that the system is effective in human interaction and communication.

Measurement of thyroglobulin in fine-needle aspirates (FNA-Tg) is useful for the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis in thyroid carcinoma; however, the cutoff value remains unclear, particularly for the differential diagnosis of neck masses. To evaluate the cutoff value of FNA-Tg, we conducted a retrospective study of patients with neck masses outside the thyroid who pre-operatively underwent both FNAC and FNA-Tg, followed by pathological examination at our hospital from October 2015 to September 2020. The cutoff value of FNA-Tg was calculated using the receiver operating characteristic curve. Among 210 lesions, 57 were of thyroid origin and 153 lesions were not of thyroid origin. A high FNA-Tg value was observed in the lesions of thyroid origin (P: 0.001), and the cutoff value at the minimum point of 100% specificity was 32.2 ng/mL with a sensitivity of 87.7%. Regarding the effect of serum anti-Tg antibodies, FNA-Tg values were significantly lower or not significantly different depending on the grouping, warranting further studies. Among the cases with papillary thyroid carcinoma, the sensitivity of FNAC and FNA-Tg was 71.4% and 87.5%, respectively. The cutoff value of FNA-Tg for the differential diagnosis of neck masses was higher compared to previous reports because some metastatic lymph nodes of carcinomas and lesions, other than lymph nodes, exhibited higher FNA-Tg values. Therefore, if FNA-Tg is to be used as a screening test for the differential diagnosis of neck masses in patients without proven thyroid carcinoma, it is necessary to establish a higher cutoff value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]