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Kaori Yamashita,1,2 Yudai Ishiyama,1 Maki Yoshino,1 Hidekazu Tachibana,1 Daisuke Toki,1 Ryuichiro Konda,2 Tunenori Kondo1 1Department of Urology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University Medical Center East, Tokyo, Japan; 2Tomioka Clinic, Tokiwa Foundation, Fukushima, JapanCorrespondence: Kaori YamashitaDepartment of Urology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University Medical Center East, 2-1-10, Nishi-ogu, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo, 116-8567, Japan, Tel +81 338101111, Fax +81 338940282, Email kmurology@yahoo.co.jpIntroduction: The aim of this study was to analyze urinalysis findings and urinary bacterial culture in hemodialysis-dependent end-stage renal disease patients. The research goal was to understand the proportion, risk factors, and the causative organisms of urinary tract infection in hemodialysis-dependent end-stage renal disease patients.Materials and Methods: Between May 2020 and June 2021, this study included 100 hemodialysis-dependent end-stage renal disease patients (50 male patients and 50 female patients). The urine underwent microscopic examination, pyuria was defined as ≥ 5 white blood cells per high-power field, and urinary bacterial cultures were conducted for patients with pyuria. Bacteriuria was defined as ≥ 104 colony-forming units/mL in men and ≥ 105 colony-forming units/mL in women. Daily urine output was investigated by oral listening. Postvoiding residual urine volume was measured.Results: Fifty-six percent of male patients and 30% of female patients had normosthenuria, 24% of male patients and 38% of female patients had pyuria, and 20% of male patients and 32% of female patients had a urinary tract infection. A comparison of normosthenuria and urinary tract infection revealed no statistically significant difference in age, time on dialysis, daily urine output, and postvoiding residual urine volume. The proportion of female patients among those with normosthenuria was 34.8%, whereas the proportion of female patients among those with UTI was 61.5%. Urinary bacterial cultures showed that the major causative organisms were Escherichia coli (45%; 18/40 cultures) and extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (17.5%; 7/40 cultures).Conclusion: The incidence of urinary tract infection was higher in female patients than in male patients. The proportion of resistant bacteria as the causative organisms was high in hemodialysis-dependent end-stage renal disease patients. Urinary bacterial culture should be checked while patients are able to void urine.Keywords: bacteriuria, pyuria, renal dialysis, urinary tract infection, urine

Local strain is introduced into the lattice around solute atom due to the size mismatch between solute and solvent atoms in alloy. In this study, local lattice strains are calculated for the first time in titanium alloys, using the plane-wave pseudopotential method. As an extreme case, the local lattice strain around a vacancy is also calculated in various bcc, fcc and hcp metals. It is found that the local strain energy is very high in both bcc Ti and bcc Fe, where the martensitic transformation takes place. From a series of calculations, it is shown that the magnitude of the strain energy stored in the local lattice is comparable to the thermal energy, kBT, where kB is the Boltzmann constant and T is the absolute temperature. Therefore, the presence of local lattice strains in alloy could influence the phase stability that varies largely depending on temperatures. For example, the local lattice strain correlates with the martensitic transformation start temperature, Ms, in binary titanium alloys.

Scintillators are key components in high-energy x-ray detectors for x-ray computed tomography, which are applied in medical diagnosis, nondestructive testing, and security inspection. Scintillators in x-ray imaging are required to have both high spatial resolution and sensitivity; however, a trade-off between spatial resolution and sensitivity exists. To improve the sensitivity of a scintillator, its thickness must be increased; however, spatial resolution deteriorates with increasing thickness. Here, we developed a well-aligned Tb-doped GdAlO3-αAl2O3 phase-separated scintillator fiber (PSSF) with a diameter of 1.25-μm by a micro-pulling-down method. The luminescence, scintillation, and imaging performances of a grown PSSF sample were evaluated. X-ray-induced radioluminescence measurements of the sample showed Tb3+ 4f–4f emissions in the wavelength range of 470–700 nm, and the maximum emission peak was at 550 nm. The contrast transfer function at 10 lp/mm was 82% for both 270 and 500 μm-thick PSSF samples. We calculated the luminescence index, which is the product of the scintillator's light yield and sensitivity, of the samples and compared their values with commercially available conventional CsI:Tl columnar scintillators. The Tb-doped GdAlO3-αAl2O3 PSSF exhibits higher contrast transfer function and luminescence index values at above 60 keV x-ray region compared with the tested conventional scintillators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]