Characteristics of Gridded Rainfall Data for Thailand from 1981–2017

We used a spatially interpolated gridded dataset produced by the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) to explore long-term rainfall trends. We placed data from 1981–2017 into a 0.5° grid using the Kriging method. Long-term trends in maximum daily and monthly rainfall, and total annual rainfall, were analyzed using the nonparametric Mann–Kendall trend test. Chumphon, Lamphun, Nakhon, Sawan, and Buriram provinces exhibited significant positive trends in the annual maximum daily rainfall (p<0.05, p<0.01). The coastal area of Chachoengsao Province exhibited a significant negative trend (p<0.05). January rainfall showed a negative trend throughout Thailand. Annual rainfall showed a positive trend in many regions, especially in northern, northeastern, and southern areas. The eastern region exhibited a negative trend but statistical significance was not attained. The 10-, 30-, 50-, and 100-year daily rainfall probabilities were estimated using the Generalized Extreme Value method. The eastern side of the southern region exhibited remarkably high rainfall

Interfacial fracture strength property of micro-scale SiN/Cu components

AbstractThe strength against fracture nucleation from an interface free-edge of silicon-nitride (SiN)/copper (Cu) micro-components is evaluated. A special technique that combines a nano-indenter specimen holder and an environmental transmission electron microscope (E-TEM) is employed. The critical load at the onset of fracture nucleation from a wedge-shaped free-edge (opening angle: 90°) is measured both in a vacuum and in a hydrogen (H2) environment, and the critical stress distribution is evaluated by the finite element method (FEM). It is found that the fracture nucleation is dominated by the near-edge elastic singular stress field that extends about a few tens of nanometers from the edge. The fracture nucleation strength expressed in terms of the stress intensity factor (K) is found to be eminently reduced in a H2 environment

Response to chemotherapy improves hepatic reserve for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and Child–Pugh B cirrhosis

There is no established treatment for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with Child–Pugh class B cirrhosis. The aim of the present study was to assess the efficacy of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) according to Child–Pugh score (CPS) and to evaluate the correlation of a patient\u27s response to HAIC with hepatic reserve and outcome. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 377 patients treated with HAIC between March 2003 and February 2015. Subjects included 179 with Child–Pugh class B. Median overall survival was 12.1 months for patients with CPS = 7 (n = 75) and 11.9 months for patients with CPS = 8 (n = 58), which were significantly longer compared with those of patients with CPS = 9 (n = 46, 6.3 months). The objective response rates of patients with CPS = 7, 8 and 9 were 26.7%, 27.6% and 6.5%, respectively. The CPS of responders improved significantly after HAIC, whereas those of nonresponders did not. A multivariate analysis demonstrated that improved CPS, responses to HAIC and absence of extrahepatic lesions were independent favorable prognostic factors. Patients with CPS = 7 or 8 tolerated HAIC, but nine (19.6%) of patients with CPS = 9 were unable to complete one course. HAIC is effective and safe for patients with a CPS = 7 or 8 and improved hepatic reserve of responders significantly. © 2016 The Authors. Cancer Science published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japanese Cancer Association

Organoids with cancer stem cell-like properties secrete exosomes and HSP90 in a 3D nanoenvironment

Ability to form cellular aggregations such as tumorspheres and spheroids have been used as a morphological marker of malignant cancer cells and in particular cancer stem cells (CSC). However, the common definition of the types of cellular aggregation formed by cancer cells has not been available. We examined morphologies of 67 cell lines cultured on three dimensional morphology enhancing NanoCulture Plates (NCP) and classified the types of cellular aggregates that form. Among the 67 cell lines, 49 cell lines formed spheres or spheroids, 8 cell lines formed grape-like aggregation (GLA), 8 cell lines formed other types of aggregation, and 3 cell lines formed monolayer sheets. Seven GLA-forming cell lines were derived from adenocarcinoma among the 8 lines. A neuroendocrine adenocarcinoma cell line PC-3 formed asymmetric GLA with ductal structures on the NCPs and rapidly growing asymmetric tumors that metastasized to lymph nodes in immunocompromised mice. In contrast, another adenocarcinoma cell line DU-145 formed spheroids in vitro and spheroid-like tumors in vivo that did not metastasize to lymph nodes until day 50 after transplantation. Culture in the 3D nanoenvironment and in a defined stem cell medium enabled the neuroendocrine adenocarcinoma cells to form slowly growing large organoids that expressed multiple stem cell markers, neuroendocrine markers, intercellular adhesion molecules, and oncogenes in vitro. In contrast, the more commonly used 2D serum-contained environment reduced intercellular adhesion and induced mesenchymal transition and promoted rapid growth of the cells. In addition, the 3D stemness nanoenvironment promoted secretion of HSP90 and EpCAM-exosomes, a marker of CSC phenotype, from the neuroendocrine organoids. These findings indicate that the NCP-based 3D environment enables cells to form stem cell tumoroids with multipotency and model more accurately the in vivo tumor status at the levels of morphology and gene expression

Post-progression survival and progression-free survival in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated by sorafenib

Aim: Although sorafenib is a standard drug for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), little is known about a patient\u27s clinical course after treatment. We investigated the effect of post-progression survival (PPS) and progression-free survival (PFS) on overall survival (OS) in patients whose advanced HCC was treated by sorafenib. Methods: We searched in the PubMed database for reports with survival data of patients with HCC treated with sorafenib monotherapy, and selected reports with 20 or more patients each that provided data for both OS and PFS or time to progression (TTP). Median PPS (mPPS) was defined as the period obtained by subtracting median PFS or TTP (mPFS/TTP) from median OS (mOS). We identified 56 reports with 5803 patients. We investigated the correlation of mOS and either mPPS or mPFS/TTP using weighted linear regression. Results: Median PPS correlated with mOS (r=0.834) very strongly, whereas mPFS/TTP did not correlate with mOS as highly as PPS did (r=0.546). When we stratified survival data by Child-Pugh classification, a significantly greater average percentage of mPPS to mOS was seen in Child-Pugh class A (54.4±17.6%) than in Child-Pugh class B (32.0±11.6%) (P=0.015). Conclusion: PPS highly correlated with OS, and its importance should be more emphasized for advanced HCC patients treated after sorafenib therapy, whereas we need to take more care in interpreting the results of PFS to evaluate treatment efficacy in clinical trials of advanced HCC. © 2015 The Japan Society of Hepatology.Embargo Period 12 month

Domain Wall Junction in N=2 Supersymmetric QED in four dimensions

An exact solution of domain wall junction is obtained in N=2 supersymmetric (SUSY) QED with three massive hypermultiplets. The junction preserves two out of eight SUSY. Both a (magnetic) Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) term and complex masses for hypermultiplets are needed to obtain the junction solution. There are zero modes corresponding to spontaneously broken translation, SUSY, and U(1). All broken and unbroken SUSY charges are explicitly worked out in the Wess-Zumino gauge in N=1 superfields as well as in components. The relation to models in five dimensions is also clarified.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures, comments on zero modes added, a few references adde

Empirical Study on Medical Information and Communication Technology System in Dentistry in Southeast Asia

In the field of dentistry, diagnoses based on data obtained using medical imaging modalities such as digital panoramic radiography and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) have been widely recommended for advanced dental care. In Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos), there are place where advanced dental imaging devices are available in only one university dental hospital. The establishment of an information and communication technology (ICT) system has been expected as telemedicine system, for sharing medical imaging data among medical institutions in Laos. Recently, regional medical cooperation using telemedicine has been developed in Japan, and medical imaging data have been provided and shared among medical institutions, by using a mobile tablet terminal application. Therefore, we have carried out the empirical research on the telemedicine system with the university in Laos. The technologies and research results from our project will be presented in this chapter

ゾウエンガク ヲ マナブ ダイガクセイ ガ タイケンシタ シゼン トノ フレアイ ヤ モノヅクリ ニ カンスル ジッタイチョウサ

造園学において,「自然とのふれあい」や「ものづくり」は,造園の計画および設計,実際の施工等を学ぶための動機付けとして極めて重要な体験である。 近年,生活環境の都市化に伴い,自然とのふれあいやものづくりの体験ができる機会は減少する一方である。このような現状の中,造園学を学ぶ学生の自然とのふれあいやものづくり体験の実態はいかなる状況であるのかを把握するために造園学を学ぶ大学生625人に対するアンケート調査を行った。その結果,自然とのふれあいに関しては,幼少期から学童期まで日常的に体験するような川魚,海洋生物等の採取,カブト虫等の昆虫採取,昆虫や植物の標本づくりは男子で5～6割,女子で7～8割はほとんど体験がなかった。ものづくり体験のうちの,ものづくり体験は,「2 ～3回程度の体験」を「体験無し」に含まれるとすると,2割～5割の学生はものづくり体験がほとんどないことが明らかとなった。ケガの体験については,自然とのふれあいやものづくりの体験をほとんどしていないこともあり,カマで手を切ったり,重い石を落としたこと,脚立から落ちたり,木登りをしていて落ちたりしたことはほとんど体験がなかった。以上より,「自然とのふれあい」や「ものづくり」 の体験の機会は,終戦後,空間の消失と共に減少してきたといわれていることが確認できた。これらの結果を踏まえ,造園科学科として2010年度より大学教育のカリキュラムへ動機付けの基礎となる「造園体験実習」の教科を新たに組み込む必要性が生じた。Both experience of contact with nature and handicraft are important in order to motivate the study of landscape architecture. Questionnaire surveys were conducted to investigate the actual situation of "experience of contact with nature" and "experience of handicraft" with 625 students studying at the department of landscape architecture. Fifty to eighty percent of the students did not "experience nature", for example by fishing in river or sea, collecting insects, making zoological or botanical specimen. Students who did not get "experience of handicraft" were from 50 to 20%. Half of the students did not have experience of using materials like brick, tree and shrub, flower, thinner, natural stone or tools, for example, pruning shears and saw. A slight injury, e.g. cutting a part of body with pruning shears, saw or sickle while gardening, rash from plants, being stung by wasp ant or hairy caterpillar, cutting a part of body with plants (e.g. Miscanthus sinensis Anderss.) or slipping out heavy stone had not been experienced by about half of the students. These experiences of nature or handicraft should be included in a curriculum in the field of landscape architecture soon, and then we must prepare the ground to allow such free experiences

The utility of superficial abdominal reflex in the initial diagnosis of scoliosis: a retrospective review of clinical characteristics of scoliosis with syringomyelia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>With increasing use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), underlying syringomyelia is increasingly found in patients with presumed idiopathic scoliosis. To determine the indications for MRI in the differential diagnosis of scoliosis, several clinical characteristics of syringomyelia have been reported. Neurological signs, particularly abnormal superficial abdominal reflex (SAR), are important in establishing the initial diagnosis of scoliosis. However, the prevalence of abnormal SAR in patients with scoliosis and the sensitivity of this sign in predicting syringomyelia are not well known. We aimed to determine the diagnostic utility of SAR and other characteristics of syringomyelia in patients with scoliosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We reviewed the medical records of 93 patients with scoliosis, 90 of whom underwent corrective surgery. All patients underwent MRI to determine the presence of syringomyelia. Mean age at surgery was 12.5 years. Abnormal SAR was defined as unilateral or bilateral absence or hyporeflexia of SAR. We calculated indices of diagnostic utility of abnormal SAR for non-idiopathic scoliosis and for syringomyelia. Abnormal SAR, left thoracic curve pattern, gender, and curve flexibility were compared between scoliosis with syringomyelia and idiopathic scoliosis. Logistic regression analysis was performed with the existence of syringomyelia as the dependent variable and curve flexibility as the independent variable.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Abnormal SAR was observed in 20 patients (prevalence 22%). All 6 patients with myopathic scoliosis displayed bilateral absence of SAR. The sensitivity of abnormal SAR for non-idiopathic scoliosis was 38%, with 96% specificity, 90% PPV (positive predictive value), and 60% NPV (negative predictive value). Syringomyelia was identified in 9 of the 93 patients (9.7%); 8 of these had abnormal SAR. The sensitivity of abnormal SAR for syringomyelia in presumed idiopathic scoliosis was 89%, with 95% specificity, 80% PPV, and 98% NPV. Gender, abnormal neurological findings, and curve flexibility differed significantly between patients with syringomyelia and those with idiopathic scoliosis (P < 0.05). In the logistic regression model, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.79 and the cut-off value of curve flexibility for syringomyelia was 50% (P = 0.08).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Abnormal SAR was a useful indicator not only for syringomyelia, but also for myogenic scoliosis.</p