Reforms in Japanese Criminal Procedure Under Allied Occupation

In the past, reforms in Japanese criminal procedure would have been of little interest to most Americans, who have never felt it important to understand foreign legal systems. Fortunately, this attitude is beginning to change. Moreover, the United States has been officially committed to encourage a desire for individual liberties and democratic processes on the part of the Japanese people since the Potsdam Declaration of July 26, 1945. Consequently, Americans will be interested in the postwar reforms in Japanese criminal procedure, if only to be fully informed of progress toward fulfillment of the objectives of the Allied Occupation, in which the United States has played the leading role

Elliptical Distance Transforms And Object Splitting

The classical morphological method to separate fused objects in binary images is to use the watershed transform on the complement of the distance transform of the binary image. This method assumes roughly disk-like objects and cannot separate objects when they are fused together beyond a certain point. In this paper we revisit the issue by assuming that fused objects are unions of ellipses rather than mere disks. The problem is recast in terms of finding the constituent primary grains given a boolean model of ellipses. To this end, we modify the well-known pseudo-Euclidean distance transform algorithm to generate arbitrary elliptical distance transforms to reduce the dimension of the problem and we present a goodness-of-fit measure that allows us to select ellipses. The results of the methods are given on both synthetic sample boolean models and real data

Withholding the choice of sodium valproate to young women with generalised epilepsy: Are we causing more harm than good?

PURPOSE: Although sodium valproate (VPA) remains the most effective antiepileptic for generalised and unclassified epilepsies, clinicians may be failing to discuss this treatment option because of guideline misinterpretation. Current guidelines recommend caution regarding teratogenic risks but do not advocate absolute avoidance. METHOD: We assessed VPA prescribing in young people attending a transition epilepsy clinic. We present six patients with idiopathic generalised epilepsy (IGE) in whom VPA had been initially avoided. RESULTS: Overall, the results were consistent with VPA's superior antiepileptic efficacy and ability to reduce harmful seizure-related complications. Young people denied of VPA showed prolonged periods of poor seizure control with medical, social and psychological complications. Following contraceptive counselling and VPA introduction, all six patients showed improved seizure control including seizure-freedom during follow-up of up to twenty-four months. There was also evidence of reduced seizure-related morbidity and improved educational and occupational functioning. Prior to referral, documentation revealed no discussion of VPA treatment options. CONCLUSION: Failure to prescribe valproate for IGE, particularly when another first-line treatment has failed, may not be in a young woman's best interests-particularly when they are most vulnerable to sequelae from uncontrolled seizures. Indiscriminate avoidance of valproate needs to be recognised as a misinterpretation of current epilepsy guidelines as it may harm young people. Although the use of valproate demands careful consideration, there remains a strong case to always discuss this medication because of its efficacy and potential to reduce seizure-related harm. Patients must be allowed to make their own informed decisions about effective epilepsy treatments.NoneThis is the author's accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059131114002349

Comparing paediatric intravenous phenytoin doses using physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modelling software

AbstractPurposeTo use a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modelling system to predict the serum levels achieved by two different intravenous loading doses of phenytoin.MethodsA phenytoin pharmacokinetic model was used in the Simcyp™ population-based ADME simulator, simulating 100 children age 2–10 years receiving intravenous phenytoin (18 and 20mg/kg). Visual checks were used to evaluate the predictive performance of the candidate model.ResultsLoading with doses of 18mg/kg, blood levels were sub-therapeutic in 22/100 (concentration at 2h post infusion (C2h) <10μg/mL), therapeutic in 62/100 (C2h 10–20μg/mL), and supra-therapeutic in 16/100 (C2h>20μg/mL). Loading with 20mg/kg, the percentages were 15, 59, and 26, respectively. Increasing from 18 to 20mg/kg increased the mean C2h from 16.0 to 17.9μg/mL, and the mean AUC from 145 to 162μg/mL/h. A C2h>30μg/mL was predicted in 4% and 8% of children in the 18 and 20mg/kg doses, with 3% predicted to have a C2h>40μg/mL following either dose. For maintenance doses, a 1st dose of 2.5 or 5mg/kg (intravenous) given at 12h (after either 18 or 20mg/kg loading) gives the highest percentages of 10–20μg/mL serum concentrations. For sub-therapeutic concentrations following intravenous loading (20mg/kg), a 1st maintenance dose (intravenous) of 10mg/kg will achieve therapeutic concentrations in 93%.ConclusionUse of PBPK modelling suggests that children receiving the 20mg/kg intravenous loading dose are at slightly increased risk of supra-therapeutic blood levels. Ideally, therapeutic drug monitoring is required to monitor serum concentrations, although the dose regime suggested by the BNFc appear appropriate

Towards Optimal Image Stitching for Virtual Microscopy

In this paper we present an image stitching method based on dynamic programming and describe its application to automated slide acquisition for Virtual Microscopy (VM). Given a large number of fields of view (FOVs) acquired from a single microscope slide, we composite these images into a single large 'virtual slide' image. The location of each FOV is determined using a new algorithm based on dynamic programming. We compare the performance of the proposed algorithm to an existing greedy algorithm. In a visual trial it is shown that the new algorithm provides a significant improvement in perceived image quality at image boundaries compared to the existing algorithm

Spatially Resolved Spitzer-IRS Spectroscopy of the Central Region of M82

We present high spatial resolution (~ 35 parsec) 5-38 um spectra of the central region of M82, taken with the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph. From these spectra we determined the fluxes and equivalent widths of key diagnostic features, such as the [NeII]12.8um, [NeIII]15.5um, and H_2 S(1)17.03um lines, and the broad mid-IR polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission features in six representative regions and analysed the spatial distribution of these lines and their ratios across the central region. We find a good correlation of the dust extinction with the CO 1-0 emission. The PAH emission follows closely the ionization structure along the galactic disk. The observed variations of the diagnostic PAH ratios across M82 can be explained by extinction effects, within systematic uncertainties. The 16-18um PAH complex is very prominent, and its equivalent width is enhanced outwards from the galactic plane. We interpret this as a consequence of the variation of the UV radiation field. The EWs of the 11.3um PAH feature and the H_2 S(1) line correlate closely, and we conclude that shocks in the outflow regions have no measurable influence on the H_2 emission. The [NeIII]/[NeII] ratio is on average low at ~0.18, and shows little variations across the plane, indicating that the dominant stellar population is evolved (5 - 6 Myr) and well distributed. There is a slight increase of the ratio with distance from the galactic plane of M82 which we attribute to a decrease in gas density. Our observations indicate that the star formation rate has decreased significantly in the last 5 Myr. The quantities of dust and molecular gas in the central area of the galaxy argue against starvation and for negative feedback processes, observable through the strong extra-planar outflows.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables, ApJ, emulateap

Flow Injection Sample Introduction Methods for Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

The essential features of flow injection analysis are described and the use of flow injection methodology for sample introduction for flame atomic-absorption spectrometry is briefly reviewed. A flow injection analogue of the standard additions method has been devised and applied to the analysis of chromium in some BCS standard steels. The results showed good agreement with the certificate values. The use of a concentration gradient forming mixing chamber to provide a novel method of rapid, single-standard Calibration is described and the results of preliminary experiments with magnesium show the method to be viable. The potential usefulness of both methods is critically evaluated

Globally optimal 3D image reconstruction and segmentation via energy minimisation techniques

This paper provides an overview of a number of techniques developed within our group to perform 3D reconstruction and image segmentation based of the application of energy minimisation concepts. We begin with classical snake techniques and show how similar energy minimisation concepts can be extended to derive globally optimal segmentation methods. Then we discuss more recent work based on geodesic active contours that can lead to globally optimal segmentations and reconstructions in 2D. Finally we extend the work to 3D by introducing continuous flow globally minimal surfaces. Several applications are discussed to show the wide applicability and suitability of these techniques to several difficult image analysis problems