A Study on Robot System to Hand Surgical Intrument to a Surgeon in a Surgery (1st Report, Development of Surgical Instrument Recognition System)

The nurse supporting robot system to prepare and hand surgical instruments to a surgeon is proposed to reduce work of nurse in a surgical operation. In this paper, the surgical instrument recognition system (SIRS) is developed to hand the surgical instruments to a surgeon by the robot. The characteristics ot the instruments are area of the instruments, ratio of minimum center-contour distance to maximum one and its outline contour, are recognized by using the image processing. Kinds of the instruments are distinguished by these characteristics

A Study on Robot System to Hand Surgical Intrument to a Surgeon in a Surgery (1st Report, Development of Surgical Instrument Recognition System)

The nurse supporting robot system to prepare and hand surgical instruments to a surgeon is proposed to reduce work of nurse in a surgical operation. In this paper, the surgical instrument recognition system (SIRS) is developed to hand the surgical instruments to a surgeon by the robot. The characteristics ot the instruments are area of the instruments, ratio of minimum center-contour distance to maximum one and its outline contour, are recognized by using the image processing. Kinds of the instruments are distinguished by these characteristics

シコク チュウオウブ イノ チイキ ニオケル チチブタイ ホクタイ ノ ナノカワ ショウジョウ ダンソウ シュウヘン ノ チシツ コウゾウ

The Nanokawa thrust occurs in the Jurassic accretionary complexes of the Northern Chichibu Terrain in the Ino Area， Central Shikoku. Along the thrust，greenstones and pelitic semi-schists are thrust over chaotic formations，sandstones and greenstones. The strata of the hanging wall of the thrust dip gently and are slightly folded，whereas those of the footwall dip steeply to the north. Metamorphic minerals of the greenstones of the hanging wall and footwall of the Nanokawa thrust are examined. The greenstones of the hanging wall contain alkali amphibole， alkali pyroxene， stilpnomelane and pumpellyite， and have undergone the pumpellyite-actinolite facies metamorphism. On the other hand， those of the footwall contain prehnite and pumpellyite， and have undergone the prehnite-pumpellyite facies metamorphism. The Nanokawa thrust is a large overthrust， which has a different metamorphic grade between the hanging wall and footwall. The Nanokawa thrust， which runs to the north of Shirakidani limestone body in Central Shikoku， and to the north of the Torigatayama limestone body in Middle West Shikoku， is probably a southern boundary of the Jurassic accretionary deposits which have undergone the Sambagawa Metamorphism

Ume (Japanese Apricot)-Induced Small Bowel Obstruction with Chronic Radiation Enteritis

Stricture formation is recognized as one of the complications of chronic radiation enteritis. Here, we present a case of a 73-year-old woman who presented with small bowel obstruction 16 years after pelvic irradiation for uterine cancer. Computed tomographic (CT) scan of the abdomen demonstrated a 1-cm foreign body in the terminal ileum. Laparotomy revealed a stone of ume (Japanese apricot) stuck in an ileal stricture, leading to complete impaction and perforation. She was successfully treated with ileocecal resection and ileocolic anastomosis without any complication. Pathological study revealed that the low compliance caused by fibrosis of the bowel wall prevented the small ume stone from passing through the irradiated ileum. Our case implies the specific risk of food-induced small bowel obstruction in patients with a history of pelvic irradiation

Development of a Super-Small Solid Rocket Motor for OMOTENASHI

Background of the OMOTENASHI Mission. To be launched by NASA’s SLS Artemis 1 in the early 2020s, OMOTENASHI will be one of the 13 CubeSats launched as secondary payloads. With a size of 6U (113×239×366 mm) and a mass of CubeSat, it is the world’s smallest moon lander. Aims to land on the moon

Detection of the Onset of the Epidemic Period of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in Japan

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of lower respiratory tract infection in young children worldwide. An annual epidemic of RSV infection generally begins around autumn, reaching a peak at the end of year in Japan, but in 2017 it started in early July and peaked in September. As the onset timing of RSV season varies, it is important to detect the beginning of an epidemic, to enable the implementation of preventive measures. However, there are currently no specified criteria or methods to determine the onset of RSV season in a timely manner. Therefore, we developed a model to detect the epidemic onset, based on data from the Infectious Diseases Weekly Report from 2012 to 2017. The 47 prefectures of Japan span 11 climate zones, which affect the timing of epidemic onset. Therefore, the onset of RSV season was assessed separately in each prefecture. Non-linear regression analysis was performed to generate a mathematical model of the annual epidemic cycle for each prefecture. A search index was used to determine the onset of RSV season, which was estimated using the number of RSV reports per week within an epidemic period (RSV-reports/w) and the number of reported cases included within an epidemic period relative to the total number of RSV reports (capture rate). A number of RSV-reports/w, which was used as a threshold (a number at onset line) to determine the condition of the onset of RSV season, was then estimated based on the search index. The mean number at the onset of RSV season for 47 prefectures was 29.7 reports/week (median 21.0, range 6.0–121.0 reports/ week). The model also showed that the onset of RSV season in 2017 was more than 1 month earlier than the previous year. In conclusion, the model detected epidemic cycles and their onset conditions in all prefectures, despite the 11 climate zones of Japan. The results are expected to contribute to infant medical care by allowing medical personnel to take preventive measures promptly at the beginning of the epidemic RSV season

Neutrino self-interaction and MSW effects on the supernova neutrino-process

We calculate the abundances of $^{7}$Li, $^{11}$B, $^{92}$Nb, $^{98}$Tc, $^{138}$La, and $^{180}$Ta produced by neutrino $(\nu)$ induced reactions in a core-collapse supernova explosion. We consider the modification by $\nu$ self-interaction ($\nu$-SI) near the neutrinosphere and the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein effect in outer layers for time-dependent neutrino energy spectra. Abundances of $^{7}$Li and heavy isotopes $^{92}$Nb, $^{98}$Tc and $^{138}$La are reduced by a factor of 1.5-2.0 by the $\nu$-SI. In contrast, $^{11}$B is relatively insensitive to the $\nu$-SI. We find that the abundance ratio of heavy to light nucleus, $^{138}$La/$^{11}$B, is sensitive to the neutrino mass hierarchy, and the normal mass hierarchy is more likely to be consistent with the solar abundances

Sequence divergence and retrotransposon insertion underlie interspecific epigenetic differences in primates

内在性レトロウイルス配列によってヒトのエピゲノムが変化してきたことを発見！ --ヒトとチンパンジーのiPS細胞の比較解析から--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-10-12.Changes in the epigenome can affect the phenotype without the presence of changes in the genomic sequence. Given the high identity of the human and chimpanzee genome sequences, a substantial portion of their phenotypic divergence likely arises from epigenomic differences between the two species. In this study, the transcriptome and epigenome were determined for induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generated from human and chimpanzee individuals. The transcriptome and epigenomes for trimethylated histone H3 at lysine-4 (H3K4me3) and lysine-27 (H3K27me3) showed high levels of similarity between the two species. However, there were some differences in histone modifications. Although such regions, in general, did not show significant enrichment of interspecies nucleotide variations, gains in binding motifs for pluripotency-related transcription factors, especially POU5F1 and SOX2, were frequently found in species-specific H3K4me3 regions. We also revealed that species-specific insertions of retrotransposons, including the LTR5_Hs subfamily in human and a newly identified LTR5_Pt subfamily in chimpanzee, created species-specific H3K4me3 regions associated with increased expression of nearby genes. Human iPSCs have more species-specific H3K27me3 regions, resulting in more abundant bivalent domains. Only a limited number of these species-specific H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 regions overlap with species-biased enhancers in cranial neural crest cells, suggesting that differences in the epigenetic state of developmental enhancers appear late in development. Therefore, iPSCs serve as a suitable starting material for studying evolutionary changes in epigenome dynamics during development