Objective measurement of nine gaze-directions using an eye-tracking device

Purpose: To investigate the usefulness and efficacy of a novel eye-tracking device that can objectively measure nine gaze-directions. Methods: We measured each of the nine gaze-directions subjectively, using a conventional Hess screen test, and objectively, using the nine gaze-direction measuring device, and de-termined the correlation, addition error, and proportional error. We obtained two consecu-tive measurements of the nine gaze-directions using the newly developed device in healthy young people with exophoria and investigated the reproducibility of the measurements. We further measured the nine gaze-directions using a Hess screen test and the newly developed device in three subjects with cover test-based strabismus and compared the results. Results: We observed that the objective measurements obtained with the newly developed gaze-direction measuring device had significant correlation and addition error compared to the conventional subjective method, and we found no proportional error. These measure-ments had good reproducibility. Conclusion: The novel device can be used to observe delayed eye movement associated with limited eye movement in the affected eye, as well as the associated excessive movement of the healthy eye in patients with strabismus, similar to the Hess screen test. This is a useful device that can provide objective measurements of nine gaze-directions

Conformational Study of Polypeptide Chains Grafted on the Surface of Polylactide Latex Particle

Polylactide (PLA) latex particle covered with polypeptide chains were prepared by means of solvent exchange method from PLA and PLA-block-polypeptide block copolymer solutions. PLA segment of the block copolymer and PLA homopolymer formed a core of the particle, and the polypeptide segment of the block copolymer, which is designed as tightly fixed biodegradable emulsifier, formed corona around the particle surface. This picture was supported by the fact that zeta-potential of PLA latex particle covered with polypeptide segment was different from that of bare PLA particle because of the presence of the ionizable group in the polypeptide chains. To clarify the effect of the ionizable group on conformation of the polypeptide chain, the relation between the polypeptide chain length and the area occupied by the single block chain was evaluated. The result that the occupied area per a polypeptide chain was linearly increased with the increase in the polypeptide chain length indicates that the polypeptide chains trail on the particle surface and did not take helical structures

A Case of Severe Bronchial Asthma Controlled with Tacrolimus

Background. The control of severe bronchial asthma, such as corticosteroid-resistant asthma, is difficult. It is also possible that immunosuppressive agents would be effective for bronchial asthma. Case Summary. A 55-year-old Japanese female presented with severe bronchial asthma controlled with tacrolimus. She had been diagnosed with bronchial asthma during childhood. Her asthma worsened, and a chest radiograph showed atelectasis of the left lung. Bronchoscopy revealed the left main bronchus to be obstructed with viscous sputum consisting of 82% neutrophils and no eosinophils. The atelectasis did not improve with corticosteroid treatment, but was ameliorated by administration of tacrolimus. Discussion. This patient had severe asthma due to neutrophilic inflammation of the airways. Tacrolimus is effective for treating severe asthma, for example, in corticosteroid-resistant cases

Evacuation Shelter Scheduling Problem

Evacuation shelters, which are urgently required during natural disasters, are designed to minimize the burden of evacuation on human survivors. However, the larger the scale of the disaster, the more costly it becomes to operate shelters. When the number of evacuees decreases, the operation costs can be reduced by moving the remaining evacuees to other shelters and closing shelters as quickly as possible. On the other hand, relocation between shelters imposes a huge emotional burden on evacuees. In this study, we formulate the ``Evacuation Shelter Scheduling Problem,'' which allocates evacuees to shelters in such a way to minimize the movement costs of the evacuees and the operation costs of the shelters. Since it is difficult to solve this quadratic programming problem directly, we show its transformation into a 0-1 integer programming problem. In addition, such a formulation struggles to calculate the burden of relocating them from historical data because no payments are actually made. To solve this issue, we propose a method that estimates movement costs based on the numbers of evacuees and shelters during an actual disaster. Simulation experiments with records from the Kobe earthquake (Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake) showed that our proposed method reduced operation costs by 33.7 million dollars: 32%

School Families: A New Formulation of School District Planning Problem

This paper makes a plan to introduce school families. School families refer to a hierarchical system where the junior high school district encompasses the elementary school district. School families have the advantage of promoting efficient cooperation between elementary and junior high schools. Therefore, we formulated a new school district planning problem to introduce school families and created an optimal plan under changing population situations. Our formulation achieves school families by exploiting the continuity constraints of the school district. We also compare two different methods of reorganizing school districts in the simulation experiments: changing school districts by transferring current students in a given year (school-year method) and switching new students' schools over a multi-year period (birth-year method). We examined the cost and computation time of plans obtained with both methods and showed that the method combining the two provides the most significant cost savings

Effects of Target Size and Test Distance on Stereoacuity

Target size and test distance effects on stereoacuity were investigated in 24 subjects using a three-dimensional monitor. Examination 1: Target Size Effects. The test distance was 2.5 m for 0.1°, 0.2°, 0.5°, and 0.9° target sizes; crossed parallax was presented in 22-second units. Average stereoacuity values for 0.1°, 0.2°, 0.5°, and 0.9° target sizes were 59.58±14.86, 47.66±13.71, 41.25±15.95, and 39.41±15.52 seconds, respectively. Stereoacuity was significantly worse with a 0.1° target than with 0.2°, 0.5°, and 0.9° target sizes (P=0.03, P<0.0001, and P<0.0001, resp.). Examination 2: Test Distance Effects. Test distances of 2.5, 5.0, and 7.5 m were investigated for a 0.5° target size; crossed parallax was presented in 22-second units. Average stereoacuity values at 2.5 m, 5.0 m, and 7.5 m test distances were 44.91±16.16, 34.83±10.84, and 24.75±7.27 seconds, respectively. Stereoacuity at a 7.5 m distance was significantly better than at distances of 2.5 m and 5.0 m (P<0.0001 and P=0.02, resp.). Stereoacuity at a 5.0 m distance was significantly better than at 2.5 m (P=0.04). Stereoacuity should be estimated by both parallax and other elements, including test distance and target size

Long-term effects of prenatal undernutrition on female rat hypothalamic KNDy neurons

The nutritional environment during development periods induces metabolic programming, leading to metabolic disorders and detrimental influences on hum an reproductive health. This study aimed to determine the long-term adverse effect of in trauterine malnutrition on the reproductive center kisspeptin-neurokinin B-dynorphin A (KNDy) neurons in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARC) of female offspring. Twelve p regnant rats were divided into ad-lib-fed (control, n = 6) and 50% undernutrition (UN, n = 6) groups. The UN group was restricted to 50% daily food intake of the control dams from gestation day 9 until term delivery. Differences between the two groups in ter ms of various maternal parameters, including body weight (BW), pregnancy duration, and litter size, as well as birth weight, puberty onset, estrous cyclicity, pulsatile luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion, and hypothalamic gene expression of offspring, were determined. Female offspring of UN dams exhibited low BW from birth to 3 weeks, whereas UN offsp ring showed signs of precocious puberty; hypothalamic Tac3 (a neurokinin B gene) expression was increased in prepubertal UN offspring, and the BW at the virginal opening was lower in UN offspring than that in the control group. Interestingly, the UN offspring showed significant decreases in the number of KNDy gene-expressing cells after 29 weeks of age, but the number of ARC kisspeptin-immunoreactive cells, pulsatile LH secretions, and estrous cyclicity were comparable between the groups. In conclusion, intrauterine unde rnutrition induced various changes in KNDy gene expression depending on the life s tage. Thus, intrauterine undernutrition affected hypothalamic developmental programming in female rats

Pathophysiological relevance of sputum MUC5AC and MUC5B levels in patients with mild asthma

[Background] Airway mucus hypersecretion is an important pathophysiological feature of asthma. MUC5AC and MUC5B are the major secreted polymeric mucins in airways, and their compositions affect mucus properties. Despite the increasing appreciation of MUC5AC and MUC5B compositions in asthmatic airways, their pathophysiological relevance remains to be fully understood in humans. [Methods] In this cross-sectional study, we prospectively enrolled newly referred steroid-untreated patients with mild asthma and healthy controls. We compared induced sputum MUC5AC and MUC5B levels between patients and controls. Subsequently, we assessed the correlation between MUC5AC and MUC5B levels and clinical indices in patients. Sputum MUC5AC and MUC5B levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. [Results] Sputum MUC5AC and MUC5B levels were significantly higher in patients (n = 87) than in controls (n = 22) (p = 0.0002 and p = 0.006, respectively). The ratio of sputum MUC5AC to MUC5B tended to be higher in patients than in controls (p = 0.07). Sputum MUC5AC levels significantly and positively correlated with fractional exhaled nitric oxide at expiratory flow of 50 mL/s (Spearman's rho = 0.29, p = 0.006), sputum eosinophil proportion (rho = 0.34, p = 0.0013), and airway sensitivity (rho = 0.39, p = 0.0005). By contrast, sputum MUC5B levels significantly and positively correlated with airway sensitivity (rho = 0.35, p = 0.002) and negatively correlated with airway reactivity (rho = −0.33, p = 0.004). [Conclusions] Sputum MUC5AC is increased by protein levels and involved in airway type 2/eosinophilic inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness in steroid-untreated patients with mild asthma