Charts, signatures, and stabilizations of Lefschetz fibrations

We employ a certain labeled finite graph, called a chart, in a closed oriented surface for describing the monodromy of a(n achiral) Lefschetz fibration over the surface. Applying charts and their moves with respect to Wajnryb's presentation of mapping class groups, we first generalize a signature formula for Lefschetz fibrations over the 2-sphere obtained by Endo and Nagami to that for Lefschetz fibrations over arbitrary closed oriented surface. We then show two theorems on stabilization of Lefschetz fibrations under fiber summing with copies of a typical Lefschetz fibration as generalizations of a theorem of Auroux.Comment: 30 pages, 29 figures; (v2) a co-author added; (v3) proofs simplified, remarks and references added, typos corrected; (v4) symbols simplified, examples added, typos correcte

Pretreatment and conversion of woody biomass by hydrothermal reaction

解

Selective production of valuable chemicals from biomass by two-step conversion combining pre-oxidation and hydrothermal degradation

Biomass is getting notable as a new energy resource to replace fossil resources and to restrain CO₂ emission recently. However, it is obvious that the energy use of biomass is unsuitable for its limit of available amounts. Consequently, we investigated the possibility of new refinery scheme of biomass to utilize biomass as an alternative raw material to fossil resources with suggested two-step treatment method. We oxidized cellulose and biomass with H₂O₂ first and put the residue into hydrothermal condition to obtain some specific chemicals. Through the first oxidation of cellulose, 0.26 g/g-cellulose of organic acid was obtained, and 0.35 g/g-cellulose of oxalic acid was obtained under the catalytic condition. Both cedar and cellulose decreased their crystallinity through the first oxidation and increased their reactivity, we could obtain hydroxymethylfurfural(HMF) from cellulose and biomass through the hydrothermal degradation, 0.11 g/g-cellulose and 0.12 g/g-cedar respectively

Saccharification of lignocellulosic biomass under mild condition using ionic liquid

Biomass is expected to be an alternative resource to fossil resources. In this study, the development of a biomass conversion method into the valuable chemical, reducing sugar, was examined. For the conversion, thermochemical technology was focused on for its advantage of short reaction time, and ionic liquid was focused on as a reagent to overcome the unpreferable disadvantage of thermochemical technology, which is the low selectivity. Cedar and crystalline cellulose were pretreated with ionic liquid for reforming into desirable precursors of reducing sugar. Especially when they were pretreated by 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium methylphosphonate at 150°C for 1 h, the pretreatment worked effectively by decreasing the crystallinity of samples. Pretreated cedar and crystalline cellulose were converted into reducing sugar under hydrothermal conditions, respectively, by 39 C-% and 90 C-%. Recovery of ionic liquid was also examined. When cedar was used as a material, lignin was dissolved into ionic liquid through pretreatment, which was undesirable because of difficult separation thereof. When crystalline cellulose was used as a material, 98.3% of the ionic liquid was recovered after the conversion with the highest yield of reducing sugar (90 C-%)

Feasibility and Efficacy of Definitive Radiotherapy with 66 Gy and Concurrent Carboplatin-Paclitaxel Chemotherapy for Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Purpose/Objectives : This study was conducted to assess the feasibility and efficacy of definitive radiotherapy (RT) with a total dose of 66 Gy and concurrent carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy for patients (pts) with stage Ⅲ non-small celllung cancer. Materials/Methods : Between April 2007 and December 2013，99 pts with non-small cell lung cancer were treated using RT with concurrent carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy in our hospital. Sixty-eight of them received RT with a total dose of 66 Gy. We analyzed 46 Stage Ⅲ pts who had been treated with RT using three-dimensional radiotherapy treatment planning. The prophylactic mediastinal lymph nodes were included in the clinical target volume for RT. The survival rate after the start of RT was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. We estimated the cumulative local failure and distant metastasis rates with the Fine-Gray method. Adverse events were evaluated according to the CTCAE (v.4.0). Results : The median age of the pts was 70.9 (52.8-78.7) years old (y.o.). The performance status (PS) of each pt was fairly good (ECOG PS 0: 25, PS 1: 20, PS 3:1), and their clinical stages (UICC 7th) were twenty-nine Ⅲ A and seventeen Ⅲ B. Diagnoses were pathologically confirmed in 32 pts. The median follow-up period was 35.7 (2.0-82.2) months among all pts, and 55.9 (40.1-82.2) months among survivors. The 3- and 5-year Kaplan-Meier overall survival rates were 52.2 and 34.0%，respectively, and the median survival time was 36.6 months. The 3- and 5-year Kaplan-Meier progression-free survival rates were 29.1 and 21.9%，respectively, and the median progression-free survival time was 9.9 months. The 5-year local failure rate was 37.6%, and the 5-year distant metastasis rate was 49.7%. Sixteen (34.8%) pts required steroid administration because of radiation pneumonitis (CTCAE Grade 2 or higher) and two of them died (Grade 5). No other severe non-hematologic toxicity (Grade 3 or higher) was observed. Conclusion : These results suggest that definitive RT with a total dose of 66 Gy and concurrent carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy is feasible and may be promising for pts with Stage Ⅲ non-small cell lung cancer

Effect of nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium fertilizations on the yield and quality of Fj-hybrid tomato seed

The effect of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and calcium (Ca) fertilizations on the seed yield and quality of F ^hybrid tomato seed grown by NFT were investigated. Higher N application (8 me/I) at the onset of flowering increased seed yield. Increasing N level at later growth stage increased seed yield of upper cluster, therefore total seed per plant also high. Four me/I ofCa level combined with 8 me/I ofP level increased in the weight of fruit and seed. However, at the case of 8 me/I ofCa, increasing P level declined fruit and seed yield severely. Especially when both P and Ca level were high (8 me/I), fruit and seed yield markedly decreased into about 60 %. Effect ofN content in the seed will reflect to the N compounds constituent there and consequently may influence seed germination. Keywords: F-hybrid tomato seed production - nutrient film technique (NFT) - nitrogen - phosphorus - calcium â

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Macaque Monkeys Performing Visually Guided Saccade Tasks Comparison of Cortical Eye Fields with Humans

AbstractThe frontal and parietal eye fields serve as functional landmarks of the primate brain, although their correspondences between humans and macaque monkeys remain unclear. We conducted fMRI at 4.7 T in monkeys performing visually-guided saccade tasks and compared brain activations with those in humans using identical paradigms. Among multiple parietal activations, the dorsal lateral intraparietal area in monkeys and an area in the posterior superior parietal lobule in humans exhibited the highest selectivity to saccade directions. In the frontal cortex, the selectivity was highest at the junction of the precentral and superior frontal sulci in humans and in the frontal eye field (FEF) in monkeys. BOLD activation peaks were also found in premotor areas (BA6) in monkeys, which suggests that the apparent discrepancy in location between putative human FEF (BA6, suggested by imaging studies) and monkey FEF (BA8, identified by microstimulation studies) partly arose from methodological differences

Ⅲ期非小細胞肺癌に対するカルボプラチン・パクリタキセル同時併用66Gy放射線治療の安全性と有効性について

Purpose/Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the feasibility and efficacy of definitive radiotherapy (RT) with a total dose of 66Gy and concurrent carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy for patients (pts) with stage Ⅲ non-small cell lung cancer. Materials/Methods: Between April 2007 and December 2013, 99 pts with non-small cell lung cancer were treated by RT with concurrent carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy in our hospital. Sixty-eight of them received RT with a total dose of 66Gy. We analyzed 46 Stage Ⅲ pts who had been treated with RT using three-dimensional radiotherapy treatment planning. The prophylactic mediastinal lymph nodes were included in the clinical target volume of RT. The survival rate after the beginning of RT was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. We estimated the cumulative local failure and distant metastasis rates with the Fine-Gray method. Adverse events were evaluated according to the CTCAE (v.4.0). Results: The median age of the pts was 70.9 (52.8-78.7) years old (y.o.). The performance status (PS) of each pt was fairly good (ECOG PS 0: 25, PS 1: 20, PS3:1), and clinical stages (UICC 7th) consisted of twenty-nine ⅢA and seventeen ⅢB. Diagnoses were pathologically confirmed in 32　pts. The median follow-up period　was 35.7 (2.0-82.2) months among all pts, and 55.9 (40.1-82.2) months among survivors. The 3- and 5-year　Kaplan-Meier overall survival rates were 52.2 and 34.0%, respectively, and the median survival time was 36.6 months. The 3- and 5-year Kaplan-Meier progression-free survival rates were 29.1 and 21.9%, respectively, and the median progression-free survival time was 9.9 months. The 5-year local failure rate was 37.6%, and the 5-year distant metastasis rate was 49.7%. Sixteen (34.8%) pts required steroid administration because of radiation pneumonitis (CTCAE Grade 2 or higher) and two of them died (Grade 5). No other severe non-hematologic toxicity (Grade 3 or higher) was observed. Conclusion: These results suggest that definitive RT with a total dose of 66Gy and concurrent carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy is feasible and may be promising for pts with Stage Ⅲ non-small cell lung cancer.博士（医学）・甲第663号・平成29年3月15

Salvage brachytherapy for seminal vesicle recurrence after initial brachytherapy for prostate cancer: a case report

BACKGROUND: To report the efficacy and safety of salvage brachytherapy for seminal vesicle recurrence after initial brachytherapy in a patient with prostate cancer. As far as we know, this is a first report of salvage brachytherapy for seminal vesicle recurrence in Japan. CASE PRESENTATION: A 70-year-old Japanese man with low-risk prostate cancer received low-dose-rate brachytherapy. Forty-two months after the seed implantation, he showed biochemical recurrence based on the nadir + 2 ng/mL definition. The prostate specific antigen (PSA) level was 5.11 ng/mL at 58 months after seed implantation. A saturation biopsy of the prostate showed no recurrence. Systemic screening also showed no distant metastases. However, T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated a low intensity area at the base of the right seminal vesicle, which was strongly suggestive of recurrence. Sixty months after the initial therapy, a seminal vesicle biopsy confirmed recurrence with a Gleason score of 4 + 3 before salvage brachytherapy was performed. The prescribed dose was 145 Gy, the same as the dose of the initial therapy. One month later, the PSA level had rapidly declined to 0.898 ng/mL without androgen deprivation therapy. Ten months after the salvage brachytherapy, the PSA level reached 0.078 ng/mL. No adverse events were seen during the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: We experienced a patient who was successfully treated with salvage brachytherapy for seminal vesicle recurrence. Salvage brachytherapy is one of the promising therapeutic options for recurrence after initial brachytherapy