Evaluation of bone mineral density and bone strength in autochthonous transgenic model mice for diabetes mellitus (Akita mice)

AbstractObjectivesDiabetes mellitus (DM) causes secondary osteoporosis, which reduces bone mineral density (BMD) and bone strength. Akita mice (AM) are DM model mice used to evaluate glucose metabolism. However, bone metabolism in AM remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate BMD, bone strength, and serum sclerostin levels in AM.MethodsFemale AM and control mice (C57/BL/6NCrSlc; CM) were divided into four groups: (1) a CM group sacrificed at 14 (CM-14w; n = 8) or (2) 18 weeks of age (CM-18w; n = 6); and (3) an AM group sacrificed at 14 (AM-14w; n = 9) or (4) 18 weeks of age (AM-18w; n = 6). Blood glucose level, serum sclerostin level, total tibial BMD, and femoral shaft bone strength were evaluated at each time point.ResultsBlood glucose levels were significantly higher in AM than in CM (p < 0.001). Serum sclerostin levels were significantly lower in AM-18w than in CM-18w (p < 0.001). BMD was significantly lower in AM-14w than in CM-14w (p = 0.004). Stiffness of the femoral shaft was significantly lower in AM-18w than in CM-14w (p = 0.04). Body weight (r = 0.608, p < 0.01) and maximum load (r = 0.438, p < 0.05) were significantly positively correlated with serum sclerostin levels, while blood glucose levels showed a significant negative correlation (r = −0.708, p < 0.01).ConclusionsAM showed decreased BMD and bone strength with lower levels of serum sclerostin than CM

Risk factors for unsuccessful removal of central venous access ports implanted in the forearm of adult oncologic patients

Purpose: To evaluate the risk factors for unsuccessful removal of a central venous access port (CV port) implanted in the forearm of adult oncologic patients. Materials and methods: This study included 97 adult oncologic patients (51 males, 46 females; age range, 30–88 years; mean age, 63.7 years) in whom removal of a CV port implanted in the forearm was attempted at our hospital between January 2015 and May 2021. Gender, age at removal, body mass index, and diagnosis were examined as patient characteristics; and indwelling period, indwelling side, and indication for removal were examined as factors associated with removal of a CV port. These variables were compared between successful and unsuccessful cases using univariate analysis. Then, multivariate analysis was performed to identify independent risk factors for unsuccessful removal of a CV port using variables with a significant difference in the univariate analysis. A receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curve was drawn for significant risk factors in the multivariate analysis and the Youden index was used to determine the optimum cut-off value for predicting unsuccessful removal of a CV port. Results: Removal of CV ports was successful in 79 cases (81.4%), but unsuccessful in 18 cases (18.6%) due to fixation of the catheter to the vessel wall. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the indwelling period (odds ratio 1.048; 95% confidence interval 1.026–1.070; P  60 months had unsuccessful removal. Conclusion: The indwelling period is an independent risk factor for unsuccessful removal of a CV port implanted in the forearm of adult oncologic patients, with a cut-off of 41 months

Detection and in situ switching of unreversed interfacial antiferromagnetic spins in a perpendicular-exchange-biased system

By using the perpendicular-exchange-biased Pt/Co/α-Cr₂O₃ system, we provide experimental evidence that the unreversed uncompensated Cr spins exist at the Co/α-Cr₂O₃ interface. The unreversed uncompensated Cr spin manifests itself in both the vertical shift of an element-specific magnetization curve and the relative peak intensity of soft-x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectrum. We also demonstrate an in situ switching of the interfacial Cr spins and correspondingly a reversal of the exchange bias without interfacial atomic diffusion. Such switching shows the direct relationship between the interfacial antiferromagnetic spins and origin of the exchange bias. The demonstrated switching of exchange bias would likely offer a new design of advanced spintronics devices, using the perpendicular-exchange-biased system, with low power consumption and ultrafast operation.Y.Shiratsuchi, H.Noutomi, H.Oikawa, et al. Detection and in situ switching of unreversed interfacial antiferromagnetic spins in a perpendicular-exchange-biased system. Physical Review Letters 109, 077202 (2012); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.077202

Percutaneous drainage of psoas and iliopsoas muscle abscesses with a one-step technique under real-time computed tomography fluoroscopic guidance

PURPOSE : To evaluate the utility and safety of drainage catheter installation for psoas/iliopsoas muscle abscesses using a one-step technique under the guidance of real-time computed tomography (CT) fluoroscopy. MATERIALS and METHODS : Ten psoas or iliopsoas muscle abscesses in 7 patients that were treated with percutaneous drainage were included in this study. All drainage procedures were carried out using a one-step technique under real-time CT fluoroscopic guidance. RESULTS : The drainage catheter insertion was performed successfully with the one-step technique in all lesions. Improvements in the patients’ symptoms and blood test results were seen after the drainage procedure in all cases. In addition, postoperative CT scans demonstrated that the abscesses had reduced in size or disappeared in all but one patient, who was transferred to another institution while the drainage catheter was still in place. No major complications were seen in any case. CONCLUSION : The one-step procedure is simple to perform. The percutaneous drainage of psoas or iliopsoas muscle abscesses with the one-step technique under real-time CT fluoroscopic guidance is accurate and safe. Moreover, compared with the two-step technique the one-step procedure results in a shorter drainage procedure and exposes the patient and operator to lower amounts of radiation

コウセイシ カスケード モデル ニヨル KP オヨビ πP ショウトツ ニオケル チャーム ハドロン ノ セイセイ

We investigate the meson, baryon and anti-baryon productions in Kp and πp collisions in terms of the constituent cascade model which includes charm flavour. We compare our predicted spectra of charmed hadrons with the experimental data. Our model sugests the different leading particle effects on D mesons between π^+ and π^- beams

Search for Cosmic-ray Boosted Sub-GeV Dark Matter using Recoil Protons at Super-Kamiokande

We report a search for cosmic-ray boosted dark matter with protons using the 0.37 megaton$\times$years data collected at Super-Kamiokande experiment during the 1996-2018 period (SKI-IV phase). We searched for an excess of proton recoils above the atmospheric neutrino background from the vicinity of the Galactic Center. No such excess is observed, and limits are calculated for two reference models of dark matter with either a constant interaction cross-section or through a scalar mediator. This is the first experimental search for boosted dark matter with hadrons using directional information. The results present the most stringent limits on cosmic-ray boosted dark matter and exclude the dark matter-nucleon elastic scattering cross-section between $10^{-33}\text{ cm}^{-2}$ and $10^{-27}\text{ cm}^{-2}$ for dark matter mass from 10 MeV/$c^2$ to 1 GeV/$c^2$.Comment: With 1-page appendi

Search for astrophysical electron antineutrinos in Super-Kamiokande with 0.01wt% gadolinium-loaded water

We report the first search result for the flux of astrophysical electron antineutrinos for energies O(10) MeV in the gadolinium-loaded Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector. In June 2020, gadolinium was introduced to the ultra-pure water of the SK detector in order to detect neutrons more efficiently. In this new experimental phase, SK-Gd, we can search for electron antineutrinos via inverse beta decay with efficient background rejection and higher signal efficiency thanks to the high efficiency of the neutron tagging technique. In this paper, we report the result for the initial stage of SK-Gd with a $22.5\times552$ $\rm kton\cdot day$ exposure at 0.01% Gd mass concentration. No significant excess over the expected background in the observed events is found for the neutrino energies below 31.3 MeV. Thus, the flux upper limits are placed at the 90% confidence level. The limits and sensitivities are already comparable with the previous SK result with pure-water ($22.5 \times 2970 \rm kton\cdot day$) owing to the enhanced neutron tagging

Measurements of the charge ratio and polarization of cosmic-ray muons with the Super-Kamiokande detector

We present the results of the charge ratio ($R$) and polarization ($P^{\mu}_{0}$) measurements using the decay electron events collected from 2008 September to 2022 June by the Super-Kamiokande detector. Because of its underground location and long operation, we performed high precision measurements by accumulating cosmic-ray muons. We measured the muon charge ratio to be $R=1.32 \pm 0.02$ $(\mathrm{stat.}{+}\mathrm{syst.})$ at $E_{\mu}\cos \theta_{\mathrm{Zenith}}=0.7^{+0.3}_{-0.2}$ $\mathrm{TeV}$, where $E_{\mu}$ is the muon energy and $\theta_{\mathrm{Zenith}}$ is the zenith angle of incoming cosmic-ray muons. This result is consistent with the Honda flux model while this suggests a tension with the $\pi K$ model of $1.9\sigma$. We also measured the muon polarization at the production location to be $P^{\mu}_{0}=0.52 \pm 0.02$ $(\mathrm{stat.}{+}\mathrm{syst.})$ at the muon momentum of $0.9^{+0.6}_{-0.1}$ $\mathrm{TeV}/c$ at the surface of the mountain; this also suggests a tension with the Honda flux model of $1.5\sigma$. This is the most precise measurement ever to experimentally determine the cosmic-ray muon polarization near $1~\mathrm{TeV}/c$. These measurement results are useful to improve the atmospheric neutrino simulations.Comment: 29 pages, 45 figure

Measurement of the cosmogenic neutron yield in Super-Kamiokande with gadolinium loaded water

Cosmic-ray muons that enter the Super-Kamiokande detector cause hadronic showers due to spallation in water, producing neutrons and radioactive isotopes. Those are a major background source for studies of MeV-scale neutrinos and searches for rare events. Since 2020, gadolinium was introduced in the ultra-pure water in the Super-Kamiokande detector to improve the detection efficiency of neutrons. In this study, the cosmogenic neutron yield was measured using data acquired during the period after the gadolinium loading. The yield was found to be $(2.76 \pm 0.02\,\mathrm{(stat.) \pm 0.19\,\mathrm{(syst.)}}) \times 10^{-4}\,\mu^{-1} \mathrm{g^{-1} cm^{2}}$ at 259 GeV of average muon energy at the Super-Kamiokande detector.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 3 table