78 research outputs found
A Study on Disassemblability and Feasibility of Component Reuse of Mobile Phones
AbstractReuse is a good way to prolong product life and reduce environmental impact due to production. When the whole product cannot be reused, reuse of components might be the option. Mobile phone is a product in which technological progresses are made every year. Components of mobile phones often have high qualities. Such components may have good functionalities after the lives of the phones themselves. This paper focuses on mobile phone components and tries to find the feasibility of reuse. Because of the functionality of the component, the paper selects liquid crystal display (LCD) as the target of reuse. Firstly, disassemble experiments are carried out to clarify disassemble time and bottlenecks of dismantling. Secondly, design improvements to enhance disassemblability are discussed. Then, by comparing LCDs of mobile phones with target products, technological feasibility is examined. Finally, the paper concludes component reuse of LCD can be feasible by implementing design for disassembly
Accurate determination of the absolute 3He/4He ratio of a synthesized helium standard gas (Helium Standard of Japan, HESJ): Towards revision of the atmospheric 3He/4He ratio
The helium standard of Japan, referred to as HESJ, is an inter-laboratory
standard for the 3He/4He ratio. While the ratio of 3He and 4He of the HESJ was
previously determined by a relative comparison to atmospheric helium, the
absolute value of the 3He/4He ratio of the HESJ has not been directly
determined yet. Therefore, it relies on the early measurements of that of
atmospheric helium. The accuracy of the absolute 3He/4He ratios of the
atmosphere and other working standards including HESJ is crucial in some
applications of helium isotopes, such as tritium-3He dating, surface-exposure
age determination based on cosmogenic 3He, and the accurate measurement of the
neutron lifetime. In this work, new control samples of helium gases with
3He/4He ratios of 14, 28, and 42 ppm were fabricated with accuracy of
0.25-0.38% using a gas-handling system for a neutron lifetime experiment at
Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). The relative 3He/4He ratios
of these samples and the HESJ were measured using a magnetic-sector-type,
single-focusing, noble gas mass spectrometer with a double collector system. As
a result, the absolute 3He/4He ratio of the HESJ was determined as 27.36 +/-
0.11 ppm. The atmospheric 3He/4He ratio was determined as 1.340 +/- 0.006 ppm,
based on this work.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, 4 table
Serious hazards of transfusion: evaluating the dangers of a wrong patient autologous salvaged blood in cardiac surgery.
BACKGROUND: The past half century has seen the near eradication of transfusion-associated hazards. Intraoperative cell salvage while widely used still poses significant risks and hazards due to human error. We report on a case in which blood collected from a patient with lung cancer was mistakenly administered to a patient undergoing cardiac surgery who should have received his own collected blood. The initial investigation found that the cause of the patient harm was violations of procedures by hospital personnel. A detailed investigation revealed that not only violations were the cause, but also that the underlying causes included haphazard organizational policies, poor communication, workload and staffing deficiencies, human factors and cultural challenges.
CASE PRESENTATION: On August 14, 2019, a 72-year-old male was admitted to our hospital for angina pectoris and multivessel coronary artery disease. Cardiac surgery was performed using an autologous salvage blood collection system, and there were no major problems other than the prolonged operation time. During the night after the surgery, when the patient\u27s blood pressure dropped, a nurse retrieved a blood bag from the ICU refrigerator that had been collected during the surgery and administered it at the physician\u27s direction, but at this time neither the physician nor the nurse performed the required checking procedures. The blood administered was another patient\u27s blood taken from another surgery the day before; an ABO mismatch transfusion occurred and the patient was diagnosed with DIC. The patient was discharged 65 days later after numerous interventions to support the patient. An accident investigation committee was convened to analyze the root causes and develop countermeasures to prevent a recurrence.
CONCLUSION: This adverse event occurred because the protocol for intraoperative blood salvage management was not clearly defined, and the procedure was different from the standard transfusion practices. We developed a new workflow based on a human factors grounded, systems-wide improvement strategy in which intraoperative blood collection would be administered before the patient leaves the operating room to completely prevent recurrence, instead of simply requiring front-line staff to do a double-check. Implementing strong systems processes can reduce the risk of errors, improve the reliability of the work processes and reduce the likelihood of patient harm occurring in the future
Mad2 inhibits the mitotic kinesin MKlp2
The mitotic checkpoint protein Mad2 halts cell division by interfering with MKlp2-mediated relocation of the chromosome passenger complex from centromeres to the mitotic spindle
Exhaustion of nucleus pulposus progenitor cells with ageing and degeneration of the intervertebral disc.
Despite the high prevalence of intervertebral disc disease, little is known about changes in intervertebral disc cells and their regenerative potential with ageing and intervertebral disc degeneration. Here we identify populations of progenitor cells that are Tie2 positive (Tie2+) and disialoganglioside 2 positive (GD2+), in the nucleus pulposus from mice and humans. These cells form spheroid colonies that express type II collagen and aggrecan. They are clonally multipotent and differentiated into mesenchymal lineages and induced reorganization of nucleus pulposus tissue when transplanted into non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient mice. The frequency of Tie2+ cells in tissues from patients decreases markedly with age and degeneration of the intervertebral disc, suggesting exhaustion of their capacity for regeneration. However, progenitor cells (Tie2+GD2+) can be induced from their precursor cells (Tie2+GD2-) under simple culture conditions. Moreover, angiopoietin-1, a ligand of Tie2, is crucial for the survival of nucleus pulposus cells. Our results offer insights for regenerative therapy and a new diagnostic standard
Hepatectomy for rapidly growing solitary liver metastasis from non-small cell lung cancer: a case report
BackgroundPatients with liver metastasis from non-small lung cancer (NSCLC) usually have multiple metastases at other sites and thus rarely undergo liver surgery. We present a case involving successful resection of rapidly growing liver metastasis from squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.Case presentationA 74-year-old man had undergone left lower lobectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, which was diagnosed pathologically as stage IA. A computed tomography (CT) scan that was taken 12 months after lung resection showed an irregularly shaped mass lesion (size, 8.3 cm) in segment five of the liver. Retrospectively, the mass was identifiable on CT 6 months before this initial recognition. Although the lesion showed rapid growth, positron emission tomography and brain magnetic resonance imaging ruled out the possibility of other metastatic lesions. Therefore, we performed right hepatectomy 14 months after the initial lung surgery. The patient was pathologically diagnosed with liver metastasis from lung cancer and has remained free from recurrence 41 months after the liver surgery, without receiving any adjuvant chemotherapy.ConclusionsAlthough there is no reliable clinical indicator for selecting oligo-recurrence, hepatectomy could be an option for solitary liver metastasis from NSCLC for patients who are in good health
Fundamental physics activities with pulsed neutron at J-PARC(BL05)
"Neutron Optics and Physics (NOP/ BL05)" at MLF in J-PARC is a beamline for
studies of fundamental physics. The beamline is divided into three branches so
that different experiments can be performed in parallel. These beam branches
are being used to develop a variety of new projects. We are developing an
experimental project to measure the neutron lifetime with total uncertainty of
1 s (0.1%). The neutron lifetime is an important parameter in elementary
particle and astrophysics. Thus far, the neutron lifetime has been measured by
several groups; however, different values are obtained from different
measurement methods. This experiment is using a method with different sources
of systematic uncertainty than measurements conducted to date. We are also
developing a source of pulsed ultra-cold neutrons (UCNs) produced from a
Doppler shifter are available at the unpolarized beam branch. We are developing
a time focusing device for UCNs, a so called "rebuncher", which can increase
UCN density from a pulsed UCN source. At the low divergence beam branch, an
experiment to search an unknown intermediate force with nanometer range is
performed by measuring the angular dependence of neutron scattering by noble
gases. Finally the beamline is also used for the research and development of
optical elements and detectors. For example, a position sensitive neutron
detector that uses emulsion to achieve sub-micrometer resolution is currently
under development. We have succeeded in detecting cold and ultra-cold neutrons
using the emulsion detector.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of International Conference on
Neutron Optics (NOP2017
Surgical outcome of laparoscopic hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma: A matched case–control study with propensity score matching
Background: Although the number of reports on laparoscopic hepatic resection (LHR) has increased, studies of long-term outcomes regarding tumor recurrence and patient survival compared to the conventional open approach are limited. We evaluated the long-term survival and feasibility of LHR in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Patients and Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of patients who underwent hepatic resection for primary HCC between August 2000 and December 2013. The patients were divided into the LHR or open hepatic resection (OHR) groups. To control for selection bias in the two groups, propensity score matching was used at a 1:1 ratio based on the following covariates: Child–Pugh grade, tumour size, tumour number and tumour location. Following propensity score matching, thirty patients were included in the LHR group and thirty were included in the OHR group.
Results: The respective disease-free survival rates at 1 year, 3 years and 5 years were 78.4%, 61.1% and 38.9%, respectively, for the LHR group, and 89.3%, 57.5% and 47.9%, respectively, for the OHR group (P = 0.89). Also, the overall survival rates at 1 year, 3 years and 5 years were 96.4%, 68.2% and 62.5%, respectively, for the LHR group and 100.0%, 95.8% and 72.3%, respectively, for the OHR group (P = 0.44).
Conclusions: According to our study, using propensity score matching, LHR for HCC is safe, feasible and comparative, with good oncologic results
- …