クカンブ カクサン キョウチョウ MRI ガゾウ ノ リンショウ オウヨウ ト ユウヨウセイ

Recently the usefulness of diffusion-weighted MR imaging（DWI）in the body regions was reported in several studies. Various malignant tumors may show high signal intensity on DWI reflecting their high cellularity. Quantitative measurement of apparent diffusion coefficient（ADC）may be of value in distinguishing between benign and malignant tumors. We reviewed clinical application of body DWI in various diseases in this article

Difference of signal change by a language task on autistic patients using functional MRI

[Objective] Cerebral function with a language task was evaluated by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and the differences of activated pattern and signal changes were compared between autistic patients and normal controls. [Methods] Ten autistic and ten normal subjects were tested by fMRI with a language task requiring the attribution of complex mental states. Activation maps analyzed between two groups were generated and the asymmetry indexes calculated by the quotient of activated pixels of the right frontal lobe divided by those of the left frontal lobe were statistically compared by unpaired t-test. [Results] Both the autistic and the normal subjects showed activation at the bilateral prefrontal cortical areas and the ventral occipito-temporal regions. However, the autistic patients demonstrated more activation at the right frontal lobe than the normal controls. Thus it was considered that in the autistic patients the right-hemisphere was more dominant for the language task than that of the normal controls. The result is consist to the theory that autism is related to early left-hemisphere dysfunction. [Conclusions] We considered that fMRI may be a useful non-invasive method to evaluate the cerebral functional abnormality in autistic patients

ノウソッチュウ チョウキュウセイキ ニオケル ガゾウ シンダン プロトコール

We described our imaging protocol for apoplexy to select a therapeutic way. The recent advance of MR technology much contributes to diagnosis of cerebral ischemic disease. Especially the EPI method is now applied to clinical MR machine and make possible to obtain diffusion-weighted images (DWI) with excellent quality, which can detect super-acute phase of cerebral infarction. Then we choose MRI as the first modality conducted for patients of apoplexy and measured DWI and perfusion MRI before conducting conventional cerebral angiography. The mismatch area between DWI and perfusion MRI will suggest the necessity of re-circulation therapy because rescuable neuronal cells from ischemia will exist in the mismatch area. Furthermore cerebral hemorrhage can be detected using EPI-T2 weighted images and DWI, and the luxury perfusion will be also evaluated by perfusion MRI. Therefore we considered that MR examination could be the first modality conducted for diagnosis of cerebral vascular accident of acute phase

Basic study of new diagnostic modality according to noninvasive measurement of the electrical conductivity of tissues

The purposes of this study were to estimate the electrical conductivity of tissues by non-invasively measuring the electrical bio-impedance, to develop a new method for tissue diagnosis, i.e., electrical impedance tomography (EIT). Tissue models were first designed taking into consideration the distribution of the fat tissue, muscle and bone in the human forearm, and then the intra-tissue distributions of electrical potential and field, and the electrical impedance in the models was theoretically analyzed by the three-dimensional finite element method. The electrical impedance of both forearms was measured in healthy human subjects, and estimated the electrical conductivity of individual local tissues. The results of the analysis showed that the distributions of electrical potential and field were affected by the presence of fat tissue but not by the presence or absence of bone. In addition, as a result of calculation of the electrical resistance of the extracellular fluid (Re) in each model, it was found that the value of bio-impedance was influenced by the presence of fat tissue, and the value of bio-impedance was increased by the intervention of a fat layer. The electrical conductivity estimated by fitting the observed values to the values obtained by finite element analysis was 0.40 S/m and 0.15 S/m for male muscle and fat tissue, and 0.35 S/m and 0.11 S/m for female muscle and fat tissue, respectively. The sex difference in the slope of linear approximation in the estimation of electrical conductivity of the males and females was thought to be due to sex differences in the properties and structure of fat tissue. These results suggest that local tissues can be diagnosed differentially and electrically by percutaneous measurement of local bio-impedance and subsequent estimation of the electrical conductivity of each tissue

ナンシツFRPライニングコウホウ ニ ヨル カイスイロ ノ ソドケイスウ

老朽化水路の補修に用いる軟質FRPライニング板を実験用開水路に設置し,粗度係数の測定を行った。その結果,補修水路の粗度係数は0.0094であり,新設コンクリート水路に勝る通水機能を有することが明らかになった。また,粗度係数は,流速,径深との関係よりも,動水勾配との相関が最も大きかったことから,勾配の変化に対して粗度係数も変化することが示された。一方,流量の指標であるレイノルズ数と粗度係数の関係を検討したところ,レイノルズ数の増加に伴って粗度係数の変動が大きくなる傾向を示した。以上のことから,粗度係数は,流況や現場の地形要素に影響を受けて変化することから,補修板による水路補修を考える場合,これらの指標をふまえて適切な粗度係数を適用する必要がある。A flexible fiber-reinforced plastic lining that is used for repairing deteriorated water channel was installed in an experimental water channel to examine the effect of such repair on flow in the channel. Manning\u27s roughness coefficient, which is an indicator of the smoothness of flow, was used in the examination. The measured roughness coefficient of the repaired channel was 0.0094, which is lower than in a newly constructed concrete channel. This shows that the water flow after such a repair is smoother than in a newly constructed concrete channel. The influence of flow velocity, channel depth and hydraulic gradient on the roughness coefficient was examined. Changes in the roughness coefficient were found to correlate most closely with changes in the hydraulic gradient, i.e., channel gradient has the greatest influence on the smoothness of the water flow. The relationship between roughness coefficient and Reynolds number (an index of discharge) was examined. The greater is the Reynolds number, the greater is the dispersion in roughness coefficient for different discharges. This shows that the roughness coefficient is influenced by topography and flow regime at repair sites. When determining the roughness coefficient for a repair site, it is necessary to consider the topography and flow regime

ハイブリッドガタヒーティングソウチ ノ カイハツ ト ロードヒーティングヘノテキヨウセイ ニ カンスル ケンキュウ

積雪寒冷地では,歩道を含む道路の雪対策として,幾つかの種類のロードヒーティングが行われているが,運用に際してはランニングコストが安くともイニシャルコストが高い,またはその逆といった財政的な要因があるため,広く普及していないのが現状である。本研究では,温泉排水を利用することを前提に,安価な金属パイプに液化ガスを封入した簡易なハイブリッド型ヒーティング装置を製作し,室内での昇温実験および融雪実験を行った。その結果,封入する液化ガスとして代替フロンHFC-R407Cおよび液化石油ガスLPGの2種類について検討したところ,HFC-R407Cの昇温効果が優れていたこと,金属パイプを蛇行させることでパイプ温度が距離によらず均一になったこと,舗装体内に埋設するにあたっては,加熱部は放熱部よりも下方に位置し,放熱部は2°以上の勾配を持たせて設置させる必要があること,熱源に温水を用いることでロードヒーティングに必要な融雪熱量が得られることがわかった。Some kinds of road heating systems are applied as one of the snow disaster-countermeasures for roads including side-walks in snowy areas. However, the road heating system is not used widely because of the initial cost. The running cost is low but the initial cost is very high. In this study, on the assumption that the drainage water from hot spring is applicable for road heating, a simple hybrid heating device with metal pipes in which liquefied gas was infused was developed, and the temperature rising test and the snow melting test using the hybrid heating device were carried out in a laboratory. As a result, it was confirmed that the heating device developed in this study had enough snow melting ability for road heating

ハイブリッドガタヒーティングソウチ ノ カイハツ ト ロードヒーティングヘノテキヨウセイ ニ カンスル ケンキュウ

積雪寒冷地では,歩道を含む道路の雪対策として,幾つかの種類のロードヒーティングが行われているが,運用に際してはランニングコストが安くともイニシャルコストが高い,またはその逆といった財政的な要因があるため,広く普及していないのが現状である。本研究では,温泉排水を利用することを前提に,安価な金属パイプに液化ガスを封入した簡易なハイブリッド型ヒーティング装置を製作し,室内での昇温実験および融雪実験を行った。その結果,封入する液化ガスとして代替フロンHFC-R407Cおよび液化石油ガスLPGの2種類について検討したところ,HFC-R407Cの昇温効果が優れていたこと,金属パイプを蛇行させることでパイプ温度が距離によらず均一になったこと,舗装体内に埋設するにあたっては,加熱部は放熱部よりも下方に位置し,放熱部は2°以上の勾配を持たせて設置させる必要があること,熱源に温水を用いることでロードヒーティングに必要な融雪熱量が得られることがわかった。Some kinds of road heating systems are applied as one of the snow disaster-countermeasures for roads including side-walks in snowy areas. However, the road heating system is not used widely because of the initial cost. The running cost is low but the initial cost is very high. In this study, on the assumption that the drainage water from hot spring is applicable for road heating, a simple hybrid heating device with metal pipes in which liquefied gas was infused was developed, and the temperature rising test and the snow melting test using the hybrid heating device were carried out in a laboratory. As a result, it was confirmed that the heating device developed in this study had enough snow melting ability for road heating

A Report on Overseas Teaching Practicum by Graduate Students in Elementary/Secondary Schools in the United States (IX)

This short paper reports on the 9th overseas teaching practicum in the United States by 12 graduate students of Hiroshima University, Japan, partly organized by Hiroshima University Global Partnership School Center (GPSC). The grand total has become 89 since this project started in 2006. The participants this year were those majoring in elementary/secondary school education, including one in-service teacher. They observed and conducted lessons in English in four local public schools in North Carolina. The aim of this project was threefold: 1) to self-develop practical instructional competence by teaching pupils with different cultural backgrounds; 2) to enhance the abilities in developing teaching materials through hands-on teaching experiences in English; and 3) to acquire the abilities to design, implement and evaluate programs for promoting global partnership. Like past years, their teachings were very positively covered by the local newspapers and websites. Later, the project was followed by cross-cultural field study visits to NC State Capitol, Raleigh and the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. It is hoped that this intensive experience overseas will broaden the young future Japanese teachers’ global awareness and confidence in teaching

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target