Stiffness and Damping of Sands in Torsion Shear

A laboratory investigation was carried out into stiffness and damping of sands as sheared in a torsional shear apparatus. In the drained monotonic and cyclic loading tests, a particular care was taken of the small strain measurements in which the secant stiffness was measured over a wide range of shear strain from about 10-6 to 10-2. Despite the marked differences in the grain size and the sample preparation method among the sands, a fairly good coincidence of the secant stiffness was seen, in common, in the range of shear strain less than about 1 x 10-5 between two types of tests using the monotonic and cyclic loadings. However, the response was softer in the monotonic loading tests for the larger strains. It has also been pointed out that the damping when examined in relation to the normalized secant shear modulus was scarcely affected by the confining pressure, and that the values of damping were smaller than those so far available in the literature

ズイダイ コウノウ ヨウシ ノ ケンキュウ ズイトウ セイケン ケイセイキ ノ モンバツ

It is not possible to unravel the nature of the Sui and Tang administrations without addressing the role played by the Han Chinese“ dominant families”（門閥） in the amassing of societal respect by the governing class. However, previous research has not actively discussed the degree to which these “dominant families” played a role in the formation of the Sui and Tang administrations. This paper examines the so-called Yuegongfang（越公房） lineage of the Hongnong Yang clan（弘農楊氏）, representative of the Han Chinese “dominant families,” by studying epitaphs（墓誌） and historical documents that have continuously been unearthed in recent years. As a result, this study demonstrates that the Yuegongfang clan maintained clan unity by establishing vast family burial grounds in Huayin（華陰）—the clan’s birthplace—and comprised of a great number of family lineages. In addition, the Yuegongfang, who possessed this foundation in rural society and were the central lineage of the Yang dominant family, shared their surname with the Sui Dynasty’s Imperial House, allowing them to obtain a position corresponding to that of the Imperial Family. In time, they were made part of the Zongwei （宗衛）— the Crown Prince’s guard—thus taking charge of the Imperial House’s military organization. This became the source of the Yuegongfang’s powerful influence, strong enough to affect the Crown Prince’s dethronement. This relationship between the Yuegongfang and the Sui Imperial House can be rephrased as the merging of Han Chinese “dominant families” and the emerging non-Han clans. Here, this paper inquiries anew into the significance of the influence of China’s dominant families in the formation process of the Sui and Tang administrations.論

Difficulty in locking head screw removal

Background: Locking plates are an internal fixation material useful in the treatment of bone fractures, which provides effective stabilization between the plate and locking head screws (LHSs) via the locking mechanism. However, difficulty in removing LHSs is relatively common, and such cases can require long surgical procedures or use of special removal equipment. The purpose of this study was to report the incidence and risk factors for difficult removal of LHSs. Methods: During the 5-year-6-month period from April 2006 to September 2011, 83 locking plates containing a total of 482 LHSs were removed in 80 patients at our institution. Out of 482 LHSs, there were 118 LHSs with a 2.4-2.7 mm diameter, 308 LHSs with a 3.5 mm diameter and 56 LHSs with a 5.0 mm diameter. The incidence of removal difficulty was examined on the basis of screw diameter. In addition, the risk factors were assessed in only LHSs with a 3.5 mm diameter. LHSs with a 3.5 mm diameter were divided into 2 groups, the difficult removal group and the easy removal group, and the data were examined based on age, sex, time between insertion and removal, and screw position. The incidence of removal difficulty in LHSs with a 3.5 mm diameter was examined every 6 months between insertion and removal. Results: Difficulty in removal was encountered in none (0 %) of 118 LHSs with a 2.4-2.7 mm diameter, 15 (4.9 %) of 308 LHSs with a 3.5 mm diameter, and none (0 %) of 56 LHSs with a 5.0 mm diameter. In only LHSs with a 3.5 mm diameter, the mean ages of the patients in the difficult removal group and the easy removal group were 32.1 and 45.6 years, respectively. The average time between insertion and removal in the difficult removal group and the easy removal group was 529.2 and 389.2 days, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in age and time between insertion and removal. Removal was difficult in 15 (9.1 %) of 165 LHSs with a 3.5 mm diameter in those with >1 year between insertion and removal. Conclusion: This study suggests that (1) the use of LHSs with a 3.5 mm diameter is a necessary condition for difficulty in screw removal, and that (2) longer time from internal fixation to removal, and (3) younger age, are risk factors for it. When removing LHSs with a 3.5 mm diameter, appropriate instruments and sufficient training are necessary. © 2013 The Japanese Orthopaedic Association

Microarray analysis of promoter methylation in lung cancers

Aberrant DNA methylation is an important event in carcinogenesis. Of the various regions of a gene that can be methylated in cancers, the promoter is the most important for the regulation of gene expression. Here, we describe a microarray analysis of DNA methylation in the promoter regions of genes using a newly developed promoter-associated methylated DNA amplification DNA chip (PMAD). For each sample, methylated Hpa II-resistant DNA fragments and Msp I-cleaved (unmethylated + methylated) DNA fragments were amplified and labeled with Cy3 and Cy5 respectively, then hybridized to a microarray containing the promoters of 288 cancer-related genes. Signals from Hpa II-resistant (methylated) DNA (Cy3) were normalized to signals from Msp I-cleaved (unmethylated + methylated) DNA fragments (Cy5). Normalized signals from lung cancer cell lines were compared to signals from normal lung cells. About 10.9% of the cancer-related genes were hypermethylated in lung cancer cell lines. Notably, HIC1, IRF7, ASC, RIPK3, RASSF1A, FABP3, PRKCDBP, and PAX3 genes were hypermethylated in most lung cancer cell lines examined. The expression profiles of these genes correlated to the methylation profiles of the genes, indicating that the microarray analysis of DNA methylation in the promoter region of the genes is convenient for epigenetic study. Further analysis of primary tumors indicated that the frequency of hypermethylation was high for ASC (82%) and PAX3 (86%) in all tumor types, and high for RIPK3 in small cell carcinoma (57%). This demonstrates that our PMAD method is effective at finding epigenetic changes during cancer

Genome-wide profiling of promoter methylation in human

DNA methylation in the promoter region of a gene is associated with a loss of that gene's expression and plays an important role in gene silencing. The inactivation of tumor-suppressor genes by aberrant methylation in the promoter region is well recognized in carcinogenesis. However, there has been little study in this area when it comes to genome-wide profiling of the promoter methylation. Here, we developed a genome-wide profiling method called Microarray-based Integrated Analysis of Methylation by Isoschizomers to analyse the DNA methylation of promoter regions of 8091 human genes. With this method, resistance to both the methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme HpaII and the methylation-insensitive isoschizomer MspI was compared between samples by using a microarray with promoter regions of the 8091 genes. The reliability of the difference in HpaII resistance was judged using the difference in MspI resistance. We demonstrated the utility of this method by finding epigenetic mutations in cancer. Aberrant hypermethylation is known to inactivate tumour suppressor genes. Using this method, we found that frequency of the aberrant promoter hypermethylation in cancer is higher than previously hypothesized. Aberrant hypomethylation is known to induce activation of oncogenes in cancer. Genome-wide analysis of hypomethylated promoter sequences in cancer demonstrated low CG/GC ratio of these sequences, suggesting that CpG-poor genes are sensitive to demethylation activity in cancer

高齢の非代償性心不全患者において、非心血管疾患、特に感染症は重要な死因である

BACKGROUND:Despite marked improvements in treatment strategies for heart failure (HF), the mortality rate of elderly patients with HF is still high. Detailed causes of death have not been fully understood.METHODS AND RESULTS:We studied 459 consecutive patients with acute decompensated HF (ADHF) emergently admitted to our hospital from 2007 to 2011. Patients were divided into 2 groups: <75 years old (younger group; n = 225) and ≥75 years old (elderly group; n = 234). All-cause death, cardiovascular death, and noncardiovascular death were assessed as adverse outcomes. Compared with the younger group, the elderly group was characterized by a higher proportion of women and hypertensive patients and higher left ventricular ejection fraction. During a mean follow-up of 20.7 months, a total of 174 patients (37.9%) died. All-cause death was significantly higher in the elderly group than in the younger group (46.6% vs 28.9%; P < .0001), and this difference was caused by an increase in noncardiovascular deaths (20.9% vs 9.3%; P < .001), especially deaths due to infection (10.7% vs 4.0%; P < .01). Cardiovascular deaths did not differ between the 2 groups.CONCLUSIONS:Noncardiovascular deaths, most of which were caused by infection, were frequent among elderly patients with ADHF.博士（医学）・甲第629号・平成27年3月16日Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

胎盤増殖因子の可溶性Fms様チロシンキナーゼ-1に対する血中濃度比の上昇は安定冠動脈疾患患者における有害事象発症の予測因子である

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the predictive values of placental growth factor (PlGF) and its endogenous antagonist, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1), for the long-term prognosis of patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD). Both PlGF and sFlt-1 play important roles in the pathological mechanisms of atherosclerosis. We recently demonstrated that the plasma levels of these molecules are correlated with the severity of coronary atherosclerosis. METHODS: We enrolled 464 patients with stable CAD who consecutively underwent coronary angiography. Baseline blood samples were collected from the femoral artery immediately before coronary angiography (after the administration of 20 units of heparin), and the plasma levels of PlGF and sFlt-1 were measured. A Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between these parameters and the occurrence of all-cause death (ACD) and total cardiovascular events (TCVE) during a median follow-up of 3.3 years. RESULTS: A total of 31 ACDs and 51 TCVEs occurred. Patients with higher PlGF/sFlt-1 ratios (>4.22×10(-2)) had a significantly higher risk of both ACD and TCVE than patients with lower ratios (<4.22×10(-2)) (hazard ratio [HR]: 3.32, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.43 to 7.72, p=0.005, and HR: 2.23, 95% CI: 1.23 to 4.03, p=0.008, respectively). A multivariate analysis showed the PlGF/sFlt-1 ratio to be an independent predictor for ACD, but not TCVE.博士（医学）・甲615号・平成26年3月17日発行元の規定により、本文の登録不可。本文は以下のURLを参照 "http://dx.doi.org/10.2169/internalmedicine.52.9073