Schnabl's Solution and Boundary States in Open String Field Theory

We discuss that Schnabl's solution is an off-shell extension of the boundary state describing a D-brane in the closed string sector. It gives the physical meaning of the gauge invariant overlaps for the solution in our previous paper and supports Ellwood's recent proposal in the operator formalism.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX2e; v2: a comment and a footnote added at the en

Copper-deficiency anemia after esophagectomy: A pitfall of postoperative enteral nutrition through jejunostomy

AbstractINTRODUCTIONCopper deficiency leads to functional disorders of hematopoiesis and neurological system. There have been some reports of copper deficiency occurring to the patients on enteral nutrition through a jejunostomy in long-term-care hospitals. However, it is extremely rare to find patients with copper deficiency several months after esophagectomy, regardless of enteral nutrition through the jejunostomy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of a patient who experienced copper-deficiency anemia after esophagectomy and subsequent enteral nutrition through the jejunostomy.PRESENTATION OF CASEA 73-year-old man presented with pulmonary failure after esophagectomy for esophageal cancer with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, and needed long-term artificial ventilator support. Nutritional management included enteral nutrition through a jejunostomy from the early postoperative period. Copper-deficiency anemia was detected 3 months postoperatively; therefore, copper supplementation with cocoa powder was performed, and both serum copper and hemoglobin levels subsequently recovered.DISCUSSIONCopper-deficiency anemia has already been reported to occur in patients receiving enteral nutrition in long-term care hospitals. However, this is the first case report of copper deficiency after esophagectomy despite administration of standard enteral nutrition through the jejunostomy for several months.CONCLUSIONIt is extremely rare to find copper-deficiency anemia several months after esophagectomy followed by enteral nutrition through the jejunostomy. However, if anemia of unknown origin occurs in such patients, copper-deficiency anemia must be considered among the differential diagnoses

Gauge Invariant Overlaps for Classical Solutions in Open String Field Theory

We calculate gauge invariant observables for Schnabl's solution with analytic method and with the level truncation approximation. We also compute them for the numerical solution initially obtained by Sen and Zwiebach in the level truncation approximation to compare with the one for Schnabl's solution. The results are consistent with the expectation that they may be gauge equivalent. We briefly discuss the gauge invariant observables and the action for a marginal solution with a nonsingular current.Comment: 33 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX; v2:typos corrected, references added; v3: improved numerical analysis in section

An Autopsy Case of Oligodendroglioma with Extracranial Metastases - A Statistical Review of Reported Cases -

An autopsy case of oligodendroglioma with extracranial metastases through blood vessels and cerebro-spinal fluid in a 44-year-old female is reported. Post-mortem examination revealed that the tumor involved the left frontal region, optic chiasma, cauda equina, spinal cord, subarachinoid space and bone (sternum, spine, ribs). Microscopic appearances showed the features of rapid anaplastic transformation. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive neoplastic oligodendrocytes were found in some areas of the honey-comb structure with prominant vascular stromata in recurrent and metastatic lesions. The histogenesis of this tumor may be interpreted as the constant or temporary production of GFAP by neoplastic oligodendrocytes as a sign of reversion to the fetal oligodendroglia without necessarily implying astrocytic hitogenesis. The present case is the second case of oligodendroglioma with extracranial metastases reported in Japan

Cardy states, factorization and idempotency in closed string field theory

We show that boundary states in the generic on-shell background satisfy a universal nonlinear equation of closed string field theory. It generalizes our previous claim for the flat background. The origin of the equation is factorization relation of boundary conformal field theory which is always true as an axiom. The equation necessarily incorporates the information of open string sector through a regularization, which implies the equivalence with Cardy condition. We also give a more direct proof by oscillator representations for some nontrivial backgrounds (torus and orbifolds). Finally we discuss some properties of the closed string star product for non-vanishing $B$ field and find that a commutative and non-associative product (Strachan product) appears naturally in Seiberg-Witten limit.Comment: 44 pages, 6 figures, references added, typos correcte

QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS

We evaluated the quality of life (QOL) in 268 patients with diabetes mellitus (NIDDM, 250 cases; IDDM, 10 cases; and other type of diabetes, 8 cases) to determine which aspects were adversely affected by the disease. Information concerning life satisfaction, social activities, ability to work, sexual problems and physical symptoms was obtained from a 30-item questionnaire. Clinical characteristics including duration of diabetes, glycemic control, current treatment, obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, macro- and microvascular complications were obtained from medical records. Diminished QOL was most pronounced in patients who had had a long duration of disease, required insulin therapy, and whose health was disturbed by cerebrovascular disease, end-stage renal disease, mono- and autonomic neuropathy. A significant difference in the subdimensional QOL score was noted in life satisfaction, social activities, ability to work, sexual problems and physical symptoms under these circumstances

Usefulness of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography in management strategy for thymic epithelial tumors

Background: This study investigated the usefulness of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) during the treatment of thymic epithelial tumors in combination with Ki-67 evaluation based on surgical cases in our department. Methods: Between November 2003 and May 2011, 39 patients with thymic epithelial tumor underwent preoperative FDG-PET. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of each category within Masaoka stage, World Health Organization classification, tumor diameter, myasthenia gravis, and Ki-67 label index were compared. To examine risk factors for relapse, SUVmax, age, sex, and surgical radicality were investigated in addition to those items. Results: The mean SUVmax was 4.5 (range, 1.2 to 14.6) and was significantly higher for Masaoka stage IV than for I and II (all p < 0.008) and for World Health Organization classified thymic cancer compared with all other types (all p < 0.0001). Mean SUVmax revealed significantly higher values for large tumors than for small tumors (p = 0.02). Mean SUVmax was significantly higher for high Ki-67-positive samples (p = 0.0004), indicating a strong correlation between SUVmax and the Ki-67 label index (ρ = 0.77, p = 0.0001). SUVmax accurately reflected therapeutic efficacy in patients with induction therapy. Univariate analysis revealed Masaoka stages III and IV and pathologically incomplete resection as risk factors for relapse. On multivariate analysis, independent risk factors for relapse comprised only Masaoka stages III and IV. Conclusions: FDG-PET SUVmax does reflect proliferation and invasiveness of thymic epithelial tumors and can provide an index for diagnosis and treatment, although it is not a risk factor for relapse. FDG-PET is also useful for evaluating induction therapy efficacy and detecting relapse. © 2013 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Toxicity of tetramethylammonium hydroxide to aquatic organisms and its synergistic action with potassium iodide

The aquatic ecotoxicity of chemicals involved in the manufacturing process of thin film transistor liquid crystal displays was assessed with a battery of four selected acute toxicity bioassays. We focused on tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH, CAS No. 75-59-2), a widely utilized etchant. The toxicity of TMAH was low when tested in the 72 h-algal growth inhibition test (Pseudokirchneriellia subcapitata, EC50 = 360 mg L−1) and the Microtox® test (Vibrio fischeri, IC50 = 6.4 g L−1). In contrast, the 24 h-microcrustacean immobilization and the 96 h-fish mortality tests showed relatively higher toxicity (Daphnia magna, EC50 = 32 mg L−1 and Oryzias latipes, LC50 = 154 mg L−1). Isobologram and mixture toxicity index analyses revealed apparent synergism of the mixture of TMAH and potassium iodide when examined with the D. magna immobilization test. The synergistic action was unique to iodide over other halide salts i.e. fluoride, chloride and bromide. Quaternary ammonium ions with longer alkyl chains such as tetraethylammonium and tetrabutylammonium were more toxic than TMAH in the D. magna immobilization test

Fermionic Ghosts in Moyal String Field Theory

We complete the construction of the Moyal star formulation of bosonic open string field theory (MSFT) by providing a detailed study of the fermionic ghost sector. In particular, as in the case of the matter sector, (1) we construct a map from Witten's star product to the Moyal product, (2) we propose a regularization scheme which is consistent with the matter sector and (3) as a check of the formalism, we derive the ghost Neumann coefficients algebraically directly from the Moyal product. The latter satisfy the Gross-Jevicki nonlinear relations even in the presence of the regulator, and when the regulator is removed they coincide numerically with the expression derived from conformal field theory. After this basic construction, we derive a regularized action of string field theory in the Siegel gauge and define the Feynman rules. We give explicitly the analytic expression of the off-shell four point function for tachyons, including the ghost contribution. Some of the results in this paper have already been used in our previous publications. This paper provides the technical details of the computations which were omitted there.Comment: 65 pages, typos correcte