Doppler ultrasound findings correlate with tissue vascularity and inflammation in surgical pathology specimens from patients with small intestinal Crohn’s disease

BACKGROUND: Crohn’s disease (CD) is routinely evaluated using clinical symptoms, laboratory variables, and the CD activity index (CDAI). However, clinical parameters are often nonspecific and do not precisely reflect the actual activity of CD small-intestinal lesions. The purposes of this prospective study were to compare color Doppler ultrasound (US) findings with histological findings from surgically resected specimens and confirm the hypothesis that color Doppler US can distinguish tissue inflammation and fibrosis. METHODS: Among 1764 consecutive patients who underwent color Doppler US examinations, 10 patients with CD (12 small-intestinal CD lesions) who underwent US examinations before elective small-intestine resection were evaluated in the present study. Areas of thickened intestinal walls were evaluated in terms of blood flow using color Doppler US imaging. The blood flow was semiquantitatively classified as “hyper-flow” and “hypo-flow” according to the Limberg score. Resected lesions were macroscopically and histopathologically processed. Inflammatory cell infiltration, fibrosis and vascularity were evaluated by myeloperoxidase (granulocytes), CD163 (macrophages), CD79a (B cells), CD3 (T cells), Masson’s trichrome (fibrosis), and factor VIII staining (vascular walls). All histopathological images were entered into virtual slide equipment and quantified using a quantitative microscopy integrated system (TissueMorph™). RESULTS: There were no significant differences in disease features or laboratory findings between “hypo-flow” lesions (n = 4) and “hyper-flow” lesions (n = 8). Histopathologically, “hyper-flow” lesions showed significantly greater bowel wall vascularity (factor VIII) (p = 0.047) and inflammatory cell infiltration, including CD163 macrophages (p = 0.008), CD3 T cells, and CD79a B cells (p = 0.043), than did “hypo-flow” lesions. There was no apparent association between the blood flow and CDAI. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, active CD lesions were macroscopically visible in surgical specimens of patients with increased blood flow on preoperative color Doppler US imaging. Additionally, these CD lesions exhibited significantly greater vascularity and numbers of inflammatory leukocytes microscopically. Color Doppler US may predict tissue inflammation and fibrosis in small-intenstinal CD lesions

Epidemiology of Coronavirus Disease Outbreak among Crewmembers on Cruise Ship, Nagasaki City, Japan, April 2020

In April 2020, a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak occurred on the cruise ship Costa Atlantica in Nagasaki, Japan. Our outbreak investigation included 623 multinational crewmembers onboard on April 20. Median age was 31 years; 84% were men. Each crewmember was isolated or quarantined in a single room inside the ship, and monitoring of health status was supported by a remote health monitoring system. Crewmembers with more severe illness were hospitalized. The investigation found that the outbreak started in late March and peaked in late April, resulting in 149 laboratory-confirmed and 107 probable cases of infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Six case-patients were hospitalized for COVID-19 pneumonia, including 1 in severe condition and 2 who required oxygen administration, but no deaths occurred. Although the virus can spread rapidly on a cruise ship, we describe how prompt isolation and quarantine combined with a sensitive syndromic surveillance system can control a COVID-19 outbreak

Hybrid System Combining Ice-Phobic Coating and Electrothermal Heating for Wing Ice Protection

In-flight icing for aircraft is a large concern for all those involved in aircraft operations. Generally, an electric heater has been used to prevent in-flight icing. A hybrid anti-icing system combining ice-phobic coating and electrothermal heating (ICE-WIPS) has been proposed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to reduce the power consumption in the heating unit. In order to validate the effectiveness of ICE-WIPS, validation and demonstration tests are conducted using icing wind tunnels at the Kanagawa Institute of Technology (KAIT) and at the Icing Research Tunnel in the NASA Glenn Research Center. Using a NACA0012 airfoil as a test model, ICE-WIPS demonstrates substantial reduction in power consumption as compared to the existing heating system. The reduction depends on the in-flight icing conditions; more than a 70% reduction is achieved at a liquid-water content (LWC) of 0.6 g/m3 and a median-volume diameter (MVD) of 15 μm at 75 m/s with zero angle of attack. In wet-icing conditions, more than a 30% reduction in power is achieved

Effect of PTFE Particle Size on Superhydrophobic Coating for Supercooled Water Prevention

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) chemically repels water droplets due to the nature of fluorine substituents. This paper presents an experimental study on the impact of PTFE particle size and temperature on the hydrophobicity of a surface. The present study analyzes hydrophobicity due to both the chemical properties of PTFE and the microstructure created by PTFE particles. Herein, studies of the contact angle and the sliding angle of these surfaces are described in supercooled-water conditions ranging from −10 to 0 °C. From the equations governing the surface tension and sliding angle of a droplet on a superhydrophobic surface, it is found that particle size has a much greater effect on hydrophobicity than temperature. An increase in the PTFE particle size greatly reduces the sliding angle, which indicates a lower amount of energy required to remove the droplet from the surface

Pinned Droplet Size on a Superhydrophobic Surface in Shear Flow

The recent development of a superhydrophobic surface enhances the droplet shedding under a shear flow. The present study gives insights into the effects of shear flow on a pinned droplet over a superhydrophobic surface. To experimentally simulate the change in the size of a sessile droplet on an aerodynamic surface, the volume of the pinned droplet is expanded by water supplied through a pore. Under a continuous airflow that provides a shear flow over the superhydrophobic surface, the size of a pinned water droplet shed from the surface is experimentally characterized. The air velocity ranges from 8 to 61 m/s, and the size of pinned droplets shed at a given air velocity is measured using an instantaneous snapshot captured with a high-speed camera. It is found that the size of the shedding pinned droplet decreases as air velocity increases. At higher air velocities, shedding pinned droplets are fully immersed in the boundary layer. The present findings give a correlation between critical air velocity and the size of pinned droplets shed from the pore over the superhydrophobic surface

Differentiation of focal liver lesions using three-dimensional ultrasonography: Retrospective and prospective studies

AIM: To differentiate focal liver lesions based on enhancement patterns using three-dimensional ultrasonography (3D US) with perflubutane-based contrast agent

Runback water behavior on hydro-phobic/philic surfaces of circular cylinder placed in flow field

Coating has been recently considered as having good potential for use in preventing in-cloud icing on the leading edge of the lifting surfaces of an aircraft in cold climates. In terms of wettability, a coat may exhibit hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity depending on its specific properties. The same applies to the ice adhesion strength, which maybe either high or low. It is thus necessary to determine which type of anti-icing or de-icing coat would be appropriate for a particular application in order to fully utilize its specific properties. Notwithstanding, a coat is incapable of preventing ice accretion by itself, and a perfect ice phobic coat is yet to be developed. Coating is also sometimes applied to the surfaces of electrical heaters and load-applying machines to enable them to function more effectively and use less energy. The coating used for an electric heater, for instance, should be hydrophobic because of the need for rapid removal of molten water from the surface. The nanostructured surface of a coating of this type produces a lotus-like effect. During in-cloud icing on the surfaces of the wings of an aircraft, minute supercooled airborne water droplets collide with the leading edges of the wings at almost the same speed as that of the aircraft. If the wing surface is hydrophobically coated and heated by an installed heating system, the droplets would remain in the liquid state on the leading edge immediately after impingement, and then begin to move toward the trailing edge. It has been observed from icing wind tunnel tests conducted on scale airfoil models with hydrophobically coated surfaces that the molten water droplets detach themselves from the surface after attaining a particular size. In contrast, if the surface is hydrophilic, the water would move backward in rivulets along the surface. In the present study, we conducted wind tunnel tests at room temperature using circular cylindrical models to determine the precise behavior of water droplets on the model surfaces, which were variously modified for super hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity. The models were designed to ooze water from their windward surfaces and were set inside the closed test section of the wind tunnel. A high-speed camera was used to monitor how the water droplets behaved on the surfaces of the cylinders for different air speeds. The results provide some fundamental insights into the behavior of water on a coated cylindrical surface in a flow field, and would be useful for the design of coating-type aircraft ice protection systems

MR キョウイクシャ ノ ジシュテキ ナ ガクシュウ オ ウナガス ガクシュウ ポータル ノ カイハツ

本研究では，製薬業界においてMRを教育する立場にある教育担当者の資質向上を目的とした学習ポータルの設計およびプロトタイプ開発を行った．ユーザーニーズ分析，先行研究調査を行う中で，教育担当者が自主的に自分達に必要な知識・スキルを学ぶ学習ポータルを設計するための着眼点を見出し，プロトタイプを開発した．形成的評価結果から，開発したシステムの機能はスムーズに作動することが確認でき，導いた着眼点の妥当性が示唆された