Studies on rheo-optical properties of ethylene-propylene random copolymers.

The unique properties of rubbery materials have drawn the attention of many scientists from an early date. The discovery of vulcanization has resulted in rubbery materials becoming among the most important materials in practical use. Chemical structures of these materials have been studied together with their physical properties

Functional Evaluation of Bubble CPAP for Neonates Using a Leak Model

Article信州医学雑誌 61(2):65-73(2013)journal articl

Cooperative standing-horizontalstanding reentrant transition for numerous solid particles under external vibration

We report the collective behavior of numerous plastic bolt-like particles exhibiting one of two distinct states, either standing stationary or horizontal accompanied by tumbling motion, when placed on a horizontal plate undergoing sinusoidal vertical vibration. Experimentally, we prepared an initial state in which all of the particles were standing except for a single particle that was placed at the center of the plate. Under continuous vertical vibration, the initially horizontal particle triggers neighboring particles to fall over into a horizontal state through tumbling-induced collision, and this effect gradually spreads to all of the particles, i.e., the number of horizontal particles is increased. Interestingly, within a certain range of vibration intensity, almost all of the horizontal particles revert back to standing in association with the formation of apparent 2D hexagonal dense-packing. Thus, phase segregation between high and low densities, or crystalline and disperse domains, of standing particles is generated as a result of the reentrant transition. The essential features of such cooperative dynamics through the reentrant transition are elucidated with a simple kinetic model. We also demonstrate that an excitable wave with the reentrant transition is observed when particles are situated in a quasi-one-dimensional confinement on a vibrating plate

Two Categories of Approximately mu-tau Symmetric Neutrino Mass Textures

Our approximately \mu-\tau symmetric neutrino mass textures fall into two different categories, whose behaviors in the \mu-\tau symmetric limit are characterized by either \sin(theta_{13})->0 (referred to as C1)), or \sin(theta_{12})->0 (referred to as C2)). We present ten phenomenologically viable neutrino mass textures: two for the normal mass hierarchy, three for the inverted mass hierarchy, and five for the quasi degenerate mass pattern. Tiny \mu-\tau symmetry breaking ensures that \sin^2(theta_{13}) << 1 for C1), and \Delta m^2_\odot/\Delta m^2_{atm} (\equiv R) << 1 for C2). A correlation among small quantities is provided by \cos 2(theta_{23}) \sim \sin(theta_{13}) for C1), and by either \cos(2theta_{23}) \sim R, or \cos(2theta_{23})\sin(theta_{13}) \sim R for C2). It is further shown that \tan(2theta_{12}) \sim \cos(2theta_{23})/\sin(theta_{13}) is satisfied for C2). We find specific properties for each mass ordering, which are discussed in this article.Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures (High-resolution figures can be downloaded from http://www.sp.u-tokai.ac.jp/~yasue/two_categories_of.pdf.tar.gz

Evolutionary histories of breast cancer and related clones

乳がん発生の進化の歴史を解明 --ゲノム解析による発がんメカニズムの探索--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-07-28.Tracking the ol' mutation trail: Unraveling the long history of breast cancer formation. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-08-31.Recent studies have documented frequent evolution of clones carrying common cancer mutations in apparently normal tissues, which are implicated in cancer development1, 2, 3. However, our knowledge is still missing with regard to what additional driver events take place in what order, before one or more of these clones in normal tissues ultimately evolve to cancer. Here, using phylogenetic analyses of multiple microdissected samples from both cancer and non-cancer lesions, we show unique evolutionary histories of breast cancers harbouring der(1;16), a common driver alteration found in roughly 20% of breast cancers. The approximate timing of early evolutionary events was estimated from the mutation rate measured in normal epithelial cells. In der(1;16)(+) cancers, the derivative chromosome was acquired from early puberty to late adolescence, followed by the emergence of a common ancestor by the patient’s early 30s, from which both cancer and non-cancer clones evolved. Replacing the pre-existing mammary epithelium in the following years, these clones occupied a large area within the premenopausal breast tissues by the time of cancer diagnosis. Evolution of multiple independent cancer founders from the non-cancer ancestors was common, contributing to intratumour heterogeneity. The number of driver events did not correlate with histology, suggesting the role of local microenvironments and/or epigenetic driver events. A similar evolutionary pattern was also observed in another case evolving from an AKT1-mutated founder. Taken together, our findings provide new insight into how breast cancer evolves

自我機能の発達と病態化の研究(その1) : 自我機能の測定尺度の開発

　力動精神医学において，「自我」は人格の重要な構成基準であってさまざまな精神機能をつかさどる機関として考えられている．その自我機能の評価は，病態を把握し，治療の見通しを立てる上で，重要な手がかりとなるものである．よって，これまでにも多くの研究者たちがU一ルシャッハ・テストなどの投影法，質問紙，面接などを用いて，自我機能を評価・測定する方法をさまざまに提案してきた．その中でも特に中心的な研究は，Bellak，L．（1969，1973）のものである。Bellakは自我機能を12に分類し，臨床的面接，実験的手続き，既成の心理研究という3つの手続きによって詳細な自我機能の評価を試み，精神分裂病患者，神経症患者，正常者の比較研究を行った．このBellakの臨床的面接の質問項目を質問紙形式で取り入れ，正常から境界例に至る一般の中・高生の自我機能の評定と再適応の能力の評価を行い，指導や治療の指針を得ることを目的にして作成されたのが，中西・古市（1981）のEF1－2である．EF1－2は信頼性・妥当性について検討がなされ，標準化が行われているにもかかわらず，臨床の現場では未だ普及に至っていないのが現状である．そこで，自我機能の測定尺度について，われわれはまず以下のような問題点と今後の課題を検討した．　一つには，EF1－2はBellakの自我機能の枠組みに沿って作成されているが，そもそもBellakの枠組みをそのまま日本に適用することには無理があるのではなかろうか．むしろ，日本での臨床的な経験を踏まえて，自我機能の測定尺度を作成する必要があるのではないか．すなわち，Bellakの分類にこだわらず，例えば，「同一性」のような病態の把握にとって重要と考えられる下位尺度を盛り込む方が有用である．　また，Bellak，中西・古市，いずれの研究においても，自我機能の1下位分類である防衛機制についてはその全般的な機能水準を問題としており，個々の防衛機制の種類は捉えられていない．個々の防衛機制を測定する質問紙も別に考案されているが（DSQ：Bond，Gardner，Christian＆Sigal　1983，Bond　1986，申西　1998），他の自我機能と共には検討されていない．個々の防衛機制のあり方と自我機能との関連を同時に調べることがきわめて重要であると考えられるので，「防衛機制」についてはその種類も取り上げ，より詳細な項目で構成されるべきであろう．　以上の点を踏まえて，本研究は，新たな自我機能の測定尺度を作成することを試みるものである，また，今後，測定された自我機能を対象にして，その発達過程（その2）と病態化（その3）についても研究を展開していく予定であるが，本研究は，その一連の研究の第一段階に該当する

High efficacy of eculizumab treatment for fulminant hemolytic anemia in primary cold agglutinin disease

Letter to the Edito