Successful Intervention for Pressure Ulcer by Nutrition Support Team: A Case Report

A 23-year-old woman with heart failure developed pressure ulcer on her sacral area due to a long-term bed rest and impaired hemodynamics. The ulcer improved only slightly after 2 months with povidone-iodine sugar ointment because of severe nausea and anorexia. Then, the nutrition support team (NST) started intervention and estimated the patient's malnutrition from her body weight (30.1 kg), body mass index (BMI) (13.9), triceps skinfold thickness (TSF) (3.5 mm), arm circumference (AC) (17.2 cm) and serum albumin (2.6 g/dl). The NST administrated an enteral nutrition formula through a nasogastric tube and tried to provide meals according to the patient's taste. Although DESIGN score improved to 7 (DESIGN: d2e1s2i1g1n0 = 7) 2 months later, severe nausea prevented the patient from taking any food perorally. However, after nasogastric decannulation, her appetite improved and 1 month later her body weight increased to 32.8 kg, her BMI to 15.2, TSF to 7.5 mm, AC to 19.7 cm and serum albumin to 4.1 g/dl, and the wound completely healed

Optical transmittance degradation in tapered fibers

We investigated the cause of optical transmittance degradation in tapered fibers. Degradation commences immediately after fabrication and it eventually reduces the transmittance to almost zero. It is a major problem that limits applications of tapered fibers. We systematically investigated the effect of the dust-particle density and the humidity on the degradation dynamics. The results clearly show that the degradation is mostly due to dust particles and that it is not related to the humidity. In a dust free environment it is possible to preserve the transmittance with a degradation of less than the noise (+/- ?0.02) over 1 week

A passively Q-switched compact Er:Lu2O3 ceramics laser at 2.8 μm with a graphene saturable absorber

We have demonstrated a passively Q-switched Er:Lu2O3 ceramics laser using a monolayer graphene saturable absorber (SA). Stable pulsed operation with watt-level average power was achieved by a compact linear cavity without focusing on the SA. This is the first demonstration of a passively Q-switched mid-IR Er:Lu2O3 laser using a graphene SA. A maximum pulse energy of 9.4 μJ and a peak power of 33 W were achieved with a 247 ns pulse duration. To our knowledge, this is the shortest pulse duration, highest pulse energy, and highest peak power obtained with a graphene SA in the 3 μm wavelength region

Power scalable 30-W mid-infrared fluoride fiber amplifier

A fluoride-fiber-based master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) for 30-W class continuous-wave (cw) operation at 2.8-μm wavelength has been demonstrated. To overcome the low durability of ZBLAN fibers, various novel technologies for using fluoride glass with a ZBLAN-fiber-based side-pump combiner have been adopted in the system. A maximum cw output power of 33 W and stable operation under 23-W output have been demonstrated. We suggest that such fiber MOPA systems will open up advanced fluoride fiber technology for next-generation high-power mid-IR lasers

Phase shift spectra of a fiber-microsphere system at the single photon level

We succeeded in measuring phase shift spectra of a microsphere cavity coupled with a tapered fiber using a weak coherent probe light at the single photon level. We utilized a tapered fiber with almost no depolarization and constructed a very stable phase shift measurement scheme based on polarization analysis using photon counting. Using a very weak probe light (\bar{n} = 0:41), we succeeded in observing the transition in the phase shift spectrum between undercoupling and overcoupling (at gap distances of 500 and 100 nm, respectively).We also used quantum state tomography to obtain a 'purity spectrum'. Even in the overcoupling regime, the average purity was 0.982 \pm 0.024 (minimum purity: 0.892), suggesting that the coherence of the fiber-microsphere system was well preserved. Based on these results, we believe this system is applicable to quantum phase gates using single light emitters such as diamond nitrogen vacancy centers.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

APOBEC3B is preferentially expressed at the G2/M phase of cell cycle

APOBEC3B (A3B) is a cytosine deaminase that converts cytosine to uracil in single-stranded DNA. Cytosine-to-thymine and cytosine-to-guanine base substitution mutations in trinucleotide motifs (APOBEC mutational signatures) were found in various cancers including lymphoid hematological malignancies such as multiple myeloma and A3B has been shown to be an enzymatic source of mutations in those cancers. Although the importance of A3B is being increasingly recognized, it is unclear how A3B expression is regulated in cancer cells as well as normal cells. To answer these fundamental questions, we analyzed 1276 primary myeloma cells using single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) and found that A3B was preferentially expressed at the G2/M phase, in sharp contrast to the expression patterns of other APOBEC3 genes. Consistently, we demonstrated that A3B protein was preferentially expressed at the G2/M phase in myeloma cells by cell sorting. We also demonstrated that normal blood cells expressing A3B were also enriched in G2/M-phase cells by analyzing scRNA-seq data from 86, 493 normal bone marrow mononuclear cells. Furthermore, we revealed that A3B was expressed mainly in plasma cells, CD10+ B cells and erythroid cells, but not in granulocyte-macrophage progenitors. A3B expression profiling in normal blood cells may contribute to understanding the defense mechanism of A3B against viruses, and partially explain the bias of APOBEC mutational signatures in lymphoid but not myeloid malignancies. This study identified the cells and cellular phase in which A3B is highly expressed, which may help reveal the mechanisms behind carcinogenesis and cancer heterogeneity, as well as the biological functions of A3B in normal blood cells

CAGE-Seq Reveals that HIV-1 Latent Infection Does Not Trigger Unique Cellular Responses in a Jurkat T Cell Model

The cure for HIV-1 is currently stalled by our inability to specifically identify and target latently infected cells. HIV-1 viral RNA/DNA or viral proteins are recognized by cellular mechanisms and induce interferon responses in virus-producing cells, but changes in latently infected cells remain unknown. HIVGKO contains a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter under the HIV-1 promoter and a monomeric Kusabira orange 2 (mKO2) reporter under the internal elongation factor alpha (EF1α) promoter. This viral construct enables direct identification of both productively and latently HIV-1-infected cells. In this study, we aim to identify specific cellular transcriptional responses triggered by HIV-1 entry and integration using cap analysis of gene expression (CAGE). We deep sequenced CAGE tags in non-infected and latently and productively infected cells and compared their differentially expressed transcription start site (TSS) profiles. Virus-producing cells had differentially expressed TSSs related to T-cell activation and apoptosis compared to those of non-infected cells or latently infected cells. Surprisingly, latently infected cells had only 33 differentially expressed TSSs compared to those of non-infected cells. Among these, SPP1 and APOE were downregulated in latently infected cells. SPP1 or APOE knockdown in Jurkat T cells increased susceptibility to HIVGKO infection, suggesting that they have antiviral properties. Components of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, MLST8, 4EBP, and RPS6, were significant TSSs in productively infected cells, and S6 kinase (S6K) phosphorylation was increased compared to that in latently infected cells, suggesting that mTOR pathway activity plays a role in establishing the latent reservoir. These findings indicate that HIV-1 entry and integration do not trigger unique transcriptional responses when infection becomes latent

Notes of the Teaching practice on the Japanese language education (5) : For the time to come

本研究は, より優れた中等教育授業者を育成する国語科教育実習のあり方を求めて, 実習現場で生起している出来事の記述, 分析, 考察を行い, それを通じて, ①中等国語科教員養成プログラム(学部教育+附属実習)の教育内容の体系化, ②中等国語科教育実習指導体制の確立, にかかわる提言を試みることを目的としている。 2009年度は, 単元及び教材と授業の具体に即した記述, 分析を積み重ねてより実践的なモデルを構築していく研究の3年次として, 「古典」単元の実習授業を取り上げた。 古典単元における実習生の躓きで顕著なことは, 単元構想段階での単元の主題に対する思索不足であることが, 本年度「古典単元」の諸記録シートの分析を通じて明らかになった。従って, 実習生のこの問題点を考察の俎上に上せ, 単元の主題に対する思索不足の原因を明らかにした。また, 「古典単元における授業力獲得のための課題と指導のポイント」として, 上記の課題に対する働きかけを, 実習活動の諸局面に即して記述した。さらに, 実習生の変化変容の内実をよく指し示す具体例を取り上げ分析・考察した

Notes of the Teaching practice on the Japanese language education (2)

本研究は,教育実習Bにおける教育実習生の顕著な課題を析出し,課題克服の働きかけを考察することで教育実習Bで使用する観察実習生による記述シートを改善・修正するものである。研究最終年次である三年次の本年度では,観察実習生の主体化する国語の授業観を指摘し,このテキスト観からする国語の授業の問題点を議論の俎上にのぼせ分析し,有効な働きかけの足場を示すものである。また,その足場からする観察実習Bへの参加が授業力獲得に繋がることを,観察記録や講話記録を分析することで明らかにする。以上の考察を通して,広く実習生の“学び"を呼びかける

Notes of the teaching practice on the Japanese language education (2)

本研究は,教育実習Bにおける教育実習生の顕著な課題を析出し,課題克服の働きかけを考察することで教育実習Bで使用する観察実習生による記述シートを改善・修正するものである。研究二年次の本年度では,観察実習生の主体化するテキスト観を指摘し,このテキスト観からする国語の授業の問題点を議論の俎上にのぼせ分析し,とりわけ,教育実習Bという経験を通して認識上の変容が見られない観察実習生に対して有効な"学び"を考察し,その"学び"の諸観点を提言するものである