Driver Behavior Monitoring. Part I. Application to Adaptive Automation Implementation

Abstract This paper gives a description on a currently going MEXT supported research project, "Situation and intention recognition for risk finding and avoidance," the aim of which is to develop a human-centered proactive safety technology that (i) detects at an early stage possible transitions of the driver's psychological/physiological state into a risky condition that may lead to a possibly accident-prone driving condition, and (ii) provide the driver with appropriate countermeasure assistance and support in a situation-adaptive manner. Among research issues in the project, this paper discusses the need of an adaptive automation for automotive safety when driver's intention or behavior may be inappropriate for a given traffic condition

Human’s Overtrust in and Overreliance on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems: A Theoretical Framework

This paper gives a theoretical framework to describe, analyze, and evaluate the driver’s overtrust in and overreliance on ADAS. Although “overtrust” and “overreliance” are often used as if they are synonyms, this paper differentiates the two notions rigorously. To this end, two aspects, (1) situation diagnostic aspect and (2) action selection aspect, are introduced. The first aspect is to describe overtrust, and it has three axes: (1-1) dimension of trust, (1-2) target object, and (1-3) chances of observation. The second aspect, (2), is to describe overreliance on the ADAS, and it has other three axes: (2-1) type of action selected, (2-2) benefits expected, and (2-3) time allowance for human intervention. Document type: Articl

大腿四頭筋の等尺性収縮は、膝蓋上外側アプローチによる膝関節内注射の正確性を向上する

Background: Intra-articular injection is an important technique for treating rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis of the knee. However, medication is often inaccurately injected outside of the joint. We devised an intra-articular injection method in which the needle is inserted into the suprapatellar bursa while the patient maintains isometric contraction of the quadriceps. This isometric contraction method is based on the concept that isometric contraction of the quadriceps induces contraction of the articularis genus muscle, thus expanding the lumen of the suprapatellar bursa. Methods: Intra-articular injections were performed on 150 osteoarthritic knees without effusion. The knees were alternately assigned to the isometric quadriceps method group (75 knees) and non-activated quadriceps method group (75 knees). Prior to joint injection, the anterior-posterior dimension of each suprapatellar bursa was measured to ascertain its expansion. The isometric quadriceps method was performed with the quadriceps and the articularis genus muscle maintained in a contracted state. The non-activated quadriceps method was performed in a relaxed state. Ultrasound guidance was not used for either method. Subsequently, an ultrasonic probe was used only to confirm whether the intra-articular injections were successful. We compared the accuracy of injections performed between the 2 groups. Results: Suprapatellar expansion was significantly larger (p < 0.001) using the isometric quadriceps method (2.1 ± 1.4 mm [range, 0 to 5 mm]) than using the non-activated quadriceps method (0.8 ± 0.7 mm [range, 0 to 2 mm]). The percentage of accurate intra-articular injections was significantly higher (p = 0.0287) using the isometric quadriceps method (93%) compared with the non-activated quadriceps method (80%). Conclusions: In comparison with the non-activated quadriceps method, the isometric quadriceps method led to a larger expansion of the suprapatellar bursa, which should lead to more accurate intra-articular injections. The isometric quadriceps method is effective in reducing inaccurate injections into the synovium or surrounding fatty tissues. Clinical relevance: Putting force on the quadriceps muscle increases the success rate of intra-articular injection of the knee. The results of this study could provide a clinically relevant injection technique for future treatment.博士（医学）・乙第1448号・令和元年12月5日Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Incorporated. All rights reserved. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal

Ascitic Bile Acids in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis

Ascitic bile acids of 8 patients with liver cirrhosis were analyzed in order to elucidate the clinical significance. The results were as follows. 1) Ascitic bile acid concentrations in intractable ascites were high, although low in tractable ascites. 2) Among the 8 patients, 4 had serum bile acid analysis performed and a significant correlation of bile acid concentration was found between ascites and serum (P<0.01). 3) Ascitic bile acid concentration was positively correlative with ascitic protein concentration (P(0.05). 4) In one patient whose group separation on Piperidinohydroxypropyl Sephadex LH-20 was determined, free bile acids were found to predominate the major part of the ascitic bile acids. These results suggest that ascitic bile acids reflect serum bile acids, and that bile acids with protein are filtered into ascitic fluid. Further patient studies will be necessary to shed light on the relationship between intractability of ascites and high ascitic bile acid concentrations

Creation of Mo/Tc@C60 and Au@C60 and molecular-dynamics simulations

The formation of middle- and/or high-weight atom (Mo, Au)-incorporated fullerenes was investigated using radionuclides produced by nuclear reactions. From the trace radioactivities of ⁹⁹Mo/⁹⁹mTc or ¹⁹⁴Au after high-performance liquid chromatography, it was found that the formation of endohedral and/or heterofullerene fullerenes in ⁹⁹Mo/⁹⁹mTc and ¹⁹⁴Au atoms could occur by a recoil process following the nuclear reactions. Furthermore, the ⁹⁹mTc (and ¹⁹⁴Au) atoms recoiled against β-decay remained present inside these cages. To confirm the produced materials experimentally, ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on an all-electron mixed-basis approach were performed. The possibility of the formation of endohedral fullerenes containing Mo/Tc and Au atoms is verified; here, the formation of heterofullerenes is excluded by MD simulations. These findings suggest that radionuclides stably encapsulated by fullerenes could potentially play a valuable role in diagnostic nuclear medicine

Azimuthal inhomogeneity of turbulence structure and its impact on intermittent particle transport in linear magnetized plasmas

Fluctuation component in the turbulence regime is found to be azimuthally localized at a phase of the global coherent modes in a linear magnetized plasma PANTA. Spatial distribution of squared bicoherence is given in the azimuthal cross section as an indicator of nonlinear energy transfer function from the global coherent mode to the turbulence. Squared bicoherence is strong at a phase where the turbulence amplitude is large. As a result of the turbulence localization, time evolution of radial particle flux becomes bursty. Statistical features such as skewness and kurtosis are strongly modified by the localized turbulence component, although contribution to mean particle flux profile is small

Massive portal vein tumor thrombus from colorectal cancer without any metastatic nodules in the liver parenchyma

Metastatic lesions in the liver derived from colorectal cancer rarely invade the portal vein macroscopically. Portal vein tumor thrombus is commonly associated with hepatocellular carcinoma. Colorectal liver metastases are usually accompanied by microscopic tumor invasion into the intrahepatic portal vein, and the incidence of macroscopic tumor thrombus in the trunk of the portal vein is rare. Here, we provide unique appearance of metastatic colorectal cancer. To the best of our knowledge, macroscopically, the right portal vein filled with the tumor thrombus without any tumor in liver parenchyma has been quite rare

The Efficacy and Safety of Dexmedetomidine for Procedural Sedation in Patients Receiving Local Anesthesia Outside the Intensive Care Unit: A Prospective, Double-Blind, Randomized Clinical Phase III Trial in Japan

Background: Few studies (in other countries than the US) have reported on the efficacy and safety of dexmedetomidine for sedation of patients undergoing surgical or medical procedures under local anesthesia without intubation outside the intensive care unit. We performed a randomized, double-blind study in Japan. Methods: Adult patients were randomly allocated to receive placebo, dexmedetomidine 0.5 μg/kg (DEX 0.5 group), or dexmedetomidine 1.0 μg/kg (DEX 1.0 group) over 10 min. Then, both dexmedetomidine groups received dexmedetomidine 0.2–0.7 μg/kg/h for maintaining an Observer’s Assessment of Alertness/Sedation Scale (OAA/S) score of ≤ 4; however, propofol was administered to rescue patients whose score exceeded this value. The primary endpoint was the percentage of patients who did not require rescue propofol to achieve and maintain an OAA/S score of ≤ 4. Results: In total, 162 patients were included in the placebo (n = 53), DEX 0.5 (n = 53), and DEX 1.0 (n = 56) groups. Propofol was not required in significantly more patients in the dexmedetomidine 0.5 and 1.0 μg/kg groups (52.8% and 57.1%, respectively) compared with the placebo group (1.9%) (P < 0.001 for both). Common adverse events were protocol-defined hypotension, respiratory depression and bradycardia. The incidence of bradycardia was significantly higher in the DEX 0.5 (26.4%) and DEX 1.0 (30.4%) groups than in the placebo group (9.4%) (P = 0.041 and P = 0.008, respectively). Conclusion: We concluded that a loading dose of 0.5 or 1.0 μg/kg dexmedetomidine followed by infusion at a rate of 0.2–0.7 μg/kg/h provided effective and welltolerated sedation in patients undergoing surgical or medical procedures under local anesthesia without intubation. Clinical trials.gov identifier: NCT0143893