An image sensor with fast extraction of objects\u27 positions - Rough vision processor

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科情報システム金沢大学工学部An integration of the signal processing circuits with the image acquiring device, which is called the vision chip and can process information in parallel, is proposed for fast image processing. In applications for robot vision, not only the detailed information, such as shape or texture, but also the rough information, such as \u27something is around here\u27, are important and useful. We consider the detecting of centroids of objects in the focal plain as the rough vision processing, which is useful in practical application, and describe its implementation using two components; the centroid detector and the coordinate generator. First, we describe the fast flag generation algorithm indicating the centroid of objects, and its implementation using an analog parallel signal processing architecture. Next, we describe a novel encoding algorithm for flag positions indicating the centroids in order to obtain their coordinates

Prognostic Significance of C-reactive Protein-to-prealbumin Ratio in Patients with Esophageal Cancer

Background: The prognostic value of combination of C-reactive protein and prealbumin (CRP/PAlb) in esophageal cancer remains unclear. Methods: We enrolled 167 esophageal cancer patients who underwent curative esophagectomy. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the prognostic significance of various markers, including CRP-to-albumin (CRP/Alb) ratio, modified Glasgow prognostic score, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and prognostic nutritional index. Results: Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed the optimal cut-off value of each inflammatory factor, and CRP/PAlb ratio had the greatest discriminative power in predicting recurrence-free survival (RFS) among the examined measures (AUC 0.668). The 5-year overall survival and RFS rates were significantly lower in patients with high CRP/PAlb ratio than in those with low CRP/PAlb ratio (P < 0.001, P = 0.001, respectively). In the univariate analysis, RFS was significantly worse in patients with low BMI, T2 or deeper tumor invasion, positive lymph node metastasis, positive venous invasion, high CRP/PAlb ratio, high CRP/Alb ratio, high NLR, and high LMR. Multivariate analysis revealed that CRP/PAlb, but not CRP/Alb, was an independent prognostic factor along with lymph node metastasis. Conclusion: CRP/PAlb ratio was useful for predicting the prognosis of esophageal cancer patients

A phase 2 basket trial of combination therapy with trastuzumab and pertuzumab in patients with solid cancers harboring human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 amplification (JUPITER trial)

Introduction: Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) gene amplification and mutations have emerged as oncogenic drivers and therapeutic targets not limited to breast and gastric cancers, but also in a variety of cancers. However, even if an actionable gene alteration is found, the incidence of HER2 amplification in these cancers is less than 5%. It is too difficult to conduct a conventional randomized, controlled trial in a rare fraction. Therefore, we have designed a organ-agnostic basket study, which covers a variety of solid cancers harboring HER2 amplification, in 1 study protocol. Methods/Design: This trial is a multicenter, single-arm, basket phase 2 study in Japan. Patients with solid cancers harboring HER2 amplification that have progressed with standard treatment, or rare cancers for which there is no standard treatment, will be eligible. Target cancers include bile duct, urothelial, uterine, ovarian, and other solid cancers where HER2 amplification is detected by comprehensive genomic profiling using next-generation sequencing technology. A total of 38 patients will be treated with combination therapy with trastuzumab and pertuzumab every 3 weeks until disease progression, unmanageable toxicity, death, or patient refusal. The primary endpoint is the objective response rate, and secondary endpoints are progression-free survival, overall survival, and duration of response. Discussion: The aim of this trial is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of combination therapy with trastuzumab and pertuzumab in patients with locally advanced or metastatic, solid cancers harboring HER2 amplification. Instead of focusing on 1 organ type, our trial design uses a basket study focusing on HER2 amplification, regardless of the site or origin of the cancer. The results of our study will advance clinical and scientific knowledge concerning the treatment of locally advanced, rare solid cancers harboring HER2 amplification, using the combination of trastuzumab and pertuzumab. Trial registration: This trial was registered in Japan Registry of Clinical Trials (jCRT) on February 25, 2019, as jRCT2031180150

The Pilot Study for Health Check-Ups System at Elementary School in Cambodia

Background: In Cambodia, there is no national health check-ups system for the schoolchildren and the general population. This pilot study aimed to promote a school health check-ups system in collaboration with the government of Cambodia. Method: From 2016 to 2017, we conducted a survey in an elementary school in Siem Reap province, Cambodia. Two hundred and ninety-two students were eligible for data analysis. Physical examination, questionnaire and urinalysis were conducted using the Japanese school health check-ups model. Anthropometry was measured using the World Health Organization’s growth reference data for school-age children. Results: Among 292 schoolchildren, 88.7% were diagnosed as healthy. Based on the evaluation criteria of health examination in the study, two (0.7%) students with rale, one (0.3%) student with abnormal urinalysis, and another 27 students complaining of cardiopulmonary symptoms were recommended for further consultation at hospital. The prevalence of overweight (15.1%) was higher than that of underweight (8.6%). According to parents’ questionnaires responses, the coverage rate of the National Immunization Program varied from 41.8% to 79.8% depending on each particular vaccine. Conclusion: In this pilot study, we showed the prevalence of healthy among Cambodian schoolchildren and detected the students having possibility of health problem through this health check-ups and then recommended for further hospital visit. Based on the results, we assume that health check-ups system in elementary school as a whole Cambodia will be effective to assess the current health status in ordinary time and possibility of early detection of disease

Analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags from the Fungus Aspergillus oryzae Cultured Under Different Conditions

We performed random sequencing of cDNAs from nine biologically or industrially important cultures of the industrially valuable fungus Aspergillus oryzae to obtain expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Consequently, 21 446 raw ESTs were accumulated and subsequently assembled to 7589 non-redundant consensus sequences (contigs). Among all contigs, 5491 (72.4%) were derived from only a particular culture. These included 4735 (62.4%) singletons, i.e. lone ESTs overlapping with no others. These data showed that consideration of culture grown under various conditions as cDNA sources enabled efficient collection of ESTs. BLAST searches against the public databases showed that 2953 (38.9%) of the EST contigs showed significant similarities to deposited sequences with known functions, 793 (10.5%) were similar to hypothetical proteins, and the remaining 3843 (50.6%) showed no significant similarity to sequences in the databases. Culture-specific contigs were extracted on the basis of the EST frequency normalized by the total number for each culture condition. In addition, contig sequences were compared with sequence sets in eukaryotic orthologous groups (KOGs), and classified into the KOG functional categories