ダウン症候群児の咀嚼機能獲得に関連する要因の検討

Down syndrome (DS) has the highest prevalence of any chromosomal abnormality identified in newborns. DS children have specific eating and swallowing difficulties such as poor tongue control, mouth opening, swallowing food without chewing, and both facial and occlusal abnormalities. DS children are also at high risk of aspiration, and swallowing food without chewing is considered to be a factor associated with increased risk of aspiration and eating problems. This study aimed to identify factors preventing the acquisition of masticatory function in DS children. The subjects were 75 outpatient DS children (44 males, age range 12 to 36 month-old, mean age 33.0 ± 7.0 month­-old; 31 females, age 12 to 36 month-old, mean age 20.8 ± 8.0 month-old), who had not yet acquired masticatory function, out of 319 who visited the clinic between October 2012 and October 2017. The information necessary for assessment was retrospectively extracted from the medical records of the subjects. The items examined included age, birth weight, nutritional intake, picky eating, tactile hyperesthesia, cognitive development assessed by Ohta stage, gross motor function, occlusal condition by Hellman's dental age, and tongue thrust/lip closure/mastication while eating. The relationships between the acquisition of masticatory function and these items were investigated after one year of rehabilitation. The revealed age, low birth weight, picky eating, and gross motor function to be relevant factors. Among these, gross motor function was found to be the factor most strongly associated with acquisition of masticatory function

Selective isolation of mono to quad layered 2D materials via sonication-based solution engineering

Mechanical exfoliation methods of two-dimensional materials have been an essential process for advanced device and fundamental sciences. However, the exfoliation method usually generates various thick flakes, and a bunch of thick bulk flakes usually covers an entire substrate. Here, we developed a method to selectively isolate mono- to quadlayers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) by sonication in organic solvents. The analysis reveals the importance of low interface energies between solvents and TMDCs, leading to effective removal of bulk flakes under sonication. Importantly, a monolayer adjacent to bulk flakes shows cleavage at the interface, and the monolayer can be selectively isolated on the substrate. This approach can extend to preparing a monolayer device with crowded 17 electrode fingers surrounding the monolayer and for the measurement of electrostatic device performance

Indirect posterior decompression with corrective fusion for ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament of the thoracic spine: is it possible to predict the surgical results?

To investigation of the outcomes of indirect posterior decompression with corrective fusion for myelopathy associated with thoracic ossification of the longitudinal ligament, and prognostic factors. Conservative treatment for myelopathy associated with thoracic ossification of the longitudinal ligament (OPLL) is mostly ineffective, and treatment is necessary. However, many authors have reported poor surgical outcomes, and no standard surgical procedure has been established. We have been performing indirect spinal cord decompression by posterior laminectomy and simultaneous corrective fusion of the thoracic kyphosis. Twenty patients underwent indirect posterior decompression with corrective fusion, and were included in this study. The follow-up period was minimum 2 years and averaged 2 years and 9 months (2–5 years 6 months). Operative results were examined using JOA scoring system (full marks: 11 points) and Hirabayashi’s recovery rate, as excellent (100–75%), good (74–50%), fair (49–25%), unchanged (24–0%) and deteriorated (i.e., decrease in score less than 0%). Cases in which the spinal cord is floating from OPLL on intraoperative ultrasonography were defined as the floating (+) group, and those without floating as the floating (−) group. In addition, we used compound muscle action potentials (CMAP) as intraoperative spinal cord monitoring and the cases were divided into three groups: Group A, no change in potential; Group B, potential decreased, and Group C, potential improved. The mean pre- and postoperative JOA scores were 6.2 and 8.9 points, respectively, and the recovery rate was 56%. The outcome was rated excellent in three, good in eight, fair in six, unchanged in two, and deteriorated in one. The mean preoperative thoracic kyphosis measured 58°, and was corrected to 51° after surgery. On intraoperative ultrasonography, 12 cases were included in the floating (+) and 8 in the floating (−) groups; the recovery rates were 58 and 52%, respectively, showing no significant difference between the recovery rates of the two groups. Regarding intraoperative CMAP, the outcome was excellent in one, good in seven, fair in four, and unchanged in one in Group A; fair in one, unchanged in one, and deteriorated in one in Group B, and excellent in two and good in one in Group C. The recovery rates were 50, 48 and 68.3% in Groups A, B and C, respectively, showing that the postoperative outcome was significantly poorer in Group B. Although indirect posterior decompression with corrective fusion using instruments obtained satisfactory outcomes, not all cases achieved good outcomes using this procedure. We consider that additional application of anterior decompressive fusion is preferable when improvement of symptoms occurs not satisfactory after indirect posterior decompression with corrective fusion using instruments. Intraoperative spinal cord monitoring of CMAP demonstrated that the spinal cord was already impaired during the laminectomy via the posterior approach. Concomitant intraoperative monitoring of CMAP to avoid impairment of the vulnerable spinal cord and corrective posterior spinal fusion with indirect spinal cord decompression is recommendable as a method capable of preventing postoperative neurological aggravation

Unusual selective monitoring of N,N-dimethylformamide in a two-dimensional layered field-effect transistor

N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) is an essential solvent in industries and pharmaceutics. Its market size range was estimated to be 2 billion US dollars in 2022. Monitoring DMF in solution environments in real time is significant because of its toxicity. However, DMF is not a redox-active molecule; therefore, selective monitoring DMF in solutions in real time requires an unprecedented design at the scale of atomic resolution. In this paper, we propose a selective DMF sensor using a molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) field-effect transistor (FET). The sensor responds to DMF molecules, but not to similar molecules of formamide, N,N-diethylformamide, and N,N-dimethylacetamide. The plausible atomic mechanism is the oxygen substitution sites on MoS2, on which the DMF molecule shows exceptional orientation. The thin structure of MoS2-FET can be incorporated into a microfluidic chamber, which leads to DMF monitoring in real time by exchanging solutions subsequently. The designed device shows DMF monitoring in NaCl ionic solutions from 1 to 200 L/mL. This work proposes the concept of selectively monitoring redox-inactive molecules based on the non-ideal atomic affinity site on the surface of two-dimensional semiconductors

Periodontal Tissue Regeneration by Transplantation of Autologous Adipose Tissue-Derived Multi-Lineage Progenitor Cells With Carbonate Apatite

We have developed an autologous transplantation method using adipose tissue-derived multi-lineage progenitor cells (ADMPCs) as a method of periodontal tissue regeneration that can be adapted to severe periodontal disease. Our previous clinical study confirmed the safety of autologous transplantation of ADMPCs and demonstrated its usefulness in the treatment of severe periodontal disease. However, in the same clinical study, we found that the fibrin gel used as the scaffold material might have caused gingival recession and impaired tissue regeneration in some patients. Carbonate apatite has a high space-making capacity and has been approved in Japan for periodontal tissue regeneration. In this study, we selected carbonate apatite as a candidate scaffold material for ADMPCs and conducted an in vitro examination of its effect on the cellular function of ADMPCs. We further performed autologous ADMPC transplantation with carbonate apatite as the scaffold material in a model of one-wall bone defects in beagles and then analyzed the effect on periodontal tissue regeneration. The findings showed that carbonate apatite did not affect the cell morphology of ADMPCs and that it promoted proliferation. Moreover, no effect on secretor factor transcription was found. The results of the in vivo analysis confirmed the space-making capacity of carbonate apatite, and the acquisition of significant new attachment was observed in the group involving ADMPC transplantation with carbonate apatite compared with the group involving carbonate apatite application alone. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of carbonate apatite as a scaffold material for ADMPC transplantation