Alteration of water-soluble S-100 protein content in microembolized rat brain.

The amount of S-100 protein in rat brain embolized with carbon microspheres decreased in parallel with the development of cerebral edema as judged by water content, recovering to the normal range by 24h after embolization. These results suggest the participation of S-100 protein in the permeability characterisitics of nervous system capillaries known as the blood-brain barrier.</p

Evaluation of patients who underwent percutaneous transhepatic portal vein embolisation by Tc-99m GSA scintigraphy

Purpose: To analyse the correlation between the fold change in residual liver volume (RLV) and residual liver uptake at 15 (RLU15) before and after percutaneous transhepatic portal vein embolisation (PTPE). Material and methods: Between August 2010 and December 2016, 20 patients who underwent PTPE were retrospectively selected. Before and three weeks after PTPE, contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) and Tc-99m GSA scintigraphy were performed to analyse the fold changes in RLV and RLU15, respectively, as well as their correlation. Results: After PTPE, a significant increase was observed in the RLV (before: 464 ± 99 ml; after: 573 ± 118 ml, p = 0.004) and the RLU15 (before: 11.0 ± 2.9%; after: 17.7 ± 3.8%, p = 5 × 10-7). The fold increase of RLV and RLU15 in all patients was 1.25 ± 0.15 and 1.66 ± 0.33, respectively. No significant correlation was observed in the fold increase in both RLV and RLU15 (r = 0.14, p = 0.66). In patients no. 3 and 9, who were outliers, the increase in RLV was minimal and RLU15 increased greatly, and these 2 patients underwent radical hepatectomy after PTPE. Conclusions: No correlation was observed between the fold increase in RLV and RLU15 before and after PTPE. In order to accurately evaluate the residual liver function, it should be considered necessary to evaluate not only by morphological CECT volumetry, but also by functional outcome of Tc-99m GSA scintigraphy. Residual liver volume may not necessarily reflect RLF. It may be possible to improve the radical resection rate by detecting the potential increase of RLF with RLU15 of Tc-99m GSA scintigraphy

The Hyper Suprime-Cam SSP survey: Overview and survey design

Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) is a wide-field imaging camera on the prime focus of the 8.2-m Subaru telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. A team of scientists from Japan, Taiwan, and Princeton University is using HSC to carry out a 300-night multi-band imaging survey of the high-latitude sky. The survey includes three layers: the Wide layer will cover 1400 deg2 in five broad bands (grizy), with a 5 σ point-source depth of r ≈ 26. The Deep layer covers a total of 26 deg2 in four fields, going roughly a magnitude fainter, while the UltraDeep layer goes almost a magnitude fainter still in two pointings of HSC (a total of 3.5 deg2). Here we describe the instrument, the science goals of the survey, and the survey strategy and data processing. This paper serves as an introduction to a special issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, which includes a large number of technical and scientific papers describing results from the early phases of this survey