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Combination of high-resolution cone beam computed tomography and metal artefact reduction software: a new image fusion technique for evaluating intracranial stent apposition after aneurysm treatment.
We introduce a new imaging technique to improve visualisation of stent apposition after endovascular treatment of brain aneurysms employing high-resolution cone beam CT and three-dimensional digital subtraction angiography. After performing a stent-assisted coil embolisation of brain aneurysm, the image datasets were processed with a metal artefact reduction software followed by the automated image fusion programmes. Two patients who underwent aneurysm coiling using a Neuroform stent were evaluated. The reconstructed 3D images showed a detailed structure of the stent struts and identified malappositions of the deployed stents. Case 1 showed good apposition on the outer curvature side of the carotid siphon, while the inner curvature side showed prominent malapposition. Case 2, with multiple aneurysms, showed good apposition on both outer and inner curvature sides, although inward prolapse of the struts was observed. This new imaging technique may help evaluate stent apposition after the endovascular aneurysm treatment
Wear and Mechanical Properties, and Cell Viability of Gas-Nitrided Beta-type Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr System Alloys for Biomedical Applications
Near-optimal stochastic MIMO signal detection with a mixture of t-distribution prior
Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems will play a crucial role in
future wireless communication, but improving their signal detection performance
to increase transmission efficiency remains a challenge. To address this issue,
we propose extending the discrete signal detection problem in MIMO systems to a
continuous one and applying the Hamiltonian Monte Carlo method, an efficient
Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. In our previous studies, we have used a
mixture of normal distributions for the prior distribution. In this study, we
propose using a mixture of t-distributions, which further improves detection
performance. Based on our theoretical analysis and computer simulations, the
proposed method can achieve near-optimal signal detection with polynomial
computational complexity. This high-performance and practical MIMO signal
detection could contribute to the development of the 6th-generation mobile
network.Comment: to be published in the 2023 IEEE Global Communications Conference
(GLOBECOM
Strategies of Impoliteness in Japanese Spontaneous Talks
If, on the one hand, Japanese language, with its richness of marked allomorphs used for honorifics, has been considered one of the most attractive languages to investigate the phenomenon of politeness, on the other hand, a very small number of studies have been devoted to Japanese impoliteness, most of them limited to BBSs’ (Bulletin Board System) chats on Internet. Interestingly, Japanese native speakers declare, in general, that their language has a very limited number of offensive expressions and that ‘impoliteness’ is not a characteristic of their mother tongue. I tried to analyse some samples of spontaneous conversations taken from YouTube and other multimedia repertoires, in order to detect the main strategies used in Japanese real conversations to cause offence or to show a threatening attitude toward the partner’s face. It seems possible to state that, notwithstanding the different ‘cultural’ peculiarities, impoliteness shows, also in Japanese, a set of strategies common to other languages and that impoliteness, in terms of morphology, is not a mirror counterpart of keigo
Glaciological Data Collected by the 48th–54th Japanese Antarctic Research Expeditions during 2007–2013
Current Performance and On-Going Improvements of the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope
An overview of the current status of the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope constructed
and operated at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, by the National Astronomical Observatory of
Japan is presented. The basic design concept and the verified performance of
the telescope system are described. Also given are the status of the instrument
package offered to the astronomical community, the status of operation, and
some of the future plans. The status of the telescope reported in a number of
SPIE papers as of the summer of 2002 are incorporated with some updates
included as of 2004 February. However, readers are encouraged to check the most
updated status of the telescope through the home page,
http://subarutelescope.org/index.html, and/or the direct contact with the
observatory staff.Comment: 18 pages (17 pages in published version), 29 figures (GIF format),
This is the version before the galley proo
Analysis of feasibility and toxicity of concurrent chemoradiotherapy with S-1 for locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck in elderly cases and/or cases with comorbidity
Genetic and clinical landscape of breast cancers with germline BRCA1/2 variants
遺伝性乳癌の遺伝学的・臨床学的特徴を解明 --BRCA1/2 変異乳癌は両アレルの不活化の有無により異なった特徴を持つ--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-10-26.The genetic and clinical characteristics of breast tumors with germline variants, including their association with biallelic inactivation through loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH) and second somatic mutations, remain elusive. We analyzed germline variants of 11 breast cancer susceptibility genes for 1, 995 Japanese breast cancer patients, and identified 101 (5.1%) pathogenic variants, including 62 BRCA2 and 15 BRCA1 mutations. Genetic analysis of 64 BRCA1/2-mutated tumors including TCGA dataset tumors, revealed an association of biallelic inactivation with more extensive deletions, copy neutral LOH, gain with LOH and younger onset. Strikingly, TP53 and RB1 mutations were frequently observed in BRCA1- (94%) and BRCA2- (9.7%) mutated tumors with biallelic inactivation. Inactivation of TP53 and RB1 together with BRCA1 and BRCA2, respectively, involved LOH of chromosomes 17 and 13. Notably, BRCA1/2 tumors without biallelic inactivation were indistinguishable from those without germline variants. Our study highlights the heterogeneity and unique clonal selection pattern in breast cancers with germline variants
Optimization of prediction methods for risk assessment of pathogenic germline variants in the Japanese population
Predicting pathogenic germline variants (PGVs) in breast cancer patients is important for selecting optimal therapeutics and implementing risk reduction strategies. However, PGV risk factors and the performance of prediction methods in the Japanese population remain unclear. We investigated clinicopathological risk factors using the Tyrer-Cuzick (TC) breast cancer risk evaluation tool to predict BRCA PGVs in unselected Japanese breast cancer patients (n = 1, 995). Eleven breast cancer susceptibility genes were analyzed using target-capture sequencing in a previous study; the PGV prevalence in BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2 was 0.75%, 3.1%, and 0.45%, respectively. Significant associations were found between the presence of BRCA PGVs and early disease onset, number of familial cancer cases (up to third-degree relatives), triple-negative breast cancer patients under the age of 60, and ovarian cancer history (all P < .0001). In total, 816 patients (40.9%) satisfied the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines for recommending multigene testing. The sensitivity and specificity of the NCCN criteria for discriminating PGV carriers from noncarriers were 71.3% and 60.7%, respectively. The TC model showed good discrimination for predicting BRCA PGVs (area under the curve, 0.75; 95% confidence interval, 0.69-0.81). Furthermore, use of the TC model with an optimized cutoff of TC score ≥0.16% in addition to the NCCN guidelines improved the predictive efficiency for high-risk groups (sensitivity, 77.2%; specificity, 54.8%; about 11 genes). Given the influence of ethnic differences on prediction, we consider that further studies are warranted to elucidate the role of environmental and genetic factors for realizing precise prediction
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