Development of a Real time Evaluation System for Microteaching

We have developed an evaluation system for microteaching. Unlike conventional evaluation methods using paper medium, our system enables evaluation comments to be inputted in real time. In addition, our system enables evaluation comments to be displayed using a video while microteaching. As a result, an evaluator is able to input a comment while watching the teaching practice and the student is able to check the comments while watching the video

A Zebrafish Chemical Suppressor Screening Identifies Small Molecule Inhibitors of the Wnt/β-catenin Pathway

SummaryGenetic screening for suppressor mutants has been successfully used to identify important signaling regulators. Using an analogy to genetic suppressor screening, we developed a chemical suppressor screening method to identify inhibitors of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. We used zebrafish embryos in which chemically induced β-catenin accumulation led to an “eyeless” phenotype and conducted a pilot screening for compounds that restored eye development. This approach allowed us to identify geranylgeranyltransferase inhibitor 286 (GGTI-286), a geranylgeranyltransferase (GGTase) inhibitor. Our follow-up studies showed that GGTI-286 reduces nuclear localization of β-catenin and transcription dependent on β-catenin/T cell factor in mammalian cells. In addition to pharmacological inhibition, GGTase gene knockdown also attenuates the nuclear function of β-catenin. Overall, we validate our chemical suppressor screening as a method for identifying Wnt/β-catenin pathway inhibitors and implicate GGTase as a potential therapeutic target for Wnt-activated cancers

Development of Learning Methods and System to Practice Problems Using Digital Materials

In recent years, digital learning materials have been incorporated into schools by the spread of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). In this paper, we propose learning methods to develop the expressive power, decision making and thinking skills of students using digital materials. Additionally, we develop the following features: a method that can show the data created in ePub as the digital learning materials, a feature that can search the Internet directly by linking with an Internet browser, and a feature that saves the meta-data for the learner using e-learning to reuse the data that was developed for smartphone users.International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, KES 2014; Pomeranian Science and Technology ParkGdynia; Poland; 15 September 2014 through 17 September 201

Coexistence of muscle atrophy and high subcutaneous adipose tissue radiodensity predicts poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

IntroductionWe aimed to assess the prognostic implications of muscle atrophy and high subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) radiodensity in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).MethodsIn this retrospective study, muscle atrophy was assessed using the psoas muscle index (PMI) obtained from computed tomography. SAT radiodensity was evaluated based on radiodensity measurements. Survival and multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors associated with prognosis. The impact of muscle atrophy and high SAT radiodensity on prognosis was determined through survival analysis.ResultsA total of 201 patients (median age: 71 years; 76.6% male) with HCC were included. Liver cirrhosis was observed in 72.6% of patients, and the predominant Child–Pugh grade was A (77.1%). A total of 33.3% of patients exhibited muscle atrophy based on PMI values, whereas 12.9% had high SAT radiodensity. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis demonstrated that patients with muscle atrophy had significantly poorer prognosis than those without muscle atrophy. Patients with high SAT radiodensity had a significantly worse prognosis than those without it. Muscle atrophy, high SAT radiodensity, the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer class B, C, or D, and Child–Pugh score ≥ 6 were significantly associated with overall survival. Further classification of patients into four groups based on the presence or absence of muscle atrophy and high SAT radiodensity revealed that patients with both muscle atrophy and high SAT radiodensity had the poorest prognosis.ConclusionMuscle atrophy and high SAT radiodensity are significantly associated with poor prognosis in patients with HCC. Identifying this high-risk subgroup may facilitate the implementation of targeted interventions, including nutritional therapy and exercise, to potentially improve clinical outcomes

Fluorescence evaluation of EUS-FNA specimens

Purpose: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is the most reliable method for the histological diagnosis of pancreatic tumors. Rapid on-site fluorescence-guided histological diagnosis was evaluated by topically applying an enzymatically activatable probe onto the EUS-FNA samples; the probe fluoresces in the presence of γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT). Procedures: We evaluated GGT expression in pancreatic cancer cell lines in vitro. EUS-FNA was performed in 10 pancreatic tumors. After topical application of the probe, signal intensity was measured using a fluorescence imaging system for 13 min. Results: GGT was expressed in Panc-1, AsPC-1, and AR42J, but not in KP4 cells. In samples from six cases, several regions of the specimens fluoresced and contained adequate tissue for pathological diagnosis. The remaining four non-fluorescent samples contained very small amounts of carcinoma, normal epithelial cells, or no epithelial cells. The signal intensity at 5 min was 25.5 ± 7.7 and 7.7 ± 0.5 in fluorescent and non-fluorescent regions, respectively (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Application of enzymatically activatable probe onto EUS-FNA samples would be feasible for the rapid evaluation of tissues suitable for histological diagnosis

分散共有メモリモデルに基づくHPC環境の高性能実装と性能評価

分散スーパーコンピューテイング環境(DSE)は,分散システム上に分散共有メモリモデルに基づく並列処理機能を実現するハイパフォーマンスコンピューティング環境である.DSEでは移植性を考慮して,既存OS(UNIX)には手を加えず,すべての処理をユーザレベルで実装する方針を採っている.しかし,ユーザレベルでの実装を行うが故に,DSEにおける並列処理は必ずUNIXカーネルを介して行われる大きなオーバヘッドを伴い,効率良い並列処理を妨げていた.本稿では,分散共有メモリモデルに基づく並列処理に伴う細かな粒度の通信にも対応可能なハイパフォーマンスコンピューティング環境の実現を目標に,ユーザレベルで実装する際の通信処理を改善する高性能実装法を提示する.具体的には,通信処理における入出力関数の呼び出しに着目し,従来は別々の UNIXプロセスで実現していたDESのカーネルと対応プロセスの処理を1つのUNIXプロセス内で行うことによる通信処理の改善について説明する.また,並列処理プリミティブや並列アプリケーションを用いて,提示した高性能実装法の性能評価を行い,その有効性を確認した.そして,DSEの性能をさらに向上させるには,プロトコル処理などのネットワーク通信処理の高速化が重要であることが明らかにした. The Distributed Supercomputing Environment (DSE) provide a high-performance computing environment based on a distributed shared memory model. Our concept stipulates that all DSE prosessing shall be implemented at user-level. However, this implementation at user-level impedes the speed-up gained by parallel processing. This is because the DES parallel processing is performed via the UNIX kernel which incurs a large overhead. This paper describe the implementation of a high-performance computing environment to execute small grain communication in parallel processing based on distributed shared memory model. In particular, we explain with emphasis on the imput/output function calls in communication processing, and the efficient implementation method to improve the communication processing of DSE kernel and application process which were merged into one UNIX process in the present DSE. We estimate the efficiency of our implementation and confirm its effectivity by running both the primitives and some applications. Consequently, we verified the importance of speeding up the network communication processing, such as protocol processing, to further improve the DSE performance