Hangekobokuto (Banxia-houpo-tang), a Kampo Medicine that Treats Functional Dyspepsia

Although abdominal bloating is one of the most bothersome symptoms experienced by patients with functional dyspepsia (FD), therapeutic drugs to relieve abdominal bloating have not been established. We investigated the Kampo (Chinese herbal) medicine, Hangekobokuto (Banxia-houpo-tang, HKT) for patients with FD from the standpoint of bowel gas retention. The bowel gas volume calculated from a plain abdominal radiogram (gas volume score, GVS) in FD patients was significantly higher than that in healthy subjects. Two week administration of HKT in the FD patients showed a significant decrease of GVS. Furthermore, gastrointestinal symptoms, especially symptoms of abdominal pain, indigestion and constipation, all of which are closely related to abdominal bloating, improved significantly in FD patients after the administration of HKT. These results suggest that HKT improves abdominal bloating accompanied by the reduction of bowel gas in FD patients

Clarifying the Destructive Influence of Gravitation Set in Infusion Pump

Import 22/07/2015Infuzní léčba je v současnosti jedním z nejběžnějších úkonů, prováděných ve zdravotnických zařízeních, a nachází uplatnění v širokém spektru případů. Samotný proces léčby může být uskutečněn dvěma způsoby – gravitační infuzí a použitím volumetrické infuzní pumpy. Princip infuze řízené volumetrickou pumpou klade specifické nároky na vlastnosti užívaných infuzních setů, přičemž pro zajištění důležité přesnosti průtoku je nezbytné dbát na určení daného setu pro použití s tlakovou metodou. V běžném zdravotnickém prostředí však existuje řada rizikových faktorů, jejichž vlivem může dojít k porušení této podmínky kompatibility a následnému použití volumetrické pumpy s nevhodnou administrativní soupravou, určenou pouze pro gravitační infuzi. Záměrem první části této práce je, na základě známých poznatků o negativních vlivech činnosti pumpy na přesnost léčby a o mechanických vlastnostech infuzních setů, teoreticky stanovit možné destrukční vlivy čerpadla infuzní pumpy na materiál gravitačního setu. Cílem druhé části je pokusit se prokázat negativní dopad mechanického namáhání gravitačního setu v infuzní pumpě na přesnost dávkování a vlastnosti materiálu použitého setu pomocí experimentálně získaných dat.Intravenous therapy is currently one of the most common operations performed in health care facilities, finding its use in a wide range of cases. The particular process of treatment can be implemented in two ways - using gravity-fed infusion and by use of volumetric infusion pump. The principle of infusion controlled by a volumetric pump lays specific demands on the quality of the infusion sets in use. When warranting the flow rate accuracy it is necessary to ensure suitability of the set for use with the pressure method. However, there are a number of risk factors in common medical situations, whose influence may lead to violating the terms of compatibility and the subsequent use of a volumetric pump with an improper administrative set made only for gravity-fed infusion. The aim of the first part of this work is the theoretical determination of the possible destructive effects of the infusion pump to the material of a gravity-fed administration set based on the evidence about the negative impacts of the pump on the flow rate accuracy and mechanical characteristics of the infusion sets. The goal of the second part is an effort to proof the negative impact of the mechanical stress of a gravity set in an infusion pump to dosage accuracy and the material properties of the used set through experimental data.450 - Katedra kybernetiky a biomedicínského inženýrstvívýborn

Prevention of hypoglycemia by intermittent-scanning continuous glucose monitoring device combined with structured education in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus : A randomized, crossover trial

Aims: We conducted a randomized, crossover trial to compare intermittent-scanning continuous glucose monitoring (isCGM) device with structured education (Intervention) to self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) (Control) in the reduction of time below range. Methods: This crossover trial involved 104 adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) using multiple daily injections. Participants were randomly allocated to either sequence Intervention/Control or sequence Control/Intervention. During the Intervention period which lasted 84 days, participants used the first-generation FreeStyle Libre (Abbott Diabetes Care, Alameda, CA, USA) and received structured education on how to prevent hypoglycemia based on the trend arrow and by frequent sensor scanning (≥10 times a day). Confirmatory SMBG was conducted before dosing insulin. The Control period lasted 84 days. The primary endpoint was the decrease in the time below range (TBR; <70 mg/dL). Results: The time below range was significantly reduced in the Intervention arm compared to the Control arm (2.42 ± 1.68 h/day [10.1 %±7.0 %] vs 3.10 ± 2.28 h/day [12.9 %±9.5 %], P = 0.012). The ratio of high-risk participants with low blood glucose index >5 was significantly reduced (8.6 % vs 23.7 %, P < 0.001). Conclusions: The use of isCGM combined with structured education significantly reduced the time below range in patients with T1DM

環境アポトジェンを含む環境汚染化学物質の作用動態解析と化学生態学的防除法の開発研究プロジェクト

プロジェクト研究報告概要集　　戦略的研究基盤形成支援事業プロジェクト　研究代表者:土戸哲明　研究担当者:池内俊彦・下家浩二・上里新一・吉田宗弘・福永健治・安原裕紀・長谷川喜衛・岩木宏明・老川典夫・松村吉

Assimilation—On (Not) Turning White: Memory and the Narration of the Postwar History of Japanese Canadians in Southern Alberta

This essay explores understandings of “race” – specifically, what it means to be Japanese – of nisei (“second generation”) individuals who acknowledge their near complete assimilation structurally and normatively into the Canadian mainstream. In historically-contextualized analyses of memory fragments from oral-history interviews conducted between 2011-2017, it focusses on voices and experiences of southern Alberta, an area whose significance to local, national, continental, and trans-Pacific histories of people of Japanese descent is belied by a lack of dedicated scholarly attention. In this light, this essay reveals how the fact of being Japanese in the latter half of the twentieth century was strategically central to nisei lives as individuals and in their communities. In imagining a racial hierarchy whose apex they knew they could never share with the hakujin (whites), the racial heritage they nevertheless inherited and would bequeath could be so potent as to reverse the direction of the colonial gaze with empowering effects in individual engagements then and as remembered now. We see how the narration and validation of one’s life is the navigation of wider historical contexts, the shaping of the post-colonial legacy of Imperial cultures, as Britain and Japan withdrew from their erstwhile colonial projects in Canada

Application of Heat Transfer Coefficient Estimation Using Data Assimilation and a 1-D Solidification Model to 3-D Solidification Simulation

Solidification simulations are effective in designing a casting process to improve the quality of steel slabs and ingots. In this study, a new method was developed to efficiently estimate multiple heat transfer coefficients to improve the accuracy of three-dimensional (3-D) solidification simulation for a casting process. The heat transfer coefficients for the two heat transfer directions-side and bottom-of a prismatic mold were independently estimated by data assimilation using one-dimensional solidification simulations near the boundaries. The optimum values of the heat transfer coefficients at the side and bottom boundaries were elucidated by comparing the 3-D solidification simulation and experimental cooling curves. The maximum and average errors between the cooling curves of the 3-D solidification simulation with the optimum values and those of the experiment were less than 1.8% and 0.2%, respectively