Colloidal Composite of Hydroxylated Fullerenes and Gold Nanoparticles

Since bare gold nanoparticles are unstable, they have to be stabilized by protecting with ligands, stabilizing with polymers or immobilizing on solids. Properties of gold nanoparticles depend on the design of their protecting ligands

A Coupled Spintronics Neuromorphic Approach for High-Performance Reservoir Computing

The rapid development in the field of artificial intelligence has increased the demand for neuromorphic computing hardware and its information-processing capability. A spintronics device is a promising candidate for neuromorphic computing hardware and can be used in extreme environments due to its high resistance to radiation. Improving the information-processing capability of neuromorphic computing is an important challenge for implementation. Herein, a novel neuromorphic computing framework using spintronics devices is proposed. This framework is called coupled spintronics reservoir (CSR) computing and exploits the high-dimensional dynamics of coupled spin-torque oscillators as a computational resource. The relationships among various bifurcations of the CSR and its information-processing capabilities through numerical experiments are analyzed and it is found that certain configurations of the CSR boost the information-processing capability of the spintronics reservoir toward or even beyond the standard level of machine learning networks. The effectiveness of our approach is demonstrated through conventional machine learning benchmarks and edge computing in real physical experiments using pneumatic artificial muscle-based wearables, which assist human operations in various environments. This study significantly advances the availability of neuromorphic computing for practical uses

General ion recombination effect in a liquid ionization chamber in high-dose-rate pulsed photon and electron beams

Liquid ionization chambers (LICs) are highly sensitive to dose irradiation and have small perturbations because of their liquid-filled sensitive volume. They require a sensitive volume much smaller than conventional air-filled chambers. However, it has been reported that the collection efficiency has dependencies on the dose per pulse and the pulse repetition frequency of a pulsed beam. The purpose of this study was to evaluate in detail the dependency of the ion collection efficiency on the pulse repetition frequency. A microLion (PTW, Freiburg, Germany) LIC was exposed to photon and electron beams from a TrueBeam (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, USA) linear accelerator. The pulse repetition frequency was varied, but the dose per pulse was fixed. A theoretical evaluation of the collection efficiency was performed based on Boag’s theory. Linear correlations were observed between the frequency and the relative collection for all energies of the photon and electron beams. The decrease in the collected charge was within 1% for all the flattened photon and electron beams, and they were 1.1 and 1.8% for the 6 and 10 MV flattening filter-free photon beams, respectively. The theoretical ion collection efficiency was 0.990 for a 10 MV flattened photon beam with a dose rate of 3 Gy·min−1. It is suggested that the collected charge decreased because of the short time intervals of the beam pulse compared with the ion collection time. Thus, it is important to correctly choose the pulse repetition frequency, particularly when flattening filter-free mode is used for absolute dose measurements

A Clinical Evaluation of American Brachytherapy Society Consensus Guideline for Bulky Vaginal Mass in Gynecological Cancer

Objectives American Brachytherapy Society (ABS)-recommended interstitial brachytherapy (IBT) should be considered for bulky vaginal tumor thicker than 5 mm. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ABS consensus guideline for patients with severe vaginal invasion based on our long-term follow-up results.Methods/MaterialsThe study included 7 patients with vaginal cancer and 14 patients with cervical cancer invading to the lower vagina. Based on prebrachytherapy magnetic resonance imaging findings, patients received intracavitary brachytherapy (ICT) for vaginal tumors 5 mm or less or IBT for vaginal tumors less than 5 mm. Nine patients received ICT and the remaining 12 patients received IBT. For dosimetric comparison, an experimental recalculation as the virtual IBT for patients actually treated by ICT, and vice versa, was performed.Results The 5-year local control rate for all tumors was 89.4%. No differences in local control between ICT- and IBT-treated groups were observed (P = 0.21). One patient experienced a grade 3 rectal complication. There were no significant differences in the CTV D90 and rectum D2cc between the 2 groups (P = 0.13 and 0.39, respectively). In the dosimetric study of ICT-treated patients, neither the actual ICT plans nor the experimental IBT plans exceeded the limited dose for organs at risk, which were recommended in the guideline published from the ABS. In the IBT-treated patients, D2cc for bladder and rectum of the experimental ICT plans was significantly higher than for the actual IBT plans (P < 0.001 and <0.001, respectively), and 11 experimental ICT plans (92%) exceeded the limited dose for bladder and/or rectum D2cc.Conclusions Tumor control and toxicity after selected brachytherapy according to vaginal tumor thickness were satisfactory; IBT instead of ICT is recommended for patients with vaginal tumor thickness greater than 5 mm to maintain bladder and/or rectum D2cc

Contribution of Intragenic DNA Methylation in Mouse Gametic DNA Methylomes to Establish Oocyte-Specific Heritable Marks

Genome-wide dynamic changes in DNA methylation are indispensable for germline development and genomic imprinting in mammals. Here, we report single-base resolution DNA methylome and transcriptome maps of mouse germ cells, generated using whole-genome shotgun bisulfite sequencing and cDNA sequencing (mRNA-seq). Oocyte genomes showed a significant positive correlation between mRNA transcript levels and methylation of the transcribed region. Sperm genomes had nearly complete coverage of methylation, except in the CpG-rich regions, and showed a significant negative correlation between gene expression and promoter methylation. Thus, these methylome maps revealed that oocytes and sperms are widely different in the extent and distribution of DNA methylation. Furthermore, a comparison of oocyte and sperm methylomes identified more than 1,600 CpG islands differentially methylated in oocytes and sperm (germline differentially methylated regions, gDMRs), in addition to the known imprinting control regions (ICRs). About half of these differentially methylated DNA sequences appear to be at least partially resistant to the global DNA demethylation that occurs during preimplantation development. In the absence of Dnmt3L, neither methylation of most oocyte-methylated gDMRs nor intragenic methylation was observed. There was also genome-wide hypomethylation, and partial methylation at particular retrotransposons, while maintaining global gene expression, in oocytes. Along with the identification of the many Dnmt3L-dependent gDMRs at intragenic regions, the present results suggest that oocyte methylation can be divided into 2 types: Dnmt3L-dependent methylation, which is required for maternal methylation imprinting, and Dnmt3L-independent methylation, which might be essential for endogenous retroviral DNA silencing. The present data provide entirely new perspectives on the evaluation of epigenetic markers in germline cells

本学看護学部における3年次OSCEの実施と今後の課題

本報告は、2013年4月に開設した当看護学部において、2015年8月に3年生に対して初めて行ったOSCE (客観的臨床能力試験)の準備から実施までの総括である。一連の記録やマニュアル等から経過を振り返り、今後の改善点を検討した結果、学生の基礎技術の習熟に資する自主練習環境の整備、模擬患者の効果的な導入、評価者役や模擬患者役として実習病院や近隣機関の関係者が教育に参加できるような協力関係の構築が課題として示された

Oxygen isotope evidence from Ryugu samples for early water delivery to Earth by CI chondrites

The delivery of water to the inner Solar System, including Earth, is still a debated topic. A preferential role for hydrated asteroids in this process is supported by isotopic measurements. Carbonaceous chondrite (CC) meteorites represent our main source of information about these volatile-rich asteroids. However, the destruction of weaker materials during atmospheric entry creates a bias in our CC data. The return of surface materials from the C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft provides a unique opportunity to study high-porosity, low-density, primitive materials, unrepresented in the meteorite record. We measured the bulk oxygen isotope composition from four Ryugu particles and show that they most closely resemble the rare CI (CC Ivuna-type) chondrites, but with some differences that we attribute to the terrestrial contamination of the CI meteorites. We suggest that CI-related material is widespread among carbonaceous asteroids and a more important source of Earth’s water and other volatiles than its limited presence in our meteoritic collection indicates

A pristine record of outer Solar System materials from asteroid Ryugu’s returned sample

Volatile and organic-rich C-type asteroids may have been one of the main sources of Earth’s water. Our best insight into their chemistry is currently provided by carbonaceous chondritic meteorites, but the meteorite record is biased: only the strongest types survive atmospheric entry and are then modified by interaction with the terrestrial environment. Here we present the results of a detailed bulk and microanalytical study of pristine Ryugu particles, brought to Earth by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Ryugu particles display a close compositional match with the chemically unfractionated, but aqueously altered, CI (Ivuna-type) chondrites, which are widely used as a proxy for the bulk Solar System composition. The sample shows an intricate spatial relationship between aliphatic-rich organics and phyllosilicates and indicates maximum temperatures of ~30 °C during aqueous alteration. We find that heavy hydrogen and nitrogen abundances are consistent with an outer Solar System origin. Ryugu particles are the most uncontaminated and unfractionated extraterrestrial materials studied so far, and provide the best available match to the bulk Solar System composition