Narrative review of current COPD status in Japan

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) causes morbidity and mortality worldwide. Due to the improvement in environmental sanitation and medical care, the general life span has increased in the past decades in Japan. However, many older patients with COPD develop a wide range of comorbidities, and the impairments in the activities of daily living result in frailty and increase social and economic burdens. Population-based studies have shown that the prevalence of COPD is approximately 10% among subjects aged ≥40 years, but more than 80% of COPD patients are underdiagnosed. The Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare in Japan proposed the National Health Promotion in the 21st century, termed Health Japan 21 (the second term), in 2013 to prevent the onset and progression of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including COPD. The government, medical society, and community have been attempting to increase the recognition of COPD and promote smoking cessation. Additionally, Japanese cohorts have revealed distinct clinical features in Japanese patients with COPD, including lower rates of patient-reported exacerbations, less frequent coexisting cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome, and lower use of inhaled corticosteroids in Japan compared to the Western countries. Moreover, the poor adherence to inhaled medications is found in approximately 20% of subjects, and rehabilitation is performed in 26% of hospitalized patients with COPD. Therefore, more efforts should be made to improve adherence and access to pulmonary rehabilitation. Overall, Japanese COPD patients share common clinical and social features with COPD patients in other countries. Further international corroboration may help establish better comprehensive management of the disease

イギリス労働党政権3期（2005～2010）にみる〈第3の道〉の現状と今後の課題をみて

1）本稿は、イギリスのBlair prime ministerの3期（1995年～2010年）を中心に、Blair総理の労働党政権の創設以来をふまえつつ、その労働党創設と諸活動の〈第3の道〉実現の歩みを、公約を中心に指摘したものである。　2）イギリス労働党は、Blair総理の〈新しい福祉国家創設〉、その新しい社会主義理想の実現を、高福祉、高負担による北欧型福祉国家とは一味違って試みてきた。ことに、地域住民であり、主権者であるイギリス国民主体の、しかも、新しい〈契約福祉〉の実現を試みる構想は、現在、イギリスのイラク戦争参加にかかわって、その政策転換がいかにして実現されるかはblair総理のまさに3期の諸活動にかかっていることを指摘した。This paper is a descriptive report that Prime Minister.Mr.Blair is trying to find to the New socialism the 3rd way to take the place of the former Prime Minister, Ms.Thacher of the England Conservative party. The labor party is trying to the New welfare State is creation to take the place of the northen style of the High welfare state, High burden welfare state. But, the New contract welfare state, New plan for welfare state is depended on to primary minister blair\u27s The 3rd way activities, （1995～2010

Suzaku X-Ray Observations of the Accreting NGC 4839 Group of Galaxies and the Radio Relic in the Coma Cluster

Based on Suzaku X-ray observations, we study the hot gas around the NGC4839 group of galaxies and the radio relic in the outskirts of the Coma cluster. We find a gradual decline in the gas temperature from 5 keV around NGC4839 to 3.6 keV at the radio relic, across which there is a further, steeper drop down to 1.5 keV. This drop as well as the observed surface brightness profile are consistent with a shock with Mach number M = 2.2 pm 0.5 and velocity vs = (1410 pm 110) km s^-1. A lower limit of B > 0.33 mu G is derived on the magnetic field strength around the relic from upper limits to inverse Compton X-ray emission. Although this suggests that the non-thermal electrons responsible for the relic are generated by diffusive shock acceleration (DSA), the relation between the measured Mach number and the electron spectrum inferred from radio observations are inconsistent with that expected from the simplest, test-particle theory of DSA. Nevertheless, DSA is still viable if it is initiated by the injection of a pre-existing population of non-thermal electrons. Combined with previous measurements, the temperature profile of Coma in the southwest direction is shallower outside NGC4839 and also slightly shallower in the outermost region. The metal abundance around NGC4839 is confirmed to be higher than in its vicinity, implying a significant peak in the abundance profile that decreases to 0.2 solar toward the outskirts. We interpret these facts as due to ram pressure stripping of metal-enriched gas from NGC4839 as it falls into Coma. The relic shock may result from the combined interaction of pre-existing intracluster gas, gas associated with NGC 4839, and cooler gas flowing in from the large-scale structure filament in the southwest.Comment: 13 page, accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japa

Vibration Damping of Beams and Plates by Mastic Deadner

Mastic deadner is widely used for the vibration reduction of thin plates and beams because of its easy treatment and low cost. In this paper, the damping capacity of the mastic deadner is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The vibrations of a beam and a plate covered with the mastic deadner under an external exciting force were analyzed by making use of an eigenfunction expansion method. Experiments with the beams and the plates were carried out, and the relation between the vibration amplitude and the thickness of the mastic deadner was investigated. From the theoretical and the experimental results, the following conclusions were obtained. The vibration amplitudes at the natural frequencies are remarkably decreased by the mastic deadner. The loss factor of the plate covered with the mastic deadner is proportional to the square of the ratio of the thickness of the mastic deadner to that of the basic beam and plate. The vibration amplitude at the natural frequency is inversely proportional to the square of the thickness ratio

Fabrication of Various Electroless Ni-P Alloy/Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Composite Films and Their Frictional Properties

Ni-P alloy/multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) composite films were fabricated using an electroless plating method, and their microstructures and frictional properties were studied. MWCNTs of various sizes were used and three kinds of electroless plating baths were prepared to form the Ni-P alloy matrix with varying phosphorus contents. Heat- treatments of the composite films were also carried out. The microstructures of the composite films were examined by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Frictional properties of the composite films were investigated using a ball-on-plate method. Ni-P alloy/MWCNT composite films with different phosphorus contents, classified as high phosphorus (12-13 mass %), medium phosphorus (6-8 mass %), and low phosphorus (2-4 mass %) types, were fabricated using electroless deposition. The Ni-P alloy/MWCNT composite films showed lower friction coefficients compared to Ni-P alloy films with the same phosphorus content both before and after heat-treatment. The friction coefficients of the films were affected by the microstructure and size of the MWCNTs, the composition of the Ni-P alloy matrix, and the heat-treatment.ArticleJOURNAL OF THE ELECTROCHEMICAL SOCIETY 157: D570-D576(2010)journal articl