Geometric mean of probability measures and geodesics of Fisher information metric

The space of all probability measures having positive density function on a connected compact smooth manifold $M$, denoted by $\mathcal{P}(M)$, carries the Fisher information metric $G$. We define the geometric mean of probability measures by the aid of which we investigate information geometry of $\mathcal{P}(M)$, equipped with $G$. We show that a geodesic segment joining arbitrary probability measures $\mu_1$ and $\mu_2$ is expressed by using the normalized geometric mean of its endpoints. As an application, we show that any two points of $\mathcal{P}(M)$ can be joined by a unique geodesic. Moreover, we prove that the function $\ell$ defined by $\ell(\mu_1, \mu_2):=2\arccos\int_M \sqrt{p_1\,p_2}\,d\lambda$, $\mu_i=p_i\,\lambda$, $i=1,2$ gives the Riemannian distance function on $\mathcal{P}(M)$. It is shown that geodesics are all minimal.Comment: 33 pages, 1 figur

尿閉を来たしたハイリスク患者に対する尿道ステント(アンジオメッドメモサーム)の使用経験

著者らは, 尿閉を来したハイリスク患者に対して, 尿道ステント(アンジオメッド・メモサーム)留置を試みて, 良好な結果が得られた.対象症例15例のうち, 2名は再度尿閉を来し, 1名はステントへの結石付着が原因でステントを抜去せざるをえなかったが, 残る12名はステント留置後から良好な排尿状態を保持することができた.また, BPHだけでなく, 原疾患がNGBと思われる症例に対しても効果を期待できることが確認できた.以上, 非侵襲的で簡便なこの手技は, 本来尿道カテーテルを留置されるべきハイリスク患者に自排尿を促せる, すなわちQOLを高めることのできる優れた手技であると示唆されたTransurethral resection of the prostate (TUR-P) has been established as the golden standard for the treatment of urinary retention in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). However, TUR-P is not performed on patients with certain high-risk complications. We have obtained favorable results using urethral stent (Angiomed-Memotherm) implantation to treat high-risk urinary retention patients. Here, we review the results obtained on 15 patients treated using this procedure. Two patients experienced recurrent urinary retention; in one patient, the stent had to be removed due to stone formation; in the remaining 12 patients, urination was favorable after stent implantation. Also, urethral stent implantation was found to be useful in 4 of the 7 patients with neurogenic bladder (rather than BPH) as the underlying disease. The present technique is convenient and noninvasive, and we strongly believe that it can improve the patient's quality of life (QOL) by facilitating urination in high-risk patients who would otherwise require urethral catheterization

Reappraisal of the Cerebral Blood Flow Measured Using 123I-I-iodoamphetamine Single-photon Emission Computed Tomography in Normal Subjects and Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies

Purpose: Our aim was to re-evaluate the usefulness of perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) for the diagnosis of AD and DLB.Methods: A total of 1,232 patients, including 180 cognitively normal subjects (NSs), 148 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), 802 patients with AD and 102 patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) were enrolled. A voxelbasedstereotactic extraction estimation analysis was used to assess hypoperfusion areas using the cut-off value of 20% for the “extent %” and >2 hypoperfused lesions.Results: The top 10 areas with hypoperfusion in AD were the angular gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, precuneus, superior occipital gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, middle temporal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, inferior temporal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus. and posterior cingulate, while DLB had 6 areas in common with AD. The respective sensitivity and specificity for differentiating AD from NSs were 84.2% and 78.9% for 50-59 years old, and 91.8% and 70.0% for 60-69 years old, butthose values decreased from 70 years old. The respective sensitivity and specificity in DLB patients were 100% and 75.6% for 50-69 years old, 84.6% and 70.1% for 70-79 years old and 81.4% and 77.1% for 80-89 years old. In aMCI patients, the 1-year change in the MMSE scores was -2.38±2.02 (n=16) in patients with abnormal SPECT images and -0.67±1.81 (n=18) in those with normal SPECT images (P<0.02).Conclusions: Our study confirms that perfusion SPECT is still a valid alternative for the diagnosis of AD and DLB when fluorodeoxyglucose-PET is unavailable

Characterization of spliced leader trans-splicing in a photosynthetic rhizarian amoeba, Paulinella micropora, and its possible role in functional gene transfer

Paulinella micropora is a rhizarian thecate amoeba, belonging to a photosynthetic Paulinella species group that has a unique organelle termed chromatophore, whose cyanobacterial origin is distinct from that of plant and algal chloroplasts. Because acquisition of the chromatophore was quite a recent event compared with that of the chloroplast ancestor, the Paulinella species are thought to be model organisms for studying the early process of primary endosymbiosis. To obtain insight into how endosymbiotically transferred genes acquire expression competence in the host nucleus, here we analyzed the 5′ end sequences of the mRNAs of P. micropora MYN1 strain with the aid of a cap-trapper cDNA library. As a result, we found that mRNAs of 27 genes, including endosymbiotically transferred genes, possessed the common 5′ end sequence of 28–33 bases that were posttranscriptionally added by spliced leader (SL) trans-splicing. We also found two subtypes of SL RNA genes encoded by the P. micropora MYN1 genome. Differing from the other SL trans-splicing organisms that usually possess poly(A)-less SL RNAs, this amoeba has polyadenylated SL RNAs. In this study, we characterize the SL trans-splicing of this unique organism and discuss the putative merits of SL trans-splicing in functional gene transfer and genome evolution

Evaluation of olfactory impairment using a simple test kit “The Odor Stick Identification test for the Japanese” (OSIT-J) in neurodegenerative diseases

Purpose: Olfactory deficit has been studied in aging, amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Parkinson\u27s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and idiopathic REM-sleep behavior disorder (iRBD). Our aim was to investigate the usefulness of a simple test kit “The Odor Stick Identification test for the Japanese ”(OSIT-J) in clinical practice.Methods: A total of 240 patients were enrolled in this study, including 44 cognitively normal subjects (NS), 31 patients with aMCI, 70 patients with mild AD (AD-mild), 28 patients with DLB, 31 patients with PD and 36 patients with iRBD. The OSIT-J consists of 12 types of odor sticks. The subjects were asked to select an odor from a list of 4 odors that were rubbed on the medicine wraping paper for each odor stick. The maximum score was 12.Results: The mean odor identification (OI) score decreased in the order of aMCI, iRBD, AD-mild, PD and DLB (NS: aMCI, P<0.05, NS: AD-mild, DLB, PD and iRBD, P<0.001, aMCI: DLB, P<0.001, aMCI: PD, P<0.01 (Kruskal-Wallis, Dunn’s test). The sensitivity and specificity in differentiating each disease from NS at a cutoff value of 8 was 96.8% and 79.5%, respectively, in PD, and 96.4% and 79.5% in DLB. An ageing effect was observed in NSs ( r=-0.453 (p<0.01)).Conclusions: Olfactory deficit is a non-specific phenomenon. However, it is important to be aware of the underlying diseases or future development of diseases. The OSIT-J, which is a simple test, is useful for detecting OI abnormalities in daily clinical practice

Support vector machines as multivariate calibration model for prediction of blood glucose concentration using a new non-invasive optical method named pulse glucometry

金沢大学理工研究域機械工学系A novel optical non-invasive in vivo blood glucose concentration (BGL) measurement technique, named "Pulse Glucometry", was combined with a kernel method; support vector machines. The total transmitted radiation intensity (Iλ) and the cardiac-related pulsatile changes superimposed on Iλ in human adult fingertips were measured over the wavelength range from 900 to 1700 nm using a very fast spectrophotometer, obtaining a differential optical density (ΔOD λ) related to the blood component in the finger tissues. Subsequently, a calibration model using paired data of a family of ΔODλs and the corresponding known BGLs was constructed with support vector machines regression instead of using calibration by a conventional partial least squares regression (PLS). Our results show that the calibration model based on the support vector machines can provide a good regression for the 183 paired data, in which the BGLs ranged from 89.0-219 mg/dl (4.94-12.2 mmol/l). The resultant regression was evaluated by the Clarke error grid analysis and all data points fell within the clinically acceptable regions (region A: 93%, region B: 7%). © 2007 IEEE.

Antiphospholipid Antibodies in Patients with Myasthenia Gravis

We measured antiphospholipid antibodies in sera from 94 patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). We found lgG aCL in 14/94 (14.9 % )lgM aCL in 6/94 (6.4 %) and LA in 4/56 (7.1 %) patients with MG. As a whole 21 of 94 (22.3 % ) patients with MG had some aPL. There was no correlation between the presence of aPL and the severity of MGthe presence of hyperplasia of thymustiter of the antiacetylcholine receptor antibodies or anti-single stranded DNA antibodies. Though the percentage of malignant thymoma with aPL were higher than that of malignant thymoma without aPLwe thought that aPL were not the specific antibody in malignant thymoma. In MGaPL did not play as the aCL syndrome and seemed to be non-specific antibodies

Separation of Sympathomimetic Amines of Abuse and Related Compounds by Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography

Separation of twelve sympathomimetic amines and related compounds by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) with UV absorbance detection is described. These amines were well separated within 25 min using 50 mM sodium tetraborate solution containing 15 mM sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) of pH 9.3 as a running solution and detected at 210 nm. MEKC was performed with an applied voltage of 13 kV at 25 °C using a fused-silica capillary (50 cm×75 mm i.d.) with effective length of 37.5 cm. The detection limits of these compounds were in the range from 4 to 97 fmol/injection at a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 3. The reproducibility of the method expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD) for within-day (n=6) and between-day (n=5) assays was less than 4.8 and 8.8%, respectively. The proposed method could be applied to the determination of an anorectic drug, phentermine, in Chinese tea with a detection limit of 99 μg/g (105 fmol/injection, S/N=3)