Correlated space formation for human whole-body motion primitives and descriptive word labels

AbstractThe motion capture technology has been improved, and widely used for motion analysis and synthesis in various fields, such as robotics, animation, rehabilitation, and sports engineering. A massive amount of captured human data has already been collected. These prerecorded motion data should be reused in order to make the motion analysis and synthesis more efficient. The retrieval of a specified motion data is a fundamental technique for the reuse. Imitation learning frameworks have been developed in robotics, where motion primitive data is encoded into parameters in stochastic models or dynamical systems. We have also been making research on encoding motion primitive data into Hidden Markov Models, which are referred to as “motion symbol”, and aiming at integrating the motion symbols with language. The relations between motions and words in natural language will be versatile and powerful to provide a useful interface for reusing motion data. In this paper, we construct a space of motion symbols for human whole body movements and a space of word labels assigned to those movements. Through canonical correlation analysis, these spaces are reconstructed such that a strong correlation is formed between movements and word labels. These spaces lead to a method for searching for movement data from a query of word labels. We tested our proposed approach on captured human whole body motion data, and its validity was demonstrated. Our approach serves as a fundamental technique for extracting the necessary movements from a database and reusing them

Radial and vertical distributions of radiocesium in tree stems of Pinus densiflora and Quercus serrata 1.5 y after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The radial and vertical distributions of radiocesium in tree stems were investigated to understand radiocesium transfer to trees at an early stage of massive contamination from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. A conifer species (Japanese red pine) and a broad-leaved species (Japanese konara oak) were selected to determine whether the radiocesium contamination pattern differs between species. Stem disks were collected at several heights and separated into outer bark, inner bark, and wood. The radiocesium concentration was the highest in the outer bark, followed by that in the inner bark and wood. The vertical distribution of the radiocesium concentration at each stem part differed between the species. The difference between species in radiocesium concentration of the outer bark could be explained by presence or absence of leaves at the time of the disaster. However, the reasons for the differences between species in the radiocesium concentration of the inner bark and wood are unclear. The radial distribution in the wood of the studied species showed a common pattern across stem disk heights and species. However, the radiocesium concentration ratio between sapwood and inner bark was significantly different between species. Although the radial contamination pattern in the wood was similar in the studied species during the early stage of contamination, the radiocesium transport pathway and allocation would be different between the species, and the contamination pattern will likely be different between the species at later stages. Continued investigations are important for understanding the radiocesium cycle and the accumulation of radiocesium in the tree stems of each species

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Elderly infection in the community due to ST5/SCCmecII methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (the New York/Japan clone) in Japan: Panton–Valentine leukocidin-negative necrotizing pneumonia

An 89-year-old man suffered from and died of necrotizing pneumonia with rapid progression and cavity formation due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). He was at no risk for hospital-acquired MRSA infection. His MRSA exhibited genotype ST5/spa2(t002)/agr2/SCCmecII/coagulaseII and was negative for Panton–Valentine leukocidin, indicating the New York/Japan clone (the predominant epidemic hospital-acquired MRSA clone in Japan). However, this strain expressed the cytolytic peptide (phenol-soluble modulin or δ-hemolysin) genes at high level, similar to USA300 (the most common community-acquired MRSA in the United States), indicating a variant of the New York/Japan clone with an important feature of community-acquired MRSA

A Fly-Through Mission Strategy Targeting Peptide as a Signature of Chemical Evolution and Possible Life in Enceladus Plumes

In situ detection of organic molecules in the extraterrestrial environment provides a key step towards better understanding the variety and the distribution of building blocks of life and it may ultimately lead to finding extraterrestrial life within the Solar System. Here we present combined results of two separate experiments that enable us to realize such in situ life signature detection from the deep habitats of the "Ocean World": a hydrothermal reactor experiment simulating complex organic synthesis and a simulated fly-through capture experiment of organic-bearing microparticles using silica aerogels, followed by subsequent analysis. Both experiments employ peptide as a plausible organics existing in Encleadus plume particles produced in its subsurface ocean. Recent laboratory hydrothermal experiments and a theoretical model on silica saturation indicated an on going hydrothermal reactions in subsurface Enceladus ocean. Given the porous chondritic origin of the core, it is likely that organic compounds originated by radiation chemistry such as amino acid precursors could have been provided, leached, and altered through widespread water-rock interactions. By using the same laboratory experimental setup from the latest water-rock interaction study, we performed amino acid polymerization experiments for 144 days and monitored the organic complexity changing over time. So far over 3,000 peaks up to the size of greater than 600 MW were observed through the analysis of capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectrometry (CE-TOF-MS) with an indication of amino acid derivatives and short peptides. Generally abiotic polymerization of enantiomeric amino acids results in forming stereoisomeric peptides with identical molecular weight and formula as opposed to homochiral biopolymers. Assuming Enceladus plume particles may contain a mixture of stereoisomeric peptides, we were able to distinguish 16 of the 17 stereoisomeric tripeptides as a test sample using capillary electrophoresis (CE) under optimized conditions. We further conducted Enceladus plume fly-through capture experiment by accelerating peptides soaked in rock particles up to a speed of 5.7 km/s and capturing with originally developed hydrophobic silica aerogels. Direct peptide extraction with acetonitrile-water followed by CE analysis led to detection of only but two stereoisomeric acidic peptide peaks, presenting the first run-through hypervelocuty impact sample analysis targeting peptides as key molecule to to understand the ongoing astrobiology on Enceladus

Comparisons of Postoperative Complications and Nutritional Status After Proximal Laparoscopic Gastrectomy with Esophagogastrostomy and Double-Tract Reconstruction

[Background] The purpose of this study was to compare postoperative complications and nutritional status between esophagogastrostomy and double-tract reconstruction in patients who underwent laparoscopic proximal gastrectomy, and assess the advantages of both surgical procedures. [Methods] Between 2010 and 2018, 47 cases underwent proximal gastrectomy with esophagogastrostomy (n = 23) or double-tract reconstruction (n = 24) at our institution for the treatment of clinical T1N0 adenocarcinoma located in the upper third of the stomach. Patient clinical characteristics, short-term outcomes, nutrition status, and skeletal muscle index were compared among the two groups. [Results] There was no significant difference between esophagogastrostomy and double-tract reconstruction in terms of operation time, blood loss, and length of postoperative hospital stay. Reflux symptoms and anastomotic stenosis were significantly higher in the esophagogastrostomy group compared with the double-tract reconstruction group (P < 0.001 and P = 0.004, respectively). There was no significant difference in anastomotic leakage, surgical site infection, and pancreatic fistula. For the nutritional status, the decrease rate of cholinesterase was significantly higher in the esophagogastrostomy group compared with the double-tract reconstruction group at 6 months (P = 0.008) There was no significant difference in the decrease rate of skeletal muscle mass index at 1 year after surgery. [Conclusion] Compared with esophagogastrostomy, double-tract reconstruction tends to have better short-term nutritional status and postoperative outcomes in terms of preventing the occurrence of gastroesophageal reflux and anastomosis stenosis. These findings suggest that double-tract reconstruction may be a useful method in laparoscopic proximal gastrectomy

Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Multiplied by the Cytokeratin-19 Fragment Level as a Predictor of Pathological Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

[Background] The standard treatment for resectable advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Japan is surgery followed by neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and it is important to predict the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy before treatment. Therefore, this study aims to extract conventional blood examination data, such as tumor markers and/or inflammatory/nutritional index levels, that can predict the pathological response of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. [Methods] We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 66 patients with thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, followed by curative esophagectomy at Tottori University Hospital between June 2009 and December 2019. [Results] We demonstrated that the product of the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) multiplied by the cytokeratin-19 fragment (CYFRA) level, which was termed “PLR-CYFRA,” is the most accurate indicator that predicts the pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, with the highest area under the curve [0.795 (95% confidence interval: 0.665–0.925), P < 0.001] in receiver operating characteristic analyses. Therefore, we divided patients into the PLR-CYFRALow (< 237.6, n = 21) and PLR-CYFRAHigh (≥ 237.6, n = 45) groups and found that the percentage of PLR-CYFRALow was significantly higher in patients with a better pathological response (P < 0.001). Furthermore, patients with good pathological response had significantly better prognoses in terms of disease-specific survival (P = 0.014), recurrence-free survival (P = 0.014), and overall survival (P = 0.032). In the multivariate analysis, PLR-CYFRA was an independent predictor of the pathological response of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (P = 0.002). [Conclusion] Pretreatment PLR-CYFRA might be a useful and simple tool that predicts the pathological effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

The Japanese space gravitational wave antenna; DECIGO

DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (DECIGO) is the future Japanese space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to open a new window of observation for gravitational wave astronomy especially between 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz, revealing various mysteries of the universe such as dark energy, formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, and inflation of the universe. The pre-conceptual design of DECIGO consists of three drag-free spacecraft, whose relative displacements are measured by a differential Fabry– Perot Michelson interferometer. We plan to launch two missions, DECIGO pathfinder and pre- DECIGO first and finally DECIGO in 2024