Cracking detection of a unidirectionally-reinforced SiC/SiC composite by X-ray Talbot- Lau interferometry

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The first success of glass eel production in the world: basic biology on fish reproduction advances new applied technology in aquaculture

The eel has long been esteemed as an important food fish in the world, especially in Japan, and has been used as an experimental fish for many fields of fish physiology. However, the decreases in eel resources have been a serious concern in recent years. The catches of glass eels as seedlings for aquaculture have shown a long-term decrease in both Europe and East Asia. To increase eel resources, the development of techniques for artificial induction of maturation and spawning and rearing their larvae have been eagerly desired. Recent progress of reproductive physiology of fish, especially mechanisms of oocyte maturation and ovulation in female and of spermatozoa maturation in male, facilitate to establish techniques for hormonal induction of maturation and spawning in sexually immature eels. With persistent effort to development of rearing techniques of larvae, we have first succeeded to produce glass eel. These applied techniques are may contribute to understand the basic reproductive physiology of the eel

Collagenous Colitis in a Patient With Gastric Cancer Who Underwent Chemotherapy

Herein, we present a case of collagenous colitis in a patient who underwent chemotherapy for gastric cancer, comprising five cycles of S-1 plus oxaliplatin and trastuzumab, followed by five cycles of paclitaxel and ramucirumab and seven cycles of nivolumab. The subsequent initiation of trastuzumab deruxtecan chemotherapy led to the development of grade 3 diarrhea after the second cycle of treatment. Collagenous colitis was diagnosed via colonoscopy and biopsy. The patient's diarrhea improved following the cessation of lansoprazole. This case highlights the importance of considering collagenous colitis as a differential diagnosis, in addition to chemotherapy-induced colitis and immune-related adverse event (irAE) colitis, in patients with similar clinical presentations

Efficacy of vonoprazan against bleeding from endoscopic submucosal dissection-induced gastric ulcers under antithrombotic medication: A cross-design synthesis of randomized and observational studies

Vonoprazan, a potassium-competitive acid blocker, is expected to be superior to proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) in preventing post-endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD)-induced gastric bleeding. However, the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies on the efficacy of vonoprazan have been inconsistent. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of vonoprazan in antithrombotic drug users, a population that has been excluded from RCTs. Treatment effects were assessed using cross-design synthesis, which can be adjusted for differences in study design and patient characteristics. We used data from an RCT in Japan (70 patients in the vonoprazan group and 69 in the PPI group) and an observational study (408 patients in the vonoprazan group and 870 in the PPI group). After matching, among the antithrombotic drug users in the observational study, post-ESD bleeding was noted in 8 out of 86 patients in the vonoprazan group and 18 out of 86 patients in the PPI group. After pooling the data from the RCT and observational study, the risk difference for antithrombotic drug users was -14.6% (95% CI: -22.0 to -7.2). CDS analysis suggested that vonoprazan is more effective than PPIs in preventing post-ESD bleeding among patients administered antithrombotic medications

Detection of Micro-Damage Evolution of Air Plasma-Sprayed Y 2 O 3 -ZrO 2 Thermal Barrier Coating through TGO Stress Measurement

The micro damage evolution behavior in air plasma-sprayed 8 mass% Y 2 O 3 stabilized ZrO 2 thermal barrier coating (APS-TBC) after isothermal heat exposure at 1150 C up to 200 h was observed. Residual stress of thermally-grown-oxide (TGO) layer was measured through the TBC layer using Cr 3þ luminescence spectroscopy and the measured stress levels were compared with micro damage evolution behavior stored in the TBC system. With heat exposure time of longer than 10 h, microfracture behaviors were noted in the TBC layer. In-plane residual stress of the TGO layer increased for up to 50 h of heat exposure time, and thereafter, diminished with further increase. These behaviors are strongly correlated with the thickness and the residual stress of the TGO layer. This decrease in the TGO stress well contrasts with the evolution of the micro fracture behavior, which is also related to the thickness and undulation of the formed TGO layer. The change of TGO stress, tgo , depending on the average thickness of the TGO layer, " h h tgo , i.e., d tgo =d " h h tgo is a useful indicator of the damage evolution in TGO: h h tgo > 0: slight damage stage, d tgo =d " h h tgo < 0: micro fracture evolution stage. The result suggests that Cr 3þ luminescence spectroscopy is a good indicator for micro damage evolution in the TBC layer and is a useful tool for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of APS-TBC systems

A multi-center, prospective, clinical study to evaluate the anti-reflux efficacy of laparoscopic double-flap technique (lD-FLAP Study)

Background: Double-flap technique (DFT) is a reconstruction procedure after proximal gastrectomy (PG). We previously reported a multi-center, retrospective study in which the incidence of reflux esophagitis (RE) (Los Angeles Classification ≥Grade B [LA-B]) 1 year after surgery was 6.0%. There have been many reports, but all of them were retrospective. Thus, a multi-center, prospective study was conducted. Methods: Laparoscopic PG + DFT was performed for cT1N0 upper gastric cancer patients. The primary endpoint was the incidence of RE (≥LA-B) 1 year after surgery. The planned sample size was 40, based on an estimated incidence of 6.0% and an upper threshold of 20%. Results: Forty patients were recruited, and 39, excluding one with conversion to total gastrectomy, received protocol treatment. Anastomotic leakage (Clavien–Dindo ≥Grade III) was observed in one patient (2.6%). In 38 patients, excluding one case of postoperative mortality, RE (≥LA-B) was observed in two patients (5.3%) 1 year after surgery, and the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval was 17.3%, lower than the 20% threshold. Anastomotic stricture requiring dilatation was observed in two patients (5.3%). One year after surgery, body weight change was 88.9 ± 7.0%, and PNI Conclusion: Laparoscopic DFT showed anti-reflux efficacy. Taken together with the acceptable incidence of anastomotic stricture, DFT can be an option for reconstruction procedure after PG

Templated polypyrrole electro-polymerization: Self-assembled bundles of bilayer membranes of amphiphiles and their actuation behavior

Abstract The electrochemical properties of conducting polymers are highly dependent on the microstructure. We report a method to produce specific microstructures of polypyrrole through electro-polymerization in the presence of the amphiphile N-{11-(2-hydroxyethyldimethylammonium)undecanoyl}-N,N -dioctyl-l-glutamate, bromide, which forms supramolecular hydrogels with pyrrole in aqueous solution. These hydrogels were used as templates during polypyrrole electro-polymerization to give microstructures composed of the bundles of bilayer membranes. The highly porous nature of these films resulted in electrochemical properties superior to polypyrrole deposited under the same condition without use of an amphiphilic template. Analysis of the scan rate dependence on cyclic voltammogram reveals that the porous templated films facilitate fast diffusion of dopant ions. The actuation properties were also investigated in aqueous solutions containing sodium p-toluene sulfonate electrolyte. The strains displayed by the template polypyrrole films were twice those synthesized without the use of a template