Non-Parallel Training in Voice Conversion Using an Adaptive Restricted Boltzmann Machine

In this paper, we present a voice conversion (VC) method that does not use any parallel data while training the model. VC is a technique where only speaker-specific information in source speech is converted while keeping the phonological information unchanged. Most of the existing VC methods rely on parallel data-pairs of speech data from the source and target speakers uttering the same sentences. However, the use of parallel data in training causes several problems: 1) the data used for the training are limited to the predefined sentences, 2) the trained model is only applied to the speaker pair used in the training, and 3) mismatches in alignment may occur. Although it is, thus, fairly preferable in VC not to use parallel data, a nonparallel approach is considered difficult to learn. In our approach, we achieve nonparallel training based on a speaker adaptation technique and capturing latent phonological information. This approach assumes that speech signals are produced from a restricted Boltzmann machine-based probabilistic model, where phonological information and speaker-related information are defined explicitly. Speaker-independent and speaker-dependent parameters are simultaneously trained under speaker adaptive training. In the conversion stage, a given speech signal is decomposed into phonological and speaker-related information, the speaker-related information is replaced with that of the desired speaker, and then voice-converted speech is obtained by mixing the two. Our experimental results showed that our approach outperformed another nonparallel approach, and produced results similar to those of the popular conventional Gaussian mixture models-based method that used parallel data in subjective and objective criteria

Effect of shin'iseihaito on lung colonization of pneumococcus in murine model

Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) causes various serious diseases including sinusitis, pneumonia, and meningitis. One serious problem observed recently with pneumococcal therapy is attenuation of the antibiotic effect because of the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pneumococcus. Shin’iseihaito, a traditional Japanese medicine based on ancient Chinese medicine, has been used for treatment of otolaryngeal diseases in Japan. The objective of this study was to examine the anti-infectious effects of shin’iseihaito and its related mechanism.Materials and Methods: We evaluated the beneficial effect of shin’iseihaito extract (SSHT) against pneumococcus-infected murine model. The colonization of bacteria, blood and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) killing activity, the levels of inflammatory cytokine and IgA were investigated.Results: The pneumococcus from blood was not found in both SSHT-treated mice and untreated mice. However, the pneumococcal colonization of lung was significantly (p<0.05) lower after SSHT administration compared with untreated mice. Blood bactericidal assay showed that no significant difference (p=0.07) was observed in the anti-bacterial effect between SSHT-treated mice and untreated mice. However, BAL bactericidal assay showed that the survival rate of pneumococcus using the BAL from SSHT-treated mice was significantly (p<0.05) lower than that using the BAL from untreated mice. We also found increased levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and IgA in pneumococcus-infected mice treated with SSHT.Conclusions: SSHT decreased the colonization rate after pneumococcal infection and up-regulated BAL bactericidal activity through modulation of inflammatory cytokines and IgA. Our data also suggest SSHT may be useful for the treatment of pneumococcal infection.Keywords: shin'iseihito, Streptococcus pneumoniae, murine model, inflammatory cytokine, Ig

大動脈瘤に対するステントグラフト治療に関する実験的検討

取得学位 : 博士（医学）, 学位授与番号 : 医博甲第1596号, 学位授与年月日 : 平成15年6月30日, 学位授与大学 : 金沢大

Bilateral leg ulcers secondary to dystrophic calcinosis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis

Calcinosis cutis can be classified into four subtypes : dystrophic, metastatic, idiopathic, and iatrogenic. Of these subtypes, dystrophic calcinosis (DC) is the most common, and is most frequently associated with connective tissue disease, particularly dermatomyositis and systemic sclerosis, and less commonly with systemic lupus erythematosus. However, DC associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is extremely rare. In this paper, we present a Japanese woman with RA, who suffered from bilateral leg ulcers secondary to DC. To the best of our knowledge, only two cases of DC associated with RA have been reported to date. Similar to this case, the DC lesions were observed in the extremities, including the buttocks in the other two cases. Although the ulcers on her left leg were gradually epithelialized after one year, they may easily recur due to whitish abnormal underlying tissues, and a large ulcer remains on her right leg. Thus, it is important for physicians to identify DC when encountering non-healing leg ulcers associated with connective tissue diseases

Study of the factors related to atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting: A search for a marker to predict the occurrence of atrial fibrillation before surgical intervention

ObjectiveAtrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery is a frequent complication. In this study we studied various factors in addition to trying to identify a marker that would predict the potential for atrial fibrillation before surgical intervention to prevent its occurrence.MethodsWe targeted 234 cases in which isolated coronary artery bypass grafting had been performed. The items for study included age, EuroSCORE, and maximum values of creatine phosphokinase–MB, troponin I, and angiotensin II after surgical intervention and preoperative values of atrial natriuretic peptide, brain natriuretic peptide, and C-reactive protein. As fibrotic markers, we measured levels of the sialylated carbohydrate antigen KL-6 in the blood, hyaluronic acid, and pyridinoline cross-linked carboxyterminal telepeptide of type I collagen C. At the time of surgical intervention, a section of the right atrium was extracted, and atrial natriuretic peptide, the sialylated carbohydrate antigen KL-6, hyaluronic acid, and pyridinoline cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen levels were measured.ResultsAtrial fibrillation was observed in 73 (31.2%) cases, and preoperative factors that showed statistically significant differences in the occurrence of atrial fibrillation included age, EuroSCORE, and preoperative values of atrial natriuretic peptide, angiotensin II, the sialylated carbohydrate antigen KL-6, hyaluronic acid, and pyridinoline cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen in the blood. As for intraoperative and postoperative factors, statistically significant differences were observed in the postoperative maximum of angiotensin II, atrial natriuretic peptide of the right atrium, the sialylated carbohydrate antigen KL-6, hyaluronic acid, and pyridinoline cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen levels.ConclusionThe fibrosis of tissue associated with age is believed to be closely related to the occurrence of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting. This study suggests that the preoperative values of atrial natriuretic peptide, angiotensin II, the sialylated carbohydrate antigen KL-6, hyaluronic acid, and pyridinoline cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen in the blood are useful as a new index for the occurrence of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting

Formation of x-ray Newton’s rings from nano-scale spallation shells of metals in laser ablation

The initial stages of the femtosecond (fs) laser ablation process of gold, platinum, and tungsten were observed by single-shot soft x-ray imaging technique. The formation and evolution of soft x-ray Newton’s rings (NRs) were found for the first time. The soft x-ray NRs are caused by the interference between the bulk ablated surface and nanometer-scale thin spallation layer; they originate from the metal surface at pump energy fluence of around 1 J/cm2 and work as a flying soft x-ray beam splitter

Confluent hepatic fibrosis in liver cirrhosis: Possible relation with middle hepatic venous drainage

Purpose: Our aim was to retrospectively analyze the location of confluent hepatic fibrosis in relation to the portal and hepatic venous anatomy using multidetector computed tomography (CT) and to clarify the influence of the hepatic venous drainage on confluent fibrosis. Materials and methods: The study population consisted of 879 patients diagnosed with cirrhosis: 539 men and 340 women (65.9 ± 10.6 years) and 633 with Child-Pugh class A, 161 with class B, and 85 with class C. The cause of cirrhosis was hepatitis C (n = 528) and hepatitis B (n = 122) virus infection, alcoholism (n = 114), and others (n = 115). The confluent fibrosis was diagnosed using CT images according to previous reports and statistically analyzed (p < 0.05). Results: Thirty-five confluent fibrosis lesions in 30 patients (3.4 %) were identified. The predictive factors were alcoholic cirrhosis [odds ratio (OR), 7.25; p < 0.0001], Child-Pugh class C (OR, 6.95; p < 0.0001), and Child-Pugh class B (OR, 2.91; p < 0.0023). Confluent fibrosis was most frequently seen in the middle hepatic venous drainage area (n = 21) or at the boundary between the medial and anterior segments (n = 17), and each distribution of the location of confluent fibrosis was significantly unequal (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Confluent fibrosis was most commonly located in the middle hepatic venous drainage area. © 2013 Japan Radiological Society

Effect of Shin’iseihaito (Xinyiqingfeitang) on Acute Streptococcus pneumoniae

Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) causes sinusitis. The general treatment of S. pneumonia sinusitis is by using antibiotics; however, one of their serious problems is the attenuation of their effect. Shin’iseihaito (Xinyiqingfeitang), a formula of Japanese traditional Kampo medicine, has been used for the treatment of sinusitis in Japan. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of Shin’iseihaito against S. pneumoniae-caused sinusitis in mice. Oral administration of Shin’iseihaito extract (SSHT) decreased the nasal colonization of S. pneumoniae in both prophylactic and therapeutic treatments, respectively, and the former was more effective than the latter. Histopathological analysis revealed that the epithelial tissue from S. pneumoniae-infected nose under SSHT treatment recovered the tissue destruction in comparison to infected nose. We also confirmed this result by scanning electron microscopic analysis. Murine peritoneal macrophages from SSHT-treated mice had significant phagocytic activity in comparison to those from untreated group. We also found that tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 levels and the migration of macrophages from S. pneumoniae-infected mice with the treatment with SSHT were increased compared to those from untreated group. Our data suggest that Shin’iseihaito may be useful for the treatment of S. pneumoniae-induced sinusitis

Bipolar localization of putative photoreceptor protein for phototaxis in thermophilic cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus

Funding Information: This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for scientific research from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan (no. 11640653 to K.M.).We identified an open reading frame from a database of the entire genome of Synechococcus elongatus, the product of which was very similar to pixJ1, which was proposed as photoreceptor gene for phototaxis in Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 [Yoshihara et al. (2000) Plant Cell Physiol. 41: 1299]. The mRNA of S. elongatus pixJ (SepixJ) was expressed in vivo as a part of the product of an operon. SePixJ was detected exclusively in the membrane fraction after cell fractionation. Immunogold labeling of SePixJ in ultra-thin sections indicated that it existed only in both ends of the rod-shaped cell; probably bound with the cytoplasmic membrane.publishersversionPeer reviewe