Phased Array with Surface Acoustic Wave (SAWPA) for Screening and Sizing of Surface Defects

Nondestructive inspection of whole structures is important for the safety and reliability. For the inspection of internal defects, ultrasonic testing (UT) with bulk waves has been widely used, whereas such UT cannot inspect surface due to a dead zone. To this end, we proposed a phased array with surface acoustic wave (SAW PA) [1,2] for rapidly inspecting surface defects with a high sensitivity. However, the performance has yet to be fully educed because it was not optimized in terms of the wedge and imaging region. The objective of this study is to improve SAW PA and to demonstrate the wide-range and detailed imaging capabilities for screening and sizing, respectively. The schematic of SAWPA is illustrated in Fig. 1. An array transducer is set on a wedge with a critical angle of Rayleigh wave. Following a delay law, SAWis focused on multiple focal points on the surface, providing an image over the scan area. Note that SAWPA has a capability of a real-time imaging. In this study, the wedge for SAW generation was improved. In the previous study [1], the wedge was made of acrylic resin that is inexpensive and has good workability. It is however relatively attenuative, so that the incident wave was significantly attenuated during the propagation in the wedge. Therefore, it was changed to polystyrene that is less attenuative. The polystyrene has smaller critical angle than acrylic resin, thus also shortening the propagation distance in the wedge. This is useful for both screening and sizing. To show the wide-range imaging capability, a hole specimen (A6063) was imaged with varying the propagation distance of Rayleigh wave. As a result, a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio was obtained even in a far distance of 400 mm (Fig. 2). Subsequently, it was applied to the crack specimen, where the imaging area was set beneath the wedge to attain high resolution and sensitivity, although the region outside the wedge was selected for screening and in Ref. [1]. As a result, the crack was clearly imaged with a high resolution. These results show that the improved SAWPA is useful for both screening and sizing

Recurrence after Endoscopic Curative Resection of Mucosal Gastric Cancer Associated with an Adjacent Neoplastic Precursor Lesion

A 69-year-old man underwent endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for early gastric cancer (EGC) at the lesser curvature in the angle of stomach. Histological examination revealed tub1, pM, ly0, v0, pLM(-), pVM(-), and the resection was considered curative. The scar after ESD was followed by esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) and biopsy. Twenty months later, EGD showed an ulcerative lesion in the vicinity of the ESD scar, and histological examination of the biopsy specimen showed adenocarcinoma. A distal gastrectomy with lymph node dissection was then performed. Postoperative pathology showed tub1, pM, pN0, ly0, v0, and Stage 1A. Skip lesions were seen in the specimen resected by ESD, and the histological review confirmed so-called “dysplasia-like atypia” (DLA) between the lesions. It has been reported recently that in DLA, the dysplasia-like change involves only the bases of the pits, without upper pit or surface epithelium involvement, and it is said that the rate of DLA is higher in gastric cancer patients. We speculated that a precancerous lesion close to the resected cancer developed into a local recurrence

Optimization of the proliferation and persistency of CAR T cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells

CARシグナルを補完する遺伝子改変により *iCAR-T細胞の固形がん治療効果が改善される. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-12-13.Genetic modifications boosting CAR signaling improve the therapeutic efficacy of iPSC-derived CAR-T cells against solid tumors. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-12-13.The effectiveness of chimaeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapies against solid tumours relies on the accumulation, proliferation and persistency of T cells at the tumour site. Here we show that the proliferation of CD8αβ cytotoxic CAR T cells in solid tumours can be enhanced by deriving and expanding them from a single human induced-pluripotent-stem-cell clone bearing a CAR selected for efficient differentiation. We also show that the proliferation and persistency of the effector cells in the tumours can be further enhanced by genetically knocking out diacylglycerol kinase, which inhibits antigen-receptor signalling, and by transducing the cells with genes encoding for membrane-bound interleukin-15 (IL-15) and its receptor subunit IL-15Rα. In multiple tumour-bearing animal models, the engineered hiPSC-derived CAR T cells led to therapeutic outcomes similar to those of primary CD8 T cells bearing the same CAR. The optimization of effector CAR T cells derived from pluripotent stem cells may aid the development of long-lasting antigen-specific T-cell immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumours

Cognitive behavioral therapy with interoceptive exposure and complementary video materials for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial in Japan

BackgroundThere is growing evidence of the treatment efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). CBT is recommended by several practice guidelines for patients with IBS if lifestyle advice or pharmacotherapy has been ineffective. Manual-based CBT using interoceptive exposure (IE), which focuses on the anxiety response to abdominal symptoms, has been reported to be more effective than other types of CBT. One flaw of CBT use in general practice is that it is time and effort consuming for therapists. Therefore, we developed a set of complementary video materials that include psycho-education and homework instructions for CBT patients, reducing time spent in face-to-face sessions while maintaining treatment effects. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of CBT-IE with complementary video materials (CBT-IE-w/vid) in a multicenter randomized controlled trial (RCT).MethodsThis study will be a multicenter, parallel-design RCT. Participants diagnosed with IBS according to the Rome IV diagnostic criteria will be randomized to either the treatment as usual (TAU) group or the CBT-IE-w/vid + TAU group. CBT-IE-w/vid consists of 10 sessions (approximately 30 min face-to-face therapy + viewing a video prior to each session). Patients in the CBT-IE-w/vid group will be instructed to pre- view 3- to 13-min videos at home prior to each face-to-face therapy visit at a hospital. The primary outcome is the severity of IBS symptoms. All participants will be assessed at baseline, mid-treatment, post-treatment, and follow-up (3 months after post assessment). The sample will include 60 participants in each group.DiscussionTo our knowledge, this study will be the first RCT of manual-based CBT for IBS in Japan. By using psycho-educational video materials, the time and cost of therapy will be reduced. Manual based CBTs for IBS have not been widely adopted in Japan to date. If our CBT-IE-w/vid program is confirmed to be more effective than TAU, it will facilitate dissemination of cost-effective manual-based CBT in clinical settings

Multiple early gastric cancer with duodenal invasion

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome with scoliosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Study Design</p> <p>Case report.</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>The authors present the case of a 14-year-old boy with Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RSTS) presenting scoliosis.</p> <p>Summary of Background Data</p> <p>There have been no reports on surgery for RSTS presenting scoliosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The patient was referred to our hospital for evaluation of a progressive spinal curvature. A standing anteroposterior spine radiograph at presentation to our hospital revealed an 84-degree right thoracic curve from T6 to T12, along with a 63-degree left lumbar compensatory curve from T12 to L4. We planned a two-staged surgery and decided to fuse from T4 to L4. The first operation was front-back surgery because of the rigidity of the right thoracic curve. The second operation of lumbar anterior discectomy and fusion was arranged 9 months after the first surgery to prevent the crankshaft phenomenon due to his natural course of adolescent growth. To avoid respiratory complications, the patient was put on a respirator in the ICU for several days after both surgeries.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Full-length spine radiographs after the first surgery revealed no instrumentation failure and showed that the right thoracic curve was corrected to 31 degrees and the left lumbar curve was corrected to 34 degrees. No postoperative complications occurred after both surgeries.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We succeeded in treating the patient without complications. Full-length spine standing radiographs at one year after the second operation demonstrated a stable bony arthrodesis with no loss of initial correction.</p

Characteristics of optical CT for gel dosimeters- distortion and its calibration and resolution -

放射線の照射量を ３ 次元的に測定することを目指し、ゲル線量計用の光学 CT 装置の開発を行っている。本研究では、性能評価の 1 つである MTF を調べた。また試料を水中で測定することも検討されているが、水中での測定では像が拡大し歪むことがわかった。このため、最初にこの影響と補正方法について検討をおこなった。その結果、水中での測定では拡大率は画像の中心で 1３0% であった。歪み率は画像中心から 5 cm の場所で 15%であった。この歪みは、OpenCV を用いて補正することが可能である。OpenCV は様々な画像処理が含まれたライブラリであり、オープンソースである。この OpenCV を用いた補正後は画像中心から 5 cm の場所では歪み率が 5 ％以下に改善された。MTF の測定にはワイヤ法（直径 0.２6mm）を用いて測定を行ったところ、水中で測定したほうが、良いMTF を得られることがわかった。これは試料が拡大されて撮影されるからである。We have developed and evaluated a prototype optical computed tomography (CT) for polymer gel dosimetry that measures the amount of irradiation in three dimensions. We investigated the modulation transfer function (MTF) to evaluate performance. The sample was placed underwater and measured. The image of the sample underwater was shown to be distorted. First, we studied the influence of this distortion and developed a calibration method. The magnification power was 1３0% at the center of the image when the sample was underwater. The image distortion was 15% at a point 5 cm from the center of the image. We corrected for this distortion using OpenCV, an open source computer vision and machine learning software library. After calibration using OpenCV, the rate of distortion improved and became ≤ 5% at the point 5 cm from the center of the image. Next, we measured MTF of the prototype optical CT using a wire 0.２6 mm in diameter. The results indicated that MTF became more visible when the sample was placed underwater, because the sample looked larger