Literature survey on epidemiology and pathology of cardiac fibroma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although cardiac fibroma has been regarded as benign tumor, it presents various symptoms and may lead to death. Unfortunately, only a few studies have reported the epidemiology, embryology, and histopathology of the tumor, and the factors predicting poorer outcome are still obscured.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In July 2011 we searched for English and Japanese cases of cardiac fibroma using the PubMed and IgakuChuoZasshi databases. We then extracted and sampled raw data from the selected publications in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) style as much as was possible.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Details of a total of 178 patients with cardiac fibroma were retrieved. The mean age was 11.4 years (median: 2.8 years). Tumor sizes ranged from 8.0 to 150.0 mm (mean 53.1 mm). The left ventricle was found to be the most common site associated with the tumor at a rate of 57.3%, followed by the right ventricle, and interventricular septum. The highest mortality was found in patients with septal involvement (58.6%). In all, 111 patients survived among the 160 patients with a recorded outcome. A younger age of the patient at the time of diagnosis was associated with a decreased survival rate. In addition, a significant positive association was found between ages for patients younger than 17 years of age and the diameter of the tumor at the time of diagnosis (r = 0.341, <it>P </it>= 0.006).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Both the younger age of patients at the time of diagnosis and septal involvement can be regarded as factors significantly indicating a poor prognosis. Furthermore, our statistical analyses support the following hypotheses. First, the high ratio of tumor-to-heart size may generate low cardiac output and therefore lead to poor outcome. Second, the ratio of the sites where cardiac fibroma occurred corresponds with the ratio of the muscular weight of the cardiac chamber. Third, cardiac fibroma involving the interventricular septum more frequently induces conduction system disease.</p

Development of an Automatic Dishwashing Robot System

Proceedings of The 2009 IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation, August 9 - 12, Changchun, Chin

Direct Observation of ATP-Induced Conformational Changes in Single P2X4 Receptors

The ATP-gated P2X4 receptor is a cation channel, which is important in various pathophysiological events. The architecture of the P2X4 receptor in the activated state and how to change its structure in response to ATP binding are not fully understood. Here, we analyze the architecture and ATP-induced structural changes in P2X4 receptors using fast-scanning atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM images of the membrane-dissociated and membrane-inserted forms of P2X4 receptors and a functional analysis revealed that P2X4 receptors have an upward orientation on mica but lean to one side. Time-lapse imaging of the ATP-induced structural changes in P2X4 receptors revealed two different forms of activated structures under 0 Ca2+ conditions, namely a trimer structure and a pore dilation-like tripartite structure. A dye uptake measurement demonstrated that ATP-activated P2X4 receptors display pore dilation in the absence of Ca2+. With Ca2+, the P2X4 receptors exhibited only a disengaged trimer and no dye uptake was observed. Thus our data provide a new insight into ATP-induced structural changes in P2X4 receptors that correlate with pore dynamics

Conductive Polymer Combined Silk Fiber Bundle for Bioelectrical Signal Recording

Electrode materials for recording biomedical signals, such as electrocardiography (ECG), electroencephalography (EEG) and evoked potentials data, are expected to be soft, hydrophilic and electroconductive to minimize the stress imposed on living tissue, especially during long-term monitoring. We have developed and characterized string-shaped electrodes made from conductive polymer with silk fiber bundles (thread), which offer a new biocompatible stress free interface with living tissue in both wet and dry conditions

Improving the lipid profile in hypercholesterolemia-induced rabbit by supplementation of germinated brown rice.

It is imperative that there be a diet designed specifically to improve lipid profile in order to impede the progress of atherosclerosis. Because rice is a staple food in Asia, it will be chosen as the diet of interest. This study sets out to discover whether consumption of different processed rice diets may result in a change of the lipid profile. The experiment was done on male New Zealand white rabbits after 10 weeks of treatment with diet containing 0.5% cholesterol. The experimental diets include white rice (WR), brown rice (BR), and germinated brown rice (GBR). Among them, rabbits fed a GBR diet demonstrated significantly lower levels of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), LDL/HDL, and atherogenic index (AI) and a higher level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Results from atherosclerotic plaque assessment further support the findings. The level of malondialdehyde (MDA), which acts as an indicator for oxidative stress, was also reduced by GBR diet. The positive change in lipid profile in the rabbits fed GBR appeared to correspond with the higher amounts of γ-oryzanol, tocopherol, and monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) content

A computerized craniofacial reconstruction method for an unidentified skull based on statistical shape models

Craniofacial reconstruction (CFR) has been widely used to produce the facial appearance of an unidentified skull in the realm of forensic science. Many studies have indicated that the computerized CFR approach is fast, flexible, consistent and objective in comparison to the traditional manual CFR approach. This paper presents a computerized CFR system called CFRTools, which features a CFR method based on a statistical shape model (SSM) of living human head models. Given an unidentified skull, a geometrically-similar template skull is chosen as a template, and a non-registration method is used to improve the accuracy of the construction of dense corresponding vertices through the alignment of the template and the unidentified skull. Generalized Procrustes analysis (GPA) and principal component analysis (PCA) are carried out to construct the skull and face SSMs. The sex of the unidentified skull is then predicted based on skull SSM and centroid size, rather than geometric measurements based on anatomical landmarks. Furthermore, a craniofacial morphological relationship which is learnt from the principal component (PC) scores of the skull and face dataset is used to produce a possible reconstructed face. Finally, multiple possible reconstructed faces for the same skull can further be recreated based on adjusting the PC coefficients. The experimental results show that the average rate of sex classification is 97.14% and the reconstructed face of the unidentified skull can be produced. In addition, experts’ understanding and experience can be harnessed in production of face variations for the same skull, which can further be used as a reference for portraiture creation

J.H.ペスタロッチにおける教育学的「子ども」の構成と教授学の成立

序 / p1 序章 問題設定 / p2 　第一節 近代教育学の祖としてのペスタロッチ? / p2 　第二節 システム論の挑発と教育思想史研究 / p5 　第三節 近代の教育学的言説はいかにして可能になったのか:完成概念の系譜とペスタロッチ / p8 　第四節 本論の構成と概要 / p10 第一章 完成の主題-「隠者の夕暮」(一七八〇) / p16 　第一節 堕落としての「奢侈」-「わが祖国の都市の自由について」(一七九九) / p16 　第二節 「完成」へ向かう生成と「完成」から遠ざかる生成-「隠者の夕暮」(一七八〇) / p22 第二章 克己の主題の展開-「リーンハルトとゲルトルート」(一七八一～一七八七) / p32 　第一節 フンメルの改心のエピソード / p33 　第二節 道徳性の基礎としての自己衝動 / p36 　第三節 グリューフイの人間学とアーナーの立法計画 / p42 第三章 自己愛の人間学への途上で / p51 　第一節 動揺から予感へ:ニコロヴィウス宛の書簡(一七九三) / p51 　第二節 救済は「民衆」に期待される:「然りか否か」(一七九三) / p58 第四章 自己愛の人間学-「人類の発展における自然の歩みについての私の探究」(一七九七) / p66 　第一節 自己愛の人間学の教育学的帰結 / p67 　第二節 没落の診断と救済の計画:ルソーとペスタロッチ / p72 第五章 学習する「子ども」の誕生-「シュタンツ便り」(一七九九) / p82 　第一節 国民教育制度の創設とシュタンツ / p83 　第二節 「教育的島」としてのシュタンツ / p87 終章 救済の教授学-「ゲルトルートはいかにその子を教えるか」(一八〇一) / p95 　第一節 言語を媒介にして「真理」へと導く:知的教育のプログラム / p95 　第二節 「愛」が世界を救済する:道徳教育のプログラム / p100 結語 / p109 補論 「ゲルトルートはいかにその子を教えるか」における言語陶冶論 / p111 引用・参照文献 / p129広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(教育学)Pedagogydoctora