Liposarcoma of stomach: report of a case

A report is made on a case of liposarcoma of stomach in a 42 year old man. This is the first case of liposarcoma of stomach reported in Japan. The patient has remained asymptomatic for five years after operation.</p

Symmetric impedance matched teleoperation with position tracking

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科知能情報・数理In this paper, we propose a novel passivity-based teleoperation architecture for bilateral force and position tracking control problem. It has the passivity-based symmetric impedance matched architecture with a virtual damping. The novel teleoperation can solve the problems of position tracking. Lyapunov stability methods are used to establish the range of position control gains on the master and slave side. We show the asymptotical stability of the system. Then the controller is designed considering a trade-off between an operationability and a position tracking performance. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our proposed symmetric impedance matched teleoperation compared with the conventional one. ©2006 IEEE

Passivity-based Synchronized Control of Teleoperation with Power Scaling

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科知能情報・数理金沢大学工学部This paper deals with the passivity-based synchronized control of teleoperation considering position tracking arid power scaling. In the proposed method, the motion arid the force relation between the master and slave robots can be specified freely. Using a passivity of the systems and Lyapunov stability methods, the asymptotic stability of teleoperation with communication delay and power scaling is proven. Several experimental results show the effectiveness of our proposed method. © 2006 ICASE

Bilateral control of nonlinear teleoperation with time varying communication delays

This paper addresses the bilateral control of nonlinear teleoperation with time varying communication delays. The proposed methods are two types of simple PD-type controllers which consists of D-controls depending on (the upper bound of) the rate of change of delay and P-controls depending on the upper bound of round-trip delay. Using Lyapunov-Krasovskii function, the delay-dependent stability of the origin is shown for the ranges of gains. Furthermore the proposed strategies also achieve master-slave position coordination and bilateral static force reflection. Several experimental results show the effectiveness of our proposed methods. ©2008 AACC

Training to Improve Teaching Skill on Measurement and Control Technology Education for Industrial Education Teachers at Technical High Schools

Industrial high schools need to incorporate new educational content and methods to respond to changes in industrial structure and progress in science and technology. Because the expertise and skills required in the industry are becoming more sophisticated, it is also necessary to review the training of teachers. Therefore, in this study, we examined training for teachers at technical high schools who were aiming to acquire the basic expertise and skills related to the “measurement and control” used in the industry. In addition, the evaluation was conducted by questionnaire before and after the training. The evaluation showed that teachers were interested in the “measurement and control” technology education provided by this training, and many commented that they wanted to use it in their classes. From these results, the effectiveness of the training content and the teaching materials were confirmed

Synchronized control for teleoperation with different configurations and communication delay

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科知能情報・数理This paper deals with a control for teleoperation with different configurations and communication delays. We propose a synchronized control with individual gains and power scaling in the task space. In this method, the end-effector motion and force relationship between the master and slave robots can be specified freely in the task space and the control gains can be independently selected appropriately for the master and slave robots. The delay-independent asymptotic stability of the origin of the position and velocity errors is proven by using passivity of the systems and Lyapunov stability methods. The proposed control law achieves synchronization with power scaling. Several experimental results show the effectiveness of our proposed method. © 2007 IEEE

Effects of Switching from Treatment with Amlodipine and Atorvastatin Using Two Pills to an Equal Dose of Single-Pill Therapy in Japanese Outpatients

This study examined whether switching from amlodipine and atorvastatin treatment using two pills to an equal dose of single-pill therapy is useful in Japanese outpatients. We retrospectively reviewed data obtained from 94 outpatients for whom treatment with two pills, namely amlodipine and atorvastatin, was switched to an equal dose of single-pill therapy in 11 hospitals. The criterion for enrollment in this study was that patients had switched their medication without changing other anti-hypertensive or anti-cholesterol drugs. Neither systolic nor diastolic blood pressure changed significantly after switching to an equal dose of single-pill therapy, whereas low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels significantly decreased after the medication was switched from 94±24 mg/dl to 89±17 mg/dl (p=0.015). A switch from medication with two separate pills of amlodipine and atorvastatin to an equal dose of single-pill therapy resulted in an overall decrease in LDL cholesterol. The results indicated that the switch to single-pill therapy might be a useful treatment

Diagnostic Performance of Cardiac Computed Tomography for Detecting Patent Foramen Ovale: Evaluation Using Transesophageal Echocardiography and Catheterization as Reference Standards

Background: Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is associated with various diseases such as cryptogenic stroke, migraine, and platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of cardiac computed tomography (CT) for PFO detection. Materials and Methods: Consecutive patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and who underwent catheter ablation with pre-procedural cardiac CT and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) were enrolled in this study. The presence of PFO was defined as (1) the confirmation of PFO using TEE and/or (2) the catheter crossing the interatrial septum (IAS) into the left atrium during ablation. CT findings indicative of PFO included (1) the presence of a channel-like appearance (CLA) on the IAS and (2) a CLA with a contrast jet flow from the left atrium to the right atrium. The diagnostic performance of both a CLA alone and a CLA with a jet flow was evaluated for PFO detection. Results: Altogether, 151 patients were analyzed in the study (mean age, 68 years; men, 62%). Twenty-nine patients (19%) had PFO confirmed by TEE and/or catheterization. The diagnostic performance of a CLA alone was as follows: sensitivity, 72.4%; specificity, 79.5%; positive predictive value (PPV), 45.7%; negative predictive value (NPV), 92.4%. The diagnostic performance of a CLA with a jet flow was as follows: sensitivity, 65.5%; specificity, 98.4%; PPV, 90.5%; NPV, 92.3%. The diagnostic performance of a CLA with a jet flow was statistically superior to that of a CLA alone (p = 0.045), and the C-statistics were 0.76 and 0.82, respectively. Conclusion: A CLA with a contrast jet flow in cardiac CT has a high PPV for PFO detection, and its diagnostic performance is superior to that of a CLA alone

Computer-controlled closed-loop norepinephrine infusion system for automated control of mean arterial pressure in dogs under isoflurane-induced hypotension: a feasibility study

Introduction: Intra-operative hypotension is a common complication of surgery under general anesthesia in dogs and humans. Computer-controlled closed-loop infusion systems of norepinephrine (NE) have been developed and clinically applied for automated optimization of arterial pressure (AP) and prevention of intra-operative hypotension in humans. This study aimed to develop a simple computer-controlled closed-loop infusion system of NE for the automated control of the mean arterial pressure (MAP) in dogs with isoflurane-induced hypotension and to validate the control of MAP by the developed system. Methods: NE was administered via the cephalic vein, whereas MAP was measured invasively by placing a catheter in the dorsal pedal artery. The proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller in the negative feedback loop of the developed system titrated the infusion rate of NE to maintain the MAP at the target value of 60 mmHg. The titration was updated every 2 s. The performance of the developed system was evaluated in six laboratory Beagle dogs under general anesthesia with isoflurane. Results: In the six dogs, when the concentration [median (interquartile range)] of inhaled isoflurane was increased from 1.5 (1.5-1.5)% to 4 (4-4)% without activating the system, the MAP was lowered from 95 (91-99) to 41 (37-42) mmHg. In contrast, when the concentration was increased from 1.5 (1.0-1.5)% to 4 (4-4.8)% for a 30-min period and the system was simultaneously activated, the MAP was temporarily lowered from 92 (89-95) to 47 (43-49) mmHg but recovered to 58 (57-58) mmHg owing to the system-controlled infusion of NE. If the acceptable target range for MAP was defined as target MAP ±5 mmHg (55 ≤ MAP ≤65 mmHg), the percentage of time wherein the MAP was maintained within the acceptable range was 96 (89-100)% in the six dogs during the second half of the 30-min period (from 15 to 30 min after system activation). The median performance error, median absolute performance error, wobble, and divergence were - 2.9 (-4.7 to 1.9)%, 2.9 (2.0-4.7)%, 1.3 (0.8-1.8)%, and - 0.24 (-0.34 to -0.11)%·min-1, respectively. No adverse events were observed during the study period, and all dogs were extubated uneventfully. Conclusion: This system was able to titrate the NE infusion rates in an accurate and stable manner to maintain the MAP within the predetermined target range in dogs with isoflurane-induced hypotension. This system can be a potential tool in daily clinical practice for the care of companion dogs