A study of performance in basketball games : focusing on games with a change in number of player

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of differences in number of players on performance in basketball games. Twenty male junior high school students participated in the present study. They played two types of games: Game A (court size : 24.6m×13.1m, 5 players per team, game time : 3 minutes), and Game B (court size: 24.6m×13.1m, 3 players per team, game time : 3 minutes). The distance covered and heart rate and RPE during the game were measured. Questionnaires were conducted after all of the games. The main results were as follows: 　　 1) The distance covered was significantly greater in game B than in game A. 　　 2) There was no significant difference in heart rate between the two games. 　　 3) RPE was significantly greater in game B than in game A. 　　 4) In the questionnaires about the two games, a significant difference was found only in one question “positioning" on the aspect of techniques. This value was significantly greater in game B than in game A.　　 These results suggest that amount of activity during the game and value of “positioning" in the questionnaires are increased with reduction in number of players

Oxaliplatin-Associated Amaurosis Fugax

Oxaliplatin-associated amaurosis fugax has not been reported, and its clinical course and treatment remain largely unclear. A 70-year-old man with advanced gastric cancer was treated with the SOX regimen. After cycle 1 of oxaliplatin infusion, the patient realized that his right eye had visual field impairment, which he described as darkening of the right half of his visual field and loss of vision lasting about 1 min and occurring about 7 times a day. The daily frequency of this occurrence gradually decreased, and his visual field impairment improved in 1 week. However, as the same symptoms recurred from cycle 2 to cycle 5 of treatment, oxaliplatin was discontinued from cycle 6 and switched to S-1 monotherapy. Subsequently, the patient’s amaurosis fugax improved. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing clinical course and treatment of oxaliplatin-associated amaurosis fugax

The Relationship between Mating System and Genetic Diversity in Diploid Sexual Populations of Cyrtomium falcatum in Japan

The impact of variation in mating system on genetic diversity is a well-debated topic in evolutionary biology. The diploid sexual race of Cyrtomium falcatum (Japanese holly fern) shows mating system variation, i.e., it displays two different types of sexual expression (gametangia formation) in gametophytes: mixed (M) type and separate (S) type. We examined whether there is variation in the selfing rate among populations of this species, and evaluated the relationship between mating system, genetic diversity and effective population size using microsatellites. In this study, we developed eight new microsatellite markers and evaluated genetic diversity and structure of seven populations (four M-type and three S-type). Past effective population sizes (Ne) were inferred using Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC). The values of fixation index (FIS), allelic richness (AR) and gene diversity (h) differed significantly between the M-type (FIS: 0.626, AR: 1.999, h: 0.152) and the S-type (FIS: 0.208, AR: 2.718, h: 0.367) populations (when admixed individuals were removed from two populations). Although evidence of past bottleneck events was detected in all populations by ABC, the current Ne of the M-type populations was about a third of that of the S-type populations. These results suggest that the M-type populations have experienced more frequent bottlenecks, which could be related to their higher colonization ability via gametophytic selfing. Although high population differentiation among populations was detected (FST = 0.581, F’ST = 0.739), there was no clear genetic differentiation between the M- and S-types. Instead, significant isolation by distance was detected among all populations. These results suggest that mating system variation in this species is generated by the selection for single spore colonization during local extinction and recolonization events and there is no genetic structure due to mating system

Thermal Infrared Imaging Experiments of C-Type Asteroid 162173 Ryugu on Hayabusa2

The thermal infrared imager TIR onboard Hayabusa2 has been developed to investigate thermo-physical properties of C-type, near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu. TIR is one of the remote science instruments on Hayabusa2 designed to understand the nature of a volatile-rich solar system small body, but it also has significant mission objectives to provide information on surface physical properties and conditions for sampling site selection as well as the assessment of safe landing operations. TIR is based on a two-dimensional uncooled micro-bolometer array inherited from the Longwave Infrared Camera LIR on Akatsuki (Fukuhara et al., 2011). TIR takes images of thermal infrared emission in 8 to 12 μm with a field of view of 16×12∘ and a spatial resolution of 0.05∘ per pixel. TIR covers the temperature range from 150 to 460 K, including the well calibrated range from 230 to 420 K. Temperature accuracy is within 2 K or better for summed images, and the relative accuracy or noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) at each of pixels is 0.4 K or lower for the well-calibrated temperature range. TIR takes a couple of images with shutter open and closed, the corresponding dark frame, and provides a true thermal image by dark frame subtraction. Data processing involves summation of multiple images, image processing including the StarPixel compression (Hihara et al., 2014), and transfer to the data recorder in the spacecraft digital electronics (DE). We report the scientific and mission objectives of TIR, the requirements and constraints for the instrument specifications, the designed instrumentation and the pre-flight and in-flight performances of TIR, as well as its observation plan during the Hayabusa2 mission

Development of Skin Flaps for Reconstructive Surgery : Random Pattern Flap to Perforator Flap

Flap transplantation has been an important procedure in plastic and reconstructive surgery to cover and fill various defects. Flap necrosis due to blood circulation failure leads to severe complications, especially in a patient undergoing reconstruction concerning the body cavity after tumor ablation. Surgical procedures for flap transplantation have been further improved and developed. We have reviewed from the random pattern flap to the newest procedure, the perforator flap. Perforator vessels were investigated in the process of development of the fasciocutaneous flap and have become important for blood supply of the skin flap. Blood circulation of the flap has become more stable and reliable than ever with the development and findings of the perforator vessels. Further development of a skin flap will be based on the perforasome concept, which involves the study of the territory and linking of perforator vessels