146 research outputs found
A case report of surgical debulking for a huge mass of elephantiasis neuromatosa
Achievement of a safe outcome for an extensive mass with hypervascularity in the extremities requires a surgical team skilled in musculoskeletal oncology. We report debulking surgery for a huge mass of elephantiasis neuromatosa in the right leg of a 56-year old man using the novel Ligasure® vessel sealing system
Suzaku Observation of Group of Galaxies NGC 507: Temperature and Metal Distributions in the Intra-cluster Medium
Temperature and abundance distributions of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) in
the NGC 507 group of galaxies were studied with Suzaku. Observed concentric
annular spectra were well-represented by a two temperature model for ICM, and
we found steeper abundance gradients for Mg, Si, S, and Fe compared with O in
the central region. Abundance ratios of alpha-elements to iron were found to be
similar to those in other groups and poor clusters. We calculated metal
mass-to-light ratios for Fe, O and Mg (IMLR, OMLR, MMLR) for NGC 507, and
values for different systems were compared. Hotter and richer systems tend to
show higher values of IMLR, OMLR, and MMLR. OMLR and MMLR were measured to an
outer region for the first time with Suzaku, while IMLR was consistent with
that with ASCA. We also looked into 2-dimensional map of the hardness ratio,
but found no significant deviation from the circular symmetry.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
Inhomogeneity in the Hot Intracluster Medium of Abell 1060 Observed with Chandra
A Chandra observation of the non-cooling flow cluster A 1060 has confirmed
that the hot intracluster medium has fairly uniform distributions of
temperature and metal abundance from a radius of about 230 kpc to the central 5
kpc region (H_0= 75 km/s/Mpc). The radial temperature profile shows a broad
peak at 30-40 kpc from the center at a level ~20% higher than that in the outer
region. Assuming spatially uniform temperature and abundance distributions, we
derived a 3-dimensional density structure by iteratively correcting the beta
model, and obtained the central gas density to be 8.2^{+1.8}_{-1.0} x 10^{-3}
cm^{-3}. The distribution of gravitational mass was estimated from the density
profile, and a central concentration of mass within a radius of 50 kpc was
indicated. The data also suggest several high-abundance regions. The most
significant blob adjacent to the central galaxy NGC 3311 has a radius of about
9 kpc, which indicates a metallicity of ~1.5 solar. We consider that this blob
may be produced by the gas stripped off from NGC 3311.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, accepted by PASJ. High resolution version
available at http://www-x.phys.metro-u.ac.jp/~akira_h/papers
Suzaku Observations of AWM 7 Cluster of Galaxies: Temperature, Abundance and Bulk Motions
We carried out 3 observations of the cluster of galaxies AWM 7, for the
central region and 20'-east and 20'-west offset regions, with Suzaku.
Temperature and abundance profiles are measured out to 27'~ 570 /h_70 kpc,
which corresponded to ~0.35 r_180. The temperature of the intra-cluster medium
(ICM) slightly decreases from 3.8 keV at the center to 3.4 keV in ~0.35 r_180
region, indicating a flatter profile than those in other nearby clusters.
Abundance ratio of Si to Fe is almost constant in our observation, while Mg to
Fe ratio increases with radius from the cluster center. O to Fe ratio in the
west region shows increase with radius, while that in the east region is almost
flat, though the errors are relatively large. These features suggest that the
enrichment process is significantly different between products of type II
supernovae (O and Mg) and those by type Ia supernovae (Si and Fe). We also
examined positional shift of the central energy of He-like Fe-Ka line, in
search of possible rotation of the ICM. The 90% upper limit for the
line-of-sight velocity difference was derived to be v ~ 2000 km/s, suggesting
that the ellipticity of AWM 7 is rather caused by a recent directional infall
of the gas along the large-scale filament.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
Development of a novel artificial intelligence algorithm to detect pulmonary nodules on chest radiography
Background: In this study, we aimed to develop a novel artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to support pulmonary nodule detection, which will enable physicians to efficiently interpret chest radiographs for lung cancer diagnosis. Methods: We analyzed chest X-ray images obtained from a health examination center in Fukushima and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chest X-ray 14 dataset. We categorized these data into two types: type A included both Fukushima and NIH datasets, and type B included only the Fukushima dataset. We also demonstrated pulmonary nodules in the form of a heatmap display on each chest radiograph and calculated the positive probability score as an index value. Results: Our novel AI algorithms had a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) of 0.74, a sensitivity of 0.75, and a specificity of 0.60 for the type A dataset. For the type B dataset, the respective values were 0.79, 0.72, and 0.74. The algorithms in both the type A and B datasets were superior to the accuracy of radiologists and similar to previous studies. Conclusions: The proprietary AI algorithms had a similar accuracy for interpreting chest radiographs when compared with previous studies and radiologists. Especially, we could train a high quality AI algorithm, even with our small type B data set. However, further studies are needed to improve and further validate the accuracy of our AI algorithm
PGL-III, a Rare Intermediate of <i>Mycobacterium leprae</i> Phenolic Glycolipid Biosynthesis, Is a Potent Mincle Ligand
Although leprosy (Hansen's disease) is one of the oldest known diseases, the pathogenicity of Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae) remains enigmatic. Indeed, the cell wall components responsible for the immune response against M. leprae are as yet largely unidentified. We reveal here phenolic glycolipid-III (PGL-III) as an M. leprae-specific ligand for the immune receptor Mincle. PGL-III is a scarcely present trisaccharide intermediate in the biosynthetic pathway to PGL-I, an abundant and characteristic M. leprae glycolipid. Using activity-based purification, we identified PGL-III as a Mincle ligand that is more potent than the well-known M. tuberculosis trehalose dimycolate. The cocrystal structure of Mincle and a synthetic PGL-III analogue revealed a unique recognition mode, implying that it can engage multiple Mincle molecules. In Mincle-deficient mice infected with M. leprae, increased bacterial burden with gross pathologies were observed. These results show that PGL-III is a noncanonical ligand recognized by Mincle, triggering protective immunity. </p
X-Ray Study of Temperature and Abundance Profiles of the Cluster of Galaxies Abell 1060 with Suzaku
We carried out observations of the central and 20' east offset regions of the
cluster of galaxies Abell 1060 with Suzaku. Spatially resolved X-ray spectral
analysis has revealed temperature and abundance profiles of Abell 1060 out to
27' ~ 380; /h_70 kpc, which corresponded to ~ 0.25; r_180. Temperature decrease
of the intra cluster medium from 3.4 keV at the center to 2.2 keV in the
outskirt region are clearly observed. Abundances of Si, S and Fe also decrease
by more than 50% from the center to the outer, while Mg shows fairly constant
abundance distribution at ~ 0.7 solar within r < 17'. O shows lower abundance
of ~ 0.3 solar in the central region (r~ 6'), and indicates a similar feature
with Mg, however it is sensitive to the estimated contribution of the Galactic
components of kT_1 ~ 0.15 keV and kT_2 ~ 0.7 keV in the outer annuli (r ~ 13').
Systematic effects due to the point spread function tails, contamination on the
XIS filters, instrumental background, cosmic and/or Galactic X-ray background,
and the assumed solar abundance tables are carefully examined. Results on
temperature and abundances of Si, S, and Fe are consistent with those derived
by XMM-Newton at r < 13'. Formation and metal enrichment process of the cluster
are discussed based on the present results.Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
Suzaku Observations of the Local and Distant Hot ISM
Suzaku observed the molecular cloud MBM12 and a blank field less than 3
degrees away to separate the local and distant components of the diffuse soft
X-ray background. Towards MBM12, a local (D< 275 pc) O VII emission line was
clearly detected with an intensity of 3.5 ph cm^{-2} s^{-1} sr^{-1}$ (or line
units, LU), and the O VIII flux was <0.34 LU. The origin of this O VII emission
could be hot gas in the Local Hot Bubble (LHB), charge exchange between oxygen
ions in the solar wind (SWCX) and geocoronal or interplanetary material, or a
combination of the two. If entirely from the LHB, the implied temperature and
emission measure would predict 1/4 keV emission in excess of observations.
There is no evidence in the X-ray light curve or solar wind data for a
significant contribution from geocoronal SWCX. In any case, the observed O VII
flux represents an upper limit to both the LHB emission and interplanetary SWCX
in this direction.
The off-cloud observation was performed immediately following the on-cloud.
The net off-cloud O VII and O VIII intensities were (respectively) 2.34\pm0.33
and 0.77\pm0.16 LU, after subtracting the on-cloud foreground emission.
Assuming the LHB and SWCX components did not change, these increases can be
attributed to more distant Galactic disk, halo, or extragalactic emission. If
the distant O VII and O VIII emission is from a thermal plasma in collisional
equilibrium beyond the Galactic disk, a temperature of (2.1\pm0.1)\times10^6 K
with an emission measure of (4\pm0.6)\times10^-3} cm^{-6}pc is inferred.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted by PAS
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