Mapping of the local environmental changes in proteins by cysteine scanning

Protein conformational changes, which regulate the activity of proteins, are induced by the alternation of intramolecular interactions. Therefore, the detection of the local environmental changes around the key amino acid residues is essential to understand the activation mechanisms of functional proteins. Here we developed the methods to scan the local environmental changes using the vibrational band of cysteine S-H group. We validated the sensitivity of this method using bathorhodopsin, a photoproduct of rhodopsin trapped at liquid nitrogen temperature, which undergoes little conformational changes from the dark state as shown by the X-ray crystallography. The cysteine residues were individually introduced into 15 positions of Helix III, which contains several key amino acid residues for the light-induced conformational changes of rhodopsin. The shifts of S-H stretching modes of these cysteine residues and native cysteine residues upon the formation of bathorhodopsin were measured by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. While most of cysteine residues demonstrated no shift of S-H stretching mode, cysteine residues introduced at positions 117, 118, and 122, which are in the vicinity of the chromophore, demonstrated the significant changes. The current results are consistent with the crystal structure of bathorhodopsin, implying that the cysteine scanning is sensitive enough to detect the tiny conformational changes

Comparisons of kinematics during stair motion in total knee arthroplasty: Single-radius versus J-curved designs

Background: Patients who undergo TKA continue to report difficulty in ascending and descending stairs. However, it is unknown how kinematic pattern TKA knees demonstrate during stair ascending and descending. The purpose of the present study was (1) to determine how kinematics TKA knees demonstrate during stair ascending and descending; (2) to investigate whether TKA kinematics during stair ambulation are different among designs of implants as well as during squatting.Methods: We analyzed twenty two knees (19 patients, all female) that implanted with single-radius PS TKA which was the Triathlon posterior stabilized knee prosthesis or the J-curved PS TKA which was the Legacy flex posterior stabilized knee prosthesis. Each patient performed stair ascending and descending at patient’s comfortable pace. We evaluated the kinematics of stair ascending and descending using 2-dimensional to 3-dimensional registration technique.Results: Anteroposterior translation was significantly less in single-radius PS TKA compared to J-curved PS TKA during stair ascending and descending. At foot strike, post-cam engagement was observed in all 11 knees implanted with single-radius PS TKA and in three of 11 knees with J-curved PS TKA during stair ascending.Conclusions: Single-radius design of the femoral component, constrained articulation and less posterior slope might lead to less anteroposterior translation of the femur during stair ascending and descending. Additionally, it is also associated with the stability that the post cam contact prevented the femur from moving anteroposterior before and after foot strike during stair ascending and escending. It should be necessary that the post cam mechanism is designed not only for inducing rollback motion, but also for controlling anteroposterior translation in mid-flexion range

Effect of the particle brush on polishing performance of surface magnetic polishing using slurry circulation system

ArticleProceedings of the 6th international conference on progress of machining technology. CHEN D. NARUTAKI N. YAMANE. YCHEN W. OCHI A. ed. Xi’an in China, 2002-09, AVIATION INDUSTRY PRESS， 334-339 (2002)conference pape

Administration of tetrodotoxin protects artificially raised juvenile tiger puffer Takifugu rubripes from predators

We examined the effects of tetrodotoxin (TTX) administration on artificially raised tiger puffer Takifugu rubripes juvenile survival after release into a mesocosm with predators to clarify the ecological significance of TTX. Pellets containing three different concentrations of TTX [0 as the control, 7 and 14 mouse units (MU)/g diet] were fed to non-toxic artificially raised T. rubripes juveniles for 10 days. TTX accumulation in the various tissues of fish was detected except for in the control diet group. TTX administration did not affect survival or growth of the fish. One hundred fish from each diet group were released together after TTX administration into a salt pond mesocosm (2650 m2) with predators (Lateolabrax sp.) for 5 days. Survival after release was significantly higher in both the fish fed with the 7 MU TTX/g diet (62%) and the 14 MU TTX/g diet (74%) than in the control fish (32%)

Discovery of Extended X-Ray emission from the unidentified TeV source HESS J1614-518 using the Suzaku Satellite

We report the Suzaku results of HESS J1614-518, which is the brightest extended TeV gamma-ray source discovered in the Galactic plane survey conducted using the H.E.S.S. telescope. We discovered three X-ray objects in the field of view of the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS), which were designated as Suzaku J1614-5141 (src A), Suzaku J1614-5152 (src B), and Suzaku J1614-5148 (src C). Src A is an extended source located at the peak position of HESS J1614-518, and therefore it is a plausible counterpart to HESS J1614-518. The X-ray flux in the 2-10 keV band is 5e-13 erg/s/cm^2, which is an order of magnitude smaller than the TeV flux. The photon index is 1.7, which is smaller than the canonical value of synchrotron emissions from high-energy electrons found in some supernova remnants. These findings present a challenge to models in which the origin of the TeV emission is the inverse Compton scattering of the cosmic microwave background by accelerated electrons that emit X-rays via synchrotron emission. Src B is located at a relatively dim region in the TeV band image; however, its hydrogen column density is the same as that of src A. Therefore, src B may also be physically related to HESS J1614-518. Src C is a foreground late-type B star. We also discovered a soft extended X-ray emission near HESS J1614-518.Comment: Accepted for publication in PASJ vol. 60 Suzaku Special Issue

Two-stage video-based convolutional neural networks for adult spinal deformity classification

IntroductionAssessment of human gait posture can be clinically effective in diagnosing human gait deformities early in life. Currently, two methods—static and dynamic—are used to diagnose adult spinal deformity (ASD) and other spinal disorders. Full-spine lateral standing radiographs are used in the standard static method. However, this is a static assessment of joints in the standing position and does not include information on joint changes when the patient walks. Careful observation of long-distance walking can provide a dynamic assessment that reveals an uncompensated posture; however, this increases the workload of medical practitioners. A three-dimensional (3D) motion system is proposed for the dynamic method. Although the motion system successfully detected dynamic posture changes, access to the facilities was limited. Therefore, a diagnostic approach that is facility-independent, has low practice flow, and does not involve patient contact is required.MethodsWe focused on a video-based method to classify patients with spinal disorders either as ASD, or other forms of ASD. To achieve this goal, we present a video-based two-stage machine-learning method. In the first stage, deep learning methods are used to locate the patient and extract the area where the patient is located. In the second stage, a 3D CNN (convolutional neural network) device is used to capture spatial and temporal information (dynamic motion) from the extracted frames. Disease classification is performed by discerning posture and gait from the extracted frames. Model performance was assessed using the mean accuracy, F1 score, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), with five-fold cross-validation. We also compared the final results with professional observations.ResultsOur experiments were conducted using a gait video dataset comprising 81 patients. The experimental results indicated that our method is effective for classifying ASD and other spinal disorders. The proposed method achieved a mean accuracy of 0.7553, an F1 score of 0.7063, and an AUROC score of 0.7864. Additionally, ablation experiments indicated the importance of the first stage (detection stage) and transfer learning of our proposed method.DiscussionThe observations from the two doctors were compared using the proposed method. The mean accuracies observed by the two doctors were 0.4815 and 0.5247, with AUROC scores of 0.5185 and 0.5463, respectively. We proved that the proposed method can achieve accurate and reliable medical testing results compared with doctors' observations using videos of 1 s duration. All our code, models, and results are available at https://github.com/ChenKaiXuSan/Walk_Video_PyTorch. The proposed framework provides a potential video-based method for improving the clinical diagnosis for ASD and non-ASD. This framework might, in turn, benefit both patients and clinicians to treat the disease quickly and directly and further reduce facility dependency and data-driven systems

Voluntary Elbow Extension-Flexion Using Single Joint Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) for Patients of Spastic Cerebral Palsy: Two Cases Report

Cerebral palsy (CP) patients with spastic diplegia struggle to perform activities of daily life (ADL) using their upper arms. The single-joint-type Hybrid Assistive limb (HAL) for upper limbs is a new portable robot that can provide elbow motion support in accordance with bioelectric activation of patient's biceps and triceps brachii muscles. The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility and efficacy of the use of HAL for CP patients. Two patients were enrolled in this study. (Case 1: a 19-years-old male, at the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level IV, Case 2: a 17-years-old male at GMFCS level III). Both these patients experienced difficulty in voluntary elbow extension in ADLs. The HAL intervention (eight sessions; voluntary extension-flexion training of the elbow with HAL and clinical evaluation) was conducted for both sides in Case 1 and for the right side in Case 2. Clinical assessments were conducted as follows: Surface electromyography was used to evaluate the muscle activities of the biceps, triceps brachii, trapezius, and pectoralis major during elbow extension-flexion. The voluntary extension-flexion angles of the elbow, the coactivation index of the biceps and triceps brachii muscles, synergy analysis, and the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) scores were assessed before and after the HAL sessions; the FIM score was evaluated before and after the entire intervention. In Case 1, the voluntary extension angle tended to increase after the HAL sessions. In both cases, the ARAT scores improved after the sessions. The FIM scores improved after HAL intervention. The voluntary extension-flexion of the elbow using the HAL may be a feasible option for rehabilitation of CP patients