Reversible cortical lesions in primary Sjögren\u27s syndrome presenting with meningoencephalitis as an initial manifestation

金沢大学医学部附属病院放射線部We report a 50-year-old woman with primary Sjögren\u27s syndrome (SjS) who initially showed forgetfulness, and later developed disturbance of consciousness. In addition to aseptic meningoencephalitis revealed by cerebrospinal fluid examination and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the presence of serum anti-SS-A and anti-SS-B antibodies and inflammatory findings in lip biopsy indicated primary SjS. Fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) of MRI revealed well defined small, high signal intensity areas in the cortex involving the subcortical white matter. Corticosteroid therapy resulted in rapid and nearly complete resolution of the cortical lesions with marked improvement of the clinical manifestations. Memory disturbance is a rare initial manifestation in meningoencephalitis associated with SjS. Our patient with SjS showed inflammatory cortical lesions on MRI, which were reversed by corticosteroid therapy. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Development of a novel automatic ascites filtration and concentration equipment with multi‐ring‐type roller pump units for cell‐free and concentrated ascites reinfusion therapy

Cell‐free and concentrated ascites reinfusion therapy (CART) is an effective therapy for refractory ascites. However, CART is difficult to perform as ascites filtration and concentration is a complicated procedure. Moreover, the procedure requires the constant assistance of a clinical engineer or/and the use of an expensive equipment for the multi‐purpose blood processing. Therefore, we developed a CART specialized equipment (mobility CART [M‐CART]) that could be used safely with various safety measures and automatic functions such as automatic washing of clogged filtration filter and self‐regulation of the concentration ratio. Downsizing, lightning of the weight, and automatic processing in M‐CART required the use of newly developed multi‐ring‐type roller pump units. This equipment was approved under Japanese regulations in 2018. In performing 41 sessions of CART (for malignant ascites, 22 sessions; and hepatic ascites, 19 sessions) using this equipment in 17 patients, no serious adverse event occurred. An average of 4494 g of ascites was collected and the total amount of ascites was processed in all the sessions without any trouble. The mean weight of the processed ascites was 560 g and the mean concentration ratio was 8.0. The ascites were processed at a flow rate of 50 mL/min. The mean ascites processing time was 112.5 minutes and a 106.5‐minutes (95.2%) ascites processing was performed automatically. The operator responded to alarms or support information 3.2 times on average (3.1 minutes, 2.1% of ascites processing time). Human errors related to ascites processing were detected by M‐CART at 0.4 times per session on average and were appropriately addressed by the operator. The frequencies of automatic washing of clogged filtration filter and self‐regulation of the concentration ratio were 31.7% and 53.7%, respectively. The mean recovery rates (recovery dose) of protein, albumin, and immunoglobulin G were 72.9%, 72.9%, and 71.2% (65.9 g, 34.9 g, and 13.2 g), respectively. Steroids were administered in 92.7% of the sessions to prevent fever and the mean increase in body temperature was 0.53°C. M‐CART is a compact and lightweight automatic CART specialized equipment that can safely and easily process a large quantity of ascites without the constant assistance of an operator

カラーガゾウ ノ アダマールヘンカンンフゴウカ ト ガゾウアッシュク

Image compression and coding techniques basically involve the processing of images prior to transmission. Measures of the above algorithm performance are composed of three entities : (a)amount of data reduction. (b) quantitative or qualitative assessment of the degradation of the image data, and (c) compression/expansion processing speed. In this study, a set of RGB components of color images is transformed into a set of YIQ data. Hadamard transform coding of the Y component of color images is performed. The features of a boundary threshold method in contrast to other some methods are discussed together with the quantitative measure such as the degree of similarity and the ratio of file compression. Reconstructed images after executing compression and expansion are presented in order to demonstrate a visual assessment of the degradation of the images

New record of a rarely collected caridean shrimp Bathypalaemonella pandaloides (Rathbun, 1906) (Decapoda: Bathypalaemonellidae) from the West Mariana Ridge, northwestern Pacific

Komai, Tomoyuki, Tsuchida, Shinji, Fujiwara, Yoshihiro (2022): New record of a rarely collected caridean shrimp Bathypalaemonella pandaloides (Rathbun, 1906) (Decapoda: Bathypalaemonellidae) from the West Mariana Ridge, northwestern Pacific. Zootaxa 5129 (2): 272-284, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5129.2.

Description of a new species of the hippolytid shrimp genus Eualus Thallwitz, 1892 from Japan, and clarification of the status of E. kikuchii Miyake & Hayashi, 1967 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea)

http://www.godac.jamstec.go.jp/darwin/cruise/natsushima/nt07-09/

New records of callianassid ghost shrimp (Crustacea: Decapoda: Axiidea) from reducing environments in Kyushu, southwestern Japan

http://www.godac.jamstec.go.jp/darwin/cruise/natsushima/nt07-09/