Zinc, Copper, and Manganese Concentrations in Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients with Viral Meningitis

We investigated whether information on concentrations of the trace metals in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with viral meningitis could be of value in diagnosis or prognosis. Samples from ten patients and 11 control subjects were analysed for zinc, copper, and manganese by atomic absorption spectrophotometry method. Protein concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid were also determined. The mean pretreatment values of zinc and copper were significantly lower (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively) than those of control subjects and returned to the control value after treatment. The mean pretreatment value of manganese was significantly lower (p<0.001) than the control value and became still lower (p<0.01) after treatment. The estimation of the trace metals in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with viral meningitis is very helpful to determine the diagnosis and prognosis

Vitamin D and Cyclic Nucleotide Changes in Response to Calcitonin in Man

Vitamin D and cyclic AMP changes in response to calcitonin injection were studies in three normal adults and one patient with osteogenesis imperfecta. Plasma 1,25-(OH)2D levels increased in one normal adult and the patient. Plasma 25-OHD levels did not change. Plasma cyclic AMP was decreased in all four subjects, but urine cyclic AMP did not change. These results suggest that calcitonin may affect plasma cyclic AMP and may have some affect on renal la-hydroxylation in humans

Noise reduction effect in super-high resolution LCDs using independent sub-pixel driving technology

We have developed and reported a super-high resolution liquid crystal display (SHR-LCD) using a new resolution enhancement technology of the independent sub-pixel driving (ISD) that utilizes three sub-pixels in each pixel element. This technology realizes the three-times resolution enhancement of monochrome LCDs, and improves the depiction ability of detailed shape such as micro-calcifications of a mammography and bone structures. Furthermore, the ISD technology brings not only resolution enhancement but also noise reduction effect by the high-resolution data sampling in displaying the clinical images. In this study, we examined the efficacy of the newly developed LCDs from the noise power spectrum measurement (NPS), the perceptual comparison of the phantom images and the clinical images. A 15 mega-pixel (MP)SHR-LCD out of a 5MP LCD and a 6MP SHR-LCD out of a 2MP LCD were used for the measurement and the evaluation. In the NPS measurements, the noise of all the SHR-LCDs was improved obviously. The improvement degree of the NPS varied according to the sub-sampling ratio of the data sampling implemented during the image displaying, and the 6MP LCD showed higher improvement. In the perceptual evaluation of the quality-control phantom images and the low-contrast images of the micro-calcifications of the mammography, all the SHR-LCDs provided higher performance than the conventional LCDs. These results proved that the SHR-LCDs using the ISD technology had the excellent ability to display the high-resolution clinical images

Development of a new resolution enhancement technology for medical liquid crystal displays

金沢大学大学院医学系研究科量子医療技術学A new resolution enhancement technology that used independent sub-pixel driving method was developed for medical monochrome liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Each pixel of monochrome LCDs, which employ color liquid crystal panels with color filters removed, consists of three sub-pixels. In the new LCD system implemented with this technology, sub-pixel intensities were modulated according to detailed image information, and consequently resolution was enhanced three times. In addition, combined with adequate resolution improvement by image data processing, horizontal and vertical resolution properties were balanced. Thus the new technology realized 9 mega-pixels (MP) ultra-high resolution out of 3MP LCD. Physical measurements and perceptual evaluations proved that the achieved 9MP (through our new technology) was appropriate and efficient to depict finer anatomical structures such as micro calcifications in mammography

Study protocol for a multi-center, randomized controlled trial to develop Japanese denture adhesive guidelines for patients with complete dentures : the Denture Adhesive Guideline trial : study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Denture adhesives, characterized as medical products in 1935 by the American Dental Association, have been considered useful adjuncts for improving denture retention and stability. However, many dentists in Japan are hesitant to acknowledge denture adhesives in daily practice because of the stereotype that dentures should be inherently stable, without the aid of adhesives. The aim of this study is to verify the efficacy of denture adhesives to establish guidelines for Japanese users. The null hypothesis is that the application of denture adhesives, including the cream and powder types, or a control (isotonic sodium chloride solution) would not produce different outcomes nor would they differentially improve the set outcomes between baseline and day 4 post-application. Methods: This ten-center, randomized controlled trial with parallel groups is ongoing. Three hundred edentulous patients with complete dentures will be allocated to three groups (cream-type adhesive, powder-type adhesive, and control groups). The participants will wear their dentures with the denture adhesive for 4 days, including during eight meals (three breakfasts, two lunches, and three dinners). The baseline measurements and final measurements for the denture adhesives will be performed on the first day and after breakfast on the fourth day. The primary outcome is a general satisfaction rating for the denture. The secondary outcomes are denture satisfaction ratings for various denture functions, occlusal bite force, resistance to dislodgement, masticatory performance, perceived chewing ability, and oral health-related quality of life. Between-subjects comparisons among the three groups and within-subjects comparisons of the pre- and post-intervention measurements will be performed. Furthermore, a multiple regression analysis will be performed. The main analyses will be based on the intention-to-treat principle. A sample size of 100 subjects per group, including an assumed dropout rate of 10 %, will be required to achieve 80 % power with a 5 % alpha level. Discussion: This randomized clinical trial will provide information about denture adhesives to complete denture wearers, prosthodontic educators, and dentists in Japan. We believe this new evidence on denture adhesive use from Japan will aid dentists in their daily practice even in other countries

Results of the search for inspiraling compact star binaries from TAMA300's observation in 2000-2004

We analyze the data of TAMA300 detector to search for gravitational waves from inspiraling compact star binaries with masses of the component stars in the range 1-3Msolar. In this analysis, 2705 hours of data, taken during the years 2000-2004, are used for the event search. We combine the results of different observation runs, and obtained a single upper limit on the rate of the coalescence of compact binaries in our Galaxy of 20 per year at a 90% confidence level. In this upper limit, the effect of various systematic errors such like the uncertainty of the background estimation and the calibration of the detector's sensitivity are included.Comment: 8 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses revtex4.sty The author list was correcte

Observation results by the TAMA300 detector on gravitational wave bursts from stellar-core collapses

We present data-analysis schemes and results of observations with the TAMA300 gravitational-wave detector, targeting burst signals from stellar-core collapse events. In analyses for burst gravitational waves, the detection and fake-reduction schemes are different from well-investigated ones for a chirp-wave analysis, because precise waveform templates are not available. We used an excess-power filter for the extraction of gravitational-wave candidates, and developed two methods for the reduction of fake events caused by non-stationary noises of the detector. These analysis schemes were applied to real data from the TAMA300 interferometric gravitational wave detector. As a result, fake events were reduced by a factor of about 1000 in the best cases. The resultant event candidates were interpreted from an astronomical viewpoint. We set an upper limit of 2.2x10^3 events/sec on the burst gravitational-wave event rate in our Galaxy with a confidence level of 90%. This work sets a milestone and prospects on the search for burst gravitational waves, by establishing an analysis scheme for the observation data from an interferometric gravitational wave detector

Association between socioeconomic status and physical inactivity in a general Japanese population: NIPPON DATA2010.

Background:Lower socioeconomic status (SES) may be related to inactivity lifestyle; however, the association between SES and physical inactivity has not been sufficiently investigated in Japan.Methods:The study population is the participants of NIPPON DATA2010, which is a prospective cohort study of the National Health and Nutrition Survey 2010 in Japan. They were residents in 300 randomly selected areas across Japan. This study included 2,609 adults. Physical activity was assessed by physical activity index (PAI) calculated from activity intensity and time. The lowest tertile of PAI for each 10-year age class and sex was defined as physical inactivity. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the association of SES (employment status, educational attainment, living status, and equivalent household expenditure (EHE)) with physical inactivity.Results:In the distribution of PAI by age classes and sex, the highest median PAI was aged 30-39 years among men (median 38.6), aged 40-49 years among women (38.0), and median PAI was decreased with increasing age. Multivariable-adjusted model shows that not working was significantly associated with physical inactivity after adjustment for age in all age groups and sexes. Not living with spouse for adult women and elderly men was significantly associated with physical inactivity compared to those who living with spouse. However, neither educational attainment nor EHE had any significant associations with physical inactivity.Conclusions:The result indicated that physical inactivity was associated with SES in a general Japanese population. SES of individuals need to be considered in order to prevent inactivity lifestyle

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection