Influence of Active Fingertip Contact with a Stable Surface on Postural Sway and Electromyographic Activities of the Lower Extremity Muscles Immediately after Descending a Step

Recent studies have shown that active contact cues from a fingertip provide information that leads to reduced postural sway during static standing. Although the falling risk increases immediately after descending a step, little is known about the influence of active fingertip contact with a stable surface. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of fingertip contact on the sway and the EMG (Electromyographic) activities of lower extremity muscles immediately after descending a step. Nine healthy male volunteers participated in this study. Sway was measured by the center of pressure (COP) and compared under three conditions: (1) standing without touching, (2) standing with the right index fingertip lightly touching (<1N), and (3) standing forcefully touching (5~10N). EMG activities were measured associated with sway and compared. More areas of COP were observed while standing without touching than while standing with light or forceful touching, but there was no significant difference between the two touching conditions. No significant differences in the length of COP and the EMG activities were observed among the three conditions. The results suggested that the fingertip touch contact with a stable surface decreased sway immediately after descending a step by finely controlling the lower extremity muscles

チュウスウ シンケイケイ NMDA ジュヨウタイ ノ カツドウ ガ ヒキオコス ケイケン イゾンテキ シナプス カソセイ ノ セイリガクテキ オヨビ ビョウタイ セイリガクテキ ヨウソウ

N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors play an important role in neural plasticity in the central nervous systems (CNSs). We can change our behaviors according to storing things in memory and learning, and the ability is necessary for survival in the daily life. The “learning and memory” is based on experience-dependent neural plasticity in the CNSs. NMDA receptor activation is essential for inducing plastic changes in the structural and functional refinement of synapses and circuits. “Hebbian learning” is an important form of learning and memory. Mg2+ block is a fine equipment of NMDA receptor, and is required to establish“ Hebbian learning”. NMDA receptor activation, however, does not always induce preferred conditions. There are cases that, in particular situations, NMDA receptor activation-dependent plasticity causes pathological conditions. In this review, I will overview the roles of the NMDA receptors in physiological and pathophysiological conditions

Global Standards Pattern of Industrial Structure Change and Revised Petty−Clark’s Law

The first aim of this paper is to express quantitatively the global standards pattern of change in industrial　structure, thereby to show Revised Petty−Clark’s law that　includes the back ward bending tendency of the　second　industry, which means that the composition ratio of the　second industry changes to decrease from　increase at the ratio of about 40%.And the second is to show implications and examples of application of the　standards pattern. Then we will be able to attain successfully the first aim and to show the following　implications and examples of　application. They are ①the standards stages of economic development based on　the standards pattern, ②the　difference ratio of industrial structure, which means the degree of gap of the　pattern of a nation from the　standards pattern, and ③the converging tendency of　industrial structure.本稿の目的は，第１に，「産業構造変化の世界標準パターン」を数量的に導出し，それによって「修正ペティ＝クラーク法則」を示すことであり，第２に，標準パターンを援用して，標準的経済発展段階を示すとともに，各国の産業構造変化パターンの特徴を把握する方法として，世界標準パターンからの各国パターンの乖離（産業構造乖離率）を求め，さらに，産業構造の収斂傾向を実証的に明らかにすることである。既に経済発展と産業構造の間には各国に共通する一定のパターンが存在することは広く認められている。ここで，経済発展とは，広く深い含意をもたせることは可能であるが，通常は単純に１人当たり所得の増大を意味するものと解され，これを経済発展の指標としている。確かに経済発展をこのように単純に捉えるのは問題がないわけではないが，しかし，経済発展の指標として１つ選ぶとすれば，比較的簡単に観察でき，為替レートによる換算には問題を残しつつも，各国間の比較にも耐え得るものとして，この指標は概ね妥当である。現在，世界の中で観察されている主要な産業構造変化の傾向性は次の４つである。（以下で、「移行する」とは，「相対的に重要度が高まる，あるいは，構成比が高る」ことを意味する。）（1） ペティ＝クラーク法則（経済発展につれて，産業構造は１次産業から，２次産業・３次産業へ移行する）（2） ホフマン法則（経済発展につれて，工業内部の産業構造は，軽工業から重化学工業へ移行る）（3）機械工業化（経済発展につれて，重化学工業内部の産業構造は，素材型装置型工業から加工組立型工業へ移行する）（4） サービス経済化（経済発展につれて，産業構造はモノ産業からサービス産業へ移行する）この４つの傾向性のうち最も基本的なものはペティ＝クラーク法則である。この傾向性は殆ど例外なしに世界各国で認められており，各国経済発展の段階を知る上で極めて有効である。しかし，それは，多くの場合，就業者数で測って，１次産業の構成比が減少して，２次・３次産業の構成比が増大するという傾向性に各国の間で共通点があることを意味するものであって，その共通の傾向性を数量的に示すものではない。そこで，本稿は，ペティ＝クラーク法則「世界標準パターン」として数量的に示すとともに，それを２次産業の「反転傾向」という点で修正しようとするものである

Co-integration of Silicon Nanodevices and NEMS for Advanced Information Processing (Invited Talk)

In this paper we present our recent attempts at developing the advanced information processing devices by integrating nano-electro-mechanical (NEM)structures into conventional silicon nanodevices. Firstly, we show high-speed and nonvolatile NEM memory which features a mechanically-bistable floating gate is integrated onto MOSFETs. Secondly we discuss hybrid systems of single-electron transistors and NEM structures for exploring new switching principles

Microenvironment and radiation therapy

Dependency on tumor oxygenation is one of the major features of radiation therapy and this has led many radiation biologists and oncologists to focus on tumor hypoxia. The first approach to overcome tumor hypoxia was to improve tumor oxygenation by increasing oxygen delivery and a subsequent approach was the use of radiosensitizers in combination with radiation therapy. Clinical use of some of these approaches was promising, but they are not widely used due to several limitations. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is a transcription factor that is activated by hypoxia and induces the expression of various genes related to the adaptation of cellular metabolism to hypoxia, invasion and metastasis of cancer cells and angiogenesis, and so forth. HIF-1 is a potent target to enhance the therapeutic effects of radiation therapy. Another approach is antiangiogenic therapy. The combination with radiation therapy is promising, but several factors including surrogate markers, timing and duration, and so forth have to be optimized before introducing it into clinics. In this review, we examined how the tumor microenvironment influences the effects of radiation and how we can enhance the antitumor effects of radiation therapy by modifying the tumor microenvironment