DOES SIDE OF AMPUTATION AFFECT 200- AND 400-M RACE TIME IN SPRINTERS USING RUNNING-SPECIFIC PROSTHESES?

Current Paralympic guidelines for track events are generally based on level of amputation, not side of amputation. Since 200- and 400-m sprint races are performed in a counter clockwise direction, the effects of amputations side on sprint race performance in athletes with unilateral lower limb amputation should be investigated. Forty-five unilateral transtibial amputees participating in elite-level 200- and 400-m races were analysed from publicly available Internet broadcasts. For each athlete, official race time, and amputation side were determined. We found no significant difference in official race time between left and right side amputees during the 200- and 400-m sprint, indicating that sprint performance on a standard track in amputee athletes is not affected by amputation side

A comparison of dust concentration with high resolution analysis and visible strata in the Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum periods from the Dome Fuji ice core, East Antarctica

第3回極域科学シンポジウム　横断セッション「海・陸・氷床から探る後期新生代の南極寒冷圏環境変動」11月26日（月）、27日（火） ２階ラウン

LEG AND VERTICAL STIFFNESS OF TRANSFEMORAL AMPUTEES USING RUNNING-SPECIFIC PROSTHESES

Since running-specific prostheses (RSPs) emulate spring-like leg functions, human musculoskeletal system is often modelled as a spring-mass model. In the model, the leg (KM) and vertical stiffness (KM) is known to strongly influence running performance. The purpose of this study was to quantify the asymmetry in stiffness between the intact limbs and prosthetic limbs during sprinting. Eight sprinters with unilateral transfemoral amputation performed overground sprinting at maximum speed. & and Kw,t were calculated from vertical ground reaction force data in both the intact and prosthetic limbs. & was significantly greater in intact limbs than prosthetic limbs. Although there was no significant difference on Kvert, cohen's d of Kvert between legs was 1.28. Therefore KM might have potential significant difference

COMPARISON OF GROUND REACTION FORCES IN TWO RUNNING-SPECIFIC PROSTHESES (SPRINTER 1 E90 AND CHEETAH XTREME): A CASE STUDY

The purpose of this study was to describe the difference in ground reaction forces (GRF) between tvm different running-specific prostheses (RSPs) during maximal sprinting in a transfemoral amputee. One male sprinter performed maximal sprinting with two types of RSP (Sprinter 1E90 and Xtreme) on over 40 m runway with 7 force plates located halfway. Sprint velocity was found to be greater in the trials performed with Sprinter 1 E9O than with Xtreme. The peak VGRF, zero fore-aft shear and impulse of the anteriorposterior component of the GRF with PST limb differed among the two RSPs. These results suggest that the participant in this study would show the differences in variables influencing on the sprint velocity between two types of RSPs

JOINT MOMENTS OF UNILATERAL TRANSFEMORAL AMPUTEES USING RUNNING-SPECIFIC PROSTHESIS DURING SPRINTING

The aim of this study was to investigate the bilateral difference of the joint moments between an intact leg (INT) and a prosthetic leg (PST) in unilateral transfemoral amputees (TFAs) wearing running-specific prosthesis during sprinting. Eight sprinters with unilateral TFAs performed maximal sprinting on a 40-m runway with 7 force platforms located in between. Hip and knee joint extension and flexion moments during stance phase in INT were significantly greater than those of PST. However, ankle plantarflexion moment in PST was significantly greater than that of INT. Since kinetic asymmetry between legs is thought to be related with running-related injury, sprinter with unilateral TFAs may have a higher risk of musculoskeletal injury at hip and knee joints

A Proposal for an Early Response to Delirium in Terminal Cancer Patients with the Aim of Preventing Extreme Grief

　余命２週間のがん末期の患者が，終末期のせん妄による看護師への暴力をきっかけに，「医療者に暴力をふるうような患者です．」と悪評され，不名誉を拭えないまま，両親に見守られる中，亡くなった．対応するスタッフが，終末期がん患者のせん妄に対し早期に対応できていればこのような事態を招かなかったと考えられる．今回の症例を通して，せん妄への早期対応を提案したく報告する．症例は30歳代男性で，４年前，中枢神経がんに対して化学療法が施行され奏効し寛解に到達した．しかし，社会復帰は困難な状況であったため，両親は共に仕事を辞め，付き添い本人を支えた．外来での経過観察中，１年前の３月に別のがんを発症した．後遺症による精神状態と PS不良を理由に化学療法は不可能と判断された．20XX 年２月になり，呼吸状態が悪化したため入院となった．入院後，状態悪化に伴うせん妄症状が出現し，せん妄のため看護師へ暴力行為を行ってしまった．暴力行為のため，転院せざるを得ない旨を両親に説明することとなったが，転院には間に合うことなく，転院の説明から１週間で永眠された．せん妄と，それに伴う暴力行為に対する早期予防・対策が立案できていないことが，この状況を招いた要因と考えられる．せん妄症状の発生に早い段階で気づき，暴力リスクを理解し対策していくことが，がん終末期患者とその家族の深い悲しみを回避する医療を行うために大切なことと考える．　A terminally ill patient with a life expectancy of two weeks was labeled as“a patient who is violent toward medical professionals.”The cause was his violent behavior toward the nurses, which was triggered by delirium that is prevalent in such end-of-life patients. Unable to overcome this unfortunate reputation, he passed away in the presence of his parents. It is thought that this would not have occurred if the support staff had taken some measures against delirium with the terminal cancer patient at an earlier stage. Through the example provided in this case, this paper proposes an early response to delirium. The patient, in this case, was an adult man in his 30s, who received chemotherapy for cancer of the central nervous system four years earlier and achieved remission. However, because of the difficulty he faced in returning to society, both of his parents quit their jobs to help support him. During an outpatient followup in March of the previous year, another cancer was detected. Due to his mental state caused by sequelae and his poor PS (performance status), chemotherapy was deemed impractical. In February 20XX, the patient was admitted to the hospital because of an aggravated respiratory condition. After his hospitalization, delirium symptoms associated with his aggravated condition developed. Because of his delirium, unfortunately, the nurses became victims of his violence. The patient\u27s parents were given the explanation that their son needed to be transferred to another hospital due to his violent behavior. However, before the transfer took place, just one week from the time the transfer was explained to the family, the patient passed away. It is believed the lack of early prevention and countermeasures against delirium and the associated violence had created this situation. It is thought that recognizing the appearance of delirium symptoms in their early stages, taking preventative measures with an understanding of the risk of violence, and providing medical care to end-stage cancer patients to prevent extreme grief for their families is important

Intestinal Obstruction Due to Mesenteric Inflammatory Veno-occlusive Disease : A Case Report and Summary of the Literature

Article信州医学雑誌 69(3) : 141-147(2021)departmental bulletin pape

Regulation of hepatitis C virus secretion by the Hrs-dependent exosomal pathway

AbstractThe molecular mechanisms of assembly and budding of hepatitis C virus (HCV) remain poorly understood. The budding of several enveloped viruses requires an endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT), which is part of the cellular machinery used to form multivesicular bodies (MVBs). Here, we demonstrated that Hrs, an ESCRT-0 component, is critical for the budding of HCV through the exosomal secretion pathway. Hrs depletion caused reduced exosome production, which paralleled with the decrease of HCV replication in the host cell, and that in the culture supernatant. Sucrose-density gradient separation of the culture supernatant of HCV-infected cells revealed the co-existence of HCV core proteins and the exosome marker. Furthermore, both the core protein and an envelope protein of HCV were detected in the intraluminal vesicles of MVBs. These results suggested that HCV secretion from host cells requires Hrs-dependent exosomal pathway in which the viral assembly is also involved

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