Relationship between Pentosidine and Pyridinoline Levels in Human Diabetic Cataract Lenses

The relationship between the levels of two different crosslink compounds, pentosidine and pyridinoline, in human diabetic cataract lenses was investigated to elucidate the pathogenic mechanism of diabetic cataract. Subjects were classified into diabetes mellitus (DM) group and non-DM group according to the presence or absence of DM. The levels of the crosslink compounds were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography and spectrofluorometry after acid hydrolysis. In the non-DM group the pentosidine level was significantly and positively correlated with the pyridinoline level and age. In the DM group the pentosidine level was not significantly correlated with either pyridinoline level or age. Pyridinoline levels and age were not significantly correlated in either group. The increase in crosslink compounds due to glycation and the relationship between the compounds are changed in DM lenses

Ectopic Varices Rupture in the Gastroduodenal Anastomosis Successfully Treated with N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate Injection

The term &#34;ectopic varices&#34; is used to describe dilated portosystemic collateral veins in unusual locations other than the gastroesophageal region. We recently experienced a rare case of ectopic varices that developed in the gastroduodenal anastomosis after subtotal gastrectomy. A 70-year-old male with liver cirrhosis due to hepatitis C virus infection was admitted for hematemesis and tarry stool. He had received a subtotal gastrectomy with the Billroth-I method for gastric ulcer at 46 years of age. Although emergency endoscopy revealed esophageal and gastric fundal varices, there were no obvious bleeding points. After removal of the coagula, ectopic varices and a fibrin plug were observed on the gastroduodenal anastomosis. During the observation, blood began to spurt from the fibrin plug. N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate with lipiodol injection succeeded in hemostasis. Splenic angiography showed gastric varices feeding from a short gastric vein and the posterior gastric vein. The blood flow around the bleeding point, as indicated by lipiodol deposition, had decreased, and no feeding vein was observed. Endoscopic and angiographic findings are shown and the treatment for such lesions is discussed.</p

NONINVASIVE ESTIMATION OF CARDIAC PROPERTIES IN PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION USING SPECKLE TRACKING ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN GOOD AND POOR CONTROLLED HYPERTENSION

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Default mode network in young male adults with autism spectrum disorder: Relationship with autism spectrum traits

Background: Autism spectrum traits are postulated to lie on a continuum that extends between individuals with autism and individuals with typical development (TD). Social cognition properties that are deeply associated with autism spectrum traits have been linked to functional connectivity between regions within the brain\u27s default mode network (DMN). Previous studies have shown that the resting-state functional connectivities (rs-FCs) of DMN are low and show negative correlation with the level of autism spectrum traits in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it is unclear whether individual differences of autism spectrum traits are associated with the strength of rs-FCs of DMN in participants including the general population. Methods. Using the seed-based approach, we investigated the rs-FCs of DMN, particularly including the following two core regions of DMN: the anterior medial prefrontal cortex (aMPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in 19 young male adults with high-functioning ASD (mean age = 25.3 ± 6.9 years; autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) = 33.4 ± 4.2; full scale IQ (F-IQ) = 109.7 ± 12.4) compared with 21 age- and IQ-matched young male adults from the TD group (mean age = 24.8 ± 4.3 years; AQ = 18.6 ± 5.7; F-IQ = 109.5 ± 8.7). We also analyzed the correlation between the strength of rs-FCs and autism spectrum traits measured using AQ score. Results: The strengths of rs-FCs from core regions of DMN were significantly lower in ASD participants than TD participants. Under multiple regression analysis, the strengths of rs-FCs in brain areas from aMPFC seed showed negative correlation with AQ scores in ASD participants and TD participants. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the strength of rs-FCs in DMN is associated with autism spectrum traits in the TD population as well as patients with ASD, supporting the continuum view. The rs-FCs of DMN may be useful biomarkers for the objective identification of autism spectrum traits, regardless of ASD diagnosis. © 2014 Jung et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Solar System Exploration Sciences by EQUULEUS on SLS EM-1 and Science Instruments Development Status

EQUULEUS is a spacecraft to explore the cislunar region including the Earth-Moon Lagrange point L2 (EML2) and will be launched by NASA’s SLS EM-1 rocket. Although the size of EQUULEUS is only 6U, the spacecraft carries three different science instruments. By using these instruments, the spacecraft will demonstrate three missions for solar system exploration science during and after the flight to EML2; imaging of the plasmasphere around the earth, observation of space dust flux in the cislunar region, and observation of lunar impact flashes at the far side of the moon. The developments and verifications of the flight models of these science instruments were completed by the end of 2018, and we started flight model integration and testing. This paper introduces the details of the scientific objectives, design results and development statuses of the instruments. In addition, results of the integration and pre-flight tests are also described

Coincidence analysis to search for inspiraling compact binaries using TAMA300 and LISM data

Japanese laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors, TAMA300 and LISM, performed a coincident observation during 2001. We perform a coincidence analysis to search for inspiraling compact binaries. The length of data used for the coincidence analysis is 275 hours when both TAMA300 and LISM detectors are operated simultaneously. TAMA300 and LISM data are analyzed by matched filtering, and candidates for gravitational wave events are obtained. If there is a true gravitational wave signal, it should appear in both data of detectors with consistent waveforms characterized by masses of stars, amplitude of the signal, the coalescence time and so on. We introduce a set of coincidence conditions of the parameters, and search for coincident events. This procedure reduces the number of fake events considerably, by a factor $\sim 10^{-4}$ compared with the number of fake events in single detector analysis. We find that the number of events after imposing the coincidence conditions is consistent with the number of accidental coincidences produced purely by noise. We thus find no evidence of gravitational wave signals. We obtain an upper limit of 0.046 /hours (CL $= 90$) to the Galactic event rate within 1kpc from the Earth. The method used in this paper can be applied straightforwardly to the case of coincidence observations with more than two detectors with arbitrary arm directions.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, Replaced with the version to be published in Physical Review

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

The Japanese space gravitational wave antenna; DECIGO

DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (DECIGO) is the future Japanese space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to open a new window of observation for gravitational wave astronomy especially between 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz, revealing various mysteries of the universe such as dark energy, formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, and inflation of the universe. The pre-conceptual design of DECIGO consists of three drag-free spacecraft, whose relative displacements are measured by a differential Fabry– Perot Michelson interferometer. We plan to launch two missions, DECIGO pathfinder and pre- DECIGO first and finally DECIGO in 2024

DECIGO pathfinder

DECIGO pathfinder (DPF) is a milestone satellite mission for DECIGO (DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory) which is a future space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to provide us fruitful insights into the universe, in particular about dark energy, a formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, and the inflation of the universe. Since DECIGO will be an extremely large mission which will formed by three drag-free spacecraft with 1000m separation, it is significant to gain the technical feasibility of DECIGO before its planned launch in 2024. Thus, we are planning to launch two milestone missions: DPF and pre-DECIGO. The conceptual design and current status of the first milestone mission, DPF, are reviewed in this article