Nonexistence of exceptional imprimitive Q-polynomial association schemes with six classes

Suzuki (1998) showed that an imprimitive Q-polynomial association scheme with first multiplicity at least three is either Q-bipartite, Q-antipodal, or with four or six classes. The exceptional case with four classes has recently been ruled out by Cerzo and Suzuki (2009). In this paper, we show the nonexistence of the last case with six classes. Hence Suzuki's theorem now exactly mirrors its well-known counterpart for imprimitive distance-regular graphs.Comment: 7 page

Breathing chest radiography using a dynamic flat-panel detector combined with computer analysis

取得学位 : 博士（保健学）, 学位授与番号 : 医博甲第1779号, 学位授与年月日 : 平成18年3月22日, 学位授与大学 : 金沢大学, 主査 :真田 茂 , 副査 :菊池 雄三, 越田 吉

Multidisciplinary computational anatomy and its application to highly intelligent diagnosis and therapy

金沢大学医薬保健研究域保健学系本研究では，胸部領域の筋・骨格・臓器・組織の動態機能の中でも，呼吸機能と密接な関係のある肋骨を含めた胸郭運動ならびに横隔膜運動に注目した．その動態機能の理解と評価を可能にする画像解析法を開発するために，今年度は「横隔膜運動の理解：正常な胸郭・横隔膜運動のパターン化と異常な胸郭・横隔膜運動の特徴ならびに肺野内濃度変化との関連の検証」に取り組んだ．対象は，基礎疾患として慢性閉塞性肺疾患（COPD），間質性肺炎，肺線維症，気管支喘息，気胸，肺癌，心不全，脊椎側弯症などを有する125症例（2015年12月～2017年10月に撮影，うち60症例は肺葉切除等の手術前後で撮影）ならびに，豚の無気肺モデル（6匹）とした．管電圧120 kV，パルス線量4.0 mAs/pulse，撮影レート15 fps，撮影距離2.0mにて，呼吸過程を10秒間撮影し，合計150枚のX線動画像を取得した．今回は新たに深層学習を用いた胸部X線動画像のための肺セグメンテーション技術を開発し，呼吸による肺面積変化や変化率を解析項目に加えた．臨床研究では，肺面積変化や変化率と肺機能（肺活量）との間に高い相関があることを確認した．また，肺機能障害を肺面積変化量の減少として検出できることを明らかにした．さらに，肺葉切除症例については切除部位と手術前後変化の関連を検証し，術後の経過観察における横隔膜運動計測の有用性を示す結果を得た．豚の無気肺モデルを対象とした動物実験では，異常肺の横隔膜・胸郭運動が健側肺に比べて有意に減少することを確認した．これらの研究成果を国内外の学会で発表し，英語論文2本として公開した．さらに本研究の成果の一部を実用化につなげた．研究課題/領域番号:17H05286, 研究期間(年度):2017-04-01 – 2019-03-3

Multidisciplinary computational anatomy and its application to highly intelligent diagnosis and therapy

金沢大学医薬保健研究域保健学系本研究では，胸部領域の筋・骨格・臓器・組織の動態機能の中でも，呼吸機能と密接な関係のある肋骨を含めた胸郭運動に注目した．その動態機能の理解と評価を可能にする画像解析法を開発するために，今年度は下記（4）～（5）に取り組んだ．(4) 正常な胸郭運動の理解と異常な胸郭運動の特徴抽出(5) 胸郭運動評価のためのCADシステム開発対象は，本学附属病院の呼吸器内科/外科・整形外科を受診した患者である．基礎疾患として，慢性閉塞性肺疾患（COPD），間質性肺炎，肺線維症，気管支喘息，気胸，肺癌，心不全，脊椎側弯症などを有する．本研究では，先行研究で取得した129症例の胸部X線動画像を解析対象とした．管電圧110 kV，管電流80 mA，パルス幅6.3 msec，フレームレート5 fps，撮影距離1.5 mにて，呼吸過程を5～10秒間撮影した，合計50枚のX線動画像から成る．前年度作成した(1) 骨X線動画像ならびに (2) 胸郭運動の定量解析プログラムを用いて，正常症例の胸郭運動を検証した．その結果，正常な胸郭運動は，左右対称でかつ横隔膜運動に同調する動きを示すことを明らかにした．一方，呼吸器疾患症例や肺癌術後症例では，左右対称性ならびに横隔膜運動との同調性が低下することを確認した．正常パターンからの逸脱を根拠に，異常な胸郭運動を検出できる可能性がある．疾患ごとに十分な数の症例が集まっていないため，(5)は初期検討段階に留まったが，研究期間内に肺葉切除の術後症例を中心に，新規で150症例のデータを収集できた．これらの症例を対象とした更なる検討が今後の課題である．研究課題/領域番号:15H01113, 研究期間(年度):2015-04-01 – 2017-03-3

Severe Adult Still’s Disease Complicated by Purtscher-Like Retinopathy Treated with Intravenous Pulse Methylprednisolone and Tocilizumab

Adult Still’s disease (ASD) is a rare systemic inflammatory disorder in which ocular manifestations have rarely been described. We report a 29-year-old Japanese woman with a rare case of refractory ASD complicated by Purtscher-like retinopathy. She was diagnosed with ASD and started on a high dose of oral prednisolone. Two days after the initiation of the treatment, she presented with blurred vision in the left eye, and the funduscopic examination revealed bilateral Purtscher-like retinopathy. Despite treatment with high-dose oral prednisolone for 2 weeks, she developed macrophage activation syndrome. Considering the severity of ASD, intravenous pulse methylprednisolone therapy and tocilizumab injection were administered. Although all the laboratory data and Purtscher-like retinopathy gradually improved, nerve fiber layer defect (NFLD) in both eyes appeared and visual field defect remained corresponding to the NFLD. In conclusion, Purtscher-like retinopathy might be useful as a poor prognostic factor of ASD, which needs appropriate systemic immunosuppressive treatment. Early detection and long-term follow-up of Purtscher-like retinopathy is important because it has the possibility of developing permanent visual field defect

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 2 Tax protein induces interleukin 2-independent growth in a T-cell line

BACKGROUND: While human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a causative agent of adult T-cell leukemia, HTLV type 2 (HTLV-2) is not associated with this malignancy. Accumulating evidence suggests that Tax, a transforming protein of HTLV-1 or HTLV-2, plays a crucial role in the distinctive pathogenesis of these two infections. We herein examined whether Tax2 by itself has a growth promoting activity in a mouse T-cell line CTLL-2, and compared the activity with that of Tax1. RESULTS: We found that Tax2 converts the cell growth of CTLL-2 from an interleukin(IL)-2-dependent growth into an independent one. Cyclosporine A, an inhibitor of transcription factor NFAT, inhibited the growth of two out of four Tax2-transformed CTLL-2 cells, but it had little effect on two Tax1-transformed cells. While the HTLV-2-transformed human T-cell lines produce a significant amount of IL-2, Tax2-transformed CTLL-2 cells only produced a minimal amount of IL-2. These results thus suggest that NFAT-inducible gene(s) other than IL-2 play a role in the cell growth of Tax2-transformed CTLL-2 cells. CONCLUSION: These results show that HTLV-2 Tax2 by itself has a growth promoting activity toward a T-cell line CTLL-2, and the CTLL-2 assay used in this study may therefore be a useful tool for comparing the activity of Tax2 with that of Tax1 in T-cells, thereby elucidating the mechanism of HTLV-1 specific leukemogenesis

Two cases of primary small cell carcinoma of the stomach

We report 2 cases of small cell carcinoma (SmCC) of the stomach with distant metastasis that were treated with the same chemotherapeutic regimens as used to treat small cell lung cancer. Although the mean survival of patients with SmCC of the stomach is reported to be only 7 months, our patients survived for 15 and 14 months, respectively. In our experience, these chemotherapeutic regimens might provide a survival benefit for patients with SmCC of the stomach, although they demonstrated no remarkable antitumor effects.</p

Quantitative Estimation of Urate Transport in Nephrons in Relation to Urinary Excretion Employing Benzbromarone-Loading Urate Clearance Tests in Cases of Hyperuricemia

Background: A four-component system for urate transport in nephrons has been proposed and widely investigated by various investigators studying the mechanisms underlying urinary urate excretion. However, quantitative determinations of urate transport have not been clearly elucidated yet. Methods: The equation Cua = {Ccr(1 – R1) + TSR}(1 – R2) was designed to approximate mathematically urate transport in nephrons, where R1 = urate reabsorption ratio; R2 = urate postsecretory reabsorption ratio; TSR = tubular secretion rate; Cua = urate clearance, and Ccr = creatinine clearance . To investigate relationships between the three unknown variables (R1, R2, and TSR), this equation was expressed as contour lines of one unknown on a graph of the other two unknowns. Points at regular intervals on each contour line for the equation were projected onto a coordinate axis and the high-density regions corresponding to high-density intervals of a coordinate were investigated for three graph types. For benzbromarone (BBR)-loading Cua tests, Cua was determined before and after oral administration of 100 mg of BBR and CuaBBR(∞) was calculated from the ratio of CuaBBR(100)/Cua. Results: Before BBR administration, points satisfying the equation on the contour line for R1 = 0.99 were highly dense in the region R2 = 0.87–0.92 on all three graphs, corresponding to a TSR of 40–60 ml/min in hyperuricemia cases (HU). After BBR administration, the dense region was shifted in the direction of reductions in both R1 and R2, but TSR was unchanged. Under the condition that R1 = 1 and R2 = 0, urate tubular secretion (UTS) was considered equivalent to calculated urinary urate excretion (Uex) in a model of intratubular urate flow with excess BBR; CuaBBR(∞) = TSR was deduced from the equation at R1 = 1 and R2 = 0. In addition, TSR of the point under the condition that R1 = 1 and R2 = 0 on the graph agreed with TSR for the dense region at excess BBR. TSR was thus considered approximately equivalent to CuaBBR(∞), which could be determined from a BBR-loading Cua test. Approximate values for urate glomerular filtration, urate reabsorption, UTS, urate postsecretory reabsorption (UR2), and Uex were calculated as 9,610; 9,510; 4,490; 4,150, and 440 µg/min for HU and 6,890; 6,820; 4,060; 3,610, and 520 µg/min for normal controls (NC), respectively. The most marked change in HU was the decrease in TSR (32.0%) compared to that in NC, but UTS did not decrease. Calculated intratubular urate contents were reduced more by higher UR2 in HU than in NC. This enhanced difference resulted in a 15.4% decrease in Uex for HU. Conclusion: Increased UR2 may represent the main cause of urate underexcretion in HU

Drop on a Bent Fibre

Inspired by the huge droplets attached on cypress tree leaf tips after rain, we find that a bent fibre can hold significantly more water in the corner than a horizontally placed fibre (typically up to three times or more). The maximum volume of the liquid that can be trapped is remarkably affected by the bending angle of the fibre and surface tension of the liquid. We experimentally find the optimal included angle ($\sim {36}{^\circ}$) that holds the most water. Analytical and semi-empirical models are developed to explain these counter-intuitive experimental observations and predict the optimal angle. The data and models could be useful for designing microfluidic and fog harvesting devices