Severity of myasthenia gravis influences the relationship between train-of-four ratio and twitch tension, and run-down of rat endplate potentials.

重症筋無力症の重症度は，臨床現場で用いられる四連反応比と単収縮力の関係性に影響を及ぼす．四連反応比の回復が単収縮力の回復を反映しない可能性が示唆され，１次シナプス間隙の拡大が一因と考えられ

Characteristics of electron internal transport barrier in Heliotron J

The formation of an electron internal transport barrier (eITB) has been observed for the first time with centrally focused electron cyclotron heating (ECH) microwaves injected into plasma in Heliotron J. When the heating power per electron density (${P}_{\mathrm{ECH}}/{\bar{n}}_{{\rm{e}}}$) exceeds a threshold of $250\times {10}^{-19}\,\mathrm{kW}\,{{\rm{m}}}^{3}$, transient increases of both the central Te and the core Te gradients are observed. A neoclassical (NC) calculation using the Sugama–Nishimura moment method predicts that the large positive radial electric field (Er) is formed in the core region. Heat transport analysis shows a significant reduction of the effective electron thermal diffusivity in the plasma with the eITB related to that without the eITB. The large gap between the experimentally obtained effective thermal diffusivity and the NC thermal diffusivity suggests that the suppression of anomalous transport contributes to the core improved confinement of the eITB plasma. The electron cyclotron emission measurement shows both the transient increase and the hysteresis phenomena during the eITB formation

Comparison of Mortality between Japanese Peritoneal Dialysis and Hemodialysis Patients: A 5-Year Multicenter Follow-Up Study

To examine the relationship between dialysis modality and prognosis in Japanese patients, we conducted a prospective multicenter observational study. We recruited 83 background-matched peritoneal dialysis (PD) and 83 hemodialysis (HD) patients (average age, 64.9 years; men, 53.6%; diabetic patients, 22.9%; median duration of dialysis, 48 months in all patients) and followed them for 5 years. During the follow-up period, 27 PD patients (16 cardiovascular and 11 non-cardiovascular deaths) and 27 HD patients died (14 cardiovascular and 13 non-cardiovascular deaths). There were 8 PD patients switched to HD, and 6 PD patients received renal transplantation. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that the crude survival rate was not significantly different at the end of 5 years (PD 67.5% versus 67.5%, log-rank P = 0.719). The difference in cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortalities between PD and HD was not statistically significant. Multivariate Cox analysis showed that the independent predictors for death were age and serum albumin levels, but not the dialysis modality. This study showed that the overall mortality was not significantly different between PD and HD patients, which suggests that dialysis modality might not be an independent factor for survival in Japanese patients

Diagnostic accuracy of 16S ribosomal RNA gene polymerase chain reaction in bacteremia: A prospective observational study

　The standard method for diagnosing bacteremia is blood culture. However, the sensitivity of blood culture is low when the number of bacteria in the blood is low or when antibiotics have already been administered. Furthermore, some bacteria are difficult to detect in blood cultures. 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) contains conserved sequences that are targeted for PCR amplification using universal primers. We investigated whether the threshold cycle (Ct) value of 16S rRNA real-time PCR in whole-blood samples can be used for early diagnosis of bacteremia. Ct values of the 16S rRNA real-time PCR in 307 collected specimens showed a bimodal distribution. Ct values of the blood culture-positive group were significantly lower than those of the blood culture-negative group (P < 0.001). The cutoff value of the receiver operating characteristic curve was 38.80, as determined using finite-mixture modeling and expectation-maximization algorithm. Analysis of the diagnostic accuracy at this cutoff value showed a sensitivity of 91.4%, specificity of 33.5%, positive predictive value of 15.0%, and negative predictive value of 96.8%. The Ct value of 16S rRNA real-time PCR shows high negative predictive value, it may be useful for excluding bacteremia when the cutoff value is set appropriately

ECCD Experiment Using an Upgraded ECH System on LHD

Electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) is an attractive tool for controlling plasmas. In the large helical device (LHD), ECCD experiments have been performed by using an EC-wave power source, gyrotron, with a frequency of 84 GHz. The maximum driven current was ?9 kA with 100 kW injection power to plasma and 8 s duration of EC-wave pulse. These years, high-power and long-pulse 77 GHz gyrotrons were newly installed. An ECCD experiment with 775 kW injection power was performed. The 77 GHz waves of 8 s pulse duration sustained the plasmas. The EC-wave beam direction was scanned toroidally, keeping the beam direction aiming at the magnetic axis in X-mode polarization. In spite of the change in the EC-wave beam direction, plasma parameters such as the line-average electron density, the central electron temperature and the plasma stored energy were kept nearly the same values for the discharges, ?0.3 × 1019 m?3, ?3 keV and ?30 kJ, except for the plasma current. The plasma current showed a systematic change with the change in the beam direction for ECCD, and at an optimum direction with N// ? ?0.3, the plasma current reached its maximum, ?40 kA. Also, current drive efficiency normalized with density and power was improved by 50% compared with that at the former 84 GHz ECCD experiment