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A fast-sampling fast-ion D-alpha (F-FIDA) measurement has been developed in the large helical device in order to investigate fast ion dynamics associated with helically trapped fast-ion-driven Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) bursts. F-FIDA consists of a multi-anode photomultiplier tube (PMT) and achieves a sampling rate of 10 kHz. During the deuterium experiment campaign in 2022, F-FIDA measured the spectrum of perpendicular fast ions, using perpendicular lines of sight. We compared F-FIDA with conventional FIDA, using an electron multiplying charge coupled device, and confirmed that the time-averaged images were generally consistent between the two. The statistical properties of the temporal evolution associated with MHD bursts were analyzed using a conditional sampling technique. The results showed that the PMT signal varied in different spatial and wavelength channels. Although the signal-to-noise ratio was poor and there was room for improvement, it could provide useful information for studies on the phase-space dynamics of fast ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonlinear fluid simulation of drift wave turbulence in the presence of symmetry breaking particle source is performed for the cylindrical magnetized plasmas. It is demonstrated that the symmetry breaking of the system directly affects the selection rule of structure formations, the streamers disappear, and the zonal flows are enhanced in the case with the symmetry breaking. The symmetry breaking is introduced in the flux-driven simulation by inducing the particle source whose amplitude depends on the azimuthal angle. The symmetry breaking mode is driven stationarily, and the nonlinear process of the drift waves is significantly modified. By scanning the amplitude of the symmetry breaking source, the structure formation processes are systematically investigated. In addition, the nonlinear forces of the turbulence show the relaxation of the density gradient and the drive of the perpendicular/parallel flows in a two-dimensional manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fourier-rectangular function (FRF) transform [K. Yamasaki et al., J. Appl. Phys. 126, 043304 (2019)] is used to analyze the structure and dynamics of plasma with cylindrical symmetry. In this article, a new technique based on FRF transform is proposed to elucidate the polarization characteristics of azimuthal modes and fluctuations. The application results are shown for a two-dimensional tomography image of linear cylindrical plasma. The method successfully resolves the polarization characteristics of azimuthal modes and attributes the intermittent behavior of the m = 1 mode to its polarization characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the evidence that drift waves can develop into nonlinear breathers. The theoretical analysis predicts that drift waves with secondary flow can excite the nonlinear breather through modulational instability. It is found that the simultaneous modulation of both amplitude and phase is a relevant feature of breather excitation. These features are used to elucidate the excitation of drift breather in a linear plasma experiment. The drift breathers are found to be excited frequently and intermittently. The transient increase in the transport flux is also demonstrated. We argue that there exists a critical condition on the wave amplitude for breather excitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Natural orifice specimen extraction (NOSE) has been developed as a means of decreasing the incidence of surgical wound complications. We refined the procedure for totally laparoscopic colectomy with transvaginal specimen extraction using the reduced port surgery technique with the ultimate goal of attenuating damage to the abdominal wall. We herein report this innovative technique and its short- and long-term outcomes. Methods: We prospectively collected data on seven patients who underwent totally laparoscopic colectomy using transvaginal specimen extraction with a 10-mm-long abdominal incision for right-sided colon cancer from January 2014 to December 2021. Two 5-mm ports were used in the procedure without laparotomy. Transverse transabdominal posterior colpotomy was then performed. We introduced a GelPOINT Mini advanced access platform (Applied Medical, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA) into the transvaginal route for the insertion of a laparoscope, forceps, and stapling device. Lymph node dissection and transection of the ileum and distal colon were performed with transvaginal assistance. A specimen was then extracted transvaginally. Intracorporeal functional end-to-end anastomosis was conducted using a linear stapler through the vagina. After the removal of GelPOINT Mini, the vaginal incision was closed transvaginally. Results: Seven patients successfully underwent this procedure. Median operative time was 219 min (range 174–255 min), median blood loss was 23 ml (range 10–37 ml), median number of harvested lymph nodes was 21 (range 17–35 lymph nodes) and median margins were 17.0 cm (range 9.0–25.0 cm) for the proximal margin and 9.5 cm (range 5.0–13.0 cm) for the distal margin. There were no complications more severe than Clavien–Dindo Grade II and there was no mortality. The median frequency of use intravenous analgesics from postoperative day 1 to discharge was once. Two patients did not require analgesics. A node-positive patient developed recurrence at the lung and paraaortic lymph nodes. Conclusions: This procedure appears to be feasible, safe, and oncologically acceptable for selected cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the experimental identification of the dynamic interaction between three fluctuations excited by different thermodynamical forces in a linear plasma. The observed fluctuations are characterized as an axial symmetric mode, a drift wave, and an azimuthally symmetric potential fluctuation from the spatiotemporal structures measured with Langmuir probe arrays. The intermittent burst of the axial symmetric mode is observed by the instantaneous wave number spectrum. The energy transfer analysis revealed that the axially symmetric mode gains energy from the other mode during the burst while the drift wave loses energy. The intermittent burst synchronizes with the azimuthal symmetric potential fluctuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The velocity distribution function is a statistical description that connects particle kinetics and macroscopic parameters in many-body systems. Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy is utilized to measure the local velocity distribution function in spatially inhomogeneous plasmas. However, the analytic form of such a function for the system of interest is not always clear under the intricate factors in non-equilibrium states. Here, we propose a novel approach to select the valid form of the velocity distribution function based on Bayesian statistics. We formulate the Bayesian inference of ion velocity distribution function and apply it to LIF spectra locally observed at several positions in a linear magnetized plasma. We demonstrate evaluating the spatial inhomogeneity by verifying each analytic form of the local velocity distribution function. Our approach is widely applicable to experimentally establish the velocity distribution function in plasmas and fluids, including gases and liquids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction between drift wave turbulence and streamer flow in magnetized plasmas is investigated in the framework of wave-kinetic theory. By performing a wave-kinetic simulation of turbulence coupling with the streamer flow, the role of the phase-space dynamics of turbulence is clarified. Here, the phase-space consists of the real space and wavenumber space. As a consequence of the phase-space dynamics, the turbulence is trapped in the flow and propagates with the streamer. Because of the trapping, the asymmetry of the turbulence intensity with respect to the sign of the flow curvature appears. The trajectories of the turbulence wave-packet, which are the characteristic curves of the wave-kinetic solution, can be categorized by the trapping, passing, and scattering. Therefore, the obtained phase-space structure of the turbulence can be understood by their trajectories. The propagation direction and speed are found to be governed by the turbulence spectrum. The obtained characteristics can be explained by the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses triad transfer analysis via quadratic nonlinearity. To avoid fictitious interactions, symmetrization of the triad transfer is reviewed, including arbitrary orthogonal decomposition and coarse graining. The directional representation of the symmetrized triad transfer is proposed by minimizing the number of edges in a network graph of triad interactions with keeping the energy consistency. The directional representation simplifies visualization and allows us to reduce the energy transfer into a one-to-one relation, while eliminating fictitious interactions in non-symmetrized triad transfer functions. Energy transfer processes among plasma turbulent fluctuations that decompose by the singular value decomposition are analyzed as an application. A network graph visualization clearly demonstrates the importance of symmetrization and the consistency between the symmetrized triad transfer and its directional representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conditional average is a technique to extract a typical waveform from bursty or quasi-periodic phenomena regarded as a combination of deterministic trend and residual fluctuations (or probabilistic part). The article proposes a new conditional average technique that is an extension from what is called the template method that allows automatic selection, using the correlation analysis, of the identical events of the phenomena. The proposed method is applied on a quasi-periodic oscillation observed in a linear magnetized plasma, and successfully divides the phenomenon into the deterministic trend and residual fluctuations. Moreover, the statistical error analysis on the power of the residual fluctuations discloses the presence of mutual interactions between the deterministic trend and the residual fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method to quantify the energy transfer among turbulent structures using singular value decomposition (SVD) is presented. We apply the method to numerical turbulence data obtained from a global plasma simulation using the Hasegawa–Wakatani fluid model, in which the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability plays a dominant role. Using the SVD method, the electrostatic potential is decomposed into a background potential deformation, a zonal flow, a coherent mode and an intermittent structure. Thus there are four key structures, as distinct from the three found in conventional theory. The kinetic energy of each structure is evaluated, and the limit cycle among them is obtained. In the limit cycle, an abrupt change of the background is found to be synchronised with the period of the zonal flow. The energy transfer function of each turbulence structure, which is defined on the basis of a vorticity equation, is evaluated. This then provides physical understanding of how the limit cycle is sustained by dynamical changes in the energy transfer among structures over the its period. In addition, it is shown that the abrupt deformation of the background is caused by the non-linear self-coupling of the intermittent structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the impact of the neutrals on the plasma turbulence, a new gas puff system is developed for a linear magnetized plasma column PANTA. Helium gas is injected into the argon plasma without changing the electron density profile. After the helium gas puff, the dominant fluctuation mode changes from the broadband m = 2 drift wave to the coherent m = 1 mode, where m is the azimuthal mode number. Accordingly, the property of the nonlinear coupling with other fluctuating modes changes from broadband couplings to coherent couplings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The streamer-driven particle flux is evaluated experimentally in a linear cylindrical plasma. The streamers, a radially elongated and azimuthally localized structure created in turbulent plasma, really induce ballistic transport, and directly connect the plasma core to the edge within one order faster time scale than that of turbulence. The occurrence of large transport deviates from a Gaussian distribution and is likely to obey a power law. The fundamental plasma experiment clearly shows the significant and essential contributions of streamers to cross-field transport and structural formation of turbulent plasmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early Palaeozoic basement rocks in South Westland consist of regionally metamorphosed Greenland Group of probable Ordovician depositional age. Correlative and formerly contiguous Gondwana margin rocks are also found in Antarctica and eastern Australia. Major protoliths are variably foliated sandstone and mudstone, with rare scattered calcareous lenses. Field, petrographic and electron microprobe data reveal a progressive, regional, southeast-wards increase in metamorphic grade in a 2600 km2 area between Martins Bay and Fox Glacier. We define new chlorite, biotite–albite, biotite–calcic plagioclase and sillimanite–microcline zones. Minerals such as cordierite and andalusite, along with semi-schistose textures, indicate a low P/T (pressure/temperature) Buchan style of regional metamorphism spanning the lower greenschist to upper amphibolite facies. This contrasts with medium to high P/T metamorphism in the Haast Schist east of the Alpine Fault. In South Westland, peak metamorphism is loosely constrained as Devonian to Carboniferous (330–375 Ma) in age; the present-day isograd pattern was mostly established by the Late Cretaceous and has not been strongly influenced by Alpine Fault deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article concerning epidermal cell necrosis with direct epidermal infiltration of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).

Summary A 28-year-old Japanese woman with hereditary complement (C9) deficiency and dermatomyositis is reported. She had a 3-year history of facial erythema and a 1-month history of progressive muscle weakness. Clinical and laboratory findings were suggestive of dermatomyositis; muscle biopsy confirmed an inflammatory myopathy. An unexpected finding, however, was the low titre of serum haemolytic complement (CH50). Treatment with prednisolone resulted in marked clinical improvement but did not affect the CH50 titre. Further investigation revealed a selective and total absence of the ninth complement component (C9), with direct DNA sequence analysis revealing a non-sense mutation at Arg[sup 95] of the C9 gene. This case demonstrates that the muscle lesions of dermatomyositis can occur in the presence of a complement defect that would prevent the formation of the C5b-9 membrane attack complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pemphigoid nodularis is a rare variant of bullous pemphigoid. We report a 49-year-old Japanese male with clinical and histopathological features of pemphigoid nodularis including circulating and in vivo-bound IgG antibasement membrane zone antibodies and IgA anti-intercellular antibodies. Although the precise molecular target of the IgG autoantibodies could not be determined, intriguingly, immunoblotting showed that the IgA in the patient’s serum reacted with the intracellular domain of desmoglein 1, the target antigen in cases of pemphigus foliaceus. However, the IgA did not react with the extracellular domain of desmoglein 1 in sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay studies using a baculovirus system. These results suggest therefore that these IgA antibodies may possibly not be pathogenic. The mechanism for the production of different autoantibodies is unknown, but this case provides further illustration of the atypical skin immunoreactants often seen in this unusual subtype of bullous pemphigoid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a 1-year-old boy with multiple tense blisters on the skin, who showed circulating autoantibodies directed to both bullous pemphigoid and epidermolysis bullosa acquisita antigens. The patient's serum IgG antibodies bound to the 290-kDa epidermolysis bullosa acquisita antigen with immunoblot analysis of human dermal extracts. Immunoblot analysis also demonstrated that the patient's serum autoantibodies were reactive with recombinant NC16a domain of the 180-kDa bullous pemphigoid antigen. This study confirmed the presence of circulating autoantibodies directed to both bullous pemphigoid antigen and epidermolysis bullosa acquisita antigen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Human T cells carrying natural killer (NK) markers. CD57 or CD56 antigens, appear to be distinguishable from other T cell subsets in terms of their granular lymphocyte morphology and their numerical increase in patients with AIDS and in recipients of bone marrow transplantation. At the begining of this study, we observed that CD57+ T cells as well as CD56+ T cells were abundant at tumour sites in many patients with colorectal cancer. Since all these findings for CD57+ T cells are quite similar to those of extrathymic T cells seen in mice, we investigated how CD57+ T cells are distributed to various immune organs in humans. They were found to be present mainly in the bone marrow and liver, but to be completely absent in the thymus. Similar to the case of extrathymic T cells in mice, they were observed to consist of double-negative CD-8- subsets as well as single-positive subsets (preponderance of CD8+ cells), and to contain a considerable proportion of γδ T cells. These features are striking when compared with those of CD57+ T cells, which are characterized by an abundance of CD4+ subsets and αβ T cells. Not only at tumour sites but also in the peripheral blood, some patients with colorectal cancer displayed elevated levels of CD57+ cells, These results suggest that CD57+ T cells may be of extrathymic origin, possibly originating in the bone marrow and liver, and may be associated with tumour immunity, similar to another extrathymic population of CD56+ T cells in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morphological and phenotypic characterization in previous studies has indicated that intermediate (int) T-cell receptor (TCR) cells or T natural killer (TNK) cells may stand at an intermediate position between NK cells and high TCR cells of thymic origin in phylogenetic development. In this study, a functional study on cytotoxic activity against various tumour targets was performed in each purified subset. When a negative selection method entailing in vivo injection of anti-asialo GM1 antibody or anti-interleukin (IL)-2Rβ monoclonal antibody (mAb) was applied, IL-2Rβ+ CD3- NK cells were found to have the highest NK activity while IL-2Rβ+ iht CD3 (or TCR) cells had a lower level of the NK activity. High CD3 cells (freshly isolated) did not have any such activity. Sorting experiments further revealed that the NK function mediated by int CD3 cells was augmented when they were exposed to anti-CD3 mAb, anti-TCRαβ, or antiTCRγδ mAb. This phenomenon was not observed in NK cells and high CD3 cells. More importantly, when anti-CD3 mAb (or anti-TCR mAb) was added to the assay culture, int CD3 cells became cytotoxic against even NK-resistant turnout (FcγR+, Fas+) targets. Liver mononuclear cells or int CD3 cells exposed to anti-CD3 mAb for 6 hr showed an elevated level of perforin in their cytoplasms. The present results suggest that int CD3 cells are usually noncytotoxic against various turnouts but become functional after being stimulated via the TCR-CD3 complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autoimmune MRL-lpr/lpr (lpr) mice were previously demonstrated to have an abnormal proliferation of intermediate T-cell receptor (TCR) cells of extrathymic origin in the liver. Despite this situation, thymectomy in lpr mice resulted in amelioration of autoimmune disease. To understand the underlying mechanism, we investigated associated T-cell differentiation in the thymus and other organs of these mice. When the disease was evoked, T cells with extrathymic properties, i.e. intermediate TCR-αβ cells expressing double-negative (DN) CD4-8- phenotype and interleukin-2 (IL-2) receptor β-chain, became prominent not only in the liver, but also in the thymus. Such thymic T cells mainly resided in the medulla. A small-scale localization of such T cells was seen in the thymic medulla even in normal control mice. There was a heterogeneity among intermediate TCR cells in terms of the composition of DN cells and the expression of CD2 and B220 antigens, depending on the organs and the sites in the same organ. Intermediate TCR cells in the liver, thymus and autoimmune target organs (e.g. kidney) contained a high proportion of the active form (CD2+B220-), while intermediate TCR cells accumulating in peripheral organs, the spleen and lymph nodes, were mainly of the inactive form (CD2-B220+). The active form had an ability to proliferate in response to IL-2 and SEB, whereas the inactive form did not. The present results suggest that the proliferation of intermediate TCR cells occur at multiple sites; this may explain the effect of thymectomy, namely, the retarded onset of disease, in lpr mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tyrosine phosphorylation is widely recognized as playing an important role in cell differentiation, proliferation and carcinogenesis. We used the polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) method to identify protein tyrosine kinases that were expressed in the skin. Mixed oligonucleotide probes were used to amplify and screen neonatal murine skin mRNA for clones encoding amino acid contiguities, the conservation of which is characteristic of the protein tyrosine kinase family. When the PCR products were sequenced, a novel clone encoding protein tyrosine kinase, PTK70, was identified. A lull-length cDNA was isolated from a mouse thymus cDNA library. The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence showed that it featured src-homology (SH) 2 domain. SH3 domain and kinase domain like other src Family protein tyrosine kinases, but lacked the N-terminal myristylation site and C-terminal tyrosine residue. Although the mRNA of PTK70 was detected in various tissues ubiquitously, the degree of its expression differed among tissues. Murine skin is one in which PTK70 was expressed strongly, with its expression being much stronger in the epidermis and in the cell line derived from murine keratinocytes than in those from melanoma or fibroblast cell lines. These evidences suggest that PTK70 may be involved in proliferation or differentiation of keratinocytes in the skin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) for extramammary Paget disease (EMPD). The study involved 27 genital EMPD patients who underwent incisional biopsy, x-ray and computed tomography (CT). It used haematoxylin and eosin (HE) and immunohistochemical stainings for the evaluation of SLNs. Results show that SLNB may be used in almost all EMPD cases despite invasion level.

A letter to the editor is presented that discusses a case study that focuses on the association of epidermal pseudocarcinomatous hyperplasia in producing CD30-positive lymphoproliferative disorders.

A 24-year-old woman with Graves' disease treated with methimazole for 4 years, developed recalcitrant ulcers on the lower legs. Histological studies demonstrated vasculitis in deep dermal vessels accompanied by C3 deposition. Laboratory investigation revealed lupus-like abnormalities (leucocytopenia, positive antinuclear and antidouble strand (ds) DNA antibodies, and positive ANCA). The leg ulcers dramatically improved after methimazole was withdrawn. In addition, leuocytopenia and the immunological abnormalities soon faded. Although lupus-like syndrome is well known to be induced by antithyroid drugs, vasulities is a rare complication. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing ANCA associated vascultis caused by methimazole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is in response to an article "Facial nerve grading system," by J.W. House and D.E. Brackmann in a previous issue is presented.

A letter to the editor is presented which discusses a case of a 35-year-old woman diagnosed with a proximal-type epitheloid sarcoma (ES) that showed positive reactivity to receptor2IIIb isotype, a fibroblast growth factor.

The authors reflect on the efficacy of oral tacrolimus as treatment for rheumatoid papules (RP) which is described as a rare skin manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). They state that tacrolimus is a nonsteroidal immunomodulatory argent that mainly suppresses T-cell functions by inhibiting calcineurin. They assess that RP eruption has disappeared together with a decrease in the RA activity in response to the lowdose oral tacrolimus administration.