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Evaluation of site amplification factors (SAFs) of seismic waves has been one of the important issues for evaluating seismic hazards. The authors have proposed a deep neural network (DNN) model in order to cost-effectively and accurately estimate SAF from microtremor horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (MHVR). In this study, we assessed the SAFs in southern Lima, Peru by estimating from MHVRs and DNN. First, we validated the applicability of the DNN model to Lima by estimating the SAFs from the MHVRs observed at seismic stations in Lima. From the comparison with the observed SAFs derived from spectral inversion technique, we confirmed that the SAFs in Lima were accurately estimated by the DNN model. The SAFs in the southern Lima including Chorrillos and Villa El Salvador districts were evaluated by applying the DNN model to the observed MHVRs at approximately 250 sites. We found that large amplifications at low frequency around 1 Hz were expected in the southeastern coastal areas formed by eolian sands whereas smaller amplification were estimated in the northwestern areas mainly located on alluvial deposits.

The Lima metropolitan area is in a prone earthquake zone, which is exposed to a seismic gap; this can result in Mw 8.9 megathrust earthquake in the central Peru. After the Pisco earthquake in 2007, risk management policies changed in Peru and are improving annually. Thus, more resources are destinated to assessing earthquake hazard, vulnerability, and risk in districts of the Lima metropolitan area mainly; nevertheless, they are limited to cover in detailed the whole extension of probable affected area after this potential megathrust earthquake. Data of buildings in the Lima metropolitan area were analyzed in this paper, to provide useful information in the development of rapid methodologies of identification of buildings. The Japan Peru Center for Earthquake Engineering and Disaster Mitigation (CISMID) gathered these data from 2010 to 2021 in field surveys to conduct vulnerability and risk studies; the survey of building characteristics consisted of obtain mainly the number of stories, predominant material, structural systems, type of occupancy, and state of conservation. Vulnerability and risk studies for districts of the Lima metropolitan area were conducted by considering one representative building in one block. Results showed that the predominant material in the Lima metropolitan area is masonry, used in different structural systems, such as confined masonry and other which are nonengineered structures. Also, two-story buildings are predominant in the target area, followed by one and three-stories buildings. Risk assessment for the Lima metropolitan area and the study area were conducted using the data from the characterization of structural typologies obtained in this study. Approximately, 47.72% and 58.67% of buildings presented a very high-risk level in the Lima metropolitan area and the study area, respectively, under the expected earthquake scenario due to the seismic gap in the central Peru.

We revised the building damage caused by the 2007 Pisco-Peru Earthquake using machine learning models and high-resolution satellite imagery. A framework for rapidly detecting collapsed buildings was proposed in the project “Development of Integrated Expert System for Estimation and Observation of Damage Level of Infrastructure in Lima Metropolitan Area” (JST-JICA SATREPS). The framework is based on a semantic segmentation model trained on freely available satellite and aerial imagery that does not include the target area. Thus, the generalization performance of the proposed framework was analyzed. Qualitative and quantitative analyses demonstrated that the proposed framework successfully predicted the distribution of collapsed buildings in Pisco. Moreover, it also reflects the ability to detect newly placed shelters. Our current trained model enables the rapid estimation of damaged buildings, crucial information for emergency response, and temporary refuges, which are also essential for fast rescue actions.

The conjunction of seismic records and site effect parameters can lead to the adequate estimation of seismic indexes in urban areas. In this regard, this study uses the map of soil amplification factors obtained in previous studies and the availability of time history waveforms at different locations throughout Metropolitan Lima and Callao to estimate the geospatial distribution of maximum values of horizontal acceleration after the occurrence of earthquakes. Results for three earthquakes of intermediate magnitude and distinct epicenter locations are publicly available in an online system created within the framework of this study (Amaru Peru) and showed that amplified motions could be mainly observed in the lowlands of populated slopes as well as in the eolian sandy deposits.

Establishing novel therapies for rare central nervous system (CNS) tumors is arduous due to challenges in conducting clinical trials in rare tumors. Immunotherapy treatment has been a rapidly developing field and has demonstrated improvements in outcomes for multiple types of solid malignancies. In rare CNS tumors, the role of immunotherapy is being explored. In this article, we review the preclinical and clinical data of various immunotherapy modalities in select rare CNS tumors, including atypical meningioma, aggressive pituitary adenoma, pituitary carcinoma, ependymoma, embryonal tumor, atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor, and meningeal solitary fibrous tumor. Among these tumor types, some studies have shown promise; however, ongoing clinical trials will be critical for defining and optimizing the role of immunotherapy for these patients.

Recent works have attempted to extract features such as road markings from sparse mobile LiDAR scanning point cloud-derived images via convolutional neural networks (CNN). In this paper, the use of such methods for ground segmentation was explored. To begin, point clouds from each channel will be projected onto the y-z plane to generate the images that will be used for training and testing the CNN model. Then, for the main workflow, the following steps were performed for each channel: (1) point cloud-to-image conversion; (2) CNN classification; and (3) image-to-point cloud projection. Then utilizing multi-threading, each channel is processed in parallel to generate our ground-segmented sparse point cloud. Our findings have shown successful ground segmentation, achieving an f1-score of 98.9%. However, it performed 27.81% slower as compared to RANSAC. Overall, this initial investigation has demonstrated that ground segmentation from sparse point cloud-derived imagery is possible, and with further improvements to the CNN model, to make it faster, it has good potential to act as an alternative to conventional point cloud processing.

The density of minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in the western North Pacific was examined using a generalized additive model in order to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution patterns. The data used were a subset of JARPN sightings data collected from 1994 to 1999. The process for estimating the density was divided into two parts: the detection process for the estimation of the effective search half-width; and the encounter process for the estimation of the encounter rate. Model selection was carried out using information criteria. The selected model for the detection process included ‘sightability’, a synthetic index of detectability, as a covariate, and for the encounter process included the interaction between latitude and longitude and the interaction between month and latitude. The trend surface of the transformed density predicted by each month revealed no clear gaps. The monthly transition of the density distribution also suggested the northward seasonal feeding migration of the minke whales.

Background: Mild behavioral impairment (MBI) has attracted attention as a possible precursor symptom of dementia, but its neural basis has not been fully investigated. Objective: We aimed to investigate the relationship between MBI and surface area, cortical thickness, and volume in the temporal and parietal lobes, which are strongly associated with dementia and emotional disorders. Methods: This retrospective study evaluated 123 participants: 90 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 13 with subjective cognitive decline (SCD), and 20 cognitively healthy (CH). Using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with sex, age, and MMSE score as covariates, cortical thickness, surface area, and volume in 10 regions were compared between groups with and without MBI. Groups with MBI emotional dysregulation were also compared with groups without MBI. Results: ANCOVA revealed significantly smaller cortical thickness in the MBI group’s right parahippocampal (p = 0.01) and supramarginal gyri (p = 0.002). After multiple comparison correction, only the right supramarginal gyrus was significantly smaller (p = 0.02). When considering only MBI emotional dysregulation, the right parahippocampal and supramarginal gyrus’ cortical thicknesses were significantly smaller in this MBI group (p = 0.03, 0.01). However, multiple comparison correction identified no significant differences (p = 0.14, 0.11). Conclusion: Overall MBI and the emotional dysregulation domains were associated with reduced cortical thickness in the right parahippocampal and supramarginal gyri. Since neurodegeneration in the medial temporal and parietal lobe precedes early Alzheimer’s disease (AD), MBI, particularly emotion dysregulation, may predict early AD below the diagnostic threshold.

O Diabetes Mellitus é caracterizado pela falha na atuação metabólica da insulina no organismo do paciente, o que gera um estado hiperglicemiante. Essa patologia é um marcante fator de risco para o surgimento da retinopatia diabética (RD), cujo desenvolvimento está relacionado aos mecanismos que geram complicações microvasculares e promovem eventos como a neovascularização e o edema macular diabético (EMD). A partir desses eventos, evidencia-se um grave comprometimento do campo visual. É possível compreender, portanto, que a RD é um importante causa de cegueira irreversível, sendo responsável pela perda visual em mais de 35% dos diabéticos. Assim, o objetivo desse artigo é descrever quais são os principais exames existentes para o rastreio da RD. Para isso, realizou-se uma revisão da literatura nas bases de dados Pubmed, Scielo e Google Acadêmico. Foram utilizados trabalhos publicados nos últimos 5 anos, sendo selecionados 15 referências pertinentes a temática. Desse modo, é importante compreender os inúmeros exames oftalmológicos e como são utilizados para a detecção, rastreio, estadiamento e diagnóstico da RD, sendo eles: retinografia colorida (RTG), angiografia fluorescente (AFG), tomografia de coerência óptica, ultrassom do olho, inteligência artificial e a fundoscopia sob dilatação pupilar, este último é fundamental para diagnóstico precoce da RD.

Severe enteritis is a rare side effect of cyclophosphamide (CPA) therapy, and only two cases have been reported to date. We herein report a 60-year-old man who developed severe enteritis after intravenous CPA administration for microscopic polyangiitis. He was successfully treated by discontinuation of CPA administration and long-term intensive supportive care. A diagnosis of CPA-associated enteritis was made based on the clinical course and imaging and pathological findings. This review of three cases of CPA-related enteritis, including our case, suggests that prompt CPA discontinuation and intensive systemic management are necessary when patients have gastrointestinal symptoms after CPA administration.

Rotating detonation engines (RDEs) have been actively researched around the world for application to next-generation aerospace propulsion systems because detonation combustion has theoretically higher thermal efficiency than conventional combustion. Moreover, because cylindrical RDEs have simpler combustors, further miniaturization of conventional combustors is expected. Therefore, in this study, with the aim of applying RDEs to space propulsion systems, a cylindrical RDE with a converging–diverging nozzle was manufactured; the combustor length [Formula: see text] was changed to 0, 10, 30, 50, and 200 mm; and the thrust performance and combustion mode with the different combustor lengths were compared. As a result, four combustion modes were confirmed. Detonation combustion occurred with a combustor length of [Formula: see text]: that is, a converging rotating detonation engine. The thrust performance of this engine was 94 to 100% of the theoretical rocket thrust performance, which is equivalent to the thrust performance of conventional rocket combustion generated at [Formula: see text]. This study shows that detonation combustion can significantly reduce engine weight while maintaining thrust performance.

PURPOSE Pembrolizumab significantly improves clinical outcomes in advanced/metastatic microsatellite instability high (MSI-H)/deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) solid tumors but is not well studied in the neoadjuvant space. METHODS This is a phase II open-label, single-center trial of localized unresectable or high-risk resectable MSI-H/dMMR tumors. Treatment is pembrolizumab 200 mg once every 3 weeks for 6 months followed by surgical resection with an option to continue therapy for 1 year followed by observation. To continue on study, patients are required to have radiographic or clinical benefit. The coprimary end points are safety and pathologic complete response. Key secondary end points are response rate and organ-sparing at one year for patients who declined surgery. Exploratory analyses include interrogation of the tumor immune microenvironment using imaging mass cytometry. RESULTS A total of 35 patients were enrolled, including 27 patients with colorectal cancer and eight patients with noncolorectal cancer. Among 33 evaluable patients, best overall response rate was 82%. Among 17 (49%) patients who underwent surgery, the pathologic complete response rate was 65%. Ten patients elected to receive one year of pembrolizumab followed by surveillance without surgical resection (median follow-up of 23 weeks [range, 0-54 weeks]). An additional eight did not undergo surgical resection and received less than 1 year of pembrolizumab. During the study course of the trial and subsequent follow-up, progression events were seen in six patients (four of whom underwent salvage surgery). There were no new safety signals. Spatial immune profiling with imaging mass cytometry noted a significantly closer proximity between granulocytic cells and cytotoxic T cells in patients with progressive events compared with those without progression. CONCLUSION Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab in dMMR/MSI-H cancers is safe and resulted in high rates of pathologic, radiographic, and endoscopic response, which has implications for organ-sparing strategies.

Research on the otolith organs remains inconclusive. This study seeks to further elucidate utricular function in patients with Meniere’s disease (MD) in three ways: (1) We aimed to disambiguate the role of the Subjective Visual Vertical (SVV) and Ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (o-VEMP) tests regarding which utricular subsystem each is measuring. (2) We sought to characterize the acute and chronic state of MD by identifying differences in the relationship of SVV and o-VEMP results across patients with acute and chronic MD. (3) We attempted to find a machine-learning algorithm that could predict acute versus chronic MD using SVV and o-VEMP. A prospective study with ninety subjects. (1) SVV and o-VEMP tests were found to have a moderate linear relationship in patients with acute MD, suggesting each test measures a different utricular subsystem. (2) Regression analyses statistically differed across the two patient populations, suggesting that SVV results were normalized in chronic MD patients. (3) Logistic regression and Naïve Bayes algorithms were found to predict acute and chronic MD accurately. A better understanding of what diagnostic tests measure will lead to a better classification system for MD and more targeted treatment options in the future.

In 1967, Shochiku, a Japanese film production company, released the kayō eiga (‘popular song film’) Shingapōru no yo ha fukete (Under the Stars of Singapore), starring Hashi Yukio and set in the newly independent country of Singapore. Through an analysis of the film, which highlights the experience of the Asia-Pacific War and the Japanese occupation of Singapore, this article discusses the memory of war and imperialism in Japan in the late 1960s. Previous studies have argued that works of Japanese popular culture around 1960 reveal Asianist desires. However, in focusing on kayō eiga of the late 1960s, seen as marking the end of the ‘transwar era’ in Japan, I find that Asianist desires are minimal and that the stories more strongly echo themes of Cold War-era Japanese pacifism. This reflects the changing narratives of war in the context of generational shifts and Japan’s rapid economic growth, as well as the contemporary transformation of Japan’s involvement in South East Asia.