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Chiral spiro π-conjugated compounds have emerged as a new class of circularly polarized luminescent organic materials. Here we report the synthesis and (chir)optical properties of a chiral benzo[b]silole-fused 9,9'-spirobi[fluorene] (SBF) and π-extended spiro polycyclic arene. The benzo[b]silole-fused SBF was successfully synthesized by a rhodium-catalyzed intramolecular silylative cyclization. It was further transformed to the chiral π-extended spiro polycyclic arene by an annulative π-extension reaction. Less effective spiroconjugation was observed for these spiro compounds through UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. They exhibit circularly polarized luminescence with the dissymmetry factors of up to 0.76×10-3 . Theoretical calculations demonstrate that emission of the benzo[b]silole-fused SBF occurs from one subunit, the structure of which is slightly different from that in the Frank-Condon state.

Bad news, such as cancer notifications from doctors, has a big impact on patients. The patient does not remember the contents of the interview. Therefore, it is necessary for medical doctors to estimate the patient's emotions during the interview and to understand the patient's internal condition. In the medical field, the development of a communication support system is required. The purpose of this study is to improve the accuracy of emotional estimation using micro-expressions which would express true emotions. The emotional estimation employs the feature selected LBP-TOP (Local Binary Patterns from Three Orthogonal Planes) using the ratio of the inter-class variance to within class one. In this paper, we show the characteristics of emotional classification using LBP-TOP feature based on the experimental results obtained with the XGBoost and SVM (Support Vector Machine).

A series of chiral 9,9'-spirobi[fluorene] (SBF) derivatives with diphenylamino donor and cyano acceptor units were designed as a new family of circularly polarized luminescent materials. The designed SBF derivatives were successfully synthesized from 7,7'-dibromo-9,9'-spirobi[fluorene]-2,2'-diol. No racemization occurred in the synthetic sequence. Therefore, each enantiomer of the SBF derivatives can be prepared from the enantiomerically pure starting material. Absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy and theoretical calculations revealed that the phenylene linker between the donor/acceptor units and the SBF core has a great impact on their photophysical properties. In particular, the phenylene linker was found to induce a red shift in their emission bands. The obtained chiral SBF derivatives exhibited solvent-dependent circularly polarized luminescence owing to their donor-π-acceptor structures.

In an aging society such as Japan and other OECD countries, the medical and non-medical costs of long-term care are increasing every year, and it is becoming more difficult for local governments to bear the costs. It is necessary to identify high-risk persons before they need long-term care. We built a prediction model for seven scenarios regarding the need for long-term care using medical claims, pharmacy claims, diagnosis procedure combination (DPC) payment system data, health examination results, and long-term care claims from a local government database. Based on the number of actual data, our proposed long-term care risk prediction is targeted at the elderly over 75 years old. Because there are many variables in the data, especially in medical claims, we used the heterogeneous mixture learning (HML) model because it can automatically optimize all combinations of explanatory variables. The explanatory variables we used are age, sex, 533 diagnosis codes as listed in ICD-10, 108 prescription drug groups under the therapeutic category of drugs in Japan, and 28 special health examination items. The results showed that the area under the curves (AUCs) for all scenarios was above 0.7. Since the recalls of HML were larger than that of other machine learning models, more high-risk persons can be identified by our model.

We prove the existence of a time-global strong solution of a class of abstract quasi-variational evolution equations and apply the abstract result to concrete parabolic variational and quasi-variational inequalities.

In this report, we propose a prediction method of aspiration pneumonia in department of neurosurgery and demonstrate the method in a hospital in order to reduce workload about care for aspiration pneumonia. In a field trial, medical staff provide preventive cares based on the output of the method. We show that the trial reduces workload of the medical staff, and the number of patients with aspiration pneumonia was reduced.

We prove an existence theorem for an abstract operator equation associated with a quasi-subdifferential operator and then apply it to concrete elliptic variational and quasi-variational inequalities. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study aimed to predict the risk of Alzheimer-type dementia for persons aged over 75 years old without receiving long-term care services using regularly collected claim data. A refined dataset including 48,123 persons was prepared from claim data of health insurance and long-term care insurance in a large city in the metropolitan area in Japan. The utilized features include the age and sex of subjects, 502 diseases based on ICD-10 diagnosis codes, and 107 prescription drugs based on therapeutic classes. The most important challenge in this work was feature selection form a large number of features. We adopted sparse logistic regression models with L0 regularization (SLR-L0) and L1 regularization (SLR-L1) as classification models based on machine learning. These regularizations enable feature selection by estimating sparse solution of non-zero coefficients in the model optimization. Predictions were performed by integrating 100 predictors trained by bootstrap samples. As a result, the area under the ROC curves (AUCs) were 0.663 for SLR-L0 and 0.660 for SLR-L1. These performances were similar, however, the average numbers of selected features were 13 out of a total of 611 for SLR-L0 and 253 for SLR-R1. The results indicate that SLR-L1 tended to include less useful features, whereas SLR-L0 narrowed down influential features. SLR-L0 might be more useful than SLR-L1 for practical use or the discussion of risk factors with medical experts.

The pharmacological profile of (S)-7-(2-{2-[(E)-2-cyclopentylvinyl]-5-methyloxazol-4-yl}-ethoxy)-2-[(2E,4E)-hexadienoyl]-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid (KY-201), a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) γ agonist, was compared with that of rosiglitazone in ovariectomized rats. The serum triglyceride and non-esterified fatty acid reducing effects of KY-201 at 3 and 10 mg/kg per day for 6 weeks were similar to those of rosiglitazone despite its weaker PPARγ agonistic activity. KY-201 had no effects on body weight gain, blood volume, or heart and adipose weights, while rosiglitazone at 10 mg/kg per day increased them. KY-201 had few effects on bone mineral density (BMD) or fat in marrow (FM), whereas rosiglitazone strongly decreased BMD and increased FM. The PPARγ agonistic activity of KY-201 was weaker than that of rosiglitazone in ST-2 cells, and KY-201 reduced osteoblast differentiation and increased adipocyte differentiation less potently than rosiglitazone in rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. KY-201, but not rosiglitazone inhibited protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) and increased phosphorylation of the insulin receptor in HepG2 cells. These results suggest that the hypolipidemic effects of KY-201 are similar to those of rosiglitazone, but with less adverse effects, due to the combination of PPARγ partial activation and PTP1B inhibition. KY-201 would be useful for treatments of diabetic patients at high risk of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and/or obesity. Keywords:: proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) γ, protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), diabetes, anti-hyperlipidemia, postmenopausal osteoporosis

Object The origin of posttraumatic syringomyelia is not completely understood. With respect to posttraumatic syringomyelia, the optimum management strategy for patients with spinal cord injury has also not been established. The authors hypothesized that reconstruction of the subarachnoid channels would reestablish CSF flow, thereby addressing the underlying cause of the syrinx formation. The authors performed a new type of surgery, subarachnoid–subarachnoid bypass (S–S bypass), in which an attempt was made to reestablish normal CSF circulation around the spinal cord. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of S–S bypass for posttraumatic syringomyelia. Methods Twenty consecutive patients with symptomatic posttraumatic syringomyelia who had progressive neurological symptoms and underwent S–S bypass were included in the study. The surgical procedure was as follows: a laminectomy was performed at the level of trauma, and a midline dural opening was made under a microscope. The arachnoid was exposed up to the area of normal arachnoid mater with normal CSF circulation. After dissection of the normal arachnoid mater at the cephalic and caudal sites, 1 or 2 tubes made of medical-grade silicone were inserted into the cephalic and caudal ends of the normal subarachnoid space. Bypass tubes were laid in the subdural space, and a watertight dural closure was accomplished using running sutures. The mean follow-up period was 48.2 months (range 12–93 months). The preoperative status and postoperative clinical course were assessed according to 3 grading systems: the Frankel grading system for global neurological status, the American Spinal Injury Association motor score for motor weakness, and the Klekamp system for bladder function. The major presenting symptoms or signs were assessed in terms of symptom improvement, stabilization, or deterioration. Preoperative and postoperative MRI was used to analyze the size and craniocaudal extension of the cavity. Results Twelve patients showed clinical improvement, 4 were stable, and 4 showed deterioration. The mean length of the syrinx observed on preoperative MRI was 9.9 spinal levels, and the mean Vaquero index was 62.3%. The mean length of the syrinx observed on postoperative MRI was 5.3 spinal levels, and the mean Vaquero index was 28.4%. These values were significantly lower than the preoperative values (p = 0.01 and p < 0.01, respectively). Conclusions This study showed that interference with CSF flow was the major cause of syrinx development and that reconstruction of CSF flow is the most important treatment strategy based on the cause of the syrinx. Subarachnoid–subarachnoid bypass, which can be performed without myelotomy, was not only a safe and effective surgical technique, but may also be a more physiological way of treating posttraumatic syringomyelia.

Patch-clamp measurement system is one of the useful techniques in the field of Electrophysiology. This technique makes it possible to measure ion current and is expected to contribution of the treatment of neurological disease and elucidation of the neuronal activity. In this paper, we propose multi-channel patch-clamp measurement system. The system is composed of I–V converter, parasitic components compensation circuit, programmable gain amplifier, anti-aliasing filter, multiplexer, and serial to parallel converter. The current-to-voltage conversion rate of the whole system is a maximum 379 Gohm. The input referred current noise is achieved 1.86 pArms in simulation, 2.09 pArms in measurement. In order to fine tune the cutoff frequency of entire system, the variable capacitance is used for the filter. It is possible to eliminate the influence of variations between the channels in a multi-channel system. The system was fabricated using the 0.18um CMOS process. 8-channel system is implemented in a chip size of 2.5 mm times 5 mm.

We create a general framework for mathematical study of variational inequalities for a system of elliptic–parabolic equations. In this paper, we establish a solvability theorem concerning the existence of solutions for the vector-valued elliptic–parabolic variational inequality with time-dependent constraint. Moreover, we give some applications of the system, for example, time-dependent boundary obstacle problem and time-dependent interior obstacle problem.

We study variational inequalities for a non-isothermal phase field model of the Penrose-Fife type. We consider time-dependent constraints for the order parameter and the Dirichlet boundary condition for the temperature.

We propose an abstract variational inequality with time-dependent constraints in a Banach space with a uniformly convex dual and establish the existence, uniqueness, and regularity of the solution thereof. The abstract result is applied to concrete variational inequalities with time-dependent constraints, thereby obtaining the L p -regularity of solutions.

www.MaterialsViews.com C O M Stretchable Microfl uidic Radiofrequency Antennas M U N I By Masahiro Kubo , Xiaofeng Li , Choongik Kim , Michinao Hashimoto , Benjamin J. Wiley , Donhee Ham , and George M. Whitesides * C A IO N This paper describes a new method for fabricating stretchable radiofrequency antennas. The antennas consist of liquid metal (eutectic gallium indium alloy, EGaIn [ 1 , 2 ] ) enclosed in elastomeric microfl uidic channels. In particular, a microfl uidic structure made of two types of elastomers (polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and Ecofl ex (type 0030, Reynolds Advanced Materials)) with different stiffness has been developed to improve the stretchability and mechanical stability of the antennas. These antennas can be stretched up to a strain [defi ned as the percentage change in length or ( l – l 0 )/ l 0 ] of 120 %. This high stretchability allows the resonance frequencies of the antennas to be mechanically tuned over a wide range of frequencies. The antennas can also be repeatedly stretched, while retaining a high effi ciency (> 95 %) in radiation. “Stretchability” in electronics has the potential to open new opportunities, particularly for large-area devices and systems, and in systems that require the device to conform to a nonplanar surface, or to bend and stretch while in use. [ 3–5 ] Compared to “fl exible” electronics built on nonstretchable polymer or paper substrates, [ 6 , 7 ] stretchable electronics can cover almost arbitrarily curved surfaces and movable parts. Mechanical compliance may increase the comfort of the user for wearable electronics or implantable medical devices, and simplify the integration for a range of applications. [ 3–5 , 8 ] New approaches to stretchable electronics are now being developed. In a recent advance, Rogers et al. [ 4 , 5 ] described stretchable integrated circuits with elongation of up to 100 % using wavy, thin silicon ribbons on pre-stretched elastic substrates. Antennas offer new, attractive applications for stretchable electronics; these applications might include reconfi gurable antennas, [ 9 ] antennas for limited and nonplanar spaces, [ 10 ] and wearable sensors. Two methods are commonly used to build antennas for commercial applications. The most common method uses sheet-metal processing; in this method, a metal sheet is punched, bent, and welded into the desired structure. A second method uses chemical etching and plating to make small patterns of metal. This method can make fl exible antennas by patterning metal on a fl exible substrate. Neither

We propose and study a system of evolution equations. This is an abstract formulation of problems arising in non-isothermal phase transitions. We consider time-dependent constraints on the unknown functions. Thus the problem yields a system of parabolic variational inequalities. We prove the existence of a solution in a general framework, and then apply the abstract result to some models of phase transitions.

We study an abstract hyperbolic variational inequality with a (small) parameter and with time-dependent subdifferentials in a real Hilbert space. We prove that its solution converges to a solution of a parabolic variational inequality as the parameter tends to zero. We also explain how to apply the abstract theory to concrete unilateral problems.

It has been demonstrated that treatment of hyperactive mice with psychostimulants produced a calming effect depending on serotonergic neurotransmission. Our previous study also showed that hyperactivity in mice lacking pituitary adenylate cyclase–activating polypeptide (PACAP) was ameliorated by amphetamine in a serotonin (5-HT)1A-dependent manner and that amphetamine calmed wild-type mice given the 5-HT1A agonist 8-OH-DPAT. Here, we examined if 5-HT1A–mediated pathways can be a determinant of the action of other psychostimulants as well as the non-stimulant atomoxetine by examining locomotor activity in mice co-administered with the 5-HT1A agonist osemozotan. Co-administration of osemozotan with either methamphetamine or amphetamine was not only antihyperkinetic, but also decreased locomotion to below basal levels. In contrast, osemozotan just nullified methylphenidate-induced hyperactivity. The non-stimulant atomoxetine did not induce hyperactivity, but co-administration of atomoxetine with osemozotan produced a calming effect. The adjunctive effect of osemozotan added to the psychostimulants was blocked by the 5-HT1A antagonist WAY-100635 at a low dose (0.1 mg/kg), suggesting the involvement of a presynaptic 5-HT1A–mediated mechanism. However, WAY-100635 (up to 1 mg/kg) did not block the effect of atomoxetine plus osemozotan. The present results may provide insights into the therapeutic mechanisms of the psychostimulants and atomoxetine for hyperkinetic disorders. Keywords:: atomoxetine, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication, locomotor activity, psychostimulant, serotonin 5-HT1A receptor

【目的】脳卒中治療ガイドライン2004の発表前後で急性期脳梗塞診療の変化を検証する．【方法】2003年と2006年の各々2月1日～7月31日の6カ月間に富山県内の主要9病院へ入院した急性期脳梗塞患者を調査解析した．【結果】症例数は2003年293例/2006年237例．臨床病型は，ラクナ梗塞；39％/37％，アテローム血栓性脳梗塞；28％/30％，心原性脳塞栓症；21％/22％．心原性脳塞栓症では3時間以内の来院は34％ から57％ へ有意に増加した．しかし，2006年では発症3時間以内に来院した74例（31％）のうちrt-PA静注による血栓溶解療法は5例（2.1％）のみに施行された．治療開始前の病巣確認は43％ から52％ へ有意に増加し，MRI拡散強調画像の施行は54％ から92％ へ有意に増加した．【結論】ガイドライン発表後，臨床病型を考慮して治療が行われる傾向にあった．しかし，血栓溶解療法の実施率は未だ低かった．

In this study we consider the non-isothermal phase-field model proposed by Penrose and Fife [Thermodynamically consistent models of phase-field type for the kinetics of phase transitions, Physica D 43 (1990) 44–62]. The system consists of the energy balance law (a nonlinear heat equation) and an equation that describes space-time changes in the order parameter (the Ginzburg–Landau equation). For the energy balance law, we consider the general nonlinear heat flux arising in non-equilibrium thermodynamics and impose the Dirichlet boundary condition. For the order parameter, we impose a constraint and thus consider a parabolic variational inequality. We prove the well-posedness of the problem: the system yields a unique solution that depends continuously upon given data.

歩行障害により発症した脊髄くも膜嚢腫の1例を経験したので報告する．症例は59歳，女性．2ヶ月前より痙性歩行，下肢脱力，歩行障害が出現したため当センター入院となる．58歳時に小脳橋角部くも膜嚢腫手術の既往があった．著明な痙性歩行．Th12以下で痛覚，触覚は低下し，両第1足趾の位置覚は消失．両下肢腱反射は亢進．左下肢筋力に低下を認めた．CTMでは左Th8/9，9/10レベルでの脊髄の圧迫が著明であった．この症例に対しTh8-10椎弓切除術，嚢腫摘出術，経くも膜下腔的嚢腫壁開放術，くも膜下腔―くも膜下腔bypass術を施行した．術後は筋力，下肢の位置覚共に回復し，独歩可能となった．くも膜嚢腫の発生には何らかの先天性素因の関与が示唆された．

We study an abstract second order nonlinear evolution equation in a real Hilbert space. We consider time-dependent convex functions and their subdifferentials operating on the first derivative of the unknown function. Introducing appropriate assumptions on the convex functions and other data, we prove the existence and uniqueness of a strong solution, and give some applications of the abstract theorem to hyperbolic variational inequalities with time-dependent constraints.

We study variational inequalities for quasilinear elliptic-parabolic equations with time-dependent constraints. Introducing a general condition for the time-dependence of convex sets defining the constraints, we establish theorems concerning existence, uniqueness as well as an order property of solutions. Some applications of the general results are given.

Patch-clamp system is commonly used to measure ion current flowing through ion channel on cell membrane. By integration of this system, it is realized high density multi-channel system. In this paper, we designed Transimpedance Amplifier (TIA) in a patch-clamp system for single channel recording. Proposed TIA use OTA (Operational Transconductance Amplifier) as a feedback resistor, the size of TIA is drastically decreased compare to previously designed TIA using poly silicon resistor. The system was fabricated using the 0.18µm CMOS process. The designed size is 200 µm by 70 µm. We confirmed by simulation and measurement that the TIA has enough performance for single channel recording. The value of OTA resistance is variable from 5 MΩ to 500 MΩ by adjusting bias voltage. The bandwidth covers at least 10.3 kHz. Input-referred noise is 0.86 pArms in bandwidth that is extremely small value in on-chip transimpedance amplifiers for patch-clamp method. Power consumption of the TIA is 52.3 µW. Input range is ±50 pA when the value of resistance is 500MΩ.

We propose a highly wearable, upper-arm type, oscillometric-based blood pressure monitoring technology with low-stress. The low-stress is realized by new developments in the hardware and software design. In the hardware design, conventional armband; cuff, is almost halved in volume thanks to a flexible plastic core and a liquid bag which enhances the fitness and pressure uniformity over the arm. Reduced air bag volume enables smaller motor pump size and battery leading to a thinner, more compact and more wearable unified device. In the software design, a new prediction algorithm enabled to apply less stress (and less pain) on arm of the patient. Proof-of-concept experiments on volunteers show a high accuracy on both technologies. This paper mainly introduces hardware developments. The system is promising for less-painful and less-stressful 24-hour blood pressure monitoring in hypertension managements and related healthcare solutions.

In this paper, we study optimal control problems for quasi-linear elliptic–parabolic variational inequalities with time-dependent constraints. We prove the existence of an optimal control that minimizes the nonlinear cost functional. Moreover, we apply our general results to some model problems. In particular, we show the necessary condition of optimal pair for a problem of partial differential equation (PDE) with a non-homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition.

We define a convex function on H - 1 ( Ω ) and characterize its subdifferential, by which we introduce an evolution equation as a weak formulation of a class of nonlinear, degenerate, singular and noncoercive parabolic PDEs associated with an arbitrary maximal monotone graph and with the Dirichlet boundary condition.

We study periodic solutions of quasilinear elliptic-parabolic variational inequalities with time-dependent constraints. Assuming that the constraint changes periodically in time, we prove existence of periodic solutions. Moreover, applications of the general results are given.

短繊維混入を考慮した鉄筋コンクリート部材の有限要素解析を行う場合，精度の良い結果を得るためには引張側だけでなく，圧縮側のコンクリートの応力－ひずみ関係も適切に与えることの重要性がこれまでの研究で指摘された．そのため，短繊維補強コンクリートの圧縮破壊性状について実験的に検討を行った．実験では，内部にひずみゲージを埋め込んだ円柱供試体を作製し，圧縮破壊させた．その結果，短繊維を混入することで最大応力後に応力が緩やかに低下することが確認された．短繊維は，破壊にともなうひび割れの開口を抑制し，破壊領域での吸収エネルギーを大きくするのに有効に働いた．これらの傾向から短繊維補強コンクリートに適用できる圧縮側の応力－ひずみ関係を提案した．

Summary AtHKT1 is a sodium (Na+) transporter that functions in mediating tolerance to salt stress. To investigate the membrane targeting of AtHKT1 and its expression at the translational level, antibodies were generated against peptides corresponding to the first pore of AtHKT1. Immunoelectron microscopy studies using anti-AtHKT1 antibodies demonstrate that AtHKT1 is targeted to the plasma membrane in xylem parenchyma cells in leaves. AtHKT1 expression in xylem parenchyma cells was also confirmed by AtHKT1 promoter–GUS reporter gene analyses. Interestingly, AtHKT1 disruption alleles caused large increases in the Na+ content of the xylem sap and conversely reduced the Na+ content of the phloem sap. The athkt1 mutant alleles had a smaller and inverse influence on the potassium (K+) content compared with the Na+ content of the xylem, suggesting that K+ transport may be indirectly affected. The expression of AtHKT1 was modulated not only by the concentrations of Na+ and K+ but also by the osmolality of non-ionic compounds. These findings show that AtHKT1 selectively unloads sodium directly from xylem vessels to xylem parenchyma cells. AtHKT1 mediates osmolality balance between xylem vessels and xylem parenchyma cells under saline conditions. Thus AtHKT1 reduces the sodium content in xylem vessels and leaves, thereby playing a central role in protecting plant leaves from salinity stress.

We study a nonlinear degenerate parabolic equation associated with an arbitrary maximal monotone graph. We impose initial and Dirichlet boundary conditions and prove that the problem is well-posed.

We report a case of allergic reaction to metal after osteosynthesis by titanium implants. A 20-year-old man injured his right upper limb in a traffic accident. Ten days after the accident, internal titanium plate (Mathys's narrow LC-DCP plate) fixation of his humerus shaft fracture was performed and his radius and ulna shaft fracture were fixed by intramedullary nail (Century Medicals TRUE/FLEX rod system). Three months after the operation, redness, papules and erosion appeared around his right upper arm surgical wound. His condition did not improve, so he visited our hospital one and a half years after the operation asking for removal of the titanium implants.In this case, he had no medical history of allergy. We removed the titanium implants and four months later, although there was still slight discoloration, redness and papules disappeared. There was also an increase in eosinophils, suggesting that his allergic reaction was caused by the titanium implants.

We study the systems of nonlinear parabolic PDEs for Penrose–Fife models of non-isothermal phase transitions. Both models with conserved and non-conserved order parameters are studied with Neumann boundary conditions imposed on the systems in multi-dimensional spatial domain.

Study Design. Nerve root blood flow was intraoperatively measured before and after discectomy for lumbar disc herniation and compared with clinical features. Objective. To investigate the relation between nerve root blood flow changes and symptoms associated with lumbar disc herniation. Summary of Background Data. Several authors have reported that recovery of intraneural blood flow, which restores the supply of oxygen and other nutrients to the nerve tissue, is strongly related to the rapid improvement of nerve function after discectomy for lumbar disc herniation. However, no previous study has quantitatively assessed blood flow in the human nerve root in vivo. Methods. Nerve root blood flow was monitored in 21 patients with lumbar disc herniation using laser Doppler flowmetry (ALF 21 N; ADVANCE, Tokyo, Japan) during discectomy. Possible correlations were investigated between the blood flow rates and the following clinical features: age, duration of sciatica, presence or absence of neurologic deficits, latency to pain relief, and morphology of herniated discs. Results. The blood flow rate in 16 patients who reported immediate relief after discectomy was much greater than in 5 patients whose pain was not relieved immediately after surgery (141%vs 8%, P = 0.0364). The increase in the blood flow rate after discectomy was five times greater in patients with neurologic deficits than in patients without neurologic deficits (158%vs 36%, P = 0.0638). Conclusions. The results of the current study suggest that immediate relief from pain and resolution of neurologic deficits soon after surgery are the result of early recovery from nerve root ischemia after discectomy, and that ischemia caused by mechanical nerve root compression is mainly related to the mechanisms underlying sciatic pain production and neurologic deficits.

We pursue the possibility of the scenario in which the Higgs field is identified with the extra-space component of a bulk gauge field. The space-time we take is M$^{4}$ $\otimes$ S$^1$/Z$_2$. We show that a non-trivial Z$_2$-parity assignment allows some of the extra-space component to have radiatively induced VEV, which strongly modifies the mass spectrum and gauge symmetry of the theory, realized by oribifolding. In particular we investigate the dynamical mass generation of zero-mode fermion and spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking due to the VEV. The gauge theories we adopt are a prototype model SU(2) and SU(3) model, of special interest as the realistic minimal scheme to incorporate the standard model SU(2) $\times$ U(1)., Comment: 16 pages 3 figures