Search

This article discusses a technique called Peroral Endoscopic Myotomy (POEM) that is used to treat esophageal achalasia. The authors developed a method using two submucosal injection solutions to reliably create a submucosal tunnel into the lesser curvature of the stomach during the procedure. They conducted a study comparing this technique to the conventional method and found that the success rate of submucosal tunneling was significantly higher in the group using the two injection solutions. There were no drug-related adverse events, and the incidence of post-POEM gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) was similar between the two groups. The authors conclude that POEM using two submucosal injections is more effective and safe than the conventional method. [Extracted from the article]

This is to report on the current status of Phase I/II study of NS-089/NCNP-02, which is a novel phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer that consists of a novel sequence design involving connected antisense oligonucleotides targeting different parts of exon 44 discovered by NCNP and Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd. NS-089/NCNP-02 targets exon 44, to serve as an effective treatment for DMD patients amenable to exon 44 skipping. The trial was designed in two parts. First-in-human part 1 is a stepwise dose-finding stage (4 weeks). Part 2 is a 24-week evaluation period based on the dosages determined during Part 1. In Part 1 of the study, Cohort 1 (three patients) will initially receive NS-089/NCNP-02 at dosing Level 1 (1.62 mg/kg QW) for two weeks and at dosing Level 3 thereafter (40 mg/kg QW) for two weeks. Cohort 2 (three patients) will initially receive NS-089/NCNP-02 at dosing Level 2 (10 mg/kg QW) for two weeks and at dosing Level 4 thereafter (80 mg/kg QW) for two weeks. In Part 2 of the study, two different doses of NS-089/NCNP-02 (40 mg/kg QW and 80 mg/kg QW) were intravenously administered for 24 weeks. Patients who have completed Part 1 are allowed to participate in Part 2, and total 6 subjects were assigned to this study. The primary endpoints are safety, and the secondary endpoints include expression of dystrophin, motor function assessments, exon 44 skipping efficiency, plasma and urinary NS-089/NCNP-02 concentrations, and changes in blood creatine kinase levels. NS-089/NCNP-02 were well tolerated, showed no sign of safety signals, and production of anti-dystrophin antibody. All participants showed significant increases from baseline in dystrophin protein expression in posttreatment biopsies as measured by Western blot; the increase in dystrophin expression on western blots to an average of 10.27% of normal in Cohort 1 (Dose: 40 mg/kg QW) and 15.79% of normal in Cohort 2 (Dose: 80 mg/kg QW). All motor function scales including NSAA consistently tend to decrease in part 1 stage, but their functions tend to improve in part 2 stage. Our first-in-human studies shall provide critical data of safety, potential efficacy and pharmacokinetics of NS-089/NCNP-02 for subsequent clinical development of NS-089/NCNP-02, with the ultimate aim of expanding treatment capacity for DMD and other neuromuscular conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling beam position in three-dimensional pencil-beam scanning is important because errors in beam position disturb the uniformity of irradiated dose distribution. To suppress this, we have developed a simple procedure for beamline tuning. Beamline tuning is performed with steering magnets and fluorescent screen monitors to converge a beam’s trajectory to a central orbit. The misalignment between beam position and a reference axis is determined through a verification system, which consists of a screen monitor and an acrylic phantom. If beam position deviates from the reference axis, two pairs of steering magnets, which are placed downstream of the beam transport line, correct the beam. These adjustments are iterated until the deviations for 11 energies of the beam are within 0.5 mm of the reference axis. To demonstrate the success of the proposed procedure, we used it to perform beam commissioning at the Kanagawa Cancer Center.
 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic reversion is the phenomenon of spontaneous gene correction by which gene function is partially or completely rescued. However, it is unknown whether this mechanism always correctly repairs mutations, or is prone to error. We investigated a family of three boys with intellectual disability, and among them we identified two different mutations in KDM5C, located at Xp11.22, using whole-exome sequencing. Two affected boys have c. 633delG and the other has c. 631delC. We also confirmed de novo germline (c. 631delC) and low-prevalence somatic (c. 633delG) mutations in their mother. The two mutations are present on the same maternal haplotype, suggesting that a postzygotic somatic mutation or a reversion error occurred at an early embryonic stage in the mother, leading to switched KDM5C mutations in the affected siblings. This event is extremely unlikely to arise spontaneously (with an estimated probability of 0.39-7.5 × 10−28), thus a possible reversion error is proposed here to explain this event. This study provides evidence for reversion error as a novel mechanism for the generation of somatic mutations in human diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC), more than 8000 patients have been successfully treated by carbon ion beams since 1994. The successful results of treatments have led us to construct a new treatment facility equipped with a 3-D pencil beam scanning irradiation system. For the implementation of this irradiation technique, we developed a fast scanning magnet and its power supply, which are required to have field ramp rate of more than 250 T/s. The scanning magnets set at the entrance of the irradiation system are two dipole magnets to scan the beam in both horizontal and vertical directions and used to form the irradiation field to be tumor shape. Before the installation, performance test including both static and dynamic field measurement was carried out. Severe delay of the field and temperature rise were not observed as expected. Measured field ramp rate reached up to 300 T/s. After the installation, we verified the accuracy and stability of the scanned ion beam through the commissioning with the beam. As a successful result of the commissioning, treatment using the new scanning system was started in 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Proton inelastic scattering on the neutron-rich nucleus 32Mg has been experimentally studied at Elab = 46.5 MeV/nucleon in inverse kinematics. The energies of excited states in 32Mg were obtained by measuring de-excitation γ rays. Several new states were identified by γ-γ coincidence analysis. Their spins and parities were restricted and the deformation parameters βp,p′ were extracted from the measured angular distribution of the proton inelastic scattering. The present analysis favors 4+ for the spin and parity of the 2321-keV state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coulomb excitation of the exotic neutron-rich nucleus 26Ne on a 208Pb target was measured at 58 A.MeV in order to search for low-lying E1 strength above the neutron emission threshold. The radioactive beam was produced by fragmentation of a 95 A.MeVAr beam delivered by the RIKEN Accelerator Research Facility. The set-up included a NaI(Tl) gamma-ray array, a charged fragment hodoscope and a neutron wall. Using the invariant mass method in the 25Ne+n channel, we observe by multipole decomposition a sizable amount of E1 strength between 6 and 10 MeV excitation energy. For the first time, the decay pattern of low-lying strength in a neutron-rich nucleus is measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proton shell structure in neutron-rich fluorine 23F was investigated using the in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy technique via the proton transfer reaction onto the unstable nucleus 22O, in addition to α inelastic scattering on 23F, and the neutron-knockout reaction from 24F. The level and γ-decay scheme in 23F was deduced from de-excitation γ-ray-particle coincidence events. We found that a single-particle state at 4.061MeV has a large contribution from the d shell by the analysis of population strengths and the angular distribution for the state. We reported here the present experiment and the preliminary results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that describes the use of the Reduction Sleeve introducer to place Seprafilm, an anti-adhesion barrier film, on the target site easily and precisely during the laparoscopic surgery of the abdomen and pelvis. Topics discussed include the results of the study, the effectiveness of Seprafilm to reduce the occurrence of intra-abdominal adhesions and the other methods for handling and applying the film.

An ECR ion source of Gunma University Heavy Ion Medical Center, so-called KeiGM [M. Muramatsu, A. Kitagawa, Y. Sakamoto, S. Sato, Y. Sato, H. Ogawa, S. Yamada, H. Ogawa, Y. Yoshida, and A. G. Drentje, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 76, 113304 (2005)], has been operated for cancer therapy and physical/biological experiment since 2010. KeiGM produces typically 230 µA of 10 keV/u C4+ ions from CH4 gases. The vacuum pressure is kept between 1.2 x 10-4 and 1.7 x 10-4 Pa so as to suppress the pulse-to-pulse current fluctuation within ±10%. The extraction electrode is cleaned every 6-8 months in order to remove deposited carbon, which increases the leak current and discharge. In order to investigate the possibility of long-term operation without such maintenances, oxygen aging for the cleaning of the extraction electrode has been tested in the test bench. The same-designed ion sources at National Institute of Radiological Sciences and SAGA Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Tosu (SAGA-HIMAT) are also operated with stable C4+ current, which are suitable for the continuous operation for cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the use of blast furnace slag material is being focused as environmental loading reduction and sustainable construction. However, in general, autogeneours shrinkage of the concrete using much amount of GGBFS is large in compared to normal concrete, therefore risk of cracking should be cared. On the other hand, strength development speed of concrete at early stage will be decreasing as the dosage of GGBFS increases, even under steam curing condition. It can be considered these points will be significant disadvantage in both productivity and quality of precast concrete. So in this study, early strength type expansive agent and setting accelerator were used in combination. As a result, it was confirmed that compressive strength at early stage is obviously increased. And steam curing temperature can be reduced about 10 degrees, and also, 600×10-6 of restraint expansion was obtained.

Abstract: The structure of the neutron rich pf-shell nuclei 58Ti36, 60Cr36 and 62Cr38 was studied by proton inelastic scattering in inverse kinematics. Large quadrupole deformation lengths of 1.12(16) fm and 1.36(14) fm were obtained for 60Cr and 62Cr, respectively, which confirm the enhanced collectivity in these nuclei. An excited state was observed in 62Cr at 1180(10) keV with tentative assignment of . The increase in the ratio indicates that the nature of collectivity changes from vibrational to rotational in 62Cr and affords evidence for the development of static deformation. The excitation energy of the newly observed 2+ state in 58Ti (1046(17) keV) shows hindered collectivity. The contrast between the structures of Cr and Ti suggests that the contributions of both protons and neutrons are crucial for the large collectivity in Cr close to . From the comparison to shell model calculations, the large collectivity is found to originate from the admixture of the pf- and gd-shells across the sub-shell gap. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Intermediate-energy Coulomb excitation of 32Mg using in-beam y-ray spectroscopy with a relatively thick lead target was studied at a beam energy of 195 MeV/nucleon at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory (RIBF). The angular distribution of the inelastic scattering was analyzed with distorted-wave calculations taking into account both the Coulomb and the nuclear excitation contributions. A B(E2) value of 432(51) e² fm4 was extracted, which agrees with most of the previously reported results obtained at several tens of MeV/nucleon. Our investigation demonstrates that the electromagnetic properties of exotic nuclei can be studied with Coulomb excitation at beam energies of a few hundreds of MeV/nucleon, where a thicker target can be used to increase the excitation yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coulomb excitation of the exotic neutron-rich nucleus 26Ne on a nat Pb target was measured at 58 A.MeV in order to search for low-lying E1 strength above the neutron emission threshold. Data were also taken on an nat Al target to estimate the nuclear contribution. The radioactive beam was produced by fragmentation of a 95 A.MeV 40Ar beam delivered by the RIKEN Research Facility. The set-up included a NaI gamma-ray array, a charged fragment hodoscope and a neutron wall. Using the invariant mass method in the 25Ne+n channel, we observe a sizable amount of E1 strength between 6 and 10 MeV. The reconstructed 26Ne angular distribution confirms its E1 nature. A reduced dipole transition probability of e2fm2 is deduced. For the first time, the decay pattern of low-lying strength in a neutron-rich nucleus is obtained. The results are discussed in terms of a pygmy resonance centered around 9 MeV. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The proton shell structure in neutron-rich fluorine 23F was investigated using the in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy technique via the proton transfer reaction onto the 22O nucleus. We also measured the α inelastic scattering on 23F, the neutron knockout from 24F, and the two-nucleon knockout from 25Ne using a cocktail secondary beam. The excited states were identified by de-excitation γ-rays coincident with outgoing 23F, and we found the proton single-particle states at 2268 and 4059 keV by comparison of the population strengths among these reactions. These states were respectively assigned to have and by the angular distributions obtained in the transfer reaction, and therefore they were considered to have the configurations of and . The excitation energies of these states are located at higher excitation energies than the shell model predictions for the USD and SDPF-M interactions, which may indicate that the centroid energy gaps between and are wider than predictions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The proton shell structure in neutron-rich fluorine 23F was investigated using the in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy technique via the proton transfer reaction onto the 22O nucleus. We also measured the α inelastic scattering on 23F, the neutron knockout from 24F, and the two-nucleon knockout from 25Ne using a cocktail secondary beam. By comparison of the population strengths for excited states in these reactions, we deduced the character of the excited states. The levels and γ-decay scheme in 23F were proposed based on de-excitation γ-rays and the products of these reactions. We found that the 2268- and 4059-keV levels have strong proton single-particle nature of the and orbitals, respectively, by analysis of the population strengths and the angular distributions of the states. These single-particle states are located at higher excitation energies than the shell model predictions for the USD and SDPF-M interactions, which indicates that the centroid energy gaps for and are wider than predicted. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A search for an isomeric state in the neutron-rich nucleus 19C is reported. The existence of an isomer in the nucleus is predicted by shell model calculations which also predicts the ground-state of the nucleus to be 1/2+. An isomeric transition is however not observed in the present investigation. An estimation of upper limit of isomer ratio in the beam is discussed. Furthermore, the non-observation of an isomer includes the possibility of 19C having a different ground state spin. The 17C and 17B nuclei were also investigated for delayed gamma transitions but do not exhibit any isomeric transition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: New experimental results on in-beam gamma spectroscopy of neutron rich boron isotopes are presented for 17B and its neutron removal fragments 14,15B, after scattering with a H2 target. A gamma transition for 17B is observed at . The fragment 15B is observed abundantly associated with a gamma transition of . This suggests for the first time a core-excited structure for 17B thereby providing a new insight into its structure. Observations for 12,14B are also presented. The data set provides a useful systematic study of first excited states of neutron rich boron isotopes showing the dramatic drop in excitation energy beyond . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]