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BACKGROUND: Mechanical simulations for biological tissues are effective technology for development of medical equipment, because it can be used to evaluate mechanical influences on the tissues. For such simulations, mechanical properties of biological tissues are required. For most biological soft tissues, stress tends to increase monotonically as strain increases. OBJECTIVE: Proposal of a strain-energy function that can guarantee monotonically increasing trend of biological soft tissue stress-strain relationships and applicability confirmation of the proposed function for biological soft tissues. METHOD: Based on convexity of invariants, a polyconvex strain-energy function that can reproduce monotonically increasing trend was derived. In addition, to confirm its applicability, curve-fitting of the function to stress-strain relationships of several biological soft tissues was performed. RESULTS: A function depending on the first invariant alone was derived. The derived function does not provide such inappropriate negative stress in the tensile region provided by several conventional strain-energy functions. CONCLUSIONS: The derived function can reproduce the monotonically increasing trend and is proposed as an appropriate function for biological soft tissues. In addition, as is well-known for functions depending the first invariant alone, uniaxial-compression and equibiaxial-tension of several biological soft tissues can be approximated by curve-fitting to uniaxial-tension alone using the proposed function.

[Purpose] The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a stroke-related scale with regard to outcome, onset, and timing of stroke patients. [Participants and Methods] The participants included 583 out of 996 patients who were admitted to the stroke care unit.The outcomes and 3 stroke scale (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale: NIHSS, Functional Independence Measure: FIM, modified Rankin Scale: mRS) scores immediately at hospitalization, on day 7 after onset, and on day 30 after onset were investigated. This study was analyzed using a generalization linear model with a binomial distribution. The comparisons between outcomes were made in terms of home discharge versus convalescence, and convalescence versus hospital transfer. [Results] Comparisons of home discharge versus convalescence hospital transfer showed a significant difference in the NIHSS and mRS scores at the time of hospitalization, and a significant difference in the NIHSS scale score on day 7 after onset. In comparisons between convalescence and hospital transfer, significant differences were observed in NIHSS and FIM scores at hospitalization, and the FIM scale score showed significant differences on day 7 and day 30. [Conclusion] The study suggested the efficacy of using multiple scales for prediction of stroke outcome with higher accuracy.

Perioperative intravascular volume can be optimised by identifying predictors of fluid responsiveness. This study compared the estimated continuous cardiac output (esCCO) system for non- invasive measurement and an arterial pressure-based cardiac output (APCO) system for detecting exact changes in cardiac output (CO) among patients undergoing laparotomy without postural change.This study was performed at Toho University Omori Medical Centre in Japan from April 2016 to July 2016 and included 26 adult patients undergoing elective laparotomy lasting2 h without postural change. We evaluated both interchangeability and dynamic trend. After entering the biometric data (age, sex, height, weight, heart rate, pulse wave transit time, and blood pressure), the esCCO device was calibrated. All patients were also monitored with the APCO system. Data were analysed and compared for 12 adult patients using Bland–Altman analysis and polar plots.The CO value obtained with esCCO was 0.75 ± 0.86 L/min (percentage error: 41%) lower than that obtained with the APCO system. Polar plotting revealed that the mean angular bias was 3.5°, and the radial limit of agreement was 28.3°.This study demonstrated that data obtained using esCCO are not interchangeable with those obtained using the APCO system. The trending ability of the esCCO device was deemed good among patients undergoing laparotomy without postural change.

This chapter explores empirically what kind of effects presidential term limits have on political phenomena that are often of interest in political science. It first presents some of the existing empirical findings and also discusses a few tentative hypotheses on possible effects of presidential term limits on a variety of political outcomes. This serves as a brief overview of the possible effects of presidential term limits. It then focuses in greater detail on three political phenomena covering a broad range of leader behavior, which presidential term limits may influence: change in the composition of government expenditure, state repression, and international crises. This serves as detailed examples of how we can think of the effects that presidential term limits exert on leaders. The chapter set outs hypotheses regarding relationships between presidential term limits and these three phenomena, and tests these hypotheses, drawing on previously published papers and their replication datasets.

Transdermal administration of poly( dl -lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles using iontophoresis (IP) is useful for efficient drug delivery to hair follicles. In this study, we investigated the possibility of using it in allergen immunotherapy. Hen egg-white lysozyme (HEL) was used as a model antigen. We successfully prepared PLGA nanoparticles with a mean volume diameter of 98.4 ± 36.8 nm using an antisolvent diffusion method. The PLGA nanoparticles were coated with chitosan hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride to shield the PLGA-derived negative charge. The surface charge number density was calculated to be 1.28 × 10−2 M, confirming that the particles had positive charges. An uptake test into dendritic cells was performed using fluorescently labeled HEL. The results of FACS measurement showed that the usage of the nanoparticle carrier increased the mean fluorescence intensity by 5.6 times. An ex vivo skin accumulation study was carried out using abdominal mouse skin and a Franz-type diffusion cell with and without IP. When IP was applied to the nanoparticles, the HEL concentration in mouse skin was 9.6 times higher than that without IP and 2.1 times higher than that of the HEL solution. Images of skin sections confirmed that HEL was efficiently delivered to hair follicles using IP and nanoparticle carriers. HEL-specific IgG1 and IgG2a titers were determined in an in vivo percutaneous immunoreactivity study. Ten weeks after the initiation of the test using IP and the nanoparticle carrier, HEL-specific IgG1 and IgG2a titers were 7.4 × 104 and 6.6 × 102, respectively. Both values were higher than those obtained by subcutaneous injection of HEL solution, indicating the effectiveness of the combined use of IP and nanoparticle carriers.

Recently, poly(dl-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles prepared using a combination of an antisolvent diffusion method with preferential solvation was shown to be beneficial for the iontophoretic transdermal delivery of therapeutic agents. Also, this preparation method can contain a hydrophilic drug. However, since PLGA nanoparticles were negatively charged, it was difficult to apply iontophoresis for positively charged hydrophilic drugs. In this study, we prepared positively charged PLGA nanoparticles containing donepezil hydrochloride (DP). DP was used as a positively charged hydrophilic drug model. The PLGA nanoparticles were coated with chitosan hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride. The average particle diameter of the nanoparticles was 117.7±60.6nm and the surface charge number density changed from negative to positive. Ex vivo skin accumulation study was carried out using abdominal rat skin and a Franz-type diffusion cell with/without iontophoresis. When iontophoresis was applied, the DP concentration in the rat skin of chitosan-coated PLGA nanoparticles was 2.2 times higher than that of non-coated PLGA nanoparticles. This indicated that chitosan-coated PLGA nanoparticles were suitable for iontophoresis. To investigate the transdermal delivery route of the nanoparticles, we prepared chitosan-coated PLGA nanoparticles containing DP, coumarin-6, and rhodamine 6G. Coumarin-6 and rhodamine 6G were used as a trace marker of the PLGA nanoparticles and positively charged hydrophilic drug model, respectively. From the results of ex vivo accumulation test of this fluorescent nanoparticles, it was suggested that positively charged hydrophilic drugs reached the hair follicles as a nanoparticle, and then they were released from the nanoparticles.

Recently, nano-seized systems for transdermal delivery have attracted attention. To efficiently deliver drugs to hair follicles, we focused on poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles prepared using a combination of an antisolvent diffusion method with preferential solvation. The PLGA nanoparticles prepared using this method are suitable for iontophoresis because of their high surface charge number density. It has been reported that PLGA nanoparticles were delivered to hair follicles by applying iontophoresis, however research on PLGA nanoparticles with a size of less than 100nm was lacking. In this study, we prepared 50-nm and 100-nm PLGA nanoparticles. Indomethacin was used as a hydrophobic drug model and the nanoparticles were evaluated their skin permeability using the abdominal skin of a rat. Two hours after administration, the skin permeation indomethacin amounts of 50-nm and 100-nm PLGA nanoparticles with iontophoresis were significantly higher than those of passively diffused nanoparticles and indomethacin solution. Moreover, when iontophoresis was applied, the indomethacin concentration in the rat skin of 50-nm PLGA nanoparticles was 1.7 times higher than that of 100-nm PLGA nanoparticles. We also prepared coumarin-6-loaded 50-nm and 100-nm PLGA nanoparticles having surface characteristics equivalent to those of indomethacin-loaded PLGA nanoparticles to investigate transdermal delivery route of indomethacin-loaded PLGA nanoparticles. The 50-nm nanoparticles reached a deeper portion of the hair follicle when applying iontophoresis. Therefore, it was shown that this nanoparticle was useful for targeting to hair follicles.

In order to simulate elderly vision for young observers, we developed an optical goggle using filters whose transmittance optically simulates the senile miosis: reduction in retinal illuminance as a function of ambient illuminance. First, we measured the pupil size of young and elderly subjects (mean age were 21.8 and 67.1 years, respectively) under six illuminance conditions (from 0.03 to 4850 lx), and formulated the relationship between illuminance and pupillary area functions in both age groups. Next, the transmittance formulae for the filter simulating the senile miosis were derived based on the properties of the pupillary area and visual functions of the elderly and the young subjects including the effect of mydriasis induced by the reduction of light due to the filter in young observers. Finally, we developed a goggle-type simulator using active optical devices which enables young people to experience senile miosis in any environment in real time.

Canine non-rabies combined vaccines are widely used to protect animals from infectious agents, and also play an important role in public health. We performed a large-scale survey to investigate vaccine-associated adverse events (VAAEs), including anaphylaxis, in Japan by distributing questionnaires on VAAEs to veterinary hospitals from April 1, 2006 through May 31, 2007. Valid responses were obtained for 57,300 vaccinated dogs at 573 animal hospitals; we obtained VAAEs information for last 100 vaccinated dogs in each veterinary hospital. We found that of the 57,300, 359 dogs showed VAAEs. Of the 359 dogs, death was observed in 1, anaphylaxis in 41, dermatological signs in 244, gastrointestinal signs in 160, and other signs in 106. Onset of VAAEs was mostly observed within 12 h after vaccination (n = 299, 83.3%). In this study, anaphylaxis events occurred within 60 min after vaccination, and about half of these events occurred within 5 min (n = 19, 46.3%). Furthermore, where anaphylaxis was reported, additional information to support the diagnosis was obtained by reinvestigation. Our resurvey of dogs with anaphylaxis yielded responses on 31 dogs; 27 of these demonstrated collapse (87.1%), 24 demonstrated cyanosis (77.4%), and both signs occurred in 22 (71.0%). Higher rates of animal VAAEs, anaphylaxis, and death were found in Japan than in other countries. Further investigations, including survey studies, will be necessary to elucidate the interaction between death and vaccination and the risk factors for VAAEs, and thus develop safer vaccines. Moreover, it may also be necessary to continually update the data of VAAEs.

C57BL/6 mice were housed five per cage on a 12:12 h light/dark cycle. All animal care, including bed cleaning, was carried out during the nonactive phase. After 2 weeks, mean plasma corticosterone levels, collected during the nonactive (ZT6) and active (ZT18) phases, were 66.0 and 270.9 ng/ml, respectively. The values at ZT18 gradually increased in the order of the mice used for blood collection, but not at ZT6. When animal care was carried out at ZT18, the increasing pattern of plasma corticosterone levels previously observed at ZT18 was less pronounced after 2 weeks of acclimatization, and was not observed after 4 weeks. Therefore, animal care should be carried out in the active phase for at least 4 weeks before experiments involving stress responses in the active phase.

This study aimed at estimating the brightness of a monochromatic LED point source as perceived by the elderly and protanopes. To estimate the perceived brightness of the monochromatic LED point source for the elderly and protanopes, we defined an index, brightness perception efficiency, which is a ratio of perceived luminosity with spectral luminous efficiency of the elderly or protanopes to the luminosity with standard spectral luminous efficiency. The brightness perception efficiency was calculated using both the LED spectral radiant intensity defined by a peak wavelength and a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the LED and the spectral luminous efficiencies of the elderly in their 70s and protanopes. The brightness perception efficiency indicated that monochromatic LED point sources with a broad FWHM effectively attenuated the reduction in perceived brightness of the elderly and protanopes. It is expected that in the case of a peak wavelength of 475 nm the elderly perceive brightness equivalent to 1.6 times the luminosity for the LED with a FWHM of 100 nm compared to that with a FWHM of 15 nm. In the case of a peak wavelength of 635 nm protanopes perceived brightness equivalent to about 3 times the luminosity for the LED with a FWHM of 100 nm compared to that with a FWHM of 15 nm. Based on the brightness perception efficiency, we developed an LED illumination simulator that allows young observers with normal color vision to experience the brightness perceived by the elderly and protanopes.

In the present study, we measured the visibility of several types of Japanese text on a liquid crystal display (LCD) with a spatially inhomogeneous luminance and extended the visibility index function (VIF) to explain the current experimental results with a higher degree of accuracy. We quantitatively analyzed the effect of an inhomogeneous luminance, which was produced by the graphical representation of a background without reflected light and by reflected light on a homogeneous background. These results showed that the visibility of text was influenced by the inhomogeneity of the background luminance in a domain that depended on text size. Then we applied a weighted average background luminance with a two dimensional Gaussian function, whose distribution width was related to the text size, to VIF. Finally, we proposed a modified VIF and showed that the new method was able to precisely estimate the actual visibility of text with an inhomogeneous luminance.

We recently identified dichlorobiphenyl (DCB) derivatives and 2-phenylbenzotriazole (PBTA) congeners as major mutagenic constituents of the waters of the Waka River and the Yodo River system in Japan, respectively. In this study we examined sister chromatid exchange (SCE) induction by two dichlorobiphenyl derivatives, 3,3'-dichlorobenzidine (DCB, 4,4'-diamino-3,3'-dichlorobiphenyl) and 4,4'-diamino-3,3'-dichloro-5-nitrobiphenyl (5-nitro-DCB); three PBTA congeners, 2-[2-(acetylamino)-4-[bis(2-methoxyethyl)amino]-5-methoxyphenyl]-5-amino-7-bromo-4-chloro-2H-benzotriazole (PBTA-1), 2-[2-(acetylamino)-4-[N-(2-cyanoethyl)ethylamino]-5-methoxyphenyl]-5-amino-7-bromo-4-chloro-2H-benzotriazole (PBTA-2), and 2-[2-(acetylamino)amino]-4-[bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]-5-methoxyphenyl]-5-amino-7-bromo-4-chloro-2H-benzotriazole (PBTA-6); and water concentrates from the Waka River in Chinese hamster lung (CHL) cells. Concentration-dependent induction of SCE was found for all DCBs and PBTAs examined in the presence of S9 mix, and statistically significant increases of SCEs were detected at 2 microg per ml of medium or higher concentrations. SCE induction of MeIQx was examined to compare genotoxic activities of these water pollutants. According to the results, a ranking of the SCE-inducing potency of these compounds is the following: 5-nitro-DCB approximately MeIQx>PBTA6>PBTA-1 approximately PBTA-2>DCB. Water samples collected at a site at the Waka River showed concentration-related increases in SCEs at 6.25-18.75 ml-equivalent of river water per ml of medium with S9 mix. The concentrations of 5-nitro-DCB and DCB in the river water samples were from 2.5 to 19.4 ng/l and from 4100 to 18,900 ng/l, respectively. However, these chemicals showed only small contribution to SCE induction by the Waka River water.

We measured the visibility of several type of chromatic text presented on a chromatic background on a liquid crystal (LC) display and extended the visibility index function (VIF) as a function of character luminance, background luminance, and character size to explain the current experimental results with a higher degree of accuracy. In addition to character luminance, background luminance, and character size, we analyzed the effect of different chromatic text and background colors under several saturation and hue conditions. The results show that the original VIF cannot predict the experimental data well under small luminance difference and large character conditions. Finally, a method was developed that showed that our improved VIF can precisely estimate the actual visibility of chromatic text presented under various conditions on a chromatic background.

A novel (μ 3 -oxo)tetraruthenium cluster ( 2 ) was synthesized in an isolated yield of 73% by the reaction of a zerovalent ruthenium complex, Ru(η 6 -cot)(η 2 -dmfm) 2 ( 1 ) [cot = 1,3,5-cyclooctatriene, dmfm = dimethyl fumarate], with water under reflux in 1,4-dioxane for 6 h. The structure and the X-ray characterization of this novel complex 2 as well as a possible formation mechanism of 2 are disclosed.

Non destructive Si die residual stress was investigated with Raman spectroscopy. The dies were assembled on the organic substrates by flip chip bonding technology. Two different thickness dies, which were 50 and 100 µm, were used. The measurement was implemented on the die backside. The die specimen was 12 mm × 12 mm size with 4576 columnar Cu bumps having Sn-Ag solder caps. Bump diameter, Cu height and solder cap thickness were 25, 15 and 25 µm, respectively. The pitches of the bumps in the peripheral and core areas were 80 and 200 µm, respectively. Those were bonded to the organic substrate with Cu pad by a thermal compression bonder with a pre applied adhesive of non conductive film. The substrate was 0.3 mm thick organic laminate of 1-2-1 structure with 0.2 mm thick core. The maximum bonding temperature was 250°C. 50 µm thick die assembled sample was used for the corner area backside residual stress non-destructive evaluation. The very corner end area had very low residual stress and 0.6 to 0.8 distant from the end showed compressive stress of 50 to 90 MPa at room temperature. The die center area backside residual stress measurement at room temperature was carried out with two specimens which were 50 and 100 µm thick dies bonded to the substrates. 16 points per die, which were aligned with 150 µm pitch of 4 × 4 grid, were measured. 100 µm thick die sample showed relatively higher tensile stress than 50 µm die one. It indicated that those sample dies' backsides had substantially tensile residual stress. Temperature dependence of the residual stress was also investigated with 50 µm thick die sample. 16 points were measured at −55, 21, 125 and 150°C. The stress values at 21°C were very small. It became larger compressive stress as the temperature increased. It also showed a relatively higher compressive stress at −55°C.

A flat‐surface single crystal structure of pentacene organic semiconductor was formed, with a submicron‐height terrace structure, in liquid crystal solvent cells; the formation mechanism is discussed. By cooling the pentacene solution in a heated cell until supersaturated, a variety of segregated crystal morphology was observed, including dendrite, lozenge and needle‐like crystals. Segregation of lozenge crystals was promoted by the appropriate pentacene concentration combined with the rubbing process of polyimide alignment layers, and the crystal morphology was examined in detailed. As a result, based on terrace‐structural growth, low‐profile flat‐surface crystal morphology was found in addition to conventional pyramidal morphology. The molecular alignment of the flat pentacene crystal was confirmed by anisotropy of the microscopic Raman scattering intensity of the polarized incident light used for excitation. The self‐assembly of flat thin single crystal plates, whose maximum size reach 150 µm approxima...

To reduce the twist angle without satisfying the Morgan condition in a twisted-alignment guest-host liquid crystal device, the authors fabricated liquid crystal cells having smaller optical anisotropy of the liquid crystals and evaluated the electrooptic properties. A birefringent phenomenon, not optical rotation, occurred here, and the authors investigated fabrication conditions in which two orthogonal polarized light components of the incident light were absorbed by a dichroic black dye that was doped into the liquid crystals. As a result of evaluating the transmittance of the liquid crystal cells, they increased light absorbance and suppressed the black level according to the selection of a liquid crystal with low refractive index anisotropy and an appropriate twist angle. According to this investigation from cell fabrication experiments, the authors clearly showed that the twist angle can be reduced, and they found that when the twist angle was in the range of up to 180°, a response time of 30 ms including both the rise and decay times, could be obtained without decreasing the response speed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 2, 88(5): 21–28, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjb.20125

We fabricated reflective display devices using twisted-alignment guest-host liquid crystal with low refractive index anisotropy and evaluated their electro-optic properties. The dark state reflectance of the devices was reduced to 1/3 by using the liquid crystal (containing dichroic dye) with low refractive index anisotropy. The bright state reflectance could keep more than 50% by using liquid crystal with a high alignment order parameter. These results indicated that high-contrast reflective display devices can be made using a liquid crystal material with low refractive index anisotropy and a high order parameter.

We measured response time, the number of nonresponses, response error, and subjective visibility evaluation for color Landolt-Cs with a gray color background presented on a CRT display to young and old adults (mean ages: 22.3 and 65.9 years, respectively) and to the same young adults wearing glasses with filters simulating an aging human crystalline lens. Comparing the results of elderly and young subjects without the filter, the results of the elderly subjects showed a longer response time, higher nonresponse ratio, slower response speed, and lower visibility, particularly for gray and blue stimuli. Conversely, the results for the young subjects who were fitted with the filters showed tendencies similar to those of the elderly subjects. These results indicate that the yellowing of the human lens strongly influences the visibility of color targets in the elderly and that wearing the filters enables young adults to simulate the visibility of the elderly. It suggests that the simulated filter as well as the aging human lens modifies the effective luminance, effective luminance contrast, and color difference between the color target and the background on the retina. Moreover, the relationship between the subjective evaluation and the response speed changes remarkably with age, regardless of the filters, suggesting that not only the subjective evaluation but also the evaluation of the performance, such as response speed, is important in estimating visibility and controllability in the elderly. The filter used in the present study will be an effective tool for the young to evaluate the visibility of elderly adults in terms of both response speed and subjective evaluation of visibility. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 30, 5–12, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.20071

We report here a 20-year old woman who referred to our clinic for identify the responsible antigen of anaphylaxis. Five days before the reaction, she had a cold and had taken a gel capsule cold medicine, Stona IB Gel®. On the day of the reaction, she took a dose of Stona IB Gel® after eating yogurt. Five minutes after oral administration, she developed a heat sensation and pruritus on her neck, with flushing, abdominal pains, breathing difficulties, and syncope. The specific IgE antibodies measured by ImmunoCAP® were all negative except for gelatin. Prick-prick skin testing revealed positive responses to Stona IB Gel®, gelatin KS and gelatin RP600, of which the latter two were included in the Stona IB Gel® capsule. From these test results, she was diagnosed with anaphylaxis due to gelatin, and to date she has had no further allergic symptoms since avoiding foods containing gelatin. In infancy she had received four vaccinations against diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus, which contained gelatin as a stabilizer. However, she had not developed allergic symptoms until this time. We hypothesize that she might be sensitized to gelatin by taking Stona IB Gel® during the preceding 4 days. This is the first case of anaphylaxis from the ingestion of an oral medication containing gelatin in Japan. Allergic reactions to gelatin are comparatively rare, but according to the past reports, the reactions were severe. Since many kinds of foods, cosmetics, pharmaceutical products, and medication contain gelatin, it is important to be aware of gelatin allergy.

The end groups of styrene-methyl methacrylate (St-MMA) copolymers polymerized radically with 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator, which are difficult to characterize even by NMR, were investigated by pyrolysis-gas chromatography. On the resulting pyrograms, characteristic products that formed from the end-group moiety due to AIBN, such as 2-cyanopropane, 2-cyanopropen, and various compounds consisting of an isobutyronitrile group and a monomer unit, were observed together with those from the main chain, such as St and MMA monomers and various dimeric and trimeric products. The relative abundance between the recombination and disproportionation termination reactions in the copolymerization process was estimated from the relative intensities between the characteristic peaks of the end group and those of the main chain. Thus, the estimated abundance for the termination reactions suggested that the polymerization process for this particular copolymer system terminated preferentially by recombination rather than by disproportionation. Furthermore, the relative abundance between the monomer units adjacent to the chain-end AIBN residues was estimated on the basis of the peak intensities of the products consisting of an isobutyronitrile group and either monomer unit, which reflected the penultimate neighboring structure of the end group in the polymer chain. Thus, the observed results suggested that the isobutyronitrile radical formed by the dissociation of AIBN in the initiation reaction was predominantly adjoined by St monomer rather than by MMA monomer.

A small and light-weight wearable electrocardiograph (ECG) equipment with a tri-axis accelerometer (x, y and z-axis) was developed for prolonged monitoring of everyday stress. It consists of an amplifier, a microcomputer with an AD converter, a triaxial accelerometer, and a memory card. Four parameters can be sampled at 1 kHz for more than 24 h and a maximum of 27 h with a default battery and a memory card of one giga byte (1 GB). Off-line data processing includes motion information along three axes and autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity bispectral analysis and the tone-entropy method (T-E method) from HRV data. The availability of the system was tested through simulated office work and three-day monitoring by replacing the battery and the memory card every 24 h. Both short-term and circadian rhythms of ANS activity were clearly observed. In addition, sympathetic nervous activities gradually increased from the second to the third day. The experimental data presented verifies the functionality of the proposed system.

Curie-point pyrolyses of four paddy rice ( Oryza sativa L.) cultivars were carried out at 500 °C for 4 s. The products were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and/or GC/mass spectrometry. Analytical pyrolysis showed that rice lignin is a mixed p -hydroxyphenyl-guaiacyl-syringyl lignin, as did the results of alkaline nitrobenzene oxidation. The main pyrolysis products were 4-vinylphenol (VP) and 4-vinylguaiacol (VG). The determination of the vinyl compounds showed that the yield of VP had good correlation with the cultivars and the maturity of rice. p -Coumaric and ferulic acids in rice were determined on the basis of the yields of VP and VG produced on pyrolysis. The results were in good agreement with the amount of the acids determined by hot alkaline hydrolysis.

A small and light-weight wearable electrocardiograph (ECG) equipment with three accelerometers (x, y and zaxis) was developed for prolonged monitoring of autonomic nervous system in daily life. It consists of an amplifier, a bandpass filter, a microcomputer with an AD converter, a triaxial accelerometer, and a memory card. Four parameters can be sampled at 1 kHz (10 bits) for more than 24 hours, maximum 27 hours, with a default battery and a memory card (1 GB). The availability of the system was tested for three subjects for three days by replacing the battery and the memory card every 24 hours under each environment. Both short-term and circadian rhythms of the autonomic nervous system were clearly observed. The change of the autonomic nervous system from body movement (i.e. walking or turning over) was observed by check acceleration data. The feasibility of the application in clinical practice is also discussed.

A 65-year-old man with a 3-year history of unresectable colon cancer was switched to FOLFIRI (5-fluorouracil, levofolinate calcium, irinotecan) and panitumumab, after the failure of FOLFIRI and bevacizumab, in February 2013. After the fourth dose of panitumumab, painful eruptions rapidly developed (figures 1A-C). An autoimmune bullous disease, subcorneal pustular dermatosis and impetigo contagiosa were suspected. However, no autoantibodies against bullous pemphigoid-180, desmoglein 1,or desmoglein [...]

We have cloned the cDNA for Xenopus eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E). Here we show that translation of a luciferase mRNA that contains the 5' untranslated region derived from Xenopus eIF4E is active in fertilized eggs, but is repressed in oocytes. The results suggest that the expression of Xenopus eIF4E is regulated at the translation level.

To elucidate how aging affects the muscular load required for pulling up pants-style disposable diapers, and why some elderly people cannot pull up the rear of their disposable diapers well, we evaluated the electromyogram (EMG) of 8 young subjects (21.5+/-1.5 years) and 7 elderly subjects (71.6+/-6.1 years). EMG was measured for four muscles--biceps brachii, deltoid, brachioradialis, and flexor carpi ulnaris. We evaluated the muscular load during a series of motions for pulling a disposable diaper up at the front and the rear of the body using an EMG-Video Synchronous Split Method. The analysis revealed that the front and the rear integral EMG of elderly subjects were both significantly larger than those of young subjects for all four muscles. For the deltoid and flexor carpi ulnaris muscles, the maximum amplitude of EMG when pulling up the rear of the disposable diapers was significantly larger in the elderly subjects than the young ones. These results suggest that the muscular load involved in pulling up the rear of disposable diapers may increase due to changes in body habitus caused by aging. Since muscular strength decreases with age, it seems likely that the elderly individuals will eventually be unable to pull up the rear of their diapers.

The purpose of the study is to show the feasibility of a light-weight wearable electrocardiograph with three accelero-meters for monitoring stress in everyday life. It consists of an amplifier, a band pass filter, a microcomputer with an AD converter, a triaxial accelerometer, and a memory card. An ECG and three accelerations are sampled at 1 kHz for more than 24 hours, maximum 27 hours with a default battery and a memory card. The heart rate variability analysis program detects R waves and determines R-R intervals for 24 hours by a data acquisition algorithm. An algorithm was also developed. It was designed to reduce motion artifacts induced by body movements on ECG. Autonomic nervous activity levels are calculated based on the heart rate variability spectrum analysis. The availability of the system was tested for three subjects for three days by replacing the battery and memory card every 24 hours under each environment. Both short time rhythms and a circadian rhythm of autonomic nervous system were clearly observed. The feasibility of the system for monitoring the long-term stress level is discussed.

We measured reaction time (RT), P300, and subjective evaluation for color Landolt-Cs with a gray color background presented on a CRT display. Seven young and 7 elderly subjects (mean ages: 21.6 and 68.4 years, respectively) participated, and the young subjects wore glasses with filters simulating spectral transmittance of an aging human lens as a test condition. The results for young subjects not wearing the filters showed that RT and P300 latency are constant among different test colors. In contrast, the results for elderly subjects showed that RT and P300 varied substantially depending upon the test colors and RT and P300 latency became longer than those of young subjects, particularly for gray and blue stimuli. In addition, the results for the young subjects with filters showed tendencies similar to those in elderly subjects. These results indicate that the yellowing of the human lens strongly influences reaction time and cognition time for color targets, suggesting that wearing the filters enables the young to simulate RT qualitatively as well as visibility of the elderly because both the simulated filter and the aging human lens modify the effective luminance, effective luminance contrast and effective color difference between the color target and the background on the retina. We also found that the reciprocal of RT and P300 latency could be expressed in a multiple regression model consisting of effective luminance, effective luminance contrast, effective color difference and age. Absolute values of RT and P300 latency in young subjects with filters, however, did not quantitatively coincide with those of the elderly subjects. There were differences of RT and P300 latency between the young with filters and the elderly, indicating that higher order age-related delay could be involved.

We have found two isoforms of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) in Xenopus laevis. These proteins differ in length by 18 amino acids. Overexpression of either of the two eIF4E proteins modestly increase translation in Xenopus oocytes. The results suggest that both of these two isoforms function in translation.