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Tendon-driven robot utilizes only tensile force (i.e. tension) for motion generation. Therefore, a redundant actuation is characteristically necessary, and then it yields the internal force among tendons. Given the internal force for balance at a desired posture, the musculoskeletal tendondriven manipulator has the inherent possibility of point-to-point position control without any sensory feedback. However, the motion convergence is strongly governed by the arrangement of tendons. This study analyzes the mathematical conditions of convergence for this sensorless position control by use of a Lyapunov function. Subsequently, targeting the two-link musculoskeletal structurewith six tendons, the sufficient conditions for the convergence at desired posture are further defined by employing an approximation of the tendon-length based on a Taylor expansion. Finally, the convergent conditions are verified through simulation and validated via experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stressful stimuli are reported to affect gastric emptying. However, methods for measuring gastric emptying are, in themselves, stressful. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a method for measuring gastric emptying noninvasively. We used EIT to measure gastric emptying of liquid and solid meals to determine the effect of cold pain stress on gastric emptying. EIT (DAS-01P APT system; University of Sheffield, UK) was carried out in six healthy women (age, 21.6 +/- 0.4 [mean +/- SD] years) who had ingested a liquid (potage, 263 g; 139 kcal) or solid (beef patty, 205 g; 435 kcal) test meal. Cold pain stimuli consisted of repeated immersions of the subject's non-dominant hand into ice water (4 degrees C) for 1 min, with a 15-s recovery period between immersions, for a total of 20 min. For the control stimulus, water at 37 degrees C was used. The cold pain stimulus was applied immediately after the ingestion of a test meal. All studies were carried out randomly in each subject at intervals of more than 1 week. With cold pain, the half emptying time of the liquid meal was significantly greater than that with the control stimulus (47.6 +/- 26.1 min vs 28.1 +/- 10.8 min, P < 0.05). For the solid meal, the half emptying time did not differ between stimuli (101.9 +/- 44.8 min with cold pain vs 92.6 +/- 30.5 min with control stimulus). There were no significant differences in lag time between the liquid and solid meals. Cold pain stress delayed gastric emptying of liquid but not solid meals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Since skeletal related events (SRE) worsen QOL, the information relating to the SRE is important in the patient's care. We have examined the incidences of bone metastasis (BM) and SRE in Japan and explored the prognostic factors which may affect the BM or SRE free period or survival. Patients and Methods: A retrospective, multicenter (21 institutes) study was performed. Patients with node positive or node negative with moderate to severe recurrence risk primary breast cancer were included. The primary endpoint was SRE-free period, and the secondary endpoints were BM-free period and the over-all survival period. By using a proportional hazard model (Cox regression), factors which affect these endpoints were examined in the population excluding stage IV patients. Results: 1,779 patients were registered and 1,708 patients' data were used for analysis. The median follow-up duration was 5.71 years. SRE occurred in 133 (68.9%) of 193 patients who developed BM. The median SRE-free period from the initial treatment was 1,006 days. The SRE-free rate and SRE-free survival rate at 5-years were 92.6% and 85.4%, respectively. The median period from the initial SRE to the second one was 112 days, and the second to the third one was 147 days. The median BM-free period was 767 days. The BM-free and BM-free survival rates at 5-years were 89.2% and 83.7%, respectively. The over-all survival rate at 5-years was 89.4%. The SRE-free period was significantly affected by the number of lymph node metastasis (LN mets) (Hazard Ratio; HR [95%CI]; 1.09 [1.042-1.143], p = 0.0002) and clinical stage (when stage I was assumed as reference, HR in stage II; 4.54 [1.296-15.933], stage III; 7.36 [1.171-31.539], p = 0.0262). SRE-free survival period was affected by the number of LN mets (HR; 1.10 [1.066-1.131], p < 0.0001), stage (stage I as reference, HR in stage II: 2.93 [1.349-6.349], and stage III: 4.28 [1.694-10.815], p = 0.008), and tumor phenotype (Luminal [L] A as reference, HR in LB; 1.89 [0.868-4.117], L-HER2: 2.81 [1.334-5.923], HER2: 2.68 [1.266-5.659], Triple negative (TN); 5.38 [3.031-9.537], p < 0.0001). The BM-free period was affected by the number of LN mets (HR; 1.09 [1.048-1.125], p < 0.0001), stage (stage I as reference, HR in stage II; 3.24 [1.219-8.619], stage III; 6.37 [2.080-19.485], p = 0.0045), and BMI (HR; 0.92 [0.854-0.987], p = 0.0213). BM free-survival period was affected by the number of LN mets (HR;1.10 [1.067-1.129], p < 0.0001), stage (stage I as reference, HR in stage II; 2.80 [1.344-5.825], stage III; 4.43 [1.853-10.609], p = 0.0037), phenotype (LA as reference, HR in LB; 2.23 [1.097-4.534], L-HER2; 3.10 [1.557-6.191], HER2; 2.57 [1.344-5.324], TN; 5.02 [2.887-8.738], p < 0.0001), and BMI (HR; 0.92 [0.872-0.981], p = 0.0090). Over-all survival period was affected by the number of LN mets (HR; 1.11 [1.075-1.147], p < 0.0001), stage (stage I as reference, HR in stage II; 2.32 [1.000-5.381], stage III; 4.24 [1.551-11.573], p = 0.01777), and phenotype (LA as reference, HR in LB; 2.26 [0.850- 6.013], L-HER2; 3.58 [1.393-9.184], HER2; 4.22 [1.719-10.347], TN; 10.05 [4.810- 21.004], p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Tumor phenotype appears to have an impact on SRE-free, BM-free and overall survival period, but not on SRE-free and BM-free period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vertebrates generally have a single type of rod for scotopic vision and multiple types of cones for photopic vision. Noteworthily, nocturnal geckos transmuted ancestral photoreceptor cells into rods containing not rhodopsin but cone pigments, and, subsequently, diurnal geckos retransmuted these rods into cones containing cone pigments. High sensitivity of scotopic vision is underlain by the rod’s low background noise, which originated from a much lower spontaneous activation rate of rhodopsin than of cone pigments. Here, we revealed that nocturnal gecko cone pigments decreased their spontaneous activation rates to mimic rhodopsin, whereas diurnal gecko cone pigments recovered high rates similar to those of typical cone pigments. We also identified amino acid residues responsible for the alterations of the spontaneous activation rates. Therefore, we concluded that the switch between diurnality and nocturnality in geckos required not only morphological transmutation of photoreceptors but also adjustment of the spontaneous activation rates of visual pigments.

This study proposes two novel methods for determining the muscular internal force (MIF) based on joint stiffness, using an MIF feedforward controller for the musculoskeletal system. The controller was developed in a previous study, where we found that it could be applied to achieve any desired end-point position without the use of sensors, by providing the MIF as a feedforward input to individual muscles. However, achieving motion with good response and low stiffness using the system, posed a challenge. Furthermore, the controller was subject to an ill-posed problem, where the input could not be uniquely determined. We propose two methods to improve the control performance of this controller. The first method involves determining a MIF that can independently control the response and stiffness at a desired position, and the second method involves the definition of an arbitrary vector that describes the stiffnesses at the initial and desired positions to uniquely determine the MIF balance at each position. The numerical simulation results reported in this study demonstrate the effectiveness of both proposed methods., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Matsutani, Tahara and Kino.)

The aim of this study was to determine parameters for estimating the internal exposure of all organs in mouse experiments from the radioactivity concentration in organs. The estimation of internal exposure rate conversion coefficients and absorbed fractions for 137Cs, 134Cs and 90Sr by the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) with a voxel-based mouse phantom is presented. The geometry of the voxel phantom is constructed from computer tomography images of a mouse 9 cm in length weighing 23.9 g. The voxel-based mouse phantom has the following organs: brain, skull, heart, lungs, liver, stomach, spleen, kidneys, bladder, testis and tissue (tissue and other organs). Gamma- and beta-rays from 137Cs, 134Cs and 90Sr sources in each source organ are generated and scored for every target organ. The internal exposure rate conversion coefficients and absorbed fractions are calculated from deposition energies in each target organ from each source organ and are used to generate an internal exposure rate conversion coefficient matrix and an absorbed fraction matrix. The absorbed fractions of beta-rays in the source organs are roughly 0.5-0.8 for 137Cs and 134Cs, and the absorbed fractions of gamma-rays are <0.04 for 137Cs and <0.03 for 134Cs. The internal exposure rate conversion coefficient matrix is defined using the absorbed fractions. The calculated internal exposure rate coefficient matrix is tested under a uniform radioactivity concentration of 1 Bq/kg for 137Cs, 134Cs and 90Sr. The estimated internal exposure rates in the mouse whole body for 137Cs, 134Cs and 90Sr are 3.28 × 10-3, 2.55 × 10-3 and 1.20 × 10-2 μGy/d, respectively. These values are very similar to those for an ellipsoid frog (31.4 g) and an ellipsoid crab egg mass (12.6 g) reported in ICRP Publication 108., (Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Japanese Radiation Research Society and Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology 2020.)

Pinopsin is the opsin most closely related to vertebrate visual pigments on the phylogenetic tree. This opsin has been discovered among many vertebrates, except mammals and teleosts, and was thought to exclusively function in their brain for extraocular photoreception. Here, we show the possibility that pinopsin also contributes to scotopic vision in some vertebrate species. Pinopsin is distributed in the retina of non-teleost fishes and frogs, especially in their rod photoreceptor cells, in addition to their brain. Moreover, the retinal chromophore of pinopsin exhibits a thermal isomerization rate considerably lower than those of cone visual pigments, but comparable to that of rhodopsin. Therefore, pinopsin can function as a rhodopsin-like visual pigment in the retinas of these lower vertebrates. Since pinopsin diversified before the branching of rhodopsin on the phylogenetic tree, two-step adaptation to scotopic vision would have occurred through the independent acquisition of pinopsin and rhodopsin by the vertebrate lineage., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Most vertebrate retinas contain a single type of rod for scotopic vision and multiple types of cones for photopic and color vision. The retinas of certain amphibian species uniquely contain two types of rods: red rods, which express rhodopsin, and green rods, which express a blue-sensitive cone pigment (M1/SWS2 group). Spontaneous activation of rhodopsin induced by thermal isomerization of the retinal chromophore has been suggested to contribute to the rod's background noise, which limits the visual threshold for scotopic vision. Therefore, rhodopsin must exhibit low thermal isomerization rate compared with cone visual pigments to adapt to scotopic condition. In this study, we determined whether amphibian blue-sensitive cone pigments in green rods exhibit low thermal isomerization rates to act as rhodopsin-like pigments for scotopic vision. Anura blue-sensitive cone pigments exhibit low thermal isomerization rates similar to rhodopsin, whereas Urodela pigments exhibit high rates like other vertebrate cone pigments present in cones. Furthermore, by mutational analysis, we identified a key amino acid residue, Thr47, that is responsible for the low thermal isomerization rates of Anura blue-sensitive cone pigments. These results strongly suggest that, through this mutation, anurans acquired special blue-sensitive cone pigments in their green rods, which could form the molecular basis for scotopic color vision with normal red rods containing green-sensitive rhodopsin., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

A green extraction spectrophotometric method was presented for the determination of trace amounts of cadmium in soil and sediment samples. This method is based on the selective extraction of cadmium as its iodide complex by aqueous biphasic extraction composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and sodium sulfate, and a subsequent sensitive determination by spectrophotometry using 2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5-[N-n-propyl-N-(3-sulfopropyl)amino]phenol. This extraction method is simple and environmentally benign, since the organic solvents used for the traditional liquid-liquid extractions are replaced by the non-toxic polymer and inorganic salt. Cadmium can be selectively extracted from soil and sediment samples into the PEG-rich upper phase by an aqueous biphasic system containing potassium iodide and sulfuric acid. The proposed method was applied to the determination of cadmium in certified reference materials for soil and river sediment. The obtained results were in good agreement with the certified values.

Background: Bone metastasis (BM) is important for studying systemic spread of breast cancer. It often causes skeletal-related events (SREs) that worsen quality of life. We investigated the prevalence and risk factors for BM and SRE using a dataset from the Breast Oncology Research Network (BORN) in Japan., Patients and Methods: We collected data on primary breast cancer patients with node-positive or node-negative disease at intermediate to high risk of recurrence. The risk factors affecting the BM-free rate, SRE-free rate and overall survival were analyzed by using the Cox proportional hazard model., Results: Data of 1,779 patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer during 2003-2005 were collected from the BORN and 1,708 cases were used for analysis. The median follow-up duration was 5.71 years. BM developed in 193 cases (11.3 %) and the BM-free rate at 5 years was 89.2 %. The annual hazard ratio of BM development differs remarkably according to the tumor subtype. SREs occurred in 133 (68.9 %) out of 193 patients and the SRE-free rate at 5 years was 92.6 %. In the multivariate analysis, clinical stage (P < 0.0001), number of lymph node (LN) metastases (P = 0.0029), tumor subtype (P = 0.034) and progesterone receptor status (P = 0.038) were independently significant risk factors for BM-free rate, but only clinical stage (P < 0.0001) and number of LN metastases (P = 0.0004) significantly correlated with SRE-free rate., Conclusions: This retrospective study clarifies the prevalence and risk factors for BM and SRE in Japanese breast cancer patients. Our results show the importance of considering subtype in the care of BM and SRE.

Aim: To analyze the influence of menopause and age on postprandial lipoprotein responses in healthy adult women., Method: Twenty-seven healthy young and middle-aged pre- and postmenopausal female volunteers aged 21-53 y were enrolled. They ingested OFTT cream(Jomo, Takasaki, Japan). Fasting and postprandial blood samples were obtained for up to 6 h, and serum concentrations of lipoproteins were analyzed., Results: In the postprandial phase, serum triglycerides(TG), remnant-like particle(RLP)-TG(RLP-TG), RLP-cholesterol(RLP-C), and TG-rich lipoprotein-TG(TRL-TG)concentrations in all groups peaked after 2 h. After 4 h, the TG, RLP-C, RLP-TG and TRL-TG concentrations in the young women returned to the fasting concentrations. However, at 6 h, these parameters in the pre- and postmenopausal women had barely returned to the fasting concentrations., Conclusion: The present results suggest that:(1)the magnitude of postprandial TG concentrations is dependent on age, but not on menopause;(2)clearance of remnant lipoproteins is delayed with age in pre- and postmenopausal women compared to young women, and(3)menopause is associated with an increase of RLP-C, but may not influence LDL particle size.

Objective: We examined various factors possibly related to metabolic syndrome, particularly focusing on nutritional assessment proteins such as retinol binding protein (RBP) and transthyretin (TTR), and remnant lipoproteins., Materials and Methods: Fasting serum lipid was analyzed in 58 Japanese adult volunteers (33 men and 25 women, 42.5 +/- 10.1 years old)., Results: The lipid profiles of the subjects were classified by lipoprotein polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic patterns into Types S (n = 10), A (n = 37), and N (n = 11), according to the method described in Internal Medicine 42: 244, 2003. RBP and TTR were significantly higher in Type N than in Types S and A. In multivariate analysis, RBP was accounted for by remnant-like particle-triglyceride (RLP-TG), interleukin 6, body mass index and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol (adjusted R2 = 0.621). TTR was accounted for by lipoprotein(a), adiponectin and RLP-TG (adjusted R2 = 0.415). Malondialdehyde-LDL was significantly accounted for by LDL-cholesterol and RLP-cholesterol (adjusted R2 = 0.601). Lipoprotein(a) and LDL-cholesterol were independent variables for oxidized LDL antigen (adjusted R2 = 0.620). High-sensitivity C-reactive protein was accounted for by interleukin 6, immunoreactive insulin and oxidized LDL antigen (adjusted R2 = 0.361). Uric acid and body mass index were independent variables for adiponectin (adjusted R2 = 0.429)., Conclusion: RBP and TTR may be useful as convenient and simple clinical markers of overnutrition and possibly of metabolic syndrome.

Symmetrically and unsymmetrically 2,5-difunctionalized phospholes bearing ester groups were prepared in a one-pot procedure from the corresponding diynes and dichloro(phenyl)phosphine via titanacyclopentadienes. The observed optical properties of the functionalized phospholes show that the pi-conjugative push-pull interaction between the 2- and 5-substituents plays an important role in controlling the light-emitting efficiency.

Background: Electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most popular tools for daily clinics and health checkup, and has been used for the National Survey on Circulatory Disorders to assess the health status in Japanese people. The meaningfulness to predict mortality from all causes among people with ECG abnormality is to be clarified using national samples., Methods: ECG findings recorded among 9,638 subjects for National Survey on Circulatory Disorders 1980 in Japan, were classified using the Minnesota Codes (mc). Their relationships to all cause mortality over 19 years were examined using Cox proportional hazard models adjusting for sex, age, systolic blood pressure, blood glucose, and smoking habits., Results: Subjects with abnormal Q-QS findings showed significantly high hazard ratios ( 3.71(mc1-1) and 1.57 (mc1-3)) for mortality to the subjects who were free from any major ECG findings. Hazard ratios were 1.37 (mc2-1) to 4.16 (mc2-5) for axis deviation, and 1.34 (mc3-1) to 1.35 (mc3-3) for left high R waves. Those were 1.63 (mc4-3) to 2.59 (mc4-1) for ST depression, and 1.54 (mc5-3) to 2.33 (mc5-1) for T abnormality. The lower the second number of the Minnesota Codes was, the higher hazard ratio was observed in the Q-QS, ST, T codes. The hazard ratios of junction-type ST depression (mc4-4), and low T waves (mc5-4, 5-5) were not significant., Conclusions: ECG findings defined by the Minnesota Codes were useful to predict the risk for mortality from all causes even after adjusting for the other major risk factors, and the results supported a usefulness of the ECG for health check-ups.

Objective: We examined the usefulness of the serum total cholesterol (TC)/triglyceride (TG) and LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C)/TG ratios for predicting the presence of small, dense LDL, by comparing them with the established indicators of small, dense LDL, such as the LDL-migration index (LDL-MI) and LDL-C/Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) ratio., Materials and Methods: Fasting serum lipid was analyzed in 99 Japanese hyperlipidemic and normolipidemic subjects (34 males and 65 females, 59.4 +/- 11.9 years old)., Results: A good negative correlation was observed between LDL-MI and log (TC/TG) (R(2) = 0.473, p < 0.0001). There was a strong positive correlation between LDL-C/ApoB and log (TC/TG) (R(2) = 0.665, p < 0.0001). Similar results were obtained using LDL-C instead of TC. Using LDL-MI > 0.4 as an indicator of small, dense LDL, the upper limit of TG was estimated to be 140-142 mg/dl., Conclusion: TC/TG and LDL-C/TG may offer a convenient and simple clinical tool for predicting the presence of small, dense LDL. Particularly, TC/TG could be an easy-to-use indicator of small, dense LDL for general practitioners.

Estrogen receptor (ER) and p53 are important transcription factors in the growth regulation of tumor cells in breast cancer. We reported previously that thioredoxin (TRX) regulates the DNA binding activities of ER and p53 in vitro. The expression of pS-2, a trefoil factor, is also correlated with that of ER. To clarify the regulation mechanism of tumor growth in breast cancer, here we investigated the expression of TRX, ER, pS-2, and p53 and the mitotic index (MI) in 147 breast cancer tissues using immunohistochemical analysis. Of 123 TRX+ cases, ER+ cases (n = 62) showed a higher pS-2 score and lower MI than did ER- cases (n = 61). Furthermore, p53- cases (no mutation in p53; n = 76) also showed a lower MI than did p53+ cases (n = 47). There was no significant correlation between pS-2 and ER, MI and ER, or p53 and MI in the TRX- group. Among the ER+ and p53- cases (ER+/p53- group; n = 61), MI was lower in the TRX+ group (n = 46) than in the TRX- group (n = 15). However, in all other groups (n = 86) with abnormalities in the immunohistochemical expression of either p53 or ER, there was no significant correlation between MI and TRX expression. In the TRX+ and ER +/p53- group (n = 46), histological grading was lower than that in all other groups (n = 101). These findings suggest that TRX expression is linked to the ER- and p53-dependent regulation of tumor growth in breast cancer. In addition, TRX expression in ER+ and p53 intact (wild-type p53+) groups may mean better prognosis than in other conditions.

We report computed tomography of the retropancreatic peritoneal recess in a case in which gastric leiomyosarcoma developed. Because of its location behind the pancreas, an abnormal finding in the retropancreatic peritoneal recess may be radiologically mistaken for a retroperitoneal abnormality. Knowledge of anatomy of posterior peritoneal recesses and understanding of fetal development are important in the radiological diagnosis of the lesions behind the pancreas.

Abnormalities of triglyceride (TG) metabolism are considered to play an important role in pathogenesis of psoriasis. Two psoriatic patients with hypertriglycemia were treated with 750 mg of oral Clofibrate daily. While they were treated, both patients showed improvement of psoriasis. Upon cessation of treatment the lesions returned. During the treatment, levels of serum TG, apolipoprotein C-III (apo C-III), and apo E were reduced significantly. The analysis of serum fatty acids revealed a change in the level of linoleic acid. The serum linoleic acid level, which had been low in both cases before the treatment, increased in one case and decreased in other during the treatment. In the biopsy specimen from the post-treatment plaque, both capillary proliferation and endothelial swelling in the dermis were less prominent. There was a moderate reduction in the number of lymphocytic cells, and an increase in that of histiocytic cells. Clofibrate treatment improved TG metabolism and the histological and clinical findings in the psoriatic lesion.