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Astrophysical reactions involving radioactive isotopes (RI) often play an important role in high-temperature stellar environments. The experimental studies on the reaction rates for those are still limited mainly due to the technical difficulties in producing high-quality RI beams. A direct measurement of those reactions would be still challenging in many cases, however, we can make a reliable evaluation of the reaction rates by an indirect method or by studying the resonance prorerties. Here we ntroduce recent examples of experimental studies on such RI-involving astrophysical reactions, performed at Center for Nuclear Study, the University of Tokyo, using the low-energy RI beam separator CRIB. One is for the neutron-induced destruction reactions of 7Be in the Big-Bang nucleosynthesis, and the other is the study on the 22Mg(α, p) reaction relevant in X-ray bursts, which was performed with the resonant scattering method from the inverse reaction channel.

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a syndrome characterized by elevated intracranial pressure without an identifiable underlying cause. Pregnancy has unique and important diagnostic and therapeutic implications for patients with IIH. Despite these implications, there are no guidelines to assist clinicians in managing IIH during pregnancy. Our review aims to summarize the key considerations related to the diagnosis and management of IIH during pregnancy, to optimize the care of these patients and mitigate the risk of disease-related complications. The optimal management of IIH in pregnancy should include a multidisciplinary team, including an obstetrician (or maternal-fetal medicine specialist), a neurologist, and an ophthalmologist (or neuro-ophthalmologist).

We aimed to determine whether there are any differences in all-cause and cause-specific mortality with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk between health screening attenders and non-attenders among young adults.We performed a retrospective cohort study using claim data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database.Individuals aged 20-39 years who had received health screening at least once between 2002 and 2005 were classified as attenders, and the others were classified as non-attenders. After propensity score matching according to attendance of health screening, 2,060,409 attenders and 2,060,409 non-attenders were included. We estimated adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for all-cause mortality, cause-specific mortality, and hospitalization of CVD from 2006 to 2015.Survival from all-cause mortality was greater among attenders than among non-attenders (log rank P 0.001). Similarly, death from CVD (log rank P = 0.007) and CVD events (log rank P 0.001) were less likely among attenders. The risk for all-cause mortality in attenders was significantly lower than that in non-attenders (HR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.81 to 0.84). The risk for CVD mortality (HR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.73 to 0.87) and hospitalization of CVD (HR = 0.92, 95% CI = 0.91 to 0.94) were lower in attenders. In stratified analyses, the risk for all-cause and cause-specific mortalities was lower among attenders regardless of insurance type.Among young adults, the risk for all-cause mortality, CVD mortality, and hospitalization of CVD were lower for those who underwent health screenings. Future studies that evaluate the cost-effectiveness of health screening with additional consideration of psychosocial aspects are needed.

Experimental studies on astrophysical reactions involving radioactive isotopes (RI) often accompany technical challenges. Studies on such nuclear reactions have been conducted at the low-energy RI beam separator CRIB, operated by Center for Nuclear Study, the University of Tokyo. We discuss two cases of astrophysical reaction studies at CRIB; one is for the 7Be+n reactions which may affect the primordial 7Li abundance in the Big-Bang nucleosynthesis, and the other is for the 22Mg(α, p) reaction relevantin X-raybursts.

The second phase of the Advanced Mo-based Rare process Experiment (AMoRE-II) searches for a neutrino-less double-beta decay of 100Mo. A background level in the region of interest of 3034 ± 10 keV is required to be lower than 10-4 count/(keV kg year). Neutrons can generate background signals by gamma-ray emitting reactions with AMoRE-II detector materials. Thermal neutron shields will be installed inside and outside the lead shield to reduce the neutron flux in the shielding system. The background radioactivity of the inner thermal neutron shield must be low because AMoRE-II requires a low background level. A thermal neutron shield with a high shielding efficiency and low radioactivity was produced by using boric acid powder and silicone rubber. The shielding efficiency was tested to be {99.2 ± 0.25(stat)-0.53 +0.47(syst)}%, and the radioactivities of 40K, 226Ra, 228Ac, and 228Th were measured to be < 9.2 at 90% C.L., 14.2 ± 1.5, < 1.6 at 90% C.L., and 2.83 ± 0.80 mBq/kg, respectively.

Double perovskite Eu2NiMnO6 (ENMO) Gd2NiMnO6 (GNMO) and Tb2NiMnO6 (TNMO) ceramic powder have been synthesized by solid-state reaction and their crystal structure, microstructure, cryogenic magnetic properties, and magnetocaloric performance have been investigated. Structural studies by using X-ray diffraction shows that all compounds crystallize in the monoclinic structure with a P21/n space group. A ferromagnetic to paramagnetic (FM-PM) second-order phase transition occurred in ENMO, GNMO, and TNMO around 143, 130, and 112 K, respectively. The values of maximum magnetic entropy change and relative cooling power at an applied field of 5 T are found to be 3.2, 3.8, 3.5 J/kgK and 150, 182, 176 J/kg respectively, for the studied sample. The change in structural, magnetic, and magnetocaloric effect ascribed to the superexchange mechanism of Ni2+ – O – Mn3+ and Ni2+ – O – Mn4+. Due to different atomic size of Eu, Gd, Tb changes the ratio of Mn4+/Mn3+ which is responsible for the variation of properties significantly in double perovskite.

Anti-TNF-α agents (e.g. infliximab, adalimumab, etanercept) are effective management options in various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases (e.g. inflammatory bowel disease). The occurrence during anti-TNF-α agent therapy of a new onset or exacerbation of an inflammatory condition that usually responds to this class of drug has been termed a paradoxical adverse event (PAE). A wide range of ophthalmic PAEs have been reported including uveitis, optic neuritis/neuropathy, scleritis, orbital myositis, retinal vasculitis, and others. The patient reported herein developed a dramatic orbital inflammatory PAE during his infliximab infusions, which manifested as an acute orbital apex syndrome with vision loss. Physicians using this medication should be aware of this serious vision-threatening PAE, and urgent therapy with high dose intravenous corticosteroids may be required.

Objective To evaluate the clinical outcomes of patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) subjected to prone positioning before extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Design A retrospective analysis of a multicenter cohort was carried out. Setting Patients admitted to the Intensive Care Units of 11 hospitals in Korea. Patients Patients were divided into those who underwent prone positioning before ECMO (n = 28) and those who did not (n = 34). Interventions None. Variables of interest Thirty-day mortality, ECMO weaning failure rate, mechanical ventilation weaning success rate, mechanical ventilation-free days at day 60. Results The prone group had lower median peak inspiratory pressure and lower median dynamic driving pressure before ECMO. Thirty-day mortality was 21% in the prone group and 41% in the non-prone group (p = 0.098). The prone group also showed a lower ECMO weaning failure rate, and a higher mechanical ventilation weaning success rate and more mechanical ventilation-free days at day 60. In the non-prone group, median dynamic compliance marginally decreased shortly after ECMO, but no significant change was observed in the prone group. Conclusions Prone positioning before ECMO was not associated to increased mortality and tended to exert a protective effect.

Even during fixation, our eyes constantly make small, involuntary eye movements that cause the retinal image to be swept across our retinae. Despite this, our world appears completely stable, due to powerful perceptual stabilisation mechanisms. Whether these mechanisms are of functional consequence for visual performance remains largely unexplored, however. We directly tested this by using a perceptual grouping task, where physically aligned alternate grid elements were presented with an imperceptible temporal offset. Observers' abilities to reliably group the grid into rows (or columns) is posited to arise from the failure in compensation of retinal slip arising from the small eye movements that occur during the temporal offset, effectively introducing a spatial shift in the arrangement of grid elements. We incorporated this perceptual grouping task within the on-line jitter illusion, which temporarily disables perceptual stabilisation mechanisms through a 10 Hz flickering annulus of random noise (Vision Res 43 (2003) 957-969). Observers' abilities to correctly group the grid stimulus were measured with and without perceptual stabilisation mechanisms engaged (i.e. non-flickering vs. flickering annulus). Grouping performance was better when eye movements were perceived, suggesting that the influence of retinal slip is increased when perceptual stabilisation mechanisms are disabled. We therefore find that perceptual stabilisation can measurably influence visual function, in addition to its perceptual effects.

Background Immune checkpoint blockade with Programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/PD-L1 inhibitors has been effective in various malignancies and is considered as a standard treatment modality for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, emerging evidence show that PD-1/PD-L1 blockade can lead to hyperprogressive disease (HPD), a flair-up of tumor growth linked to dismal prognosis. This study aimed to evaluate the incidence of HPD and identify the determinants associated with HPD in patients with NSCLC treated with PD-1/PD-L1 blockade. Patients and methods We enrolled patients with recurrent and/or metastatic NSCLC treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors between April 2014 and November 2018. Clinicopathologic variables, dynamics of tumor growth, and treatment outcomes were analyzed in patients with NSCLC who received PD-1/PD-L1 blockade. HPD was defined according to tumor growth kinetics (TGK), tumor growth rate (TGR), and time to treatment failure (TTF). Immunophenotyping of peripheral blood CD8+ T lymphocytes was conducted to explore the potential predictive biomarkers of HPD. Results A total of 263 patients were analyzed. HPD was observed in 55 (20.9%), 54 (20.5%), and 98 (37.3%) patients according to the TGK, TGR, and TTF. HPD meeting both TGK and TGR criteria was associated with worse progression-free survival [hazard ratio (HR) 4.619; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.868–7.440] and overall survival (HR, 5.079; 95% CI, 3.136–8.226) than progressive disease without HPD. There were no clinicopathologic variables specific for HPD. In the exploratory biomarker analysis with peripheral blood CD8+ T lymphocytes, a lower frequency of effector/memory subsets (CCR7−CD45RA− T cells among the total CD8+ T cells) and a higher frequency of severely exhausted populations (TIGIT+ T cells among PD-1+CD8+ T cells) were associated with HPD and inferior survival rate. Conclusion HPD is common in NSCLC patients treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. Biomarkers derived from rationally designed analysis may successfully predict HPD and worse outcomes, meriting further investigation of HPD.

This study investigated a dictionary-learning (DL)-based image deblurring method for improving image performance in x-ray nondestructive testing. DL is a representation learning theory that aims to find a sparse representation of the input signal in the form of a linear combination of basic elements as well as those basic elements themselves. In this study, a DL-based algorithm was implemented, and a computational simulation and experiment were then performed to evaluate the algorithm’s effectiveness for image deblurring. The hardware system used in the experiment consisted of an x-ray tube with a focal spot size of 0.6 mm and a flat-panel detector with a pixel size of 100 μ m2. X-ray images of several electronic components were acquired at x-ray tube conditions of 80 kV p and 1.25 mAs. The image characteristics of the deblurred images generated by the DL-based algorithm were quantitatively evaluated in terms of intensity profile, universal-quality index, and noise power spectrum. Our results indicate that our DL-based image deblurring method effectively improves image performance in x-ray nondestructive testing.

Dual-energy material decomposition (DEMD) is a well-established theoretical x-ray technique that uses low- and high-kilovoltage radiographs to separate soft tissue and bone in radiography and compu...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Accurate radiologic prediction of cavernous sinus invasion by pituitary adenoma remains challenging. We aimed to assess whether 1-mm-slice-thickness MRI with deep learning–based reconstruction can better predict cavernous sinus invasion by pituitary adenoma preoperatively and to estimate the depth of invasion and degree of contact in relation to the carotid artery, compared with 3-mm-slice-thickness MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This single-institution, prospective study included 67 consecutive patients (mean age, 53 [SD, 12] years; 28 women), between January and August 2020, who underwent a combined contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging protocol of 1-mm-slice-thickness MRI + deep learning–based reconstruction and 3-mm-slice-thickness MRI. An expert neuroradiologist who was blinded to the imaging protocol determined cavernous sinus invasion using the modified Knosp classification on 1-mm-slice-thickness MRI + deep learning–based reconstruction and 3-mm-slice-thickness MRI, respectively. Reference standards were established by the consensus of radiologic, intraoperative, pathologic, and laboratory findings. The primary end point was the diagnostic performance of each imaging protocol, and the secondary end points included depth of invasion and degree of contact in relation to the carotid artery. RESULTS: The diagnostic performance of 1-mm-slice-thickness MRI + deep learning–based reconstruction (area under the curve, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.69 − 0.89) in predicting cavernous sinus invasion by pituitary adenoma was higher than that of 3-mm-slice-thickness MRI (area under the curve, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.52–0.70; P 270°, 38.8% versus 16.4%, P

Saccadic eye movements can drastically affect motion perception: during saccades, the stationary surround is swept rapidly across the retina and contrast sensitivity is suppressed. However, after saccades, contrast sensitivity is enhanced for color and high-spatial frequency stimuli and reflexive tracking movements known as ocular following responses (OFR) are enhanced in response to large field motion. Additionally, OFR and postsaccadic enhancement of neural activity in primate motion processing areas are well correlated. It is not yet known how this postsaccadic enhancement arises. Therefore, we tested if the enhancement can be explained by changes in the balance of centre-surround antagonism in motion processing, where spatial summation is favoured at low contrasts and surround suppression is favoured at high contrasts. We found motion perception was selectively enhanced immediately after saccades for high spatial frequency stimuli, consistent with previously reported selective postsaccadic enhancement of contrast sensitivity for flashed high spatial frequency stimuli. The observed enhancement was also associated with changes in spatial summation and suppression, as well as contrast facilitation and inhibition, suggesting that motion processing is augmented to maximise visual perception immediately after saccades. The results highlight that spatial and contrast properties of underlying neural mechanisms for motion processing can be affected by an antecedent saccade for highly detailed stimuli and are in line with studies that show behavioural and neuronal enhancement of motion processing in non-human primates.

A better understanding of the features of subsequent fractures after distal radius fracture (DRF) is important for the prevention of further osteoporotic fractures. This study found that the cumulative incidence of subsequent osteoporotic fractures in South Korea increased over time and that the mortality rates of subsequent DRFs were lower than those of first-time DRFs. We examined the incidence of osteoporotic fractures following distal radius fractures (DRFs) and the mortality rate after subsequent DRFs using claims data from the Korea National Health Insurance (KNHI) Service. We identified records for 41,417 patients with first-time DRFs in 2012. The occurrence of osteoporotic fractures of the spine, hip, wrist, and humerus at least 6 months after the index DRF was tracked through 2016. All fractures were identified by specific diagnosis and procedure codes. One-year mortality rates and standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for initial and subsequent DRFs were calculated for all patients. The 4-year cumulative incidence of all subsequent osteoporotic fractures was 14.74% (6105/41,417; 9.47% in men, 15.9% in women). The number of associated subsequent fractures was 2850 for the spine (46.68%), 2271 for the wrist (37.2%), 708 for the hip (11.6%), and 276 for the humerus (4.52%). The cumulative mortality rate 1 year after the first-time and subsequent DRF was 1.47% and 0.71%, respectively, and the overall SMR was 1.48 (95% CI: 1.37–1.61) and 0.71 (95% CI: 0.42−1.21), respectively. The cumulative incidence of osteoporotic fractures following DRFs increased over the study period and was higher among women. The cumulative mortality rates and SMRs of subsequent DRFs were lower than those of first-time DRFs at the 1-year follow-up. Given the increasing incidence rate of DRFs, the incidence of subsequent osteoporotic fractures may also increase.

Lithium is the current mainstay treatment for both acute and maintenance management of bipolar disorders. However, its narrow therapeutic index and array of side effects, although well-documented, can be challenging to manage. Comparatively, the side effects of lithium that involve the ophthalmic structures are not as well established in the literature and only partially appreciated, which can potentially lead to noncompliance. In this article, an extensive literature review of lithium and its ophthalmic adverse effects were performed and comprehensively summarized. Based on the search, documented ophthalmic adverse effects of lithium include: exophthalmos; abnormal eye movements; ocular myasthenia gravis; papilledema; photophobia; and abnormal tear film, contributing to dry eye disease. Additional studies are anticipated to be helpful in expanding the current understanding of lithium and its adverse ophthalmic side effects and certainly warranted to fill the knowledge gap. Close interprofessional management between psychiatrists and ophthalmologists is expected to be beneficial in patient care.

In this study, we propose a modification to a single-grid phase-contrast x-ray imaging (PCXI) system using a Fourier domain analysis technique to extract absorption, scattering, and differential phase-contrast images. The proposed modification is to rotate the x-ray grid in the image plane to achieve spectral separation between the desired information and the moire artifact, which is introduced by the superposition of the periodic image of the grid shadow and the periodic sampling by the detector. In addition, we performed some system optimization by adjusting distances between source, object, grid, and detector to further improve image quality. This optimization aimed to increase the spectral spacing between the primary spectrum (lower frequency) and the harmonics of the spectrum (higher frequency) used to extract the various image contrasts. The table-top setup used in the experiment consisted of a focused-linear grid with a 200-lines/inch strip density, a microfocus x-ray tube with a 55-μm focal spot size, and a CMOS flat-panel detector with a 49.5-μm pixel size. The x-ray grid was rotated at 27.8° with respect to the detector and the sample was placed as close as possible to the x-ray tube. Our results indicated that the proposed method effectively eliminated the PCXI artifacts, thus improving image quality.

Objective (i) To assess the rate of positive microbiological cultures of corneas prepared by the Eye Bank of Canada (Ontario Division) between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2013; (ii) to review the microbiology protocols at the 5 major transplant centres in Ontario; and (iii) to assess the incidence of endophthalmitis during the study period. Design Retrospective chart review. Participants A total of 4186 consecutive cultured corneal tissues prepared by the Eye Bank from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2013. Methods Rates of culture-positive cornea rims and incidence of postkeratoplasty endophthalmitis at 5 surgical centres in Ontario were determined, and the protocols used to culture rims at each site were concurrently reviewed. Culture results were analyzed via logistic regression for positive cultures. Results The rate of positive cultures at each sites were as follows: centre A, 3.74%; centre B, 3.26%; centre C, 0.51%; centre D, 0.48%; and centre E, 0.04%. Centres A, B, and D were noted to have significantly higher positive rates than centre E. In comparing microbiology protocols, longer incubation period (11 days) was 12 times more likely to be associated with higher positive culture rates than shorter period (4–5 days). Six-month follow-up of all keratoplasties revealed zero reported cases of endophthalmitis. Conclusions A literature review regarding the predictive value of routine culturing reveals conflicting data. Our findings suggest that differences in the microbiology protocols directly influence the rates of positive rim cultures. Without a standardized protocol, it is not possible to evaluate the predictive value of routine corneal rim culturing in predicting postkeratoplasty endophthalmitis.