Investigation of technologies to assist ignition and combustion of ammonia in marine engines

Takuya Wakasugi,Daisuke Tsuru,Hiroshi Tashima,Hiroaki Watanabe 한국연소학회 2024 KOSCOSYMPOSIUM논문집 Vol.2024 No.5

The predictive variable regarding relapse in patients with ulcerative colitis after achieving endoscopic mucosal healing

( Takuya Yoshino ),( Kohei Yamakawa ),( Satoshi Nishimura ),( Koutaro Watanabe ),( Shujiro Yazumi ) 대한장연구학회 2016 Intestinal Research Vol.14 No.1

Mucosal healing (MH) is a proposed therapeutic goal for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Whether MH is the final goal for UC, however, remains under debate. Therefore, to elucidate clinical variables predicting relapse after MH in UC could be useful for establishing further therapeutic strategy. The aim of this study is to evaluate the predictive variables for relapse in UC-patients after achieving MH. Methods: From April 2010 to February 2015, 298 UC-patients treated at Kitano Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. MH was defined as Mayo endoscopic subscore of 0 or 1. The cumulative relapse free rate after achieving MH was evaluated. Predictive variables for relapse in UC-patients were assessed by Cox regression analysis. Results: Of 298 UC-patients, 88 (29.5%) achieved MH. Of the 88 UC patients who achieved MH, 21 (23.9%) experienced UC-relapse. Based on Kaplan-Meier analysis, the cumulative relapse free rate at 1, 3, and 5 years after achieving MH was 87.9%, 70.2%, and 63.8%, respectively. The cumulative relapse free rate tended to be higher in the Mayo-0 group (76.9%) than in the Mayo-1 group (54.1%) at 5 years, although the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.313). Cox regression analysis indicated that the use of an immunomodulator was a predictive variable for relapse in UC-patients after achieving MH(P=0.035). Conclusions: Our data demonstrated that the prognosis of UC patients after achieving endoscopic MH could be based on UC refractoriness requiring an immunomodulator. (Intest Res 2016;14:37-42)

Surgical Outcomes of Cervical Myelopathy in Patients with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy: A 5-Year Follow-Up

Kazuyuki Watanabe,Koji Otani,Takuya Nikaido,Kinshi Kato,Hiroshi Kobayashi,Shoji Yabuki,Shin-ichi Kikuchi,Shinichi Konno 대한척추외과학회 2017 Asian Spine Journal Vol.11 No.6

Study Design: Observational cohort study. Purpose: To assess the surgical outcomes of posterior decompression and fusion for cervical myelopathy in patients with athetoid cerebral palsy. Overview of Literature: Patients with athetoid cerebral palsy demonstrate involuntary movements and develop severe cervical spondylosis with kyphosis. In these patients, surgery is often performed at an early age because of myelopathy. A few studies have reported about the long-term outcomes of surgical treatment; however, they contain insufficient information. Methods: From 2003 to 2008, 13 patients with cervical myelopathy due to athetoid cerebral palsy underwent posterior fusion surgery and were included in this study. The Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, neck disability index (NDI), C2–7 angle on radiography, and need for additional surgical treatment were examined at 1 and 5 years postoperatively. Results: The mean C2–7 angle was −10.5°±21.1° preoperatively and was corrected to −2.9°±13.5° immediately postoperatively. This improvement was maintained for 5 years. The JOA score was 9.5±2.5 preoperatively and 12.2±1.7 at the 5-year follow-up. NDI was 17±6.9 preoperatively and 16±7.5 at the 5-year follow-up. Patient satisfaction with surgery on a 100-point scale was 62.2±22.5 at the 5-year follow-up. Three patients needed additional surgery for loosening of screws. These results demonstrate good surgical outcomes for posterior fusion at 5 years. Conclusions: Posterior decompression and fusion should be considered a viable option for cervical myelopathy in patients with athetoid cerebral palsy.

Comparison of inflammation-based prognostic scores as predictors of survival outcomes in patients with germ cell tumors

Kasumi Yoshinaga,Takuya Sadahira,Yuki Maruyama,Yosuke Mitsui,Takehiro Iwata,Koichiro Wada,Motoo Araki,Toyohiko Watanabe,Yasutomo Nasu 대한비뇨의학회 2021 Investigative and Clinical Urology Vol.62 No.1

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the prognostic value of pretreatment inflammation-based scoring systems in terms of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with germ cell tumors (GCTs) receiving bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin (BEP) chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: We evaluated 63 patients with GCTs retrospectively. The Glasgow prognostic score (GPS), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, prognostic index, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), prognostic nutritional index (PNI), systemic immune-inflammation index, and albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR) were measured in all patients before chemotherapy. To assess the predictive ability of each scoring system, areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve were calculated, and multivariate analysis was performed to identify associations between the predictive scores and OS. Results: Of all the inflammation-based scoring systems, the GPS had the greatest area under the curve (0.847) for predicting OS, followed by the PNI (0.829) and AGR (0.810). Kaplan–Meier analyses revealed that the GPS, PNI, and AGR were significantly associated with OS, whereas the GPS, PLR, and PNI were significantly associated with PFS. In the multivariate analysis, the GPS was an independent predictor of OS and PFS. Conclusions: We demonstrated that the GPS was the most valuable biomarker of OS and PFS in patients with GCTs.

Acceleration of Flower Bud Differentiation in the Forcing Strawberry by Raising Seedling with Paper Pot

Yoichi Araki,Takuya Azuma,Shinichi Watanabe,Shigeki Furuya,Takaya Oishi 한국원예학회 2008 한국원예학회 기타간행물 Vol.- No.-

Voice Instructions for Controlling a Robotic Forceps with Image and Auxiliary Information

Kiyotaka Izumi,Takuya Tokunaga,Keigo Watanabe 제어로봇시스템학회 2009 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2009 No.8

An image related to three-dimensional movement is used for constructing a control system for a robotic forceps by voice in structions, to gether with use of auxiliary information such as, the information on the tip-position in three-dimension and on the distance of the previous movement. A degree-related adverbin cluded in the voice instruction is quantified by using fuzzy reasoning, in which such auxiliary information is also applied to update the membership functions so as to realizea user-friendly interface. The effectiveness of the present system is demonstrated by actual experiments.

Trade-off between Processivity and Hydrolytic Velocity of Cellobiohydrolases at the Surface of Crystalline Cellulose

Nakamura, Akihiko,Watanabe, Hiroki,Ishida, Takuya,Uchihashi, Takayuki,Wada, Masahisa,Ando, Toshio,Igarashi, Kiyohiko,Samejima, Masahiro American Chemical Society 2014 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY - Vol.136 No.12

<P>Analysis of heterogeneous catalysis at an interface is difficult because of the variety of reaction sites and the difficulty of observing the reaction. Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose by cellulases is a typical heterogeneous reaction at a solid/liquid interface, and a key parameter of such reactions on polymeric substrates is the processivity, i.e., the number of catalytic cycles that can occur without detachment of the enzyme from the substrate. In this study, we evaluated the reactions of three closely related glycoside hydrolase family 7 cellobiohydrolases from filamentous fungi at the molecular level by means of high-speed atomic force microscopy to investigate the structure–function relationship of the cellobiohydrolases on crystalline cellulose. We found that high moving velocity of enzyme molecules on the surface is associated with a high dissociation rate constant from the substrate, which means weak interaction between enzyme and substrate. Moreover, higher values of processivity were associated with more loop regions covering the subsite cleft, which may imply higher binding affinity. Loop regions covering the subsites result in stronger interaction, which decreases the velocity but increases the processivity. These results indicate that there is a trade-off between processivity and hydrolytic velocity among processive cellulases.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B> <IMG SRC='http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/jacsat/2014/jacsat.2014.136.issue-12/ja4119994/production/images/medium/ja-2013-119994_0006.gif'></P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/ja4119994'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>

Measurement of Absorption Coefficients at 80 kHz Band for Broadband Underwater Acoustic Data Transmission

Hiroshi Ochi,Yoshitaka Watanabe,Takuya Shimura,Takehito Hattori 제어로봇시스템학회 2009 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2009 No.8

To achieve high-speed acoustic data transmission, the use of a frequency band of 80 ± 20 kHz is being considered. However, the absorption attenuation coefficient in these frequencies only has empirical formula. Therefore,the absorption attenuation was measured using the frequency of 60 to 100 kHz within the propagation distance of 530 to 700 m at approximately 1,000 m depth. The transmission signal wave form was measured with conductivity,temperature, and depth (CTD) data. From these measured data, the absorption attenuation coefficient was calculatedusing several empirical equations. Calculated value of absorption attenuation coefficients by using measured signal were compared with calculated value by several empirical equations. As a result, a corresponding comparatively good for the empirical formula of Francois and Garrison.

후쿠시마 원전사고가 학령기 아동의 신체조성에 미치는 영향

藤井勝紀(Fujii, Katsunori),渡部琢也(Watanabe, Takuya),田中 望(Tanaka, Nozomi),김준동(Kim, Jun-Dong) 한국체육과학회 2018 한국체육과학회지 Vol.27 No.2

Earthquake disasters have a significant impact on the tendency for obesity. Body fat readily increases because physical activity is restricted. The Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred several years ago was probably not an exception. However, no detailed examinations of the effects on body composition have yet been reported. One reason for the lack of findings verifying the detailed effects on people’s bodies, even though six years have passed since the disaster, is that no method of verification has been clearly established. In this study, by analyzing the age-related changes to body composition scientifically, we attempted to verify the effects of earthquake disasters from a comparison with normal age-related changes. The subjects were boys and girls from an elementary school in the region affected by the nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture. Their body composition was measured and height, weight, BMI, body fat percentage, and muscle percentage were calculated. A wavelet interpolation model was applied to the cross-sectional age-related changes in BMI, body fat percentage, and muscle percentage in first to sixth grade elementary school students. As a control group, the wavelet interpolation model was applied in the same way to the age-related changes in body composition of elementary school students in an area completely unaffected by the earthquake disaster. The age-related changes in body composition of the elementary school students in the two areas were compared. The results showed that in the age-related changes in body fat percentage and muscle percentage, the Fukushima schoolchildren tended to have a higher body fat percentage and lower muscle percentage. There was also a slight difference between the two areas in the emergence of the local peak velocity in the age-related changes. However, it is difficult to determine the effects of the nuclear power plant disaster from the present results alone. They may be further clarified in the future by deriving the results up through junior high school.

Efficacy of holmium laser enucleation in patients with a small (less than 30 mL) prostate volume

Ichiro Tsuboi,Yuki Maruyama,Takuya Sadahira,Nobuyoshi Ando,Yasuhiro Nishiyama,Motoo Araki,Takushi Kurashige,Takaharu Ichikawa,Ryoji Arata,Noriaki Ono,Toyohiko Watanabe,Syunji Hayata,Hiroaki Shiina,Yas 대한비뇨의학회 2021 Investigative and Clinical Urology Vol.62 No.3

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) in patients with a small prostate volume (≤30 mL). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 1,135 patients who underwent HoLEP at two institutions between July 2007 and March 2020. Patients who were not evaluated for the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) before or after HoLEP were excluded. We divided patients into two groups according to estimated prostate volume (ePV): ≤30 (n=198) and >30 mL (n=539). The patient characteristics, IPSS, peak urinary flow rate (Qmax), postvoid residual urine volume (PVR), and other data were compared before and after surgery in each group and between the two groups. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify the factors associated with the efficacy of HoLEP in the group with ePV ≤30 mL. Results: A total of 737 patients were included in this retrospective study. ePV (23.4 mL vs. 50 mL; p<0.001) and PVR differed significantly between the two groups. The IPSS, IPSS-quality of life, PVR, and Qmax significantly improved after HoLEP in both groups. Improvements in the IPSS, IPSS-quality of life, Qmax, and PVR were greater in the >30 mL group (p<0.001), whereas operation time and morcellation time were significantly shorter in the ≤30 mL group. In the multivariate analysis, age <70 years was independently associated with improvement by HoLEP. Conclusions: HoLEP is an effective treatment for patients with a small prostate, even though the extent of improvement after HoLEP was greater in those with a larger prostate.