GPS Overlay Experiment Using Geostationary Satellite, ETS-VIII

Shinichi Nakamura,Takahiro Inoue,Ryo Nakamura,Seiji Katagiri,Suthichai Noppanakeepong,Yanming Feng 제어로봇시스템학회 2009 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2009 No.8

For Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology, the accuracy of navigation signals (time reference signal) is very important. To improve the accuracy of the navigation signals, exact time control of thesatellite and highly accurate clock synchronization between satellites and ground stations are required. JAXA plans to conduct a time synchronization experiment for future global navigation satellite technology. The objective of the experiment is to confirm whether a geostationary satellite is useful for the positioning accuracy improvement if it isused as a GNSS. This clock management technology will be utilized in the quasi-zenith satellite system, which has been studied in Japan. In this symposium, the results of a experiment and the experiment outline will be reported.

Effectiveness and Sustainability of Education about Incident Reporting at a University Hospital in Japan

Noriko Nakamura,Yuichi Yamashita,Shinichi Tanihara,Chiemi Maeda 대한의료정보학회 2014 Healthcare Informatics Research Vol.20 No.3

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of educational interventions to encourage incident reporting. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental design. The study involved nurses working in two gastroenterology surgical wards at Fukuoka University Hospital, Japan. The number of participants on each ward was 26 nurses at baseline. For the intervention group, we provided 15 minutes of education about patient safety and the importance of incident reporting once per month for six months. After the completion of the intervention, we compared incident reporting in the subsequent 12 months for both groups. Questionnaires about reasons/motives for reporting were administered three times, before the intervention, after the intervention, and six months after the intervention for both the intervention group and the control group. Results: For the intervention group, incident reporting during the 6 months after the intervention period increased significantly compared with the baseline. During the same period, the reasons and motives for reporting changed significantly in the intervention group. The increase in reported incidents during the 6- to 12-month period following the intervention was not significant. In the control group, there was no significant difference during follow-up compared with the baseline. Conclusions: A brief intervention about patient safety changed the motives for reporting incidents and the frequency of incidents reported by nurses working in surgical wards in a university hospital in Japan. However, the effect of the education decreased after six months following the education. Regular and long-term effort is required to maintain the effect of education.

A Multivariate Analysis on the Effect of No Closed Suction Drain on the Length of Hospital Stay in Total Knee Arthroplasty

Kohei Nishitani,Shinichi Kuriyama,Shinichiro Nakamura,Hiromu Ito,Shuicih Matsuda 대한슬관절학회 2019 대한슬관절학회지 Vol.31 No.1

Purpose: Despite the long history of drain use in total knee arthroplasty (TKA), no drain has been gaining popularity. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether drainage is related to the length of hospital stay.Materials and Methods: A total of 166 consecutive unilateral TKAs performed on 135 patients with osteoarthritis were retrospectively reviewed. Closed suction drainage was used in 111 cases (67%). Length of hospital stay after surgery was recorded, and a multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate various variables (patient factors, surgical factors, and post­surgical factors) and to investigate whether drainage was an independent variable.Results: Hospital stay was shorter in no drain cases (21.7±4.8 days) than in drain cases (24.2±3.7 days, p<0.001). The multivariate analysis showed that older age (β=0.12, p=0.02), drain use (β=2.81, p=0.03), and occurrence of comorbidity (β=1.46, p=0.04) were the independent variables associated with the extended hospital stay. There was no difference in comorbidity between drain cases (39.6%) and no drain cases (27.2%, p=0.13). Conclusions: The drain use, age, and occurrence of comorbidity were related to the length of hospital stay. TKA without drain is an effective procedure both medically and economically.

Diurnal and Nocturnal Behaviour of Airborne Cryptomeria japonica Pollen Grains and the Allergenic Species in Urban Atmosphere of Saitama, Japan

Qingyue Wang,Shinichi Nakamura,Senlin Lu,Daisuke Nakajima,Miho suzuki,Kazuhiko Sekiguchi,Makoto Miwa 한국대기환경학회 2013 Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment (AJAE) Vol.7 No.2

Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) pollinosis is the most popular pollinosis in Japan. It has been reported that Cryptomeria japonica pollen allergenic species are suspended as fine particles in the urban atmosphere. These allergenic fine particles are responsible for inducing asthma by breaking into the lower respiratory tract. It has also been found that pollinosis symptoms on the sufferers appear mainly at night-time by the results from epidemiological studies. However, the exact reason for these phenomena is not yet clarified. In this study, the diurnal and nocturnal behaviours of Cryptomeria japonica pollen grains and their allergenic species in the urban area of Saitama city of Kanto Plain were investigated. Airborne pollen grains and allergenic Cry j 1 concentrations in total suspended particulate matter (TSP)were investigated at two sampling sites, a heavy traffic road (roadside site) and at the balcony of the 10th floor of the Building of Research and Project of Saitama University (general urban site). The latter sampling site where located about 300 m away from the roadside site was used as a general urban site unaffected by automobile traffic. The airborne pollen counts were measured with a real-time pollen monitor. Cry j 1 particles were collected with two high volume air samplers, and these concentrations were measured by surface plasmon resonance method with a Biacore J system. The diurnal variation of the airborne pollen counts was similar to the trends of temperature and wind speed during the day-time;whereas its tendency with wind speed trend was not observed during the night-time. Airborne pollen counts were lower with northern wind than with southern wind because the pollen comes from the mountainous areas, and the mountains in the south are closer, about half the distance to the northern mountains. It is suggested that the peaks of airborne pollen counts during night-time in the sampling site occurred by transport of pollen grains released during day-time in the mountainous forest areas, located c.a. 100 km away from the sampling site. On the roadside site the allergenic Cry j 1 concentrations were higher than at the general urban site, nevertheless pollen grains counts were lower. These results suggested that worsening of pollinosis symptoms during nighttime in urban area was caused by transport of pollen grains during day-time in the mountainous forest areas. Moreover, pollen allergenic species become different morphology from pollen grain at roadside site, and the subsequent pollen grains re-suspension by automobile traffic.

Metabolic Syndrome is a Predisposing Factor for Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis

Eijiro Okada,Shinichi Ishihara,Koichiro Azuma,Takehiro Michikawa,Satoshi Suzuki,Osahiko Tsuji,Satoshi Nori,Narihito Nagoshi,Mitsuru Yagi,Michiyo Takayama,Takashi Tsuji,Nobuyuki Fujita,Masaya Nakamura 대한척추신경외과학회 2021 Neurospine Vol.18 No.1

Objective: Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) causes spinal ankylosis, which can result in patients suffering specific spinal fractures that lead to a reduction in the activities of daily life in older patients. Currently, DISH is associated with diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease; however, the association between DISH and metabolic syndrome has not been established. The purpose of this study was to investigate a potential association between DISH and metabolic syndrome. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed clinical data from consecutive subjects undergoing the musculoskeletal health medical checkups, and enrolled 327 subjects (174 men and 153 women; mean, 63.4±13.7-years). Subjects who had spinal ankylosis at least 4 contiguous vertebral bodies were classified as the DISH group (n=39) while the others were part of the non-DISH group (n=288). The definition of the metabolic syndrome comes from diagnostic criteria used by the Japanese Society for Internal Medicine. Age, sex, body max index (BMI), hematological evaluation, blood pressure, presence of metabolic syndrome, the visceral fat area on abdominal computed tomography, and spinal epidural lipomatosis (SEL) on magnetic resonance imaging were evaluated. Results: Compared to the non-DISH group, in the DISH group, mean age (DISH group, 74.3 years; non-DISH group, 1.9 years; p<0.001), male prevalence were higher (DISH group, 82.1%; non-DISH group, 49.3%; p<0.001), and BMI was greater (DISH group, 24.8; non-DISH group, 23.0; p=0.006). the metabolic syndrome was more frequently observed in DISH group (28.9%) than in the non-DISH group (16.0%) (p=0.045). The visceral fat area was significantly larger in the DISH group than in the non-DISH group (DISH group, 130.7±58.2 cm2; Non-DISH group, 89.0±48.1 cm2; p<0.001). The prevalence of SEL was similar between the 2 groups (10.3% in the DISH group vs. 8.7% in the non-DISH group; p=0.464). Poisson regression analysis revealed that the metabolic syndrome was significantly associated with DISH with odds ratio of 2.0 (95% confidence interval, 1.0–3.7; p=0.004). Conclusion: Metabolic syndrome was significantly associated with DISH. Our data showed metabolic syndrome is potentially related to DISH.

Diurnal and Nocturnal Behaviour of Airborne Cryptomeria japonica Pollen Grains and the Allergenic Species in Urban Atmosphere of Saitama, Japan

Wang, Qingyue,Nakamura, Shinichi,Lu, Senlin,Nakajima, Daisuke,Suzuki, Miho,Sekiguchi, Kazuhiko,Miwa, Makoto Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment 2013 Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment (AJAE) Vol.7 No.2

Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) pollinosis is the most popular pollinosis in Japan. It has been reported that Cryptomeria japonica pollen allergenic species are suspended as fine particles in the urban atmosphere. These allergenic fine particles are responsible for inducing asthma by breaking into the lower respiratory tract. It has also been found that pollinosis symptoms on the sufferers appear mainly at night-time by the results from epidemiological studies. However, the exact reason for these phenomena is not yet clarified. In this study, the diurnal and nocturnal behaviours of Cryptomeria japonica pollen grains and their allergenic species in the urban area of Saitama city of Kanto Plain were investigated. Airborne pollen grains and allergenic Cry j 1 concentrations in total suspended particulate matter (TSP) were investigated at two sampling sites, a heavy traffic road (roadside site) and at the balcony of the $10^{th}$ floor of the Building of Research and Project of Saitama University (general urban site). The latter sampling site where located about 300 m away from the roadside site was used as a general urban site unaffected by automobile traffic. The airborne pollen counts were measured with a real-time pollen monitor. Cry j 1 particles were collected with two high volume air samplers, and these concentrations were measured by surface plasmon resonance method with a Biacore J system. The diurnal variation of the airborne pollen counts was similar to the trends of temperature and wind speed during the day-time; whereas its tendency with wind speed trend was not observed during the night-time. Airborne pollen counts were lower with northern wind than with southern wind because the pollen comes from the mountainous areas, and the mountains in the south are closer, about half the distance to the northern mountains. It is suggested that the peaks of airborne pollen counts during night-time in the sampling site occurred by transport of pollen grains released during day-time in the mountainous forest areas, located c.a. 100 km away from the sampling site. On the roadside site the allergenic Cry j 1 concentrations were higher than at the general urban site, nevertheless pollen grains counts were lower. These results suggested that worsening of pollinosis symptoms during night-time in urban area was caused by transport of pollen grains during day-time in the mountainous forest areas. Moreover, pollen allergenic species become different morphology from pollen grain at roadside site, and the subsequent pollen grains re-suspension by automobile traffic.

Phase 2 single-arm study on the efficacy and safety of niraparib in Japanese patients with heavily pretreated, homologous recombination-deficient ovarian cancer

Aikou Okamoto,Eiji Kondo,Toshiaki Nakamura,Satoshi Yanagida,Junzo Hamanishi,Kenichi Harano,Kosei Hasegawa,Takeshi Hirasawa,Kensuke Hori,Shinichi Komiyama,Motoki Matsuura,Hidekatsu Nakai,Hiroko Nakamur 대한부인종양학회 2021 Journal of Gynecologic Oncology Vol.32 No.2

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of niraparib in Japanese women with heavilypretreated ovarian cancer. Methods: This Phase 2 open-label, single-arm study enrolled Japanese women withhomologous recombination deficiency-positive relapsed, high-grade serous ovarian,fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who had completed 3–4 lines of therapy. The starting dose of niraparib was 300 mg administered once daily in continuous 28-daycycles until objective progressive disease, unacceptable toxicity, consent withdrawal ordiscontinuation. The primary endpoint, objective response rate (ORR), was assessed bythe investigator using RECIST version 1.1. Safety evaluations included the incidence oftreatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs), including serious TEAEs. Results: Twenty women were enrolled and the confirmed ORR in the full analysis set (FAS)was 35.0% (7/20), consisting of 1 complete response and 6 partial responses. Diseasecontrol rate in the FAS was 90.0%. The most frequently reported TEAEs (>50%) wereanemia, nausea, and platelet count decreased. One patient (5.0%) had TEAEs leadingto discontinuation of niraparib whereas reductions or interruptions were reported in 14(70.0%) and 15 (75.0%) patients, respectively. The median dose intensity (202.9 mg daily)corresponded to a relative dose intensity of 67.6%. Conclusion: Efficacy and safety of niraparib in heavily pretreated Japanese women wascomparable to that seen in an equivalent population of non-Japanese women. No new safetysignals were identified.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03759600

Characterization of the Physical Form of Allergenic Cry j 1 in the Urban Atmosphere and Determination of Cry j 1 Denaturation by Air Pollutants

Qingyue Wang,Jun Morita,Xiumin Gong,Shinichi Nakamura,Miho Suzuki,Senlin Lu,Kazuhiko Sekiguchi,Takuya Nakajima,Daisuke Nakajima,Makoto Miwa 한국대기환경학회 2012 Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment (AJAE) Vol.6 No.1

In this study, we characterized the physical form of allergenic Cry j 1 in the urban atmosphere. Through an immunofluorescence antibody method, we showed that allergenic Cry j 1 exists as fine particles (‹1.1μm). To determine Cry j 1 concentrations and its particle size distribution, we used the ELISA method to confirm that most Cry j 1 exists as fine particles in the urban atmosphere and is found at high concentrations on fine day next to rainy day. Furthermore,we evaluated Cry j 1 denaturation by using the Biacore J system based on the surface plasmon resonence (SPR) principle and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). We showed that the dissociation constant (KD) of Cry j 1 that has been exposed to urban polluted air is lower (1.76×10-14 M) than that of Cry j 1 (1.32×10-9-3.37×10-9 M) of original pollen grains that has not been exposed to air pollutants. Cry j 1 turns into low molecular weight proteins by reacting with various acidic solutions. In sum, we showed that allergenic Cry j 1exists as fine particles that can deposit in the lower respiratory tract. This finding clarifies the relationship between Japanese cedar pollinosis and air pollutants.

Interferon treatment for Japanese patients with favorable-risk metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the era of targeted therapy

Tomokazu Sazuka,Naoki Nihei,Kazuyoshi Nakamura,Shinichi Sakamoto,Satoshi Fukasawa,Atsushi Komaru,Takeshi Ueda,Tatsuo Igarashi,Tomohiko Ichikawa 대한비뇨의학회 2015 Investigative and Clinical Urology Vol.56 No.3

Purpose: Single-agent interferon (IFN) is no longer regarded as a standard option for first-line systemic treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in Western countries. However, some patients with favorable-risk RCC may still achieve complete and long-lasting remission in response to IFN treatment. The present study compared favorable-risk Japanese patients with metastatic RCC Japanese patients who had been treated with IFN or tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy as a first-line systemic therapy. Materials and Methods: From 1995 to 2014, a total of 48 patients with favorable risk as defined by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center criteria who did not receive adjuvant systemic therapy were retrospectively enrolled in this study. We assessed the tumor response rate, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Results: The objective response rate for first-line therapy was 29% in the IFN group and 47% in the TKI group, but this difference did not reach the level of statistical significance. Median OS for IFN and TKI was 71 and 47 months, respectively (p=0.014). Median first-line PFS for IFN and TKI was 20 and 16 months, respectively (no significant difference). First-line IFN therapy did not prove inferior to TKI therapy in terms of OS according to metastatic sites. Conclusions: IFN is associated with a survival benefit in Japanese patients with favorable-risk metastatic RCC in the era of targeted therapy. Further prospective study is needed.

Heat Transfer in Nucleate Pool Boiling under Microgravity Condition

Haruhiko Ohta,Masahiro Kawaji,Hisao Azuma,Koichi Inoue,Kazunori Kawasaki,Shigenobu Okada,Shinichi Yoda,Tomihisa Nakamura 대한기계학회 1998 Heat transter conference Vol.2 No.1