Tokushima University Institutional Repository
Not a member yet
12889 research outputs found
Sort by
Variable Dose-Constraints Method for Enhancing Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning
Get PDFThe conventional approach to intensity-modulated radiation therapy treatment planning involves two distinct strategies: optimizing an evaluation function while accounting for dose constraints, and solving feasibility problems using feasibility-seeking projection methods that incorporate inequality constraints. This paper introduces a novel iterative scheme within the framework of continuous dynamical systems, wherein constraint conditions dynamically evolve to enhance the optimization process. The validity of dynamically varying dose constraints is theoretically established through the foundation of continuous-time dynamical systems theory. In particular, we formalize a system of differential equations, with both beam coefficients and dose constraints modeled as state variables. The asymptotic stability of the system’s equilibrium is rigorously proven, ensuring convergence to a solution. In practical terms, we leverage a discretized iteration formula derived from the continuous-time system to achieve rapid computational speed. The mathematical structure of the proposed approach, which directly incorporates dose-volume constraints into the objective function, facilitates significant computational efficiency and solution refinement. The proposed method has an inherent dynamics that approaches more desirable solutions within the set of solutions when the solution to the optimization problem is not an isolated point. This property guarantees the identification of optimal solutions that respect the prescribed dose-volume constraints while enhancing accuracy when such constraints are feasible. By treating dose constraints as variables and concurrently solving the optimization problem with beam coefficients, we can achieve more accurate results when compared with using fixed values for prescribed dose conditions.journal articl
Fabrication and Characterization of Granulated β-Tricalcium Phosphate and Bioactive Glass Powders by Spray Drying
Get PDFBiocomposite materials are widely implemented in various applications in clinical dentistry and orthopedics since it is possible to combine multiple materials by relying on their compatibility. Ceramic-based materials have osteogenic and osteoconductive features owing to their inorganic constituents with dental and bone tissue. β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) and bioactive glass have excellent biocompatibility, bioresorbability, and bioactivity. In this study, β-TCP and BG powders were fabricated by spray pyrolysis (SP) and spray drying (SD). These fabrication methods are suitable for the mass production and synthesis of spherical particles. At first, β-TCP and BG spherical particles were synthesized by SP and characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). After that, these powders were granulated with the different weight ratios of β-TCP/BG = 100/0, 75/25, 50/50, 25/75, and 0/100 by SD. The resulting granulation powders were characterized using XRD, FT-IR, and SEM to investigate phase compositions and microstructures. In addition, cytotoxicity was investigated using the MTT assay.journal articl
Characterization of the visually impaired patients with diabetes mellitus in Japan
Get PDFAims/Introduction: To conduct a multicenter survey of visually impaired patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and to identify the physical and ocular characteristics that lead to blindness in Japan.
Materials and Methods: Visually impaired patients with diabetes mellitus in Japan were divided into blind and low-vision groups according to the World Health Organization classification. Data on parameters related to diabetes mellitus and ocular complications in the right and left eyes were collected from 19 highly advanced medical facilities and compared between the two groups.
Results: Among 408 visually impaired persons (blind group: 257, low-vision group: 151), 72.1% were under 70 years of age. The rates of neovascular glaucoma (NVG) (right eye, P = 0.041; left eye, P = 0.0031) or proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) (right eye: P = 0.014, left eye: P = 0.0047) and the rate of proliferative membrane beyond half of the retinal area (right eye: P = 0.0263, left eye: P = 0.037) were significantly higher in the blind group. The direct cause of visual impairment was retinal atrophy, common in both groups. Neovascular glaucoma and diabetic macular edema were equally prevalent in the blind and low-vision groups, respectively.
Conclusions: In Japan, blind patients with diabetes mellitus are characterized by severe conditions such as neovascular glaucoma and progressive proliferative diabetic retinopathy upon their initial visit to an advanced care facility. These results highlight the importance of monitoring retinopathy through regular ophthalmological examinations, internal medicine, and appropriate therapeutic intervention.journal articl
Calcium Signal Analysis in the Zebrafish Heart via Phase Matching of the Cardiac Cycle
Get PDFCalcium signalling in the endocardium is critical for heart valve development. Calcium ion pulses in the endocardium are generated in response to mechanical forces due to blood flow and can be visualised in the beating zebrafish heart using a genetically encoded calcium indicator such as GCaMP7a. Analysing these pulses is challenging because of the rapid movement of the heart during heartbeat. This protocol outlines an imaging analysis method used to phase-match the cardiac cycle in single z-slice movies of the beating heart, allowing easy measurement of the calcium signal.journal articl
Impact of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement on Cardiac Reverse Remodeling and Prognosis in Mixed Aortic Valve Disease
Get PDFBACKGROUND: The management of mixed aortic valve disease (MAVD), defined as the concomitant presence of aortic stenosis (AS) and aortic regurgitation, remains a clinical challenging. The present study assessed the impact of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) on cardiac geometry and prognosis in patients with MAVD.
METHODS AND RESULTS: A retrospective multicenter TAVR registry was conducted, including patients who underwent TAVR for severe symptomatic AS between January 2015 and March 2019. Patients were subdivided into 2 groups according to concomitant presence of moderate or more severe aortic regurgitation as the MAVD group, and with mild or less severe aortic regurgitation as the isolated AS group. The primary outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death and rehospitalization due to cardiovascular causes. A total of 1742 patients (isolated AS, 1522 patients; MAVD, 220 patients) were included (84.0±5.2 years). Although MAVD exhibited significantly larger left ventricular volumes and higher left ventricular mass index at the TAVR procedure than isolated AS (respectively, P<0.001), MAVD showed a greater improvement of left ventricular volumes and left ventricular mass index after TAVR (respectively, P≤0.001). During a median follow-up of 747 days, 301 patients achieved the primary event. The prognosis post-TAVR was comparable between the 2 groups (log-rank P=0.65). Even after adjustment using propensity score matching to reduce the potential bias between the 2 groups, similar results were obtained for the entire cohort.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite more advanced cardiac remodeling in MAVD at the time of TAVR compared with isolated AS, a greater improvement of cardiac reverse remodeling was found in MAVD, and the prognosis following TAVR was comparable between the 2 groups.journal articl
In vivo CRISPR screening directly targeting testicular cells
Get PDFCRISPR-Cas9 short guide RNA (sgRNA) library screening is a powerful approach to understand the molecular mechanisms of biological phenomena. However, its in vivo application is currently limited. Here, we developed our previously established in vitro revival screening method into an in vivo one to identify factors involved in spermatogenesis integrity by utilizing sperm capacitation as an indicator. By introducing an sgRNA library into testicular cells, we successfully pinpointed the retinal degeneration 3 (Rd3) gene as a significant factor in spermatogenesis. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis highlighted the high expression of Rd3 in round spermatids, and proteomics analysis indicated that Rd3 interacts with mitochondria. To search for cell-type-specific signaling pathways based on scRNA-seq and proteomics analyses, we developed a computational tool, Hub-Explorer. Through this, we discovered that Rd3 modulates oxidative stress by regulating mitochondrial distribution upon ciliogenesis induction. Collectively, our screening system provides a valuable in vivo approach to decipher molecular mechanisms in biological processes.journal articl
Estimating the phase diagrams of deep eutectic solvents within an extensive chemical space
Get PDFAssessing the formation of a deep eutectic solvent (DES) necessitates a solid-liquid equilibrium phase diagram. Yet, many studies focusing on DES applications do not include this diagram because of challenges in measurement, leading to misidentified eutectic points. The present study provides a practical approach for estimating the phase diagram of any binary mixture from the structural information, utilizing machine learning and quantum chemical techniques. The selected machine learning model provides reasonably high accuracy in predicting melting point (R2 = 0.84; RMSE = 40.53 K) and fusion enthalpy (R2 = 0.84; RMSE = 4.96 kJ mol−1) of pure compounds upon evaluation by test data. By pinpointing the eutectic point coordinates within an extensive chemical space, we highlighted the impact of the mole fractions and melting properties on the eutectic temperatures. Molecular dynamics simulations of selected mixtures at the eutectic points emphasized the pivotal role of hydrogen bonds in dictating mixture behavior.journal articl
Domain adaptation for driver's gaze mapping for different drivers and new environments
Get PDFDistracted driving is a leading cause of traffic accidents, and often arises from a lack of visual attention on the road. To enhance road safety, monitoring a driver's visual attention is crucial. Appearance-based gaze estimation using deep learning and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) has shown promising results, but it faces challenges when applied to different drivers and environments. In this paper, we propose a domain adaptation-based solution for gaze mapping, which aims to accurately estimate a driver's gaze in diverse drivers and new environments. Our method consists of three steps: pre-processing, facial feature extraction, and gaze region classification. We explore two strategies for input feature extraction, one utilizing the full appearance of the driver and environment and the other focusing on the driver's face. Through unsupervised domain adaptation, we align the feature distributions of the source and target domains using a conditional Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). We conduct experiments on the Driver Gaze Mapping (DGM) dataset and the Columbia Cave-DB dataset to evaluate the performance of our method. The results demonstrate that our proposed method reduces the gaze mapping error, achieves better performance on different drivers and camera positions, and outperforms existing methods. We achieved an average Strictly Correct Estimation Rate (SCER) accuracy of 81.38% and 93.53% and Loosely Correct Estimation Rate (LCER) accuracy of 96.69% and 98.9% for the two strategies, respectively, indicating the effectiveness of our approach in adapting to different domains and camera positions. Our study contributes to the advancement of gaze mapping techniques and provides insights for improving driver safety in various driving scenarios.journal articl
Association between awareness of limiting food intake and all-cause mortality : A cohort study in Japan
No full textBackground: Improving diets requires an awareness of the need to limit foods for which excessive consumption is a health problem. Since there are limited reports on the link between this awareness and mortality risk, we examined the association between awareness of limiting food intake (energy, fat, and sweets) and all-cause mortality in a Japanese cohort study.
Methods: Participants comprised 58,772 residents (27,294 men; 31,478 women) aged 35–69 years who completed baseline surveys of the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort Study from 2004 to 2014. Hazard ratios (HRs) for all-cause mortality and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by sex using a Cox proportional hazard model, with adjustment for related factors. Mediation analysis with fat intake as a mediator was also conducted.
Results: The mean follow-up period was 11 years and 2,516 people died. Estimated energy and fat intakes according to the Food Frequency Questionnaire were lower in those with awareness of limiting food intake than in those without this awareness. Women with awareness of limiting fat intake showed a significant decrease in mortality risk (HR=0.73; 95% CI, 0.55 to 0.94). Mediation analysis revealed that this association was due to the direct effect of the awareness of limiting fat intake and that the total effect was not mediated by actual fat intake. Awareness of limiting energy or sweets intake was not related to mortality risk reduction.
Conclusion: Awareness of limiting food intake had a limited effect on reducing all-cause mortality risk.journal articl
QTc Shortening on Electrocardiogram With Amitriptyline May Indicate No Effect on Pain Relief in Burning Mouth Syndrome
Get PDFObjective: Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is an intractable chronic pain disorder characterized by a burning sensation without organic abnormalities in the oral mucosa. Amitriptyline may be effective for BMS or, conversely, may exacerbate pain. QTc is necessary for monitoring psychotropic side effects, but it is not known if it is a predictor of efficacy for BMS. We investigated the efficacy of amitriptyline in BMS and its effect on QTc.
Methods: Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and electrocardiogram (ECG) were examined before and one month after treatment in 51 consecutive patients diagnosed with BMS according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition (ICHD-3) criteria and treated with amitriptyline.
Results: There were 26 amitriptyline responders and 25 non-responders, with no differences in age, gender, and amitriptyline dosage. Amitriptyline responders showed little change in QTc, while non-responders showed a trend toward significantly shorter QTc. Changes in VAS correlated statistically significantly with changes in QTc (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient: 0384; p=0.0054). The degree of pain tended to worsen with QTc shortening.
Conclusion: Amitriptyline provides analgesia in about half of BMS patients, but some BMS patients have worse pain with amitriptyline. Changes in the QTc not only detect amitriptyline side effects with prolongation, but conversely its shortening predicts amitriptyline ineffectiveness.journal articl