Simple method of hyperthermo-chemo-hypoxic isolated liver perfusion for hepatic metastases

As a regional therapy for hepatic malignancy, we developed a simple method of isolated liver perfusion (hyperthermo-chemo-hypoxic). In the present study, the influence of this method on the hepatic tissue and other organs was experimentally evaluated and applied it to seven patients. Experimentally, all dogs survived without hepatic insufficiency and systemic toxicity. Clinically, one patient died on postoperative day 14 of hepatic failure. The reason was that liver temperature reached 43 degrees C, which seemed to be the maximum limit for thermal toxic effect to the human liver. The other six patients well tolerated the perfusion with mild increases of serum aminotransferase and total bilirubin levels and decreases of hepaprastin levels. Serum aminotransferase and total bilirubin and hepaprastin levels returned to normal levels by postoperative day 14. There were no significant differences between the isolated liver perfusion group (n = 7) and hepatectomy-only group (n = 27). Six patients were disease-free during the observation period after the perfusion. This system is a simple, useful method for treating patients with metastatic cancer limited to the liver.     

Synthesis of polysilane-acrylamide copolymers by photopolymerization and their application to polysilane-silica hybrid thin films

Various polysilane-acrylamide block copolymers have been prepared from photopolymerization of acrylamide-type monomers using poly(methylphenylsilane) (PMPS) as a macro-photo-radical initiator. The acrylamide block in the copolymers improved the hydrophilic property of PMPS. These PMPS-acrylamide block copolymers have been applied to formation of PMPS-silica hybrid thin films via sol-gel reaction. Homogeneous and transparent PMPS-silica hybrid thin films were obtained from a few PMPS-acrylamide block copolymers. It was found for these hybrid thin films based on hydrogen bonding formation between amide group and silanol group. The surface properties of hybrid thin films were evaluated by water contact angle measurement, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and atomic force microscope (AFM) images.     

Purification and characterization of a novel isoform of mast cell tryptase from rat tongue

Rat mast cell tryptase was purified to homogeneity from rat tongue by a series of standard chromatographic procedures. Since the enzyme gave band corresponding to molecular mass of 32-35 kDa on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and exhibited a molecular mass of 135 kDa on gel filtration, it was presumed to be a noncovalently associated tetramer. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of 50 residues of the enzyme showed the highest degree of homology with the same region in mouse mast cell protease 7 (92%), and less homology to those of tryptases from man and dog, and peritoneal cells of rats and Mongolian gerbils. The inhibitor specificity of rat tongue tryptase was similar to that of rat peritoneal mast cell tryptase free from trypstatin: it was inhibited by alpha 1-antitrypsin, Kunitz-type soybean trypsin inhibitor and Bowman-Birk soybean trypsin inhibitor, but these inhibitors do not inhibit the tryptases from rat skin, human lung, and dog mast cells. Judging from these results, together with other enzymatic properties, the enzyme may be a novel isoform of tryptase in rat tongue. Analysis by differential staining with peroxidase-labeled lectins of the enzyme suggested that it has tri- and/or tetraantennary complex-type oligosaccharides containing a relatively high amount of sialic acid. The immunohistochemical distribution of this enzyme indicated that the reactive antigen was specific in connective tissue but not in mucosal mast cells.     

Control of Molecular Orientation in Organic Semiconductor Films using Weak Hydrogen Bonds

Use of the intrinsic optoelectronic functions of organic semiconductor films has not yet reached its full potential, mainly because of the primitive methodology used to control the molecular aggregation state in amorphous films during vapor deposition. Here, a universal molecular engineering methodology is presented to control molecular orientation; this methodology strategically uses noncovalent, intermolecular weak hydrogen bonds in a series of oligopyridine derivatives. A key is to use two bipyridin‐3‐ylphenyl moieties, which form self‐complementary intermolecular weak hydrogen bonds, and which do not induce unfavorable crystallization. Another key is to incorporate a planar anisotropic molecular shape by reducing the steric hindrance of the core structure for inducing π–π interactions. These synergetic effects enhance horizontal orientation in amorphous organic semiconductor films and significantly increasing electron mobility. Through this evaluation process, an oligopyridine derivative is selected as an electron‐transporter, and successfully develops highly efficient and stable deep‐red organic light‐emitting devices as a proof‐of‐concept.     

Air‐Stable and High‐Performance Solution‐Processed Organic Light‐Emitting Devices Based on Hydrophobic Polymeric Ionic Liquid Carrier‐Injection Layers

A lot of research, mostly using electron‐injection layers (EILs) composed of alkali‐metal compounds has been reported with a view to increase the efficiency of solution‐processed organic light‐emitting devices (OLEDs). However, these materials have intractable properties, such as a strong affinity for moisture, which cause the degradation of OLEDs. Consequently, optimal EIL materials should exhibit high electron‐injection efficiency as well as be stable in air. In this study, polymer light‐emitting devices (PLEDs) based on the commonly used yellow‐fluorescence‐emitting polymer F8BT, which utilize poly(diallyldimethylammonium)‐based polymeric ionic liquids, are experimentally and analytically investigated. As a result, the optimized PLED employing an EIL comprising poly(diallyldimethylammonium) bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (poly(DDA)TFSI), which is expected to display good moisture resistance because of water repellency of fluorocarbon groups, exhibits excellent storage stability in air and electroluminescence performance with a low turn‐on voltage of 2.01 V, maximum external quantum efficiency of 9.00%, current efficiency of 30.1 cd A^?1, and power efficiency of 32.4 lm W^?1. The devices with poly(DDA)TFSI show one of the highest efficiencies as compared to the reported standard PLEDs. Moreover, poly(DDA)TFSI is applied as a hole‐injection layer (HIL). The optimized PLED using poly(DDA)TFSI as the HIL exhibits performances comparable to those of a device that uses a conventional poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxy‐thiophene):poly(4‐styrenesulfonate) HIL.     

Investigating the Effects of Transfer Learning on ROI-based Classification of Chest CT Images: A Case Study on Diffuse Lung Diseases

Research on Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) of medical images has been actively conducted to support decisions of radiologists. Since deep learning has shown distinguished abilities in classification, detection, segmentation, etc. in various problems, many studies on CAD have been using deep learning. One of the reasons behind the success of deep learning is the availability of large application-specific annotated datasets. However, it is quite tough work for radiologists to annotate hundreds or thousands of medical images for deep learning, and thus it is difficult to obtain large scale annotated datasets for various organs and diseases. Therefore, many techniques that effectively train deep neural networks have been proposed, and one of the techniques is transfer learning. This paper focuses on transfer learning and especially conducts a case study on ROI-based opacity classification of diffuse lung diseases in chest CT images. The aim of this paper is to clarify what characteristics of the datasets for pre-training and what kinds of structures of deep neural networks for fine-tuning contribute to enhance the effectiveness of transfer learning. In addition, the numbers of training data are set at various values and the effectiveness of transfer learning is evaluated. In the experiments, nine conditions of transfer learning and a method without transfer learning are compared to analyze the appropriate conditions. From the experimental results, it is clarified that the pre-training dataset with more (various) classes and the compact structure for fine-tuning show the best accuracy in this work.

     

Optical waveguide self-assembled from organic dye molecules in solution

Fiber-shaped H-aggregates with lengths of up to 300 microm are synthesized by self-assembly of thiacyanine (TC) dye molecules in solution. Photoluminescence (PL) images and spatially resolved PL spectra of the fibers that are transferred onto a glass substrate reveal that the fibers act as single-mode optical waveguides that propagate PL in the range of 520 to 560 nm over 250 microm without any loss.     

Suction-enhanced siphon valves for centrifugal microfluidic platforms

In traditional centrifugal microfluidic platforms pumping is restricted to outward fluid flow, resulting in potential real estate issues for embedding complex microsystems. To overcome the limitation, researchers utilize hydrophilic channels to force liquids short distances back toward the disk center. However, most polymers used for CD fabrication are natively hydrophobic, and creating hydrophilic conditions requires surface treatments/specialized materials that pose unique challenges to manufacturing and use. This work describes a novel technology that enjoys the advantages of hydrophilic fluidics on a hydrophobic disk device constructed from untreated polycarbonate plastic. The method, termed suction-enhanced siphoning, is based on exploiting the non-linear hydrostatic pressure profile and related pressure drop created along the length of a rotating microchannel. Theoretical analysis as well as experimental validation of the system is provided. In addition, we demonstrate the use of the hydrostatic pressure pump as a new method for priming hydrophobic-based siphon structures. The development of such techniques for hydrophobic fluidics advances the capabilities of the centrifugal microfluidic platform while remaining true to the goal of creating disposable polymer devices using feasible manufacturing schemes.