Detection of optic disc changes with Glaucoma-Scope probability maps

Before use of cardiovascular surgical techniques and procedures in humans, many experiments, e.g., hypothermic circulatory arrest and cardiopulmonary bypass using the heart-lung machine, have been performed in the dog. As a consequence experimental canine cardiovascular surgery is highly developed. This has not resulted in the routine performance of open heart surgery in veterinary medicine, probably because of the high costs. Cardiovascular surgery in the dog is generally limited to interventions not depending on hypothermic circulatory arrest or cardiopulmonary bypass. The clinical cardiovascular surgery in dogs can be divided into routine and more specialized interventions. The first category includes correction of peritoneopericardial diaphragmatic hernia, pericardial fenestration in dogs with pericardial effusion, treatment of persistent right aortic arch, and patent ductus closure. The specialized interventions include dilation of pulmonic and aortic stenoses and pacemaker implantation. The diagnosis and surgical treatment of such diseases is described. New developments in cardiovascular surgical treatment that can be expected include catheter techniques for occlusion of shunts and dilations using balloons, because the financial costs of these procedures are not prohibitive.     

Analysis of liver regeneration in mice lacking type 1 or type 2 tumor necrosis factor receptor: requirement for type 1 but not type 2 receptor

We used KO mice lacking either TNF receptor 1 (TNFR-1) or receptor 2 (TNFR-2) to determine whether signaling at the start of liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy (PH) involves only one or both TNF receptors and to analyze in more detail the abnormalities caused by lack of TNFR-1 receptor, which is required for the initiation of liver regeneration. Lack of TNFR-2 had little effect on NF-kappaB and STAT3 binding, and no effect in interleukin-6 production after PH, but caused a delay in AP-1 and C/EBP binding and in the expression of c-jun and c-myc messenger RNA (mRNA). In contrast to mice lacking TNFR-1, which had deficient hepatocyte DNA synthesis and massive lipid accumulation in hepatocytes, TNFR-2 KO mice had normal liver structure and similar levels of hepatocyte DNA replication as those of wild type mice. We conclude that TNFR-1, but not TNFR-2, is necessary for liver regeneration, and that NF-kappaB and STAT3 binding are activated by signals transduced by TNFR-1. Inhibition of AP-1 and C/EBP binding and in the expression of c-jun and c-myc mRNA in the first 4 hours after PH, as well as the apparent lack of Fos in AP-1 complexes, had no effect on the timing or extent of DNA replication.     

Development of a dual‐lamp projector with higher brightness

Stationary projectors mainly used in system applications have recently gained a wider application range, including general presentations in halls and large conference rooms and being used, for example, in digital signage and for monitoring purposes. Consequently, they are required to meet new market demands for durability, reliability, and flexibility in installation in addition to their conventional basic performance such as especially high brightness. To achieve especially high brightness, a new optical system with two lamps is proposed; the profile of the cover glass that prevents the glass from scattering is made aspherical, the profile of the beam‐combining mirror is improved with its position optimized, and the size of the incident plane of the integrator rod is made larger (1.1 times). These measures resulted in an optical system of an even higher efficiency with 7000 lm, which is the highest in its class (according to a June 2010 investigation). Also, the arrangement of two parallel lamps completely eliminated the effect of heat passing from one lamp to the other, which helped secure durability, reliability, and flexibility in installation. Furthermore, the combined use of the unique non‐telecentric optical system, adopted from the conventional single‐lamp model, helps maintain the class‐highest contrast ratio.^1,2     

Path tracking control of Lagrange systems with obstacle avoidance

This paper addresses a path tracking problem with obstacle avoidance for Lagrange systems. The proposed method is based on field potential methods in combination with navigation functions for obstacle avoidance. First, it is shown that a simple combination of the navigation function with the conventional path tracking controller does not work. Therefore, in order to cope with this problem, a new feedback law is proposed for a path parameter which characterizes the reference path. It is proved that the proposed controller achieves both path following and collision avoidance. Moreover, since the method adopts bounded navigation functions, the proposed controllers generate bounded input signals even when target systems approach obstacles. Finally, an experimental evaluation is performed with a two-link manipulator to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Thermal conductivity of a dendritic ice layer

Measurements of the thermal conductivities of the frozen layer of aqueous binary solutions have been performed using the transient hot-wire method. Solutions of ethylene glycol and sodium chloride were utilized as the testing fluids, and they were frozen up in the test section in which the platinum wires 40 m in diameter and 170 mm in length were strung. Measurements were carried out under equilibrium at a variety of both the initial concentration of the solution and the temperature of the frozen layer. The expressions of the thermal conductivity of the frozen layer were determined. It was found that the thermal conductivity of the dendritic ice layer was favorably assessed with the Lichteneker's model by introducing the solid fraction under an assumption of the equililbrium within the range of parameters examined.Paper presented at the Tenth Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, June 20–23, 1988, Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.A.     

"Pored-domes" of the fenestrated endotheliocyte of the glomerular and peritubular capillaries in the rodent kidney.

The fenestrated endotheliocyte of peritubular and glomerular capillaries in rat and mouse kidneys were observed with SEM and TEM. In the glomerular capillary, so-called "pored-domes" were found not only at the fenestrated areolae but also at the nuclear region of the endotheliocyte. At the region between filtration surface and nuclear region, they accumulated to construct a sponge-like structure. The endotheliocyte of peritubular capillary also showed small "pored-domes". The size and morphology of the pores in the "pored-domes" of glomerular and peritubular capillaries were similar to those of areolae fenestratae of the respective capillary. Based on the findings, we assumed that pored-domes and the sponge-like structure are the reservoir for the fenestrated area of the endotheliocyte to accommodate the rapid expansion of capillary lumen.     

Drawing plane graphs nicely

Summary This paper presents two efficient algorithms for drawing plane graphs nicely. Both draw all edges of a graph as straight line segments without crossing lines. The first draws a plane graph convex if possible, that is, in a way that every inner face and the complement of the outer face are convex polygons. The second, using the first, produces a pleasing drawing of a given plane graph that satisfies the following property as far as possible: the complements of 3-connected components, together with inner faces and the complement of the outer face, are convex polygons. The running time and storage space of both algorithms are linear in the number of vertices of the graph.     

Making exhaustive search programs deterministic

This paper presents a technique for compiling a Horn-clause program intended for exhaustive search into a GHC (Guarded Horn Clauses) program. The technique can be viewed also as a transformation technique for Prolog programs which compiles away the ‘bagof’ primitive and non-determinate bindings. The class of programs to which our technique is applicable is shown with a static checking algorithm; it is nontrivial and could be extended. An experiment on a compiler-based Prolog system showed that our technique improved the efficiency of exhaustive search by 6 times for a permutation generator program. This compilation technique is important also in that it exploits the AND-parallelism of GHC for parallel search.     

Alzheimer’s Disease Animal Models: Elucidation of Biomarkers and Therapeutic Approaches for Cognitive Impairment

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related and progressive neurodegenerative disorder. It is widely accepted that AD is mainly caused by the accumulation of extracellular amyloid β (Aβ) and intracellular neurofibrillary tau tangles. Aβ begins to accumulate years before the onset of cognitive impairment, suggesting that the benefit of currently available interventions would be greater if they were initiated in the early phases of AD. To understand the mechanisms of AD pathogenesis, various transgenic mouse models with an accelerated accumulation of Aβ and tau tangles have been developed. However, none of these models exhibit all pathologies present in human AD. To overcome these undesirable phenotypes, APP knock-in mice, which were presented with touchscreen-based tasks, were developed to better evaluate the efficacy of candidate therapeutics in mouse models of early-stage AD. This review assesses several AD mouse models from the aspect of biomarkers and cognitive impairment and discusses their potential as tools to provide novel AD therapeutic approaches.     

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Micro Mechanisms in Slip Deformation Theory of Crystals

Based on the discussion that there should be a micromechanism that causes a macroscopic slip of mono-crystal copper, molecular dynamics simulations with the analytical displacement feld around a crack tip have been carried out. The result of the simulation shows that macroscopic shear slip in an f.c.c. mono-crystal copper occurs as discrete time events. This is because cross-slips occur in many places in a material such that a macroscopic shear slip is blocked until some critical state of deformation. A macroscopic shear slip then occurs suddenly at the critical state in which the area of disordered atomic arrangement has stretched from one end of a crystal to the other end. The reason why macroscopic shear slips occur in the directions of the slip planes of a crystal is attributed to the fact that the areas of disordered atomic arrangement develop only along those directions.