Discovering Multiple Diagnostic Rules from Coronary Heart Disease Database using Automatically Defined Groups

Much of the research on extracting rules from a large amount of data has focused on the extraction of a general rule that covers as many data as possible. In the field of health care, where people’s lives are at stake, it is necessary to diagnose appropriately without overlooking the small number of patients who show different symptoms. Thus, the exceptional rules for rare cases are also important. From such a viewpoint, multiple rules, each of which covers a part of the data, are needed for covering all data. In this paper, we describe the extraction of such multiple rules, each of which is expressed by a tree structural program. We consider a multi-agent approach to be effective for this purpose. Each agent has a rule that covers a part of the data set, and multiple rules which cover all data are extracted by multi-agent cooperation. In order to realize this approach, we propose a new method for rule extraction using Automatically Defined Groups (ADG). The ADG, which is based on Genetic Programming, is an evolutionary optimization method of multi-agent systems. By using this method, we can acquire both the number of necessary rules and the tree structural programs which represent these respective rules. We applied this method to a database used in the machine learning field and showed its effectiveness. Moreover, we applied this method to medical data and developed a diagnostic system for coronary heart diseases     

Formation of organic heterostructures into p-n heterojunctions by surface pressure control

A surface-active rhodamine dye, combined with arachidic acid or with arachidic acid and merocyanine dye, is squeezed out from the monolayer at the air- water interface above a certain surface pressure and forms a two-storey structure with each component possessing an ordered molecular arrangement. Photoelectrical measurements have revealed that the two-storey structure composed of rhodamine, merocyanine and arachidic acid can be deposited on solid substrates to form an alternating p-n hetero Langmuir-Blodgett film, which is an entirely new way of constructing p-n junction heterostructures.     

Precipitation of nonionic surfactants by polymeric acid

Nonionic surfactants of the polyethylene oxide type are precipitated by carboxy vinyl polymer (CVP) in its acid form. While the reduced viscosity of the CVP solution is affected more markedly by a surfactant with a longer polyethylene oxide chain, the binding to CVP of the nonionic surfactants with the same hydrophobic parts occurs more effectively with shortening of the polyethylene oxide chain or with lowering of the critical micelle concentration. The structure of the complexes formed is discussed.     

Shish Kebab Morphology induced in Polyhydroxybutyrate under Shear Flow

Summary: In‐situ rheo small‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS), rheo‐light scattering, and rheo‐optical methods were employed to investigate the resultant morphology of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) under varying shear flow conditions. Immediately after shear flow application, a highly orientated structure emerged and row nucleation was identified at high shears. Only the initial stages of shish growth (we term the partial shish) were confirmed at excessively high shear conditions. However, only the kebabs were identified at medium shears, below this neither the shish nor kebab were observed. We believe this partial shish is a result of insufficient stability resulting from using such a low‐molecular‐weight species. We conclude that from our observations the shish kebab mechanism appears to display similarities to the Janeschitz‐Kriegl model of precursor formation.

Left: In‐situ rheo‐SAXS two‐dimensional pattern; kebab morphology observed at 100 s^?1 for 1 s shear after 160 s. Right: In‐situ rheo‐optical micrograph; PHB row‐nucleated morphology observed at 100 s^?1 for 1 s shear after 1 min.     

Fixed drug eruption due to allylisopropylacetylurea

We report a case of fixed drug eruption due to allylisopropylacetylurea. A 21-year-old female developed purplish-red round eruptions on her neck and left thigh after taking an analgesic containing isopropylantipyrine, allylisopropylacetylurea, phenacetin and anhydrous caffeine. Patch testing with the analgesic and its ingredients on the eruptive area showed positive reactions to the analgesic and allylisopropylacetylurea, while patch testing on the non-eruptive area showed negative reactions. We diagnosed her condition as a fixed drug eruption due to allylisopropylacetylurea in an analgesic.     

Expression of VLA-4 on peripheral mononuclear cells in patients on chronic haemodialysis with carpal tunnel syndrome

BACKGROUND: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a major complication in long-term haemodialysis patients and is thought to be a form of haemodialysis-associated amyloidosis. CTS may be due to the deposition of amyloid as well as local inflammatory process in the carpal tunnel. Although macrophage-like cells infiltrating the tenosynovium of carpal tunnel are known to express mRNA for adhesion molecules, the level of expression of adhesion molecules on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in patients with CTS is unknown. METHODS: We compared the expression of very late activation antigen (VLA-4) on PBMC by flow cytometry in 14 patients on haemodialysis (6-21 years) with CTS, nine on haemodialysis (1-6 years) but without CTS and six patients on chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD, 1-5 years) without CTS. RESULTS: The expression of VLA-4 on peripheral lymphocytes was not different among the groups. However, the FACScan fluorescence histogram of VLA-4 expression on peripheral monocytes showed a bimodal pattern in the CTS group, and the rate of the high intensity portion of the expressed VLA-4 on monocytes was significantly higher in CTS than other groups (P<0.05). The observed differences were not based on differences in the type of the dialysis membrane. We also examined the adhesion of PBMC to fibronectin-coated plates. The number of adherent PBMC was significantly higher in patients with CTS than in other groups (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that increased expression of VLA-4 on peripheral monocytes and augmented adhesion capacity of PBMC to fibronectin may be involved in the development of CTS in haemodialysis patients.     

Molecular basis of IsK protein regulation by oxidation or chelation

Slowly activating IsK channels were expressed in Xenopus oocytes and exposed to oxidative agents. Oxidative treatment reduced the resulting current IsK, while no inhibition was observed for IsK protein mutants carrying a Ser mutation instead of a highly conserved Cys residue in the intracellular domain. In contrast, Hg2+, which may not only oxidize thiol groups but also form chelates with dibasic amino acids, caused a use-dependent, positive regulation of IsK. This effect was reversed in an IsK protein mutant with a deletion in the extracellular domain. These data suggest opposite effects of peroxides and Hg2+ on IsK, a peroxide-mediated IsK inhibition by intracellular oxidation and a Hg(2+)-mediated IsK increase, caused by extracellular Hg2+ chelation of the IsK protein.     

Vitrectomy in Coats' disease

Four eyes of four patients with Coats' disease underwent vitrectomy because of exudative or tractional detachments involving the macula or premacular fibrosis. All cases had gelatinous vitreous and had no complete posterior vitreous detachment. The exudates decreased and the retina reattached after removing vitreous traction and coagulating abnormal vessels with endodiathermy and not removing subretinal fluid in 3 eyes with retinal detachment. In one eye with tractional detachment, retinal breaks were found beneath the proliferative membrane during the initial vitrectomy procedure. This eye needed multiple operations because of recurrent traction by the remaining peripheral vitreous. Exudation into the vitreous and vitreous traction may cause mutual progression in these eyes, and vitrectomy is an effective treatment, although there are difficulties in removing vitreous traction completely.