Reduced Claudin-12 Expression Predicts Poor Prognosis in Cervical Cancer

Background: Within the claudin (CLDN) family, CLDN12 mRNA expression is altered in various types of cancer, but its clinicopathological relevance has yet to be established due to the absence of specific antibodies (Abs) with broad applications. Methods: We generated a monoclonal Ab (mAb) against human/mouse CLDN12 and verified its specificity. By performing immunohistochemical staining and semiquantification, we evaluated the relationship between CLDN12 expression and clinicopathological parameters in tissues from 138 cases of cervical cancer. Results: Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses revealed that the established mAb selectively recognized the CLDN12 protein. Twenty six of the 138 cases (18.8%) showed low CLDN12 expression, and the disease-specific survival (DSS) and recurrence-free survival rates were significantly decreased compared with those in the high CLDN12 expression group. We also demonstrated, via univariable and multivariable analyses, that the low CLDN12 expression represents a significant prognostic factor for the DSS of cervical cancer patients (HR 3.412, p = 0.002 and HR 2.615, p = 0.029, respectively). Conclusions: It can be concluded that a reduced CLDN12 expression predicts a poor outcome for cervical cancer. The novel anti-CLDN12 mAb could be a valuable tool to evaluate the biological relevance of the CLDN12 expression in diverse cancer types and other diseases.     

Establishment time of liquid flow in a bath agitated by bottom gas injection

The establishment time of gas-liquid two-phase flows in a cylindrical bath agitated by bottom gas injection through a central single-hole bottom nozzle was investigated. Because the turbulence intensity in the bath was comparable to or larger than the unity, the conventional definition of the flow establishment time based on the history of mean velocity was not suitable for the present case. In fact, it was difficult to determine the flow establishment time based on the well-known 90 or 99 pct criterion for the mean velocity. Accordingly, two methods of determining the flow establishment time by focusing on the turbulence components instead of the mean velocity components were proposed. Velocity measurements were made with a two-channel laser Doppler velocimeter. The flow establishment time was correlated as a function of gas flow rate. Close agreement was obtained by the two methods.     

Body effects on SAR distributions for microwave exposures in a realistic model of the human head.

The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations of specific absorption rate (SAR) in a human head exposed to microwaves have, to date, been carried out on models of the head only. This was because it was believed that the body effects on the average SAR of the head could be ignored at high frequencies of around 1 GHz. That opinion, however, was based on inappropriate calculation conditions and is therefore unreliable. In this paper, we have re-examined the body effects on the SAR distributions in a realistic homogeneous model of the adult head exposed to microwaves. We found that the SAR on the eye surface of the head-only model exposed to E-polarized waves was 31% smaller than that of the whole-body model at 900 MHz, and 43% larger at 1.5 GHz. For a size that can practically be considered whole-body, it is necessary to have the top of the head to the belly for 900 MHz and to the chest area for 1.5 GHz. The previously unclear body effects of H-polarized waves were assumed to be less than those of E-polarized waves, suggesting that the chest area would be sufficient for both frequencies.     

Series resonant ZCS‐PFM DC‐DC power converter with high‐frequency high‐voltage transformer link for high‐power magnetron drive

This paper presents a single lossless inductive snubber‐assisted ZCS‐PFM series resonant DC‐DC power converter with a high‐frequency high‐voltage transformer link for industrial‐use high‐power magnetron drive. The current flowing through the active power switches rises gradually at a turned‐on transient state with the aid of a single lossless snubber inductor, and ZCS turn‐on commutation based on overlapping current can be achieved via the wide range pulse frequency modulation control scheme. The high‐frequency high‐voltage transformer primary side resonant current always becomes continuous operation mode, by electromagnetic loose coupling design of the high‐frequency high‐voltage transformer and the magnetizing inductance of the high‐frequency high‐voltage transformer. As a result, this high‐voltage power converter circuit for the magnetron can achieve a complete zero current soft switching under the condition of broad width gate voltage signals. Furthermore, this high‐voltage DC‐DC power converter circuit can regulate the output power from zero to full over audible frequency range via the two resonant frequency circuit design. Its operating performances are evaluated and discussed on the basis of the power loss analysis simulation and the experimental results from a practical point of view. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 153(3): 79–87, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20126     

Sensitivity of an anadically oxidized aluminium film on a surface acoustic wave sensor to humidity

The sensitivity, transient response and sensitivity mechanism of a surface acoustic wave humidity sensor using porous anodically oxidized aluminium (alumina) films as mechanical interfaces have been studied theoretically and experimentally. It is found that the sensitivity of alumina films of 1.0 μm thickness is -0.034 m/(s %RH) and is the same order as that of polyimide films. The transient response of alumina films to humidity is about one order faster than that of polyimide films. For the sensitivity mechanism, the phase-velocity change is attributed to the mechanical perturbation caused by the absorption of water molecules. The equivalent density change of alumina films between 0 and 100%RH is about 0.7%. In addition, the actual stiffness constants of alumina films are two orders less than those of bulk alumina.     

Effect of degree of polymerization on gelation and flow processability of poly(vinyl chloride)

The effect of degree of polymerization (DP) on the gelation and flow processability of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) was studied. Sheets with adjusted degree of gelation were prepared by rolling rigid pipe formulation suspension PVC compounds with DPs of 800, 1050 and 1300 by changing the milling temperature. Their degrees of gelation were measured with DSC and their capillary flow properties were measured with a capillary rheometer at 150, 170 and 190°C and the effect of DP on the relation between gelation and flow processabilities was studied. Because of the higher shearing heat during milling, the sample with the higher DP had a higher history temperature and thus tended to show a higher degree of gelation. The viscosity increased as the gelation increased. The dependency of viscosity on DP was higher at higher milling and extrusion temperatures and thus at a higher degree of gelation and a lower shear rate. This was assumed to be attributed to the more prominent uniform molecular flow as against the particle flow. The die swell increased with increasing the milling and extrusion temperatures and hence with increasing the gelation. A sample with a lower DP tended to show a larger die swell and this tendency was even more pronounced at the higher extrusion temperature. The melt fracture easily occurred when a sample with advanced gelation was extruded at low temperature. Whereas at low milling temperatures a sample with the lower DP showed a lower critical shear rate at onset of melt fracture, and thus easily generating melt fracture, at high milling temperatures it showed a higher critical shear rate and hence scarcely generated melt fracture. These experimental results were explained by the fact and concept that a sample with a lower DP shows a higher increase in the gelation during extrusion and/or the slighter feature of particle flow as against the uniform molecular flow at the same gelation level. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 1915–1938, 2004     

Spatial distribution of silica fillers in phase-separated rubber blends investigated by three-dimensional elemental mapping

The distribution of nano-sized silica in binary rubber blends is characterized by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) tomography combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX). 3D distribution of silica is visualized by STEM-EDX tomography with the tilt-series of silicon elemental maps, while the phase-separated morphologies of polyisoprene rubber (IR) and styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) are visualized by STEM-tomography in high-angle-annular-dark field (HAADF) mode. The combination of STEM-EDX and STEM-HAADF tomography enables us to determine the distribution of silica between the two rubber phases quantitatively even with high contents of silica up to 70 phr (weight parts per hundred rubber). It is found that silica is preferentially distributed in the SBR phase, but it is also distributed in the IR phase when the IR fraction in the total rubber components is higher than 40 wt%. The preferential distribution of silica in the SBR phase improves the dispersion of the IR domains. This is the first use of this technique for a multicomponent polymer system, showing the advantage to characterize the complicated multicomponent polymer composite morphologies.     

Development of an epileptic seizure prediction algorithm using R–R intervals with self-attentive autoencoder

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that may affect the autonomic nervous system (ANS) from 15 to 20 min before seizure onset, and disturbances of ANS affect R–R intervals (RRI) on an electrocardiogram (ECG). This study aims to develop a machine learning algorithm for predicting focal epileptic seizures by monitoring R–R interval (RRI) data in real time. The developed algorithm adopts a self-attentive autoencoder (SA-AE), which is a neural network for time-series data. The results of applying the developed seizure prediction algorithm to clinical data demonstrated that it functioned well in most patients; however, false positives (FPs) occurred in specific participants. In a future work, we will investigate the causes of FPs and optimize the developing seizure prediction algorithm to further improve performance using newly added clinical data.

     

Building a speech recognition system with privacy identification information based on Google Voice for social robots

The Journal of Supercomputing - Currently, many smart speakers, even social robots, appear on the market to help people's lives become more convenient. Usually, people use smart speakers to...     

Two-stage subspace identification for softsensor design and disturbance estimation

Softsensors or virtual sensors are key technologies in industry because important variables such as product quality are not always measured on-line. In the present work, two-stage subspace identification (SSID) is proposed to develop highly accurate softsensors that can take into account the influence of unmeasured disturbances on estimated key variables explicitly. The proposed two-stage SSID method can estimate unmeasured disturbances without the assumptions that the conventional Kalman filtering technique must make. Therefore, it can outperform the Kalman filtering technique when innovations are not Gaussian white noises or the characteristics of disturbances do not stay constant with time. The superiority of the proposed method over the conventional methods is demonstrated through numerical examples and application to an industrial ethylene fractionator.