We consider a property about a result of non-negative matrix factorization under a parallel moving of data points. The shape of a cloud of original data points and that of data points moving parallel ...to a vector are identical. Thus it is sometimes required that the coefficients to basis vectors of both data points are also identical from the viewpoint of classification. We show a necessary and sufficient condition for such an invariance property under a translation of the data points.
Titanium and titanium alloys are one of the main metallic materials in the medical and dental fields because of their biocompatibility. In this review, the application of titanium and its alloys as ...the substitute materials for Ag–Pd–Au alloy in the casting of fixed dental prostheses was examined.
A reference search was performed through PubMed based on the keywords titanium, titanium alloy, and dental casting. Other relevant references were obtained from the citation in the articles.
The dental casting technology for titanium has already been developed for clinical use, which enables the use of appropriate casting machines and investment materials for titanium and its alloys available commercially. The mechanical properties, castability, and corrosion resistance of titanium and titanium alloys were reported to be comparable or superior to the conventional dental alloys. Clinical researches reported that titanium and Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy casings showed suitable quality for clinical application.
Titanium and its alloys can be the substitute materials for Ag–Pd–Au alloy, and should be considered worthy of qualifying for the dental insurance coverage.
A fast cross-validation algorithm for model selection in kernel ridge regression problems is proposed, which is aiming to further reduce the computational cost of the algorithm proposed by An et al. ...by eigenvalue decomposition of a Gram matrix.
This study investigated the usefulness of a dental laboratory polymerization unit with light-emitting diode (LED) as a light source. The depth of cure (n=15), water absorption and solubility (n=9) of ...two indirect composite materials (Cesead N and Solidex Hardura) were evaluated by five dental laboratory polymerization units (LED Cure Master, Twinkle LED, α-Light V, α-Light II, and Hyper LII). Statistical analysis was performed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey test or non-parametric tests. Comparison of light sources for curing depth showed that metal halide had the highest value, followed by the LED group with similar values, and halogen lamps with the lowest value. The water absorption and solubility of the composite specimens polymerized with the three LED laboratory polymerization units were within the ISO recommended limit.
The solution of the ordinary kernel ridge regression, based on the squared loss function and the squared norm-based regularizer, can be easily interpreted as a stochastic linear estimator by ...considering the autocorrelation prior for an unknown true function. As is well known, a stochastic affine estimator is one of the simplest extensions of the stochastic linear estimator. However, its corresponding kernel regression problem is not revealed so far. In this paper, we give a formulation of the kernel regression problem, whose solution is reduced to a stochastic affine estimator, and also give interpretations of the formulation.
A 54-year-old man had been drinking approximately 1.2 L of soy milk (equivalent to approximately 310 mg of isoflavones) per day for the previous 3 years. He then developed erectile dysfunction and ...gynecomastia. On an examination in our department in May, blood tests showed low gonadotropin and testosterone levels, indicative of secondary hypogonadism. He stopped drinking soy milk on his own in June of that year. When he was admitted in August, blood tests showed an improved gonadal function. Secondary hypogonadism caused by the excessive intake of isoflavones in soy milk was diagnosed. In men, an excessive intake of isoflavones may cause feminization and secondary hypogonadism.
The Japanese Health, Labour, and Welfare Ministry in 2020 identified the following issues for training and recruitment of dental technicians: early involvement of students in dental practice and ...dental laboratory work, a curriculum in line with the times, and an extension of the years of training. This paper investigates the education and qualifications of dental technicians in other countries to discuss these issues. The survey method was to use the database PubMed to search the literature since 2001 using the keywords “dental technician,” “education,” and license” to collect literature related to the pre-graduate education of dental technicians. Information on educational institutions was also included in the survey. The results showed that the countries that introduced joint education between dental technicians and dentists into their educational programs, and the examinations and years of training required for each certification varied from country to country. The curriculum for dental technicians in Japan changed from a time-based to a credit-based system on April 1, 2018. The credit system is characterized by the possibility of each training institution actively engaging in flexible curriculum organization. Dental technician education programs in other countries can provide a valuable reference for each training institute to demonstrate its uniqueness.
Agranulocytosis is a serious adverse effect of methimazole (MMI) and propylthiouracil (PTU), and although there have been reports suggesting a dose-dependent incidence in relation to both drugs, the ...evidence has not been conclusive. The objective of our study was to determine whether the incidences of agranulocytosis induced by MMI and PTU exhibit dose-dependency. The subjects were 27,784 patients with untreated Graves’ disease, 22,993 of whom were on an antithyroid drug treatment regimen for more than 90 days. Within this subset, 18,259 patients had been treated with MMI, and 4,734 had been treated with PTU. The incidence of agranulocytosis according to dose in the MMI group was 0.13% at 10 mg/day, 0.20% at 15 mg/day, 0.32% at 20 mg/day, and 0.47% at 30 mg/day, revealing a significant dose-dependent increase. In the PTU group, there were 0 cases of agranulocytosis at doses of 125 mg/day and below, 0.33% at 150 mg/day, 0.31% at 200 mg/day, and 0.81% at 300 mg/day, also revealing a significant dose-dependent increase. The incidence of agranulocytosis at MMI 15 mg and PTU 300 mg, i.e., at the same potency in terms of hormone synthesis inhibition, was 0.20% and 0.81%, respectively, and significantly higher in the PTU group. Our findings confirm a dose-dependent increase in the incidence of agranulocytosis with both drugs, but that at comparable thyroid hormone synthesis inhibitory doses PTU has a considerably higher propensity to induce agranulocytosis than MMI does.
Serum fatty acids (FAs) exist in the four lipid fractions of triglycerides (TGs), phospholipids (PLs), cholesteryl esters (CEs) and free fatty acids (FFAs). Total fatty acids (TFAs) indicate the sum ...of FAs in them. In this study, four statistical analysis methods, which are independent component analysis (ICA), factor analysis, common principal component analysis (CPCA) and principal component analysis (PCA), were conducted to uncover food sources of FAs among the four lipid fractions (CE, FFA, and TG + PL). Among the methods, ICA provided the most suggestive results. To distinguish the animal fat intake from endogenous fatty acids, FFA variables in ICA and factor analysis were studied. ICA provided more distinct suggestions of FA food sources (endogenous, plant oil intake, animal fat intake, and fish oil intake) than factor analysis. Moreover, ICA was discovered as a new approach to distinguish animal FAs from endogenous FAs, which will have an impact on epidemiological studies. In addition, the correlation coefficients between a published dataset of food FA compositions and the loading values obtained in the present ICA study suggested specific foods as serum FA sources. In conclusion, we found that ICA is a useful tool to uncover food sources of serum FAs.
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Recent studies have revealed extensive genetic differentiation among some populations of marine taxa that were previously believed to be essentially homogeneous because larvae are widely dispersed in ...ocean currents. Acanthopagrus pacificus is a commercially and ecologically important teleost fish that is endemic to shallow coastal waters and estuaries of some tropical and sub-tropical areas in the West Pacific Ocean. Here, we examined genetic structure and the inferred demographic history of A. pacificus populations from mtDNA control region sequence data. A 677–678 base-pair fragment was sequenced from 159 individuals sampled at three localities across the West Pacific Ocean. Haplotype diversity was high, ranging from 0.915 to 0.989, while nucleotide diversity was low to medium, ranging from 0.8% to 2.60%. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed significant genetic subdivision (FST = 0.155, p < 0.05) among sampled populations while pairwise FST estimates also revealed strong genetic differentiation among populations indicating that gene flow was restricted. Two distinct cryptic lineages were identified that were estimated to have diverged during the Pleistocene. In summary, contemporary factors including regional oceanic currents and self-recruitment are considered to have played significant roles in producing the population structure in this fish. In particular, the genetic information generated in the current study will allow appropriate fisheries management and conservation strategies to be developed for this important local fish in the waters around Iriomotejima Island, a World Heritage site.
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