Ion-adsorption type rare earth elements (REE) deposit in weathered granite is the main source of REE essential for high-technology industries. However, this type deposit has not been well surveyed in ...Japan. In this study, Bulk REE abundances (=REETOT), ion-exchangeable REE (=REEEX) by ammonium chloride solution, and percentage of REEEX relative to REETOT (=REEPER) in fresh and weathered granite samples in Southwest Japan (i.e., Hiroshima and Shimane Prefectures) were determined. The REETOT and REEPER were comparable to those of ion-adsorption type REE deposits in China. This finding indicates that ion-adsorption type REE deposits can also be found in Japan. Furthermore, extended X-ray adsorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectra of yttrium in original samples and samples after the extraction of ion-exchangeable REE showed that (i) REE in samples with high REEPER mainly forms outer-sphere (OS) complexes and (ii) the remaining REE in the rocks after the extraction forms inter-sphere complexes. These findings suggest that ion-exchangeable REE forms OS complexes, which causes the high extraction rate by the ion-exchange reaction.
Introduction: S2 alar-iliac screw (S2AIS) insertion for lumbosacral fixation is becoming a common procedure for deformity surgeries. However, studies that have reported the anatomy and morphometric ...features of the pelvis for S2AIS insertion in the Japanese samples are scarce. This study aimed to elucidate the morphometric features of the pelvis regarding S2AIS insertion in the Japanese samples.Methods: We used 60 computed tomography scans of the pelvis (30 men and 30 women). The entry point for the S2AIS was determined as 1-mm lateral and 1-mm distal to the S1 dorsal sacral foramen. We resliced the plane in which the pelvis was sectioned obliquely from this entry point to the anterior inferior iliac spine in the sagittal plane. We bilaterally placed the shortest and longest virtual S2AISs in this plane using a 4-mm margin. We analyzed the length, angle, and safety of the determined trajectory and compared these measurements according to sex and age.Results: The median longest and shortest screw lengths were 108.1 and 103.3 mm, respectively. The median longest and shortest distances from the entry point to the sacroiliac joint were 31.2 and 28.2 mm, respectively. The median smallest and largest lateral angulations were 40.7° and 47.3°, respectively. The median angle range was 4.2°. The median caudal angulation was −2.8°. The median shortest and longest distances from the S2AISs to the acetabular roof were 23.5 and 27.4 mm, respectively. The median distance from the S2AISs to the sciatic notch was 23.1 mm. Assuming the insertion of screw with a diameter of 8 mm, S2AIS insertion was difficult in 32 of 120 (27%) screws because the dorsal cortex of the sacrum was damaged.Conclusions: Screw length and lateral angulation were similar to those in previous studies. Insertion difficulty occurred in 27% of screws.
Introduction: The loco-check is a simple tool for evaluating locomotive syndrome (LS), and a previous report suggested that it can be used to identify patients with stage 2 LS. The purpose of this ...study was to investigate the improvement in LS stage after surgery based on the loco-check in elderly patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) and to clarify the characteristics associated with improvement to non-stage 2 LS.Methods: We reviewed 40 elderly patients with LSS who underwent surgery at our institution. We compared the pre- and postoperative Japanese Orthopaedic Association score, loco-check, Oswestry Disability Index, EuroQoL-5 dimension utility values, and the EuroQoL-visual analog scale. We divided patients according to the presence or absence of stage 2 LS after surgery and compared their preoperative clinical findings and assessment measures.Results: Ninety percent of all patients had been preoperatively diagnosed with stage 2 LS according to the loco-check. After surgery, patients showed a decreased number of affirmative answers on the loco-check, according to which only 65% were postoperatively diagnosed with stage 2 LS. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis identified less than four affirmative answers on the loco-check before LSS as predictive of improvement to non-stage 2 LS.Conclusions: Surgical treatment for elderly patients with LSS could improve LS. In patients with less than four affirmative answers on the loco-check preoperatively, improvement to non-stage 2 LS status may be possible.
The base-mediated intramolecular cyclization reaction of 2-alkynylphenylphosphine oxides affords benzobphosphole oxides, which show intense blue-green fluorescence. Benzobphospholes are also prepared ...by the reduction of benzobphosphole oxides.
An extremely robust and efficient numerical approximation of material and spatial tangent moduli at finite strains is presented that can be easily implemented within standard FEM software. This ...method is based on the complex-step derivative approximation (CSDA) approach. The CSDA is proved to be of second order accurate and it does not suffer from roundoff errors in floating point arithmetics that limit the accuracy of other classical numerical approaches as e.g. finite difference approximation. Therefore, the CSDA can provide approximations extremely similar to analytical solutions when perturbation values are chosen close to machine precision. Implementation details of the robust numerical approximation of tangent moduli from stress calculations using the CSDA are given and their performance is illustrated through representative examples involving finite deformations. In addition to that, we focus on the determination of material instabilities. Therefore, an accompanying localization analysis is performed, where the acoustic tensor is directly computed from the approximation of the moduli. It is shown that classical numerical approximations are sensitive with respect to the perturbation value such that material instabilities may be artificially detected just as a result of slightly changing the perturbation. On the other hand, the CSDA approach provides high-accurate and robust approximations within a wide range of perturbation values such that the material instabilities can be detected precisely.
In this paper, we propose a pseudo polynomial size LP formulation for finding a payoff vector in the least core of a weighted voting game. The numbers of variables and constraints in our formulation ...are both bounded by O(nW+), where n is the number of players and W+ is the total sum of (integer) voting weights. When we employ our formulation, a commercial LP solver calculates a payoff vector in the least core of practical weighted voting games in a few seconds. We also extend our approach to vector weighted voting games.
•We discuss the least core of a weighted voting game.•We address a problem for finding a payoff vector in the least core.•We propose a pseudo polynomial size LP formulation for the problem.•A polynomial time algorithm for LP solves the problem in pseudo polynomial time.•One can adopt his/her favored software (LP solver) for calculating a payoff vector.•A commercial LP solver calculates a payoff vector in a few seconds.
Tolerance to self-antigens present in apoptotic cells is critical to maintain immune-homeostasis and prevent systemic autoimmunity. However, mechanisms that sustain self-tolerance are poorly ...understood. Here we show that systemic administration of apoptotic cells to mice induced splenic expression of the tryptophan catabolizing enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO). IDO expression was confined to the splenic marginal zone and was abrogated by depletion of CD169+ cells. Pharmacologic inhibition of IDO skewed the immune response to apoptotic cells, resulting in increased proinflammatory cytokine production and increased effector T-cell responses toward apoptotic cell-associated antigens. Presymptomatic lupus-prone MRLlpr/lpr mice exhibited abnormal elevated IDO expression in the marginal zone and red pulp and inhibition of IDO markedly accelerated disease progression. Moreover, chronic exposure of IDO-deficient mice to apoptotic cells induced a lupus-like disease with serum autoreactivity to double-stranded DNA associated with renal pathology and increased mortality. Thus, IDO limits innate and adaptive immunity to apoptotic self-antigens and IDO-mediated regulation inhibits inflammatory pathology caused by systemic autoimmune disease.
The microcapsules containing water were prepared with the suspension polymerization method, and the fundamental investigation was performed to make the effect of microencapsulated water on expansion ...behavior of microcapsules clear. In the experiment, only the volume of water added into styrene monomer was changed to make the effect of microencapsulated water volume clear, and three kinds of water contents were measured: namely, the initial water content for the microcapsules just after preparation, the middle water content for the microcapsules dried at 44°C for 24 hours, and the final water content for the microcapsules dried at 110°C for 1 hours. With increasing the added water volume, the initial water content increased; the middle water content decreased after increasing halfway through, and the final water content gradually decreased. Also, with increasing the added water volume, the drying rate of the microcapsules increased and the expansion ratio decreased. The water volume required to expand the microcapsules, in other words, the critical shell thickness required to prevent evaporation of water and to contribute to expansion of microcapsules is discussed.
A minimally invasive surgical (MIS) procedure is an ideal surgical procedure. Many MIS techniques have been reported in spinal surgery. In clinical practice, we often encounter two-level canal ...stenosis cases, in which one level shows instability and the other does not. In such a case, fusion surgery for one level and decompression surgery for the other level is ideal. LLIF/OLIF approached from the lateral side has been reported effective. MIS decompression techniques in the lateral decubitus position have never been reported. We devised a surgical method that can accomplish both fixation and decompression in a consistent lateral decubitus position.
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