Since the 1990s the Japanese pet industry has grown to a trillion-yen business and estimates place the number of pets above the number of children under the age of fifteen. There are between 6,000 to ...8,000 businesses in the Japanese pet funeral industry, including more than 900 pet cemeteries. Of these about 120 are operated by Buddhist temples, and Buddhist mortuary rites for pets have become an institutionalized practice. InBones of Contention,Barbara Ambros investigates what religious and intellectual traditions constructed animals as subjects of religious rituals and how pets have been included or excluded in the necral landscapes of contemporary Japan.Pet mortuary rites are emblems of the ongoing changes in contemporary Japanese religions. The increase in single and nuclear-family households, marriage delays for both males and females, the falling birthrate and graying of society, the occult boom of the 1980s, the pet boom of the 1990s, the anti-religious backlash in the wake of the 1995 Aum Shinrikyō incident-all of these and more have contributed to Japan's contested history of pet mortuary rites. Ambros uses this history to shed light on important questions such as: Who (or what) counts as a family member? What kinds of practices should the state recognize as religious and thus protect financially and legally? Is it frivolous or selfish to keep, pamper, or love an animal? Should humans and pets be buried together? How do people reconcile the deeply personal grief that follows the loss of a pet and how do they imagine the afterlife of pets? And ultimately, what is the status of animals in Japan?Bones of Contentionis a book about how Japanese people feel and think about pets and other kinds of animals and, in turn, what pets and their people have to tell us about life and death in Japan today.25 illus.
Suboptimal temporal sampling of left ventricular (LV) blood pool and tissue time-activity curves (TACs) may introduce bias and increased variability in estimates of myocardial blood flow (MBF) and ...flow reserve (MFR) from dynamic PET myocardial perfusion images. We aimed to optimize temporal sampling for estimation of MBF and MFR. Twenty-four normal volunteers and 32 patients underwent dynamic stress/rest rubidium-82 chloride (82Rb) PET imaging. Fine temporal sampling was used to estimate the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the LV blood pool TAC. Fourier analysis was used to determine the longest sampling interval, T S, as a function of FWHM, which preserved the information content of the blood phase. Dynamic datasets were reconstructed with frame durations varying from 2 to 20 seconds over the first 2 minutes for the blood phase and 30 to 120 seconds for the tissue phase. The LV blood pool and tissue TACs were sampled using regions of interest (ROI) and fit to a compartment model for quantification of MBF and MFR. The effects of temporal sampling on MBF and MFR were evaluated using clinical data and simulations. T S increased linearly with input function FWHM (R = 0.93). Increasing the blood phase frame duration from 5 to 15 seconds resulted in MBF and MFR biases of 6-12% and increased variability of 14-24%. Frame durations <5 seconds had biases of less than 5% for both MBF and MFR values. Increasing the tissue phase frame durations from 30 to 120 seconds resulted in <5% biases. A two-phase framing of dynamic 82Rb PET images with frame durations of 5 seconds (blood phase) and 120 seconds (tissue phase) optimally samples the blood pool TAC for modern 3D PET systems. Una subóptima adquisición temporal del contenido sanguíneo del ventrículo izquierdo así como de las curvas de actividad tiempo (CAT) tisulares pueden introducir sesgos e incremento de la variabilidad en las estimaciones del flujo sanguíneo miocárdico (FSM) y la reserva de flujo (RFM) a partir de las imágenes dinámicas de perfusión miocárdica con PET. Nuestro objetivo fue optimizar la adquisición temporal para el cálculo de FSM y RFM. 24 voluntarios normales y 32 pacientes se sometieron a un estudio PET con Cloruro de Rubidio-82 (82Rb) y protocolo estrés/reposo. Se utilizó una cuidadosa adquisición temporal para estimar el “full width at half máximum” (FWHM) de la CAT del contenido sanguíneo ventricular izquierdo. Se utilizó el análisis de Fourier para determinar el intervalo de adquisición más largo, IA, en función del FWHM, que preservó el contenido informativo de la fase sanguínea. Los conjuntos de datos dinámicos se reconstruyeron con duraciones de los cuadros que variaron de 2 a 20 segundos durante los primeros dos minutos para la fase sanguínea y de 30 a 120 segundos para la fase tisular. Las CAT tisular y del contenido sanguíneo ventricular se obtuvieron usando regiones de interés (ROI, por sus siglas en ingles) y se ajustaron a un modelo compartamental para la cuantificación de FSM y RFM. Los efectos de la adquisición temporal sobre el FSM y RFM se evaluaron utilizando datos clínicos y simulaciones. El IA aumentó linealmente con el aporte de la función FWHM (R=0.93). Aumentando la duración de los cuadros de la fase sanguínea de 5 a 15 segundos se incremento el sesgo del FSM y RFM en la fase de estrés en un 10% así como la variabilidad en el 20-25%. La duración de los cuadros menor a 5 segundos tuvo sesgos de menos del 5% para los valores de FSM y RFM. Aumentando la duración de los cuadros de la fase tisular de 30 a 120 segundos resultó en sesgos menores a 2%. Realizar las 2 fases del PET con 82Rb con duraciones de los cuadros de 5 segundos (fase sanguínea) y 120 segundos (fase tisular) es optimo para adquirir la CAT del contenido sanguíneo ventricular en los nuevos sistemas de PET 3D.
A Labrador dog was presented with tumorous mass in rostral part of mandible. Radiographs revealed an extensive growth in the rostral mandible, alveolar bone resorption and teeth displacement were ...observed at the roots of incisors and canine tooth. Hence bilateral rostral mandibulectomy was performed. Histopathological examination revealed the tumour to be acanthomatous ameloblastoma. The pet had an uneventful recovery after surgery. Bilateral rostral mandibulectomy provided excellent prognosis with no tumor recurrence. Keywords: Ameloblastoma; dog; rostral mandibulectomy