Carbonates are important constituents of marine sediments and play a fundamental role in the recycling of carbon into the Earth's deep interior via subduction of oceanic crust and sediments. Study of ...the stability of carbonates under high pressure and temperature is thus important for modelling the carbon budget in the entire Earth system. Such studies, however, have rarely been performed under appropriate lower-mantle conditions and no experimental data exist at pressures greater than 80 GPa (refs 3-6). Here we report an in situ X-ray diffraction study of the stability of magnesite (MgCO3), which is the major component of subducted carbonates, at pressure and temperature conditions approaching those of the core-mantle boundary. We found that magnesite transforms to an unknown form at pressures above ∼115 GPa and temperatures of 2,100-2,200 K (depths of ∼2,600 km) without any dissociation, suggesting that magnesite and its high-pressure form may be the major hosts for carbon throughout most parts of the Earth's lower mantle.
Many studies have reported specific adaptations to high altitude, but few studies have focused on physiological variations in high-altitude adaptation in Andean highlanders. This study aimed to ...investigate the relationships between SpO
and related factors, including individual variations and sex differences, in Andean highlanders.
The participants were community-dwelling people in La Paz, Bolivia, aged 20 years and over (age range 20-34 years). A total of 50 men and 50 women participated in this study. Height, weight, SpO
, hemoglobin concentration, finger temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure were measured. Information about lifestyle was also obtained by interview.
There were individual variations of SpO
both in men (mean 89.9%, range 84.0-95.0%) and women (mean 91.0%, range 84.0-96.0%). On Student's t test, men had significantly lower heart rate (p = 0.046) and SpO
(p = 0.030) than women. On the other hand, men had significantly higher SBP (p < 0.001), hemoglobin (p < 0.001), and finger temperature (p = 0.004). In men, multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that a higher SpO
was correlated with a lower heart rate (β = - 0.089, p = 0.007) and a higher finger temperature (β = 0.308, p = 0.030) (r
for model = 0.18). In women, a higher SpO
was significantly correlated with a higher finger temperature (β = 0.391, p = 0.015) (r
for model = 0.12). A higher SpO
was related to a higher finger temperature (β = 0.286, p = 0.014) and a lower heart rate (β = - 0.052, p = 0.029) in all participants (r
for model = 0.21). Residual analysis showed that individual SpO
values were randomly plotted.
Random plots of SpO
on residual analysis indicated that these variations were random error, such as biological variation. A higher SpO
was related to a lower heart rate and finger temperature in men, but a higher SpO
was related to finger temperature in women. These results suggest that there are individual variations and sex differences in the hemodynamic responses of high-altitude adaptation in Andean highlanders.
Abstract
The Frozenix J graft open stent graft has been available since 2014 in Japan. This stent is widely used for the frozen elephant trunk technique in many institutions, mainly for cases of ...acute type A aortic dissection and also for cases of a true aneurysm and chronic aortic dissection. We treated a rare case in which the metal wires of the Frozenix J graft were broken and embolized to the periphery half a year after being implanted.
The surgical method of total arch replacement (TAR) using the frozen elephant trunk (FET) was reported by Kato et al. in 1996 1.
Although follicular lymphoma (FL) is a pathological entity characterized by relatively uniform histological and molecular findings, its clinical course is highly variable. Establishment of ...therapeutic strategies based on a simple and practical prognostic model is important. C-reactive protein (CRP) is an adverse prognostic marker for various tumors and aggressive lymphomas. However, the significance of serum CRP levels as a prognostic index in low-grade lymphomas, such as FL, has not been thoroughly investigated. We retrospectively analyzed the relationship between serum CRP levels at diagnosis and the prognosis in patients with FL (
n
= 61) undergoing rituximab-containing chemotherapy. Elevated CRP levels showed a significant association with elevated fibrinogen (
P
= 0.002) in univariate analysis. Patients with higher CRP levels (> 5 mg/L) had a significantly shorter progression-free survival in multivariate analysis (
P
= 0.044). We concluded that serum CRP levels are important in prognostic stratification of patients with FL.
A 46‐year‐old woman who presented with severe stenosis with endothelial damage caused by recurrent spasm in the left main coronary artery received medical therapy. However, she developed severe ...coronary artery spasm, resulting in circulatory collapse, which was successfully treated with coronary artery bypass grafting.
Surgical revascularization is effective for repeated coronary artery spasms resulting in circulatory collapse. Spasms can sometimes occur in other coronary arteries and may also occur in arteries of other organs.
In the manufacturing industry, the transfer of knowledge of expert is an issue because the number of experts is decreasing. In order to support knowledge transfer, various support systems have been ...developed. However documenting knowledge and determining the level of system users is a concern. This study aims to develop a technique for knowledge extraction and user level judgement using gaze measurement. In order to develop these techniques, the difference of gaze between expert and beginner need to be evaluated. In this study, the gaze of experts and beginners were measured in relation to the vortex exploration skill in the task to explore for vortices which is a typical phenomenon from fluid simulation results. 6 fluid simulation result pictures were presented to experts and beginners, and their gaze was measured. Our result suggested that the expert observe vortex area and area without vortex long time. Beginner did not observe the horizontal elliptical vortices many times, as a result they often missed it. Beginner’s gaze transfer between vortices area many times than expert’s. Expert’s pupil size was larger than beginner’s. These results imply that the experts observe the simulation result image widely, find a place where there is a possibility of a vortex, and concentrate long time to judge whether it is a vortex. On the other hand, the beginners find a place where there is a possibility vortex in the simulation result image and compare other area where there is a possibility vortex to judge whether it is a vortex. By utilizing the gaze measurements, the method of exploring the vortex of the experts was revealed and it was found that user’s level can be judged.
Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) and flexor-pronator muscle (FPM) injuries are common in baseball players. However, the sites of FPM injuries and the relationship between UCL and FPM injuries in ...baseball players have not been fully clarified. The purpose of this study was to identify the sites of FPM injuries and to determine the relationships of location and severity of UCL injury with the presence of FPM injuries in baseball players.
UCL and FPM injuries were diagnosed using magnetic resonance imaging in 99 baseball players. The sites of FPM injuries were identified on coronal, sagittal, and axial images. UCL injury severity was classified into four grades: chronic changes, low-grade partial tear, high-grade partial tear, and complete tear. UCL injury location was classified as proximal UCL tear or distal UCL tear. All images were assessed by a musculoskeletal radiologist and an orthopedic surgeon.
Combined UCL and FPM injuries were observed in 45 of 99 players, of which 40 of 45 (89%) involved injury of the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS). All FDS injuries were in the deep layer of the muscle belly. There was no significant difference between the severity of UCL injury and presence of FPM injuries (P = .352). There was a significant association of distal UCL tears with FPM injuries (P < .001).
FDS injury occurs most commonly in the muscle belly of the second and fifth digits. There may be no relationship between the severity of UCL injury and presence of FPM injury in baseball players. FPM injuries may be a contributing factor in the failure of nonoperative management of distal UCL tears in baseball players.
It can be difficult to differentiate psychiatric disorders from depressive states, with little knowledge on how to differentiate them. This study aimed to evaluate changes in brain activity during ...cognitive and emotional tasks in patients with depressive state to help with differential diagnoses.
Sixty-two patients with depressive states 17 with adjustment disorder (AD), 27 with major depressive disorder (MDD), and 18 with bipolar disorder (BD) and 34 healthy controls (HC) were recruited. We used a verbal fluency task (VFT) and emotional word tasks with happy and threat words. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy measured the relative change in oxygenated hemoglobin in the frontotemporal areas.
During the VFT, patients with AD or MDD showed significantly reduced activation in the bilateral frontotemporal region (all p < 0.01), whereas patients with BD demonstrated significantly reduced activation in the right frontotemporal areas compared to HC (p < 0.01). During the emotional words task with happy words, patients with MDD showed significantly increased activity in the frontopolar area compared to HC (p = 0.023). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that MDD or BD was significantly associated with brain activity during the happy word task. In distinguishing MDD or BD from HC, the happy words task performed equally well, with an area under the curve of 0.70.
All study patients were taking psychotropic drugs.
Brain activation in response to a combination of cognitive or emotional stimuli could assist in distinguishing patients with depressive states from healthy controls.
•Differentiating psychiatric disorders from depressive states is difficult.•This study assessed changes in brain activity during cognitive and emotional tasks.•Brain activation could distinguish patients with depression from healthy controls.
Little is known about disorder-specific biomarkers of bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Our aim was to determine a neural substrate that could be used to distinguish BD from ...MDD. Our study included a BD group (10 patients with BD, 10 first-degree relatives (FDRs) of individuals with BD), MDD group (17 patients with MDD, 17 FDRs of individuals with MDD), and 27 healthy individuals. Structural and functional brain abnormalities were evaluated by voxel-based morphometry and a trail making test (TMT), respectively. The BD group showed a significant main effect of diagnosis in the gray matter (GM) volume of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC; p = 0.01) and left insula (p < 0.01). FDRs of individuals with BD showed significantly smaller left ACC GM volume than healthy subjects (p < 0.01), and patients with BD showed significantly smaller ACC (p < 0.01) and left insular GM volume (p < 0.01) than healthy subjects. The MDD group showed a tendency toward a main effect of diagnosis in the right and left insular GM volume. The BD group showed a significantly inverse correlation between the left insular GM volume and TMT-A scores (p < 0.05). Our results suggest that the ACC volume could be a distinct endophenotype of BD, while the insular volume could be a shared BD and MDD endophenotype. Moreover, the insula could be associated with cognitive decline and poor outcome in BD.
Utilizing the Great Ape Information Network (GAIN), an open-access nationwide database containing the detailed life history information of all apes who have lived or currently reside in Japan, we ...present a robust chimpanzee life table by single year of age and sex including 821 individuals spanning nearly a century, current through March 11, 2019. While the demographic composition and status of captive chimpanzees in Japan has been previously reported, longevity and mortality statistics have not. We show that female and male survivorship do not differ significantly, and that a live-born chimpanzee in Japan can expect to live 28.3 years (females 26.3, males 30.3). Life expectancy increases to 34.6 years (females 33.4, males 35.7) for individuals who reach one year of age, and to 40.4 years (females 39.2, males 41.5) for those who survive to adulthood. The oldest chimpanzee in Japan, a wild-born male, lived an estimated 68 years. One in six infants are stillborn, and nearly 80% of all infants born alive survive beyond their first birthday. Finally, we report that a seasonal death pattern exists and chimpanzees in Japan are more likely to decease in the winter months (Dec–Feb) than in any other season.
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