Contrast dependence of scattering profiles for poly(ethylene glycol) in water: Investigation by small-angle neutron scattering with 3He spin filter and small-angle x-ray scattering.

The small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements were performed for deuterated and non-deuterated poly(ethylene glycol) (d-PEG and h-PEG, respectively) in D2O and a D2O/H2O mixed solvent (Mix) to compare the scattering profiles. To determine the coherent scattering intensity of SANS, a 3He spin filter was utilized. The scattering profiles determined by the SANS measurements were analyzed in terms of the wormlike chain model with touched beads along the contour of the chain.

Effects of Fe Ions, Ultraviolet Irradiation, and Heating on Microscopic Structures of Black Lacquer Films.

The chemical reaction between Fe and lacquer has been used to create the black color in lacquer coatings since ancient times. Here, the effects of Fe ion addition, UV irradiation, and heating on the microscopic structures of black lacquer films were investigated by using X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and small angle neutron scattering (SANS). The EXAFS result indicated that heating and UV irradiation made the coordination structure of Fe in the lacquer nonuniform, and that heating caused the greatest nonuniformity.

Nanocellulose hydrogels formed via crystalline transformation from cellulose I to II and subsequent freeze cross-linking reaction.

We describe nanocellulose (NC) hydrogels formed from chemically unmodified NC by cellulose crystalline transformation and subsequent freeze cross-linking reaction. The freeze cross-linked NC hydrogel with macropores (~100 μm) was prepared by freezing a mixture of NC and NaOH (0.2 mol L), adding citric acid to the frozen mixture, and thawing it.

Polarized Neutrons Observed Nanometer-Thick Crystalline Ice Plates in Frozen Glucose Solution.

Spin-contrast-variation (SCV) small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) is a technique to determine the nanostructure of composite materials from the scattering of polarized neutrons that changes with proton polarization of samples. The SCV-SANS enabled us to determine structure of nanoice crystals that were generated in rapidly frozen sugar solutions by separating the overlapped signals from the nanoice crystals and frozen amorphous solutions. In the frozen glucose solution, we found that the nanoice crystals formed a planar structure with a radius larger than several tens of nanometers and a thickness of 2.

Neutron imaging for magnetization inside an operating inductor.

Magnetic components are key parts of energy conversion systems, such as electric generators, motors, power electric devices, and magnetic refrigerators. Toroidal inductors with magnetic ring cores can be found inside such electric devices that are used daily. For such inductors, magnetization vector M is believed to circulate with/without distribution inside magnetic cores as electric power was used in the late nineteenth century.

The energy-resolved neutron imaging system, RADEN.

The energy-resolved neutron imaging system, RADEN, has been installed at the pulsed neutron source in the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex. In addition to conventional neutron radiography and tomography, RADEN, the world's first imaging beam-line at a pulsed neutron source, provides three main options for new, quantitative neutron imaging techniques: Bragg-edge imaging to visualize the spatial distribution of crystallographic information, resonance absorption imaging for elemental composition and temperature information, and polarized neutron imaging for magnetic field information. This paper describes the results of characterization studies of the neutronic performance and installed devices at RADEN and shows the results of several demonstration studies for pulsed neutron imaging.

An experimental setup for creating and imaging He excimer cluster tracers in superfluid helium-4 via neutron-He absorption reaction.

For the purpose of future visualization of the flow field in superfluid helium-4, clusters of the triplet state excimer He are generated along the micro-scale recoil tracks of the neutron-absorption reaction n + He → T + p. This reaction is induced by neutron irradiation of the He fraction contained in natural isotopic abundance liquid helium with neutron beams either from the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (JPARC)/Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility or from the Kyoto University Institute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Science. These He clusters are expected to be ideal tracers of the normal-fluid component in superfluid helium with several advantageous properties.

Pediatric Living Donor Liver Transplantation for Congenital Absence of the Portal Vein With Pulmonary Hypertension: A Case Report.

Few reports of liver transplantation exist in patients with congenital absence of the portal vein and pulmonary hypertension. Living donor liver transplantation is usually performed before exacerbation of pulmonary hypertension. A 7-year-old girl (height: 131.

Postoperative Course of Serum Albumin Levels and Organ Dysfunction After Liver Transplantation.

Background And Aims: Postoperative hypoalbuminemia, especially following liver transplantation, can lead to adverse multisystem effects and even death. We investigated the relationship between postoperative albumin levels and organ failure (assessed using Sequential Organ Failure Assessment [SOFA] scores).

Methods: Sixty liver transplant recipients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) from 2012 to 2015 were retrospectively divided into 2 groups: lower albumin (LA) (n=28) and higher albumin (HA) (n=32), using whether serum albumin level fell below 3.

Non-invasive estimation of B-4-borono-L-phenylalanine-derived boron concentration in tumors by PET using 4-borono-2- F-fluoro-phenylalanine.

In boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), B-4-borono-L-phenylalanine (BPA) is commonly used as a B carrier. PET using 4-borono-2- F-fluoro-phenylalanine ( F-FBPA PET) has been performed to estimate boron concentration and predict the therapeutic effects of BNCT; however, the association between tumor uptake of F-FBPA and boron concentration in tumors remains unclear. The present study investigated the transport mechanism of F-FBPA and BPA, and evaluated the utility of F-FBPA PET in predicting boron concentration in tumors.

Dynamic changes in F-borono-L-phenylalanine uptake in unresectable, advanced, or recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and malignant melanoma during boron neutron capture therapy patient selection.

Background: We evaluated dynamic changes in F-borono-L-phenylalanine (F-BPA) uptake in unresectable, advanced, or recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCC) and malignant melanoma (MM) during boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) patient selection.

Methods: Dynamic changes in the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), tumor-to-normal tissue ratio (TNR), and tumor-to-blood pool ratio (TBR) for F-BPA were evaluated in 20 patients with SCC and 8 patients with MM.

Results: SUVmax in SCC tumors decreased significantly from 30 to 120 min.

Magnetic Bragg dip and Bragg edge in neutron transmission spectra of typical spin superstructures.

Neutron diffractometry has been a critical tool for clarifying spin structures. In contrast, little attention has been paid to neutron transmission spectroscopy, even though they are different types of the same phenomenon. Soon, it will be possible to measure the wavelength dependence of transmissions easily using accelerator-driven neutron facilities.

Influence of older primiparity on childbirth, parenting stress, and mother-child interaction.

Aim: Delivery at 35 years and above has increased in Japan. While there is much research concerning obstetrical risk and delivery at advanced age, little research addresses child-rearing after birth. This study seeks to identify how older primiparas' characteristics of child-rearing, parenting stress, and mother-child interaction differ from those of younger mothers.

Transconjunctival sutureless intrascleral intraocular lens fixation using intrascleral tunnels guided with catheter and 30-gauge needles.

We invented a new method for fixing an intraocular lens (IOL) in the scleral tunnel without using a wide conjunctival incision. Modified bent catheter needles were used to penetrate the IOL haptics through the sclerotomy sites. The IOL haptics were inserted into 30-guage (G) scleral tunnels guided by double 30-G needles piercing the sclera.

Estimation of radioactivity in single-photon emission computed tomography for sentinel lymph node biopsy in a torso phantom study.

Objective: The number of lymph nodes to be removed is determined from residual counts. Advance estimation of residual radioactivity in lymphatic nodes before a biopsy is useful for reducing surgical operation time. The purpose of this study was to estimate the total radioactivity of a small hotspot in single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of a torso phantom.

Intrascleral fixation technique using catheter needles and 30-gauge ultrathin needles: lock-and-lead technique.

Unlabelled: We report a new intrascleral fixation technique for a standard 3-piece posterior intraocular lens (IOL) using catheter needles and 30-gauge ultrathin needles instead of a special forceps and minimal intraocular manipulation in eyes without capsule support. Modified catheter needles are used to deliver the IOL haptic. The IOL haptic is secured extraocularly between the cannula and needle of a catheter needle and then advanced through the sclerotomy site.

Correlation of (18)F-BPA and (18)F-FDG uptake in head and neck cancers.

Background And Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the accumulation of 4-borono-2-(18)F-fluoro-phenylalanine ((18)F-BPA) with that of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) in head and neck cancers, and to assess the usefulness of (18)F-FDG PET for screening candidates for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT).

Material And Methods: Twenty patients with pathologically proven malignant tumors of the head and neck were recruited from March 2012 to January 2014. All patients underwent both whole-body (18)F-BPA PET/CT and (18)F-FDG PET/CT within 2weeks of each other.

Adverse drug events and medication errors in Japanese paediatric inpatients: a retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: Knowledge about the epidemiology of adverse drug events (ADEs) and medication errors in paediatric inpatients is limited outside Western countries. To improve paediatric patient safety worldwide, assessing local epidemiology is essential.

Design: The Japan Adverse Drug Events (JADE) Study was a cohort study.

Magnetic ordered states induced by interparticle magnetostatic interaction in α-Fe/Au mixed nanoparticle assembly.

The magnetic behavior of α-Fe/Au nanoparticle (NP) assemblies is studied over a very wide range of dipolar interactions among α-Fe NPs, by changing the volume density of the α-Fe NP. The assembly whose α-Fe NP density is lower than 0.1% exhibits typical superparamagnetic behavior.

Differences and similarities between father-infant interaction and mother-infant interaction.

The aim of this study was to compare father-infant interaction with mother-infant interaction, and explore differences and similarities between parents. Related factors for quality of father-infant interaction were also examined. Sixteen pairs of parents with infants aged 0 to 36 months were observed for play interaction between parents and their children.

Time-lapse imaging of self- and cross-pollinations in Brassica rapa.

Background And Aims: Pollination is an important process in the life cycle of plants and is the first step in bringing together the male and female gametophytes for plant reproduction. While pollination has been studied for many years, accurate knowledge of the morphological aspects of this process is still far from complete. This study therefore focuses on a morphological characterization of pollination, using time-series image analysis of self- and cross-pollinations in Brassica rapa.

Multiple primary malignancies in patients with prostate cancer: increased risk of secondary malignancies after radiotherapy.

Background: New treatment strategies for prostate cancer have recently been developed, but multiple malignancies remain a major concern. The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of multiple malignancies and to analyze the risk of secondary malignancies after radiotherapy for prostate cancer.

Methods: From 2000 to 2011, 150 patients with prostate cancer were treated with curative radiotherapy in our department.

Relativistic jet activity from the tidal disruption of a star by a massive black hole.

Supermassive black holes have powerful gravitational fields with strong gradients that can destroy stars that get too close, producing a bright flare in ultraviolet and X-ray spectral regions from stellar debris that forms an accretion disk around the black hole. The aftermath of this process may have been seen several times over the past two decades in the form of sparsely sampled, slowly fading emission from distant galaxies, but the onset of the stellar disruption event has not hitherto been observed. Here we report observations of a bright X-ray flare from the extragalactic transient Swift J164449.

[A case of non-atherothrombotic cerebroretinal small vessel disease].

Background: There is an increasing interest in the relation between retinal artery abnormalities and cerebral small-vessel diseases (SVD), because retinal vessels share common properties with cerebral small vessels. We report a case of juvenile cerebrovascular disease presenting retinal vessel abnormalities, which clinically resembled cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with stroke and ischemic leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) but in which Notch3 gene mutations were not detected.

Case: A 42-year old woman was hospitalized at the department of Neurology in our hospital, complaining of headache and dysarthria.