Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is one of the most potent survival-promoting factors for motor neurons. We showed that introduction of the HGF gene into neurons of G93A transgenic mice attenuates motor neuron degeneration and increases the lifespan of these mice. Currently, treatment regimens using recombinant protein are closer to clinical application than gene therapy. To examine its protective effect on motor neurons and therapeutic potential we administered human recombinant HGF (hrHGF) by continuous intrathecal delivery to G93A transgenic rats at doses of 40 or 200 microg and 200 microg at 100 days of age (the age at which pathologic changes of the spinal cord appear, but animals show no clinical weakness) and at 115 days (onset of paralysis), respectively, for 4 weeks each. Intrathecal administration of hrHGF attenuates motor neuron degeneration and prolonged the duration of the disease by 63%, even with administration from the onset of paralysis. Our results indicated the therapeutic efficacy of continuous intrathecal administration of hrHGF in transgenic rats and should lead to the consideration for further clinical trials in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using continuous intrathecal administration of hrHGF.
For green supply chains, it is essential to disassemble and recycle end-of-life (EOL) assembled products for material circulation. In order to establish disassembly plants environmentally friendly and economical manner, a disassembly parts selection is often carried out. Each part has a different recycling rate and cost, and all parts have precedence relationships among disassembly tasks. Igarashi et al. (2014) [International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, Vol.13, No.1, pp.5266] proposed a disassembly parts selection method that is carried out in an environmentally friendly and economical manner with non-destructive or destructive disassembly with integer programming with ε constraint. However, calculated efforts are required to achieve optimum solutions for the ε constraint method. On the other hand, goal programming is well known as an effective way to solve multi-criteria decision-making problems. This study proposes a bi-objective disassembly parts selection with recycling rate and cost using goal programming, and analyzes multiple types of EOL assembled products and disassembly parts selection. First, an environmentally friendly and economical disassembly parts selection is addressed using a 3D-CAD and Recyclability Evaluation Method (REM) developed by Hitachi Ltd. Next, the environmentally friendly and economical disassembly parts selection is formulated with goal programming. Finally, a case study is quantitatively discussed by comparing different types of assembled products and goal programming parameters. It is demonstrated that the proposal method by goal programming in this study finds the same solutions with the lower number of numerical experiments as that with the ε constraint method.
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