This study investigates how accrual accounting is used in a system in which it co‐exists with cash accounting. It uses a survey methodology to explore the factors that influence the extent to which accrual information is useful for decision making, when used in a dual system. The results show that although accrual information was used less for budgeting, evaluation, asset management or debt management, officials found accrual information useful for performance management. Moreover, neither experience nor leadership significantly contributed to decision‐making effectiveness. The study also found that the central government was the most influential promoter of accrual accounting in Japan. Of particular interest is the link between performance measurement and accrual information.

No abstract

We describe a case of dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVFs) involving the superior sagittal sinus (SSS) successfully treated with stent placement for an occluded sinus and transarterial embolization. A 61-year-old man who had been treated with anticoagulation for a known SSS thrombosis presented with a sudden onset of headache. CT scan revealed an intraventricular hemorrhage and cerebral angiography revealed DAVFs involving the SSS which had severe venous congestion and sinus occlusion. We treated this case with a staged endovascular approach which consisted of stent placement for the occluded sinus and transarterial intravenous embolization resulting in complete eradication of DAVFs. Recanalization of an occluded sinus by stent placement can reduce venous congestion and transarterial intravenous embolization can obliterate dural arteriovenous shunts. This staged strategy is feasible and should be considered a first option of treatment, especially for DAVFs which presented with intracranial hemorrhage and aggressive venous hypertension.

Three-dimensional (3D) tissues are engineered by stacking cell sheets, and these tissues have been applied in clinical regenerative therapies. The optimal fabrication technique of 3D human tissues and the real-time observation system for these tissues are important in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, cardiac physiology, and the safety testing of candidate chemicals. In this study, for aiming the clinical application, 3D human cardiac tissues were rapidly fabricated by human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived cardiac cell sheets with centrifugation, and the structures and beatings in the cardiac tissues were observed cross-sectionally and noninvasively by two optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems. The fabrication time was reduced to approximately one-quarter by centrifugation. The cross-sectional observation showed that multilayered cardiac cell sheets adhered tightly just after centrifugation. Additionally, the cross-sectional transmissions of beatings within multilayered human cardiac tissues were clearly detected by OCT. The observation showed the synchronous beatings of the thicker 3D human cardiac tissues, which were fabricated rapidly by cell sheet technology and centrifugation. The rapid tissue-fabrication technique and OCT technology will show a powerful potential in cardiac tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and drug discovery research.

An increasing number of reports have recently been published on hybrid natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES). These reports do not address how to complete an operation with a flexible endoscope alone (pure NOTES), but rather how to combine use of an endoscope and a laparoscope. Surgical procedures using flexible and rigid endoscopes have been developed using different processes and concepts. Recognizing this conceptual difference, we conducted a study to address how to establish a pure NOTES procedure. Six patients with gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) underwent hybrid NOTES. Each case was retrospectively reviewed to determine the appropriateness of the treatment and the usefulness of the endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) method, double-scope method, spaced perforation method, duodenal balloon occlusion method, and loop clip technique. The development of operative procedures that take advantage of the characteristics of flexible endoscopes, even with conventional flexible endoscopic devices and conventional endoscopes alone, may contribute to the realization of pure NOTES.

Two new sulfated glycosides were isolated as major constituents from seeds of Patrinia scabiosaefolia FISCHER(Valerianaceae).These compounds,termed sulfapatrinosides I(1)and II(2), have been established to be 23-sulfates(in the forms of the sodium salts)of 3ƒÀ-hydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid 28-O-[ƒÀ-D-glucopyranosyl-(l•¨6)-ƒÀ-D-glucopyranosyl] ester and 3ƒÀ-hydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid 28-O-[ƒÀ-D-glucopyranosyl-(1•¨6)-fl-D-glucopyranosyl]ester,respectively,based on chemical and spectral evidence.

Cell sheet technology has a history of application in regenerating various tissues, having successfully completed several clinical trials using autologous cell sheets. Tomographic analysis of living cell sheets is an important tool in the field of cell sheet-based regenerative medicine and tissue engineering to analyze the inner structure of layered living cells. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is commonly used in ophthalmology to noninvasively analyze cross-sections of target tissues at high resolution. This study used OCT to conduct real-time, noninvasive analysis of living cell sheet cross sections. OCT showed the internal structure of cell sheets in tomographic images synthesized with backscatter signals from inside the living cell sheet without invasion or damage. OCT observations were used to analyze the static and dynamic behaviors of living cell sheets in vitro and in vivo including (1) the harvesting process of a C2C12 mouse skeletal myoblast sheet from a temperature-responsive culture surface; (2) cell-sheet adhesion onto various surfaces including a culture surface, a synthetic rubber glove, and the dorsal subcutaneous tissue of rats; and (3) the real-time propagation of beating rat cardiac cells within cardiac cell sheets. This study showed that OCT technology is a powerful tool in the field of cell sheet-based regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.

Biotubes, i.e., in vivo tissue-engineered connective tubular tissues, are known to be effective as vascular replacement grafts with a diameter greater than several millimeters. However, the performance of biotubes with smaller diameters is less clear. In this study, MicroBiotubes with diameters <1 mm were prepared, and their patency was evaluated noninvasively by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA). MicroBiotube molds, containing seven stainless wires (diameter 0.5 mm) covered with silicone tubes (outer diameter 0.6 mm) per mold, were embedded into the dorsal subcutaneous pouches of rats. After 2 months, the molds were harvested with the surrounding capsular tissues to obtain seven MicroBiotubes (internal diameter 0.59 ± 0.015 mm, burst pressure 4190 ± 1117 mmHg). Ten-mm-long MicroBiotubes were allogenically implanted into the femoral arteries of rats by end-to-end anastomosis. Cross-sectional OCT imaging demonstrated the patency of the MicroBiotubes immediately after implantation. In a 1-month follow-up MRA, high patency (83.3 %, n = 6) was observed without stenosis, aneurysmal dilation, or elongation. Native-like vascular structure was reconstructed with completely endothelialized luminal surfaces, mesh-like elastin fiber networks, regular circumferential orientation of collagen fibers, and α-SMA-positive cells. Although the long-term patency of MicroBiotubes still needs to be confirmed, they may be useful as an alternative ultra-small-caliber vascular substitute.