This paper is an overview of our recent findings obtained by the use of human senses as sensors, suggesting that human senses might be indispensable sensors, not only for practical uses but also for gaining a deeper understanding of humans. From this point of view, two kinds of studies, both based on semantic responses of participants, deserve emphasis. One study assessed the efficacy of the photocatalytic elimination of stains or bio-aerosols from an air environment using TiO2 as well as the photocatalytic deodorizing efficacy of a TiO2-type deodorizer; the other study evaluated the changes in perception of a given aroma while inhaling the fragrance of essential oils. In the latter study, we employed a sensory test for evaluating changes in perception of a given aroma. Sensory tests were conducted twice, when participants were undergoing the Kraepelin mental performance test (mental arithmetic) or an auditory task (listening to environmental natural sounds), once before the task (pre-task) and once after the task (post-task). The perception of fragrance was assessed by 13 contrasting pairs of adjectives as a function of the task assigned to participants. The obtained findings illustrate subtle nuances regarding how essential oils manifest their potency and how olfactory discrimination and responses occur in humans.
Histological diagnosis was crucial to our determining whether to perform postoperative adjuvant therapy in this patient. Neurosurgeons should be aware of the possibility of this histological entity among intramedullary spinal cord tumors.
A 79-year-old Japanese female presented with symptomatic cervical myelopathy caused by a hypoplastic posterior arch of the atlas and ossification of the transverse ligament. Neuroradiological examination demonstrated a hypoplastic posterior arch of the atlas and ossification of the transverse ligament. The cervical spinal cord was compressed at the level of the atlas by both the hypoplastic posterior arch of the atlas and the ossification of the transverse ligament. The patient underwent C-1 laminectomy, which arrested the progressive myelopathy and resulted in a good recovery. Atlas hypoplasia with ossification of the transverse ligament may be associated with Asian ethnicity.
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