The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) aboard the Solar-B satellite (Hinode) is designed to perform high-precision photometric and polarimetric observations of the Sun in visible light spectra (388 -668 nm) with a spatial resolution of 0.2 -0.3 arcsec. The SOT consists of two optically separable components: the Optical Telescope Assembly (OTA), consisting of a 50-cm aperture Gregorian with a collimating lens unit and an active tip-tilt mirror, and an accompanying Focal Plane Package (FPP), housing two filtergraphs and a spectro-polarimeter. The optomechanical and optothermal performance of the OTA is crucial to attain unprecedented high-quality solar observations. We describe in detail the instrument design and expected stable diffraction-limited on-orbit performance of the OTA, the largest state-of-the-art solar telescope yet flown in space.
The long-term outcome of asymptomatic patients with severe AS was dismal when managed conservatively in this real-world analysis and might be substantially improved by an initial AVR strategy. (Contemporary Outcomes After Surgery and Medical Treatment in Patients With Severe Aortic Stenosis Registry; UMIN000012140).
The authors recommend early surgical decompression for OPLL because the outcome is better for younger patients and for those with a higher score as measured by the Japanese Orthopedic Association's system.
In this paper, we demonstrate a scalable process for the precise position-controlled selective growth of GaN nanowire arrays by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using a pulsed-mode growth technique.
In higher plants, developmental phase changes are regulated by a complex gene network. Loss-of-function mutations in the EMBRYONIC FLOWER genes ( EMF1 and EMF2 ) cause Arabidopsis to flower directly, bypassing vegetative shoot growth. This phenotype suggests that the EMF genes play a major role in repression of the reproductive program. Positional cloning of EMF2 revealed that it encodes a zinc finger protein similar to FERTILIZATION-INDEPENDENT SEED2 and VERNALIZATION2 of Arabidopsis. These genes are characterized as structural homologs of Suppressor of zeste 12 [ Su(z)12 ], a novel Polycomb group gene currently identified in Drosophila. In situ hybridization studies have demonstrated that EMF2 RNA is found in developing embryos, in both the vegetative and the reproductive shoot meristems, and in lateral organ primordia. Transgenic suppression of EMF2 produced a spectrum of early-flowering phenotypes, including emf2 mutant-like phenotype. This result confirms the role of EMF2 in phase transitions by repressing reproductive development.
Long-term safety and efficacy of drug-eluting stents remains controversial. The CREDO-Kyoto registry cohort-2 is a physician-initiated non-company sponsored multi-center registry enrolling consecutive patients undergoing first coronary revascularization in 26 centers in Japan. We compared 3-year outcome between patients treated with sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) only (5092 patients) and bare-metal stent (BMS) only (5405 patients). SES-use as compared with BMS-use was associated with significantly lower adjusted risk for all-cause death [hazard ratio (HR) [95% confidence interval (CI)] 0.72 (0.59-0.87), P = 0.0007], which was mainly driven by the reduction in non-cardiac death [HR (95% CI) 0.64 (0.48-0.85), P = 0.002]. The risk of cardiac death [HR (95% CI) 0.82 (0.63-1.07), P = 0.15], myocardial infarction [HR (95% CI) 0.73 (0.51-1.03), P = 0.07] and definite stent thrombosis [HR (95% CI) 0.62 (0.35-1.09), P = 0.1] was not different between the two groups. Despite longer duration of thienopyridine administration, SES-use was associated with significantly lower risk for bleeding [HR (95% CI) 0.75 (0.6-0.95), P = 0.02] and similar risk for stroke [HR (95% CI) 1.0 (0.75-1.34), P = 1.0]. The risk for target-lesion revascularization (TLR) was markedly lower in the SES group [HR (95% CI) 0.42 (0.36-0.48), P < 0.0001]. The direction and magnitude of the effect of SES relative to BMS in patients presenting acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were similar to those in patients presenting otherwise. In conclusion, SES-use as compared with BMS-use was associated with marked reduction of TLR without any increases in death, myocardial infarction, stent thrombosis, stroke and bleeding in real world clinical practice regardless of clinical presentation including AMI.
Objective. Diabetes mellitus is becoming a major cause of premature disability in Japan, and peripheral neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the results of nerve conduction studies (NCS) and the size of the nerve determined by sonography in diabetic patients. Methods. Twenty diabetic patients (mean age ± SD, 57.1 ± 13.6 years) and 20 healthy volunteers (mean, 61.1 ± 8.9 years) were enrolled in this study. Patients' wrists that had symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome were not included in the study; those that were included had negative Phalen test results. We then divided the patients into 2 groups (patients with and without diabetic symmetric polyneuropathy [DPN]). The cross‐sectional area (CSA) was measured in the carpal tunnel 5 cm proximal to the wrist and elbow joint of the median nerve. Results. There was a significant increase in the CSA in patients with DPN in the carpal tunnel compared with the control participants (P < .01) and patients without DPN (P < .01). The CSA in the carpal tunnel showed a significant correlation with the motor nerve conduction velocity (r = −0.473). Conclusions. The CSA of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel of patients with DPN is greater than that in patients without DPN and healthy individuals and correlates with NCS.
Pediatric intussusception is usually idiopathic in origin, and a pathological lesion at the leadpoint is identified in only a small proportion of cases. Meckel's diverticulum is the most common location when such a lesion is found. Heterotopic pancreas has been seen most frequently in the stomach or duodenum; however, ileal lesions are rare. In the ileum, heterotopic pancreas is usually associated with Meckel's diverticulum and may cause intestinal obstruction by intussusception. However, isolated heterotopic pancreas in the ileum is distinctly rare and usually discovered incidentally during surgery for other conditions. In a review of English language literature, there were only a few pediatric cases of isolated ileal heterotopic pancreas causing intussusception. We report three additional pediatric cases and discuss the clinical significance of this unexpected rare entity.
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