Scientific Research Publishing

The qualitative evaluation of the central nervous system (CNS) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has recently become possible owing to the introduction of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). This study aimed to examine whether the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) could be increased by combining integrated slice-by-slice shimming (iShim) with a fat suppression (FS) method other than short-tau inversion recovery (STIR) in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and q-space imaging (qsi). A cross-sectional study was conducted and 10 Japanese non-symptomatic volunteers (mean [standard deviation (SD)] age, 33.5 [9.2] years; 8 males, 2 females) were included. All participants underwent imaging of the cervical-upper thoracic spine. The authors acquired DWI images (b-values: 0 and nine steps from 400 to 10,000 s/mm 2 for six axes) using a prototypical single-shot echo planar imaging sequence by combining two types of shimming (3D Shim and iShim) and two types of FS (STIR and water excitation [W...

Brown’s Syndrome (BS)  is an eye disorder characterized by abnormalities in the eye's ability to move. Specifically, the ability to look up and in is affected by a problem in the superior oblique muscle/tendon. The condition may be present at birth (congenital) or it may develop following surgery or as a result of inflammation or a problem with development. Some cases are constant while others are intermittent. BS can be classified into mild, moderate (if a downshoot in adduction is present) and severe (if hypotropia in the primary position is present) forms and its treatment recommendations vary depending on the cause and severity of the condition. Spontaneous improvement has been reported in several studies, so surgery is reserved for a minority of cases. The purpose of this paper was to review the characteristics, natural history and treatment of this pathology and present the experience of the Instituto de Oftalmologia Dr. Gama Pinto (IOGP).  A consecutive...

Even in cases of successful medical treatment for myocardial infarction (MI), quite a few persons will experience different symptoms, including fatigue, during the recovery phase. Such symptoms can negatively affect well-being and daily life functioning, with the risk of deleterious effects on cardiovascular prognosis. Several inventories have been developed to measure fatigue in different groups of persons with chronic conditions, mostly related to cancer diagnoses, but there are almost none targeting coronary heart diseases. The aim of the present study was to construct the multidimensional Post-Myocardial Infarction Fatigue (PMIF) scale, based on empirical data gathered in coronary heart disease contexts.  The construction of the post-MI fatigue scale was conducted in seven steps, ending in a psychometric evaluation of the internal structure of the scale. Besides, the Multi-Dimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20) was used to complement the PMIF scale and the Cardiac Se...

Depression not only has negative effects on frail syndrome; it is exacerbated in older adults with chronic diseases if they lack poor spousal and family support. In essence, solitary older adults—those who do not live with a spouse or family members—are highly prone to depression. So prevention and treatment of depression in older adults are an important issue. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between depression and aging awareness among older adults living alone with low-level long-term-care needs.  Using a cross-sectional design, a hypothesis explorative analysis was conducted in the present study. Participants were older adults aged 65 years and older in Japan. Data were collected via an anonymous questionnaire. Participants were categorized based on their long-term care need level, from Support 1 to Care 2 according to the care insurance criteria in Japan. The questionnaire included: 1) the Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Version-Japanese (GDS); 2) items on ag...

A kidney transplant is a surgery done to replace a diseased kidney with a healthy kidney from a donor. This surgery is a lifesaving choice for thousands of patients with endstage kidney disease (kidney renal failure). And kidney transplant recipients are usually managed with special care during the follow-up period. During the long-term follow-up phase, the risk of infection or acute rejection decreases with the stability of the renal function because the self-defense system is rebuilt in the recipient. In this study, the authors aimed to investigate the clinical and nutritional factors influencing the renal function of the transplanted kidney during a one-year follow-up period after transplantation. The present prospective observational study included 52 patients who underwent kidney transplantation at Jichi Medical University Hospital from 2014 to 2016. The baseline characteristics of kidney donors and recipients were examined. The clinical and laboratory da...

Cassava ( Manihot esculenta Crantz ) has been an important crop used for food and industrial purposes in most Africa countries. Cassava is the chief source of dietary food energy for the majority of the people living in the lowland tropics, and much of the sub-humid tropics of West and Central Africa. Cassava has recently gained considerable attention as important lignocellulosic biomass for the production of bioenergy. However, in processing cassava tuber, the biomass left behind include peelings, leaves and roots, and in most cases, the biomass waste is not used for any economical purposes and can lead to environmental pollution. This paper considered the intermediate route of converting lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugar through acid hydrolysis and consequent ethanol production, in a developed percolation reactor. The percolation reactor was made of two concentric cylinders. The inner cylinder was of 270 mm diameter, 456 mm height, 3 mm thickness and made of galvanise...

The time until an approaching object passes the observer is referred to as time-to-passage (TTP). Accurate judgment of TTP is critical for visually guided navigation, such as when walking, riding a bicycle, or driving a car. Despite ample research on the topic, it still remains unresolved that how TTP is computed and which other optical (such as object velocity and expansion cues) are being exploited when observers are asked to provide judgments regarding the time to passage of an oncoming object. In this paper, the authors combined psychophysics and functional MRI (fMRI) to investigate the neural substrate of TTP processing. Seven subjects (5 females, 2 males, mean age = 24.42 years old, SD = 4.82 years) participated in the study. All of them had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. The stimuli were generated on an Intel-based Macintosh laptop and displayed at a resolution of 1024 × 768 pixels and a refresh rate of 75 Hz. Two of the dots, referred to as target dots, were red (5...