Aichi Prefectural Police

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality, with early detection being challenging. Although endoscopic screening can aid in diagnosis, its invasiveness and cost limit widespread compliance. To address this, we developed and validated a non-invasive diagnostic panel based on urinary exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) for early ESCC detection. Urine samples were prospectively collected from ESCC patients and healthy controls across five institutions, and exosomal miRNA profiles were obtained using small RNA sequencing. A diagnostic panel was constructed using machine learning with recursive feature elimination in a proof-of-concept (POC) cohort comprising 99 ESCC and 93 control samples, and its performance was evaluated by five-fold cross-validation. This panel was subsequently tested in a blinded validation cohort of 50 ESCC and 61 control samples. In the POC cohort, the multi-miRNA panel achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.90. In the validation cohort, the AUC was 0.85 (95% CI: 0.77-0.92), with 84% sensitivity and 66% specificity. The panel showed high sensitivity across disease stages-100% for Stage 0, 91% for Stage I, and 73% for Stages II-IV-and its performance was not significantly affected by sex, body mass index, alcohol use, or smoking. Furthermore, in early-stage cases, the diagnostic score significantly declined after treatment (p = 0.026). These findings suggest that the urinary exosomal miRNA panel may offer a practical screening approach for the early detection of ESCC.

Laryngectomy is a life‐changing procedure typically performed as a surgical treatment for patients with head and neck cancer. Voice conversion (VC) is a technology that converts one voice into another without changing the linguistic information. Recently, “Save the Voice Project” for patients planning to undergo laryngectomy using our VC technique has been initiated. This study evaluated the speech converted from EL speech using the VC technique in a patient with head and neck cancer who had undergone laryngectomy. Additionally, details of an iPhone/iPad application for voice recording were reported. VC technology would greatly improve the quality of life of patients planning to undergo laryngectomy, especially those with relatively well‐preserved vocal function. To preserve the patient's original normal speech, medical staff should perform voice management before and after laryngectomy, and high‐quality voice recordings are essential.

We have conducted a paleomagnetic investigation of the Kozagawa Dike, which is part of the Kumano Acidic Rocks that are the product of a Middle Miocene volcano- plutonic complex cropping out on the Kii Peninsula of Southwest Japan. The granite porphyry facies of the dike yields stable remanent magnetization components. Precisely determined site-mean directions of characteristic components, as revealed by principal component analysis of stepwise alternating-field and thermal demagnetization results, form a tight cluster. The overall mean direction exhibits an approximately 40° clockwise declination shift from the south and a steep negative inclination (D = 217.3°, I =- 59.8°, a95 = 2.8°; 10 sites). Rock magnetic analyses suggest that magnetite is the main stable component carrier. The overall mean direction is interpreted to be a geologically instan- taneous record of the paleomagnetic field that was acquired in a relatively short time interval relative to paleomagnetic secular variations. The mean direction in geographic (in situ) coordinates obtained for the Kozagawa Dike is distinct from previously published data for laccolithic granite porphyry intrusions of the Kumano Acidic Rocks. This differ- ence may result from a time lag during acquisition of remanent magnetization by the different units of the Kumano Acidic Rocks. The southwest and up paleomagnetic direction has previously been interpreted as representing clockwise rotation of Southwest Japan associated with back-arc opening of the Japan Sea. However, we contend that these directions actually reflect the transient capture of an extraordinary paleomagnetic field at ca 14.3 Ma, such as a transitional or excursional state, and are not of tectonic origin.

岐阜県高富低地において,ボーリング資料を用いて推定した地下構造と,1本のオールコア・ボーリング中の広域テフラおよび化石ケイソウ群集の分析から,堆積環境の変遷にっいて考察した.高富低地を構成する高富層(新称)は,下位から高富基底礫層,高富下部泥層,高富軽石質砂層および高富上部泥層に分けられる.上部泥層および下部泥層は湖成堆積物であり,上部泥層からはK-Ah,AT,Aso-4の広域テフラが検出された.高富軽石質砂層からは御岳火山起源の御岳第一浮石層(On-Pm1)および御岳藪原テフラ(On-Yb)などが検出され,高富軽石質砂層は木曽川流域に広く分布する木曽谷層に対比される.テフラの年代から古木曽川は,約100ka頃に美濃加茂付近より関市をまわる流路を通り,当時湖の環境であった本地域に高富軽石質砂層を一時的に流入させたと考えられる.オールコア・ボーリング資料が得られた西深瀬では,約31kaから現在まで泥炭湿地の環境が続いた.また,梅原断層以南の鳥羽川低地には,長良川が最近まで流下していた可能性が高い.

We carried out a dimethylamphetamine (DMA) smoking experiment that is closer to some real cases. In this study, we heated DMA hydrochloride (DMA-HCl) in the range of about 250°C to 350°C, in which demethylation reaction occurred mainly, with a smoke collection apparatus and gas lighter, and trapped the generating vapor with an adsorption cartridge. The eluate desorbed from the cartridge and residual materials inside the smoke collection apparatus were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry. Methamphetamine (MA) and amphetamine (AM) were produced via demethylation from the dimethylamino group of DMA. Allylbenzene (AB), benzaldehyde (BA), cis-β-methylstyrene (cMS), benzyl chloride (BC) and trans-β-methylstyrene (tMS) in addition to MA and AM, were also formed as pyrolysis products. The molar percentages of a pyrolyzate MA and AM to the starting DMA were 21.4 and 1.8%, respectively, and the total molar percentage of AB, BA, cMS, BC and tMS was 2.9%. Taking into account the central nervous system stimulation by DMA and MA in humans, the total stimulant effects of the drugs that are ingested in a body can be calculatedly increased more than fourfold by smoking DMA. The present data show that a DMA smoking abuser may be able to get a more powerful stimulant effect by smoking than by injecting.

定性分析を目的として，多変量解析法でクラスターを形成（クラスター化）させるときに，明確な基準がなく，正確なクラスター化が困難な場合があった．そこで，クラスター化目的試料のクラスター化の基準について検討した．その結果，最初にクラスター化目的試料に同一試料を複数回測定した対照試料を加え主成分分析法で計算し，アウトライヤーを除去後，クラスター分析で仮のクラスター化を行い，その結果を基にKNN法とSIMCA法で計算してクラスター化目的試料間のクラスター化を推定してから，主成分分析法で計算し，得られた結果とクラスター分析法の結果から，最終的なクラスター化を行うことで満足する結果が得られた．