Koken (Japan)

粒度が規格化されている路盤材は，凍上性判定が粒度で可能であり，CBR も品質規格値が定められているため，改めて試験を実施する機会が少ない。著者らは，耐凍上性と支持力を両立する粒度の検討を目的とし品質規格の範囲内で粒度調整した砕石を用いてCBRと凍上試験を実施した。CBRは，下層路盤の規格範囲内でも高い値を有する粒度があることが確認された。また，凍上性は，供試体の上部にアイスレンズが発生する特異な状態を示し，このような現象の原因として未凍結部からの水蒸気移動が疑われた。そこで，砕石に対する凍上性判定の課題整理を目的に種々の条件で凍上試験を実施し，供試体上部の密閉度や下部の防湿性が凍上量に与える影響を明らかにすることで水蒸気移動による凍上を裏付けた。

Following the publication of the above paper, it was drawn to the Editor's attention by a concerned reader that, regarding the western blots shown in Figs. 1C and 3A, the six lanes for the control β‑tubulin blots shown in Fig. 1C appeared strikingly similar to the β‑tubulin blots in Fig. 3A, albeit the bands in Fig. 3A appeared to have been horizontally stretched. The authors were able to check their original data, and realized that Fig. 3 had inadvertently been assembled incorrectly. A revised version of Fig. 3, now showing data for both the Akt1 and β‑tubulin blots from one of the repeated experiments, is shown opposite. All authors confirm that the errors made in assembling Fig. 3 did not have a major impact on the conclusions reported in the above article, and they thank the Editor of International Journal of Oncology for allowing them the opportunity to publish a Corrigendum. Furthermore, all the authors agree to the publication of this Corrigendum, and apologize to the readers for any inconvenience caused. [International Journal of Oncology 47: 1273‑1281, 2015; DOI: 10.3892/ijo.2015.3134].

A tough gel composed of atelocollagen, which lacks an immunogenetic site, is a promising material for biomedical application. In this study, we created a composite hydrogel composed of atelocollagen gel cross-linked with glutaraldehyde (GA) and poly-(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) gel exhibiting biocompatibility based on the double-network (DN) gel principle. The tensile toughness of atelocollagen gel remained constant regardless of the amount of cross-linker (GA) used. In contrast, tensile tests of the DN gel indicated that mechanical properties, such as fracture stress and toughness, were significantly higher than those of the atelocollagen gel. Moreover, fibroblast cells adhered and spread on the gels, the Schiff bases of which were treated via reductive amination for detoxification from GA. These findings demonstrate the potential of the proposed gel materials as artificial alternative materials to soft tissues with sub-MPa fracture stress.

Intravenous (IV) fluid therapy is a common current medical practice, and the method has remained unchanged for more than a century. The IV bag is suspended from an IV stand or pole, and the pressure created by gravity is used to administer the drug. However, this method inevitably reduces the mobility of patients, and may cause accidents such as falls during movement. To solve these problems faced in home care, nursing home, and hospital settings, this study aims to develop a non-hanging, non-electrically driven IV infusion pump with reasonable portability and operability. In this study, instead of gravity, atmospheric pressure was used as the driving force. We developed several prototypes based on different pressurization mechanisms using vacuum piston cylinders as the driving mechanism, in order to find an optimum mechanism capable of producing a stable flow rate comparable to the suspended drip system. Tests on performance in terms of discharge flow rate were conducted on three feasible prototypes, based on three different pressurization mechanisms, using a gravimetric test bench built for this purpose. The tests showed that the pressurization mechanism using an inflating sleeping-bag-shaped air bag to compress a drip bag achieved the best performance in terms of flow rate stability.

COVID-19パンデミックの際には,救急専門医のみならず,エアロゾルに曝露される医療行為に従事した医療従事者全てが院内感染の危機に直面しつつも麻酔科医・集中治療医など院内医師の総力を挙げてCOVID-19患者の気管挿管を実施した.COVID-19患者の気管挿管では,感染防御と周囲への汚染拡大を防止する目的で,当初は解放型挿管ボックスが使用されたが,のちに周囲へのエアロゾル漏洩等の問題が発覚したため,新たなデバイスを開発しつつ気管挿管手技を実践せざるを得なくなった.そこで,東邦大学は防塵マスク会社と共同研究で使い捨て式陰圧付加型高性能フィルター付き挿管ボックスを開発するに至った.本稿では,開発の経緯を院内感染防止の観点から概括する.

Atelocollagen is a major animal protein that is used as a highly biocompatible biomaterial. To date, atelocollagen has been used as an effective drug delivery technology to sustain the release of antitumor proteins and to enhance the antitumor activity of oligonucleotides in in vivo models. However, the biological effects of this technology are not fully understood. In the present study, we investigated the effects of atelocollagen on endothelial paracellular barrier function. An atelocollagen formulation containing oligonucleotides specifically increased the permeability of two types of endothelial cells, and the change was dependent on the molecular size, structure of the oligonucleotides used and the concentrations of the oligonucleotide and atelocollagen in the formulation. An immunohistochemical examination revealed that the formulation had effects on the cellular skeleton and intercellular structure although it did not affect the expression of adherens junction or tight junction proteins. These changes were induced through p38 MAP kinase signaling. It is important to elucidate the biological functions of atelocollagen in order to be able to exploit its drug delivery properties.

BackgroundWe previously reported that fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) improved diet-induced metabolic disorders in rats. The purpose of the present study was to examine the dose-dependent effects, safety and tolerability of fenugreek.MethodsThe diets used in this study were the high-fat high-sucrose diet (HFS; lard 50%kcal, sucrose 25%kcal) as a control (Ctrl group) or the HFS containing 0.25% (VL group), 1.25% (L group), 2.50% (M group), 5.00% (H group) or 12.30% (VH group) fenugreek based on the modified version of the AIN-93G purified diet.ResultsFenugreek dose-dependently reduced the hepatic triglyceride and total cholesterol levels. Fenugreek also dose-dependently increased the excretion of cholesterol and total bile acids into the feces. However, the glucose tolerance showed no significant change by fenugreek administration. The VL and L groups did not significantly change triglyceride or total cholesterol levels in the liver. The VL group showed no increase in excretion of triglyceride, total cholesterol or bile acids in the feces. The VH group showed appetite reduction and diarrhea, while no adverse effect or symptoms were observed in the M group.ConclusionThese results suggest that fenugreek inhibited lipid accumulation in the liver by increasing the lipid excretion in the feces. The effective, safe and tolerable dose of fenugreek was found to be around 2.50% (w/w).

We observed the internal diffusion behavior of inorganic micro/nano particles through oral administration. By oral exposure, the fed particles were absorbed through the digestive system then reached some organs after internal diffusion in the body. For example, TiO2 particles fed to mice were detected in the lung, liver, and spleen after 10 days of feeding. Whereas, the absorption efficiency was extremely low compared with intravenous injection. In a comparison of the simple amount of administration, oral exposure required 102 times or more amount by intravenous injection for detection by an X-ray scanning analytical microscope. During dental treatment, micro/nano particles from tooth or dental materials would generate in the oral cavity, and some of the particles had a possibility to be swallowed, absorbed through the digestive system, and then diffuse into the body. However, our results suggest that biocompatible microparticles that are naturally taken orally affect animals only rarely because of the low absorption efficiency.

N95マスク(DS2マスク)の選択にあたってはフィットテストが必要である．しかし，40歳以下の女性についてはフィットする割合が低いことが指摘されており，マスクの構造上の改善の余地がある．多くのN95マスクは，ゴム紐のみで頭に固定されている．本研究では，口元の調節紐および立体接顔クッションを付属したN95マスクを40歳以下の女性が装着し，フィットする割合が向上するかを検討した． 20名を対象に，調節紐および接顔クッションを付属したN95マスクと，コントロールとしてゴム紐のみで装着するN95マスクを用いた．装着を行ったあと，マスクフィッティングテスターを用いてフィットテストを行い，漏れ率を測定した． 調節紐および接顔クッションを付属したN95マスクでは，普通呼吸において漏れ率が5.0%未満であった．しかし，ゴム紐のみで装着するN95マスクでは5人の漏れ率が5.0%以上であった．またフィットテストの過程で漏れ率が5.0%以上となったのは，調節紐および接顔クッションを付属したN95マスクでは3人であったが，ゴム紐のみで装着するN95マスクでは，11人であった． 本研究より，調節紐および接顔クッションを付属することにより，N95マスクのフィットする割合を向上できる可能性があると考えられる．