Side Of Fields Research Articles

Definitive chemoradiotherapy for a patient with anal cancer after renal transplantation.

Patients after renal transplantation are susceptible to secondary malignancies, including anal squamous cell carcinoma. Chemoradiotherapy is the standard treatment for anal squamous cell carcinoma; however, typical irradiation fields for anal cancer encompass a transplanted kidney located in the right iliac fossa, which causes complete renal dysfunction. Thus, typical irradiation fields are not feasible for this population. Additionally, standard concurrent chemotherapy demonstrates nephrotoxicity. Here, we report a case of modified definitive chemoradiotherapy for a 40-year-old patient with locally advanced perianal squamous cell carcinoma after renal transplantation whose abdominoperineal resection was difficult because of a history of repeated open surgeries and long-term steroids. We modified the cranial side of the elective nodal irradiation fields in this case to spare the transplanted kidney, considering the lymph chains of the perianal tumor. We then used continuous 5-fluorouracil to avoid nephrotoxicity of mitomycin C, considering his life expectancy. Modified definitive chemoradiotherapy achieved complete remission with expected toxicities. Now, approximately five years after the procedure, the patient remains disease-free, preserving anal and renal function. Definitive chemoradiotherapy using modified irradiation fields and chemotherapy may be an option for patients with anal squamous cell carcinoma after renal transplantation.

Elektromanyetik Alana Maruz Kalmış Kas Dokusunun Termal Analizi

The interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological masses is increasing day by day. There are thousands of studies in the literature on this interaction. Until now, most of the studies on bio heat transfer have focused on damage caused by electromagnetic fields. However, the therapeutic side of electromagnetic fields has been neglected. This study aimed to bring a new perspective. Using the bio heat transfer equation, the temperature effect of different parameters due to the electromagnetic field was investigated. In the present study, the analytical solution of Pennes' bioheat transfer equation was evaluated together with real muscle tissue parameters. By trying different parameter variations, the effect of parameters such as perfusion constant and thermal conductivity coefficient on tissue warming was observed. In the light of this study, device designs for magnetic heating processes applied in physiotherapy will be possible. After entering the tissue parameters and electromagnetic field values, it was possible to find out what kind of temperature change can be observed as a result of the formulation obtained in this study. The effects of thermal conductivity coefficient, blood perfusion value and heat transfer coefficient on temperature distribution were graphically analyzed. Effect of randomly selected thermal parameters are evaluated within the study. This study has shown to what extent the increasing thermal parameters of the tissue will be affected by the electromagnetic field.

Dissociative ionization and Coulomb explosion of CH4 in two-color asymmetric intense laser fields.

Directional fragment ejection from a tetrahedral molecule CH4 in linearly polarized two-color (ω and 2ω) asymmetric intense laser fields (50 fs, 1.4 × 1014 W cm-2, 800 nm and 400 nm) has been studied by three-dimensional ion coincidence momentum imaging. The H+ fragment produced from dissociative ionization, CH4 → H+ + CH3 + e-, is preferentially ejected on the larger amplitude side of the laser electric fields. Comparison with theoretical predictions by weak-field asymptotic theory shows that the observed asymmetry can be understood by the orientation selective tunneling ionization from the triply degenerated highest occupied molecular orbital (1t2) of CH4. A similar directional ejection of H+ was also observed for the low kinetic energy components of the two-body Coulomb explosion, CH4 → H+ + CH3+ + 2e-. On the other hand, the fragment ejection in the opposite direction were observed for the high energy component, as well as H2+ produced from the Coulomb explosion CH4 → H2+ + CH2+ + 2e-. Possible origins of the characteristic fragmentation are discussed.

Deep water sedimentary processes in the Enderby Basin (East Antarctic margin) during the Cenozoic

AbstractThe thick sequence of mid‐late Cenozoic sediments preserved within the Enderby Basin of the East Antarctica margin contains key information regarding glacial history and palaeo‐oceanographic conditions during the last 34 My. The interplay between glacial processes and ocean circulation can be reconstructed from seismic stratigraphic studies. Here, interpretation of seismic sequences and geomorphology from an extensive 2D seismic dataset (∼75,000 km) are correlated with lithological data of the ODP site 1165 drilled on the continental rise, and used to assess the age and origin of the sediment, and the possible influence of oceanic currents on its distribution. Mapping of seismic units and facies reveals that, in addition to glacial sediments derived from the Antarctic mainland, the upper Cenozoic succession includes drift units with prograding sequences building out from the Mac. Robertson Land margin, west of the Prydz Bay. Three contourite drifts grew on the western side of submarine channels and large sediment wave fields suggest a mixed system of turbidity currents influenced by west‐flowing bottom currents. The drifts are composed of four seismic units representing stages of onset (Lower Oligocene), main growth (Early‐Middle Miocene), maintenance (Middle‐Late Miocene) and burial (Pliocene). The internal geometry and reflection patterns of the drifts imply an intensified current activity from the Early to Middle Miocene. The results plausibly reflect that the formation of proto Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) started around the Eocene–Oligocene boundary and intensified episodically from the early to middle Miocene.

Assessing the performance of YOLOv5 algorithm for detecting volunteer cotton plants in corn fields at three different growth stages

The feral or volunteer cotton (VC) plants when reach the pinhead squaring phase (5–6 leaf stage) can act as hosts for the boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis L.) pests. The Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Program (TBWEP) employs people to locate and eliminate VC plants growing by the side of roads or fields with rotation crops but the ones growing in the middle of fields remain undetected. In this paper, we demonstrate the application of computer vision (CV) algorithm based on You Only Look Once version 5 (YOLOv5) for detecting VC plants growing in the middle of corn fields at three different growth stages (V3, V6 and VT) using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) remote sensing imagery. All the four variants of YOLOv5 (s, m, l, and x) were used and their performances were compared based on classification accuracy, mean average precision (mAP) and F1-score. It was found that YOLOv5s could detect VC plants with maximum classification accuracy of 98% and mAP of 96.3% at V6 stage of corn while YOLOv5s and YOLOv5m resulted in the lowest classification accuracy of 85% and YOLOv5m and YOLOv5l had the least mAP of 86.5% at VT stage on images of size 416 × 416 pixels. The developed CV algorithm has the potential to effectively detect and locate VC plants growing in the middle of corn fields as well as expedite the management aspects of TBWEP.

Faraday Rotation in the Jet of M87 inside the Bondi Radius: Indication of Winds from Hot Accretion Flows Confining the Relativistic Jet

Abstract We study Faraday rotation in the jet of M87 inside the Bondi radius using eight Very Long Baseline Array data sets, one at 8 GHz, four at 5 GHz, and three at 2 GHz. We obtain Faraday rotation measures (RMs) measured across the bandwidth of each data set. We find that the magnitude of RM systematically decreases with increasing distance from 5000 to 200,000 Schwarzschild radii. The data, showing predominantly negative RM signs without significant difference of the RMs on the northern and southern jet edges, suggest that the spatial extent of the Faraday screen is much larger than the jet. We apply models of hot accretion flows, thought to be prevalent in active galactic nuclei with a relatively low luminosity such as M87, and find that the decrease of RM is described well by a gas density profile . This behavior matches the theoretically expected signature of substantial winds, nonrelativistic un-collimated gas outflows from hot accretion flows, which is consistent with the results of various numerical simulations. The pressure profile inferred from the density profile is flat enough to collimate the jet, which can result in gradual acceleration of the jet in a magneto-hydrodynamical process. This picture is in good agreement with the observed gradual collimation and acceleration of the M87 jet inside the Bondi radius. The dominance of negative RMs suggests that the jet and wind axis are misaligned such that the jet emission exposes only one side of the toroidal magnetic fields permeating the winds.

Investigation of the Influence of the Conversion Method to Equivalent Square Field on the Depth Direction of Phantom Scatter Factor

In X-ray therapy, equivalent square field (side of equivalent square field) is important because it influences the accuracy of independent verification of monitor unit (MU) by calculation. To calculate the side of equivalent square field for rectangular fields, we often use a table of domestic standard measurement method (Day's method), or A/P method calculated by area-perimeter ratio. The sides of equivalent square fields of these methods are assumed to be unchanged by depth and energy, but there are reports that it is not valid. Therefore, the depth dependency of side of equivalent square fields of Day's method, A/P method, and area ratio correction (ARC) method was compared by measuring phantom scatter factors (Sp). From the analysis of Sp measured at different depths, the estimated value of Sp on the equivalent square side of the Day's method and A/P method had a depth dependency that the difference from the measured value was large when the measurement depth was deep. The estimated value of Sp on the equivalent square side of the ARC method had a small difference from the measured value even when the measurement depth was deep, and the depth dependency was small compared with the Day's method and the A/P method. Side of equivalent square field of ARC method had a smaller difference of depth dependency than in the case of Day's method and A/P method. Therefore, in the independent verification of MU for rectangular field, using the equivalent square side of the ARC method is better.

Twofold Freedom and Contingency

The paper shows that the semantic complex of freedom assumes the form of a twofold freedom as horizontally differentiated realms of meaning gain autonomy: on the one side, individual and interpersonal freedom, and, on the other side, the freedom and self-determination of social fields or subsystems, both of which presuppose, stabilize, and destabilize one another. This co-constitution is proven with three exemplary thinkers. Simmel sees money as a decisive factor in the genesis of the modern social form of freedom and individuality. His argument is brought into systematic comparison with Constant’s prior work on individual freedom in European modernity, and with Luhmann’s later notion of contingency and constitutionally guaranteed freedom of communication as prerequisite for factual differentiation. It is demonstrated that in Simmel’s work, the modern variant of the social form of freedom is described as a specific interrelation that ties the objectification of culture to a depersonalisation of social differentiation as well as to a temporalization of dependencies.

Visually evoked responses from the blind field of hemianopic patients

Hemianopia is a visual field defect characterized by decreased vision or blindness in the contralesional visual field of both eyes. The presence of well documented above-chance unconscious behavioural responses to visual stimuli presented to the blind hemifield (blindsight) has stimulated a great deal of research on the neural basis of this important phenomenon. The present study is concerned with electrophysiological responses from the blind field. Since previous studies found that transient Visual Evoked Potentials (VEPs) are not entirely suitable for this purpose here we propose to use Steady-State VEPs (SSVEPs). A positive result would have important implications for the understanding of the neural bases of conscious vision. We carried out a passive SSVEP stimulation with healthy participants and hemianopic patients. Stimuli consisted of four black-and-white sinusoidal Gabor gratings presented one in each visual field quadrant and flickering one at a time at a 12Hz rate. To assess response reliability a Signal-to-Noise Ratio analysis was conducted together with further analyses in time and frequency domains to make comparisons between groups (healthy participants and patients), side of brain lesion (left and right) and visual fields (sighted and blind).The important overall result was that stimulus presentation to the blind hemifield yielded highly reliable responses with time and frequency features broadly similar to those found for cortical extrastriate areas in healthy controls. Moreover, in the intact hemifield of hemianopics and in healthy controls there was evidence of a role of prefrontal structures in perceptual awareness. Finally, the presence of different patterns of brain reorganization depended upon the side of lesion.

Enzymatic degradation of poly-butylene succinate-co-adipate film in rice husks by yeast Pseudozyma antarctica in indoor conditions

Agricultural mulch films made from biodegradable polymers (BP) have been used to decrease the burden of plastic waste recovery and recycling. However, their degradations depend largely on environmental conditions and sometimes do not proceed as desired. Yeast strains of Pseudozyma antarctica often isolated from rice husks were found to secrete an esterase to degrade BP films. Poly-butylene succinate-co-adipate (PBSA) films buried in unsterilized rice husks with 60% (w/w) moisture degraded rapidly compared to that buried in field soil. The type strain of P.antarctica JCM 10317 added as cell suspension onto sterilized rice husks with PBSA film grew rapidly forming filamentous growth on the surface of rice husks and films. BP-degrading enzyme secreted by the growing cells was adsorbed on the surface of film and decomposed the film. Addition of rice husk-derived P.antarctica strains also showed BP film degradation activity in sterilized rice husks. In the light of these findings, we suggest that techniques for disposal of used BPs which combine plastics with unutilized residual plant materials piled at the side of agricultural fields be developed.

Imagine a mouse and an elephant: Hemispheric asymmetries of imagination

ABSTRACTThe present study aimed to explore the existence of an asymmetrical bias in the imagination of pairs of objects of unequal size. We assumed that such pairs are conceptualized with the smaller object being placed on the left, creating an ascending size order from left to right. Such a bias could derive from a cognitive strategy known from the mental number line. Sixty-four participants were instructed to imagine stimulus-pairs that were staggered from those showing very prominent intra-pair size differences (e.g., elephant vs. mouse) to very low size differences (e.g., orange vs. apple). The results showed that the tendency to imagine the bigger object on the right side increases with the size difference of the two stimuli. Such a visual field bias was also present in stimulus-pairs including numbers so that the participants imagined smaller and larger numbers on the left and the right side of the visual fields, respectively. Taken together, our findings could imply that the left-to-right orientation observed in our object imagining task may share the same cognitive mechanism as the mental number line.

Nitrogen loss from windblown agricultural soils in the Columbia Plateau

Abstract Wind erosion of agricultural soils can degrade both air quality and soil productivity in the Columbia Plateau of the Pacific Northwest United States. Soils in the region contain fine particles that, when suspended, are highly susceptible to long range transport in the atmosphere. Nitrogen (N) associated with off-site transport of windblown particulate matter depletes the parent soil of nutrients important in sustaining the biological activity of soils. The objective of this study was to quantify the loss of N from eroding agricultural fields during high wind events. Soil eroded from fields subject to conventional tillage in winter wheat–summer fallow rotations in eastern Washington was trapped in creep and Big Spring Number Eight (BSNE) samplers installed on the leeward side of fields at heights of 0–1.5 m above the surface. The location of field sites varied over the 8 years of this study, but all sites were characterized by soils with a silt loam texture and annual precipitation of ⩽305 mm. Nitrogen content of the parent soil ranged from 0.063% to 0.090% while N content of sediment trapped by the samplers during high winds ranged from 0.053% to 0.101%. Enrichment ratios (ERs) for N ranged from 0.8 to 1.3, indicating the sediment was not highly enriched in N as compared with the parent soil. Nitrogen loss was estimated to range from 0.1 to 1.9 kg ha−1 during a high wind event. Nitrogen loss may be reduced by using conservation practices that have been proven effective in controlling wind erosion.

‘Making Green the Motherland’: greening the Chinese socialist undertaking (1949–1978)

‘Making Green the Motherland’: greening the Chinese socialist undertaking (1949–1978)

Pulmonary Toxicity After Initiation of Azathioprine for Treatment of Interstitial Pneumonia in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis

To the Editor: Pulmonary involvement of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) includes drug-induced pulmonary toxicity, interstitial pneumonia (IP) due to RA itself, airway lesions, pleural lesions, and pulmonary infections due to the use of immunosuppressants. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between these conditions. Pulmonary toxicity has been reported to be often induced by methotrexate and leflunomide but rarely by azathioprine (AZA). We describe a patient with RA and IP, in whom AZA induced pulmonary toxicity. The patient was a 72-year-old man diagnosed with RA (Steinbrocker stage III, class 2), treated with 5 mg/day prednisolone (PSL) and with clinically low disease activity. He developed a nonproductive cough 2 years ago. Chest radiograph and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the chest at that time revealed ground-glass opacities (GGO) in the bilateral peripheral lung fields and honeycomb-like cysts in the dorsal side of both lower lung fields, leading to a diagnosis of IP. Pulmonary function tests showed a vital capacity (VC) of 99.3%, and DLCO 54.2%. After he developed exertional dyspnea (Hugh-Jones Grade II) in March 2006, he was referred to our hospital and was admitted on June 20, 2006. Fine crackles were audible in both lower lung fields. Blood tests showed a white blood cell … Address correspondence to Dr. Ishida; E-mail: t-takeuchi{at}poh.osaka-med.ac.jp

The weather in the architecture: Soane, Turner and the ‘Big Smoke’

The weather in the architecture: Soane, Turner and the ‘Big Smoke’

Environmental quality assessment studies of coal handling on peripheral land near Kanika siding, Basundhra-Garjanbahal area of MCL, Sundergarh, Orissa, India

Coal has been recognized as the most important source of energy generation in India. The present work was undertaken in order to assess the environmental impact of coal handling on peripheral land under near Kanika siding, Orissa, India. The data on suspended particulates in ambient air indicates an additional load of 50.5-108.7 microg/m(3)) to the ambient air due to coal loading which is equivalent to 50 x 365 to 108 x 365 kg/year. However, in the southern side (opposite to siding) covering the crop fields, the dust accumulation was maximum, i.e., 0.021 to 0.035 mg/cm(2) area in comparison to 0.001 to 0.021 in the eastern side and 0.001 to 0.029 in western side of the crop fields. The physical and chemical properties of soil was also assessed. The results reveal that the coal loading has definite negative impact on the peripheral land near the site.

Essays of a Peripheral Mind

Framing a Story On occasion, usually on a sunny, warm Friday afternoon in the spring, Father Keane would knock on the door to our eighth-grade classroom. Sister Helen Loretta would answer and appear quite pleased to see that our parish priest had come calling. Father would ask her if she would allow Jim Sweeney and me to assist him with some chores in the chapel in advance of upcoming weekend events. Allowing her students to leave class early usually took an act of God, but Father Keane qualifi ed as an approved substitute in this regard. Jim and I were altar boys who could recite our Latin responses fast enough for Father Keane to move quickly through his Mass duties on the fall Sundays when the San Francisco 49ers had a home game he would be attending later that day. So, asking for 2 altar boys to assist him did not appear out of the ordinary. We would be excused from class, and Jim and I would quickly head out of the school building toward the gym that served as both church and chapel on Sundays and for special events such as weddings and funeral services. However, we knew enough not to bother stopping yet at the chapel but would proceed beyond the gym to the far side of the ball fi elds behind the gym. There we would sit and wait. Soon Father Keane would appear directly behind the gym, out of sight of the school, with his golf clubs and a bucket of range golf balls. As he launched short iron golf shots high across the fi eld, Jim and I would retrieve golf balls and throw them back for his next round of practice. When Father Keane sensed he was suitably ready for his approaching tee time, we would retreat to the chapel for a few minutes of work and then return to the classroom. We could honestly report to Sister Helen Loretta that the chapel was now ready for the weekend, but we would obviously leave out certain other details involving Father Keane’s back swing and his improving accuracy with his 9 iron. We just stayed with the facts that were most relevant to maintaining into the future our retrieval services for our parish’s senior priest. We sensed that describing the whole story would have confused the issue and may have jeopardized our opportunities to escape the classroom on other sunny, Friday afternoons. Several years ago Gary Paul Nabhan, the noted scientist who has written wonderful accounts of desert ecology, forgotten pollinators, and the need for consumers to return agricultural production to its local roots, stated that the natural resources science community has done a disservice to the American public by consistently oversimplifying descriptions of nature and nature’s processes. Nabhan (see Arid Lands Newsletter, 1995, 37:2–5) correctly pointed out that we live within complex systems, and we need to work to describe that complexity in understandable manners but not simplifi ed to the extent that explanations serve little value in contributing to either management practices or resource policies. In other words, we need to greatly improve our abilities to tell the whole story or, at least, what we think we understand. This plea has recently resurfaced but restructured to today’s realities of information access if not overload. In a recent issue of Science (see Nisbet and Mooney, 2007, 316:56), the authors argue that scientists cannot just resort to conveying technical information on complex subjects, but they need to frame their information in both relevant and personal ways to capture the public’s attention. Without that attention, there will be little interest in our stories and little opportunity to effectively communicate information. An example Nisbet and Mooney provide is on the embryonic stem-cell issue. Advocates frame their information on this

Macular Nerve Fibers Temporal to Fovea May Have a Greater Potential to Recover Function in Patients With Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy

Purpose: It is known that even after visual loss, younger patients with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) can recover vision. The purpose of this study was to determine the mean age at onset for LHON patients with and without visual recovery who carried the 11778 mutation, and to determine the pattern of central vision recovery. Methods: Thirty-five LHON patients with the 11778 mutation of mitochondrial DNA who had visited the Keio University Hospital between 1980 and 1999 and were followed for 2 to 20 years, were the subjects of this retrospective study. The patients who had recovered vision were tested by Goldmann perimetry, Humphrey perimetry, and landmark-driven fundus microperimetry with a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO). The fixation status was assessed by SLO microperimetry. Results: Nine of the 35 patients (14 of 70 eyes) demonstrated a recovery of visual acuity to better than 0.3 in at least one eye. The mean age of disease onset was 15.9 ± 4.6 years in patients with visual recovery and 25.5 ± 8.9 years in patients without visual recovery. This difference in the mean age at onset was significant ( P = .0001; Welch t-test). These 9 patients (14 eyes) showed fenestrated central scotomas in testing by Humphrey 10-2 threshold and SLO microperimetry. The nasal side of the central visual fields had a higher sensitivity than the temporal side in 7 of the 9 patients in Humphrey 10-2 threshold testing. Areas insensitive to 0 dB were detected on the nasal side of the central retina in these patients by SLO microperimetry, and fixation stability was related to the degree of clinical visual acuity. Conclusion: The LHON patients with the 11778 mutation and a younger age of onset were more likely to show visual recovery. The findings made by perimetry suggest that the nerve fiber bundles in the nasal field (retina temporal to the fovea) may have a greater potential to recover function in LHON patients.

The extinction of genetic resources of Asian wild rice, Oryza rufipogon Griff.: A case study in Thailand

Natural populations of wild rice, Oryza rufipogon Griff., are now threatened with the disturbance of their natural habitats by various human activities. To obtain basic information on genetic erosion or loss of genetic diversity in wild rice, we investigated how environmental changes of habitat affected the genetic structure of its natural population at a study site in the central plain of Thailand. During 10 years from 1985 to 1994, the wild-rice population at this site was seriously destroyed and fragmented. Using two sets of seed sample collected in 1985 and 1994 from the same population, allozyme variability at 17 loci of 11 enzymes were examined. Isozyme genotypes of mother plants of seed samples were estimated by the segregation in each progeny, and we calculated genetic parameters for the population. Gene diversity severely decreased in the 1994 sample compared with the 1985 sample. It is supposed that declining and fragmentation of the wild rice population, which happened during the 10 years, caused loss of genetic variability and forced the habitually outbreeding plants to inbreed, accelerating a reduction in gene variability. Pgi1-1 allele which was common in Indica rice cultivars of this region was found in the wild rice plants growing at the side of rice fields. Probably, introgression has occurred between wild and cultivated rice plants, and consequently the intrinsic nature of wild rice was gradually blurred by cultivar genes. We must realize that the genetic erosion of wild rice is rapidly proceeding and that an action for their conservation in natural environment, so called in situ conservation, is urgently needed.

The Façade of Sir John Soane's Museum: A Study in Contextualism

In 1792, 1808, and 1823, Soane bought three adjacent properties on the north side of Lincoln's Inn Fields. In each case he had the existing house demolished and a new one erected. The fronts of these buildings ultimately produced the façade of what became known as Sir John Soane's Museum. A study of their design over a period of three decades shows how Soane's approach to the context of the street changed from accepting it as a physical reality to conceiving it as a theoretical ideal. In the process, the investigation also reveals the factors that shaped the different phases of the sequence.