Laser-Induced Liquid Jet (LILJ) has been developed as a dual functional therapeutic device which accomplish tumor dissection and preservation of fine blood vessels and nerve. Along the way, LILJ has been worked on crushing pituitary tumor in brain nerve surgery field. We have focused on the effect of bubble jet as a method of improving dissection capability. The objectives of this study is to develop a new bubble jet type LILJ that efficiently mixed minute bubbles into the jet.To validate the both mechanisms of bubble type jet for preserving micro vessels or nerves and crushing weak tissues, we developed image based analysis system using high speed video camera (Fastcam-max). We observed the liquid sphere phenomenon which were formed when the jet were shot in soft phantom, and analyzed the generation and formation of liquid sphere using the analysis system.

Super-selective intra-arterial chemoradiotherapy is a minimally invasive treatment method. In this catheterization, a catheter is inserted in the nutritional artery flowing in oral cancer and directly injected with an anticancer drug. But, it is difficult to identify the position and orientation of the catheter tip. Therefore, a system that can measure the three-dimensional position and orientation of the catheter tip in real time is required. In this study, we aim to develop a magnetic tracking system with a tunnel magnetoresistance(TMR) sensor with a size which is applicable to artery in the mouth and sensitive among small size magnetic sensors. The position and orientation of the TMR sensors were calculated from the magnitude of the magnetic field using Levenberg - Marquardt method. We compared the calculated values with true values.

In laparoscopic surgery, the linear shape surgical instruments make some operations difficult. In our previous study, usage of the flexible instruments was proposed. The existing flexible forceps have limited motions because the power transmission to the end effectors is difficult. Thus, we propose an end effector for flexible forceps which enables the open and close motions by pulling the wires for actuation. The motions are required for gripping or separating some objects during an operation. This end effector consists of two blades, a fixing shaft for blades rotation, and two driving shafts for open and close motions. Two arcuate channels were formed in each blade in which the two shaft slides, respectively. We fabricated a prototype of the end effector and confirmed the open and close motions. We also measured the open and close torque generated by the end effector by pulling the wires for actuation.

The purpose of this study is the development of a new tourniquet. The tourniquet is a device that stops blood flow by pneumatic pressure during orthopedic surgery. But, as doctor typically sets the pressure empirically, there is a problem that the patient has sequela. Although there is a possibility that it can be solved by adjusting the hemostatic pressure to this problem, since the system becomes complicated, it was difficult to realize with the conventional air pressure. Therefore, we focused on EHD pump which can adjust pressure only by voltage which is impossible with conventional air pressure. In this study, we developed a tourniquet that can regulate the hemostatic pressure using this EHD pump.

Healthy people generally express rich emotions whereas if stress is accumulated, and depressed the expression of emotions declines. Based on our previous research and studies estimate the state of mental health from the aspect of emotional expression using the voice.We developed the core technology that named MIMOSYS (Mind Monitoring System) for measuring the mental health state from the voice, and implemented it on the Android OS smartphone. MIMOSYS inputs speech and outputs two speech indices, Vitality which is a short-term indicator and Mental Activity which is calculated from the long-term tendency of Vitality. In order to verify the medical validity of the MIMOSYS, using as application for smartphone, social implementation research was carried out by the University of Tokyo and it was operated for more than two years. As a result, in the difference between men and women, showed similar trends in speech analysis and self-descriptive questionnaire.

Audio speech analysis service visualizes the state of mind and encourages prevention and early detection of mental illness. Carefully checking the health state of the mind from voice, supporting the consciousness and early detection of "mental health problems", it is a matter of personnel affairs, general affairs relations that are interested in reform of worker in applied field (industry type, business) and health management We support employees' health.We will visualize the health state of the mind from voice, support the creation of a workplace environment where users can work vividly, and promote support for health management and reform of workers by raising motivation and performance.

Introduction: In Japan, it is hard to train powerful soldiers in the appropriate period. Some have resigned halfway by various reasons. So, we have developed a method of evaluating the mental health condition by analyzing their voice. That system (MIMOSYS) is based on voice emotion recognition technology to calculate emotional components contained in voices. We hypothesized that we could predict dropping out by using it beforehand. Purpose: The aim is to inspect that we can predict the the member dropping out by the system beforehand. Methods: We have recruited 825 new faces. We asked them to input their voice using a smartphone . Then, we analyzed their voice by MIMOSYS. Results: Some who were not little, dropped away. But we got the characteristic of their voice which we analyzed. Conclusion: This result shows possibility that we can contribute to necessary member acquisition by grasping the mental health condition of them.

We developed indicators for mental health status using voice. It became possible to estimate the degree of stress and depression from the change of mental health status, but since there are many diseases that cause changes voice, the current algorithm cannot discriminate depression strictly. Therefore, we are working on developing a system that can distinguish various diseases by voice. Currently, we have found a voice feature specialized in major depression, which correlates with severity by doctor's diagnosis. Furthermore, we also found that voice features specialized in Parkinson's disease, and showed that both diseases can be distinguished by using these features. In addition, we showed that voice can be used for judging the therapeutic effect of sleep apnea syndrome, and for differential diagnosis of major depression and bipolar disorder. Now, we are studying the detection of dementia and are expanding the target diseases.

We have studied an application of voice analysis technology to estimate drivers' both physical and mental condition while driving. We think it's possible to give the driver an adequate driving support based on the result of this estimation. As an application we have focused on the stressed condition index of the driver. Voice analysis is non-invasive, simple, low cost method. Therefore we are convinced that the voice pathophysiology analysis will be a "Promising technology" for the automotive use. From the future prospect, in order to advance the performance of the estimation, it is considered that the utilizing of other kinds of sensors on board will be one of the most effective means. As a scope of this voice analysis technology, we think it should be expanded to estimate the cognitive and judgment capacity on such an elderly driver .

Recent researh using advanced epidemiologic methods and modern technology reveal diverce advantages for infants,mothers,families,and society from breastfeeding.These advantages include health,nutritional,immunologic,developmental,psychologic,social,economic,and environmental benefits. Epidemiologic research shows that breastfeeding infants provide distinct decrease of risk for a lot of acute and chronic diseases.Children who had been breastfed for longer period have lower infections morbiduty and mortality,less sudden infant death syndrome,fewer dental malocclision,and higher intelligence than those who had been breastfed for shorter periods. This siginificant difference persisits for a lifetime and is called lifelong effect.Growing evidence also suggests that breastfeeding might protect against overweight and diabetes later in life. Breastfeeding also benefits mothers by preventing breast cancer,ovarian cancer,and reducing risk of obesity, diabetes,and cardiovascular diseases. Recent findings from immunology,epigenetics,and microbiome state novel mechanisms of breastmilk as a personalized medicine for infants.

Baby rooms for parents to feed and change diapers have been recently added to commercial and public facilities based on the government concept to support families with children. However, there are no specific guidelines for planning baby rooms. As a result, a number of non-user-friendly and uncomfortable baby rooms are provided in some facilities. The objective of this research is to formulate a set of design guidelines for baby rooms. 5 surveys: field surveys on baby rooms (n=44), questionnaire surveys for users (n=605), observation surveys on users' behavior (n=1,085), interview surveys for specialists (n=11), and questionnaire surveys for facilities' managers (n=42) were conducted from 2010 to 2016. Based on these surveys from the various points of view, we analyzed the data to identify the problems, and then set guidelines for designing baby rooms, including: location, size, zoning, line of movement, interior design, lighting and other considerations.

In Japan, most nursery facilities have been built without considering the acoustic requirements; thus, the rooms tend to be reverberant and very noisy from the daily activities of children. The poor sound environment could be harmful not only as a living and learning environment for the children but also as a working environment for the nursery staff. This presentation reports the current situation of acoustic environment of various nursery facilities. In addition, recent trials to improve the noisy environment are presented. One is the installation of absorbing materials onto the walls and ceilings and the other is the introduction of management efforts aiming for children to lower the loudness of their voices. Furthermore, the activity to develop a guideline for acoustic requirement of nursery rooms in the architectural institute of Japan are introduced.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlations between feeling levels and cognitive functions in a women's brain during a time of pregnancy and childbearing. We instructed the pregnant women to carry out five kinds of tests with card games through a cognitive function test called "CogHealth", and compared them to a non-pregnant group. The reaction times corresponding to learning in the postnatal women were significantly advanced, as contrasted with the times in the pregnant and the non-pregnant women. Concerning the relationship between the results in the health questionnaires and the CogHealth scores, we found that the women's perceptions became highly cautious as well as careful during their pregnancy and childbearing. Our findings support the idea that postpartum women are more responsive in their reaction times with their memories, as contrasted with the responses in both pregnant and non-pregnant women.

In the brain function measurement by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), a phenomenon, not related to brain function, such as blood flow change according to posture or respiratory change, sometimes affects on measurement. In order to detect the influence of the disturbance and reduce it, we proposed a measurement method of correcting the disturbance and developed a system with the correcting functions. It features a probe arrangement based on an equilateral triangle in which measurement signals obtained between vertices of a triangle and acquiring correction signals obtained between vertex and center of gravity. A two-wavelength 3-channel system is developed and applied to measure blood volume change with posture change. The proposed correction method is effective for reducing the influence of disturbance such as blood volume change, though the correction effects depend on the measurement conditions or probe position in some cases.

Monte Carlo(MC) methods are used for various numerical simulations and known as a solution of light diffusion equation. The light transport simulation model using MC method which has been established by Oregon Medical Laser Center was regarded as de facto standard. However, it has a disadvantage that MC method takes too long calculation time. Incidentally, GPGPU (General-purpose computing on graphics processing units) is known for the technique that curtails the execution time of program.

To reduce calculation time, this study aims to develop a MC simulation of light propagation in living tissue using GPU. MCML (Monte Carlo for multi-Layered media) model is implemented as GPGPU program. Optical properties of white brain matter were used from Yaroslavskys data when diode laser of wavelength of 980nm irradiated. We calculated by CPU(Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700),GPU(GeForce GTX 980Ti ) and a memory card of 32GB.

We reported difference of calculation speed between them.

The present study aims to predict generalized seizures based on heart rate variability (HRV) analysis and multivariate statistical process control (MSPC). We applied the existing anomaly monitoring algorithm, i.e. HRV-based MSPC developed by Fujiwara et al. to 17 pre-ictal episodes and 74 inter-ictal episodes whose total length were about 63 hours. Consequently, the sensitivity and the false positive rate were 76.5% and 1.39 times per hour respectively, and the proportion of duration under false alarms was 5.96%. These results suggest that generalized seizures may be predicted by analyzing HRV. Based on the previous research, we hypothesize that the change in the autonomic nervous activity induce generalized epileptic seizures.

We compared the dynamics of the sleep stage transition patterns between Parkinson's disease patients and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome patients in this study. There was significant difference between the two patient groups in the normalized relative transition probability from the REM sleep stage to the wake stage and that from the REM sleep stage to the NREM1 sleep stage. Moreover, there was significant difference between the two patient groups in duration time distribution of the wake stage and that of the NREM1 sleep stage.

Resting-state functional connectivity (rFC) analysis of the human brain is expected to become a next-generation diagnostic method for psychiatric and neurological disorders. Recently, it has been reported that rFC network structure changes during sleep-wake cycles. However, this phenomena has not studied in the mouse brain, which are widely used in basic researches on such cerebral disorders. In this study, we performed rFC analysis based on EEG signals of the mouse brain during sleep-wake cycle. It was found that the amplitude of low-gamma frequency band (30-80 Hz) EEG recorded from the motor and the visual cortex were correlated during wakefulness. However, it declined during non-REM and REM sleep states. These results suggest the state-dependent changes in the interaction among the brain regions.

Synchronization of theta-band rhythm prior to memory encoding has previously been reported, and is thought to reflect cognitive load reduction. To further clarify the role of theta-band rhythm in memory processing, we recorded magnetoencephalograms of 30 healthy volunteers during a sequential memory task. The task comprised seven memory items, presented sequentially at either 600 ms (slow condition), or 250 ms (fast condition) intervals. In the slow condition, theta-band rhythm synchronized immediately after the presentation of each memory item. In the fast condition, marked synchronization occurred only after presentation of the first memory item. Meanwhile, accuracy rates of the third and later memory items were significantly higher for the slow condition than those for the fast condition. Our findings suggest that modulation, and particularly recovery of theta-band rhythm is essential for memory encoding, and correspondingly recall performance for successive memory items.

With the rapid development of speech recognition technology, voice operation interfaces have been applied to the medical devices. Since It needs to convert the instruction into language information to operate these devices by voice, the cognitive load is not necessarily reduced. The purpose of this study is to quantify the cognitive load by utterance. We measured the performances of a dynamic random-dot steering task, and evaluated the influence of utterance to steering accuracy by simultaneously appending a verbal fluency task. As a result, the amount of steering error under verbal fluency task was larger than under the conditon in which subjects made saccades to peripheral targets. The results indicate that the influence of utterance on the operation accuracy might be caused by attenuation of attention to the visual target. It suggests that the introduction of the voice operation device needs to be examined according to the usage scene.

Little is revealed on the mechanisms underlying cognitive expertise such as perception and intuitive understanding.In this paper,using the factorization task as a mental arithmetic task,we focus on the brain activity in experts relevant to intuitive understanding of equation patterns.We record response times to get the solution to equations and EEG signals in perception of equations.According to quick response times,we evaluate intuitive understanding of equation patterns in factorization.We assess each subject's proficiency in factorization with a paper test.We examine if increase of EEG phase synchronization is concerned with only expert intuitive understanding.As the result of the study,a relevance between each subject's proficiency in factorization and EEG phase synchronization in intuitive understanding of equation patterns was observed.

Our purpose of this study is to quantify the degree of mental fatigue by EEG and FPG signals. In this paper, we aim at observing fluctuations of EEG power and FPG power by the degree of mental fatigue during a fatigue task. Subjects read a sentence aloud as a fatigue task. Subjects are instructed to read 50-sentences aloud and to take a 60-seconds rest in one trial. In this experiment, subjects take a 60-seconds rest in the first time and then repeat the trial ten times. Subjects perform the RAS before and after the experiment and after 5 trial. A Fourier transform is applied to the EEG and the FPG during each interval period. We calculate α, β and γ band EEG power and LF and HF band FPG power. As results, γ band EEG power in Frontal lobe increase as the experiment progresses and LF band FPG power decrease.

Our study focus on relationship with optical illusion effect and EEG in human. In this paper, we record EEG signals during Delboeuf illusion task.In the experiment, we prepare a concentric circle (Delboeuf illusion stimulus) and a single circle (comparison stimulus). Subjects judge whether an inner circle of a concentric circle and a single circle is the same size. An order of one trial is shown as the followings. 1) A concentric circle is presented on the center of a computer display for 1.0[sec]. 2) A single circle is presented on the left side of the concentric circle for 0.5[sec]. 3) A blank screen is presented for 1.0[sec]. Subjects press a computer's key when subjects judge an inner circle of a concentric circle and a single circle is the same size.From results, we estimate positive potentials in 0.3[sec] after presenting concentric circle is related to effect of optical illusion.

This study is to examine the event-related potential(ERP) relating the intention("I want to drink") to "with/without speech-imagery" when drink-images are displayed on the PC screen. An experimental process was set in 8s as followings; fixation-image display(1s), drink-image display(2.5s), intention check(1.5s), fixation-image display(1s), and speech-imagery period(2s). It was repeated 100-times. The ERP were measured with 10-20 system in a magnetically-shielded room with BPF(0.08-100Hz) and notch-filter(50Hz) for 10-subjects. In the analysis, it was averaged with 35-trials selecting by "with/without speech-imagery" in an epoch(fixation-image display and speech-imagery) of 3s and time-frequency analysis was done. Event-related synchronization(ERS) and desynchronization were examined with t-test. The ERS were observed in α-band on the left-hemisphere in case of "with speech-imagery" for latency of 500-1500ms and the significant differences(p<0.05) were shown in the left-hemisphere and occipital-region. It is suggested the useful information of selecting electrode positions to detect the ERP for judgment of "with/without speech-imagery" in the intention.

A dichotic listening test is presenting two different auditory stimuli simultaneously to the patient, one to each ear. When used with speech stimuli, the typical finding for dichotic listening is called right ear-advantage which means that more stimuli are correctly reported from the right ear. So far, the relationship between right ear-advantage and auditory processing is not clear. Therefore, we used a frequency tagging approach to explore auditory neural processing during dichotic listening. The magnetoencephalogram was recorded while participants listened to a pair of stimulus sounds, chosen from 48 kinds of Japanese two syllable sounds, which were amplitude-modulated at 35-Hz and 45-Hz. Behaviorally, the accuracy of reports to stimulation from right ear is higher than from left ear. The ASSR amplitude for the right ear input was significantly greater than the left ear input. This result suggests the frequency tagging method is a useful tool for exploring auditory neural processing.

The aim of this study was to assess brain activity during stress state using mobile device. The chronic stress state of 9 healthy adults was estimated using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Experimental tasks were conducted to select target displayed on the mobile device by touch panel operation, and the subjects performed three tasks with different degrees of difficult. The electroencelphalogram (EEG), electrocardiogram (ECG), and photoplethysmography were measured at sampling frequency of 500Hz. EEG activity was analyzed with an event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) of theta (4-8Hz) and alpha (8-14Hz) bands. Theta bands ERD/ERS activity was significantly higher at 200-400 ms after tasks in the anterior region compared with those in the posterior region.There were no significant differences in difficulty of task. These results suggest that operation of mobile device activates brain response of frontal region according to cognitive processing in healthy people.

Our purpose is to clarify the mechanism of movement's decision-making. To achieve this purpose, we record EEG signals in a Memory Guided Saccade Task (MGST). Experimental setting are shown as following. Three fixation points is displayed on a display. We prepare a direction-cue and go-cue. The direction-cue is visually stimulus in the shape of a left or right arrow. The go-cue is auditory stimulus (500[Hz] pure tone).An order of one trial is shown as following. Firstly, the direction-cue is presented on the center fixation point for 0.2 [sec]. Secondly, the direction-cue disappear and the go-cue is presented after 2.5~3.0 [sec]. Finally, a subject moves their eyes toward the fixation point indicated by the direction-cue. EEG signals are record in the MGST and we analyze EEG signals by the ensemble averaging. As a result, we found negative correlations between peak voltage of a negative potentials and latency of movement.

Recently, development of Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) which are enables non-contact operation of external devices by using electroencephalograms are progressing. This system is expected as an alternative communication tool for patients who are limited body function. However, BCI has expanded the area of research, it has problems such as high cost and instability due to requiring complicated control operation. On the other hand, evaluate the responsiveness and voluntariness of the system are also expected. Therefore, in this study participants conducted motor control tasks and clarified the voluntariness of the BCI based on the task success ratio. Also, "attention" acquired from the electroencephalogram sensor was used as the driving threshold of the motor, and 40, 50, 60, and 70 were set. As a result of comparing the task success ratio at each threshold value, when threshold is 60, the average is 50.8% and the result that the malfunction is small is obtained.

Na_x is a sodium concentration ([Na⁺])-sensitive, but not a voltage-sensitive Na channel involved in body-fluid homeostasis. Na_x-knockout mice do not stop ingesting salt even when dehydrated and transiently develop hypernatremia. In the brain, Na_x is preferentially expressed in the glial cells of sensory circumventricular organs (sCVOs), midline structures in which the blood-brain barrier is missing. Among the sCVOs, subfornical organ (SFO) is the primary site of [Na⁺] sensing for the control of salt-intake behaviors. When [Na⁺] in plasma and cerebrospinal fluids increase by dehydration, the activation of Na_x stimulates glial cells to release lactate, which functions as a gliotransmitter that activates GABAergic inhibitory neurons in the SFO. The SFO neurons encoding salt appetite are angiotensin II receptor-positive excitatory neurons projecting to the ventral part of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. The salt appetite-driving neurons were suppressed under dehydrated conditions through activation of GABAergic neurons by Na_x signals.

Vascular endothelial cells sense shear stress generated by blood flow and transduce this into ATP release and purinoceptor-mediated Ca²⁺ signaling within the cells, but the mechanism by which the shear stress evokes ATP release remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that the cellular mitochondria play a critical role in this process. Real-time imaging using a fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based ATP biosensor revealed marked augmentation of ATP generation in the mitochondria immediately after the endothelial cells were exposed to flow. This was reversible and dependent on the shear stress intensity. Inhibitors of the mitochondrial electron-transport chain and ATP synthase abolished the shear stress-induced ATP generation, as well as ATP release and the influx of extracellular Ca²⁺ into the cells. These results suggest that endothelial mitochondria have a role in mechanosensing shear stress and transducing it into ATP generation, followed by ATP release and the activation of Ca²⁺ signaling within the cells.

Autonomic nervous system has a critical role in control of circulation. For example, baroreceptor afferent nerves locating at cervical arteries and aortic arches sense mechanical stimuli by arterial pressure and regulate efferent autonomic nerves, circulatory organs and systemic blood pressure to maintain whole-body homeostasis and life. However, it remains unclear how baroreceptor afferent nerves sense blood pressure. Here, I two-photon microscopy imaged the sensing of blood pressure by baroreceptor afferent nerves in living animals. (AMED-PRIME Mechanobiology Research)

Mechanical forces provide essential physiological information in the hearts. Transient receptor potential cation channel vanilloid family type 2 (TRPV2) is a potential candidate for hypotonicity- and stretch-activated channel. To elucidate the physiological role of cardiac TRPV2, we generated temporally-controlled cardiac-specific TRPV2-deficient mice and examined the role of cardiac TRPV2 under basal heart conditions and in response to hemodynamic stress. The elimination of TRPV2 in the adult mice hearts resulted in an immediate and severe decline in cardiac function, accompanied by defects in myocardial conduction. TRPV2-deficient neonatal cardiomyocytes were severely impaired functional maturation. The elimination of TRPV2 from juveniles resulted in mild chamber dilation and defects of compensated hypertrophic response to stress. These results indicate that TRPV2 plays a homeostatic role in maintaining myocardial structure and function under baseline conditions, and that TRPV2 signal is also required for the maturation of myocytes and compensated hypertrophic response to hemodynamic stress.

Artery function has been evaluated through mechanical response of endothelial cells to flow, i.e., flow-mediated dilation (FMD). To evaluate the smooth muscle function, we developed a pressure-mediated contraction (PMC) method in which myogenic contraction of the brachial artery is induced by applying stepwise negative pressure to an airtight chamber attached to the upper arm. The PMC value had a significant negative correlation with age, indicating that not only endothelial function but also smooth muscle function decays with age. To evaluate not only the contractility but also relaxability, we then developed a chopper pressure method in which chopped positive or negative pressure synchronized with electrocardiogram is applied to the chamber. We observed that the rate of arterial contraction was about twice as large as that of arterial relaxation and this balance changes in response to mental stress. When combined with FMD measurement, these methods may improve reliability of artery function assessment.

According to our previous studies, it was found that heart rate variability (HRV) and changes in heart rate patterns differed between healthy subjects and depressed patients during the mental load task. In this study, all the subjects were requested to watch the relaxing video instead of the task. For the purpose of conducting an objective screening of depressed patients, we developed a discrimination algorithm on the depression tendency using the calculated HRV and heart rate. The measurement was conducted on 3 depressed patients and 18 control subjects. It was composed of three periods; 1-minute rest, 1-minute video watching and 1-minute rest after watching the video. Applying the linear discriminant analysis, our system could be discriminated depressed patients from healthy subjects with 100% sensitivity and specificity.

Mood disorders associated with stroke remarkably reduce the quality of life of the patients, but its mechanism has not been clarified. In this study, focusing on depression, apathy, and anxiety, we analyze their relationships with cognitive and physical functions through machine learning.The indices of functional independence measure, cognitive function test (attention function, memorability, etc.), and perceived stress test obtained from 207 stroke patients (64.4±10.2 years of age) were collected under informed consent and approval of the Research Ethics Review Committee of Hiroshima University. A Log-Linearized Gaussian Mixture Network (LLGMN) was used to classify the presence or absence of mood disorders from the indices.The discrimination accuracies were 82.8% for depression, 69.8% for apathy, and 86.2% for anxiety. Further, we found that input dimension reduction of the LLGMN via partial Kullback-leibler information can specify the important indices related to each mood disorder.

We measured the cardiac rates of those who play Pachinko slot machines, and the mental excitement degree was evaluated. The cardiac potentials of 15 volunteers were measured while playing games in a model recreation facility. In all the subjects, the heart rates increased significantly for 30 seconds after winning a "big bonus" game (p < 0.05 vs baseline). In contrast, those who did not win a "big bonus" game showed no significant changes. When winning the second "big bonus" game, the heart rates increased significantly, compared with the first winning (p < 0.05). Furthermore, no significant difference was observed between normal mode (big sound) and silent mode (no sound) when winning a bonus game. In conclusion, it was suggested winning a "big bonus" game, not sound, induce the mental excitement and heart rate be a useful quantitative index for evaluation of the mental excitement of players.

Nowadays by advancement of display technology, any contents can be presented to walls, floors and ceilings. In the near future, people will be able to display favorite contents inside their private house, using this technology. In this study, we examine the application of this new display technology for healthcare. Exercise support program was picked as the experimental application, because of urgent needs to reduce medical cost of our society. To induce motivation for exercise, Microsoft Kinect was used to detect the player's motion and a short throw projector was used for presenting virtual objects on the wall in front of the player. EMG and acceleration of limbs were measured during the subject playing experimental program, and the effect of wall display was examined.

Patients after transplantation of hematopoietic cells require a long-term management in a sterile environment to prevent infection, which makes them feel greatly stressed psychologically and physically. Our goal is to provide a mental-care system which solves this problem. Aiming at user-oriented development, we started from interviews with the patients. Examining the interview results, we clarified the system concept that responds to their diverse needs. Our system enables them to manipulate an interactive video which is either provided by the projection mapping on the wall of the ward or presented via a head mounted display using their own smartphone. The patients can enjoy a beautiful scenery of 360 degree video prepared beforehand or a daily-life live footage taken by their family using a 360 degree camera. As we got favorable responses from most of the medical staff members who had experienced our system, we plan to deploy it to patients.

Metronomic photodynamic therapy (mPDT) is expected as a novel cancer therapy due to its minimal invasiveness. To realize local and long-term photoirradiation to the target tumor, a stable fixation of optical devices in the body is indispensable. In this study, we developed implantable and wirelessly powered optical devices that can be secured onto the biological tissue surfaces without suture. Wirelessly powered LED chips were sealed with polydopamine-modified silicone rubber nanosheets (600 nm thick) to obtain tissue-adhesive optoelectronics. The devices were subcutaneously implanted in the intradermal tumor model mice so that the LEDs were placed just beneath the tumors. After administration of a photosensitizer (photofrin) into the mice, the implanted optical devices locally irradiated the target tumors for 10 days, leading to remarkable tumor regression including complete disappearance. Such a fully-implantable mPDT system is expected to expand the application range of PDT which was thought to be difficult for deep cancers.

Breast reconstruction is performed to recover the lost breast shape after mastectomy, but the quantitative evaluation for breast shape has not been established.

We have developed a system to acquire three dimensional information of the breast shape before mastectomy and breast reconstruction and to compute the local volume difference.

We have reported on the function implementation and evaluation of projection mapping derived shape difference information to the skin surface of the patient in the previous report.

Therefore, this study is to shorten the time from three dimensional measurement during intraoperative to volume difference calculation, projection mapping, and to evaluate operability in trial experiments in the operating room.

The mannequin simulating the patient was placed in a supine position on a 45-degree operation table, and the projection position error by the conventional method was compared with the operation time.

Lymphedema is a disease caused by stagnation of albumin in the interstitial fluid especially after breast cancer surgery. Early detection of lymphedema is important but an effective device for this has not been developed. Therefore, our final goal is to detect albumin stagnation, which is the cause of lymphedema, by using an EIT method that determines the conductivity distribution of the measurement site. As a preliminary step, two experiments were carried out. The biological phantom mimicking an early phase of lymphedema and a biological tissue which has normal edema state were each measured, and the capacity of EIT as a measurement device was evaluated. As a result, the albumin solution injected locally in the biological phantom could be detected. In the biological tissue, a change was observed between the normal state and the edema simulated state. Based on this result, the effectiveness of the developed device was confirmed

Nerve-sparing surgery is essential for preserving QOL of patients after tumor resection. However, neurological deficits quite often occur after surgery even with careful attention. Practically, intraoperative nerve detection, relying exclusively on the visual inspection by a surgeon, frequently produces injury to thin peripheral nerve bundles with the diameter of 1 mm or less. Here we present a label-free, rapid, and accurate nerve imaging system that can discriminate nerves from visually resembling other tissues. The system allowing simultaneous 32 spectra measurement from different locations in only 5 sec and bright-field imaging of a sample was developed. Measurement time of 32 spectra of a sample containing nerves and other tissues was only 5 sec. Regression and discrimination analysis of measured Raman spectra followed by concurrent analysis with a bright field image reconstructed peripheral nerve images in samples with the accuracy of 97.5%. This inventive approach is a promising basis of nerve-sparing surgery.

In artificial dialysis, arteriovenous fistula is generally indispensable. However, it often causes stenosis and occlusion. To solve these problems, we have proposed an optical transillumination imaging technique and proved its fundamental usefulness.In previous experimental studies, we used the model phantoms of blood vessels with uniform inner diameters. However, the patient's blood vessel is generally nonuniform with local stenosis. In this study, the feasibility of the proposed technique was examined using the model phantom of blood vessels with locally narrowed inner diameters.In experiment, we could measure the inner diameter as small as 2.0 mm (3.0 mm length). The application criteria of PTA (percutaneous transluminal angioplasty) for the stenosis is 2.5 mm inner diameter. The measurement error 20% is considered to be sufficiently small for clinical applications. This result suggested the practical feasibility of the optical transillumination imaging of the stenosis in the arteriovenous fistula.

The significance of quantitative evaluation of a blood lipid level has been recognized recently. The lipid level will increase the blood turbidity, and eventually damages our health. However, blood sampling is required in clinical examination which makes the daily care at home difficult. In this research, we derived original equation. We have developed a noninvasive optical technique to measure the reduced scattering coefficient μ_s^' that is closely related to the serum blood lipid level. To examine the applicability of this technique to human subjects, we construct an original device using LED's and PD's. The total size of the applicator part is about 15×40 mm with 5 mm thickness. In experiments, the validity of the proposed technique was examined. We could measure the corresponding change in μ_s^' with the different concentrations of instralipid solutions. This result suggested the applicability of the technique to the evaluation of the blood lipid level.

In transillumination imaging with near-infrared light, we can visualize the blood vessels of a human body. This technique has been applied to a human hand and made the vein authentication possible. However, it has been difficult to apply this technique to other thicker parts of the body. If we can visualize the vascularization and the oxygenation of a foot, it can provide significant information for the diagnosis and the therapy of diabetic patients. Thus, we pursued the possibility of this technique, and developed the system for functional imaging of a human foot. In the experiments of a pilot study, we confirmed the feasibility to visualize the blood vessels around the anterior part of an adult foot. In addition, we also confirmed the possibility of the functional imaging in a hand using a hyperspectral camera. It can provide us the distribution of blood volume and blood oxygenation in transillumination images.

Ovarian tissue cryopreservation is one of the key strategies in fertility preservation for young cancer patients who face imminent chemotherapy or radiation therapy. However, since follicle cells distribute heterogeneously in tissue, it is necessary to establish a method to quantify them noninvasively. In this study, we applied optical coherence tomography (OCT) to visualize follicle cells and quantified them automatically. The OCT images from the day 3 mice showed many primordial follicles consistent with the hematoxylin and eosin stained images. The OCT images were binarized and speckle noise was removed by the Lee-Sigma filter and median filter, and then follicle cells were detected from their size and circularity. A confusion matrix showed the detection and the coincidence rates were 0.80 and 1.09, respectively, between the results of the image processing and doctor's diagnosis. These results shows that the OCT method is effective for noninvasive visualization of follicle cells in ovarian tissue.

Noninvasive continuous oxygen measurement in living bodies is important in clinics and basic experiments. Focusing on the phosphorescent-lifetime method which can measure the absolute value of the oxygen concentration, we developed a film type oxygen sensor. A thin oxygen sensing film was prepared by mixing Pd-meso-tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin (Pd-TCPP) with Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). We report calibration experiments on oxygen partial pressure change by using electrochemiluminescenece (ECL) and LED (Light emitting diode) as light source and electrode characteristics for flexible substrate material.

AC voltage was applied to the light source, and the oxygen partial pressure was calculated from phase shift of the light source and phosphorescence.

As a result of calibration experiment, we could measure oxygen-partial-pressure with high accuracy by LED. However, ECL excitation showed a phase shift, but measurement accuracy was lower than LED. We will improve the measurement accuracy by improving emission intensity and applied voltage pattern of ECL.

Biophoton is ultraweak photon emission from all living organisms, is known to originate in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), generated in the general metabolic processes and exogenously-induced oxidative stress of living body. On the other hand, living materials show ultraweak light emission after light illumination, known as delayed luminescence (DL), which is long lifetime photon emission continuing several ten minutes. It is also associated with the production of ROS through photosensitization process. We have developed the system for imaging and spectroscopic analysis of these ultraweak photon emission phenomena, based on a highly sensitive cooled CCD and a high throughput lens system. We have measured and compared the properties of biophoton and DL induced by blue LED light using human fingers. The study for elucidation of the mechanism of both photon emission processes and exploration of the feasibility for determination of oxidative stress of living body will be discussed.

We have developed a technique to estimate the reduced scattering coefficient (us') of a turbid medium in a space-resolved measurement of backscattered light from the medium. This technique is based on the equation derived from the diffusion approximation of the radiative transfer theory. The accuracy of this equation has been confirmed with the homogeneous medium that satisfies sufficient diffusion conditions. However, its applicability to an inhomogeneous medium such as the surface blood vessels in the body tissue has been questionable. In the Monte Carlo simulation of light propagation in random media, we analyzed the accuracy of the proposed technique using the inhomogeneous model of blood vessels in the surrounding tissue. The results showed less than 10% error in the us' estimation in practical conditions. It suggested the applicability of the proposed technique to the noninvasive optical measurement of blood turbidity caused by the serum lipids.

We can visualize the blood vessels by transillumination imaging using near-infrared light. However, the image is blurred by the strong scattering in body tissue. If we know the depth of the blood vessel, we can recover a clear image by the deconvolution with a point spread function (PSF) of the blur. We have developed a new technique to estimate the depth of an absorber in a turbid medium. First, we derived the PSF theoretically and constructed a database of transillumination images. The database consists of the blurred images of the blood vessel with various diameters and depths. We found that the spread (FWHM) and the contrast of the blurred image are the dominant parameters to represent the depth of the blood vessel. In computer simulation, the effectiveness of the technique to estimate the depth of an absorbing object from a blurred transillumination image was verified.