The aim of this study was to compare the effects of the pandemic on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), anxious-depressive symptoms, feelings of loneliness, and fear of COVID-19 between people with myasthenia gravis (MG) and healthy controls. We also wanted to know in which group the variable fear of COVID-19 interfered the most with the results. This cross-sectional study involved 60 people with MG and 60 healthy controls. Participants using an online platform completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Fear of COVID19 Scale (FCV-19S). The MG group reported worse levels in HRQoL indicators (p = 0.043- <.001), more severe anxiety-depressive symptoms (p = 0.002), and greater fear of COVID-19 (p < 0.001), but there were no differences in feelings of loneliness (p = 0.002). Furthermore, after controlling for the effect of the fear of COVID-19 variable, the differences remained for physical health indicators, but not for the most of psychosocial indicators (Social Functioning p = 0.102, η²_p = 0.023; Role Emotional p = 0.250, η²_p = 0.011; and HADS Total p = 0.161, η²_p = 0.017). The harmful effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was greater in the MG group, and the perceived fear of COVID-19 had also a greater impact among this group, which has increased its negative effect on their psychosocial health.

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Mechanical buckling of a switch or button produces an attractive sensation of touch; however, a method to optimize the haptic pleasantness caused by buckling has not been established and well demonstrated. In this study, we optimized a popping elastic dome toy that provides pleasant haptic sensations when pushed or buckled. Toys with different physical parameters were manufactured following the Box-Behnken design, and their comfort was evaluated by the users. The design parameters that maximize haptic pleasantness were determined using the response surface method. The optimally designed popping toy was equally as comfortable as the best one in the initial specimen set. Further, haptic pleasantness was found to be largely determined by the ease of pushing and haptic feel at the moment of buckling. This approach is expected to improve the haptic sensations of various commercial products such as mechanical switches.

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本文では, ニューラルネットワークを用いたパターン発生のモデルについて報告する.このモデルの目的は, 1つのパターンから多数のパターンを発生させるメカニズムの実現である.ここでは, その実現に対して, 1.十分な中間層をもったニューラルネットワークに対して、ファジィ論理上で表現したパターン発生の核となるパターンをバックプロパゲーション法を用いて学習させる.2.そのニューラルネットの規模を学習とユニットの削除を繰り返すことにより最小化する.3.ユニットを新たに付加し、そのパラメータを乱数を用いて決定したニューラルネットに最初の核となるパターンを入力することで類似パターンを発生させる.以上の処理を有するモデルを提案する.本文ではこのモデルを単調論理関数の発生, 意思決定および画像パターンの発生に適用し, それぞれについて良好な結果が得られたことを示す.

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During push switch operation, tactile feedback is crucial in determining whether the operation will be successful. However, to enhance the tactile feedback and ensure usability, the actuation force should not increase. Herein, a method to improve tactile feedback during switch operation by designing the operating sound is proposed. In the first experiment, to investigate the acoustic characteristics of high feedback operating sound, participants evaluated recorded commercial push switch operating sounds through headphones using the semantic differential method. Results showed that the operating sound with a short decay time and high loudness value in the high-frequency band exhibited a highly intelligible impression. Furthermore, the push switch operation exhibited two sounds (push and release), whose contribution to the impression was determined based on their loudness. In the second experiment, participants evaluated their impressions when operating push switches, which comprised various combinations of operating sound volume and actuation force. Results showed that highly intelligible sound improved the tactile feedback. Moreover, it was found that considering the balance between the operating sound volume and actuation force is necessary to improve the switch operation feedback through the operating sound. These findings can aid in enhancing the feedback of devices that require switches with low actuation force due to design constraints.

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A facile, low cost, rapid and easy-to-use colorimetric sensor for the detection of Cu²⁺ ion is described using alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) functionalized AgNPs. The prepared ALA-AgNPs are yellow, and spherical with an average particle size of 9.23 ± 3.36 nm. The addition of Cu²⁺ ion resulted in the aggregation of ALA-AgNP solution and caused a visible color change from yellow to orange-brown, which could be detected by the naked eye and UV-vis spectrophotometer. Parameters affecting the sensitivity of the sensor were investigated, including ALA concentrations, reaction times, reaction volumes and pH. Under optimal conditions, the colorimetric sensor could detect Cu²⁺ ion in the range of 0.625 × 10⁻⁵ to 10 × 10⁻⁵ M with a linear coefficient (r) of 0.9978. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.43 × 10⁻⁵ M (4.3 μM) and 1.45 × 10⁻⁵ M (14.5 μM), respectively, which is lower than the limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This proposed method showed good selectivity and could detect Cu²⁺ within 5 min. Finally, the proposed method could be successfully applied for the analysis of Cu²⁺ ion in tap water samples.

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Most grabs of ordinary design have several disadvantages such as : 1. The course traversed by the grab is complex, 2. Handles and handlings are too numerous, 3. A large grab, therefore, is to be used in order to increase the capacity of the machine, 4. The larger the grab, the greater will be the power of the prime mover, 5. Owing to the jerk and vibration of ropes by which the grab is suspended, it is practically impossible to grab the material at an exact desired point within the scope, 6. Twisting and entangling of ropes have the effect to decrease the capacity of the machine and the life of the ropes, 7. There is a risk of over-winding of ropes on the top guide pulley, 8. It is necessary to gather and scavenge the remaining material after grabbing, 9. The position of the operator's cage is too high to have a good command of view of the material to handle, 10. It is very difficult to weigh the content of grab, 11. The automatic operation of the machine is impossible. In order to overcome all the defects mentioned above, I have deviced a new system, which I claim to be a novel one in its own way. The system is a combination of a grab and a conveyer, in which the grab moves in a vertical direction. A swinging chute which stands vertically by means of a counter-weight connected to it, is placed in the midway of the passage of the grab. When the grab handles material, and is lifted vertically up to a suitable position, the upper part of the grab lifts the counter-weight, and so the chute projects itself to the passage of the grab. After discharging its content, the grab is lowered accompanying the counter-weight of the chute, and the chute recovers its upright position making a free passage to the grab. The system further involves the guide-bars with operator's cage and scraping boards at their lower ends, for the vertical passage of the grab. The guide-bars themselves are also guided by a fixed frame, and are operated vertically by an operator according to the position of the material to be handled. In my machine I reduced the number of handles and handlings to an extreme limit, i.e. only to one, and thus succeeding to turn out a maching of an automatic operation which is almost impossible in all the machines of the similar nature now in use. Further-more the capacity of the machine is increased three to seven times the ordinary one with the same size of grab, and five to twelve times with the same power of the motor by which the grab is operated, leaving the weighing and the conveying to the conveyor combined to the system, which consumes only a small fraction of power required for the grab.

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頭頸部がん治療には大きく，手術，化学療法，放射線療法，緩和ケアがあるが，治療の際に様々な急性・晩期口腔内合併症が生じ，治療中断や患者のQOL低下につながる。適切な口腔管理，良好な口腔衛生環境を維持することで，口腔内合併症の低下および治療完遂に結びつく。そのためには，頭頸部がんと診断された段階で歯科に紹介し，治療前からの継続した口腔管理を依頼することが重要である。近年，さまざまな薬剤が開発，承認されており，かつ急激な高齢化が進んでいることもあり，これまで以上に医科歯科連携を図る必要がある。
本稿では，口腔内の特徴，頭頸部がん化学療法および化学放射線療法の口腔管理，支持療法，分子標的薬や免疫療法による口腔有害事象とその対策，医科歯科連携の重要性についてまとめる。

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To apply onomatopoeia to product design, we investigated the relationship between the sound symbolism of onomatopoeia and physical quantities. The target of evaluation was the operating tactile sensation of rotary switches. First, a subjective evaluation experiment was conducted in which participants were asked to provide free answers using onomatopoeic expressions related to their impressions of the operating tactile sensation. The obtained onomatopoeia was analyzed by quantitative text analysis using mora as the unit of analysis, and it was found that the phonemes of onomatopoeia used by the participants differed depending on the magnitude of the click torque of switches. Next, we examined the impressions of the onomatopoeia when the click torque of the rotary switch was sequentially changed via 7-point scale evaluation experiments. As a result, the correspondence between tactile sensation and onomatopoeia was grasped quantitatively. This paper shows that onomatopoeia can be used for quantitative product design.

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The associations between interleukin-12 (IL-12) gene polymorphisms and cancer risk have been discussed extensively, with controversial results. Therefore, we conducted the present meta-analysis to better assess the potential roles of IL-12 gene variation in cancer occurrence. Eligible articles were found via PubMed, Medline, EMBASE, Google Scholar and CNKI. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to evaluate the associations between IL-12 gene polymorphisms and cancer risk. Thirty-one studies with 10,749 cancer patients and 11,921 healthy subjects were included in the analyses. The overall results showed that cancer risk was increased by IL-12A rs568408 (GG versus GA + AA: P = 0.004; G versus A: P = 0.005) and IL-12B rs3212227 (AA versus AC + CC: P = 0.004; CC versus AA + AC: P = 0.03; A versus C: P = 0.007) polymorphisms. Further subgroup analyses for IL-12A rs568408 and IL-12B rs3212227 revealed that the positive results could be impacted by the ethnicity of the population, cancer type and/or genotyping methods. However, we failed to detect any significant associations between the IL-12A rs2243115 polymorphism and cancer risk in either the overall or the subgroup analyses. The current study suggests that certain IL-12 gene polymorphisms serve as biological markers of cancer susceptibility.

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