Introduction: Chemonucleolysis with condoliase is a minimally invasive treatment option for lumbar disk herniation (LDH). However, studies reporting the efficacy of condoliase in patients aged <20 years are scarce. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of condoliase therapy for LDH in the aforementioned population.

Methods: Condoliase administration was determined based on adequate informed consent. The study enrolled 138 patients (mean age, 41.3 ± 15.4 years) with LDH who received condoliase injections with a follow-up period of 1 year. The patients were divided into Group Y (age, <20 years) and Group A (age, 20–70 years). The clinical outcomes were visual analog scale (VAS) scores for leg and back pain and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) values. Changes in disk height and degeneration were evaluated. These data were obtained at baseline and at the 3-month and 1-year follow-ups. Condoliase therapy was considered to be effective if it improved the VAS score for leg pain by ≥50% at 1 year from baseline and prevented surgery.

Results: Groups Y and A consisted of 15 and 123 patients, respectively. Condoliase therapy was effective in 9 patients (60.0%) in Group Y and 96 patients (78.0%) in Group A. The rates of Pfirrmann grade deterioration and recovery were substantially higher in Group Y than in Group A (83.3% vs. 45.8% and 50.0% vs. 16.3%, respectively). While the disk height reduction in Group Y was greater at 3 months, it recovered to the same level as that in Group A at 1 year. In Group Y, patients who did not respond to the treatment exhibited a considerably higher preoperative ODI (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: Chemonucleolysis with condoliase is considered to have limited efficacy in patients aged <20 years. Caution should be taken when managing cases showing lumbar instability or existing disability. While chemonucleolysis with condoliase is a less invasive treatment option for LDH, the administration should be decided upon with sufficient consent considering the potential limited efficacy and disk degeneration.

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Age is an important prognostic factor of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). In this study, we investigated the prognosis and prognostic factors of PTC in patients younger than 20 years. We enrolled 110 patients who underwent initial surgery at Kuma Hospital between 1987 and 2008. Tumor size > 4 cm, metastatic node ≥ 3 cm, and significant extrathyroid extension were more frequently detected in 8 patients with distant metastasis at diagnosis than in 102 patients without distant metastasis. Ten- and 20-year lymph node recurrence-free survival (LN-RFS) and distant recurrence-free survival (DRFS) rates were 84 and 80%, and 95 and 89%, respectively. Metastatic node ≥ 3 cm, age ≤ 16 years, tumor size > 4 cm, and male gender affected LN-RFS, and the former two had an independent prognostic value in multivariate analysis. Metastastic node ≥ 3 cm, significant extrathyroid extension, age ≤ 16 years, tumor size > 4 cm, and a male gender predicted a poor DRFS, and the former two were independent prognostic factors. To date, only 2 patients have died of PTC. These findings suggest that, in the subset of PTC patients younger than 20 years, metastatic node ≥ 3 cm, significant extension, and age ≤ 16 were important signs of aggressiveness of carcinoma, and careful treatment is necessary for patients with these characteristics, although the cause-specific survival was excellent.

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　鏡視下バンカート修復術を施行し2年以上経過観察可能であった20歳以下の女性31例35肩を対象として術後成績を調査した．術後JSS-SIS，Rowe scoreは有意に改善し，再発は3肩（9.0％）であった．術後5年時に転落で1肩と術後1年以内に体育中のハンドボールで2肩に再発を認めた．競技継続は15肩（45.5％），半数は学生時代に肩以外の理由で競技中止となっていた．若年女性は関節弛緩性が高い傾向にあり，弛緩性は再発の要因の一つであるが，今回の結果では術後スコア，再発率，復帰率は良好であり，長期経過で再発は多くはなかった．女性はコリジョン，コンタクトスポーツ参加率が低く，競技を学生時期で終了していた症例が多く受傷機会が少なかったためと思われた．再発は階段からの転落1肩（術後5年），学校体育ハンドボール中に2肩（術後1年以内）であり元の競技中ではなかった．学校生活指導の徹底は必須と考えられた．

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The high-cycle fatigue properties of low carbon 316 stainless steels, 316F with 0.04 mass%C and 316PSI with 0.001 mass%C, were investigated and compared with those of 316(ST-1) with 0.08 mass%C reported previously. Both the fatigue hardening and life decreased with carbon content, especially in 316PSI, indicating that the fatigue induced precipitates suggested for 316(ST-1) were mainly carbide or some complex of carbon-solute atoms. Effects of in situ 20 MeV proton irradiation or thermal-pulse were further investigated for 316F at 333∼573 K. In 316(ST-1), radiation damage, i.e. the effect of irradiation after the subtraction of thermal effect, caused an enhancement of the fatigue hardening at both 333 and 573 K. In contrast, in 316F radiation damage caused a suppression of the fatigue hardening at 333 and 453 which reversed to the enhancement at 403 and 503 K, and again the suppression at 573 K. The suppression can be expected when the effects of dispersion of existing precipitates by irradiation were larger than the other effects of irradiation, and vice versa. Therefore, we consider that the fatigue induced precipitates were smaller in their size in 316F than in 316(ST-1), and in 316F the precipitates of various types probably correspond to the suppressions at 333, 453 and 573 K. The corresponding results for thermal-pulse and the results observed for the effects of in situ irradiation or thermal-pulse on the fatigue life were compatible with the view mentioned above.

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The effects of in situ 20 MeV proton pulse-irradiation and thermal-pulse on the high-cycle fatigue properties of low carbon 316 stainless steels were investigated at 333–573 K with variations of carbon content, 0.001, 0.002 and 0.005 mass%C, and were compared with those reported for 316 stainless steels with 0.038 mass%C and 316(ST-1) with 0.077 mass%C. The fatigue hardening associated with the fatigue induced precipitation decreased with decreasing carbon content. For the case of high C content, the fatigue induced precipitation played the major role in the whole fatigue process, where the fatigue life N_f could considerably be modified by in situ thermal-pulse and radiation damage through their effects on the fatigue induced precipitation. In contrast, for the case of low C content, the fatigue hardening was associated with both the fatigue induced precipitation and the usual work hardening, where the different effects of radiation damage and thermal-pulse were found on the fatigue hardening and the fatigue life N_f: At 333 K, radiation damage caused enhancement of the fatigue hardening and a decrease in N_f, and thermal-pulse caused suppression of the fatigue hardening and an increase in N_f. We surmised that under radiation damage as well as thermal-pulse, N_f was modified mainly through some changes in the usual work hardening process and on the other hand, the fatigue hardening preferentially reflected the changes in the fatigue induced precipitation. For both 316PSI and 316P, suppression of the fatigue hardening due to radiation damage was observed, suggesting that even in 316PSI and 316P the fatigue induced precipitation occurred but the precipitates (or carbon-solute complexes) were too fine to stand against irradiation dispersion.

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The purpose of this study is to report an evaluation of speech therapy for patients with a brief discussion. The patients were seen in the 2nd Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Meikai University Hospital, between September 1, 2000 and August 31, 2005. During the period of this study, 107 (nonage) patients years of age were evaluated and/or managed with speech therapy. The results were as follows:
(1) Ninety-eight of the patients had some form of congenital disorder. Seventy-seven of them with cleft palate had severe articulation disorders, and needed more speech therapy than the other 21 of them without cleft palate.
(2) Only 9 of the patients had functional articulation disorders. Since their families expressed high motivation to get a good intelligibility, speech therapy for the patients was done more frequently than that for the others.

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患者は13歳の女児で,3ケ月前からの血便を主訴として,1976年3月当センターに入院した.X線検査ではS状結腸に軽度の狭窄を伴う腫瘤陰影が認められ,粘膜下腫瘍を疑った.内視鏡検査では浸潤潰瘍型の癌で,生検では低分化腺癌であった.手術時,すでに腹膜播種と左卵巣への転移が認められた.肉眼的には浸潤潰瘍型(3型)の癌で,組織学的には中分化腺癌であった.なお,患者は術後3ケ月半で死亡した.　本邦における20歳以下の若年者の結腸癌は,文献上自験例を含めて,1935年から1977年までに30例を集計し得た(ただし,大腸腺腫症の例および剖検例は除く).初発症状で最も多いのは腹痛で80%を越えていた.病悩期間の平均は4ケ月間.術前診断では28例中16例(57%)が腸閉塞症,6例のみが結腸癌であった.年齢分布は10歳から19歳.性別では30例中23例と男に多い傾向がみられた.発生部位では30例中横行結腸に12例(40%)と最も多かった.組織学的には50%以上が粘液癌,あるいは印環細胞癌であった.　ただ若年者という年齢にもとついて結腸癌を否定すべきではなく,数週間にわたり持続する腹痛,あるいは腹部の不定愁訴の若年者には,もっと積極的に注腸X線検査,あるいは内視鏡検査を行う必要があると考える.

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The effects of adding cysteamine, EGF, and glucose as an energy substrate under low oxygen tension during in vitro maturation (IVM) were examined to find ways of improving the individual in vitro production (IVP) system in individually cultured bovine oocytes. The basic medium was mSOFaa containing 1 mg/ml polyvinyl alcohol. Immature oocytes were individually cultured in an IVM medium with 10 ng/ml EGF, 100 μM cysteamine, or EGF plus cysteamine % or 5% O₂. Cleavage and blastocyst rates were significantly higher (P<0.05) in IVM culture was % O₂ than in culture under 5% O₂. Under 5% O₂, neither EGF nor cysteamine improved embryonic development. The proportion of matured oocytes was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the presence of 1.5 mM glucose % O₂ (68.6%), and 5.5 mM (66.7%) and 10 mM (65.5%) glucose under 5% O₂. The presence of 5.5 mM glucose significantly (P<0.05) increased the maturation rate compared with the absence of glucose, irrespective of addition of EGF and cysteamine. The addition of cysteamine alone in the maturation medium significantly (P<0.05) increased the intracellular GSH concentration in the oocytes. Also, under 5% O₂ cysteamine and/or EGF significantly (P<0.05) improved the proportions of penetrated oocytes, cleavage and blastocyst formation, which were similar levels to those of oocytes matured % O₂. After vitrification, the re-expanding and hatching rates of blastocysts derived from the individual IVP system containing cysteamine under 5% O₂ were significantly (P<0.05) higher than those of blastocysts derived from the individual IVP system without cysteamine under 5% O₂ and the group IVP system % O₂. The present study showed that a high glucose level (5.5 or 10 mM) was optimal in IVM culture under low (5%) oxygen tension. The addition of EGF and/or cysteamine to the maturation medium had no positive effect on nuclear maturation, but improved fertilizability, developmental competence and cryoresistance following vitrification, probably due to increased GSH synthesis during the IVM process.

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　The purpose of this study is to grasp the actual situation of drinking behaviors among university students and to aid in improving the environment and promoting education toward the decrease of high risk drinking and underage drinking by understanding the influential factors toward drinking behaviors. From the results of the questionnaire survey on drinking behaviors subjecting students of 10 universities in the main island of Japan (valid responses were taken from 693 people

years old, and 518 people over 20 years old), characteristics of drinking behaviors for underage students and adults, relationship between the psychological factor and drinking behaviors, difference between the living style and drinking behaviors, and so on were analyzed.

　The results were as follows;

1. The percentages of people who drink (other than the people who answered “I rarely drink" ) were 60.2% in

years old male, 50.7% in years old female, 72.8% in over 20 years old male, and 66.0% in over 20 years old female.

2. For both male and female

years old showed a weak positive correlation between “drinking with friends" and “have to drink for social reasons".

3. For over 20 years old male, there is moderate positive correlation between “relaxation by drinking" and “drinking alone".

4. For both male and female, people who live alone has significantly higher score of drinking than people who do not live alone. There were no second or third interaction between “sex" and “age group".

　The results of this analysis indicate that university students' drinking behaviors are influenced by factors such as their living style, different ages and psychological factors such as relaxation, whereas other social factors like awareness of diseases and parents' drinking behavior have less impact on their drinking behaviors. In relation to health education and in order to improve the university students' drinking behaviors, consideration of their living style is vitally important. Moreover, it is useful to elucidate the structure of correlation between drinking behaviors and social psychological factors.

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The off-flavor of shredded cabbage was investigated under anaerobic conditions using nitrogen. At the same time, the effect of carbon dioxide on the off-flavor of shredded cabbage under the same conditions was investigated. The shredded cabbage was stored at 5°C in a closed bottle in the dark, and the headspace gas was analyzed. The main offen-sive odorous compounds were acetaldehyde, ethanol, dimethyl disulfide and methanethiol. % carbon dioxide and 80% nitrogen condition, the total concentration of acetaldehyde and ethanol increased. On the other hand, carbon dioxide retarded the dimethyl disulfide and methanethiol productions. % carbon dioxide condition, a 65-85% inhibition of methanethiol production was observed.

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Obesity index and serum T₃ and T₄ in 53 males who lived in Shiramine-village, Ishikawa prefecture were measured and classified by the amount of cigarettes smoked in a day. The results obtained were as follows. 1) Obesity index in smokers with cigarettes in a day was significantly lower than that in non smokers. However, there were no significant differences in the obesity index between smokers with over 21 cigarettes in a day and non-smokers. 2) There were no significant differences in the serum T3 or T4 levels among smokers with cigarettes in a day, smokers with over 21 cigarettes in a day and non-smokers. These reuslts suggest that there was little relationship between inhibition of increase of body weight and thyroid function in male smokers.

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The 3GPP LTE-Advanced has been attracting much attention recently, where the channel bandwidth would be beyond the maximum bandwidth of LTE, 20MHz. In LTE, single carrier-frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) was accepted as the uplink access scheme due to its advantage of very low cubic metric (CM). For LTE-A wideband transmission, multicarrier access would be more effective than single carrier access to make use of multi-user diversity and can maintain the physical channel structure of LTE, where the control information is transmitted on the edges of each 20MHz. In this paper, we discuss the access schemes in bandwidth MHz as well as over 20MHz. In the case of bandwidth MHz, we propose the access schemes allowing discontinuous resource allocation to enhance average throughput while maintaining cell-edge user throughput, that is, DFT-spread-OFDM with spectrum division control (SDC) and adaptive selection of SC-FDMA and OFDM (SC+OFDM). The number of discontinuous spectrums is denoted as spectrum division (SD). For DFT-S-OFDM, we define a parameter max SD as the upper limit of SD. We evaluate our proposed schemes in bandwidth MHz and find that SC+OFDM as well as SDC with common max SD or UE-specific max SD can improve average throughput while their cell-edge user throughput can approach that of SC-FDMA. In the case of bandwidth over 20MHz, we consider key factors to decide a feasible access scheme for aggregating several 20MHz-wide bands.

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Objectives: This study aimed to understand students’ actual smoking status, explain the effect of one’s perception of pros and cons on smoking behavior, and use this information to consider supportive measures for smoking prevention among the younger generation.

Methods: We administered a questionnaire survey on smoking behavior and the perceptions of pros and cons of smoking among university, junior college, and vocational college students in five prefectures in 2016. The analysis involved 483 male students with no smoking history and 30 male students who were smokers, for a total of 513 participants.

Results: Findings showed that the total score for pros was significantly higher in the smoking group than in the nonsmoking group both for the

- and over-20 age groups ( years old: p < .001, r = .24; over 20 years old: p < .001, r = .48), suggesting a higher awareness among the smoking group of the benefits associated with smoking. Meanwhile, the total score for cons was significantly higher in the nonsmoking group than in the smoking group among participants aged 20 and older (p = .030, r = .17), indicating that nonsmokers are more aware of the costs associated with smoking. The causal model showed that age group ( years old, over 20 years old), pros total score, and cons total score independently correlated with smoking behavior.

Conclusion: Overall, the results suggest that male students’ perception of the pros and cons of smoking affects their smoking behavior.

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The effect of temperature on the growth of sugar beet at different stages of growth has been studied. The sugar beet plants of variety GW 359, grown in Wagner pots under natural condition, were subjected to temperature treatments in which the plants were grown under the temperature of 15°C, 20°C and 30°C for 30 days. One group was exposed to similar temperature conditions in its early stage of growth, one in its middle stage and the other one in its later stage (Fig. 1). Plants were harvested at the end of treatments for determination of dry matter production, leaf area, leaf numbers and total-sugar concentration. Results obtained are as follows. 1 Throughout all the growth stages, the total dry matter increase of whole plant is highest °C At the early stage, the increase of total dry weight is more in the plants which have been exposed to 30°C than those exposed to 15°C. But this becomes reverse at the middle and at the later stages. Dry weight of tap root increases most °C, then under 15°C and least under 30°C. As regards the top of plants, it is found that the dry matter increase of the petiole is generally retarded under 15°C (Table 1). 2 The total leaf area always becomes maximum °C, then under 30°C and least under 15°C. From the other results on leaf number and leaf area per one leaf blade, it is clarified that as the beneficial effect of high temperature on leaf expansion of one leaf blade is very little in comparison with its harmful effect on leaf number increase, the total leaf area is less under 30°C than °C and that the less total leaf area under 15°C is due to the harmful effect of low temperature both on leaf expansion and on leaf number increase (Table. 2, Fig. 2). In the early stage, a positive correlation between the leaf area and total dry matter increase is seen. But no such correlation is seen between them at the middle stage and at the later stage (Table 1, Table 2). These phenomenon can be explained by the following assumption: As the plant grows, the non-photosynthesizing organ begins to occupy more and more portion of the whole plant and as the results, the dry mattes production becomes more and more influenced by respiration rather than by photosynthesis. 3 The ratio of dry matter increase of tap root to top is generally higher under low temperature with an exception of middle stage at which this ratio becomes highest °C (Fig. 3). 4 The lower the temperature, the higher the total sugar concentration of leaf blade, petiole and tap root. As regards the total-sugar concentration of tap root, it is found that its difference is little among three plots at early stage, but it becomes remarkable at the later stage. This different effect of temperature with different stage is also true with the dry matter increase ratio of tap root to top, as described above. These facts suggest that sugar beet possesses self reguratory mechanism for modifing the effect of temperature on sugar accumulation in tap root (Fig. 4). 5 At the early and at the middle stages, the beneficial effect of the temperature of 15°C on total-sugar concentration in tap root is so little that sugar produced under 15°C is actually less than that produced °C, which is the beneficial temperature for dry matter increase of tap root. In the later stage, however, the total-sugar content in tap rot becomes more under 15°C than °C, as the beneficial effect of the temperature of 15°C on sugar concentration is more in comparison with the beneficial effect of temerature of 20°C on dry matter increase. Under the temperature of 30°C, the sugar content of the tap root is always least due to the harmful effect of high temperature on sugar concentration and dry matter increase of the tap root (Fig. 5).

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According to the result investigated on the pore structure of portland cement cured under high temperature at early ages, it can be induced that compared to the case cured °C condition, the proportion of larger pores in the case cured under high temperature increased obviously. The compressive strength of the case cured under high temperature was found to have a reverse relationship with the amount of the pores whose radii are larger than 10 nm.
In addition, as the results indicated, with the increase on the compressive strength of hardened pastes cured under high temperature, the reverse relationship existing between the curing temperature and amount of pores whose radii are less than 10 nm become more apparent. Based on the above observation, the pores whose radii are less than 10 nm distribute more sparsely in the cured under high temperature than °C condition.

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A pilot study examined the efficacy of the Gatekeeper Training Program designed for suicide prevention in Yogo teachers. The author explored the program’s effectiveness on Yogo teachers with over 20 and

years of experience. Self-administered questionnaires were administered before and after the program to assess the teachers’ confidence in managing students, their willingness to act as gatekeepers, and their self-efficacy. Yogo teachers (N=51) participated in the study. The results indicated improvements in confidence, the willingness to act as gatekeepers, and self-efficacy, regardless of experience, suggesting the Gatekeeper Training Program’s efficacy. The results also showed that the program was more effective for teachers with over 20 years than years of experience, especially for early intervention items.

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