著者

Tatsuyoshi Ikeue Hiroaki Kawachi Hiroshi Yoshida Eiichiro Tanaka Susumu Noguchi Akari Fukao Satoshi Terashita Tomoko Tajiri Sadao Horikawa Takakazu Sugita

出版者

The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine

雑誌

Internal Medicine (ISSN:09182918)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.2109-18, (Released:2019-02-01)

参考文献数

25

被引用文献数

4

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Lymphoproliferative disorders can occur in patients with autoimmune disorders who undergo long-term methotrexate therapy (MTX-LPD). Although the manifestations of MTX-LPD are diverse, little attention is paid to endobronchial involvement. We herein describe two patients with MTX-LPD who presented with parenchymal pulmonary tumors and endobronchial involvement of LPD; one had lymphomatoid gramulomatosis and the other LPD. The patients had no tumors adjacent to the endobronchial lesions. The endobronchial findings included multiple protruded mucosal lesions covered with white material, which was pathologically consistent with LPD. Recognition of the findings may help in making an earlier diagnosis of MTX-LPD in appropriate settings.

著者

Jyun-Rong ZHUANG Hayato NAGAYOSHI Hirotoshi KONDO Keiichi MURAMATSU Keiichi WATANUKI Eiichiro TANAKA

出版者

The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers

雑誌

Journal of Advanced Mechanical Design, Systems, and Manufacturing (ISSN:18813054)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.11, no.6, pp.JAMDSM0089, 2017 (Released:2017-12-22)

参考文献数

13

被引用文献数

3 6

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Wearable assistive devices have been receiving considerable attention in academic circles. To make these devices efficient, we need additional research on the service lives of the mechanical elements used in these devices. The wearers of these devices frequently encounter unexpected movements that lead to motor failure in the devices. The purpose of this study is to develop an overload protection mechanism using a torque limiter, which can eliminate the overload torque delivered in the reverse direction to effectively prevent the device from breaking and ensure the safety of the user. To improve the service life of assistive walking devices, we designed a sandwich mechanism for the final gear of the servo motor. We made the material from rubber and configured it between a pair of circular plates. The surface tractive force delivered the required torque. When the surface load exceeded the maximum friction force, the circular plates slipped and protected the device. In this paper, we implement a torque limiter and prove its durability by performing experiments using two circular plate designs, one with grooves type and another without grooves type. We also use various materials to assess the applicability of the assistive walking device. The findings indicate that the with grooves type gives better torque performance; it achieves the same rated torque as the servo motor. Thus, this study recommends that with grooves type is particularly suitable for the elderly who require high assistive power. On the other hand, without grooves type is suitable for users who employ the device for extended periods because this type has an excellent service life. Our experiment proves that the torque limiter that we developed can withstand the load torque over 300 times for situations involving the loss of balance such as stumbling and slipping. Finally, we experimentally validate the improvement of walking performance by using this torque limiter.

著者

Yunfan Li Yukai Gong Jyun-Rong Zhuang Junyan Yang Keisuke Osawa Kei Nakagawa Hee-hyol Lee Louis Yuge Eiichiro Tanaka

出版者

Fuji Technology Press Ltd.

雑誌

Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics (ISSN:09153942)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.34, no.6, pp.1383-1397, 2022-12-20 (Released:2022-12-20)

参考文献数

32

被引用文献数

6

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The world’s aging population is increasing. The number of elderly individuals having walking impairments is also increasing. Adequate exercise is becoming necessary for them. Therefore, several walking assistive devices have been developed or are under development. However, elderly individuals may have low motivation for exercising, or they may experience physical damage by excessive fatigue. This study proposed a method to enable elderly individuals to exercise with a positive emotion and prevent damage such as muscle fatigue. We proposed a 3D human condition model to control the walking assistive device. It includes the arousal, pleasure, and fatigue dimensions. With regard to the arousal and pleasure dimensions, we used heartbeat and electromyography (EEG) signals to train a deep neural network (DNN) model to identify human emotions. For fatigue detection, we proposed a method based on near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to detect muscle fatigue. All the sensors are portable. This implies that it can be used for outdoor activities. Then, we proposed a walking strategy based on a 3D human condition model to control the walking assistive device. Finally, we tested the effectiveness of the automatic control system. The wearing of the walking assistive device and implementation of the walking strategy can delay the fatigue time by approximately 24% and increase the walking distance by approximately 16%. In addition, we succeeded in visualizing the distribution of emotion during each walking method variation. It was verified that the walking strategy can improve the mental condition of a user to a certain extent. These results showed the effectiveness of the proposed system. It could help elderlies maintain higher levels of motivation and prevent muscle damage by walking exercise, using the walking assistive device.

著者

Hiroki Usuku Eiichiro Yamamoto Fumi Oike Tatsuya Yoshinouchi Kanako Imamura Kenichi Yoshida Daisuke Kanesaki Yasuhiro Toma Ayako Tomita Yuji Ogata Seiki Matsumoto Yoshio Iwayama Tomoko Sassa Shinji Tanaka Yoko Fukuyoshi Tamami Matsumoto Eiichiro Tanaka Hiroyuki Shono Kazuhiro Nishigami Kenichi Tsujita Hirotaka Matsui

出版者

The Japanese Circulation Society

雑誌

Circulation Reports (ISSN:24340790)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.2, no.6, pp.297-305, 2020-06-10 (Released:2020-06-10)

参考文献数

17

被引用文献数

3

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Background:There are few reports on current awareness and status of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), including the actual performance rate according to echocardiographic guidelines, in a specific area or region.Methods and Results:This cross-sectional survey study was conducted in Kumamoto Prefecture from October 2018 to March 2019. There are 366 medical institutions advocating cardiology in Kumamoto Prefecture. Of these, 259 (101 hospitals and 158 clinics) returned questionnaires regarding TTE. In all, 150,570 TTEs were performed in 2017. Of these, 132,771 (88%) were performed in hospitals and 17,799 (12%) were performed in clinics. Physicians performed only 5% of TTEs, whereas sonographers performed 86%. Although the modified Simpson method was performed in 90% of hospitals, 3-dimensional echocardiography was performed in only 2% of hospitals. In addition, the left atrial volume index was not examined in approximately 60% of hospitals, and the mean E/E′ ratio was not examined in 80% of hospitals. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that having a Fellow of the Japan Society of Ultrasonic in Medicine was significantly and independently associated with guideline-oriented TTE (odds ratio 9.43; 95% confidence interval 1.22–72.71, P<0.05).Conclusions:The rate of echocardiographic measurements performed according to echocardiographic guidelines is exceptionally low in Kumamoto Prefecture. Sufficient dissemination of echocardiographic guidelines may be important in improving this rate.