In 2005, the Medical Treatment and Supervision (MTS) Act was enacted in Japan to hospitalize the criminally insane and to promote a self-supporting lifestyle after deinstitutionalization. As of October 2010, 490 patients remain hospitalized in 23 highly secure forensic hospitals. Most patients are diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia and exhibit symptoms of drug resistance. Battering is the most common criminal act they have committed.

The increased prevalence of the combination of criminal insanity with drug dependence is a common problem in other countries as well. It is a serious problem that diversity in prison medical care has not been achieved.

A characteristic feature of care for criminally insane patients in Japan is that they must live in a residential district where a public health center is located and close to forensic hospitals after deinstitutionalization. Although there may be concerns about social prejudice against psychiatric disorders, this limited area would help support rehabilitation of patients because medical staff can easily know the whereabouts, psychiatric condition and aspects, of daily life for each patient through frequent reports obtained from home-visiting nurses. As a result, patients who have been successfully deinstitutionalized lead a self-supporting lifestyle without treatment interruption or repetition of similar criminal acts.

In this presentation, we will show the current status of forensic care in Japan, analyze its characteristics and problems described above, and make suggestions for the treatment of the criminally insane in countries with a small national land area such as Japan.

The CANGAROO project incorporates two Čerenkov imaging telescopes at Woomera to obtain stereo images of very high-energy gamma-ray (and cosmic-ray) showers. The first stereo observations, with one imaging system, were made in March 1992, and preliminary stereo imaging observations began in July 1992. This paper describes the stereo imaging technique, the sources under investigation, and the indications from the first data sets.

In this paper the Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy program at the University of Adelaide is described. VHE gamma rays with energies above ~5 × 1011eV are observed using the atmospheric Cerenkov technique. Results from the first three years observations at Woomera and the current upgrading of the telecope are described. The CANGAROO project, a collaboration between the University of Adelaide and a number of Japanese institutions, is also introduced.

Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections usually cause haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) equally in male and female children. This study investigated the localization of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) in human brain and kidney tissues removed from forensic autopsy cases in Japan. A fatal case was used as a positive control in an outbreak of diarrhoeal disease caused by STEC O157:H7 in a kindergarten in Urawa in 1990. Positive immunodetection of Gb3 was significantly more frequent in female than in male distal and collecting renal tubules. To correlate this finding with a clinical outcome, a retrospective analysis of the predictors of renal failure in the 162 patients of two outbreaks in Japan was performed: one in Tochigi in 2002 and the other in Kagawa Prefecture in 2005. This study concludes renal failure, including HUS, was significantly associated with female sex, and the odds ratio was 4·06 compared to male patients in the two outbreaks. From 2006 to 2009 in Japan, the risk factor of HUS associated with STEC infection was analysed. The number of males and females and the proportion of females who developed HUS were calculated by age and year from 2006 to 2009. In 2006, 2007 and 2009 in adults aged >20 years, adult women were significantly more at risk of developing HUS in Japan.

The superbubble (SB) 30 Dor C with the strong non-thermal X-ray emission is one of the best targets for study of the cosmic-ray (CR) acceleration. We investigated X-ray spectral properties of the SB with a high spatial resolution of ~10 pc. Consequently, the spectra in the east regions can be described with a combination of absorbed thermal and non-thermal models while the spectra in the west regions can be fitted with an absorbed non-thermal model. We found that the observed photon index and intensity in 2-10 keV show variations of 2.0-3.5 and (0.6-8.0) × 10−7 erg s−1 cm−2 str−1, respectively. The results are possibly caused by the spatial variation of the CR acceleration efficiency and/or the circumstellar environment.

Background: This study examined the use of low doses of antipsychotic medications (300 mg/day CPZeq or less) in older Asian patients with schizophrenia and its demographic and clinical correlates.

Methods: Information on hospitalized patients with schizophrenia, aged 55 years or older, was extracted from the database of the Research on Asian Psychotropic Prescription Patterns (REAP) study (2001–2009). Data on 1,452 patients in eight Asian countries and territories including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, India, and Malaysia were analyzed. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and antipsychotic prescriptions were recorded using a standardized protocol and data collection procedure.

Results: The prescription frequency for low doses of antipsychotic medications was 40.9% in the pooled sample. Multiple logistic regression analysis of the whole sample showed that patients on low doses of antipsychotic medications were more likely to be female, have an older age, a shorter length of illness, and less positive symptoms. Of patients in the six countries and territories that participated in all the surveys between 2001 and 2009, those in Japan were less likely to receive low doses of antipsychotics.

Conclusion: Low doses of antipsychotic medications were only applied in less than half of older Asian patients with schizophrenia.

Maternal food restriction is known to cause developmental hypertension in offspring. We have previously shown that maternal high-protein diet can reverse fetal programming of hypertension and that branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) concentrations in maternal and fetal plasma were increased by maternal high-protein intake. Then, we hypothesized that isocaloric supplementation with BCAA to a maternal food restriction can reverse the adverse outcome. Pregnant rats were divided into four groups at 7.5 days postcoitum: normally nourished (NN) and 70% undernourished (UN) groups with and without BCAA supplementation (NN–standard diet (SD), NN–BCAA, UN–SD and UN–BCAA groups). Compared with pups in the NN groups, those in the UN–SD group had significantly increased systolic blood pressure (SBP) at 8 and 16 weeks of age (P < 0.05). However, the elevation of SBP was not observed in offspring in the UN–BCAA group. Offspring glomeruli number of the UN groups was significantly lower (P < 0.05) than that of the NN groups, independent of BCAA supplementation. Angiotensin II receptor type 2 (ATR2) mRNA and protein expression in the kidney was significantly augmented in the UN–BCAA group at 30 weeks of age. In conclusion, BCAA supplementation during maternal food restriction prevents developmental hypertension together with increased ATR2 expression in adult offspring kidney.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2009 in Richmond, Virginia, USA, July 26 – July 30, 2009

We have studied grain coupling and critical current density (Jc) in ex situ processed Fe-sheathed MgB2 tapes fabricated by a powder-in-tube (PIT) technique, using MgB2 powder soaked in various chemical solutions. The grain coupling and the Jc are strongly influenced by the chemical solutions. Compared with the chemical treatment in a benzene solution of benzoic acid, the use of a cyclohexane solution of benzoic acid doubles the Jc value. Cyclohexane is less stable and hence effectively removed from the surface of MgB2 grains, bringing about the improved coupling of grains and the Jc enhancement.

Fe-sheathed MgB2 tapes were fabricated using powder chemically treated through an ex situ process employing a powder-in-tube (PIT) technique. The treatment of MgB2 powder in a benzene solution of benzoic acid caused the pulverization and disappearance of large grains. Compared with the pristine powder without treatment, the tape made from this powder showed a fivefold increase in critical current density (Jc) in 10 T. This was due to the pulverization of grains by the chemical treatment and the removal of surface MgO layers from MgB2 grains by dissolution in the acid solution. The removal of MgO layers was effective in promoting substitution of carbon from the solvent for boron.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, July 30 – August 3, 2006

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2006 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, July 30 – August 3, 2006

We fabricated MgB2 tapes by a powder-in-tube method using sheath materials of Fe and carbon steel (CS). In the as-rolled state, the CS-sheathed tapes showed higher transport critical current density (Jc) values than the Fe-sheathed tape did. This is due to the higher-density MgB2 layer associated with the high mechanical strength of the CS. Furthermore, heat treatment above 800 °C was very effective in increasing the Jc of these tapes. The heat-treated CS-sheathed tapes showed Jc values of 10 kA/cm2 at 4.2 K and 7.5 T and still above 2 kA/cm2 at 10 T. These values are the highest ever reported for MgB2 tapes. An extrapolation to 0 T in the Jc-B data gave about 1 MA/cm2, which was independent of the sheath materials. Microstructural observations suggest that the high Jc and the small field dependence of the Jc properties of the CS-sheathed tapes can be ascribed to the improved grain connectivity and grain alignment produced by the high mechanical strength of CS.

It is well known that hemodynamic factors, such as blood pressure and flow, exert an important influence on native morphology of various animal organs. However, information about the significance of ultrastructures which are revealed by conventional preparation methods has been limited, because routine chemical fixation of cells and tissues takes considerable time, during which their morphology could easily change. Therefore, morphological studies with routine immersion or perfusion fixation have not revealed real ultrastructures of functioning animal organs with normal blood circulation.2 The ultimate goal of morphological study is that all features to be examined should reflect the physiological meaning under investigation. For that purpose, the preservation of cells and tissues in functioning organs is necessary for studies to define their ultrastructures. Most cryotechniques have been based on the use of prior excised tissues. Such small specimens are commonly frozen within several seconds following the excision of the tissues.

It is well known that flowing erythrocytes in blood capillaries were morphologically changing in vivo, as observed by light microscopy. Recently, dynamic morphological changes of flowing mouse erythrocytes in large blood vessels and hepatic sinusoids were demonstrated by scanning (SEM) or transmission (TEM) electron microscopy with our “in vivo cryotechnique”. Moreover, human erythrocyte deformability was already studied under artificially jetting conditions at different pressures by using “in vivo cryotechnique”, followed by freeze-substitution method for SEM. in this study, we have analyzed elemental changes of each human erythrocyte at different jetting pressures by “in vivo cryotechnique” combined with SEM for X-ray microanalysis.

Human blood was collected with heparin-coated syringes, divided into two groups and kept at 4°C and 36°C. They were directly jetted into isopentane-propane cryogen (-193°C) through tubes (21 gauge) at different pressures (0-220mmHg) (Fig.la). The frozen blood samples were freeze-dried (4-6×10-7torr,-95°C,24h) in Eiko FD-3AS apparatus (Eiko Engineering, Japan) (Fig. lb).

For the understanding of longshore currents along a natural beach, the effects of bottom unevenness are considered to be important, especially for the flow in the swash zone. Currents in the swash zone are strongly influenced by the bed slope because the effect of gravity overwhelms the effect of the depth change. In the present paper, we investigate these effects and focus on waves propagating from offshore over a flat ocean basin of constant depth to a beach with a sloping wavy bottom. The waves are incident at a small angle to the beach normal, and the bed slope in the alongshore direction is varied slowly. To simplify the problem, only cnoidal waves and solitary waves are considered and the bed level is varied sinusoidally in the longshore direction.

A perturbation method is applied to the two-dimensional nonlinear shallow water equation (two-dimensional NLSWE) for the wave motion in order to generate a more simplified model of wave dynamics consisting of a one-dimensional NLSWE for the direction normal to the beach and an equation for the alongshore direction. The first equation, the one-dimensional NLSWE, is solved by Carrier & Greenspan's transformation. The solution of the second one is found by extending Brocchini & Peregrine's solution for a flat beach. Two methods for the solution of the one- dimensional NLSWE are introduced in order to get a solution applicable to large-amplitude swash motions, where the amplitude is comparable to the beach length. One is the Maclaurin expansion of the solution around the moving shoreline, and the other is Riemann's representation of the solution, which exactly satisfies the one-dimensional NLSWE and the boundary conditions. After doing a consistency check by confirming that Riemann's method, a numerical solution, agrees with the exact solution for an infinitely long, sloping beach, we assumed that the Maclaurin series solution can also describe wave motion in the swash zone properly not only for this model but also for our ‘wavy’, finite beach model.

The solution obtained from the Maclaurin series is then plugged into the equation for the alongshore direction to calculate the shore currents induced by wave run-up and back-wash motions, where a ‘weakly two-dimensional solution’ is derived from geometrical considerations. The results show that since the water depth near the shoreline is comparable to the bed level fluctuations, the flow is strongly affected by the bed unevenness, leading to recognizable changes in shoreline movement and the time-averaged velocity and the mass flux of the flow in the swash zone. More specifically, the inhomogeneity of the alongshore mass flux generates offshore currents because of the continuity condition for the fluid mass.