PURPOSE: To evaluate changes in corneal and ocular high-order aberration, ocular fatigue, and tear break-up time (TBUT) before and after playing computer games and the correlations among the variables. METHODS: Thirty-nine normal healthy subjects played computer games for 1 hour. Ocular fatigue was evaluated with a questionnaire, TBUT was measured with slit-lamp biomicroscopy, and high-order aberrations were measured with a KR-1W aberrometer (Topcon Medical System, Inc., Tokyo, Japan) in each subject before and after playing computer games. The right eye was used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: Subjective ocular fatigue (expressed as the interview score) increased from 4.23 +/- 5.35 to 12.05 +/- 8.68 after playing games (p < 0.001) and TBUT decreased from 8.03 +/- 6.43 sec to 4.90 +/- 3.31 sec (p < 0.001). Ocular high-order aberrations in the 4 mm and 6 mm zones were not significantly changed before and after playing games (p = 0.150, p = 0.202, respectively). However, corneal high-order aberrations in the 4 mm and 6 mm zones were significantly increased after playing computer games (p = 0.002, p = 0.002, respectively). Changes in TBUT, interview score, and corneal high-order aberration were not correlated with each other. CONCLUSIONS: Playing computer games increased corneal high-order aberrations as well as subjective ocular fatigue and TBUT.
Eye ; Fatigue ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Tokyo

BACKGROUND: We evaluated overall performance and analysis time of newly developed HLC-723 G8 (Tosoh corp., Tokyo, Japan) HbA1c autoanalyzerwhich utilizes cation-exchange HPLC method. METHODS: Linearity, precision, correlation with Variant II Turbo (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA, USA), analysis time, labile HbA1c (L-A1c) separation ability and stability of refrigerated sample at 4degrees C were evaluated. RESULTS: HLC-723 G8 showed good linearity between HbA1c 4.9-12.0% range (R2=0.9995). Within-run and total imprecision (CVs) were less than 1.0%. Correlation with Variant II Turbo and L-A1c separation ability were excellent. Analysis time per sample took 1.0 min. Stability of refrigerated sample at 4degrees C for at least 21 days was good. CONCLUSIONS: HLC-723 G8 showed good analytical performance and its rapid analysis time enables us to support outpatient diagnosis of diabetic patients efficiently.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Humans ; Outpatients ; Tokyo

PURPOSE: To measure choroidal thickness in healthy myopic eyes and to evaluate the relationship among choroidal thickness and refractive power and axial length. METHODS: Eighty healthy myopic eyes were evaluated in the present study. The refractive power was measured using an automatic refractor and the axial length using A-scan. The subjects were divided into two groups based on refractive power (> or =-6.0 D and <-6.0 D) and axial length (> or =25 mm and <25 mm). The choroidal thickness was measured using spectral domain (SD) optical coherence tomography (3-dimensional [3D] OCT-2000, Software Version 6.01; Topcon Corp., Tokyo, Japan), and the statistical relationship between the two groups was analyzed. RESULTS: A statistically significant difference was found in choroidal thickness according to refractive power and axial length between the two groups (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Refractive power and axial length had a significant relation to choroidal thickness measured by OCT. When excluding eyes with pathologic myopia, high myopia in healthy eyes may cause choroidal thinning.
Choroid ; Eye ; Myopia ; Tokyo ; Tomography, Optical Coherence

The double-lumen tube is widely used in various kinds of cardiothoracic surgery as a facilitation for easier procedures. Silbroncho(R) (Fuji systems, Tokyo, Japan) double-lumen tube, which is made of flexible silicone material, reduces injury to the tracheal and bronchial mucosa during intubation. The bronchial lumen is wire-reinforced to maintain tip angulation and prevent bending or obstruction. However, its increased flexibility resulted in distortion, especially when we encountered resistance to passage. We document an unusual complication case which involved folding of the endobronchial segment of the double-lumen tube after blind intubation in difficult airways.
Intubation ; Mucous Membrane ; Pliability ; Silicones ; Tokyo

The double-lumen tube is widely used in various kinds of cardiothoracic surgery as a facilitation for easier procedures. Silbroncho(R) (Fuji systems, Tokyo, Japan) double-lumen tube, which is made of flexible silicone material, reduces injury to the tracheal and bronchial mucosa during intubation. The bronchial lumen is wire-reinforced to maintain tip angulation and prevent bending or obstruction. However, its increased flexibility resulted in distortion, especially when we encountered resistance to passage. We document an unusual complication case which involved folding of the endobronchial segment of the double-lumen tube after blind intubation in difficult airways.
Intubation ; Mucous Membrane ; Pliability ; Silicones ; Tokyo

PURPOSE: The present study investigates the effects of pharmacologic pupil dilatation on ocular, corneal and internal aberrations. METHODS: Sixty-two right eyes of 62 healthy participants were included in the present study. Ocular, corneal and internal aberrations were measured with a KR-1W wavefront aberrometer (Topcon Corp., Tokyo, Japan) before mydriasis in mesopic conditions. After pupil dilatation with a mydriatic drug (phenylephrine chloride 0.5% + tropicamide 0.5%) (Mydrin-P, Santen, Osaka, Japan), the measurements were repeated. The wavefront data of 4-mm and 6-mm diameter zones were analyzed. The changes of aberrations before and after mydriasis were evaluated by paired t-test. RESULTS: The values of ocular, corneal and internal spherical aberrations before and after mydriasis on the 4-mm diameter pupil zone were not statistically significantly different. On the 6-mm diameter zone, the ocular and internal spherical aberrations were statistically significantly different (p = 0.025, p = 0.002, respectively, paired t-test). However, the corneal aberrations did not show significant changes. The internal aberrations average before mydriasis was -0.043 (+/-0.21) microm and was shifted in a negative direction to -0.093 (+/-0.17) microm after mydriasis. The ocular aberrations average also changed toward negative after mydriasis. The high-order aberrations and astigmatism did not change significantly. CONCLUSIONS: The ocular and internal spherical aberrations changed toward negative with mydriasis in the participants' eyes suggesting the change of the ocular spherical aberration to be attributed to internal changes.
Astigmatism ; Dilatation ; Eye ; Mydriasis ; Pupil ; Tokyo ; Tropicamide

Long limb bones have been used in the derivation of regression equations for stature assessment. Various papers to estimate stature from long limb bones were existed. However fragmentary long bones are found for analyses in forensic cases, it has impossible to derive regression equations for the estimation of stature from the fragments of these bones. In this reason, this study was tried to estimate maximum long bone length specially tibia as measured nine variables. The sample consisted of 170 tibias (55 males and 30 females). The ages for these specimens ranged between 18 and 91 years. Vernier caliper (Mitutoyo, Tokyo, Japan) and osteometric table (GPM, Swiss) were used to measure variable. Statistical analysis was made using SPSS 15.0 for windows to estimate maximum tibia length. The variables, seemed to higher than 0.5 R-square, were circumference the body that the point found nutrient foramen (CNF) in female and maximum breadth between lateral and medial condyle on the superior aspect (PAB), CNF in combined sex. Also, regression equations were made through the stepwise analysis. The R-squares were 0.499 of male, 0.685 of female and 0.617 of combined sex. In the absence of intact long bones, the equations derived from the present study can provide a reliable estimate of maximum tibia length and can estimate stature after all.
Extremities ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Tibia ; Tokyo

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games provided a significant opportunity to consider global warming as an issue to be seriously addressed to run the safe and fair games in the era of climate change. As the global temperature continuously rises and extreme hot-weather events increase in frequency and intensity, the future summer Olympic and Paralympic games will need to deal with the heat by applying thorough and appropriate countermeasures. In the recent decades, many mitigation measures to protect athletes from heat have been rapidly discussed by the sports community, including countermeasures to hold games at times and places with moderate temperature and climatic risk assessments with Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) during the games. However, the excessive heat conditions in the Tokyo 2020 Games affected not only athletes, but also all people concerned the events. While deliberate considerations by organizers had been given to mitigate extraordinary heat, the evaluations of these measures and epidemiological analyses of risk factors of patients must be further enhanced to develop efficient measures for the future. Therefore, we discussed the underlying climate-related problems of the summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in view of what we had experienced in the Tokyo 2020 Games. Facing with emerging global warming, future intervention against heat in the summer Olympic and Paralympic games will need to integrate systematic disease surveillance and evaluation of intervention with an effective combination with the approaches previously conducted. The Tokyo 2020 Games is a wake-up call to accelerate the public health measures towards the creeping global warming.
Biodiversity ; Global Warming ; Humans ; Sports ; Temperature ; Tokyo

BACKGROUND: Vacuum tubes are widely used in the clinical laboratory for routine tests. We compared a newly developed Green Vac-Tube (SPM, Gimje, Korea) with Vacutainer (BD, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA) and Vacuette (Greiner Bio-One, Frickenhausen, Germany) in routine chemistry and hematology tests. METHODS: A total of 101 volunteers, 81 patients and 20 healthy volunteer, were recruited and we had collected blood samples with three kinds of EDTA tubes and those of serum separating tubes. The samples were evaluated for chemistry and hematology tests using TOSHIBA 200FR (Toshiba, Tokyo, Japan) and ADVIA (Siemens, Deerfield, IL, USA) respectively. Their results were statistically analyzed by paired t-test and Bland-Altman plot. RESULTS: Their clinical utilities were examined by CLIA'88 programs. Paired t-test analysis revealed that the results of ALP, AST, total bilirubin, CO2, Hct and MCV showed statistically significant differences between Green Vac-Tube and previously used two vacuum tubes. Similar significant differences were also observed between previous two vacuum tubes. And 194 (4.37%) cases among 5,151 cases were in the critical region by Bland-Altman plot. All different cases, except Na+, K+ however, were clinically acceptable by CLIA'88 programs. CONCLUSIONS: Green Vac-tube has good analytical performance compared to previously-used tubes.
Bilirubin ; Edetic Acid ; Hematology ; Humans ; Lakes ; Tokyo ; Vacuum

PURPOSE: Marginal fit is one of the important components for the successful prosthodontic restoration. Poor fitting margin of the restoration causes hypersensitivity, secondary caries, and plaque accumulation, which later result in prosthodontic failure. CAD/CAM zirconia all-ceramic restorations, such as LAVA(R) (3M ESPE, St.Paul, MN) and EVEREST(R) (KaVo Dental GmbH, Biberach, Germany) systems were recently introduced in Korea. It is clinically meaningful to evaluate the changes of the marginal fit of the CAD/CAM zirconia systems before and after build-up. The purposes of this study are to compare the marginal fit of the two CAD/CAM all-ceramic systems with that of the ceramometal restoration, before and after porcelain build-up. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A maxillary first premolar dentiform tooth was prepared with 2.0 mm occlusal reduction, 1.0 mm axial reduction, chamfer margin, and 6 degree taperness in the axial wall. The prepared dentiform die was duplicated into the metal abutment die. The metal die was placed in the dental study model, and the full arch impressions of the model were made. Twenty four copings of 3 groups which were LAVA(R), EVEREST(R), and ceramometal restorations were fabricated. Each coping was cemented on the metal die with color-mixed Fit-checker II(R) (GC Cor., Tokyo, Japan). The marginal opening of each coping was measured with Microhiscope(R) system (HIROX KH-1000 ING-Plus, Seoul, Korea. *300 magnification). After porcelain build-up, the marginal openings of LAVA(R), EVEREST(R),and ceramometal restorations were also evaluated in the same method. Statistical analysis was done with paired t-test and one-way ANOVA test. RESULTS: In coping states, the mean marginal opening for EVEREST(R) restorations was 52.00 +/- 11.94 micrometer, for LAVA(R) restorations 56.97 +/- 10.00 micrometer, and for ceramometal restorations 97.38 +/- 18.54 micrometer. After porcelain build-up, the mean marginal opening for EVEREST(R) restorations was 61.69 +/- 19.33 micrometer, for LAVA(R) restorations 70.81 +/- 12.99 micrometer, and for ceramometal restorations 115.25 +/- 23.86 micrometer. CONCLUSION: 1. LAVA(R) and EVEREST(R) restorations in comparison with ceramometal restorations showed better marginal fit, which had significant differences (P < 0.05) in coping state and also after porcelain build-up. 2. The mean marginal opening values between LAVA(R) and EVEREST(R) restorations did not showed significant differences after porcelain build-up as well as in coping state (P > .05). 3. EVEREST(R), LAVA(R) and ceramometal restorations showed a little increased marginal opening after porcelain build-up, but did not show any statistical significance (P > .05).
Bicuspid ; Dental Porcelain ; Hypersensitivity ; Korea ; Prosthodontics ; Silicones ; Tokyo ; Tooth ; Zirconium