We have developed an automatic system of all around 3D measurement comprised of special digital cameras and projector in a unit, which can measure human body all around with high precision. It has a calibration box which we use, prior to photographing, to determine the exterior orientation parameters of the cameras so that 3D measurement can be performed automatically as soon as the photographing unit is set up against an object. For stereo-matching we created a robust matching system and integrated it into an all-automatic system.

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Background : Several reports have shown a high mortality rate in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) who undergo pancreaticoduodenectomy, however, there are few reports on its long-term prognosis. Methods : Twelve patients with LC who had undergone pancreatic resection were enrolled. To compare clinicopathological variables, 159 non-LC patients who had undergone resection for pancreatic cancer were enrolled. Results : Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) was performed in 5 LC patients and distal pancreatectomy (DP) was performed in 7 LC patients. Patients in the LC group had more co-morbidities, lower platelet counts and higher Fib4 index than the non-LC group. The postoperative complication rate was higher in the LC group (83.3% vs 47.8%). While the postoperative hospital stay and 30-day mortality rate were not different, the 90-day mortality rate was higher in the LC group (25.0% vs 2.5% ; p < 0.01). Comparison by operative procedure showed no significant differences of postoperative outcomes in DP cases. However, in PD cases, postoperative complications were more frequent (100% vs 42.3%) and 90-day mortality was higher (40.0% vs 2.9% ; p < 0.01) in the LC group. Conclusions : PD resulted in higher postoperative morbidity and mortality rates in patients with LC compared with non-LC patients. DP could be tolerated in the LC patients.

Marine elasmobranch fish contain urea, a protein denaturant, in their bodies. The urea-trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) counteraction mechanism contributes to urea-resistibility, where TMAO compensates for protein denaturation by urea. However, previous studies revealed that shark fast skeletal muscle myosin exhibits native activity at physiological urea concentrations in the absence of TMAO, suggesting that shark myosin has urea-resistibility. In this study, we compared the urea-resistibility of myosin alkali light chains (A1-LC and A2-LC) from banded houndshark and carp by examining the α-helical content at various urea concentrations. The α-helical content of carp myosin A1-LC and A2-LC gradually decreased as urea concentrations increased to 2 M. In contrast, the α-helical content of banded houndshark A1-LC increased between 0 and 0.5 M urea, and the α-helical content of A2-LC remained constant until 0.5 M urea. We determined the full-length sequences of the banded houndshark myosin light chains (A1-LC, A2-LC and DTNB-LC). Hydrophilicity analysis revealed that the N-terminal region (residues 28–34) of A1-LC from banded houndshark is more hydrophilic than the corresponding region of A1-LC from carp. These findings support the notion that shark myosin exhibits urea-resistibility independent of the urea-TMAO counteraction mechanism.