Development of a system to provide different fields of view to eyes with a function to generate rapid movements.

We developed a system that provides a human user with the artificial oculomotor ability to control their eyes independently, which was named Virtual Chameleon after Chameleons. Virtual Chameleon consists of two independently controlled CCD cameras, a 3D tracking sensor system and a head-mounted display. The Virtual Chameleon control independently postures of two cameras to follow the sensors of the 3D tracking system smoothly. The successful users of the system were able to actively control visual axes by manipulating 3D sensors held by their both hands, to watch independent view fields presented to the left and right eyes, and to look around as chameleons do. Although it is thought that those independent fields of view the user of Virtual Chameleon corresponds to smooth movements on human eye movements, the system did not have functions to control angles of cameras rapidly in way corresponding to saccadic eye movements and compensatory movements as numerous animals including human do. In this paper, we implemented functions to control angles camera rapidly corresponding to saccadic eye movements in Virtual Chameleon, and we performed fundamental experiments to evaluate effects on the user's visual capabilities.

A portable device to represent different views to both eyes.

To investigate the flexible adaptation of human visual system, we developed a system to provide different view fields to both eyes of a user respectively. The system named "Virtual Chameleon" consists of two CCD cameras independently controlled and a head-mounted display was used by twelve healthy volunteers. Eleven of them became able to independently control visual axes and understood two different views. The successful users of the system were able to actively control visual axes by manipulating 3D sensors held by their both hands, to watch independent view fields presented to the left and right eyes, and to look around as chameleons do. The results raise interesting question on adaption to provided two independent view fields.

Activation of caspases and apoptosis in response to low-voltage electric pulses.

Few studies have examined apoptosis induced by low-voltage electric pulses (LVEPs). LVEP-induce changes in membrane potential that are below the membrane breakdown threshold and increase membrane permeability without electroporation (pore formation) through the transport of extracellular substances via phagocytosis. We demonstrated that propidium iodide uptake and apoptosis increased in accordance with the duration and number of LVEPs in B16 cells, which showed relatively good viability under mild electric field conditions. We showed that LVEP-induced apoptosis was achieved through caspase-8 and -9 activation and subsequent caspase-3 activation. Long-duration LVEPs caused only mild cell damage, such that the apoptosis ratio (apoptosis/total cell death) in electric pulse-treated cells was similar to that in non-treated control cells. To assess the relative degree of caspase dependency in LVEP-induced apoptosis, the apoptosis rate and caspase-3 activity were analyzed using a pan-caspase inhibitor (Z-VAD-FMK). Z-VAD-FMK treatment inhibited, but did not abolish, LVEP-induced apoptosis, indicating that caspases other than caspase-3 participate in this pathway. Moreover, LVEP treatment inhibited cell growth, suggesting that LVEP treatment may be a valuable anticancer therapy. Although the mechanism of LVEP-induced apoptosis remains unclear, it may be related to dysfunctional membrane transport of Ca2+ and other extracellular substances involved in caspase activation.

Development of a wearable surveillance system using gait analysis.

An aging society is a reality in developed countries. An aging population requires more healthcare workers and facilities. To reduce this social problem, it is worthwhile to develop a wearable computer for elders or patients to watch over them. In this study, we developed a wearable computer, in which accelerometers were installed to detect variations of posture, falls, and gait disability. The advantages of this system include a designated database server in each patient's home, scalability and flexibility to adapt to patient's needs, and full patient access to their own information. As a first step, we adopted this system for healthy young volunteers with or without impediments to validate the system. The results show that this system can successfully detect variations in posture and falls. We also succeeded in real-time automatic gait analysis by using the Hampering Index. The present study gives useful knowledge for the development of a wearable computer to support the care of elders or other patients.

Patient Record Information System (PaRIS) for primary health care centers in Indonesia.

This study explores the Patient Record Information System (PaRIS) for primary health care centers in a developing country such as Indonesia. The specific geography of the thousand islands country Indonesia is the reason for transportation difficulties as well as communication problems. This causes a serious adverse effect on the public healthcare service especially in the rural area within the country. Hence, a sustainable system is required that makes use of appropriate Information and Communication Technology (ICT). We developed a clinical information system with modest communication technology combined with a unique database distribution system. The Internet and its free software are the main tools for this system. It is a good opportunity for a developing country such as Indonesia to apply open free software in regard to the healthcare sector. This cost effective and sustainable system can enhance the work of physicians in order to provide better and applicable public health care service.