Phlegmonous Colitis after Cold Snare Polypectomy in an Immunosuppressed Patient: A Case Report.

Introduction: Cold snare polypectomy (CSP) is a procedure with a low risk of complications. Here, we present our experience of a rare case of submucosal abscess following CSP in an immunosuppressed patient. Case Presentation: Seventy-eight-year-old man underwent CSP, developing a fever, chills, and right lower abdominal pain 8 days later. Ultrasound and computed tomography revealed wall thickening of the ascending colon, presenting as whitening and thickening of the same region, and excretion of pus was observed after biopsy. The diagnosis was made as phlegmonous colitis, for which antibiotic therapy was commenced. The patient was diagnosed with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) during admission. We considered the following reasons as possible causes of infectious complications after CSP: (1) the patient had a highly immunosuppressed state with comorbidities such as CMML as well as diabetes mellitus and (2) disruption of the mucosal barrier occurred during endoscopic resection. Conclusion: Although CSP is generally considered safe, our case highlights the potential for serious complications in immunosuppressed patients. Therefore, the decision to perform CSP in such patients should be made with caution to avoid unnecessary interventions. In instances where treatment is essential, thorough bowel preparation and prophylactic antibiotic use may be necessary to mitigate the risks.

Walking and talking independently predict interpersonal impressions.

When walking alongside someone, you may feel that your legs move in synchrony with theirs. Recent studies have shown that walk-in-synch behaviour observed in natural settings occurs at a rate significantly greater than would be expected by chance, and that the amount of this synchrony is related to interpersonal impressions. However, in such natural settings, the existence of verbal conversations between paired walkers should affect the interpersonal impressions and the effect is not distinguished from the effect of walk-in-synch on the impressions so far. In the current study, we used the analysis of conversation and path analysis to discriminate these two effects (i.e., the effects of synchronization of walking and conversation on interpersonal impressions). Analysis of conversation during the walk revealed that the amount of utterance overlap and the number of turn-takings between two walkers as well as the synchronization of steps predicted their positive interpersonal impression, while synchronization of steps and these two conversational indices were not correlated with each other. We propose that interpersonal synchronization of body movements, such as synchronization of steps itself in paired walking, plays a role in fostering the development of interpersonal relationships.

Fabrication of ideally ordered TiO2 through-hole membranes by two-layer anodization.

Ideally ordered TiO2 through-hole membranes were obtained by a combination of Ti substrate pre-patterning and two-layer anodization. The Ti substrate was pre-patterned by Ar ion milling using ideally ordered porous alumina as an etching mask. Each concave pit formed by dry etching acted as an initiation site for hole development during anodization, and ideally ordered anodic porous TiO2 was produced by anodization using an electrolyte containing fluoride ions. Two-layered anodic porous TiO2 samples with different solubilities were formed by heat treatment for the crystallization of the first anodized oxide layer and a subsequent second anodization. The selective dissolution of the lower part of the two-layered porous TiO2 produced an ideally ordered TiO2 through-hole membrane. Using the present process, the repeated preparation of ideally ordered TiO2 membranes can be conducted because the ideally ordered concave array, which corresponds to the hole arrangement at the bottom of the detached TiO2 membrane, is maintained even after detaching the membrane. The obtained samples can be applied to various functional devices, such as photonic crystals and filtration membranes with photocatalytic properties.

A computational approach to the dynamic aspects of primitive auditory scene analysis.

Recent psychophysical and physiological studies demonstrated that auditory scene analysis (ASA) is inherently a dynamic process, suggesting that the system conducting ASA constantly changes itself, incorporating the dynamics of sound sources in the acoustic scene, to realize efficient and robust information processing. Here, we propose computational models of ASA based on two computational principles of ASA, namely, separation in a feature space and temporal regularity. We explicitly introduced learning processes, so that the system could autonomously develop its selectivity to features or bases for analyses according to the observed acoustic data. Simulation results demonstrated that the models were able to predict some essential features of behavioral properties of ASA, such as the buildup of streaming, multistable perception, and the segregation of repeated patterns embedded in distracting sounds.