Miho Shimada

Spatiotemporal characteristics of hemodynamic changes in the human lateral prefrontal cortex during working memory tasks.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is widely believed to subserve mental manipulation and monitoring processes ascribed to the central executive (CE) of working memory (WM). We attempted to examine and localize the CE by functional imaging of the frontal cortex during tasks designed to require the CE. Using near-infrared spectroscopy, we studied the spatiotemporal dynamics of oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb), an indicator of changes in regional cerebral blood flow, in both sides of lateral PFC during WM intensive tasks. In most participants, increases in oxy-Hb were localized within one subdivison during performance of the n-back task, whereas oxy-Hb increased more diffusely during the random number generation (RNG) task. Activation of the ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC) was prominent in the n-back task; both sustained and transient dynamics were observed. Transient dynamics means that oxy-Hb first increases but then decreases to less than 50% of the peak value or below the baseline level before the end of the task. For the RNG task sustained activity was also observed in the dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC), especially in the right hemisphere. However, details of patterns of activation varied across participants: subdivisions commonly activated during performance of the two tasks were the bilateral VLPFCs, either side of the VLPFC, and either side of the DLPFC in 4, 2, and 4 of the 12 participants, respectively. The remaining 2 of the 12 participants had no regions commonly activated by these tasks. These results suggest that although the PFC is implicated in the CE, there is no stereotyped anatomical PFC substrate for the CE.

Melanin and blood concentration in a human skin model studied by multiple regression analysis: assessment by Monte Carlo simulation

Measurement of melanin and blood concentration in human skin is needed in the medical and the cosmetic fields because human skin colour is mainly determined by the colours of melanin and blood. It is difficult to measure these concentrations in human skin because skin has a multi-layered structure and scatters light strongly throughout the visible spectrum. The Monte Carlo simulation currently used for the analysis of skin colour requires long calculation times and knowledge of the specific optical properties of each skin layer. A regression analysis based on the modified Beer-Lambert law is presented as a method of measuring melanin and blood concentration in human skin in a shorter period of time and with fewer calculations. The accuracy of this method is assessed using Monte Carlo simulations.

Melanin and blood concentration in human skin studied by multiple regression analysis: experiments

Knowledge of the mechanism of human skin colour and measurement of melanin and blood concentration in human skin are needed in the medical and cosmetic fields. The absorbance spectrum from reflectance at the visible wavelength of human skin increases under several conditions such as a sunburn or scalding. The change of the absorbance spectrum from reflectance including the scattering effect does not correspond to the molar absorption spectrum of melanin and blood. The modified Beer-Lambert law is applied to the change in the absorbance spectrum from reflectance of human skin as the change in melanin and blood is assumed to be small. The concentration of melanin and blood was estimated from the absorbance spectrum reflectance of human skin using multiple regression analysis. Estimated concentrations were compared with the measured one in a phantom experiment and this method was applied to in vivo skin.

Simulation study of in vitro glucose measurement by NIR spectroscopy and a method of error reduction

The effects of some important factors on the blood glucose measurements by NIR spectroscopy are investigated by numerical simulation, and a method is proposed to significantly reduce the prediction errors induced by these effects. The changes in the absorbance spectra with the changes in the glucose concentration, temperature and scattering characteristics of background tissue are obtained by a Monte Carlo simulation of light propagation for the wavelength range from 1200 nm to 1800 nm. The glucose concentration is predicted by applying a multivariate analysis to the numerically simulated spectra. This process estimates the errors in the prediction of the glucose concentration induced by the temperature and scattering changes. It has been found that only 1 C change in the temperature or only 1% change in the scattering coefficient induces about 500 mg dl(-1) or 300 mg dl(-1) errors, respectively, in the prediction of the glucose concentration. These errors can be significantly reduced to less than 20 mg dl(-1) of the glucose concentration by incorporating the effects of the temperature and scattering characteristics on the spectra to the multivariate analysis.

Intense Terahertz Synchrotron Radiation by Laser Bunch Slicing at UVSOR-II Electron Storage Ring

A laser bunch slicing system has been constructed at the UVSOR-II electron storage ring to produce a submillimeter-sized microstructure on an electron bunch. As its first result, terahertz coherent synchrotron radiation (THz CSR) was successfully produced by the dense structure of the electron bunch. Its intensity is higher by four or five orders of magnitude than that of normal synchrotron radiation. The intensity is proportional to the square of the peak current of the electron bunch, as expected for coherent emission. It is also demonstrated that the spectral shape of the THz CSR can be controlled by changing the slicing laser pulse duration.

Simple algorithm for the measurement of absorption coefficients of a two-layered medium by spatially resolved and time-resolved reflectance

An inversion procedure for the recovery of absorption coefficients of a two-layered semi-infinite diffusive medium by use of time-resolved reflectance measured at two different source-detector distances is proposed. The inversion procedure is based on the property of the photon diffusion equation; i.e., the solution of the diffusion equation for the time-resolved reflectance measured at a longer source--detector distance coincides with that measured at a shorter one by a proper temporal, spatial, and intensity transformation. This inversion procedure, used together with the results of one set of Monte Carlo simulations, is validated as working well when the values of the scattering coefficients of the two layers and the thickness of the first layer are within a range of interest in tissue optics.

Effect of stimulus frequency on human cerebral hemodynamic responses to electric median nerve stimulation: a near-infrared spectroscopic study.

We examined the effect of stimulus frequency on optically recorded hemodynamic responses to electric median nerve stimulation. Electric stimuli were delivered to the right median nerve with an intensity of 90% of motor threshold. Four different stimulus frequencies (2, 5, 10, and 20 Hz) were administered in each subject. By means of a multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopic instrument, changes in concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin were continuously measured over the left scalp. After 20 Hz stimulation, we found two spatially and temporally distinct hemodynamic responses. One lasted beyond 60 s, and the center of this response was located over the secondary somatosensory area. The other had a transient duration starting immediately after the stimulus onset and was located in the primary somatosensory hand area. Both responses were linearly augmented as a function of the stimulus frequency. Since temporal activation patterns are different in two somatosensory areas, real-time optical monitoring is necessary in evaluation of hemodynamic responses to electric nerve stimulation.

Estimation of the absorption coefficients of two-layered media by a simple method using spatially and time-resolved reflectances.

Our newly developed method using spatially and time-resolved reflectances can easily estimate the absorption coefficients of each layer in a two-layered medium if the thickness of the upper layer and the reduced scattering coefficients of the two layers are known a priori. We experimentally validated this method using phantoms and examined its possibility of estimating the absorption coefficients of the tissues in human heads. In the case of a homogeneous plastic phantom (polyacetal block), the absorption coefficient estimated by our method agreed well with that obtained by a conventional method. Also, in the case of two-layered phantoms, our method successfully estimated the absorption coefficients of the two layers. Furthermore, the absorption coefficients of the extracerebral and cerebral tissue inside human foreheads were estimated under the assumption that the human heads were two-layered media. It was found that the absorption coefficients of the cerebral tissues were larger than those of the extracerebral tissues.

Coherent Terahertz Radiation at UVSOR‐II

Development of intense terahertz radiation source is progressing at UVSOR‐II, based on the mechanism of coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR). The terahertz CSR has successfully been produced by two methods. When the storage ring is operated in the single bunch mode with a sufficiently high beam current, intense bursts of terahertz radiation are emitted. Micro‐structures in the longitudinal density distribution of the electron bunches created by a beam instability may be the origin of the radiation. The duration of the bursts is typically 100 micro‐seconds. The peak intensity is 10000 times higher than that of the normal synchrotron radiation. The bursts appear chaotically or quasi‐periodically depending on the beam current with a typical interval of 10 milli‐seconds. It has been also demonstrated that the terahertz CSR could be produced by the laser‐bunch slicing method. The density modulation produced on the electron bunch by the laser is the origin of CSR. The repetition rate of the terahertz pulses is ...

Treatment of nevus using medical tattooing

Medical tattooing is used to color skin with a pigment loss. Currently, however, a trial-and-error scheme is employed to obtain the desired color appearance of tattooed skin because prediction of the color appearance is dependent on the experiences of medical doctors. We propose a method for predicting the color appearance of tattooed skin. Two trial dyes are first injected in the area of pigment loss, and the color appearance of a third dye to be injected can be predicted using measured spectrocolorimeter data and mathematical formula. The spectrocolorimeter measures the color appearances of the skin before and after tattooing using the first two dyes, and the mathematical formula calculates the color appearance of the tattooed skin using any third dye. In the derivation of the mathematical formula, light propagation in the skin has been modeled using the modified Lambert-Beer law considering the strong scattering of light by biological tissues. The proposed method was successfully validated by a preliminary tattooing of the skin to an area with pigment loss. Predicting the color appearance of tattooed skin significantly reduces the number of trial-and-error attempts required in the current methods. Medical tattooing using this method can also be applied to treat various skin color abnormalities such as leukoderma, intradermal nevi, and reconstructed nipples.