Yuko Asano

Residence times and flow paths of water in steep unchannelled catchments, Tanakami, Japan

Apparatus for moulding and shaping the opening of a container in which a cap is inserted in such a fashion that a portion thereof is gripped by and embraces a particularly smooth and polished portion of the neck of the container to form an air-tight seal.

Progenitor-Enriched Adipose Tissue Transplantation as Rescue for Breast Implant Complications

Abstract:  Breast enhancement with artificial implants is one of the most frequently performed cosmetic surgeries but is associated with various complications, such as capsular contracture, that lead to implant removal or replacement at a relatively high rate. For replacement, we used transplantation of progenitor‐supplemented adipose tissue (cell‐assisted lipotransfer; CAL) in 15 patients. The stromal vascular fraction containing adipose tissue progenitor cells obtained from liposuction aspirates was used to enrich for progenitor cells in the graft. Overall, clinical results were very satisfactory, and no major abnormalities were seen on magnetic resonance imaging or mammogram after 12 months. Postoperative atrophy of injected fat was minimal and did not change substantially after 2 months. Surviving fat volume at 12 months was 155 ± 50 mL (Right; mean ± SD) and 143 ± 80 mL (Left) following lipoinjection from an initial mean of 264 mL. These preliminary results suggest that CAL is a suitable methodology for the replacement of breast implants.

Hydrologic and geochemical influences on the dissolved silica concentration in natural water in a steep headwater catchment

The dissolved silica concentrations in groundwater, springwater, and streamwater were measured on an unchanneled hillslope in the Tanakami Mountains of central Japan. The effects of preferential flowpaths, including lateral and vertical flow in the soil layer and flow through bedrock fractures, on the variation in the dissolved silica concentrations in runoff and groundwater were examined, as were the effects of the mixing of water from geochemically diverse water sources on the dissolved silica concentrations. The mean dissolved silica concentrations in water sampled from 40 cm below the soil surface and in transiently formed groundwater above the soil-bedrock interface during rainfall events were relatively constant, independent of the variation in the mixing ratio of pre-event water and incoming throughfall. These waters were mostly supplied by the vertical infiltration of water in soil. The mean dissolved silica concentrations were similar, regardless of sampling depth, although the mean residence time of the water increased with depth. These results indicated that the dissolved silica concentrations in soil water and transient groundwater were independent of contact time between the water and minerals. The mean dissolved silica concentration in perennially saturated groundwater above the soil-bedrock interface, which was recharged by water infiltrating through soil, and water emerging from bedrock in an area near the spring was more than twice that of transient groundwater, and the variation was relatively large. The mean dissolved silica concentration increased significantly downslope, from perennial groundwater to spring from soil matrix to stream, and the spring and stream concentrations also showed large variations. The dissolved silica concentration was highest in the spring from a bedrock fracture and was relatively constant. The mixing of water from two geochemically diverse water sources, soil and bedrock, controlled the dissolved silica concentrations of the perennial groundwater, the spring from soil matrix, and the stream. Our results demonstrated that in most areas of this headwater catchment, the preferential flowpaths have only a small effect on the dissolved silica concentrations. In a small area, which was < 2% of the total catchment area near the spring, the dissolved silica concentration was controlled by the mixing of water from geochemically diverse water sources.

Baseflow concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in forested headwaters in Japan

A comprehensive investigation on all dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus components at both local and regional scales in the headwaters from forested watersheds is valuable to improve our understanding of the factors controlling water quality. Here, we investigated the baseflow concentrations of dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus components, N:P ratio, and their associations with region and vegetation type in forested headwaters in fives regions of Japan. We found that inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus were the dominant components in the 26 temperate forested streams, rather than organic forms. There were significant positive correlations between the concentrations of N and P components. Furthermore, the regional patterns of the concentrations of nitrate, dissolved inorganic P (DIP), and dissolved total N (DTN) and P (DTP) were similar. Our results suggest that the regional patterns of the concentrations of N and P components should be related to the regional atmospheric deposition of both N and P nutrients. We also found that the nitrate and DTN concentrations were higher in man-made evergreen conifer (EC) than those in the natural deciduous broadleaf (DB). In contrast, the DIP and DTP concentrations in EC were lower than those in DB. The uniformly higher N:P ratio in EC- than in DB-forested streams for each region suggest that EC-forested streams could be more affected by P-limited than DB-forested streams when N inputs from atmospheric sources increased.

The roles of channels and hillslopes in rainfall/run‐off lag times during intense storms in a steep catchment

The University of Tokyo Forests, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, Japan Correspondence Yuko Asano, The University of Tokyo Chichibu Forest, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Hinoda, Chichibu, Saitama, 368-0034 Japan. Email: yasano@uf.a.u‐tokyo.ac.jp Funding information Foundation of River & Basin Integrated Communications, Japan; JSPS KAKENHI, Grant Number: JP23380081

Cell-Assisted Lipotransfer for Breast Augmentation

Lipoinjection is a promising treatment, but is currently limited by unpredictable outcomes and a low rate of graft survival due to partial necrosis. To address these problems we developed a novel strategy called cell-assisted lipotransfer (CAL) in which autologous adipose-derived stem (stromal) cell (ASC) supplementation is used in combination with lipoinjection. A stromal vascular fraction (SVF) containing ASCs is isolated from half of an aspirated fat sample and is recombined with the remaining half of the aspirated fat sample. This process converts relatively progenitor-poor aspirated fat to progenitor-rich fat. Our experience with the CAL technique showed that by transplanting the ASC-enriched fat tissue postoperative atrophy of transplanted fat grafts was minimal and satisfactory clinical results were generally achieved without any major complications, suggesting that ASC supplementation is both effective and safe. Further studies with longer follow-up are necessary to establish the value of this technique. Continued improvements in the technique could make autologous tissue transfer the first choice for breast augmentation in the future.

Mammographic Changes after Stem Cell Supplemented Fat Transfer to the Breast Compared with Changes after Breast Reduction: A Blinded Study

IntroductIon: While interest in fat grafting for soft tissue defects has grown, the question of whether lipoaugmentationinduced breast changes impede detection of breast cancer persists. Common breast surgeries, including reduction mammaplasty, are known to produce radiographic abnormalities without impeding cancer screening. Therefore, we sought to assess whether lipoaugmentation leads to a greater number of suspicious mammographic findings compared to reduction mammaplasty.

Comparison of the pH Determining Factor of the Streamwater in World Forest Watershed

The pH determining factors of the streamwaters in various types of forest basins were globally examined based on a simple CO2-HCO3 - equilibrium model which has been effective in understanding the buffering and in particular the hydrochemical systems of the Japanese temperate forest basins. The comparative analysis was applied to the forest basins in Eastern North America, Northern Europe, Mediterranean Europe, the south east Asian region including tropical rain forests, and the warm and cool temperate area of Japan. The results prove that the concentration of bicarbonate, which is treated as an index of the chemical weathering rate, controls the pH value remarkably more than the p CO 2, which is an index representing the biological activities in forest soils. The chemical weathering level that is indicated in the bicarbonate concentration of each forest basin corresponded reasonably well to the geological classification and soil generation characteristics of each forest basin.