Positional relationship between ball and fingers for accurate baseball pitching.

Accurately throwing an object to a target position repeatedly is one of the specific human motor skills. The final arrival position of a thrown ball can be determined by its physical state at release. In baseball pitching, reducing the variability of the velocity angle of the ball at release (release angle) is important for reducing the variability of the pitch location. Although previous studies have suggested that hand and finger movements are important for accurate throwing, their relationship with the release angle has not yet been investigated in detail. This study focused on the positional relationship between the ball and fingers, which is considered to be closely related to ball movement as an action point of the force, and examined its relationship with the variability of release angle. To obtain accurate finger positions relative to the ball without impeding movement or sensation, an automatic image recognition technology based on deep learning was employed. This approach revealed a noteworthy correlation between the lower middle finger positions prior to acceleration peaks and the reduced variability in release angle, emphasizing the importance of consistent finger positioning during the pre-release phase. This finger positioning of the pitchers with low variability in the release angle is suggested to be robust against the spatial variability of ball movement.

Endometrial scraping cytology in women with extragenital malignancies.

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the usefulness of endometrial scraping smears in women with extragenital malignancies. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 4,335 endometrial scraping smears were obtained during the 5-year period 1995-1999 at the National Kyushu Cancer Center and were retrospectively analyzed regarding extragenital malignancies. RESULTS: There were 88 cases of extragenital malignancies. Extragenital malignant cells were detected in endometrial smears in 13 cases. The cases consisted of 4 gastric cancers, 4 breast cancers, 2 lung cancers, 1 rectal cancer, 1 gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the small intestine and 1 case of adenocarcinoma of unknown origin. The patients' average age was 52.5 years. The symptoms and signs included abnormal vaginal bleeding, abdominal and lumbar pain, lower limb edema, abdominal mass and neck lymph node swelling. Both ascites and peritoneal dissemination were found in 8 cases. Ten of the 13 cases were diagnosed as of extrauterine origin based on the characteristic cancer cell appearance, the absence of cellular detritus among the poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas and, above all, the morphologic difference between normal endometrial cells and cancer cells. CONCLUSION: Endometrial scraping smears are useful for detecting extragenital malignant cells that enter the uterine cavity.

11q23-24 loss is associated with chromosomal instability in endometrial cancer.

A loss of the DNA copy number at chromosomal region 11q23-24 as detected by comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) is a marker of poor prognosis in patients with endometrial cancer. Malignant tumors display genetic instability, which is classified into two types: microsatellite instability (MIN) and chromosomal instability (CIN). In the present study, we examined whether there is a relation between loss of 11q23-24 and genetic instability in endometrial adenocarcinoma. Loss of 11q23-24 was detected in 4 of 70 endometrial cancers by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and DNA aneuploidy was detected by laser scanning cytometry (LSC) in 14 tumors. All tumors with 11q23-24 loss were aneuploid, and three of them were considered to have CIN. These findings suggest that 11q23-24 contains gene(s) necessary for normal chromosome replication and cell division.