Relationship between perceived softness of bilayered skin models and their mechanical properties measured with a dual-sensor probe.

The development of a sensor system that can predict the subjective softness of human skin is an important goal for the cosmetics industry. Here, we first carried out a subjective softness evaluation test using 65 skin models consisting of polyurethane bilayers with different thickness of the superficial layer and different degree of cross-polymerization of the basal layer. The results showed that perceived softness was dependent on the mechanical properties of both the superficial and basal layers. Then, we used a recently developed tactile sensor system composed of a piezoelectric tactile sensor and a load cell to measure mechanical softness parameters of the superficial layer and the whole model, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that the data obtained from these two sensors were well correlated with the perceived softness of the prepared models. These results suggest that it may be feasible to predict the subjective softness of human skin in vivo from non-invasive mechanical softness measurements of the superficial skin layer and whole skin obtained with our new dual-probe sensor system.

[Pancreatic cancer in father and daughter].

A 77-year-old male patient was admitted because of jaundice and general malaise. Exploratory laparotomy disclosed pancreatic head cancer with invasion to the intrapancreatic bile duct. Three months later, his daughter, aged 51, was admitted for evaluation because of body weight loss and back pain. CT scan disclosed 3 low-density areas in the pancreas with irregular margins and multiple low-density areas in the liver. Pancreatic cancer with liver metastasis was confirmed by autopsy. In familial pancreatic cancer, it is essential that genetic in addition to environmental factors be examined in pancreatic carcinogenesis.

[An autopsy case of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung presenting with small and large bowel metastasis].

A 81-year-old male with primary squamous cell carcinoma of the lung was admitted because of melena. Upon autopsy, bleeding sites were found in the small and large bowel; they were lesions from the lung carcinoma. Gastrointestinal metastases from primary lung carcinoma are clinically rare, although they are seen in autopsy cases. Review of autopsy data on 1181 cases of primary lung carcinoma showed that 218 (18.5%) manifested gastrointestinal metastases.