The 2006 JSME Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics (ROBOMEC'06) was held at Waseda University and Shinjuku Cosmic Center, Tokyo, Japan, on May 26-28, 2006, sponsored by the Robotics and Mechatronics Division of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. Prof. Fujie of Waseda University served as general chair and Prof. Sugano of Waseda University as program chair. The conference, whose theme was ""Robot Technology Integration for Improved Quality of Life,"" was to help establish new life style in coming aged society using advanced robotics and mechatronics technologies. Organized sessions numbered 63 and papers 883, again a record for the conference. This special issue presents 13 papers from the conference culled from 90 outstanding presentations – some 14% of the total – which were further narrowed to 37 before final selection for Part 1 (Vol.19, No.2). We thank the authors for their invaluable contributions to this issue and the reviewers for their time and effort. We also thank the former Editor-in-Chief Prof. Makoto Kaneko of Osaka University for organizing this special issue.
Symptomatic spinal metastasis: A systematic literature review of the preoperative prognostic factors for survival, neurological, functional and quality of life in surgically treated patients and methodological recommendations for prognostic studies