164 research outputs found
Characteristics of Kiso Ultra-Violet Excess Galaxies
We examined the general characteristics of the Kiso Ultra-violet Excess
Galaxies (KUGs). We present for the first time the quantitative expressions for
the criteria of the KUGs; the boundary color separating the KUGs from the
non-KUGs is (B-V)_{T} = 0.74 and the KUG degrees of UV strength are found to
correlate with the mean (B-V)_{T} colors. We investigate the nature of the
KUGs, a sample of blue galaxy population, and show that (1) about a half of the
KUGs are spiral galaxies with Sb to Scd, (2) the KUGs are biased to late-type
galaxies and include early-type galaxies with young star populations, and (3)
the KUGs are preferably found among less luminous galaxies with log L(B) < 10.
The KUGs also contain the post-starburst galaxies, many of which are found
among the blue galaxy population at intermediate redshifts. The analysis of the
far-infrared data shows that a typical present-to-past star formation rate for
a KUG is 0.4.Comment: Revised version of astro-ph/9706088, accepted manuscript for AJ;
uuencoded gzip'ed tar'ed file containing 25 files; a manuscript (aasms4), 7
tables (aj_pt4), 17 PS figures; To be appeared in The Astronomical Journal,
Vol. 114, No. 5 (1997 November issue
Correlation of Ischemia-Modified Albumin with SOFA and APACHE II Scores in Preoperative Patients with Colorectal Cancer
Purpose. Critical illnesses are assessed according to the sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) and acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II. Circulating ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) is a biomarker generated under ischemic and oxidative conditions and may reflect disease severity in preoperative patients. This study investigated the correlations of IMA with SOFA and APACHE II scores in inpatients admitted for colorectal surgery. Methods.We examined 27 patients with advanced colorectal cancers (mean age 69 years, men/women = 15/12). Correlations between SOFA and APACHE II scores in addition to preoperative serum IMA and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were analyzed. Results. The mean IMA level was 0.5AU, and the median CRP level was 0.6mg/dL. Median scores for SOFA and APACHE II were 2 and 12 points, respectively. Significant positive correlations between IMA and SOFA ( = 0.45, \u3c 0.05) and IMA and APACHE II ( = 0.45, \u3c 0.05) were identified which remained significant in confounder-adjusted analyses. In contrast, weak correlations were observed between CRP and the SOFA and APACHE II scores. Conclusions.The positive correlations between IMA and both SOFA and APACHE II scores suggest that serum IMA measurements reflect the severity of systemic failure in patients admitted for colorectal surgery in the preoperative phase
Possible mechanism of polycation liposome (PCL)-mediated gene transfer
AbstractA novel gene transfer system utilizing polycation liposomes (PCLs), obtained by modifying liposomes with cetyl polyethylenimine (PEI), was previously developed (Gene Ther. 7 (2002) 1148). PCLs show notable transfection efficiency with low cytotoxicity. However, the mechanism of PCL-mediated gene transfer is still unclear. In this study, we examined the intracellular trafficking of PCL–DNA complexes by using HT1080 cells, fluorescent probe-labeled materials, and confocal laser scan microscopy. We found that the PCL–DNA complexes were taken up into cells by the endosomal pathway, since both cellular uptake of the complex and gene expression were blocked by wortmannin, an inhibitor of this pathway. We also observed that the plasmid DNA and cetyl PEI complex became detached from the PCL lipids and was preferentially transferred into the nucleus in the form of the complex, whereas the PCL lipids remained in the cytoplasmic area, possibly in the endosomes. In fact, nigericin, which dissipates the pH gradient across the endosomal membrane, inhibited the detachment of lipids from the PCL–DNA complex and subsequent gene expression. Taken together, our data indicate the following mechanism for gene transfer by PCLs: PCLs effectively transfer DNA to endosomes and release cetyl PEI–DNA complexes into the cytosol. Furthermore, cetyl PEI also contributes to gene entry into the nucleus
c5++ - Multi-Technique Analysis Software for Next Generation Geodetic Instruments
Processing of space geodetic techniques should be carried out with consistent and utmost up-todate physical models. Therefore, c5++ is being developed, which will act as a framework under which dedicated space geodetic applications can be created. Due to its nature, combination of different techniques as well as automated processing of VLBI experiments will become possible with c5++
Ultra-broadband quantum infrared spectroscopy
新開発の量子もつれ光源により、世界最大の超広帯域量子赤外分光を実現 --広帯域赤外分光の小型・高感度化に貢献--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2024-01-18.Lights, detector, action!: KyotoU develops wider bandwidth quantum infrared spectroscopy. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2024-01-25.Spectroscopy in the mid-infrared region is an indispensable tool for identifying molecular types in various fields, including physics, chemistry, and medical sciences. However, conventional infrared light sources, detectors, and noise from blackbody radiation have been the obstacles to miniaturization and higher sensitivity of infrared spectrometers. Quantum infrared spectroscopy, which uses visible and infrared photon pairs in a quantum entangled state, has attracted attention as a new sensing technology that enables infrared spectroscopy with detectors in the visible range. However, the bandwidth of conventional quantum entangled light sources is at most 1 µm or less, which hinders broadband measurements, which are important in spectroscopic applications. Here we have realized an ultra-broadband entangled state of visible–infrared photons with wavelengths from 2 to 5 µm, harnessing a specially designed nonlinear crystal with chirped poling structure inside. Furthermore, we constructed a nonlinear quantum interferometer using the ultra-broadband quantum entangled photons and realized broadband infrared spectroscopy of inorganic and organic materials using a visible detector made of silicon. Our results show that quantum infrared spectroscopy can achieve ultra-broadband spectroscopic measurements and pave the way for the highly sensitive, ultra-compact infrared spectrometers using quantum entangled photons
Significance of adrenomedullin under cardiopulmonary bypass in children during surgery for congenital heart disease.
To elucidate the effect of adrenomedullin (AM) on fluid homeostasis under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), we investigated the serial changes in plasma AM and other parameters related to fluid homeostasis in 13 children (average age, 28.2 months) with congenital heart disease during cardiac surgery under CPB. Arterial blood and urine samples were collected just after initiation of anesthesia, just before commencement of CPB, 10 min before the end of CPB, 60 min after CPB, and 24 h after operation. Plasma AM levels increased significantly 10 min before the end of CPB and decreased 24 h after operation. Urine volume increased transiently during CPB, which paralleled changes in AM. Simple regression analysis showed that plasma AM level correlated significantly with urinary vasopressin, urine volume, urinary sodium excretion, and plasma osmolarity. Stepwise regression analysis indicated that urine volume was the most significant determinant of plasma AM levels. Percent rise in AM during CPB relative to control period correlated with that of plasma brain natriuretic peptide (r = 0.57, P < 0.01). Our results suggest that AM plays an important role in fluid homeostasis under CPB in cooperation with other hormones involved in fluid homeostasis.</p
Photometric Properties of Kiso Ultraviolet-Excess Galaxies in the Lynx-Ursa Major Region
We have performed a systematic study of several regions in the sky where the
number of galaxies exhibiting star formation (SF) activity is greater than
average. We used Kiso ultraviolet-excess galaxies (KUGs) as our SF-enhanced
sample. By statistically comparing the KUG and non-KUG distributions, we
discovered four KUG-rich regions with a size of . One of these regions corresponds spatially to a filament of length
Mpc in the Lynx-Ursa Major region (). We call this ``the Lynx-Ursa
Major (LUM) filament''. We obtained surface photometry of 11 of
the KUGs in the LUM filament and used these to investigate the integrated
colors, distribution of SF regions, morphologies, and local environments. We
found that these KUGs consist of distorted spiral galaxies and compact galaxies
with blue colors. Their star formation occurs in the entire disk, and is not
confined to just the central regions. The colors of the SF regions imply that
active star formation in the spiral galaxies occurred yr ago,
while that of the compact objects occurred yr ago. Though the
photometric characteristics of these KUGs are similar to those of interacting
galaxies or mergers, most of these KUGs do not show direct evidence of merger
processes.Comment: 39 pages LaTeX, using aasms4.sty, 20 figures, ApJS accepted. The
Title of the previous one was truncated by the author's mistake, and is
corrected. Main body of the paper is unchange
Detection of a bright burst from the repeating FRB 20201124A at 2 GHz
We present a detection of a bright burst from FRB 20201124A, which is one of
the most active repeating FRBs, based on S-band observations with the 64-m
radio telescope at the Usuda Deep Space Center/JAXA. This is the first FRB
observed by using a Japanese facility. Our detection at 2 GHz in February 2022
is the highest frequency for this FRB and the fluence of 189 Jy ms is one
of the brightest bursts from this FRB source. We place an upper limit on the
spectral index = -2.14 from the detection of the S band and
non-detection of the X band at the same time. We compare an event rate of the
detected burst with ones of the previous research, and suggest that the
power-law of the luminosity function might be broken at lower fluence, and the
fluences of bright FRBs distribute up to over 2 GHz with the power-law against
frequency. In addition, we show the energy density of the burst detected in
this work was comparable to the bright population of one-off FRBs. We propose
that repeating FRBs can be as bright as one-off FRBs, and only their brightest
bursts could be detected so some of repeating FRBs intrinsically might have
been classified as one-off FRBs.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Publications of the
Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ
Comparison of Targeted vs Random Biopsies for Surveillance of Ulcerative Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer
Background & AimsA random biopsy is recommended for surveillance of ulcerative colitis (UC)-associated colorectal cancer. However, a targeted biopsy might be more effective. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare rates of neoplasia detection by targeted vs random biopsies in patients with UC.MethodsWe performed a study of 246 patients with UC for 7 years or more, seen at 52 institutions in Japan from October 1, 2008 through December 31, 2010. Patients were randomly assigned to the random group (4 random biopsies collected every 10 cm in addition to targeted biopsies, n = 122) or the target group (biopsies collected from locations of suspected neoplasia, n = 124). The primary end point was the number of neoplastic lesions detected in a single surveillance colonoscopy. We estimated the ratio and difference in the mean number of neoplastic lesions between the groups. We also evaluated the non-inferiority between the groups as an exploratory study. A non-inferiority margin of 0.65 (0.13 of 0.20) was considered for the ratio of the mean number of neoplastic lesions between groups.ResultsThe mean number of biopsies found to contain neoplastic tissue per colonoscopy was 0.211 (24 of 114) in the target group and 0.168 (18 of 107) in the random group (ratio of 1.251; 95% confidence interval, 0.679–2.306). The lower limit was above the non-inferiority margin of 0.65. Neoplasias were detected in 11.4% of patients in the target group and 9.3% of patients in the random group (P = .617). Larger numbers of biopsy samples per colonoscopy were collected in the random group (34.8 vs 3.1 in the target group; P < .001), and the total examination time was longer (41.7 vs 26.6 minutes in the target group; P < .001). In the random group, all neoplastic tissues found in random biopsies were collected from areas of the mucosa with a history or presence of inflammation.ConclusionsIn a randomized controlled trial, we found that targeted and random biopsies detect similar proportions of neoplasias. However, a targeted biopsy appears to be a more cost-effective method. Random biopsies from areas without any signs of present or past inflammation were not found to contain neoplastic tissues. Clinical Trial Registry: UMIN000001608
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