The 3-D kinematics of water masers around the semiregular variable RT Virginis

We report observations of water masers around the semiregular variable RT Virginis (RT Vir), which have been made with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) at five epochs, each separated by three weeks of time. We detected about 60 maser features at each epoch. Overall, 61 features, detected at least twice, were tracked by their radial velocities and proper motions. The 3-D maser kinematics exhibited a circumstellar envelope that is expanding roughly spherically with a velocity of about 8 km/s. Asymmetries in both the spatial and velocity distributions of the maser features were found in the envelope, but less significant than that found in other semiregular variables. Systematic radial-velocity drifts of individual maser features were found with amplitudes of <= 2 km/s/yr. For one maser feature, we found a quadratic position shift with time along a straight line on the sky. This apparent motion indicates an acceleration with an amplitude of 33 km/s/yr, implying the passage of a shock wave driven by the stellar pulsation of RT Vir. The acceleration motion is likely seen only on the sky plane because of a large velocity gradient formed in the accelerating maser region. We estimated the distance to RT Vir to be about 220 pc on the basis of both the statistical parallax and model-fitting methods for the maser kinematics.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures. Accepted to appear in the Astrophysical Journa

In situ fluorochrome calcein marking of deep-sea molluscs using a new growth chamber

Abstract A new instrument designed for in situ chemical marking experiments was developed and applied to the deep-sea seep clams Calyptogena soyoae and Calyptogena okutanii. Fluorochrome calcein was used for vital staining of four living clams kept in a specially designed in situ growth chamber that was placed on the seafloor at a coldseep site off Hatsushima Island, Sagami Bay, central Japan. The shell margins of both C. soyoae and C. okutanii were clearly stained, forming a thin fluorescent band. This method will be useful for age and growth-rate determinations of many other marine organisms with accretionary growing skeletons

Classification and realizations of type III factor representations of Cuntz-Krieger algebras associated with quasi-free states

We completely classify type III factor representations of Cuntz-Krieger algebras associated with quasi-free states up to unitary equivalence. Furthermore, we realize these representations on concrete Hilbert spaces without using GNS construction. Free groups and their type ${\rm II}_{1}$ factor representations are used in these realizations.Comment: 11 page

Competition between spin and charge polarized states in nanographene ribbons with zigzag edges

Effects of the nearest neighbor Coulomb interaction on nanographene ribbons with zigzag edges are investigated using the extended Hubbard model within the unrestricted Hartree-Fock approximation. The nearest Coulomb interaction stabilizes a novel electronic state with the opposite electric charges separated and localized along both edges, resulting in a finite electric dipole moment pointing from one edge to the other. This charge-polarized state competes with the peculiar spin-polarized state caused by the on-site Coulomb interaction and is stabilized by an external electric field.Comment: 4 pages; 4 figures; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B; related Web site: http://staff.aist.go.jp/k.harigaya/index_E.htm

Signet Ring Cell Gastric Cancer Occurring after Radiation Therapy for Helicobacter pylori-Uninfected Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue Lymphoma

Helicobacter pylori infection is the major cause for mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma and gastric cancers. On the other hand, gastric cancers are known to arise from gastric mucosal atrophy. We here report a case of signet ring cell gastric cancer that developed after radiation therapy for MALT lymphoma in H. pylori-uninfected patient whose stomach did not show gastric mucosal atrophy. A 58-year-old female was referred to our hospital for treatment of gastric MALT lymphoma. This patient was not infected with H. pylori, and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed that she did not have gastric mucosal atrophy but had submucosal tumor-like MALT lymphoma lesion in the anterior wall of the upper gastric body. Since conventional eradication therapy was ineffective, her whole stomach was irradiated as a second-line therapy. The MALT lymphoma lesion turned into complete remission state after the therapy. The patient was followed every 6 months by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for 4 years as complete remission until a newly developed decolorized depressed lesion was detected in the greater curvature of the proximal antrum, a completely different location from the MALT lymphoma lesion. A biopsy specimen from the lesion contained signet ring cell carcinoma, and she was successfully treated by endoscopic submucosal dissection. No signs of recurrence have been detected so far. The radiation therapy for MALT lymphoma might be associated with the occurrence of this signet ring cell gastric cancer, and since MALT lymphoma is indolent in nature, this case suggests that careful consideration is required when choosing the second-line therapy for MALT lymphoma patients

Sex/Gender and Socioeconomic Differences in the Predictive Ability of Self-Rated Health for Mortality

Background: Studies have reported that the predictive ability of self-rated health (SRH) for mortality varies by sex/gender and socioeconomic group. The purpose of this study is to evaluate this relationship in Japan and explore the potential reasons for differences between the groups. Methodology/Principal Findings: The analyses in the study were based on the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study's (AGES) 2003 Cohort Study in Chita Peninsula, Japan, which followed the four-year survival status of 14,668 community-dwelling people who were at least 65 years old at the start of the study. We first examined sex/gender and education-level differences in association with fair/poor SRH. We then estimated the sex/gender- and education-specific hazard ratios (HRs) of mortality associated with lower SRH using Cox models. Control variables, including health behaviors (smoking and drinking), symptoms of depression, and chronic co-morbid conditions, were added to sequential regression models. The results showed men and women reported a similar prevalence of lower SRH. However, lower SRH was a stronger predictor of mortality in men (HR = 2.44 [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.14–2.80]) than in women (HR = 1.88 [95% CI: 1.44–2.47]; p for sex/gender interaction = 0.018). The sex/gender difference in the predictive ability of SRH was progressively attenuated with the additional introduction of other co-morbid conditions. The predictive ability among individuals with high school education (HR = 2.39 [95% CI: 1.74–3.30]) was similar to that among individuals with less than a high school education (HR = 2.14 [95% CI: 1.83–2.50]; p for education interaction = 0.549). Conclusions: The sex/gender difference in the predictive ability of SRH for mortality among this elderly Japanese population may be explained by male/female differences in what goes into an individual's assessment of their SRH, with males apparently weighting depressive symptoms more than females

Genome-Wide Association Study and Gene Expression Analysis Identifies CD84 as a Predictor of Response to Etanercept Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNF) biologic therapy is a widely used treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It is unknown why some RA patients fail to respond adequately to anti-TNF therapy, which limits the development of clinical biomarkers to predict response or new drugs to target refractory cases. To understand the biological basis of response to anti-TNF therapy, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of more than 2 million common variants in 2,706 RA patients from 13 different collections. Patients were treated with one of three anti-TNF medications: etanercept (n = 733), infliximab (n = 894), or adalimumab (n = 1,071). We identified a SNP (rs6427528) at the 1q23 locus that was associated with change in disease activity score (ΔDAS) in the etanercept subset of patients (P = 8×10-8), but not in the infliximab or adalimumab subsets (P>0.05). The SNP is predicted to disrupt transcription factor binding site motifs in the 3′ UTR of an immune-related gene, CD84, and the allele associated with better response to etanercept was associated with higher CD84 gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (P = 1×10-11 in 228 non-RA patients and P = 0.004 in 132 RA patients). Consistent with the genetic findings, higher CD84 gene expression correlated with lower cross-sectional DAS (P = 0.02, n = 210) and showed a non-significant trend for better ΔDAS in a subset of RA patients with gene expression data (n = 31, etanercept-treated). A small, multi-ethnic replication showed a non-significant trend towards an association among etanercept-treated RA patients of Portuguese ancestry (n = 139, P = 0.4), but no association among patients of Japanese ancestry (n = 151, P = 0.8). Our study demonstrates that an allele associated with response to etanercept therapy is also associated with CD84 gene expression, and further that CD84 expression correlates with disease activity. These findings support a model in which CD84 genotypes and/or expression may serve as a useful biomarker for response to etanercept treatment in RA patients of European ancestry. © 2013 Cui et al

Another Avenue for Anatomy of Income Comparisons : Evidence from Hypothetical Choice Experiments

September 2010, Revised December 2010, Secondly Revised November 2011, Thirdly Revised May 2012, Fourthly Revised March 2013