Temporal Variation of the Activity of Intermediate and Deep Focus Earthquakes

The temporal variation of the activity of intermediate and deep focus earthquakes for the period from 1904 to 1974 is investigated on the basis of a uniform body-wave magnitude scale. The m_b scale has been traditionally used for intermediate and deep focus earthquakes. However, the period of seismic waves and the Q function used for the magnitude determination have changed as a function of time, so that uniform evaluation of the activity is difficult. In this study, we used a body-wave magnitude m_B determined from the maximum amplitude of body waves recorded by broad-band or long-period instruments to investigate the temporal variation. For the period from 1904 to 1952, m_b values were calculated from the unpublished material of Gutenberg and Richter. For 1953 to 1958, m_B values were calculated from the amplitude and the period data in Gutenberg's unpublished file. For the period from 1959 to 1974, seismological bulletins from various stations were used to determine m_B. Consistency between the values of m_B calculated from these different sources was carefully checked. The temporal variation of the number of intermediate-deep events with m_B ≥ 7 is remarkably similar to that of shallow earthquakes with M_s ≥ 7. The temporal variation of the energy release in intermediate-deep earthquakes shows a maximum around 1910. The sum of the energy release curve of intermediate-deep and shallow earthquakes shows a good correlation with the amplitude of the Chandler wobble. The energy release becomes maximum at the depth of 350 and 600 km

Reevaluation of the turn-of-the-century seismicity peak

According to currently available seismicity catalogues, seismicity (for example, the number of events with M_s ≥ 8) around the turn of the century, from 1897 to 1906, was significantly higher than in recent years. However, the magnitudes of the earthquakes which occurred during this period were determined by Gutenberg, who used the records obtained by the undamped Milne seismograph with the assumption that the effective magnification is 5. Because of saturation of the Milne seismogram for very large events used by Gutenberg for calibration, the gain (=5) used by Gutenberg could have been underestimated, and therefore the magnitude overestimated. Because of the lack of damping, the magnification of this instrument needs to be calibrated carefully. In order to calibrate the instrument response, a Milne seismograph was constructed and has been in operation side by side with damped seismographs at Pasadena. Eleven events have been recorded since February 1977. On the basis of (1) comparison of the amplitudes measured on the Milne seismograms with those of the standard seismograms, (2) numerical experiments simulating the response of the Milne seismographs to surface waves, and (3) examination of Gutenberg's original materials used for the calibration, we conclude that the average effective gain is as large as 20 for very large earthquakes, resulting in systematic reduction of the magnitude of up to 0.6. This reduction is large enough to suggest that the turn-of-the-century seismicity peak is of marginal significance

Addenda and corrections to "Magnitude of great shallow earthquakes from 1904 to 1952"

Since the paper by Geller and Kanamori (1977) was published, we have found additional data which enabled us to fill the blank columns left in Table 1 of Geller and Kanamori (1977). Table 1 of this paper lists the values obtained since then, and also two corrections (footnote b). The quantities in this table are described in the original paper

Spontaneous Remission of Solitary-Type Infantile Myofibromatosis

Infantile myofibromatosis is a rare fibrous tumor of infancy. The cutaneous solitary type has typically an excellent prognosis. However, histologically, it is important to rule out leiomyosarcoma, which has a poor prognosis. The low frequency of mitosis was definitive for a diagnosis of infantile myofibromatosis. We present a cutaneous solitary-type case of infantile myofibromatosis. Following incisional biopsy, the tumor remitted spontaneously

Intersatellite-link demonstration mission between CubeSOTA (LEO CubeSat) and ETS9-HICALI (GEO satellite)

LEO-to-GEO intersatellite links using laser communications bring important benefits to greatly enhance applications such as downloading big amounts of data from LEO satellites by using the GEO satellite as a relay. By using this strategy, the total availability of the LEO satellite increases from less than 1% if the data is downloaded directly to the ground up to about 60% if the data is relayed through GEO. The main drawback of using a GEO relay is that link budget is much more difficult to close due to the much larger distance. However, this can be partially compensated by transmitting at a lower data rate, and still benefiting from the much-higher link availability when compared to LEO-to-ground downlinks, which additionally are more limited by the clouds than the relay option. After carrying out a feasibility study, NICT and the University of Tokyo started preparing a mission to demonstrate the technologies needed to perform these challenging lasercom links. Furthermore, to demonstrate the feasibility of this technique, an extremely-small satellite, i.e. a 6U CubeSat, will be used to achieve data rates as high as 10 Gbit/s between LEO and GEO. Some of the biggest challenges of this mission are the extremely low size, weight and power available in the CubeSat, the accurate pointing precision required for the lasercom link, and the difficulties of closing the link at such a high speed as 10 Gbit/s.Comment: 5 pages, 10 figures, 3 table

The Tokyo Oldest Old Survey on Total Health (TOOTH): A longitudinal cohort study of multidimensional components of health and well-being

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>With the rapid worldwide increase in the oldest old population, considerable concern has arisen about the social and economic burden of diseases and disability in this age group. Understanding of multidimensional structure of health and its life-course trajectory is an essential prerequisite for effective health care delivery. Therefore, we organized an interdisciplinary research team consisting of geriatricians, dentists, psychologists, sociologists, and epidemiologists to conduct a longitudinal observational study.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>For the Tokyo Oldest Old Survey on Total Health (TOOTH) study, a random sample of inhabitants of the city of Tokyo, aged 85 years or older, was drawn from the basic city registry. The baseline comprehensive assessment consists of an in-home interview, a self-administered questionnaire, and a medical/dental examination. To perform a wide variety of biomedical measurements, including carotid ultrasonography and a detailed dental examination, participants were invited to our study center at Keio University Hospital. For those who were not able to visit the study center, we provided the option of a home-based examination, in which participants were simultaneously visited by a geriatrician and a dentist. Of 2875 eligible individuals, a total of 1152 people were recruited, of which 542 completed both the in-home interview and the medical/dental examination, with 442 completed the in-home interview only, and another 168 completed self or proxy-administered data collection only. Carotid ultrasonography was completed in 458 subjects, which was 99.6% of the clinic visitors (n = 460). Masticatory assessment using a colour-changeable chewing gum was completed in 421 subjects, a 91.5% of the clinic visitors.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Our results demonstrated the feasibility of a new comprehensive study that incorporated non-invasive measurements of subclinical diseases and a detailed dental examination aiming at community-dwelling individuals aged 85 years or older. The bimodal recruitment strategy is critically important to capture a broad range of health profiles among the oldest old. Results form the TOOTH study will help develop new models of health promotion, which are expected to contribute to an improvement in lifelong health and well-being.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>This study has been registered in the UMIN-Clinical Trial Registry (CTR), ID: UMIN000001842.</p

Gene expression profiling of loss of TET2 and/or JAK2V617F mutant hematopoietic stem cells from mouse models of myeloproliferative neoplasms

AbstractMyeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are clinically characterized by the chronic overproduction of differentiated peripheral blood cells and the gradual expansion of malignant intramedullary/extramedullary hematopoiesis. In MPNs mutations in JAK2 MPL or CALR are detected mutually exclusive in more than 90% of cases [1,2]. Mutations in them lead to the abnormal activation of JAK/STAT signaling and the autonomous growth of differentiated cells therefore they are considered as “driver” gene mutations. In addition to the above driver gene mutations mutations in epigenetic regulators such as TET2 DNMT3A ASXL1 EZH2 or IDH1/2 are detected in about 5%–30% of cases respectively [3]. Mutations in TET2 DNMT3A EZH2 or IDH1/2 commonly confer the increased self-renewal capacity on normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) but they do not lead to the autonomous growth of differentiated cells and only exhibit subtle clinical phenotypes [4,6–8,5]. It was unclear how mutations in such epigenetic regulators influenced abnormal HSCs with driver gene mutations how they influenced the disease phenotype or whether a single driver gene mutation was sufficient for the initiation of human MPNs. Therefore we focused on JAK2V617F and loss of TET2—the former as a representative of driver gene mutations and the latter as a representative of mutations in epigenetic regulators—and examined the influence of single or double mutations on HSCs (Lineage−Sca-1+c-Kit+ cells (LSKs)) by functional analyses and microarray whole-genome expression analyses [9]. Gene expression profiling showed that the HSC fingerprint genes [10] was statistically equally enriched in TET2-knockdown-LSKs but negatively enriched in JAK2V617F–LSKs compared to that in wild-type-LSKs. Double-mutant-LSKs showed the same tendency as JAK2V617F–LSKs in terms of their HSC fingerprint genes but the expression of individual genes differed between the two groups. Among 245 HSC fingerprint genes 100 were more highly expressed in double-mutant-LSKs than in JAK2V617F–LSKs. These altered gene expressions might partly explain the mechanisms of initiation and progression of MPNs which was observed in the functional analyses [9]. Here we describe gene expression profiles deposited at the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) under the accession number GSE62302 including experimental methods and quality control analyses

Surrounding Gastric Mucosa Findings Facilitate Diagnosis of Gastric Neoplasm as Gastric Adenoma or Early Gastric Cancer

Background and Aim. It is difficult to master the skill of discriminating gastric adenoma from early gastric cancer by conventional endoscopy or magnifying endoscopy combined with narrow-band imaging, because the colors and morphologies of these neoplasms are occasionally similar. We focused on the surrounding gastric mucosa findings in order to determine how to discriminate between early gastric cancer and gastric adenoma by analyzing the characteristics of the gastric background mucosa. Methods. We retrospectively examined 146 patients who underwent endoscopic submucosal dissection for gastric neoplasm between October 2009 and January 2015. The boundary of atrophic gastritis was classified endoscopically according to the Kimura-Takemoto classification system. Of 146 lesions, 63 early gastric cancers and 21 gastric adenomas were ultimately evaluated and assessed. Results. Almost all gastric adenomas were accompanied by open-type gastritis, whereas 47 and 16 early gastric cancers were accompanied by open-type and closed-type gastritis, respectively (p = 0.037). Conclusions. The evaluation of the boundary of atrophic gastritis associated with gastric neoplasms appears to be useful for discrimination between early gastric cancer and gastric adenoma. When gastric neoplasm is present in the context of surrounding localized gastric atrophy, gastric cancer is probable but not certain