1994 Multi-site Broadband Seismic Observation at Sakurajima Volcano, Japan

Broadband observation of volcanic earthquakes has been recently conducted at many volcanoes. At the Sakurajima Volcano in Japan, one of the most active volcanoes all over the world, we conducted two broadband seismic observations successfully in last three years. However, they left some problems in terms of the number of observation sites and recording systems. This paper reports the outline of our third observation using three broadband seismometers (Streckeisen STS-II) with continuous recording at the Sakurajima Volcano from February 18 to March 28, 1994. This observation is distinguished from the previous two by the three stations operating continuously over the entire period. Although the Sakurajima Volcano had very low seismic activities during this observation period, we observed some kinds of volcanic earthquake, A-type and B-type earthquakes and volcanic tremors, particularly one series of interesting clone events

Some Implications of Perturbative Approach to AdS/CFT Correspondence

We show some implications of the approach to AdS/CFT correspondence based on Type IIB string in the flat space-time with D3-branes proposed in our previous paper. We discuss a correspondence for high energy scattering amplitudes of N=4 super-Yang-Mills proposed recently. We also discuss AdS/CFT correspondence at finite temperature. Our approach provides clear understanding of these issues.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, references added, discussions on IR regularization clarifie

Neural Activity Changes Underlying the Working Memory Deficit in Alpha-CaMKII Heterozygous Knockout Mice

The alpha-isoform of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (α-CaMKII) is expressed abundantly in the forebrain and is considered to have an essential role in synaptic plasticity and cognitive function. Previously, we reported that mice heterozygous for a null mutation of α-CaMKII (α-CaMKII+/−) have profoundly dysregulated behaviors including a severe working memory deficit, which is an endophenotype of schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. In addition, we found that almost all the neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the mutant mice failed to mature at molecular, morphological and electrophysiological levels. In the present study, to identify the brain substrates of the working memory deficit in the mutant mice, we examined the expression of the immediate early genes (IEGs), c-Fos and Arc, in the brain after a working memory version of the eight-arm radial maze test. c-Fos expression was abolished almost completely in the DG and was reduced significantly in neurons in the CA1 and CA3 areas of the hippocampus, central amygdala, and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). However, c-Fos expression was intact in the entorhinal and visual cortices. Immunohistochemical studies using arc promoter driven dVenus transgenic mice demonstrated that arc gene activation after the working memory task occurred in mature, but not immature neurons in the DG of wild-type mice. These results suggest crucial insights for the neural circuits underlying spatial mnemonic processing during a working memory task and suggest the involvement of α-CaMKII in the proper maturation and integration of DG neurons into these circuits

Orbifold Matrix Model

We study a matrix model describing type IIB superstring in orbifold backgrounds. We particularly consider a {\bf C}^3/{\bf Z}_3 orbifold model whose six dimensional transverse space is orbifolded by {\bf Z}_3 discrete symmetry. This model is chiral and has d=4 {\cal N}=1 supersymmetry of Yang-Mills type as well as an inhomogeneous supersymmetry specific to matrix models. We calculate one-loop effective action around some backgrounds, and the result can be interpreted as interactions mediated by massless particles in IIB supergravity in orbifold background, if the background is in the Higgs branch. If the background is in the Coulomb branch, the dynamics is governed by the reduced model of d=4 super Yang-Mills theory, which might be interpreted as exchange of massless particles in the twisted sector. But the perturbative calculation cannot reproduce the supergravity result. We also show that this model with a large Higgs vacuum expectation value becomes IIB (IKKT) matrix model.Comment: 23 pages, references adde

Cyclooxygenase-2 is Involved in the Progression of Thyroid Cancer

Although the inducible form of cyclooxygenase (COX), COX-2, is highly expressed in various cancers and it is also involved in cancer progression, its role in thyroid cancer is not fully understood. We assessed in the situ cyclooxygenase expression in normal thyroids (n=6), Graves\u27 thyroids (n=6), thyroid adenomas (n=12), thyroid follicular (n=15) and papillary carcinomas (n=30). In comparison to the constitutive expression of COX-1, COX-2 was highly expressed in thyroid cancers (90.0% of thyroid papillary carcinomas and 73.3% of thyroid follicular carcinomas) and moderately in thyroid adenomas (25.5%), but barely expressed in normal and Graves\u27 thyroid tissues. This quantitative assessment employed immunohistochemical methods. Thereafter we compared the effect of COX-2 inhibition on a human follicular thyroid carcinoma cell line (WRO), and a human papillary carcinoma cell line (NPA), using selective COX-2 inhibitor(NS-398). The treatment with 50 μM NS-398 suppressed the growth of the COX-2 expressing cells, NPA cells (37.7%;p<0.01) and WRO cells (10.1%;p<0.05). Moreover, at concentrations ? 100 μM, NS-398 induced cell death a mitochondrial dysfunction. In addition, 50 μM of NS-398 inhibited the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase in NPA cells after the stimulation with fetal bovine serum. Our results indicate that COX-2 is involved in the progression of thyroid cancer

Mid and Far Infrared Properties of a Complete Sample of Local AGNs

We investigate the mid- (MIR) to far-infrared (FIR) properties of a nearly complete sample of local Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) detected in the Swift/BAT all sky hard X-ray (14-195 keV) survey, based on the cross correlation with the AKARI infrared survey catalogs complemented by those with IRAS and WISE. Out of 135 non-blazer AGNs in the Swift/BAT 9 month catalog, we obtain the MIR photometric data for 128 sources either in the 9, 12, 18, 22, and/or 25 um band. We find good correlation between their hard X-ray and MIR luminosities over 3 orders of magnitude (42< log lambda L_{lambda}(9, 18 um)< 45), which is tighter than that with the FIR luminosities at 90 um. This suggests that thermal emission from hot dusts irradiated by the AGN emission dominate the MIR fluxes. Both X-ray unabsorbed and absorbed AGNs follow the same correlation, implying isotropic infrared emission, as expected in clumpy dust tori rather than homogeneous ones. We find excess signals around 9 um in the averaged infrared spectral energy distribution from heavy obscured "new type" AGNs with small scattering fractions in the X-ray spectra. This could be attributed to the PAH emission feature, suggesting that their host galaxies have strong starburst activities.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

DNA Analysis from Biopsied Specimens for Carcinomas of the Esophagus

Surgical outcome for advanced esophageal cancer patients is not satisfactory in spite of improvements of diagnostic tools, operative techniques, postoperative cares and adjuvant chemotherapy. Postoperative prognosis used to be predicted by the grades of histologic disease progression. However, it is limited to accurate prediction of its prognosis. Recent studies have been focused on biologic behavior of malignant cells, in particular, nuclear DNA contents which play an important role in cell proliferation and metabolizm. Clinical use of flow-cytometric measurement of nuclear DNA is now prevalent to assess the grades of malignancy for malignant tumors. In contrast, it is difficult to know nuclear DNA contents preoperatively. The purpose of this study is to clarify whether or not preoperative biologic behaviors is clinically feasible, from biopsied specimens in comparison with that from the surgical specimens