Calibration of the superconducting gravimeter TT70 #016 at Syowa Station by parallel observation with the absolute gravimeter FG5 #203

For the purpose ofcalibration ofthe superconducting gravimeter model TT70 #016 at Syowa Station,Antarctica,we carried out parallel observations with the absolute gravimeter FG5 #203 from December 29, 2000 to January 25, 2001. During the FG5 measurements,the laser stability was sometimes not good and this caused irregular data.We carefully examined the relation between laser stability and gravity values,and took it into account for the removal of abnormal data.We applied linear regression to the selected SG and FG /data set,and obtained the value of -58.168 μGal/V to an accuracy of 0.10% for the scale factor of TT 70 #016.The difference of the obtained scale factor from the previous value of -57.965 μGal/V is about 0.35%

A CONCEPT FOR PREPAREDNESS AGAINST LEVEL 2 DISASTER RISK

The Japan Society of Civil Engineers proposed to introduce the earthquake motion of level 2 to reflect the seismic forces of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995. After the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, the undertaking of “human based” soft measures for evacuation in the case of tsunamis that exceed the conventionally assumed scale of level 1 was discussed; design methods that allow facilities to withstand tsunamis in addition to conventional seismic forces are in demand. The level 2 disasters experienced in Japan were incorporated into design concepts only after such large disasters occurred. However, actual level 2 disasters include events other than earthquakes and tsunamis. Increasing seawater temperature due to global warming will induce sea level rise, and typhoons will likely become larger in scale. Disastrous events that exceed conventional design conditions in high tides are more likely to occur. The three largest bay regions in Japan, where large hinterlands lie below sea level, require examination to clarify these risks. The authors reviewed various phenomena and present that risk management on the basis of level 2 disaster risks is of great importance

Total Synthesis of Sarcophytonolide H and Isosarcophytonolide D: Structural Revision of Isosarcophytonolide D and Structure-Antifouling Activity Relationship of Sarcophytonolide H

The first total syntheses of sarcophytonolide H and the originally proposed and correct structures of isosarcophytonolide D have been achieved via transannular ring-closing metathesis (RCM). These total syntheses culminated in the stereostructural confirmation of sarcophytonolide H and the reassignment of isosarcophytonolide D, respectively. The antifouling activity of the synthetic sarcophytonolide H and its analogues was also evaluated

Late-stage divergent synthesis and antifouling activity of geraniol-butenolide hybrid molecules

Hybrid molecules consisting of geraniol and butenolide were designed and synthesized by the late-stage divergent strategy. In the synthetic route, ring-closing metathesis was utilized for the construction of a butenolide moiety. A biological evaluation of the eight synthetic hybrid compounds revealed that these molecules exhibit antifouling activity against the cypris larvae of the barnacle Balanus (Amphibalanus) amphitrite with EC50 values of 0.30-1.31 μg mL-1. These results show that hybridization of the geraniol and butenolide structural motifs resulted in the enhancement of the antifouling activity

Serum Antibody Against NY-ESO-1 and XAGE1 Antigens Potentially Predicts Clinical Responses to Anti–Programmed Cell Death-1 Therapy in NSCLC

Introduction: Programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors effectively treat NSCLC and prolong survival. Robust biomarkers for predicting clinical benefits of good response and long survival with anti-PD-1 therapy have yet to be identified; therefore, predictive biomarkers are needed to select patients with benefits. Methods: We conducted a prospective study to explore whether serum antibody against NY-ESO-1 and/or XAGE1 cancer-testis antigens predicted primarily good clinical response and secondarily long survival with anti-PD-1 therapy for NSCLC. The serum antibody was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and tumor immune microenvironment and mutation burden were analyzed by immunohistochemistry and next-generation sequencing. Results: In the discovery cohort (n = 13), six antibody-positive NSCLC cases responded to anti-PD-1 therapy (two complete and four partial responses), whereas seven antibody-negative NSCLC cases did not. Antibody positivity was associated with good response and survival, regardless of tumor programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, mutation burden, and CD8+ T-cell infiltration. In the validation cohort (n = 75), 17 antibody-positive NSCLC cases responded well to anti-PD-1 therapy as compared with 58 negative NSCLC cases (objective response rate 65% versus 19%, p = 0.0006) and showed significantly prolonged progression-free survival and overall survival. Antibody titers highly correlated with tumor reduction rates. In the multivariate analysis, response biomarkers were tumor programmed death ligand 1 expression and antibody positivity, and only antibody positivity was a significantly better predictive biomarker of progression-free survival (hazard ratio = 0.4, p = 0.01) and overall survival (hazard ratio = 0.2, p = 0.004). Conclusions: Our results suggest that NY-ESO-1 and/or XAGE1 serum antibodies are useful biomarkers for predicting clinical benefits in anti-PD-1 therapy for NSCLC and probably for other cancers

Latent trajectory modelling of pulmonary artery pressure in systemic sclerosis: a retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES: To visualise the trajectories of pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) and identify the clinical phenotypes for each trajectory, by applying latent trajectory modelling for PAP repeatedly estimated by echocardiography. METHODS: This was a multicentre, retrospective cohort study conducted at four referral hospitals in Kyoto, Japan. Patients with SSc who were treated at study sites between 2008 and 2021 and who had at least three echocardiographic measurements of systolic PAP (sPAP) were included. A group-based trajectory model was applied to the change in sPAP over time, and patients were classified into distinct subgroups that followed similar trajectories. Pulmonary hypertension (PH)-free survival was compared for each trajectory. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed for baseline clinical characteristics associated with trajectory assignment. RESULTS: A total of 236 patients with 1097 sPAP measurements were included. We identified five trajectories: rapid progression (n=9, 3.8%), early elevation (n=30, 12.7%), middle elevation (n=54, 22.9%), late elevation (n=24, 10.2%) and low stable (n=119, 50.4%). The trajectories, in the listed order, showed progressively earlier elevation of sPAP and shorter PH-free survival. In the multinomial logistic regression analysis with the low stable as a reference, cardiac involvement was associated with rapid progression, diffuse cutaneous SSc was associated with early elevation and anti-centromere antibody was associated with middle elevation; older age of onset was associated with all three of these trajectories. CONCLUSION: The pattern of changes in PAP over time in SSc can be classified into five trajectories with distinctly different clinical characteristics and outcomes

Superoxide anion production by neutrophils in myelodysplastic syndromes (preleukemia).

Superoxide anion (O2-) production by neutrophils from 14 untreated patients with acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL) was significantly less than that of healthy controls (4.93 +/- 1.99 vx 6.20 +/- 1.53 nmol/min/10(6) neutrophils, p less than 0.05). In 10 patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), however, it was not significantly different from the control level although 6 of the 10 patients had low levels, when individual patients were compared with the lower limit of the control range. An inverse correlation between the O2- production of neutrophils and the percentage of leukemic cells in the marrow existed in ANLL (r = -0.55, p less than 0.01), but not in MDS. Three of 4 MDS patients who died of pneumonia prior to leukemic conversion showed a low level of O2- production. The impaired O2- production by neutrophils from some MDS patients, probably due to the faulty differentiation from leukemic clones, may be one of the causes of enhanced susceptibility to infection.</p

Spin-gap formation due to spin-Peierls instability in π-orbital-ordered NaO2

We have investigated the low-temperature magnetism of sodium superoxide (NaO2), in which spin, orbital, and lattice degrees of freedom are closely entangled. The magnetic susceptibility shows anomalies at T1 = 220 K and T2 = 190 K, which correspond well to the structural phase transition temperatures, and a sudden decrease below T3 = 34 K. At 4.2 K, the magnetization shows a clear stepwise anomaly around 30 T with a large hysteresis. In addition, the muon spin relaxation experiments indicate no magnetic phase transition down to T = 0.3 K. The inelastic neutron scattering spectrum exhibits magnetic excitation with a finite energy gap. These results confirm that the ground state of NaO2 is a spin-singlet state. To understand this ground state in NaO2, we performed Raman scattering experiments. All the Raman-active libration modes expected for the marcasite phase below T2 are observed. Furthermore, we find that several new peaks appear below T3. This directly evidences the low crystal symmetry, namely, the presence of the phase transition at T3.We conclude that the singlet ground state of NaO2 is due to the spin-Peierls instability

Periostin is essential for cardiac healingafter acute myocardial infarction

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a common and lethal heart disease, and the recruitment of fibroblastic cells to the infarct region is essential for the cardiac healing process. Although stiffness of the extracellular matrix in the infarct myocardium is associated with cardiac healing, the molecular mechanism of cardiac healing is not fully understood. We show that periostin, which is a matricellular protein, is important for the cardiac healing process after AMI. The expression of periostin protein was abundant in the infarct border of human and mouse hearts with AMI. We generated periostin−/− mice and found no morphologically abnormal cardiomyocyte phenotypes; however, after AMI, cardiac healing was impaired in these mice, resulting in cardiac rupture as a consequence of reduced myocardial stiffness caused by a reduced number of α smooth muscle actin–positive cells, impaired collagen fibril formation, and decreased phosphorylation of FAK. These phenotypes were rescued by gene transfer of a spliced form of periostin. Moreover, the inhibition of FAK or αv-integrin, which blocked the periostin-promoted cell migration, revealed that αv-integrin, FAK, and Akt are involved in periostin signaling. Our novel findings show the effects of periostin on recruitment of activated fibroblasts through FAK-integrin signaling and on their collagen fibril formation specific to healing after AMI