Creation of NV centers over a millimeter-sized region by intense single-shot ultrashort laser irradiation

一つの超短レーザーパルスでダイヤモンド量子センサ源を広領域で作製 --超短時間でダイヤモンドを超高感度量子センサに--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-03-15.Recently, ultrashort laser processing has attracted attention for creating nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers because this method can create single NV centers in spatially-controlled positions, which is an advantage for quantum information devices. On the other hand, creating high-density NV centers in a wide region is also important for quantum sensing because the sensitivity is directly enhanced by increasing the number of NV centers. A recent study demonstrated the creation of high-density NV centers by irradiating femtosecond laser pulses, but the created region was limited to micrometer size, and this technique required many laser pulses to avoid graphitization of diamond. Here, we demonstrate the creation of NV centers in a wide region using only an intense single femtosecond laser pulse irradiation. We irradiated a diamond sample with a femtosecond laser with a focal spot size of 41 µm and a laser fluence of up to 54 J/cm², which is much higher than the typical graphitization threshold in multi-pulse processing. We found that single-pulse irradiation created NV centers without post-annealing for a laser fluence higher than 1.8 J/cm², and the region containing NV centers expanded with increasing laser fluence. The diameter of the area was larger than the focal spot size and reached over 100 µm at a fluence of 54 J/cm². Furthermore, we demonstrated the NV centers' creation in a millimeter-sized region by a single-shot defocused laser pulse over 1100 µm with a fluence of 33 J/cm². The demonstrated technique will bring interest in the fundamentals and applications of fabricating ultrahigh-sensitivity quantum sensors

Study on variation of neutral temperature in the polar MLT region using a sodium LIDAR at Tromsø

第2回極域科学シンポジウム/第35回極域宙空圏シンポジウム 11月14日（月） 国立極地研究所 2階大会議

An Open-labeled, Multicenter Phase II Study of Tamibarotene in Patients with Steroid-refractory Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a major cause of late death and morbidity following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HSCT). Retinoic acid (tamibarotene) exerts multiple effects on cell differentiation and is clinically used for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia. Tamibarotene down-regulates both Th1 and Th17 differentiation in donor T cells after allogeneic HSCT, resulting in attenuation of experimental chronic GVHD. Based on preclinical data, we have launched a phase II study of tamibarotene in patients with steroid-refractory chronic GVHD. This study will clarify whether tamibarotene can exert beneficial effects in patients with steroid-refractory chronic GVHD

Efficacy and safety of micafungin in empiric and D-index-guided early antifungal therapy for febrile neutropenia ; A subgroup analysis of the CEDMIC trial

Objectives: The D-index is defined as the area over the neutrophil curve during neutropenia. The CEDMIC trial confirmed the noninferiority of D-index-guided early antifungal therapy (DET) using micafungin to empirical antifungal therapy (EAT). In this study, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of micafungin in these settings. Methods: From the CEDMIC trial, we extracted 67 and 113 patients who received micafungin in the DET and EAT groups, respectively. Treatment success was defined as the fulfilment of all components of a five-part composite end point. Fever resolution was evaluated at seven days after the completion of therapy. Results: The proportion of high-risk treatments including induction chemotherapy for acute leukemia and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation was significantly higher in the DET group than in the EAT group (82.1% vs. 52.2%). The efficacy of micafungin was 68.7% (95%CI: 56.2–79.4) and 79.6% (71.0–86.6) in the DET and EAT groups, respectively. When we focused on high-risk treatments, the efficacy was 69.1% (55.2–80.9%) and 78.0% (65.3–87.7%), respectively (P = 0.30). There was no significant difference in any of the 5 components between the two groups. Conclusions: The efficacy of micafungin in patients undergoing high-risk treatment was not strongly impaired in DET compared to that in EAT

Risk factors for CAR-T cell manufacturing failure among DLBCL patients: A nationwide survey in Japan

CAR-T細胞製造を成功させるためのレシピ --アフェレーシス前の下ごしらえでの工夫--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-04-27.For successful chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy, CAR-T cells must be manufactured without failure caused by suboptimal expansion. In order to determine risk factors for CAR-T cell manufacturing failure, we performed a nationwide cohort study in Japan and analysed patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) who underwent tisagenlecleucel production. We compared clinical factors between 30 cases that failed (7.4%) with those that succeeded (n = 378). Among the failures, the proportion of patients previously treated with bendamustine (43.3% vs. 14.8%; p < 0.001) was significantly higher, and their platelet counts (12.0 vs. 17.0 × 10⁴/μL; p = 0.01) and CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio (0.30 vs. 0.56; p < 0.01) in peripheral blood at apheresis were significantly lower than in the successful group. Multivariate analysis revealed that repeated bendamustine use with short washout periods prior to apheresis (odds ratio [OR], 5.52; p = 0.013 for ≥6 cycles with washout period of 3–24 months; OR, 57.09; p = 0.005 for ≥3 cycles with washout period of <3 months), low platelet counts (OR, 0.495 per 105/μL; p = 0.022) or low CD4/CD8 ratios (<one third) (OR, 3.249; p = 0.011) in peripheral blood at apheresis increased the risk of manufacturing failure. Manufacturing failure remains an obstacle to CAR-T cell therapy for DLBCL patients. Avoiding risk factors, such as repeated bendamustine administration without sufficient washout, and risk-adapted strategies may help to optimize CAR-T cell therapy for DLBCL patients

A case study on identification of blocking mechanism for upward propagating gravity wave in polar MLT region

第3回極域科学シンポジウム　横断セッション「中層大気・熱圏」 11月26日（月） 国立極地研究所 ２階大会議

Study on upward propagating AGWs in the polar MLT region using sodium LIDAR and meteor radar data

第2回極域科学シンポジウム/第35回極域宙空圏シンポジウム 11月14日（月） 国立極地研究所 2階大会議