Study On Optimization Of The Integrated Operation Of Dams Using Ensemble Prediction

Flood control is one of the most important issues of reservoir operation. Rivers in island countries like Japan, Philippines and Indonesia that have smaller reservoirs than continental countries needs short term reservoir operation for flood control. In Japan, typhoons give dominant amount of water to reservoirs. Pre-release of water which makes effective use of the capacity of a reservoir requires the rainfall amount forecast (hyetograph). Therefore, weather forecast of typhoons is indispensable for flood control. Masuda and Oishi (2013) developed the reservoir control operation model using stochastic dynamic programming with one week ensemble weather forecast. One week ensemble forecast consists of 51 members, gives many kinds of weather variables including rainfall amount, has lead time of one week. In fact, frequency of issue daily is a problem for using one week ensemble weather forecast. In the present study, we give a solution for the problem. For giving higher frequency, we propose to use typhoon forecast which issues four times a day but does not include rainfall amount. By using a similarity index with past typhoon and latest ensemble forecast result, a method to give typhoon ensemble reasonable forecasted rainfall amount has been developed. Four times a day is higher frequency than once a day but required to be improved for practical use. For such purpose, we propose a kind of Bayesian method to evaluate the probability of each ensemble member. The proposed method gives the better rainfall amount forecast by evaluation hourly. In the conference, explanation of the methods in detail as well as some case studies with comparison are discussed

乳房切断術患者の術後遠隔期におけるQOLに関する研究

根治的乳房切断術を受けた乳癌患者137例について，術後遠隔時のQOLをアンケート調査票を送付して行った．QOLの構成因子を患側上肢の機能障害，Activity　of　Daily　Life（以下ADL），State of　Daily　Life（以下SDL），就労状況，身体的活動意欲，精神的活動意欲，手術満足度，癌再発不安度，ボディ・イメージの変容とした．患側上肢の自覚症状として，腫脹32％，筋力低下25％，疼痛14％，可動域制限14％，知覚異常7％が認められた．ADLを各項目別に検討すると，過半数の例に何らかの支障を認めた．これら機能障害の高度な例では，身体的・精神的活動意欲などの他のQOL因子も有意に不良であった．SDLが術前と不変と回答した例は108例中79％であった．手術不満例は16％であり，上肢の高度機能障害例に多かった．癌再発不安は，65歳以上の高齢者群に比し，65歳未満の若年者群に有意に高く，長期経過例であっても不安は解消されていなかった．乳房喪失というボディ・イメージの変容に対して，大多数の症例がブラジャー，衣服の工夫を行っていた．　以上により種々の程度の上肢の機能障害に対し，各人に適合した補整具の開発やアフタケアを含めた指導や，癌再発不安などに対する継続的な看護が重要であると考えられた．We conducted a questionnaire survey to evaluate the long-term quality of life (QOL) in 137 patients with breast cancer who underwent radical mastectomy. QOL factors consist functional impairment in the upper limb on the affected side, activity of daily life (ADL), state of daily life (SDL), the status of postoperative rehabilitation, mental activities, physical activities, satisfaction of the surgery, anxiety for recurrence of cancer, cosmetic factor (changes in the body image). In the upper limb on the affected side, swelling was observed in 32％, decreased muscle strength in 25％, pain in 14％, limitation in the range of motion in 14％, and sensory impairment in 7％. However, evaluation of the items of the ADL questionnaire revealed specific disturbance in daily life in more than 50％ of respondents. Patients who showed marked functional impairment in this limb had other QOL factors, such as the desire to do mental and physical activiies which were also significantly poor. Of these patients, 108 (79％) replied that state of daily living (SDL) did not change after the survey. Sixteen percent of the patients were not satisfied with the results of their surgery, and they often noted marked functional impairment in the upper limb. Anxiety about recurrence of cancer was more in the middle aged group (65 years or more) than in the aged group (less than 65 old). Anxiety persisted even in patients showing a long survival without regard to aging. Against changes in the body image, ie., loss of the breast, most patients used prosthetic devices in a brassiere and clothes. These results suggested the need to develop prosthetic consultation for each patient, and instruction in post operative care to help prevent functional impairment in the upper limb, continuous nursing intervention to the anxiety about recurrence of cancer might be needed. to various level of the functional impairment in the upper limb

Design and synthesis of fluorescent probes for GPR54.

Kisspeptins are neuropeptides that induce the secretion of gonadotropin-releasing hormone via the activation of the cognate receptor, G-protein coupled receptor 54 (GPR54). The kisspeptin-GPR54 axis is associated with the onset of puberty and the maintenance of the reproductive system. In this study, several fluorescent probes have been designed and synthesized for rat GPR54 through the modification of the N-terminus of rat kisspeptins to allow for the visualization of the expression and localization of kisspeptin receptor(s) in living cells and native tissues. The tetramethylrhodamine (TMR) and rhodamine green (RG)-labeled kisspeptins exhibited good binding and agonistic activities towards GPR54, and the results of the application studies demonstrated that these fluorescent probes could be used effectively for the detection of GPR54 receptors in flow cytometry and confocal microscopy experiments

Bioorganic synthesis of a recombinant HIV-1 fusion inhibitor, SC35EK, with an N-terminal pyroglutamate capping group.

The bioorganic synthesis of an end-capped anti-HIV peptide from a recombinant protein was investigated. Cyanogen bromide-mediated cleavage of two Met-Gln sites across the target anti-HIV sequence generated an HIV-1 fusion inhibitor (SC35EK) analog bearing an N-terminal pyroglutamate (pGlu) residue and a C-terminal homoserine lactone (Hsl) residue. The end-capped peptide, pGlu-SC35EK-Hsl, had similar bioactivity and biophysical properties to the parent peptide, and an improved resistance to peptidase-mediated degradation was observed compared with the non-end-capped peptide obtained using standard recombinant technology

The transcription factor SALL4 regulates stemness of EpCAM-positive hepatocellular carcinoma

Background & Aims: Recent evidence suggests that hepatocellular carcinoma can be classified into certain molecular subtypes with distinct prognoses based on the stem/maturational status of the tumor. We investigated the transcription program deregulated in hepatocellular carcinomas with stem cell features. Methods: Gene and protein expression profiles were obtained from 238 (analyzed by microarray), 144 (analyzed by immunohistochemistry), and 61 (analyzed by qRT-PCR) hepatocellular carcinoma cases. Activation/suppression of an identified transcription factor was used to evaluate its role in cell lines. The relationship of the transcription factor and prognosis was statistically examined. Results: The transcription factor SALL4, known to regulate stemness in embryonic and hematopoietic stem cells, was found to be activated in a hepatocellular carcinoma subtype with stem cell features. SALL4-positive hepatocellular carcinoma patients were associated with high values of serum alpha fetoprotein, high frequency of hepatitis B virus infection, and poor prognosis after surgery compared with SALL4-negative patients. Activation of SALL4 enhanced spheroid formation and invasion capacities, key characteristics of cancer stem cells, and up-regulated the hepatic stem cell markers KRT19, EPCAM, and CD44 in cell lines. Knockdown of SALL4 resulted in the down-regulation of these stem cell markers, together with attenuation of the invasion capacity. The SALL4 expression status was associated with histone deacetylase activity in cell lines, and the histone deacetylase inhibitor successfully suppressed proliferation of SALL4-positive hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Conclusions: SALL4 is a valuable biomarker and therapeutic target for the diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma with stem cell features. © 2013 European Association for the Study of the Liver

First Data Release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program

The Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) is a three-layered imaging survey aimed at addressing some of the most outstanding questions in astronomy today, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The survey has been awarded 300 nights of observing time at the Subaru Telescope and it started in March 2014. This paper presents the first public data release of HSC-SSP. This release includes data taken in the first 1.7 years of observations (61.5 nights) and each of the Wide, Deep, and UltraDeep layers covers about 108, 26, and 4 square degrees down to depths of i~26.4, ~26.5, and ~27.0 mag, respectively (5sigma for point sources). All the layers are observed in five broad bands (grizy), and the Deep and UltraDeep layers are observed in narrow bands as well. We achieve an impressive image quality of 0.6 arcsec in the i-band in the Wide layer. We show that we achieve 1-2 per cent PSF photometry (rms) both internally and externally (against Pan-STARRS1), and ~10 mas and 40 mas internal and external astrometric accuracy, respectively. Both the calibrated images and catalogs are made available to the community through dedicated user interfaces and database servers. In addition to the pipeline products, we also provide value-added products such as photometric redshifts and a collection of public spectroscopic redshifts. Detailed descriptions of all the data can be found online. The data release website is https://hsc-release.mtk.nao.ac.jp/.Comment: 34 pages, 20 figures, 7 tables, moderate revision, accepted for publication in PAS

Real-Time Imaging of Rabbit Retina with Retinal Degeneration by Using Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

Background: Recently, a transgenic rabbit with rhodopsin Pro 347 Leu mutation was generated as a model of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), which is characterized by a gradual loss of vision due to photoreceptor degeneration. The purpose of the current study is to noninvasively visualize and assess time-dependent changes in the retinal structures of a rabbit model of retinal degeneration by using speckle noise-reduced spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Methodology/Principal Findings: Wild type (WT) and RP rabbits (aged 4–20 weeks) were investigated using SD-OCT. The total retinal thickness in RP rabbits decreased with age. The thickness of the outer nuclear layer (ONL) and between the external limiting membrane and Bruch’s membrane (ELM–BM) were reduced in RP rabbits around the visual streak, compared to WT rabbits even at 4 weeks of age, and the differences increased with age. However, inner nuclear layer (INL) thickness in RP rabbits did not differ from that of WT during the observation period. The ganglion cell complex (GCC) thickness in RP rabbits increased near the optic nerve head but not around the visual streak in the later stages of the observation period. Hyper-reflective change was widely observed in the inner segments (IS) and outer segments (OS) of the photoreceptors in the OCT images of RP rabbits. Ultrastructural findings in RP retinas included the appearance of small rhodopsin-containing vesicles scattered in the extracellular space around the photoreceptors

Canagliflozin and Cardiovascular and Renal Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Chronic Kidney Disease in Primary and Secondary Cardiovascular Prevention Groups

Background: Canagliflozin reduces the risk of kidney failure in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease, but effects on specific cardiovascular outcomes are uncertain, as are effects in people without previous cardiovascular disease (primary prevention). Methods: In CREDENCE (Canagliflozin and Renal Events in Diabetes With Established Nephropathy Clinical Evaluation), 4401 participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease were randomly assigned to canagliflozin or placebo on a background of optimized standard of care. Results: Primary prevention participants (n=2181, 49.6%) were younger (61 versus 65 years), were more often female (37% versus 31%), and had shorter duration of diabetes mellitus (15 years versus 16 years) compared with secondary prevention participants (n=2220, 50.4%). Canagliflozin reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events overall (hazard ratio [HR], 0.80 [95% CI, 0.67-0.95]; P=0.01), with consistent reductions in both the primary (HR, 0.68 [95% CI, 0.49-0.94]) and secondary (HR, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.69-1.06]) prevention groups (P for interaction=0.25). Effects were also similar for the components of the composite including cardiovascular death (HR, 0.78 [95% CI, 0.61-1.00]), nonfatal myocardial infarction (HR, 0.81 [95% CI, 0.59-1.10]), and nonfatal stroke (HR, 0.80 [95% CI, 0.56-1.15]). The risk of the primary composite renal outcome and the composite of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure were also consistently reduced in both the primary and secondary prevention groups (P for interaction >0.5 for each outcome). Conclusions: Canagliflozin significantly reduced major cardiovascular events and kidney failure in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease, including in participants who did not have previous cardiovascular disease