Design and baseline characteristics of the finerenone in reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in diabetic kidney disease trial

Background: Among people with diabetes, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and progression of their underlying kidney disease. Finerenone is a novel, nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on CV and renal outcomes has not yet been investigated in long-term trials. Patients and Methods: The Finerenone in Reducing CV Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIGARO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIGARO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 6 years. FIGARO-DKD randomized 7,437 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate >= 25 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio >= 30 to <= 5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of the primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level alpha = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. Conclusions: FIGARO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of CV and renal events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen. Trial Registration: EudraCT number: 2015-000950-39; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02545049

Record body size of the beach conger Conger japonicus (Anguilliformes: Congridae) in the East China Sea

A record body size, length of 1520 mm and weight of 12,600 g for the beach conger, Conger japonicus was recorded, which is approximately 120 mm and 2600 g larger than the previous international record. The specimen was female and obtained during an otter trawl survey on 4 April 2013 in the East China Sea (31°52.16′N 127°42.94′E) at a depth of approximately 140 m on the slope of the continental shelf. Morphometric measurements and meristic counts are reported in this paper. We also report profiles of water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll-a taken immediately prior to the trawl, and species composition of concurrent catch with the otter trawling as environmental and biological characteristics of the habitat

Seasonal Variation of the Material Transport Processes in the Ariake Sea

Seasonal variation of the salt fluxes in the middle part of the Ariake Sea have been investigated by modeling with hydrographic and meteorological data. The salt flux due to the seasonally averaged density-driven currents accounts for approximately 60% of the total salt flux during summer. The salt flux due to the other processes, that are not treated explicitly, such as the tidal pumping, tideinduced residual currents, and short-term variations of the density- and winddriven currents dominates during winter. It is suggested that the recent decrease in tidal currents increases the salt flux due to the density-driven currents during summer but decreases the salt flux due to the tidal pumping and/or tide-induced residual currents during winter.Nagasaki University Major Research Project: Restoration of Marine Environment and Resources in East Asi

Electroconductive π-Junction Au Nanoparticles

The fabrication of printed electronic circuits using solution-based electroconductive materials at low temperature is essential for the realization of modern printed electronics including transistors, photovoltaic cells, and light-emitting devices. Despite the progress in the field of semiconductor solution materials, reliable electrodes are always fabricated by a vacuum deposition process resulting in only partially solution-processed devices. In this paper, we show that planar phthalocyanine-conjugated Au nanoparticles (NPs) significantly improve the interparticle-carrier-transport properties. The deposition of a solution of the Au NPs under ambient conditions results in an electroconductive metallic thin film without further post-treatment. Maximum conductivity reaches >6600 S cm−1 and the conductivity remains unchanged for at least 1 year under ambient conditions. The all-solution-processed organic field-effect transistor (OFET) fabricated under ambient conditions exhibits mobility values as high as 2 cm2 V−1 s−1, the value of which is comparable to OFET devices having vacuum-deposited Au electrodes

Length-weight relationships of 22 fish species from the East China Sea

Estimated length-weight relationships are presented for 22 commercially important marine fish species representing nine families, found in the East China Sea. A total of 2776 specimens were caught by otter trawl on the continental shelf in the East China Sea between 2009 and 2013. Information pertaining to length-weight relationships should lead to a better understanding of fish communities in the East China Sea

有明海における卵稚仔輸送過程の数値モデル

A hydrodynamic model was coupled to a particle tracking model to examine physical factors thatinfluence transport of the white croaker larvae in the Ariake Sea, Kyushu, Japan. The idealized particlesthat mimic the larvae of white croaker are tracked under various physical and biological conditions.Freshet reduces the possibility of particles that reach the nursery ground around the head of the bayby 7 % on average. Spring tide has a positive impact on the feeding migration of particles. Selective tidalstream transport (STST) mechanism dramatically changed particle trajectories. Particles tend to reachthe shallower nursery ground easier during ebb or low tide rather than high or flood tide, depending onwhether the STST is considered during the particle tracking experiment. In particular, the ratio of thenumber of particles that reach the nursery ground increases by approximately 24 % from flood tide tolow tide. When the sinking velocities of particles, ranging from 10-5 to 10-3 m/s, are considered during theparticle tracking experiment, majority of the particles stayed in the releasing area.海洋数値シミュレーションモデルと粒子追跡モデルを用いて，物理的要因が有明海の仔魚輸送に及ぼす影響について調べた。モデルにおいて仔魚は仮想的流体粒子として表現される。河川水の出水は生育場へ輸送される粒子数を７%減少させる。大潮時に潮流流速が増すことによって，生育場へ輸送される粒子数は増加する。稚魚の鉛直移動の効果（Selective tidal stream transport）によって，粒子の輸送過程は大幅に変化する。干潮時や下げ潮時に投入された粒子は，より生育場へ到達しやすくなる傾向がある。10-5から10-3m/sの範囲で粒子の沈降速度を加味した場合，粒子は放流地点付近にとどまる傾向が強くなる