Atomic resolution of the crystal structure of the hyperthermophilic family 12 endocellulase and stabilizing role of the DxDxDG calcium-binding motif in Pyrococcus furiosus

AbstractHyperthermophilic glycoside hydrolase family 12 endocellulase (EGPf) from the archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus catalyzes the hydrolytic cleavage of β-1,4-glucosidic linkage in β-glucan cellulose. A truncated EGPf (EGPfΔN30) mutant lacking the proline and hydroxyl-residue rich region at the N terminus was constructed, and its crystal structure was resolved at an atomic resolution of 1.07Å. Our results indicate that the structure of EGPf, which consists of a β-jelly roll, exhibits structural similarity with the endocellulase of Thermotoga maritima. Additionally, we further determined that the thermostability of EGPf is maintained in part by the binding of Ca2+ in a DxDxDG Ca2+-binding motif, atypical of most archaeal proteins

A Unit Commitment Model with Demand Response for the Integration of Renewable Energies

The output of renewable energy fluctuates significantly depending on weather conditions. We develop a unit commitment model to analyze requirements of the forecast output and its error for renewable energies. Our model obtains the time series for the operational state of thermal power plants that would maximize the profits of an electric power utility by taking into account both the forecast of output its error for renewable energies and the demand response of consumers. We consider a power system consisting of thermal power plants, photovoltaic systems (PV), and wind farms and analyze the effect of the forecast error on the operation cost and reserves. We confirm that the operation cost was increases with the forecast error. The effect of a sudden decrease in wind power is also analyzed. More thermal power plants need to be operated to generate power to absorb this sudden decrease in wind power. The increase in the number of operating thermal power plants within a short period does not affect the total operation cost significantly; however the substitution of thermal power plants by wind farms or PV systems is not expected to be very high. Finally, the effects of the demand response in the case of a sudden decrease in wind power are analyzed. We confirm that the number of operating thermal power plants is reduced by the demand response. A power utility has to continue thermal power plants for ensuring supply-demand balance; some of these plants can be decommissioned after installing a large number of wind farms or PV systems, if the demand response is applied using an appropriate price structure.Comment: submitted to 2012 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meetin

Surgery Outcomes for Pulmonary Metastases from Renal Cell Carcinoma

Pulmonary metastatic resection is a standard therapy for renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Although patients with pulmonary metastases who do not undergo any treatment have poor prognoses, it has been reported that resection for pulmonary metastases yields good clinical outcomes. We investigated the prognoses of the 10 Japanese patients (eight males, two females) who underwent a surgical resection of pulmonary metastasectomy from RCC at our institution between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2020 and analyzed the prognostic factors. We determined the prognoses and calculated the 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) rates. To identify prognostic factors, we compared the median DFS duration for each factor. Elderly patients (median age, 75.5 years) were more predominant compared to previous studies, and all 10 patients underwent a complete resection. The 5-year DFS rate was 30.5% (95%CI: 0.045-0.63) and the 5-year OS rate was 80% (95%CI: 0.20-0.97). The following factors were associated with better prognosis: female, disease-free interval≥36 months, and metastases size<12 mm. These results indicate that complete resection for pulmonary metastases from RCC resulted in good clinical outcomes, particularly for patients with better prognostic factors

A Rare Presentation of Invasive Aspergillosis: An Asymptomatic Man with an Abscess Localized to a Parietal Pleura

Aspergillosis is an infection caused by Aspergillus species, and it manifests in various clinical presentations. We describe the case of a 73-year-old man with a small area of thickening on the thoracic wall detected by computed tomography. Surgical resection confirmed the diagnosis of an Aspergillus abscess. We report this case in view of the rarity of Aspergillus abscess localized to a parietal pleura without any signs of lung parenchymal involvement. After a thorough literature review, we consider this could be the first report of this manifestation. Accumulation of similar cases will be necessary to help spread recognition of this condition

Thoracoscopic Localization of Small Peripheral Pulmonary Lesions Using Percutaneous Computed Tomography-guided Pleural Dye Marking: A Retrospective Analysis

Small pulmonary lesions are often difficult to localize during thoracoscopic surgery. We describe a new com-puted tomography (CT)-guided pleural dye-marking method for small peripheral pulmonary lesions that does not involve a visceral pleural puncture. We used this technique for 23 lesions (22 patients) who underwent tho-racoscopic partial lung resection (Nov. 2016-Jan. 2018). With the patient in the lateral decubitus position, pre-operative CT-guided marking on the skin over the lesion was performed. During the surgery, we marked the visceral pleura with a skin marker directly or with an infant-size nutrition catheter with crystal violet at the tip through a venous indwelling needle inserted perpendicular to the skin marking. We localized and resected the lesions in all cases, without complications. The median nodule size measured histopathologically was 8 (4-20) mm overall, and 7 (0-20) mm of the solid part; the median distance from the visceral pleura to the nodule was 9 (1-33) mm. The median operation time was 67 (37-180) min. The median postoperative hospital stay was 3 (3-11) days. Our CT-guided pleural dye-marking method is useful and safe for the localization of small periph-eral pulmonary lesions in thoracoscopic partial lung resections

Comparison of Japanese and Korean TAC System for Future Expansion

As fisheries resources in the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Japan Sea have the tendency to decrease, the purpose of this study is to identify the problems of the co-management by comparing the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) system between Japan and the Republic of Korea (Korea) in the executed sea areas. Japan, Korea, and China ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1996. The TAC system has been implemented by Japan from 1997 and Korea from 1999. While China is still examining the TAC system, Japan is allocated TAC for each administrative division as a fisheries management policy. The TAC of Korea is allocated for only the main fisheries that catch a lot of fish stocks. Common mackerel, sardine and snow crab are agitation for the fish stock targets of Japan and Korea. The target sea areas are EEZ and the provisional sea in both Japan and Korea. In general, the catch from EEZ and provisional sea areas are parts of the TAC. But in reality, the haul of one country in the other country’s EEZ and the provisional sea areas is excluded from its own TAC. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the co-management system for the effective use of resource, for example, the one that can control the catch of migratory fish species.Keywords: Sea of Japan, Fisheries Economics, Co-management, Yellow Sea, TAC System, Japan, Korea, East China Sea, International: Cooperation in Fisheries and Aquacultur

Electronic Structure and Electron Correlation in LaFeAsO_{1-x}F_x and LaFePO_{1-x}F_x

Photoemission spectroscopy is used to investigate the electronic structure of the newly discovered iron-based superconductors LaFeAsO_{1-x}F_x and LaFePO_{1-x}F_x. Line shapes of the Fe 2p core-level spectra suggest an itinerant character of Fe 3d electrons. The valence-band spectra are generally consistent with band-structure calculations except for the shifts of Fe 3d-derived peaks toward the Fermi level. From spectra taken in the Fe 3p -> 3d core-absorption region, we have obtained the experimental Fe 3d partial density of states, and explained it in terms of a band-structure calculation with a phenomenological self-energy correction, yielding a mass renormalization factor of ~< 2.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

EGFR Mutation is a Prognostic Factor in Lung Cancer Patients with Pleural Dissemination Detected During or After Surgery

Background. Primary lung tumors are sometimes resected when either pleural dissemination (PD) or malignant pleural effusion (MPE) exists. This study clarified the prognostic factors for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with either PD and MPE, or both, detected during or after surgery. Patients and Methods. We examined patients with NSCLC from a multicenter database who had either PD, MPE, or both, detected during or after surgery between 2005 and 2015. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated using the Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for potential confounding factors. Results. Among 9463 registered patients, PD, MPE, or both, were found in 114 patients with NSCLC during or after surgery. Primary tumor resection and exploratory thoracotomy were performed in 65 and 49 patients, respectively. In univariate analysis, adenocarcinoma, clinically undetected lymph node metastasis (c-N0 or unknown), EGFR mutation, and combination of chemotherapy or tyrosine kinase inhibitors after surgery were better prognostic factors for overall survival (OS), whereas in the multivariate analysis, adenocarcinoma, clinically undetected lymph node metastasis, and EGFR mutation were favorable independent prognostic factors in OS. Additionally, limited to patients with EGFR mutation, patients with primary lung tumor resection showed a significantly better 5-year OS than those with exploratory thoracotomy (86.4 vs. 44.8%; p Conclusion. Our findings show that surgical resection of primary tumors could improve the prognosis of patients with PD, MPE, or both, detected during or after surgery when the tumors harbor an EGFR mutation

Weak antilocalization induced by Se substitution in layered BiCh2_2-based (Ch = S, Se) superconductors LaO1−x_{1-x}Fx_xBiS2−y_{2-y}Sey_y

We report transport properties for layered BiCh2-based (Ch = S, Se) superconductors LaO1-xFxBiS2-ySey (x = 0.2, 0.5, y = 0-1.05) and the observation of weak antilocalization (WAL). Electrical resistivity and Hall coefficients for the Se-poor samples increase with decreasing temperature. The increase becomes less pronounced with increasing Se concentration indicating a loss of insulating behavior. Interestingly, the moderately Se-substituted samples exhibit metallic behavior in the high-temperature region and a weak increase in the resistivity in the low-temperature regions, which indicates the existence of carrier localization. The heavily Se-substituted compounds show metallic behavior in the entire-temperature region. Sign changes of the Hall coefficients are observed for the x = 0.2 samples, which possibly is related to a charge-density wave (CDW). Magnetoresistance measurements indicate that WAL is realized in the heavily Se-substituted systems. The WAL behavior is weakened by the changes in F and Se concentrations. A crossover state of the WAL and WL emerges around the moderately F-doped and Se-free LaO0.8F0.2BiS2. The change of the resistivity behavior by the F and Se substitution clearly correlates to the difference of the magnetoconductance. Moreover, the localization regions of the WAL-WL crossover and weak WAL states are possibly associated with the CDW. We propose that the BiCh2-based system is a good platform for studying relationship between WAL, superconductivity, and electronic ordering because those states are tunable by element substitutions with bulk single crystals