Probabilistic Prediction Method of Erosion Volume and Deposition Area from Rainfall Observation Data

We propose a methodology to estimate the spatial distribution of the probability of sediment deposition due to debris flow from rainfall data by combining the probability prediction of erosion volume based on an ordinal logistic regression and a sediment transport simulation. By using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve and Area Under Curve (AUC) we have selected the best combination of shortand long-term rainfall indices used as explanatory variables in the ordinal logistic model. The results showed that the regression model using 60-minute and 48-hour rainfall indices performed well and that the regression model using three events improved the predictability of local disasters in 2014. Furthermore, we performed Monte Carlo debris-flow simulations using rainfall data from 2014 using the model. We confirmed that the spatial distribution of disaster probability is consistent with the actual damage

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

Identification of minimal sequence for HIV-1 fusion inhibitors.

Emergence of multi-drug resistant HIV-1 is a serious problem for AIDS treatment. Recently, the virus-cell membrane fusion process has been identified as a promising target for the development of novel drugs against these resistant variants. In this study, we identified a 29-residue peptide fusion inhibitor, SC29EK, which shows activity comparable to the previously reported inhibitor SC35EK. Some residues in SC29EK not required for interaction with virus gp41 heptad repeat 1 (HR1) were replaced with a non-proteinogenic amino acid, 2-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib), to stabilize the alpha-helix structure and to provide resistance to peptidases

Very Early Diuretic Response After Admission for Acute Heart Failure

BACKGROUND: In hospitalized heart failure patients, a poor diuretic response (DR) during the first days of hospital admission is associated with worse outcomes. However, it remains unknown whether diuretic response in the first hours has similar prognostic value. Moreover, data on the sequential change in DR during hospital admission are lacking. METHODS AND RESULTS: DR (urine output per 40 mg furosemide-equivalent diuretics dose) was measured from 0 to 6 hours (DR6), 6 to 48 hours (DR6-48), and 0 to 48 hours (DR48) of the patient's arrival to the emergency department (ED) in 1551 patients with AHF (mean age 78 years old; 56% were male; and 48% were de-novo patients with heart failure). Patients with a poor DR within the first 6 hours were older age, had worse renal function and were already on diuretic treatment before admission. DR6 was only weakly correlated with DR6-48 (Spearman's rho=0.273; p<0.001). DR6, DR6-48 and DR48 were all significantly associated with 60-day mortality independent of other prognostic factors. DR6 and DR48 showed comparable prognostic ability. However, the model combining DR6 with DR6-48 significantly exceeded both DR6 (NRI: 0.249, p=0.032) and DR48 (NRI: 0.287, p=0.025) with regard to 60-day mortality prediction. CONCLUSION: Both DR measured within the first 6 hours of ED arrival and DR measured during the first 48 hours in patients with AHF have similar prognostic value, although they were moderately correlated. Changes in DR over time provide additional prognostic information

Genetic and Phenotypic Landscape of PRPH2-Associated Retinal Dystrophy in Japan

Peripherin-2 (PRPH2) is one of the causative genes of inherited retinal dystrophy. While the gene is relatively common in Caucasians, reports from Asian ethnicities are limited. In the present study, we report 40 Japanese patients from 30 families with PRPH2-associated retinal dystrophy. We identified 17 distinct pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants using next-generation sequencing. Variants p.R142W and p.V200E were relatively common in the cohort. The age of onset was generally in the 40’s; however, some patients had earlier onset (age: 5 years). Visual acuity of the patients ranged from hand motion to 1.5 (Snellen equivalent 20/13). The patients showed variable phenotypes such as retinitis pigmentosa, cone-rod dystrophy, and macular dystrophy. Additionally, intrafamilial phenotypic variability was observed. Choroidal neovascularization was observed in three eyes of two patients with retinitis pigmentosa. The results demonstrate the genotypic and phenotypic variations of the disease in the Asian cohort

The Teaching of Singing in Meiji Period : Mainly on the contents of teaching

Additional file 3: Fig. S4. Spontaneous gp120 shedding from cell surface. The susceptibility of gp41 mutants to spontaneously shed gp120 was determined by flow cytometry and ELISA as described previously [79]. Briefly, culture medium of transiently transfected envelope expressing cells was exchanged for fresh medium containing Brefeldin A (BioLegend) and 0.2 % Sodium azide. Cells were then incubated for 15 h at 37˚C, 5 % CO2. (a) Level of envelope expression before and after incubation was compared by staining with 2G12. (b) Amount of gp120 released during incubation was determined by gp120 capture ELISA. As a positive control, cells expressing WT envelope was incubated with 20 µg/ml sCD4, which trigger gp120 shedding. Cells expressing SIV Env (SIV) and no Env (No Env) were used as negative control. The results are shown as the means ± standard errors of four replicas

日本人の一般地域住民においてKnee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Scoreは改訂版Knee Society Scoreよりも変形性膝関節症の重症度を反映する

掲載誌 The Knee, 23(1), p.35-42, 201

Predictive simulation of concurrent debris flows: How slope failure locations affect predicted damage

Predictive simulation of concurrent debris flows using only pre-disaster information has been difficult, partly because of problems faced in predicting debris-flow initiation locations (i.e., slope failure). However, because catchment topography has convergent characteristics with all channels in it joining each other as they flow downstream, damage to downstream areas could be predicted using relatively inaccurate initiation points. Based on this hypothesis, this study uses debris-flow initiation points generated randomly with statistical slope failure prediction and performs a many-case simulation across numerous initiation points to quantify the effect of slope-failure locations in terms of deviations in the predicted water level and topographic change. This paper presents the results of 2D simulations based on a conventional debris-flow model that was run on a supercomputer to realise simulations of many cases. The obtained relative standard deviation was found to decrease as the debris flow and sediment-laden flood approached the downstream area, indicating that the predictability of the inundation and topographic change can be decided from the terrain characteristics