Post-IR IRSL dating of K-feldspar from last interglacial marine terrace deposits on the Kamikita coastal plain, northeastern Japan

To establish a suitable luminescence dating protocol for marine terrace deposits in Japan, we tested the applicability of K-feldspar post-infrared (IR) infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) (pIRIR) dating using a marine isotope stage (MIS) 5e terrace deposit from the Kamikita coastal plain (NE Japan), where independent age control from a tephra is available. One of the most commonly used pIRIR signals, measured at 290°C with the first IR stimulation temperature at 50°C (pIRIR50/290), faded with a mean g2days value of 1.94 ± 0.19%/decade. In contrast, the pIRIR signal with a higher first IR stimulation temperature of 200°C (pIRIR200/290) had a much lower fading rate (g2days = 0.16 ± 0.49%/decade). The average fading-uncorrected and -corrected pIRIR200/290 ages of MIS 5e subtidal sediments obtained from two sampling sites were 126 ± 3 ka and 132 ± 2 ka, which is in good agreement with the independent age control. We conclude that is it is now possible to use pIRIR protocol to estimate the ages of not only marine terraces formed during MIS 5 substages (5a, 5c) but also of older marine terraces, for which age evidence is limited

Erratum: Post-IR IRSL dating of K-feldspar from last interglacial marine terrace deposits on the kamikita coastal plain, northeastern Japan

[no abstract available

Masking Lossy Networks by TCP Tunnel with Network Coding

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) with Network Coding (TCP/NC) was designed to recover the lost packets without TCP retransmission to improve the goodput performance in lossy networks. However, TCP/NC is too costly to be implemented in some types of end devices, e.g., with less memory and power. In addition, TCP/NC across loss-free but thin networks may waste scarce link bandwidth due to the redundant combination packets sacrificed for the lossy network. In this paper, we propose the TCP/NC tunnel to convey end-to-end TCP sessions on a single TCP/NC flow traversing a lossy network between two special gateways without per-flow management. We implemented and validated our proposal in Network Simulator 3, in which each gateway runs a reinforced version of TCP/NC that we previously developed. The results show that the proposed TCP/NC tunnel can mitigate the goodput degradation of end-to-end TCP sessions traversing a lossy network without any change in TCP on each end host.The 22nd IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications (ISCC\u2717), 03 - 06 July 2017, Heraklion, Crete, Greec

Evidence for Solution-Mediated Phase Transitions in Kidney Stones: Phase Transition Exacerbates Kidney Stone Disease

Maruyama M., Tanaka Y., Momma K., et al. Evidence for Solution-Mediated Phase Transitions in Kidney Stones: Phase Transition Exacerbates Kidney Stone Disease. Crystal Growth and Design 23, 4285 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.3c00108.In this study, we investigated calcium oxalate (CaOx) kidney stones and showed direct evidence of the solution-mediated phase transition of calcium oxalate dihydrate (COD; the metastable phase) to calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM; the stable phase). We examined the crystal phases, crystal textures, and protein distributions within thin sections of calcium oxalate kidney stones. Observation with a polarized-light microscope showed that the outline of the mosaic texture, in which COM crystals are assembled in a mosaic pattern, roughly coincides with COD’s crystallographically stable face angles. Microfocus X-ray CT measurement captured the intermediate process of the phase transition, starting inside the COD single crystal and gradually transforming to COM crystals. In addition, the distribution of osteopontin and prothrombin fragment-1, common proteins contained in urine and visualized by multicolor fluorescence immunostaining, showed no apparent striations inside the COM single crystals with the mosaic texture, although the striation is apparent inside the COD single crystals. This is probably because the phase transition of mosaic-like COM occurred in a semiclosed system inside the COD single crystal, so the effect of periodic (day-night, seasonal, etc.) urinary protein concentration changes was small. On the other hand, striations were visible in concentrically laminated COM. This indicated that concentrically laminated COM formed in response to the changes in urinary protein concentrations. From the above, we conclude that the COD single crystals and the concentrically laminated COM seen in CaOx stones are primary structures, and the mosaic COM is a secondary structure that is a pseudomorph formed by the solution-mediated phase transition from COD single crystals

Genetic Polymorphisms of IL-17F and TRAF3IP2 Could Be Predictive Factors of the Long-Term Effect of Infliximab against Crohn’s Disease

Background. We aimed to identify certain genes related to response to infliximab (IFX) and biomarkers to predict the IFX effect for Japanese Crohn\u27s disease (CD) patients by performing an association study of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in candidate genes in the interleukin-(IL-) 17 signaling pathway with response to IFX after 1 year of treatment. Methods. A total of 103 patients were divided into two groups, responders and nonresponders. Twenty-eight tag SNPs in 5 genes were genotyped. The frequencies of alleles and genotypes of each SNP were compared between responders and nonresponders in three different inheritance models. A genetic test was performed using a combination of the associated SNPs as biomarkers. Results. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the four variable factors, concomitant use of immunomodulators, penetrating disease, a G/G genotype of rs766748 in IL-17F, and a C/C or C/A genotype of rs1883136 in TRAF3IP2, independently contributed to response to IFX after 1 year of treatment. Genetic test using the polymorphisms of these genes perfectly predicted the responder and nonresponder CD patients with both concomitant use of immunomodulators and penetrating disease. Conclusion. IL17F and TRAF3IP2 are one of IFX-related genes, useful as biomarkers of IFX response, and may be target molecules for new therapeutic drugs

精神疾患患者と接しての学生のイメージ変化と実習の学び : 精神看護学1日実習を体験して

Many students have negadve images of psychiatric patients due to reports by mass media and lack of direct experiences with them. We conducted an invesdgation on our students\u27 images of psychiatric patients before and after the one-day psychiatric nursing practice which is done in the students second year of the nursing college. We have found that the students have different images after they experienced the nursing practice and learned various things in the practice. We have proved the validity of the one-day psychiatric nursing practice. We have also found the things to be improved in the future

香気成分と組織構造の比較解析による乾燥スィートバジルの品質評価

金沢大学理工研究域自然システム学系生スィートバジルを乾燥する際に引き起こされる香りの変化を，香気成分バランスやスィートバジルの組織構造とそのレオロジー特性について，比較解析を行う事で，生スィートバジルの香りを維持する為に必要とされる因子の探索を行った．スィートバジルの香気寄与成分として特定したシネオール，リナロール，オイゲノール，オクタナール，1-オクタノール，(E)-2-ヘキセナール，(Z)-3-ヘキセノールの7種類の香気成分は官能評価の特徴を説明する因子となると考えられる．その中でも，生スィートバジルの香りを特徴づける因子としては，微量成分バランスが大きな役割を果たし，ハーブ自体には (E)-2ヘキセナールや (Z)-3-ヘキセノールが存在するが，それがハーブティーに溶出されずオクタナールが高い比率で溶出されることが重要であった．そのような性質を持つ組織構造は，葉内部の細胞壁の形状が乾燥工程を経ても維持されており，その状態は貯蔵弾性率の測定でも比較説明が可能であることが明らかになった．これらの結果により，ハーブの組織構造とハーブティーとして溶出される香気成分バランスに密接な関係がある可能性が示唆された．但し，今回確認された (E)-2-ヘキセナールや (Z)-3-ヘキセノールはみどりの香りと称される物質の1つである．これらの物質は植物中のリノレン酸や配糖体を前駆体として酵素が関与し発現するものであり12)，食品加工時に発生することも知られている14）～16) ．今後は配糖体量の変化と酵素の関係についても検討を行い，組織構造変化の香りに対する影響をより明確にしてゆく必要があると考える．しかしながら，細胞壁の損傷が少ない状態であった真空乾燥スィートバジルが生特有の香りを保持していたという事実から，乾燥工程を経ることで喫食時に感じる香りの違いは，単純な香気成分の増減という因子だけではなく，組織構造変化という因子からも説明できる可能性が示唆された．乾燥ハーブの香りに対する品質評価を行う上で，乾燥ハーブからハーブティーに抽出されてゆく香気成分のバランス変化や内部組織構造変化の比較といった多面的なアプローチは，今後の有効な評価手法の1つとなることが期待できる．A quality evaluation method for dried herbs was studied with sweet basil leaves (fresh, air-dried, freeze-dried and vacuum-dried sweet basil leaves) as herbal teas, involving hot-water extraction. Sensory evaluation revealed that the flavor of herbal tea with vacuum-dried sweet basil leaves was similar to that with fresh leaves. Seven odor-active compounds (cineole, linalool, eugenol, octanal, 1-octanol, (E)-2-hexenal and (Z)-3-hexenol) from herbal teas were identified by capillary gas chromatographic-mass spectrometry and olfactometry analysis, and it was considered that three compounds (octanal, (E)-2-hexenal and (Z)-3-hexenol) were key compounds for describing the results of sensory evaluation. The structure of dried sweet basil leaves with water-absorption and fresh leaves was observed by differential interference contact microscopy, and their rheological characteristics were measured for storage modulus. As a result, the characteristics of vacuum-dried sweet basil were similar to those of fresh basil. These results suggest that investigation of the aroma using hot-water extraction, tissue structure and rheological characteristics could be effective approaches to qualitatively evaluate dried herbs

Pharmacokinetics of gefitinib predicts antitumor activity for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

INTRODUCTION: We assessed the relationship between the plasma concentration of gefitinib and its efficacy in Japanese patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Plasma trough levels of gefitinib were measured on days 3 (D3) and 8 (D8) by high-performance liquid chromatography in 44 patients with advanced NSCLC treated with 250 mg gefitinib daily. Eligibility criteria included performance status < or =3, age < or = 80 years, and stages IIIB-IV cancer. Epidermal growth factor receptor mutations in 23 patients were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: The median plasma gefitinib values were 662 ng/ml on D3 and 1064 ng/ml on D8, and the D8/D3 ratio was 1.587. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 71 days, and the median overall survival was 224 days. Adenocarcinoma, never smoking, and high D8/D3 ratio were associated with better PFS. Multivariate analysis showed that PFS was associated with never smoking and high D8/D3 ratio. Never-smokers with a high D8/D3 ratio showed the best PFS. Overall survival was not associated with the D8/D3 ratio. Epidermal growth factor receptor mutation analysis of 23 patients showed that 15 patients had exon 19 deletion and/or exon 21 point mutation. Median PFS was similar between mutation-positive and mutation-negative individuals in the high D8/D3 group, whereas mutation-negative individuals in the low D8/D3 group showed the worst median PFS. CONCLUSIONS: A high D8/D3 ratio was independently associated with better PFS in patients with NSCLC treated with gefitinib. Our findings suggest that the pharmacokinetics of gefitinib may be involved in its antitumor activity