High-resolution reconstruction of late Pleistocene climate based on TOC content in a 54m sediment core drilled from Takano Formation, central Japan

The Takano Formation of late Pleistocene lacustrine sediment is distributed at the southern Nagano City. The TKN-2004 core, 53.88 m long, was taken at the central part or the basin, and is composed mostly or homogenous clayey silt. Age of the sediment was estimated from the relationship between radiometric ages and calibrated depths of DKP,Aso-4,K-Tz,Ata and Aso-2tephras, postulating that the sedimentation rate is constant.Paleoclimate from 169ka to 37ka was reconstructed on the basis of TOC content variation. The long-term TOC fluctuations are concordant with the SPECMAP curve. This result is supported by pollen composition. The short-term variations are similar to stadial-interstadial cycles in the Greenland ice cores, and most of warm peaks can be correlated with IS 9 to 25.長野市南部に分布する更新世後期の湖成層である高野層において,全層ボーリングを行い53.88mの連続したコア試料を得た.コア試料は,黒灰色ではぼ均質な粘土質シルト～シルトの層相を示し,多数のテフラ層を挟んでいる.これらのうち5つの広域指標テフラ(DKP,Aso-4,K-Tz, Ata,Aso-2)の放射年代値と補正深度を用いて年代モデルを作成した.高野層のTOC含有率の経年変動は,本コア試料中の花粉組成変化と同調しており,およそ169ka～37kaにおける数万年周期の長期の気候変動を示している.この変動はMIS 6-3前半における海洋酸素同位体比変動と同調しており,各ステージに対比される長期の温暖期･寒冷期が認識できた.また,数百～数千年周期の短期の寒暖変動も存在しており,これらは亜氷期-亜間氷期サイクルに相当すると考えられる.また,それらの温暖期の多くはIS9～25に対比される可能性がある.ArticleJournal of the Sedimentological Society of Japan. 64:37-41 (2007)journal articl

Estimation of sources and inflow of dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the sediment core of Lake Suwa, Japan

ArticleEnviromental Pollution. 138(3): 529-537 (2005)journal articl

New procedures for testing whether stock price processes are martingales

We propose procedures for testing whether stock price processes are martingales based on limit order type betting strategies. We first show that the null hypothesis of martingale property of a stock price process can be tested based on the capital process of a betting strategy. In particular with high frequency Markov type strategies we find that martingale null hypotheses are rejected for many stock price processes

Shimanto geosyncline and Kuroshio paleoland

The late Mesozoic to early Neogene geosyncline in the Outer zone of Southwest Japan has been studied in detail in the Kii Peninsula by the Research Group for the Shimanto Geosyncline. The existence of the Kuroshio Paleoland to the south of the geosyncline was inferred by various sedimentologic evidences. The Shimanto belt in the Kii Peninsula is divided from north to south into three zones of Cretaceous, Eocene and Oligocene to lower Miocene. In these belts thick geosynclinal sediments were accumulated showing coarsening upward. The southward migration of the basin occurred in Cretaceous/Eocene, Eocene/Oligocene, and in early Miocene. In the present paper the reconstruction of paleogeography of the Shimanto geosyncline was attempted and the Kuroshio Paleoland was discussed in relation to the geohistory of the Philippine Sea. In spite of the detailed geologic survey in the Kii Peninsula there is no evidence of large exotic blocks nor tectonic mélanges, and this does not support the plate tectonic model ofthe Pacific-type orogeny for the Shimanto belt.ArticleJournal of Physics of the Earth. 26(suppl):357-366 (1978)journal articl

SHIMANTO GEOSYNCLINE AND KUROSHIO PALEOLAND

The late Mesozoic to early Neogene geosyncline in the Outer zone of Southwest Japan has been studied in detail in the Kii Peninsula by the Research Group for the Shimanto Geosyncline. The existence of the Kuroshio Paleoland to the south of the geosyncline was inferred by various sedimentologic evidences. The Shimanto belt in the Kii Peninsula is divided from north to south into three zones of Cretaceous, Eocene and Oligocene to lower Miocene. In these belts thick geosynclinal sediments were accumulated showing coarsening upward. The southward migration of the basin occurred in Cretaceous/Eocene, Eocene/Oligocene, and in early Miocene. In the present paper the reconstruction of paleogeography of the Shimanto geosyncline was attempted and the Kuroshio Paleoland was discussed in relation to the geohistory of the Philippine Sea. In spite of the detailed geologic survey in the Kii Peninsula there is no evidence of large exotic blocks nor tectonic mélanges, and this does not support the plate tectonic model ofthe Pacific-type orogeny for the Shimanto belt.ArticleJournal of Physics of the Earth. 26(suppl):357-366 (1978)journal articl

Protective effect of stromal Dickkopf-3 in prostate cancer: opposing roles for TGFBI and ECM-1

Aberrant transforming growth factor–β (TGF-β) signaling is a hallmark of the stromal microenvironment in cancer. Dickkopf-3 (Dkk-3), shown to inhibit TGF-β signaling, is downregulated in prostate cancer and upregulated in the stroma in benign prostatic hyperplasia, but the function of stromal Dkk-3 is unclear. Here we show that DKK3 silencing in WPMY-1 prostate stromal cells increases TGF-β signaling activity and that stromal cellconditioned media inhibit prostate cancer cell invasion in a Dkk-3-dependent manner. DKK3 silencing increased the level of the cell-adhesion regulator TGF-β–induced protein (TGFBI) in stromal and epithelial cell-conditioned media, and recombinant TGFBI increased prostate cancer cell invasion. Reduced expression of Dkk-3 in patient tumors was associated with increased expression of TGFBI. DKK3 silencing reduced the level of extracellular matrix protein-1 (ECM-1) in prostate stromal cell-conditioned media but increased it in epithelial cell-conditioned media, and recombinant ECM-1 inhibited TGFBI-induced prostate cancer cell invasion. Increased ECM1 and DKK3 mRNA expression in prostate tumors was associated with increased relapse-free survival. These observations are consistent with a model in which the loss of Dkk-3 in prostate cancer leads to increased secretion of TGFBI and ECM-1, which have tumor-promoting and tumor-protective roles, respectively. Determining how the balance between the opposing roles of extracellular factors influences prostate carcinogenesis will be key to developing therapies that target the tumor microenvironment

Pulsed Nonlinear Surface Acoustic Waves in Crystals

Abstract: Predictions from a recent theory for the propagation of nonlinear surface waves in anisotropic solids are comp~ed with measurements of laser-generated surface-wave pulses in silicon. These are the first reported comparisons of theory and experiment for the nonlinear evolution of surface waves in a crystal. THEORY AND EXPERIMENT A theoretical model was developed recently [1] that describes the propagation of plane nonlinear surface waves in anisotropic media. The spectral equations for the jth vector component (j = x, y, z) of the particle velocity in the surface wave are where x is the direction of propagation, z the coordinate normal to the traction-free surface of the solid, w the fundamental angular frequency and k the corresponding wavenurnber in the expansion; tinj (z) are eigenfunctions of the linear problem, and Rlm is a nonlinearity matrix that is known explicitly in terms of the second-and third-order elastic constants of the material. The coupled equations for Vn(x) are solved numerically, with the ad hoc absorption coefficients a~= n2Q1 intreduced for numerical stability when shocks are formed. Numerical simulations were reported for propagation in several real tryst als, and for different surface cuts and propagation directions [2]. This previous work [1,2] focused on radiation from monofrequency sources. Our purpose here is to report comparison of the theory with measurements of pulsed nonlinear surface waves in crystalline silicon. The present work thus extends an earlier comparison of theory and experiment [3] for nonlinear Rayleigh waves in an isotropic solid. Generation and detection of the surface waves were accomplished with Nd:YAG l~ers [3][4][5]. Laser radiation of wavelength 1064 nm, pulse duration 7 ns, and energy up to 50 mJ generated the surface waves. The radiation was focused with a cylindrical lens into a thin strip 6 mm by 50 pm on the surface of crystalline silicon cut along its (11 1) plane. To enhance the conversion of optical to elastic energy, a liquid layer having a large optical absorption coefficient was deposited on the surface of the silicon in the excitation region. The surface waves were detected by the deflection of a probe laser beam (diode pumped Nd:YAG, wavelength 532 nm, power 40 mW) that irradiated spots of approximately 4 pm in diameter on the surface of the silicon at distances 5 mm and 21 mm from the excitation region. The reflected probe signals were detected by two photodiodes, the output from which is proportional to the vertical velocity component v. at the surface. Surface wave pulses in these experiments had durations of 20-40 ns and peak strains of order 10-2. RESULTS Figures 1(a)-(c) show the measured waveforms and peak-normalized spectrum at distance x = 5 mm from the excitation region. Propagation of the surface wave was in the (112) direction of the (111) plane, and because of symmetry VV= O. Linear theory was used to compute the horizontal velocity VZ [1(b)] from the measured vertical velocity v= [1(a)]. The measurement at z = 5 mm was used w the starting condition for the computations, and the resulting predictions for the waveforms and spectra at z = 21 mm are shown as dashed lines i

Expression and Differential Responsiveness of Central Nervous System Glial Cell Populations to the Acute Phase Protein Serum Amyloid A

Acute-phase response is a systemic reaction to environmental/inflammatory insults and involves hepatic production of acute-phase proteins, including serum amyloid A (SAA). Extrahepatically, SAA immunoreactivity is found in axonal myelin sheaths of cortex in Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis (MS), although its cellular origin is unclear. We examined the responses of cultured rat cortical astrocytes, microglia and oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) to master pro-inflammatory cytokine tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-\u3b1 and lipopolysaccaride (LPS). TNF-\u3b1 time-dependently increased Saa1 (but not Saa3) mRNA expression in purified microglia, enriched astrocytes, and OPCs (as did LPS for microglia and astrocytes). Astrocytes depleted of microglia were markedly less responsive to TNF-\u3b1 and LPS, even after re-addition of microglia. Microglia and enriched astrocytes showed complementary Saa1 expression profiles following TNF-\u3b1 or LPS challenge, being higher in microglia with TNF-\u3b1 and higher in astrocytes with LPS. Recombinant human apo-SAA stimulated production of both inflammatory mediators and its own mRNA in microglia and enriched, but not microglia-depleted astrocytes. Co-ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide/luteolin, an established anti-inflammatory/neuroprotective agent, reduced Saa1 expression in OPCs subjected to TNF-\u3b1 treatment. These last data, together with past findings suggest that co-ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide/luteolin may be a novel approach in the treatment of inflammatory demyelinating disorders like MS

WNT signalling in prostate cancer

Genome sequencing and gene expression analyses of prostate tumours have highlighted the potential importance of genetic and epigenetic changes observed in WNT signalling pathway components in prostate tumours-particularly in the development of castration-resistant prostate cancer. WNT signalling is also important in the prostate tumour microenvironment, in which WNT proteins secreted by the tumour stroma promote resistance to therapy, and in prostate cancer stem or progenitor cells, in which WNT-β-catenin signals promote self-renewal or expansion. Preclinical studies have demonstrated the potential of inhibitors that target WNT receptor complexes at the cell membrane or that block the interaction of β-catenin with lymphoid enhancer-binding factor 1 and the androgen receptor, in preventing prostate cancer progression. Some WNT signalling inhibitors are in phase I trials, but they have yet to be tested in patients with prostate cancer

The ACER pollen and charcoal database: a global resource to document vegetation and fire response to abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period

Quaternary records provide an opportunity to examine the nature of the vegetation and fire responses to rapid past climate changes comparable in velocity and magnitude to those expected in the 21st-century. The best documented examples of rapid climate change in the past are the warming events associated with the Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) cycles during the last glacial period, which were sufficiently large to have had a potential feedback through changes in albedo and greenhouse gas emissions on climate. Previous reconstructions of vegetation and fire changes during the D–O cycles used independently constructed age models, making it difficult to compare the changes between different sites and regions. Here, we present the ACER (Abrupt Climate Changes and Environmental Responses) global database, which includes 93 pollen records from the last glacial period (73–15 ka) with a temporal resolution better than 1000 years, 32 of which also provide charcoal records. A harmonized and consistent chronology based on radiometric dating (14C, 234U∕230Th, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), 40Ar∕39Ar-dated tephra layers) has been constructed for 86 of these records, although in some cases additional information was derived using common control points based on event stratigraphy. The ACER database compiles metadata including geospatial and dating information, pollen and charcoal counts, and pollen percentages of the characteristic biomes and is archived in Microsoft AccessTM at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.870867