Novel treatment strategies for chronic kidney disease: insights from the animal kingdom

Many of the >2 million animal species that inhabit Earth have developed survival mechanisms that aid in the prevention of obesity, kidney disease, starvation, dehydration and vascular ageing; however, some animals remain susceptible to these complications. Domestic and captive wild felids, for example, show susceptibility to chronic kidney disease (CKD), potentially linked to the high protein intake of these animals. By contrast, naked mole rats are a model of longevity and are protected from extreme environmental conditions through mechanisms that provide resistance to oxidative stress. Biomimetic studies suggest that the transcription factor nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) offers protection in extreme environmental conditions and promotes longevity in the animal kingdom. Similarly, during months of fasting, immobilization and anuria, hibernating bears are protected from muscle wasting, azotaemia, thrombotic complications, organ damage and osteoporosis - features that are often associated with CKD. Improved understanding of the susceptibility and protective mechanisms of these animals and others could provide insights into novel strategies to prevent and treat several human diseases, such as CKD and ageing-associated complications. An integrated collaboration between nephrologists and experts from other fields, such as veterinarians, zoologists, biologists, anthropologists and ecologists, could introduce a novel approach for improving human health and help nephrologists to find novel treatment strategies for CKD

Bulk composition and classification of the Tahara meteorite fell in Central Japan on March 1991

The Tahara meteorite which fell on March 26,1991 on a ship\u27s deck anchored at Tahara, Aichi-ken, Japan was found at Matsue-shi, Shimaneken on December 28,1992. It has been classified as an H4-5 chondrite using optical and electron microscopy and bulk chemical analysis. This equilibrated chondrite is completely different from the Mihonoseki L chondrite which fell on December 10,1992 in the same area of Japan, Shimane-ken. The retrieval process of new Japanese meteorites is similar to Antarctic meteorites of different origins which are collected in the same area

Pressure evolution of electronic structure and magnetism in the layered van der Waals ferromagnet CrGeTe3_3

Layered van der Waals ferromagnets, which preserve their magnetic properties down to exfoliated monolayers, are fueling a bonanza of fundamental research and nanoscale device demonstration. CrGeTe$_3$ is a prime example for this class of materials. Its temperature-pressure phase diagram features an insulator-to-metal transition and a significant increase of ferromagnetic Curie-Weiss temperatures upon entering the metallic state. We use density functional theory to understand the magnetic exchange interactions in CrGeTe$_3$ at ambient and elevated pressure. We calculate Heisenberg exchange couplings, which provide the correct ferromagnetic ground state and explain the experimentally observed pressure dependence of magnetism in CrGeTe$_3$. Furthermore, we combine density functional theory with dynamical mean field theory to investigate the effects of electronic correlations and the nature of the high pressure metallic state in CrGeTe$_3$.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

Bose-Einstein condensation and superfluidity of dilute Bose gas in a random potential

We develop the dilute Bose gas model with random potential in order to understand the Bose system in random media such as 4He in porous glass. Using the random potential taking account of the pore size dependence, we can compare quantitatively the calculated specific heat with the experimental results, without free parameters. The agreement is excellent at low temperatures, which justifies our model. The relation between Bose condensation and superfluidity is discussed. Our model can predict some unobserved phenomena in this system.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Gapless Excitation above a Domain Wall Ground State in a Flat Band Hubbard Model

We construct a set of exact ground states with a localized ferromagnetic domain wall and with an extended spiral structure in a deformed flat-band Hubbard model in arbitrary dimensions. We show the uniqueness of the ground state for the half-filled lowest band in a fixed magnetization subspace. The ground states with these structures are degenerate with all-spin-up or all-spin-down states under the open boundary condition. We represent a spin one-point function in terms of local electron number density, and find the domain wall structure in our model. We show the existence of gapless excitations above a domain wall ground state in dimensions higher than one. On the other hand, under the periodic boundary condition, the ground state is the all-spin-up or all-spin-down state. We show that the spin-wave excitation above the all-spin-up or -down state has an energy gap because of the anisotropy.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figure. Typos are fixe