Irreducible triangulations of surfaces with boundary

A triangulation of a surface is irreducible if no edge can be contracted to produce a triangulation of the same surface. In this paper, we investigate irreducible triangulations of surfaces with boundary. We prove that the number of vertices of an irreducible triangulation of a (possibly non-orientable) surface of genus g>=0 with b>=0 boundaries is O(g+b). So far, the result was known only for surfaces without boundary (b=0). While our technique yields a worse constant in the O(.) notation, the present proof is elementary, and simpler than the previous ones in the case of surfaces without boundary

Permanent relief from intermittent cold stress-induced fibromyalgia-like abnormal pain by repeated intrathecal administration of antidepressants

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by chronic widespread pain, which is often refractory to conventional painkillers. Numerous clinical studies have demonstrated that antidepressants are effective in treating FM pain. We previously established a mouse model of FM-like pain, induced by intermittent cold stress (ICS).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we find that ICS exposure causes a transient increase in plasma corticosterone concentration, but not in anxiety or depression-like behaviors. A single intrathecal injection of an antidepressant, such as milnacipran, amitriptyline, mianserin or paroxetine, had an acute analgesic effect on ICS-induced thermal hyperalgesia at post-stress day 1 in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, repeated daily antidepressant treatments during post-stress days 1-5 gradually reversed the reduction in thermal pain threshold, and this recovery was maintained for at least 7 days after the final treatment. In addition, relief from mechanical allodynia, induced by ICS exposure, was also observed at day 9 after the cessation of antidepressant treatment. In contrast, the intravenous administration of these antidepressants at conventional doses failed to provide relief.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results suggest that the repetitive intrathecal administration of antidepressants permanently cures ICS-induced FM pain in mice.</p

The Hyper Suprime-Cam SSP Survey: Overview and Survey Design

Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) is a wide-field imaging camera on the prime focus of the 8.2m Subaru telescope on the summit of Maunakea in Hawaii. A team of scientists from Japan, Taiwan and Princeton University is using HSC to carry out a 300-night multi-band imaging survey of the high-latitude sky. The survey includes three layers: the Wide layer will cover 1400 deg$^2$ in five broad bands ($grizy$), with a $5\,\sigma$ point-source depth of $r \approx 26$. The Deep layer covers a total of 26~deg$^2$ in four fields, going roughly a magnitude fainter, while the UltraDeep layer goes almost a magnitude fainter still in two pointings of HSC (a total of 3.5 deg$^2$). Here we describe the instrument, the science goals of the survey, and the survey strategy and data processing. This paper serves as an introduction to a special issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, which includes a large number of technical and scientific papers describing results from the early phases of this survey.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables. Corrected for a typo in the coordinates of HSC-Wide spring equatorial field in Table

Pulmonary function testing in HTLV-I and HTLV-II infected humans: a cohort study

BACKGROUND: HTLV-I infection has been linked to lung pathology and HTLV-II has been associated with an increased incidence of pneumonia and acute bronchitis. However it is unknown whether HTLV-I or -II infection alters pulmonary function. METHODS: We performed pulmonary function testing on HTLV-I, HTLV-II and HTLV seronegative subjects from the HTLV outcomes study (HOST), including vital capacity (VC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)), and diffusing lung capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) corrected for hemoglobin and lung volume. Multivariable analysis adjusted for differences in age, gender, race/ethnicity, height and smoking history. RESULTS: Mean (standard deviation) pulmonary function values among the 257 subjects were as follows: FVC = 3.74 (0.89) L, FEV(1 )= 2.93 (0.67) L, DLCO(corr )= 23.82 (5.89) ml/min/mmHg, alveolar ventilation (VA) = 5.25 (1.20) L and DLCO(corr)/VA = 4.54 (0.87) ml/min/mmHg/L. There were no differences in FVC, FEV1 and DLCO(corr)/VA by HTLV status. For DLCO(corr), HTLV-I and HTLV-II subjects had slightly lower values than seronegatives, but neither difference was statistically significant after adjustment for confounding. CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference in measured pulmonary function and diffusing capacity in generally healthy HTLV-I and HTLV-II subjects compared to seronegatives. These results suggest that previously described HTLV-associated abnormalities in bronchoalveolar cells and fluid may not affect pulmonary function

Cosmic Galaxy-IGM HI Relation at z similar to 2-3 Probed in the COSMOS/UltraVISTA 1.6 Deg(2) Field

We present spatial correlations of galaxies and IGM neutral hydrogen H i in the COSMOS/UltraVISTA 1.62 deg2 field. Our data consist of 13,415 photo-z galaxies at z ~ 2–3 with ${K}_{s}\lt 23.4$ and the Lyα forest absorption lines in the background quasar spectra selected from SDSS data with no signature of damped Lyα system contamination. We estimate a galaxy overdensity δ gal in an impact parameter of 2.5 (proper) Mpc, and calculate the Lyα forest fluctuations ${\delta }_{\langle F\rangle }$ whose negative values correspond to the strong Lyα forest absorption lines. We identify weak evidence of an anti-correlation between δ gal and ${\delta }_{\langle F\rangle }$ with a Spearman's rank correlation coefficient of −0.39 suggesting that the galaxy overdensities and the Lyα forest absorption lines positively correlate in space at the ~90% confidence level. This positive correlation indicates that high-z galaxies exist around an excess of H i gas in the Lyα forest. We find four cosmic volumes, dubbed A obs, B obs, C obs, and D obs, that have extremely large (small) values of δ gal sime 0.8 (−1) and ${\delta }_{\langle F\rangle }\simeq 0.1(-0.4)$, three of which, B obs–D obs, significantly depart from the δ gal–${\delta }_{\langle F\rangle }$ correlation, and weaken the correlation signal. We perform cosmological hydrodynamical simulations and compare with our observational results. Our simulations reproduce the δ gal–${\delta }_{\langle F\rangle }$ correlation, agreeing with the observational results. Moreover, our simulations have model counterparts of A obs–D obs, and suggest that the observations pinpoint, by chance, a galaxy overdensity like a proto-cluster, gas filaments lying on the quasar sightline, a large void, and orthogonal low-density filaments. Our simulations indicate that the significant departures of B obs–D obs are produced by the filamentary large-scale structures and the observation sightline effects

Cosmic Galaxy-IGM HI Relation at z similar to 2-3 Probed in the COSMOS/UltraVISTA 1.6 Deg(2) Field

We present spatial correlations of galaxies and IGM neutral hydrogen H i in the COSMOS/UltraVISTA 1.62 deg2 field. Our data consist of 13,415 photo-z galaxies at z ~ 2–3 with ${K}_{s}\lt 23.4$ and the Lyα forest absorption lines in the background quasar spectra selected from SDSS data with no signature of damped Lyα system contamination. We estimate a galaxy overdensity δ gal in an impact parameter of 2.5 (proper) Mpc, and calculate the Lyα forest fluctuations ${\delta }_{\langle F\rangle }$ whose negative values correspond to the strong Lyα forest absorption lines. We identify weak evidence of an anti-correlation between δ gal and ${\delta }_{\langle F\rangle }$ with a Spearman's rank correlation coefficient of −0.39 suggesting that the galaxy overdensities and the Lyα forest absorption lines positively correlate in space at the ~90% confidence level. This positive correlation indicates that high-z galaxies exist around an excess of H i gas in the Lyα forest. We find four cosmic volumes, dubbed A obs, B obs, C obs, and D obs, that have extremely large (small) values of δ gal sime 0.8 (−1) and ${\delta }_{\langle F\rangle }\simeq 0.1(-0.4)$, three of which, B obs–D obs, significantly depart from the δ gal–${\delta }_{\langle F\rangle }$ correlation, and weaken the correlation signal. We perform cosmological hydrodynamical simulations and compare with our observational results. Our simulations reproduce the δ gal–${\delta }_{\langle F\rangle }$ correlation, agreeing with the observational results. Moreover, our simulations have model counterparts of A obs–D obs, and suggest that the observations pinpoint, by chance, a galaxy overdensity like a proto-cluster, gas filaments lying on the quasar sightline, a large void, and orthogonal low-density filaments. Our simulations indicate that the significant departures of B obs–D obs are produced by the filamentary large-scale structures and the observation sightline effects

Modeling and simulation of polycrystalline ZnO thin-film transistors

Thin film transistors (TFTs) made of transparent channel semiconductors such as ZnO are of great technological importance, because their insensitivity to visible light makes device structures simple. In fact, several demonstrations are made on ZnO TFT achieving reasonably good field effect mobilities of 1-10 cm2/Vs, but reveal insufficient device performances probably due to the presence of dense grain boundaries. We have modeled grain boundaries in ZnO thin film transistors (TFTs) and performed device simulation using a two-dimensional device simulator for understanding the grain boundary effects on the device performance. Actual polycrystalline ZnO TFT modeling is commenced with considering a single grain boundary in the middle of the TFT channel formulating with a Gaussian defect distribution localized in the grain boundary. A double Shottky barrier is formed in the grain boundary and its barrier height are analyzed as functions of defect density and gate bias. The simulation is extended to the TFTs with many grain boundaries to quantitatively analyze the potential profiles developed along the channel. One of the big contrasts of polycrystalline ZnO TFT compared with a polycrystalline Si TFT is that much smaller nanoscaled grain size induces heavy overlap of double Shottky barriers. Through the simulation, we can estimate the total trap state density localized in the grain boundaries for a polycrystalline ZnO by knowing apparent mobility and grain size in the device.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Applied Physic

Two Distinct Mechanisms Underlying γδ T Cell-Mediated Regulation of Collagen Type I in Lung Fibroblasts

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic intractable lung disease, leading to　respiratory failure and death. Although anti-fibrotic agents delay disease progression, they are not considered curative treatments, and alternative modalities have attracted attention. We examined the effect of human γδ T cells on collagen type I in lung fibroblasts. Collagen type I was markedly reduced in a γδ T cell number-dependent manner following treatment with γδ T cells expanded with tetrakis-pivaloxymethyl 2-(thiazole-2-ylamino) ethylidene-1,1-bisphosphonate (PTA) and interleukin-2. Collagen type I levels remained unchanged on addition of γδ T cells to the culture system through a trans-well culture membrane, suggesting that cell–cell contact is essential for reducing its levels in lung fibroblasts. Re-stimulating γδ T cells with (E)-4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-2-enyl diphosphate (HMBPP) reduced collagen type I levels without cell–cell contact, indicating the existence of HMBPP-induced soluble anti-fibrotic factors in γδ T cells. Adding anti-interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-neutralizing mAb restored collagen type I levels, demonstrating that human γδ T cell-derived IFN-γ reduces collagen type I levels. Conversely, interleukin-18 augmented γδ T cell-induced suppression of collagen type I. Therefore, human γδ T cells reduce collagen levels in lung fibroblasts via two distinct mechanisms; adoptive γδ T cell transfer is potentially a new therapeutic candidate