Differences in Mechanisms of Orographic Rainfall over West Sumatra (Case Study: 10 April and 23 April 2004)

Two different mechanisms of orographic rainfall enhancement  in West Sumatra were investigated utilizing observed data during the Coupling Processes in the Equatorial Atmosphere (CPEA)-I campaign. The variation of the atmospheric conditions during the campaign was shown by rainfall, surface wind, humidity, and stability index. An X-band Doppler radar captured the atmospheric conditions related to the enhancement of orographic rainfall mechanisms. The dry and less stable atmospheric conditions resulted in the convective type of rainfall. In contrast, the humid and stable atmospheric conditions brought the large-scale rainfall in the mountainous region where the events took place coincided with the inactive and active MJO phases.

Optical IFU Observations of GOALS Sample with KOOLS-IFU on Seimei Telescope: Initial results of 9 U/LIRGs at z<z < 0.04

We present ionized gas properties of 9 local ultra/luminous infrared galaxies (U/LIRGs) at $z <$ 0.04 through IFU observations with KOOLS-IFU on Seimei Telescope. The observed targets are drawn from the Great Observatories All-sky LIRG Survey (GOALS), covering a wide range of merger stages. We successfully detect emission lines such as H$\beta$, [OIII]$\lambda$5007, H$\alpha$, [NII]$\lambda\lambda$6549,6583, and [SII]$\lambda\lambda$6717,6731 with a spectral resolution of $R$ = 1500-2000, which provides (i) spatially-resolved ($\sim$200-700 pc) moment map of ionized gas and (ii) diagnostics for active galactic nucleus (AGN) within the central $\sim$3--11 kpc in diameter for our sample. We find that [OIII] outflow that is expected to be driven by AGN tends to be stronger (i) towards the galactic center and (ii) as a sequence of merger stage. In particular, the outflow strength in the late-stage (stage D) mergers is about 1.5 times stronger than that in the early-state (stage B) mergers, which indicates that galaxy mergers could induce AGN-driven outflow and play an important role in the co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, and 2 tables, accepted for publication in PAS

Current status and future prospects of JAXA’s Astromaterials Reseach Group

第6回極域科学シンポジウム[OA] 南極隕石11月16日（月）　国立国語研究所 2階 講

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target