Physical conditions of the interstellar medium in star-forming galaxies at z~1.5

We present results from Subaru/FMOS near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy of 118 star-forming galaxies at $z\sim1.5$ in the Subaru Deep Field. These galaxies are selected as [OII]$\lambda$3727 emitters at $z\approx$ 1.47 and 1.62 from narrow-band imaging. We detect H$\alpha$ emission line in 115 galaxies, [OIII]$\lambda$5007 emission line in 45 galaxies, and H$\beta$, [NII]$\lambda$6584, and [SII]$\lambda\lambda$6716,6731 in 13, 16, and 6 galaxies, respectively. Including the [OII] emission line, we use the six strong nebular emission lines in the individual and composite rest-frame optical spectra to investigate physical conditions of the interstellar medium in star-forming galaxies at $z\sim$1.5. We find a tight correlation between H$\alpha$ and [OII], which suggests that [OII] can be a good star formation rate (SFR) indicator for galaxies at $z\sim1.5$. The line ratios of H$\alpha$/[OII] are consistent with those of local galaxies. We also find that [OII] emitters have strong [OIII] emission lines. The [OIII]/[OII] ratios are larger than normal star-forming galaxies in the local Universe, suggesting a higher ionization parameter. Less massive galaxies have larger [OIII]/[OII] ratios. With evidence that the electron density is consistent with local galaxies, the high ionization of galaxies at high redshifts may be attributed to a harder radiation field by a young stellar population and/or an increase in the number of ionizing photons from each massive star.Comment: Fixed a minor issue with LaTeX table numberin

A New Constraint on the Lyα\alpha Fraction of UV Very Bright Galaxies at Redshift 7

We study the extent to which very bright (-23.0 < MUV < -21.75) Lyman-break selected galaxies at redshifts z~7 display detectable Lya emission. To explore this issue, we have obtained follow-up optical spectroscopy of 9 z~7 galaxies from a parent sample of 24 z~7 galaxy candidates selected from the 1.65 sq.deg COSMOS-UltraVISTA and SXDS-UDS survey fields using the latest near-infrared public survey data, and new ultra-deep Subaru z'-band imaging (which we also present and describe in this paper). Our spectroscopy has yielded only one possible detection of Lya at z=7.168 with a rest-frame equivalent width EW_0 = 3.7 (+1.7/-1.1) Angstrom. The relative weakness of this line, combined with our failure to detect Lya emission from the other spectroscopic targets allows us to place a new upper limit on the prevalence of strong Lya emission at these redshifts. For conservative calculation and to facilitate comparison with previous studies at lower redshifts, we derive a 1-sigma upper limit on the fraction of UV bright galaxies at z~7 that display EW_0 > 50 Angstrom, which we estimate to be < 0.23. This result may indicate a weak trend where the fraction of strong Lya emitters ceases to rise, and possibly falls between z~6 and z~7. Our results also leave open the possibility that strong Lya may still be more prevalent in the brightest galaxies in the reionization era than their fainter counterparts. A larger spectroscopic sample of galaxies is required to derive a more reliable constraint on the neutral hydrogen fraction at z~7 based on the Lya fraction in the bright galaxies.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

INCS suppresses H1R gene expression

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of intranasal corticosteroid (INCS) administration on histamine H1 receptor (H1R) gene expression in the nasal mucosa of healthy participants and the effects of dexamethasone on basal and histamine-induced H1R mRNA expression, and histamine-induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in HeLa cells. Sixteen healthy participants were given INCS once daily for a week. After pretreatment of dexamethasone, HeLa cells were treated with histamine. Levels of H1R mRNA and phosphorylation of ERK were measured using real time PCR and immunoblot analysis, respectively. Levels of H1R mRNA in the nasal mucosa of healthy participants receiving INCS was significantly decreased. Dexamethasone suppressed basal levels of H1R mRNA, and histamine-induced up-regulation of H1R mRNA and ERK phosphorylation in HeLa cells. These data suggested that corticosteroid inhibited both basal transcription and histamine-induced transcriptional activation of H1R through its suppression of ERK phosphorylation in the signaling pathway involved in H1R gene transcription. It is further suggested that pre-seasonal prophylactic administration of INCS suppresses both basal and pollen-induced upregulation of H1R gene expression in the nasal mucosa of patients with pollinosis, leading to prevention of the exacerbation of nasal symptoms during peak pollen season

Phase II clinical trial of sorafenib plus interferon-alpha treatment for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma in Japan

Comparison of the current study with other sorafenib-interferon combination studies and with single-agent sorafenib studies [25]. (XLSX 12 kb

Rice Annotation Database (RAD): a contig-oriented database for map-based rice genomics

A contig-oriented database for annotation of the rice genome has been constructed to facilitate map-based rice genomics. The Rice Annotation Database has the following functional features: (i) extensive effort of manual annotations of P1-derived artificial chromosome/bacterial artificial chromosome clones can be merged at chromosome and contig-level; (ii) concise visualization of the annotation information such as the predicted genes, results of various prediction programs (RiceHMM, Genscan, Genscan+, Fgenesh, GeneMark, etc.), homology to expressed sequence tag, full-length cDNA and protein; (iii) user-friendly clone / gene query system; (iv) download functions for nucleotide, amino acid and coding sequences; (v) analysis of various features of the genome (GC-content, average value, etc.); and (vi) genome-wide homology search (BLAST) of contig- and chromosome-level genome sequence to allow comparative analysis with the genome sequence of other organisms. As of October 2004, the database contains a total of 215 Mb sequence with relevant annotation results including 30 000 manually curated genes. The database can provide the latest information on manual annotation as well as a comprehensive structural analysis of various features of the rice genome. The database can be accessed at http://rad.dna.affrc.go.jp/

Myocardial Impairment Detected by Late Gadolinium Enhancement in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Comparison with 99mTc-MIBI/Tetrofosmin and 123I-BMIPP SPECT

Purpose: Myocardial fibrosis is considered to be an important factor in myocardial dysfunction and sudden cardiac death in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). The purpose of this study was to compare myocardial fibrosis detected by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) on cardiac MRI with myocardial perfusion and fatty acid metabolism assessed by single photon emission computed tomography in HCM.Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 20 consecutive HCM patients (female, 7; mean age, 53.4 years) who underwent LGE, technetium-99m methoxyisobutylisonitrile/tetrofosmin (99mTc-MIBI/tetrofosmin), and iodine-123 beta-methyl-iodophenylpentadecanoic acid (123I-BMIPP) imaging. We calculated the myocardium-to-lumen signal ratio (M/L) for LGE in 17 segments based on the American Heart Association statement. Scoring of 99mTc-MIBI/tetrofosmin (PI) and 123I-BMIPP (BM) was performed for each segment using a 5-point scale (0, normal; 4, highly decreased).Results: Nineteen of 20 patients (95%) and 153 of 340 segments (45%) showed LGE. M/Ls were 0.42ｱ・.16, 0.55ｱ・.17, and 0.65ｱ・.24 in PI0/BM0, PI0/BM1-4 and PI1-4/BM1-4, respectively. All M/Ls were significantly higher than that of a normal control (0.34ｱ・.14) (p<0.001).Conclusions: Myocardial fibrosis in HCM can occur despite normal perfusion and fatty acid metabolism, and is more strongly associated with disorders of fatty acid metabolism than with perfusion abnormalities. M/L may be a useful indicator of disease severity

チイキ ノ トクセイ オ イカシタ チュウガッコウ ビジュツカ ノ キョウイク ナイヨウ : ビジュツ キョウイク ノ ラーニング リソース トシテノ トクシマ ブンカザイ タンキュウ

In Japan\u27s education that has a centralized character, how to reflect the environment surrounding schools into the educational contents is one of the important themes. Regarding the contents of art subject, it is often taken up as masterpieces of Western art and Japanese national treasures in the domain of appreciation. As the subject of learning, Masterpieces of Western art and the national treasure of Japan occupy the center position. Although we have no objection of learning on such learning subjects to guarantee the quality of education, we will emphasize the value of cultural properties more familiar to our students on this paper. Because we recognize that Japanese education is at a turning point shifting to so−called "active learning" inducing learners\u27 subjective studies. Based on these recognitions, we\u27ll examine the reason why learning about the familiar cultural properties promoting the subjective learning. In order to avoid showing only abstract debate and to suggest proposal for teaching materialization, Tokushima cultural heritage will be taken up as learning resources and we\u27ll discuss the methods and procedures how to incorporate them into the content of art classes in junior high school