Possible Progression of Mass-flow Processes around Young Intermediate-mass Stars Based on High-resolution Near-infrared Spectroscopy. I. Taurus

We used the WINERED spectrograph to perform near-infrared high-resolution spectroscopy (resolving power R = 28,000) of 13 young intermediate-mass stars in the Taurus star-forming region. Based on the presence of near- and mid-infrared continuum emission, young intermediate-mass stars can be classified into three different evolutionary stages: Phases I, II, and III in the order of evolution. Our obtained spectra (λ = 0.91–1.35 μm) depict He i λ10830 and Pβ lines that are sensitive to magnetospheric accretion and winds. We also investigate five sources each for Pβ and He i lines that were obtained from previous studies along with our targets. We observe that the Pβ profile morphologies in Phases I and II corresponded to an extensive variety of emission features; however, these features are not detected in Phase III. We also observe that the He i profile morphologies are mostly broad subcontinuum absorption lines in Phase I, narrow subcontinuum absorption lines in Phase II, and centered subcontinuum absorption features in Phase III. Our results indicate that the profile morphologies exhibit a progression of the dominant mass-flow processes: stellar wind and probably magnetospheric accretion in the very early stage, magnetospheric accretion and disk wind in the subsequent stage, and no activities in the final stage. These interpretations further suggest that opacity in protoplanetary disks plays an important role in mass-flow processes. Results also indicate that He i absorption features in Phase III sources, associated with chromospheric activities even in such young phases, are characteristics of intermediate-mass stars

MEFV gene mutations in neuro-Behçet's disease and neuro-Sweet disease

ArticleAnnals of clinical and translational neurology. 6(12): 2595-2600 (2019)journal articl

Genetic variants in mannose receptor gene (MRC1) confer susceptibility to increased risk of sarcoidosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mannose receptor (MR) is a member of the C-type lectin receptor family involved in pathogen molecular-pattern recognition and thought to be critical in shaping host immune response. The aim of this study was to investigate potential associations of genetic variants in the <it>MRC1 </it>gene with sarcoidosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), encompassing the <it>MRC1 </it>gene, were genotyped in a total of 605 Japanese consisting of 181 sarcoidosis patients and 424 healthy controls.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Suggestive evidence of association between rs691005 SNP and risk of sarcoidosis was observed independent of sex and age in a recessive model (<it>P </it>= 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results suggest that <it>MRC1 </it>is an important candidate gene for sarcoidosis. This is the first study to imply that genetic variants in <it>MRC1</it>, a major member of the C-type lectin, contribute to the development of sarcoidosis.</p

Increased Stathmin1 Expression in the Dentate Gyrus of Mice Causes Abnormal Axonal Arborizations

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is involved in multiple brain functions. To clarify the cause of abnormal behavior in PACAP deficient-mice, we attempted the identification of genes whose expression was altered in the dentate gyrus of PACAP-deficient mice using the differential display method. Expression of stathmin1 was up-regulated in the dentate gyrus at both the mRNA and protein levels. PACAP stimulation inhibited stathmin1 expression in PC12 cells, while increased stathmin1expression in neurons of the subgranular zone and in primary cultured hippocampal neurons induced abnormal arborization of axons. We also investigated the pathways involved in PACAP deficiency. Ascl1 binds to E10 box of the stathmin1 promoter and increases stathmin1 expression. Inhibitory bHLH proteins (Hes1 and Id3) were rapidly up-regulated by PACAP stimulation, and Hes1 could suppress Ascl1 expression and Id3 could inhibit Ascl1 signaling. We also detected an increase of stathmin1 expression in the brains of schizophrenic patients. These results suggest that up-regulation of stathmin1 in the dentate gyrus, secondary to PACAP deficiency, may create abnormal neuronal circuits that cause abnormal behavior

Prevention of hypoglycemia by intermittent-scanning continuous glucose monitoring device combined with structured education in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus : A randomized, crossover trial

Aims: We conducted a randomized, crossover trial to compare intermittent-scanning continuous glucose monitoring (isCGM) device with structured education (Intervention) to self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) (Control) in the reduction of time below range. Methods: This crossover trial involved 104 adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) using multiple daily injections. Participants were randomly allocated to either sequence Intervention/Control or sequence Control/Intervention. During the Intervention period which lasted 84 days, participants used the first-generation FreeStyle Libre (Abbott Diabetes Care, Alameda, CA, USA) and received structured education on how to prevent hypoglycemia based on the trend arrow and by frequent sensor scanning (≥10 times a day). Confirmatory SMBG was conducted before dosing insulin. The Control period lasted 84 days. The primary endpoint was the decrease in the time below range (TBR; <70 mg/dL). Results: The time below range was significantly reduced in the Intervention arm compared to the Control arm (2.42 ± 1.68 h/day [10.1 %±7.0 %] vs 3.10 ± 2.28 h/day [12.9 %±9.5 %], P = 0.012). The ratio of high-risk participants with low blood glucose index >5 was significantly reduced (8.6 % vs 23.7 %, P < 0.001). Conclusions: The use of isCGM combined with structured education significantly reduced the time below range in patients with T1DM

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Balance of hip and trunk muscle activity is associated with increased anterior pelvic tilt during prone hip extension.

Prone hip extension has been used as a self-perturbation task to test the stability of the lumbopelvic region. However, the relationship between recruitment patterns in the hip and trunk muscles and lumbopelvic kinematics remains unknown. The present study aimed to examine if the balance of hip and trunk muscle activities are related to pelvic motion and low back muscle activity during prone hip extension. Sixteen healthy participants performed prone hip extension from 30° of hip flexion to 10° of hip extension. Surface electromyography (of the gluteus maximus, semitendinosus, rectus femoris, tensor fasciae latae, multifidus, and erector spinae) and pelvic kinematic measurements were collected. Results showed that increased activity of the hip flexor (tensor fasciae latae) relative to that of hip extensors (gluteus maximus and semitendinosus) was significantly associated with increased anterior pelvic tilt during hip extension (r=0.52). Increased anterior pelvic tilt was also significantly related to the delayed onset timing of the contralateral and ipsilateral multifidus (r=0.57, r=0.53) and contralateral erector spinae (r=0.63). Additionally, the decrease of the gluteus maximus activity relative to the semitendinosus was significantly related to increased muscle activity of the ipsilateral erector spinae (r=-0.57). These results indicate that imbalance between the agonist and antagonist hip muscles and delayed trunk muscle onset would increase motion in the lumbopelvic region