Volume of Moduli Space of Vortex Equations and Localization

We evaluate volume of moduli space of BPS vortices on a compact Riemann surface by using topological field theory and localization technique developed by Moore, Nekrasov and Shatashvili. We apply this technique to Abelian (ANO) vortex and show that the volume of moduli space agrees with the previous results obtained by integrating over the moduli space metric. We extend the evaluation to non-Abelian gauge groups and multi-flavors. We also compare our results with the volume of the Kahler quotient space inspired by the brane configuration.Comment: 45 pages, 1 figure, note and references adde

The Iwakura Mission in Britain, 1872

In London, at the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (LSE), a symposium was held on 6 December 1997 - the anniversary of the day when the members of Iwakura's delegation were received by Queen Victoria. Comprising four lectures the symposium was attended by a packed audience of some 75 people including the Joint Chairman and many members of the Japan Society, several senior representatives of the Japanese Embassy, as well as staff and students. Each lecturer focused sharply on a particular aspect of the Mission's work in Britain that fell within his or her special field and each prompted numerous questions and much discussion. It is some measure of the great range of subjects that the Mission was attempting to cover that there was no real overlap between any of the four papers. They are now included in their entirety in this volume.Iwakura misson, Victorian London, Kume Kunitake, Iwakura Tomomi, Ito Hirobumi, education, industry, exports, religion, Kairan Jikki chronicle, Meiji government, unequal treaties, embassy, 1872, Britain, Japan, America.

Epidemiology of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Epidemiology is the study of the frequency and distribution of diseases and factors related to the development of diseases. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a rare, chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that affects many tissues and organs, whose female-to-male incidence ratio is 6:10 for childbearing age. Its chronic intractable nature has a significant impact on medical care utilization, activities of daily living, and quality of life. However, the etiology of SLE has not yet been elucidated in detail, although genetic factors as well as environmental factors are thought to play a role in its development. In this chapter, we introduce the incidence and the prevalence of SLE as well as factors related to the development of SLE and discuss how to prevent the development of SLE

Moduli space volume of vortex and localization

Volume of moduli space of BPS vortices on a compact genus h Riemann surface Sigma_h is evaluated by means of topological field theory and localization technique. Vortex in Abelian gauge theory with a single charged scalar field (ANO vortex) is studied first and is found that the volume of the moduli space agrees with the previous results obtained more directly by integrating over the moduli space metric. Next we extend the evaluation to non-Abelian gauge groups and multi-flavors of scalar fields in the fundamental representation. We find that the result of localization can be consistently understood in terms of moduli matrix formalism wherever possible. More details are found in our paper in Prog.Theor.Phys.126 (2011) 637.Comment: 10 pages, talk at the international conference "quantum theory and symmetries 7" in prague, august 7-13, 201

In vivo T Cell Activation in Lymphoid Tissues is Inhibited in the Oxygen-Poor Microenvironment

Activation of immune cells is under control of immunological and physiological regulatory mechanisms to ensure adequate destruction of pathogens with the minimum collateral damage to “innocent” bystander cells. The concept of physiological negative regulation of immune response has been advocated based on the finding of the critical immunoregulatory role of extracellular adenosine. Local tissue oxygen tension was proposed to function as one of such physiological regulatory mechanisms of immune responses. In the current study, we utilized in vivo marker of local tissue hypoxia pimonidazole hydrochloride (Hypoxyprobe-1) in the flowcytometric analysis of oxygen levels to which lymphocytes are exposed in vivo. The level of exposure to hypoxia in vivo was low in B cells and the levels increased in the following order: T cells < NKT cells < NK cells. The thymus was more hypoxic than the spleen and lymph nodes, suggesting the variation in the degree of oxygenation among lymphoid organs and cell types in normal mice. Based on in vitro studies, tissue hypoxia has been assumed to be suppressive to T cell activation in vivo, but there was no direct evidence demonstrating that T cells exposed to hypoxic environment in vivo are less activated. We tested whether the state of activation of T cells in vivo changes due to their exposure to hypoxic tissue microenvironments. The parallel analysis of more hypoxic and less hypoxic T cells in the same mouse revealed that the degree of T cell activation was significantly stronger in better-oxygenated T cells. These observations suggest that the extent of T cell activation in vivo is dependent on their localization and is decreased in environment with low oxygen tension

Natural history of medium-sized atrial septal defect in pediatric cases

AbstractBackgroundThe indication for surgical repair of atrial septal defect (ASD) is pulmonary to systemic blood flow ratio (Qp/Qs)>2.0, and therapeutic strategy depends on the facility in cases of Qp/Qs 1.5–2.0. Defect size increases with age, but hemodynamic changes of medium-sized ASD (Qp/Qs 1.5–2.0) are unknown.Methods and resultsFrom April 1, 1985 to March 31, 2008, we experienced 125 cases of cardiac catheterization for ASD. Twelve cases were re-evaluated without surgical repair. The first and second catheterizations were performed at median ages of 7 years (range, 2–13 years) and 16 years (range, 5–19 years), respectively. The mean follow-up period was 7 years. Qp/Qs increased from 1.6 to 2.0 during follow-up (p<0.05). Of four cases with Qp/Qs<1.5 at initial presentation, three had Qp/Qs≥1.5 at second inspection. Right ventricle diastolic volume (RVEDV/LVEDV) also increased.ConclusionsQp/Qs and RVEDV/LVEDV of medium-sized ASD increase together in childhood. Re-evaluation before adulthood should be considered in patients with no indications of ASD closure in childhood

cAMP-responsive element in TATA-less core promoter is essential for haploid-specific gene expression in mouse testis

Promoters, including neither TATA box nor initiator, have been frequently found in testicular germ cell-specific genes in mice. These investigations imply that unique forms of the polymerase II transcription initiation machinery play a role in selective activation of germ cell-specific gene expression programs during spermatogenesis. However, there is little information about testis-specific core promoters, because useful germ cell culture system is not available. In this study, we characterize the regulatory region of the haploid-specific Oxct2b gene in detail by using in vivo transient transfection assay in combination with a transgenic approach, with electrophoretic mobility shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. Expression studies using mutant constructs demonstrate that a 34 bp region, which extends from −49 to −16, acts as a core promoter in an orientation-dependent manner. This promoter region includes the cAMP-responsive element (CRE)-like sequence TGACGCAG, but contains no other motifs, such as a TATA box or initiator. The CRE-like element is indispensable for the core promoter activity, but not for activator in testicular germ cells, through the binding of a testis-specific CRE modulator transcription factor. These results indicate the presence of alternative transcriptional initiation machinery for cell-type-specific gene expression in testicular germ cells

Simple surrogate index of the fibrosis stage in chronic hepatitis C patients using platelet count and serum albumin level.

This study was conducted to develop a simple surrogate index comprised of routinely available laboratory tests to reflect the histological fibrosis stage. Clinical characteristics and laboratory data from 368 and 249 consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis C, a training cohort and a validation cohort, respectively, were retrospectively evaluated. Platelet (Plt) count and albumin (Alb) level contributed to the discrimination of the respective fibrosis stages. We derived the fi brosis index (FI), FI = 8.0-0.01 x Plt (10 multiply 3/microliter) - Alb (g/dl), from a multiple regression model. FI significantly correlated with the histological fibrosis stage in both the initial and validation cohort at p=0.691 and p=0.661, respectively (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, p&#60;0.0001). The sensitivity and positive predictive value of FI at a cutoff value &#60; 2.10 for predicting fibrosis stage F0-1 were 66.8% and 78.8% in the initial cohort and 68.5% and 63.6% in the validation cohort, respectively. Corresponding values of FI at a cutoff value &#62;- 3.30 for the prediction of F4 were 67.7% and 75.0% in the initial cohort and 70.8% and 81.0% in the validation cohort. The fibrosis index comprised of platelet count and albumin level reflected the histological fibrosis stage in patients with chronic hepatitis C.</p

Suppressive effects of transforming growth factor-beta1 produced by hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines on interferon-gamma production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) exerts potent immunosuppressive effects. In this study, we investigated the potential role of TGF-beta1 produced by hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines in immunosuppression mechanisms. Using the Mv1Lu cell-growth inhibition assay and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), we detected optimal levels of TGF-beta1 in the culture supernatants conditioned by the HCC cell lines PLC/PRF/5, Hep3B, and HepG2. To determine the biological activity of TGF-beta1 in the supernatants, we examined the effects of the culture supernatants on the production of interferon (IFN)-gamma induced during the culture of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) stimulated with interleukin (IL)-12. IFN-gamma production of IL-12-stimulated PBMCs in the 1:1 dilution of the acid-activated conditioned medium of PLC/PRF/5, Hep3B, and HepG2 reduced to 14.7 +/- 0.8, 17.3 +/- 9.0, and 35.9 +/- 14.6%, respectively, compared with the value in the culture with control medium (complete culture medium). These results suggest that HCC cells producing TGF-beta1 may reduce the generation or activation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and natural killer (NK) cells, and thus could enhance their ability to escape immune-mediated surveillance.</p

DNA Methylation Is Dispensable for the Growth and Survival of the Extraembryonic Lineages

SummaryDNA methylation regulates development and many epigenetic processes in mammals [1], and it is required for somatic cell growth and survival [2, 3]. In contrast, embryonic stem (ES) cells can self-renew without DNA methylation [4–6]. It remains unclear whether any lineage-committed cells can survive without DNA-methylation machineries. Unlike in somatic cells, DNA methylation is dispensable for imprinting and X-inactivation in the extraembryonic lineages [7–12]. In ES cells, DNA methylation prevents differentiation into the trophectodermal fate [13]. Here, we created triple-knockout (TKO) mouse embryos deficient for the active DNA methyltransferases Dnmt1, Dnmt3a, and Dnmt3b (TKO) by nuclear transfer (NT), and we examined their development. In chimeric TKO-NT and WT embryos, few TKO cells were found in the embryo proper, but they contributed to extraembryonic tissues. TKO ES cells showed increasing cell death during their differentiation into epiblast lineages, but not during differentiation into extraembryonic lineages. Furthermore, we successfully established trophoblastic stem cells (ntTS cells) from TKO-NT blastocysts. These TKO ntTS cells could self-renew, and they retained the fundamental gene expression patterns of stem cells. Our findings indicated that extraembryonic-lineage cells can survive and proliferate in the absence of DNA methyltransferases and that a cell's response to the stress of epigenomic damage is cell type dependent