Mass Renormlization in the Nelson Model

The asymptotic behavior of the effective mass $m_{\rm eff}(\Lambda)$ of the so-called Nelson model in quantum field theory is considered, where $\Lambda$ is an ultraviolet cutoff parameter of the model. Let $m$ be the bare mass of the model. It is shown that for sufficiently small coupling constant $|\alpha|$ of the model, $m_{{\rm eff}}(\Lambda)/m$ can be expanded as $m_{{\rm eff}}(\Lambda)/m= 1+\sum_{n=1}^\infty a_n(\Lambda) \alpha^{2n}$. A physical folklore is that $a_n(\Lambda)\sim [\log \Lambda]^{(n-1)}$ as $\Lambda\to \infty$. It is rigorously shown that $$0<\lim_{\Lambda\to\infty}a_1(\Lambda)<C,\quad C_1\leq \lim_{\Lambda\to\infty}a_2(\Lambda)/\log\Lambda\leq C_2$$ with some constants $C$, $C_1$ and $C_2$.Comment: It has been published in International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences, vol. 2017, Article ID 476010

A method to compensate head movements for mobile eye tracker using invisible markers

Although mobile eye-trackers have wide measurement range of gaze, and high flexibility, it is difficult to judge what a subject is actually looking at based only on obtained coordinates, due to the influence of head movement. In this paper, a method to compensate for head movements while seeing the large screen with mobile eye-tracker is proposed, through the use of NIR-LED markers embedded on the screen. The head movements are compensated by performing template matching on the images of view camera to detect the actual eye position on the screen. As a result of the experiment, the detection rate of template matching was 98.6%, the average distance between the actual eye position and the corrected eye position was approximately 16 pixels for the projected image (1920 x 1080)

FAIRENESS ON DECISION-MAKING PROCESS OF MANAGEMENT POLICY FOR HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE AND SITING OF REPOSITORY IN FRANCE

The purpose of our study is to estimate procedural fairness and distributive fairness of past decision-making process of the management policy for high‒level radioactive waste (HLW) and siting of repository in France. We conducted normative analysis by document review and interview survey with CLIS members and a sociologist participated in the public debate on HLW management policy in 2005 by CNDP. The results show that prior clarification when and how decision‒making of HLW management policy and siting of repository will be carried out in the step‒wise approach is important to enhance the legitimacy of the process. With regard to distributive fairness between generations, it is important to carefully consider responsibility of current generation and decision right of future generation in terms of equity and equality in the fair decision‒making process, because HLW management policy might depend on concept of distributive fairness between generations. It is necessary to carefully debate both interregional distributive fairness of negative legacy and economical distributive fairness in the fair decision‒making process, because they are inextricably linked together.本研究は文部科学省科学研究費基盤B（課題番号24402042，研究代表者 広瀬幸雄教授）の補助を受けて実施された

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