Misinformation Regulation in the Presence of Competition between Social Media Platforms (Extended Version)

Social media platforms have diverse content moderation policies, with many prominent actors hesitant to impose strict regulations. A key reason for this reluctance could be the competitive advantage that comes with lax regulation. A popular platform that starts enforcing content moderation rules may fear that it could lose users to less-regulated alternative platforms. Moreover, if users continue harmful activities on other platforms, regulation ends up being futile. This article examines the competitive aspect of content moderation by considering the motivations of all involved players (platformer, news source, and social media users), identifying the regulation policies sustained in equilibrium, and evaluating the information quality available on each platform. Applied to simple yet relevant social networks such as stochastic block models, our model reveals the conditions for a popular platform to enforce strict regulation without losing users. Effectiveness of regulation depends on the diffusive property of news posts, friend interaction qualities in social media, the sizes and cohesiveness of communities, and how much sympathizers appreciate surprising news from influencers.Comment: This version extends the article submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Control of Network System

Tumor Immunotherapy by Utilizing a Double-Edged Sword, Chemokines

Both innate and adaptive immune responses have an essential role in protection against tumor cells. Various types of immune cells such as dendritic cells and lymphocytes contribute to the establishment of immune responses to tumor cells. Chemokines, a family consisting of more than 40 related chemoattractant proteins, have a crucial role in the control of the recruitment of immune cells needed for the induction and activation of tumor immunity. Based on these properties, several chemokines have been utilized in preclinical models to augment tumor immunity by enhancing the migration and activation of immune cells. Paradoxically, tumor tissues use chemokines to evade immunosurveillance by attracting immune suppressive cells. Moreover, chemokines can mediate survival and migration of tumor cells and promote new blood vessel formation, thereby leading to tumor progression and metastasis. Thus, a number of therapeutic strategies have been proposed to target chemokines, in order to reduce tumor progression and metastasis, although these strategies have not yet been translated to clinical situations. Here, we will briefly summarize the preclinical results obtained by using and/or targeting chemokines to combat tumors and discuss the potential efficacy of these methods. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York. All rights reserved.Book Chapte

Chemokines in cancer development and progression and their potential as targeting molecules for cancer treatment

Chemokines were initially identified as bioactive substances, which control the trafficking of inflammatory cells including granulocytes and monocytes/macrophages. Moreover, chemokines have profound impacts on other types of cells associated with inflammatory responses, such as endothelial cells and fibroblasts. These observations would implicate chemokines as master regulators in various inflammatory responses. Subsequent studies have further revealed that chemokines can regulate the movement of a wide variety of immune cells including lymphocytes, natural killer cells, and dendritic cells in both physiological and pathological conditions. These features endow chemokines with crucial roles in immune responses. Furthermore, increasing evidence points to the vital effects of several chemokines on the proliferative and invasive properties of cancer cells. It is widely acknowledged that cancer develops and progresses to invade and metastasize in continuous interaction with noncancerous cells present in cancer tissues, such as macrophages, lymphocytes, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells. The capacity of chemokines to regulate both cancerous and noncancerous cells highlights their crucial roles in cancer development and progression. Here, we will discuss the roles of chemokines in carcinogenesis and the possibility of chemokine targeting therapy for the treatment of cancer. © 2014 Naofumi Mukaida et al

Fibroblasts, an inconspicuous but essential player in colon cancer development and progression

Tumor microenvironments have a crucial role in cancer initiation and progression, and share many molecular and pathological features with wound healing process. Unless treated, tumors, however, do not heal in contrast to wounds that heal within a limited time framework. Wounds heal in coordination of a myriad of types of cells, particularly endothelial cells, leukocytes, and fibroblasts. Similar sets of cells also contribute to cancer initiation and progression, and as a consequence, anti-cancer treatment strategies have been proposed and tested by targeting endothelial cells and/or leukocytes. Compared with endothelial cells and leukocytes, less attention has been paid to the roles of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), fibroblasts present in tumor tissues, because their heterogeneity hinders the elucidation on them at cellular and molecular levels. Here, we will discuss the origin of CAFs and their crucial roles in cancer initiation and progression, and the possibility to develop a novel type of anti-cancer treatment by manipulating the migration and functions of CAFs. © 2016 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved

ラット肝ミトコンドリアMonoamine Oxidaseによる過酸化水素産生系に対する柴胡加龍骨牡蠣湯の影響

Saiko-ka-ryukotsu-borei-to (SRBT) is adapted for psychoneurosis,such as autonomic dystonia and sleep disorder. Is has been postulated that reactive oxygen species (ROSs) plays an important role in psychoneurosis arising from oxidative neurogeneration.In this study,effect of SRBT on the formation of hydrogen peroxide generated by rat liver mitochondria oxdase (MAO) was investigated by enzymatic colorimetric assay using 2,2\u27-Azino-bis(3-ethyl benzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) oxidation catalyzed by peroxidase in vitro.SRBT (1mg/ml) had exhibited notable inhibition on the coupling reaction of ABTS radical cation with a hydrogen peroxide formed by peroxidase,suggesting inhibitory effect on monoamine oxdase activity.Comparative determination of the consequence on MAO with the lacking of each crude drug blended in SRBT indicated that Scutellaria root should by the active constituent participated with this activity.In Addition,when the MAO-inhibitory activity was compared with the partition of Sctellaria root decoction,the ethyl acetate-soluble layer had found to be the most effective in comparison with the other layers.Wogonin and baicalein had been revealed the principal components in ethyl acetate-soluble layer of Scutellaria root by TLC.These results have suggested that flavonoids derived from Scutellaria root might be involved in the inhibitory activity of SRBT on rat liver MAO

Analysis of the MYD88 L265P mutation in IgM monoclonal gammopathy by semi-nested polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism method

MYD88 L265P mutation causes constitutive activation of NF-κB and possible driver mutation in B-cell lymphoid malignancies. It is frequently detected in Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia （WM） （50％-100％）, and its detection is important in diagnostic and therapeutic targets of this syndrome. Standard detection method of MYD88 L265P mutation in clinical practice has yet to be established. We developed semi-nested PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism （snPCR-RFLP） to detect the mutation. The snPCR-RFLP method is a modification of the PCR-RFLP method, which uses the restriction enzyme BsiEI that recognizes CGACT/CG, intending to increase detection sensitivity by amplification of mutated allele in the DNA sample using semi-nested PCR before enzyme digestion. The detection sensitivity of snPCR-RFLP was estimated as 0.1％, by detecting mutated allele in wild-type allele in the cloned plasmid DNA, which is comparable with allele-specific （AS） PCR method widely used as sensitive detection method. By analyzing 40 cases with IgM monoclonal gammopathy, snPCR-RFLP detected 29/40 （70％） of all cases, 22/31 （70.9％） of WM, and 6/9 （66.6%） of IgM-type monoclonal gammopathy with undetermined significance （IgMMGUS）, including five cases （three cases of WM and two cases of IgMMGUS） in which the mutation was detected only by snPCR-RFLP but not by Sanger sequencing method. Regarding DNA sample status, particularly five cases, a case was extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue and four cases were extracted from cells by Ficoll-Hypaque density gradient. In correlation with clinical features, the MYD88 mutation detected by snPCR-RFLP method was associated with the adverse prognostic index （WMIPSS） of WM using patient age, hemoglobin （Hb） level, platelet count, β2MG level, and serum IgM level （p＝0.055）. The snPCR-RFLP method is a clinically useful MYD88 mutation detection method that can be performed in general laboratories

Giant enhancement of spin accumulation and long-distance spin precession in metallic lateral spin valves

The nonlocal spin injection in lateral spin valves is highly expected to be an effective method to generate a pure spin current for potential spintronic application. However, the spin valve voltage, which decides the magnitude of the spin current flowing into an additional ferromagnetic wire, is typically of the order of 1 {\mu}V. Here we show that lateral spin valves with low resistive NiFe/MgO/Ag junctions enable the efficient spin injection with high applied current density, which leads to the spin valve voltage increased hundredfold. Hanle effect measurements demonstrate a long-distance collective 2-pi spin precession along a 6 {\mu}m long Ag wire. These results suggest a route to faster and manipulable spin transport for the development of pure spin current based memory, logic and sensing devices.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figure

Rapid Cellular Turnover in Adipose Tissue

It was recently shown that cellular turnover occurs within the human adipocyte population. Through three independent experimental approaches — dilution of an inducible histone 2B-green fluorescent protein (H2BGFP), labeling with the cell cycle marker Ki67 and incorporation of BrdU — we characterized the degree of cellular turnover in murine adipose tissue. We observed rapid turnover of the adipocyte population, finding that 4.8% of preadipocytes are replicating at any time and that between 1–5% of adipocytes are replaced each day. In light of these findings, we suggest that adipose tissue turnover represents a possible new avenue of therapeutic intervention against obesity

Indian and Persian Prosody and Recitation

Editor : Nagasaki, Hiroko ; Kim, Ronald, I. (English editing)付属CD-ROM音声は非公