HUN-ZICOS 検出器を用いたチェレンコフ光の位相幾何学情報の直接観測

The topological information of Cherenkov light from low energy electron was directly measured by HUNIZICOS detector. A 1.484 MeV electron with fixed direction to the center of hemispherical surface of the detector was generated by Compton back scattering with 100 degree from 88Y 1.836 MeV gamma. The observed averaged angle of Cherenkov light emitted from this electron was clustered around 40 degree assuming the vertex position to be at the center of truncated icosahedron photomultiplier jig. It was not Cherenkov angle around 47 degree as obtained by old simulation and the vertex to be the center of light yield for hitted photomultiplier. According to the HUNI-ZICOS simulation, the averaged angle of Cherenkov light was also clustered around 40 degree. On the other hands, the simulated averaged angle of scintillation was clustered around 49 degree, which is consistent with the averaged value of angle between the direction to center of hemisphere surface and each photomultiplier from the center of the jig. The obtained hitmap seemed to have same non flat structure as that of simulation due to Cherenkov ring. This is an evidence that Cherenkov lights emitted from 1.484 MeV electron should really have their topology. Therefore, we concluded that we will be able to reduce 208Tl background using the averaged angle for 96Zr neutrinoless double beta decay search.HUNI-ZICOS検出器を用いて低エネルギー電子が放出するチェレンコフ光の位相幾何学情報の直接観測を行った。単一方向・単色エネルギーを持つ電子を用いてチェレンコフ光の均角を観測したところ、光電子増倍管を設置する切頂20面体の治具の中心をバーテックスと仮定すると、40度に事象が集中していた。また、シミュレーションによると、チェレンコフ光の平均角は同様に40度に集中していた。これに対して、シンチレーション光の平均角は49度に集中していた。これは、切頂20面体の中心から半球の中心方向と、各光電子増倍管との間の角度の平均値と一致している。また、観測された光電子増倍管のヒットマップはチェレンコフ光リングにより一定の構造にはなっておらず、シミュレーションのヒットマップの構造とも合致している。これらの事実は、低エネルギー電子から放射されたチェレンコフ光は位相幾何学情報を維持していることの証拠である。つまり、平均角を用いればニュートリノを放出しない二重ベータ崩壊事象の探索で問題となる208Tlの背景事象を除去できると結論づけた

Blockage of longitudinal flow in Meniere's disease: A human temporal bone study

Conclusion: Blockage of the endolymphatic duct is a significant finding in Meniere's disease. The position of the utriculo-endolymphatic valve (UEV) and blockage of the ductus reuniens in the temporal bones were not found to be directly indicative of Meniere's disease. Objective: Comparison of blockage of the longitudinal flow of endolymph between ears affected by Meniere's disease and normal ears. Methods: We examined 21 temporal bones from 13 subjects who had Meniere's disease and 21 normal temporal bones from 12 controls. Results: The endolymphatic duct was blocked in five (23%) ears affected by Meniere's disease (p = 0.016). The utricular duct was blocked in 16 (76%) ears affected by Meniere's disease and 11 (52%) normal ears (p = 0.112). The saccular duct was blocked in 6 (28%) of ears affected by Meniere's disease and 16 (76%) normal ears (p = 0.001). The ductus reuniens was blocked in 10 (47%) ears affected by Meniere's disease and 10 (47%) normal ears (p = 1.000)

Transoral surgery for superficial head and neck cancer: National Multi‐Center Survey in Japan

Head and neck cancers, especially in hypopharynx and oropharynx, are often detected at advanced stage with poor prognosis. Narrow band imaging enables detection of superficial cancers and transoral surgery is performed with curative intent. However, pathological evaluation and real-world safety and clinical outcomes have not been clearly understood. The aim of this nationwide multicenter study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of transoral surgery for superficial head and neck cancer. We collected the patients with superficial head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who were treated by transoral surgery from 27 hospitals in Japan. Central pathology review was undertaken on all of the resected specimens. The primary objective was effectiveness of transoral surgery, and the secondary objective was safety including incidence and severity of adverse events. Among the 568 patients, a total of 662 lesions were primarily treated by 575 sessions of transoral surgery. The median tumor diameter was 12 mm (range 1–75) endoscopically. Among the lesions, 57.4% were diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma in situ. The median procedure time was 48 minutes (range 2–357). Adverse events occurred in 12.7%. Life-threatening complications occurred in 0.5%, but there were no treatment-related deaths. During a median follow-up period of 46.1 months (range 1–113), the 3-year overall survival rate, relapse-free survival rate, cause-specific survival rate, and larynx-preservation survival rate were 88.1%, 84.4%, 99.6%, and 87.5%, respectively. Transoral surgery for superficial head and neck cancer offers effective minimally invasive treatment

Integrative Annotation of 21,037 Human Genes Validated by Full-Length cDNA Clones

The human genome sequence defines our inherent biological potential; the realization of the biology encoded therein requires knowledge of the function of each gene. Currently, our knowledge in this area is still limited. Several lines of investigation have been used to elucidate the structure and function of the genes in the human genome. Even so, gene prediction remains a difficult task, as the varieties of transcripts of a gene may vary to a great extent. We thus performed an exhaustive integrative characterization of 41,118 full-length cDNAs that capture the gene transcripts as complete functional cassettes, providing an unequivocal report of structural and functional diversity at the gene level. Our international collaboration has validated 21,037 human gene candidates by analysis of high-quality full-length cDNA clones through curation using unified criteria. This led to the identification of 5,155 new gene candidates. It also manifested the most reliable way to control the quality of the cDNA clones. We have developed a human gene database, called the H-Invitational Database (H-InvDB; http://www.h-invitational.jp/). It provides the following: integrative annotation of human genes, description of gene structures, details of novel alternative splicing isoforms, non-protein-coding RNAs, functional domains, subcellular localizations, metabolic pathways, predictions of protein three-dimensional structure, mapping of known single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), identification of polymorphic microsatellite repeats within human genes, and comparative results with mouse full-length cDNAs. The H-InvDB analysis has shown that up to 4% of the human genome sequence (National Center for Biotechnology Information build 34 assembly) may contain misassembled or missing regions. We found that 6.5% of the human gene candidates (1,377 loci) did not have a good protein-coding open reading frame, of which 296 loci are strong candidates for non-protein-coding RNA genes. In addition, among 72,027 uniquely mapped SNPs and insertions/deletions localized within human genes, 13,215 nonsynonymous SNPs, 315 nonsense SNPs, and 452 indels occurred in coding regions. Together with 25 polymorphic microsatellite repeats present in coding regions, they may alter protein structure, causing phenotypic effects or resulting in disease. The H-InvDB platform represents a substantial contribution to resources needed for the exploration of human biology and pathology

L-isoform but not S-isoform of myelin associated glycoprotein promotes neurite outgrowth of mouse cerebellar neurons

ELSEVIER, Shimizu-Okabe, C; Matsuda, Y; Koito, H; Yoshida, S, NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS, 331(3), 203-205, 2001. authorMyelin associated glycoprotein (MAG) has growth promoting effect on mouse cerebellar neurons. In the present study, we examined which isoform of MAG has the effect. cDNA for L-MAG and S-MAG was stably transfected into BALB/c 3T3 cells, on which cerebellar neurons were cultured. The neurons were stained with antibody against microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP-2). Neurites of the neurons cultured on cells expressing L-MAG extended significantly further than those cultured on cells expressing S-MAG or on control cells. Therefore, intracellular domain of MAG may have the potential to affect MAG-neurite interaction