Microscopic Formulation of Interacting Boson Model for Rotational Nuclei

We propose a novel formulation of the Interacting Boson Model (IBM) for rotational nuclei with axially-symmetric strong deformation. The intrinsic structure represented by the potential energy surface (PES) of a given multi-nucleon system has a certain similarity to that of the corresponding multi-boson system. Based on this feature, one can derive an appropriate boson Hamiltonian as already reported. This prescription, however, has a major difficulty in rotational spectra of strongly deformed nuclei: the bosonic moment of inertia is significantly smaller than the corresponding nucleonic one. We present that this difficulty originates in the difference between the rotational response of a nucleon system and that of the corresponding boson system, and could arise even if the PESs of the two systems were identical. We further suggest that the problem can be cured by implementing $\hat{L} \cdot \hat{L}$ term into the IBM Hamiltonian, with coupling constant derived from the cranking approach of Skyrme mean-field models. The validity of the method is confirmed for rare-earth and actinoid nuclei, as their experimental rotational yrast bands are reproduced nicely.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. C Rapid Communication

Multiculturalism and Conflict Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific

This book is open access under a CC BY license. Japan has recently promoted a number of initiatives that can be termed an opening to the world and the Asia-Pacific in particular. These have origins in Japan's globalization generally and multicultural policies more specifically. The chapters in this book are grouped in three parts—theories, language, and migration—and they explicate details of multiculturalism in the Asia-Pacific, largely focused on Japan, but including cases that extend beyond Japan as well. Alternative understandings based on analyzing conflicts and moving towards reconciliation underscore the urgency of viewing multiculturalism in Japan and the Asia-Pacific from perspectives that are firmly based in the region. Themes such as immigration, identity, foreign language education, politics and language, English language policies, dual citizenship, foreign labor policies and movements, and higher education are all addressed in the individual chapters. This book will be of interest to scholars of multiculturalism in a wide variety of fields

Local Anesthetic Systemic Toxicity Following General and Epidural Anesthesia in A patient with a History of Muscle Relaxant-induced Anaphylaxis

We here report that a 71-year-old Japanese woman with a history of anaphylaxis induced by muscle relaxants had local anesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST) following an abdominal surgery under general anesthesia with combined spinal-epidural anesthesia without muscle relaxants. The total dosages of local anesthetics reached 0.67 mg/kg of ropivacaine and 11.5 mg/kg of lidocaine over 12.5 h to obtain sufficient muscle relaxation for surgery. Regional anesthesia is useful in cases in which muscle relaxants are to be avoided during a surgery. However, especially for a patient with risk factors and prolonged surgery, precautions should be taken to prevent LAST

Insights into gene expression profiles induced by Socs3 depletion in keratinocytes

Specific deletion of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (Socs3) in keratinocytes can cause severe skin inflammation with infiltration of immune cells. The molecular mechanisms and key regulatory pathways involved in these processes remain elusive. To investigate the role of Socs3 in keratinocytes, we generated and analyzed global RNA-Seq profiles from Socs3 conditional knockout (cKO) mice of two different ages (2 and 10 weeks). Over 400 genes were significantly regulated at both time points. Samples from 2-week-old mice exhibited down-regulation of genes involved in keratin-related functions and up-regulation of genes involved in lipid metabolism. At week 10, multiple chemokine and cytokine genes were up-regulated. Functional annotation revealed that the genes differentially expressed in the 2-week-old mice play roles in keratinization, keratinocyte differentiation, and epidermal cell differentiation. By contrast, differentially expressed genes in the 10-week-old animals are involved in acute immune-related functions. A group of activator protein-1–related genes were highly up-regulated in Socs3 cKO mice of both ages. This observation was validated using qRT-PCR by SOCS3-depleted human keratinocyte–derived HaCaT cells. Our results suggest that, in addition to participating in immune-mediated pathways, SOCS3 also plays important roles in skin barrier homeostasis

Murine breast cancers disorganize the liver transcriptome in a zonated manner

がんが宿主の臓器に及ぼす悪影響を捉えた --がんをもつ個体における「肝機能の空間的制御」の破綻--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-02-01.The spatially organized gene expression program within the liver specifies hepatocyte functions according to their relative distances to the bloodstream (i.e., zonation), contributing to liver homeostasis. Despite the knowledge that solid cancers remotely disrupt liver homeostasis, it remains unexplored whether solid cancers affect liver zonation. Here, using spatial transcriptomics, we thoroughly investigate the abundance and zonation of hepatic genes in cancer-bearing mice. We find that breast cancers affect liver zonation in various distinct manners depending on biological pathways. Aspartate metabolism and triglyceride catabolic processes retain relatively intact zonation patterns, but the zonation of xenobiotic catabolic process genes exhibits a strong disruption. The acute phase response is induced in zonated manners. Furthermore, we demonstrate that breast cancers activate innate immune cells in particular neutrophils in distinct zonated manners, rather than in a uniform fashion within the liver. Collectively, breast cancers disorganize hepatic transcriptomes in zonated manners, thereby disrupting zonated functions of the liver

Insights into gene expression profiles induced by Socs3 depletion in keratinocytes.

Specific deletion of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (Socs3) in keratinocytes can cause severe skin inflammation with infiltration of immune cells. The molecular mechanisms and key regulatory pathways involved in these processes remain elusive. To investigate the role of Socs3 in keratinocytes, we generated and analyzed global RNA-Seq profiles from Socs3 conditional knockout (cKO) mice of two different ages (2 and 10 weeks). Over 400 genes were significantly regulated at both time points. Samples from 2-week-old mice exhibited down-regulation of genes involved in keratin-related functions and up-regulation of genes involved in lipid metabolism. At week 10, multiple chemokine and cytokine genes were up-regulated. Functional annotation revealed that the genes differentially expressed in the 2-week-old mice play roles in keratinization, keratinocyte differentiation, and epidermal cell differentiation. By contrast, differentially expressed genes in the 10-week-old animals are involved in acute immune-related functions. A group of activator protein-1-related genes were highly up-regulated in Socs3 cKO mice of both ages. This observation was validated using qRT-PCR by SOCS3-depleted human keratinocyte-derived HaCaT cells. Our results suggest that, in addition to participating in immune-mediated pathways, SOCS3 also plays important roles in skin barrier homeostasis

The LTE simulation on decaying arc plasmas in various arc quenching gases in a model circuit breaker

The present report describes numerical thermofluid simulation results of various gas arcs in a nozzle space at atmospheric pressure on the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium condition. It is crucial to investigate fundamentals on arc extinction phenomena by numerical simulation approach as well as experimental approach. The SF6, Ar, CO2 and N2 arcs in our experimental setup were treated for the present calculation because we can accurately control the voltage and arc current in our experimtants and we can perform accurate electron density measurements for fundamental investigation and comparison. Two-dimensional temperature distributions in various gas-blast arcs were calculated in a steady state at a direct current of 50 A. Furthermore, transient temperature distributions in these arcs were computed under free recovery condition. Then, we calculated transient responses under free recovery condition by using calculated results in the steady state. The calculated arc voltage in the steady state and the transition of electron density under free recovery condition were compared with those obtained by laser Thomson scattering method in our experiments. © 2015 IEEE

Evaluation on current interruption ability of CO2 and SF6 using current and voltage application highly controlled by power semiconductors

This paper reports a new simple test technique to evaluate current interruption ability of arc quenching gases. In the test, current and voltage applied to the arc was controlled using a insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT). Switching the IGBT enables us to produce free recovery conditions for a fundamental arc decay in nozzles. In addition to this, a voltage was intentionally applied to the free recovery arcs between the electrodes by switching-off IGBT again at the specified delay time td. This applied voltage is called quasi transient recovery voltage (quasi-TRV). We can evaluate successful interruption or interruption failure by measuring the current between the electrodes after quasi-TRV application. We compared the interruption ability of SF6 and CO2 through this developed technique. The experimental results show that a residual arc in SF6 gas flow decays four times more rapidly than that in CO2 gas flow. Influence of observation holes in the nozzles used in the experiments was also investigated, showing less influence of observation on the arc behavior. © 2015 IEEE

Association between the tissue accumulation of advanced glycation end products and exercise capacity in cardiac rehabilitation patients

Background Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are associated with aging, diabetes mellitus (DM), and other chronic diseases. Recently, the accumulation of AGEs can be evaluated by skin autofluorescence (SAF). However, the relationship between SAF levels and exercise capacity in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association between the tissue accumulation of AGEs and clinical characteristics, including exercise capacity, in patients with CVD. Methods We enrolled 319 consecutive CVD patients aged >= 40 years who underwent early phase II cardiac rehabilitation (CR) at our university hospital between November 2015 and September 2017. Patient background, clinical data, and the accumulation of AGEs assessed by SAF were recorded at the beginning of CR. Characteristics were compared between two patient groups divided according to the median SAF level (High SAF and Low SAF). Results The High SAF group was significantly older and exhibited a higher prevalence of DM than the Low SAF group. The sex ratio did not differ between the two groups. AGE levels showed significant negative correlations with peak oxygen uptake and ventilator efficiency (both P <0.0001). Exercise capacity was significantly lower in the high SAF group than in the low SAF group, regardless of the presence or absence of DM (P <0.05). A multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that SAF level was an independent factor associated with reduced exercise capacity (odds ratio 2.10; 95% confidence interval 1.13-4.05; P = 0.02). Conclusion High levels of tissue accumulated AGEs, as assessed by SAF, were significantly and independently associated with reduced exercise capacity. These data suggest that measuring the tissue accumulation of AGEs may be useful in patients who have undergone CR, irrespective of whether they have DM