Hand-motion Analysis for Development of Double-unders Skill

Double-unders is one of interesting physical skills combining multiple primitive motions of different frequencies. This paper discusses an analyzing method of trajectory on hand-motion in double-unders. It also tackles to design an environment for the staged learning in acquisition process of the skill. We focus on the radius of motion-trajectory of the hand and spatial positions of moving hand. We measure some parameters relating to the hand-motions, and observe relative hand positions to the body. Then, we observe the difference of them between persons who have acquired the skill and others who have not acquired the skill yet. As a result, it has clarified that our proposal relating to the hand-motions is not irrelevant to success or failure of double-unders

WRN participates in translesion synthesis pathway through interaction with NBS1.

Werner syndrome (WS), caused by mutation of the WRN gene, is an autosomal recessive disorder associated with premature aging and predisposition to cancer. WRN belongs to the RecQ DNA helicase family, members of which play a role in maintaining genomic stability. Here, we demonstrate that WRN rapidly forms discrete nuclear foci in an NBS1-dependent manner following DNA damage. NBS1 physically interacts with WRN through its FHA domain, which interaction is important for the phosphorylation of WRN. WRN subsequently forms DNA damage-dependent foci during the S phase, but not in the G1 phase. WS cells exhibit an increase in spontaneous focus formation of poleta and Rad18, which are important for translesion synthesis (TLS). WRN also interacts with PCNA in the absence of DNA damage, but DNA damage induces the dissociation of PCNA from WRN, leading to the ubiquitination of PCNA, which is essential for TLS. This dissociation correlates with ATM/NBS1-dependent degradation of WRN. Moreover, WS cells show constitutive ubiquitination of PCNA and interaction between PCNA and Rad18 E3 ligase in the absence of DNA damage. Taken together, these results indicate that WRN participates in the TLS pathway to prevent genomic instability in an ATM/NBS1-dependent manner

Fabrication and characterization of high-T/sub c/ SQUID magnetometer with damping resistance

Effects of damping resistance on current versus voltage (I-V) characteristics for high-T/sub c/ superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) were studied. In the transverse-type SQUID with coplanar strip lines, parasitic capacitance originating from the large dielectric constant of SrTiO/sub 3/ substrates can induce resonance structures on I-V curves and degrade the modulation voltage. In our simulations, it is shown that the modulation voltage is much improved by using damping resistance. However, the obtained experimental results for our SQUIDs with Au damping do not agree well with those in the simulations. The discrepancy is likely due to existence of the large contact resistance between Au and YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-/spl delta// films

Intranasal immunization with an RBD-hemagglutinin fusion protein harnesses preexisting immunity to enhance antigen-specific responses

Kawai A., Tokunoh N., Kawahara E., et al. Intranasal immunization with an RBD-hemagglutinin fusion protein harnesses preexisting immunity to enhance antigen-specific responses. Journal of Clinical Investigation 133, e166827 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI166827.Intranasal vaccines are anticipated to be powerful tools for combating many infectious diseases, including SARS-CoV-2, because they induce not only systemic immunity but also mucosal immunity at the site of initial infection. However, they are generally inefficient in inducing an antigen-specific immune response without adjuvants. Here, we developed an adjuvant-free intranasal vaccine platform that utilizes the preexisting immunity induced by previous infection or vaccination to enhance vaccine effectiveness. We made RBD-HA, a fusion of the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of spike derived from SARS-CoV-2 as a vaccine target with HA derived from influenza A virus (IAV) as a carrier protein. Intranasal immunization of previously IAV-infected mice with RBD-HA without an adjuvant elicited robust production of RBD-specific systemic IgG and mucosal IgA by utilizing both HA-specific preexisting IgG and CD4+ T cells. Consequently, the mice were efficiently protected from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Additionally, we demonstrated the high versatility of this intranasal vaccine platform by assessing various vaccine antigens and preexisting immunity associated with a variety of infectious diseases. The results of this study suggest the promising potential of this intranasal vaccine platform to address problems associated with intranasal vaccines

Spectral evolution of GRB 060904A observed with Swift and Suzaku -- Possibility of Inefficient Electron Acceleration

We observed an X-ray afterglow of GRB 060904A with the Swift and Suzaku satellites. We found rapid spectral softening during both the prompt tail phase and the decline phase of an X-ray flare in the BAT and XRT data. The observed spectra were fit by power-law photon indices which rapidly changed from $\Gamma = 1.51^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$ to $\Gamma = 5.30^{+0.69}_{-0.59}$ within a few hundred seconds in the prompt tail. This is one of the steepest X-ray spectra ever observed, making it quite difficult to explain by simple electron acceleration and synchrotron radiation. Then, we applied an alternative spectral fitting using a broken power-law with exponential cutoff (BPEC) model. It is valid to consider the situation that the cutoff energy is equivalent to the synchrotron frequency of the maximum energy electrons in their energy distribution. Since the spectral cutoff appears in the soft X-ray band, we conclude the electron acceleration has been inefficient in the internal shocks of GRB 060904A. These cutoff spectra suddenly disappeared at the transition time from the prompt tail phase to the shallow decay one. After that, typical afterglow spectra with the photon indices of 2.0 are continuously and preciously monitored by both XRT and Suzaku/XIS up to 1 day since the burst trigger time. We could successfully trace the temporal history of two characteristic break energies (peak energy and cutoff energy) and they show the time dependence of $\propto t^{-3} \sim t^{-4}$ while the following afterglow spectra are quite stable. This fact indicates that the emitting material of prompt tail is due to completely different dynamics from the shallow decay component. Therefore we conclude the emission sites of two distinct phenomena obviously differ from each other.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ (Suzaku 2nd Special Issue

The AKARI far-infrared all-sky survey maps

We present a far-infrared all-sky atlas from a sensitive all-sky survey using the Japanese AKARI satellite. The survey covers >99% of the sky in four photometric bands centred at 65 μm, 90 μm, 140 μm, and 160 μm, with spatial resolutions ranging from 1' to 1".5. These data provide crucial information on the investigation and characterisation of the properties of dusty material in the interstellar medium (ISM), since a significant portion of itsenergy is emitted between ∼ 50 and 200μm. The large-scale distribution of interstellar clouds, their thermal dust temperatures, and their column densities can be investigated with the improved spatial resolution compared to earlier all-sky survey observations. In addition to the point source distribution, the large-scale distribution of ISM cirrus emission, and its filamentary structure, are well traced. We have made the first public release of the full-sky data to provide a legacy data set for use in the astronomical communit