The superconducting MHD-propelled ship YAMATO-1

In 1985 the Ship & Ocean Foundation (SOF) created a committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, Former President of the Ship & Ocean Foundation, and began researches into superconducting magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) ship propulsion. In 1989 SOF set to construction of a experimental ship on the basis of theoretical and experimental researches pursued until then. The experimental ship named YAMATO-1 became the world's first superconducting MHD-propelled ship on her trial runs in June 1992. This paper describes the outline of the YAMATO-1 and sea trial test results

Virtual Human Generative Model: Masked Modeling Approach for Learning Human Characteristics

Identifying the relationship between healthcare attributes, lifestyles, and personality is vital for understanding and improving physical and mental conditions. Machine learning approaches are promising for modeling their relationships and offering actionable suggestions. In this paper, we propose Virtual Human Generative Model (VHGM), a machine learning model for estimating attributes about healthcare, lifestyles, and personalities. VHGM is a deep generative model trained with masked modeling to learn the joint distribution of attributes conditioned on known ones. Using heterogeneous tabular datasets, VHGM learns more than 1,800 attributes efficiently. We numerically evaluate the performance of VHGM and its training techniques. As a proof-of-concept of VHGM, we present several applications demonstrating user scenarios, such as virtual measurements of healthcare attributes and hypothesis verifications of lifestyles.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Vagus-macrophage-hepatocyte link promotes post-injury liver regeneration and whole-body survival through hepatic FoxM1 activation

The mechanisms underlying the regenerative capacity of the liver are not fully understood. Here, the authors show that the acute regenerative response to liver injury in mice is regulated by the communication involving the vagus nerve, macrophages, and hepatocytes, leading to hepatic FoxM1 activation and promotion of overall survival

Evidence of causality of low body mass index on risk of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: a Mendelian randomization study

IntroductionAdolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a disorder with a three-dimensional spinal deformity and is a common disease affecting 1-5% of adolescents. AIS is also known as a complex disease involved in environmental and genetic factors. A relation between AIS and body mass index (BMI) has been epidemiologically and genetically suggested. However, the causal relationship between AIS and BMI remains to be elucidated.Material and methodsMendelian randomization (MR) analysis was performed using summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of AIS (Japanese cohort, 5,327 cases, 73,884 controls; US cohort: 1,468 cases, 20,158 controls) and BMI (Biobank Japan: 173430 individual; meta-analysis of genetic investigation of anthropometric traits and UK Biobank: 806334 individuals; European Children cohort: 39620 individuals; Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology: 49335 individuals). In MR analyses evaluating the effect of BMI on AIS, the association between BMI and AIS summary statistics was evaluated using the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method, weighted median method, and Egger regression (MR-Egger) methods in Japanese.ResultsSignificant causality of genetically decreased BMI on risk of AIS was estimated: IVW method (Estimate (beta) [SE] = -0.56 [0.16], p = 1.8 × 10-3), weighted median method (beta = -0.56 [0.18], p = 8.5 × 10-3) and MR-Egger method (beta = -1.50 [0.43], p = 4.7 × 10-3), respectively. Consistent results were also observed when using the US AIS summary statistic in three MR methods; however, no significant causality was observed when evaluating the effect of AIS on BMI.ConclusionsOur Mendelian randomization analysis using large studies of AIS and GWAS for BMI summary statistics revealed that genetic variants contributing to low BMI have a causal effect on the onset of AIS. This result was consistent with those of epidemiological studies and would contribute to the early detection of AIS