Mathematical model studies of the comprehensive generation of major and minor phyllotactic patterns in plants with a predominant focus on orixate phyllotaxis

UTokyo FOCUS Press releases "Mathematics of leaves : Unusual Japanese plant inspires recalculation of equation used to model leaf arrangement patterns" https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/press/z0508_00047.htm

Beyond Keywords

The potential of social media to give insight into the dynamic evolution of public conversations, and into their reactive and constitutive role in political activities, has to date been underdeveloped. While topic modeling can give static insight into the structure of a conversation, and keyword volume tracking can show how engagement with a specific idea varies over time, there is need for a method of analysis able to understand how conversations about societal values evolve and react to events in the world by incorporating new ideas and relating them to existing themes. In this article, we propose a method for analyzing social media messages that formalizes the structure of public conversations and allows the sociologist to study the evolution of public discourse in a rigorous, replicable, and data-driven fashion. This approach may be useful to those studying the social construction of meaning, the origins of factionalism and internecine conflict, or boundary-setting and group-identification exercises and has potential implications. Keywords: social media, framing, public conversation, analysis tools, visualizatio

Multifrequency VLBI Observations of the Broad Absorption Line Quasar J1020+4320: Recently Restarted Jet Activity?

This paper reports very-long-baseline interferometry observations of the radio-loud broad absorption line (BAL) quasar J1020+4320 at 1.7, 2.3, 6.7, and 8.4 GHz using the Japanese VLBI network (JVN) and European VLBI network (EVN). The radio morphology is compact with a size of ~10 pc. The convex radio spectrum is stable over the last decade; an observed peak frequency of 3.2 GHz is equivalent to 9.5 GHz in the rest frame, suggesting an age of the order of ~100 years as a radio source, according to an observed correlation between linear size and peak frequency of compact steep spectrum (CSS) and giga-hertz peaked spectrum (GPS) radio sources. A low-frequency radio excess suggests relic of past jet activity. J1020+4320 may be one of the quasars with recurrent and short-lived jet activity during a BAL-outflowing phase.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in PAS

A collaborative approach to head and neck carcinoma for oral surgeons, head and neck surgeons, and plastic surgeons: The role of oral surgeons in two cases

There is a medical team approach used in many hospitals for oral cancer patients. The members are head & neck surgeons and plastic surgeons, or oral surgeons and plastic surgeons. However, in Japan, it is very difficult for oral surgeons to cooperate with head & neck surgeons, except in the case of extractions and oral health care, because both surgeons treat oral carcinomas and there is therefore a conflict in their scope of practice. We believe it desirable for head & neck surgeons to treat oral cancer patients with tumors extending to other regions, and oral surgeons should be in charge of occlusion in head and neck carcinomas. We treated two patients with oral carcinomas in collaboration with head and neck surgeons and plastic surgeons, with head & neck surgeons resecting the tumors, plastic surgeons reconstructing, and oral surgeons (dentists) taking charge of the occlusion for patients in the operating room. This collaboration resulted in patients having good position of the temporomandibular joint and occlusions after the operation. We therefore conclude that this collaborative team approach may be of benefit to the patients

The collaborative role of oral surgery with plastic as well as head & neck surgery in head and neck cancers : Preoperative plate-bending method in cases with mandibular reconstruction using plaster 3D models

The collaboration of various medical teams is crucial for the appropriate treatment of cancer patients. However, in Japan, it is very difficult for oral surgeons to cooperate with head and neck surgeons due to conflicts in the treatment of those patients. There have been few studies on this subject. In the current work, we report on the collaboration of head and neck surgeons, plastic surgeons and oral surgeons in operations on two patients with gingival carcinomas in the mandible. We first prepared plaster 3D models of the patients'mouths by means of ink-jet from CT data. We pre-bent the reconstruction plates using the preoperative 3D models. Therefore, we could save the time required to bend the plate. Plaster models are cheaper than resin models. It is also easy to model the surgery using the plate. During the operation, head and neck surgeons resected the tumors, plastic surgeons performed reconstruction with vascularized bone or skin graft, and oral surgeons (dentists) did plate fixation and took charge of the patients'occlusion. This method resulted in patients having good occlusion after the operation

The First Very Long Baseline Interferometry Image of 44 GHz Methanol Maser with the KVN and VERA Array (KaVA)

We have carried out the first very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) imaging of 44 GHz class I methanol maser (7_{0}-6_{1}A^{+}) associated with a millimeter core MM2 in a massive star-forming region IRAS 18151-1208 with KaVA (KVN and VERA Array), which is a newly combined array of KVN (Korean VLBI Network) and VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry). We have succeeded in imaging compact maser features with a synthesized beam size of 2.7 milliarcseconds x 1.5 milliarcseconds (mas). These features are detected at a limited number of baselines within the length of shorter than approximately 650 km corresponding to 100 Mlambda in the uv-coverage. The central velocity and the velocity width of the 44 GHz methanol maser are consistent with those of the quiescent gas rather than the outflow traced by the SiO thermal line. The minimum component size among the maser features is ~ 5 mas x 2 mas, which corresponds to the linear size of ~ 15 AU x 6 AU assuming a distance of 3 kpc. The brightness temperatures of these features range from ~ 3.5 x 10^{8} to 1.0 x 10^{10} K, which are higher than estimated lower limit from a previous Very Large Array observation with the highest spatial resolution of ~ 50 mas. The 44 GHz class I methanol maser in IRAS 18151-1208 is found to be associated with the MM2 core, which is thought to be less evolved than another millimeter core MM1 associated with the 6.7 GHz class II methanol maser.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure

Achieving LDL cholesterol target levels <1.81 mmol/L may provide extra cardiovascular protection in patients at high risk: Exploratory analysis of the Standard Versus Intensive Statin Therapy for Patients with Hypercholesterolaemia and Diabetic Retinopathy study

Aims To assess the benefits of intensive statin therapy on reducing cardiovascular (CV) events in patients with type 2 diabetes complicated with hyperlipidaemia and retinopathy in a primary prevention setting in Japan. In the intension-to-treat population, intensive therapy [targeting LDL cholesterol = 2.59 to = 100 to = 2.59 to <3.10 mmol/L in patients with hypercholesterolaemia and diabetic retinopathy

The Constrained Maximal Expression Level Owing to Haploidy Shapes Gene Content on the Mammalian X Chromosome.

X chromosomes are unusual in many regards, not least of which is their nonrandom gene content. The causes of this bias are commonly discussed in the context of sexual antagonism and the avoidance of activity in the male germline. Here, we examine the notion that, at least in some taxa, functionally biased gene content may more profoundly be shaped by limits imposed on gene expression owing to haploid expression of the X chromosome. Notably, if the X, as in primates, is transcribed at rates comparable to the ancestral rate (per promoter) prior to the X chromosome formation, then the X is not a tolerable environment for genes with very high maximal net levels of expression, owing to transcriptional traffic jams. We test this hypothesis using The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) and data from the Functional Annotation of the Mammalian Genome (FANTOM5) project. As predicted, the maximal expression of human X-linked genes is much lower than that of genes on autosomes: on average, maximal expression is three times lower on the X chromosome than on autosomes. Similarly, autosome-to-X retroposition events are associated with lower maximal expression of retrogenes on the X than seen for X-to-autosome retrogenes on autosomes. Also as expected, X-linked genes have a lesser degree of increase in gene expression than autosomal ones (compared to the human/Chimpanzee common ancestor) if highly expressed, but not if lowly expressed. The traffic jam model also explains the known lower breadth of expression for genes on the X (and the Z of birds), as genes with broad expression are, on average, those with high maximal expression. As then further predicted, highly expressed tissue-specific genes are also rare on the X and broadly expressed genes on the X tend to be lowly expressed, both indicating that the trend is shaped by the maximal expression level not the breadth of expression per se. Importantly, a limit to the maximal expression level explains biased tissue of expression profiles of X-linked genes. Tissues whose tissue-specific genes are very highly expressed (e.g., secretory tissues, tissues abundant in structural proteins) are also tissues in which gene expression is relatively rare on the X chromosome. These trends cannot be fully accounted for in terms of alternative models of biased expression. In conclusion, the notion that it is hard for genes on the Therian X to be highly expressed, owing to transcriptional traffic jams, provides a simple yet robustly supported rationale of many peculiar features of X's gene content, gene expression, and evolution