Simultaneous flood risk analysis and its future change among all the 109 class-A river basins in Japan using a large ensemble climate simulation database d4PDF

This study investigated simultaneous flood risk among all the 109 class-A river basins over Japan using the big data of (over 1000 years) annual maximum hourly flow simulated from a large ensemble climate simulation database for policy decision making for future climate change, and proposed a novel approach in its geospatial analysis by applying two informatics techniques: the association rule analysis and graph theory. Frequency analysis of the number of rivers with the annual maximum flow over the flow capacity in the same year (defined as simultaneous flooding here) indicated that simultaneous flood risk will increase in the future climate under 4-degree rise scenarios in Japan, whose increment is larger than the variation of sea surface temperature projections. As the result, the return period of simultaneous flooding in eight river basins (the same number as in a severe storm in western Japan, 2018, causing the second worst economic damage since 1962) is estimated at 400 years in the historical experiment, 25 years in the 4-degree rise experiment. The association rule and graph theory analyses for the big data of annual maximum flows in the future climate scenarios indicated that simultaneous flood occurrence is dominated by spatial distance at a national scale as well as by the spatial relation between mountainous ridges and typhoon courses at a regional scale. Large ensemble climate simulation data combined with the informatics technology is a powerful approach to simultaneous flood risk analysis

Correcting streamflow bias considering its spatial structure for impact assessment of climate change on floods using d4PDF in the Chao Phraya River Basin, Thailand

Study region: Chao Phraya River Basin (CPRB), the predominant basin located in Thailand. Study focus: This study aims to ascertain the difference between spatial bias heterogeneity of streamflow in large river basins such as CPRB for a robust analysis. The upstream major dams and the outlet of the basin were examined with two-step bias correction and compared with a more practical bias correction only at the outlet of the basin. The former clarified that, due to the large effect of downstream bias, the upstream bias effect was considered negligible thus the two approaches resulted in similar future projections in the CPRB. Through this comparison, streamflow bias in the past and future climate experiments was corrected considering its spatial characteristics for robust assessments of quantitative impacts of climate change. New hydrological insights for the region: A + 4 K warmer climate will increase the frequency of the 2011 flood in CPRB and enhance 100-year flood peak discharge by 1.1–1.6 times than the past climate (1961–2010). The future flood in the basin, which starts predominantly in September in the present climate, is likely to begin in September and August equally with a prolonged duration of floods around 10–50 days. The study region is likely expected to experience elevated flood volume, earlier flood occurrence, and longer flood duration which indicates that forthcoming floods will be more rigorous

Residual laminin-binding activity and enhanced dystroglycan glycosylation by LARGE in novel model mice to dystroglycanopathy

Hypoglycosylation and reduced laminin-binding activity of α-dystroglycan are common characteristics of dystroglycanopathy, which is a group of congenital and limb-girdle muscular dystrophies. Fukuyama-type congenital muscular dystrophy (FCMD), caused by a mutation in the fukutin gene, is a severe form of dystroglycanopathy. A retrotransposal insertion in fukutin is seen in almost all cases of FCMD. To better understand the molecular pathogenesis of dystroglycanopathies and to explore therapeutic strategies, we generated knock-in mice carrying the retrotransposal insertion in the mouse fukutin ortholog. Knock-in mice exhibited hypoglycosylated α-dystroglycan; however, no signs of muscular dystrophy were observed. More sensitive methods detected minor levels of intact α-dystroglycan, and solid-phase assays determined laminin binding levels to be ∼50% of normal. In contrast, intact α-dystroglycan is undetectable in the dystrophic Largemyd mouse, and laminin-binding activity is markedly reduced. These data indicate that a small amount of intact α-dystroglycan is sufficient to maintain muscle cell integrity in knock-in mice, suggesting that the treatment of dystroglycanopathies might not require the full recovery of glycosylation. To examine whether glycosylation defects can be restored in vivo, we performed mouse gene transfer experiments. Transfer of fukutin into knock-in mice restored glycosylation of α-dystroglycan. In addition, transfer of LARGE produced laminin-binding forms of α-dystroglycan in both knock-in mice and the POMGnT1 mutant mouse, which is another model of dystroglycanopathy. Overall, these data suggest that even partial restoration of α-dystroglycan glycosylation and laminin-binding activity by replacing or augmenting glycosylation-related genes might effectively deter dystroglycanopathy progression and thus provide therapeutic benefits

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

Flood risk curve development with probabilistic rainfall modelling and large ensemble climate simulation data: A case study for the Yodo river basin

A flood risk curve is the relation between annual maximum economic damage due to floods and its exceedance probability, which provides useful information for quantitative flood risk assessment. This study proposed to examine the applicability of d4PDF, a large ensemble climate projection dataset, to develop a probabilistic flood risk curve for the Yodo River basin (8, 240 km²), Japan. The d4PDF is a climate dataset under historical and 4 K increase conditions with tens of ensembles and provide a physically-based and reliable estimation of ensemble flood risk curves and their future changes. We identified that d4PDF rainfall data has bias for the spatial variability of rainfall probably due to coarse spatial resolution, while not for basin-averaged rainfall. This typical type of bias was removed by incorporating basin-averaged rainfall of d4PDF and observed spatial pattern of rainfall into analytically-based probabilistic rainfall modelling. Derived ensemble flood risk curves provided a histogram of T-year flood damage. The histogram had a long tail and showed that T-year flood damage may be larger than its deterministic estimate located at the median. Estimated ensemble flood risk curves at present/future climates showed a clear increase of flood risk and its uncertainty at 4 K increase scenario

Novel mutation in the ALPL gene with a dominant negative effect in a Japanese family

Introduction Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is caused by mutations in the ALPL gene encoding tissue nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP) and inherited in either an autosomal recessive or autosomal dominant manner. It is characterized clinically by defective mineralization of bone, dental problems, and low serum ALP levels. In the current report, we demonstrate a novel mutation in the ALPL gene (c.244G > A p.Gly82Arg) in a Japanese family with low serum ALP levels. Materials and methods The ALPL gene analysis using hybridization capture-based next-generation sequencing was performed. The expression plasmids of the wild type and mutated TNSALP were introduced into COS-7 cells. The enzymatic activity of ALP in the cell lysates was measured using p-nitrophenylphosphate as a substrate. Results TNSALP with the novel ALPL mutation (c.244G > A p.Gly82Arg) completely lost its enzymatic activity and suppressed that of wild-type TNSALP, corroborating its dominant negative effect. The diagnosis of autosomal dominant HPP was confirmed in three members of the family. Conclusion Our approach would help to avoid the inappropriate use of bone resorption inhibitors for currently mis- or under-diagnosed HPP, given that the presence of further, yet undetected mutations of the ALPL gene are plausible

Microwave-Mediated Continuous Hydrogen Abstraction Reaction from 2-PrOH Catalyzed by Platinum on Carbon Bead

We developed a microwave-mediated continuous hydrogen production method from 2-PrOH using platinum on a spherical carbon-bead catalyst. The catalyst cartridge consisted of helical glass part, and straight glass part (helix−straight cartridge) was newly developed for the effective microwave heating of 2-PrOH in the presence of 5% Pt/CB. The microwave resonance was properly adjusted within 2.4−2.5 GHz using the helix−straight cartridge with the glass resonance-adjuster tube. The reaction was conducted by the irradiation of only 10 W of single-frequency microwaves and the catalyst was used continuously for at least 13 h without any loss of catalyst activity

Recent nationwide climate change impact assessments of natural hazards in Japan and East Asia

Climate change due to global warming is expected to have major impacts on phenomena such as tropical cyclones (TCs), Baiu, precipitation, and seasonal storms. Many natural disasters in East Asia are driven by TC (typhoon) activity in particular and their associated hazards are sensitive to local-scale characteristics. As such, it is critically important to numerically simulate TC activity (and other phenomenon) on local scales in order to properly assess climate change impacts on natural hazards in the region. In addition, projecting future changes of many TC-related hazards and/or their potential economic impacts can be challenging due to their low occurrence frequencies in any one particular area. With these views in mind, a collaborative research program was formed in Japan to project long-term changes in natural hazards in Japan and East Asia based on local-scale and large-ensemble numerical experiments. This paper reviews recent climate change impact assessments (written in both English and Japanese) from the program and summarizes the projected future changes in precipitation, river flooding, and coastal hazards, and their associated economic impacts

DOI:10.1068/htwu265 Viscosity and density of molten germanium

Abstract. Viscosity and density of molten germanium have been measured with an oscillating viscometer and a pycnometric densitometer in a wide temperature range. The viscosity obtained represents a good Arrhenian straight line in spite of such a wide temperature range. The behaviour is different from the reported values, which show a non-Arrhenian relationship and lower viscosity, especially in the higher temperature range. The density obtained shows a good linear relationship with temperature and the expansion coefficient is almost the same as literature values although the reported values are different from each other. Present results were discussed by comparison with the behaviour of molten silicon.