Korean-Japanese Planet Search Program: Substellar Companions around Intermediate-Mass Giants

A Korean-Japanese planet search program has been carried out using the 1.8m telescope at Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (BOAO) in Korea, and the 1.88m telescope at Okayama Astrophysical Observatory (OAO) in Japan to search for planets around intermediate-mass giant stars. The program aims to show the properties of planetary systems around such stars by precise Doppler survey of about 190 G or K type giants together with collaborative surveys of the East-Asian Planet Search Network. So far, we detected two substellar companions around massive intermediate-mass giants in the Korean-Japanese planet search program. One is a brown dwarf-mass companion with 37.6 $M_{\mathrm{J}}$ orbiting a giant HD 119445 with 3.9 $M_{\odot}$, which is the most massive brown dwarf companion among those found around intermediate-mass giants. The other is a planetary companion with 1.8 $M_{\mathrm{J}}$ orbiting a giant star with 2.4 $M_{\odot}$, which is the lowest-mass planetary companion among those detected around giant stars with $>$ 1.9 $M_{\odot}$. Plotting these systems on companion mass vs. stellar mass diagram, there seem to exist two unpopulated regions of substellar companions around giants with 1.5--3 $M_{\odot}$ and planetary companions orbiting giants with 2.4--4 $M_{\odot}$. The existence of these possible unpopulated regions supports a current characteristic view that more massive substellar companions tend to exist around more massive stars.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, Part of PlanetsbeyondMS/2010 proceedings http://arxiv.org/html/1011.660

A Planetary Companion to the Intermediate-Mass Giant HD 100655

A precise radial velocity survey conducted by a Korean-Japanese planet search program revealed a planetary companion around the intermediate-mass clump giant HD 100655. The radial velocity of the star exhibits a periodic Keplerian variation with a period, semi-amplitude and eccentricity of 157.57 d, 35.2 m s^-1 and 0.085, respectively. Adopting an estimated stellar mass of 2.4 M_Sun, we confirmed the presence of a planetary companion with a semi-major axis of 0.76 AU and a minimum mass of 1.7 M_Jup. The planet is the lowest-mass planet yet discovered around clump giants with masses greater than 1.9 M_Sun.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

OSL dates of Quaternary sediments in Enderby Land, East Antarctica

第2回極域科学シンポジウム/第31回極域地学シンポジウム 11月16日（水） 国立国語研究

A New Milky Way Satellite Discovered In The Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey

We report the discovery of a new ultra-faint dwarf satellite companion of the Milky Way based on the early survey data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program. This new satellite, Virgo I, which is located in the constellation of Virgo, has been identified as a statistically significant (5.5 sigma) spatial overdensity of star-like objects with a well-defined main sequence and red giant branch in their color-magnitude diagram. The significance of this overdensity increases to 10.8 sigma when the relevant isochrone filter is adopted for the search. Based on the distribution of the stars around the likely main sequence turn-off at r ~ 24 mag, the distance to Virgo I is estimated as 87 kpc, and its most likely absolute magnitude calculated from a Monte Carlo analysis is M_V = -0.8 +/- 0.9 mag. This stellar system has an extended spatial distribution with a half-light radius of 38 +12/-11 pc, which clearly distinguishes it from a globular cluster with comparable luminosity. Thus, Virgo I is one of the faintest dwarf satellites known and is located beyond the reach of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This demonstrates the power of this survey program to identify very faint dwarf satellites. This discovery of VirgoI is based only on about 100 square degrees of data, thus a large number of faint dwarf satellites are likely to exist in the outer halo of the Milky Way.Comment: typos are corrected, 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

A Massive Substellar Companion to the Massive Giant HD 119445

We detected a brown dwarf-mass companion around the intermediate-mass giant star HD 119445 (G6III) using the Doppler technique. This discovery is the first result from a Korean-Japanese planet search program based on precise radial velocity measurements. The radial velocity of this star exhibits a periodic Keplerian variation with a period, semi-amplitude and eccentricity of 410.2 days, 413.5 m/s and 0.082, respectively. Adopting a stellar mass of 3.9 M_solar, we were able to confirm the presence of a massive substellar companion with a semimajor axis of 1.71 AU and a minimum mass of 37.6 M_Jup, which falls in the middle of the brown dwarf-mass region. This substellar companion is the most massive ever discovered within 3 AU of a central intermediate-mass star. The host star also ranks among the most massive stars with substellar companions ever detected by the Doppler technique. This result supports the current view of substellar systems that more massive substellar companions tend to exist around more massive stars, and may further constrain substellar system formation mechanisms.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, PASJ accepte

Extragalactic Science, Cosmology and Galactic Archaeology with the Subaru Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS)

The Subaru Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) is a massively-multiplexed fiber-fed optical and near-infrared 3-arm spectrograph (N_fiber=2400, 380<lambda<1260nm, 1.3 degree diameter FoV), offering unique opportunities in survey astronomy. Here we summarize the science case feasible for a survey of Subaru 300 nights. We describe plans to constrain the nature of dark energy via a survey of emission line galaxies spanning a comoving volume of 9.3 (Gpc/h)^3 in the redshift range 0.8<z<2.4. In each of 6 redshift bins, the cosmological distances will be measured to 3% precision via BAO, and redshift-space distortions will be used to constrain structure growth to 6% precision. In the GA program, radial velocities and chemical abundances of stars in the Milky Way and M31 will be used to infer the past assembly histories of spiral galaxies and the structure of their dark matter halos. Data will be secured for 10^6 stars in the Galactic thick-disk, halo and tidal streams as faint as V~22, including stars with V < 20 to complement the goals of the Gaia mission. A medium-resolution mode with R = 5000 to be implemented in the red arm will allow the measurement of multiple alpha-element abundances and more precise velocities for Galactic stars, elucidating the detailed chemo-dynamical structure and evolution of each of the main stellar components of the Milky Way Galaxy and of its dwarf spheroidal galaxies. For the extragalactic program, our simulations suggest the wide avelength range will be powerful in probing the galaxy population and its clustering over a wide redshift range. We propose to conduct a color-selected survey of 1<z<2 galaxies and AGN over 16 deg^2 to J~23.4, yielding a fair sample of galaxies with stellar masses above ~10^{10}Ms at z~2. A two-tiered survey of higher redshift LBGs and LAEs will quantify the properties of early systems close to the reionization epoch.Comment: This document describes the scientific program and requirements for the Subaru Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) project. Made significant revision based on studies for the Preliminary Design Review (PRD) held in Feb 2013. The higher-resolution paper file is available from http://member.ipmu.jp/masahiro.takada/pfs_astroph_rv.pd

The novel heart-specific RING finger protein 207 is involved in energy metabolism in cardiomyocytes

A failing heart shows severe energy insufficiency, and it is presumed that this energy shortage plays a critical role in the development of cardiac dysfunction. However, little is known about the mechanisms that cause energy metabolic alterations in the failing heart. Here, we show that the novel RING-finger protein 207 (RNF207), which is specifically expressed in the heart, plays a role in cardiac energy metabolism. Depletion of RNF207 in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCs) leads to a reduced cellular concentration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and mitochondrial dysfunction. Consistent with this result, we observed here that the expression of RNF207 was significantly reduced in mice with common cardiac diseases including heart failure. Intriguingly, proteomic approaches revealed that RNF207 interacts with the voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC), which is considered to be a key regulator of mitochondria function, as an RNF207-interacting protein. Our findings indicate that RNF207 is involved in ATP production by cardiomyocytes, suggesting that RNF207 plays an important role in the development of heart failure

Proton beam therapy with concurrent chemotherapy is feasible in children with newly diagnosed rhabdomyosarcoma

BACKGROUND: The optimal treatment for rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) requires multidisciplinary treatment with chemotherapy, surgery, and radiotherapy. Surgery and radiotherapy are integral to the local control (LC) of RMS. However, postsurgical and radiotherapy-related complications could develop according to the local therapy and tumor location. In this study, we conducted a single-center analysis of the outcomes and toxicity of multidisciplinary treatment using proton beam therapy (PBT) for pediatric RMS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: RMS patients aged younger than 20 years whose RMS was newly diagnosed and who underwent PBT at University of Tsukuba Hospital (UTH) during the period from 2009 to 2019 were enrolled in this study. The patients’ clinical information was collected by retrospective medical record review. RESULTS: Forty-eight patients were included. The 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates of all the patients were 68.8% and 94.2%, respectively. The 3-year PFS rates achieved with radical resection, conservative resection, and biopsy only were 65.3%, 83.3%, and 67.6%, respectively (p = 0.721). The 3-year LC rates achieved with radical resection, conservative resection, and biopsy only were 90.9%, 83.3%, and 72.9%, respectively (p = 0.548). Grade 3 or higher mucositis/dermatitis occurred in 14 patients. Although the days of opioid use due to mucositis/dermatitis during the chemotherapy with PBT were longer than those during the chemotherapy without PBT [6.1 and 1.6 (mean), respectively, p = 0.001], the frequencies of fever and elevation of C-reactive protein were equivalent. CONCLUSIONS: Multidisciplinary therapy containing PBT was feasible and provided a relatively fair 3-year PFS, even in children with newly diagnosed RMS without severe toxicity

Advantages of peripheral blood stem cells from unrelated donors versus bone marrow transplants in outcomes of adult acute myeloid leukemia patients

[Background aims] In allogeneic stem cell transplantation, unrelated donors are chosen in cases where appropriate related donors are not available. Peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) are more often selected as a graft source than bone marrow (BM). However, the prognostic benefits of PBSCs versus BM transplants from unrelated donors have not been carefully examined in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This study compared outcomes of adult AML patients who underwent unrelated PBSC and BM transplantation, evaluating post-transplant complications, including engraftment, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and infections, and determined subgroups of patients who are most likely to benefit from unrelated PBSCs compared with BM transplants. [Methods] The authors analyzed 2962 adult AML patients who underwent unrelated PBSC or BM transplants between 2011 and 2018 (221 PBSC and 2741 BM) using the Japanese nationwide registry database, in which graft source selection is not skewed toward PBSCs. [Results] In 49.7% of patients, disease status at transplantation was first complete remission (CR1). In 57.1% of cases, HLA-matched donors were selected. Myeloablative conditioning was performed in 75.1% of cases, and anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) was added to conditioning in 10.5%. Multivariate analyses showed a trend toward favorable non-relapse mortality (NRM) in PBSC recipients compared with BM recipients (hazard ratio [HR], 0.731, P = 0.096), whereas overall survival (OS) (HR, 0.959, P = 0.230) and disease-free survival (DFS) (HR, 0.868, P = 0.221) were comparable between PBSC and BM recipients. Although the rate of chronic GVHD (cGVHD) was significantly higher in PBSC patients (HR, 1.367, P = 0.016), NRM was not increased, mainly as a result of significantly reduced risk of bacterial infections (HR, 0.618, P = 0.010), reflecting more prompt engraftments in PBSC recipients. Subgroup analyses revealed that PBSC transplantation was advantageous in patients transplanted at CR1 and in those without ATG use. PBSC recipients experienced significantly better OS and/or DFS compared with BM recipients in this patient group. [Conclusions] The authors' results confirmed the overall safety of unrelated PBSC transplantation for adult AML patients and suggested an advantage of PBSCs, especially for those in CR1. Further optimization of the prophylactic strategy for cGVHD is required to improve the overall outcome in transplantation from unrelated PBSC donors