Land Change Modeler For Evaluating Urbanization Driven By Universities In The Periurban Area Of Yogyakarta City, Indonesia

Yogyakarta City and its peri urban areas have experienced a rapid land cover change in the last two decades from non-urban to urban areas. Understanding the driving factors and their level of influence will facilitate well-informed decisions in planning sustainable urbanization. This study formulated a hypothesis that the area hosting a university is most likely to have higher urban area and urbanization rate and verified it by using a land change model (LCM). The LCM which implemented a multi-layer perceptron algorithm using LANDSAT 5 TM in 1999 and 2005 successfully produced a robust land change model with accuracy rate of 81.24% and model’s skill measure 0.6248, and predicted the urban area in 2030, 2040, and 2050. The urban area between LCM and Statistics Indonesia showed strong positive correlation with R2 values of 0.73 and 0.83 in 2005 and 2010 to validate the model. The model showed that urbanization in Yogyakarta city was prominently triggered by the density of universities. Furthermore, a quantitative analysis on urban area percentage, urbanization rate and number of universities in each district corroborated the presence of universities has boosted the urbanization rate in the host and neighboring districts. The findings have guided local government not only to implement policies into actions pertain to educational area development strategies but also to address the potential sustainability issues affected by those implementations

Successful Treatment of MMP-9-Expressing Angiosarcoma with Low-Dose Docetaxel and Bisphosphonate

We describe a 78-year-old Japanese patient with angiosarcoma on the scalp. Interestingly, immunohistochemical staining revealed this tumor as positive for matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9). After conventional therapy for angiosarcoma with surgical treatment and radiation therapy, we intravenously administered docetaxel at 40 mg/m2 body surface area together with oral administration of 17.5 mg sodium risedronate hydrate. One and a half years after the standard treatment, there was no evidence of local recurrence or metastasis

Evaluation of the Pichia pastoris expression system for the production of GPCRs for structural analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Various protein expression systems, such as <it>Escherichia coli </it>(<it>E. coli</it>), <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>(<it>S. cerevisiae</it>), <it>Pichia pastoris </it>(<it>P. pastoris</it>), insect cells and mammalian cell lines, have been developed for the synthesis of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) for structural studies. Recently, the crystal structures of four recombinant human GPCRs, namely β₂adrenergic receptor, adenosine A_2areceptor, CXCR4 and dopamine D3 receptor, were successfully determined using an insect cell expression system. GPCRs expressed in insect cells are believed to undergo mammalian-like posttranscriptional modifications and have similar functional properties than in mammals. Crystal structures of GPCRs have not yet been solved using yeast expression systems. In the present study, <it>P. pastoris </it>and insect cell expression systems for the human muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M2 subtype (CHRM2) were developed and the quantity and quality of CHRM2 synthesized by both expression systems were compared for the application in structural studies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The ideal conditions for the expression of CHRM2 in <it>P. pastoris </it>were 60 hr at 20°C in a buffer of pH 7.0. The specific activity of the expressed CHRM2 was 28.9 pmol/mg of membrane protein as determined by binding assays using [³H]-quinuclidinyl benzilate (QNB). Although the specific activity of the protein produced by <it>P. pastoris </it>was lower than that of Sf9 insect cells, CHRM2 yield in <it>P. pastoris </it>was 2-fold higher than in Sf9 insect cells because <it>P. pastoris </it>was cultured at high cell density. The dissociation constant (Kd) for QNB in <it>P. pastoris </it>was 101.14 ± 15.07 pM, which was similar to that in Sf9 insect cells (86.23 ± 8.57 pM). There were no differences in the binding affinity of CHRM2 for QNB between <it>P. pastoris </it>and Sf9 insect cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Compared to insect cells, <it>P. pastoris </it>is easier to handle, can be grown at lower cost, and can be expressed quicker at a large scale. Yeast, <it>P. pastoris</it>, and insect cells are all effective expression systems for GPCRs. The results of the present study strongly suggested that protein expression in <it>P. pastoris </it>can be applied to the structural and biochemical studies of GPCRs.</p

Real-world Effectiveness and Tolerability of Interferon-free Direct-acting Antiviral for 15,849 Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C: A Multinational Cohort Study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: As practice patterns and hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes (GT) vary geographically, a global real-world study from both East and West covering all GTs can help inform practice policy toward the 2030 HCV elimination goal. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness and tolerability of DAA treatment in routine clinical practice in a multinational cohort for patients infected with all HCV GTs, focusing on GT3 and GT6. METHODS: We analyzed the sustained virological response (SVR12) of 15,849 chronic hepatitis C patients from 39 Real-World Evidence from the Asia Liver Consortium for HCV clinical sites in Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe between 07/01/2014-07/01/2021. RESULTS: The mean age was 62±13 years, with 49.6% male. The demographic breakdown was 91.1% Asian (52.9% Japanese, 25.7% Chinese/Taiwanese, 5.4% Korean, 3.3% Malaysian, and 2.9% Vietnamese), 6.4% White, 1.3% Hispanic/Latino, and 1% Black/African-American. Additionally, 34.8% had cirrhosis, 8.6% had hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and 24.9% were treatment-experienced (20.7% with interferon, 4.3% with direct-acting antivirals). The largest group was GT1 (10,246 [64.6%]), followed by GT2 (3,686 [23.2%]), GT3 (1,151 [7.2%]), GT6 (457 [2.8%]), GT4 (47 [0.3%]), GT5 (1 [0.006%]), and untyped GTs (261 [1.6%]). The overall SVR12 was 96.9%, with rates over 95% for GT1/2/3/6 but 91.5% for GT4. SVR12 for GT3 was 95.1% overall, 98.2% for GT3a, and 94.0% for GT3b. SVR12 was 98.3% overall for GT6, lower for patients with cirrhosis and treatment-experienced (TE) (93.8%) but ≥97.5% for treatment-naive patients regardless of cirrhosis status. On multivariable analysis, advanced age, prior treatment failure, cirrhosis, active HCC, and GT3/4 were independent predictors of lower SVR12, while being Asian was a significant predictor of achieving SVR12. CONCLUSIONS: In this diverse multinational real-world cohort of patients with various GTs, the overall cure rate was 96.9%, despite large numbers of patients with cirrhosis, HCC, TE, and GT3/6. SVR12 for GT3/6 with cirrhosis and TE was lower but still excellent (\u3e91%)

Spatially Explicit Residential and Working Population Assumptions for Projecting and Assessing Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services in Japan

In scenario studies of biodiversity and ecosystem services, the population distribution is one of the key driving forces. In this study, we developed a coupling method for narrative scenarios and spatially explicit residential and working population designs for all of Japan as a common dataset for ecosystem scenario analysis implemented by 5-year project entitled “Predicting and Assessing Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services (PANCES)”. Four narrative scenarios were proposed by the PANCES project using two axes as major uncertainties: the population distribution and the capital preference. The residential population and the working population in primary industries were calculated using a gravity-based allocation algorithm in a manner consistent with the storylines of the PANCES scenarios. Using the population distribution assumption by scenario, the population was overlaid with the natural capital and the supply potential of ecosystem services. The results supported to understand the gaps between natural capital and maintainability, and the potential of ecosystem services and realizability. The spatially explicit population distribution data products are expected to help design the nature conservation strategy and governance option in terms of both social system and ecological system.This is a pre-print of an article published in Sustainability Science. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0605-y.10.1007/s11625-018-0605-

Leaving disturbance legacies conserves boreal conifers and maximizes net CO2 absorption under climate change and more frequent and larger windthrow regimes

ContextForest management practices that conserve biodiversity and maximize carbon sequestration under climate change are needed. Although post-windthrow salvage logging and scarification can reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions within ecosystems by removing downed logs, they can greatly affect species composition. Additionally, salvage logging may increase CO2 emissions based on a cradle-to-grave analysis of salvaged wood.ObjectivesWe aimed to assess the effects of changes in climate, windthrow regimes and post-windthrow management on aboveground biomass, species composition, and carbon balance in the forest sector by combining forest landscape simulations and life cycle assessment (LCA).MethodsThe study landscape is a 12,169 ha hemiboreal forest located in northern Japan. We simulated 115 years (2015-2130) of forest dynamics in 36 scenarios based on features of the climate, windthrow regime, and management using the LANDIS-II forest landscape model. CO2 emissions related to management and salvaged wood were estimated by LCA.ResultsIncreases in the windthrow area, which was more vulnerable to climate warming, caused a shift to temperate broadleaved forests and a decrease in aboveground biomass. These were accelerated by the removal of advanced seedlings and dead wood, which greatly reduced the recruitment of Picea species. The 115-year cumulative net CO2 absorption of the forest sector, including carbon balance within ecosystems and CO2 emissions estimated by LCA, greatly decreased due to salvage logging (maximum 81%) and scarification (maximum 114%).ConclusionsLeaving downed logs and advanced seedlings is recommended to conserve boreal conifers and carbon sinks and maximize net CO2 absorption under climate change

Errors and uncertainties associated with the use of unconventional activity data for estimating CO2 emissions: the case for traffic emissions in Japan

CO _2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion (FFCO2) are conventionally estimated from fuel used (as activity data (AD)) and CO _2 emissions factor. Recent traffic emission changes under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have been estimated using emerging non-fuel consumption data, such as human mobility data that tech companies reported as AD, due to the unavailability of timely fuel statistics. The use of such unconventional activity data (UAD) might allow us to provide emission estimates in near-real time; however, the errors and uncertainties associated with such estimates are expected to be larger than those of common FFCO2 inventory estimates, and thus should be provided along with a thorough evaluation/validation of the methodology and the resulting estimates. Here, we show the impact of COVID-19 on traffic CO _2 emissions over the first six months of 2020 in Japan. We calculated CO _2 monthly emissions using fuel consumption data and assessed the emission changes relative to 2019. Regardless of Japan’s soft approach to COVID-19, traffic emissions significantly declined by 23.8% during the state of emergency in Japan (April–May). We also compared relative emission changes among different estimates available. Our analysis suggests that UAD-based emission estimates during April and May could be biased by −19.6% to 12.6%. We also used traffic count data for examining the performance of UAD as a proxy for traffic and/or CO _2 emissions. We found the assumed proportional relationship between traffic changes and CO _2 emissions was not enough for estimating emissions with accuracy, and moreover, the traffic-based approach failed to capture emission seasonality. Our study highlighted the challenges and difficulties in repurposing data, especially ones with limited traceability/reproducibility, for modeling human activities and assessing the impact on the environment, and the importance of a thorough error and uncertainty assessment before using these data in policy applications

Desktop orthogonal-type robot with abilities of compliant motion and stick-slip motion for lapping of LED lens molds

[abstract not available