Economic Growth and CO2 Emissions with Endogenous Emission Regulations: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis

It is widely known that emissions of greenhouse gases from anthropogenic activities have been dramatically increasing at the unprecedented rate over the past several decades, and causing the global climate change. To assess the future trends of such global climate change, it is necessary to project future greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper, we explore the effects of further economic growth on CO2 emissions with the use of a multi-sector, multi-region global CGE model, and with explicit consideration to the endogeneity of emission regulations, i.e. the dependence of regulations on the level of income. The relationship between income level and emission regulations are derived from the consequence of the Kyoto Protocol type emission regulations. Our main finding is summarized as follows. Carbon taxes rise in all regions with economic growth because all regions, especially LDC regions, enjoy the rise in per capita income. However, the responsiveness of carbon taxes to income change is too weak to restrain the increase in emissions. In other words, given the degree of the responsiveness of regulations inferred from the acceptance of the Kyoto Protocol type regulations, carbon emissions are likely to increase all over the world along with further economic growth.The environmental Kuznets curve, CO2 emissions, carbon tax, endogenousregulation, economic growth

Prospect for Future MeV Gamma-ray Active Galactic Nuclei Population Studies

While the X-ray, GeV gamma-ray, and TeV gamma-ray skies have been extensively studied, the MeV gamma-ray sky is not well investigated after the Imaging Compton Telescope (COMPTEL) scanned the sky about two decades ago. In this paper, we investigate prospects for active galactic nuclei population studies with future MeV gamma-ray missions using recent spectral models and luminosity functions of Seyfert and flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs). Both of them are plausible candidates as the origins of the cosmic MeV gamma-ray background. If the cosmic MeV gamma-ray background radiation is dominated by non-thermal emission from Seyferts, the sensitivity of 10^-12 erg cm^-2 s^-1 is required to detect several hundred Seyferts in the entire sky. If FSRQs make up the cosmic MeV gamma-ray background, the sensitivity of ~4 x 10^-12 erg cm^-2 s^-1 is required to detect several hundred FSRQs following the recent FSRQ X-ray luminosity function. However, based on the latest FSRQ gamma-ray luminosity function, with which FSRQs can explain up to ~30% of the MeV background, we can expect several hundred FSRQs even with the sensitivity of 10^-11 erg cm^-2 s^-1 which is almost the same as the sensitivity goal of the next generation MeV telescopes.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Flow Characteristics of Gas and Liquid through a Cell Porous Disk

This paper describes applications of cell porous materials. The authors investigated the flow characteristics of a gas-liquid mixture in a rotating porous disk. For theoretical analyses, the gas is assumed to permeate the entire disk surface. A simple one-dimensional model illustrates that the residence time of the liquid is much greater than that of the gas. Violent interaction in small cells is likely to enhance the chemical reaction between gas and liquid. Cell porous materials might also be exploited for chemical reaction purposes

Interleukin-10-Producing Plasmablasts Exert Regulatory Function in Autoimmune Inflammation

SummaryB cells can suppress autoimmunity by secreting interleukin-10 (IL-10). Although subpopulations of splenic B lineage cells are reported to express IL-10 in vitro, the identity of IL-10-producing B cells with regulatory function in vivo remains unknown. By using IL-10 reporter mice, we found that plasmablasts in the draining lymph nodes (dLNs), but not splenic B lineage cells, predominantly expressed IL-10 during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). These plasmablasts were generated only during EAE inflammation. Mice lacking plasmablasts by genetic ablation of the transcription factors Blimp1 or IRF4 in B lineage cells developed an exacerbated EAE. Furthermore, IRF4 positively regulated IL-10 production that can inhibit dendritic cell functions to generate pathogenic T cells. Our data demonstrate that plasmablasts in the dLNs serve as IL-10 producers to limit autoimmune inflammation and emphasize the importance of plasmablasts as IL-10-producing regulatory B cells

Reduction of serum cholesterol in heterozygous patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. Additive effects of compactin and cholestyramine

We studied the effects of the bile acid sequestrant cholestyramine, alone and in combination with the experimental agent compactin (ML-236B), a competitive inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, on serum levels of lipoproteins in 10 heterozygous patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. After cholestyramine treatment alone for 2 to 16 months, serum total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased by 20 and 28 per cent, respectively. With the addition of compactin for 12 weeks there was a 39 per cent total decrease in serum cholesterol from the control value - from 356 ± 14 to 217 ± 10 mg per deciliter (9.27 ± 0.36 to 5.64 ± 0.26 nmol per liter [mean ± S.E.M.]; P < 0.001) - and a 53 per cent decrease in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol - from 263 ± 13 to 125 ± 10 mg per deciliter (6.84 ± 0.34 to 3.25 ± 0.26 nmol per liter; P < 0.001). High-density lipoprotein cholesterol, which had increased during cholestyramine treatment, remained at its higher level. No adverse effects were observed. If long-term safety can be demonstrated, the compactin-cholestyramine regimen may prove useful in heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia

Effects of an inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme a reductase on serum lipoproteins and ubiquinone-10 levels in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia

We studied the effects of ML-236B, a competitive inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (KMG-CoA) reductase, on serum levels of lipoproteins and ubiquinone-10 in seven heterozygous patients with familial hypercholesterolemia. ML-236B was given at doses of 30 to 60 mg per day for 24 weeks. Serum cholesterol decreased from 390 ± 9 to 303 ± 8 mg per deciliter (10.1 ± 0.2 to 7.88 ± 0.2 mmol per liter, mean ± S.E.M.; P<0.001), and serum triglyceride decreased from 137 ± 18 to 87 ± 9 mg per deciliter (1.55 ± 0.20 to 0.98 ± 0.1 mmol per liter; P<0.05). Intermediate-density-lipoprotein (IDL) cholesterol, IDL triglyceride, low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and LDL triglyceride decreased significantly (P<0.01, P<0.02, P<0.001, and P<0.001, respectively). However, there were no significant changes in very-low-density-lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol and triglyceride or high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Serum ubiquinone-10 levels did not change, and LDL levels of ubiquinone-10 decreased by 50 per cent, from 0.39 ± 0.07 to 0.20 ± 0.01 μg per milliliter (P<0.05). No adverse effects were observed. We conclude that ML-236B is effective in lowering serum cholesterol without lowering serum ubiquinone-10 in heterozygous patients with familial hypercholesterolemia

Identification of Physiologically Active Substances as Novel Ligands for MRGPRD

Mas-related G-protein coupled receptor member D (MRGPRD) is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) which belongs to the Mas-related GPCRs expressed in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG). In this study, we investigated two novel ligands in addition to beta-alanine: (1) beta-aminoisobutyric acid, a physiologically active substance, with which possible relation to tumors has been seen together with beta-alanine; (2) diethylstilbestrol, a synthetic estrogen hormone. In addition to the novel ligands, we found that transfection of MRGPRD leads fibroblast cells to form spheroids, which would be related to oncogenicity. To understand the MRGPRD novel character, oncogenicity, a large chemical library was screened in order to obtain MRGPRD antagonists to utilize in exploring the character. The antagonist in turn inhibited the spheroid proliferation that is dependent on MRGPRD signaling as well as MRGPRD signals activated by beta-alanine. The antagonist, a small-molecule compound we found in this study, is a potential anticancer agent