Momentum space conformal three-point functions of conserved currents and a general spinning operator

We construct conformal three-point functions in momentum space with a general tensor and conserved currents of spin $1$ and $2$. While conformal correlators in momentum space have been studied especially in the connection with cosmology, correlators involving a tensor of general spin and scaling dimension have not been studied very much yet. Such a direction is unavoidable when we go beyond three-point functions because general tensors always appear as an intermediate state. In this paper, as a first step, we solve the Ward-Takahashi identities for correlators of a general tensor and conserved currents. In particular we provide their expression in terms of the so-called triple-$K$ integrals and a differential operator which relates triple-$K$ integrals with different indices. For several correlators, closed forms without the differential operator are also found.Comment: 24+16 page

String Regge trajectory on de Sitter space and implications to inflation

We study the spectrum of semiclassical rotating strings on de Sitter space and its consistency. Even though a naive extrapolation of the linear Regge trajectory on flat space implies a violation of the Higuchi bound (a unitarity bound on the mass of higher-spin particles in de Sitter space), the curved space effects turn out to modify the trajectory to respect the bound. Interestingly, there exists a maximum spin for each Regge trajectory as a consequence of accelerated expansion, which is helpful to make the spectrum consistent with the Higuchi bound, but at the same time it could be an obstruction to stringy UV completion based on an infinite higher-spin tower. By pushing further this observation, we demonstrate that the vacuum energy $V$ inflating the universe has to be bounded by the string scale $M_s$ as $V\lesssim M_s^4$, if UV completion is achieved by the leading Regge trajectory with higher spin states up to the 4D Planck scale. Its application to inflation at the early universe implies an upper bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r\lesssim 0.01\times(M_s/10^{16} \text{GeV})^{4}$, which is within the scope of the near future CMB experiments. We also discuss another possibility that UV completion is achieved by multiple Regge trajectories.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures; v2: minor revisions, references adde

Perturbative unitarity in quasi-single field inflation

We study implications of perturbative unitarity for quasi-single field inflation with the inflaton and one massive scalar. Analyzing high energy scattering, we show that non-Gaussianities with $|f_{\rm NL}|\gtrsim1$ cannot be realized without turning on interactions which violate unitarity at a high energy scale. Then, we provide a relation between $f_{\rm NL}$ and the scale of new physics that is required for UV completion. In particular we find that for the Hubble scale $H\gtrsim 6\times 10^{9}$ GeV, Planck suppressed operators can easily generate too large non-Gaussanities and so it is hard to realize successful quasi-single field inflation without introducing a mechanism to suppress quantum gravity corrections. Also we generalize the analysis to the regime where the isocurvature mode is heavy and the inflationary dynamics is captured by the inflaton effective theory. Requiring perturbative unitarity of the two-scalar UV models with the inflaton and one heavy scalar, we clarify the parameter space of the $P(X,\phi)$ model which is UV completable by a single heavy scalar.Comment: 31 pages, 10 figure

3-O-Methylfunicone, a Selective Inhibitor of Mammalian Y-Family DNA Polymerases from an Australian Sea Salt Fungal Strain

We isolated a pol inhibitor from the cultured mycelia extract of a fungal strain isolated from natural salt from a sea salt pan in Australia, which was identified as 3-O-methylfunicone by spectroscopic analyses. This compound selectively inhibited the activities of mammalian Y-family DNA polymerases (pols) (i.e., pols η, ι and κ). Among these pols, human pol κ activity was most strongly inhibited, with an IC50 value of 12.5 μM. On the other hand, the compound barely influenced the activities of the other families of mammalian pols, such as A-family (i.e., pol γ), B-family (i.e., pols α, δ and ɛ) or X-family (i.e., pols β, λ and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase), and showed no effect on the activities of fish pol δ, plant pols, prokaryotic pols and other DNA metabolic enzymes, such as calf primase of pol α, human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase, human telomerase, T7 RNA polymerase, mouse IMP dehydrogenase (type II), human topoisomerases I and II, T4 polynucleotide kinase or bovine deoxyribonuclease I. This compound also suppressed the growth of two cultured human cancer cell lines, HCT116 (colon carcinoma cells) and HeLa (cervix carcinoma cells), and UV-treated HeLa cells exhibited lower clonogenic survival in the presence of inhibitor

Alternative splicing produces structural and functional changes in CUGBP2

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>CELF/Bruno-like proteins play multiple roles, including the regulation of alternative splicing and translation. These RNA-binding proteins contain two RNA recognition motif (RRM) domains at the N-terminus and another RRM at the C-terminus. CUGBP2 is a member of this family of proteins that possesses several alternatively spliced exons.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The present study investigated the expression of exon 14, which is an alternatively spliced exon and encodes the first half of the third RRM of CUGBP2. The ratio of exon 14 skipping product (<it>R3δ</it>) to its inclusion was reduced in neuronal cells induced from P19 cells and in the brain. Although full length CUGBP2 and the CUGBP2 <it>R3δ </it>isoforms showed a similar effect on the inclusion of the smooth muscle (SM) exon of the <it>ACTN1 </it>gene, these isoforms showed an opposite effect on the skipping of exon 11 in the <it>insulin receptor </it>gene. In addition, examination of structural changes in these isoforms by molecular dynamics simulation and NMR spectrometry suggested that the third RRM of R3δ isoform was flexible and did not form an RRM structure.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest that CUGBP2 regulates the splicing of <it>ACTN1 </it>and <it>insulin receptor </it>by different mechanisms. Alternative splicing of <it>CUGBP2 </it>exon 14 contributes to the regulation of the splicing of the <it>insulin receptor</it>. The present findings specifically show how alternative splicing events that result in three-dimensional structural changes in CUGBP2 can lead to changes in its biological activity.</p

Association of an overlap syndrome of autoimmune hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis with cytomegalovirus infection

A 63-year-old woman, who presented with severe jaundice and elevated serum conjugated bilirubin level, denied alcohol and drug use and showed no evidence of viral hepatitis. Based on clinical and laboratory features, she was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis with primary biliary cirrhosis. Hematological and immunochemical assays, radiographic imaging, clinical examination, and liver biopsy were conducted. Laboratory results were the following: negative for fluorescence antinuclear antibody, negative for antismooth muscle antibodies but positive for antinuclear antibody (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) and antimitochondrial M2 antibody, high titers of serum globulin, and positive for cytomegalovirus IgM. Liver biopsy showed submassive lobular necrosis, inflammation with broad areas of parenchymal collapse, and chronic nonsuppurative destructive cholangitis. The patient responded well to corticosteroid therapy. This case might illustrate an association between cytomegalovirus infection and the occurrence of autoimmune hepatitis

セミホット ガタ アスファルト コンゴウ ブツ ノ ノウドウ エノ テキヨウ ニ カンスル ケンキュウ

本研究では,セミホット型アスファルト混合物の農道での適用性を検討するために,プラントでの製造実験および実道での試験施工を実施し,施工性および供用性について調査を行い,従来工法である加熱アスファルト混合物との性能を比較した。その結果,セミホット型アスファルト混合物は,適用箇所をIII交通以下の軽交通の農道に限定することにより,従来工法と同等の供用性能を持ち,環境負荷軽減およびコスト縮減に有効であることが確認された。In this study, an experiment to manufacture semi-hot asphalt mixture in the plant and test construction on the road were conducted, workability and performance were investigated. In order to examine the applicability to farm roads, the performance of hot asphalt mixture and semi-hot asphalt mixture was compared. The result shows that semi-hot asphalt has performance equivalent to hot asphalt mixture when the application is limited to road I～III traffic farm road, and it is effective in environmental burden reduction and cost curtailment

ニイタミ ヲ コウリョシタ ノウドウ ホソウ ノ ロメンセイジョウヒョウカシュホウ ニ カンスル ケンキュウ

農道舗装の整備の目的の一つとして,農産物の品質を下げず,安全に輸送することがあげられる。しかし,農道整備における舗装の平たん性の低下は,車両の荷台に振動を発生させ,これによる農産物の荷傷み被害が報告されている。京都府をはじめとする高級野菜の産地などでは,荷傷みによる損失の試算が行われていることから,農産物の荷傷みに考慮した農道舗装の平たん性評価指標を検討する必要がある。そこで本研究では,福島県下における広域農道において実車両による荷台の振動測定と3mプロフィロメータによる平たん性測定を実施した。車両の振動測定からは荷傷み解析を行い,平たん性測定からはσとIRIに着目し,荷傷み解析との関係性を検証した。その結果,IRIはσと比べて,荷傷みを適切に評価できる可能性があるということが示された。One of the purposes of farm road maintenance is to keep quality of agricultural products and to carry them safely. But the damage of agricultural products by vibration of vehicle due to by deterioration of the roughness of farm road has been reported. A trial calculation of financial loss by the damage of agricultural products was carried out in Kyoto. Therefore, we need to examine the evaluation method of road roughness considered to cause damage of agricultural products on farm roads. In this research, we measured the vibration of vehicles and roughness of pavement by 3m profilometer on farm road. The analysis of damage of agricultural products is performed from measurement of vibration, and the roughness index σand IRI are calculated from measured road profile, and verified between the analytical results of agricultural products damage and the roughness index of road. From these results, it was shown that the roughness index of IRI can properly estimate the damage of agricultural products compared with σ

Comparison of Targeted vs Random Biopsies for Surveillance of Ulcerative Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer

Background & AimsA random biopsy is recommended for surveillance of ulcerative colitis (UC)-associated colorectal cancer. However, a targeted biopsy might be more effective. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare rates of neoplasia detection by targeted vs random biopsies in patients with UC.MethodsWe performed a study of 246 patients with UC for 7 years or more, seen at 52 institutions in Japan from October 1, 2008 through December 31, 2010. Patients were randomly assigned to the random group (4 random biopsies collected every 10 cm in addition to targeted biopsies, n = 122) or the target group (biopsies collected from locations of suspected neoplasia, n = 124). The primary end point was the number of neoplastic lesions detected in a single surveillance colonoscopy. We estimated the ratio and difference in the mean number of neoplastic lesions between the groups. We also evaluated the non-inferiority between the groups as an exploratory study. A non-inferiority margin of 0.65 (0.13 of 0.20) was considered for the ratio of the mean number of neoplastic lesions between groups.ResultsThe mean number of biopsies found to contain neoplastic tissue per colonoscopy was 0.211 (24 of 114) in the target group and 0.168 (18 of 107) in the random group (ratio of 1.251; 95% confidence interval, 0.679–2.306). The lower limit was above the non-inferiority margin of 0.65. Neoplasias were detected in 11.4% of patients in the target group and 9.3% of patients in the random group (P = .617). Larger numbers of biopsy samples per colonoscopy were collected in the random group (34.8 vs 3.1 in the target group; P < .001), and the total examination time was longer (41.7 vs 26.6 minutes in the target group; P < .001). In the random group, all neoplastic tissues found in random biopsies were collected from areas of the mucosa with a history or presence of inflammation.ConclusionsIn a randomized controlled trial, we found that targeted and random biopsies detect similar proportions of neoplasias. However, a targeted biopsy appears to be a more cost-effective method. Random biopsies from areas without any signs of present or past inflammation were not found to contain neoplastic tissues. Clinical Trial Registry: UMIN000001608