Rapid changes in plaque composition and morphology after intensive lipid lowering therapy: study with serial coronary CT angiography.

Although intensive lipid lowering by statins can enhance plaque stability, few data exist regarding how early statins change plaque composition and morphology in clinical setting. Therefore, to examine early changes in plaque composition and morphology by intensive lipid lowering with statins, we evaluate coronary plaques from acute coronary syndrome (ACS) before and 3 weeks after lipid lowering by coronary CT angiography. We enrolled 110 patients with suspected ACS and underwent coronary CT. We defined plaque as unstable when CT number of plaque1.10. Rosuvastatin (5 mg/day) or atorvastatin (20 mg/day) were introduced to reduce low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Then, CT was again performed by the same condition 3 weeks after lipid lowering therapy. Total 10 patients (8 men, mean age 72.0 years), in whom informed consent regarding serial CT examination was obtained, were analyzed. Among them, 4 patients who denied to have intensive lipid lowering were served as controls. In remaining 6 patients, LDL-C reduced from 129.5±26.9 mg/dl to 68.5±11.1 mg/dl after statin treatment. Under these conditions, CT number of the targeted plaque significantly increased from 16.0±15.9 to 50.8±35.0 HU (p<0.05) and remodeling index decreased from 1.22±0.11 to 1.11±0.06 (p<0.05), although these values substantially unchanged in controls. These results demonstrate that MDCT-determined plaque composition as well as volume could be changed within 3 weeks after intensive lipid lowering. This may explain acute effects of statins in treatment of acute coronary syndrome

Electronic structure and correlation in β−Ti3O5 and λ−Ti3O5 studied by hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

We have conducted hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigations of the electronic structure changes and electron correlation phenomena which take place upon the photoinduced reversible phase transition between β- and λ−Ti3O. From valence band spectra of β- and λ−Ti3O5, we have identified the bipolaron caused by the σ-type bonding of dxy orbitals in β−Ti3O5 and the π stacking between the dxy orbitals between different Ti sites in λ−Ti3O5, previously predicted by ab initio calculations. This indicates that the single electron band picture is valid for the description of photoinduced phase transitions. On the other hand, the Ti 2p and Ti 1s core level spectra exhibit nonlocal screening satellite features, which are typical spectroscopic signs of strong electron correlation in the coherent Tit2g states. The most striking result we obtain is that correlation in the valence band also manifests to reduce the plasmon energy, which results in an enhancement of the valence electron mass by a factor of 2.7

TUFT1 interacts with RABGAP1 and regulates mTORC1 signaling

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway is commonly activated in human cancers. The activity of mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling is supported by the intracellular positioning of cellular compartments and vesicle trafficking, regulated by Rab GTPases. Here we showed that tuftelin 1 (TUFT1) was involved in the activation of mTORC1 through modulating the Rab GTPase-regulated process. TUFT1 promoted tumor growth and metastasis. Consistently, the expression of TUFT1 correlated with poor prognosis in lung, breast and gastric cancers. Mechanistically, TUFT1 physically interacted with RABGAP1, thereby modulating intracellular lysosomal positioning and vesicular trafficking, and promoted mTORC1 signaling. In addition, expression of TUFT1 predicted sensitivity to perifosine, an alkylphospholipid that alters the composition of lipid rafts. Perifosine treatment altered the positioning and trafficking of cellular compartments to inhibit mTORC1. Our observations indicate that TUFT1 is a key regulator of the mTORC1 pathway and suggest that it is a promising therapeutic target or a biomarker for tumor progression.UTokyo FOCUS Articles掲載「がんの増殖・転移を促進する新規因子の同定 小胞輸送を標的とする新しいがん治療戦略への可能性」 https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/ja/articles/z0508_00119.htmlUTokyo FOCUS Articles "Possible target for future cancer treatment : Deregulation of system to move molecules in the cell may promote tumor growth, metastasis" https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/articles/z0508_00120.htm

Current status of auroral optical observation at observatories in Iceland

第2回極域科学シンポジウム/第35回極域宙空圏シンポジウム 11月16日（水） 統計数理研究所 3階リフレッシュフロ

Current status of Iceland-Syowa conjugate observation in 2019

The Tenth Symposium on Polar Science/Ordinary sessions: [OS] Space and upper atmospheric sciences, Wed. 4 Dec. / Institute of Statistics and Mathematics (ISM) Seminar room 2 (D304) (3rd floor