150 research outputs found
Magnification effect on the detection of primordial non-Gaussianity from photometric surveys
We present forecast results for constraining the primordial non-Gaussianity
from photometric surveys through a large-scale enhancement of the galaxy
clustering amplitude. In photometric surveys, the distribution of observed
galaxies at high redshifts suffers from the gravitational-lensing
magnification, which systematically alters the number density for
magnitude-limited galaxy samples. We estimate size of the systematic bias in
the best-fit cosmological parameters caused by the magnification effect,
particularly focusing on the primordial non-Gaussianity. For upcoming deep
and/or wide photometric surveys like HSC, DES and LSST, the best-fit value of
the non-Gaussian parameter, fNL, obtained from the galaxy count data is highly
biased, and the true values of fNL would typically go outside the 3-sigma error
of the biased confidence region, if we ignore the magnification effect in the
theoretical template of angular power spectrum. The additional information from
cosmic shear data helps not only to improve the constraint, but also to reduce
the systematic bias. As a result, the size of systematic bias on fNL would
become small enough compared to the expected 1-sigma error for HSC and DES, but
it would be still serious for deep surveys with z_m > 1.5, like LSST.
Tomographic technique improves the constraint on fNL by a factor of 2-3
compared to the one without tomography, but the systematic bias would increase.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure
Effects of Nutritional Support Combined with Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation on Muscle Strength and Thickness: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Healthy Young Adult Males
In the management of post-injury patients with activity limitations, methods to prevent musculoskeletal disorders and hasten recovery are important. This randomized controlled, single-blinded study was a preliminary investigation of the combined effect of nutritional support with neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) on muscle strength and thickness. Healthy young adult males (median age, 21 years) were enrolled; each of their hands was randomly assigned to one of the following four groups: Placebo, Nutrition, NMES, and Nutrition + NMES. All participants received whey protein or placebo (3x/week for 6 weeks) and NMES training (3x/week for 6 weeks) on the abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscle of either the left or right hand. ADM muscle strength and thickness were analyzed at baseline and at week 7. We analyzed 38 hands (9 Placebo, 10 Nutrition, 9 NMES, 10 Nutrition + NMES). There was significantly greater muscle strengthening in the Nutrition + NMES group compared to the Placebo group or the NMES group, but no significant difference in gain of muscle thickness. The combined intervention may be effective in improving muscle strength. Future clinical trials targeting various muscles after sports-related injuries are warranted
Toward understanding the anisotropic point spread function of Suprime-Cam and its impact on cosmic shear measurement
We examined the anisotropic point spread function (PSF) of Suprime-Cam data
utilizing dense star field data. We decomposed the PSF ellipticities into three
components, the optical aberration, atmospheric turbulence, and
chip-misalignment in an empirical manner, and evaluated the amplitude of each
component. We found that, for long-exposure data, the optical aberration has
the largest contribution to the PSF ellipticities, which could be modeled well
by a simple analytic function based on the lowest-order aberration theory. The
statistical properties of PSF ellipticities resulting from the atmospheric
turbulence were investigated by using the numerical simulations. The simulation
results are in a reasonable agreement with the observed data. It is also found
that the optical PSF can be well corrected by the standard correction method
with a polynomial fitting function. However, for the atmospheric PSF, its
correction is affected by the common limitation caused by sparse sampling of
PSFs due to a limited number of stars. We also examined the effects of the
residual PSF anisotropies on Suprime-Cam cosmic shear data. We found that the
shape and amplitude of the B-mode shear variance are broadly consistent with
those of the residual PSF ellipticities measured from the dense star field
data. This indicates that most of the sources of residual systematic are
understood, which is an important step for cosmic shear statistics to be a
practical tool of the precision cosmology.Comment: 17 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
Lymphocytes in tumor-draining lymph nodes co-cultured with autologous tumor cells for adoptive cell therapy
Background: Tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLNs) are primary sites, where anti-tumor lymphocytes are primed to tumor-specific antigens and play pivotal roles in immune responses against tumors. Although adoptive cell therapy (ACT) using lymphocytes isolated from TDLNs were reported, characterization of immune activity of lymphocytes in TDLNs to tumor cells was not comprehensively performed. Here, we demonstrate TDLNs to have very high potential as cell sources for immunotherapy.
Methods: Lymphocytes from TDLNs resected during surgical operation were cultured with autologous-tumor cells for 2 weeks and evaluated tumor-reactivity by IFNγ ELISPOT assay. We investigated the commonality of T cell receptor (TCR) clonotypes expanded by the co-culture with tumor cells with those of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs).
Results: We found that that TCR clonotypes of PD-1-expressing CD8+ T cells in lymph nodes commonly shared with those of TILs in primary tumors and lymphocytes having tumor-reactivity and TCR clonotypes shared with TILs could be induced from non-metastatic lymph nodes when they were co-cultured with autologous tumor cells.
Conclusion: Our results imply that tumor-reactive effector T cells were present even in pathologically non-metastatic lymph nodes and could be expanded in vitro in the presence of autologous tumor cells and possibly be applied for ACT
La5Ti2Cu1-xAgxS5O7 photocathodes operating at positive potentials during photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution under irradiation of up to 710 nm
A photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell based on a series-connected photocathode and photoanode made of particulate semiconductors is a potentially scalable and inexpensive device for renewable solar hydrogen production via PEC water splitting without any external power supply. The realisation of such PEC devices hinges on the development of photoelectrodes that operate at a small applied voltage. In this study, solid solutions of La5Ti2CuS5O7 (LTC) and La5Ti2AgS5O7 (LTA) were synthesised, and their physical, optical, and PEC properties in the water splitting reaction were discussed. LTC and LTA formed a La5Ti2Cu1-xAgxS5O7 solid solution (LTC(1-x)A(x)) over the whole compositional range. The indirect bandgap energy of LTC(1-x)A(x) changed nonlinearly with respect to composition, attaining its minimum value (ca. 1.8 eV) at a composition of x approximate to 0.16. Photoelectrodes of Al-doped LTC(1-x)A(x) solid solution powder fabricated using the particle transfer method exhibited a photocathodic response regardless of the Ag content. 1% Al-LTC(0.9)A(0.1) photocathodes exhibited the best PEC properties in the hydrogen evolution reaction and yielded a hypothetical half-cell solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency of 0.25% at +0.6 V vs. RHE, three times higher than the previously reported 1% Sc-LTC. In addition, 1% Al-LTC(0.9)A(0.1) photocathodes were fairly stable at + 0.7 V vs. RHE without any protective modifications. Owing to the positive operational electrode potential of 1% Al-LTC(0.9)A(0.1), unassisted PEC water splitting was accomplished using series-connected photoelectrodes made of 1% Al-LTC(0.9)A(0.1) and BaTaO2N, particulate semiconductors with absorption edge wavelengths of 710 and 660 nm, respectively, at a Faradaic efficiency of unity and a solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency of approximately 0.1%.ArticleEnergy & Environmental Science.8(11):3354-3362(2015)journal articl
Handling of Germline Findings in Clinical Comprehensive Cancer Genomic Profiling
Patients found to have presumed germline pathogenic variants (PGPVs) during comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) require genetic counseling (GC) referrals. We retrospectively investigated the outcomes of patients with PGPVs. Among 159 patients who underwent CGP, we recommended GC for the 16 patients with PGPVs (3 with [FG group] and 13 without [G Group] a family/personal history of hereditary cancer) as well as for the 8 patients with no PGPVs, but a history (F group); 2 (67%), 5 (38%), and 3 (38%) patients received GC in the FG, G, and F groups, respectively. Germline testing results were positive in 1 and 2 patients of the FG and G groups, respectively. Among the patients recommended for GC, 58% did not receive GC due to lack of interest, poor performance status, or death. CGP contributes to the identification of germline variants in patients without a history of hereditary cancer. However, the proportion of patients who undergo GC should be improved
Next-to-leading resummation of cosmological perturbations via the Lagrangian picture: 2-loop correction in real and redshift spaces
We present an improved prediction of the nonlinear perturbation theory (PT)
via the Lagrangian picture, which was originally proposed by Matsubara (2008).
Based on the relations between the power spectrum in standard PT and that in
Lagrangian PT, we derive analytic expressions for the power spectrum in
Lagrangian PT up to 2-loop order in both real and redshift spaces. Comparing
the improved prediction of Lagrangian PT with -body simulations in real
space, we find that the 2-loop corrections can extend the valid range of wave
numbers where we can predict the power spectrum within 1% accuracy by a factor
of 1.0 (), 1.3 (1), 1.6 (2) and 1.8 (3) vied with 1-loop Lagrangian PT
results. On the other hand, in all redshift ranges, the higher-order
corrections are shown to be less significant on the two-point correlation
functions around the baryon acoustic peak, because the 1-loop Lagrangian PT is
already accurate enough to explain the nonlinearity on those scales in -body
simulations.Comment: 18pages, 4 figure
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