Influence of Deposition Condition on Y 2

Y2O3 nanoparticle suspension aqueous solution was prepared using citric acid. Then, Y2O3 film was deposited using this solution with pulsed electrophoretic deposition (EPD). A dense Y2O3 film of 25.7 μm thickness was obtained with deposition conditions of 0.5 wt% Y2O3 concentration, bias voltage of 0.5 V, and bias frequency of 1 kHz. The respective resistivities of the as-deposited film and films heat-treated at 200°C and 400°C were 2.84 × 103 Ω·cm, 5.36 × 104 Ω·cm, and 2.05 × 106 Ω·cm. A 59.8 μm thick dense Y2O3 film was obtained using two-step deposition with change of the bias voltage: a first step of 0.5 V and a second step of 2.0 V

The effect of once-yearly zoledronic acid on hip structural and biomechanical properties derived using computed tomography (CT) in Japanese women with osteoporosis

The effects of zoledronic acid on hip structural and biomechanical properties were evaluated in Japanese patients with osteoporosis by computed tomography (CT). The subjects included in this study were a subset of female subjects (zoledronic acid group, 49 subjects; placebo group, 53 subjects) in the phase 3 trial (ZONE study) who were available for multi-detector row CT (MDCT) scanning. Eligible subjects were those diagnosed with primary osteoporosis based on the Diagnostic Criteria for Primary Osteoporosis (2000) by the Japanese Society for Bone and Mineral Research and who had between one and four fractured vertebrae located between the fourth thoracic vertebra and the fourth lumbar vertebra. The subjects received a once-yearly intravenous infusion of zoledronic acid 5 mg or placebo for two years. CT data were obtained at baseline and at 12 and 24 months later and analyzed under blinded conditions. The results demonstrated that once-yearly intravenous infusion of zoledronic acid improved volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD), cortical bone geometry parameters, and CT-derived biomechanical parameters at the femoral neck, intertrochanteric region, and shaft; particularly at the intertrochanteric region, significant improvements in cortical bone geometry parameters and CT-derived biomechanical parameters, compared with those in the placebo group, were detectable early, at 12 months. The present data suggest that zoledronic acid has a possibility to reduce the risk of hip fractures in Japanese patients with osteoporosis

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

Leakage Current Properties of Cation-Substituted BiFeO3Ceramics

Cation-doped BiFeO3 ceramics were fabricated by sintering coprecipitated and calcined powders at 700–900 C to study the effect of cation doping on the leakage current properties of the sintered samples. Among the dopants examined in this study, Ti4þ, Sn4þ, or Zr4þ doping was found to effectively reduce the leakage current of the samples. In particular, a marked decrease in the leakage current density was achieved at 10% Ti4þ doping, which also resulted in the structure change from rhombohedral to cubic. The codoping of Ti4þ/Zn2þ ions or Ti4þ/Ni2þ ions brought about a substantial reduction in the leakage current density of the bulk samples by about four or five orders of magnitude at a small doping amount of 2%. This can be explained by the combined effect of Ti4þ doping, which basically contributes to the decreased number of oxygen vacancies in the sample, and Zn2þ or Ni2þ doping, which might assist the homogeneous substitution of Ti4þ ions for the Fe3þ sites

Synthesis of Photochromic AgCl-Urethane Resin Composite Films

AgCl-resin photochromic composite films were prepared using AgNO3, HCl-EtOH, CuCl2 solution, and a liquid-state urethane resin as starting materials. The obtained composite films showed a photochromic property. The rate of darkening of the composite film increased after mixing with CuCl2. The AgCl particle size in the film without heat treatment was 6–20 nm, and that of the heat-treated film was 25–80 nm; these results were confirmed using TEM observations. The fading rate of the film without heat treatment was higher than that of the heat-treated films