Dexterous Machining of Unstable Thin Plate

In recent years, miniaturization and light weightedness are required for industrial products as well as high functionality. Thin plates are appropriate in terms of weight, however they are usually difficult to produce only by cutting operation due to the deformation by cutting force or vibration of the thin plate. This study deals with the machining of a twisted thin plate, whose height, width and thickness are 50 mm, 30 mm and 0.1 mm respectively, without using any auxiliary tool. Such a thin plate with high aspect ratio is easily broken down by the cutting force. Thus, the machining of thin plate with high aspect ratio is approached by devising a tool path strategy in this study. As the cutting force easily allows for deformation of twisted thin plate with high aspect ratio, two methods are devised with regard to the generation of the tool path, the method with a supporting frame and the peeling method so that the stiffness of the plate can be kept high. Then, the actual machining of thin plate with high aspect ratio, made of aluminum alloy, was realized without any breakage. As a result, it is found that such cutting method allows the possibility of fabricating such a twisted thin plate

Twisted mass transport enabled by the angular momentum of light

The authors acknowledge support in the form of KAKENHI Grants-in-Aid (Grant Nos. JP 16H06507, JP 17K19070, and JP 18H03884) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) CREST Grant No. (JPMJCR1903), and the U.S. National Science Foundation Award #1809518. KD and YA thank the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for funding (through Grant No. EP/P030017/1).Light may carry both orbital angular momentum (AM) and spin AM. The former is a consequence of its helical wavefront, and the latter is a result of its rotating transverse electric field. Intriguingly, the light–matter interaction with such fields shows that the orbital AM of light causes a physical “twist” in a range of materials, including metal, silicon, azopolymer, and even liquid-phase resin. This process may be aided by the light’s spin AM, resulting in the formation of various helical structures. The exchange between the AM of light and matter offers not only unique helical structures at the nanoscale but also entirely novel fundamental phenomena with regard to the light–matter interaction. This will lead to the future development of advanced photonics devices, including metamaterials for highly sensitive detectors as well as reactions for chiral chemical composites. Here, we focus on interactions between the AM of light and azopolymers, which exhibit some of the most diverse structures and phenomena observed. These studies result in helical surface relief structures in azopolymers and will leverage next-generation applications with light fields carrying optical AM.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A STUDY ON EVACUATION SIMULATION FOR GUIDING TOURISTS IN HIMEJI CASTLE BASED ON A SURVEY OF TOURISTS’ INTENTIONS IN EVACUATION AFTER EARTHQUAKE

Many tourists tend to visit historic areas. Nevertheless, their knowledge about these areas, disaster prevention, and evacuation is not sufficient. Japan has met with several large-scale disasters, namely the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995, and will potentially face the Nankai Trough Quake in the future. This paper, based on a survey of tourists’ intentions in evacuation after an earthquake in Himeji castle, shows an evacuation simulation and the measures for supporting tourists’ evacuation. Himeji Castle, the area investigated by this study, is one of the world heritage sites in Japan. First, this study revealed decision-making rules and used these to categorize tourists. This paper investigated the sources of information that tourists consider before starting evacuation. According to the results of the questionnaire survey, four groups were categorized by analytic hierarchy process and cluster analysis. As a result, many tourists set a high value on information from sign boards and staff of the Himeji castle before starting evacuation. Next, in a similar manner, using analytic hierarchy process, this survey found that many tourists consider information from signboard and staff when choosing evacuation routes, and the respondents were categorized into four groups using cluster analysis. Second, this study developed an evacuation simulation taking into account the tourists’ intentions about evacuation. This study used SOARS, Spot Oriented Agent Role Simulator, as a simulation platform and adopted a Spot-Link type model. Third, this study simulated six cases that have different evacuee flows near “Bizen-gate” and routes in sightseeing, and evaluated them by transition of the number of evacuees who were able to reach an evacuation area and the number of evacuees who could not move because of bottlenecks. As a result, we found two effective measures for guiding tourists

Interplay of Amygdala and Cingulate Plasticity in Emotional Fear

The amygdala is known to be a critical brain region for emotional fear. It is believed that synaptic plasticity within the amygdala is the cellular basis of fear memory. Recent studies demonstrate that cortical areas such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) may also contribute to the formation of fear memory, including trace fear memory and remote fear memory. At synaptic level, fear conditioning also triggers plastic changes within the cortical areas immediately after the condition. These results raise the possibility that certain forms of synaptic plasticity may occur within the cortex while synaptic potentiation takes place within synapses in the hippocampus and amygdala. This hypothesis is supported by electrophysiological evidence obtained from freely moving animals that neurons in the hippocampus/amygdala fire synchronous activities with cortical neurons during the learning. To study fear-related synaptic plasticity in the cortex and its functional connectivity with neurons in the amygdala and hippocampus will help us understand brain mechanisms of fear and improve clinical treatment of emotional disorders in patients

Turicibacter and Acidaminococcus predict immune-related adverse events and efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitor

IntroductionImmune checkpoint inhibitors have had a major impact on cancer treatment. Gut microbiota plays a major role in the cancer microenvironment, affecting treatment response. The gut microbiota is highly individual, and varies with factors, such as age and race. Gut microbiota composition in Japanese cancer patients and the efficacy of immunotherapy remain unknown. MethodsWe investigated the gut microbiota of 26 patients with solid tumors prior to immune checkpoint inhibitor monotherapy to identify bacteria involved in the efficacy of these drugs and immune-related adverse events (irAEs).ResultsThe genera Prevotella and Parabacteroides were relatively common in the group showing efficacy towards the anti-PD-1 antibody treatment (effective group). The proportions of Catenibacterium (P = 0.022) and Turicibacter (P = 0.049) were significantly higher in the effective group than in the ineffective group. In addition, the proportion of Desulfovibrion (P = 0.033) was significantly higher in the ineffective group. Next, they were divided into irAE and non-irAE groups. The proportions of Turicibacter (P = 0.001) and Acidaminococcus (P = 0.001) were significantly higher in the group with irAEs than in those without, while the proportions of Blautia (P = 0.013) and the unclassified Clostridiales (P = 0.027) were significantly higher in the group without irAEs than those with. Furthermore, within the Effective group, Acidaminococcus and Turicibacter (both P = 0.001) were more abundant in the subgroup with irAEs than in those without them. In contrast, Blautia (P = 0.021) and Bilophila (P= 0.033) were statistically significantly more common in those without irAEs.DiscussionOur Study suggests that the analysis of the gut microbiota may provide future predictive markers for the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy or the selection of candidates for fecal transplantation for cancer immunotherapy

A Single Nucleotide Polymorphism within the Acetyl-Coenzyme A Carboxylase Beta Gene Is Associated with Proteinuria in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

It has been suggested that genetic susceptibility plays an important role in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. A large-scale genotyping analysis of gene-based single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes identified the gene encoding acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase beta (ACACB) as a candidate for a susceptibility to diabetic nephropathy; the landmark SNP was found in the intron 18 of ACACB (rs2268388: intron 18 +4139 C > T, p = 1.4×10−6, odds ratio = 1.61, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.33–1.96). The association of this SNP with diabetic nephropathy was examined in 9 independent studies (4 from Japan including the original study, one Singaporean, one Korean, and two European) with type 2 diabetes. One case-control study involving European patients with type 1 diabetes was included. The frequency of the T allele for SNP rs2268388 was consistently higher among patients with type 2 diabetes and proteinuria. A meta-analysis revealed that rs2268388 was significantly associated with proteinuria in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes (p = 5.35×10−8, odds ratio = 1.61, 95% Cl: 1.35–1.91). Rs2268388 was also associated with type 2 diabetes–associated end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in European Americans (p = 6×10−4, odds ratio = 1.61, 95% Cl: 1.22–2.13). Significant association was not detected between this SNP and nephropathy in those with type 1 diabetes. A subsequent in vitro functional analysis revealed that a 29-bp DNA fragment, including rs2268388, had significant enhancer activity in cultured human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells. Fragments corresponding to the disease susceptibility allele (T) had higher enhancer activity than those of the major allele. These results suggest that ACACB is a strong candidate for conferring susceptibility for proteinuria in patients with type 2 diabetes

Nicotine Exposure during Adolescence Leads to Changes of Synaptic Plasticity and Intrinsic Excitability of Mice Insular Pyramidal Cells at Later Life

To find satisfactory treatment for nicotine addiction, synaptic and cellular mechanisms should be investigated comprehensively. Synaptic transmission, plasticity and intrinsic excitability in various brain regions are known to be altered by acute nicotine exposure. However, it has not been addressed whether and how nicotine exposure during adolescence alters these synaptic events and intrinsic excitability in the insular cortex in adulthood. To address this question, we performed whole-cell patch-clamp recordings to examine the effects of adolescent nicotine exposure on synaptic transmission, plasticity and intrinsic excitability in layer V pyramidal neurons (PNs) of the mice insular cortex five weeks after the treatment. We found that excitatory synaptic transmission and potentiation were enhanced in these neurons. Following adolescent nicotine exposure, insular layer V PNs displayed enhanced intrinsic excitability, which was reflected in changes in relationship between current strength and spike number, inter-spike interval, spike current threshold and refractory period. In addition, spike-timing precision evaluated by standard deviation of spike timing was decreased following nicotine exposure. Our data indicate that adolescent nicotine exposure enhances synaptic transmission, plasticity and intrinsic excitability in layer V PNs of the mice insular cortex at later life, which might contribute to severe nicotine dependence in adulthood