Crystalline Electronic Field in Rare-Earth Based Quasicrystal and Approximant: Analysis of Quantum Critical Au–Al–Yb Quasicrystal and Approximant

On the basis of the point charge model, we formulate the crystalline electronic field (CEF) Hamiltonian HCEF in rare-earth based quasicrystal (QC) and approximant crystal (AC) with ligand ions located at pseudo 5-fold configurations by using the operator equivalent method. By setting the total angular momentum J = 7/2, the CEF in the quantum critical QC Au51Al34Yb15 and the 1/1 AC Au51Al35Yb14 is analyzed with consideration for the effect of Al/Au mixed sites. We find that the ratio of the valences of ligand ions x = ZAl/ZAu plays an important role in characterizing the CEF ground state. As x decreases from x = 3, the 4f wave function of the CEF ground state with the flat shape lying in the mirror plane is deformed around x ≈ 0.8 to the flat shape perpendicular to the pseudo 5-fold axis at x = 0. The formulated HCEF by J is generally applicable to rare-earth-based QCs and ACs, which is useful to analyze the CEF

Physiological Activities of Perilla Frutescens Var. Frutescens Leaf Extracts and Storage Stability in Kneaded Noodles

Perilla (Perilla frutescens var. frutescens) leaves were fractionated based on their chemical properties, and the physiological activities of the fractions were evaluated. The acidic fraction had high radical scavenging ability, whereas the superoxide dismutase-like activities of all fractions were low. A positive correlation was observed between scavenging activity and polyphenol content. The inhibitory effects of the extracts on a-amylase and on a-glucosidase activities were low, indicating a weak suppressive effect of the leaf extracts on diabetes. The acidic and phenolic fractions suppressed pancreatic lipase activity and accelerated lipid hydrolysis in adipocytes differentiated from 3T3-L1 cells. Flour noodles kneaded with leaf powder were prepared, and storage stability was examined. The functional compounds in the leaves were heat-sensitive in the flour noodles. We fractionated perilla leaves to isolate and identify valuable components to provide functionality to processed food and determined that some conditions, such as storage temperature, must be considered to effectively use the compounds

A Report on Overseas Teaching Practicum by Graduate Students in Elementary/Secondary Schools in the United States (XIII)

This paper reports on the overseas teaching practicum in the U.S. and the international forum in which we exchanged ideas on “next-generation global teacher education.” This year, four graduate school students participated in the overseas teaching practicum, and we found the change of their lessons from “information-giving” style in the previous years to “experiencing”, “exchanging”, and “creating” type of lessons this year. The participants reported that it became an excellent opportunity for them to consider a better and comprehensible way to explain something to children since there was “the English barrier”, they noticed the power of visual and other means to convey messages. In the international forum, held earlier in July in Hiroshima, two participants of the previous year’s overseas teaching practicum program reported how their perspectives toward education and the actual lessons had been changed from the experience. The speakers from the U.S. introduced how international exchange at their schools work to broaden the students’ eyes and their global-mind

Factors affecting dozing among university nursing students and relevance of hidden insomnia

University students dozing in class is a common problem. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between dozing in class and lifestyle habits or attitudes from the perspective of hidden insomnia among university nursing students. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 321 nursing students and 300 replies were obtained (93.5% return rate). Hidden insomnia was evaluated with the Hidden Insomnia check sheet developed by the Sleep Improvement Committee. Students who usually, sometimes, or occasionally dozed in class accounted for 26%, 28.3%, and 41.3% of the respondents, respectively. Fatigue was the most common reason for the students dozing in class. The percentage of nursing students with hidden insomnia was a high 96.7%, but a significant relationship was not found between dozing in class and hidden insomnia. On the other hand, a significant relationship was found between dozing and the duration of nocturnal sleep, frequency of lateness/absence, interest in the class, and unwillingness to attend university. The present findings showed that dozing in class was common among university nursing students. As measures to reduce dozing by nursing students, changing the awareness of the students and alleviation of fatigue are important, as well as improvement of the class content and/or teaching methods

Epigenetic Silencing of HOPX Promotes Cancer Progression in Colorectal Cancer

AbstractHomeodomain-only protein X (HOPX)-β promoter methylation was recently shown to be frequent in human cancers and was suggested as tumor suppressor gene in esophageal and gastric cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanistic roles of HOPX-β promoter methylation and its clinical relevance in colorectal cancer (CRC). HOPX-β promoter methylation was assessed in human CRC cell lines and 294 CRC tissues. HOPX mRNA and protein levels were measured in relation to HOPX-β promoter methylation. The effects of forced HOPX expression on tumorigenesis were studied using in vitro and in vivo assays. The association between HOPX-β promoter methylation and clinical relevance of CRC patients was determined. HOPX-β promoter methylation is cancer-specific and frequently found in CRC cell lines and tissues, resulting in the down-regulation of HOPX mRNA and protein levels. In CRC cell lines, forced expression of HOPX suppressed proliferation, invasion, and anchorage-independent growth. DNA microarray analyses suggested critical downstream genes that are associated with cancer cell proliferation, invasion or angiogenesis. In a mouse xenograft model, HOPX inhibited tumorigenesis and angiogenesis. Finally, HOPX-β promoter methylation was associated with worse prognosis of stage III CRC patients (hazard ratio= 1.40, P = .035) and also with poor differentiation (P = .014). In conclusion, HOPX-β promoter methylation is a frequent and cancer-specific event in CRC progression. This epigenetic alteration may have clinical ramifications in the diagnosis and treatment of CRC patients

Therapeutic potential of PRL-3 targeting and clinical significance of PRL-3 genomic amplification in gastric cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Phosphatase of regenerating liver-3 (PRL-3) has deserved attention as a crucial molecule in the multiple steps of metastasis. In the present study, we examined the mechanisms regulating PRL-3 expression, and assessed the clinical potential of PRL-3-targeted therapy in gastric cancer.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>PRL-3 genomic amplification was analyzed using quantitative-polymerase chain reaction and/or fluorescence in situ hybridization in 77 primary gastric tumors. The anticancer activity of PRL-3 inhibitor (1-4-bromo-2-benzylidene rhodanine) treatment was evaluated against cancer cells with different genetic and expression status.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>PRL-3 genomic amplification was closely concordant with high level of its protein expression in cell lines, and was found in 20% (8/40) among human primary tumors with its expression, which were all stage III/IV disease (40%, 8/20), but in none (0/37) among those without expression. Additionally, PRL-3 genomic amplification was associated with metastatic lymph node status, leading to advanced stage and thereby poor outcomes in patients with lymph node metastasis (<it>P </it>= 0.021). PRL-3 small interfering RNA robustly repressed metastatic properties, including cell proliferation, invasion, and anchorage-independent colony formation. Although neither PRL-3 genomic amplification nor expression level was responsible for the sensitivity to PRL-3 inhibitor treatment, the inhibitor showed dose-dependent anticancer efficacy, and remarkably induced apoptosis on all the tested cell lines with PRL-3 expression.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We have for the first time, demonstrated that PRL-3 genomic amplification is one of the predominant mechanisms inducing its expression, especially in more advanced stage, and that PRL-3-targeted therapy may have a great potential against gastric cancer with its expression.</p

Two-dimensional atomic-scale ultrathin lateral heterostructures

Ultrathin lateral heterostructures of monolayer MoS2 and WS2 have successfully been realized with the metal-organic chemical vapor deposition method. Atomic-resolution HAADF-STEM observations have revealed that the junction widths of lateral heterostructures range from several nanometers to single-atom thickness, the thinnest heterojunction in theory. The interfaces are atomically flat with minimal mixing between MoS2 and WS2, originating from rapid and abrupt switching of the source supply. Due to one-dimensional interfaces and broken rotational symmetry, the resulting ultrathin lateral heterostructures, 1~2 mixed-dimensional structures, can show emergent optical/electronic properties. The MOCVD growth developed in this work allows us to access various ultrathin lateral heterostructures, leading to future exploration of their emergent properties absent in each component alone

Measurements of Correlated Insulator Gaps in a Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Moir\'e Superlattice

Moir\'e superlattices of transitional metal dichalcogenides exhibit strong electron-electron interaction that has led to experimental observations of Mott insulators and generalized Wigner crystals. In this letter, we report direct measurements of the thermodynamic gaps of these correlated insulating states in a dual-gate WS2/WSe2 moir\'e bilayer. We employ the microwave impedance microscopy to probe the electronic features in both the graphene top gate and the moir\'e bilayer, from which we extract the doping dependence of the chemical potential of the moir\'e bilayer and the energy gaps for various correlated insulating states utilizing the Landau quantization of graphene. These gaps are relatively insensitive to the application of an external electric field to the WS2/WSe2 moir\'e bilayer

Analysis of the Complete Open Reading Frame of Genotype 2b Hepatitis C Virus in Association with the Response to Peginterferon and Ribavirin Therapy

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Patients infected with genotype 2b hepatitis C virus (HCV) generally can achieve favorable responses to pegylated-interferon plus ribavirin therapy (PEG-IFN/RBV). However, a proportion of patients show poorer responses and the correlation between viral sequence variation and treatment outcome remains unclear. METHODS: The pretreatment complete open reading frame (ORF) sequences of genotype 2b HCV determined by direct sequencing were investigated for correlation with the final outcome in a total of 60 patients. RESULTS: In this study group, 87.5% (14/16) of non-sustained virological response (non-SVR) patients (n = 16) were relapsers. Compared to sustained virological response (SVR) patients (n = 44), non-SVR patients were older and could not achieve prompt viral clearance after the therapy induction. Comparing each viral protein between the two groups, viral sequences were more diverse in SVR patients and that diversity was found primarily in the E1, p7, and NS5A proteins. In searching for specific viral regions associated with the final outcome, several regions in E2, p7, NS2, NS5A, and NS5B were extracted. Among these regions, part of the interferon sensitivity determining region (ISDR) was included. In these regions, amino acid substitutions were associated with the final outcome in an incremental manner, depending upon the number of substitutions. CONCLUSIONS: Viral sequences are more diverse in SVR patients than non-SVR patients receiving PEG-IFN/RBV therapy for genotype-2b HCV infection. Through systematic comparison of viral sequences, several specific regions, including part of the ISDR, were extracted as having significant correlation with the final outcome