Common Observations for Near-Source Ground Motions and Seismo-Traveling Ionosphere Disturbances Following the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake, Japan

The time history and spatial dependence of seismic-wave propagation on the ground surface and through the ionosphere following the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake were reconstructed from dense seismic networks and from Global Positioning System (GPS) array observations, respectively. Using total electron content (TEC) data recorded by a dense GPS receiver network, the near-source ionosphere perturbations induced by this giant earthquake were analyzed and high-resolution images of seismic-wave propagation in the ionosphere are presented. Similar spatial images of ground motions were reconstructed from observations by a dense seismic array. Observations of this event provide, for the first time, the opportunity to compare near-source ground motions with the near-field seismo-traveling ionosphere disturbance (STID) excited by the ground motions. Based on the results, the nature of the source rupture and seismic-wave propagation are discussed. Both seismic and ionosphere observations indicate that seismic energy propagated radially outward initially from the hypocenter, but that the circular shape of the propagation front became gradually distorted as the source rupture became extended. Coherent wavefronts from the two analyses show contrasting patterns during the later stage of propagation, possibly due to different patterns of spatial variations in the physical properties of the solid earth and of the ionosphere

α-Lactosylceramide Protects Against iNKT-Mediated Murine Airway Hyperreactivity and Liver Injury Through Competitive Inhibition of Cd1d Binding.

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, which are activated by T cell receptor (TCR)-dependent recognition of lipid-based antigens presented by the CD1d molecule, have been shown to participate in the pathogenesis of many diseases, including asthma and liver injury. Previous studies have shown the inhibition of iNKT cell activation using lipid antagonists can attenuate iNKT cell-induced disease pathogenesis. Hence, the development of iNKT cell-targeted glycolipids can facilitate the discovery of new therapeutics. In this study, we synthesized and evaluated α-lactosylceramide (α-LacCer), an α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) analog with lactose substitution for the galactose head and a shortened acyl chain in the ceramide tail, toward iNKT cell activation. We demonstrated that α-LacCer was a weak inducer for both mouse and human iNKT cell activation and cytokine production, and the iNKT induction by α-LacCer was CD1d-dependent. However, when co-administered with α-GalCer, α-LacCer inhibited α-GalCer-induced IL-4 and IFN-γ production from iNKT cells. Consequently, α-LacCer also ameliorated both α-GalCer and GSL-1-induced airway hyperreactivity and α-GalCer-induced neutrophilia when co-administered in vivo. Furthermore, we were able to inhibit the increases of ConA-induced AST, ALT and IFN-γ serum levels through α-LacCer pre-treatment, suggesting α-LacCer could protect against ConA-induced liver injury. Mechanistically, we discerned that α-LacCer suppressed α-GalCer-stimulated cytokine production through competing for CD1d binding. Since iNKT cells play a critical role in the development of AHR and liver injury, the inhibition of iNKT cell activation by α-LacCer present a possible new approach in treating iNKT cell-mediated diseases

Pulmonary IL- 33 orchestrates innate immune cells to mediate respiratory syncytial virus- evoked airway hyperreactivity and eosinophilia

BackgroundRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is epidemiologically linked to asthma. During RSV infection, IL- 33 is elevated and promotes immune cell activation, leading to the development of asthma. However, which immune cells are responsible for triggering airway hyperreactivity (AHR), inflammation and eosinophilia remained to be clarified. We aimed to elucidate the individual roles of IL- 33- activated innate immune cells, including ILC2s and ST2+ myeloid cells, in RSV infection- triggered pathophysiology.MethodsThe role of IL- 33/ILC2 axis in RSV- induced AHR inflammation and eosinophilia were evaluated in the IL- 33- deficient and YetCre- 13 Rosa- DTA mice. Myeloid- specific, IL- 33- deficient or ST2- deficient mice were employed to examine the role of IL- 33 and ST2 signaling in myeloid cells.ResultsWe found that IL- 33- activated ILC2s were crucial for the development of AHR and airway inflammation, during RSV infection. ILC2- derived IL- 13 was sufficient for RSV- driven AHR, since reconstitution of wild- type ILC2 rescued RSV- driven AHR in IL- 13- deficient mice. Meanwhile, myeloid cell- derived IL- 33 was required for airway inflammation, ST2+ myeloid cells contributed to exacerbation of airway inflammation, suggesting the importance of IL- 33 signaling in these cells. Local and peripheral eosinophilia is linked to both ILC2 and myeloid IL- 33 signaling.ConclusionsThis study highlights the importance of IL- 33- activated ILC2s in mediating RSV- triggered AHR and eosinophilia. In addition, IL- 33 signaling in myeloid cells is crucial for airway inflammation.Respiratory syncytial virus induces ILC2 to produce IL- 5 and IL- 13 through IL- 33, which is crucial for the development of airway hyperreactivity and airway inflammation. Myeloid cell- derived IL- 33 and suppression of tumorigenicity 2- positive myeloid cells contribute to cytokine production and cellular inflammation in airway. Both ILC2 and myeloid cell IL- 33 signaling contribute to local and peripheral eosinophilia.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154896/1/all14091.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154896/2/all14091-sup-0001-Supinfo.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154896/3/all14091_am.pd

A Sliced Inverse Regression (SIR) Decoding the Forelimb Movement from Neuronal Spikes in the Rat Motor Cortex

Several neural decoding algorithms have successfully converted brain signals into commands to control a computer cursor and prosthetic devices. A majority of decoding methods, such as population vector algorithms (PVA), optimal linear estimators (OLE), and neural networks (NN), are effective in predicting movement kinematics, including movement direction, speed and trajectory but usually require a large number of neurons to achieve desirable performance. This study proposed a novel decoding algorithm even with signals obtained from a smaller numbers of neurons. We adopted sliced inverse regression (SIR) to predict forelimb movement from single-unit activities recorded in the rat primary motor (M1) cortex in a water-reward lever-pressing task. SIR performed weighted principal component analysis (PCA) to achieve effective dimension reduction for nonlinear regression. To demonstrate the decoding performance, SIR was compared to PVA, OLE, and NN. Furthermore, PCA and sequential feature selection (SFS) which are popular feature selection techniques were implemented for comparison of feature selection effectiveness. Among SIR, PVA, OLE, PCA, SFS, and NN decoding methods, the trajectories predicted by SIR (with a root mean square error, RMSE, of 8.47 ± 1.32 mm) was closer to the actual trajectories compared with those predicted by PVA (30.41 ± 11.73 mm), OLE (20.17 ± 6.43 mm), PCA (19.13 ± 0.75 mm), SFS (22.75 ± 2.01 mm), and NN (16.75 ± 2.02 mm). The superiority of SIR was most obvious when the sample size of neurons was small. We concluded that SIR sorted the input data to obtain the effective transform matrices for movement prediction, making it a robust decoding method for conditions with sparse neuronal information

Robust in vitro assay for analyzing the neutralization activity of serum specimens against hepatitis B virus.

Anti-HBs is a well-known marker of protective capability against HBV. However, little is known about the association between the qAnti-HBs determined by immunoassays and the neutralization activity (NAT) derived from functional assays. We developed an in vitro assay for direct measurement of the NAT of human sera. The new assay was highly sensitive, with an analytical sensitivity of 9.6 ± 1.3 mIU/mL for the HBIG standard. For serum detection, the maximum fold dilution required to produce ≥50% inhibition (MDF50) of HBV infection was used as the quantitative index. In vitro NAT evaluations were conducted for a cohort of 164 HBV-free healthy individuals. The results demonstrated that the NAT positively correlated with the qAnti-HBs ( R 2 = 0.473, p < 0.001). ROC analysis indicated that the optimal cutoff value of the qAnti-HBs to discriminate significant NAT (MDF50 ≥ 8) was 62.9 mIU/mL, with an AUROC of 0.920. Additionally, we found that the qAnti-HBc was another independent parameter positively associated with the NAT ( R 2 = 0.300, p < 0.001), which suggested that antibodies against other HBV proteins generated by previous HBV exposure possibly also contribute to the NAT. In summary, the new cell-based assay provides a robust tool to analyse the anti-HBV NAT. Abbreviations: HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen; Anti-HBs: Hepatitis B surface antibody; HBeAg: Hepatitis B e antigen; Anti-HBc: Hepatitis B core antibody; qAnti-HBs: quantitative hepatitis B surface antibody; qAnti-HBc: quantitative hepatitis B core antibody; qHBeAg: quantitative hepatitis B e antigen; NAT: neutralization activity; HBIG: hepatitis B immune globulin; NTCP: Na+-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide; IRES: internal ribosome entry site; ccHBV: cell culture derived hepatitis B virus; GE/cell: genome equivalent per cell; MOI: multiplicity of infection; Dpi: day post infection; HepG2-TetOn: a HepG2-derived cell line that expresses the doxycycline-regulated transactivator; ROC: receiver operating characteristic curve; AUROC: area under receiver operating characteristic curve; LLOQ: the lower limits of quantification; MDF50: the maximum fold dilution required to produce ≥50% inhibition; IC50: half maximal inhibitory concentration

Cross-National Differences in Victimization : Disentangling the Impact of Composition and Context

Varying rates of criminal victimization across countries are assumed to be the outcome of countrylevel structural constraints that determine the supply ofmotivated o¡enders, as well as the differential composition within countries of suitable targets and capable guardianship. However, previous empirical tests of these ‘compositional’ and ‘contextual’ explanations of cross-national di¡erences have been performed upon macro-level crime data due to the unavailability of comparable individual-level data across countries. This limitation has had two important consequences for cross-national crime research. First, micro-/meso-level mechanisms underlying cross-national differences cannot be truly inferred from macro-level data. Secondly, the e¡ects of contextual measures (e.g. income inequality) on crime are uncontrolled for compositional heterogeneity. In this paper, these limitations are overcome by analysing individual-level victimization data across 18 countries from the International CrimeVictims Survey. Results from multi-level analyses on theft and violent victimization indicate that the national level of income inequality is positively related to risk, independent of compositional (i.e. micro- and meso-level) di¡erences. Furthermore, crossnational variation in victimization rates is not only shaped by di¡erences in national context, but also by varying composition. More speci¢cally, countries had higher crime rates the more they consisted of urban residents and regions with lowaverage social cohesion.

Magnetic Fields toward Ophiuchus-B Derived from SCUBA-2 Polarization Measurements

We present the results of dust emission polarization measurements of Ophiuchus-B (Oph-B) carried out using the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 (SCUBA-2) camera with its associated polarimeter (POL-2) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii. This work is part of the B-fields in Star-forming Region Observations survey initiated to understand the role of magnetic fields in star formation for nearby star-forming molecular clouds. We present a first look at the geometry and strength of magnetic fields in Oph-B. The field geometry is traced over ~0.2 pc, with clear detection of both of the sub-clumps of Oph-B. The field pattern appears significantly disordered in sub-clump Oph-B1. The field geometry in Oph-B2 is more ordered, with a tendency to be along the major axis of the clump, parallel to the filamentary structure within which it lies. The degree of polarization decreases systematically toward the dense core material in the two sub-clumps. The field lines in the lower density material along the periphery are smoothly joined to the large-scale magnetic fields probed by NIR polarization observations. We estimated a magnetic field strength of 630 ± 410 μG in the Oph-B2 sub-clump using a Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi analysis. With this magnetic field strength, we find a mass-to-flux ratio λ = 1.6 ± 1.1, which suggests that the Oph-B2 clump is slightly magnetically supercritical

The JCMT BISTRO Survey: Studying the Complex Magnetic Field of L43

We present observations of polarized dust emission at 850 μm from the L43 molecular cloud, which sits in the Ophiuchus cloud complex. The data were taken using SCUBA-2/POL-2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope as a part of the BISTRO large program. L43 is a dense (NH 10 22 2 ~ –1023 cm−2) complex molecular cloud with a submillimeter-bright starless core and two protostellar sources. There appears to be an evolutionary gradient along the isolated filament that L43 is embedded within, with the most evolved source closest to the Sco OB2 association. One of the protostars drives a CO outflow that has created a cavity to the southeast. We see a magnetic field that appears to be aligned with the cavity walls of the outflow, suggesting interaction with the outflow. We also find a magnetic field strength of up to ∼160 ± 30 μG in the main starless core and up to ∼90 ± 40 μG in the more diffuse, extended region. These field strengths give magnetically super- and subcritical values, respectively, and both are found to be roughly trans-Alfvénic. We also present a new method of data reduction for these denser but fainter objects like starless cores