Synchro: Block-generation Protocol to Synchronously Process Cross-shard Transactions in State Sharding

Traditional blockchains cannot achieve the same transaction throughput as Web2, so their use cases are limited. Therefore, state sharding has been proposed to improve transaction throughput by dividing the blockchain network and managing states and transactions in parallel. However, Nightshade in the NEAR Protocol, a type of state sharding, provides a rollback protocol to cancel the generation of blocks containing inconsistent transaction results because processing cross-shard transactions (CSTXs) in a 2-phase commit may cause state inconsistency. We present a new attack that interferes with the generation of new blocks by repeatedly executing CSTXs that certainly causes state inconsistency, causing continuous rollback. We also propose a block-generation protocol called Synchro to incorporate all the state changes of each CSTX into the same block by coordinating the block prior to approving transactions in each shard. Synchro eliminates the occurrence of the state inconsistency caused by the CSTXs and the necessity of the rollback protocol. We use zero-knowledge proof to make Synchro scalable in the global validation phase. Although the actual overhead of the zero-knowledge proof has not yet been evaluated, we show that Synchro could achieve the same transaction throughput as Nightshade theoretically, depending on the future innovations in zero-knowledge proof techniques

Comparative Study on the Inhibitory Effects of α-Tocopherol and Radon on Carbon Tetrachloride-Induced Renal Damage

Since the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima, the effects of low-dose irradiation, especially internal exposure, are at the forefront of everyone’s attention. However, low-dose radiation induced various stimulating effects such as activation of antioxidative and immune functions. In this study, we attempted to evaluate the quantitative effects of the activation of antioxidative activities in kidney induced by radon inhalation on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced renal damage. Mice were subjected to intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of CCl4 after inhaling approximately 1000 or 2000 Bq/m3 radon for 24 h, or immediately after i.p. injection of α-tocopherol (100, 300, or 500 mg/kg bodyweight). In case of renal function, radon inhalation at a concentration of 2000 Bq/m3 has the inhibitory effects similar to α-tocopherol treatment at a dose of 300–500 mg/kg bodyweight. The activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase in kidneys were significantly higher in mice exposed to radon as compared to mice treated with CCl4 alone. These findings suggest that radon inhalation has an antioxidative effect against CCl4-induced renal damage similar to the antioxidative effects of α-tocopherol due to induction of antioxidative functions

ステロイド使用による下顎頭骨坏死の1例

Avascular necrosis or osteonecrosis has been discussed as a possible cause of condylar degeneration and pain. Avascular necrosis is a degenerative disease originates from diminished blood flow in the bone marrow. Avascular necrosis is seen in relationship with idiopathic, corticosteroids, alcoholism, sickle cell disease, pregnancy, and Caisson\u27s disease. Corticosteroid has been suggested to be an etiologic factor affecting bone organization, fat metabolism, and blood vessel. Indeed, corticosteroid can affect the bilateral joints of the shoulder, hip, and knee. However, the occurrence of the avascular necrosis of in the temporomandibular joint alone has not been reported. The clinical, laboratory, radiographic, and imagings features of a case of the condylar process of the mandible are presented

Iduronate-2-sulfatase fused with anti-hTfR antibody, pabinafusp alfa, for MPS-II : a phase 2 trial in Brazil

In Hunter syndrome (mucopolysaccharidosis II [MPS-II]),systemic accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) dueto a deficiency of iduronate-2-sulfatase (IDS), caused by mu-tations in theIDSgene, leads to multiple somatic manifesta-tions and in patients with the severe (neuronopathic)phenotype, also to central nervous system (CNS) involve-ment. These symptoms cannot be effectively treated withcurrent enzyme-replacement therapies, as they are unableto cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Pabinafusp alfa, anovel IDS fused with an anti-human transferrin receptorantibody, was shown to penetrate the BBB and to addressneurodegeneration in preclinical studies. Subsequent phase1/2 and 2/3 clinical studies in Japan have shown markedreduction of GAG accumulation in the cerebrospinalfluid(CSF), along with favorable clinical responses. A 26-week,open-label, randomized, parallel-group phase 2 study wasconducted in Brazil to further evaluate the safety and efficacyof intravenously administered pabinafusp alfa at 1.0, 2.0,and 4.0 mg/kg/week in MPS-II patients. The safety profilesin the three dosage groups were similar. Neurodevelopmentalevaluation suggested positive neurocognitive signals despite arelatively short study period. The 2.0-mg/kg group, whichdemonstrated marked reductions in substrate concentrationsin the CSF, serum, and urine, was considered to provide thebest combination regarding safety and efficacy signals

Spectral Properties of Prompt Emission of Four Short Gamma-Ray Bursts Observed by the Suzaku-WAM and the Konus-Wind

We have performed a joint analysis of prompt emission from four bright short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with the Suzaku-WAM and the Konus-Wind experiments. This joint analysis allows us to investigate the spectral properties of short-duration bursts over a wider energy band with a higher accuracy. We find that these bursts have a high E$_{\rm peak}$, around 1 MeV and have a harder power-law component than that of long GRBs. However, we can not determine whether these spectra follow the cut-off power-law model or the Band model. We also investigated the spectral lag, hardness ratio, inferred isotropic radiation energy and existence of a soft emission hump, in order to classify them into short or long GRBs using several criteria, in addition to the burst duration. We find that all criteria, except for the existence of the soft hump, support the fact that our four GRB samples are correctly classified as belonging to the short class. In addition, our broad-band analysis revealed that there is no evidence of GRBs with a very large hardness ratio, as seen in the BATSE short GRB sample, and that the spectral lag of our four short GRBs is consistent with zero, even in the MeV energy band, unlike long GRBs. Although our short GRB samples are still limited, these results suggest that the spectral hardness of short GRBs might not differ significantly from that of long GRBs, and also that the spectral lag at high energies could be a strong criterion for burst classification.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, accepted for Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japa

Observations of the Prompt Gamma-Ray Emission of GRB 070125

The long, bright gamma-ray burst GRB 070125 was localized by the Interplanetary Network. We present light curves of the prompt gamma-ray emission as observed by Konus-WIND, RHESSI, Suzaku-WAM, and \textit{Swift}-BAT. We detail the results of joint spectral fits with Konus and RHESSI data. The burst shows moderate hard-to-soft evolution in its multi-peaked emission over a period of about one minute. The total burst fluence as observed by Konus is $1.79 \times 10^{-4}$ erg/cm$^2$ (20 keV--10 MeV). Using the spectroscopic redshift $z=1.548$, we find that the burst is consistent with the ``Amati'' $E_{peak,i}-E_{iso}$ correlation. Assuming a jet opening angle derived from broadband modeling of the burst afterglow, GRB 070125 is a significant outlier to the ``Ghirlanda'' $E_{peak,i}-E_\gamma$ correlation. Its collimation-corrected energy release $E_\gamma = 2.5 \times 10^{52}$ ergs is the largest yet observed.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ. Improved spectral fits and energetics estimate