Mixed effects models for large sized clustered extremes

Extreme value theory (EVT) provides an elegant mathematical tool for statistical analysis of rare events. Typically, when data are collected from multiple clusters, analysts want to preserve cluster information, such as region, period, and group. To consider large-sized cluster information in extreme value analysis, we incorporate the mixed effects model (MEM) into the regression technique in EVT. In the field of small area estimation, it is well known that the MEM is an important tool for providing reliable estimates of large-sized clusters with small sample sizes. In the context of EVT for rare event analysis, the sample size of extreme value data for each cluster is often small. Therefore, the MEM may contribute to improving the predictive accuracy of extreme value analysis. This motivates us to verify the effectiveness of the MEM in EVT through theoretical studies and numerical experiments, including its application to the risk assessment of heavy rainfall in Japan.Comment: 36 page

Novel urinary glycan profiling by lectin array serves as the biomarkers for predicting renal prognosis in patients with IgA nephropathy

In IgA nephropathy (IgAN), IgA1 molecules are characterized by galactose deficiency in O-glycans. Here, we investigated the association between urinary glycosylation profile measured by 45 lectins at baseline and renal prognosis in 142 patients with IgAN. The primary outcome was estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline (>4 mL/min/1.73 m(2)/year), or eGFR >= 30% decline from baseline, or initiation of renal replacement therapies within 3 years. During follow-up (3.4 years, median), 26 patients reached the renal outcome (Group P), while 116 patients were with good renal outcome (Group G). Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that lectin binding signals of Erythrina cristagalli lectin (ECA) (odds ratio [OR] 2.84, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11-7.28) and Narcissus pseudonarcissus lectin (NPA) (OR 2.32, 95% CI 1.11-4.85) adjusted by age, sex, eGFR, and urinary protein were significantly associated with the outcome, and they recognize Gal(beta 1-4)GlcNAc and high-mannose including Man(alpha 1-6)Man, respectively. The addition of two lectin-binding glycan signals to the interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy score further improved the model fitness (Akaike's information criterion) and incremental predictive abilities (c-index, net reclassification improvement, and integrated discrimination improvement). Urinary N-glycan profiling by lectin array is useful in the prediction of IgAN prognosis, since ECA and NPA recognize the intermediate glycans during N-glycosylation of various glycoproteins

Cross-education and detraining effects of eccentric vs. concentric resistance training of the elbow flexors

Background: Unilateral resistance training increases the strength of the contralateral non-trained homologous muscles known as the cross-education effect. We tested the hypothesis that unilateral eccentric resistance training (ET) would induce greater and longer-lasting cross-education effect when compared with concentric resistance training (CT). Methods: Young (20–23 y) participants were allocated to ET (5 males, 4 females) or CT (5 males, 4 females) group that performed unilateral progressive ET or CT of the elbow flexors, twice a week for 5 weeks (10 sessions) followed by a 5-week detraining, and control group (7 males, 6 females) that did not perform any training. Maximum voluntary isometric contraction torque of the elbow flexors (MVIC), one-repetition maximum of concentric dumbbell curl (1-RM), and biceps brachii and brachialis muscle thickness (MT) were measured from the trained and non-trained arms before, several days after the last training session, and 5 weeks later. A ratio between the trained and non-trained arms for the change in MVIC or 1-RM from pre- to post-training (cross-body transfer ratio) was compared between ET and CT groups. Results: The control group did not show significant changes in any variables. Both ET and CT increased (P \u3c 0.05) MVIC (22.5 ± 12.3 % vs. 26.0 ± 11.9 %) and 1-RM (28.8 ± 6.6 % vs. 35.4 ± 12.9 %) of the trained arm without a significant difference between groups. MVIC was maintained after detraining for ET but returned to the baseline for CT, and 1-RM was maintained after detraining for both ET and CT. For the non-trained arm, MVIC (22.7 ± 17.9 % vs. 12.2 ± 10.2 %) and 1-RM (19.9 ± 14.6 % vs. 24.0 ± 10.6 %) increased similarly (P \u3e 0.05) after ET and CT, and MVIC returned to the baseline after detraining, but 1-RM was maintained for both groups. An increase (P \u3c 0.05) in MT was found only after ET for the trained arm (7.1 ± 6.1 %). The cross-body transfer ratio for MVIC was greater (P \u3c 0.05) for ET (90.9 ± 46.7 %) than CT (49.0 ± 30.0 %). Conclusions: These results did not support the hypothesis and showed similar changes in the most of the variables between ET and CT for the trained and non-trained arms, and strong cross-education effects on MVIC and 1-RM, but less detraining effect after ET than CT on MVIC of the trained arm. Trial registration: University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN000044477; Jun 09, 2021)

Effect of Nickel and Titanium on DNA Methylation in Human Gingival fibroblast cells In Vitro

Metallic dental materials are frequently used in clinics. Cytotoxicity and allergy tests in vitro and in vivo have primarily been used to evaluate their safety. However, whether these dental materials cause genetic modifications leading to pathological conditions in oral tissues has not been shown. Gene mutations and epigenetic alterations are the initial steps of genetic modification. Environmental factors, including chemical components and mechanical stimulations, can cause epigenetic modifications that are often involved in pathogenic changes in humans. Therefore, we hypothesize that dental materials induce specific alterations in DNA methylation. This study aims to demonstrate specific alterations in DNA methylations in human gingival fibroblast cells (HGnF) induced by metal components (Ni and Ti ) of dental materials. The mRNA expression level of IL−6 for 2 weeks was significantly higher in the HGnF cells treated with 50 μM of Ni and 10 μM of Ti compared to the controls. Quantitative methylation − specific PCR ( qMSP) revealed that the DNA methylation percentage levels of IL−6 and IFN−γ in HGnF cells treated with 10 μM of Ti for 2 weeks were significantly lower compared to the controls. In conclusion, this study found hypomethylation of IL−6 and IFN−γ, followed by their upregulated expressions in HGnF cells stimulated with Ti. Methylation levels may serve as a new cytotoxic assessment tool, even for biocompatible materials.departmental bulletin pape

Photonic-crystal lasers with high-quality narrow-divergence symmetric beams and their application to LiDAR

Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is a key technology for smart mobility of robots, agricultural and construction machines, and autonomous vehicles. However, current LiDAR systems often rely on semiconductor lasers with low-quality, large-divergence, and asymmetric beams, requiring high-precision integration of complicated lens systems to reshape the beam. Also, due to the broad linewidth and the large temperature dependence of their lasing spectrum, a bandpass filter with broad bandwidth must be used in front of the detector, so the detected signal is affected by noise from background light such as sunlight. These critical issues limit the performance, compactness, affordability, and reliability of the LiDAR systems. Photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers (PCSELs) have attracted much attention as novel semiconductor lasers that can solve the issues of conventional semiconductor lasers owing to their capability of high-quality, very-narrow-divergence, and symmetric beam operation supported by broad-area band-edge resonance in their two-dimensional photonic crystal. In this paper, we show the progress and the state of the art of broad-area coherent PCSELs and their application to a time-of-flight (ToF) LiDAR system. We first review the progress of PCSELs made so far. Next, we show recent progress based on PCSELs with a double-lattice structure that enables higher-power and narrower-divergence operation while keeping a symmetric beam shape. By optimizing the double-lattice photonic crystal and the reflective properties of a backside distributed Bragg reflector (DBR), we achieve a high peak power of 10 W while maintaining a nearly diffraction-limited beam divergence of ∼0.1° (FWHM) from a 500 µm diameter resonator. Using this PCSEL, we construct a LiDAR system that uses no external lens system in its light source and demonstrate highly spatially resolved ToF sensing (measurement range of ∼20 m), which is appropriate for autonomous robots and factory automation

Joint angles in elbow flexor unilateral resistance exercise training determine its effects on muscle strength and thickness of trained and non-trained arms

The present study compared two unilateral arm curl resistance exercise protocols with a different starting and finishing elbow joint angle in the same ROM for changes in elbow flexors strength and muscle thickness of the trained and non-trained arms. Thirty-two non-resistance trained young adults were randomly assigned to one of the three groups: extended joint training (0°-50°; EXT, = 12); flexed joint training (80°-130°; FLE, = 12); and non-training control ( = 8). The exercise training was performed by the dominant arms twice a week for 5 weeks with gradual increases in the training volume over 10 training sessions, and the non-dominant (non-trained) arms were investigated for the cross-education effect. Maximal voluntary contraction torque of isometric (MVC-ISO), concentric (MVC-CON), and eccentric contractions (MVC-ECC), and thickness (MT) of biceps brachii and brachialis of the trained and non-trained arms were assessed at baseline and 4-8 days after the last training session. The control group did not show significant changes in any variables. Significant ( \u3c 0.05) increases in MVC-ISO torque (16.2 ± 12.6%), MVC-CON torque (21.1 ± 24.4%), and MVC-ECC torque (19.6 ± 17.5%) of the trained arm were observed for the EXT group only. The magnitude of the increase in MT of the trained arm was greater ( \u3c 0.05) for EXT (8.9 ± 3.9%) than FLE (3.4 ± 2.7%). The cross-education effect was evident for MVC-ISO (15.9 ± 14.8%) and MVC-CON (16.7 ± 20.0%) torque of the EXT group only. These results suggest that resistance training at the extended elbow joint induces greater muscle adaptations and cross-education effects than that at flexed elbow joint

High-brightness scalable continuous-wave single-mode photonic-crystal laser

フォトニック結晶レーザーの高輝度単一モード連続動作の実現 --スマート製造を始めとする各種分野のゲームチェンジに向けて--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-06-15.Realizing large-scale single-mode, high-power, high-beam-quality semiconductor lasers, which rival (or even replace) bulky gas and solid-state lasers, is one of the ultimate goals of photonics and laser physics. Conventional high-power semiconductor lasers, however, inevitably suffer from poor beam quality owing to the onset of many-mode oscillation, and, moreover, the oscillation is destabilized by disruptive thermal effects under continuous-wave (CW) operation. Here, we surmount these challenges by developing large-scale photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers with controlled Hermitian and non-Hermitian couplings inside the photonic crystal and a pre-installed spatial distribution of the lattice constant, which maintains these couplings even under CW conditions. A CW output power exceeding 50 W with purely single-mode oscillation and an exceptionally narrow beam divergence of 0.05° has been achieved for photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers with a large resonant diameter of 3 mm, corresponding to over 10, 000 wavelengths in the material. The brightness, a figure of merit encapsulating both output power and beam quality, reaches 1 GW cm⁻² sr⁻¹, which rivals those of existing bulky lasers. Our work is an important milestone toward the advent of single-mode 1-kW-class semiconductor lasers, which are expected to replace conventional, bulkier lasers in the near future