Memorial: The lost giant in Japan, Kyojiro Someya (1923-2000); Lost giant in Japan, Kyojiro Someya (1923-2000)

Kyojiro Someya, Professor emeritus of Waseda University, died suddenly before dawn on January 3, 2000, as he neared the age of 77. He had completed the correction of proofs of his last book, Accounting and Management of Cash Flow, on the day before, but to our regret could not write the preface. His academic achievements were his brilliant activities at home and abroad and his publication of over 90 books, including 24 coauthored, and more than 200 papers

アスベスト ノ ケンコウ ヒガイ ノ ジョウキョウ ト ソノ タイオウ

According to the report made in 2005 by Kubota Corporation about the situation of asbestosrelated diseases, health hazards due to asbestos have been observed not only in workers of the Kubota’s plant but also in people living around the plant. As a result of this report, it has been widely acknowledged in Japan that asbestos-related health hazards pertain not only to labor accidents and occupational health problems but also to environmental pollutions. The amount of asbestos imported to Japan reached a peak（350,000 tons）in 1974. During the 26-year period around 1974, more than 200,000 tons of asbestos were imported every year．The use of asbestos has been restricted in Japan since 1975．In 2006, the amount of asbestos used in this country is almost zero. However, considering the report that lung cancer and mesothelioma due to asbestos develop after an incubation time of 20-50 years and that disposal or dismantling of industrial products and buildings made of asbestos will reach a peak in the year about 2020, it is expected that large amounts of asbestos（several hundred times greater than the amount of asbestos imported each year in the past）are yielded from dismantling and disposal, resulting in massive onset of lung cancer and mesothelioma around that year. Issues we now face are（: 1）resolving health hazards caused by the exposure to asbestos in the past ; and（2）preventing onset of asbestos-related health hazards in the future．It is desirable that a close network is organized to deal with asbestos-related issues by the central government （Tokushima District Bureau of Labor, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare）, local government （Tokushima Prefecture）and medical providers

Plasma lipid profiling of different types of hepatic fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride and lomustine in rats

Supplementary tables. Table S1. Class, m/z, retention time, ion of detected and identified lipid molecules, and determined their fatty side chains. Table S2. Normalized levels of lipid molecules in individual samples. Table S3. Fold change and p-value of the levels of lipid molecules. (XLSX 317 kb

Controlled Production of Sub-Radiant States of a Diatomic Molecule in an Optical Lattice

We report successful production of sub-radiant states of a two-atom system in a three-dimensional optical lattice starting from doubly occupied sites in a Mott insulator phase of a quantum gas of atomic ytterbium. We can selectively produce either sub-radiant 1g state or super-radiant 0u state by choosing the excitation laser frequency. The inherent weak excitation rate for the sub-radiant 1g state is overcome by the increased atomic density due to the tight-confinement in a three-dimensional optical lattice. Our experimental measurements of binding energies, linewidth, and Zeeman shift confirm observation of sub-radiant levels of the 1g state of the Yb_2 molecule.Comment: To be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Observation of spin-exchange dynamics between itinerant and localized ¹⁷¹Yb atoms

We report on the observation of the spin-exchange dynamics of ¹⁷¹Yb atoms in the ground state ¹S₀ and in the metastable state ³P₀. We implement the mixed-dimensional two-orbital system using near-resonant and magic-wavelength optical lattices, where the ¹S₀ and ³P₀ atoms are itinerant in a one-dimensional tube and localized in three dimensions, respectively. By exploiting an optical Stern-Gerlach method, we observe the spin depolarization of the ¹S₀ atoms induced by the spin-exchange interaction with the ³P₀ atom. Our work could pave the way to the quantum simulation of the Kondo effect

Observation of spin-space quantum transport induced by an atomic quantum point contact

冷却原子の量子状態を制御し新たな「流れ」を実現 --「原子回路」で電子の流れをシミュレーションする--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-11-22.Quantum transport is ubiquitous in physics. So far, quantum transport between terminals has been extensively studied in solid state systems from the fundamental point of views such as the quantized conductance to the applications to quantum devices. Recent works have demonstrated a cold-atom analog of a mesoscopic conductor by engineering a narrow conducting channel with optical potentials, which opens the door for a wealth of research of atomtronics emulating mesoscopic electronic devices and beyond. Here we realize an alternative scheme of the quantum transport experiment with ytterbium atoms in a two-orbital optical lattice system. Our system consists of a multi-component Fermi gas and a localized impurity, where the current can be created in the spin space by introducing the spin-dependent interaction with the impurity. We demonstrate a rich variety of localized-impurity-induced quantum transports, which paves the way for atomtronics exploiting spin degrees of freedom

Menaquinone (vitamin K2) therapy for bronchial asthma. I. Mechanism of action menaquinone on allergic reactions.

The mechanism of action of the drug was investigated from various points of view. The findings may be summarized as follows: 1. In the experiments of the degranulation of mesenteric mast cells of rats, menaquinone proved to significantly inhibit the degranulation either in active or passive sensitization with the reagin-like antibody. 2. Menaquinone did not inhibit the formation of the reagin-like antibody. 3. In the experiements of the degranulation of basophilic granulocytes from patients of bronchial asthma, the rate of appearance of A form basophilic cells upon addition of the antihuman IgE goat serum was not markedly but significantly inhibited in the patients treated with menaquinone for long periods, as compared with that in the control, whereas the in vitro addition of menaquinone did not exert a significant inhibitory action.</p

Selenoprotein P concentrations and risk of progression from mild cognitive impairment to dementia

: There is a growing literature investigating the effects of selenium on the central nervous system and cognitive function. However, little is known about the role of selenoprotein P, the main selenium transporter, which can also have adverse biological effects.&nbsp;We conducted a prospective cohort study of individuals aged 42-81&nbsp;years who received a clinical diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment. Using sandwich ELISA methods, we measured full-length selenoprotein P concentrations in serum and cerebrospinal fluid to assess the relation with dementia incidence during a median follow-up of 47.3&nbsp;months. We used Cox proportional hazards regression and restricted cubic splines to model such relation. Of the 54 participants, 35 developed dementia during follow-up (including 26 cases of Alzheimer's dementia). Selenoprotein P concentrations in serum and cerebrospinal fluid were highly correlated, and in spline regression analyses they each showed a positive non-linear association with dementia risk, particularly after excluding dementia cases diagnosed within 24&nbsp;months of follow-up. We also observed differences in association according to the dementia subtypes considered. Risk ratios of dementia peaked at 2-6 at the highest levels of selenoprotein P, when compared to its median level, also depending on matrix, analytical methodology and dementia subtype. Findings of this study, the first to assess selenoprotein P levels in the central nervous system in vivo and the first to use a prospective study design to evaluate associations with dementia, suggest that higher circulating concentrations of selenoprotein P, both in serum and cerebrospinal fluid, predict progression of MCI to dementia. However, further confirmation of these findings is required, given the limited statistical precision of the associations and the potential for residual confounding