301 research outputs found
THE ENTANGLEMENT BETWEEN ANTI-LIBERALISM AND CONSERVATISM: The INSISTS and MIUMI Effect within the “212 Movement” in Indonesia
This paper delves into a new perspective on the spreading of Islamic populism in Indonesia. It maps the extent of the influence exerted by the network based on the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) in Malaysia. In the post-authoritarian era, the ISTAC alumni have contributed to dynamizing Islamic discourse and movement in Indonesia. By engaging their connections throughout the whole country, they promote and spread Al-Attas' works (the idea of Islamization of Knowledge) by establishing an Islamic think-tank, Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought and Civilizations (INSISTS), as well as connect Islamic scholars and preachers from various Islamic organizations (including Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah) by establishing the Council for Young and Intellectual Ulama of Indonesia (MIUMI which played a substantial role during the “411” and “212 movement”. This paper argues that INSISTS and MIUMI are key actors behind the scene of the rise of Islamic populism. It further argues that the synthesis of conservatism and modern Islam among actors had resulted in INSISTS and MIUMI’s agenda getting easily accepted by Muslim communities in Indonesia
Unmanned aerial vehicles and deep learning for assessment of anthropogenic marine debris on beaches on an island in a semi-enclosed sea in Japan
The increasing prevalence of marine debris is a global problem, and urgent action for amelioration is needed. Identifying hotspots where marine debris accumulates will enable effective control; however, knowledge on the location of accumulation hotspots remains incomplete. In particular, marine debris accumulation on beaches is a concern. Surveys of beaches require intensive human effort, and survey methods are not standardized. If marine debris monitoring is conducted using a standardized method, data from different regions can be compared. With an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and deep learning computational methods, monitoring a wide area at a low cost in a standardized way may be possible. In this study, we aimed to identify marine debris on beaches through deep learning using high-resolution UAV images by conducting a survey on Narugashima Island in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan. The flight altitude relative to the ground was set to 5 m, and images of a 0.81-ha area were obtained. Flight was conducted twice: before and after the beach cleaning. The combination of UAVs equipped with a zoom lens and operation at a low altitude allows for the acquisition of high resolution images of 1.1 mm/pixel. The training dataset (2970 images) was annotated by using VoTT, categorizing them into two classes: 'anthropogenic marine debris' and 'natural objects.' Using RetinaNet, marine debris was identified with an average sensitivity of 51% and a precision of 76%. In addition, the abundance and area of marine debris coverage were estimated. In this study, it was revealed that the combination of UAVs and deep learning enables the effective identification of marine debris. The effects of cleanup activities by citizens were able to be quantified. This method can widely be used to evaluate the effectiveness of citizen efforts toward beach cleaning and low-cost long-term monitoring
Coronary artery spasm—Clinical features, diagnosis, pathogenesis, and treatment
SummaryCoronary (artery) spasm plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease, including stable angina, unstable angina, myocardial infarction, and sudden death. The prevalence of coronary spasm differs among populations, is higher in Japan and Korea than in the Western countries probably due to genetic as well as environmental factors. Coronary spasm occurs most often from midnight to early morning and is usually not induced by exercise in the daytime. The attacks of coronary spasm are associated with either ST segment elevation or depression, or negative U wave on ECG. Patients with multi-vessel coronary spasm may suffer from lethal arrhythmia, including advanced AV block, ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation, or even sudden death, and they are often resistant to conventional medical therapy including Ca-channel blockers (CCBs). Endothelial nitric oxide (NO) activity is reduced and markers of oxidative stress are elevated in patients with coronary spasm. Thrombogenesis is enhanced and plasma levels of hsCRP and P-selection are elevated in patients with coronary spasm. Thus, patients with coronary spasm have endothelial dysfunction and are suffering from a low-grade chronic inflammation. Polymorphisms of endothelial NO synthase, smoking, and low-grade inflammation are the most important risk factors for coronary spasm. Coronary spasm is a hyper-contraction of coronary smooth muscle triggered by an increase of intracellular Ca2+ in the presence of an increased Ca2+ sensitivity. It has been shown that RhoA/ROCK pathway is involved in Ca2+ sensitivity and that the reduced endothelial NO activity results in increased Ca2+ sensitivity through enhanced RhoA/ROCK pathway. Accordingly, it is possible that in addition to CCBs, RhoA/ROCK pathway blockers may prove to be useful for the treatment of coronary spasm
Fabrication of a Polyimide Film Pneumatic Actuator by Molding and Welding Processes
The bellows pneumatic actuator, which is made by folding a non-stretch film, has been proposed for various applications because it is easy to fabricate and is extremely thin and light. However, it has subpar durability performance, especially in the folded part of the film. In this study, we propose an actuator with a pod structure that possesses high design flexibility and is free from folding. A method of molding a pod structure on a polyimide film was established and a pneumatic actuator was successfully fabricated by using PI films. Two types of PI film pneumatic actuators with the same curvature, bellows type, and pod type were fabricated. Both were confirmed to have equivalent output characteristics. The bending angle and generated torque of the pod-structure actuator were 34 degrees and 3.3 mNm, respectively. In addition, the pod structure has approximately twice the durability of the bellows structure. By using the fabrication method proposed in this paper, it is possible to realize an air chamber (i.e., an actuator) that has both high durability and bending motion
Spatial and temporal regulation of cofilin activity by LIM kinase and Slingshot is critical for directional cell migration
Cofilin mediates lamellipodium extension and polarized cell migration by accelerating actin filament dynamics at the leading edge of migrating cells. Cofilin is inactivated by LIM kinase (LIMK)–1-mediated phosphorylation and is reactivated by cofilin phosphatase Slingshot (SSH)-1L. In this study, we show that cofilin activity is temporally and spatially regulated by LIMK1 and SSH1L in chemokine-stimulated Jurkat T cells. The knockdown of LIMK1 suppressed chemokine-induced lamellipodium formation and cell migration, whereas SSH1L knockdown produced and retained multiple lamellipodial protrusions around the cell after cell stimulation and impaired directional cell migration. Our results indicate that LIMK1 is required for cell migration by stimulating lamellipodium formation in the initial stages of cell response and that SSH1L is crucially involved in directional cell migration by restricting the membrane protrusion to one direction and locally stimulating cofilin activity in the lamellipodium in the front of the migrating cell. We propose that LIMK1- and SSH1L-mediated spatiotemporal regulation of cofilin activity is critical for chemokine-induced polarized lamellipodium formation and directional cell movement
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Genomic organization and single-nucleotide polymorphism map of desmuslin, a novel intermediate filament protein on chromosome 15q26.3
BACKGROUND: Desmuslin is an α-dystrobrevin-interacting protein expressed primarily in heart and skeletal muscle. The desmuslin protein interacts with and is closely related to desmin, a protein encoded by a locus mutated in some forms of hereditary distal myopathy. As a muscle-specific intermediate filament protein, desmuslin is also a candidate for myopathies of unknown etiology. RESULTS: The desmuslin gene was localized to chromosome 15q26.3 by electronic screening of the human DNA sequence database. Primer pairs were designed to amplify the 5 exons of the desmuslin gene in 11 overlapping DNA segments. The desmuslin gene was screened for mutations in 71 patients with various forms of myopathy for which there was no known cause. In this analysis, 10 common and 2 rare amino acid altering single-nucleotide polymorphisms were identified, all of which were seen in a control population of individuals thus making these unlikely causes of the phenotype. Interestingly, one of the single-nucleotide polymorphisms found in a patient resulted in a premature stop codon in the first exon. The nonsense mutation was also detected in the patient's unaffected father and one unaffected control; it was detected in 0.44% (2/454) of unrelated chromosomes and is therefore predicted to have a homozygous frequency of 0.002%. CONCLUSION: No causative mutations were found in the desmuslin gene. However, the single-nucleotide polymorphisms mapped in this study represent a well-mapped group that can be used for disequilibrium studies of this region of chromosome 15q26.3
In Situ Environmental Radioactivity Measurement in High–Dose Rate Areas Using a CdZnTe Semiconductor Detector
Non-B hepatocellular carcinoma: influence of age, sex, alcohol, family clustering, blood transfusion and chronic liver disease.
In 144 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 166 cases of cirrhosis without HCC and 142 cases of chronic hepatitis, we examined HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc in sera and compared the following factors between hepatitis B virus marker-negative and -positive patients: age, sex, alcohol consumption, family clustering of liver diseases, and histories of blood transfusion and post-transfusion hepatitis. Results of this study demonstrated several distinct differences in clinical backgrounds between non-B (negative for HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc) and B (positive for HBsAg) patients with HCC. Non-B patients were significantly older, had a lower frequency of familial tendencies for liver diseases, and more frequently had cancers other than HCC in their families. Some of these differences were also observed between non-B and B patients with cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis. Among patients with chronic hepatitis, the non-B patients had received blood transfusion or had post-transfusion hepatitis more frequently than the B patients. However, this difference was not apparent in patients with liver cirrhosis or HCC, suggesting that progression of non-A, non-B post-transfusion hepatitis to cirrhosis and HCC may not be as frequent as progression to chronic hepatitis.</p
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