Semi-Static Hedging Based on a Generalized Reflection Principle on a Multi Dimensional Brownian Motion

On a multi-assets Black-Scholes economy, we introduce a class of barrier options. In this model we apply a generalized reflection principle in a context of the finite reflection group acting on a Euclidean space to give a valuation formula and the semi-static hedge.Comment: Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, online firs

Hachisuka Mochiaki’s Overseas Achievements

Hachisuka Mochiaki (1846-1918) was the last lord of the Awa (Tokushima) domain, and he became a successful businessman and a statesman after the Meiji Restoration. He went to the UK to study when he was 25 years old, and stayed there for seven years, during which he graduated from college at the Balliol College, University of Oxford. Three years after returning to Japan, he was appointed to an envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Japan in France (also serving as a minister in Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and Belgium) and he stayed in Paris three years. Despite ten years of foreign life, little has been known about his overseas activities. In this study, we investigated his overseas activities using digital archives of European libraries, and could find information from British Newspaper Archive, Welsh Newspaper Online, and Gallica. He began to attend public events in the UK after graduating from the Oxford University. He received in an audience by Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales in 1877 and 1878, and attended to parties hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also participated in the launching ceremony of three Japanese warships Kongo, Fuso, and Hiei in 1877. He worked variously as a diplomat in Paris during 1884-1886. He signed three treaties, the Geneva Convention, the treaty on remittance by postal money order, and the International Meter Convention. Conpared with signing the Geneva Convention remaining two have not received much attention so far. In this study we found that he encouraged the Japanese government to join the International Meter Convention and negotiated with the Comité International des Poids et Mesures many times. He organized Japanese exhibition at a museum to introduce Japanese culture to Parisians, and he contributed to the academic exchange between France and Japan with the Geographical Society. And he and his wife Yoriko participated in many social events, and they held parties, concerts and theaters in Paris and Brussels. Several French newspapers mentioned elegant behavior of his wife Yoriko at those parties. And He focused on politics and business after returning to Japan, but also worked to promote exchange with foreign countries. In particular, he established the Welcome Society, which was the first organization in Japan for attracting and accommodating foreign tourists, with other of founders, and became the chairman of the organization. His abundant overseas experience and wide-ranging personal connections helped to establish this association

Behçetʼs disease complicated by ileocecal and esophageal perforation

　A 36-year-old Japanese man known to have incomplete Behçet’s disease (oral aphthous ulcers, genital ulcers, skin lesions, and esophageal and ileocecal ulcers) was admitted to our hospital in January 2011 for abdominal pain. We administered corticosteroids and immunosuppressants. Two months later, we performed an ileocecal resection to control gastrointestinal bleeding from the ileocecal ulcers. High fever persisted after this surgery, and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy demonstrated ulcer penetration between the lower and abdominal esophagus. Eighteen days after the initial ileocecal resection, we performed a lower esophagus resection, gastric tube reconstruction and enterostomy, during which we confirmed a 5-mm-dia. perforated site at the posterior wall of the abdominal esophagus. Postoperative anastomotic leakage and empyema occurred, but they were relieved by thoracic drainage and empyema dissection

Conjugated docosahexaenoic acid suppresses KPL-1 human breast cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo: potential mechanisms of action

Introduction The present study was conducted to examine the effect of conjugated docosahexaenoic acid (CDHA) on cell growth, cell cycle progression, mode of cell death, and expression of cell cycle regulatory and/or apoptosis-related proteins in KPL-1 human breast cancer cell line. This effect of CDHA was compared with that of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Methods KPL-1 cell growth was assessed by colorimetric 3- (4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay; cell cycle progression and mode of cell death were examined by flow cytometry; and levels of expression of p53, p21Cip1/Waf1, cyclin D1, Bax, and Bcl-2 proteins were examined by Western blotting analysis. In vivo tumor growth was examined by injecting KPL-1 cells subcutaneously into the area of the right thoracic mammary fat pad of female athymic mice fed a CDHA diet. Results CDHA inhibited KPL-1 cells more effectively than did DHA (50% inhibitory concentration for 72 hours: 97 μmol/l and 270 μmol/l, respectively). With both CDHA and DHA growth inhibition was due to apoptosis, as indicated by the appearance of a sub-G1 fraction. The apoptosis cascade involved downregulation of Bcl-2 protein; Bax expression was unchanged. Cell cycle progression was due to G0/G1 arrest, which involved increased expression of p53 and p21Cip1/Waf1, and decreased expression of cyclin D1. CDHA modulated cell cycle regulatory proteins and apoptosis-related proteins in a manner similar to that of parent DHA. In the athymic mouse system 1.0% dietary CDHA, but not 0.2%, significantly suppressed growth of KPL-1 tumor cells; CDHA tended to decrease regional lymph node metastasis in a dose dependent manner. Conclusion CDHA inhibited growth of KPL-1 human breast cancer cells in vitro more effectively than did DHA. The mechanisms of action involved modulation of apoptosis cascade and cell cycle progression. Dietary CDHA at 1.0% suppressed KPL-1 cell growth in the athymic mouse system.</p

Multicolor and multi-spot observations of Starlink's Visorsat

This study provides the results of simultaneous multicolor observations for the first Visorsat (STARLINK-1436) and the ordinary Starlink satellite, STARLINK-1113 in the $U$, $B$, $V$, $g'$, $r$, $i$, $R_{\rm C}$, $I_{\rm C}$, $z$, $J$, $H$, and $K_s$ bands to quantitatively investigate the extent to which Visorsat reduces its reflected light. Our results are as follows: (1) in most cases, Virorsat is fainter than STARLINK-1113, and the sunshade on Visorsat, therefore, contributes to the reduction of the reflected sunlight; (2) the magnitude at 550 km altitude (normalized magnitude) of both satellites often reaches the naked-eye limiting magnitude ($<$ 6.0); (3) from a blackbody radiation model of the reflected flux, the peak of the reflected components of both satellites is around the $z$ band; and (4) the albedo of the near infrared range is larger than that of the optical range. Under the assumption that Visorsat and STARLINK-1113 have the same reflectivity, we estimate the covering factor, $C_{\rm f}$, of the sunshade on Visorsat, using the blackbody radiation model: the covering factor ranges from $0.18 \leq C_{\rm f} \leq 0.92$. From the multivariable analysis of the solar phase angle (Sun-target-observer), the normalized magnitude, and the covering factor, the phase angle versus covering factor distribution presents a moderate anti-correlation between them, suggesting that the magnitudes of Visorsat depend not only on the phase angle but also on the orientation of the sunshade along our line of sight. However, the impact on astronomical observations from Visorsat-designed satellites remains serious. Thus, new countermeasures are necessary for the Starlink satellites to further reduce reflected sunlight.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures, published in PAS

Accuracy of a New Platelet Count System (PLT-F) Depends on the Staining Property of Its Reagents.

Platelet count is essential for the diagnosis and management of hemostasis abnormalities. Although existing platelet count methods installed in common hematology analyzers can correctly count platelets in normal blood samples, they tend to miscount platelets in some abnormal samples. The newly developed PLT-F channel in the XN-Series hematology analyzer (Sysmex) has been reported to be a reliable platelet count system, even in abnormal samples. However, how the PLT-F platelet counting system achieves such accuracy has not been described in scientific articles.Isolated platelets, erythrocytes, and fragmented erythrocytes were examined using an automated hematology analyzer. The samples were labeled by combining PLT-F reagents and anti-CD62p, CD63, Grp75, Calreticulin, CD41, or CD61 antibody, and analyzed using confocal laser scanning microscopy or flow cytometry.The PLT-F system correctly discriminated platelets in erythrocytes. Its reagents strongly stained some intraplatelet organelles labeled with anti-Grp75, but only faintly stained the plasma membrane of both platelets and erythrocytes. Microscopic observation and flow cytometric examination revealed that all of these strongly stained cells were also labeled with platelet-specific anti-CD41 and anti-CD61 antibodies.This study revealed that the staining property of the PLT-F reagents, by which platelets and fragmented erythrocytes are clearly distinguished, contributes to the platelet-counting accuracy of the PLT-F system

Conceitos de mulheres sobre sua menstruação

Dando prosseguimento às pesquisas anteriores realizadas pelo Núcleo de Assistência para o Autocuidado da Mulher (NAAM) sobre aspectos relativos à menstruação, desenvolvemos um trabalho que estudou os conceitos de 705 mulheres sobre sua menstruação. Foram utilizadas informações do banco de dados do NAAM, obtidos na aplicação do Histórico de Saúde da Mulher no Município de Vargem Grande Paulista. O conceito mais relatado pelas mulheres foi o Normal. Isto talvez explique os dados obtidos em trabalhos anteriores, onde muitas mulheres nada fazem para aliviar os sintomas dolorosos da menstruação. O acesso a estes conceitos próprios é importante para elaborar uma assistência de enfermagem de qualidade respeitando as crenças e valores dentro da cultura das mulheres

Akt/NF-кB/MDR1経路の抑制による脳腫瘍細胞内のPpIXの上昇はグリオーマ幹細胞移植脳腫瘍モデルマウスの超音波力学療法の効果を増強する

Glioblastoma (GBM) has high mortality rates because of extreme therapeutic resistance. During surgical resection for GBM, 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA)-induced protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) fluorescence is conventionally applied to distinguish GBM. However, surgical intervention is insufficient for high invasive GBM. Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) combined with low-intensity ultrasonication (US) and PpIX, as a sonosensitizer, is an emerging and promising approach, although its efficacy is limited. Based on our previous study that down-regulation of multidrug resistant protein (MDR1) in GBM augmented the anti-tumor effects of chemotherapy, we hypothesized that elevation of cellular PpIX levels by down-regulation of MDR1 enhances anti-tumor effects by SDT. In high invasive progeny cells from mouse glioma stem cells (GSCs) and a GSC-bearing mouse glioma model, we assessed the anti-tumor effects of SDT with a COX-2 inhibitor, celecoxib. Down-regulation of MDR1 by celecoxib increased cellular PpIX levels, as well as valspodar, an MDR1 inhibitor, and augmented anti-tumor effects of SDT. MDR1 down-regulation via the Akt/NF-κB pathway by celecoxib was confirmed, using an NF-κB inhibitor, CAPÉ. Thus, elevation of cellar PpIX by down-regulation of MDR1 via the Akt/NF-κB pathway may be crucial to potentiate the efficacy of SDT in a site-directed manner and provide a promising new therapeutic strategy for GBM