A Note on Stable States of Dipolar Systems at Low Temperatures

In the past several years, many important innovations in nanotechnology were made. Today it becomes possible to make nanosize magnetic particles, and development of high storage-density magnetic device is desired. In such a magnetic particle system, dipole interaction plays the main role. In this note, we consider stable states of dipolar systems at low temperature: Some systems show ``antiferromagnetic structure'', and others show magnetic domain structure, depending on lattice shapes.Comment: 5 pages including 5 eps figures, to appear in "Computer Simulation Studies in Condensed Matter Physics XVIII", Eds. D. P. Landau, S. P. Lewis, and H.-B. Sch\"{u}ttler (Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin

PAI-1の阻害は腫瘍に発現する血管新生因子の種類によらず腫瘍血管新生を抑制する：悪性胸膜中皮腫マウスモデルにおける検討

内容の要旨 , 審査の要旨広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(医学)Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Sciencedoctora

Finite dipolar hexagonal columns on piled layers of triangular lattice

We have investigated, by the Monte Carlo simulation, spin systems which represent moments of arrayed magnetic nanoparticles interacting with each other only by the dipole-dipole interaction. In the present paper we aim the understanding of finite size effects on the magnetic nanoparticles arrayed in hexagonal columns cut out from the close-packing structures or from those with uniaxial compression. In columns with the genuine close-packing structures, we observe a single vortex state which is also observed previously in finite 2-dimensional systems. On the other hand in the system with the inter-layer distance set $1/\sqrt{2}$ times of the close-packing one, we found ground states which depend on the number of layers. The dependence is induced by a finite size effect and is related to a orientation transition in the corresponding bulk system.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures. Proceedings of the International Conference on Magnetism 2006 (ICM2006) conference. To appear in a special volume of Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Material

Detection of diurnal variation of tomato transcriptome through the molecular timetable method in a sunlight-type plant factory

The timing of measurement during plant growth is important because many genes are expressed periodically and orchestrate physiological events. Their periodicity is generated by environmental fluctuations as external factors and the circadian clock as the internal factor. The circadian clock orchestrates physiological events such as photosynthesis or flowering and it enables enhanced growth and herbivory resistance. These characteristics have possible applications for agriculture. In this study, we demonstrated the diurnal variation of the transcriptome in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) leaves through molecular timetable method in a sunlight-type plant factory. Molecular timetable methods have been developed to detect periodic genes and estimate individual internal body time from these expression profiles in mammals. We sampled tomato leaves every 2 h for 2 days and acquired time-course transcriptome data by RNA-Seq. Many genes were expressed periodically and these expressions were stable across the 1st and 2nd days of measurement. We selected 143 time-indicating genes whose expression indicated periodically, and estimated internal time in the plant from these expression profiles. The estimated internal time was generally the same as the external environment time; however, there was a difference of more than 1 h between the two for some sampling points. Furthermore, the stress-responsive genes also showed weakly periodic expression, implying that they were usually expressed periodically, regulated by light–dark cycles as an external factor or the circadian clock as the internal factor, and could be particularly expressed when the plant experiences some specific stress under agricultural situations. This study suggests that circadian clock mediate the optimization for fluctuating environments in the field and it has possibilities to enhance resistibility to stress and floral induction by controlling circadian clock through light supplement and temperature control

Presepsin and renal function

Background : Presepsin (P-SEP) is a highly specific sepsis marker, and its fluctuation with respect to advanced renal impairment or sample agitation has not been fully investigated. We evaluated several renal function-corrected P-SEP indices to establish a simple index and its reference range. Methods : Blood samples for P-SEP measurement were collected with minimal agitation. P-SEP levels were measured using the rapid automated immunoanalyzer “PATHFAST.” This study included 85 chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, 65 healthy volunteers, and 4 sepsis patients. Results : Patients stratified by estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) had significantly higher P-SEP levels for CKD stage G3, especially the advanced GFR stage. We evaluated presepsin / creatinine (P-SEP / CRE) and P-SEP / eGFR ratios as possible indices for renal function. The P-SEP / CRE ratio exhibited no increase correlating with the GFR stage and was identical in the normal and CKD groups ; P-SEP / eGFR decreased if GFR stage worsened. The P-SEP / CRE ratio became significantly higher in sepsis patients and was a more useful index with a reference range of 67–263. Conclusions : P-SEP levels were inversely correlated with renal function, indicating the necessity to consider the influence of renal impairment in CKD patients. The P-SEP / CRE ratio is helpful for sepsis diagnosis, even in patients with renal impairment

Inhibition of Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor- 1 Attenuates Transforming Growth Factor- β-Dependent Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition and Differentiation of Fibroblasts to Myofibroblasts

Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is central during the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis, in which the plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) also has an established role. TGF-β is also known to be the strongest inducer of PAI-1. To investigate the link between PAI-1 and TGF-β in fibrotic processes, we evaluated the effect of SK-216, a PAI-1-specific inhibitor, in TGF-β-dependent epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and fibroblast to myofibroblast differentiation. In human alveolar epithelial A549 cells, treatment with TGF-β induced EMT, whereas co-treatment with SK-216 attenuated the occurrence of EMT. The inhibition of TGF-β-induced EMT by SK-216 was also confirmed in the experiment using murine epithelial LA-4 cells. Blocking EMT by SK-216 inhibited TGF-β-induced endogenous production of PAI-1 and TGF-β in A549 cells as well. These effects of SK-216 were not likely mediated by suppressing either Smad or ERK pathways. Using human lung fibroblast MRC-5 cells, we demonstrated that SK-216 inhibited TGF-β-dependent differentiation of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts. We also observed this inhibition by SK-216 in human primary lung fibroblasts. Following these in vitro results, we tested oral administration of SK-216 into mice injected intratracheally with bleomycin.We found that SK-216 reduced the degree of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice. Although the precise mechanisms underlying the link between TGF-β and PAI-1 regarding fibrotic process were not determined, PAI-1 seems to act as a potent downstream effector on the pro-fibrotic property of TGF-β. In addition, inhibition of PAI-1 activity by a PAI-1 inhibitor exerts an antifibrotic effect even in vivo. These data suggest that targeting PAI-1 as a downstream effector of TGF-β could be a promising therapeutic strategy for pulmonary fibrosis

Enhanced Merge Sort- A New Approach to the Merging Process

AbstractOne of the major fundamental issues of Computer Science is arrangement of elements in the database. The efficiency of the sorting algorithms is to optimize the importance of other sorting algorithms11. The optimality of these sorting algorithms is judged while calculating their time and space complexities12. The idea behind this paper is to modify the conventional Merge Sort Algorithm and to present a new method with reduced execution time. The newly proposed algorithm is faster than the conventional Merge Sort algorithm having a time complexity of O(n log2 n). The proposed algorithm has been tested, implemented, compared and the experimental results are promising

Analysis of DOC and Ram for NSCLC

Background: Current clinical trials demonstrated that combination regimens comprising chemotherapy and immunotherapy lead to better patient outcomes compared to chemotherapy alone as the first line of treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In addition, the combination therapy of docetaxel (Doc) and ramucirumab (Ram) was considered one of the standard treatments for advanced or relapsed NSCLC patients. However, little is known about the therapeutic responders of this combination therapy among previously treated NSCLC patients. In the present study, we aimed to identify predictive factors for therapeutic response, including programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in tumors, for Doc treatment in combination with Ram. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a total of 135 advanced or relapsed NSCLC patients who were refractory to platinum-based chemotherapy at eleven institutions in Japan between July 2016 and November 2018. Results: Our observations showed that PD-L1 expression in tumors is not associated with the efficacy of combined therapy of Doc and Ram in previously treated NSCLC patients. Analysis of the patient clinical profiles indicated that prior treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is a reliable predictor for the good progression-free survival (PFS) to this combination therapy (P=0.041). Conclusions: Our retrospective study indicated that combination regimens comprising chemotherapy and ICIs followed by Doc and Ram could be an optimal therapeutic option for NSCLC patients regardless of the PD-L1 status of tumors. Further investigations are required to strengthen clinical evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of the combination therapy of Doc plus Ram in previously treated NSCLC patients