Relationship between the number of atherosclerosis risk factors and body composition classification including skeletal muscle mass

This study aimed to examine the relationship between skeletal muscle mass and atherosclerosis risk according to body composition considering skeletal muscle mass, obesity, and visceral fat accumulation. A total of 4347 men and 1097 women were included. The participants were classified into eight body composition pattern groups within or outside the reference levels (body mass index, waist circumference, and percentage of skeletal muscle). Atherosclerosis risk was defined as hypertension, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia. The relationship between average number of atherosclerosis risk factors and body composition was investigated in the eight groups. Decreased skeletal muscle mass may be an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis in both men and women, in that order (percentage of skeletal muscle was a negative contributor). In cases in which body mass index and waist circumference were at the same level, a relatively low skeletal muscle mass may be associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis. Further sex-based pathophysiological studies are required

Electrical Alignment Signatures of Ice Particles Before Intracloud Lightning Activity Detected by Dual-Polarized Phased Array Weather Radar

Wang S., Wada Y., Hayashi S., et al. Electrical Alignment Signatures of Ice Particles Before Intracloud Lightning Activity Detected by Dual-Polarized Phased Array Weather Radar. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 129, e2023JD039942 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1029/2023jd039942.The cloud electrification process has great significance in understanding the microphysical properties, electrical characteristics, and evolution of thunderstorms. This study employs an X-band dual-polarized multiparameter phased array weather radar (MP-PAWR) to observe the electrical alignment signatures of ice particles before the first intracloud (IC) lightning flash, and to explore the evolution of the upper charge region in the early electrification stage of an isolated thunderstorm. Negative KDP signatures associated with vertically oriented ice particles by strong electric fields in the upper parts of the thunderstorm are analyzed by introducing composite KDP, which is defined as a minimum KDP value observed in a vertical column across all elevation scans at each specific horizontal grid point at and above a designated layer. About 7 min before the first IC lightning flash, the mean canting angle of ice particles in the upper parts of the cloud changed from horizontal to vertical by strong electric fields, and the concentration of vertically aligned ice particles on the top of the cloud reached the maximum 30 s before the first IC lightning flash. These signatures exhibit an early electrification process in the upper parts of the thunderstorm. These results indicate that with the high spatial and temporal resolution, MP-PAWRs have the ability not only to detect the rapid evolution of microphysical structures but also to observe the early electrification of thunderstorms, which will facilitate forecasting IC lightning flash initiation combined with graupel presence signatures in the mixed-phase region in normal operation

ARICA: Demonstration of a Real-time Gamma-Ray Bursts Alert System using the Commercial Satellite Networks

We demonstrate the real-time alert system of the transient astronomical sources such as cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) using two commercial satellite network devices. One is the Iridium’s Short Burst Data (SBD) and the other is the Globalstar’s STX-3. Although these satellite communication devices have been used in the space environment, it still needs to verify whether the network can be used as a GRB alert system. We are currently developing a 1U CubeSat called AGU Remote Innovative CubeSat Alert system (ARICA) which contains both SBD and STX-3 to demonstrate the real-time GRB alert system. The ARICA has been selected as the JAXA Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-2 and scheduled to be launched in the Japanese fiscal year 2021