Perturbative Analysis of a Stationary Magnetosphere in an Extreme Black Hole Spacetime : On the Meissner-like Effect of an Extreme Black Hole

It is known that the Meissner-like effect is seen in a magnetosphere without an electric current in black hole spacetime: no non-monopole component of magnetic flux penetrates the event horizon if the black hole is extreme. In this paper, in order to see how an electric current affects the Meissner-like effect, we study a force-free electromagnetic system in a static and spherically symmetric extreme black hole spacetime. By assuming that the rotational angular velocity of the magnetic field is very small, we construct a perturbative solution for the Grad-Shafranov equation, which is the basic equation to determine a stationary, axisymmetric electromagnetic field with a force-free electric current. Our perturbation analysis reveals that, if an electric current exists, higher multipole components may be superposed upon the monopole component on the event horizon, even if the black hole is extreme.Comment: 30 pages, 3 figure

Hepatic Interleukin-7 Expression Regulates T Cell Responses

SummarySystemic cytokine activity in response to Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling induces the expression of various proteins in the liver after infections. Here we show that Interleukin-7 (IL-7), the production of which was thought to occur at a constant rate in vivo, was a hepatically expressed protein that directly controled T cell responses. Depletion of IL-7 expression in the liver abrogated several TLR-mediated T cell events, including enhanced CD4+ T cell and CD8+ T cell survival, augmented CD8+ T cell cytotoxic activity, and the development of experimental autoimmune encephalitis, a Th17 cell-mediated autoimmune disease. Thus, T cell responses are regulated by hepatocyte-derived IL-7, which is expressed in response to TLR signaling in vivo. We suggested that TLR-induced IL-7 expression in the liver, which is an acute-phase response, may be a good diagnostic and therapeutic target for efficient vaccine developments and for conditions characterized by TLR-mediated T cell dysregulation, including autoimmune diseases

現代雑誌70誌における漢字の使用実態と常用漢字表 : 国語施策へのコーパス活用に向けた基礎調査

国立国語研究所国立国語研究所The National Institute for Japanese LanguageThe National Institute for Japanese Language本稿の目的は,今後構築される大規模コーパスを国語施策にどのように活用していくか,そのためにはどのようなコーパスを構築する必要があるかについて,具体的な検討材料を提供することにある。そのため,現代雑誌70誌における漢字の使用実態に基づいて,常用漢字表の持つ漢字使用の目安としての機能を検証し,必要な見直しの方向を探った。具体的には,「現代雑誌200万字言語調査」を利用して,常用漢字・表外漢字の出現状況,表外音訓・表外漢字の音訓の出現状況について報告した。その結果,上位2,000字における常用漢字の出現状況,及び表内音訓の出現状況から,調査対象となった1994年の時点では,常用漢字表が,頻度の面からも,音訓使用の面からも,漢字使用の目安として機能していたことが明らかになった。しかし,その一方で高頻度の表外漢字や表外訓があることなどから,漢字使用の実態とは若干のずれも見られた。さらに,「現代雑誌200万字言語調査」の結果に基づいて常用漢字表を見直す場合,常用漢字に新たに追加する音訓の候補があるか,常用漢字表に新たに追加する漢字の候補があるかについて議論した。The purpose of this paper is to report on the results of a preliminary study that will serve as a basis for the application of text corpora to Japanese language policy, with the particular goal of revising Jōyō Kanji, the list of kanji recommended for use in contemporary written Japanese together with their standard on (Sino-Japanese) and kun (native Japanese) readings. Based on current patterns of kanji use in seventy contemporary magazines, we assess the suitability of Jōyō Kanji as the standard of kanji use in Japanese society, and discuss necessary revisions. The details of the study are as follows: (1) Using data from the Linguistic Survey of Contemporary Magazines conducted in 1994, we analyzed the usage frequency of Jōyō and non-Jōyō kanji, both as total frequencies and as partial frequencies categorized according to their standard and non-standard readings. Judging from the frequencies of Jōyō and non-Jōyō kanji in the list of the two thousand most-frequent kanji, Jōyō Kanji can be said to have fulfilled their function as the standard of kanji use in 1994, although some deviations such as high frequency non-Jōyō kanji and non-standard kun readings of Jōyō kanji were also observed. (2) On the basis of the analysis mentioned above, we discuss how revision of Jōyō Kanji might be carried out: what kanji and kanji readings should be considered for addition to, or deletion from, the list

Serum and urinary ferritin levels in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

The serum and urinary ferritin levels in 52 RA patients were measured by the 2-site immunoradiometric assay method. Serum ferritin levels in RA patients correlated with C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) but not with serum iron levels and hemoglobin concentrations, although they were within the normal range. High serum ferritin levels were associated with sera with hyper gamma-globulin and rheumatoid factors. In sequential studies, serum ferritin changed in parallel with ESR, CRP and disease activity in a majority of the patients. The urinary ferritin levels and u/s ratios in some RA patients were higher than control values. Higher values were found particularly in the group of patients under gold therapy but not in groups under other treatments.</p

Micro Data Analysis of Medical and Long-Term Care Utilization Among the Elderly in Japan

Japan is currently experiencing the most rapid population aging among all OECD countries. Increasing expenditures on medical care in Japan have been attributed to the aging of the population. Authors in the recent debate on end-of-life care and long-term care (LTC) cost in the United States and Europe have attributed time to death and non-medical care cost for the aged as a source of rising expenditures. In this study, we analyzed a large sample of local public insurance claim data to investigate medical and LTC expenditures in Japan. We examined the impact of aging, time to death, survivorship, and use of LTC on medical care expenditure for people aged 65 and above. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that age is a contributing factor to the rising expenditures on LTC, and that the contribution of aging to rising medical care expenditures should be distinguished according to survivorship

Percutaneous coronary intervention strategy for acute coronary syndrome caused by spontaneous coronary artery dissection for relieving ongoing ischemia—Case series and literature review

AbstractAlthough spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is one of the causes of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or sudden cardiac death, its standard management, especially primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in ACS patients with ongoing ischemia, has not been established. We experienced three ACS patients with SCAD who were treated with a different strategy of primary PCI. Each PCI strategy led to different clinical and procedural results. We describe here such PCI strategies and results, and also discuss the literature regarding primary PCI strategies for SCAD-induced ACS patients with ongoing ischemia.<Learning objective: SCAD is a cause of ACS. However, the treatment strategy of primary PCI for SCAD has not been fully investigated. We used different PCI strategies for three SCAD patients with ongoing ischemia. Our case series suggested that plain old balloon angioplasty is an acceptable option to avoid coronary stenting because the majority of patients were young menstruating women. Coronary vasospasm might be associated with SCAD. Treatment with vasodilators could be a potential pharmacological option for avoiding recurrence of SCAD.

校歌の歌詞の言語的特徴に関する計量的研究 : 滋賀県公立学校を対象として

Ritsumeikan UniversityRitsumeikan UniversityRitsumeikan University会議名: 言語資源活用ワークショップ2019, 開催地: 国立国語研究所, 会期: 2019年9月2日−4日, 主催: 国立国語研究所 コーパス開発センター校歌は、その学校を象徴するものであり、校風、所在地の地理的特徴などが歌詞に歌われることが多い。式典で歌うなど、児童・生徒にとって身近なものでもある。しかし校歌の歌詞の言語的特徴について分析した研究は少なく、いまだ十分に明らかにされているとは言い難い。そこで筆者らは、滋賀県の公立小中高を対象に校歌の歌詞を各校Webページから収集し、コーパスを構築した。このコーパスを基に、MVR、受身形、動詞「V＋あう」、連体修飾節といった観点から歌詞の言語的特徴について多角的な分析を行った。調査の結果、次のことが明らかとなった。(1)名詞比率とMVRとによる分析から、小学校は「ありさま描写」的な歌詞が多く、中学校・高校になると「動き描写」的な歌詞になる傾向が見られる。(2)受身形・動詞「V＋あう」（「育まれる」「助け合う」等）については、小学校の歌詞に多く見られるが、中学校・高校になると減少する傾向が見られる。(3)連体修飾節は小・中・高校の教科書（書き言葉）とは異なって補足語修飾節に集中する傾向が見られ、また主名詞は学年上昇とともに生徒や学校を表す名詞が減少し、自然や徳目を表す名詞が増加する傾向が見られる

Effect of Focal X-ray Irradiation on Experimental Choroidal Neovascularization

PURPOSE. Radiation therapy has been used to treat choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in patients with age-related macular degeneration. The in vivo effect of applying focal x-ray irradiation to the eye of rabbits with experimental CNV was investigated. METHODS. CNV was induced in the rabbit eyes by subretinal implantation of gelatin hydrogel microspheres impregnated with basic fibroblast growth factor. Three weeks after implantation, 17 of 34 eyes with CNV lesions accompanied by fluorescein leakage were irradiated with a single dose of 20 Gy; the other 17 eyes were not irradiated and served as the controls. The eyes were examined before irradiation and 1, 2, and 4 weeks after irradiation, by indirect ophthalmoscopy and fluorescein angiography. The degree of a decreasing amount of fluorescein leakage from the CNV lesions after irradiation was graded using a computerized image analysis system and was compared in the irradiated and nonirradiated eyes. These eyes were also examined histologically and immunohistochemically. RESULTS. Fluorescein leakage from the CNV lesions had significantly decreased in the eyes irradiated with 20 Gy compared with the control eyes, throughout the study period (P &lt; 0.05). Histologic and immunohistochemical studies at 4 weeks after irradiation demonstrated that the degree of vascular formation and the number of vascular endothelial cells in the subretinal membrane of the irradiated eyes were less than those of the control eyes. CONCLUSIONS. Focal x-ray irradiation at the ocular region effectively reduced experimental CNV activity. These results support the possibility that radiation therapy may be beneficial in treating CNV. (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Set. 1999;40:l496-1502