Systematic model forecast error in Rossby wave structure

Diabatic processes can alter Rossby wave structure; consequently errors arising from model processes propagate downstream. However, the chaotic spread of forecasts from initial condition uncertainty renders it difficult to trace back from root mean square forecast errors to model errors. Here diagnostics unaffected by phase errors are used, enabling investigation of systematic errors in Rossby waves in winter-season forecasts from three operational centers. Tropopause sharpness adjacent to ridges decreases with forecast lead time. It depends strongly on model resolution, even though models are examined on a common grid. Rossby wave amplitude reduces with lead time up to about five days, consistent with under-representation of diabatic modification and transport of air from the lower troposphere into upper-tropospheric ridges, and with too weak humidity gradients across the tropopause. However, amplitude also decreases when resolution is decreased. Further work is necessary to isolate the contribution from errors in the representation of diabatic processes

Lacrimal Hypofunction as a New Mechanism of Dry Eye in Visual Display Terminal Users

BACKGROUND: Dry eye has shown a marked increase due to visual display terminal (VDT) use. It remains unclear whether reduced blinking while focusing can have a direct deleterious impact on the lacrimal gland function. To address this issue that potentially affects the life quality, we conducted a large-scale epidemiological study of VDT users and an animal study. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Cross sectional survey carried out in Japan. A total of 1025 office workers who use VDT were enrolled. The association between VDT work duration and changes in tear film status, precorneal tear stability, lipid layer status and tear secretion were analyzed. For the animal model study, the rat VDT user model, placing rats onto a balance swing in combination with exposure to an evaporative environment was used to analyze lacrimal gland function. There was no positive relationship between VDT working duration and change in tear film stability and lipid layer status. The odds ratio for decrease in Schirmer score, index of tear secretion, were significantly increased with VDT working year (P = 0.012) and time (P = 0.005). The rat VDT user model, showed chronic reduction of tear secretion and was accompanied by an impairment of the lacrimal gland function and morphology. This dysfunction was recovered when rats were moved to resting conditions without the swing. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These data suggest that lacrimal gland hypofunction is associated with VDT use and may be a critical mechanism for VDT-associated dry eye. We believe this to be the first mechanistic link to the pathogenesis of dry eye in office workers

Semi-quantitative analyses of metabolic systems of human colon cancer metastatic xenografts in livers of superimmunodeficient NOG mice

Analyses of energy metabolism in human cancer have been difficult because of rapid turnover of the metabolites and difficulties in reducing time for collecting clinical samples under surgical procedures. Utilization of xenograft transplantation of human-derived colon cancer HCT116 cells in spleens of superimmunodeficient NOD/SCID/IL-2Rγnull (NOG) mice led us to establish an experimental model of hepatic micrometastasis of the solid tumor, whereby analyses of the tissue sections collected by snap-frozen procedures through newly developed microscopic imaging mass spectrometry (MIMS) revealed distinct spatial distribution of a variety of metabolites. To perform intergroup comparison of the signal intensities of metabolites among different tissue sections collected from mice in fed states, we combined matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI–TOF-IMS) and capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometry (CE–MS), to determine the apparent contents of individual metabolites in serial tissue sections. The results indicated significant elevation of ATP and energy charge in both metastases and the parenchyma of the tumor-bearing livers. To note were significant increases in UDP-N-acetyl hexosamines, and reduced and oxidized forms of glutathione in the metastatic foci versus the liver parenchyma. These findings thus provided a potentially important method for characterizing the properties of metabolic systems of human-derived cancer and the host tissues in vivo

Cross-National Differences in Victimization : Disentangling the Impact of Composition and Context

Varying rates of criminal victimization across countries are assumed to be the outcome of countrylevel structural constraints that determine the supply ofmotivated o¡enders, as well as the differential composition within countries of suitable targets and capable guardianship. However, previous empirical tests of these ‘compositional’ and ‘contextual’ explanations of cross-national di¡erences have been performed upon macro-level crime data due to the unavailability of comparable individual-level data across countries. This limitation has had two important consequences for cross-national crime research. First, micro-/meso-level mechanisms underlying cross-national differences cannot be truly inferred from macro-level data. Secondly, the e¡ects of contextual measures (e.g. income inequality) on crime are uncontrolled for compositional heterogeneity. In this paper, these limitations are overcome by analysing individual-level victimization data across 18 countries from the International CrimeVictims Survey. Results from multi-level analyses on theft and violent victimization indicate that the national level of income inequality is positively related to risk, independent of compositional (i.e. micro- and meso-level) di¡erences. Furthermore, crossnational variation in victimization rates is not only shaped by di¡erences in national context, but also by varying composition. More speci¢cally, countries had higher crime rates the more they consisted of urban residents and regions with lowaverage social cohesion.

CVIT expert consensus document on primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in 2018

While primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has significantly contributed to improve the mortality in patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction even in cardiogenic shock, primary PCI is a standard of care in most of Japanese institutions. Whereas there are high numbers of available facilities providing primary PCI in Japan, there are no clear guidelines focusing on procedural aspect of the standardized care. Whilst updated guidelines for the management of acute myocardial infarction were recently published by European Society of Cardiology, the following major changes are indicated; (1) radial access and drug-eluting stent over bare metal stent were recommended as Class I indication, and (2) complete revascularization before hospital discharge (either immediate or staged) is now considered as Class IIa recommendation. Although the primary PCI is consistently recommended in recent and previous guidelines, the device lag from Europe, the frequent usage of coronary imaging modalities in Japan, and the difference in available medical therapy or mechanical support may prevent direct application of European guidelines to Japanese population. The Task Force on Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention of the Japanese Association of Cardiovascular Intervention and Therapeutics (CVIT) has now proposed the expert consensus document for the management of acute myocardial infarction focusing on procedural aspect of primary PCI