Current understanding and problems of steroid-resistant asthma

ABSTRACTTopical and systemic glucocorticoids have long been considered the most effective therapy for chronic asthma. Asthma patients who do not respond to systemic administration of high-dose glucocorticoids are termed 'steroid-resistant asthmatics'. Recent progress in the mechanisms of glucocorticoid action goes a long way to the understanding of steroid resistance. Several cellular responses to glucocorticoids have been characterized in steroid-resistant asthma. Based on molecular biological studies, excessive expression of glucocorticoid receptor p and c-fos, an inducible transcription factor, was suggested to result in steroid resistance. A thorough understanding of the patho-physiology of steroid-resistant asthma would facilitate the development of more powerful agents for the treatment of severe asthma

A sensitive cloud chamber without radioactive sources

We present a sensitive diffusion cloud chamber which does not require any radioactive sources. A major difference from a commonly used chamber is use of a heat sink as its bottom plate. A result of a performance test of the chamber is given.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, iopart.cls, figures and references adde

On the Practical Effectiveness of the Theory of Optimal Financing Decision

故清水宗ー教授追悼

Clinical impact of sarcopenia and dynapenia on diabetes

Sarcopenia as a progressive and generalized skeletal muscle disorder that is associated with an increased likelihood of adverse outcomes, including falls, fractures, physical disability, and mortality. On the other hand, an age-related decline in muscle strength prior to the reduction of muscle mass, is proposed to be "dynapenia". Sarcopenia and dynapenia has recently been recognized as a diabetic complications in type 2 diabetes. We firstly indicated that sarcopenia was frequently observed in 16.6% of patients with type 1 diabetes aged even over 40 years. Additionally, we recently reported that the prevalence rate of dynapenia was higher than sarcopenia in patients with type 2 diabetes. Chronic hyperglycemia also accelerates accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which causes diabetic vascular complications through oxidative stress and chronic inflammation. We also demonstrated that skin autofluorescence (AF) as a marker of AGEs, was the independent determinant for skeletal muscle mass and strength in patients with type 2 diabetes and muscle strength in type 1 diabetes. Therefore, the early diagnosis of muscle weakness is essential for patients with diabetes and sustained good glycemic control with exercise and dietary intervention might be beneficial to prevent the progression of muscle weakness in these patients

Tendências em fatores sociodemográficos e de estilo de vida associados ao comportamento sedentário em adultos brasileiros

Objective: To analyze sociodemographic and lifestyle factors associated with screen-based sedentary behavior (watching television ≥3 hours/day) among adult individuals in Brazil. Methods: Quantitative analysis of ten editions of the cross-sectional health survey VIGITEL, representative at population level. Individuals from states’ capitals living in households with land-line telephone were randomly selected and interviewed using structured questionnaire by telephone. A multivariate logistic regression model was estimated for identification of factors associated with screen-based sedentary behavior. Results: There was stability in trends referring to prevalence of sedentary behavior from 2008 to 2017. Prevalence of sedentary behavior was higher between individuals with unhealthier lifestyles: consumption of <2 in natura food items (vegetables, fruits and beans) per day (26.73% [95%CI 25.2%;28.31%]) in comparison to ≥2 items per day (23.79% [95%CI 21.92%;25.77%]); consumption of soft drinks ≥5 days per week (31.24% [95%CI 29.58%;32.95%]) than <5 days per week (23.82% [95%CI 22.2%;25.52%]); and practice of <150 minutes of physical activity per week (28.2% [95%CI 26.17%;30.33%]) than ≥150 minutes per week (22.54% [21.27%;23.86%]). Regular consumption of in natura food items (OR=0.984), practice of physical activity (OR=0.798) and living in richer municipality (OR=0.826) represented protective factors in relation to screen-based sedentary behavior, whilst regular consumption of soft drinks (OR=1.440), smoking (OR=1.375) and alcohol abuse (OR=1.334) represented risk factors. Conclusion: The adoption of screen-based sedentary behavior among adult individuals in Brazil presented significant association with modifiable behavioral factors in the period 2008-2017.Objetivo: Analisar fatores sociodemográficos e de estilo de vida associados ao comportamento sedentário baseado em tempo de tela (assistir televisão ≥3 horas/dia) entre brasileiros adultos. Métodos: Análise quantitativa de dez edições do inquérito de saúde de delineamento transversal VIGITEL, representativo em nível populacional. Indivíduos de capitais estaduais residentes em domicílios com telefone fixo foram selecionados aleatoriamente e entrevistados via questionário estruturado por telefone. Estimou-se modelo de regressão logística multivariada para identificação de fatores associados ao comportamento sedentário. Resultados: Observou-se tendência estável na prevalência de comportamento sedentário entre 2008 e 2017. Verificou-se maior prevalência de comportamento sedentário entre indivíduos com padrões de comportamento menos saudáveis: consumo de <2 itens alimentares in natura (vegetais, frutas e feijões) por dia (26,73% [95%CI 25,2%;28,31%]) em comparação ao consumo de ≥2 itens por dia (23,79% [95%CI 21,92%;25,77%]); consumo de refrigerantes em ≥5 dias por semana (31,24% [95%CI 29,58%;32,95%]) em comparação a <5 dias por semana (23,82% [95%CI 22,2%;25,52%]); e prática de atividade física <150 minutos por semana (28,2% [95%CI 26,17%;30,33%]) em comparação a ≥150 minutos por semana (22,54% [21,27%;23,86%]). Consumir alimentos in natura (OR=0.984); praticar atividade física (OR=0.798) e residir em município de maior renda (OR=0.826) representaram fatores de proteção ao comportamento sedentário baseado em tempo de tela, enquanto consumo de refrigerantes (OR=1.440), fumo (OR=1.375) e abuso de álcool (OR=1.334) representaram fatores de risco. Conclusão: A adoção do comportamento sedentário baseado em tela entre indivíduos adultos no Brasil apresentou associação significativa com fatores comportamentais modificáveis no período 2008-2017

PRELIMINARY NUMERICAL RESEARCH ON FLOW PATTERNS OF SEA-AND FRESH-WATER IN THE TAM GIANG, THUY TU AND CAU HAI LAGOONS IN A TIDAL SYSTEM

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

HYDROLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE HUONG RIVER IN 2005

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

Widely Extended [OIII] 88 um Line Emission around the 30 Doradus Region Revealed with AKARI FIS-FTS

We present the distribution map of the far-infrared [OIII] 88um line emission around the 30 Doradus (30 Dor) region in the Large Magellanic Cloud obtained with the Fourier Transform Spectrometer of the Far-Infrared Surveyor onboard AKARI. The map reveals that the [OIII] emission is widely distributed by more than 10' around the super star cluster R136, implying that the 30 Dor region is affluent with interstellar radiation field hard enough to ionize O^{2+}. The observed [OIII] line intensities are as high as (1-2) x 10^{-6} W m^{-2} sr^{-1} on the peripheral regions 4'-5' away from the center of 30 Dor, which requires gas densities of 60-100 cm^{-3}. However the observed size of the distribution of the [OIII] emission is too large to be explained by massive stars in the 30 Dor region enshrouded by clouds with the constant gas density of 10^2 cm^{-3}. Therefore the surrounding structure is likely to be highly clumpy. We also find a global correlation between the [OIII] and the far-infrared continuum emission, suggesting that the gas and dust are well mixed in the highly-ionized region where the dust survives in clumpy dense clouds shielded from the energetic photons.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ

ハンガリー ニオケル シン シハイ エリート ノ タイトウ ロウドウシャ トウ ノ ヘンシツ カテイ 1956 1988 ネン

論説(Article