Chiral currents and static properties of nucleons in holographic QCD

We analyze static properties of nucleons in the two flavor holographic QCD model of Sakai and Sugimoto described effectively by a five-dimensional U(2) Yang-Mills theory with the Chern-Simons term on a curved background. The baryons are represented in this model as a soliton, which at a time slice is approximately the BPST instanton with a fixed size. First, we construct a chiral current in four dimensions from the Noether current of local gauge transformations which are non-vanishing on the boundaries of the extra dimension. We examine this chiral current for nucleons with quantized collective coordinates to compute their charge distribution, charge radii, magnetic moments and axial vector coupling. Most of the results are better close to the experimental values than in the Skyrme model. We discuss the problems of our chiral current; non-uniqueness of the local gauge transformation for defining the current, and its gauge-noninvariance.Comment: 30 pages, 1 figure; a footnote added in sec. 4.4, minor correction

Approach to novel functional foods for stress control : 3. Establishment of stress-resistant rat model and its mechanism

A stress-resistant rat model was introduced. SPORTS (Spontaneously-Running-Tokushima-Shikoku) rats showed significantly shorter time of immobility in the forced swim test compared to control Wister rats. Increase norepinephrine concentration secondary to decreased activity of monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) in hippocampus was observed in this model rats. This model rats are considered to be useful for studying the mechanism of psychological stress

The Naming of Names: Guidelines for Gene Nomenclature in Marchantia.

While Marchantia polymorpha has been utilized as a model system to investigate fundamental biological questions for over almost two centuries, there is renewed interest in M. polymorpha as a model genetic organism in the genomics era. Here we outline community guidelines for M. polymorpha gene and transgene nomenclature, and we anticipate that these guidelines will promote consistency and reduce both redundancy and confusion in the scientific literature

Research Activities in the Department of Physical Therapy

[Introduction] It is already fifty years since the Japanese law of physical therapists and occupational therapists has been effective. The physical therapist is referred by the law as "the professionals who implements the physical therapy to persons with disabilities under the prescription of medical doctors". In fifty years, however, the target of physical therapy has been significantly expanded. The subject for physical therapy now includes the patients in acute disease just after the surgical operation in addition to those in rehabilitation stage. In other words, the physical therapy is now recognized as the indispensable intervention to the subject with acute as well as chronic disorders. On the other hand, due to a rapid transition of the society into the aged society, prevention of diseases, and decline of activity capacity due to the aging have become major issues for the physical therapy

Insights into Land Plant Evolution Garnered from the Marchantia polymorpha Genome.

The evolution of land flora transformed the terrestrial environment. Land plants evolved from an ancestral charophycean alga from which they inherited developmental, biochemical, and cell biological attributes. Additional biochemical and physiological adaptations to land, and a life cycle with an alternation between multicellular haploid and diploid generations that facilitated efficient dispersal of desiccation tolerant spores, evolved in the ancestral land plant. We analyzed the genome of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, a member of a basal land plant lineage. Relative to charophycean algae, land plant genomes are characterized by genes encoding novel biochemical pathways, new phytohormone signaling pathways (notably auxin), expanded repertoires of signaling pathways, and increased diversity in some transcription factor families. Compared with other sequenced land plants, M. polymorpha exhibits low genetic redundancy in most regulatory pathways, with this portion of its genome resembling that predicted for the ancestral land plant. PAPERCLIP

Effect of antispasmodic drugs on endoscopic ultrasound/endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration : A multicenter randomized controlled trial

Background and Objective: Antispasmodic drugs (ADs) have been used to reduce examination time or improve the quality of gastrointestinal endoscopy, although the practice is controversial. No evidence about the efficacy of AD for endoscopic ultrasonography/EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS/EUS-FNA) is available. This study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of AD in EUS/EUS-FNA. Patients and Methods: A total of 400 patients with pancreaticobiliary, peripancreatic, or peribiliary disease or disorder undergoing EUS/EUS-FNA were prospectively and evenly randomized to undergo EUS/EUS-FNA with AD (w-AD) or without AD (w/o-AD). The primary endpoint was total EUS/EUS-FNA examination time. The secondary endpoints were visual analogue scale (VAS) scores of endoscopists (patient body motion, gastrointestinal peristalsis, and accomplishment of the purpose) and patients (pain, discomfort, and willingness to undergo re-examination), vital sign changes, adverse events, and sedative dose. Results: Two hundred patients in the w-AD group and 197 patients in the w/o-AD group were ultimately analyzed. The total examination time was similar between the groups (2299 ± 937 vs. 2259 ± 1019 s). The difference in total examination time from w/o-AD group to w-AD group was −40 s (95% confidence interval, −234-153 s), which was within the noninferiority margin. No statistical differences were observed in endoscopist and patient VAS scores, changes in vital signs, adverse events, or total sedative dose other than fentanyl between the groups. Conclusion: EUS/EUS-FNA can be effectively and safely performed w/o-AD. Further, randomized controlled trials on EUS/EUS-FNA in various disease entities may be required to confirm the results of this study (UMIN000008047)

IgG4-related sclerosing cholangitis and autoimmune pancreatitis: histological assessment of biopsies from Vater's ampulla and the bile duct.

Autoimmune pancreatitis is commonly associated with immunoglobulin (Ig) G4-related sclerosing cholangitis (IgG4-SC). The discrimination between IgG4-SC and pancreatobiliary malignancies or primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is now an important issue. The present study was carried out to examine the usefulness of endoscopic biopsies from Vater's ampulla and the bile duct to diagnose IgG4-SC

Pancreatic metastasis from renal cell carcinoma with intraportal tumor thrombus.

A 68-year-old woman with a history of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) resected curatively 12 years previously was admitted to our department for scrutiny of pancreatic tumors. Various imaging studies demonstrated heterogeneously well-enhanced masses in the head and tail of the pancreas. The well-enhanced mass in the head of the pancreas was connected with the tumor thrombus in the portal vein. To differentially diagnose the multiple pancreatic lesions, we performed endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (EUS-FNAB). Histopathologic findings of the EUS-FNAB specimens were similar to those of the renal clear cell carcinoma previously resected. The patient underwent a surgical operation with segmental resection of the portal vein with the preoperative diagnosis of RCC metastasis to the pancreas with intraportal growth. Histopathological examination of the resected specimen revealed that the masses in the pancreas were multiple pancreatic metastases with intraportal tumor thrombus of RCC. The pancreas is a rare target for metastasis. This is a rare case of pancreatic metastasis from RCC with intraportal extension, and is the first preoperatively definitely diagnosed case using EUS-FNAB