Measurements of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays achieved remarkable progress in the last 10 years. Physicists, gathered from around the world in the symposium UHECR-2012 held at CERN on February 13-16 ...2012, reported their most up-to-date observations, discussed the meaning of their findings, and identified remaining problems and future challenges in this field. This paper is a part of the symposium proceedings on the experimental summary and future prospects of the UHECR study.
State-space modeling is a promising approach for current source reconstruction from magnetoencephalography (MEG) because it constrains the spatiotemporal behavior of inverse solutions in a flexible ...manner. However, state-space model-based source localization research remains underdeveloped; extraction of spatially focal current sources and handling of the high dimensionality of the distributed source model remain problematic. In this study, we propose a novel state-space model-based method that resolves these problems, extending our previous source localization method to include a temporal constraint by state-space modeling. To enable focal current reconstruction, we account for spatially inhomogeneous temporal dynamics by introducing dynamics model parameters that differ for each cortical position. The model parameters and the intensity of the current sources are jointly estimated according to a Bayesian framework. We circumvent the high dimensionality of the problem by assuming prior distributions of the model parameters to reduce the sensitivity to unmodeled components, and by adopting variational Bayesian inference to reduce the computational cost. Through simulation experiments and application to real MEG data, we have confirmed that our proposed method successfully reconstructs focal current activities, which evolve with their temporal dynamics.
In this study, we report the comparative result of long-term clinical prognoses for patients with no-option critical limb ischemia (CLI) caused by arteriosclerosis obliterans, who are implanted with ...autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNC; n=74) or G-CSF-mobilized (M)-PBMNC (n=111), as no information is available on how the two treatments compare in terms of long-term prognosis, such as survival or amputation. We performed pooled analysis using data from two previous cohort studies. All patients had disease of Fontaine classification III or IV. The endpoints were OS and amputation-free survival (AFS). After adjustment for history of dialysis and Fontaine classification, there was no significant difference between the two treatments with respect to OS (hazard ratio (HR)=1.49; 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.74-3.03, P=0.26) or AFS (HR=0.96; 95% CI=0.61-1.51, P=0.87). The negative prognostic factors affecting OS or AFS were the small number of CD34-positive cells collected, history of dialysis, Fontaine classification, male sex and older age. These results suggest that there was no significant difference in long-term prognosis between patients treated with BMMNC and those treated with M-PBMNC. The number of CD34-positive cells collected was an important prognostic factor for amputation and death.
An epi-thermal instrumental neutron activation analysis (EINAA) method in conjunction with Compton suppression spectrometry (EINAA-CSS) was used for the determination of total iodine in eight ...different species of edible seaweeds from Japan. This method gave an absolute detection limit of about 2 μg. The accuracy of the method was evaluated using various reference materials and found to be generally in agreement within ±6% of the certified values. The longitudinal distributions of iodine at different growing stages in Japanese sea mustard and tangle seaweeds were investigated. For a 150-cm-high tangle, the highest concentration (5,360 mg/kg) of iodine was found at the root, then decreased slowly to 780 mg/kg in the middle portion (60–75 cm), and increased to 2,300 mg/kg at the apex. On the other hand, for a 190-cm-high sea mustard the highest levels of iodine were found both at the roots (164 mg/kg) and apex (152 mg/kg) with lower values (98 mg/kg) in the middle section. In order to estimate the bioaccessible fraction of iodine, seaweeds were digested by an in vitro enzymolysis method, dietary fibre separated from residue, and both fractions analyzed by EINAA-CSS. The average daily dietary intakes of total (0.14 mg) as well as bioaccessible fraction (0.12 mg) of iodine from the consumption of sea mustards were estimated.
Myelosuppression that occurs during chemotherapy has been reported to be a predictor of better survival in patients with breast or lung carcinomas. We evaluated the prognostic implications of ...chemotherapy-induced neutropenia in advanced gastric carcinoma. Data from a prospective survey of oral fluoropyrimidine S-1 for advanced gastric cancer patients in Japan were reviewed. We identified 1055 untreated patients with adequate baseline bone marrow function. During treatment with S-1, a total of 293 (28%) patients experienced grade 1 or higher neutropenia. The adjusted hazard ratio of death for the presence of neutropenia, as compared with the absence of such toxicity, from a multivariate Cox model was 0.72 (95% confidence interval, 0.54-0.95; P=0.0189) for grade 1 neutropenia, 0.63 (0.50-0.78; P<0.0001) for grade 2 neutropenia and 0.71 (0.51-0.98; P=0.0388) for grade 3-4 neutropenia. These findings suggest that the occurrence of neutropenia during chemotherapy is an independent predictor of increased survival in patients with advanced gastric cancer, whereas the absence of such toxicity indicates that the dosages of drugs are not pharmacologically adequate. Monitoring of neutropenia in patients who receive chemotherapy may contribute to improved drug efficacy and favourable survival.
We investigated the effects of sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 inhibitor, on the number of circulating CD34
+
CXCR4
+
cells, a candidate for endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), plasma ...levels of stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-1α, a ligand for CXCR4 receptor and a substrate for DPP-4, and plasma levels of interferon-inducible protein (IP)-10, for a substrate for DPP-4, in patients with type 2 diabetes. We studied 30 consecutive patients with type 2 diabetes who had poor glycemic control despite treatment with metformin and/or sulfonylurea. Thirty diabetic patients were randomized in a 2:1 ratio into a sitagliptin (50 mg/day) treatment group or an active placebo group (glimepiride 1 mg/day) for 12 weeks. Both groups showed similar improvements in glycemic control. The number of circulating CD34
+
CXCR4
+
cells was increased from 30.5 (20.0, 47.0)/10
6
cells at baseline to 55.5 (31.5, 80.5)/10
6
cells at 12 weeks of treatment with 50 mg/day sitagliptin (
P
= 0.0014), while showing no significant changes in patients treated with glimepiride. Plasma levels of SDF-1α and IP-10, both physiological substrates of endogenous DPP-4 and chemokines, were significantly decreased at 12 weeks of sitagliptin treatment. In conclusion, treatment with sitagliptin increased the number of circulating CD34
+
CXCR4
+
cells by approximately 2-fold in patients with type 2 diabetes.
•Spatial distribution of lignin and BIT index in the Sea of Okhotsk and Amur River basin.•Sources of terrestrial organic matter in the Sea of Okhotsk are discussed.•Biomarker data shows terrestrial ...organic matter in the Okhotsk Sea originates from Amur River.•Observation supports the Okhotsk Sea is a source region of terrestrial organic matter to the North Pacific.
Delta and coastal regions play a key role in the global carbon cycle as the main repository of inputs of terrestrial organic matter, delivered by rivers to marine sediments. The Amur River system is one of the largest in Asia and supplies organic matter to the Sea of Okhotsk and the North Pacific Ocean. We measured lignin phenols (a proxy for terrestrial plant derived organic matter) and the branched and isoprenoidal tetraether (BIT) index (a proxy for riverborne soil organic matter), in soils and river bed sediments from the Amur River basin and surface sediments from the Sea of Okhotsk, to study the source, transport, and deposition of fluvial particulate organic matter to the ocean. Concentrations of lignin phenols are relatively high in sediments from the shallow continental shelf compared to that of the deep offshore basin. For the first time we report a spatial distribution of the BIT index which shows a similar pattern to that of lignin phenol concentrations, with relatively high values in the coastal sites. The highest values of both lignin concentrations and BIT values are observed in a site proximal to mouth of Amur River. These results indicate that terrestrial organic matter deposited in the Sea of Okhotsk mostly originates from soil organic matter supplied from Amur River. Spatial distributions of lignin phenols/TOC (LP/TOC) and the BIT index in the Sea of Okhotsk and comparison with S/V (a contribution index of angiosperm vs. gymnosperms) and C/V ratios (indicative of the relative contribution of non-woody tissue vs. woody tissue), between the Amur River basin and Okhotsk Sea samples, suggest that Amur River fluvial organic matter is supplied and deposited to the northwestern continental shelf. Furthermore, S/V values from our Amur River and Okhotsk Sea continental shelf sediment samples are consistent with the reported S/V ratio (0.32) of particulate organic matter in the North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) layer (750m depth). Hence, our study supports previous studies from the NW Pacific Ocean, which suggest inputs of terrestrial organic matter from the Amur River via the Sea of Okhotsk, as a major source of particulate organic matter to the North Pacific Ocean.
Changes in the molecular and structural characteristics of humic acid (HA) during photo-Fenton processes were studied. When aqueous solutions at pH 5.0, which contained HA, Fe(III), and H2O2, were ...irradiated (λ > 370 nm), the concentrations of total organic carbon (TOC) decreased with increasing irradiation time, indicating that a portion of the HA was mineralized to CO2 during this process. To investigate the changes in molecular and structural characteristics, the HA was reisolated from the reaction mixtures after each period of irradiation. The increased elution volumes required for isolation by gel permeation chro matography indicated that the molecular size of HA decreased as a result of the irradiation. In the FTIR spectra, ether and epoxide functional groups were identified, after irradiation. These products could be formed via radical coupling and/or via peroxy radical addition reactions to the unsaturated groups in the HA, such as vinyl and aromatic groups. Moreover, an analysis of structural fragments in HA by pyrolysis-GC/MS showed that the cinnamic acid moieties (CA) disappeared, as a result of irradiation. In the molecular weight fractionated HA, the majority of the iron species were complexed with the high molecular weight HA fraction, and the CA levels of the high molecular weight fraction were larger than those in the low molecular weight fraction. These results are consistent with residues, as the reactive sites in the photo-Fenton systems. Therefore, the degradation of these sites in the high molecular weight fraction may serve as a factor in decreasing the molecular size of HA.
The objective of this study is to reduce the production of Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in sewer pipe by using conductive concrete and electricity-producing bacteria (EPB). This work was mainly focused on ...evaluating the effect of inoculation of EPB isolated from sewage sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plant for decreasing production of H2S. The experimental results showed that inoculation of EPB could decrease the concentration of H2S, indicating that produced H2S in an anaerobic sludge sediment layer (bottom of sewer pipe) was biologically oxidized by EPB. These results demonstrated that conductive concrete can provide an electron pathway from anaerobic sludge sediment in the bottom of sewer pipe to oxygen dissolved in surface water, and as a result the electron generated from hydrogen H2S oxidation in anaerobic environment was accepted by oxygen via conductive concrete.
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