Details of the three-dimensional morphology of the ichnofossil Phycosiphon incertum collected from deposits on submarine slopes are reconstructed by processing a series of images obtained from ...polished sections of the samples. Samples were collected from the mudstone around a slump scar in the Paleocene Shiomi Formation, northern Japan, which is characterized by the occurrence of slump scars. The reconstructed morphology of Phycosiphon incertum is a meandering tube with a flattened ellipse cross section. The tubes are flattened in a plane oblique to the bedding surfaces and aligned along the same direction at both the interior and exterior of the slump scar. Flattening of the tubes was likely caused by sediment compaction, and the tube flattens toward the horizontal plane that is oblique to the bedding plane because of the paleoslope inclination. The difference between the bedding and flattening planes of the tubes of Phycosiphon incertum may imply paleoslope inclination. When the inclination of the bedding plane of the Shiomi Formation is corrected using the flattened surfaces, the bedding plane dips by 9° toward the southeast, which conforms to the paleocurrent direction of the turbidites. The morphology of Phycosiphon incertum can, therefore, be used as a paleoslope indicator.
The 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami inundated the Joban coastal area in the Odaka region of the city of Minamisoma, up to 2818 m from the shoreline. In this study, the flow characteristics of the tsunami ...were reconstructed from deposits using the DNN (deep neural network) inverse model, suggesting that the tsunami inundation occurred in the Froude supercritical condition. The DNN inverse model effectively estimated the tsunami flow parameters in the Odaka region, including the maximum inundation distance, flow velocity, maximum flow depth, and sediment concentration. Despite having a few topographical anthropogenic undulations that caused the inundation height to fluctuate greatly, the reconstructed maximum flow depth and flow velocity were reasonable and close to the values reported in the field observations. The reconstructed data around the Odaka region were characterized by an extremely high velocity (12.1 m s−1). This study suggests that the large fluctuation in flow depths on the Joban Coast compared with the stable flow depths in the Sendai Plain can be explained by the inundation in the supercritical flow condition.
Interleukin (IL)-12 is a key factor that induces T helper cell type 1-mediated immunity and inflammatory diseases. In some colitis models, such as IL-10 knock-out (KO) mice, IL-12 triggers intestinal ...inflammation. An abundant amount of IL-12 is produced by intestinal macrophages in response to stimulation by commensal bacteria in IL-10 KO mice. Intact bacteria are more potent inducers of macrophage IL-12 production than cell surface components in this model. This suggested that cell surface receptor signalling and intracellular pathogen recognition mechanisms are important for the induction of IL-12. We addressed the importance of intracellular recognition mechanisms and demonstrated that signal transducers and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) signalling activated bacterial phagocytosis and was involved in the induction of abnormal IL-12 production. In IL-10 KO mouse bone marrow-derived (BM) macrophages, Escherichia coli stimulation induced increased IL-12p70 production compared to lipopolysaccharide combined with interferon (IFN)-γ treatment. Significant repression of IL-12 production was achieved by inhibition of phagocytosis with cytochalasin D, and inhibition of de novo protein synthesis with cycloheximide. Induction of IFN regulatory factors-1 and -8, downstream molecules of STAT1 and the key transcription factors for IK-12 transcription, following E. coli stimulation, were mediated by phagocytosis. Interestingly, STAT1 was activated after stimulation with E. coli in IL-10 KO BM macrophages, although IFN-γ could not be detected. These data suggest that molecules other than IFN-γ are involved in hyper-production mechanisms of IL-12 induced by E. coli stimulation. In conclusion, enteric bacteria stimulate excessive IL-12p70 production in IL-10 KO BM macrophages via phagocytosis-dependent signalling.
Abstract
Background
In clinical practice, we often encounter the patients with sarcoidosis showing relatively high in the normal range of serum angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) value.
Purpose
We ...aimed to examine the serum ACE value of the patients with sarcoidosis and determine the new cut-off value for detecting the patients with sarcoidosis.
Methods and results
We retrospectively examined all 3781 subjects (51.1% men, 60.1±17.0 y.o.) in whom ACE was measured for any reasons including suspected sarcoidosis between 2009 and 2020 in our hospital. Of 293 patients with sarcoidosis, 101, 212, 84, and 88 were diagnosed as sarcoidosis in heart, lung, skin, and eyes, respectively. After excluding 477 patients taking ACE inhibitor and/or immunosuppression agent or those with any diseases affecting serum ACE levels, we analyzed 3304 subjects including 215 with sarcoidosis. Serum ACEs were 19.6 IU/L IQR, 15.1–31.5 in the subjects with sarcoidosis and 10.7 8.4–16.5 in those without (P<0.01). In ROC curve analysis of ACE for diagnosis of sarcoidosis, the cut-off point was 14.7 IU/L and the AUC was 0.865. When we used the current cut-off of 21.4 or new cut-off value of 14.7, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy were shown in Table. Finally, they were divided into four groups based on the presence of cardiac and/or extra cardiac sarcoidosis, ACE values in Group A, B, C, and D were 17.9, 20.9, 18.6, and 10.7, respectively (Figure 1).
Conclusion(s)
In the current cut-off value of serum ACE, sensitivity for detecting sarcoidosis was comparatively low, though positive predictive value was low when the new-cut-off value was used in our study. Further examinations may be needed for the patients suspected sarcoidosis with relatively high ACE in the normal range.
Funding Acknowledgement
Type of funding sources: None.
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caused significant economic losses and a large number of fatalities in the coastal areas. The estimation of tsunami flow conditions using inverse models has become a ...fundamental aspect of disaster mitigation and management. Here, a case study involving the Phra Thong island, which was affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, in Thailand was conducted using inverse modeling that incorporates a deep neural network (DNN). The DNN inverse analysis reconstructed the values of flow conditions such as maximum inundation distance, flow velocity and maximum flow depth, as well as the sediment concentration of five grain-size classes using the thickness and grain-size distribution of the tsunami deposit from the post-tsunami survey around Phra Thong island. The quantification of uncertainty was also reported using the jackknife method. Using other previous models applied to areas in and around Phra Thong island, the predicted flow conditions were compared with the reported observed values and simulated results. The estimated depositional characteristics such as volume per unit area and grain-size distribution were in line with the measured values from the field survey. These qualitative and quantitative comparisons demonstrated that the DNN inverse model is a potential tool for estimating the physical characteristics of modern tsunamis.
Plane beds develop under flows in fluvial and marine environments; they are recorded as parallel lamination in sandstone beds, such as those found in turbidites. However, whereas turbidites typically ...exhibit parallel lamination, they rarely feature dune-scale cross-lamination. Although the reason for the scarcity of dune-scale cross-lamination in turbidites is still debated, the formation of dunes may be dampened by suspended loads. Here, we perform, for the first time, linear-stability analysis to show that flows with suspended loads facilitate the formation of plane beds. For a fine-grained bed, a suspended load can promote the formation of plane beds and dampen the formation of dunes. These results of theoretical analysis were verified with observational data of plane beds under open-channel flows. Our theoretical analysis found that suspended loads promote the formation of plane beds, which suggests that the development of dunes under turbidity currents is suppressed by the presence of suspended loads.
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