The eastern margin of the Japan Sea is an incipient convergent margin characterized by distributed active faults and large‐scale earthquakes. To evaluate the earthquake potential of the northern ...margin, the source area of the 1940 Shakotan–Hanto‐oki earthquake (M7.5) was reexamined, and the earthquake recurrence interval was estimated by combining bathymetric, seismic, and dive survey data with a tsunami simulation. Seismic profiling clarified that five anticlines have formed in and around this source area during the last 1.8 million years. The balanced cross section of one anticline supports that thrust faults extend to the base of the upper brittle crust at about 11 km depth and total slip is about 850 m. Dive surveys identified fresh collapses along the forelimbs of two anticlines. Inversion of observed tsunami waveforms to estimate the slip distribution suggests that these two anticlines were the sources of the 1940 earthquake. The other three anticlines may be seismic gaps. The dive surveys collected debris layers, possible records of paleoearthquakes, in muddy sediments. From the rate of muddy sediment deposition around the anticlines the minimum recurrence interval of earthquakes was estimated to be about 1100 years. From structural modeling the average interval was about 6400 years, assuming that fault slip started 1.8 million years ago and 3 m of slip occurred during each earthquake. Taking into account the above results and the instantaneous plate convergent rate between the Okhotsk and Amurian plates, the recurrence interval was inferred to be 1100 to a few thousand years.
The Zr60Al15(Ni,Cu)(25) noncrystalline alloys with their initial crystalline states from the ionic arrangements of a Fe3Al2Si3O12 garnet structure were created with molecular dynamics simulations ...based on a plastic crystal model (MD-PCM). The analyses with pair-distribution function revealed that the randomly-rotated octahedral clusters around the Cu sites or tetrahedral clusters around the Ni sites and subsequent annealing with MD-PCM make the Zr60Al15(Ni,Cu)(25) crystalline alloys to vitrify. The interference function indicated that the Zr60Al15Ni25 noncrystalline alloy created through rotating operation for the octahedral clusters gives the best fit with the experimental data in an as-quenched state. Crystallographic analyses indicated that the prototype of the garnet structure, Weaire-Phelan (A15) structure, gives inhomogeneous Wigner-Seitz cell for the solute elements and an optimized heat of mixing for atomic pairs in the Zr60Al15(Ni,Cu)(25) noncrystalline alloys. These crystallographic features due to Weaire-Phelan structure are a reason for the Zr60Al15(Ni,Cu)(25) alloys to have high glass-forming ability.
Experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU) is an organ-specific, Th1-cell-mediated disease that targets the neural retina. CCR5 is a chemokine receptor expressed on Th1 cells that promotes their ...migration. In CCR5-deficient mice, we examined the role of CCR5 in the development of EAU induced by immunization with interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP) peptide.
Wild-type or CCR5-deficient B6 mice were immunized with human IRBP peptide 1-20 (hIRBP-p), and the severity of EAU was assessed clinically and histologically. Splenocytes and cells of regional lymph nodes near the eye were collected and their proliferation and production of IL-6, IL-10, IFN-gamma, and CCL2 (MCP-1) in response to hIRBP-p stimulation were measured. Moreover, the intraocular levels of these cytokines were analyzed.
Immunization with hIRBP-p induced EAU in CCR5-deficient mice with a severity comparable to that in wild-type mice. Histologically, T-cell infiltration of the eye was reduced, but granulocyte infiltration was augmented in CCR5-deficient mice. Although splenic T cells from CCR5-deficient mice produced IFN-gamma but not IL-10 on stimulation by hIRBP-p, T cells from the regional lymph nodes failed to produce both cytokines. IL-6 production in the eye and IL-6 and CCL2 production by splenic T cells were predominantly augmented in CCR5-deficient mice.
The development of EAU is not prevented in CCR5-deficient mice. Although T-cell infiltration into the eye is apparently reduced in CCR5-deficient mice, the defect is compensated for by granulocyte infiltration, supposedly mediated by augmented intraocular production of IL-6.
A simple, room temperature reduction-hydrolysis of FeCl
3
in water mediated by glycerol serving as an intermediate for controlling the concentration of Fe
3+
ions in solution is an efficient and ...practical approach for preparing α-Fe/amorphous-Fe
2
B nanosheets without using a template.
Magnetic nanosheets can be easily synthesized without the use of templates by adding glycerol as an intermediate for the nanosheets production.
Background: We previously reported that caffeine-potentiated chemotherapy induced significantly good response in patients
with musculoskeletal sarcomas. In that series, patients with metastatic ...carcinoma or lymphoma were treated with caffeine-potentiated
chemotherapy. Patients and Methods: Five patients with metastatic carcinoma or lymphoma were treated with caffeine-potentiated
chemotherapy. Results: Primary tumors were diagnosed as breast cancer, adenocarcinoma of the lung, clear cell adenocarcinoma
of the vagina, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and gastric cancer. Good responses (gross tumor shrinkage >30%, or histologically
>90% necrosis) to chemotherapy were seen in all five patients. Survival time was >1 year in all patients, and three out of
five patients presented no evidence of local recurrence or metastasis at the final follow-up. Conclusion: Caffeine-potentiated
chemotherapy may be of benefit for malignant tumors other than musculoskeletal sarcoma.
Summary
Background
T‐cell epitopes on Der 1 and Der 2 groups, the major mite allergens, have been intensively analysed, while those on the other important allergens remain to be elucidated. We have ...cloned four cDNAs coding for important mite allergens on the basis of frequency and capacity of IgE binding. Stimulatory action of glutathione S‐transferase‐fused Mag1 on lymphocytes from mite‐allergic patients was relatively high among them.
Objective
To identify T‐cell epitopes on Mag1, we studied the stimulating activity of truncated Mag1 proteins and synthetic peptides on proliferative response of lymphocytes from mite antigen‐immunized mice and mite‐sensitive patients.
Methods
Truncated Mag1 proteins were expressed as a fusion protein with β‐galactosidase in Escherichia coli pop2136 carrying a variety of deleted Mag1 inserts. Murine T‐cell epitope regions were estimated by the truncated antigen‐induced lymphocyte proliferation assay. Overlapping peptides covering the whole sequence of the presumed T‐cell epitope regions were synthesized to identify the epitope core. sequences using murine and human Mag1‐specific T‐cell lines.
Results
Amino acid range 56–70 on Mag1 molecule showed remarkable stimulatory action on murine T cells, while amino acid ranges 51–65 and 86–100 had potent stimulatory activity on human T cells.
Conclusion
These results suggest that Mag1 is a valuable antigen suitable for studies on T‐cell responses and T‐cell epitopes in mice and humans.
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