The KamLAND experiment has determined a precise value for the neutrino oscillation parameter Deltam21(2) and stringent constraints on theta12. The exposure to nuclear reactor antineutrinos is ...increased almost fourfold over previous results to 2.44 x 10(32) proton yr due to longer livetime and an enlarged fiducial volume. An undistorted reactor nuovere energy spectrum is now rejected at >5sigma. Analysis of the reactor spectrum above the inverse beta decay energy threshold, and including geoneutrinos, gives a best fit at Deltam21(2)=7.58(-0.13)(+0.14)(stat) -0.15+0.15(syst) x 10(-5) eV2 and tan2theta12=0.56(-0.07)+0.10(stat) -0.06+0.10(syst). Local Deltachi2 minima at higher and lower Deltam21(2) are disfavored at >4sigma. Combining with solar neutrino data, we obtain Deltam21(2)=7.59(-0.21)+0.21 x 10(-5) eV2 and tan2theta12=0.47(-0.05)+0.06.
Over 40 million people live on and exploit the groundwater resources of the Kanto Plain. The Plain encompasses metropolitan Tokyo and much of Chiba Prefecture. Useable groundwater extends to the base ...of the Kanto Plain, some 2500 to 3000 m below sea level. Much of the Kanto Plain surface is at sea level. By the early 1970s, with increasing urbanization and industrial expansion, local overdraft of groundwater resources caused major ground subsidence and damage to commercial and residential structures as well as to local and regional infrastructure. Parts of the lowlands around Tokyo subsided to 4.0 m below sea level; particularly affected were the suburbs of Funabashi and Gyotoku in western Chiba. In the southern Kanto Plain, regulations, mainly by local government and later by regional agencies, led to installation of about 500 monitoring wells and almost 5000 bench marks by the 1990's. Many of them are still working with new monitoring system. Long-term monitoring is important. The monitoring systems are costly, but the resulting data provide continuous measurement of the "health" of the Kanto Groundwater Basin, and thus permit sustainable use of the groundwater resource.
The 2011 Tohoku earthquake caused major liquefaction-induced, ground deformation of the reclaimed land surrounding Tokyo Bay. In this area, liquefaction was visibly manifest by sand boils, ejection ...of sandy water, land subsidence and floating underground tanks. The level measurements show a correspondence between the degree of liquefaction-fluidization and the amount of subsidence. The strata most susceptible to liquefaction are hydraulically emplaced dredged fill and artificial strata on thick uncompacted Holocene deposits. On the other hand, the phenomena of seismic isolation coursed by liquefaction had saved the single-family houses from collapse.
Background: Familial haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHL) has an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance and consists of at least three subtypes. FHL2 subtype with perforin (PRF1) mutation ...accounts for 30% of all FHL cases, while FHL with MUNC13-4 mutation was recently identified and designated as FHL3 subtype. Objective: To examine MUNC13-4 mutations and the cytotoxic function of MUNC13-4 deficient T lymphocytes in Japanese FHL patients Methods: Mutations of MUNC13-4 and the cytotoxicity of MUNC13-4-deficient cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) were analysed in 16 Japanese families with non-FHL2 subtype. Results: Five new mutations of the MUNC13-4 gene were identified in six families. The mutations were in the introns 4, 9, and 18, and exons 8 and 19. Two families had homozygous mutations, while the remaining four had compound heterozygous mutations. Cytotoxicity of MUNC13-4 deficient CTL was low compared with control CTL, but was still present. Clinically, the onset of disease tended to occur late; moreover, natural killer cell activity was not deficient in some FHL3 patients. Conclusions:MUNC13-4 mutations play a role in the development of FHL3 through a defective cytotoxic pathway.
T-box transcription factor, T-bet, has a central role in the differentiation of T-helper (Th) progenitor cells to Th1 or Th2 effector cells, partly by regulating the expression of genes such as ...interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). However, the direct target genes, especially those mediating the transcriptional network initiated by T-bet, are not yet fully understood. By combining chromatin immunoprecipitation from Th1 cells with human cytosine-phosphate-guanine-island array analysis, Onecut 2 (OC2), which encodes a member of the ONECUT class of transcriptional activators, was identified as a direct target gene of T-bet. OC2 is expressed in Th1 but not Th2 cells and reporter assays showed that T-bet transactivates OC2 transcription through putative T-bet half-sites locating -451 to -347 of OC2 promoter region. Moreover, we found that OC2 binds and transactivates human T-bet promoter. These results suggest that not only cell-extrinsic regulation via the IFN-gamma/STAT1 pathway, but also cell-intrinsic transcriptional positive feedback loop between T-bet and OC2 could be involved in Th1 development.
Geological disaster by liquefaction-fluidization happened on southern part of the Quaternary Paleo-Kanto submarine basin at the 2011 Earthquake off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku. ...Liquefaction-fluidization phenomena occurred mainly in man-made strata over shaking 5+ intensity of Japan Meteorological Agency scale. Many subsided spots, 10–50 m width, 20–100 m length and less than 1 m depth, by liquefaction-fluidization distributed on reclaimed land around northern Tokyo bay. Large amount of sand and groundwater spouted out in the terrible subsided parts. But there are little subsidence and no jetted sand outside the terrible subsided part. Liquefaction-fluidization damaged part at the 1987 earthquake east off Chiba prefecture re-liquefied and fluidized in these parts at the 2011 great earthquake. The damaged area were more wide on the 2011 earthquake than the 1987 quake. Detailed classification maps of subsidence by liquefaction-fluidization on the 2011 grate earthquake were made by fieldwork in Chiba city around Tokyo bay. A mechanism of subsidence by liquefaction-fluidization in man-made strata was solved by geological survey with continuous large box cores on the ACE Liner and large relief peals of the cores at a typical subsided part.
Summary
Chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome is a common disorder characterized by thymic hypoplasia, conotruncal cardiac defect and hypoparathyroidism. Patients have a risk of infections and ...autoimmunity associated with T lymphocytopenia. To assess the immunological constitution of patients, the numerical changes and cytokine profile of circulating T cells were analysed by flow cytometry and real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). CD3+, CD4+, T cell receptor (TCR)αβ+ or CD8αα+ cell counts were lower, and CD56+ cell counts were higher in patients than in controls during the period from birth to adulthood. The ageing decline of CD3+ or CD4+ cell counts was slower in patients than in controls. The proportion of CD8αα+ cells increased in controls, and the slope index was larger than in patients. On the other hand, both the number and proportion of Vα24+ cells increased in patients, and the slope indexes tended to be larger than in controls. The positive correlation of the number of T cells with CD8αα+ cells was observed only in patients, and that with Vα24+ cells was seen only in controls. No gene expression levels of interferon (IFN)‐γ, interleukin (IL)‐10, transforming growth factor (TGF)‐β, cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA4) or forkhead box p3 (Foxp3) in T cells differed between patients and controls. There was no significant association between the lymphocyte subsets or gene expression levels and clinical phenotype including the types of cardiac disease, hypocalcaemia and frequency of infection. These results indicated that T‐lymphocytopenia in 22q11.2 deletion patients became less severe with age under the altered composition of minor subsets. The balanced cytokine profile in the limited T cell pool may represent a T cell homeostasis in thymic deficiency syndrome.
Abstract
The finite-element and boundary-element methods were applied to develop the low-stress and low-noise lightweight railway wheel. First, stress analyses for the existing wheels under the ...condition of drag braking or track loading were performed. Following these analyses, a design methodology was developed and applied, leading to the development of new plate shapes of the wheel, whose stresses generated were lower than those of conventional wheels. Candidate plate shapes were selected based on the analyses. Next, eigenvalue analyses and transient dynamic analyses were carried out for the wheels. At the same time, to verify the analytical results, these wheels were manufactured and experiments implemented. Finally, acoustic analyses were performed and results compared with those obtained by field measurements. From this study, a new plate shape of the lightweight railway wheel was obtained, which reduces the radiated noise as well as the maximum stresses generated in the plate region to a remarkable extent.
KamLAND has measured the flux of nu;(e)'s from distant nuclear reactors. We find fewer nu;(e) events than expected from standard assumptions about nu;(e) propagation at the 99.95% C.L. In a 162 ...ton.yr exposure the ratio of the observed inverse beta-decay events to the expected number without nu;(e) disappearance is 0.611+/-0.085(stat)+/-0.041(syst) for nu;(e) energies >3.4 MeV. In the context of two-flavor neutrino oscillations with CPT invariance, all solutions to the solar neutrino problem except for the "large mixing angle" region are excluded.
The main mammalian circadian pacemaker is located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. Clock genes such as the mouse
Period gene (
mPer) play a role in this core clock mechanism in the ...mouse. With brief light exposure during the subjective night, the photic information, which is conveyed directly to the suprachiasmatic nucleus via the retinohypothalamic tract, results in
mPer1 and
mPer2 expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus.
Glutamate and pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) are co-stored in the retinohypothalamic tract. Recent studies have suggested that not only glutamate but also PACAP are key players in the phase shift that occurs during subject night; however, research demonstrating a direct association between the PACAP-induced phase shift and
mPer gene expression has yet to be conducted.
In the present study, PACAP (200 pmol) injected into the lateral ventricle during subjective night (circadian time 16; circadian time 12, onset of locomotor activity) caused a moderate phase delay associated with moderate expression of
mPer1 and only slight expression of
mPer2 in the mouse suprachiasmatic nucleus. PACAP-induced
mPer1 expression was also observed in the paraventricular nucleus and periventricular area of the hypothalamus. (+)MK-801 (0.5 mg/kg), an
N-methyl-
D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, suppressed both the PACAP-induced phase delay and
mPer1 expression. From these results we suggest that PACAP induces phase delays in the mouse circadian rhythm in association with an increase of
mPer expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus via the activation of NMDA receptors.
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