The Japan Cancer Surveillance Research Group aimed to estimate the cancer incidence in Japan in 2008 based on data collected from 25 of 34 population-based cancer registries, as part of the ...Monitoring of Cancer Incidence in Japan project. The incidence in Japan for 2008 was estimated to be 749 767 (C00-C96). Stomach cancer and breast cancer were the leading types of cancer in males and females, respectively.
Summary
We investigate estimation of a normal mean matrix under the matrix quadratic loss. Improved estimation under the matrix quadratic loss implies improved estimation of any linear combination of ...the columns under the quadratic loss. First, an unbiased estimate of risk is derived and the Efron–Morris estimator is shown to be minimax. Next, a notion of matrix superharmonicity for matrix-variate functions is introduced and shown to have properties analogous to those of the usual superharmonic functions, which may be of independent interest. Then, it is shown that the generalized Bayes estimator with respect to a matrix superharmonic prior is minimax. We also provide a class of matrix superharmonic priors that includes the previously proposed generalization of Stein’s prior. Numerical results demonstrate that matrix superharmonic priors work well for low-rank matrices.
A second-order phase transition is characterized by spontaneous symmetry breaking. The nature of the broken symmetry in the so-called "hidden-order" phase transition in the heavy-fermion compound ...URu(2)Si(2), at transition temperature T(h) = 17.5 K, has posed a long-standing mystery. We report the emergence of an in-plane anisotropy of the magnetic susceptibility below T(h), which breaks the four-fold rotational symmetry of the tetragonal URu(2)Si(2). Two-fold oscillations in the magnetic torque under in-plane field rotation were sensitively detected in small pure crystals. Our findings suggest that the hidden-order phase is an electronic "nematic" phase, a translationally invariant metallic phase with spontaneous breaking of rotational symmetry.
This paper considers (p, q )-Epidemic Routing, a class of store-carry-forward routing schemes, for sparsely populated mobile ad hoc networks. Our forwarding scheme includes Two-Hop Forwarding and the ...conventional Epidemic Routing as special cases. In such forwarding schemes, the original packet is copied many times and its packet copies spread over the network. Therefore those packet copies should be deleted after a packet reaches the destination. We analyze the performance of (p, q)-Epidemic Routing with VACCINE recovery scheme. Unlike most of the existing studies, we discuss the performance of (p, q)-Epidemic Routing in depth, taking account of the recovery process that deletes unnecessary packets from the network.
The Japan Cancer Surveillance Research Group aimed to estimate the cancer incidence in Japan in 2007 based on data collected from 21 out of 33 population-based cancer registries as part of the ...Monitoring of Cancer Incidence in Japan (MCIJ) project. The total number of incidences in Japan for 2007 was estimated to be 704 090 (C00-C96). Stomach cancer and breast cancer were the leading types of cancer in males and females, respectively.
The magnetism of a thin grain-boundary (GB) phase that envelopes the Nd2Fe14B grains in optimally annealed Nd–Fe–B sintered magnets was investigated by electron holography. The phase shift measured ...from a thin-foil specimen containing a tilted amorphous GB phase (∼3nm in width) was −0.34rad, which is substantially smaller than that expected for the nonferromagnetic GB phase of −1.2rad. Simulations of the phase shift with various magnetization values suggest that the magnetic flux density of the GB phase is ∼1.0T. The observations imply significant exchange coupling between Nd2Fe14B grains, which can explain the avalanche propagation of magnetization reversal observed in sintered magnets.
To contribute to evidence-based policy decision making for national cancer control, we conducted a systematic assessment to estimate the current burden of cancer attributable to known preventable ...risk factors in Japan in 2005.
We first estimated the population attributable fractions (PAFs) of each cancer attributable to known risk factors from relative risks derived primarily from Japanese pooled analyses and large-scale cohort studies and the prevalence of exposure in the period around 1990. Using nationwide vital statistics records and incidence estimates, we then estimated the attributable cancer incidence and mortality in 2005.
In 2005, ∼55% of cancer among men was attributable to preventable risk factors in Japan. The corresponding figure was lower among women, but preventable risk factors still accounted for nearly 30% of cancer. In men, tobacco smoking had the highest PAF (30% for incidence and 35% for mortality, respectively) followed by infectious agents (23% and 23%). In women, in contrast, infectious agents had the highest PAF (18% and 19% for incidence and mortality, respectively) followed by tobacco smoking (6% and 8%).
In Japan, tobacco smoking and infections are major causes of cancer. Further control of these factors will contribute to substantial reductions in cancer incidence and mortality in Japan.
...few studies have compared “postural control strategies” including COM parameters, lower limb kinematics, and muscle activity level between individuals with CAI and healthy individuals during the ...PM reach performance. In an effort to better understand “how individuals with CAI maintain their body balance during the PM reach,” this study examined the differences in COM displacement, joint angles and surrounding muscle activity level for the ankle, knee, and hip during the PM reach of the SEBT and compared these metrics uninjured participants. The careful evaluation of sensorimotor function of athletes, as completed in this study, may offer a metric that someday may assist in identifying those at risk of re-injury upon return to sporting activities.
Background: With the advent of genome-wide analyses, it is becoming evident that a large number of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) are expressed in vertebrates. However, of the thousands of ncRNAs ...identified, the functions of relatively few have been established.
Results: In a screen for genes upregulated by taurine in developing retinal cells, we identified a gene that appears to be a ncRNA. Taurine Upregulated Gene 1 (TUG1) is a spliced, polyadenylated RNA that does not encode any open reading frame greater than 82 amino acids in its full-length, 6.7 kilobase (kb) RNA sequence. Analyses of Northern blots and in situ hybridization revealed that TUG1 is expressed in the developing retina and brain, as well as in adult tissues. In the newborn retina, knockdown of TUG1 with RNA interference (RNAi) resulted in malformed or nonexistent outer segments of transfected photoreceptors. Immunofluorescent staining and microarray analyses suggested that this loss of proper photoreceptor differentiation is a result of the disregulation of photoreceptor gene expression.
Conclusions: A function for a newly identified ncRNA, TUG1, has been established. TUG1 is necessary for the proper formation of photoreceptors in the developing rodent retina.