A new tungsten single-crystal target has been successfully employed at the positron source of the KEKB injector linac. The crystal thickness was determined to be 10.5 mm based on previous systematic ...measurements of the positron-production efficiency. The crystal axis, ⟨111⟩, was precisely aligned to the direction of the 4-GeV primary electron beam. The positron yield increased by ∼25% compared to that for a conventional tungsten plate with a thickness of 14 mm. On the contrary, the steady-state heat load on the crystal target decreased by ∼20%. After a two-month operation, no degradation of the positron-production efficiency was observed, and the crystal target has been stably operating at the KEK B factory.
The effects of soil surface disturbance and light level on seedling emergence were examined by creating experimental conditions differing in soil surface treatment and light level in a temperate ...deciduous broadleaved secondary forest in central Japan. The results of MANOVA showed that soil surface disturbance exerted a favourable influence upon the seedling emergence of many species. Effect of soil disturbance on total density and number of emerged species was greater than that of a high light level. The interaction between soil surface disturbance and light level revealed significant positive effects for seedling emergence, especially for small‐seeded species. The relationship between the percentage of emerged seedlings and seed weight was significantly negative in the soil‐surface disturbed and high light level condition, suggesting that minute‐seeded species largely depend on both factors for seedling emergence. Both soil surface disturbance and high light level had a positive effect on the number of emerged species, suggesting that these factors contributed to species richness at the stage of seedling emergence.
Autoantigen Ro52 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase Wada, Keiji; Kamitani, Tetsu
Biochemical and biophysical research communications,
01/2006, Letnik:
339, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Anti-Ro/SSA antibodies are classic autoantibodies commonly found in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome, a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by dryness of the eyes and mouth. The autoantibodies ...recognize a RING-finger protein, Ro52, whose function is still unknown. Since many RING-finger proteins have been identified as E3 ubiquitin ligases, this study was designed to determine whether Ro52 functions as an E3 ubiquitin ligase. For this purpose, recombinant Ro52 was purified from bacterial lysate and used to investigate its activity of E3 ubiquitin ligase in vitro. Its enzymatic activity was also tested in HEK293T cells using wild-type Ro52 and its RING-finger mutant. Our results indicated that Ro52 ubiquitinates itself in cooperation with E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme UbcH5B, thereby validating that Ro52 is a RING-finger-type E3 ubiquitin ligase. Importantly, this ubiquitin modification is predominantly monoubiquitination, which does not target Ro52 to the proteasome for degradation.
Objective: To determine whether the Bezold-Jarisch reflex or enhancement of vagal nerves, which are preferentially distributed in the inferoposterior myocardium, results from exercise induced ...ischaemia in this region. Methods: On the basis of exercise myocardial scintigraphy and coronary angiography, 145 patients were classified as follows: group I, 34 patients with inferoposterior ischaemia; group A, 32 with anterior ischaemia; and control, 79 without ischaemia. The relation between ischaemic areas and ECG leads with ST segment changes and vagal modulation assessed by heart rate variability (HRV) (high frequency (HF) component (0.15–0.40 Hz) and coefficient of HF component variance (CCVHF), which is the square root of HF divided by mean RR interval) were assessed. Results: The rate of ST segment depression in any lead did not differ between group I and group A. HF and CCVHF were similar before exercise but higher in group I than in group A and the control group after exercise (mean (SEM) HF: 94 (17) ms2, 41 (7) ms2, and 45 (6) ms2, respectively, p = 0.021; CCVHF: 1.18 (0.09)%, 0.81 (0.07)%, and 0.89 (0.05)%, p = 0.0053). Furthermore, the percentage change in CCVHF before and after exercise was higher in group I than in group A or controls (mean (SEM) 22 (10)%, −24 (4)%, and −21 (3)%, p < 0.0001). The optimal cut off for diagnosis of inferoposterior ischaemia was −5% with a sensitivity of 74%, specificity 75%, and accuracy 75%. Conclusions: Vagal modulation as assessed by HRV analysis was enhanced in association with exercise induced inferoposterior ischaemia. Exercise ECG testing combined with HRV analysis would increase accuracy in the diagnosis of ischaemic areas in selected patients with angina pectoris.
Commissioning of KEKB Akai, K.; Akasaka, N.; Enomoto, A. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
02/2003, Letnik:
499, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
KEKB has been operated since December, 1998, to deliver
B
B
̄
pairs for a physics detector. In this paper,we describe the commissioning procedure of KEKB.
To develop and internally validate a preoperative clinical prediction model for acute adjacent vertebral fracture (AVF) after vertebral augmentation to support preoperative decision-making, named the ...after vertebral augmentation (AVA) score.
In this prognostic study, a multicentre, retrospective single-level vertebral augmentation cohort of 377 patients from six Japanese hospitals was used to derive an AVF prediction model. Backward stepwise selection (p < 0.05) was used to select preoperative clinical and imaging predictors for acute AVF after vertebral augmentation for up to one month, from 14 predictors. We assigned a score to each selected variable based on the regression coefficient and developed the AVA scoring system. We evaluated sensitivity and specificity for each cut-off, area under the curve (AUC), and calibration as diagnostic performance. Internal validation was conducted using bootstrapping to correct the optimism.
Of the 377 patients used for model derivation, 58 (15%) had an acute AVF postoperatively. The following preoperative measures on multivariable analysis were summarized in the five-point AVA score: intravertebral instability (≥ 5 mm), focal kyphosis (≥ 10°), duration of symptoms (≥ 30 days), intravertebral cleft, and previous history of vertebral fracture. Internal validation showed a mean optimism of 0.019 with a corrected AUC of 0.77. A cut-off of ≤ one point was chosen to classify a low risk of AVF, for which only four of 137 patients (3%) had AVF with 92.5% sensitivity and 45.6% specificity. A cut-off of ≥ four points was chosen to classify a high risk of AVF, for which 22 of 38 (58%) had AVF with 41.5% sensitivity and 94.5% specificity.
In this study, the AVA score was found to be a simple preoperative method for the identification of patients at low and high risk of postoperative acute AVF. This model could be applied to individual patients and could aid in the decision-making before vertebral augmentation. Cite this article:
2022;104-B(1):97-102.
We compared landscape diversity in a primary forest site and a coppice forest site in rural area of the
Fagus crenata forest region of central Japan. We focused on the factors affecting landscape ...diversity, with special reference to land ownership, and the relationship between changes in landscape diversity and the spatial distribution of landscape elements. We were able to identify two patterns that led to increased landscape diversity in the study sites. In the first, which was most apparent in the primary forest site, increased diversity resulted primarily from an increase in the number of landscape elements. In the other, which was seen in the coppice forest site, increased diversity resulted from a decrease in the difference between the numbers of grid squares dominated by each landscape element while the number of landscape elements remained unchanged. Land ownership also had different implications for the increase of landscape diversity. The changes in the Contagion Index, which decreased in private land and increased in the national forest, showed that private land contains many small patches while the landscape of the national forest consists of a few large, contiguous patches. Thus, an evaluation of changes in landscape structure requires measuring a variety of indexes in addition to the diversity.
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