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This paper focuses on image sensor communication (ISC) using cameras to receive wireless signals transmitted by visible lights. We summarize the technical principles of ISC from the perspective of transmitting devices. An introduction to the development and applications of ISC was provided, starting with the history of image sensors and visible light communication (VLC). Moreover, the communication mechanism of ISC using complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) sensors is explained in this paper. Specifically, we investigate studies using an optical communication image sensor and the rolling shutter technique for high-speed ISC. Further, we highlight three distinctive transmitting devices in ISC: a LED array, rotating LEDs, and displays, and explain them in terms of structure and signal transmission methods. In particular, we present the parallel transmission of LED arrays and their application in traffic systems and introduce an optical flow-based signal transmission method using rotating LEDs. In addition, two visual transmission techniques in displays-based-ISC using brightness-difference and high-frequency flashing are introduced, respectively. This paper intuitively explains these ISC techniques and reveals ISC’s high versatility.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-024-07210-5. In this article 17 references, which were wrongly moved to the Supplementary Information, need to be added. The list of added references as given below: The original article has been corrected

Yuichi Kasai,1 Takaya Kato,2 Tadashi Inaba,3 Sotaro Baba,3 Permsak Paholpak,1 Taweechok Wisanuyotin,1 Weerachai Kosuwon,1 Hirohito Hirata,4 Tadatsugu Morimoto4 1Department of Orthopaedics, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand; 2Graduate School of Regional Innovation Studies, Tsu, Japan; 3Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Mie University, Tsu, Japan; 4Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, JapanCorrespondence: Yuichi Kasai, Email ykasai55@gmail.comIntroduction: Although kissing spine syndrome in the lumbar spinal region is a relatively common condition in older adults, no study examining its biomechanical characteristics has been reported. We hypothesized that kissing of the spinous processes during extension causes an increase in the flexural rigidity of the spine and significantly limits the deformation behavior of extension, which in turn might cause lower back pain.Methods: Three test models (human cadavers A, B, and C) were prepared by removing supraspinal/interspinous ligaments between L4 and L5. The dental resin was attached to the cephalocaudal spinous process so that the spinous processes between L4 and L5 were almost in contact with each other to simulate the condition of a kissing spine. The flexion-extension direction’s torque–range-of-motion (torque–ROM) curve was generated with a six-axis material tester for biomechanical measurements.Results: In all three models, the maximum ROMs at the time of extension were smaller than those at the time of flexion, and no sudden increase in torque was observed during extension.Conclusion: The results indicated no apparent biomechanical effects of kissing between the spinous processes, suggesting that the contact between the spinous processes has little involvement in the onset of lower back pain.Keywords: kissing spine syndrome, Baastrup’s disease, biomechanical study, low back pain, lumbar spine

Although numerous studies have investigated droplets in shear flows, the features of these droplets are incompletely understood. This paper reports our experimental visualization results of sessile droplets in fully developed turbulent shear flows and the onset of their movement. The visualization was performed from the side and bottom views. Furthermore, the droplet height is much smaller than the boundary-layer thickness, and the droplet motions are strongly affected by turbulent velocity fluctuation. The droplets were deformed toward the front and spread in a spanwise direction. The front and rear-side contact angles recover the balance position, that changes symmetrically over time and are not clearly related to sessile droplet oscillation. The droplet oscillation frequencies were well predicted by the model based on the resonant vibrations of the standing waves except for the lowest mode. Based on the critical air velocity and droplet height, the motion onset was adequately approximated by a simple empirical relation between the Weber and Reynolds numbers.

Although numerous studies have investigated droplets in shear flows, the features of these droplets are incompletely understood. This paper reports our experimental visualization results of sessile droplets in fully developed turbulent shear flows and the onset of their movement. The visualization was performed from the side and bottom views. Furthermore, the droplet height is much smaller than the boundary-layer thickness, and the droplet motions are strongly affected by turbulent velocity fluctuation. The droplets were deformed toward the front and spread in a spanwise direction. The front and rear-side contact angles recover the balance position, that changes symmetrically over time and are not clearly related to sessile droplet oscillation. The droplet oscillation frequencies were well predicted by the model based on the resonant vibrations of the standing waves except for the lowest mode. Based on the critical air velocity and droplet height, the motion onset was adequately approximated by a simple empirical relation between the Weber and Reynolds numbers.

Shu Kojima,1 Satohiro Matsumoto,1 Yudai Koito,1 Takaya Miura,1 Masanari Sekine,1 Takeshi Uehara,1 Takeharu Asano,1 Yasuhiro Yamaguchi,2 Hirosato Mashima1 1Department of Gastroenterology, Jichi Medical University Saitama Medical Center, Saitama, Japan; 2Department of Respiratory Medicine, Jichi Medical University Saitama Medical Center, Saitama, JapanCorrespondence: Shu Kojima, Department of Gastroenterology, Jichi Medical University Saitama Medical Center, 1-847 Amanuma, Omiya, Saitama, 330-8503, Japan, Tel +81 48 647 2111, Fax +81 48 648 5188, Email s.kojima@jichi.ac.jpAbstract: A 51-year-old Japanese man was diagnosed with left-sided ulcerative colitis (UC) at age 41. He was treated with mesalazine and azathioprine and maintained remission. At age 51, the patient developed bloody stools, abdominal pain, scleritis, arthritis, cough, bloody sputum, and pericardial effusion. Considering that pericardial effusion is an atypical extraintestinal complication of UC, and the patient met the diagnostic criteria for relapsing polychondritis (RP), a diagnosis of RP complicating a relapse of UC was made. Steroid therapy was administered, and both diseases improved. Golimumab, an anti-tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitor, was introduced as maintenance therapy for UC. All symptoms, including pericardial effusion, improved. Subsequently, no relapse of UC or RP was observed. As only a few cases of RP overlapping with UC have been reported and no treatment protocol has been established, we considered this case valuable and worthy of publication.Keywords: ulcerative colitis, relapsing polychondritis, anti-tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitor, golimumab

Subseasonal to seasonal (S2S) prediction of droughts and floods is one of the major challenges of weather and climate prediction. Recent studies suggest that the springtime land surface temperature/subsurface temperature (LST/SUBT) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) can be a new source of S2S predictability. The project “Impact of Initialized Land Surface Temperature and Snowpack on Subseasonal to Seasonal Prediction (LS4P)” was initiated to study the impact of springtime LST/SUBT anomalies over high mountain areas on summertime precipitation predictions. The present work explores the simulated global scale response of the atmospheric circulation to the springtime TP land surface cooling by 16 current state-of-the-art Earth System Models (ESMs) participating in the LS4P Phase I (LS4P-I) experiment. The LS4P-I results show, for the first time, that springtime TP surface anomalies can modulate a persistent quasi-barotropic Tibetan Plateau-Rocky Mountain Circumglobal (TRC) wave train from the TP via the northeast Asia and Bering Strait to the western part of the North America, along with the springtime westerly jet from TP across the whole North Pacific basin. The TRC wave train modulated by the TP thermal anomaly play a critical role on the early summer surface air temperature and precipitation anomalies in the regions along the wave train, especially over the northwest North America and the southern Great Plains. The participant models that fail in capturing the TRC wave train greatly under-predict climate anomalies in reference to observations and the successful models. These results suggest that the TP LST/SUBT anomaly via the TRC wave train is the first order source of the S2S variability in the regions mentioned. Furthermore, the TP surface temperature anomaly can influence the Southern Hemispheric circulation by generating cross-equator wave trains. However, the simulated propagation pathways from the TP into the Southern Hemisphere show large inter-model d

Due to the current energy crisis caused by global warming and geopolitical events, evaluating the energy potential of marine gas hydrates around the Japan Islands has become an urgent issue. Based on open and public reports, a critical overview is provided of the current status of the exploration of gas hydrates in the eastern Nankai Trough and along the eastern margin of the Japan Sea. In 2001, an exploration and resource assessment of gas hydrates in the eastern Nankai Trough was launched as a national project. In the late 20th century, hydrate-induced BSRs had been widely recognized on the fore-arc basins and slopes of the accretionary wedges of the Nankai Trough. Integrated geological and geophysical exploration reveals that the hydrates of the eastern Nankai Trough occur in the interstitial pore space of sand layers (pore filling type) of the Early Pleistocene turbidite units of 100 to 200 m in thickness above the BSR-BGHS. Hydrate exploration in the Japan Sea entered the National project in 2012, following academic efforts over the preceding 10 years, confirming 1,742 columnar-shaped gas chimney structures (generally a few hundred meters across and roughly 100 m deep) in which a few centimeters to nearly 50 m of thick massive hydrate deposits occur in the Middle Pleistocene silty host sediments. Japan Sea hydrates are considered to have grown in the host sediments, displacing clayey particles (particle displacement type). Gas chimney structures are the main conduits for the migration of deep-seated methane, associated with sea floor methane seeps, chemosynthetic communities, and methane-derived authigenic carbonates. A high concentration of massive hydrate is related to enhanced maturation and accumulation of hydrocarbon deposits under the high heat flow of the Japan Sea basin. Additionally, glacial eustasy of the closed Japan Sea basin facilitated efficient recycling of methane to accumulate massive hydrates.

Successive image generation using cyclic transformations is demonstrated by extending the CycleGAN model to transform images among three different categories. Repeated application of the trained generators produces sequences of images that transition among the different categories. The generated image sequences occupy a more limited region of the image space compared with the original training dataset. Quantitative evaluation using precision and recall metrics indicates that the generated images have high quality but reduced diversity relative to the training dataset. Such successive generation processes are characterized as chaotic dynamics in terms of dynamical system theory. Positive Lyapunov exponents estimated from the generated trajectories confirm the presence of chaotic dynamics, with the Lyapunov dimension of the attractor found to be comparable to the intrinsic dimension of the training data manifold. The results suggest that chaotic dynamics in the image space defined by the deep generative model contribute to the diversity of the generated images, constituting a novel approach for multi-class image generation. This model can be interpreted as an extension of classical associative memory to perform hetero-association among image categories.

Extracting table contents from documents such as scientific papers and financial reports and converting them into a format that can be processed by large language models is an important task in knowledge information processing. End-to-end approaches, which recognize not only table structure but also cell contents, achieved performance comparable to state-of-the-art models using external character recognition systems, and have potential for further improvements. In addition, these models can now recognize long tables with hundreds of cells by introducing local attention. However, the models recognize table structure in one direction from the header to the footer, and cell content recognition is performed independently for each cell, so there is no opportunity to retrieve useful information from the neighbor cells. In this paper, we propose a multi-cell content decoder and bidirectional mutual learning mechanism to improve the end-to-end approach. The effectiveness is demonstrated on two large datasets, and the experimental results show comparable performance to state-of-the-art models, even for long tables with large numbers of cells., Comment: ICDAR 2024

Advanced biological intelligence learns efficiently from an information-rich stream of stimulus information, even when feedback on behaviour quality is sparse or absent. Such learning exploits implicit assumptions about task domains. We refer to such learning as Domain-Adapted Learning (DAL). In contrast, AI learning algorithms rely on explicit externally provided measures of behaviour quality to acquire fit behaviour. This imposes an information bottleneck that precludes learning from diverse non-reward stimulus information, limiting learning efficiency. We consider the question of how biological evolution circumvents this bottleneck to produce DAL. We propose that species first evolve the ability to learn from reward signals, providing inefficient (bottlenecked) but broad adaptivity. From there, integration of non-reward information into the learning process can proceed via gradual accumulation of biases induced by such information on specific task domains. This scenario provides a biologically plausible pathway towards bottleneck-free, domain-adapted learning. Focusing on the second phase of this scenario, we set up a population of NNs with reward-driven learning modelled as Reinforcement Learning (A2C), and allow evolution to improve learning efficiency by integrating non-reward information into the learning process using a neuromodulatory update mechanism. On a navigation task in continuous 2D space, evolved DAL agents show a 300-fold increase in learning speed compared to pure RL agents. Evolution is found to eliminate reliance on reward information altogether, allowing DAL agents to learn from non-reward information exclusively, using local neuromodulation-based connection weight updates only., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures

Heteroaromatic stacking interactions are important in drug binding, supramolecular chemistry, and materials science, making protein-ligand model systems of these interactions of considerable interest. Here we studied 30 congeneric ligands that each present a distinct heteroarene for stacking between tyrosine residues at the dimer interface of procaspase-6. Complex X-ray crystal structures of 10 analogs showed that stacking geometries were well conserved, while high-accuracy computations showed that heteroarene stacking energy was well correlated with predicted overall ligand binding energies. Empirically determined KD values in this system thus provide a useful measure of heteroarene stacking with tyrosine. Stacking energies are discussed in the context of torsional strain, the number and positioning of heteroatoms, tautomeric state, and coaxial orientation of heteroarene in the stack. Overall, this study provides an extensive data set of empirical and high-level computed binding energies in a versatile new protein-ligand system amenable to studies of other intermolecular interactions.

Negative-spin-polarization material generates a spin current whose spin direction is opposite to the magnetization direction. This characteristicis technologically important because it can increase the freedom in the designof spintronic devices. In this paper, westudied FeCr from the viewpoints of the band structure, atomic magnetic moments, and local atomic arrangementto explore the potentiality as a negative-spin-polarization material. Thefirst-principlescalculation on the disordered FeCr alloypredicted a high negative spin polarization, whichis attributed to the band matching of the minority spin.We experimentally fabricated Fe1-xCrxthin film in the Cr-concentration (x) range from 0.2 to 0.4 by sputter deposition. The spin polarization of Fe0.7Cr0.3 estimated from current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance was −0.28 and fell below the calculated value. The synchrotron X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD)measurement showed the ferrimagnetic configuration of the magnetic moments of Fe and Cr. The Fe moment shows a large moment over the wide Cr concentration range, whereas the Cr moment decreased with the Cr concentration, which agrees with the calculation result. The synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy measurement indicated the inhomogeneity of the FeCr composition even in the as-deposited state. It was also found that Fe-rich region was formed after annealing, reflecting the phase separation nature of the FeCr system.The inhomogeneity was not considered in the calculation and could be the origin of the low spin polarization observed in the experiment.

We conducted in-situ high-pressure acoustic wave velocitymeasurements of Fe2+-bearing MgSiO3 glass up to 158 GPaby means of Brillouin scattering spectroscopy to understand the effect of iron on silicate melt in the lower mantle.Thechange in trend of the velocity profile, likely induced by the structural transition in Si-O coordination numberproposedin previous studies of silicate glasses, is also observed around 129 GPa. The transition pressurebecomes 125-128 GPa when considering the iron content of melts in a pyrolitic or chondritic mantle, whichis lower than the pressures of the CMB and the ULVZs. Our datashowthe substitution of 12mol% Fe in MgSiO3 glass decreases the VS by ~5.5 %. This study implies that iron considerably affect onthe buoyancy relations between melts/crystals and the iron-bearing melts at the lowermost mantle will have thehigher coordination numberthan sixfold.

We conducted in-situ high-pressure acoustic wave velocitymeasurements of Fe2+-bearing MgSiO3 glass up to 158 GPaby means of Brillouin scattering spectroscopy to understand the effect of iron on silicate melt in the lower mantle.Thechange in trend of the velocity profile, likely induced by the structural transition in Si-O coordination numberproposedin previous studies of silicate glasses, is also observed around 129 GPa. The transition pressurebecomes 125-128 GPa when considering the iron content of melts in a pyrolitic or chondritic mantle, whichis lower than the pressures of the CMB and the ULVZs. Our datashowthe substitution of 12mol% Fe in MgSiO3 glass decreases the VS by ~5.5 %. This study implies that iron considerably affect onthe buoyancy relations between melts/crystals and the iron-bearing melts at the lowermost mantle will have thehigher coordination numberthan sixfold.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection has been suggested as a potential risk factor for Bowen's disease. Here, we report a case of a 40-year-old man with Bowen's disease on the finger showing a discontinuous skip lesion, in which HPV-34 was detected. Our case is a reminder that the possibility of multiple lesions must be considered when Bowen's disease occurs on the finger.

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-bearing (co)polymers often show lower critical solution temperature-type solubility in water; the aqueous solution becomes clouded and/or phase-separated upon heating to a certain temperature (cloud-point temperature). In general, it has been interpreted that the thermoresponsive properties of (co)polymers in water originate from the dehydration of the polymer chains, whereas the hydration state of these polymers has not yet been evaluated. Herein, we report the amount of hydration water on PEG-bearing homopolymers and random copolymer micelles in water, analyzed by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, and micellar structures (molecular packing in the hydrophilic layer) determined by small-angle X-ray scattering. Systematic investigation by changing the ratio of PEG side chains and alkyl side chains revealed a clear correlation between the thermoresponsive properties, molecular and micellar structures, and the amount of hydration water. The random copolymers induce self-folding or intermolecular self-assembly to form unimer or multichain micelles in water; the size of the micelles increases with an increasing number of hydrophobic monomer units. As the micelle size increases, the PEG chains tend to be densely packed in the hydrophilic shell layers, leading to a reduction in the amount of hydration water per ethylene glycol unit of PEG. Thus, the dehydration of the PEG chain likely becomes easier, and the cloud-point temperatures decrease with increasing hydrophobic monomer content.

BACKGROUND: Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) has been proposed as a rescue therapy for patients with refractory cardiac arrest. This study aimed to evaluate the association between ECPR and clinical outcomes among patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) using risk-set matching with a time-dependent propensity score. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of the JAAM-OHCA registry data, a nationwide multicenter prospective study of patients with OHCA, from June 2014 and December 2019, that included adults (≥ 18 years) with OHCA. Initial cardiac rhythm was classified as shockable and non-shockable. Patients who received ECPR were sequentially matched with the control, within the same time (minutes) based on time-dependent propensity scores calculated from potential confounders. The odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for 30-day survival and 30-day favorable neurological outcomes were estimated for ECPR cases using a conditional logistic model. RESULTS: Of 57, 754 patients in the JAAM-OHCA registry, we selected 1826 patients with an initial shockable rhythm (treated with ECPR, n = 913 and control, n = 913) and a cohort of 740 patients with an initial non-shockable rhythm (treated with ECPR, n = 370 and control, n = 370). In these matched cohorts, the odds ratio for 30-day survival in the ECPR group was 1.76 [95%CI 1.38-2.25] for shockable rhythm and 5.37 [95%CI 2.53-11.43] for non-shockable rhythm, compared to controls. For favorable neurological outcomes, the odds ratio in the ECPR group was 1.11 [95%CI 0.82-1.49] for shockable rhythm and 4.25 [95%CI 1.43-12.63] for non-shockable rhythm, compared to controls. CONCLUSION: ECPR was associated with increased 30-day survival in patients with OHCA with initial shockable and even non-shockable rhythms. Further research is warranted to investigate the reproducibility of the results and who is the best candidate for ECPR.

The design of crosslinking domains is a vital factor to create functional hydrogels with controlled physical, mechanical, and adhesive properties. This paper demonstrates versatile synthetic systems of micelle-crosslinked hydrogels with highly stretchable, self-healing, and selectively adhesive properties. For this, methacrylate-bearing random copolymer micelles are designed as physical and covalent crosslink domains via the self-assembly of amphiphilic random copolymers carrying hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), hydrophobic butyl or dodecyl groups, and methacrylate-terminal PEG in water. The size, aggregation number, and pendant methacrylate number of the micelles are controlled by the composition and degree of polymerization. Hydrogels are efficiently obtained from the free radical polymerization of hydrophilic monomers such as PEG acrylate and acrylamide in the presence of the micelle crosslinkers in water. Owing to the dynamic yet selective chain exchange properties of the micelle domains, the hydrogels are highly stretchable up to over 1000% and show self-healing and selectively adhesive properties. The self-healing of hydrogels is promoted upon heating due to the fast chain exchange of the micelle domains, whereas hydrogels consisting of micelles with different alkyl groups are never adhesive because of their self-sorting properties.

Herein, we report the self-assembly and salt-induced thermoresponsive properties of amphiphilic random terpolymers consisting of hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and quaternary ammonium cations, and hydrophobic dodecyl groups in water. The random terpolymers self-assembled into size-controlled multichain micelles in pure water or in water containing NaCl. The micelle size increased upon increasing the content of the cationic groups in the total hydrophilic monomer units (∼50 mol%) and turned larger in the presence of NaCl than that in pure water. More uniquely, the random terpolymer micelles showed lower critical solution temperature-type solubility in water containing salts such as NaCl, while the solutions of the polymer micelles in pure water were transparent even upon heating to over 90 °C. The cloud point (Cp) temperature of the aqueous polymer micelle solution was controlled by the concentration of NaCl or the composition of the terpolymers. The critical concentration of NaCl for thermoresponsive solubility depended on the PEG/cation composition of the terpolymers. For example, a PEG/cation/dodecyl (1/1/2) random terpolymer micelle exhibited thermoresponse in water containing more than 0.5 M NaCl; the Cp of the aqueous solution decreased from 86 °C to 59 °C upon increasing the concentration of NaCl from 0.5 M to 2.0 M. The Cp of their terpolymers increased upon increasing the content of quaternary ammonium cations.

We report a case of robot-assisted total hysterectomy in a patient with extremely rare pelvic anatomy. Robot-assisted total laparoscopic hysterectomy was performed for lobular endocervical glandular hyperplasia on the left side of the uterus. The sigmoid colon was present between the two uterine corpora of a uterine didelphys and was attached to the bladder via the mesentery and fat. During surgery, the surgeon left the console and confirmed the magnetic resonance images. The surgery was then completed safely after the surgeon understood the anatomy. The postoperative condition was good, and the patient was discharged on postoperative day 5. Robot-assisted surgery has various advantages, including a good field of view, accuracy of instrument movement, and ease of viewing information in the medical record by pausing the operation. Robot assisted surgery improves not only safety and operational precision but also intraoperative convenience. Further studies are needed regarding the specific anatomy seen in this case.

application/pdf, In recent years, the market share for cage-free eggs has gradually increased. Because commercially available cage-free eggs are often produced not only by several housing systems but also with different feed crude protein (CP) levels, there are combined effects of feed and housing systems between cage-free and cage eggs. Therefore, using field data, this study aimed to determine the combined effects of feed and housing systems on egg traits and yolk and albumen amino acids in table eggs. Brown layers (n = 40) at the middle laying stage under two feed and housing systems (cage, CP 15.5% diet; barn, CP 17.0% diet) were used. One-way analysis of variance and Pearson’s correlation analysis were used to evaluate 10 egg traits, 19 yolk amino acid traits, and 20 albumen amino acid traits. We observed significant effects of feed and housing on two egg traits (yolk weight and eggshell color redness), 16 yolk amino acids (Asp, Glu, Asn, Ser, Gln, His, Arg, Thr, Ala, Tyr, Met, Cys, Ile, Leu, Phe, and Lys), and 14 albumen amino acids (Asp, Asn, Ser, Gln, Gly, His, Arg, Thr, Ala, Val, Met, Cys, Ile, and Leu). This study revealed that eggs from the barn system (CP 17.0%) contained higher levels of free amino acids in 15 yolk and nine albumen amino acid traits. Phenotypic correlations among the 49 egg traits indicated similar correlation patterns in both systems, which implies that the balance of free amino acid content in yolk and albumen is similar in each system. Although some potential confounding factors may be present for comparing egg content between cage (CP 15.5%) and barn (CP 17.0%) systems, this study suggests that commercially available cage-free eggs may be different from cage eggs not only in external egg traits but also yolk and albumen amino acid traits.

Campylobacter jejuni infection poses a serious global threat to public health. The increasing incidence and antibiotic resistance of this bacterial infection have necessitated the adoption of various strategies to curb this trend, primarily through developing new drugs with new mechanisms of action. The enzyme malate:quinone oxidoreductase (MQO) has been shown to be essential for the survival of several bacteria and parasites. MQO is a peripheral membrane protein that catalyses the oxidation of malate to oxaloacetate, a crucial step in the tricarboxylic acid cycle. In addition, MQO is involved in the reduction of the quinone pool in the electron transport chain and thus contributes to cellular bioenergetics. The enzyme is an attractive drug target as it is not conserved in mammals. As a preliminary step in assessing the potential application of MQO from C. jejuni (CjMQO) as a new drug target, we purified active recombinant CjMQO and conducted, for the first time, biochemical analyses of MQO from a pathogenic bacterium. Our study showed that ferulenol, a submicromolar mitochondrial MQO inhibitor, and embelin are nanomolar inhibitors of CjMQO. We showed that both inhibitors are mixed-type inhibitors versus malate and noncompetitive versus quinone, suggesting the existence of a third binding site to accommodate these inhibitors; indeed, such a trait appears to be conserved between mitochondrial and bacterial MQOs. Interestingly, ferulenol and embelin also inhibit the in vitro growth of C. jejuni, supporting the hypothesis that MQO is essential for C. jejuni survival and is therefore an important drug target., Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, 10, art. no. 1095026; 2023

Ascofuranone (AF), a meroterpenoid isolated from various filamentous fungi, including Acremonium egyptiacum, has been reported as a potential lead candidate for drug development against parasites and cancer. In this study, we demonstrated that AF and its derivatives are potent anthelminthic agents, particularly against Echinococcus multilocularis, which is the causative agent of alveolar echinococcosis. We measured the inhibitory activities of AF and its derivatives on the mitochondrial aerobic and anaerobic respiratory systems of E. multilocularis larvae. Several derivatives inhibited complex II (succinate:quinone reductase [SQR]; IC50 = 0.037 to 0.135 mM) and also complex I to III (NADH:cytochrome c reductase; IC50 = 0.008 to 0.401 mM), but not complex I (NADH:quinone reductase), indicating that mitochondrial complexes II and III are the targets. In particular, complex II inhibition in the anaerobic pathway was notable because E. multilocularis employs NADH:fumarate reductase (fumarate respiration), in addition to NADH oxidase (oxygen respiration), resulting in complete shutdown of ATP synthesis by oxidative phosphorylation. A structure-activity relationship study of E. multilocularis complex II revealed that the functional groups of AF are essential for inhibition. Binding mode prediction of AF derivatives to complex II indicated potential hydrophobic and hydrogen bond interactions between AF derivatives and amino acid residues within the quinone binding site. Ex vivo culture assays revealed that AF derivatives progressively reduced the viability of protoscoleces under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. These findings confirm that AF and its derivatives are the first dual inhibitors of fumarate and oxygen respiration in E. multilocularis and are potential lead compounds in the development of anti-echinococcal drugs., Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, art. no. e01428-22; 2023

Cardiovascular diseases and liver diseases are closely related. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has the same risk factors as those for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and may also be a risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease on its own. Heart failure causes liver fibrosis, and liver fibrosis results in worsened cardiac preload and congestion. Although some previous reports regard the association between cardiovascular diseases and liver disease, the management strategy for liver disease in patients with cardiovascular diseases is not still established. This review summarized the association between cardiovascular diseases and liver disease. In patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the degree of liver fibrosis progresses with worsening cardiovascular prognosis. In patients with heart failure, liver fibrosis could be a prognostic marker. Liver stiffness assessed with shear wave elastography, the fibrosis-4 index, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease fibrosis score is associated with both liver fibrosis in patients with liver diseases and worse prognosis in patients with heart failure. With the current population ageing, the importance of management for cardiovascular diseases and liver disease has been increasing. However, whether management and interventions for liver disease improve the prognosis of cardiovascular diseases has not been fully understood. Future investigations are needed.

Crizotinib demonstrates dramatic effects for the patients with echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4)-anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene (ALK) fusion or c-ros oncogene 1 (ROS-1) fusion-positive lung cancer, with some characteristic toxicities. Although several studies reported that serious esophagitis was induced by crizotinib, the detailed mechanisms and ways to ameliorate the esophagitis have not been clarified. In this report, we report two cases with lung cancer who had been treated with crizotinib and developed severe esophagitis. Polarizing microscope examination clearly revealed that the accumulation of crizotinib-residue in the esophageal biopsy samples at the second anatomical narrowing of the esophagus in both cases. Since it seemed that the accumulation of crizotinib-residue in the esophageal mucosa directly caused the esophageal inflammation, we recommended taking crizotinib with a large amount of water (more than 200 ml) and to stay sitting upright for 30 minutes after intake. After that, the esophagitis gradually improved and the patients could continue taking crizotinib without dose reduction or withdrawal. Our experiences suggest that this crizotinib-induced esophagitis could be easily prevented by proper administration of crizotinib., Acta medica Nagasakiensia, 66(2), pp.99-103; 2023

A wavelet-based method is re-introduced in an oceanographic and spectral context to estimate wavenumber spectrum and spectral flux of kinetic energy and enstrophy. We apply this to a numerical simulation of idealized, doubly periodic quasi-geostrophic flows, that is, the flow is constrained by the Coriolis force and vertical stratification. The double periodicity allows for a straightforward Fourier analysis as the baseline method. Our wavelet spectra agree well with the canonical Fourier approach but with the additional strengths of negating the necessity for the data to be periodic and being able to extract local anisotropies in the flow. Caution is warranted, however, when computing higher-order quantities, such as spectral flux. Key Points A wavelet-based spectral method to estimate eddy variability is described Wavenumber spectra of eddies are estimated for a doubly periodic quasi-geostrophic flow The wavelet and Fourier approach agree well in their estimates of spectra and spectral flux Plain Language Summary Chaotic flows such as the ocean currents, atmospheric winds, and turbulence in general are fundamentally impossible to analytically predict, namely, to formulate a mathematical general solution. Nevertheless, the interest in describing such chaotic flows can be found in examples as old as Leonardo da Vinci's sketch of turbulence. While we cannot obtain an analytical description of turbulence, we can extract statistical information from turbulent flows and a common descriptor has been the wavenumber spectrum. The spectrum reveals at each spatial scale, the level of variability the flow carries. Here, we re-introduce an alternative method in estimating the spectrum based on wavelet functions.

The prediction skill for precipitation anomalies in late spring and summer months—a significant component of extreme climate events—has remained stubbornly low for years. This paper presents a new idea that utilizes information on boreal spring land surface temperature/subsurface temperature (LST/SUBT) anomalies over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) to improve prediction of subsequent summer droughts/floods over several regions over the world, East Asia and North America in particular. The work was performed in the framework of the GEWEX/LS4P Phase I (LS4P-I) experiment, which focused on whether the TP LST/SUBT provides an additional source for subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) predictability. The summer 2003, when there were severe drought/flood over the southern/northern part of the Yangtze River basin, respectively, has been selected as the focus case. With the newly developed LST/SUBT initialization method, the observed surface temperature anomaly over the TP has been partially produced by the LS4P-I model ensemble mean, and 8 hotspot regions in the world were identified where June precipitation is significantly associated with anomalies of May TP land temperature. Consideration of the TP LST/SUBT effect has produced about 25–50% of observed precipitation anomalies in most hotspot regions. The multiple models have shown more consistency in the hotspot regions along the Tibetan Plateau-Rocky Mountain Circumglobal (TRC) wave train. The mechanisms for the LST/SUBT effect on the 2003 drought over the southern part of the Yangtze River Basin are discussed. For comparison, the global SST effect has also been tested and 6 regions with significant SST effects were identified in the 2003 case, explaining about 25–50% of precipitation anomalies over most of these regions. This study suggests that the TP LST/SUBT effect is a first-order source of S2S precipitation predictability, and hence it is comparable to that of the SST effect. With the completion of the LS4P-I, the LS4

Background: Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is associated with various diseases such as cryptogenic stroke, migraine, and platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of cardiac computed tomography (CT) for PFO detection. Materials and Methods: Consecutive patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and who underwent catheter ablation with pre-procedural cardiac CT and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) were enrolled in this study. The presence of PFO was defined as (1) the confirmation of PFO using TEE and/or (2) the catheter crossing the interatrial septum (IAS) into the left atrium during ablation. CT findings indicative of PFO included (1) the presence of a channel-like appearance (CLA) on the IAS and (2) a CLA with a contrast jet flow from the left atrium to the right atrium. The diagnostic performance of both a CLA alone and a CLA with a jet flow was evaluated for PFO detection. Results: Altogether, 151 patients were analyzed in the study (mean age, 68 years; men, 62%). Twenty-nine patients (19%) had PFO confirmed by TEE and/or catheterization. The diagnostic performance of a CLA alone was as follows: sensitivity, 72.4%; specificity, 79.5%; positive predictive value (PPV), 45.7%; negative predictive value (NPV), 92.4%. The diagnostic performance of a CLA with a jet flow was as follows: sensitivity, 65.5%; specificity, 98.4%; PPV, 90.5%; NPV, 92.3%. The diagnostic performance of a CLA with a jet flow was statistically superior to that of a CLA alone (p = 0.045), and the C-statistics were 0.76 and 0.82, respectively. Conclusion: A CLA with a contrast jet flow in cardiac CT has a high PPV for PFO detection, and its diagnostic performance is superior to that of a CLA alone.

A wavelet-based method is re-introduced in an oceanographic and spectral context to estimate wavenumber spectrum and spectral flux of kinetic energy and enstrophy. We apply this to a numerical simulation of idealized, doubly periodic quasi-geostrophic flows, that is, the flow is constrained by the Coriolis force and vertical stratification. The double periodicity allows for a straightforward Fourier analysis as the baseline method. Our wavelet spectra agree well with the canonical Fourier approach but with the additional strengths of negating the necessity for the data to be periodic and being able to extract local anisotropies in the flow. Caution is warranted, however, when computing higher-order quantities, such as spectral flux. Key Points A wavelet-based spectral method to estimate eddy variability is described Wavenumber spectra of eddies are estimated for a doubly periodic quasi-geostrophic flow The wavelet and Fourier approach agree well in their estimates of spectra and spectral flux Plain Language Summary Chaotic flows such as the ocean currents, atmospheric winds, and turbulence in general are fundamentally impossible to analytically predict, namely, to formulate a mathematical general solution. Nevertheless, the interest in describing such chaotic flows can be found in examples as old as Leonardo da Vinci's sketch of turbulence. While we cannot obtain an analytical description of turbulence, we can extract statistical information from turbulent flows and a common descriptor has been the wavenumber spectrum. The spectrum reveals at each spatial scale, the level of variability the flow carries. Here, we re-introduce an alternative method in estimating the spectrum based on wavelet functions.

Here efficient organic photovoltaic devices fabricated from water-based colloidal dispersions with donor:acceptor composite nanoparticles achieving up to 9.98% power conversion efficiency (PCE) are reported. This high efficiency for water processed organic solar cells is attributed to morphology control by surface energy matching between the donor and the acceptor materials. Indeed, due to a low interfacial energy between donor and the acceptor, no large phase separation occurs during the nanoparticle formation process as well as upon thermal annealing. Indeed, synchrotron-based scanning transmission X-ray microscopy reveals that the internal morphology of composite nanoparticles is intermixed as well as the active layer morphology after thermal treatment. The PCE of this system reaches 85% that of devices prepared from chlorinated solvent. The gap between water-based inks and organic solvent-based inks gets narrower, which is promising for the development of eco-friendly processing and fabrication of organic photovoltaics.

Campylobacter jejuni infection poses a serious global threat to public health. The increasing incidence and antibiotic resistance of this bacterial infection have necessitated the adoption of various strategies to curb this trend, primarily through developing new drugs with new mechanisms of action. The enzyme malate:quinone oxidoreductase (MQO) has been shown to be essential for the survival of several bacteria and parasites. MQO is a peripheral membrane protein that catalyses the oxidation of malate to oxaloacetate, a crucial step in the tricarboxylic acid cycle. In addition, MQO is involved in the reduction of the quinone pool in the electron transport chain and thus contributes to cellular bioenergetics. The enzyme is an attractive drug target as it is not conserved in mammals. As a preliminary step in assessing the potential application of MQO from C. jejuni (CjMQO) as a new drug target, we purified active recombinant CjMQO and conducted, for the first time, biochemical analyses of MQO from a pathogenic bacterium. Our study showed that ferulenol, a submicromolar mitochondrial MQO inhibitor, and embelin are nanomolar inhibitors of CjMQO. We showed that both inhibitors are mixed-type inhibitors versus malate and noncompetitive versus quinone, suggesting the existence of a third binding site to accommodate these inhibitors; indeed, such a trait appears to be conserved between mitochondrial and bacterial MQOs. Interestingly, ferulenol and embelin also inhibit the in vitro growth of C. jejuni, supporting the hypothesis that MQO is essential for C. jejuni survival and is therefore an important drug target., Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, 10, art. no. 1095026; 2023

Cardiovascular diseases and liver diseases are closely related. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has the same risk factors as those for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and may also be a risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease on its own. Heart failure causes liver fibrosis, and liver fibrosis results in worsened cardiac preload and congestion. Although some previous reports regard the association between cardiovascular diseases and liver disease, the management strategy for liver disease in patients with cardiovascular diseases is not still established. This review summarized the association between cardiovascular diseases and liver disease. In patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the degree of liver fibrosis progresses with worsening cardiovascular prognosis. In patients with heart failure, liver fibrosis could be a prognostic marker. Liver stiffness assessed with shear wave elastography, the fibrosis-4 index, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease fibrosis score is associated with both liver fibrosis in patients with liver diseases and worse prognosis in patients with heart failure. With the current population ageing, the importance of management for cardiovascular diseases and liver disease has been increasing. However, whether management and interventions for liver disease improve the prognosis of cardiovascular diseases has not been fully understood. Future investigations are needed.

Ascofuranone (AF), a meroterpenoid isolated from various filamentous fungi, including Acremonium egyptiacum, has been reported as a potential lead candidate for drug development against parasites and cancer. In this study, we demonstrated that AF and its derivatives are potent anthelminthic agents, particularly against Echinococcus multilocularis, which is the causative agent of alveolar echinococcosis. We measured the inhibitory activities of AF and its derivatives on the mitochondrial aerobic and anaerobic respiratory systems of E. multilocularis larvae. Several derivatives inhibited complex II (succinate:quinone reductase [SQR]; IC50 = 0.037 to 0.135 mM) and also complex I to III (NADH:cytochrome c reductase; IC50 = 0.008 to 0.401 mM), but not complex I (NADH:quinone reductase), indicating that mitochondrial complexes II and III are the targets. In particular, complex II inhibition in the anaerobic pathway was notable because E. multilocularis employs NADH:fumarate reductase (fumarate respiration), in addition to NADH oxidase (oxygen respiration), resulting in complete shutdown of ATP synthesis by oxidative phosphorylation. A structure-activity relationship study of E. multilocularis complex II revealed that the functional groups of AF are essential for inhibition. Binding mode prediction of AF derivatives to complex II indicated potential hydrophobic and hydrogen bond interactions between AF derivatives and amino acid residues within the quinone binding site. Ex vivo culture assays revealed that AF derivatives progressively reduced the viability of protoscoleces under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. These findings confirm that AF and its derivatives are the first dual inhibitors of fumarate and oxygen respiration in E. multilocularis and are potential lead compounds in the development of anti-echinococcal drugs., Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, art. no. e01428-22; 2023

Crizotinib demonstrates dramatic effects for the patients with echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4)-anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene (ALK) fusion or c-ros oncogene 1 (ROS-1) fusion-positive lung cancer, with some characteristic toxicities. Although several studies reported that serious esophagitis was induced by crizotinib, the detailed mechanisms and ways to ameliorate the esophagitis have not been clarified. In this report, we report two cases with lung cancer who had been treated with crizotinib and developed severe esophagitis. Polarizing microscope examination clearly revealed that the accumulation of crizotinib-residue in the esophageal biopsy samples at the second anatomical narrowing of the esophagus in both cases. Since it seemed that the accumulation of crizotinib-residue in the esophageal mucosa directly caused the esophageal inflammation, we recommended taking crizotinib with a large amount of water (more than 200 ml) and to stay sitting upright for 30 minutes after intake. After that, the esophagitis gradually improved and the patients could continue taking crizotinib without dose reduction or withdrawal. Our experiences suggest that this crizotinib-induced esophagitis could be easily prevented by proper administration of crizotinib., Acta medica Nagasakiensia, 66(2), pp.99-103; 2023

Background: Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is associated with various diseases such as cryptogenic stroke, migraine, and platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of cardiac computed tomography (CT) for PFO detection. Materials and Methods: Consecutive patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and who underwent catheter ablation with pre-procedural cardiac CT and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) were enrolled in this study. The presence of PFO was defined as (1) the confirmation of PFO using TEE and/or (2) the catheter crossing the interatrial septum (IAS) into the left atrium during ablation. CT findings indicative of PFO included (1) the presence of a channel-like appearance (CLA) on the IAS and (2) a CLA with a contrast jet flow from the left atrium to the right atrium. The diagnostic performance of both a CLA alone and a CLA with a jet flow was evaluated for PFO detection. Results: Altogether, 151 patients were analyzed in the study (mean age, 68 years; men, 62%). Twenty-nine patients (19%) had PFO confirmed by TEE and/or catheterization. The diagnostic performance of a CLA alone was as follows: sensitivity, 72.4%; specificity, 79.5%; positive predictive value (PPV), 45.7%; negative predictive value (NPV), 92.4%. The diagnostic performance of a CLA with a jet flow was as follows: sensitivity, 65.5%; specificity, 98.4%; PPV, 90.5%; NPV, 92.3%. The diagnostic performance of a CLA with a jet flow was statistically superior to that of a CLA alone (p = 0.045), and the C-statistics were 0.76 and 0.82, respectively. Conclusion: A CLA with a contrast jet flow in cardiac CT has a high PPV for PFO detection, and its diagnostic performance is superior to that of a CLA alone.

Excitatory spiny stellate neurons are prominently featured in the cortical circuits of sensory modalities that provide high salience and high acuity representations of the environment. These specialized neurons are considered developmentally linked to bottom-up inputs from the thalamus, however, the molecular mechanisms underlying their diversification and function are unknown. Here, we investigated this in mouse somatosensory cortex, where spiny stellate neurons and pyramidal neurons have distinct roles in processing whisker-evoked signals. Utilizing spatial transcriptomics, we identified reciprocal patterns of gene expression which correlated with these cell-types and were linked to innervation by specific thalamic inputs during development. Genetic manipulation that prevents the acquisition of spiny stellate fate highlighted an important role for these neurons in processing distinct whisker signals within functional cortical columns, and as a key driver in the formation of specific whisker-related circuits in the cortex.

Gon Y., Sakaguchi M., Yamagami H., et al. Predictors of Survival in Patients With Ischemic Stroke and Active Cancer: A Prospective, Multicenter, Observational Study. Journal of the American Heart Association 12, e029618 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.123.029618., BACKGROUND: Limited data exist on the prognostic factors for patients with ischemic stroke and active cancer. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a prospective, multicenter, observational study in Japan, including patients with acute ischemic stroke and active cancer, to investigate the prognostic factors. We followed up the patients for 1 year after stroke onset. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to cryptogenic stroke and known causes (small-vessel occlusion, large-artery atherosclerosis, cardioembolism, and other determined cause), and survival was compared. The hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for mortality were calculated using Cox regression models. We identified 135 eligible patients (39% women; median age, 75 years). Of these patients, 51% had distant metastasis. A total of 65 (48%) and 70 (52%) patients had cryptogenic stroke and known causes, respectively. Patients with cryptogenic stroke had significantly shorter survival than those with known causes (HR [95% CI], 3.11 [1.82–5.32]). The multivariable Cox regression analysis revealed that distant metastasis, plasma D-dimer levels, venous thromboembolism (either deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism) complications at stroke onset were independent predictors of mortality after adjusting for potential confounders. Cryptogenic stroke was associated with prognosis in univariable analysis but was not significant in multivariable analysis. The plasma D-dimer levels stratified the prognosis of patients with ischemic stroke and active cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The prognosis of patients with acute ischemic stroke and active cancer varied considerably depending on stroke mechanism, distant metastasis, and coagulation abnormalities. The present study confirmed that coagulation abnormalities were crucial in determining the prognosis of such patients.

An 18-base myogenetic oligodeoxynucleotide (myoDN), iSN04, acts as an anti-nucleolin aptamer and induces myogenic differentiation of skeletal muscle myoblasts. This study investigated the effect of iSN04 on murine embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). In the undifferentiated state, iSN04 inhibited the proliferation of ESCs and iPSCs but did not affect the expression of pluripotent markers. In the differentiating condition, iSN04 treatment of ESCs/iPSCs from day 5 onward dramatically induced differentiation intoNkx2-5+beating cardiomyocytes with upregulation ofGata4,Isl1, andNkx2-5, whereas iSN04 treatment from earlier stages completely inhibited cardiomyogenesis. RNA sequencing revealed that iSN04 treatment from day 5 onward contributes to the generation of cardiac progenitors by modulating the Wnt signaling pathway. Immunostaining showed that iSN04 suppressed the cytoplasmic translocation of nucleolin and restricted it to the nucleoli. These results demonstrate that nucleolin inhibition by iSN04 facilitates the terminal differentiation of cardiac mesoderm into cardiomyocytes but interferes with the differentiation of early mesoderm into the cardiac lineage. This is the first report on the generation of cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells using a DNA aptamer. Since iSN04 did not induce hypertrophic responses in primary-cultured cardiomyocytes, iSN04 would be useful and safe for the regenerative therapy of heart failure using stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes., Article, International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24(18) : 14380, (2023)

To investigate the impact of matter mixing on the formation of molecules in the ejecta of SN 1987A, time-dependent rate equations for chemical reactions are solved for one-zone and one-dimensional ejecta models of SN 1987A. The latter models are based on the one-dimensional profiles obtained by angle-averaging of the three-dimensional hydrodynamical models (Ono et al. 2020), which effectively reflect the 3D matter mixing; the impact is demonstrated, for the first time, based on three-dimensional hydrodynamical models. The distributions of initial seed atoms and radioactive $^{56}$Ni influenced by the mixing could affect the formation of molecules. By comparing the calculations for spherical cases and for several specified directions in the bipolar-like explosions in the three-dimensional hydrodynamical models, the impact is discussed. The decay of $^{56}$Ni, practically $^{56}$Co at later phases, could heat the gas and delay the molecule formation. Additionally, Compton electrons produced by the decay could ionize atoms and molecules and could destruct molecules. Several chemical reactions involved with ions such as H$^+$ and He$^+$ could also destruct molecules. The mixing of $^{56}$Ni plays a non-negligible role in both the formation and destruction of molecules through the processes above. The destructive processes of carbon monoxide and silicon monoxide due to the decay of $^{56}$Ni generally reduce the amounts. However, if the molecule formation is sufficiently delayed under a certain condition, the decay of $^{56}$Ni could locally increase the amounts through a sequence of reactions., Comment: 85 pages, 32 figures, 8 tables; accepted for publication in ApJS

Andika Pramudya Wardana,1 Nanik Siti Aminah,1,2 Alfinda Novi Kristanti,1,2 Mochamad Zakki Fahmi,1 Haninda Iffatuz Zahrah,3 W Widiyastuti,4 Hendrix Abdul Ajiz,4 Ummi Zubaidah,5 Priangga Adi Wiratama,6 Yoshiaki Takaya7 1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia; 2Biotechnology of Tropical Medicinal Plants Research Group, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia; 3Faculty of Dental Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia; 4Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology and Systems Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia; 5Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia; 6Department of Anatomic Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga – RSUD Dr. Soetomo Academic General Hospital, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia; 7Faculty of Pharmacy, Meijo University, Nagoya, JapanCorrespondence: Nanik Siti Aminah, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, Kampus C-UNAIR, Jl. Mulyorejo, Surabaya, 60115, Indonesia, Tel +62-31-5936501, Fax +62-31-5936502, Email nanik-s-a@fst.unair.ac.idBackground: Breast cancer is one of the main causes of death in women. Uncaria gambir is an Indonesian herbal plant that can be used as an anti-cancer. However, herbal medicines have low bioavailability, which affects their bioactivity. Nanoencapsulation can increase bioavailability and stability of bioactive compounds in herbal medicines.Purpose: This recent finding tried to unravel anti-cancer and chemopreventive of U. gambir nano-encapsulated by Na-alginate.Study Design: U. gambir bioactive compounds were isolated and characterized using UV–Vis spectrometer, FTIR, NMR and HR-MS. U. gambir extract was nanoencapsulated using Na-alginate. Anti-cancer effect was assessed by MTT assay towards T47D cell. Meanwhile, a chemo

Black turmeric (Curcuma aeruginosa) is Indonesian medicinal plant belonging to the Zingeberaceae family, mostly found on Java. This study aimed to determine the new molecular structures of the compounds isolated from black turmeric originating from Indonesia. Isolation of the secondary metabolite compounds was initiated by solid-liquid extraction using the maceration method with ethanol solvent, followed by liquid-liquid extraction using the partition method with n-hexane and dichloromethane as solvents. Separation and purification were carried out using vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) and gravity column chromatography (GCC). The isolated compounds were characterized using spectroscopic methods, including UV-Vis, IR, and NMR spectroscopy. The isolation resulted in three sesquiterpenoid compounds, (E)-7-isopropyl-4,10-dimethylcyclodec-10-ene-5,8-dione (curdione), (1R,10R)-Epoxy-(-)-1,10-dihydrocurdione, and zedoalactone B, together with two common terpenes, ethyl tetradecanoate and 1-hexadecene.

Black turmeric (Curcuma aeruginosa) is Indonesian medicinal plant belonging to the Zingeberaceae family, mostly found on Java. This study aimed to determine the new molecular structures of the compounds isolated from black turmeric originating from Indonesia. Isolation of the secondary metabolite compounds was initiated by solid-liquid extraction using the maceration method with ethanol solvent, followed by liquid-liquid extraction using the partition method with n-hexane and dichloromethane as solvents. Separation and purification were carried out using vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) and gravity column chromatography (GCC). The isolated compounds were characterized using spectroscopic methods, including UV-Vis, IR, and NMR spectroscopy. The isolation resulted in three sesquiterpenoid compounds, (E)-7-isopropyl-4,10-dimethylcyclodec-10-ene-5,8-dione (curdione), (1R,10R)-Epoxy-(-)-1,10-dihydrocurdione, and zedoalactone B, together with two common terpenes, ethyl tetradecanoate and 1-hexadecene.

[Purpose] To develop a fully automated semantic placenta segmentation model that integrates the U-Net and SegNeXt architectures through ensemble learning. [Methods] A total of 218 pregnant women with suspected placental anomalies who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were enrolled, yielding 1090 annotated images for developing a deep learning model for placental segmentation. The images were standardized and divided into training and test sets. The performance of PlaNet-S, which integrates U-Net and SegNeXt within an ensemble framework, was assessed using Intersection over Union (IoU) and counting connected components (CCC) against the U-Net model. [Results] PlaNet-S had significantly higher IoU (0.73 +/- 0.13) than that of U-Net (0.78 +/- 0.010) (p<0.01). The CCC for PlaNet-S was significantly higher than that for U-Net (p<0.01), matching the ground truth in 86.0\% and 56.7\% of the cases, respectively. [Conclusion]PlaNet-S performed better than the traditional U-Net in placental segmentation tasks. This model addresses the challenges of time-consuming physician-assisted manual segmentation and offers the potential for diverse applications in placental imaging analyses., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, Shinnosuke Yamamoto and Isso Saito equally contributed to this work

This paper aims to shed light on the evolutionary dynamics of diverse and social populations by introducing the rich expressiveness of generative models into the trait expression of social agent-based evolutionary models. Specifically, we focus on the evolution of personality traits in the context of a game-theoretic relationship as a situation in which inter-individual interests exert strong selection pressures. We construct an agent model in which linguistic descriptions of personality traits related to cooperative behavior are used as genes. The deterministic strategies extracted from Large Language Model (LLM) that make behavioral decisions based on these personality traits are used as behavioral traits. The population is evolved according to selection based on average payoff and mutation of genes by asking LLM to slightly modify the parent gene toward cooperative or selfish. Through preliminary experiments and analyses, we clarify that such a model can indeed exhibit the evolution of cooperative behavior based on the diverse and higher-order representation of personality traits. We also observed the repeated intrusion of cooperative and selfish personality traits through changes in the expression of personality traits, and found that the emerging words in the evolved gene well reflected the behavioral tendency of its personality in terms of their semantics., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures and 1 table

This study investigates engagement patterns related to OpenAI's ChatGPT on Japanese Twitter, focusing on two distinct user groups - early and late engagers, inspired by the Innovation Theory. Early engagers are defined as individuals who initiated conversations about ChatGPT during its early stages, whereas late engagers are those who began participating at a later date. To examine the nature of the conversations, we employ a dual methodology, encompassing both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The quantitative analysis reveals that early engagers often engage with more forward-looking and speculative topics, emphasizing the technological advancements and potential transformative impact of ChatGPT. Conversely, the late engagers intereact more with contemporary topics, focusing on the optimization of existing AI capabilities and considering their inherent limitations. Through our qualitative analysis, we propose a method to measure the proportion of shared or unique viewpoints within topics across both groups. We found that early engagers generally concentrate on a more limited range of perspectives, whereas late engagers exhibit a wider range of viewpoints. Interestingly, a weak correlation was found between the volume of tweets and the diversity of discussed topics in both groups. These findings underscore the importance of identifying semantic bias, rather than relying solely on the volume of tweets, for understanding differences in communication styles between groups within a given topic. Moreover, our versatile dual methodology holds potential for broader applications, such as studying engagement patterns within different user groups, or in contexts beyond ChatGPT.