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Carbon is a volatile element that has a considerable influence on the formation and evolution of planetary bodies, although it was previously believed to be depleted in the Moon. We present observations by the lunar orbiter KAGUYA of carbon ions emitted from the Moon. These emissions were distributed over almost the total lunar surface, but amounts were differed with respect to lunar geographical areas. The estimated emission fluxes to space were ~5.0 × 10 4 per square centimeter per second, which is greater than possible ongoing supplies from the solar wind and micrometeoroids. Our estimates demonstrate that indigenous carbon exists over the entire Moon, supporting the hypothesis of a carbon-containing Moon, where the carbon was embedded at its formation and/or was transported billions of years ago., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).)

The discovery of Mercury's unusually axisymmetric, anomalously axially offset dipolar magnetic field reveals a new regime of planetary magnetic fields. The cause of the offset dipole remains to be resolved, although some exotic models have been proposed. Deciphering why Mercury has such an anomalous field is crucial not only for understanding the internal dynamics, evolutionary history and origin of the planet, but also for establishing the general dynamo theory. Here we present numerical dynamo models, where core convection is driven as thermo-compositional, double-diffusive convection surrounded by a thermally stably stratified layer. We show that the present models produce magnetic fields similar in morphology and strength to that of Mercury. The dynamo-generated fields act on the flow to force interaction between equatorially symmetric and antisymmetric components that results in north-south asymmetric helicity. This symmetry-breaking magnetic feedback causes the flow to generate and maintain Mercury's axially offset dipolar field.

Thrombopoietin (TPO) isolated from thrombocytopenic plasma of various animal species has previously been shown to comprise only truncated forms of the molecule, presumably generated by proteolysis. Native TPO has now been partially purified from normal human plasma by immunoaffinity chromatography and was confirmed to be biologically active. Gel filtration in the presence of SDS revealed that TPO eluted in two peaks: a major peak corresponding to the elution position of fully glycosylated recombinant human TPO (rhTPO) consisting of 332 amino acid residues, and a minor peak corresponding to a smaller molecular size. Immunoblot analysis also revealed that most plasma-derived TPO migrated at the same position as fully glycosylated rhTPO, corresponding to a molecular size of approximately 80 to 100 kDa. Furthermore, the size distribution of circulating TPO in patients with various haematologic disorders did not differ markedly from that of plasma-derived TPO from healthy individuals. These results indicate that the truncation of circulating TPO is not related to disease pathophysiology, and that the predominant form of TPO in blood is a biologically active approximately 80- to 100-kDa species. The size distribution of TPO extracted from normal platelets was similar to that of TPO in plasma; the proportion of truncated TPO was decreased by prior incubation of platelets with hirudin. indicating that the endogenous truncated TPO, at least in platelet extract, was generated by thrombin-mediated cleavage.

We have isolated and characterized a thrombopoietin (TPO)-dependent BF-TE22 cell line endogenously expressing murine Mpl, which is a subclone of murine pro-B Ba/F3 cells. TPO stimulated the proliferation of BF-TE22 cells in a dose-dependent manner, and also induced the expression of megakaryocyte lineage-specific AP-51 and CD61 cell surface antigens. The results indicate that the murine Mpl on BF-TE22 cells can transmit both proliferation and megakaryocyte lineage-specific differentiation signals to cells. Furthermore, it was shown that IL-3 inhibits the TPO-induced differentiation signals of BF-TE22 cells. These results suggest that the signals mediated by IL-3 predominate over those of TPO in BF-TE22 cells. Thus, BF-TE22 cells will be useful for the biological and biochemical studies of the TPO-Mpl signal transduction mechanism.

The effect of early reperfusion on the time course of signal-averaged ECG was examined in 90 patients with myocardial infarction. Abnormal signal-averaged ECG disappeared more frequently (p < 0.05) and earlier in cases with early reperfusion than in those without. Serious arrhythmic events in the late phase (> 7 days) occurred in patients with abnormal signal-averaged ECG, but not in cases with early reperfusion. These results indicate that dynamic changes in tissue structure and the physiological state of viable muscles after early reperfusion produce different time courses for signal-averaged ECG. The risk of arrhythmic events among patients with abnormal signal-averaged ECG seems to be lower in cases with early reperfusion than in those without.

One of the most important predictors for mortality after myocardial infarction is the occurrence of malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Reentry has been shown to play a major role in the development of ventricular tachycardia (VT) in the chronic phase of myocardial infarction. Signal averaged electrocardiogram (SAE) may reveal the substrate for VT, that is, the delayed and fragmented ventricular activation around the infarcted area. Since Simson's report, the relation between the detection of late potentials (LP) on the SAE and the occurrence of VT in the chronic phase of myocardial infarction has been described by many authors. In these reports, the result that the absence of LP can predict the lower risk for VT has been emphasized. However, several factors such as time of SAE recording, infarct location, effect of reperfusion therapy, infarct size, and ventricular function may modify the SAE findings. Accordingly, further prospective study considering these factors is needed to establish the clinical value of SAE after myocardial infarction.

The dipolarity of the body surface potential distribution and locus of the main dipole were estimated by means of the least square method in data base for body surface potential maps of normal population. The main dipole moved smoothly within the actual cardiac region and was inscribed in a clockwise direction during the QRS. The nondipolar content (residue) showed time-dependent fluctuation the QRS. The main dipole during the T wave moved near the center of the heart. The nondipolar content during the ST-T period was less fluctuation than that during the QRS. These results indicated that a large percentage of the body surface potential maps of normal population could be represented by a single moving dipole.