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| 11. |
- Ruilope, LM, et al.
(author)
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Design and Baseline Characteristics of the Finerenone in Reducing Cardiovascular Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease Trial
- 2019
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In: American journal of nephrology. - : S. Karger AG. - 1421-9670 .- 0250-8095. ; 50:5, s. 345-356
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- <b><i>Background:</i></b> Among people with diabetes, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and progression of their underlying kidney disease. Finerenone is a novel, nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on CV and renal outcomes has not yet been investigated in long-term trials. <b><i>Patients and</i></b> <b><i>Methods:</i></b> The Finerenone in Reducing CV Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIGARO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIGARO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 6 years. FIGARO-DKD randomized 7,437 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate ≥25 mL/min/1.73 m<sup>2</sup> and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio ≥30 to ≤5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of the primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level α = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> FIGARO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of CV and renal events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen. Trial Registration: EudraCT number: 2015-000950-39; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02545049.
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| 12. |
- Abdellaoui, G., et al.
(author)
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Meteor studies in the framework of the JEM-EUSO program
- 2017
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In: Planetary and Space Science. - : Elsevier. - 0032-0633 .- 1873-5088. ; 143, s. 245-255
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We summarize the state of the art of a program of UV observations from space of meteor phenomena, a secondary objective of the JEM-EUSO international collaboration. Our preliminary analysis indicates that JEM-EUSO, taking advantage of its large FOV and good sensitivity, should be able to detect meteors down to absolute magnitude close to 7. This means that JEM-EUSO should be able to record a statistically significant flux of meteors, including both sporadic ones, and events produced by different meteor streams. Being unaffected by adverse weather conditions, JEM-EUSO can also be a very important facility for the detection of bright meteors and fireballs, as these events can be detected even in conditions of very high sky background. In the case of bright events, moreover, exhibiting some persistence of the meteor train, preliminary simulations show that it should be possible to exploit the motion of the ISS itself and derive at least a rough 3D reconstruction of the meteor trajectory. Moreover, the observing strategy developed to detect meteors may also be applied to the detection of nuclearites, exotic particles whose existence has been suggested by some theoretical investigations. Nuclearites are expected to move at higher velocities than meteoroids, and to exhibit a wider range of possible trajectories, including particles moving upward after crossing the Earth. Some pilot studies, including the approved Mini-EUSO mission, a precursor of JEM-EUSO, are currently operational or in preparation. We are doing simulations to assess the performance of Mini-EUSO for meteor studies, while a few meteor events have been already detected using the ground-based facility EUSO-TA.
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| 13. |
- Abdellaoui, G., et al.
(author)
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First observations of speed of light tracks by a fluorescence detector looking down on the atmosphere
- 2018
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In: Journal of Instrumentation. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 1748-0221. ; 13
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- EUSO-Balloon is a pathfinder mission for the Extreme Universe Space Observatory onboard the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM-EUSO). It was launched on the moonless night of the 25(th) of August 2014 from Timmins, Canada. The flight ended successfully after maintaining the target altitude of 38 km for five hours. One part of the mission was a 2.5 hour underflight using a helicopter equipped with three UV light sources (LED, xenon flasher and laser) to perform an inflight calibration and examine the detectors capability to measure tracks moving at the speed of light. We describe the helicopter laser system and details of the underflight as well as how the laser tracks were recorded and found in the data. These are the first recorded laser tracks measured from a fluorescence detector looking down on the atmosphere. Finally, we present a first reconstruction of the direction of the laser tracks relative to the detector.
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| 14. |
- Sugai, H., et al.
(author)
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Updated Design of the CMB Polarization Experiment Satellite LiteBIRD
- 2020
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In: Journal of Low Temperature Physics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0022-2291 .- 1573-7357. ; 199:3-4, s. 1107-1117
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent developments of transition-edge sensors (TESs), based on extensive experience in ground-based experiments, have been making the sensor techniques mature enough for their application on future satellite cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiments. LiteBIRD is in the most advanced phase among such future satellites, targeting its launch in Japanese Fiscal Year 2027 (2027FY) with JAXA's H3 rocket. It will accommodate more than 4000 TESs in focal planes of reflective low-frequency and refractive medium-and-high-frequency telescopes in order to detect a signature imprinted on the CMB by the primordial gravitational waves predicted in cosmic inflation. The total wide frequency coverage between 34 and 448 GHz enables us to extract such weak spiral polarization patterns through the precise subtraction of our Galaxy's foreground emission by using spectral differences among CMB and foreground signals. Telescopes are cooled down to 5 K for suppressing thermal noise and contain polarization modulators with transmissive half-wave plates at individual apertures for separating sky polarization signals from artificial polarization and for mitigating from instrumental 1/f noise. Passive cooling by using V-grooves supports active cooling with mechanical coolers as well as adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators. Sky observations from the second Sun-Earth Lagrangian point, L2, are planned for 3 years. An international collaboration between Japan, the USA, Canada, and Europe is sharing various roles. In May 2019, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA, selected LiteBIRD as the strategic large mission No. 2.
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| 15. |
- Asano, H., et al.
(author)
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Spectroscopic study of the Λ(1405) resonance via the d (K-, n) reaction at J-PARC
- 2019
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In: 13th International Conference on Hypernuclear and Strange Particle Physics, HYP 2018. - : AIP Publishing. - 9780735418721 ; 2130
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The structure of the Λ(1405) hyperon is an important and long-standing issue related to the K̄-nucleus interaction. The J-PARC E31 experiment has been performed to investigate the Λ(1405) spectrum shape. Because it is hard to form the Λ(1405) directly by a K̄N scattering in free space, E31 uses the d(K-, n) reaction with an incident kaon momentum of 1 GeV/c. We will identify three final states - ς-π+, ς+π-, ς0π0-so that the isospin structure of hyperon resonance states produced can be decomposed. The first physics run of the E31 experiment was performed in 2016. To enhance the statistics of the data set, we have performed the second physics run in the beginning of 2018. During the second run of E31, around 3.9×1010 kaons impacted on the deuteron target.
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| 16. |
- Yamaga, Takumi, et al.
(author)
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Study of the elementary (K -, n) reactions to search for the K NN bound state via the 3He (K -, n) reaction at J-PARC
- 2016
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In: XVIth International Conference on Hadron Spectroscopy, Hadron 2015. - : Author(s). - 9780735413894 ; 1735
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We have searched for the simplest kaonic nuclear state, K̄NN, using the in-flight 3He (K-, n) reaction at the J-PARC hadron experimental facility. In the semi-inclusive neutron missing-mass spectrum at θnlab=0°, an excess of yield was observed just below the K- pp mass-threshold, which cannot be explained by any elementary reactions [PTEP 2015, 061D01]. To understand the missing-mass spectrum of 3He (K-, n) X, we investigated the elementary (K-, n) reactions using hydrogen and deuterium targets. The p (K-, n) X missing-mass spectrum was well described by the charge-exchange reaction. However, in the d (K-, n) X spectrum, we observed an excess of yield just below the K- p mass-threshold, which was similar to that in the 3He (K-, n) X spectrum.
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| 17. |
- Dunham, I, et al.
(author)
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The DNA sequence of human chromosome 22
- 1999
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 402:6761, s. 489-495
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)
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| 18. |
- Sada, Y., et al.
(author)
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Structure near the K- + p + p threshold in the in-flight 3He(K-, Λp)n reaction
- 2016
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In: Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2050-3911. ; 2016:5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To search for an S = -1 di-baryonic state which decays toΛp, the 3He(K-,Λp)nmissing reaction was studied at 1.0 GeV/c. Unobserved neutrons were kinematically identified from the missing mass MX of the 3He (K-,Λp) X reaction in order to have a large acceptance for the Λpn final state. The observed Λpn events, distributed widely over the kinematically allowed region of the Dalitz plot, establish that the major component comes from a three-nucleon absorption process. A concentration of events at a specific neutron kinetic energy was observed in a region of low momentum transfer to the Λp. To account for the observed peak structure, the simplest S-wave polewas assumed to exist in the reaction channel, having a Breit-Wigner formin energy and with a Gaussian form factor. A minimum X2 method was applied to deduce its mass, MX = 2355+6 -8 (stat.) ±12 (syst.)MeV/c2, and decay width, γX = 110+19 -17 (stat.) ±27 (syst.)MeV/c2, respectively. The form factor parameter QX ∼ 400MeV/c implies that the range of the interaction is about 0.5 fm.
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| 19. |
- Ryu, Y. -H., et al.
(author)
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OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb : The First Spitzer Bulge Planet Lies Near the Planet/Brown-dwarf Boundary
- 2018
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In: Astronomical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-6256 .- 1538-3881. ; 155:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report the discovery of OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb, which is likely to be the first Spitzer microlensing planet in the Galactic bulge/ bar, an assignation that can be confirmed by two epochs of high-resolution imaging of the combined source-lens baseline object. The planet's mass, M-p = 13.4 +/- 0.9 M-J, places it right at the deuteriumburning limit, i. e., the conventional boundary between planets and brown dwarfs. Its existence raises the question of whether such objects are really planets (formed within the disks of their hosts) or failed stars (lowmass objects formed by gas fragmentation). This question may ultimately be addressed by comparing disk and bulge/bar planets, which is a goal of the Spitzer microlens program. The host is a G dwarf, M-host = 0.89. +/- 0.07 M-circle dot, and the planet has a semimajor axis a similar to 2.0 au. We use Kepler K2 Campaign 9 microlensing data to break the lens-mass degeneracy that generically impacts parallax solutions from Earth-Spitzer observations alone, which is the first successful application of this approach. The microlensing data, derived primarily from near-continuous, ultradense survey observations from OGLE, MOA, and three KMTNet telescopes, contain more orbital information than for any previous microlensing planet, but not quite enough to accurately specify the full orbit. However, these data do permit the first rigorous test of microlensing orbital-motion measurements, which are typically derived from data taken over < 1% of an orbital period.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
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| 24. |
- Rettig, L., et al.
(author)
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Disentangling transient charge order from structural dynamics contributions during coherent atomic motion studied by ultrafast resonant x-ray diffraction
- 2019
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In: Physical Review B. - 2469-9950. ; 99:13
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on the ultrafast dynamics of charge order and structural response during the photoinduced suppression of charge and orbital order in a mixed-valence manganite. Employing femtosecond time-resolved resonant x-ray diffraction below and at the Mn K absorption edge, we present a method to disentangle the transient charge order and structural dynamics in thin films of Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3. Based on the static resonant scattering spectra, we extract the dispersion correction of charge-ordered Mn3+ and Mn4+ ions, allowing us to separate the transient contributions of purely charge order from structural contributions to the scattering amplitude after optical excitation. Our finding of a coherent structural mode at around 2.3THz, which primarily modulates the lattice but does not strongly affect the charge order, supports the picture of the charge order being the driving force of the combined charge, orbital, and structural transition.
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| 25. |
- Wu, L., et al.
(author)
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The global catalogue of microorganisms 10K type strain sequencing project: closing the genomic gaps for the validly published prokaryotic and fungi species
- 2018
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In: GigaScience. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2047-217X. ; 7:5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Genomic information is essential for taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional studies to comprehensively decipher the characteristics of microorganisms, to explore microbiomes through metagenomics, and to answer fundamental questions of nature and human life. However, large gaps remain in the available genomic sequencing information published for bacterial and archaeal species, and the gaps are even larger for fungal type strains. The Global Catalogue of Microorganisms (GCM) leads an internationally coordinated effort to sequence type strains and close gaps in the genomic maps of microorganisms. Hence, the GCM aims to promote research by deep-mining genomic data.
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| 26. |
- Braasch, Ingo, et al.
(author)
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The spotted gar genome illuminates vertebrate evolution and facilitates human-teleost comparisons
- 2016
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In: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 48:4, s. 427-437
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To connect human biology to fish biomedical models, we sequenced the genome of spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus), whose lineage diverged from teleosts before teleost genome duplication (TGD). The slowly evolving gar genome has conserved in content and size many entire chromosomes from bony vertebrate ancestors. Gar bridges teleosts to tetrapods by illuminating the evolution of immunity, mineralization and development (mediated, for example, by Hox, ParaHox and microRNA genes). Numerous conserved noncoding elements (CNEs; often cis regulatory) undetectable in direct human-teleost comparisons become apparent using gar: functional studies uncovered conserved roles for such cryptic CNEs, facilitating annotation of sequences identified in human genome-wide association studies. Transcriptomic analyses showed that the sums of expression domains and expression levels for duplicated teleost genes often approximate the patterns and levels of expression for gar genes, consistent with subfunctionalization. The gar genome provides a resource for understanding evolution after genome duplication, the origin of vertebrate genomes and the function of human regulatory sequences.
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| 30. |
- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(author)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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In: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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| 31. |
- Kawasaki, Hiroharu, et al.
(author)
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TiO2/TiN/TiO2 heat mirrors by laser ablation of single TiN target
- 2008
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In: Journal of Physics, Conference Series. - : IOP Publishing. - 1742-6588 .- 1742-6596. ; 100:1, s. 012038-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Titanium oxide (TiO2 ) and titanium nitride (TiN) multilayered films grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique have been tested as a heat mirror, which have a high transmittance in the visible region and a high reflectance in the infrared. Three layer TiO2 /TiN/TiO2 heat mirrors were grown on Corning glass substrates ablating single TiN target. Switching of TiO2 -to-TiN layers composition was achieved by changing gas atmosphere (oxygen-to-nitrogen). Grown TiO2 /TiN/TiO2 heat mirrors are highly transparent in visible (above 60% at 525nm), opaque in infrared (10% at 2600nm) and in the range from 400 nm to 2600 nm they possess almost the same properties as films prepared using two targets: TiO2 and TiN. XPS confirms similarity of chemical composition of multilayered TiO2 /TiN films prepared by single TiN and two TiO2 and TiN targets techniques. Furthermore, multifunctional self cleaning properties of TiO2 /TiN heat mirrors are expected through the precise control of the composition of the top TiO2 layer operating as a photocatalyst.
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| 34. |
- Pugliese, Alberto, et al.
(author)
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Sequence analysis of the diabetes-protective human leukocyte antigen-DQB1*0602 allele in unaffected, islet cell antibody-positive first degree relatives and in rare patients with type 1 diabetes
- 1999
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In: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. - : The Endocrine Society. - 0021-972X .- 1945-7197. ; 84:5, s. 1722-1728
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQA1*0102/DQB1*0602/DRB1*1501 (DR2) haplotype confers strong protection from type 1 diabetes. Growing evidence suggests that such protection may be mostly encoded by the DQB1*0602 allele, and we reported that even first degree relatives with islet cell antibodies (ICA) have an extremely low diabetes risk if they carry DQB1*0602. Recently, novel variants of the DQB1*0602 and *0603 alleles were reported in four patients with type 1 diabetes originally typed as DQB1*0602 with conventional techniques. One inference from this observation is that DQB1*0602 may confer absolute protection and may never occur in type 1 diabetes. By this hypothesis, all patients typed as DQB1*0602 positive with conventional techniques should carry one of the above diabetes-permissive variants instead of the protective DQB1*0602. Such variants could also occur in ICA/DQB1*0602-positive relatives, with the implication that their diabetes risk could be significantly higher than previously estimated. We therefore sequenced the DQB1*0602 and DQA1*0102 alleles in all ICA/DQB1*0602-positive relatives (n = 8) previously described and in six rare patients with type 1 diabetes and DQB1*0602. We found that all relatives and patients carry the known DQB1*0602 and DQA1*0102 sequences, and none of them has the mtDNA A3243G mutation associated with late-onset diabetes in ICA-positive individuals. These findings suggest that diabetes-permissive DQB1*0602/3 variants may be very rare. Thus, although the protective effect associated with DQB1*0602 is extremely powerful, it is not absolute. Nonetheless, the development of diabetes in individuals with DQB1*0602 remains extremely unlikely, even in the presence of ICA, as confirmed by our further evaluation of ICA/DQB1*0602-positive relatives, none of whom has yet developed diabetes.
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| 36. |
- Togo, S, et al.
(author)
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PDE4 inhibitors roflumilast and rolipram augment PGE2 inhibition of TGF-{beta}1-stimulated fibroblasts
- 2009
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In: American journal of physiology. Lung cellular and molecular physiology. - : American Physiological Society. - 1040-0605 .- 1522-1504. ; 296:6, s. L959-L969
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Fibrotic diseases are characterized by the accumulation of extracellular matrix together with distortion and disruption of tissue architecture. Phosphodiesterase (PDE)4 inhibitors, by preventing the breakdown of cAMP, can inhibit fibroblast functions and may be able to mitigate tissue remodeling. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, a mediator of fibrosis, can potentially modulate cAMP by altering PGE2 metabolism. The present study assessed whether PDE4 inhibitors functionally antagonize the profibrotic activity of fibroblasts stimulated by TGF-β1. The PDE4 inhibitors roflumilast and rolipram both inhibited fibroblast-mediated contraction of three-dimensional collagen gels and fibroblast chemotaxis toward fibronectin in the widely studied human fetal lung fibroblast strain HFL-1 and several strains of fibroblasts from adult human lung. Roflumilast was ∼10-fold more potent than rolipram. There was a trend for PDE4 inhibitors to inhibit more in the presence of TGF-β1 (0.05 < P < 0.08). The effect of the PDE4 inhibitors was mediated through cAMP-stimulated protein kinase A (PKA), although a PKA-independent effect on gel contraction was also observed. The effect of PDE4 inhibitors depended on fibroblast production of PGE2 and TGF-β1-induced PGE2 production. PDE4 inhibitors together with TGF-β1 resulted in augmented PGE2 production together with increased expression of COX mRNA and protein. The present study supports the concept that PDE4 inhibitors may attenuate fibroblast activities that can lead to fibrosis and that PDE4 inhibitors may be particularly effective in the presence of TGF-β1-induced fibroblast stimulation.
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| 37. |
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