Physics-informed deep learning approach for modeling crustal deformation.

The movement and deformation of the Earth's crust and upper mantle provide critical insights into the evolution of earthquake processes and future earthquake potentials. Crustal deformation can be modeled by dislocation models that represent earthquake faults in the crust as defects in a continuum medium. In this study, we propose a physics-informed deep learning approach to model crustal deformation due to earthquakes.

Endovascular coil embolization of proximal middle cerebral artery aneurysms has better outcomes than other middle cerebral artery aneurysms: A retrospective study.

Purpose: Although some authors proposed that coil embolization in middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysms is a useful and effective alternative, the characteristics of the aneurysms may be different at each location. We compared the results of coil embolization of proximal middle cerebral artery aneurysms with those of other middle cerebral artery aneurysms.

Methods: Data from 46 patients with 50 aneurysms were retrospectively evaluated.

Flow-Diverter Stent for an Unruptured Aneurysm at the Junction of the Internal Carotid Artery and Persistent Primitive Trigeminal Artery: Case Report and Literature Review.

Background: Persistent primitive trigeminal artery (PPTA), which is a fetal carotid-basilar anastomosis, is the most common embryologic vascular remnant persisting in adults. Aneurysms can arise between the internal carotid artery (ICA) and PPTA. Here we present a case of ICA-PPTA aneurysm treated with a flow-diverter stent.

Asthenosphere rheology inferred from observations of the 2012 Indian Ocean earthquake.

The concept of a weak asthenospheric layer underlying Earth's mobile tectonic plates is fundamental to our understanding of mantle convection and plate tectonics. However, little is known about the mechanical properties of the asthenosphere (the part of the upper mantle below the lithosphere) underlying the oceanic crust, which covers about 60 per cent of Earth's surface. Great earthquakes cause large coseismic crustal deformation in areas hundreds of kilometres away from and below the rupture area.

Angiopoietin-2 expression in patients with an acute exacerbation of idiopathic interstitial pneumonias.

Background And Objective: We hypothesized that increased pulmonary vascular permeability may play a role in the pathogenesis of an acute exacerbation of the idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (AE-IIPs). Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) promotes endothelial activation, destabilization, and inflammation. The purpose of this study was to examine whether Ang-2 expression was associated with the pathogenesis of AE-IIPs.

Confined Singlet Oxygen in Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles: Selective Photochemical Oxidation of Small Molecules in Living Cells.

Chemical conversion of specific bioactive molecules by external stimuli in living cells is a powerful noninvasive tool for clarification of biomolecular interactions and to control cellular functions. However, in chaotic biological environments, it has been difficult to induce arbitrary photochemical reactions on specific molecules because of their poor molecular selectivity. Here we report a selective and nontoxic photochemical reaction system utilizing photoactivated mesoporous silica nanoparticles to control biological functions.

3D-FIESTA Magnetic Resonance Angiography Fusion Imaging of Distal Segment of Occluded Middle Cerebral Artery.

Middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion was examined with basi-parallel anatomical scanning (BPAS) using three-dimensional fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition (3D-FIESTA), and 3D-FIESTA and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) fusion images were created. We expected that an incidence of hemorrhagic complications due to vessel perforations would be decreased by obtaining vascular information beyond the occlusion and thus acute endovascular revascularization could be performed using such techniques. We performed revascularization for acute MCA occlusion for five patients who were admitted in our hospital from October 2012 to October 2014.

Controlling Localization and Excretion of Nanoparticles by Click Modification of the Surface Chemical Structures inside Living Cells.

Surface modification of silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) inside living cells was conducted by using the copper-free bioorthogonal click reaction to evaluate the effects of surface chemical structures on dynamic behavior and excretion of SiNPs. The results demonstrated the spatial translocation of intracellular SiNPs to the plasma membrane upon surface modification in situ with phospholipids. Moreover, the extent and kinetics of excretion of the SiNPs from inside the cell were enhanced by modification.

Controlling Localization and Excretion of Nanoparticles by Click Modification of the Surface Chemical Structures inside Living Cells.

Invited for this month's cover is the group of Drs. Takeo Ito and Kazuhito Tanabe from Kyoto University, Japan. The cover image shows accumulation of silica nanoparticles on the plasma membrane by click modification of the surface in living cells.

Phosphorescent ruthenium complexes with a nitroimidazole unit that image oxygen fluctuation in tumor tissue.

Understanding oxygen fluctuation in a cancerous tumor is important for effective treatment, especially during radiotherapy. In this paper, ruthenium complexes bearing a nitroimidazole group are shown to report the oxygen status in tumor tissue directly. The nitroimidazole group was known to be accumulated in hypoxic tumor tissues.

Hypoxic X-irradiation as an external stimulus for conformational change of oligodeoxynucleotides that possess disulfide bond and regulation of DNAzyme function.

We achieved a conformational change of oligodeoxynucleotides and the regulation of DNAzyme function by means of a radiolytic strand exchange reaction of disulfide bond. We designed a system in which the DNAzyme function of RNA cleavage was suppressed by the hybridization of an inhibitor strand that possessed disulfide bond with an active DNAzyme. Hypoxic X-irradiation led to the recovery of RNA cleavage because the strand exchange reaction at the disulfide bond in inhibitor strand resulted in a release of inhibitor strand.

Synthesis and identification of α-cyano bis(indolyl)chalcones as novel anticancer agents.

Microwave-assisted synthesis of 23 α-cyano bis(indolyl)chalcones (6a-w) and their in vitro anticancer activity against three human cancer cell lines have been discussed. Among the synthesized chalcones, compound 6n was found to be the most potent and selective against A549 lung cancer cell line (IC50 = 0.8 μM).

A pilot study of adjuvant chemotherapy with irinotecan and cisplatin for completely resected high-grade pulmonary neuroendocrine carcinoma (large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma and small cell lung cancer).

Background: Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) are recognized as high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas (HGNEC) of the lung. In patients with completely resected HGNEC, platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy may be considered. However, the optimum chemotherapy regimen has not been determined.

Tracheal ulcer due to Epstein-Barr virus-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the elderly.

A 74-year-old man was referred to our hospital because of a tracheal stenosis circumscribed with soft tissue density and a left pulmonary nodule. Open biopsy of a right submandibular lymph node revealed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and the malignant cells were positive for Epstein-Barr virus gene products. Bronchofiberscopy revealed a tracheal necrotizing ulcer.

Probing DNA mismatched and bulged structures by using 19F NMR spectroscopy and oligodeoxynucleotides with an 19F-labeled nucleobase.

In this study, DNA local structures with bulged bases and mismatched base pairs as well as ordinary full-matched base pairs by using (19)F NMR spectroscopy with (19)F-labeled oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) were monitored. The chemical shift change in the (19) F NMR spectra allowed discrimination of the DNA structures. Two types of ODNs possessing the bis(trifluoromethyl)benzene unit (F-unit) at specified uridines were prepared and hybridized with their complementary or noncomplementary strands to form matched, mismatched, or bulged duplexes.

Electron transport through 5-substituted pyrimidines in DNA: electron affinities of uracil and cytosine derivatives differently affect the apparent efficiencies.

We investigated excess electron transport (EET) in DNA containing cytosine derivatives. By arranging the derivatives according to their electron affinities, the apparent EET efficiency was successfully regulated. Unexpectedly, however, providing gradients of electron affinity by inserting 5-fluorocytosine did not always enhance EET.

Novel porphyrin-psoralen conjugates: synthesis, DNA interaction and cytotoxicity studies.

A Cu(i)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction (CuAAC) has been utilized to prepare novel triazole-linked cationic porphyrin-psoralen conjugates that exhibited significant photocytotoxicity against A549 cancer cells (IC50 = 84 nM).

Enzyme-catalyzed conversion of chemical structures on the surface of gold nanorods.

For developing metal nanoparticles of which surface chemical structures could be altered by enzymes in the cells, functional linkers caged by coumaric acids have been synthesized. Synthesized gold nanorod (GNR) conjugates possessing coumaric acid precursors underwent (porcine liver) esterase-catalyzed hydrolysis on their surface to afford GNRs coated with amino-functionalized polyethylene glycol and fluorescent coumarins as reporter molecules for monitoring the conversion. The chemical structural conversion on the GNR surfaces was successfully observed inside cells by fluorescence microscopy when GNR conjugates were incubated with tumor cells.

Cationic porphyrin-quinoxaline conjugate as a photochemically triggered novel cytotoxic agent.

A novel cationic porphyrin-quinoxaline conjugate 8 was prepared in good yield by the coupling of activated quinoxaline carboxylic acid 5 with an appropriate aminoporphyrin. The UV-vis spectra of conjugate 8 with the addition of ctDNA shows substantial hypochromicity (39%) and a red shift (12 nm) in the Soret band indicating intercalation and self stacking along the surface. The binding constant of conjugate 8 with ctDNA was determined to be 1.

Incidence of myeloperoxidase anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody positivity and microscopic polyangitis in the course of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Background: Pulmonary fibrosis is a manifestation of microscopic polyangitis (MPA), and often precedes the detection of MPA. The prevalence and sequence of myeloperoxidase anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (MPO-ANCA) and MPA in patients initially diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) have not been precisely elucidated.

Methods: We enrolled 61 consecutive patients with IPF and measured the MPO-ANCA titers at initial presentation and during the follow-up period.

Remarkable photocytotoxicity of a novel triazole-linked cationic porphyrin-β-carboline conjugate.

Employing a click chemistry approach we have synthesized a novel triazole-linked cationic porphyrin-β-carboline conjugate which exhibited remarkable photocytotoxicity against the A549 cancer cell line (IC(50) = 60 nM).

Radiolytic reduction characteristics of drug-encapsulating DNA aggregates possessing disulfide bond.

Radiation-responsive aggregates consisting of artificial DNA were demonstrated. We prepared DNA amphiphiles (DAMs) consisting of oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) as the hydrophilic part and an alkyl chain as the hydrophobic part, which were linked by a radiation-sensitive disulfide bond. DAMs assembled to form nanosized aggregates in aqueous solution that encapsulated hydrophobic dyes and drugs.

Synthesis and one-electron reduction characteristics of radiation-activated prodrugs possessing two 5-fluorodeoxyuridine units.

Two molecules of an antitumor agent, 5-fluorodeoxyuridine (5-FdUrd), were connected by a 2-oxoalkyl linker (Oxo-linker) at the N(3) position to obtain radiation-activated prodrugs, FdUrd(2) A and FdUrd(2) B. The prodrugs in this study released 5-FdUrd via one-electron reduction initiated by hypoxic X-irradiation. The release of 5-FdUrd from FdUrd(2) A and FdUrd(2) B proceeded more efficiently than that of previous prodrug, Oxo-FdUrd, which possessed one molecule of 5-FdUrd.

Incidentally discovered primary malignant melanoma of the trachea.

Primary malignant melanoma of the trachea is extremely rare. We report here the first case of primary tracheal malignant melanoma in the asymptomatic stage. Incidentally, this 73-year-old man was found to have a flat tumor at the upper trachea on chest computed tomography scans.