Abstract Background Left atrial functional indices measured by two dimensional echocardiography (2DE) have prognostic significance for major cardiovascular events (MACE). Retrospective analysis using propensity score matching to assess the prognostic values of left atrial reservoir function measured by three dimensional speckle tracking analysis (3DSTA) was performed. Methods Two hundred sixty-four patients (Male 60%, 65±15yo) who underwent both clinically indicated 2DE and 3DSTA for various underlying heart diseases from January 4, 2013 to February 28, 2016 were followed to record MACE. Patients with significant mitral valve disease, history of pulmonary vein isolation and persistent atrial fibrillation were excluded. Maximum and minimum left atrial volume (LAVImax and LAVImin), left atrial emptying fraction (LAEmpF), peak global LA area ratio (LAAC), circumferential strain (LACS) and longitudinal strain (LALS) were measured using 3DSTA. Standard indices including peak global LVLS (2DLVLS) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and LA volume index were also assessed by 2DE. Cutoff line for LA reservoir functional indices and 2DLVLS was determined using ROC analysis. Average treatment effect for the treated (ATT), Average treatment effect (ATE) for each index were calculated after propensity score matching for clinical indices (age, sex, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, eGFR <45 ml/min/1.73m2, LVEF <40%) Results During a mean follow-up of 547±435 days, MACE developed in 30 patients (7 cardiac death 6 stroke, 1 nonfatal MI, 22 admission for heart failure). Age, coronary artery disease (CAD), diabetes mellitus (DM), chronic kidney disease (CKD: eGFR< 45ml/min/1.73m2), LVEF, 2DLVLS, LAVImax and LAVImin by 2DE and all LA indices by 3DSTA had significant prognostic value by univariate analysis. LAEmpF and LALS by 3DSTA had higher ATT, ATE and Log rank χ2 than other LA indices and 2DLVLS. The model added LALS or LAEmpF by 3DSTA had higher prognostic value (LALS <10.6%: AUC; 0.82, HR; 5.57 CI: 2.32–14.06, LAEmpF <33.0%: AUC; 0.82, HR; 6.59 CI; 2.60–20.18) than LA volume indices by 2DE and also tended to be better than 2DLVLS (LVLS <6.04%: AUC; 0.77, HR; 5.37 CI; 2.06–13.73). propensity score matching Conclusion LALS and LAEmpF by 3DSTA showed additive prognostic value for MACE.

The Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder-2 (SMILES-2) is a satellite mission for observation of the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere with superconducting submillimeter-wave receivers, being proposed to the announcement of opportunity for M-class missions run by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The SMILES-2 notable features are extremely high sensitivity and observation capability of atmospheric diurnal cycles. Those are requested from a scientific requirement for the investigation of the 4-D space-time structure of diurnal variations in the whole atmosphere. Such features require SMILES-2 to have 4–K cooled superconducting devices for high sensitivity and to be aboard a satellite platform on a non-sunsynchronous orbit. The mechanical 4–K cooling system is a power consuming instrument. Satellite on a non- sunsynchronous orbit gets a large sun-shade ratio in most of season, and has limitations of power supply to the mission instrument. The issue of the SMILES-2 mission design is mainly to fit the 4–K cooling system to the limited power resource of M-class satellite. This paper discusses our development status on designing the SMILES-2 mission payload. SMILES-2 will be proposed to JAXA in the beginning of the next year.

The Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) on the International Space Station demonstrated a 4 K mechanical cooler for high-sensitivity submillimeter limb-emission sounding of atmospheric observations. Based on the SMILES heritage, we propose a satellite mission "SMILES-2" to observe temperature and wind fields, and distributions of atmospheric trace gases from the middle atmosphere to the upper atmosphere. We will be able to grasp the 4-D dynamical structure of diurnal variations which are one of the most essential characteristics in the earth's atmosphere. In the upper atmosphere, a transition layer between the atmosphere and the outer space, we will be able to clarify a role of magnetospheric energy inputs from the temperature and wind observations. These outcomes including the atmospheric trace gas data will greatly contribute to improve the reliability of chemistry climate models for future projection and the accuracy of prediction models for space weather.

We have made new CO observations of two molecular clouds, which we call "jet" and "arc" clouds, toward the stellar cluster Westerlund 2 and the TeV γ-ray source HESS J1023−575. The jet cloud shows a linear structure from the position of Westerlund 2 on the east. In addition, we have found a new counter jet cloud on the west. The arc cloud shows a crescent shape in the west of HESS J1023−575. A sign of star formation is found at the edge of the jet cloud and gives a constraint on the age of the jet cloud to be ∼Myr. An analysis with the multi CO transitions gives temperature as high as 20 K in a few places of the jet cloud, suggesting that some additional heating may be operating locally. The new TeV γ-ray images by H.E.S.S. correspond to the jet and arc clouds spatially better than the giant molecular clouds associated with Westerlund 2. We suggest that the jet and arc clouds are not physically linked with Westerlund 2 but are located at a greater distance around 7.5 kpc. A microquasar with long-term activity may be able to offer a possible engine to form the jet and arc clouds and to produce the TeV γ-rays, although none of the known microquasars have a Myr age or steady TeV γ-rays. Alternatively, an anisotropic supernova explosion which occurred ∼Myr ago may be able to form the jet and arc clouds, whereas the TeV γ-ray emission requires a microquasar formed after the explosion.

We present new large field observations of molecular clouds with NANTEN2 toward the super star cluster NGC3603 in the transitions 12CO(J=2-1, J=1-0) and 13CO(J=2-1, J=1-0). We suggest that two molecular clouds at 13 km s-1 and 28 km s-1 are associated with NGC3603 as evidenced by higher temperatures toward the H II region as well as morphological correspondence. The mass of the clouds is too small to gravitationally bind them, given their relative motion of ~20 km s-1. We suggest that the two clouds collided with each other a Myr ago to trigger the formation of the super star cluster. This scenario is able to explain the origin of the highest mass stellar population in the cluster which is as young as a Myr and is segregated within the central sub-pc of the cluster. This is the second super star cluster along side Westerlund2 where formation may have been triggered by a cloud-cloud collision.

We present an analysis of the interstellar medium (ISM) toward the gamma-ray supernova remnant (SNR) W44. We used NANTEN2 (CO)-C-12(J = 2-1) and (CO)-C-12(J = 1-0) data and Arecibo H I data in order to identify the molecular and atomic gas in the SNR. We confirmed that the molecular gas is located in the SNR shell with a primary peak toward the eastern edge of the shell. We newly identified high-excitation molecular gas along the eastern shell of the SNR in addition to the high-excitation broad gas previously observed inside the shell; the line intensity ratio between the (CO)-C-12(J = 2-1) and (CO)-C-12(J = 1-0) transitions in these regions is greater than similar to 1.0, suggesting a kinetic temperature of 30 K or higher, which is most likely due to heating by shock interaction. By comparing the ISM with gamma-rays, we find that target protons of hadronic origin are dominated by molecular protons of average density around 200 cm(-3), where the possible contribution of atomic protons is 10% or less. This average density is consistent with the recent discovery of the low-energy gamma-rays suppressed in 50 MeV-10 GeV as observed with AGILE and Fermi. The gamma-ray spectrum differs from place to place in the SNR, suggesting that the cosmic-ray (CR) proton spectrum significantly changes within the middle-aged SNR perhaps due to the energy-dependent escape of CR protons from the acceleration site. We finally derive a total CR proton energy of similar to 10(49) erg, consistent with the SN origin of the majority of the CRs in the Galaxy.

We have developed low-noise waveguide-type superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers for astronomical observations in the 0.8-1.0 and 1.3-1.5 THz bands, by using a relatively thick NbTiN superconducting film (10.8 nm). The receiver noise temperature of 350 K (DSB) at 0.81 THz and 490 K at 1.475 THz has been achieved. We have built the 0.8-1.0/1.3-1.5 THz dual band heterodyne receiver using these low noise HEB mixers, and have installed it on the ASTE (Atacama Sub millimeter Telescope Experiment) 10 m telescope in Chile in 2011. The (CO)-C-13 emission (J = 8 - 7 : 0.8813 THz) has successfully been detected toward the Orion A molecular cloud with our HEB mixer receiver.

We have developed a new mm-submm telescope with a diameter of 1.85m installed at the Nobeyama Radio Observatory. The scientific motivation is to improve our understanding of the physical conditions (e.g., temperature, density) of molecular clouds in the Galaxy for bridging the gap in understanding between molecular clouds evolution and star formation therein. We have then developed the new telescope to reveal a large-scale distribution of the molecular gas properties with multi-line observations. The observed dataset can be compared with large-scale observations in various wavelengths. It is also beneficial for the comparison with GMCs in the external galaxies that are being resolved spatially by the large aperture telescopes in the ALMA era.

We are developing a new dual polarization receiver at 45GHz band to be installed on the Nobeyama 45 m radio telescope. The purpose of the receiver is to measure the polarization difference caused by the Zeeman effect in magnetized molecular cores, and then we are focusing on the stability of the polarization observations for the development. The magnetic field is considered to play an important role in a star formation process. However, our understanding of the magnetic field in molecular clouds/cores is still very limited, because the measurement of the magnetic field has been quite difficult as it requires very sensitive, stable receiver system. We then plan to develop a new receiver system for measuring the Zeeman effect, and the details about the project is described by Nakamura et al. in this volume. In this presentation, we focus on the development of the new dual polarization receiver.

A mapping observation of the $J=1/2$ $\Lambda$-type doubling transition (3.3 GHz) of CH has been conducted toward Heiles Cloud 2 (HCL2) in the Taurus molecular cloud complex to reveal its molecular cloud-scale distribution. The observations were carried out with the Effelsberg 100 m telescope. The CH emission is found to be extended over the whole region of HCL2. It is brighter in the southeastern part, which encloses the TMC-1 cyanopolyyne peak than in the northwestern part. Its distribution extends continuously from the peak of the neutral carbon emission (CI peak) to the TMC-1 ridge, as if it were connecting the distributions of the [C I] and C$^{18}$O emissions. Since CH is an intermediate in gas-phase chemical reactions from C to CO, its emission should trace the transition region. The above distribution of the CH emission is consistent with this chemical behavior. Since the CH abundance is subject to the chemical evolutionary effect, the CH column density in HCL2 no longer follows a linear correlation wit the H$_2$ column density reported for diffuse and translucent clouds. More importantly, the CH line profile is found to be composed of the narrow and broad components. Although the broad component is dominant around the CI peak, the narrow component appears in the TMC-1 ridge and dense core regions such as L1527 and TMC-1A. This trend seems to reflect a narrowing of the line width during the formation of dense cores. These results suggest that the 3.3 GHz CH line is a useful tool for tracing the chemical and physical evolution of molecular clouds.

We have performed ground-based measurements of stratospheric chlorine monoxide (ClO) during the summer in 2009 over the Atacama highland, Chile, a new observing site in the mid-latitude region in the Southern Hemisphere, by using a millimeter-wave spectroscopic radiometer. The radiometer, equipped with a superconducting receiver and a digital Fourier spectrometer, was developed by Nagoya University, and the new observing system provides us high sensitivity and stable performance to measure the very weak ClO lines. The receiver noise temperature of the superconducting receiver is 170 K in DSB. To reveal the diurnal variation of ClO, we retrieved the vertical mixing ratio profiles by the weighted-damped least-squares algorithm applied for the spectral data at 203 GHz obtained between 5 and 16 December 2009. The total error on the retrieval is estimated to be 20% to 30% in an altitude range from 40 km to 50 km. The amplitude of the diurnal variation is estimated as 33% of the daytime average at 40 km. The observed time variation shows a pattern similar to that of the previous works observed in the northern mid-latitude region.

We are developing quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) and superconductive hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers for a THz heterodyne receiver system. We have successfully fabricated QCLs which can be operated in a continuous oscillation mode at the frequency around 3.1 THz. The QCLs are made of a GaAs/Al0.15Ga0.85As material system using a resonant LO phonon scattering depopulation scheme, and are processed in a metal-metal waveguide with the size of 40 mu m wide and 1.5 mm long by using gold-gold thermo compression wafer bonding technique and a dry-etching method. We have also succeeded in operating the quasi-optical HEB mixer at 3.1 THz by using the fabricated QCL as a local oscillator source. We report the current status of our developments, demonstrating possibilities of THz-QCLs for heterodyne sensing applications in various research fields.

A large-scale study of the molecular clouds toward the Trifid Nebula, M20, has been made in the J = 2–1 and J = 1–0 transitions of 12CO and 13CO. M20 is ionized predominantly by an O7.5 star HD164492. The study has revealed that there are two molecular components at separate velocities peaked toward the center of M20 and that their temperatures—30–50 K as derived by a large velocity gradient analysis—are significantly higher than the 10 K of their surroundings. We identify the two clouds as the parent clouds of the first generation stars in M20. The mass of each cloud is estimated to be ∼103 M☉ and their separation velocity is ∼8 km s−1 over ∼1–2 pc. We find that the total mass of stars and molecular gas in M20 is less than ∼3.2 × 103 M☉, which is too small by an order of magnitude to gravitationally bind the system. We argue that the formation of the first generation stars, including the main ionizing O7.5 star, was triggered by the collision between the two clouds in a short timescale of ∼1 Myr, a second example alongside Westerlund 2, where a super-star cluster may have been formed due to cloud–cloud collision triggering.

RX J1713.7-3946 is one of the TeV gamma-ray supernova remnants (SNRs) emitting synchrotron X-rays. The SNR is associated with molecular gas located at similar to 1 kpc. We made new molecular observations toward the dense cloud cores, peaks A, C, and D, in the SNR in the (CO)-C-12(J = 2-1) and (CO)-C-13(J = 2-1) transitions at an angular resolution of 90 ''. The most intense core in (CO)-C-13, peak C, was also mapped in the (CO)-C-12(J = 4-3) transition at an angular resolution of 38 ''. Peak C shows strong signs of active star formation including bipolar outflow and a far-infrared protostellar source, and has a steep gradient with a r(-2.2 +/- 0.4) variation in the average density within radius r. Peak C and the other dense cloud cores are rim-brightened in synchrotron X-rays, suggesting that the dense cloud cores are embedded within or on the outer boundary of the SNR shell. This confirms the earlier suggestion that the X-rays are physically associated with the molecular gas. We present a scenario where the densest molecular core, peak C, survived the blast wave and is now embedded within the SNR. Numerical simulations of the shock-cloud interaction indicate that a dense clump can indeed survive shock erosion, since the shock propagation speed is stalled in the dense clump. Additionally, the shock-cloud interaction induces turbulence and magnetic field amplification around the dense clump that may facilitate particle acceleration in the lower-density inter-clump space leading to enhanced synchrotron X-rays around dense cores.

Furukawa et al. 2009 reported the existence of a large mass of molecular gas associated with the super star cluster Westerlund 2 and the surrounding HII region RCW49, based on a strong morphological correspondence between NANTEN2 12CO(J=2-1) emission and Spitzer IRAC images of the HII region. We here present temperature and density distributions in the associated molecular gas at 3.5 pc resolution, as derived from an LVG analysis of the 12CO(J=2-1), 12CO(J=1-0) and 13CO(J=2-1) transitions. The kinetic temperature is as high as 60-150 K within a projected distance of 5-10 pc from Westerlund 2 and decreases to as low as 10 K away from the cluster. The high temperature provides robust verification that the molecular gas is indeed physically associated with the HII region, supporting Furukawa et al.'s conclusion. The derived temperature is also roughly consistent with theoretical calculations of photo dissociation regions (PDRs), while the low spatial resolution of the present study does not warrant a more detailed comparison with PDR models. We suggest that the molecular clouds presented here will serve as an ideal laboratory to test theories on PDRs in future higher resolution studies.

We report the first results of ground-based millimeter-wave measurements of 183 GHz atmospheric water vapor spectra from Atacama highland (4800 m alt.), Chile. The measurements were carried out in December 2005 by using a spectroscopic radiometer equipped with a superconductive heterodyne receiver. A conspicuous H2O spectrum at 183 GHz was detected with an integration time of only 1.5 min, and this is the first high frequency-resolution H2O spectrum at 183 GHz obtained in the southern subtropical region. The vertical profile of H2O volume mixing ratio between 40 and 64 km were retrieved from the spectrum by using the modified optimal estimation method.

At the 2.5-GeV ring of the Photon Factory, a large reconstruction of the lattice around the straight sections has been accomplished in 2005. This reconstruction is the main pail of the straight-sections upgrade project to rebuild existing undulators and to increase the number of undulator beamlines. As a result of the reconstruction, four short straight sections have been newly created and the lengths of the existing straight sections have been much extended. To exploit the new straight sections, short-period narrow-gap undulators which have a sufficiently high brilliance in hard x-ray range have been developed. The reconstruction work of the ring was completed in a seven-month shutdown from March to September, 2005. In the area over two thirds of the storage ring, all the quadrupole magnets and all the beam ducts have been renewed and rearranged to construct the new lattice. Recommissioning of the storage ring was finished at the end of October, 2005. Though we made no in-situ baking for the beam ducts, recovery of the beam lifetime has favorably progressed due to the vacuum scrubbing by the synchrotron radiation.

The present operational status of the Photon Factory storage ring (PF-ring) and the Photon Factory advanced ring (PF-AR) in KEK is reported. The scheduled user times of them were more than 4000 hours in FY2006. In the last summer shutdown, new undulators were installed in both of the rings and have been stably operated. A top-up operation in a single-bunch mode was demonstrated for six days in February 2007 druring the shutdown of KEKB at the PF-ring.

Human airway trypsin-like protease (HAT) was isolated from airway secretions and localized to bronchial epithelial cells by immunohistochemistry. In the present study, we examined whether HAT could stimulate DNA synthesis and proliferation of primary human bronchial fibroblasts (HBF). HAT significantly stimulated the proliferation of HBF by 20-55%, a level similar to that of the mitogenic activity of lung mast cell tryptase (MCT). HAT also stimulated the incorporation of [3H]thymidine in HBF, and this HAT-induced DNA synthesis was abolished by leupeptin. Protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) mRNA was expressed and localized to the cell surface in HBF. PAR-2 activating peptide (AP) also enhanced DNA synthesis, and both HAT and PAR-2 AP induced receptor internalization, similar to the response to trypsin. Pretreatment of HBF with anti-PAR-2 antibody significantly suppressed both HAT and PAR-2 AP-induced DNA synthesis. In addition, HAT and PAR-2 AP induced intracellular Ca2+ mobilization in HBF. The HAT-induced increase in Ca2+ was desensitized by pretreatment with trypsin or PAR-2 AP. U0126, a specific MAPK inhibitor, completely inhibited HAT-induced DNA synthesis as well as HAT-induced phosphorylation of MAPK. The effect of HAT and MCT together was additive, whereas the effect of HAT and insulin together on HBF DNA synthesis was synergistic. These results indicate that HAT stimulates fibroblast proliferation in bronchial airways through a PAR-2-dependent MEK-MAPK mediated pathway and that HAT is linked to airway processes involving fibroblasts.