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To identify the soil carbon stock changes from croplands/grasslands to forestlands in Japan, we compared the soil carbon stock of a cropland/grassland with that of an adjacent forestland at 22 different sites. With respect to a 0–30-cm depth basis, the soil carbon stock in the cropland/grassland was the same as that in the forestland; however, it was less than that in the forestland when an equivalent mass approach was used. The ratio of the soil carbon stock in the forestland to that in the cropland/grassland was 1.11 on average, which is comparable with previous mass-corrected paired sampling studies. The ratio was affected by two factors: tree age and current vegetation. Mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, phosphate absorption coefficient, litter quantity, and former land use did not affect the ratio. According to a comparison with the results of a paired study for deforestation, the application of the reciprocal of the soil carbon stock ratio of deforestation to the ratio of afforestation was slightly overestimated. Further studies are necessary to establish a general conclusion. Some previous studies, including those involving non-mass-corrected data, are possibly biased, and more studies using the paired sampling method with equivalent mass basis must be conducted to provide the general factor for soil carbon stock change in the future.

Introduction The severity of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Japanese patients is unreported. We retrospectively examined significant factors associated with disease severity in symptomatic COVID-19 patients (COVID-Pts) admitted to our institution between February 20 and April 30, 2020. Methods All patients were diagnosed based on the genetic detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Information on the initial symptoms, laboratory data, and computed tomography (CT) images at hospitalization were collected from the patients’ records. COVID-Pts were categorized as those with critical or severe illness (Pts-CSI) or those with moderate or mild illness (Pt-MMI). All statistical analyses were performed using R software. Results Data from 61 patients (16 Pt–CSI, 45 Pt-MMI), including 58 Japanese and three East Asians, were analyzed. Pt–CSI were significantly older and had hypertension or diabetes than Pt-MMI (P

Soil respiration (Rs) is the largest flux of carbon dioxide (CO2) next to photosynthesis in terrestrial ecosystems. With the absorption of atmospheric methane (CH4), upland soils become a large CO2 source and CH4 sink. These soil carbon (C) fluxes are key factors in the mitigation and adaption of future climate change. The Asian region spans an extensive area from the northern boreal to tropical regions in Southeast Asia. As this region is characterised by highly diverse ecosystems, it is expected to experience the strong impact of ecosystem responses to global climate change. For the past two decades, researchers in the AsiaFlux community have meaningfully contributed to improve the current understanding of soil C dynamics, response of soil C fluxes to disturbances and climate change, and regional and global estimation based on model analysis. This review focuses on five important aspects: 1) the historical methodology for soil C flux measurement; 2) responses of soil C flux components to environmental factors; 3) soil C fluxes in typical ecosystems in Asia; 4) the influence of disturbance and climate change on soil C fluxes; and 5) model analysis and the estimation of soil C fluxes in research largely focused in Asia.

Utilizing the approach recently proposed for the $\ell N$ inclusive scattering cross section on the lattice, we compute the differential scattering cross section for the charged current process $\ell p \rightarrow \nu n $ for various kinematical channels. The simulation is carried out on the 2+1 flavor $16^3 \times 32 $ ensemble with Iwasaki and Domain Wall Fermion action. The lattice results are compared with MINER$\nu$A result for the equivalent process., Comment: 9pages, LATTICE 2021

Simulations for the thermodynamics of the 2+1 flavor QCD are performed employing chiral fermions. The use of M\"obius domain-wall fermions with stout-link smearing is more effective on the finer lattices where all the relevant chiral symmetries are realized more accurately. We report on the initial simulations near the (pseudo) critical point using the line of constant physics with an average $ud$ quark mass slightly heavier than physical at $a\lesssim 0.1$ fm., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, 38th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, LATTICE2021 26th-30th July, 2021 Zoom/Gather@MIT

Utilizing the approach recently proposed for the inclusive semi-leptonic decay rate on the lattice, we compute the differential decay rate of a $B_s$ meson for various kinematical channels. The results are compared with the contributions from the ground states (D and D^*) as well as from the orbitally excited states (D^**'s). The computation so far is carried out with an unphysically light bottom quark and strange spectator quark., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures; contribution to The 38th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, LATTICE2021, 26th-30th July, 2021

The disease outbreak caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, in December 2020 in Wuhan, China, has spread worldwide, threatening global health While SARS-CoV-2 is now established as the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (now named COVID-19), a respiratory illness, it has also become clear that some people with SARS-CoV-2 infection may exhibit no symptoms at all We report the clinical characteristics and course of three asymptomatic patients who contracted SARS-CoV-2 infection on the cruise ship, Diamond Princess The three patients did not have any symptoms at admission, however, all showed bilateral ground-glass opacities, predominantly distributed in the lung periphery, with occasional consolidation, on the plain chest radiograph All three showed a smooth clinical course, and remained asymptomatic throughout the course of the infection These cases serve to emphasize that patients without any symptoms could have COVID-19 pneumonia, and should be noted the possibility that mild cases and early onset of severe cases are included even in asymptomatic patients According to one published paper, chest CT may be useful for early detection of COVID-19 pneumonia In addition, other reports have documented the changes on chest CT associated with COVID-19 pneumonia from onset until recovery From our experience of these cases and the published reports mentioned above, we consider that CT may be useful for the diagnosis of COVID-19 and determining the timing of onset of the disease

Background/aim We aimed to study the association between the quantitative interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) levels and clinical outcomes in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Patients and methods Sample collection for IFN-γ release assay (IGRA) was performed within 14 days before treatment (T1), on day 22±7 (T3), and on day 43±7 (T4). The stored specimens over 10 IU/ml in IGRA were re-examined using the dilution method (with saline as the dilution medium). The patients were classified into Lower and Higher groups by 7.06 IU/ml as a cut-off of IFN-γ levels at T1. Results Median progression-free survival in the Higher group was significantly longer than that in the Lower group. IFN-γ levels in the non-progression disease group were significantly higher than those in the progression disease group. IFN-γ levels at T1 in patients with immune-related adverse events were significantly lower compared to those at T3. Conclusion IFN-γ could be a biomarker for NSCLC patients receiving ICIs.

A cytokine storm induces acute respiratory distress syndrome, the main cause of death in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. However, the detailed mechanisms of cytokine induction due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remain unclear. To examine the cytokine production in COVID-19, we mimicked the disease in SARS-CoV-2-infected alveoli by adding the lysate of SARS-CoV-2-infected cells to cultured macrophages or induced pluripotent stem cell-derived myeloid cells. The cells secreted interleukin (IL)-6 after the addition of SARS-CoV-2-infected cell lysate. Screening of 25 SARS-CoV-2 protein-expressing plasmids revealed that the N protein-coding plasmid alone induced IL-6 production. The addition of anti-N antibody further enhanced IL-6 production, but the F(ab’)2 fragment did not. Sera from COVID-19 patients also enhanced IL-6 production, and sera from patients with severer disease induced higher levels of IL-6. These results suggest that anti-N antibody promotes IL-6 production in SARS-CoV-2-infected alveoli, leading to the cytokine storm of COVID-19. (150 words)

A cytokine storm induces acute respiratory distress syndrome, the main cause of death in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. However, the detailed mechanisms of cytokine induction due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remain unclear. To examine the cytokine production in COVID-19, we mimicked the disease in SARS-CoV-2-infected alveoli by adding the lysate of SARS-CoV-2-infected cells to cultured macrophages or induced pluripotent stem cell-derived myeloid cells. The cells secreted interleukin (IL)-6 after the addition of SARS-CoV-2-infected cell lysate. Screening of 25 SARS-CoV-2 protein-expressing plasmids revealed that the N protein-coding plasmid alone induced IL-6 production. The addition of anti-N antibody further enhanced IL-6 production, but the F(ab’)2 fragment did not. Sera from COVID-19 patients also enhanced IL-6 production, and sera from patients with severer disease induced higher levels of IL-6. These results suggest that anti-N antibody promotes IL-6 production in SARS-CoV-2-infected alveoli, leading to the cytokine storm of COVID-19.

We investigate the finite temperature QCD phase transition with three degenerate quark flavors using Möbius domain wall fermions. To explore the order of phase transition on the lower left corner of Columbia plot and if possible, to locate the critical endpoint we performed simulations at temperatures around 181 and 121 MeV with lattice spacing $a=0.1361(20)$ fm corresponding to temporal lattice extent $N_τ=8,12$ with varying quark mass for two different volumes with aspect ratios $N_σ/N_τ$ ranging from 2 to 3. By analyzing the volume and mass dependence of the chiral condensate, disconnected chiral susceptibility and Binder cumulant we find that there is a crossover at $m_q^{\mathrm{\overline {MS}}}(2\, \mathrm{GeV}) \sim 44\, \mathrm{MeV}$ for $\mathrm{T_{pc}}\sim$ 181 MeV, At temperature 121 MeV, the binder cumulant suggests a crossover at $m_q^{\mathrm{\overline {MS}}}(2\, \mathrm{GeV}) \sim 3.7\, \mathrm{MeV}$, although a study of volume dependence would be important to confirm this., 9 pages, 5 figures, Contribution to the 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2022), 08-13 August 2022, Bonn, Germany

We present the lattice QCD calculation of inclusive semileptonic $B_s$-meson decays. We follow a recently proposed method, which is based on the extraction of smeared spectral densities from Euclidean correlation functions and on the numerical reconstruction of the integration kernel relevant for the inclusive decay rate calculation. We compute four-point Euclidean correlation functions using JLQCD and ETM gauge ensembles with unphysically light $b$-quark masses, and apply two different methods for the integration kernel reconstruction. Finally, we show that the lattice results obtained in this work are in good agreement with the analytic predictions of the operator-product-expansion. This opens the path for a future full lattice QCD calculation to be used as theoretical input for the determination of the magnitude of the CKM element $V_{cb}$., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, contribution to the 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 8th-13th August, 2022, Bonn, Germany. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2209.15494

An international review of radioecological data derived after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was an important component of activities in working group 4 of the IAEA Models and data for radiological impact assessment, phase II (MODARIA II) programme. Japanese and international scientists reviewed radioecological data in the terrestrial and aquatic environments in Japan reported both before and after the accident. The environmental transfer processes considered included: (a) interception and retention radionuclides by plants, (b) loss of radionuclides from plant and systemic transport of radionuclides in plants (translocation), (c) behaviour of radiocaesium in soil, (d) uptake of radionuclides from soil by agricultural crops and wild plants, (e) transfer of radionuclides from feedstuffs to domestic and wild animals, (f) behaviour of radiocaesium in forest trees and forest systems, (g) behaviour of radiocaesium in freshwater systems, coastal areas and in the ocean, (h) transport of radiocaesium from catchments through rivers, streams and lakes to the ocean, (i) uptake of radiocaesium by aquatic organisms, and (j) modification of radionuclide concentrations in food products during food processing and culinary preparation. These data were compared with relevant global data within IAEA TECDOC-1927 ‘Environmental transfer of radionuclides in Japan following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant’. This paper summarises the outcomes of the data collation and analysis within MODARIA II work group 4 and compares the Japan-specific data with existing radioecological knowledge acquired from past and contemporary radioecological studies. The key radioecological lessons learned are outlined and discussed.

After the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP), much of the wild and edible mushrooms and plants in the surrounding areas were contaminated with radiocesium (137Cs). To elucidate their concentration characteristics, we analyzed 137Cs radioactivity data in edible forest products brought in for food inspection by the residents of Kawauchi Village, 12–30 km away from the FDNPP, from 2012 to 2019. A Bayesian model to estimate 137Cs concentration was constructed. Parameters of the normalized concentration of species (NCsp) for mushrooms were similar to those of the same species obtained in a previous study. Although NCsp values were highly varied among species, mycorrhizal mushrooms tended to have high NCsp values, followed by saprotrophic mushrooms, and wild edible plants values were low. Also, half of mycorrhizal mushroom species (8 of 16) showed an increasing trend in concentration with time; however, saprotrophic mushrooms and wild plants generally demonstrated a decreasing trend (22 of 24). The model considering the sub-village location information decreased the error of individual samples by 40% compared to the model not considering any location information, indicating that the detailed geo-information improved estimation accuracy. Our results indicate that the radioactivity data from samples collected by local residents can be used to accurately assess internal exposure to radiation due to self-consumption of contaminated wild mushrooms and plants.

Background and Aim: Tocilizumab, a humanized anti-IL-6 receptor antibody, has been used to treat severely to critically ill patients with COVID-19. A living systematic review with meta-analysis of recent RCTs indicates that the combination therapy of corticosteroids and tocilizumab produce better outcomes, while previous observational studies suggest that tocilizumab monotherapy is beneficial for substantial numbers of patients. However, what patients could respond to tocilizumab monotherapy remained unknown.Methods: In this retrospective study we evaluated the effects of tocilizumab monotherapy on the clinical characteristics, serum biomediator levels, viral elimination, and specific IgG antibody induction in 13 severely to critically ill patients and compared with those of dexamethasone monotherapy and dexamethasone plus tocilizumab.Results: A single tocilizumab administration led to a rapid improvement in clinical characteristics, inflammatory findings, and oxygen supply in 7 of 11 patients with severe COVID-19, and could recover from mechanical ventilation management (MVM) in 2 patients with critically ill COVID-19. Four patients exhibited rapidly worsening even after tocilizumab administration and required MVM and additional methylprednisolone treatment. Tocilizumab did not delay viral elimination or inhibit IgG production specific for the virus, whereas dexamethasone inhibited IgG induction. A multiplex cytokine array system revealed a significant increase in the serum expression of 54 out of 80 biomediators in patients with COVID-19 compared with that in healthy controls. Compared with those who promptly recovered in response to tocilizumab, patients requiring MVM showed a significantly higher ratio of basal level of ferritin/CRP and a persistent increase in the levels of CRP and specific cytokines and chemokines including IL-6, IFN-γ, IP-10, and MCP-1. The basal high ratio of ferritin/CRP was also associated with clinical deterioration even in patients treated with dexamethasone and tocilizumab.Conclusion: Tocilizumab as monotherapy has substantial beneficial effects in some patients with severe COVID-19, who showed a relatively low level of the ratio of ferritin/CRP and prompt reduction in CRP, IL-6, IFN-γ, IP-10, and MCP-1. The high ratio of ferritin/CRP is associated with rapid worsening of pneumonia. Further evaluation is warranted to clarify whether tocilizumab monotherapy or its combination with corticosteroid is preferred for severely to critically ill patients with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND/AIM The present study aimed to prospectively examine the usefulness of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release (IGR) as a biomarker in non-small-cell lung cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment (ICI-Tx). PATIENTS AND METHODS IGR was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay at four time points: within 14 days before ICI-Tx (T1), and 8±3 (T2), 22±7 (T3), and 43±7 (T4) days after ICI-Tx. RESULTS Twenty-nine patients were divided into three groups based on IFN-γ levels in the IGR-positive control: Group-1 (n=8) with

We study spatial isovector J = 1 meson correlators in nf = 2 QCD with dynamical domain-wall fermions on 323 × 8 lattices at temperatures T = 220–380 MeV. We observe an approximate degeneracy of all considered correlators with increasing temperature. This approximate degeneracy suggests emergent SU(2)CS and SU(2nf) symmetries at high temperatures, that mix left- and right-handed quarks. Since these symmetries are symmetries of the chromo-electric interaction in QCD we conclude that at 2Tc temperature the elementary objects are quarks with a definite chirality connected by the chromo-electric field.

Forests cover approximately 70% of the area contaminated by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011. Following this severe contamination event, radiocaesium (137Cs) is anticipated to circulate within these forest ecosystems for several decades. Since the accident, a number of models have been constructed to evaluate the past and future dynamics of 137Cs in these forests. To explore the performance and uncertainties of these models we conducted a model inter-comparison exercise using Fukushima data. The main scenario addressed an evergreen needleleaf forest (cedar/cypress), which is the most common and commercially important forest type in Japan. We also tested the models with two forest management scenarios (decontamination by removal of soil surface litter and forest regeneration) and, furthermore, a deciduous broadleaf forest (konara oak) scenario as a preliminary modelling study of this type of forest. After appropriate calibration, the models reproduced the observed data reliably and the ranges of calculated trajectories were narrow in the early phase after the fallout. Successful model performances in the early phase were probably attributable to the availability of comprehensive data characterizing radiocaesium partitioning in the early phase. However, the envelope of the calculated model end points enlarged in long-term simulations over 50 years after the fallout. It is essential to continue repetitive verification/validation processes using decadal data for various forest types to improve the models and to update the forecasting capacity of the models.

After the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP), much of the wild and edible mushrooms and plants in the surrounding areas were contaminated with radiocesium (137Cs). To elucidate their concentration characteristics, we analyzed 137Cs radioactivity data in edible forest products brought in for food inspection by the residents of Kawauchi Village, 12–30 km away from the FDNPP, from 2012 to 2019. A Bayesian model to estimate 137Cs concentration was constructed. Parameters of the normalized concentration of species (NCsp) for mushrooms were similar to those of the same species obtained in a previous study. Although NCsp values were highly varied among species, mycorrhizal mushrooms tended to have high NCsp values, followed by saprotrophic mushrooms, and wild edible plants values were low. Also, half of mycorrhizal mushroom species (8 of 16) showed an increasing trend in concentration with time; however, saprotrophic mushrooms and wild plants generally demonstrated a decreasing trend (22 of 24). The model considering the sub-village location information decreased the error of individual samples by 40% compared to the model not considering any location information, indicating that the detailed geo-information improved estimation accuracy. Our results indicate that the radioactivity data from samples collected by local residents can be used to accurately assess internal exposure to radiation due to self-consumption of contaminated wild mushrooms and plants.

We appreciate the constructive comments by Cheng et al. (1), who performed an intensive statistical analysis of cytokine levels in patients with COVID-19. Their work applies the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method and an MR-Egger regression on a large number of patients for a statistical analysis to identify COVID-19 risk factors. Consistent with our previous work (2), the results of these analyses suggest that the plasma from patients with COVID-19 has significantly lower levels of interleukin (IL)-8, IL-10, and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, compared with that from patients with other types of cytokine release syndrome (CRS). Previously, we proposed that the elevation of four proinflammatory cytokines, that is, IL-6, … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: kishimoto{at}ifrec.osaka-u.ac.jp. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

We perform a numerical computation of the anomalous magnetic moment ($g-2$) of the electron in QED by using the stochastic perturbation theory. Formulating QED on the lattice, we develop a method to calculate the coefficients of the perturbative series of $g-2$ without the use of the Feynman diagrams. We demonstrate the feasibility of the method by performing a computation up to the $\alpha^3$ order and compare with the known results. This program provides us with a totally independent check of the results obtained by the Feynman diagrams and will be useful for the estimations of not-yet-calculated higher order values. This work provides an example of the application of the numerical stochastic perturbation theory to physical quantities, for which the external states have to be taken on-shell., Comment: 35 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, the version to appear in JHEP

We investigate the axial $U(1)$ anomaly of two-flavor QCD at temperatures 190--330 MeV. In order to preserve precise chiral symmetry on the lattice, we employ the M\"obius domain-wall fermion action as well as overlap fermion action implemented with a stochastic reweighting technique. Compared to our previous studies, we reduce the lattice spacing to 0.07 fm, simulate larger multiple volumes to estimate finite size effect, and take more than four quark mass points, including one below physical point to investigate the chiral limit. We measure the topological susceptibility, axial $U(1)$ susceptibility, and examine the degeneracy of $U(1)$ partners in meson/baryon correlators. All the data above the critical temperature indicate that the axial $U(1)$ violation is consistent with zero within statistical errors. The quark mass dependence suggests disappearance of the $U(1)$ anomaly at a rate comparable to that of the $SU(2{)}_{L}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU(2{)}_{R}$ symmetry breaking.

We propose a new method to renormalize lattice operators. The method is based on the technique to compute the spectral sum appearing in the Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov QCD sum rule from lattice correlators. The application of this technique to the light quark system is useful for operator renormalization as well as for the test of perturbative QCD and OPE. We determine the renormalization constant of the vector current and discuss extensions to other current operators., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, talk presented at The 38th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (LATTICE2021), 26th-30th July, 2021, Zoom/Gather@Massachusetts Institute of Technology

We propose a fully non-perturbative method to compute inelastic lepton-nucleon ($\ell N$) scattering cross sections using lattice QCD. The method is applicable even at low energies, such as the energy region relevant for the recent and future neutrino-nucleon ($\nu N$) scattering experiments, for which perturbative analysis is invalidated. The basic building block is the forward Compton-scattering amplitude, or the hadronic tensor, computed on a Euclidean lattice. Total cross section is constructed from the hadronic tensor by multiplying a phase space factor and integrating over the energy and momentum of final hadronic states. The energy integral that induces a sum over all possible final states is performed implicitly by promoting the phase space factor to an operator written in terms of the transfer matrix on the lattice. The formalism is imported from that of the inclusive semileptonic B meson decay [P. Gambino, S. Hashimoto, arXiv:2005.13730]. It can be generalized to compute the $\ell N$ scattering cross sections and their moments, as well as the virtual correction to the nuclear $\beta$-decay. Necessary quark-line contractions for two current insertions corresponding to the Compton amplitude to be computed on the lattice are summarized., Comment: 44 pages, 16 figures; minor corrections, a few refs added

Background Mycobacterium tuberculosis is known to cause latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in 25–50% of the cases, of whom 10–20% develop active tuberculosis (TB). Notably, no marker currently exists for judging the therapeutic effect of TB; it is currently judged by chest X-ray and clinical symptoms. We attempted to establish a marker for distinguishing LTBI from active TB and to identify the probability of recurrence after TB treatment, using information on circulating miRNA expression. Methods In total, 32 patients were enrolled in this study: 16 with an onset or recurrence of active TB, and 16 with LTBI showing positive interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) test and chest X-ray. Total RNA from serum in an exosome-rich fraction was first extracted, followed by miRNA expression analysis using a next-generation sequencer, then, this data were analyzed using miRDeep2. Results Using the expression information of eight miRNAs, LTBI and TB could be diagnosed with an accuracy of 71.8% (odds ratio: 6.16, p value = 3.20e-02). Conclusions A novel method for efficiently differentiating between LTBI and active TB was established. This method appears to be promising for evaluating the therapeutic effect of TB, as it can be performed in a minimally invasive manner.

Spatiotemporal prediction of the response of planted forests to a changing climate is increasingly important for the sustainable management of forest ecosystems. In this study, we present a methodology for estimating spatially varying productivity in a planted forest and changes in productivity with a changing climate in Japan, with a focus on Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica D.Don) as a representative tree species of this region. The process-based model Biome-BGC was parameterized using a plant trait database for Japanese cedar and a Bayesian optimization scheme. To compare productivity under historical (1996–2000) and future (2096–2100) climatic conditions, the climate scenarios of two representative concentration pathways (i.e., RCP2.6 and RCP8.5) were used in five global climate models (GCMs) with approximately 1-km resolution. The seasonality of modeled fluxes, namely gross primary production, ecosystem respiration, net ecosystem exchange, and soil respiration, improved after two steps of parameterization. The estimated net primary production (NPP) of stands aged 36–40 years under the historical climatic conditions of the five GCMs was 0.77 ± 0.10 kgC m-2year-1(mean ± standard deviation), in accordance with the geographical distribution of forest NPP estimated in previous studies. Under the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios, the mean NPP of the five GCMs increased by 0.04 ± 0.07 and 0.14 ± 0.11 kgC m-2year-1, respectively. The increases in annual NPP were small in the southwestern region because of the decreases in summer NPP and the small increases in winter NPP under the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios, respectively. Under the RCP2.6 scenario, Japanese cedar was at risk in the southwestern region, in accordance with previous studies, and monitoring and silvicultural practices should be modified accordingly.

Two of the elements of the Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa quark mixing matrix, $$|V_{ub}|$$ | V ub | and $$|V_{cb}|$$ | V cb | , are extracted from semileptonic B decays. The results of the B factories, analysed in the light of the most recent theoretical calculations, remain puzzling, because for both $$|V_{ub}|$$ | V ub | and $$|V_{cb}|$$ | V cb | the exclusive and inclusive determinations are in clear tension. Further, measurements in the $$\tau $$ τ channels at Belle, Babar, and LHCb show discrepancies with the Standard Model predictions, pointing to a possible violation of lepton flavor universality. LHCb and Belle II have the potential to resolve these issues in the next few years. This article summarizes the discussions and results obtained at the MITP workshop held on April 9–13, 2018, in Mainz, Germany, with the goal to develop a medium-term strategy of analyses and calculations aimed at solving the puzzles. Lattice and continuum theorists working together with experimentalists have discussed how to reshape the semileptonic analyses in view of the much higher luminosity expected at Belle II, searching for ways to systematically validate the theoretical predictions in both exclusive and inclusive B decays, and to exploit the rich possibilities at LHCb.

We administered tocilizumab into 13 severe-to-critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) for compassionate use in combination with potential anti-viral agents in those who required an oxygen supply and showed increased laboratory inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and ferritin. One injection of tocilizumab led to rapid improvements in clinical features, inflammatory findings, and oxygen supply in seven patients with severe COVID-19 and substantial amelioration in two patients who were critically ill, whereas four patients, who exhibited rapidly worsened respiratory function, required artificial ventilatory support even after tocilizumab treatment. Three of these four patients ultimately recovered from deterioration after methylprednisolone treatment. Administration of tocilizumab did not affect viral elimination nor IgG production specific for the virus. Compared with well-responding patients, rapidly-worsened patients showed a significantly higher ratio of ferritin vs. CRP. These findings suggest that tocilizumab has beneficial effects in severe-to-critically ill patients with COVID-19; however, in some cases, addition of methylprednisolone is required for disease rescue.

We investigate the high-temperature phase of QCD using lattice QCD simulations with $N_f = 2$ dynamical M\"obius domain-wall fermions. On generated configurations, we study the axial $U(1)$ symmetry, overlap-Dirac spectra, screening masses from mesonic correlators, and topological susceptibility. We find that some of the observables are quite sensitive to lattice artifacts due to a small violation of the chiral symmetry. For those observables, we reweight the M\"obius domain-wall fermion determinant by that of the overlap fermion. We also check the volume dependence of observables. Our data near the chiral limit indicates a strong suppression of the axial $U(1)$ anomaly at temperatures $\geq$ 220 MeV., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; Proceedings of the 37th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2019), 16-22 June 2019, Wuhan, China

We propose a renormalization scheme that can be simply implemented on the lattice. It consists of the temporal moments of two-point and three-point functions calculated with finite valence quark mass. The scheme is confirmed to yield a consistent result with another renormalization scheme in the continuum limit for the bilinear operators. We apply a similar renormalization scheme for the non-perturbative renormalization of four-fermion operators appearing in the weak effective Hamiltonian., 7 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; Proceedings of the 37th annual International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2019), 16-22 June 2019, Wuhan, China

We analyze the inclusive semileptonic $B \to X_c \ell\nu$ structure functions in 2+1-flavor lattice QCD. The M\"obius domain-wall fermion action is used for light, strange, charm and bottom quarks. The structure function receives contributions from various exclusive modes, including the dominant S-wave states $D^{(*)}_s$ as well as the P-wave states $D_s^{**}$. We can identify them in the lattice data, from which we put some constraints on the $B_s \to D_s^{**}\ell\nu$ form factors.

We propose a method to reconstruct smeared spectral functions from two-point correlation functions measured on the Euclidean lattice. Arbitrary smearing function can be considered as far as it is smooth enough to allow an approximation using Chebyshev polynomials. We test the method with numerical lattice data of Charmonium correlators. The method provides a framework to compare lattice calculation with experimental data including excited state contributions without assuming quark-hadron duality., Comment: 23 pages