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Dedicated studies evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on outcomes of pancreatobiliary IgG4 related disease (IgG4-RD) patients are scarce. Whether COVID-19 infection or vaccination would trigger IgG4-RD exacerbation remains unknown.Pancreatobiliary IgG4-RD patients ≥ 18 years old with active follow-up since January 2020 from nine referral centers in Asia, Europe, and North America were included in this multicenter retrospective study. Outcome measures include incidence and severity of COVID-19 infection, IgG4-RD disease activity and treatment status, interruption of indicated IgG4-RD treatment. Prospective data on COVID-19 vaccination status and new COVID-19 infection during the Omicron outbreak were also retrieved in the Hong Kong cohort.Of the 124 pancreatobiliary IgG4-RD patients, 25.0% had active IgG4-RD, 71.0% were on immunosuppressive therapies and 80.6% had ≥ 1 risk factor for severe COVID. In 2020 (pre-vaccination period), two patients (1.6%) had COVID-19 infection (one requiring ICU admission), and 7.2% of patients had interruptions in indicated immunosuppressive treatment for IgG4-RD. Despite a high vaccination rate (85.0%), COVID-19 infection rate has increased to 20.0% during Omicron outbreak in the Hong Kong cohort. A trend towards higher COVID-19 infection rate was noted in the non-fully vaccinated/unvaccinated group (17.6% vs 33.3%, P = 0.376). No IgG4-RD exacerbation following COVID-19 vaccination or infection was observed.While a low COVID-19 infection rate with no mortality was observed in pancreatobiliary IgG4-RD patients in the pre-vaccination period of COVID-19, infection rate has increased during the Omicron outbreak despite a high vaccination rate. No IgG4-RD exacerbation after COVID-19 infection or vaccination was observed.

Plasma with an internal transport barrier (ITB) will be developed in JT-60SA as an attractive operation appropriate for a steady-state fusion reactor. To achieve the ITB plasma while avoiding MHD instabilities, it is advantageous to simultaneously control the safety factor (q) profile and the normalized beta (β N). In this study, a control system for simultaneous control of the q profile and βN is studied in simulations prior to the real experiment in JT-60SA. The bootstrap current dominates the total current in the ITB region, which results in a coupling between the pressure profile and the q profile. Thus, it is crucial to control the q profile and β N according to the strength of the ITB. A two-stage neural network-based control system was developed to address this problem. The first stage estimates the transport properties (i.e., ITB strength) of the plasma from measurements. The second stage consists of several neural networks for control of the q profile and β N. According to the ITB strength estimated by the neural network in the first stage, the appropriate neural network for control is selected from those in the second stage. Each neural network in the second stage is trained to control plasmas with different ITB strengths through reinforcement learning employing RAPTOR, an integrated transport code. To validate this system, it is tested in a simulation employing another integrated transport code, TOPICS, to mimic the plasma control in JT-60SA plasmas with various ITB strengths. Stable control of the q profile and β N is achieved in ITB plasmas simulated by both the RAPTOR and TOPICS codes.

Pancreatic fluid collections (PFCs) commonly develop as complications of acute pancreatitis and ductal disruption due to chronic pancreatitis. In the revised Atlanta classification, PFCs were classified based on the presence of necrosis and duration following the onset of acute pancreatitis. Interventions are required in cases of symptomatic pancreatic pseudocysts or walled-off necrosis (WON). In the management of these PFCs, endoscopic ultrasound-guided transluminal drainage and subsequent direct endoscopic necrosectomy for WON are increasingly utilized as less invasive treatment modalities compared to surgical debridement. To date, researchers have focused predominantly on the technical aspects of endoscopic therapy for symptomatic PFCs. Given the poor physical condition of patients receiving endoscopic treatment for PFCs, systemic support may have a substantial impact on the short- and long-term outcomes of these patients. A multidisciplinary approach is required to improve the clinical outcomes of patients with infected PFCs and their associated comorbidities. However, non-interventional support during the periprocedural period of endoscopic treatment of PFCs has not been fully discussed, and there have been considerable variations in the selection of treatment options between endoscopists and centers. To address these unmet needs in the clinical management of PFCs and promote future research to improve the clinical outcomes, we conducted a review of the literature within a multicenter consortium of expert endoscopists with specific expertise in the endoscopic treatment of PFCs. In this review, we summarize the current evidence on non-interventional supportive care (e.g., continuous lavage, medications, nutritional support, and antimicrobials) and propose potential topics for future research.

The gyrokinetic-based turbulent transport models are essential to predict density and temperature profiles, but introducing detailed descriptions of turbulence physics tends to increase the computational cost. To accelerate the profile predictions, a neural-network (NN) based approach has been undertaken. Our study is also developing a NN-based turbulent transport model DeKANIS. A turbulent saturation rule employed in DeKANIS was based on experimental particle fluxes estimated for JT-60U H-mode plasmas, and it was apt to overestimate temperatures. To reduce the overestimation, a different saturation rule is built including experimental heat fluxes.

研究会の企画セッション「不純物輸送」で、JT-60SAやITER、原型炉の予測及び運転シナリオ構築に必要となる統合コード全体の開発計画と、その不純物部分の開発計画について報告する。特に炉心統合コードとダイバータ統合コードとの結合において重要な、両コードの不純物コードの結合の現状について報告する。, 第19回核燃焼プラズマ統合コード研究会

745 Background: Serum CA125 is a potential biomarker for diagnosis of peritoneal metastasis in gastric cancer. However, its significance of pancreatic cancer (PC) has not been investigated. Therefore, we aimed to clarify association between serum CA125 and ascites burden, and its kinetics during first-line chemotherapy for PC. Methods: This multicenter retrospective study comprised PC patients who received FOLFIRINOX or gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel in first-line setting between Jan 2014 and Dec 2021. Patient background and treatment outcome was assessed in CA125 elevated and non-elevated group before chemotherapy. The CA125 kinetics after chemotherapy was calculated based on baseline and first measure of CA125. Further, the association between early CA125 change and clinical response during chemotherapy were evaluated based on optimal cut off value calculated receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: A total 109 patients from 3 hospitals were assessable. The overall survival (OS) was significantly shorter in elevated group than that in non-elevated group (median, 10.7 vs. 21.3 months, p = 0.0002). The median value of CA125 before chemotherapy was elevated according to ascites burden (Non, 36U/ml; mild, 173U/ml; moderate/severe, 575U/ml; p < 0.0001). CA125 elevation, CA19-9 elevation, poor performance status and poor glasgow prognostic score were independent prognostic factors in multivariate analysis. After chemotherapy, the median first-time measure of CA125 was performed in day 41. Among patients with peritoneal dissemination, the median change of CA125 was correlated with clinical response (CR/PR, -0.55%/day; SD, -0.24%/day; PD, 3.35%/day, p = 0.004). After chemotherapy, first-time measure of CA125 was performed in a median of day 41. According to the ROC curve analysis, the optimal cut-off value of increase in CA125 for progressive disease was 1.56 %/day (specificity 94.1%, sensitivity 80%). The median PFS and OS were 1.4 and 6.6 months in increased group and 3.3 months and 14.0 months in non-increased group, respectively (p = 0.016 and p = 0.028). Conclusions: CA125 is considered a clinically useful marker in unresectable PC treated with first-line chemotherapy because CA125 above the ULN is a poor prognostic factor for OS and an increased CA125 can be an early predictor of progression in patients with peritoneal dissemination.

強化学習を用いたJT-60SAの安全係数分布制御を検討した。安全係数分布制御の学習には1万回を超える多数回の試行が必要なため、高速な統合シミュレーションを行うことができるRAPTORコードを用いて学習した。輸送モデルのパラメータをランダムに変化させて学習させることで、モデル化の誤差がある場合でも安全係数分布制御を行うことができるようになった。, プラズマ・核融合学会第38回年会

国際トカマク物理活動（ITPA）の「高エネルギー粒子物理」、「統合運転シナリオ」、「計測」、「スクレイプオフ層とダイバータ物理」、「周辺ペデスタル物理」の各トピカルグループの会合が、2021年5月から7月にかけて開催された。各会合において議論した重要課題への取り組みや国際共同実験/解析の状況を、プラズマ・核融合学会誌を通して国内の研究者に報告する。

Understanding and controlling the turbulent transport developing at the ion-scale, which strongly limits the thermal confinement in tokamaks, is crucial in view of the steady-state ITER operations. As ITER will be mainly heated by the fusion-born alpha particles, the development of ITER-relevant scenarios, together with complex numerical analyses, is crucial in order to study the possible effects of the alpha particles on turbulence regimes to date not explored in detail. Therefore, the present work aims at unveiling further steps towards the complete understanding of the impact of fast ions on the microturbulence, by extending the frontiers of our knowledge towards MeV-range of fast ion energy and turbulence patterns different to the well-established ITG, by means of very demanding gyrokinetic numerical analyses., 5th Asia Pacific Conference on Plasma Physics

Extensive gyrokinetic numerical studies have been performed with the local version of the GENE code for a NBI-heated JT-60U hybrid scenario, previously identified with TEM dominated core turbulence by linear analyses, which share common characteristics with the already analysed JET hybrid scenario 2. The multi-species simulations also include collisions, magnetic fluctuations (both in the parallel and perpendicular directions), and plasma magnetic equilibrium computed by the CRONOS integrated modelling suite of codes., 28th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC2020)

定常プラズマを解析対象とした統合輸送モデルGOTRESS+を開発した。GOTRESS+は炉心プラズマ定常輸送解析コードGOTRESS,を中心に加熱・電流駆動を考慮した定常プラズマを評価・予測することができる。本論文では周辺ペデスタルと呼ばれる領域の分布予測を行うためにEPED1と呼ばれるモデルを実装し、プラズマ全体の分布を予測することを実現したことを報告した。また、これを用いてJT-60SAの目標シナリオ検討を行った結果も併せて報告した。, IAEA核融合エネルギー会議2020

準線形乱流輸送モデルDeKANISはニューラルネットワーク(NN)を用いることで、ジャイロ運動論コードが予測する拡散・ピンチ過程の輸送量への寄与を高速に再現できる。NNの学習に用いるデータの拡張などの改良によって、統合コードにおける輸送シミュレーションが可能になった。また、乱流揺動の飽和レベルは半経験的な手法で評価していたが、混合長理論に基づく手法を導入し、汎用性が以前よりも向上する可能性を示した。

Background and purpose Hepatic steatosis may be associated with an increased γ-glutamyltransferase (γ-GT) levels. Ischaemia-reoxygenation (IR) injury causes several deleterious effects. We evaluated the protective effects of a selective inhibitor of γ-GT in experimentally induced IR injury in rats with obesity and steatosis. Experimental approach Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats with hepatic steatosis were used in the current study. The portal vein and hepatic artery of left lateral and median lobes were clamped to induce ischaemia. Before clamping, 1 ml of saline (IR group) or 1-ml saline containing 1 mg·kg-1 body weight of GGsTop (γ-GT inhibitor; IR-GGsTop group) was injected into the liver via the inferior vena cava. Blood flow was restored after at 30 min of the start of ischaemia. Blood was collected before, at 30 min after ischaemia and at 2 h and 6 h after reoxygenation. All the animals were killed at 6 h and the livers were collected. Key results Treatment with GGsTop resulted in significant reduction of serum ALT, AST and γ-GT levels and hepatic γ-GT, malondialdehyde, 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal and HMGB1 at 6 h after reoxygenation. Inhibition of γ-GT retained normal hepatic glutathione levels. There was prominent hepatic necrosis in IR group, which is significantly reduced in IR-GGsTop group. Conclusion and implications Treatment with GGsTop significantly increased hepatic glutathione content, reduced hepatic MDA, 4-HNE and HMGB1 levels and, remarkably, ameliorated hepatic necrosis after ischaemia-reoxygenation. The results indicated that GGsTop could be an appropriate therapeutic agent to reduce IR-induced liver injury in obesity and steatosis.

International audience; The impact of fast ions on a trapped electron mode (TEM) is extensively analysed by linear and nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations for a JT-60U plasma at high β and low magnetic shear using the Gene code in local approximation. For the first time, it is shown that TEM-induced turbulent transport may remain unaffected by the steep fast ion pressure profile generated by the Neutral Beam Injection. Unlike recent observations of ion temperature gradient (ITG)-induced turbulent transport reductions due to fast ions, TEM-dominated systems could act differently in the presence of a significant fast ion population. The possible role of zonal flows as a saturation mechanism is analyzed, showing that their weak impact in the reported JT-60U scenario might lead to different behaviour of fast ions with respect to the ITG-dominated discharges. It is also shown that Alfvénic shear modes are destabilized at low wave numbers (n$\simeq$8). They are identified as drift Alfvén waves destabilized by ITG, which is a form of Alfvénic ITG instabilities. Deep numerical analysis provides the physical parameter range in which ITG-driven BAEs are stabilized. These results open the way to new possibilities of tailoring future experimental scenarios in order to benefit from transport reduction by fast ions.

The ITER Remote Experimentation Centre (REC) project (one of the three sub-projects of the International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC)) is progressing under the agreement between the Government of Japan and the European Atomic Energy Community for the joint implementation of the Broader Approach (BA) activities in the field of fusion energy research. The objectives of the REC activity are to identify the functions and solve the technical issues for the construction of the REC for ITER at Rokkasho, and to develop the remote experiment system and verify the functions required for remote experimentation by using the Satellite Tokamak (JT-60SA) facilities to facilitate the future exploitation of ITER and JT-60SA. The functions of REC will be tested, and the total system will be demonstrated using JT-60SA and existing facilities in the EU, such as JET and WEST. The hardware of the REC has been prepared in Rokkasho Japan, which has the remote experiment room with a large video wall to show the plasma and operation status, IT equipment and a storage system by the reuse of the Helios supercomputer tape library. A broadband network infrastructure of 10Gbps has been installed connected to SINET5. Using this network system, fast data transfer from ITER to REC was examined in 2016, and the transfer of the data volumes expected for the initial ITER experiments has been demonstrated. A secure remote experimentation system has been developed, using JT-60SA, that has functions for preparing and setting of shot parameters, viewing the status of control data, streaming of the plasma status, data-exchange function of shot events, and monitoring of the facility operation. Remote data analysis techniques, data visualisation software, a documentation management and experiment planning system and numerical simulation codes for the preparation and performance estimation of discharges have also been developed.

A novel integrated model GOTRESS+ has been developed, which consists of the iterative transport solver GOTRESS as a kernel of the integrated model, the equilibrium and current profile alignment code ACCOME and the neutral beam heating/current-drive code OFMC. GOTRESS is able to robustly find out an exact solution of the stationary-state transport equations even with a stiff turbulent transport model, taking advantage of global optimization techniques such as a genetic algorithm. GOTRESS+ is then suitable for self-consistently assessing the stationary-state plasma performance of JT-60SA as well as ITER and DEMO or validating their feasibility. Recently GOTRESS+ has been extended to incorporate the in-house EPED1 model exploiting the MHD stability code MARG2D and is now able to predict the plasma profiles even with the pedestal over the entire region from the magnetic axis to the plasma boundary in a self-consistent manner. The two JT-60SA operation scenarios including the ITER-like inductive scenario and the high β fully non-inductively current driven scenario have been assessed by GOTRESS+ with the CDBM turbulent transport model and then were found to be feasible with most of the target dimensionless parameters met.

A novel integrated model GOTRESS+ has been developed, which consists of the iterative transport solver GOTRESS as a kernel of the integrated model, the equilibrium and current profile alignment code ACCOME and the neutral beam heating/current-drive code OFMC. GOTRESS is able to robustly find out an exact solution of the stationary-state transport equations even with a stiff turbulent transport model, taking advantage of global optimization techniques such as a genetic algorithm. GOTRESS+ is then suitable for self-consistently assessing the stationary-state plasma performance of JT-60SA as well as ITER and DEMO or validating their feasibility. Recently GOTRESS+ has been extended to incorporate the in-house EPED1 model exploiting the MHD stability code MARG2D and is now able to predict the plasma profiles even with the pedestal over the entire region from the magnetic axis to the plasma boundary in a self-consistent manner. The two JT-60SA operation scenarios including the ITER-like inductive scenario and the high β fully non-inductively current driven scenario have been assessed by GOTRESS+ with the CDBM turbulent transport model.

Active control and stabilization of locked modes (LM) via rotating external magnetic perturbations are numerically investigated under a realistic low resistivity condition. To explore plasma responses to rotating and/or static external magnetic perturbations, we have developed a resistive magnetohydrodynamic code ‘AEOLUS-IT’. By using AEOLUS-IT, dependencies of mode behavior on frequency and polarity of the rotating magnetic perturbation are successfully clarified. Here, the rotational direction of the rotating magnetic perturbation to the equilibrium plasma rotation in the laboratory frame is referred to as ‘polarity’. The rotating magnetic perturbation acts on the background rotating plasma in the presence of a static field. Under such circumstances, there exist bifurcated states of the background rotating plasma, which should be taken into account when studying the dependence of the mode behavior on the rotating magnetic perturbation. It is found that there exist an optimum frequency and polarity of the rotating magnetic perturbation to control the LM, and that the LM is effectively stabilized by a co- polarity magnetic perturbation in comparison with a counter-polarity one.

BackgroundDuring ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), high echoic areas due to RFA-induced microbubbles can help calculate the extent of ablation. However, these areas also decrease visualization of target tumors, making it difficult to assess whether they completely cover the tumors. To estimate the effects of RFA more precisely, we used an image fusion system (IFS).Patients and methodsWe enrolled patients with a single HCC who received RFA with or without the IFS. In the IFS group, we drew a spherical marker along the contour of a target tumor on reference images immediately after administering RFA so that the synchronized spherical marker represented the contour of the target tumor on real-time ultrasound images. When the high echoic area completely covered the marker, we considered the ablation to be complete. We compared outcomes between the IFS and control groups.ResultsWe enrolled 25 patients and 20 controls, and the baseline characteristics were similar between the two groups. The complete ablation rates during the first RFA session were significantly higher in the IFS group compared with those in the control group (88.0%vs. 60.0%,P= 0.041). The number of RFA sessions was significantly smaller in the IFS group compared with that in the control group (1.1 ± 0.3vs. 1.5 ± 0.7,P= 0.016).ConclusionsThe study suggested that the IFS enables a more precise estimation of the effects of RFA on HCC, contributing to enhanced treatment efficacy and minimized patient burden.

Micro CPV is a promising technology for reducing high-precision assembly cost while making use of the high efficiency of CPV. However, the requirement of the installation and tracking accuracy remains the same. A production method is often taken to manufacture small size modules with high accuracy, high homogeneity, low cost, and to compile them. There is a concern that the performance of the large-area panel may deteriorate due to accuracy in the assembly. A micro-Kohler concentrator optics was designed suitable to the micro CPV modules, and the designed acceptance angle (90 % power point) reached 1.8 degrees with the 500 x axially symmetrical (truncated to square) primary plano-convex lens.

Micro CPV is a promising technology for reducing high-precision assembly cost while making use of the high efficiency of CPV. A production method is often taken to manufacture small size modules with high accuracy, high homogeneity, low cost, and to compile them. There is a concern that the performance of the large-area panel may deteriorate due to accuracy in the assembly. We did the Monte Carlo analysis for simulate assemble error. It could successfully define inspection conditions and tolerance control thresholds with consideration of the worst-case of the tracking errors. With proper but reasonable inspections (component acceptance and alignment accuracy test), it is possible to collect micro-CPV units to a reasonable-size of the CPV panel keeping more than 90 % of the output even with the worst-case installation and tracking errors. This approach can be expanded to the analysis of impact by the partial shading of the lens that has a significant impact on the performance of CPV.

Ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury is a major clinical problem and is associated with numerous adverse effects. GGsTop [2-amino-4{[3-(carboxymethyl)phenyl](methyl)phosphono}butanoic acid] is a highly specific and irreversible γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GT) inhibitor. We studied the protective effects of GGsTop on IR-induced hepatic injury in rats. Ischemia was induced by clamping the portal vein and hepatic artery of left lateral and median lobes of the liver. Before clamping, saline (IR group) or saline containing 1 mg/kg body wt of GGsTop (IR-GGsTop group) was injected into the liver through the inferior vena cava. At 90 min of ischemia, blood flow was restored. Blood was collected before induction of ischemia and prior to restoration of blood flow and at 12, 24, and 48 h after reperfusion. All the animals were euthanized at 48 h after reperfusion and the livers were harvested. Serum levels of alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, and γ-GT were significantly lower after reperfusion in the IR-GGsTop group compared with the IR group. Massive hepatic necrosis was present in the IR group, while only few necroses were present in the IR-GGsTop group. Treatment with GGsTop increased hepatic GSH content, which was significantly reduced in the IR group. Furthermore, GGsTop prevented increase of hepatic γ-GT, malondialdehyde, 4-hydroxynonenal, and TNF-α while all these molecules significantly increased in the IR group. In conclusion, treatment with GGsTop increased glutathione levels and prevented formation of free radicals in the hepatic tissue that led to decreased IR-induced liver injury. GGsTop could be used as a pharmacological agent to prevent IR-induced liver injury and the related adverse events.

Plasma with an internal transport barrier (ITB) is desirable for a steady-state tokamak reactor because of its high confinement quality and high bootstrap current fraction. However, the local pressure gradient tends to be steep and the plasma often becomes unstable. In this study, an ion temperature gradient control system based on neutral beam injection (NBI) is developed using the reinforcement learning technique. The response characteristics of an ion temperature gradient to NBI are non-linear and sensitive to experimental conditions, which makes it difficult to develop a robust control system. Our control system is trained for plasmas with a wide range of ITB strengths. Using the reinforcement learning technique, the system acquires a robust control feature through several thousand iterations of trial and error in an integrated transport simulation hosted by TOPICS. The control system is composed of neural networks (NNs) whose input variables are the ion temperature gradient, the current NBI power, and the NBI powers for several previous control time steps. The trained system can determine a control output which is suitable for the response characteristics inferred from the input variables. The trained control system is tested in the TOPICS simulation using plasma models based on two experimental plasmas of JT-60U with different ITB strengths. It is shown that the ion temperature gradient can be appropriately controlled for both plasmas, which supports the expectation that this system is applicable to real experiments.

Background/aim To elucidate how the combination of fatty liver and increased serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) levels influences atherosclerotic plaque development in apparently healthy people. Materials and methods The study population included people who had received an annual health checkup for more than 7 years and had no evidence of carotid plaque at baseline. We investigated the risk factors for carotid plaque occurrence using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results A total of 107 people (76 men and 31 women; median age, 49 years) were enrolled. At baseline, fatty liver and a serum GGT level ≥50 U/L were observed in 13 and 38 people, respectively. During a median follow-up period of 13.3 years, carotid plaques appeared in 34 people. Multivariate analysis revealed that the combination of fatty liver and a serum GGT level ≥50 U/L was the only significant risk factor for carotid plaque occurrence (age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratio: 5.55; 95% confidence interval 1.70–18.14; P = 0.005). Conclusion The combination of fatty liver and increased serum GGT levels raises the risk for atherosclerotic plaque development in apparently healthy people.

We report results of benchmarking of core particle transport simulations by a collection of codes widely used in transport modelling of tokamak plasmas. Our analysis includes formulation of transport equations, difference between electron and ion solvers, comparison of modules of the pellet and edge gas fuelling on the ITER baseline scenario. During the first phase of benchmarking we address the particle transport effects in the stationary phase. Firstly, simulations are performed with identical sources, sinks, transport coefficients, and boundary conditions prescribed in the flattop H-mode phase. The transformation of ion particle transport equations is introduced so to directly compare their results to electron transport solvers. Secondly, the pellet fuelling models are benchmarked in various conditions to evaluate the dependency of the pellet deposition on the pellet volume, injection side, pedestal, and separatrix parameters. Thirdly, edge gas fuelling is benchmarked to assess sensitivities of source profile predictions to uncertainties in plasma conditions and detailed model assumptions. At the second phase, we address particle transport effects in the time- evolving plasma including the current ramp-up to the ramp-down phase. The ion and the electron solvers are benchmarked together. Differences between the simulation results of the solvers are investigated in terms of equilibrium, grid resolution, radial coordinate, radial grid distribution, and plasma volume evolution term. We found that the selection of the radial coordinate can yield prominent differences between the solvers mainly due to differences in the edge grid distribution. The simulations reveal that electron and ion solvers predict noticeably different density peaking for the same diffusion and pinch velocity while with the peaked profile of helium, expected in fusion reactors. The fuelling benchmarking shows that gas puffing is not efficient for core fuelling in H-modes and density control should be done by the high field side pellet injection in contrast to present machines.

We propose a compact 20-mm-thick concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) module that is much thinner than conventional CPV modules. To achieve this structure, we assembled a CPV module by placing microsolar cells with an area smaller than 1 mm2 directly on the back of a lens array. Since our CPV module has no secondary optics, the incident sunlight is focused through the lens array onto the solar cell so that the light intensity is nonuniformly distributed due to chromatic and comatic aberration. In this paper, we analyze the dependence of the short current ( $I_{{\rm sc}}$ ) and the fill factor of our CPV module on the area, the position, and the intensity distribution of the irradiated sunlight on the solar cell. Our results indicate that the main factor that affects the PV performance of our CPV module is not the sunlight's nonuniform irradiation in the three-junction subcells due to chromatic and comatic aberration but the resistance loss between the emitter layer of the top cell and the grid electrodes.

The transcriptional activity of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is increased in subjects with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Recent studies have indicated that the -509C genotype in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected subjects and the -509T genotype in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected subjects can increase the transcriptional activity of the TGF-β1 gene. We conducted a meta-analysis to clarify whether these two hepatitis viruses affect the association between TGF-β1 C-509T variants and HCC susceptibility. Using data derived from 8 case-control studies available in the PubMed database (5 with Asian and 3 with Caucasian populations), including 1,427 cases and 3,735 controls [1,610 patients with chronic liver disease and 2,125 healthy controls], we calculated pooled odds ratios with corresponding 95% confidence intervals. We used dominant (TT + CT vs. CC), recessive (TT vs. CC + CT), and co-dominant (TT vs. CC and CT vs. CC) genetic models. An overall analysis showed no association between the TGF-β1 C-509T variants and HCC susceptibility for all models. In contrast, a subgroup analysis, based on the infecting hepatitis viruses, provided the following results. Among the cases and controls with chronic liver disease, the TGF-β1 C-509T variants were significantly associated with decreased HCC susceptibility for two models with HBV-infected subjects, whereas the variants were significantly associated with increased HCC susceptibility for one model with HCV-infected subjects. Among the cases and healthy controls, there was a significant association between the TGF-β1 C-509T variants and increased HCC susceptibility for two models involving HCV-infected subjects. Among the cases and the entire control group, the same results were obtained for all genetic models with HCV-infected subjects. Although further data accumulation is required, our results suggest that these two hepatitis viruses affect the association between TGF-β1 C-509T variants and HCC susceptibility in opposite manners.

Panasonic has been proposing new concept of PV. We call it PIC. PIC means Plastic lens Integrated III-V compound semiconductor Cell module, which enables commercially reasonable solar energy system. PIC is the new concept of CPV(Concentrator Photo Voltaic). Amongst many CPV configurations, PIC can solve the problem of conventional ones as follows; heavy, complicated and need expensive tracking system. In this presentation, we will discuss how to use multi junction solar cells for new concept of CPV as well.

The ITER Remote Experimentation Centre (REC) project (one of the three sub-projects of the International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC)) is progressing under the agreement between the Government of Japan and the European Atomic Energy Community for the joint implementation of the Broader Approach (BA) activities in the field of fusion energy research. The objectives of the REC activity are to identify the functions and solve the technical issues for the construction of the REC for ITER at Rokkasho, and to develop the remote experiment system and verify the functions required for remote experimentation by using the Satellite Tokamak (JT-60SA) facilities to facilitate the future exploitation of ITER and JT-60SA. The functions of REC will be tested, and the total system will be demonstrated using JT-60SA and existing facilities in the EU, such as JET and WEST. The hardware of the REC has been prepared in Rokkasho Japan, which has the remote experiment room with a large video wall to show the plasma and operation status, IT equipment and a storage system by the reuse of the Helios supercomputer tape library. A broadband network infrastructure of 10Gbps has been installed connected to SINET5. Using this network system, fast data transfer from ITER to REC was examined in 2016, and the transfer of the data volumes expected for the initial ITER experiments has been demonstrated. A secure remote experimentation system has been developed, using JT-60SA, that has functions for preparing and setting of shot parameters, viewing the status of control data, streaming of the plasma status, data-exchange function of shot events, and monitoring of the facility operation. Remote data analysis techniques, data visualisation software, a documentation management and experiment planning system and numerical simulation codes for the preparation and performance estimation of discharges have also been developed.

The impact of fast ions on a trapped electron mode (TEM) is extensively analysed by linear and nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations for a JT-60U plasma at high and low magnetic shear using the Gene code in local approximation. For the first time, it is shown that TEM-induced turbulent transport may remain unaffected by the steep fast ion pressure profile generated by the neutral beam injection. Unlike recent observations of ion temperature gradient (ITG)- induced turbulent transport reductions due to fast ions, TEM-dominated systems could act differently in the presence of a significant fast ion population. The possible role of zonal flows as a saturation mechanism is analyzed, showing that their weak impact in the reported JT-60U scenario might lead to different behaviour of fast ions with respect to the ITG-dominated discharges. It is also shown that Alfvénic shear modes are destabilized at low wave numbers (n≈8). They are identified as drift Alfvén waves destabilized by ITG, which is a form of Alfvénic ITG instabilities. Deep numerical analysis provides the physical parameter range in which ITG-driven BAEs are stabilized. These results open the way to new possibilities of tailoring