Traditional Japanese Diet Score - Association with Obesity, Incidence of Ischemic Heart Disease, and Healthy Life Expectancy in a Global Comparative Study.

OBJECTIVES: We created a Traditional Japanese Diet Score (TJDS), and to clarify the relationship between TJDS and obesity, ischemic heart disease (IHD), and healthy life expectancy (HALE). DESIGN: Ecological study. SETTING: Food (g/day/capita) and energy (kcal/day/capita) supply was determined using the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Statistics Division database. The sum of characteristic traditional Japanese foods (beneficial food components in the Japanese diet: rice, fish, soybeans, vegetables, eggs, and seaweeds; food components rarely used in the Japanese diet: wheat, milk, and red meat) was divided as tertiles (beneficial food components: -1, 0, 1; rarely used food components: 1, 0, -1). Obesity rate was determined using the World Health Organization database. Incidence of IHD, HALE and smoking rate were determined using the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 database. Gross domestic product per capita, percentage of population > 65 years old, and health expenditure were determined using the World Bank database. Education years were obtained from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute for Statistics. Associations between TJDS and obesity, IHD and HALE were examined in 132 countries with a population of 1 million or greater using a general linear model controlled for co-variables. RESULTS: TJDS was distributed from -6 to 7. TJDS was inversely correlated to obesity (ß±SE; -0.70±0.19, p<0.001), IHD (-19.4±4.3, p<0.001), and positively correlated to HALE (0.40±0.14, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: TJDS is a good indicator of a healthy diet, and applies to preventing obesity, IHD and extending HALE.

Quasiparticles and Fermi liquid behaviour in an organic metal.

Many organic metals display exotic properties such as superconductivity, spin-charge separation and so on and have been described as quasi-one-dimensional Luttinger liquids. However, a genuine Fermi liquid behaviour with quasiparticles and Fermi surfaces have not been reported to date for any organic metal. Here, we report the experimental Fermi surface and band structure of an organic metal (BEDT-TTF)(3)Br(pBIB) obtained using angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, and show its consistency with first-principles band structure calculations. Our results reveal a quasiparticle renormalization at low energy scales (effective mass m*=1.9 m(e)) and ω(2) dependence of the imaginary part of the self energy, limited by a kink at ~50 meV arising from coupling to molecular vibrations. The study unambiguously proves that (BEDT-TTF)(3)Br(pBIB) is a quasi-2D organic Fermi liquid with a Fermi surface consistent with Shubnikov-de Haas results.

Muon spin relaxation studies of magnetic-field-induced effects in high-Tc superconductors.

Muon spin relaxation measurements in high transverse magnetic fields [FORMULA: SEE TEXT] revealed strong field-induced quasistatic magnetism in the underdoped and Eu-doped (La,Sr)2CuO4 and La1.875Ba0.125CuO4, existing well above Tc and TN. The susceptibility counterpart of Cu spin polarization, derived from the muon spin relaxation rate, exhibits a divergent behavior towards T approximately 25 K. No field-induced magnetism was detected in overdoped La1.81Sr0.19CuO4, optimally doped Bi2212, and Zn-doped YBa2Cu3O7.

Dynamic properties of a diluted pyrochlore cooperative paramagnet (Tb(p)Y(1-p))2Ti2O7.

Investigations of the spin dynamics of the geometrically frustrated pyrochlore (Tb(p)Y(1-p))2Ti2O7, using muon spin relaxation and neutron spin echo, as a function of magnetic coverage p, have been carried out. Our major finding is that paramagnetic fluctuations prevail as T-->0 for all values of p, and that they are sensitive to dilution, indicating a cooperative spin motion. However, the percolation threshold pc is not a critical point for the fluctuations. We also find that the low temperature spectral density has a 1/f behavior, and that dilution slows down the spin fluctuations.

Muon spin relaxation and susceptibility studies of the pure and diluted spin 1/2 kagomé-like lattice system (CuxZn(1-x))3V2O7(OH2) 2H2O.

Muon spin relaxation and magnetic susceptibility measurements have been performed on the pure and diluted spin 1/2 kagomé system (CuxZn(1-x))3V2O7(OH)2 2H2O. In the pure x=1 system we found a slowing down of Cu spin fluctuations with decreasing temperature towards T approximately 1 K, followed by slow and nearly temperature-independent spin fluctuations persisting down to T=50 mK, indicative of quantum fluctuations. No indication of static spin freezing was detected in either of the pure (x=1.0) or diluted samples. The observed magnitude of fluctuating fields indicates that the slow spin fluctuations represent an intrinsic property of kagomé network rather than impurity spins.

Field dependence of the muon spin relaxation rate in MnSi.

Muon spin rotation/relaxation measurements have been performed in the itinerant helical magnet MnSi at ambient pressure and at 8.3 kbar. We have found the following: (a) the spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T(1) shows divergence as T1T proportional, variant (T-T(c))(beta) with the power beta larger than 1 near T(c); (b) 1/T(1) is strongly reduced in an applied external field B(L) and the divergent behavior near T(c) is completely suppressed at B(L)> or =4000 G. We discuss that (a) is consistent with the self-consistent renormalization theory and reflects a departure from "mean-field" behavior, while (b) indicates selective suppression of spin fluctuations of the q=0 component by B(L).

Soft x-ray absorption spectra of ilmenite family.

We have carried out soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy to study the electronic structure of ilmenite family, such as MnTiO3, FeTiO3, and CoTiO3 at the soft x-ray beamline, BL23SU, at the SPring-8. The Ti and M L2,3 absorption spectra of MTiO3 (M=Mn, Fe, and Co) show spectra of Ti4+ and M2+ electron configurations, respectively. Except the Fe L2,3 spectrum, those spectra were understood within the O(h) symmetry around the transition metal ions. The Fe L3-edge spectrum clearly shows a doublet peak at the L3 edge, which is attributed to Fe2+ state, moreover the very high-resolution the L-edge spectra of transition metals show fine structures. The spectra of those ilmenites are compared.

Pharmacological profile of VP-343, a novel selective vasopressin V2 receptor antagonist, in rats.

The pharmacological profile of a novel selective vasopressin V2 receptor antagonist, VP-343(N-[4-[[(2S,3aR)-2-hydroxy-2,3,3a,4-tetrahydropyrrolo[ 1,2-a]quinoxalin-5(1H)-yl]carbonyl]phenyl]-4'-methyl[1,1'-biphenyl ]-2-carboxamide) was characterized in several in vitro and in vivo rat models. The IC50 values of VP-343 for vasopressin V1A and V2 receptors were 110 and 0.77 nM, respectively. VP-343 inhibited dose-dependently the pressor response to exogenous arginine vasopressin (AVP; 30 mU/kg, i.v.) in pithed rats, with an ID50 value of 0.57 mg/kg (i.v.). VP-343 induced strong aquaresis in normal saline-loaded conscious rats. Antidiuretic activities of VP-343 have not been detected in AVP deficient Brattleboro rats, showing its lack AVP V2 agonistic activity. During repeated administration for 21 d (3 mg/kg, p.o.) and after recovery, the aquaretic action of VP-343 still remained. In the aged (17 month) saline-loaded conscious rats study, VP-343 (3 mg/kg, p.o.) exhibited remarkable diuretic action. In a single dose oral toxicity study in mice, VP-343 did not produce any clinical signs and mortality at any of the tested doses. The results indicate that VP-343 is a potent, orally active, selective V2 receptor antagonist, suggesting that it can be expected to be useful as an aquaretic drug.