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While the day belongs to humans, the night belongs to yokai, supernatural creatures that thrive on human fear. Caught between these two worlds is Rikuo Nura. He's three-quarters human but his grandfather is none other than Nurarihyon, the supreme commander of the Nura clan, a powerful yokai consortium. When Nurarihyon announces Rikuo as his chosen heir to run the Nura clan, Rikuo is torn between his human nature and his duties as a yokai.

In pancreatic islet cell culture models and animal models, we studied the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of insulin-dependent diabetes. The diabetogenic agents, alloxan and streptozotocin, caused DNA strand breaks, which in turn activated poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase/synthetase (PARP) to deplete NAD+, thereby inhibiting islet β-cell functions such as proinsulin synthesis and ultimately leading to β-cell necrosis. Radical scavengers protected against the formation of DNA strand breaks and inhibition of proinsulin synthesis. Inhibitors of PARP prevented the NAD+ depletion, inhibition of proinsulin synthesis and β-cell death. These findings led to the proposed unifying concept for β-cell damage and its prevention (the Okamoto model). The model met one proof with PARP knockout animals and was further extended by the discovery of cyclic ADP-ribose as the second messenger for Ca2+ mobilization in glucose-induced insulin secretion and by the identification of Reg (Regenerating gene) for β-cell regeneration. Physiological and pathological events found in pancreatic β-cells have been observed in other cells and tissues.

Connecting nodes that contingently co-appear, which is a common process of networking in social and biological systems, normally leads to modular structure characterized by the absence of definite boundaries. This study seeks to find and evaluate methods to detect such modules, which will be called ‘pervasive’ communities. We propose a mathematical formulation to decompose a random walk spreading over the entire network into localized random walks as a proxy for pervasive communities. We applied this formulation to biological and social as well as synthetic networks to demonstrate that it can properly detect communities as pervasively structured objects. We further addressed a question that is fundamental but has been little discussed so far: What is the hierarchical organization of pervasive communities and how can it be extracted? Here we show that hierarchical organization of pervasive communities is unveiled from finer to coarser layers through discrete phase transitions that intermittently occur as the value for a resolution-controlling parameter is quasi-statically increased. To our knowledge, this is the first elucidation of how the pervasiveness and hierarchy, both hallmarks of community structure of real-world networks, are unified.

A matricellular protein, osteopontin (OPN), is expressed in response to mechanical stress and similar stimuli in the heart, integrates the inter-ECM signal transduction network of component cells, and maintains efficient contractility through quantitative and qualitative control of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. In particular, OPN is re-expressed in the process of tissue damage; combines with other cell growth factors, cytokines, chemokines, and proteases as a cytokine itself or as an adhesion molecule; and controls the differentiation and growth of cells involved in re-storation of tissues by controlling inter-cellular signal transduction and production of ECM proteins through regulation of expression levels and activity. A study using mice lacking a functional OPN gene indicated that tissue restoration fails and collagen deposition is inhibited through matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in mice lacking OPN. Thus, while OPN accelerates the cardiovascular remodeling process, it also regulates the balance of various inter-cellular activities. In addition, OPN not only promotes arteriosclerosis but is also closely associated with angiogenesis. With the roles of OPN expected to be clinically elucidated, the clinical use of OPN for control of cardiovascular remodeling may be feasible. Points (1) Osteopontin (OPN) efficiently propagates contraction in the heart as a matricellular protein and thereby controls ECM proteins both quantitatively and qualitatively. (2) The quantitative and qualitative control of ECM proteins is involved in interaction with OPN receptors including those of the integrin family, CD44, and others. (3) OPN promotes myocardial remodeling through TGFβ and MMPs. (4) OPN not only promotes arteriosclerosis but is also closely associated with arteriosteogenesis. (5) In animals lacking OPN, tissue remodeling process is inhibited, especially in terms of fibrosis after myocardial infarction. (6) While the significance of OPN as an immune system molecule is still unclear in detail, the significance of OPN in the regenerative immune system has begun to be determined.

A periodic electric field of light applied on a solid is predicted to generate coupled states of the light electric fields and electronic system called photon-dressed Floquet states. Previous studies of those Floquet states have focused on time-averaged energy-level structures. Here, we report time-dependent responses of Floquet states of excitons generated by a mid-infrared (MIR) pulse excitation in a prototypical one-dimensional (1D) Mott insulator, a chlorine-bridged nickel-chain compound, [Ni(chxn) 2 Cl](NO 3 ) 2 (chxn = cyclohexanediamine). Sub-cycle reflection spectroscopy on this compound using a phase-locked MIR pump pulse and an ultrashort visible probe pulse with the temporal width of ∼7 fs revealed that large and ultrafast reflectivity changes occur along the electric field of the MIR pulse; the reflectivity change reached approximately 50% of the original value around the exciton absorption peak. It comprised a high-frequency oscillation at twice the frequency of the MIR pulse and a low-frequency component following the intensity envelope of the MIR pulse, which showed different probe-energy dependences. Simulations considering one-photon-allowed and one-photon-forbidden excitons reproduced the temporal and spectral characteristics of both the high-frequency oscillation and low-frequency component. These simulations demonstrated that all responses originated from the quantum interferences of the linear reflection process and nonlinear light-scattering processes owing to the excitonic Floquet states characteristic of 1D Mott insulators. The present results lead to the developments of Floquet engineering, and demonstrate the possibility of rapidly controlling the intensity of visible or near-IR pulse by varying the phase of MIR electric fields, which will be utilized for ultrafast optical switching devices.

Ferroelectrics sometimes show large electro-optical and non-linear optical effects, available for polarization rotation and frequency conversion of light, respectively. If the amplitude of ferroelectric polarization is modulated in the picosecond time domain, terahertz repetition of optical switching via electro-optical and non-linear optical effects would be achieved. Here we show that polarization amplitude can be rapidly modulated by a terahertz electric field in an organic ferroelectric, tetrathiafulvalene- p -chloranil (TTF-CA). In this compound, alternately stacked donor (TTF) and acceptor (CA) molecules are dimerized via the spin-Peierls mechanism, and charge transfer within each dimer results in a new type of ferroelectricity called electronic-type ferroelectricity. Using a terahertz field, the intradimer charge transfer is strongly modulated, producing a subpicosecond change in the macroscopic polarization, which is demonstrated by transient reflectivity and second-harmonic generation measurements. Subsequently, coherent oscillation of the dimeric molecular displacements occur, which is explained by the modulation of the spin moment of each molecule. Controlling ferroelectric polarization on a terahertz timescale is a challenge, because typically the domain-wall motion occurs on much longer time scales. Here, the authors achieve control over the electronic ferroelectricity in an organic material using a terahertz pump–probe technique.

War is an extreme form of collective human behaviour characterized by coordinated violence. We show that this nature of war is substantiated in the temporal patterns of conflict occurrence that obey power law. The focal metric is the interconflict interval (ICI), the interval between the end of a conflict in a dyad (i.e. a pair of states) and the start of the subsequent conflict in the same dyad. Using elaborate statistical tests, we confirmed that ICI samples compiled from the history of interstate conflicts from 1816 to 2014 followed a power-law distribution. We then demonstrate that the power-law properties of ICIs can be explained by a hypothetical model assuming an information-theoretic formulation of the Clausewitz thesis on war: the use of force is a means of interstate communication. Our findings help us to understand the nature of wars between regular states, the significance of which has increased since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Nearly monocyclic terahertz waves are used for investigating elementary excitations and for controlling electronic states in solids. They are usually generated via second-order optical nonlinearity by injecting a femtosecond laser pulse into a nonlinear optical crystal. In this framework, however, it is difficult to control phase and frequency of terahertz waves. Here, we show that in a one-dimensional Mott insulator of a nickel-bromine chain compound a terahertz wave is generated with high efficiency via strong electron modulations due to quantum interference between odd-parity and even-parity excitons produced by two-color femtosecond pulses. Using this method, one can control all of the phase, frequency, and amplitude of terahertz waves by adjusting the creation-time difference of two excitons with attosecond accuracy. This approach enables to evaluate the phase-relaxation time of excitons under strong electron correlations in Mott insulators. Moreover, phase- and frequency-controlled terahertz pulses are beneficial for coherent electronic-state controls with nearly monocyclic terahertz waves. THz pulses with tuneable properties are desirable for manipulating electronic states in materials. The authors report generation of THz pulses with phase, frequency, and amplitude control by tuning exciton interference in a 1D Mott insulator of transition metal complex and provide insight into exciton dynamics.

Aims We aimed to investigate whether high community-level health literacy, beyond individual-level health literacy, is associated with a low prevalence of frailty among community-dwelling older adults. Methods A large cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among c itizens in Maizuru City, Kyoto, Japan, aged 65 years or older who were not certified as “support” or “care” level according to Japan’s public long-term care insurance system, who could perform basic activities of daily living, and who did not have dementia or Parkinson’s disease. Frailty status was assessed using the Kihon Checklist, with a score ≥ 8 indicating frailty. Health literacy was assessed using the Communicative and Critical Health Literacy Scale. The mean health literacy score of 20 school districts was used as the community-level health literacy index. We investigated demographic data and other potential confounding factors, including education, living arrangement, body mass index, comorbidity, smoking status, depressive symptoms, social networks, and community-level covariates. Results The primary analysis included 6230 individuals (mean age = 74.3 years [SD = 6.1]). In each school district, the prevalence of frailty was 21.2–34.2% (mean: 26.2%), and community-level health literacy index was 3.1–3.5 (mean: 3.4). Multilevel logistic regression model including school district as random effect showed that the community-level health literacy was significantly associated with frailty (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 0.28 [0.08 to 0.96]) after adjusting for the covariates. Conclusions Not only high individual-level health literacy but also high community-level health literacy is associated with a low prevalence of frailty in community-dwelling older adults.