Makoto Miyoshi

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan | NAOJ · Department of Radio Astronomy

We propose that the ring structure found by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHTC) as the black hole shadow of Sgr A*is an artifact by the bumpy PSF (Point Spread Function) of the EHT2017. The imaging using sparse u-v data requires detailed scrutiny of the PSF. The estimated shadow diameter (48.7 +- 7 muas) is equal to the spacing between...

Two critical aspects of radio interferometric imaging analysis are data calibration and deconvolution of the point spread function (PSF) structure. Both of these are particularly important for high-frequency observations using a VLBI network consisting of a small number of stations, such as those conducted by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). The...

We propose that the ring structure found by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHTC) as the black hole shadow of Sgr A* is an artefact caused by the bumpy point spread function (PSF) of the EHT 2017 data. The imaging using sparse u-v data requires detailed scrutiny of the PSF. The estimated shadow diameter ($\mathrm{48.7\pm 7~\mu \rm as}$)...

M87 is the best target for studying black hole accretion and jet formation. Reanalysis of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) public data at 230 GHz shows a core–knots structure at the center and jet features. We here compare this with the new results of GMVA at 86 GHz showing a spatially resolved central core. There are similarities and differences...

Patients with eczema with a systemic metal allergy, such as nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), and tin (Sn), should pay attention to symptomatic exacerbation by excessive metal intake in food. However, dietary intervention for systemic metal allergy can be difficult. In this study, we evaluated the effect of dietary intervention by a register...

By connecting two antennas, Kashima 34~m and Nobeyama 45~m, an east-west baseline of 200~km is formed. At that time, because Nobeyama 45~m had the world's number one sensitivity in the 43~GHz band, and also Kashima 34~m was the world's third-largest one, the Kashima-Nobeyama baseline provided the highest sensitivity at 43~GHz VLBI (Figure 1). The c...

On June 14, 2022, the EHT collaboration (hereafter EHTC) made the web page (https://eventhorizontelescope.org/blog/imaging-reanalyses-eht-data) with the title "Imaging Reanalyses of EHT Data," in which they made comments on our recent Miyoshi et al .2022 published in the Astrophysical Journal. We investigated the EHTC comments and found that all of...

We report the result of our independent image reconstruction of the M87 from the public data of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaborators (EHTC). Our result is different from the image published by the EHTC. Our analysis shows that (a) the structure at 230 GHz is consistent with those of lower-frequency very long baseline interferometry observation...

The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) is promising to be a powerful tool for precision astrometry of the area around Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) because it has a high angular resolution, high sensitivity, and wide field of view. We have observed the area including the Nuclear Star Cluster at 230 GHz with ALMA in 2017 October. The angu...

We report our independent image reconstruction of the M 87 from the public data of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaborators (EHTC). Our result is different from the image published by the EHTC. Our analysis shows that (a) the structure at 230 GHz is consistent with those of lower frequency VLBI observations, (b) the jet structure is evident at 230...

Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) is promising to be a powerful tool for precision astrometry of the area around Sagittarius A$^\ast$ (Sgr A$^\ast$) because it has the high angular resolution, high sensitivity, and wide field of view. We have observed the area including the Nuclear Star Cluster at 230 GHz with ALMA in October 2017...

Background & Aims Muscle atrophy is a public health issue and inflammation is a major cause of muscle atrophy. While docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which are typical ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, are reported to have anti-inflammatory effects on endotoxin-induced inflammatory responses, their effects on inflammatory...

We performed a search of cloud–cloud collision (CCC) sites in the Sagittarius A molecular cloud (SgrAMC) based on the survey observations using the Nobeyama 45 m telescope in the C32S J = 1–0 and SiO v = 0 J = 2–1 emission lines. We found candidates abundant in shocked molecular gas in the Galactic Center Arc (GCA). One of them, M0.014−0.054, is lo...

We performed a search of cloud-cloud collision (CCC) sites in the Sagittarius A molecular cloud (SgrAMC) based on the survey observations using the Nobeyama 45-m telescope in the C$^{32}$S $J=1-0$ and SiO $v=0~J=2-1$ emission lines. We found candidates being abundant in shocked molecular gas in the Galactic Center Arc (GCA). One of them, M0.014-0.0...

The Galactic Center Lobe (GCL) is a peculiar object widely protruding from the Galactic plane toward the positive Galactic latitude, which had been found toward the Galactic Center (GC) in the early days of the radio observation. The peculiar shape has suggested a relation with historical events, star burst, large explosion, and so on in the GC. Ho...

The Galactic Center Lobe (GCL) is a peculiar object widely protruding from the Galactic plane toward the positive Galactic latitude, which had been found toward the Galactic Center (GC) in the early days of the radio observation. The peculiar shape has suggested any relation with historical events, star burst, large explosion and so on in the GC. H...

The Galactic Center IRS 13E cluster is a very intriguing infrared object located at ${\sim } 0.13$ pc from Sagittarius A$^\ast$ (Sgr A$^\ast$) in projection distance. There are arguments both for and against the hypothesis that a dark mass like an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) exists in the cluster. We recently detected the rotating ionized g...

A radio source at the Galactic center Sgr A* is a prime supermassive black hole candidate and therefore key to developing our understanding of them. Time variations in the 230 GHz band flux of Sgr A* have been found with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Cycle 5 observations. Measuring the flux density of Sgr A* in 1 minute snapshots...

IRS 7 is an M red supergiant star which is located at ${5{^{\prime \prime}_{.}}5}$ north of Sagittarius A$^\ast$. We detected firstly the continuum emission at $340\:$GHz of IRS 7 using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The total flux density of IRS 7 is $S_{\, \nu} =448\pm 45\, \mu$Jy. The flux density indicates that IRS 7 h...

A radio source at the Galactic center Sgr A* is a prime supermassive black hole candidate and therefore key to developing our understanding of them. Time variations in the 230 GHz band flux of Sgr A* have been found with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Cycle 5 observations. Measuring the flux density of Sgr A* in 1 min snaps...

The Galactic Center IRS 13E cluster is a very intriguing IR object located at $\sim0.13$ pc from Sagittarius A$^\ast$ (Sgr A$^\ast$) in projection distance. There are both arguments for and against the hypothesis that a dark mass like an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) exists in the cluster. Recently we have detected the rotating ionized gas ri...

IRS 7 is an M red supergiant star which is located at $5".5$ north of Sagittarius A$^\ast$. We detected firstly the continuum emission at 340 GHz of IRS 7 using ALMA. The total flux density of IRS 7 is $S_\nu=448\pm45 \mu$Jy. The flux density indicates that IRS 7 has a photosphere radius of $R=1170\pm60 ~R_\odot$, which is roughly consistent with t...

We have observed the compact H ii region complex nearest to the dynamical center of the Galaxy, G−0.02−0.07, using ALMA in the H42α recombination line, CS J = 2–1, H13CO+J = 1–0, and SiO v = 0, J = 2–1 emission lines, and the 86 GHz continuum emission. The H ii regions HII-A to HII-C in the cluster are clearly resolved into a shell-like feature wit...

We detected a compact ionized gas associated physically with IRS13E3, an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) candidate in the Galactic center, in the continuum emission at 232 GHz and H30α recombination line using ALMA Cy.5 observation (2017.1.00503.S, P.I. M.Tsuboi). The continuum emission image shows that IRS13E3 is surrounded by an oval-like str...

We have observed the compact HII region complex nearest to the dynamical center of the Galaxy, G-0.02-0.07, using ALMA in the H42a recombination line, CS J=2-1, H13CO+ J=1-0, and SiO v=0, J=2-1 emission lines, and 86 GHz continuum emission. The HII regions HII-A to HII-C in the cluster are clearly resolved into a shell-like feature with a bright-ha...

We detected a compact ionized gas associated physically with IRS13E3, an Intermediate Mass Black Hole (IMBH) candidate in the Galactic Center, in the continuum emission at 232 GHz and H30$\alpha$ recombination line using ALMA Cy.5 observation (2017.1.00503.S, P.I. M.Tsuboi). The continuum emission image shows that IRS13E3 is surrounded by an oval-l...

Objective: Dermal fibroproliferative disorders impair patients’ quality of life. Although several therapeutic approaches exist for treatment of dermal scars, the development of effective ointments with few adverse effects could improve these therapeutic methods. Short-chain and ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are reported to be immunomodulators wit...

We present high angular resolution and high sensitivity images of the “circumnuclear disk” (CND) and the surrounding region of the Milky Way Galaxy in the CS J = 2–1, SiO v = 0 J = 2–1, H¹³CO⁺J = 1–0, C³⁴S J = 2–1, and CH3OH |$J_{K_a, K_c}=2_{1,1}$|–11, 0A−− emission lines using ALMA. The CND is recognized as a torus-like molecular gas with gaps in...

We present the high angular resolution and high sensitivity images of the "Circum-Nuclear Disk (CND)" and its surrounding region of Milky Way Galaxy in the CS J=2-1, SiO v=0 J=2-1, H^13CO^+ J=1-0, C^34S J=2-1, and CH_3OH J_{K_a, K_c}=2_{1,1}-1_{1,0}A_{--} emission lines using ALMA. The CND is recognized as a torus-like molecular gas with gaps in th...

The Galactic Center is the nuclear region of the nearest spiral galaxy, Milky Way, and contains the supermassive black hole with M~4x10^6 Msun, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). One of basic questions about the Galactic Center is whether Sgr A* alone exists as a "massive" black hole in the region or not. The IRS13E complex is a very intriguing IR object whi...

Aim: To evaluate the antifibrogenic effects of butyrate or phenylbutyrate, a chemical derivative of butyrate, in human pterygium fibroblasts. Methods: Human pterygium fibroblasts obtained from patient pterygium tissue were treated with butyrate or phenylbutyrate for 48h. Expression of α-smooth muscle actin, collagen I, collagen III and matrix me...

Objective: Serum diamine oxidase (DAO) activity varies to a greater extent in women than in men. DAO activity during the luteal phase was higher than that during the follicular phase in healthy women. Recent reports have indicated that duodenal lipid infusion increased DAO activity in the intestinal lymph in rats. The aim of this study was to eluc...

Background A single, effective therapeutic regimen for keloids has not been established yet, and the development of novel therapeutic approaches is expected. Butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, play multiple anti-inflammatory and anticancer roles via their respective mechanisms of ac...

Objectives: Sodium butyrate, an inhibitor of histone deacetylase, has several therapeutic actions, including anti-inflammation. These actions depend on the concentration of sodium butyrate. In addition, lower concentrations have shown no effect on inflammation. Sonoporation by ultrasound can modify the permeability of the cell plasma membrane. Thu...

The clinical effects of administration of flora (probiotics), supplied fibers (prebiotics), and their combination (synbiotics) with or without enteral nutrition have been reported in meta-analysis of randomized control for critically ill and postoperative patients. The rate of infectious complication is improved by the probiotics/synbiotics treatme...

Background Diets high in saturated fatty acids activate chronic inflammation. We previously reported that, in even acute inflammation caused by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), liver injury was exacerbated in rats fed a lard-rich diet. Peroxisome proliferator–activated receptors (PPARs) are related to inflammation and are also key regulators of lipid meta...

We have performed the observation of the "Galactic Center Mini-spiral(GCMS)" in H42alpha recombination line as a part of the first large-scale mosaic observation in the Sagittarius A complex using Atacama Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA). We revealed the kinematics of the ionized gas streamers of the GCMS. Especially we found that the streame...

We present further results of a search for extragalactic submillimeter H2O masers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The detection of a 321 GHz H2O maser in the nearby type 2 Seyfert galaxy, the Circinus galaxy, has previously been reported, and here the spectral analysis of four other galaxies is described. We have disc...

Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are believed to be indirect evidence for black holes. Several authors have reported detections of QPOs from Sgr A*, the nucleus of our Galaxy, in infrared and X-ray wavelength during flare-ups. Miyoshi et al. (2011) reported a tentative detection of QPOs in the 43 GHz light curve of Sgr A* obtained with the Very L...

We present further results of a search for extragalactic submillimeter H2O masers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). The detection of a 321 GHz H2O maser in the nearby Type 2 Seyfert galaxy, the Circinus galaxy, has previously been reported, and here the spectral analysis of four other galaxies is described. A 321 GHz H2...

We present continuum images of the “Galactic center mini-spiral” in the 100, 250, and 340 GHz bands with analysis of the Cy.0 data acquired from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) archive. Good u-v coverage of the data and the “self-calibration” method give us the opportunity to obtain dynamic ranges of over 2 × 104 in the resu...

Objective: The monophasic pulsed microcurrent is used to promote wound healing, and galvanotaxis regulation has been reported as one of the active mechanisms in the promotion of tissue repair with monophasic pulsed microcurrent. However, the optimum monophasic pulsed microcurrent parameters and intracellular changes caused by the monophasic pulsed...

Near-infrared (NIR) monitoring observations of asymptotic giant branch stars exciting bright SiO masers have been made with the 1 m telescope of Kagoshima University. In order to investigate the properties of these stars and their envelopes, we combined our NIR photometric data with mid- and far-infrared flux data obtained by the IRAS satellite, Si...

Imaging a black hole horizon as a shadow at the center of black hole accretion disk is another method to prove/check Einstein’s general relativity at strong gravitational fields. Such black hole imaging is expected to be achievable using a submillimeter wavelength VLBI (very long baseline interferometer) technique. Here, we introduce a Japanese bla...

We have been performing daily VLBI monitoring of the flux density of Sagittarius (Sgr) A^{\ast} at 22 GHz from February 2013 to August 2014 using a sub-array of the Japanese VLBI Network (JVN). The purpose of this monitoring is to explore the flux density variability at daily time resolution for a period longer than one year with the G2 cloud appro...

Background & aims: Sepsis leads to dysregulation of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism. Butyrate increases peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), which are key nuclear hormone receptors to induce fatty acid oxidation and synthesis. Oral administration of tributyrin, a prodrug of butyrate contained in dairy products, suppresses lipopoly...

Short‐chain fatty acids such as butyrate (BT) with the emergence of prebiotics and probiotics improve colonic and systemic health. Especially BT has anti‐inflammatory effects and mediated by the inhibition of histone deacetylase (HDAC). However, the effect appeared to be concentration‐dependent, and lower concentrations of BT had no effect. Therefo...

Background: Hyperglycemia associated with insulin resistance is common among critically ill patients. Interleukin (IL)-18 has been linked with hyperglycemia and insulin resistance in chronic disease, but the relation between IL-18 and insulin resistance during critical illness was unexplored. This study investigated whether IL-18 modulates hypergl...

In order to explore any change caused by the G2 cloud approaching, we have monitored the flux density of Sgr A* at 22 GHz from Feb. 2013 to Aug. 2014 with a sub-array of Japanese VLBI Network . The observation period included the expected periastron dates. The number of observation epochs was 283 days. We have observed no significant microwave enha...

Background & aims: Acute lung injury (ALI) is less severe in obese than in nonobese patients, but the mechanism is unclear. Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) is the key anti-inflammatory protein in various lung diseases. We have previously reported changes of the surgical stress in obese rats using lard-based high-fat diet (HFD). The p...

We have been monitoring the flux density of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) at 22 GHz since DOY=42 (11 Feb. 2013) with a sub-array of the Japanese VLBI Network in order to search the increase of 22-GHz emission from Sgr A* induced by the interaction of the G2 cloud with the accretion disk. The flux densities observed until DOY=322 (18 Nov. 2013) are consis...

Background & aims: It has recently been reported that anti-inflammatory lipid mediators are increased in the late phase of acute inflammation, whereas proinflammatory lipid mediators are regulated at the initiation of inflammation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes of hepatic lipid mediators due to high-fat diet (HFD) feeding in en...

Background Overactivated neutrophils are causes of acute lung injury, which is a major clinical problem with significant morbidity and mortality in sepsis. Serum interleukin (IL)-18 levels correspond to severity of systemic inflammation. AimTo elucidate the roles of endogenous IL-18 in lung injury during endotoxin-induced systemic inflammation. Met...

Background: The pathophysiologic features of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are attributed to neutrophil accumulation and over-activation. Low blood immunoglobulin G concentrations in septic shock patients are associated with higher risk of developing ARDS. This study showed the effects of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) on neutrophi...

We have been monitoring Sgr A* at 22 GHz since Feb. 2013 with a sub-array of Japanese VLBI Network (ATEL#4923, #5013). The sub-array consists of Mizusawa 10-m RT, Takahagi 32-m RT, and Gifu 11-m RT. Tsukuba 32-m RT had joined it a few times. Because the baselines are a few or several 100 km, the sub -array can observe the flux density of Sgr A* its...

Recent meta-analyses have reported that critically ill patients with morbid obesity (body mass index >40 kg/m(2)) have poor outcomes, but the effects and mechanisms of action of mild obesity are still unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of mild obesity using a lard-based, high-fat diet (HFD) on pathologic conditions and th...

We present the first detection of extragalactic submillimeter H2O maser in the 321 GHz transition toward the center of Circinus galaxy, the nearby Type 2 Seyfert using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array. We find that Doppler features of the detected 321 GHz H2O maser straddle the systemic velocity of the galaxy as seen in the spectrum...

We have started monitor observations of Sgr A* with a short-baseline VLBI(Mizusawa10-m RT, Takahagi32-m RT, Tsukuba32-m RT, and Gifu11-m RT) which is a subset of the Japanese VLBI Network in order to search the increase of 22-GHz emission from Sgr A* induced by the interaction of the G2 cloud with the accretion disk (Gillessen et al. 2012, Nature,...

A compact gas cloud G2 is predicted to reach the pericenter of its orbit around the super massive black hole (SMBH) of our galaxy, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). This event will give us a rare opportunity to observe the interaction between SMBH and gas around it. We report the result of the fully three-dimensional simulation of the evolution of G2 during...

Background & aims: Changes in the microbiota composition are able to affect nutrient absorption and energy metabolism, but there are few human studies. The aims were to analyze fecal constituents quantitatively and compare them with liver dysfunction in hepatic cancer patients and to evaluate the relationships among intestinal microbiota, fecal or...

Astrometry using H2O maser sources in star forming regions is expected to be a powerful tool to study the structures and dynamics of our Galaxy. Honma et al. (2007) (hereafter H2007) claimed that the annual parallax of S269 is determined within an error of 0.008 milliarcsec (mas), concluding that S269 is located at 5.3 kpc +- 0.2 kpc from the sun,...

This paper reviews the recent progress in the study of the intra-day variability (IDV) of Sagitarrius A* (Sgr A*), the best known supermassive black hole candidates with a dark mass concentration of 4 × 10 6 M\odot^6 M_{\odot} at the center of our galaxy. KeywordsGalaxy–center—galaxies–individual (Sagittarius A*)—techniques–interferometric

We report the detection of radio QPOs with structure changes using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at 43 GHz. We found conspicuous patterned changes of the structure with P =16.8 ± 1.4, 22.2 ± 1.4, 31.2 ± 1.5, 56.4 ± 6 min very roughly in a 3:4:6:10 ratio. The first two periods show a rotating one-arm structure, while the P = 31.4 min shows a r...

We present flaring emission observations from the Galactic Center compact radio source Sgr A* with the Australia Telescope Compact Array at mm wavelengths. Careful calibrations of both elevation-dependent and time-dependent gains have enabled us to establish the variability behavior of Sgr A*. Sgr A* was found to be very active, and several flares...

We show a new imaging technique for detecting shorter periodic structural changes of interferometric data, the slit-modulation imaging (SMI) method. Using simulations with artificial visibility data, we show that the SMI method is highly effective in detecting periodic change patterns having shorter periods than the observing time span of interfero...

From the VLBA archival data of SgrA* at 43 GHz, we made synthesis images by applying solutions from self calibration method using the previously estimated shape of SgrA* as a model image. From comparisons with the previous estimations using closure amplitude and/or phase, we found that consistent sizes and shapes of SgrA* at 43GHz are obtained from...

We are planning to construct a VLBI system in the Andes dedicated only to the detection of the event horizon of the Sgr A* black hole.

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of preoperative and postoperative synbiotic treatment in hepatectomy patients with or without liver cirrhosis. Sixty-one patients with hepatic cancer were assigned randomly to receive either oral synbiotics that consisted of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and galactooligosaccharides or no synbiotics (...

The flow volume curve is an essential test method for diagnosis and treatment of the respiratory diseases. However, this curve depends on patient's continuous effort toward optimal expiration and it has been reported that differences in this effort may possibly result in error in flow speed. To overcome the potential error, we devised the "average...

Short-chain fatty acids, especially butyrate, have various biological activities including inhibition of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α secretion, via attenuation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation. Here, we evaluated the protective effect of oral administration of tributyrin, a prodrug of butyrate, on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced liver inj...

We have conducted VLBA phase-referencing monitoring of H2O masers around the red supergiant, S Persei, for six years. We have fitted maser motions to a simple expanding-shell model with a common annual parallax and stellar proper motion, and obtained the annual parallax as 0.413+/-0.017 mas, and the stellar proper motion as (-0.49+/-0.23 mas/yr, -1...

Submillimeter-wave VLBI is a very attractive idea for future radio astronomy. We discuss a submillimeter space VLBI based on the simulation of (u, v) coverage. We assume observations using three terrestrial submillimeter telescopes and one telescope in a sun-synchronous low-Earth orbit. The simulated array gives a well-filled (u, v) coverage for a...

We present here ground-based array simulations for detecting the black hole shadow in SgrA*. With modest super resolutions, it is easy to obtain the detection and imaging the black hole shadow. Also it is noteworthy that the visibilities from short baselines ranging from 1000 to 2000 km are quite important to the detection. Miyoshi et al. (2007) sh...

We performed the monitoring observations of the flux density toward Sagittarius A*, which is a compact radio source associated with a super-massive black hole located at the dynamical center of the Galaxy, using the Nobeyama Millimeter Array (NMA) and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at mm-wavelengths. Since 1996, the flux monitoring ob...