英語論文はクリスタルクリアに書けとよく言われます。しかし、クリスタルクリアに書くとは、実際どういうことなのでしょうか。ひとつ重要なことは曖昧さを無くすことです。曖昧さはどういうときに生じるのかというと、複数の意味を持つ言葉を使った場合です。多義的な語句はたくさんありますが、普段それらを使用してなぜ困らないのかといえば、内容や文脈で語句の意味が一つに定まるからです。ところが英語論文は読者にとって全く新しいい内容を伝えることが目的ですので、内容や文脈を読者に予め理解させておくという前提がありません。そのため、文脈や内容に拠らずに、文の構造だけで文の意味が一意に定まる必要があるのです。
では、複数の意味を持ちうる語句にはどのようなものがあるでしょうか。そのような語句の一つにandがあります。gene A and gene Bのように単語２つを結びつけるandには曖昧さはありませんが、節A and 節B. のように、２つの文構造を結ぶandの場合に、いったいこのandは何を意味するのかという多義性の問題が出てきます。まずA、次にＢという時間的な順序を表すandなのか、理由Ａ、だから結果Ｂという因果関係を表すandなのか、ＡすなわちＢという言い換えのためのandなのか、いろいろな意味がありえることでしょう。接続詞andが持つこのような曖昧さは、科学英語と相容れません。だから、科学英語においては、何も予備知識を持たない読者であっても意味が一意に定まらない限りandは使わないほうがよいと言えます。
それにも関わらず、英語論文を読んでいるとandは多用されています。だからそれらの論文は読みにくいのではないでしょうか。逆に言うと、読み易いと感じる英語論文は実はandをあまり使っていないのではないかと思いつきました。本当にそうかどうか実際に確かめてみたいと思います。
最近のＣｅｌｌからオープンアクセスの論文で見てみます。
論文：Copin et al., 2021.The monoclonal antibody combination REGEN-COV protects against SARS-CoV-2 mutational escape in preclinical and human studies. June 05, 2021 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.06.002
andの使用例文①：Similar to the REGEN-COV combination, the COV2-2130 and COV2-2196 cocktail was also resistant to rapid escape and full escape was associated with acquiring multiple mutations within the same virus.
andの使用例文②：All VIR-7831 escape residues mapped to the published epitope of the antibody and the resultant escape virus maintained its ability to replicate, indicating that these mutations were not deleterious to the virus (data not shown).
andの使用例文③：We have previously described a triple antibody combination against Zaire ebolavirus (Pascal et al., 2018) and we similarly decided to assess potential advantages of combining three non-competing neutralizing mAbs targeting the RBD of SARS-CoV2:REGN10933+REGN10987+REGN10985.
andの使用例文④：Of note, in all patients, the three variants were identified at baseline or earliest time points (<5 days after REGEN-COV treatment) and no significant increase in their frequencies between early and late time points were observed indicating absence of treatment related selection.
andの使用例文⑤：However, the question regarding the relevance of these in vitro escape studies remains, and it is important to examine viral dynamics under therapeutic antibody pressure in more relevant settings, including in in vivo efficacy models and in treated patients.
andの使用例文⑥：Our approach allowed us to observe minor variants and our data indicate the vast majority of infected individuals are already harboring spike protein variants at baseline, prior to use of any antiviral agent and before natural immunity is established, as half of the study participants had not yet mounted an antiviral immune response at baseline (Weinreich et al., 2020).
andの使用例文⑦：This clearly demonstrates that the SARS-CoV-2 circulating population is highly heterogeneous in infected patients and the large reservoir of existing (or future) minor variants could be readily selected under the right selective pressure conditions.
全部で7つありました。
もう一つ、別の論文を見てみます。
Giampazolias et al., 2021. Secreted gelsolin inhibits DNGR-1-dependent cross-presentation and cancer immunity. June 02, 2021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.05.021
andの使用例文①：However, the mechanisms by which cDC1s acquire tumor antigens for cross-presentation remain unclear, and it is not known whether interference with this process can constitute a means of cancer immune evasion.
andの使用例文②：The total amount of fluorescent rhodamine-actin on beads was unchanged by sGSN incubation (Figure 1D), and binding of anti-actin antibody was unaffected or even slightly increased, perhaps due to increased exposure of epitopes (Figure 1D).
andの使用例文③：Many cells can synthesize sGSN in addition to cytoplasmic gelsolin (cGSN), and sGSN can account for more than half of total gelsolin transcript expression in some tissues (Figures S3F–S3H).
andの使用例文④：In contrast, the intersection of CLEC9A expression with expression of cytoplasmic cGSN did not correlate with survival (Figure S6I), and a cDC1 gene signature did not substitute for CLEC9A (Figures S6J and S6K).
今度はMDPIの人気ジャーナル掲載の日本の論文を見てみます。
andの使用例文①：In addition, HSF1 binding motifs are enriched in the promoters of anhydrobiosis-related genes and we demonstrate binding of HSF1 to these promoters by ChIP-qPCR.
Pv11 is the only animal cell line capable of entering anhydrobiosis [14,15], and the cells can be preserved in the dry state at room temperature for up to 372 days [9].
To successfully induce anhydrobiosis in Pv11 cells, treatment with a high concentration of trehalose is necessary prior to a desiccation step [15], and during this treatment, several genes are strongly upregulated, such as the genes encoding late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins [16,19], thioredoxins (TRXs) [16,20], protein-L-isoaspartate (D-aspartate) O-methyltransferases (PIMTs) [16,21] and Lea-island-located (LIL) proteins [22].
参考
説明 Two independent clauses are often connected with a coordinating conjunction such as and, but, so, or, yet, nor, for.
例文 There are no true coral reefs in Gabon, and most of the largely unmapped reefs are rocky.
参照 https://learn.canvas.net/courses/1505/pages/lesson-connecting-sentences
