第1058回千葉医学会例会・整形外科例会

© 2016 Bryant, Foord. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Emotional memories, and especially intrusive memories, are a common feature of many psychological disorders, and are overconsolidated by stress. Attachment theory posits that activation of mental representations of attachment figures can reduce stress and boost coping. This study tested the proposition that attachment activation would reduce consolidation of emotional and intrusive memories. Sixty-seven undergraduate students viewed subliminal presentations of traumatic and neutral images, which were preceded by subliminal presentations of either attachment-related images or non-Attachment-related images; free recall and intrusive memories were assessed two days later. Participants with low avoidant attachment tendencies who received the attachment primes recalled fewer memories and reported fewer intrusions than those who received the non-Attachment primes. Unexpectedly, those with high anxious attachment tendencies reported fewer memories. These findings generally accord with attachment theory, and suggest that consolidation of emotional memories can be moderated by activation of attachment representations

Anomalous material-dependent transport of focused, laser-driven proton beams.

Intense lasers can accelerate protons in sufficient numbers and energy that the resulting beam can heat materials to exotic warm (10 s of eV temperature) states. Here we show with experimental data that a laser-driven proton beam focused onto a target heated it in a localized spot with size strongly dependent upon material and as small as 35 μm radius. Simulations indicate that cold stopping power values cannot model the intense proton beam transport in solid targets well enough to match the large differences observed. In the experiment a 74 J, 670 fs laser drove a focusing proton beam that transported through different thicknesses of solid Mylar, Al, Cu or Au, eventually heating a rear, thin, Au witness layer. The XUV emission seen from the rear of the Au indicated a clear dependence of proton beam transport upon atomic number, Z, of the transport layer: a larger and brighter emission spot was measured after proton transport through the lower Z foils even with equal mass density for supposed equivalent proton stopping range. Beam transport dynamics pertaining to the observed heated spot were investigated numerically with a particle-in-cell (PIC) code. In simulations protons moving through an Al transport layer result in higher Au temperature responsible for higher Au radiant emittance compared to a Cu transport case. The inferred finding that proton stopping varies with temperature in different materials, considerably changing the beam heating profile, can guide applications seeking to controllably heat targets with intense proton beams

On the hierarchical classification of G Protein-Coupled Receptors

Motivation: G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) play an important role in many physiological systems by transducing an extracellular signal into an intracellular response. Over 50% of all marketed drugs are targeted towards a GPCR. There is considerable interest in developing an algorithm that could effectively predict the function of a GPCR from its primary sequence. Such an algorithm is useful not only in identifying novel GPCR sequences but in characterizing the interrelationships between known GPCRs. Results: An alignment-free approach to GPCR classification has been developed using techniques drawn from data mining and proteochemometrics. A dataset of over 8000 sequences was constructed to train the algorithm. This represents one of the largest GPCR datasets currently available. A predictive algorithm was developed based upon the simplest reasonable numerical representation of the protein's physicochemical properties. A selective top-down approach was developed, which used a hierarchical classifier to assign sequences to subdivisions within the GPCR hierarchy. The predictive performance of the algorithm was assessed against several standard data mining classifiers and further validated against Support Vector Machine-based GPCR prediction servers. The selective top-down approach achieves significantly higher accuracy than standard data mining methods in almost all cases

Energy Levels and Transition Probabilities for Nitrogen-Like Fe xx

Energies of the 700 lowest levels in Fexx have been obtained using the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock method. Configuration interaction method on the basis set of transformed radial orbitals with variable parameters taking into account relativistic corrections in the Breit-Pauli approximation was used to crosscheck our presented results. Transition probabilities, oscillator and line strengths are presented for electric dipole (E1), electric quadrupole (E2) and magnetic dipole (M1) transitions among these levels. The total radiative transition probabilities from each level are also provided. Results are compared with data compiled by NIST and with other theoretical work

Faunistic diversity of spiders (Arachinda: Araneae) of the Savanna Biome in South Africa

Invertebrates include more than 80% of all animals, yet they are severely under-represented in studies of southern African diversity. Site biodiversity estimates that ignore invertebrates, not only omit the greatest part of what they are attempting to measure, but also neglect major contributions to essential ecosystem processes. All available information on spider species distribution in the South African Savanna Biome was compiled. This is the largest biome in the country, occupying over one third of the surface area. A total of 23 739 records from 1260 localities were recorded in the South African Savanna Biome until the end of 2010. This include 1230 species represented by 381 genera and 62 families. The last decade has seen an exponential growth in the knowledge of the group in South Africa, but there certainly are several more species that have to be discovered, and the distribution patterns of those listed are partly unknown. Information is summarised for all quarter-degree squares for the biome and reveals considerable inequalities in knowledge. At a large scale the eastern region is much better surveyed than the western parts, but at finer scales throughout the region, several areas have little information. The Salticidae is the most diverse family (162 spp.) and also has the most endemic savannah species (42 spp.). An endemicity index indicates that 366 species are endemic to the biome, with 322 species that are near endemics, i.e., also occurring in an adjacent biome. An abundance index (1-3) was also calculated for each species based on numbers sampled. A rarity index for each species gives a preliminary indication of their conservation importance. Patterns of guild composition are summarised and species known to play a role as predators in agro-ecosystems found within the biome are also discussed.The Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Threatened Species Programme for funding the South African National Survey of Arachnida (SANSA) phase 2.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ttrs20ab201

Radiation Science Using Z-Pinch X-Rays

Present-day Z-pinch experiments generate 200 TW peak power, 5–10 ns duration x-ray bursts that provide new possibilities to advance radiation science. The experiments support both the underlying atomic and plasma physics, as well as inertial confinement fusion and astrophysics applications. A typical configuration consists of a sample located 1–10 cm away from the pinch, where it is heated to 10–100 eV temperatures by the pinch radiation. The spectrally-resolved sample-plasma absorption is measured by aiming x-ray spectrographs through the sample at the pinch. The pinch plasma thus both heats the sample and serves as a backlighter. Opacitymeasurements with this source are promising because of the large sample size, the relatively long radiation duration, and the possibility to measureopacities at temperatures above 100 eV. Initial opacity experiments are under way with CH-tamped NaBr foil samples. The Na serves as a thermometer and absorption spectra are recorded to determine the opacity of Br with a partially-filled M-shell. The large sample size and brightness of the Z pinch as a backlighter are also exploited in a novel method measuring re-emission from radiation-heated gold plasmas. The method uses a CH-tamped layered foil with Al+MgF2 facing the radiationsource. A gold backing layer that covers a portion of the foil absorbs radiation from the source and provides re-emission that further heats the Al+MgF2. The Al and Mg heating is measured using space-resolved Kα absorption spectroscopy and the difference between the two regions enables a determination of the gold re-emission. Measurements are also performed at lower densities where photoionization is expected to dominate over collisions. Absorption spectra have been obtained for both Ne-like Fe and He-like Ne, confirming production of the relevant charge states needed to benchmark atomic kinetics models. Refinement of the methods described here is in progress to address multiple issues for radiation science

Effects of a fast-burning spring fire on the ground-dwelling spider assemblages (Arachnida : Araneae) in a central South African grassland habitat

Fire is widely used as a management strategy in grasslands to maintain vegetation structure and improve grazing quality for large herbivores. The impacts of burning on invertebrates in South Africa remain poorly understood. A study was initiated in spring 2005 to determine the impact of a fast hot burn on ground-dwelling spider assemblages in a grassland habitat in the central Free State. Pitfall traps were set out at six sites in the reserve, with three sites each in the burnt and unburnt areas, to sample spiders over a 12-month period. A total of 5 253 spiders were collected, representing 33 families and 120 species. Spider abundance was significantly lower in the burnt (n = 1 956) than unburnt sites (n = 3 297), and burnt sites had, on average, considerably fewer species than unburnt sites. The dominant families in the burnt sites were Lycosidae (29.5%), Gnaphosidae (16.9%), Ammoxenidae (9.6%) and Zodariidae (5.7%), whereas Ammoxenidae (22.7%), Lycosidae (20.6%), Gnaphosidae (15.3%) and Amaurobiidae (10.2%) dominated the unburnt sites. Of the nine most abundant families collected, only Caponiidae were more abundant in the burnt than unburnt sites. Our data suggest that fast-burning hot spring fires cause a considerable initial post-fire decline in spider abundance, and have a negative influence on the abundance as well as the resistance of assemblages to disturbances other than fire (e.g. rain). However, most of the dominant families had abundances comparable to unburnt areas within a year post-burn.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tafz202016-12-31hb201