SHG microscopic observations of polar state in Li-doped KTaO3 under electric field

Incipient ferroelectric KTaO3 with off-center Li impurity of the critical concentration of 2.8 mol% was investigated in order to clarify the dipole glass state under electric field. Using optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) microscope, we observed a marked history dependence of SHG intensity through zero-field cooling (ZFC), zero-field heating (ZFH), field heating after ZFC (FH/ZFC) and FH after field cooling (FH/FC). These show different paths with respect to temperature: In the ZFC/ZFH process, weak SHG was observed at low temperature, while in the FH/ZFC process, relatively high SHG appears in a limited temperature range below TF depending on the field strength, and in the FC and FH/FC processes, the SHG exhibits ferroelectric-like temperature dependence: it appears at the freezing temperature of 50K, increases with decreasing temperature and has a tendency of saturation. These experimental results strongly suggest that dipole glass state or polar nano-clusters which gradually freezes with decreasing temperature is transformed into semi-macroscopic polar state under the electric field. However at sufficiently low temperature, the freezing is so strong that the electric field cannot enlarge the polar clusters. These experimental results show that the polar nano-cluster model similar to relaxors would be more relevant in KTaO3 doped with the critical concentration of Li. Further experiments on the anisotropy of SHG determine that the average symmetry of the field-induced polar phase is tetragonal 4mm or 4, which is also confirmed by the X-ray diffraction measurement.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Magnified Examination of Small Colorectal Polyps Using a Prototype Electronic Endoscope

Magnifying electronic endoscopes are frequently used to evaluate the pit patterns of the colorectal mucosa, but such endoscopes suffer from a number of problems. For example, they tend to have long, hard tips and heavy controller sections. In addition, the magnified endoscopic images obtained are often quite coarse due to the small number of pixels in the charge-coupled device (CCD). As a result, at higher magnification ratios, the orientation of the field of view is easily lost. A newly developed prototype colorectal electronic endoscope (Toshiba Corporation, Tokyo) overcomes these problems. The length of the hard tip of the scope and the weight of the controller section are comparable to those of the TCE-3680MH (Toshiba Corporation). High-resolution magnified images can be obtained, because a 410,000-pixel CCD is employed. Two magnification methods are available, optical magnification and electronic zooming, permitting images to be magnified by a factor of up to 90–120 without losing the orientation of the field of view. This newly developed magnifying electronic endoscope was found to be very useful, allowing us to observe the pit patterns of the colorectal mucosa in 82 small colorectal polyps measuring 7 mm or less in diameter

Lung adenocarcinoma with giant cyst formation showing a variety of histologic patterns: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Lung cancer with large cyst formation is relatively rare. This is a case report of a patient with lung cystic adenocarcinoma with multiple histologic patterns. This type of lung adenocarcinoma is believed to be the first reported case in English language medical literature.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 60-year-old Japanese woman was admitted to hospital complaining of dyspnea and died of respiratory failure. She had been suffering from lung cancer with pleural effusion for five years. Autopsy analysis revealed lung adenocarcinoma with large cyst formation showing a variety of histologic patterns.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Autopsy analysis of this atypical case of lung cancer may provide insight and lead to a better understanding of the heterogeneity and clonal expansion of lung adenocarcinoma.</p

Systematic Two-Hybrid and Comparative Proteomic Analyses Reveal Novel Yeast Pre-mRNA Splicing Factors Connected to Prp19

Prp19 is the founding member of the NineTeen Complex, or NTC, which is a spliceosomal subcomplex essential for spliceosome activation. To define Prp19 connectivity and dynamic protein interactions within the spliceosome, we systematically queried the Saccharomyces cerevisiae proteome for Prp19 WD40 domain interaction partners by two-hybrid analysis. We report that in addition to S. cerevisiae Cwc2, the splicing factor Prp17 binds directly to the Prp19 WD40 domain in a 1∶1 ratio. Prp17 binds simultaneously with Cwc2 indicating that it is part of the core NTC complex. We also find that the previously uncharacterized protein Urn1 (Dre4 in Schizosaccharomyces pombe) directly interacts with Prp19, and that Dre4 is conditionally required for pre-mRNA splicing in S. pombe. S. pombe Dre4 and S. cerevisiae Urn1 co-purify U2, U5, and U6 snRNAs and multiple splicing factors, and dre4Δ and urn1Δ strains display numerous negative genetic interactions with known splicing mutants. The S. pombe Prp19-containing Dre4 complex co-purifies three previously uncharacterized proteins that participate in pre-mRNA splicing, likely before spliceosome activation. Our multi-faceted approach has revealed new low abundance splicing factors connected to NTC function, provides evidence for distinct Prp19 containing complexes, and underscores the role of the Prp19 WD40 domain as a splicing scaffold

Experimental study of pedestrian flow through a bottleneck

In this work the results of a bottleneck experiment with pedestrians are presented in the form of total times, fluxes, specific fluxes, and time gaps. A main aim was to find the dependence of these values from the bottleneck width. The results show a linear decline of the specific flux with increasing width as long as only one person at a time can pass, and a constant value for larger bottleneck widths. Differences between small (one person at a time) and wide bottlenecks (two persons at a time) were also found in the distribution of time gaps.Comment: accepted for publication in J. Stat. Mec