145 research outputs found

    Finding Euroscaptor mizura (Mammalia : Insectivora) and Its Nest from under Hebeloma radicosum (Fungi : Agaricales) in Ashiu, Kyoto, with Data of Possible Contiguous Occurrences of Three Talpine Species in This Region

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    We examined nests and other traces of moles in Ashiu, Kyoto, beneath fruit bodies of a mushroom species, Hebeloma radicosum, which grows on the underground latrines of small mammals. We also attempted to catch animals at nesting sites which were detected through the fungal fruiting. As a result, an adult specimen of a talpine mole species, Euroscaptor mizura, was collected together with its nest. This is the first record of E. mizura from Ashiu region. Also, this is the first report of the nest of E. mizura, of the mushroom-mole nest association in H. radicosum and E. mizura, and of the capture of a mole at the nesting site under indication of the fungus. Morphological features of the animal and structure of the nest are described. This finding further revealed a contiguousness in the distribution of three talpine species, E. mizura, Mogera wogura and Mogera kobeae in Ashiu

    環境因子が健康に与える影響について インターネット調査;WDQH(Web-based Daily Questionnaire for Health)を利用した環境疫学調査

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    With increasing Internet coverage, the use of a web-based survey for epidemiological study is a possibility. We performed an investigation in Japan in winter 2008 using the web-based daily questionnaire for health (WDQH). The WDQH is a web-based questionnaire survey formulated to obtain information about the daily physical condition of the general public on a real-time basis, in order to study correlations between changes in physical health and changes in environmental factors. Respondents were asked whether they felt ill and had specific symptoms including fever. We analysed the environmental factors along with the health conditions obtained from the WDQH. Four factors were found to influence health: minimum temperature, hours of sunlight, median humidity and weekday or holiday. The WDQH allowed a daily health survey in the general population in real time via the Internet.博士(医学)・甲第593号・平成24年11月27日© 2013 Taylor & Francis Grou

    Tripartite association in alder: effects of Frankia and Alpova piplophloes on the growth, nitrogen fixation, and mineral acquisition of Alnus tenuifolia. Plant and Soil

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    Abstract The role of tripartite associations among Frankia, Alpova diplophloeus (an ectomycorrhizal fungus) and Alnus tenuifoliain growth, nitrogen fixation, ectomycorrhizal formation, and mineral acquisition of A. tenuifolia was investigated. Seedlings of A. tenuifolia were planted in pots containing a mixture of ground basalt-perlite, or perlite alone, which served as the control. The seedlings were inoculated with Frankia isolated from root nodules of alder, followed by spores of A. diplophloeus and grown for 5 months in a greenhouse. The seedlings grown in the pots with a mixture of ground basalt-perlite after dual inoculation with Frankia and A. diplophLoeus had the heaviest shoots and root nodules in dry weight, and showed the greatest nitrogen-fixing ability measured by acetylene reduction. Ectomycorrhizas formed with A. diplophloeus increased when this fungus was inoculated together with Frankia. The mineral composition (P, K, Ca, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, Si and Al) in the seedlings was also determined. The results of these experiments showed that the tripartite association could improve the growth, nitrogen fixation and mineral acquisition (rock solubilization) of A. tenuifolia

    Evolution of two-step structural phase transition in Fe1+dTe detected by low-temperature x-ray diffraction

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    The low-temperature crystal structure of Fe1.13Te, which exhibits an anomalous two-step magnetic transition, was clarified by the systematic x-ray diffraction measurements. It was found that two-step structural phase transition, tetragonal-orthorhombic-monoclinic, occurred correspondingly to the two-step magnetic transition. The detailed analysis of the profile at 5 K indicated the coexistence of the minor orthorhombic area inside the major monoclinic lattice, which could explain the lower-shift (suppression) of the antiferromagnetic transition temperature in Fe1.13Te and suggest a possibility of superconductivity at the domain boundary.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

    A Randomized Phase II Study of S-1 Adjuvant Chemotherapy With or Without Hochu-ekki-to, a Japanese Herbal Medicine, for Stage II/III Gastric Cancer: The KUGC07 (SHOT) Trial

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    Objectives: A multicenter randomized phase II study was conducted to evaluate the effects of Hochu-ekki-to (TJ-41) for reducing adverse reactions and increasing compliance with S-1 adjuvant therapy for advanced gastric cancer.Methods: The eligibility criteria were pathological stage II/III after R0 resection. Patients received adjuvant therapy with S-1 alone (group S) or S-1 with TJ-41 (group ST) for 1 year. The primary endpoint was the completion rate of S-1. Secondary endpoints were adverse events, relative dose intensity, relapse-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS).Results: We randomly assigned 56 patients to group ST and 57 patients to group S. The completion rates of S-1 were 54.5 and 50.9%, the median relative dose intensities were 89.2 and 71.9%, and adverse events of grade 3 or 4 occurred in 45.5 and 54.5% in groups ST and S, respectively. There was no significant difference in 3-year OS or RFS between the two groups.Conclusions: TJ-41 does not increase relative dose and completion rate of S-1 significantly. J-41 may reduce toxic effects, but our findings do not support routine use of TJ-41 after gastrectomy

    Comparative Outcomes of Laparoscopic Gastrectomy and Open Gastrectomy for Scirrhous Gastric Cancer: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study

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    Objective: A multicenter retrospective cohort study was performed to compare the outcomes of laparoscopic gastrectomy (LG) versus open gastrectomy (OG) for scirrhous gastric cancer (GC) as a unique subtype also known as type 4 gastric cancer or linitis plastica. Background: Although data on the efficacy and safety of LG as an alternative to OG are emerging, the applicability of LG to scirrhous GC remains unclear. Methods: Patients with clinical type 4 GC undergoing gastrectomy at 13 hospitals from 2005 to 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. As the primary endpoint, we compared overall survival (OS) between the LG and OG groups. To adjust for confounding factors, we used multivariate Cox regression analysis for the main analyses and propensity-score matching for sensitivity analysis. Short-term outcomes and recurrence-free survival were also compared. Results: A total of 288 patients (LG, 62; OG, 226) were included in the main analysis. Postoperative complications occurred in 25.8% and 30.1%, respectively (P = 0.44). No significant difference in recurrence-free survival was observed (P = 0.72). The 5-year OS rates were 32.4% and 31.6% in the LG and OG groups, respectively (P = 0.60). The hazard ratio (LG/OG) for OS was 0.98 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.65–1.43) in the multivariate regression analysis. In the sensitivity analyses after propensity-score matching, the hazard ratio for OS was 0.92 (95% CI, 0.58–1.45). Conclusions: Considering the hazard ratios and 95% CIs for OS, LG for scirrhous GC was not associated with worse survival than that for OG

    Mass and Hot Baryons in Massive Galaxy Clusters from Subaru Weak Lensing and AMiBA SZE Observations

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    We present a multiwavelength analysis of a sample of four hot (T_X>8keV) X-ray galaxy clusters (A1689, A2261, A2142, and A2390) using joint AMiBA Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) and Subaru weak lensing observations, combined with published X-ray temperatures, to examine the distribution of mass and the intracluster medium (ICM) in massive cluster environments. Our observations show that A2261 is very similar to A1689 in terms of lensing properties. Many tangential arcs are visible around A2261, with an effective Einstein radius \sim 40 arcsec (at z \sim 1.5), which when combined with our weak lensing measurements implies a mass profile well fitted by an NFW model with a high concentration c_{vir} \sim 10, similar to A1689 and to other massive clusters. The cluster A2142 shows complex mass substructure, and displays a shallower profile (c_{vir} \sim 5), consistent with detailed X-ray observations which imply recent interaction. The AMiBA map of A2142 exhibits an SZE feature associated with mass substructure lying ahead of the sharp north-west edge of the X-ray core suggesting a pressure increase in the ICM. For A2390 we obtain highly elliptical mass and ICM distributions at all radii, consistent with other X-ray and strong lensing work. Our cluster gas fraction measurements, free from the hydrostatic equilibrium assumption, are overall in good agreement with published X-ray and SZE observations, with the sample-averaged gas fraction of = 0.133 \pm 0.027, for our sample = (1.2 \pm 0.1) \times 10^{15} M_{sun} h^{-1}. When compared to the cosmic baryon fraction f_b = \Omega_b/\Omega_m constrained by the WMAP 5-year data, this indicates /f_b = 0.78 \pm 0.16, i.e., (22 \pm 16)% of the baryons are missing from the hot phase of clusters.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ; high resolution figures available at http://www.asiaa.sinica.edu.tw/~keiichi/upfiles/AMiBA7/ms_highreso.pd

    The Yuan-Tseh Lee Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy

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    The Yuan-Tseh Lee Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy (AMiBA) is the first interferometer dedicated to studying the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation at 3mm wavelength. The choice of 3mm was made to minimize the contributions from foreground synchrotron radiation and Galactic dust emission. The initial configuration of seven 0.6m telescopes mounted on a 6-m hexapod platform was dedicated in October 2006 on Mauna Loa, Hawaii. Scientific operations began with the detection of a number of clusters of galaxies via the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. We compare our data with Subaru weak lensing data in order to study the structure of dark matter. We also compare our data with X-ray data in order to derive the Hubble constant.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ (13 pages, 7 figures); a version with high resolution figures available at http://www.asiaa.sinica.edu.tw/~keiichi/upfiles/AMiBA7/pho_highreso.pd

    First Data Release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program

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    The Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) is a three-layered imaging survey aimed at addressing some of the most outstanding questions in astronomy today, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The survey has been awarded 300 nights of observing time at the Subaru Telescope and it started in March 2014. This paper presents the first public data release of HSC-SSP. This release includes data taken in the first 1.7 years of observations (61.5 nights) and each of the Wide, Deep, and UltraDeep layers covers about 108, 26, and 4 square degrees down to depths of i~26.4, ~26.5, and ~27.0 mag, respectively (5sigma for point sources). All the layers are observed in five broad bands (grizy), and the Deep and UltraDeep layers are observed in narrow bands as well. We achieve an impressive image quality of 0.6 arcsec in the i-band in the Wide layer. We show that we achieve 1-2 per cent PSF photometry (rms) both internally and externally (against Pan-STARRS1), and ~10 mas and 40 mas internal and external astrometric accuracy, respectively. Both the calibrated images and catalogs are made available to the community through dedicated user interfaces and database servers. In addition to the pipeline products, we also provide value-added products such as photometric redshifts and a collection of public spectroscopic redshifts. Detailed descriptions of all the data can be found online. The data release website is https://hsc-release.mtk.nao.ac.jp/.Comment: 34 pages, 20 figures, 7 tables, moderate revision, accepted for publication in PAS

    The p250GAP Gene Is Associated with Risk for Schizophrenia and Schizotypal Personality Traits

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    BACKGROUND: Hypofunction of the glutamate N-Methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. p250GAP is a brain-enriched NMDA receptor-interacting RhoGAP. p250GAP is involved in spine morphology, and spine morphology has been shown to be altered in the post-mortem brains of patients with schizophrenia. Schizotypal personality disorder has a strong familial relationship with schizophrenia. Several susceptibility genes for schizophrenia have been related to schizotypal traits. METHODS: We first investigated the association of eight linkage disequilibrium-tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that cover the p250GAP gene with schizophrenia in a Japanese sample of 431 schizophrenia patients and 572 controls. We then investigated the impact of the risk genetic variant in the p250GAP gene on schizotypal personality traits in 180 healthy subjects using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. RESULTS: We found a significant difference in genotype frequency between the patients and the controls in rs2298599 (χ(2) = 17.6, p = 0.00015). The minor A/A genotype frequency of rs2298599 was higher in the patients (18%) than in the controls (9%) (χ(2) = 15.5, p = 0.000083). Moreover, we found that subjects with the rs2298599 risk A/A genotype, compared with G allele carriers, had higher scores of schizotypal traits (F(1,178) = 4.08, p = 0.045), particularly the interpersonal factor (F(1,178) = 5.85, p = 0.017). DISCUSSION: These results suggest that a genetic variation in the p250GAP gene might increase susceptibility not only for schizophrenia but also for schizotypal personality traits. We concluded that the p250GAP gene might be a new candidate gene for susceptibility to schizophrenia
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