Clustering of Primordial Black Holes from QCD Axion Bubbles

We study the clustering of primordial black holes (PBHs) and axion miniclusters produced in the model proposed to explain the LIGO/Virgo events or the seeds of the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in arXiv:2006.13137. It is found that this model predicts large isocurvature perturbations due to the clustering of PBHs and axion miniclusters, from which we obtain stringent constraints on the model parameters. Specifically, for the axion decay constant $f_a=10^{16}~\mathrm{GeV}$, which potentially accounts for the seeds of the SMBHs, the PBH fraction in dark matter should be $f_\mathrm{PBH}\lesssim7\times 10^{-10}$. Assuming that the mass of PBHs increases by more than a factor of $\mathcal{O}(10)$ due to accretion, this is consistent with the observed abundance of SMBHs. On the other hand, for $f_a=10^{17}~\mathrm{GeV}$ required to produce PBHs of masses detected in the LIGO/Virgo, the PBH fraction should be $f_\mathrm{PBH}\lesssim6\times 10^{-8}$, which may be too small to explain the LIGO/Virgo events, although there is a significant uncertainty in calculating the merger rate in the presence of clustering.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figure

Experimental H-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy characterized by plaques and glial- and stellate-type prion protein deposits

Atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has recently been identified in Europe, North America, and Japan. It is classified as H-type and L-type BSE according to the molecular mass of the disease-associated prion protein (PrPSc). To investigate the topographical distribution and deposition patterns of immunolabeled PrPSc, H-type BSE isolate was inoculated intracerebrally into cattle. H-type BSE was successfully transmitted to 3 calves, with incubation periods between 500 and 600 days. Moderate to severe spongiform changes were detected in the cerebral and cerebellar cortices, basal ganglia, thalamus, and brainstem. H-type BSE was characterized by the presence of PrP-immunopositive amyloid plaques in the white matter of the cerebrum, basal ganglia, and thalamus. Moreover, intraglial-type immunolabeled PrPSc was prominent throughout the brain. Stellate-type immunolabeled PrPSc was conspicuous in the gray matter of the cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, and thalamus, but not in the brainstem. In addition, PrPSc accumulation was detected in the peripheral nervous tissues, such as trigeminal ganglia, dorsal root ganglia, optic nerve, retina, and neurohypophysis. Cattle are susceptible to H-type BSE with a shorter incubation period, showing distinct and distinguishable phenotypes of PrPSc accumulation

RealTime QA: What's the Answer Right Now?

We introduce REALTIME QA, a dynamic question answering (QA) platform that announces questions and evaluates systems on a regular basis (weekly in this version). REALTIME QA inquires about the current world, and QA systems need to answer questions about novel events or information. It therefore challenges static, conventional assumptions in open-domain QA datasets and pursues instantaneous applications. We build strong baseline models upon large pretrained language models, including GPT-3 and T5. Our benchmark is an ongoing effort, and this paper presents real-time evaluation results over the past year. Our experimental results show that GPT-3 can often properly update its generation results, based on newly-retrieved documents, highlighting the importance of up-to-date information retrieval. Nonetheless, we find that GPT-3 tends to return outdated answers when retrieved documents do not provide sufficient information to find an answer. This suggests an important avenue for future research: can an open-domain QA system identify such unanswerable cases and communicate with the user or even the retrieval module to modify the retrieval results? We hope that REALTIME QA will spur progress in instantaneous applications of question answering and beyond.Comment: RealTime QA Website: https://realtimeqa.github.io

Catheter ablation of non-inducible atrial tachycardia after surgical repair of heart disease

We present a patient with non-inducible atrial tachycardia (AT) after atriotomy for surgical repair of heart disease who underwent ablation successfully. Using a 3-D mapping system, we presumed the atriotomy site on the lateral right atrial wall by searching for linear double potentials (DP) during sinus/paced rhythm from the coronary sinus, but it was evaluated incompletely. We could verify the edges of the atriotomy scar precisely by pacing from close to the linear DP lesion and the opposite site. After ablation between the presumed atriotomy scar and the inferior vena cava and cavotricuspid isthmus, no AT recurred without anti-arrhythmic drugs.ArticleHEART AND VESSELS. 27(1):114-118 (2012)journal articl

Accumulation of L-type Bovine Prions in Peripheral Nerve Tissues

We recently reported the intraspecies transmission of L-type atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). To clarify the peripheral pathogenesis of L-type BSE, we studied prion distribution in nerve and lymphoid tissues obtained from experimentally challenged cattle. As with classical BSE prions, L-type BSE prions accumulated in central and peripheral nerve tissues

Impact of Hepatic Steatosis on Disease-Free Survival in Patients with Non-B Non-C Hepatocellular Carcinoma Undergoing Hepatic Resection.

[Background]Although the prevalence of non-B non-C hepatocellular carcinoma (NBNC HCC) has increased, its clinicopathologic characteristics remain unclear. [Methods]We retrospectively analyzed 518 HCC patients who underwent hepatic resection. Hepatitis B surface antigen- and hepatitis C antibody-negative patients were categorized into the NBNC HCC group (n = 145); others were categorized into the hepatitis B or C HCC (BC HCC) group (n = 373). We subdivided the etiologies of NBNC HCC according to alcohol intake and presence of steatosis. [Results]NBNC HCC was associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (13.1 %), fatty liver disease with moderate alcohol intake (9.0 %), alcoholic liver disease (ALD) (29.7 %), cryptogenic disease (44.1 %), and other known etiologies (4.1 %). The prevalence of obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension was higher and hepatic function was better in the NBNC HCC group, which had significantly larger tumors than the BC HCC group. The entire NBNC HCC group displayed similar overall and disease-free survival as the BC HCC group. Among the subdivisions, NAFLD-associated HCC patients had significantly better disease-free survival than ALD-associated HCC and BC HCC patients. Microvascular invasion (hazard ratio [HR] 2.30; 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.33–3.96) and steatosis area <5 % of noncancerous region (HR 2.13; 95 % CI 1.21–3.93) were associated with disease-free survival in NBNC HCC patients. [Conclusions]The prognosis of NBNC HCC was similar to that of BC HCC. Among NBNC HCC patients, NAFLD-associated HCC patients had a relatively low recurrence risk. Absence of steatosis in hepatic parenchyma had a significant impact on disease-free survival in NBNC HCC patients

Analysis of Radioactive Elements in Testes of Large Japanese Field Mice Using an Electron Probe Micro-Analyser after the Fukushima Accident

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) accident drew global attention to the health risks of radiation exposure. The large Japanese field mice (Apodemus speciosus) are rodents endemic to, and distributed throughout, Japan. This wild rodent live in and around the ex-evacuation zone on the ground surface and/or underground. In this study, we evaluated the effect of chronic radiation exposure associated with FDNPP accident on the testes of large Japanese field mice. Morphological analysis and electron-prove X-ray microanalysis (EPMA) was undertaken on the testes. Morphological analysis of testes based on H&E staining showed that the spermatogenesis was observed normally in the breeding season of wild mice in the heavily contaminated area. However, caesium (Cs) was not detected in all testes of wild mice from FDNPP ex-evacuation zone. In conclusion, even if the testes and the process of spermatogenesis are hypersensitive to radiation, we could not detect radiation effects on the spermatogenesis and Cs in the examined large Japanese field mice testes following chronic radiation exposure associated with the FDNPP accident

Results of the search for inspiraling compact star binaries from TAMA300's observation in 2000-2004

We analyze the data of TAMA300 detector to search for gravitational waves from inspiraling compact star binaries with masses of the component stars in the range 1-3Msolar. In this analysis, 2705 hours of data, taken during the years 2000-2004, are used for the event search. We combine the results of different observation runs, and obtained a single upper limit on the rate of the coalescence of compact binaries in our Galaxy of 20 per year at a 90% confidence level. In this upper limit, the effect of various systematic errors such like the uncertainty of the background estimation and the calibration of the detector's sensitivity are included.Comment: 8 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses revtex4.sty The author list was correcte

White matter microstructural alterations across four major psychiatric disorders : mega-analysis study in 2937 individuals

Identifying both the commonalities and differences in brain structures among psychiatric disorders is important for understanding the pathophysiology. Recently, the ENIGMA-Schizophrenia DTI Working Group performed a large-scale meta-analysis and reported widespread white matter microstructural alterations in schizophrenia; however, no similar cross-disorder study has been carried out to date. Here, we conducted mega-analyses comparing white matter microstructural differences between healthy comparison subjects (HCS; N = 1506) and patients with schizophrenia (N = 696), bipolar disorder (N = 211), autism spectrum disorder (N = 126), or major depressive disorder (N = 398; total N = 2937 from 12 sites). In comparison with HCS, we found that schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum disorder share similar white matter microstructural differences in the body of the corpus callosum; schizophrenia and bipolar disorder featured comparable changes in the limbic system, such as the fornix and cingulum. By comparison, alterations in tracts connecting neocortical areas, such as the uncinate fasciculus, were observed only in schizophrenia. No significant difference was found in major depressive disorder. In a direct comparison between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, there were no significant differences. Significant differences between schizophrenia/bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder were found in the limbic system, which were similar to the differences in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder relative to HCS. While schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may have similar pathological characteristics, the biological characteristics of major depressive disorder may be close to those of HCS. Our findings provide insights into nosology and encourage further investigations of shared and unique pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders

Observation results by the TAMA300 detector on gravitational wave bursts from stellar-core collapses

We present data-analysis schemes and results of observations with the TAMA300 gravitational-wave detector, targeting burst signals from stellar-core collapse events. In analyses for burst gravitational waves, the detection and fake-reduction schemes are different from well-investigated ones for a chirp-wave analysis, because precise waveform templates are not available. We used an excess-power filter for the extraction of gravitational-wave candidates, and developed two methods for the reduction of fake events caused by non-stationary noises of the detector. These analysis schemes were applied to real data from the TAMA300 interferometric gravitational wave detector. As a result, fake events were reduced by a factor of about 1000 in the best cases. The resultant event candidates were interpreted from an astronomical viewpoint. We set an upper limit of 2.2x10^3 events/sec on the burst gravitational-wave event rate in our Galaxy with a confidence level of 90%. This work sets a milestone and prospects on the search for burst gravitational waves, by establishing an analysis scheme for the observation data from an interferometric gravitational wave detector