Movements and activities of male black-tailed gulls in breeding and sabbatical years

Long-lived animals sometimes skip one or more breeding seasons; however, little is known about their movements and activities during such ‘sabbatical’ periods. Here we present novel data on year-round movements and activities of two male black-tailed gulls Larus crassirostris during a sabbatical year. We compare the data with those in a year when they bred and with those of two other breeding males. The year-round migration routes of two sabbatical males were consistent with those of the breeding males: they returned to the breeding area but did not visit the colony in the sabbatical year. They landed more frequently on water (a potential index of foraging effort) during the non-breeding autumn and winter prior to the sabbatical year than before breeding. Sabbatical gulls may forage more intensively to recover body condition immediately after breeding

Sensitivity mapping for seabirds and offshore wind power farms : A case study of Slaty-backed gulls in Hokkaido

洋上風力発電は陸上風力発電よりも極めて大きな発電量を持つことから、近年気候変動問題の緩和策として最も有力視されている再生可能エネルギーのひとつである。その一方で、風車への海鳥の衝突等、野生動物への影響も懸念されている。このため、海鳥の生息に配慮した風力発電事業計画のための実用的なセンシティビティマップが求められるが、多くの国で作成されていない。本研究は、海鳥類への影響を最小限にとどめることを目的に、オオセグロカモメ Larus schistisagusをケーススタディとし、本種の生息場選択に関わる要因を明らかにし、センシティビティマップを作成した。 2018年 6－8月に、北海道道東地方に生息するオオセグロカモメ 6個体に GPSロガーを装着し 5分間隔で利用場所を特定した。オオセグロカモメの利用頻度は海水面温度、クロロフィル a、および営巣地からの距離が関係しており、海水面温度やクロロフィル aの上昇に伴い増加し、営巣地からの距離に応じて減少した。しかし、営巣地からの距離が 25 kmを越えた辺りからは横ばいとなった。これらの結果を用いてセンシティビティマップを作成したところ、営巣地に近接した海域だけでなく、遠方であっても潜在的に餌資源量が多い海域であれば、本種が風車に衝突する可能性が高くなることが示唆された。国内での洋上風力発電事業が計画されつつある今日では、本研究で示された手順で緊急にセンシティビティマップを作成し、事前の開発地選択に活用する必要がある。Offshore wind energy is a renewable energy source that offers an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while increasing energy security. However, many ecologists have suggested that offshore wind farms may have severe negative impacts on wildlife, especially seabirds. Thus, balancing seabird conservation with human energy demands is necessary when developing wind farms. Bird sensitivity mapping is a powerful and practical tool that can determine turbine collision risk within specific areas; however, sensitivity maps have seldom been generated for seabirds. Focusing on the Slaty-backed gull (Larus schistisagus), a red-listed species that often collides with wind turbines, we determined factors affecting habitat selection with the goal of reducing negative impacts of offshore wind farms. We then generated a sensitivity map using habitat modeling. GPS loggers set to record at 5-minute intervals between June and August 2018 were attached to six Slaty-backed gulls residing in Ochiishi Bay, Nemuro Prefecture, Japan. A Gaussian mixed model indicated that habitat selection was related to food availability (as determined by sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a content) and distance to the nest site. Sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a content were positively related area visitation frequency of Slaty-backed gulls, whereas distance to nest site was negatively correlated. Moreover, area visitation frequency was unchanged when the distance from the nest site was > 25 km. The sensitivity map indicated that areas both near and far from nest sites with potentially abundant food resources were high-risk areas with respect to turbine collisions for Slaty-backed gulls. Based on these results, we advocate the use of sensitivity mapping to reduce interactions between offshore wind farms and seabirds, especially for species that often forage far from their nest sites

Long-Term Remission of Primary Bone Marrow Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treated with High-Dose Chemotherapy Rescued by In Vivo

Primary bone marrow diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a rare type of extranodal lymphoma with poor prognosis. Here, we report a case of primary bone marrow DLBCL successfully treated with high-dose chemotherapy and rescued by in vivo rituximab-purged autologous stem cells. A 39-year-old woman visited our hospital because of anemia. Bone marrow examination revealed a large B-cell lymphoma invasion. An 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography scan revealed disseminated bone marrow uptake without evidence of dissemination at other sites. These findings led to a diagnosis of primary bone marrow DLBCL. Our patient underwent R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone) chemotherapy and achieved complete remission. Subsequently, she received high-dose chemotherapy with an in vivo rituximab-purged autologous stem cell transplant. Seven years have passed since the transplantation, and she remains in remission. This suggests that transplantation of an in vivo rituximab-purged autograft is a promising strategy for primary bone marrow DLBCL

Pretreatment serum FGF-23 levels predict the efficacy of calcitriol therapy in dialysis patients

Pretreatment serum FGF-23 levels predict the efficacy of calcitriol therapy in dialysis patients.BackgroundThe predictor for the result of calcitriol therapy would be useful in the clinical practice of secondary hyperparathyroidism. Fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23) is a newly found circulating phosphaturic factor. Its circulating level is elevated in uremia.MethodsDialysis patients with plasma intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) levels greater than 300 pg/mL were included in the study. Calcitriol was intravenously injected three times a week. The patients whose plasma iPTH levels dropped below 300 pg/mL within 24 weeks were defined as those who had been successfully treated. A sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system that detects human FGF-23 was applied.ResultsSixty-two patients were analyzed. The pretreatment FGF-23 levels were related to the iPTH levels, calcium × phosphate product levels, and history of active vitamin D therapy. The pretreatment FGF-23, iPTH, and calcium levels were lower in the patients who would be successfully treated with calcitriol. A logistic regression study revealed that the pretreatment iPTH and FGF-23 levels significantly affected the therapy results. Analyses using a receiver-operated curve revealed that FGF-23 was the best screening test for identifying patients with future refractory response to calcitriol therapy. The treatment would be successful in 88.2% of those with FGF-23 ≤9860 ng/L and iPTH ≤591 pg/mL, while it would be successful in only 4.2% of those with FGF-23 >9860 ng/L and iPTH >591 pg/mL.ConclusionPretreatment serum FGF-23 levels were a good indicator in predicting the response to calcitriol therapy. The measurement of serum FGF-23 levels, especially in combination with iPTH levels, is a promising laboratory examination for the clinical practice of secondary hyperparathyroidism

Development of a Highly Sensitive Method for the Detection of Cryptosporidium parvum Virus Type 1 (CSpV1)

Poster Session

Symmetries of Holographic Super-Minimal Models

We compute the asymptotic symmetry of the higher-spin supergravity theory in AdS_3 and obtain an infinite-dimensional non-linear superalgebra, which we call the super-W_infinity[lambda] algebra. According to the recently proposed supersymmetric duality between higher-spin supergravity in an AdS_3 background and the 't Hooft limit of the N=2 CP^n Kazama-Suzuki model on the boundary, this symmetry algebra should agree with the 't Hooft limit of the chiral algebra of the CFT, SW_n. We provide two nontrivial checks of the duality. By comparing the algebras, we explicitly match the lowest-spin commutation relations in the super-W_infinity[lambda] with the corresponding commutation relations in the 't Hooft limit on the CFT side. We also consider the degenerate representations of the two algebras and find that the spectra of the chiral primary fields are identical.Comment: 33 pages, references added, some errors corrected, discussions about the truncation of the shs[lambda] algebra and reobtaining the original shs[lambda] algebra from the super-W_infinity[lambda] algebra adde

Separated Transcriptomes of Male Gametophyte and Tapetum in Rice: Validity of a Laser Microdissection (LM) Microarray

In flowering plants, the male gametophyte, the pollen, develops in the anther. Complex patterns of gene expression in both the gametophytic and sporophytic tissues of the anther regulate this process. The gene expression profiles of the microspore/pollen and the sporophytic tapetum are of particular interest. In this study, a microarray technique combined with laser microdissection (44K LM-microarray) was developed and used to characterize separately the transcriptomes of the microspore/pollen and tapetum in rice. Expression profiles of 11 known tapetum specific-genes were consistent with previous reports. Based on their spatial and temporal expression patterns, 140 genes which had been previously defined as anther specific were further classified as male gametophyte specific (71 genes, 51%), tapetum-specific (seven genes, 5%) or expressed in both male gametophyte and tapetum (62 genes, 44%). These results indicate that the 44K LM-microarray is a reliable tool to analyze the gene expression profiles of two important cell types in the anther, the microspore/pollen and tapetum

On Global Aspects Of Gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten Model

This is a thesis for Rigaku-Hakushi($\simeq$ Ph. D.). It clarifies the geometric meaning and field theoretical consequences of the spectral flows acting on the space of states of the `$G/H$ coset model'. As suggested by Moore and Seiberg, the spectral flow is realized as the response of states to certain change of background gauge field together with the gauge transformation on a circle. Applied to the boundary circle of a disc with field insertion, such a realization leads to a certain relation among correlators of the gauged WZW model for various principal $H$-bundles. In the course of derivation, we find an expression of a (dressed) gauge invariant field as an integral over the flag manifold of $H$ and an expression of a correlator as an integral over a certain moduli space of holomorphic $H_{\bf C}$-bundles with quasi-flag structure at the insertion point. We also find that the gauge transformation on the circle corresponding to the spectral flow determines a bijection of the set of isomorphism classes of holomorphic $H_{\bf C}$-bundles with quasi-flag structure of one topological type to that of another. As an application, it is pointed out that problems arising from the field identification fixed points may be resolved by taking into account of all principal $H$-bundles.Comment: (Thesis) 125 pages, UT-Komaba/94-3 (Latex errors are corrected

Measurement of the W±Z boson pair-production cross section in pp collisions at √s=13TeV with the ATLAS detector

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