Psychosocial twin cohort studies in Japan: the Keio Twin Research Center (KoTReC)

The Keio Twin Research Center (KoTReC) was established in 2009 at Keio University to combine two longitudinal cohort projects — the Keio Twin Study (KTS) for adolescence and adulthood and the Tokyo Twin Cohort Project (ToTCoP) for infancy and childhood. KoTReC also conducted a two-time panel study of self-control and psychopathology in twin adolescence in 2012 and 2013 and three independent anonymous cross-sectional twin surveys (ToTcross) before 2012 — the ToTCross, the Junior and Senior High School Survey and the High School Survey. This article introduces the recent research designs of KoTReC and its publications

Janus Nanosheets Derived from K₄Nb₆O₁₇·3H₂O <em>via</em> Regioselective Interlayer Surface Modification

Inorganic Janus nanosheets were successfully prepared using the difference in reactivity between interlayers I and II of layered hexaniobate K4Nb6O17·3H2O. Janus nanosheets exhibit the highest anisotropy among Janus compounds due to their morphology. It is therefore important to prepare Janus nanosheets with stable shapes in various solvents, robust chemical bonds between nanosheets and fuctional groups and high versatility due to surface functional groups. K4Nb6O17·3H2O, which possesses two types of interlayers and two types of organophosphonic acids that react with metal oxides to form robust covalent bonds, was employed to prepare Janus nanosheets for this study. Interlayer I was modified by octadecylphosphonic acid, followed by modification by carboxypropylphosphonic acid mainly at interlayer II. Preparation of Janus nanosheets with two organophosphonate moieties was confirmed by 31P MAS NMR. After these regioselective and sequential modifications, the products were exfoliated into single-layered nanosheets in THF. Two types of derivatives with different repeating distances were recovered from a dispersion containing nanosheets exfoliated by different processes, centrifugation, and solvent evaporation. AFM analysis of the exfoliated nanosheets revealed that the products were Janus compounds. There are high expectations for application of these types of Janus nanosheets in various fields and for design of various Janus nanosheets using this preparation method

Influence of a warning stimulus on a motor response under a backward masking paradigm.

In this study, we examined whether a warning stimulus affected a motor response to a visual stimuluswhich was not perceived with a backward masking by inferring from electromyogram reaction times(EMG-RT) and event-related potentials (ERPs). Onsets of lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs), P100latency, and P300 amplitude, which indicate perceptual information processing and cognitive informationprocessing, were observed. EMG-RTs and these ERPs components were affected by warning stimulus withor without the backward masking, suggesting that perceptual information processing for motor responsesto the visual stimulus without awareness may be also influenced by the warning stimulus. Moreover,the degree to which a warning stimulus affected duration of perceptual information processing may notdiffered between under the backward masking paradigm and under other stimulus presentations. Therefore,perceptual information processing for the production of motor responses under the backward maskingparadigm may be independent from much higher stages of cognitive information processing such as theattentional resources

Progress and Research Needs of Plant Biomass Degradation by Basidiomycete Fungi

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