エリ周辺におけるオオクチバスのテレメトリー追跡

To increase catch efficiency, it is necessary to understand the habitat utilization of the target fish around fishing gear. A biotelemetry study using coded ultrasonic transmitters and set receivers was conducted to understand the habitat utilization of largemouth bass around a set net in Lake Biwa, Japan. Three receivers were installed on leader nets of the set net at short intervals by design to understand the fine scale movement of fish. Four fish were implanted with a coded ultrasonic transmitter and released near the set net. Two fish were monitored for over 50 days and showed diurnal habits. Just before the fish left the set net. the main current direction was southwestward and the current velocity was over 5m/sec. In a set net fishery, current profile is an important factor affecting the concentration and dispersion of the target fish.琵琶湖固有の定置網であるエリ周辺で,コード化超音波発信機と設置型受信機を用いてオオクチバスを追跡した。オオクチバス4尾(TL : 34.0～37.0cm)の腹腔内に受信機(Coded V8SCL, VEMCO製)を埋め込み,エリの中心に放流した。エリの垣網に設置型受信機(VR2. VEMCO製)3台を250mと敢えて間隔を狭めて仕置し,詳細な移動を把握した。50日以上追跡した2尾は, 10℃以下の低水温にも関わらず,昼間にエリから遠ざかり,夜間にエリに近づく日周移動を示した。同時にエリ周辺に設置した流向流速計の記録から,5m/sec以上の南西流が卓越した後,個体はエリから遠ざかったことが分かった。受動型漁具である定置網の漁獲には対象魚の移動と周辺の流動環境が密接に関わっていると考えられる

Near-Infrared Time-Resolved Spectroscopy Shows Anterior Prefrontal Blood Volume Reduction in Schizophrenia but Not in Major Depressive Disorder

Previous studies using various brain imaging methods have reported prefrontal blood flow disturbances in psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and major depressive disorder. In both disorders, alterations of the resting blood flow, in addition to that of the activation in response to task load, have been shown, but the results are not consistent. The present study aimed to examine the anterior prefrontal hemoglobin concentration at the resting state in schizophrenia and depression using near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy (NIR-TRS), which estimates the optical absorption coefficients and calculates the absolute concentrations of oxygenated (oxy-Hb), deoxygenated (deoxy-Hb), and total (total-Hb; sum of oxy-Hb and deoxy-Hb) hemoglobin. Their ratios to systemic blood hemoglobin concentration (blood-Hb) were also assessed. In agreement with our previous data, total-Hb and total-Hb/blood-Hb in schizophrenia were significantly lower. The present study further revealed that both oxy-Hb/blood-Hb and deoxy-Hb/blood-Hb in schizophrenia were reduced. In depression, total-Hb, total-Hb/blood-Hb, oxy-Hb, and oxy-Hb/blood-Hb were higher than in schizophrenia and were not different from the control. The oxygen saturation (oxy-Hb/total-Hb), in addition to the optical pathlengths, did not show group differences. Lowered oxy-Hb/blood-Hb and deoxy-Hb/blood-Hb together with unchanged oxygen saturation may indicate that the prefrontal blood volume is reduced in schizophrenia. The present findings suggest that NIR-TRS is useful in analyzing the hemodynamic aspects of prefrontal dysfunction in schizophrenia and differentiating schizophrenia from depression

Large-scale hybridization of Japanese populations of Hinamoroko, Aphyocypris chinensis, with A. kikuchii introduced from Taiwan

Aphyocypris chinensis is a small cyprinid that is widely distributed in lowland areas of continental China, the Korean Peninsula, and the northwestern part of Kyushu, Japan. However, this species is severely threatened in Japan due to human impacts; thus, several facilities and citizen groups implemented captive breeding and reintroduction/reinforcement programs using several dozen founder fish collected from Tanushimaru, the location with the only known natural population, in the 1980s and 1990s. To determine the phylogenetic position and genetic authenticity of Japanese populations of A. chinensis, we conducted mtDNA and genome-wide SNP analyses using a total of 254 specimens from 31 wild and captive samples, including specimens of Chinese and Korean A. chinensis and the close relative A. kikuchii from Taiwan. The mtDNA divergence and phylogeny indicated that the haplotypes found exclusively in Japan were differentiated from the Chinese/Korean haplotypes (uncorrected p = 2.6% in the cytochrome b gene) to the same extent as they were from A. kikuchii haplotypes (p = 2.9%). Results from mtDNA sequences and 47–359 SNPs, obtained using the MIG-seq method with different parameter sets, revealed that the initial captive populations and an extinct wild population in Ukiha, adjacent to Tanushimaru, were genuine Japanese populations, whereas all extant captive and wild populations in Japan are hybrids between Japanese A. chinensis and A. kikuchii, or A. kikuchii itself. The details of the captive breeding and exchange programs, as well as evidence for the aquarium trade of A. kikuchii since the 1990s, strongly suggest that the mixture of A. kikuchii into Japanese populations occurred within the first several years of the establishment of captive populations in 1994. The present case of the highly probable extinction of genuine Japanese populations of A. chinensis emphasizes the importance of confirmation and management of the genetic authenticity of conservation-targeted species

GWAS for systemic sclerosis identifies six novel susceptibility loci including one in the Fcγ receptor region

Abstract Here we report the largest Asian genome-wide association study (GWAS) for systemic sclerosis performed to date, based on data from Japanese subjects and comprising of 1428 cases and 112,599 controls. The lead SNP is in the FCGR/FCRL region, which shows a penetrating association in the Asian population, while a complete linkage disequilibrium SNP, rs10917688, is found in a cis-regulatory element for IRF8. IRF8 is also a significant locus in European GWAS for systemic sclerosis, but rs10917688 only shows an association in the presence of the risk allele of IRF8 in the Japanese population. Further analysis shows that rs10917688 is marked with H3K4me1 in primary B cells. A meta-analysis with a European GWAS detects 30 additional significant loci. Polygenic risk scores constructed with the effect sizes of the meta-analysis suggest the potential portability of genetic associations beyond populations. Prioritizing the top 5% of SNPs of IRF8 binding sites in B cells improves the fitting of the polygenic risk scores, underscoring the roles of B cells and IRF8 in the development of systemic sclerosis. The results also suggest that systemic sclerosis shares a common genetic architecture across populations