Quantum Dynamical Entropy of Spin Systems

We investigate a quantum dynamical entropy of one-dimesional quantum spin systems. We show that the dynamical entropy is bounded from above by a quantity which is related with group velocity determined by the interaction and mean entropy of the state.Comment: 10 page

Dietary fiber intake and risk of incident disabling dementia: the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study

OBJECTIVES: It has been hypothesized that dietary fiber intake has a beneficial impact on prevention of dementia, but the epidemiological evidence is scant. We sought to examine whether dietary fiber intake is inversely associated with risk of dementia requiring care under the national insurance (disabling dementia). METHODS: The study setting was the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study, involving 3739 Japanese individuals aged 40-64 years at the dietary surveys (1985-99). Dietary fiber intake was estimated using the 24-hour dietary recall method. Incident disabling dementia was followed up from 1999 through 2020. Disabling dementia was further classified into that with or without a history of stroke. Hazard ratios of disabling dementia according to quartiles of total, soluble, and insoluble fiber intake were calculated using the Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: During a median 19.7-year follow-up, a total of 670 cases of disabling dementia developed. Dietary fiber intake was inversely associated with risk of dementia: the multivariate hazards ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 0.83 (0.67-1.04), 0.81 (0.65-1.02), and 0.74 (0.57-0.96) for individuals with the second, third, and highest quartiles of dietary fiber intake, respectively, as compared with the lowest quartile (P for trend = 0.03). The inverse association was more evident for soluble fiber intake and was confined to dementia without a history of stroke. As for fiber-containing foods, potatoes, but not vegetables or fruits, showed a similar association. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary fiber intake, especially soluble fiber, was inversely associated with risk of disabling dementia in a general Japanese population

Identification of QTL Controlling Flooding Tolerance in Reducing Soil Conditions in Maize (Zea mays L.) Seedlings

We investigated the tolerance to flooding in reducing conditions of five maize inbred lines and identified a quantitative trait locus (QTL) for the trait. Flooding treatment with 0.1% to 0.4% starch solution for 14 d reduced soil redox potential to about – 200 mV, mimicking reducing conditions in soil. Treatment with 0.2% starch revealed wide varietal differences in dry matter production among the five maize inbred lines. We identified the QTL for flooding tolerance in reducing conditions in a population of 178 F2 plants derived from a cross of inbred lines F1649 (tolerant) and H84 (sensitive). Flooding tolerance, evaluated as the degree of leaf injury following treatment with 0.2% starch solution, revealed wide variation in the F2 population. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers linked to flooding tolerance gene(s) were screened with 64 AFLP primer combinations using 15 of the 178 F2 plants from each extreme representing the ‘tolerant’ and ‘sensitive’ plants, and found 11 AFLP markers associated with flooding tolerance. Of these, 10 co-segregated and were assigned to chromosome 1. Six SSR primer pairs around these markers were used to construct a linkage map. Composite interval mapping analysis revealed that a single QTL for degree of leaf injury was located on chromosome 1 (bin 1.03-4). Another QTL for flooding tolerance, evaluated as dry matter production under flooding with 0.2% starch, was located at the same position. These results suggest the potential to increase productivity by transferring flooding tolerance genes from F1649 to elite maize inbred lines