Haldane to Dimer Phase Transition in the Spin-1 Haldane System with Bond-Alternating Nearest-Neighbor and Uniform Next-Nearest-Neighbor Exchange Interactions

The Haldane to dimer phase transition is studied in the spin-1 Haldane system with bond-alternating nearest-neighbor and uniform next-nearest-neighbor exchange interactions, where both interactions are antiferromagnetic and thus compete with each other. By using a method of exact diagonalization, the ground-state phase diagram on the ratio of the next-nearest-neighbor interaction constant to the nearest-neighbor one versus the bond-alternation parameter of the nearest-neighbor interactions is determined. It is found that the competition between the interactions stabilizes the dimer phase against the Haldane phase

Social influence on preference in situations with different levels of importance

One’s preferences are influenced by another individual’s preferences. The trustworthiness of those individuals can modulate changes in our preferences. Previous studies have examined this social influence in a single situation (e.g., the preference ratings for a T-shirt). Although it is possible that social influence on preference is affected by the importance of the situation, that remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we examined the influence of other individual’s preferences on individual preferences in various important situations. We tested two hypotheses: 1) situations of low importance are more likely to induce one’s own preference than situations of medium and high importance, 2) the influence of a trustworthy individual is larger than that of an untrustworthy individual in situations of low importance, while no difference is found in situations of medium and high importance. Forty-seven participants conducted a two times preference rating task in six situations (two situations for each of the three levels of importance). Preferences for individual characteristics (trustworthy or untrustworthy person) were also presented in the first preference rating task. The results showed that situations of high importance induced a bigger change in preference than situations of low and medium importance. On the other hand, no significant difference in preference change was found between the influence of trustworthy and untrustworthy individuals in each of the three important situations. These results imply that the influence of another individual's preferences on one’s preferences is different in various life situations.本研究は，科学研究費補助金（18K03177）の助成を受けて実施した

自己知識の活性化と社会的評価判断および自己モニタリングとの関連

広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(心理学)Psychologydoctora

Comparative study of the membrane-permeabilizing activities of mastoparans and related histamine-releasing agents in bacteria, erythrocytes, and mast cells

The membrane-permeabilizing activities of mastoparans and related histamine-releasing agents were compared through measurements of K(+) efflux from bacteria, erythrocytes, and mast cells. Changes in bacterial cell viability, hemolysis, and histamine release, as well as in the shape of erythrocytes were also investigated. The compounds tested were mastoparans (HR1, a mastoparan from Polistes jadwagae, and a mastoparan from Vespula lewisii), granuliberin R, mast cell-degranulating peptide, and compound 48/80, as well as antimicrobial peptides, such as magainin I, magainin II, gramicidin S. and melittin. We used a K(+)-selective electrode to determine changes in the permeability to K(+) of the cytoplasmic membranes of cells. Consistent with the surface of mast cells becoming negatively charged during histamine release, due to the translocation of phosphatidylserine to the outer leaflet of the cytoplasmic membrane, histamine-releasing agents induced K(+) efflux from mast cells, dependent on their ability to increase the permeability of bacterial cytoplasmic membranes rich in negatively charged phospholipids. The present results demonstrated that amphiphilic peptides, possessing both histamine-releasing and antimicrobial capabilities, induced the permeabilization of the cytoplasmic membranes of not only bacteria but mast cells. Mastoparans increased the permeability of membranes in human erythrocytes at higher concentrations, and changed the normal discoid shape to a crenated form. The structural requirement for making the crenated form was determined using compound 48/80 and its constituents (monomer, dimer, and trimer), changing systematically the number of cationic charges of the molecules

Statistical deformation reconstruction using multi-organ shape features for pancreatic cancer localization

Respiratory motion and the associated deformations of abdominal organs and tumors are essential information in clinical applications. However, inter- and intra-patient multi-organ deformations are complex and have not been statistically formulated, whereas single organ deformations have been widely studied. In this paper, we introduce a multi-organ deformation library and its application to deformation reconstruction based on the shape features of multiple abdominal organs. Statistical multi-organ motion/deformation models of the stomach, liver, left and right kidneys, and duodenum were generated by shape matching their region labels defined on four-dimensional computed tomography images. A total of 250 volumes were measured from 25 pancreatic cancer patients. This paper also proposes a per-region-based deformation learning using the non-linear kernel model to predict the displacement of pancreatic cancer for adaptive radiotherapy. The experimental results show that the proposed concept estimates deformations better than general per-patient-based learning models and achieves a clinically acceptable estimation error with a mean distance of 1.2 ± 0.7 mm and a Hausdorff distance of 4.2 ± 2.3 mm throughout the respiratory motion

A Rare Case of Pelvic Abscess Due to Spontaneous Non-traumatic Bladder Rupture

Spontaneous bladder rupture is an uncommon and life-threatening urological emergency, and early diagnosis is often challenging. Herein, we report a case of intraperitoneal bladder rupture in an 81-year-old male with neurogenic bladder-the case of intraperitoneal bladder rupture required late laparotomy for pelvic abscess following initial conservative treatment. An eighty-one-year-old male presented to our emergency department with deterioration of consciousness, fever, and hematuria. He denied previous trauma history and had been treated for neurogenic bladder. Physical examination revealed signs of tenderness in the abdomen. A diagnosis of bladder rupture was made based on laboratory examination indicating renal failure and radiological imaging showing urinary ascites. Conservative management with a Foley catheter and antibiotics (meropenem administered 1 g/day) was initiated. On day seven after admission, the patient complained of abdominal pain and fever, and a diagnosis of pelvic abscess based on contrast-enhanced computed tomography and septic peritonitis was made. An emergency exploratory laparotomy for peritoneal drainage was performed. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient was discharged on day 29 after admission. Urinary bladder rupture should always be considered as a differential diagnosis in patients presenting with free fluid in the abdomen, peritonitis, reduced urine output, and hematuria. Clinicians should be aware that secondary bacterial peritonitis can occur as a major complication of a ruptured urinary bladder