Recent advances in deuterium permeation induced transmutation experiments using nano-structured Pd/CaO/Pd multilayer thin film

Permeation induced transmutation reactions, which we originally found in the nanostructured Pd multilayer film composed of Pd and CaO thin film and Pd substrate, have been observed in our laboratory and other research institutes. Recently, Toyota R&D centre reported almost complete replication experiments on the transmutation of Cs into Pr at ICCF-17. We observed transmutation reactions of Cs into Pr, Ba into Sm, W into Pt up to now. Especially, transmutation of Cs into Pr has been confirmed by "in-situ" measurements using x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) at SPring-8 in Japan. Experimental data that indicates the presence of transmutation have been accumulated and the underlying mechanism for inducing low energy transmutation reactions is gradually becoming clear, although systematic experimental study is still insufficient. The permeation induced transmutation technology would be expected as an innovative nuclear transmutation method for radioactive waste and a new energy source if we would be able to increase the amount of transmutation products. We have been trying to increase the amount of transmutation products these years for the practical application. The following factors are assumed to be important for inducing deuterium permeation transmutation. 1) Local Deuteron Density 2) Electronic Structure Based on this assumption, we applied an electrochemical method to increase the local deuteron density near the surface of the nano-structured Pd multilayer film. We also tried to increase the transmutation products by changing surface electronic state. These recent experimental methods gave us increased transmutation products, gamma-ray emissions, and new implications on Deuterium Permeation Induced Transmutation

Electronic Control of Spin Alignment in pi-Conjugated Molecular Magnets

Intramolecular spin alignment in pi-conjugated molecules is studied theoretically in a model of a Peierls-Hubbard chain coupled with two localized spins. By means of the exact diagonalization technique, we demonstrate that a spin singlet (S=0) to quartet (S=3/2) transition can be induced by electronic doping, depending on the chain length, the positions of the localized spins, and the sign of the electron-spin coupling. The calculated results provides a theoretical basis for understanding the mechanism of spin alignment recently observed in a diradical donor molecule.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Physical Review Letters (in press

Extração de DNA para análise da amelogenina em amostras fixadas em formalina, incluídas em parafina e armazenadas por 1 e 5 anos no Departamento de Patologia da Universidade Federal de São Paulo

O uso da biologia molecular em amostras fi xadas em formalina e incluídas em parafi na (FFPE) vem crescendo, e a melhoria nos métodos de obtenção do DNA para sua análise é necessária. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o DNA extraído de blocos de tecidos FFPE (fígado, baço e cérebro não tumorais), obtidos de necropsia, 8 a 24 horas post mortem, utilizando três métodos de extração de DNA (kit comercial, fenolclorofórmio e Salting-Out). Foram realizadas as PCRs dos genes da actina (136pb), amelogenina humana (AMEL 212-218pb) e STRs (100-400pb) para avaliar a efi cácia do método de extração de DNA e determinar o sexo dos indivíduos. Foram utilizados 28 casos arquivados (1 e 5 anos) e 12 recentes, sendo analisadas 10 amostras de cada um dos tecidos. O kit comercial apresentou maior grau de pureza, resultados reprodutíveis e consistentes na amplifi cação por PCR nos genes da -actina e AMEL e na análise por STR. Este estudo fornece uma compreensão dos desafi os envolvendo amostras FFPE, e esclareceu novas estratégias para análises moleculares neste tipo de material

Enhanced Hyperthermia Induced by MDMA in Parkin Knockout Mice

MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is reportedly severely toxic to both dopamine (DA) and serotonin neurons. MDMA significantly reduces the number of DA neurons in the substantia nigra, but not in the nucleus accumbens, indicating that MDMA causes selective destruction of DA neurons in the nigrostriatal pathway, sparing the mesolimbic pathway. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder of multifactorial origin. The pathological hallmark of PD is the degeneration of DA neurons in the nigrostriatal pathway. Mutations in the parkin gene are frequently observed in autosomal recessive parkinsonism in humans. Parkin is hypothesized to protect against neurotoxic insult, and we attempted to clarify the role of parkin in MDMA-induced hyperthermia, one of the causal factors of neuronal damage, using parkin knockout mice. Body temperature was measured rectally before and 15, 30, 45, and 60 min after intraperitoneal injection of MDMA (30 mg/kg) at an ambient temperature of 22 ± 2°C. Significantly enhanced hyper-thermia after MDMA injection was observed in heterozygous and homozygous parkin knockout mice compared with wildtype mice, suggesting that parkin plays a protective role in MDMA neurotoxicity

Measurement of the electron transmission rate of the gating foil for the TPC of the ILC experiment

We have developed a gating foil for the time projection chamber envisaged as a central tracker for the international linear collider experiment. It has a structure similar to the Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) with a higher optical aperture ratio and functions as an ion gate without gas amplification. The transmission rate for electrons was measured in a counting mode for a wide range of the voltages applied across the foil using an $^{55}$Fe source and a laser in the absence of a magnetic field. The blocking power of the foil against positive ions was estimated from the electron transmissions.Comment: 25 pages containing 14 figures and 1 tabl

Parathyroid hormone related peptide and receptor expression in paired primary prostate cancer and bone metastases

Parathyroid hormone-related peptide is a regulatory protein implicated in the pathogenesis of bone metastases, particularly in breast carcinoma. Parathyroid hormone-related peptide is widely expressed in primary prostate cancers but there are few reports of its expression in prostatic metastases. The aim of this study was to examine the expression of parathyroid hormone-related peptide and its receptor in matched primary and in bone metastatic tissue from patients with untreated adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Eight-millimetre trephine iliac crest bone biopsies containing metastatic prostate cancer were obtained from 14 patients from whom matched primary tumour tissue was also available. Histological grading was performed by an independent pathologist. The cellular location of mRNA for parathyroid hormone-related peptide and parathyroid hormone-related peptide receptor was identified using in situ hybridization with 35S-labelled probe. Expression of parathyroid hormone-related peptide and its receptor was described as uniform, heterogenous or negative within the tumour cell population. Parathyroid hormone-related peptide expression was positive in 13 out of 14 primary tumours and in all 14 metastases. Receptor expression was evident in all 14 primaries and 12 out of 14 metastases. Co-expression of parathyroid hormone-related peptide and parathyroid hormone-related peptide receptor was common (13 primary tumours, 12 metastases). The co-expression of parathyroid hormone-related peptide and its receptor suggest that autocrine parathyroid hormone-related peptide mediated stimulation may be a mechanism of escape from normal growth regulatory pathways. The high frequency of parathyroid hormone-related peptide expression in metastases is consistent with a role in the pathogenesis of bone metastases

Bubble burst as jamming phase transition

Recently research on bubble and its burst attract much interest of researchers in various field such as economics and physics. Economists have been regarding bubble as a disorder in prices. However, this research strategy has overlooked an importance of the volume of transactions. In this paper, we have proposed a bubble burst model by focusing the transactions incorporating a traffic model that represents spontaneous traffic jam. We find that the phenomenon of bubble burst shares many similar properties with traffic jam formation by comparing data taken from US housing market. Our result suggests that the transaction could be a driving force of bursting phenomenon.Comment: 9 pages,12 figure

Relative finger position influences whether you can localize tactile stimuli

To investigate whether the relative positions of the fingers influence tactile localization, participants were asked to localize tactile stimuli applied to their fingertips. We measured the location and rate of errors for three finger configurations: fingers stretched out and together so that they are touching each other, fingers stretched out and spread apart maximally and fingers stretched out with the two hands on top of each other so that the fingers are interwoven. When the fingers contact each other, it is likely that the error rate to the adjacent fingers will be higher than when the fingers are spread apart. In particular, we reasoned that localization would probably improve when the fingers are spread. We aimed at assessing whether such adjacency was measured in external coordinates (taking proprioception into account) or on the body (in skin coordinates). The results confirmed that the error rate was lower when the fingers were spread. However, there was no decrease in error rate to neighbouring fingertips in the fingers spread condition in comparison with the fingers together condition. In an additional experiment, we showed that the lower error rate when the fingers were spread was not related to the continuous tactile input from the neighbouring fingers when the fingers were together. The current results suggest that information from proprioception is taken into account in perceiving the location of a stimulus on one of the fingertips