Vasopressin-oxytocin–type signaling is ancient and has a conserved water homeostasis role in euryhaline marine planarians

Vasopressin/oxytocin (VP/OT)–related peptides are essential for mammalian antidiuresis, sociosexual behavior, and reproduction. However, the evolutionary origin of this peptide system is still uncertain. Here, we identify orthologous genes to those for VP/OT in Platyhelminthes, intertidal planarians that have a simple bilaterian body structure but lack a coelom and body-fluid circulatory system. We report a comprehensive characterization of the neuropeptide derived from this VP/OT-type gene, identifying its functional receptor, and name it the “platytocin” system. Our experiments with these euryhaline planarians, living where environmental salinities fluctuate due to evaporation and rainfall, suggest that platytocin functions as an “antidiuretic hormone” and also organizes diverse actions including reproduction and chemosensory-associated behavior. We propose that bilaterians acquired physiological adaptations to amphibious lives by such regulation of the body fluids. This neuropeptide-secreting system clearly became indispensable for life even without the development of a vascular circulatory system or relevant synapses

Analysis on the cryogenic stability and mechanical properties of the LHD helical coils

Transient normal-transitions have been observed in the superconducting helical coils of LHD. Propagation of a normal-zone is analyzed with a numerical simulation code that deals with the magnetic diffusion process in a pure aluminum stabilizer. During excitation tests, a number of spike signals are observed in the balance voltage of the helical coils, which seem to be caused by mechanical disturbances. The spike signals are analyzed by applying pulse height analysis and the mechanical properties of the coil windings are investigated

Effect of Aquaculture on Material Cycles in Otsuchi Bay, Japan

A numerical physical-biological coupled model is developed for the study of coastal material cycles including aquaculture. The model calculates spatial distributions of PON (Particulate Organic Nitrogen), POP (Particulate Organic Phosphorus), DON (Dissolved Organic Nitrogen), DOP (Dissolved Organic Phosphorus), Chl-a, zooplankton, NO_3-N, NH_4-N and PO_4-P using simulated current. It also takes into consideration the effects of shellfish feeding and excretion, seaweed photosynthesis, and the loading of DIN from rivers. The model is applied to Otsuchi Bay, in Iwate Pref., in Japan. The model elucidated the cycling of nitrogen among ecological compartments. If the amount of cultured shellfish is extremely increased, the feeding by shellfish is large enough to change the lower trophic level ecosystem, reducing concentration of phytoplankton and POM (Particulate Organic Matter) around the cultured region, while phytoplankton increases far from the culture due to the increase of recycled nutrient by the excretion of shellfish

Localization of Xenobiotic Transporter OCTN1/SLC22A4 in Hepatic Stellate Cells and Its Protective Role in Liver Fibrosis

Xenobiotic transporters play key roles in disposition of certain therapeutic agents, although limited information is available on their roles other than pharmacokinetic issues. Here, suppressive effect of multispecific organic cation transporter OCTN1/SLC22A4 on liver fibrosis was proposed in liver injury models. After injection of hepatotoxins such as dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) or concanavalin A, hepatic fibrosis, and oxidative stress, evaluated in terms of Sirius red and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal staining, respectively, were more severe in liver of octn1/slc22a4 gene knockout (octn1-/-) mice than that in wild-type mice. DMN treatment markedly increased α-smooth muscle actin and F4/80, markers of activated stellate and Kupffer cells, respectively, in liver of octn1-/-, but had less effect in wild-type mice. Thus, octn1/slc22a4 gene deletion results in more severe hepatic fibrosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation. DMN-treated wild-type mice showed increased Octn1 staining and hepatic concentration of its food-derived antioxidant ergothioneine (ERGO). The upregulated Octn1 was co-localized with α-smooth muscle actin. Functional expression of Octn1 was demonstrated in activated human hepatic stellate cell lines, LI90 and LX-2. Provision of ERGO-rich feed ameliorated DMN-induced liver fibrosis and oxidative stress. Overall, Octn1 is upregulated in activated stellate cells, resulting in increased delivery of its substrate antioxidant ERGO and a protective effect against liver fibrosis. © 2016 American Pharmacists Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Embargo Period 12 month

Gravitational Wave Physics and Astronomy in the nascent era

The detections of gravitational waves (GW) by the LIGO/Virgo collaborations provide various possibilities for both physics and astronomy. We are quite sure that GW observations will develop a lot, both in precision and in number, thanks to the continuous work on the improvement of detectors, including the expected new detector, KAGRA, and the planned detector, LIGO-India. On this occasion, we review the fundamental outcomes and prospects of gravitational wave physics and astronomy. We survey the development, focusing on representative sources of gravitational waves: binary black holes, binary neutron stars, and supernovae. We also summarize the role of gravitational wave observations as a probe of new physics

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M>70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0<e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM