Heterogeneous Impacts of Grazing Animals and Vegetational Change in Japanese Native Pastures

Defoliation, defecation and trampling are the major modes whereby grazing animals give impacts on vegetation. Due to the uneven distribution, such grazing behavior can have profound effects on vegetation. For extensive grazing systems in native pastures, understandings of the plant-animal interaction are vital for adequate control of vegetation and animal conditions and sustainable use of natural resources. This paper reviews recent studies of the grazing impacts on vegetation in Japanese native pastures. Most of the studies were carried out in the Kawatabi Field Science Center (Kawatabi FSC), Tohoku University. 1.Native pastures in the Kawatabi FSC are composed of 61-155 plant species, of which cattle graze upon 26-76 species. Among these species, Miscanthus sinensis (Japanese plume-grass) was the most frequently grazed by cattle. The spatial distribution of available forage is a major factor affecting diet selection and consumption of cattle. Such selective grazing results in significant reduction of M. sinensis in native pastures. 2.Seed dispersal of plants by defecation of grazing animals can also result in significant vegetational change. Recent studies have shown that Carex spp. is the major plant whose seeds are dispersed by defecation of animals rotationally grazed in a native and a sown pasture. The mechanisms of the seed dispersal and its possible effects on vegetational succession are discussed. 3.Heavy trampling is known to degrade vegetative ground cover. Our research has shown that trampling by cattle promotes the invasion of a shrub, Weigela hortensis into Miscanthus-dominant pastures. Because the seeds of W. hortensis are light sensitive germinators, trampling by removing ground cover promotes its seed germination. These findings provide new perspectives on plantanimal interactions in Japanese native pastures and help estimate the impact of animals on plant succession. They also contribute to efforts to ensure sustainable grazing use of pastures

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) for AKARI

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) is one of two focal plane instruments on the AKARI satellite. FIS has four photometric bands at 65, 90, 140, and 160 um, and uses two kinds of array detectors. The FIS arrays and optics are designed to sweep the sky with high spatial resolution and redundancy. The actual scan width is more than eight arcmin, and the pixel pitch is matches the diffraction limit of the telescope. Derived point spread functions (PSFs) from observations of asteroids are similar to the optical model. Significant excesses, however, are clearly seen around tails of the PSFs, whose contributions are about 30% of the total power. All FIS functions are operating well in orbit, and its performance meets the laboratory characterizations, except for the two longer wavelength bands, which are not performing as well as characterized. Furthermore, the FIS has a spectroscopic capability using a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS). Because the FTS takes advantage of the optics and detectors of the photometer, it can simultaneously make a spectral map. This paper summarizes the in-flight technical and operational performance of the FIS.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in the AKARI special issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japa

Subaru High- z Exploration of Low-luminosity Quasars (SHELLQs). XVI. 69 New Quasars at 5.8 < z < 7.0

We present the spectroscopic discovery of 69 quasars at 5.8 0.1 in the HSC-SSP third public data release (PDR3). The sample reported here also includes three quasars with PQB 5.6. This demonstrates that the algorithm has very high efficiency, even though we are probing an unprecedentedly low luminosity population down to M 1450 ∼-21 mag.Y.M. was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI grant No. JP17H04830, No. 21H04494, and the Mitsubishi Foundation grant No. 30140. K.I. acknowledges support by the Spanish MCIN under grant PID2019-105510GB-C33/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and "Unit of excellence María de Maeztu 2020-2023" awarded to ICCUB (CEX2019-000918-M)

The effectiveness of palliative middle meningeal artery embolization prior to craniotomy for large acute epidural hematoma: A case report

Introduction and importance: Acute epidural hematoma is typically managed with craniotomy. However, there are a few reports on transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) as an adjunctive therapy. Case presentation: A 70-year-old female with no obvious history of trauma was transported to our hospital. Computed tomography scan revealed an epidural hematoma of approximately 80 ml with a midline shift of 5 mm. We decided to perform an emergency craniotomy. However, the operating room (OR) was already occupied by a scheduled surgery and it would take 30 min to an hour to prepare it. We opted to wait for our OR, considering that, even if the patient was transferred to another hospital, it would take time for the craniotomy to commence. Clinical discussion: We performed TAE for the middle meningeal artery (MMA) as a palliative measure to prevent hematoma enlargement. The MMA was selectively embolized with 20 % n-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate (NBCA), resulting in no hematoma enlargement or observed complications. The criteria for endovascular treatment of acute epidural hematoma are not yet well-established. This case demonstrates the potential role of endovascular treatment for large acute epidural hematomas in carefully selected patients. Conclusion: If there is a time gap before craniotomy, TAE could be considered a viable option for large acute epidural hematomas as a palliative intervention before craniotomy

Cerebral syphilitic gumma mimicking a brain tumor that enlarged temporarily after commencing antibiotic treatment

In this case report, we describe a 60-year-old man who presented with headaches for 1 year and mild confusion for 3 weeks and was initially diagnosed as having a cerebral tumor on the basis of finding a round lesion in the right lenticular nucleus with ring enhancement on gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging. However, the discovery of positive serology for Treponema pallidum infection on routine tests on admission prompted analysis of cerebrospinal fluid, which was also positive on Treponema pallidum hemagglutination (TPHA), rapid plasma reagin (RPR), and treponemal antibody absorption (FTA-ABS) tests. Thus, he was diagnosed as having an intracranial syphilitic gumma. After commencing treatment with penicillin G, the lesion temporarily increased in size, but subsequently resolved completely with continuing antibiotic treatment. In the present era of increasing prevalence of syphilitic infection and because they are eminently treatable, syphilitic gummas should be included in the differential diagnosis of apparent brain tumors. Additionally, temporary enlargement of a probable gumma after instituting antibiotic treatment should not prompt cessation or change of the antibiotics