Functional Connectivity Within the Executive Control Network Mediates the Effects of Long-Term Tai Chi Exercise on Elders’ Emotion Regulation

Previous research has identified the effects of tai chi exercise on elders’ executive control or on their emotion regulation. However, few works have attempted to reveal the relationships between tai chi, executive control, and emotion regulation in the same study. The current resting-state study investigated whether the impact of tai chi on elders’ emotion regulation was mediated by the resting-state functional connectivity within the executive control network. A total of 26 elders with long-term tai chi experience and 26 demographically matched healthy elders were recruited. After the resting-state scan, both groups were required to complete a series of questionnaires, including the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), and a sequential decision task, which offered an index of the subjects’ emotion-regulation ability by calculating how their emotional response could be affected by the objective outcomes of their decisions. Compared to the control group, the tai chi group showed higher levels of non-judgment of inner experiences (a component of the FFMQ), stronger emotion-regulation ability, and a weaker resting-state functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the middle frontal gyrus (MFG). Moreover, the functional connectivity between the DLPFC and the MFG in the tai chi group fully mediated the impact of non-judgment of inner experience on their emotion-regulation ability. These findings highlighted that the modulation of non-judgment of inner experience on long-term tai chi practitioners’ emotion regulation was achieved through decreased functional connectivity within the executive control network

Long-Term Tai Chi Experience Promotes Emotional Stability and Slows Gray Matter Atrophy for Elders

Brain adverse structural changes, especially the atrophy of gray matter, are inevitable in aging. Fortunately, the human brain is plastic throughout its entire life. The current cross-section study aimed to investigate whether long-term Tai Chi exercise could slow gray matter atrophy and explore the possible links among gray matter volume (GMV), long-term Tai Chi experience and emotional stability in a sequential risk-taking task by using voxel-based morphometry. Elders with long-term Tai Chi experience and controls, who were matched to Tai Chi group in age, gender, physical activity level, participated in the study. A T1-weighted multiplanar reconstruction sequence was acquired for each participant. Behaviorally, the Tai Chi group showed higher meditation level, stronger emotional stability and less risk-taking tendency in the sequential risk-taking compared to the control group. Moreover, the results revealed that the GMV of the thalamus and hippocampus were larger in the Tai Chi group compared with the control group. Notably, the GMV of the thalamus was positively correlated with both meditation level and emotional stability. The current study suggested the protective role of long-term Tai Chi exercise at slowing gray matter atrophy, improving the emotional stability and achieving successful aging for elders

Proposers’ Economic Status Affects Behavioral and Neural Responses to Unfairness

Economic status played an important role in the modulation of economic decision making. The present fMRI study aimed at investigating how economic status modulated behavioral and neural responses to unfairness in a modified Ultimatum Game (UG). During scanning, participants played as responders in the UG, and they were informed of the economic status of proposers before receiving offers. At the behavioral level, higher rejection rates and lower fairness ratings were revealed when proposers were in high economic status than in low economic status. Besides, the most time-consuming decisions tended to occur at lower unfairness level when the proposers were in high (relative to low) economic status. At the neural level, stronger activation of left thalamus was revealed when fair offers were proposed by proposers in high rather than in low economic status. Greater activation of right medial prefrontal cortex was revealed during acceptance to unfair offers in high economic status condition rather than in low economic status condition. Taken together, these findings shed light on the significance of proposers’ economic status in responders’ social decision making in UG

Si基板上HfO2ゲートスタックにおけるSiO2界面層のスカベンジング現象に関する速度論的研究

学位の種別: 課程博士審査委員会委員 : （主査）東京大学教授 鳥海 明, 東京大学教授 山口 周, 東京大学准教授 溝口 照康, 東京大学准教授 喜多 浩之, 東北大学教授 丹羽 正昭University of Tokyo(東京大学

Tonal symmetry induces fluency and sense of well-formedness

Fluency influences grammaticality judgments of visually presented strings in artificial grammar learning (AGL). Of many potential sources that engender fluency, symmetry is considered to be an important factor. However, symmetry may function differently for visual and auditory stimuli, which present computationally different problems. Thus, the current study aimed to examine whether objectively manipulating fluency by speeding up perception (i.e. manipulating the inter-stimulus interval, ISI, between each syllable of a string) influenced judgments of tonal strings; and thus how symmetry-based fluency might influence judgments. In experiment 1, with only a test phase, participants were required to give their preference ratings of tonal strings as a measurement of fluency. In experiment 2, participants were instructed to make grammaticality judgments after being incidentally trained on tonal symmetry. Results of experiment 1 showed that tonal strings with shorter ISI were liked more than those with longer ISI while such difference was not found between symmetric and asymmetric strings without training. Additionally, experiment 2 found both main effects of symmetry and ISI as well as an interaction. In particular, only asymmetric strings were more likely to be judged as grammatical when they were presented at a shorter ISI. Taken together, participants were sensitive to the fluency induced by the manipulation of ISI and sensitive to symmetry only after training. In sum, we conclude that objective speed influenced grammaticality judgments, implicit learning of tonal symmetry resulted in enhanced fluency, and that fluency may serve as a basis for grammaticality judgments

New Insights into PI3K Inhibitor Design using X-ray Structures of PI3Kα Complexed with a Potent Lead Compound

Abstract Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase α is an attractive target to potentially treat a range of cancers. Herein, we described the evolution of a reported PI3K inhibitor into a moderate PI3Kα inhibitor with a low molecular weight. We used X-ray crystallography to describe the accurate binding mode of the compound YXY-4F. A comparison of the p110α–YXY-4F and apo p110α complexes showed that YXY-4F induced additional space by promoting a flexible conformational change in residues Ser773 and Ser774 in the PI3Kα ATP catalytic site. Specifically, residue 773(S) in PI3Kα is quite different from that of PI3Kβ (D), γ (A), and δ (D), which might guide further optimization of substituents around the NH group and phenyl group to improve the selectivity and potency of PI3Kα

Smart Rock Technology for Real-Time Monitoring of Bridge Scour and Riprap Effectiveness -- Design Guidelines and Visualization Tools

This study aims to further develop and demonstrate the recently-proposed smart rock technology for scour depth and protection effectiveness monitoring. A smart rock is one or two stacked magnets encased in a concrete sphere with a specially-designed rotational mechanism. Design guidelines, rotational mechanisms, remote measurement tools and localization algorithms of smart rocks were developed and validated at three bridge sites. The effect of steel reinforcement in bridge piers/deck on the orientation of gravity-controlled magnets was negligible. The localization accuracy with a single smart rock met a general requirement of less than 0.5 m in engineering applications. The spherical smart rock placed directly on the riverbed of the Roubidoux Creek successfully demonstrated its movement to the bottom of scour hole during the December 27, 2015, flood. Those deployed in the Waddell Creek and the Gasconade River were washed away and thus replaced with smart rocks embedded in deposits such that their top is in flush with the riverbed for improved stability under water current. For rip-rap effectiveness monitoring, polyhedral smart rocks are recommended to increase their interlock with other natural rocks

Electromagnetic Separation of High-abundance Rubidium-87 and Its Application

The rubidium clock，as the core part of the Beidou satellite navigation and positioning system，mainly provides high-precision time reference signals. Its accuracy will directly affect the performance of the Beidou system. The high abundance isotope rubidium 87 is the core working material of rubidium clocks. Its abundance is an important factor affecting the accuracy of atomic clocks. The high-abundance rubidium-87 isotopes required for the separation of rubidium bells in the United States and Russia，two major isotope producing countries，use electromagnetic separation technology. At present，the production of rubidium 87 isotopes for electromagnetic isotope separation in China can only meet a small portion of the demand. With the arrival of the 5G era，the demand for high abundance rubidium isotopes in fields such as aerospace and chip clocks has significantly increased. It will further increase the gap in domestic rubidium isotopes. It is expected that the demand for rubidium 87 will reach several hundred grams to several kilograms per year in the future. By analyzing the current development status of the quantum time-frequency field and understanding the demand of rubidium clocks for rubidium 87 isotopes in the quantum time-frequency field，it provides guidance for the industrial development and ideas of electromagnetic separation and preparation of rubidium isotopes in the future.Promoting the industrial development of rubidium 87 isotope separation and preparation as soon as possible. Through technological breakthroughs and large-scale construction，separation efficiency can be improved and production costs can be reduced. This will provide important guarantees for the autonomous control of rubidium 87 isotopes

Characterization of miRNomes in Acute and Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cell Lines

AbstractMyeloid leukemias are highly diverse diseases and have been shown to be associated with microRNA (miRNA) expression aberrations. The present study involved an in-depth miRNome analysis of two human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines, HL-60 and THP-1, and one human chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cell line, K562, via massively parallel signature sequencing. mRNA expression profiles of these cell lines that were established previously in our lab facilitated an integrative analysis of miRNA and mRNA expression patterns. miRNA expression profiling followed by differential expression analysis and target prediction suggested numerous miRNA signatures in AML and CML cell lines. Some miRNAs may act as either tumor suppressors or oncomiRs in AML and CML by targeting key genes in AML and CML pathways. Expression patterns of cell type-specific miRNAs could partially reflect the characteristics of K562, HL-60 and THP-1 cell lines, such as actin filament-based processes, responsiveness to stimulus and phagocytic activity. miRNAs may also regulate myeloid differentiation, since they usually suppress differentiation regulators. Our study provides a resource to further investigate the employment of miRNAs in human leukemia subtyping, leukemogenesis and myeloid development. In addition, the distinctive miRNA signatures may be potential candidates for the clinical diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of myeloid leukemias