Periodic super-radiance in Er:YSO crystal

We observed periodic optical pulses from an Er:YSO crystal during irradiating with an continuous-wave excitation laser. We refer to this new phenomenon as "periodic super-radiance". This periodicity can be understood qualitatively by a simple model, in which a cyclic process of a continuous supply of population inversion and a sudden burst of super-radiance is repeated. The excitation power dependences of peak interval and the pulse area can be interpreted with our simple model. In addition, the linewidth of super-radiance is much narrower than an inhomogeneous broadening in a crystal. This result suggests that only Er3+ ions in a specific environment are involved in super-radiance.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Characterization of an active LINE-1 in the naked mole-rat genome.

Naked mole-rats (NMRs, Heterocephalus glaber) are the longest-living rodent species. A reason for their long lifespan is pronounced cancer resistance. Therefore, researchers believe that NMRs have unknown secrets of cancer resistance and seek to find them. Here, to reveal the secrets, we noticed a retrotransposon, long interspersed nuclear element 1 (L1). L1s can amplify themselves and are considered endogenous oncogenic mutagens. Since the NMR genome contains fewer L1-derived sequences than other mammalian genomes, we reasoned that the retrotransposition activity of L1s in the NMR genome is lower than those in other mammalian genomes. In this study, we successfully cloned an intact L1 from the NMR genome and named it NMR-L1. An L1 retrotransposition assay using the NMR-L1 reporter revealed that NMR-L1 was active retrotransposon, but its activity was lower than that of human and mouse L1s. Despite lower retrotrasposition activity, NMR-L1 was still capable of inducing cell senescence, a tumor-protective system. NMR-L1 required the 3' untranslated region (UTR) for retrotransposition, suggesting that NMR-L1 is a stringent-type of L1. We also confirmed the 5' UTR promoter activity of NMR-L1. Finally, we identified the G-quadruplex structure of the 3' UTR, which modulated the retrotransposition activity of NMR-L1. Taken together, the data indicate that NMR-L1 retrotranspose less efficiently, which may contribute to the cancer resistance of NMRs

Questionnaire Survey on the Status of Promotion of Gender Equality and Diversity in Research : Current Situation at Tokushima University Based on Comparison with Nationwide Aggregated Results

本調査では，全国ダイバーシティネットワークの幹事機関である大阪大学と，日本学術会議科学者委員会男女共同参画分科会・同アンケート検討小分科会が共同で実施した「大学・研究機関における男女共同参画・ダイバーシティの推進状況調査」のうち「大学・研究機関における男女共同参画の推進状況に対する意見・感想」について，徳島大学回答分（男性60 件，女性21 件）のみ抽出されたデータを用いて，本学における男女共同参画・ダイバーシティ推進に関する研究者の意識調査を実施した。男女別に集計し，公開されている全国集計結果（計10，105 件）と比較検討することで，全国における本学の位置付けについて分析した。 　調査項目は， 1 ．男女共同参画の推進（全般） 2 ．男女共同参画の取り組み　3 ．ワークライフバランス・育児支援サービス　4 ．ダイバーシティ対応　5 ．ハラスメント防止体制　6 ．医学系　の6 項目にわたる。全国と徳島での回答差，また男女間の回答差から，現在の徳島大学の研究者における男女共同参画に対する意識について考察する。In this study, a survey was conducted to examine the attitude of researchers toward the promotion of gender equality and diversity at Tokushima University using the responses of only those from the university (60 male and 21 female), extracted from the survey segment “Opinions and Impressions on the Status of the Promotion of Gender Equality in Universities and Research Institutes.” The “Survey on the Promotion of Gender Equality and Diversity in Universities and Research Institutes” was conducted jointly by Osaka University, which is the secretariat of the National Diversity Network, and the Subcommittee on Gender Equality and the Committee for Scientific Community, the Science Council of Japan. By aggregating by gender and comparing the results with those published nationwide (total: 10,105 cases), this study analyzed the positioning of our university within Japan. The survey items were as follows: 1. promotion of gender equality (overall); 2. efforts for gender equality; 3. work-life balance and childcare support services; 4. support for diversity; 5. system to prevent harassment; and 6. the medical system. The differences in the responses between Japan and Tokushima as well as those between the male and female respondents were used to examine the attitude toward gender equality among current researchers at Tokushima University