Localization of Stem Cells in Small Intestinal Epithelium:Strategies for Identifying Small Intestinal Stem Cells

In the small intestine, stem cells are considered to exist at the bottom of the crypt. Actively proliferatingtransitional cells supplied from stem cells are differentiated into two directions upward and downward. Upwardcells are differentiated into absorbing epithelial cells, goblet cells, and endocrine cells, and downwardcells differentiated into Paneth cells. However there are some difficulties to identify the stem cells becauseof their unique characteristics. At first, stem cells occur as actual stem cells and potential stem cells, andsecond, there is diversity in stem cells. Therefore, molecules suitable for a marker of small intestinal stemcells are necessary to distinguish "true" stem cells from others. Energetically searched for in recent years,Musashi-1, type 1A bone morphogenetic protein receptor (BMPR-1A), phospho-phosphatase and tensinhomolog deleted on chromosome ten( phospho-PTEN), doublecortin and calmodulin kinase-like-1( DCAMKL1),ephrin receptors( Eph receptors), integrins, and leucine-rich repeat-containing G protein-coupled receptor5 (Lgr5) are proposed. Among them, Musashi-1 draws attention as one of a candidate marker forsmall intestinal stem cells. We here introduce our reviews about expression of Musashi-1 and Hes1 proteinsin the small intestine, and would like to overview the way to identify the small intestinal stem cells

Third data release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program

This paper presents the third data release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP), a wide-field multi-band imaging survey with the Subaru 8.2 m telescope. HSC-SSP has three survey layers (Wide, Deep, and UltraDeep) with different area coverages and depths, designed to address a wide array of astrophysical questions. This third release from HSC-SSP includes data from 278 nights of observing time and covers about 670 deg2 in all five broad-band filters (grizy) at the full depth (∼26 mag at 5σ depending on filter) in the Wide layer. If we include partially observed areas, the release covers 1470 deg2. The Deep and UltraDeep layers have ∼ 80% of the originally planned integration times, and are considered done, as we have slightly changed the observing strategy in order to compensate for various time losses. There are a number of updates in the image processing pipeline. Of particular importance is the change in the sky subtraction algorithm; we subtract the sky on small scales before the detection and measurement stages, which has significantly reduced the number of false detections. Thanks to this and other updates, the overall quality of the processed data has improved since the previous release. However, there are limitations in the data (for example, the pipeline is not optimized for crowded fields), and we encourage the user to check the quality assurance plots as well as a list of known issues before exploiting the data

Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) for the Subaru Telescope: its start of the last development phase

International audiencePFS (Prime Focus Spectrograph), a next generation facility instrument on the Subaru telescope, is now being tested on the telescope. The instrument is equipped with very wide (1.3 degrees in diameter) field of view on the Subaru's prime focus, high multiplexity by 2394 reconfigurable fibers, and wide waveband spectrograph that covers from 380nm to 1260nm simultaneously in one exposure. Currently engineering observations are ongoing with Prime Focus Instrument (PFI), Metrology Camera System (MCS), the first spectrpgraph module (SM1) with visible cameras and the first fiber cable providing optical link between PFI and SM1. Among the rest of the hardware, the second fiber cable has been already installed on the telescope and in the dome building since April 2022, and the two others were also delivered in June 2022. The integration and test of next SMs including near-infrared cameras are ongoing for timely deliveries. The progress in the software development is also worth noting. The instrument control software delivered with the subsystems is being well integrated with its system-level layer, the telescope system, observation planning software and associated databases. The data reduction pipelines are also rapidly progressing especially since sky spectra started being taken in early 2021 using Subaru Nigh Sky Spectrograph (SuNSS), and more recently using PFI during the engineering observations. In parallel to these instrumentation activities, the PFS science team in the collaboration is timely formulating a plan of large-sky survey observation to be proposed and conducted as a Subaru Strategic Program (SSP) from 2024. In this article, we report these recent progresses, ongoing developments and future perspectives of the PFS instrumentation