Reduced ascorbate pool and its maintenance are important determinants of O damage to net photosynthetic rate in Fagus crenata under elevated CO and soil N supply.

Many studies have reported modification in the degree of O damage to photosynthesis by elevated CO and soil N supply. However, the mechanism underlying the modification is unclear. To clarify the important determinants in the degree of O damage to net photosynthetic rate (A) in the leaves of Fagus crenata (Siebold's beech) under elevated CO and with different soil N supply, F.

Degradation of autotoxic chemicals and maintainence of electrical conductivity recover growth, yield and nutrient absorption of successive lettuce in recycled hydroponics.

In recycled hydroponics, successive crop cultivation by maintaining electrical conductivity (EC) suffers lower growth performance due to accumulating autotoxic root exudates. In this study, the efficiency of alternate current electro degradation (AC-ED) was evaluated for degrading allelochemicals and recovering retarded lettuce yield cultivated in EC-adjusted repeatedly used nutrient solutions. From benzoic acid (BA)-added nutrient solution, BA was completely degraded after 24 h by applying AC-ED at 551 and 940 Hz frequency with 50 and 80% electrical duty.

The onset of cerebral infarction may be affected by differences in atmospheric pressure distribution patterns.

Background: Some papers have highlighted a possible causal relationship between the onset of ischemic stroke and weather conditions. This study aimed to elucidate the onset mechanism of cerebral infarction from a meteorological approach. We focused on the atmospheric pressure distribution patterns (APDPs).

Extremely large lamb shift in a deep-strongly coupled circuit QED system with a multimode resonator.

We report experimental and theoretical results on the extremely large Lamb shift in a multimode circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) system in the deep-strong coupling (DSC) regime, where the qubit-resonator coupling strength is comparable to or larger than the qubit and resonator frequencies. The system comprises a superconducting flux qubit (FQ) and a quarter-wavelength coplanar waveguide resonator ([Formula: see text] CPWR) that are coupled inductively through a shared edge that contains a Josephson junction to achieve the DSC regime. Spectroscopy is performed around the frequency of the fundamental mode of the CPWR, and the spectrum is fitted by the single-mode quantum Rabi Hamiltonian to obtain the system parameters.

Effects of elevated ozone and carbon dioxide on the dynamic photosynthesis of Fagus crenata seedlings under variable light conditions.

Ozone (O) is an air pollutant that is toxic to trees. O reduces steady-state net photosynthetic rate (A), and the adverse effects of O are mitigated under elevated CO condition. However, the combined effects of O and elevated CO on dynamic photosynthesis under variable light conditions have not yet been clarified.

Decline in pediatric admission on an isolated island in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: A decrease in pediatric hospitalizations during the COVID-19 pandemic has been reported worldwide; however, few studies have examined areas with a limited number of COVID-19 cases, where influenced by viral interference by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is minimum.

Methods: We conducted an epidemiological study of pediatric hospitalizations on Sado, an isolated island in Niigata, Japan, that was unique environment with few COVID-19 cases and reliable pediatric admissions monitoring. We compared numbers of monthly hospitalizations and associated diagnoses for the periods April 2016 to March 2020 (pre-pandemic period) and April 2020 to March 2021 (pandemic period).

Hamiltonian of a flux qubit-LC oscillator circuit in the deep-strong-coupling regime.

We derive the Hamiltonian of a superconducting circuit that comprises a single-Josephson-junction flux qubit inductively coupled to an LC oscillator, and we compare the derived circuit Hamiltonian with the quantum Rabi Hamiltonian, which describes a two-level system coupled to a harmonic oscillator. We show that there is a simple, intuitive correspondence between the circuit Hamiltonian and the quantum Rabi Hamiltonian. While there is an overall shift of the entire spectrum, the energy level structure of the circuit Hamiltonian up to the seventh excited states can still be fitted well by the quantum Rabi Hamiltonian even in the case where the coupling strength is larger than the frequencies of the qubit and the oscillator, i.

Growth and photosynthetic responses to ozone of Siebold's beech seedlings grown under elevated CO and soil nitrogen supply.

Ozone (O) is a phytotoxic air pollutant, the adverse effects of which on growth and photosynthesis are modified by other environmental factors. In this study, we examined the combined effects of O, elevated CO, and soil nitrogen supply on Siebold's beech seedlings. Seedlings were grown under combinations of two levels of O (low and two times ambient O concentration), two levels of CO (ambient and 700 ppm), and three levels of soil nitrogen supply (0, 50, and 100 kg N ha year) during two growing seasons (2019 and 2020), with leaf photosynthetic traits being determined during the second season.

Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 on Time Delay and Functional Outcome of Mechanical Thrombectomy in Tokyo, Japan.

Objectives: An association has been reported between delays in the onset-to-door (O2D) time for mechanical thrombectomy (MT) and outbreaks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the association between other MT time courses or functional outcomes and COVID-19 outbreaks remains unclear. We compared the time courses of stroke pathways or functional outcomes in 2020 (the COVID-19 era) with those in 2019 (the pre-COVID-19 era) in Tokyo, Japan.

Thyroid hormone insufficiency alters the expression of psychiatric disorder-related molecules in the hypothyroid mouse brain during the early postnatal period.

The functional role of thyroid hormone (TH) in the cortex and hippocampus of mouse during neuronal development was investigated in this study. TH insufficiency showed a decrease in the expression of parvalbumin (PV) in the cortex and hippocampus of pups at postnatal day (PD) 14, while treatment with thyroxine from PD 0 to PD 14 ameliorated the PV loss. On the other hand, treatment with antithyroid agents in adulthood did not result in a decrease in the expression of PV in these areas.

Dextran sulphate inhibits an association of prions with plasma membrane at the early phase of infection.

The defining characteristic of prion diseases is conversion of a cellular prion protein (PrP) to an abnormal prion protein (PrP). The exogenous attachment of PrP to the surface of a target cell is critical for infection. However, the initial interaction of PrP with the cell surface is poorly characterized.

The geology and geophysics of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth.

The Cold Classical Kuiper Belt, a class of small bodies in undisturbed orbits beyond Neptune, is composed of primitive objects preserving information about Solar System formation. In January 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft flew past one of these objects, the 36-kilometer-long contact binary (486958) Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU). Images from the flyby show that Arrokoth has no detectable rings, and no satellites (larger than 180 meters in diameter) within a radius of 8000 kilometers.

Impact of patient positioning uncertainty in noncoplanar intracranial stereotactic radiotherapy.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the patient positioning uncertainty in noncoplanar stereotactic radiosurgery or stereotactic radiotherapy (SRS/SRT) for intracranial lesions with the frameless 6D ExacTrac system. In all, 28 patients treated with SRS/SRT of 70 treatment plans at our institution were evaluated in this study. Two X-ray images with the frameless 6D ExacTrac system were first acquired to correct (XC) and verify (XV) the patient position at a couch angle of 0º.

Postmortem Quantitative Analysis of Prion Seeding Activity in the Digestive System.

Human prion diseases are neurodegenerative disorders caused by prion protein. Although infectivity was historically detected only in the central nervous system and lymphoreticular tissues of patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, recent reports suggest that the seeding activity of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease prions accumulates in various non-neuronal organs including the liver, kidney, and skin. Therefore, we reanalyzed autopsy samples collected from patients with sporadic and genetic human prion diseases and found that seeding activity exists in almost all digestive organs.

Dose distribution comparison in volumetric-modulated arc therapy plans for head and neck cancers with and without an external body contour extended technique.

Aim: This study compared volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans for head and neck cancers with and without an external body contour extended technique (EBCT).

Background: Dose calculation algorisms for VMAT have limitations in the buildup region.

Materials And Methods: Three VMAT plans were enrolled, with one case having a metal artifact from an artificial tooth.

Experience of Endoscopic Jejunojejunostomy for Anastomotic Obstruction After Subtotal Gastrectomy Using Magnetic Compression Anastomosis.

Magnetic compression anastomosis (MCA) was developed as a low-invasive treatment for gastro-enteric or entero-enteric obstruction. A 72-year-old man underwent subtotal gastrectomy with Billroth II reconstruction for early gastric cancer. After the operation, he suffered from repeated aspiration pneumonia due to anastomotic obstruction caused by jejunal kinking at the efferent loop of anastomosis.

A designer molecular chaperone against transmissible spongiform encephalopathy slows disease progression in mice and macaques.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are fatal neurodegenerative diseases that lack therapeutic solutions. Here, we show that the molecular chaperone (N,N'-([cyclohexylmethylene]di-4,1-phenylene)bis(2-[1-pyrrolidinyl]acetamide)), designed via docking simulations, molecular dynamics simulations and quantum chemical calculations, slows down the progress of TSEs. In vitro, the designer molecular chaperone stabilizes the normal cellular prion protein, eradicates prions in infected cells, prevents the formation of drug-resistant strains and directly inhibits the interaction between prions and abnormal aggregates, as shown via real-time quaking-induced conversion and in vitro conversion NMR.

Hayabusa2 arrives at the carbonaceous asteroid 162173 Ryugu-A spinning top-shaped rubble pile.

The Hayabusa2 spacecraft arrived at the near-Earth carbonaceous asteroid 162173 Ryugu in 2018. We present Hayabusa2 observations of Ryugu's shape, mass, and geomorphology. Ryugu has an oblate "spinning top" shape, with a prominent circular equatorial ridge.

Type I interferon protects neurons from prions in in vivo models.

Infectious prions comprising abnormal prion protein, which is produced by structural conversion of normal prion protein, are responsible for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Prions are infectious agents that do not possess a genome and the pathogenic protein was not thought to evoke any immune response. Although we previously reported that interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) was likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of prion diseases, suggesting the protective role of host innate immune responses mediated by IRF3 signalling, this remained to be clarified.

The Yeast Minichromosome System Consisting of Highly Positioned Nucleosomes in Vivo.

In eukaryotic genomes, the nucleosome is the structural and functional unit, and its position and dynamics are important for gene expression control and epigenetic regulation. Epigenetics is an important mechanism in development and homeostasis, and aberrant epigenetics is a common feature in cancer. Although understanding the mechanistic basis that determines nucleosome positioning in vivo is important for elucidating chromatin function and epigenetic regulation, a suitable experimental system to examine such mechanisms is still being developed.

Preparation of chiral 3-oxocycloalkanecarbonitrile and its derivatives by crystallization-induced diastereomer transformation of ketals with chiral 1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diol.

Chiral 3-oxocycloalkanecarbonitriles were prepared by fractional crystallization and crystallization-induced diastereomer transformation (CIDT) of diastereomeric ketals with (1,2)-1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diol. Investigation of the crystal structures by X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the difference in hydrogen bonds caused the discrepancy of the solubilities between () and () diastereomers. Furthermore, CIDT to afford the ()-diastereomer in good yield (95% yield) and with high diastereoselectivity (97% de) was accomplished, which is the first example of CIDT of neutral compounds formation of the diastereomeric ketal with (1,2)-1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diol.

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Ice Crystal Growth Inhibition by Hexadecyl-trimethyl-ammonium Bromide.

Recent experiments have found hexadecyl-trimethyl-ammonium bromide (CTAB) to have superior ice nucleation inhibition properties [ J. Phys. Chem.