Search

Cosmogenic nuclides in tree rings and polar ice cores record the information of past cosmic ray intensities and solar activities. A large 14C increase over 10 years has been discovered around 5480 BCE. The 14C variations in this event differ from those of other short‐term cosmic ray events and typical grand solar minima. To elucidate the cause of the 14C increase around 5480 BCE, we measured the 10Be and 36Cl concentrations in the Antarctic Dome Fuji ice core at quasi‐annual and 4–5 years resolutions, respectively. Based on the combined 14C, 10Be, and 36Cl data, the 5480 BCE event was probably not caused by a solar proton event (SPE) or a gamma‐ray event, because the 36Cl concentration did not significantly increase as expected in these events. The incremented 10Be data were enhanced similarly to those of recent grand solar minima, but more rapidly increased (over ∼10 years). These results suggest that an unusual grand solar minimum occurred around 5480 BCE, characterized by a rapidly decreasing solar activity. Key Points: New high‐resolution 10Be and 36Cl data for the 5480 BCE cosmic ray event were taken from the Antarctic Dome Fuji ice coreMeasured 36Cl/10Be ratio was not suitable for either solar proton event or gamma‐ray event originsThe 5480 BCE event might refer to the unusual grand solar minimum which solar activity decreased rapidly in ∼10 years [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many variants of the parathyroid hormone 1 receptor (PTH1R) gene are known to be associated with primary failure of eruption (PFE), the mechanisms underlying the link remains poorly understood. We here performed functional analyses of PTH1R variants reported in PFE patients-namely, 356C>T (P119L), 395C>T (P132L), 439C>T (R147C), and 1148G>A (R383Q)-using HeLa cells with a lentiviral vector-mediated genetic modification. Two particular variants, P119L and P132L, had severe reduction in a level of N-linked glycosylation when compared with wild-type PTH1R, whereas the other 2 showed modest alteration. PTH1R having P119L or P132L showed marked decrease in the affinity to PTH1-34, which likely led to severely impaired cAMP accumulation upon stimulation in cells expressing these mutants, highlighting the importance of these 2 amino acid residues for ligand-mediated proper functioning of PTH1R. To further gain insights into PTH1R functions, we established the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from a patient with PFE and the heterozygous P132L mutation. When differentiated into osteoblastic-lineage cells, PFE-iPSCs showed no abnormality in mineralization. The mRNA expression of RUNX2, SP7, and BGLAP, the osteoblastic differentiation-related genes, and that of PTH1R were augmented in both PFE-iPSC-derived cells and control iPSC-derived cells in the presence of bone morphogenetic protein 2. Also, active vitamin D3 induced the expression of RANKL, a major key factor for osteoclastogenesis, equally in osteoblastic cells derived from control and PFE-iPSCs. In sharp contrast, exposure to PTH1-34 resulted in no induction of RANKL mRNA expression in the cells expressing P132L variant PTH1R, consistent with the idea that a type of heterozygous PTH1R gene mutation would spoil PTH-dependent response in osteoblasts. Collectively, this study demonstrates a link between PFE-associated genetic alteration and causative functional impairment of PTH1R, as well as a utility of iPSC-based disease modeling for future elucidation of pathogenesis in genetic disorders, including PFE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have measured microscopic 3-dimensional distribution of plasma-charged hydrogen in polycrystalline Al. The measurements have been carried out nondestructively by using elastic recoil detection analysis under transmission geometry of a collimated 8 MeV 4He2+ beam. The recoil cross section as large as 2 × 103 mb/sr due to the nuclear elastic collision allowed observation of the spatial distribution of hydrogen in the Al sample of 80 μm thickness. The distribution maps of hydrogen clearly visualize hydrogen bubbles of 10–20 μm diameter in the surface layer of about 12 μm thickness. The critical concentration of hydrogen minimally needed for growth of the hydrogen bubble of ten-μm size has been determined to be 1.6 × 1020 cm−3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Multicellular development requires the careful orchestration of gene expression to correctly create and position specialized cells. In the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120, nitrogen‐fixing heterocysts are differentiated from vegetative cells in a reproducibly periodic and physiologically relevant pattern. While many genetic factors required for heterocyst development have been identified, the role of HetZ has remained unclear. Here, we present evidence to clarify the requirement of hetZ for heterocyst production and support a model where HetZ functions in the patterning stage of differentiation. We show that a clean, nonpolar deletion of hetZ fails to express the developmental genes hetR, patS, hetP and hetZ correctly and fails to produce heterocysts. Complementation and overexpression of hetZ in a hetP mutant revealed that hetZ was incapable of bypassing hetP, suggesting that it acts upstream of hetP. Complementation and overexpression of hetZ in a hetR mutant, however, demonstrated bypass of hetR, suggesting that it acts downstream of hetR and is capable of bypassing the need for hetR for differentiation irrespective of nitrogen status. Finally, protein–protein interactions were observed between HetZ and HetR, Alr2902 and HetZ itself. Collectively, this work suggests a regulatory role for HetZ in the patterning phase of cellular differentiation in Anabaena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

first international Cl interlaboratory comparison has been initiated. Evaluation of the final results of the eight participating accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) laboratories on three synthetic AgCl samples with Cl/Cl ratios at the 10, 10, and 10 level shows no difference in the sense of simple statistical significance. However, more detailed statistical analyses demonstrate certain interlaboratory bias and underestimation of uncertainties by some laboratories. Following subsequent remeasurement and reanalysis of the data from some AMS facilities, the round-robin data indicate that Cl/Cl data from two individual AMS laboratories can differ by up to 17%. Thus, the demand for further work on harmonising the Cl-system on a worldwide scale and enlarging the improvement of measurements is obvious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted soil warming experiment in a cool-temperate forest with peat soil in northern Japan, during the snowless seasons of 2007-2009. Our objective was to determine whether or not the heterotrophic respiration rate and the temperature sensitivity would change by soil warming. We elevated the soil temperature by 3 °C at 5 cm depth by means of overhead infrared heaters and continuously measured soil CO2 fluxes by using a fifteen-channel automated chamber system. Trenching treatment was also carried out to separate heterotrophic respiration and root respiration from the total soil respiration. The fifteen chambers were divided into three groups each with five replications for the control, unwarmed-trenched, and warmed-trenched treatments. We found that heterotrophic respiration contributed 71% of the total soil respiration with the remaining 29% accounted to autotrophic respiration. Soil warming enhanced heterotrophic respiration by 74% (mean 6.11±3.07 S.D. µmolm-2 s-1) as compared to the unwarmed-trenched treatment (mean 3.52±1.74 µmolm-2 s-1). Soil CO2 efflux, however, was weakly correlated with soil moisture, probably because the volumetric soil moisture (33-46%) was within a plateau region for root and microbial activities. The enhancement in heterotrophic respiration with soil warming in our study suggests that global warming will accelerate the loss of carbon from forested peatlands more seriously than other upland forest soils. On the other hand, soil warming did not cause significant change in the temperature sensitivity, Q10, (2.79 and 2.74 determined using hourly efflux data for unwarmed- and warmed-trenched, respectively), but increased their basal respiration rate at 0 °C (0.93 and 1.21 µmolm-2 s-1, respectively). Results suggest that if we predict the soil heterotrophic respiration rate in future warmer environment using the current relationship between soil temperature and heterotrophic respiration, the rate can be underestimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Characteristic-line radiation from heavy metal targets bombarded by MeV proton beams has been tested as an X-ray source for dual-energy K-edge subtraction imaging for human angiography (blood vessel imaging) based on iodinated contrast media. To utilize the strong absorption by iodine (Z = 53) at its K-absorption edge (33.2 keV), we used Kα-line of La (lanthanum, Z = 57) at 33.4 keV. As a reference, also KαX emission of Sn (tin, Z = 50) at 25.2 keV was employed. Metallic plates of La and Sn were irradiated by 7-MeV protons to produce these characteristic X-rays. Energy-subtraction method was tested using Lucite phantoms which contain aqueous solutions of KI (potassium iodide) with different concentrations. Also Ca(H2PO4)2 powder was stuffed in these phantoms to simulate bones. The transmission images of the phantoms were recorded on imaging plates. During the exposure, the energy spectra of the X-rays were monitored by a CdTe detector. We found that the contrast of images of iodide solutions taken with La X-rays was higher than that with Sn X-rays. Also the energy subtraction procedure was successfully applied to reduce the graphical noise due to the bones and inhomogeneity of the soft tissue. However, to apply the present method to actual clinical use, the X-ray intensity must be increased by several orders of magnitude. Also the transmission of the “lower-energy” photons has to be a few orders higher for imaging of objects as thick as human chest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports the present status of our work on the hydrogen analysis of mineral and rock samples. The preparation of a standard material by means of ion implantation, a method of its calibration and the application of the method are described. The number of hydrogen atoms per unit volume in the standard material can be determined from the simultaneous observation of α-particles, γ rays and α–γ coincidence events for the 1H(19F,αγ) reaction at the 16.44 MeV resonance energy. The hydrogen content in a natural obsidian determined with the method mentioned above is in agreement with that obtained by FTIR. A heavy-ion microbeam system under construction, which consists of a Russian-type quadrupole magnet for beam focusing, a beam defining slit system and a γ-ray detector, is also described. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]