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Objective Application of immunotherapy using dendritic cells (DCs) is considered an effective treatment strategy against persistent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. With the goal of developing improved therapeutic vaccination strategies for patients with tuberculosis (TB), we tested the ability of ex vivo-generated DCs to induce an effective TB antigen-specific type-1 immune response. Methods Monocyte-derived DCs from TB patients were induced to mature using a 'standard' cytokine cocktail (interleukin [IL] 1β, tumour necrosis factor alpha [TNF-α], IL-6 and prostaglandin E2) or a type 1-polarised DC (DC1) cocktail (IL-1β, TNF-α, interferon [IFN] α, IFN-γ and polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid), and were loaded with the established TB antigen 6-kDa early secretory antigenic target protein (ESAT-6). Results Although DC1s from TB patients expressed the same levels of multiple co-stimulatory molecules (CD83, CD86, CD80 and CD40) as the standard DCs (sDCs), DC1s secreted substantially higher levels of IL-12p70. Furthermore, when DCs pulsed with or without ESAT-6 were cultured with lymphocytes from the same patients, DC1s induced much higher numbers of ESAT-6-specific IFN-γ-producing T-cells than sDCs, as manifested by their superior induction of natural killer cell activation and antigen-independent suppression of regulatory T-cells. Conclusion TB antigen-loaded DC1s are potent inducers of antigen-specific T-cells, which could be used to develop improved immunotherapies of TB.

Several solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems can be considered for the NH3 utilization. In this study, the catalytic activity and long-term stability of the NH3 decomposition reactor with the Ni/Y2O3-based catalysts and the autothermal NH3 cracker with the Co–Ce–Zr composite oxide catalyst were investigated. Moreover, the NH3 decomposition reactor and the autothermal NH3 cracker were combined with the SOFC stack and their performances of the stack were compared to those fueled with NH3 and H2/N2. The power output of each SOFC stack was over 200 W. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the direct NH3-fueled SOFC stack was stable for 1,000 h at 770 °C without significant degradation.

This paper proposes an optimization method of a whole smart city by global-best brain storm optimization with differential evolution strategies (GBSODE). The smart city optimization problem can be categorized into mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problems. Therefore, many optimization methods, especially evolutionary computation methods have been utilized. The results by the conventional methods can be improved than those by the conventional methods. Nevertheless, the results can be still improved for reducing CO2 emission or energy costs. The authors have proposed a new evolutionary computation method, called GBSODE and the GBSODE have a possibility to diverse individuals and concentrate to explore the attractive space. Considering these background, this paper proposes application of GBSODE to the optimization problem in a whole smart city. The simulation results confirm that of the proposed method can improve the most comparing with the results of the conventional, DEEPSO, Brain Storm Optimization (BSO), BSO with Differential Evolution Strategies (BSODE), and Global-best BSO (GBSO) based methods.

A survival benefit of extensive intraoperative peritoneal lavage (EIPL) has been reported in patients with gastric cancer with positive peritoneal cytology. The hypothesis of this study was that EIPL may reduce peritoneal recurrence in patients with advanced gastric cancer who undergo surgery with curative intent.This was an open-label, multi-institutional, randomized, phase 3 trial to assess the effects of EIPL versus standard treatment after curative gastrectomy for resectable gastric cancer of T3 status or above. The primary endpoint was disease-free survival (DFS); secondary endpoints were overall survival, peritoneal recurrence-free survival and incidence of adverse events.Between July 2011 and January 2014, 314 patients were enrolled from 15 institutions and 295 patients were analysed (145 and 150 in the EIPL and no-EIPL groups respectively). The 3-year DFS rate was 63·9 (95 per cent c.i. 55·5 to 71·2) per cent in the EIPL group and 59·7 (51·3 to 67·1) per cent in the control group (hazard ratio (HR) 0·81, 95 per cent c.i. 0·57 to 1·16; P = 0·249). The 3-year overall survival rate was 75·0 (67·1 to 81·3) per cent in the EIPL group and 73·7 (65·9 to 80·1) per cent in the control group (HR 0·91, 0·60 to 1·37; P = 0·634). Peritoneal recurrence-free survival was not significantly different between the two groups (HR 0·92, 0·62 to 1·36; P = 0·676). No intraoperative complications related to EIPL were observed.EIPL did not improve survival or peritoneal recurrence in patients who underwent gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer. Registration number: 000005907 (http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index.htm).Se ha descrito que un lavado peritoneal extenso intraoperatorio (extensive intraoperative peritoneal lavage, EIPL) proporciona un beneficio en la supervivencia en pacientes con cáncer gástrico con citología peritoneal positiva. La hipótesis de este estudio era que el EIPL podría disminuir la recidiva peritoneal en pacientes con cáncer gástrico avanzado sometidos a cirugía con intención curativa. MÉTODOS: Ensayo clínico fase 3, abierto, multicéntrico y aleatorizado para evaluar los efectos de un lavado peritoneal extenso intraoperatorio (EIPL) frente a tratamiento estándar tras gastrectomía curativa por cáncer gástrico ≥T3 resecable. La variable de resultado primaria fue la supervivencia libre de enfermedad (disease-free survival, DFS), y las variables de resultado secundarias fueron la supervivencia global (overall survival, OS), la supervivencia libre de recidiva peritoneal y la incidencia de efectos adversos.Entre julio de 2011 y enero de 2014, se reclutaron 314 pacientes de 15 instituciones y se analizaron los datos de 295 pacientes (145 en el grupo con EIPL y 150 en el grupo sin EIPL). La DFS a los 3 años fue 63,9% (i.c. del 95% 55,5-71,2) en el grupo con EIPL y 59,7% (i.c. del 95% 51,3-67,1) en el grupo control (cociente de riesgos instantáneos, hazard ratio, HR 0,81 (i.c. del 95% 0,57-1,16), P = 0,249). La OS a los 3 años fue 75,0% (i.c. del 95% 67,1-81,3) en el grupo con EIPL y 73,7% (i.c. del 95% 65,9-80,1) en el grupo control (HR 0,91 i.c. del 95% 0,60-1,37), P = 0,634). No se observaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los dos grupos en la supervivencia libre de recidiva peritoneal (P = 0,676, HR 0,92 (i.c. del 95% 0,62-1,36). No se observaron complicaciones intraoperatorias relacionadas con EIPL. CONCLUSIÓN: El EIPL no mejoró la supervivencia o la recidiva peritoneal en pacientes sometidos a gastrectomía por cáncer gástrico avanzado.

著者人数: KAGRA collaboration 198名 (所属. 宇宙航空研究開発機構宇宙科学研究所(JAXA)(ISAS): 和泉, 究), Number of authors: KAGRA collaboration 198 (Affiliation. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA)(ISAS): Izumi, Kiwamu), Accepted: 2018-11-19, 資料番号: SA1180423000

著者人数: KAGRA Collaboration 203名 (所属. 宇宙航空研究開発機構宇宙科学研究所(JAXA)(ISAS): 和泉, 究), Number of authors: KAGRA collaboration 203 (Affiliation. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA)(ISAS): Izumi, Kiwamu), Accepted: 2019-06-11, 資料番号: SA1190107000

We studied, by scanning tunneling microscopy, the morphology of nanopits of monolayer depth created at graphite surfaces by hydrogen plasma etching under various conditions such as H$_2$ pressure, temperature, etching time, and RF power of the plasma generation. In addition to the known pressure-induced transition of the nanopit morphology, we found a sharp temperature-induced transition from many small rather round nanopits of ~150 nm size to few large hexagonal ones of 300-600 nm within a narrow temperature range. The remote and direct plasma modes switching mechanism, which was proposed to explain the pressure-induced transition, is not directly applicable to this newly found transition. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) measurements of edges of the hexagonal nanopits fabricated at graphite surfaces by this method show clear signatures of the peculiar electronic state localized at the zigzag edge (edge state), i.e., a prominent peak near the Fermi energy accompanied by suppressions on either side in the local density of states. These observations indicate that the hexagonal nanopits consist of a high density of zigzag edges. The STS data also revealed a domain structure of the edge state in which the electronic state varies over a length scale of ~3 nm along the edge. The present study will pave the way for microscopic understanding of the anisotropic etching mechanism and of spin polarization in zigzag nanoribbons which are promising key elements for future graphene nanoelectronics., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures

In this study, the effects of carbon fiber orientations on the strengthening of small-scale thin-walled steel cylinders (TSCs) under axial compression were experimentally and numerically investigated. Besides, the strengthening effects of various types of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) on the load-carrying capacity of full-scale TSCs were numerically investigated. The results showed that circumferential CFRP layers (0°) have significant effects on the increased load-carrying capacity of TSCs under axial compression, whereas, only 90° CFRP layers had small strengthening effects for TSCs under axial compression. When the TSCs subjected to bending shear loads with high values of internal pressures, the appearances of circumferential fibers also brought better strengthening effects than only the angled fibers for TSCs.

Background DAS28 (Disease Activity Score based on 28 joints) is widely used to determine remission in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The problems with DAS28 due to omission of the lower extremity joints have long been discussed. There are reports demonstrating that some patients meeting DAS28 remission criteria still have synovitis in their feet.1 It is suggested that patients with remaining foot synovitis can experience up to a 2-fold increase in relapse rates.2 Evidence supporting this hypothesis is still scarce. Objectives We hypothesised that RA patients in remission according to the DAS28 remission criterion with remaining foot synovitis are less likely to stay in remission. We aimed to test this hypothesis among Japanese patients with RA. Methods In 2015, 15,071 RA patients were registered in a large nationwide database in Japan (NinJa). Among those patients, those who were in remission based on DAS28-CRP were included. We used DAS28-CRP Results We included 706 RA patients in remission based on DAS28-CRP with foot synovitis in 2015 and 5182 without foot synovitis. Among patients with foot synovitis in 2015, 225 (31.9%) were not in remission in 2016 while among those without foot synovitis, 985 (19.0%) were not in remission. (X-squared=62.953, df=1, p=2.117 × 10–15) Conclusions In our study, RA patients in remission according to the DAS28 remission criterion with remaining foot synovitis had more relapses than those without it. Remission defined by DAS28-CRP does not take remaining foot synovitis into account. But a thorough foot examination may still be useful in RA patients with DAS28-CRP remission as they may be more at risk for relapse. References [1] van der Leeden, et al. Arthritis Res Ther. 2010;12,1:R3. [2] Wechalekar MD, et al. Arthritis Care Res. 2016;68,11:1616–1623. Disclosure of Interest None declared

Background Early menopause may be a risk of developing RA1. Although there are many reports about menopause and the onset of RA, it is not yet clear how the disease activity of RA differs for each generation including menopause. Objectives To clarify how disease activity differs for each generation, especially in menopausal period. Methods Using the Japanese large RA cohort database (NinJa:National database of Rheumatic Diseases in Japan) of 2016, we divided 12257 RA females into three groups of age (under 44 years old=1, 45 to 55 years old=2, defined as a menopausal group, over 56 years old=3) and analysed them cross-sectionally. We conducted a one-way ANOVA on disease activity indexes such as Tender joint count (TJC), Swollen joint count (SJC), DAS28, HAQ-DI. Results Table 1 shows the number of people per group, the duration of disease, the titer of RF/ACPA, and the proportion of drugs used. The average usage of prednisone and the use of biologics was the most common in group 1. In table 2, TJC was the largest in group 2 (p Conclusions This study shows that TJC may increase during menopause, unlike other disease activity indicators. Especially in group 2, it is possible that the joints which can’t be evaluated at TJC 28 are affecting the results because in TJC, compared with TJC 28, there is a larger group difference. Although further studies are needed, an increase in TJC may reflect menopausal joint symptoms. Reference [1] Pikwer M, et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2012Mar;71(3):378–81. Disclosure of Interest None declared

It is known that the apparent film flow rate $$j_0$$ of superfluid $$^4$$ He increases significantly when the container wall is contaminated by a thin layer of solid air. However, its microscopic mechanism has not yet been clarified enough. We have measured $$j_0$$ under largely different conditions for the container wall in terms of surface area (0.77–6.15 m $$^2$$ ) and surface morphology using sintered silver fine powders (particle size: 0.10 $${\upmu }$$ m) and porous glass (pore size: 0.5, 1 $${\upmu }$$ m). We could increase $$j_0$$ by more than two orders of magnitude compared to non-treated smooth glass walls, where liquid helium flows down from the bottom of the container as a continuous stream rather than discrete drips. By modeling the surface morphology, we estimated the effective perimeter of the container $$L_{\mathrm {eff}}$$ and calculated the flow rate $$j~(= j_0L_0/L_{\mathrm {eff}})$$ , where $$L_0$$ is the apparent perimeter without considering the microscopic surface structures. The resultant j values for the various containers are constant within a factor of four, suggesting that the enhancement of $$L_{\mathrm {eff}}$$ plays a major role to change $$j_0$$ to such a huge extent and that the superfluid critical velocity, $$v_{\mathrm {c}}$$ , does not change appreciably. The measured temperature dependence of j revealed that $$v_{\mathrm {c}}$$ values in our experiments are determined by the vortex depinning model of Schwarz (Phys Rev B 31(9):5782, 1985. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.31.5782 ) with several nm size pinning sites.

著者人数: 227名 (所属. 宇宙航空研究開発機構宇宙科学研究所(JAXA)(ISAS): 東谷, 千比呂), Number of authors: 227 (Affiliation. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA)(ISAS): Tokoku, Chihiro), Accepted: 2017-11-21, 資料番号: SA1170370000

Huntington disease (HD) is most widely known for its selective degeneration of striatal neurons but there is also growing evidence for white matter (WM) deterioration. The primary objective of this research was to conduct a large-scale analysis using multisite diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) tractography data to quantify diffusivity properties along major prefrontal cortex WM tracts in prodromal HD. Fifteen international sites participating in the PREDICT-HD study collected imaging and neuropsychological data on gene-positive HD participants without a clinical diagnosis (i.e., prodromal) and gene-negative control participants. The anatomical prefrontal WM tracts of the corpus callosum (PFCC), anterior thalamic radiations (ATRs), inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi (IFO), and uncinate fasciculi (UNC) were identified using streamline tractography of DWI. Within each of these tracts, tensor scalars for fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, radial diffusivity, and axial diffusivity coefficients were calculated. We divided prodromal HD subjects into three CAG-age product (CAP) groups having Low, Medium, or High probabilities of onset indexed by genetic exposure. We observed significant differences in WM properties for each of the four anatomical tracts for the High CAP group in comparison to controls. Additionally, the Medium CAP group presented differences in the ATR and IFO in comparison to controls. Furthermore, WM alterations in the PFCC, ATR, and IFO showed robust associations with neuropsychological measures of executive functioning. These results suggest long-range tracts essential for cross-region information transfer show early vulnerability in HD and may explain cognitive problems often present in the prodromal stage. Hum Brain Mapp 36:3717-3732, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

We study, in the PNJL model, how the entropy of interacting quarks reflects the change in the effective degrees of freedom as the temperature increases through the quark-hadron phase transition. With inclusion of mesonic correlations, the effective degrees of freedom change from those of pi and sigma mesons at low temperatures to those of free quarks at high temperatures, with a resultant second order phase deconfinement transition in the chiral limit., Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure

Background Dietary and nutritional factors may modulate the onset and/or outcome and comorbidities including cardiovascular diseases in rheumatoid arthritis (RA)[1]. For instance, a potential contribution of sodium intake and the occurrence of autoimmunity has been suggested, however the role of sodium in disease activity of RA is unclear. Objectives To investigate the potential relationship between dietary intake and current medications and the disease activity of RA. Methods Patients with RA in outpatient clinic of National Hospital Organization, Sagamihara National Hospital (n=89, M/F=18/71, age 65.0±12.8 yo, mean disease duration 16.8±13.2 y) were enrolled to the study. A questionnaire regarding dietary habit and the brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ) were used to assess the relationship between clinical activity, status of medication and intake of each foodstuff and nutritional factors. The results were analyzed using IBM SPSS software using Pearson9s correlation test and Levene test. Results The number of current medication was found to weakly correlate with DAS-28 (r=0.386), and negatively with intake of ethanol (r=-0.277). When users of biological disease modulating anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) were compared with non-users, the biologics-taking patients tended to have higher intake of total energy and carbohydrates than non-users. Use of oral corticosteroids, nor other anti-rheumatic DMARDs, did not significantly impact the total energy or carbo intake in RA patients. Sodium intake did not correlate with the disease status or the number of medications. Conclusions Although salt intake has been suggested to evoke autoimmunity, the amount of dairy intake of salt does not significantly modulate the current disease activity of RA. Use of biologics, but not of corticosteroids, may lead to increased energy and carbohydrate intake in RA patients. References Mizukami Y, et al. Distinct Patterns of Dietary Intake in Different Functional Classes of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Topics in Clinical Nutrition (in press). Disclosure of Interest None declared

We have made thermal and electrical transport measurements of uncompressed pyrolytic graphite sheet (uPGS), a mass-produced thin graphite sheet with various thicknesses between 10 and 100 {\mu}m, at temperatures between 2 and 300 K. Compared to exfoliated graphite sheets like Grafoil, uPGS has much higher conductivities by an order of magnitude because of its high crystallinity confirmed by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. This material is advantageous as a thermal link of light weight in a wide temperature range particularly above 60 K where the thermal conductivity is much higher than common thermal conductors such as copper and aluminum alloys. We also found a general relationship between thermal and electrical conductivities in graphite-based materials which have highly anisotropic conductivities. This would be useful to estimate thermal conductance of a cryogenic part made of these materials from its electrical conductance more easily measurable at low temperature., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures

Reducing fluid frictional drag is an important hydrodynamic issue for practical applications; there have been many studies on drag reduction.

Uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp1) is predominantly expressed in brown/beige adipocytes in mammals. Although myogenic cells have been suggested to commit to a brown adipocyte lineage through the induction of Prdm16 expression, Prdm16 is also expressed in skeletal muscle. Thus, we examined expression of Ucp1 in bovine myogenic cells. Considering that Ucp1 is a principle molecule that induces energy expenditure in brown/beige adipocytes, expression of Ucp1 is not preferable in beef cattle because of potential decrease in energy (fattening) efficiency. The RT-PCR analyses revealed the expression of Ucp1 in the skeletal muscle of cattle; expression levels were markedly lower than those in the brown fat of calves. Immunohistochemical analyses showed that Ucp1 surrounded muscle fibers, but not adipocytes residing in skeletal muscle. Myosatellite cells cultured in myogenic medium showed an increase in the expression levels of myogenic regulatory factors (0.05), while those in cells cultured in adipogenic medium were decreased (0.05). The Ucp1 expression was also detected in myosatellite cells; expression levels were greater in cells after myogenic culture for 12 d than in those after myogenic culture for 6 d (0.05) and were decreased when cells were cultured in adipogenic medium (0.05). The Prdm16 expression was not affected by culture conditions, suggesting that the expression of Ucp1 is not regulated by that of Prdm16. The results of the present study provide an insight into the unexpected expression of Ucp1 in bovine skeletal muscle, which suggests the necessity for further studies on Ucp1-mediated energy expenditure in bovine skeletal muscle.

We briefly review the recent progress of the technologies for uncoupled/coupled single-mode/few-mode multi-core fiber, and discuss its unique property and advantage as a transmission media used in the space division multiplexed system.

Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) and their receptor (RAGE) play a role in vascular complications in diabetes. We have previously shown that 17β-estradiol at 10 nmol/l, a nearly identical plasma concentration to that during mid-pregnancy, up-regulates RAGE expression in endothelial cells. The finding might suggest the involvement of 17β-estradiol in the deterioration of vascular complications in diabetes during pregnancy. However, the effects of the selective estrogen receptor modulator, bazedoxifene, on oxidative and inflammatory reactions in AGEs-exposed endothelial cells remain unknown. In this study, we addressed the issue. Ten nmol/l 17β-estradiol increased RAGE and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) gene and protein expression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), both of which were blocked by 10 nmol/l bazedoxifene. Bazedoxifene at 10 nmol/l also significantly inhibited the AGEs-induced superoxide generation, RAGE and MCP-1 gene and protein expression in HUVECs. The present study suggests that blockade of the AGEs-RAGE axis by bazedoxifene might be a novel therapeutic target for preventing vascular damage in diabetes, especially in postmenopausal women.

It is believed that iron reducing bacteria can be active in a deep underground where the overpack will be placed, being in a reducing condition with less oxygen or anaerobic environment. A buffer material (such as bentonite) surrounding the overpack will react with groundwater to produce alkaline pore water. We need some information to judge whether the iron reducing bacteria would be a factor to promote the corrosion of the overpack if iron reducing bacteria inhabits in alkaline condition. Also, it is very important to evaluate effect of anions, which promote corrosion of the carbon steel on growth of iron reducing bacteria and on the corrosion behaviour of carbon steel. In this study, we conducted microbial corrosion experiments of carbon steel both in an alkaline liquid medium and in a liquid medium with anions. The results indicate that iron reducing bacteria can be active, even where it is in alkaline conditions with or without anions.

We describe some details of a new experimental setup for torsional oscillator (TO) measurement of $$^4$$ He monolayers adsorbed on a graphite surface. This setup is designed to seek for the possible supersolid phase, in which crystalline order coexists with superfluidity, in two dimensional (2D) solid $$^4$$ He below 300 mK. Among such 2D solids, the commensurate phase in the second layer on graphite is the most hopeful candidate for the novel supersolid phase since it is the lowest-density quantum solid ever found. An exfoliated graphite substrate we used is ZYX which has at least ten times longer surface coherence length compared to Grafoil, an exfoliated graphite most commonly used in previous experiments. The first version of TO we made has the resonant frequency of 786.8 Hz and the Q value of $$1.1\times 10^5$$ at $$T \le 10$$ mK. The resonant frequency of this particular TO without any He samples ( $$f_{\mathrm {cell}}$$ ) showed unexpectedly large temperature variation and non-reproducibility below 1 K as well as sudden jumps when mechanical shocks are applied to the experimental apparatus. We found the stability of $$f_{\mathrm {cell}}$$ is highly correlated with the temperature stability of 1 K pot in dilution refrigerator.

To understand the population dynamics of tree populations at the range limit of a species’ range, it is important to determine which population size and disturbance regime are critical to genetic diversity. Siebold's beech (Fagus crenata Blume) is a major canopy tree species of cool-temperate forests in Japan, with the northernmost distribution reaching the Kuromatsunai Depression in southwestern Hokkaido, Japan. We examined the genetic variation and dynamics of three beech forests, with different disturbance history and population attributions in the northernmost population. The Tsubamenosawa (TSU) and Sannosuke (SAN), both natural forest, have historically experienced little artificial disturbance, whereas the Soibetsu (SOI), a secondary forest, was intensively logged, and thus strongly disturbed in the past. In total, 35 alleles were detected among 12 loci, encoding 9 enzyme systems. At TSU, He and RS were 0.141 and 2.280, respectively. At SAN, He and RS were 0.142 and 2.604, respectively. At SOI were 0.182 and 2.628, respectively. Parameters of genetic diversity changed with population size, small isolated population indicated low values. Gene flow distance for low density mature trees in the natural forests was greater than that for high-density secondary forest. However, effective population sizes (Ne) were 34.7, 64.3 and 60.3 in TSU, SAN and SOI, respectively, reflecting differences in the density of mature individuals. The results suggested that the population with the low density of mature trees kept genetic diversity through long distance gene flow. The mature tree density affected the effective population size in the northernmost beech populations.

We investigated the atomic arrangements and phase diagrams of single and binary two-dimensional (2D) films of Pb and Sn on Ru(0001) using low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The Pb films formed the (√7 × √7) and c(2 × 4) structures in the saturated and unsaturated coverages, respectively, and their arrangements of Pb atoms were identified as hexagonal and rectangular structures. The Sn films formed the c(2 × 8) and incommensurate (“√6 × √3”), namely IC-1, at low coverages. Upon increasing the coverage, the IC-1 phase transformed into the commensurate (√7 × √3) structure and gradually extended to an incommensurate (“√10 × √3”) structure, namely IC-2, at saturated coverages. The atomic arrangements of the Sn atoms were primarily rectangular-like structures. The 2D binary film exhibited an incommensurate structure close to (√7 × √7) at the Pb and Sn coverages of 0.15 ± 0.05 ML and 0.40 ± 0.05 ML, respectively. Atomically resolved STM images of the 2D binary films revealed a highly ordered hexagonal arrangement of Pb and Sn atoms with an average composition of PbSn 3 .

We study quark-hadron phase transition at finite temperature with zero net baryon density by the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model for interacting quarks in uniform background temporal color gauge fields. At low temperatures, unphysical thermal quark-antiquark excitations which would appear in the mean field approximation, are eliminated by en- forcing vanishing expectation value of the Polyakov-loop of the background gauge field, while at high temperatures this expectation value is taken as unity allowing thermal excitations of free quarks and antiquarks. Mesonic excitations in the low temperature phase appear in the correlation energy as contributions of collective excitations. We describe them in terms of thermal fluctuations of auxiliary fields in one-loop (Gaus- sian) approximation, where pions appear as Nambu-Goldstone modes associated with dynamical symmetry breaking of the chiral symmetry in the limit of vanishing bare quark masses. We show that at low temperatures the equations of state reduces to that of free meson gas with small corrections arising from the composite nature of mesons. At high temperatures, all these collective mesonic excitations melt into continuum of quark anti-quark excitations and mesonic correlations gives only small contributions the pressure of the system., Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1206.4921

Huntington's disease (HD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease with no effective disease-modifying treatments. There is considerable interest in finding reliable indicators of disease progression to judge the efficacy of novel treatments that slow or stop disease onset before debilitating signs appear. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) may provide a reliable marker of disease progression by characterizing diffusivity changes in white matter (WM) in individuals with prodromal HD. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) may play a role in HD progression due to its prominent striatal connections and documented role in executive function. This study uses DWI to characterize diffusivity in specific regions of PFC WM defined by FreeSurfer in 53 prodromal HD participants and 34 controls. Prodromal HD individuals were separated into three CAG-Age Product (CAP) groups (16 low, 22 medium, 15 high) that indexed baseline progression. Statistically significant increases in mean diffusivity (MD) and radial diffusivity (RD) among CAP groups relative to controls were seen in inferior and lateral PFC regions. For MD and RD, differences among controls and HD participants tracked with baseline disease progression. The smallest difference was for the low group and the largest for the high group. Significant correlations between Trail Making Test B (TMTB) and mean fractional anisotropy (FA) and/or RD paralleled group differences in mean MD and/or RD in several right hemisphere regions. The gradient of effects that tracked with CAP group suggests DWI may provide markers of disease progression in future longitudinal studies as increasing diffusivity abnormalities in the lateral PFC of prodromal HD individuals.

SH2D1A, also known as signaling lymphocytic activation molecule (SLAM)-associated protein (SAP), is an adaptor protein. Recently, it was reported that SAP deficient mice were protected from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In this study, we postulated SH2D1A gene to be a candidate susceptibility gene for SLE and analyzed its association with SLE. A case-control association study was conducted on 5 tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in SH2D1A region in 506 Japanese female SLE patients and 330 healthy female controls. The luciferase assay was performed to determine the functional role of the SNP associated with SLE. One SNP in the intron 2, rs2049995, showed association with SLE ( p = 0.0110, odds ratio (OR) 1.97, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16–3.34, under the dominant model). The association of rs2049995 seemed to be stronger in the subset with the age of onset less than 20 years ( p = 0.0067, OR 2.65, 95% CI 1.28–5.46). Functional evaluation of rs2049995 showed that reporter gene activity was increased 1.9-fold for the susceptible allele compared with the resistant allele. An intronic SNP of SH2D1A is associated with SLE.

Objective Clinical anxiety disorders are associated with white matter hyperintensities and diffusion abnormalities measured using diffusion tensor imaging. However, it is not known if this association extends into individuals with mild anxious symptoms without formal diagnosis, in those who are older, or in those who have atherosclerosis. The current study explores whether white matter integrity and/or organization significantly associates with anxious symptoms in older adults with and without atherosclerosis. Methods We recruited older adults (ages 55–90 years); 35 with clinically diagnosed atherosclerotic vascular disease (AVD) and 22 without AVD. Anxious symptoms were measured using the validated Symptom Checklist-90-Revised. Fractional anisotropy (FA), a proxy for white matter organization and health, was measured in the white matter globally, by lobe, and in several smaller regions of interest suggested by the literature. Partial correlations between anxious symptoms and FA were calculated, controlling for significant covariates. Results Participants with and without AVD did not differ in severity of anxious symptom endorsement. There was a unique inverse relationship between white matter health and anxious symptoms in the AVD participants, but not in healthy comparisons. Significant relationships were observed in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (r = −0.476, df = 32, p = 0.004), as well as the cingulum bundle, the frontal lobes, and the parietal lobes. Conclusions Anxiety symptoms uniquely correlated with low FA in older adults with atherosclerosis. These findings may have implications for future research on the topic of anxiety in aging and vascular disease and warrant replication. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The purpose of this studywas to clarify the effects of using wood products in older persons' environment by means of an intervention study. The participants were 44 older persons in a single assisted-living facility. Evaluators ob- served the participants' behavior at 5 points: (1) not using any products (baseline), (2) using plastic tables and chairs, (3) using wood tables and chairs, (4) using wood tableware, (5) continually using wood products for 5 weeks. Health care pro- fessionals evaluated the older persons' health status and activities of daily liv ing through regular observation.The results indicated that regular use of wood products significantly increased the social interactionand activity levels of the elder. Thus, use of wood products may enhance the possibility of preventing mental and physical decline in the frail elderly.

The temperature dependence of the segregation and morphology of ferritic steel (0 0 1) surfaces has been examined by a combination of Auger electron spectroscopy, low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and low-energy electron loss spectroscopy. Upon annealing ferritic steel at 500 °C, the topmost layer was observed to be mainly composed of Fe–Cr alloy. Oxygen segregation was also detected locally in the STM images. LEED showed a (1 × 1) pattern and a weak (√5 × √5)R27° reconstruction corresponding to Fe and Cr 4 O 5 , respectively. Upon annealing at 600 °C, carbon and chromium co-segregated to the surface, forming two different regions composed of CrC and Cr-based steel, while the Cr 4 O 5 domains disappeared. Upon annealing at 700 °C, nitrogen segregated to the surface, and the topmost layer was observed to be mainly composed of CrN domains with local CrC domains.