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Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is expected to be applied for devices in various fields owing to its unique characteristics. Establishing a high-productivity manufacturing method which yields high quality films is an important and unresolved issue for the practical applications of MoS2. Among different techniques conducted by researchers all over the world, our approach is cold-wall metal-organic chemical vapor deposition, and we previously reported the deposition of MoS2 with i-Pr2DADMo(CO)3, a novel Mo precursor [S. Ishihara, et al., MRS Advances 3, 379-384 (2018).]. In this study, with the aim of further improving the quality of the MoS2 film using this new Mo precursor, various film formation conditions were controlled and the influence on the film quality was investigated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy were used as evaluation techniques of the samples. As a result, mm-scale uniform film was formed with the deposition time less than 30 min. at temperature as low as 400 °C to 500 °C. It was revealed that maintaining low Mo/S supply ratio (SRMo/S) is crucial in fabricating high quality films.
We present ALMA detection of the [O iii] 88 μm line and 850 μm dust continuum emission in a Y-dropout Lyman break galaxy, MACS0416_Y1. The [O iii] detection confirms the object with a spectroscopic redshift to be z = 8.3118±0.0003. The 850 μm continuum intensity (0.14 mJy) implies a large dust mass on the order of 4×106M⊙. The ultraviolet-to-far infrared spectral energy distribution modeling, where the [O iii] emissivity model is incorporated, suggests the presence of a young (τage ≍ 4 Myr), star-forming (SFR ≍ 60M⊙yr−1), and moderately metal-polluted (Z ≍ 0.2Z⊙) stellar component with a stellar mass of 3 × 108M⊙. An analytic dust mass evolution model with a single episode of star formation does not reproduce the metallicity and dust mass in ≍ 4 Myr, suggesting an underlying evolved stellar component as the origin of the dust mass.
Positive symptoms are a useful predictor of aggression in schizophrenia. Although a similar pattern of abnormal brain structures related to both positive symptoms and aggression has been reported, this observation has not yet been confirmed in a single sample.
Method
To study the association between positive symptoms and aggression in schizophrenia on a neurobiological level, a prospective meta-analytic approach was employed to analyze harmonized structural neuroimaging data from 10 research centers worldwide. We analyzed brain MRI scans from 902 individuals with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia and 952 healthy controls.
Results
The result identified a widespread cortical thickness reduction in schizophrenia compared to their controls. Two separate meta-regression analyses revealed that a common pattern of reduced cortical gray matter thickness within the left lateral temporal lobe and right midcingulate cortex was significantly associated with both positive symptoms and aggression.
Conclusion
These findings suggested that positive symptoms such as formal thought disorder and auditory misperception, combined with cognitive impairments reflecting difficulties in deploying an adaptive control toward perceived threats, could escalate the likelihood of aggression in schizophrenia.
Our understanding of the complex relationship between schizophrenia symptomatology and etiological factors can be improved by studying brain-based correlates of schizophrenia. Research showed that impairments in value processing and executive functioning, which have been associated with prefrontal brain areas [particularly the medial orbitofrontal cortex (MOFC)], are linked to negative symptoms. Here we tested the hypothesis that MOFC thickness is associated with negative symptom severity.
Methods
This study included 1985 individuals with schizophrenia from 17 research groups around the world contributing to the ENIGMA Schizophrenia Working Group. Cortical thickness values were obtained from T1-weighted structural brain scans using FreeSurfer. A meta-analysis across sites was conducted over effect sizes from a model predicting cortical thickness by negative symptom score (harmonized Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms or Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale scores).
Results
Meta-analytical results showed that left, but not right, MOFC thickness was significantly associated with negative symptom severity (βstd = −0.075; p = 0.019) after accounting for age, gender, and site. This effect remained significant (p = 0.036) in a model including overall illness severity. Covarying for duration of illness, age of onset, antipsychotic medication or handedness weakened the association of negative symptoms with left MOFC thickness. As part of a secondary analysis including 10 other prefrontal regions further associations in the left lateral orbitofrontal gyrus and pars opercularis emerged.
Conclusions
Using an unusually large cohort and a meta-analytical approach, our findings point towards a link between prefrontal thinning and negative symptom severity in schizophrenia. This finding provides further insight into the relationship between structural brain abnormalities and negative symptoms in schizophrenia.
One of the critical issues for development of the nuclear fusion demonstration reactor (DEMO) is the high heat flux on heat-resistant equipments, especially the blanket and divertor. Materials of such equipments require relatively high thermal conductivities. In this study, we developed iron-based composite materials with carbon nanotube (CNT) and copper, which have high thermal diffusivities, by means of Hot Pressing (HP) and Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS).
The thermal diffusivity in the iron/CNT composites was not high enough compared with that of pure iron, while iron/copper composite showed a relatively high thermal diffusivity in the joining conditions. One of the reasons not to be improved thermal diffusivity could be non-mono-dispersion of CNT by the formation of carbides in the matrix.
We carried out an extensive photometric and spectroscopic investigation of the SPB binary, HD 25558 (see Fig. 1 for the time and geographic distribution of the observations). The ~2000 spectra obtained at 13 observatories during 5 observing seasons, the ground-based multi-colour light curves and the photometric data from the MOST satellite revealed that this object is a double-lined spectroscopic binary with a very long orbital period of about 9 years. We determined the physical parameters of the components, and have found that both lie within the SPB instability strip. Accordingly, both components show line-profile variations consistent with stellar pulsations. Altogether, 11 independent frequencies and one harmonic frequency were identified in the data. The observational data do not allow the inference of a reliable orbital solution, thus, disentangling cannot be performed on the spectra. Since the lines of the two components are never completely separated, the analysis is very complicated. Nevertheless, pixel-by-pixel variability analysis of the cross-correlated line profiles was successful, and we were able to attribute all the frequencies to the primary or secondary component. Spectroscopic and photometric mode-identification was also performed for several of these frequencies of both binary components. The spectroscopic mode-identification results suggest that the inclination and rotation of the two components are rather different. While the primary is a slow rotator with ~6 d rotation period, seen at ~60° inclination, the secondary rotates fast with ~1.2 d rotation period, and is seen at ~20° inclination. Our spectropolarimetric measurements revealed that the secondary component has a magnetic field with at least a few hundred Gauss strength, while no magnetic field was detected in the primary.
The detailed analysis and results of this study will be published elsewhere.
Delirium and dementia are highly interrelated. However, few comprehensive epidemiological studies have examined this altered state of consciousness superimposed on dementia. We investigated the frequency of delirium in patients with dementia, its prevalence in patients with each dementia type, and its association with cerebrovascular disease (CVD) in patients with neurodegenerative dementias.
Methods:
We studied 261 consecutive outpatients in the memory clinic of a psychiatric hospital between April 2010 and September 2011. All patients underwent routine laboratory tests and computed tomography (CT), and their Mini-Mental State Examination, Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), Physical Self-Maintenance Scale (PSMS), and Delirium Rating Scale – Revised 98 scores were recorded. The diagnosis of delirium was based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, text revision. CVD was detected by CT.
Results:
Among the 206 patients with dementia, delirium was present in 40 (19.4%). The proportion of patients who experienced episodes of delirium was 14.7% in the Alzheimer's disease, 34.4% in the vascular dementia, 31.8% in the dementia with Lewy bodies, and none in frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Delirium was frequently observed in patients with dementia and CVD. The NPI total and agitation subscale scores were significantly higher in dementia patients with delirium than in those without delirium. PSMS scores were significantly lower for patients with delirium than for patients without delirium.
Conclusions:
The frequency of delirium varies with each dementia type. In addition, delirium decreases activities of daily living, exaggerates behavioral and psychological symptoms dementia, and is associated with CVD in patients with neurodegenerative dementias.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a brief suicide management training programme for Japanese medical residents compared with the usual lecture on suicidality.
Methods.
In this multi-center, clustered randomized controlled trial, the intervention group attended a structured suicide management programme and the control group, the usual lecture on depression and suicidality. The primary outcome was the difference in residents' cumulative competency score to manage suicidal persons from baseline (T0) to 1 month after the intervention (T2), determined using the Suicide Intervention Response Inventory (SIRI-1) score, at individual level.
Results.
Analysis of 114 residents (intervention group n = 65, control group n = 49) assigned to two clusters in each group revealed no change in SIRI-1 score from T0 to T2 or immediately after the intervention (T1) between the two groups. As a secondary analysis, discrepancy in judgement between the participants and Japanese suicidologists was examined immediately after the intervention in the adjusted model, with a mean difference in score of 9.98 (95% confidence interval: 4.39–15.56; p = 0.001).
Conclusions.
The structured programme was not proven to improve competency in suicide management when measured by the SIRI-1 score. Further elaboration of the programme and valid measurement of its outcome would be needed to show the program's effectiveness.
The LaFeO3 and CaFeOX layers are grown using highly dense target prepared by Pechini method, with which accurate growth rate is achieved. Since the LaFeO3demonstrates the obvious RHEED oscillation until the end of growth, constant growth rate, and the step-terraces structure, the LFO is employed as a buffer and/or reference layer to determine the required pulses to deposit the thickness we desire in the superlattice. Superlattices show the clear satellite peaks and Laue oscillation in the XRD spectra as well as the oscillations caused by the film thickness with a flat surface and superstructure with a flat interface in the x-ray reflection spectrum. The streaky RHEED patterns and step-terraces surface are consistent with the results of spectra using x-ray.
Previous studies have shown that host immunity regulates the fecundity of nematodes. The present study was aimed at clarifying the reversible nature of fecundity in response to changes of immunological status and to determine which effector cells are responsible for compromising fecundity in Heligmosomoides polygyrus. Enhanced fecundity was observed in immunocompromised SCID and nu/nu mice compared to those in the corresponding wild-type mice, with significantly fewer numbers of intrauterine eggs produced in the wild-type than in the immunodeficient mice. When 14-day-old adult worms from BALB/c mice were transplanted into naïve BALB/c mice, their fecundity increased significantly as early as 24 h post-transplantation, but not when they were transferred into immune mice, suggesting the plastic and reversible nature of fecundity in response to changes in host immunological status. In mast cell-deficient W/Wv mice, nematode fecundity was significantly higher than in mast cell-reconstituted W/Wv or +/+ mice. The serum levels of the mast-cell protease mMCP1 were markedly increased in the wild-type as well as the mast cell-reconstituted W/Wv, but not in the W/Wv, SCID, or nu/nu mice during infection. These findings raise the interesting possibility that certain activities of mast cells, either directly or indirectly, regulate parasite fecundity during infection.
A novel synthesis route to organic-capped and colloidal ZnO quantum dots (QDs) has been developed. Specifically, zinc-di-butoxide was hydrolyzed with very dilute water (100˜600 mass ppm) dissolved in hydrophilic benzylamine and polymerized to ZnO by dehydration condensation. After formation of ZnO QDs with 2˜3 nm in diameter, growth of the QDs and exchange the surface capping ligand from hydroxyl groups and/or benzylamine to oleylamine were developed by heating the colloidal solution with oleylamine. The size of the ZnO QDs finally obtained was in the range 3˜5 nm in diameter. The QDs show high dispersibility in various organic solvents. Clear UV emission due to exciton recombination was observed; and its energy was varied according to the quantum size effect from 3.39 to 3.54 eV. By using lithium-free zinc-di-butoxide as a starting material, the defect-related VIS emission was successfully decreased and the UV emission becomes dominant. The influence of water concentration in benzylamine and oleylamine on UV emission intensity was also investigated.
From the irradiation resistance and high-temperature strength, oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) ferritic steels are candidate materials for advanced and fusion reactors. For the development of advanced steels the key issue is to homogenize nano-particles into matrix. Recent studies have indicated that Ti addition can homogenize Y-Ti complex particles into ferrite matrix, but the reason of the effect of additional elements has not been clarified. In this model study, we focus on the effect of additional elements, such as IV and V families and other oxide formers, which can control potentially the distribution of the oxide particles. The materials used in this study were based on Fe-9Cr-Y2O3 alloys which were mechanical alloyed (MA) from the powder of Fe, Cr and Y2O3, which was added systematically with the element of Ti, Zr, Ta, V, Nb, Hf, Al, Si and others. Usually ODS fabrication process is required for hot extrusion, but we annealed up to 1150 C for simplify the microstructure. To evaluate the distribution of ODS particles; we used TEM equipped with EDS after electro-polishing or FIB techniques. (1) In the case of Si or Al addition, oxides were disappeared after MA process, which means Y2O3 and other elements should be in solution at non-equilibrium condition. Two types of oxides of Y2O3 and Al2O3 or SiO2 developed after the annealing at 850 C, but only complex oxides were developed after the annealing at 1150 C. This result suggests that the oxide formation is independent process for Y and Si or Al. (2) In the case of Ti addition, oxides also were disappeared after MA process, but developed after annealing at 1150 C. This means that Ti can stabilize complex oxides of Y and Ti, and enhance the fine distribution of the oxides comparing with simple Fe-9Cr-Y2O3 alloy.