The basal ganglia represents a key component of the pathophysiological model for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This brain region is part of several neural circuits, including the orbitofronto-striatal circuit and dorsolateral prefronto-striatal circuit. There are, however, no published studies investigating those circuits at a network level in non-medicated patients with OCD. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained from 20 non-medicated patients with OCD and 23 matched healthy volunteers. Voxelwise statistical parametric maps testing strength of functional connectivity of three striatal seed regions of interest (ROIs) with remaining brain regions were calculated and compared between groups. We performed additional correlation analyses between strength of connectivity and the severity scores for obsessive-compulsive symptoms, depression, and anxiety in the OCD group. Positive functional connectivity with the ventral striatum was significantly increased (Pcorrected <.05) in the orbitofrontal cortex, ventral medial prefrontal cortex and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex of subjects with OCD. There was no significant correlation between measures of symptom severity and the strength of connectivity (Puncorrected <.001). This is the first study to investigate the corticostriatal connectivity in non-medicated patients with OCD. These findings provide the first direct evidence supporting a pathophysiological model involving basal ganglia circuitry in OCD.

Measurements in the infrared wavelength domain allow direct assessment of the physical state and energy balance of cool matter in space, enabling the detailed study of the processes that govern the formation and evolution of stars and planetary systems in galaxies over cosmic time. Previous infrared missions revealed a great deal about the obscured Universe, but were hampered by limited sensitivity.

SPICA takes the next step in infrared observational capability by combining a large 2.5-meter diameter telescope, cooled to below 8 K, with instruments employing ultra-sensitive detectors. A combination of passive cooling and mechanical coolers will be used to cool both the telescope and the instruments. With mechanical coolers the mission lifetime is not limited by the supply of cryogen. With the combination of low telescope background and instruments with state-of-the-art detectors SPICA provides a huge advance on the capabilities of previous missions.

SPICA instruments offer spectral resolving power ranging from R ~50 through 11 000 in the 17–230 μm domain and R ~28.000 spectroscopy between 12 and 18 μm. SPICA will provide efficient 30–37 μm broad band mapping, and small field spectroscopic and polarimetric imaging at 100, 200 and 350 μm. SPICA will provide infrared spectroscopy with an unprecedented sensitivity of ~5 × 10−20 W m−2 (5σ/1 h)—over two orders of magnitude improvement over what earlier missions. This exceptional performance leap, will open entirely new domains in infrared astronomy; galaxy evolution and metal production over cosmic time, dust formation and evolution from very early epochs onwards, the formation history of planetary systems.

IR spectroscopy in the range 12–230 μm with the SPace IR telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) will reveal the physical processes governing the formation and evolution of galaxies and black holes through cosmic time, bridging the gap between the James Webb Space Telescope and the upcoming Extremely Large Telescopes at shorter wavelengths and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array at longer wavelengths. The SPICA, with its 2.5-m telescope actively cooled to below 8 K, will obtain the first spectroscopic determination, in the mid-IR rest-frame, of both the star-formation rate and black hole accretion rate histories of galaxies, reaching lookback times of 12 Gyr, for large statistically significant samples. Densities, temperatures, radiation fields, and gas-phase metallicities will be measured in dust-obscured galaxies and active galactic nuclei, sampling a large range in mass and luminosity, from faint local dwarf galaxies to luminous quasars in the distant Universe. Active galactic nuclei and starburst feedback and feeding mechanisms in distant galaxies will be uncovered through detailed measurements of molecular and atomic line profiles. The SPICA’s large-area deep spectrophotometric surveys will provide mid-IR spectra and continuum fluxes for unbiased samples of tens of thousands of galaxies, out to redshifts of z ~ 6.

In order to investigate the distinguishability about the progenitors of FeCCSNe and ECSNe, we calculate the luminosities and spectra of their pre-SN neutrinos and estimate the number of events at neutrino detectors.

It is now firmly established that a small anisotropy of the galactic cosmic rays exists, observable from Earth as a variation of intensity in sidereal time. The problem now is to determine more clearly the characteristics of the anisotropy and, in particular, its detailed spatial structure and how it depends upon the energy and composition of the cosmic rays. This is a very difficult task and, in the final analysis, may not be fully achievable from Earth-based observations. The purpose of the present paper is to describe briefly an installation now operating in Tasmania to provide further information on the spatial structure of the anisotropy.

Here we discuss requirements for high performance and solution processable organic semiconductors, by presenting a systematic investigation of 7-alkyl-2-phenyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophenes (Ph-BTBT-Cn’s). We found that the solubility and thermal properties of Ph-BTBT-Cn’s depend systematically on the substituted alkyl-chain length n. The observed features are well understood in terms of the change of molecular packing motif with n: The compounds with n ≤ 4 do not form independent alkyl chain layers, whereas those with n ≥ 5 form isolated alkyl chain layers. The latter compounds afford a series of isomorphous bilayer-type crystal structures that form two-dimensional carrier transport layers within the crystals. We also show that the Ph-BTBT-C10 afford high performance single-crystalline field-effect transistors the mobility of which reaches as high as 15.9 cm2/Vs. These results demonstrate a crucial role of the substituted alkyl chain length for obtaining high performance organic semiconductors and field-effect transistors.

The correlation of stress in Silicon Carbide (SiC) crystal and frequency shift in micro- Raman spectroscopy was determined by an experimental method. We applied uniaxial stress to 4H- and 6H-SiC single crystal square bar specimen shaped with (0001) and (11-20) faces by four point bending test, under measuring the frequency shift in micro-Raman spectroscopy. The results revealed that the linearity coefficients between stress and Raman shift were -1.96 cm-1/GPa for FTO(2/4)E2 on 4H-SiC (0001) face, -2.08 cm-1/GPa for FTO(2/4)E2 on 4H-SiC (11-20) face and -2.70 cm-1/GPa for FTO(2/6)E2 on 6H-SiC (0001) face. Determination of these coefficients has made it possible to evaluate the residual stress in SiC crystal quantitatively by micro-Raman spectroscopy. We evaluated the residual stress in SiC substrate that was grown in our laboratory by utilizing the results obtained in this study. The result of estimation indicated that the SiC substrate with a diameter of 6 inch remained residual stress as low as ±15 MPa.

To study the nature of Lyα blobs (aka LABs), we conduct a deep C IV and He II narrowband imaging survey of 13 Lyα blobs located in SSA22 proto-cluster at z ~ 3.1. We reach the unprecedented sensitivity, 5σ surface brightness limit of 2.1 − 3.4 × 10−18 erg s−1 cm−2 arcsec−2 per 1 arcsec2 aperture for two emission lines. We do not detect any extended C IV and He II emission, placing strong upper limits on the He II/Lyα and C IV/Lyα line ratios. We compare our limits with data in the literature related to the nebulae associated with high-redshift radio galaxies (HzRGs) and quasars, and we recover the data by modeling the LABs as nebulosities powered by a central QSO. For further information see Arrigoni Battaia et al. (2014).

Intrauterine growth-restricted (IUGR) offspring are at increased risk of adult obesity, as a result of changes in energy balance mechanisms. We hypothesized that impairment of hypothalamic insulin signaling contributes to hyperphagia in IUGR offspring. Study pregnant dams were 50% food restricted from days 10 to 21 to create IUGR newborns. At 5 weeks of age, food intake was measured following intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of vehicle or insulin (10 mU) in control and IUGR pups. At 6 weeks of age, with pups in fed or fasted (48 h) states, pups received icv vehicle or insulin after which they were decapitated, and hypothalamic arcuate (ARC) nucleus dissected for RNA and protein expression. IUGR rats consumed more food than controls under basal conditions, consistent with upregulated ARC phospho AMP-activated protein kinase (pAMPK) and neuropeptide Y (NPY). Insulin acutely reduced food intake in both control and IUGR rats. Consistent with anorexigenic stimulation, central insulin decreased AMP-activated protein kinase and NPY mRNA expression and increased proopiomelanocortin mRNA expression and pAkt, with significantly reduced responses in IUGR as compared with controls. Despite feeding, IUGR offspring exhibit a persistent state of orexigenic stimulation in the ARC nucleus and relative resistance to the anorexigenic effects of icv insulin. These results suggest that impaired insulin signaling contributes to hyperphagia and obesity in IUGR offspring.

We present initial results from adaptive optics deep imaging in the Ks-band of QSO UM402 (zem=2.856), with the IRCS camera on Subaru telescope.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, July 29 – August 2, 2012.

This study determined the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Salmonella isolated from broiler flocks in Japan. Caecal dropping samples were collected from 288 broiler flocks between November 2007 and February 2010. Salmonella was prevalent in 248 (86·1%) broiler flocks. The top three serovars were S. Infantis, S. Manhattan and S. Schwarzengrund. S. Infantis was found in all regions tested in this study. However, S. Manhattan and S. Schwarzengrund were frequently found only in the western part of Japan. High antimicrobial resistance rates were observed against oxytetracycline (90·2%), dihydrostreptomycin (86·7%) and ampicillin (36·5%), and 258 (90·5%) of 285 isolates were resistant to two or more antimicrobial agents. Interestingly, 26·3% of isolates were resistant to ceftiofur, especially 38·1% of S. Infantis isolates, although its use in broilers has not been approved in Japan. This study showed that Salmonella is highly prevalent (86·1%) in Japanese broiler flocks, that 90·5% of Salmonella isolates were multidrug-resistant, and that S. Infantis frequently exhibited resistance to cephalosporin antimicrobial agents.

An ultra-small tactile sensor with functions of signal processing and digital communication has been prototyped based on MEMS-CMOS integration technology. The designed analog-digital mixed signal ASIC allows many tactile sensors to connect each other on a common bus line, which drastically reduces the number of wire. The ASIC capacitively detects the deformation of a force sensor and sends digital data to the common bus line when the force exceeds a threshold. The digital data contain a physical ID of each sensor, 32-bit sensing data and 16-bit cyclic redundancy check (CRC) code. In this study, a novel wafer-level integration and packaging technology were developed, and a chip-size-packaged tactile sensor with a small footprint (2.5mm×2.5mm) and a low profile (0.27mm) was prototyped and tested. The sensor autonomously sends digital data like a tactile receptor of human.

The microstructure change of the uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuels (MOX fuels) irradiated in a fast reactor occurs because of a radial temperature gradient. To make detailed observations and elemental analyses of fuel samples, a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) equipped with a wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (WDX) was installed in a hot laboratory.

Because fuel samples have high radioactivities and emit α-particles, the instrument was modified as follows :

1. 1) The instrument was attached to a remote control air-tight sample transfer unit between a shielded hot cell and the FE-SEM.

2. 2) The FE-SEM was installed in a lead shield box and the control unit was separately located outside the box.

After the installation, the microscopy and elemental analyses were applied to low burnup fuel samples. High resolution images were obtained and characteristic X-rays (U, Pu, and so on) emitted from the sample surface were measured. The technique has the great advantage of being able to evaluate the irradiated fuels in detail. In future work, samples of even higher radioactive will be observed and analyzed.

Human salmonellosis cases, particularly those caused by Salmonella Enteritidis, have been closely linked to egg consumption. This epidemiological survey was conducted to determine the baseline Salmonella prevalence and identify the risk factors for Salmonella prevalence in laying-hen farms in Japan. Caecal excrement samples and dust samples were obtained from 400 flocks in 338 laying-hen farms. Salmonella was identified in 20·7% of the farms and 19·5% of the flocks. The prevalence of Salmonella was significantly higher in flocks reared in windowless houses than in those reared in open houses. In addition, the risk of Salmonella presence was significantly higher when the windowless house farms implemented induced moulting or in-line egg processing. Efforts to reduce human salmonellosis in Japan should continue to focus on the establishment of control measures in laying-hen farms, especially those with windowless houses implementing induced moulting and equipped with in-line egg processing.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.