Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is secreted by distal enteroendocrine cells in response to luminal nutrients, and exerts insulinotropic and anorexigenic effects. Although GLP-1 secretory responses under established obese or diabetic conditions have been studied, it has not been investigated whether or how postprandial GLP-1 responses were affected during the progression of diet-induced obesity. In the present study, a meal tolerance test was performed every week in rats fed a high-fat and high-sucrose (HF/HS) diet to evaluate postprandial glycaemic, insulin and GLP-1 responses. In addition, gastric emptying was assessed by the acetaminophen method. After 8 weeks of HF/HS treatment, portal vein and intestinal mucosa were collected to examine GLP-1 production. Postprandial glucose in response to normal meal ingestion was increased in the HF/HS group within 2 weeks, and its elevation gradually returned close to that of the control group until day 50. Slower postprandial gastric emptying was observed in the HF/HS group on days 6, 13 and 34. Postprandial GLP-1 and insulin responses were increased in the HF/HS group at 7 weeks. Higher portal GLP-1 and insulin levels were observed in the HF/HS group, but mucosal gut hormone mRNA levels were unchanged. These results revealed that the postprandial GLP-1 response to meal ingestion is enhanced during the progression of diet-induced glucose intolerance and obesity in rats. The boosted postprandial GLP-1 secretion by chronic HF/HS diet treatment suggests increased sensitivity to luminal nutrients in the gut, and this may slow the establishment of glucose intolerance and obesity.

Crystal structure change with an applied electric field was investigated by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for the 1 μm-thick (100)/(001) one-axis oriented tetragonal Pb(Zr0.3Ti0.7)O3 films prepared on Pt-covered (100) Si substrates by chemical solution deposition technique. As-deposited films were under the strained condition in good agreement with the estimation from the thermal strain applied under the cooling process after the deposition from the Curie temperature to the room temperature. This strain was ascertained to be relaxed by an applied electric field in accompanying with the dramatic increase of the volume fraction of (001) orientation. These results demonstrate the importance of the crystal structure measurement not only as-deposited films, but also after applied electric field, such as after poling.

Raman scattering spectra and ferroelectric properties of epitaxial tetragonal Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 were investigated for polar axis-oriented thin films with various Zr/(Zr + Ti) ratios and by changing the ratios from 0 to 0.50 at different measurement temperatures. The chosen films in the thickness range of 1–2 μm present the advantage of showing small residual strain. The E (TO) modes were successfully isolated using cross-polarization configurations, while A1 (TO) and B1 modes were activated using parallel polarization configurations. Systematic changes in Raman peak positions were observed with changes in the Zr/(Zr + Ti) ratios at different measurement temperatures. It was found in both cases that the tetragonal distortion (c/a-1) and the value of square of spontaneous polarization (Ps2) linearly increased with increasing ω2[A1(1TO)], where a and c are the lattice parameters of a and c-axes. This indicates that monitoring A1(1TO) mode is efficient as a characterization method of ferroelectricity. It can also be used as a novel nondestructive process check or reliability assessment technique during fabrication of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) using piezoelectric materials.

Plasmodium falciparum has for some time been developing resistance against known anti-malarial drugs, and therefore a new drug is urgently needed. Selenium (Se), an essential trace element, in the form of inorganic Se, selenite (SeO32−), has been reported to have an anti-plasmodial effect, but its mechanism is still unclear. In the present study, we evaluated the anti-plasmodial effect of several Se compounds against P. falciparum in vitro. The anti-plasmodial effect of several Se compounds was analysed and their apoptosis-inducing activity was evaluated by morphological observation, DNA fragmentation assay and mitochondrial function analysis. SeO32−, methylseleninic acid, selenomethionine and selenocystine have anti-plasmodial effects with 50% inhibition concentration at 9, 10, 45, and 65 μm, respectively, while selenate and methylselenocysteine up to 100 μm have no effect on parasite growth. The effective Se compounds caused the parasites to become shrunken and pyknotic and significantly increased mitochondrial damage against P. falciparum compared to the untreated control. In conclusion, SeO32−, methylseleninic acid, selenomethionine and selenocystine have anti-plasmodial activities that induce apoptosis-like cell death in P. falciparum, and the anti-plasmodial effects of Se seem to be based on its chemical forms. The apoptosis-like cell-death mechanism in P. falciparum can be beneficial to respond to the growing problem of drug resistance.

The actual transverse and longitudinal displacement of PZT thick film was measured using a newly developed atomic force microscopy (AFM). The AFM is attached a feedback circuit named “torsion feedback”. The torsion and Z-height feedback circuits control an AFM cantilever to follow piezoelectric deformation of the sample. To measure transverse displacement, the cantilever contacts the edge of sample. The transverse displacement is determined from the torsion feedback signal absolutely. To measure longitudinal displacement, the cantilever contacts the center of sample. The longitudinal displacement is determined from Z-height feedback signal absolutely. A 5-μm-thick PZT film was prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates. The film sample was shaped square pillar. The side electrode length (L) of square pillar shaped sample was ranged from 1000 μm to 10 μm. The relation between side electrode length and the transverse or the longitudinal displacements were investigated. With decreasing L, the transverse displacement decreased nonlinearly, and the longitudinal displacement increased nonlinearly. The finite element method (FEM) simulation suggests that the substrate clamped PZT film behaved nonlinearly. The effective -d31 and d33 were calculated from the measured displacement, and these values increase with decreasing L. The effective d33 and -d31 showed correlation, and the ratio was d33 : -d31 = 5.3 : 1 , whereas the bulk ratiois d33 : -d31 = 2.4 : 1.This result suggests that the substrate clamping effect of the transverse displacement was larger than that of the longitudinal displacement.

Crystal structure change with the temperature was investigated for 3 m-thick (100)/(001)-oriented epitaxial PbTiO3 films grown on SrTiO3 substrates. Complex strain-relaxed domain structure labeled as Type III was observed and directly transformed to the cubic phase at about 490°C. This transition temperature and the lattice parameter (a and c- axes) change with the temperature well agreed with the reported data for the PbTiO3 powders. The volume fraction of the (001) orientations, Vc, was almost independent of the temperature up to the phase transition temperature. The tilting angles of the spots in XRD plan view were almost the same with the estimated ones from the lattice parameters and the Vc. This suggests that the angle of the domains identified by the domain structure in Type III. This structure is mainly determined by the tetragonality, (c/a ratio) and the Vc.

We report Fermi surface and magnetic properties of a cubic PuIn3 grown by the indium flux method. Fermi surfaces detected by the de Haas-van Alphen effect can be well explained by the band calculations assuming itinerant 5f electrons.

We report on an XMM-Newton observation of the supernova remnant (SNR) DEM L241 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. In the soft band image, the emission shows an elongated structure, like a killifish (Head and Tail), with a central point source, named as XMMU J053559.3–673509 (Eye). The Eye's spectrum is well reproduced with a power-law model. The source has neither significant coherent pulsations nor time variabilities. Its luminosity and spectrum remind us that the source might be a pulsar and/or pulsar wind nebula in DEM L241. The spectra of Head and Tail are well reproduced by a non-equilibrium ionization plasma model with over-abundant Ne and under-abundant Fe, suggesting that the progenitor of DEM L241 is a very massive star.

We have investigated the optical design for the Japan astrometry satellite mission (JASMINE). In order to accomplish measurements of astrometric parameters with high accuracy, optics with a long focal length and a wide focal plane for astrometry are required. In 1977 Korsch proposed a three mirror system with a long focal length and a wide focal plane. The Korsch system is one of the convincing models. However, the center of the field is totally vignetted because of the fold mirror. Therefore we consider an improved Korsch system in which the center of the field is not vignetted. Finally, we obtain the diffraction limited optical design with small distortion. Our project needs a common astrometric technique to obtain precise positions of star images on solid state detectors to accomplish its objectives. In order to determine the centers of stars, an image of the point source must be focused onto the CCD array with a spread of a few pixels. The distribution of photons (photoelectrons) over a set of pixels enables us to estimate positions of stars with sub-pixel accuracy. We modify the algorithm to estimate the real positions of stars from the photon weighted mean, which was originally developed by the FAME (Full-Sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer) group. Finally, we obtain the results from the experiment that the accuracy of estimation of distance between two stars has a variance of about 1/300 pixel; that is, the error for one measurement is about 1/300 pixel, which is almost an ideal result given by Poisson photon noise. We also investigate the accuracy of estimation of positions with a different size of PSF. In this case also, we find that the accuracy of estimation has a variance of about 1/300 pixel.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

In this paper, we first propose an improved CVD-WSix metal gate suitable for use with nMOSFETs. Work function of CVD-WSi3.9 gate estimated from C-V measurements was 4.3eV. The nMOSFET using CVD-WSi3.9 gate electrode showed that Vth variation of L/W=1 μm/10μm nMOSFETs can be suppressed to be lower than 8mV in 22chip. In CVD-WSi3.9 gate MOSFETs with gate length of 50nm, a drive current of 636μA/μm was achieved for off-state leakage current of 35nA/μm at 1.0V of power supply voltage. By using CVD-WSi3.9 gate electrode, highly reliable metal gate nMOSFETs can be realized.

We describe the proper motion measurements of water masers in the massive-star forming region W 51A and the analysis of the 3-D kinematics in three maser clusters of W 51A. We found a systematic expanding motion in one of the clusters named W 51 North, while no systematic motion was detected in other two clusters named W 51 Main and South. The 3-D motions of the clusters relative to the position reference feature in W 51 North indicate a separating motion between the W 51 North and the W 51 Main/South clusters. We estimated the distance to W 51 North as to be 6.7±2.1 kpc on basis of the statistical parallax and the model fitting methods.

The capacity of working memory has been suggested to differ among people and these differences affect performance in a wide variety of cognitive tasks. This study explored electrophysiological correlates of individual differences in working memory capacity by means of event-related potentials. Thirty-four healthy students performed two- and five-choice reaction time tasks. In the two-choice reaction time (2CRT) task, two digits (3 and 7) were presented visually with probabilities of .20 and .80. In the five-choice reaction time (5CRT) task, five digits (3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) were presented equiprobably in a random order. Participants were required to press a button corresponding to each digit with a different finger. Working memory capacity of each participant was assessed by the reading span test originated by M. Daneman and P.A. Carpenter (1980). Participants with high reading span produced larger P300s than did persons with low reading span in the 5CRT task, but the difference was not significant in the 2CRT task. It had been suggested that individual differences in working memory capacity would affect initial stages of information processing as early as 300 ms after stimulus onset.

Compacted bentonite is a candidate buffer material in geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. The transport of radionuclides in compacted bentonite is dominated by diffusion, because of its very low permeability. In this study, we focused on the grain size of clay mineral, which is considered to be closely related to the formation factor in the pore water diffusion model[1,2]. The apparent diffusion coefficients (Da) of HTO and cesium ions in compacted clays were determined using montmorillonite samples with different grain size and dry density, and the effect of the grain size on diffusion behavior was discussed.