Anthropogenic SO2 emissions increased alongside economic development in China at a rate of 12.7% yr−1 from 2000 to 2005. However, under new Chinese government policy, SO2 emissions declined by 3.9% ...yr−1 between 2005 and 2009. Between 2000 and 2010, we found that the variability in the fine-mode (submicron) aerosol optical depth (AOD) over the oceans adjacent to East Asia increased by 3–8% yr−1 to a peak around 2005–2006 and subsequently decreased by 2–7% yr−1, based on observations by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA's Terra satellite and simulations by a chemical transport model. This trend is consistent with ground-based observations of aerosol particles at a mountainous background observation site in central Japan. These fluctuations in SO2 emission intensity and fine-mode AOD are thought to reflect the widespread installation of fuel-gas desulfurization (FGD) devices in power plants in China, because aerosol sulfate is a major determinant of the fine-mode AOD in East Asia. Using a chemical transport model, we confirmed that the contribution of particulate sulfate to the fine-mode AOD is more than 70% of the annual mean and that the abovementioned fluctuation in fine-mode AOD is caused mainly by changes in SO2 emission rather than by other factors such as varying meteorological conditions in East Asia. A strong correlation was also found between satellite-retrieved SO2 vertical column density and bottom-up SO2 emissions, both of which were also consistent with observed fine-mode AOD trends. We propose a simplified approach for evaluating changes in SO2 emissions in China, combining the use of modeled sensitivity coefficients that describe the variation of fine-mode AOD with changes in SO2 emissions and satellite retrieval. Satellite measurements of fine-mode AOD above the Sea of Japan marked a 4.1% yr−1 decline between 2007 and 2010, which corresponded to the 9% yr−1 decline in SO2 emissions from China during the same period.
The one-neutron knockout from 52Ca in inverse kinematics onto a proton target was performed at ∼230 MeV/nucleon combined with prompt γ spectroscopy. Exclusive quasifree scattering cross sections to ...bound states in 51Ca and the momentum distributions corresponding to the removal of 1f7/2 and 2p3/2 neutrons were measured. The cross sections, interpreted within the distorted-wave impulse approximation reaction framework, are consistent with a shell closure at the neutron number N=32, found as strong as at N=28 and N=34 in Ca isotopes from the same observables. The analysis of the momentum distributions leads to a difference of the root-mean-square radii of the neutron 1f7/2 and 2p3/2 orbitals of 0.61(23) fm, in agreement with the modified-shell-model prediction of 0.7 fm suggesting that the large root-mean-square radius of the 2p3/2 orbital in neutron-rich Ca isotopes is responsible for the unexpected linear increase of the charge radius with the neutron number.
The calcium isotopes are an ideal system to investigate the evolution of shell structure and magic numbers. Although the properties of surface nucleons in calcium have been well studied, probing the ...structure of deeply bound nucleons remains a challenge. Here, we report on the first measurement of unbound states in 53Ca and 55Ca, populated from 54,56Ca(p,pn) reactions at a beam energy of around 216 MeV/nucleon at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotopes Beam Factory. The resonance properties, partial cross sections, and momentum distributions of these unbound states were analyzed. Orbital angular momentum l assignments were extracted from momentum distributions based on calculations using the distorted wave impulse approximation (DWIA) reaction model. The resonances at excitation energies of 5516(41)keV in 53Ca and 6000(250)keV in 55Ca indicate a significant l =3 component, providing the first experimental evidence for the ν0f7/2 single-particle strength of unbound hole states in the neutron-rich Ca isotopes. The observed excitation energies and cross-sections point towards extremely localized and well separated strength distributions, with some fragmentation for the ν0f7/2 orbital in 55Ca. These results are in good agreement with predictions from shell-model calculations using the effective GXPF1Bs interaction and ab initio calculations and diverge markedly from the experimental distributions in the nickel isotones at Z=28.
We report on the first proton-induced single proton- and neutron-removal reactions from the neutron-deficient ^{14}O nucleus with large Fermi-surface asymmetry S_{n}-S_{p}=18.6 MeV at ∼100 ...MeV/nucleon, a widely used energy regime for rare-isotope studies. The measured inclusive cross sections and parallel momentum distributions of the ^{13}N and ^{13}O residues are compared to the state-of-the-art reaction models, with nuclear structure inputs from many-body shell-model calculations. Our results provide the first quantitative contributions of multiple reaction mechanisms including the quasifree knockout, inelastic scattering, and nucleon transfer processes. It is shown that the inelastic scattering and nucleon transfer, usually neglected at such energy regime, contribute about 50% and 30% to the loosely bound proton and deeply bound neutron removal, respectively. These multiple reaction mechanisms should be considered in analyses of inclusive one-nucleon removal cross sections measured at intermediate energies for quantitative investigation of single-particle strengths and correlations in atomic nuclei.
1 Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan
2 Department of Hematology Oncology, University of Pavia Medical School and Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San ...Matteo, Pavia, Italy
3 Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chiba Hokusoh Hospital, Nippon Medical School, Chiba, Japan
4 Department of Hematology, Saitama I nternational Medical Center, Saitama Medical University, Saitama, Japan
5 Department of Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Chiba, Japan
6 First Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Fukuoka, Japan
Correspondence: Kiyoyuki Ogata, Division of Hematology, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 113-8603, Japan. E-mail: ogata{at}nms.ac.jp
Background: The diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndromes is not always straightforward when patients lack specific diagnostic markers, such as blast excess, karyotype abnormality, and ringed sideroblasts.
Design and Methods: We designed a flow cytometry protocol applicable in many laboratories and verified its diagnostic utility in patients without those diagnostic markers. The cardinal parameters, analyzable from one cell aliquot, were myeloblasts (%), B-cell progenitors (%), myeloblast CD45 expression, and channel number of side scatter where the maximum number of granulocytes occurs. The adjunctive parameters were CD11b, CD15, and CD56 expression (%) on myeloblasts. Marrow samples from 106 control patients with cytopenia and 134 low-grade myelodysplastic syndromes patients, including 81 lacking both ringed sideroblasts and cytogenetic aberrations, were prospectively analyzed in Japan and Italy.
Results: Data outside the predetermined reference range in 2 or more parameters (multiple abnormalities) were common in myelodysplastic syndromes patients. In those lacking ringed sideroblasts and cytogenetic aberrations, multiple abnormalities were observed in 8/26 Japanese (30.8%) and 37/55 Italians (67.3%) when the cardinal parameters alone were considered, and in 17/26 Japanese (65.4%) and 42/47 Italians (89.4%) when all parameters were taken into account. Multiple abnormalities were rare in controls. When data from all parameters were used, the diagnostic sensitivities were 65% and 89%, specificities were 98% and 90%, and likelihood ratios were 28.1 and 8.5 for the Japanese and Italian cohorts, respectively.
Conclusions: This protocol can be used in the diagnostic work-up of low-grade myelodysplastic syndromes patients who lack specific diagnostic markers, although further improvement in diagnostic power is desirable.
Key words: myelodysplastic syndromes, flow cytometry, diagnosis.
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Flow cytometry immunophenotyping for diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome
Mario Cazzola
Haematologica 2009 94: 1041-1043.
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Objective Although the resting motor threshold (RMT) is relatively stable, the variability of MEPs produced by TMS over the primary motor cortex (M1) is well known, and its precise mechanism is still ...unclear. We hypothesized that EEG oscillations just before TMS could modulate the MEP amplitudes that underlie the MEP variability. Thus, we evaluated the relationship between EEG oscillations and MEP amplitudes. Methods Two experiments were conducted in this study. EEGs were obtained at 19 locations (international 10–20 system) and MEPs were recorded from right FDI in Exp. 1 ( n = 12). Left M1 hotspot was stimulated by TMS with the intensity to obtain about 1 mV MEP amplitudes (S-1 mV). MEPs and EEGs were recorded for 200 times in total for each subject under the eyes-open (EO) and eyes-close (EC) conditions. EEGs were segmented between −500 and 0 ms of the TMS onset, and the power values (8–30 Hz) were calculated by wavelet analysis. EEG powers were compared between the epochs of higher and lower amplitude MEPs. In Exp. 2 ( n = 9), the effect of low TMS intensity was evaluated under the EO condition. EEG oscillations were compared between the high (S-1 mV) and low intensity (RMT) TMS conditions. Results EEG powers of α and β range were significantly increased (synchronization) at C3 when MEP amplitudes were larger in both EO and EC conditions. When the EEG power difference of higher/lower MEPs was compared between the EO and EC conditions, these differences under EO were more pronounced than that of EC at frontal and parietal leads. In contrast, EEG powers were reduced (desynchronization) at C3 when MEP amplitudes were larger in the low TMS condition (Exp. 2). Discussion We found that EEG synchronization of α / β bands prior to TMS was a determinant factor for the MEP amplitudes at S-1 mV (Exp. 1). Distributed networks over the frontal areas may modulate MEPs differently under EO and EC conditions. However, desynchronization of α / β bands produced MEPs at RMT (Exp. 2). From this complex interaction between EEG synchronization/desynchronization and TMS intensity, we assume that ongoing EEG oscillations of α / β bands performs the dual functions of gateway and gatekeeper. Like a push–pull system, that depends on the ongoing EEG state and TMS intensity, the dual system may allow the TMS impulses to M1 by which the MEP variability occurs.
Gamma decays were observed in 56Ca and 58Ca following quasi-free one-proton knockout reactions from 57,59Sc beams at ≈200 MeV/nucleon. For 56Ca, a γ ray transition was measured to be 1456(12) keV, ...while for 58Ca an indication for a transition was observed at 1115(34) keV. Both transitions were tentatively assigned as the 21+→0gs+ decays, and were compared to results from ab initio and conventional shell-model approaches. A shell-model calculation in a wide model space with a marginally modified effective nucleon-nucleon interaction depicts excellent agreement with experiment for 21+ level energies, two-neutron separation energies, and reaction cross sections, corroborating the formation of a new nuclear shell above the N = 34 shell. Its constituents, the 0f5/2 and 0g9/2 orbitals, are almost degenerate. This degeneracy precludes the possibility for a doubly magic 60Ca and potentially drives the dripline of Ca isotopes to 70Ca or even beyond.
The shell closure at N = 32 has been investigated by a first spectroscopy of the N = 31 nucleus 49Ar at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory. Using the 50Ar(p, pn) reaction channel in inverse ...kinematics, 50Ar projectiles at 217 MeV/nucleon impinged on a 150 mm long liquid hydrogen target, part of the MINOS device. Prompt deexcitation gamma rays were measured with the NaI(Tl) array DALI2+. Reaction products were analyzed with the SAMURAI spectrometer, which allowed the measurement of the momentum distributions and angular momentum transfer. Data were compared to state-of-the-art theoretical predictions, including shell -model, energy -density functional, and ab initio calculations. An onset of collectivity is suggested besides the spherical configuration typical of a closed shell nucleus, such as for 52Ca.
Here we report, for the first time, the occurrence of a Crematogaster species with 10-segmented antennae in the Indochina region. Specifically, the new species, Crematogaster indosinensissp. nov., ...exhibits size polymorphism in the worker caste and was collected in Cambodia. However, it is not currently known whether C. indosinensis has an association with ant-plants. The interspecific cytochrome c oxidase subunit I divergence for C. indosinensis versus C. borneensis was 20%, suggesting that the taxa diverged relatively long ago. Molecular phylogenetic analysis using nuclear genes revealed that C. indosinensis is sister to the remainders of the C. borneensis-group.
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