Abstract
We have developed a non-destructive technique to observe Li in an electrode and metallic Li deposition on an anode using muonic x-rays. With high intent negative muon beam at J-PARC, we have ...attempted operando measurements of Li and metallic Li deposition in LIBs for the first time. Both increase and decrease of Li in a cathode during charging and discharging processes were observed. We also observed significant increase of muonic x-rays of Li with cycles, which may correspond to the degradation of charge capacity with the cycles.
Maternal care towards dead infants has been observed in many wild and captive mammals, but the consequences of this behavior for social interactions and the physiological status of the mother remain ...elusive. Here, we report changes in rates of aggression and grooming time, and fecal glucocorticoid (fGC) levels in a free-ranging female Japanese macaque (
Macaca fuscata
) that carried her dead infant for 20 days. Our observations revealed that when carrying the dead infant, the mother showed increased rates of grimace, avoidance, and human-directed behaviors, along with reduced allogrooming time and fleeing from other individuals. Postpartum fGC levels were comparable to those of non-pregnant and non-lactating females, suggesting that the energetic costs and stress of carrying a dead infant are low. Our findings indicate that carrying a dead neonate can have three profound consequences on the mother: increased fearful behavior, decreased allogrooming, and a rapid return to baseline fGC levels. We hypothesize that dead infant-carrying may have evolved as a strategy to mitigate stress from infant loss. These findings have implications for our understanding of grief in nonhuman primates and can impact management protocols surrounding deaths in captive social groups.
Abstract
Negative muon elemental analysis, which can measure depth-wise elemental composition from 100 nm to several centimeters with a depth resolution of order
µ
m, is a revolutionary technology ...that enables the nondestructive analysis of materials. In recent years, this technique has begun to apply to understand historical cultural heritage. We have studied the Japanese archaeological heritage to provide new insights into Japanese archaeological research. Here, we report the progress on development of intense (high speed) negative muon X-ray measurement system at KEK Muon Science Laboratory (MSL) in the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). For this purpose, the efficiency of detectors (wide energy range and high resolution) were improved by preparing a high-purity multi-arrayed germanium semiconductor detectors (HP Ge) to detect one photon or less per muon pulse available in J-PARC. In addition, by increasing the number of detectors and suppressing the noise sources, we have succeeded to enhance the detection efficiency by about 10 times compared to conventional systems.
The ability of animals to survive dramatic climates depends on their physiology, morphology and behaviour, but is often influenced by the configuration of their habitat. Along with autonomic ...responses, thermoregulatory behaviours, including postural adjustments, social aggregation, and use of trees for shelter, help individuals maintain homeostasis across climate variations. Japanese macaques (
Macaca fuscata
) are the world’s most northerly species of nonhuman primates and have adapted to extremely cold environments. Given that thermoregulatory stress can increase glucocorticoid concentrations in primates, we hypothesized that by using an available hot spring, Japanese macaques could gain protection against weather-induced cold stress during winter. We studied 12 adult female Japanese macaques living in Jigokudani Monkey Park, Japan, during the spring birth season (April to June) and winter mating season (October to December). We collected faecal samples for determination of faecal glucocorticoid (fGC) metabolite concentrations by enzyme immunoassay, as well as behavioural data to determine time spent in the hot springs, dominance rank, aggression rates, and affiliative behaviours. We used nonparametric statistics to examine seasonal changes in hot spring bathing, and the relationship between rank and air temperature on hot spring bathing. We used general linear mixed-effect models to examine factors impacting hormone concentrations. We found that Japanese macaques use hot spring bathing for thermoregulation during the winter. In the studied troop, the single hot spring is a restricted resource favoured by dominant females. High social rank had both costs and benefits: dominant females sustained high fGC levels, which were associated with high aggression rates in winter, but benefited by priority of access to the hot spring, which was associated with low fGC concentrations and therefore might help reduce energy expenditure and subsequent body heat loss. This unique habit of hot spring bathing by Japanese macaques illustrates how behavioural flexibility can help counter cold climate stress, with likely implications for reproduction and survival.
Cd2Os2O7 shows a peculiar metal-insulator transition at 227 K with magnetic ordering in a frustrated pyrochlore lattice, but its magnetic structure in the ordered state and the transition origin are ...yet uncovered. We observed a commensurate magnetic peak by resonant x-ray scattering in a high-quality single crystal. X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering experiments confirmed that the transition is not accompanied with any spatial symmetry breaking. We propose a noncollinear all-in-all-out spin arrangement on the tetrahedral network made of Os atoms. Based on this we suggest that the transition is not caused by the Slater mechanism as believed earlier but by an alternative mechanism related to the formation of the specific tetrahedral magnetic order on the pyrochlore lattice in the presence of strong spin-orbit interactions.
Unmethylated CpG motifs present in bacterial DNA stimulate a rapid and robust innate immune response. Human cell lines and PBMC that recognize CpG DNA express membrane-bound human Toll-like receptor ...9 (hTLR9). Cells that are not responsive to CpG DNA become responsive when transfected with hTLR9. Expression of hTLR9 dramatically increases uptake of CpG (but not control) DNA into endocytic vesicles. Upon cell stimulation, hTLR9 and CpG DNA are found in the same endocytic vesicles. Cells expressing hTLR9 are stimulated by CpG motifs that are active in primates but not rodents, suggesting that evolutionary divergence between TLR9 molecules underlies species-specific differences in the recognition of bacterial DNA. These findings indicate that hTLR9 plays a critical role in the CpG DNA-mediated activation of human cells.
Present status of J-PARC MUSE Shimomura, K; Koda, A; Pant, A D ...
Journal of physics. Conference series,
03/2023, Letnik:
2462, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Abstract
At J-PARC MUSE, since the
µ
SR2017 conference and up to FY2022, there have been several new developments at the facility, including the completion of a new experimental area S2 at the ...surface muon beamline S-line and the first muon beam extraction to the H1 area in the H-line, mainly to carry out high-statistics fundamental physics experiments. Several new studies are also underway, such as applying negative muon non-destructive elemental analysis to the analysis of samples returned from the asteroid Ryugu in the D2 area of the D-line. This paper reports on the latest status of MUSE.
Alginate-degrading enzyme, alginate lyase, catalyzes the cleavage of glycosidic 1-4 O-linkages between uronic acid residues of alginate by a β-elimination reaction leaving a ...4-deoxy-l-erythro-hex-4-ene pyranosyluronate as nonreducing terminal end. The enzymes from a wide variety of sources such as marine molluscs, seaweeds, and marine bacteria have been discovered and studied not only from a point of view of enzymological interest of enzyme itself but also for elucidation of fine chemical structure of alginate, structure-activity relationship of alginate, and biological activities and physicochemical features of the enzymatic digestion products. Based on the substrate specificities, alginate lyases are classified into three groups: poly(β-d-mannuronate) lyase, poly(α-l-guluronate) lyase, and bifunctional alginate lyase, which are specific to mannuronate, guluronate, and both uronic acid residues, respectively. We have studied enzymological aspects of these three types of alginate lyases, and bioactivities of enzymatically digested alginate oligomers. In this chapter, we described the purification and characterization of three types of alginate lyases from different marine origins and overviewed the bioactivities of alginate oligomers.
To test bound-state quantum electrodynamics (BSQED) in the strong-field regime, we have performed high precision x-ray spectroscopy of the 5g-4f and 5f- 4d transitions (BSQED contribution of 2.4 and ...5.2 eV, respectively) of muonic neon atoms in the low-pressure gas phase without bound electrons. Muonic atoms have been recently proposed as an alternative to few-electron high-Z ions for BSQED tests by focusing on circular Rydberg states where nuclear contributions are negligibly small. We determined the 5g_{9/2}- 4f_{7/2} transition energy to be 6297.08±0.04(stat)±0.13(syst) eV using superconducting transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters (5.2-5.5 eV FWHM resolution), which agrees well with the most advanced BSQED theoretical prediction of 6297.26 eV.
While TNF-alpha is pivotal to the pathogenesis of inflammatory osteolysis, the means by which it recruits osteoclasts and promotes bone destruction are unknown. We find that a pure population of ...murine osteoclast precursors fails to undergo osteoclastogenesis when treated with TNF-alpha alone. In contrast, the cytokine dramatically stimulates differentiation in macrophages primed by less than one percent of the amount of RANKL (ligand for the receptor activator of NF-kappaB) required to induce osteoclast formation. Mirroring their synergistic effects on osteoclast differentiation, TNF-alpha and RANKL markedly potentiate NF-kappaB and stress-activated protein kinase/c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase activity, two signaling pathways essential for osteoclastogenesis. In vivo administration of TNF-alpha prompts robust osteoclast formation in chimeric animals in which ss-galactosidase positive, TNF-responsive macrophages develop within a TNF-nonresponsive stromal environment. Thus, while TNF-alpha alone does not induce osteoclastogenesis, it does so both in vitro and in vivo by directly targeting macrophages within a stromal environment that expresses permissive levels of RANKL. Given the minuscule amount of RANKL sufficient to synergize with TNF-alpha to promote osteoclastogenesis, TNF-alpha appears to be a more convenient target in arresting inflammatory osteolysis.
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