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Optimal laser control for ultrafast selection of closely lying excited states whose energy separation is smaller than the laser bandwidth is reported on the two-photon transition of atomic cesium; Cs (6S→7Dj, J=5/2 and 3/2). Selective excitation was carried out by pulse shaping of ultrashort laser pulses which were adaptively modulated in a closed-loop learning system handling eight parameters representing the electric field. Two-color fluorescence from the respective excited states was monitored to measure the selectivity. The fitness used in the learning algorithm was evaluated from the ratio of the fluorescence yields. After fifty generations, a pair of nearly transform-limited pulses were obtained as an optimal pulse shape, proving the effectiveness of the "Ramsey fringes" mechanism. The contrast of the selection ratio was improved by ∼30% from the simple "Ramsey fringes" experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomato mottle mosaic virus (ToMMV) is an emerging seed-transmissible tobamovirus that infects tomato and pepper. Since the first report in 2013 in Mexico, ToMMV has spread worldwide, posing a serious threat to the production of both crops. To prevent the spread of this virus, early and accurate detection of infection is required. In this study, we developed a detection method for ToMMV based on reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP). A LAMP primer set was designed to target the genomic region spanning the movement protein and coat protein genes, which is a highly conserved sequence unique to ToMMV. This RT-LAMP detection method achieved 10-fold higher sensitivity than conventional RT-polymerase chain reaction methods and obtained high specificity without false positives for closely related tobamoviruses or healthy tomato plants. This method can detect ToMMV within 30 min of direct sampling of an infected tomato leaf using a toothpick and therefore does not require RNA purification. Given its high sensitivity, specificity, simplicity, and rapidity, the RT-LAMP method developed in this study is expected to be valuable for point-of-care testing in field surveys and for large-scale testing.

Objective: The regulation of food intake is a major research area in the study of obesity, which plays a key role in the development of metabolic syndrome. Gene targeting studies have clarified the roles of hypothalamic neurons in feeding behavior, but the deletion of a gene has a long-term effect on neurophysiology. Our understanding of short-term changes such as appetite under physiological conditions is therefore still limited. Methods: Targeted recombination in active populations (TRAP) is a newly developed method for labeling active neurons by using tamoxifen-inducible Cre recombination controlled by the promoter of activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc/Arg3.1), a member of immediate early genes. Transgenic mice for TRAP were fasted overnight, re-fed with normal diet, and injected with 4-hydroxytamoxifen 1 h after the refeeding to label the active neurons. The role of labeled neurons was examined by expressing excitatory or inhibitory designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs). The labeled neurons were extracted and RNA sequencing was performed to identify genes that are specifically expressed in these neurons. Results: Fasting-refeeding activated and labeled neurons in the compact part of the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) that project to the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus. Chemogenetic activation of the labeled DMH neurons decreased food intake and developed place preference, an indicator of positive valence. Chemogenetic activation or inhibition of these neurons had no influence on the whole-body glucose metabolism. The labeled DMH neurons expressed prodynorphin (pdyn), gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP), cholecystokinin (CCK), and thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptor (Trhr) genes. Conclusions: We identified a novel cell type of DMH neurons that can inhibit food intake and promote feeding-induced positive valence. Our study provides insight into the role of DMH and its molecular mechanism in the regulation of appetite and emotion.

Natural seismicity is correlated across multiple spatial and temporal scales, but correlations in seismicity prior to a large earthquake are locally subtle (e.g. seismic quiescence) and often prominent in broad scale (e.g. seismic activation), resulting in local and regional seismicity patterns, e.g. a Mogi's donut. Recognizing that patterns in seismicity rate are reflecting the regional dynamics of the directly unobservable crustal stresses, the Pattern Informatics (PI) approach was introduced by Tiampo et al. and Rundle et al. in 2002. In this study, we expand the PI approach to forecasting earthquakes into the third or vertical dimension, and illustrate its further improvement in the forecasting performance through case studies of both natural and synthetic data. The PI characterizes rapidly evolving spatio-temporal seismicity patterns as angular drifts of a unit state vector in a high-dimensional correlation space, and systematically identifies anomalous shifts in seismic activity with respect to the regional background. 3D PI analysis is particularly advantageous over 2D analysis in resolving vertically overlapped seismicity anomalies in a highly complex tectonic environment. Case studies will help to illustrate some important properties of the PI forecasting tool. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The patient was treated by an iliac artery aneurysm resection, stent graft removal, right common femoral artery-left common femoral artery bypass, and colostomy. Colonoscopy revealed a submucosal tumor-like protrusion with a fistulous tract in the sigmoid colon (Fig. Computed tomography demonstrated an iliac aneurysm with thrombus and air bubbles, fistulizing to the sigmoid colon (Fig. [Extracted from the article]

The floral pigment profiles of twenty Calibrachoa cultivars were determined and compared with the profiles of selected Petunia cultivars. Calibrachoas could be divided into two groups based on high (177–871 µg g-1 FW) and low 2–9 µg g-1 FW) carotenoid content; the groups were represented by yellow and white flowers, respectively. In addition to yellow cultivars, the high carotenoid content group included vivid-red and vivid-purplish-red cultivars that were characterized by a low floral pH of 4.5–4.8 and accumulation of delphinidin and petunidin, respectively, as the major floral anthocyanidin. In addition to cultivars with white flowers, the low carotenoid content group contained vivid-purple and vivid-red-purple cultivars that were characterized by higher (pH 5.4–5.7) and intermediate (pH 4.8–5.3) corolla pHs, respectively, and accumulation of malvidin. The strategies of calibrachoas and petunias for expressing yellow and red flowers were found to differ. For yellow flowers, calibrachoas use carotenoids, whereas petunias use flavonols plus carotenoids. For red flowers, calibrachoas use carotenoids, delphinidin and lower corolla pH, whereas petunias use cyanidin and lower corolla pH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the results of an experimental and numerical study of the bifurcation structure of steady cellular states in small aspect ratio Taylor-Couette flows. In particular we focus on Z[sub 2] symmetry-breaking bifurcations where asymmetric states which break the mid-plane symmetry arise. We find good quantitative agreement between numerical and experimental results for the bifurcation set. The surprising new observation we make is that the symmetry-breaking bifurcation sequences coalesce in a self-consistent way as the aspect ratio is reduced so that only symmetric steady flows exist for very short cylinders. The implications of this for the onset of disordered motion are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(b) We placed a covered metallic stent against the stenosis and the fistula. gl GLO:EUW/01may21:jgh15334-fig-0002.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): 2 (a, b) We tightly strangulated the stent at four sites using biopsy forceps and detachable snare forceps. A 28-year-old male with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma was referred to our department for treatment of esophageal stenosis. We placed a covered metallic stent (Niti-S, Century Medical, Inc.) against the stenosis and the fistula (Fig. [Extracted from the article]

The article presents the case of a 10-year-old normal-growing girl was diagnosed as having anemia at the annual physical examination and she underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy and for screening of gastrointestinal bleeding.

The article presents a case study of a 68 year old man with persisting constipation, mucous stool, and abdominal fullness. It mentions the patient was diagnosed as mesenteric panniculitis, and prednisolone at a dose of 50 mg a day; and also mentions the Elastica-Masson staining revealed that the venous intimal layer was characterized by hyperplasia of the elastic fiber and fibrous tissue.

The article presents a case study of a 76-year-old woman with a 33-year history of extensive ulcerative colitis (UC). It mentions that the patient has undergone in colonoscopy surveillance and chromoendoscopy with indigo-carmine dye revealed nodular-elevated lesion surrounded by flat and granular mucosa. It also mentions that endoscopic and pathologic findings reveals the presence of intramucosal cancer with dysplasia associated with UC.