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Background: In schizophrenia (SZ), social cognition mediates the relationship between neurocognition and social functioning. Although people with major depressive disorder (MDD) also exhibit cognitive impairments, which are often prolonged, little is known about the role of social cognition in MDD. Methods: Using data obtained through an internet survey, 210 patients with SZ or MDD were selected using propensity score matching based on their demographic information and illness duration. Social cognition, neurocognition, and social functioning were evaluated using the Self-Assessment of Social Cognition Impairments, Perceived Deficits Questionnaire, and Social Functioning Scale, respectively. The mediation effects of social cognition on the relationship between neurocognition and social functioning were examined in each disease group. Invariances of the mediation model across the two groups were then analyzed. Results: The SZ and MDD groups had mean ages of 44.49 and 45.35 years, contained 42.0% and 42.8% women, and had mean illness durations of 10.76 and 10.45 years, respectively. In both groups, social cognition had significant mediation effects. Configural, measurement, and structural invariances across the groups were established. Conclusion: The role of social cognition in patients with chronic depression was similar to that in schizophrenia. Social cognition could be a common endophenotype for various psychiatric disorders.

Background: In schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD), social cognition mediates the relationship between neurocognition and social functioning. Although people with major depressive disorder (MDD) also exhibit cognitive impairments, which are often prolonged, little is known about the role of social cognition in MDD. Methods: Using data obtained through an internet survey, 210 patients with SSD or MDD were selected using propensity score matching based on their demographics and illness duration. Social cognition, neurocognition, and social functioning were evaluated using the Self-Assessment of Social Cognition Impairments, Perceived Deficits Questionnaire, and Social Functioning Scale, respectively. The mediation effects of social cognition on the relationship between neurocognition and social functioning were examined in each group. Invariances of the mediation model across the two groups were then analyzed. Results: The SSD and MDD groups had mean ages of 44.49 and 45.35 years, contained 42.0% and 42.8% women, and had mean illness durations of 10.76 and 10.45 years, respectively. In both groups, social cognition had significant mediation effects. Configural, measurement, and structural invariances across the groups were established. Conclusion: The role of social cognition in patients with MDD was similar to that in SSD. Social cognition could be a common endophenotype for various psychiatric disorders.

Protein microcrystals of less than 10 µm in size are now applicable to X-ray studies by synchrotron microbeam technology. However, because of their small size, they are difficult to handle and mount. In addition, the deterioration of data quality by scattering from the mounting apparatus and crystallization solvent is not negligible. To address these issues, a simple mounting method is proposed using a fine-needle capillary similar to that used for microinjection in cell biology. In this method, microcrystals are pulled up by capillary action or pipetting, and are held at the tip together with a small amount of cryoprotectant. The quality of the diffraction data using this method is comparable to that of data from conventional cryoloops. This solid apparatus is hopefully suitable for automation of microcrystal handling coupled with optical tweezers.

聴覚,視覚の言語性と非言語性の刺激によるP300によって,構音障害とブローカ失語,痴呆と全失語の鑑別を試みた.構音障害患者ではほとんどの患者に全刺激でP300は出現したが,言語性と非言語性とに有意差はなかった.ブローカ失語では聴覚の言語性P300は出現せず,視覚では,言語性が非言語性よりも潜時の延長がみられた.痴呆患者では,11例は全刺激に対してP300が出現しなかった.全失語では聴覚,視覚とも非言語性P300は出現したが,言語性P300は出現しなかった.以上より,言語性と非言語性刺激によるP300を比較した場合,全失語やブローカなどの失語症患者では言語性が障害され,一方構音障害や痴呆などの非失語症患者では両刺激によるP300に一定の傾向はみられなかった.

Digitalized ultrasound biomicroscopic measurements of vertical cross sections from a 5 mm diameter area of the central cornea of normal and morbid eyes were used to create a computerized corneal thickness map. Mean corneal thickness in normal eyes was 0.503 +/- 0.027 mm; the coefficient of variation, an index of reproducibility, was10% in all eyes.

A new and simple idea for scanning differential-phase-contrast (S-DPC) hard X-ray microscopy has been proposed. It only uses a wedge absorber coupled with two intensity detectors, and is much more sensitive to sample structures than absorption contrast. It can also extract pure quantitative one-dimensional phase gradient given by a sample without an effect of sample absorption. The S-DPC microscope has been constructed at BL24XU of SPring-8, and its feasibility has been successfully demonstrated at the photon energy of 10 keV by clearly visualizing structures of samples. Further, the experimental phase gradient profile agrees well with simulation. By integrating the resultant phase gradient, the corresponding phase shift distribution could be also imaged.

With the aim towards high-spatial-resolution phase measurement, a novel hard X-ray micro-interferometer using an imaging microscope has been proposed and constructed at Hyogo-BL of SPring-8. It is a wavefront-division-type interferometer consisting of a twin zone plate arranged in the same plane. We have succeeded in producing good interference fringes with a visibility of as high as 60% at the photon energy of 9 keV. The fringe scanning method was applied to retrieve phase-shift distribution of a sample. The phase-shift distribution of a 75-µm-thick kapton film and polystyrene microparticles could be imaged clearly with a spatial resolution of 160 nm and the obtained phase shift agreed well with the expected value.

Seven beamlines are operated for macromolecular crystallography (MX) at SPring‐8. The three undulator beamlines are developed for cutting edge target and four bending‐magnet beamlines are developed for high throughput MX. The undulator beamline, BL41XU that provides the most brilliant beam, is dedicated to obtain high quality data even from small‐size and weakly‐diffracting crystals. The minimum beam size at sample position is achieved to 10 μm diameter using a pin‐hole collimator. Its photon flux at wavelength λ = 1.0 A is 2.8×1011 photons/sec. This small beam coupled with irradiation point scanning method is quite useful to take diffraction dataset from small crystals by suppressing the radiation damage. These advanced technologies made a number of difficult protein structure analysis possible, (i.e. Sodium‐potassium ATPase). The bending‐magnet beamlines BL26B1/B2 and BL38B1 provide automatic data collection exploiting the high mobility of the beam. The beamline operation software “BSS,” sample auto‐cha...

We have developed a high‐resolution x‐ray microdiffraction system at the BL24XU of the SPring‐8. This system uses a focused beam produced by using a zone plate combined with a narrow slit. The size of the focused beam is 0.32 μm vertically and 1.3 μm horizontally and the angular divergence in the horizontal direction is about 70 μrad at a photon energy of 15 keV. This low‐divergence microbeam enables us to perform high‐resolution x‐ray microdiffraction experiments using a precise θ‐2θ goniometer with sub‐100‐nm‐resolved XYZ sample positioning stages. We demonstrate that the spatial non‐uniformity of the strain and the period in InGaAsP multi‐quantum‐well structures, fabricated by selective metalorganic‐vapor‐phase epitaxy, can be measured with sufficient accuracy using this system.