Metabolic profiling of urine and blood plasma in rat models of drug addiction on the basis of morphine,methamphetamine, and cocaine-induced conditioned place preference

The metabolic profiles of urine and blood plasma in drug-addicted rat models based on morphine (MOR), methamphetamine (MA), and cocaine (COC)-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) were investigated. Rewarding effects induced by each drug were assessed by use of the CPP model. A mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolomics approach was applied to urine and plasma of MOR, MA, and COC-addicted rats. In total, 57 metabolites in plasma and 70 metabolites in urine were identified by gas chromatography–MS. The metabolomics approach revealed that amounts of some metabolites, including tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, significantly changed in the urine of MOR-addicted rats. This result indicated that disruption of energy metabolism is deeply relevant to MOR addiction. In addition, 3-hydroxybutyric acid, l-tryptophan, cystine, and n-propylamine levels were significantly changed in the plasma of MOR-addicted rats. Lactose, spermidine, and stearic acid levels were significantly changed in the urine of MA-addicted rats. Threonine, cystine, and spermidine levels were significantly increased in the plasma of COC-addicted rats. In conclusion, differences in the metabolic profiles were suggestive of different biological states of MOR, MA, and COC addiction; these may be attributed to the different actions of the drugs on the brain reward circuitry and the resulting adaptation. In addition, the results showed possibility of predict the extent of MOR addiction by metabolic profiling. This is the first study to apply metabolomics to CPP models of drug addiction, and we demonstrated that metabolomics can be a multilateral approach to investigating the mechanism of drug addiction.     

Spatial characteristics of joint application networks in Japanese patents

Technological innovation has extensively been studied to make firms sustainable and more competitive. Within this context, the most important recent issue has been the dynamics of collaborative innovation among firms. We therefore investigated a patent network, especially focusing on its spatial characteristics. The results can be summarized as follows. (1) The degree distribution in a patent network follows a power law. A firm can then be connected to many firms via hubs connected to the firm. (2) The neighbors’ average degree has a null correlation, but the clustering coefficient has a negative correlation. The latter means that there is a hierarchical structure and bridging different modules may shorten the paths between the nodes in them. (3) The distance of links not only indicates the regional accumulations of firms, but the importance of time it takes to travel, which plays a key role in creating links. (4) The ratio of internal links in cities indicates that we have to consider the existing links firms have to facilitate the creation of new links.     

Direct measurement of the out-of-plane spin texture in the Dirac-cone surface state of a topological insulator

We have performed spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of Bi(2)Te(3) and present the first direct evidence for the existence of the out-of-plane spin component on the surface state of a topological insulator. We found that the magnitude of the out-of-plane spin polarization on a hexagonally deformed Fermi surface of Bi(2)Te(3) reaches maximally 25% of the in-plane counterpart, while such a sizable out-of-plane spin component does not exist in the more circular Fermi surface of TlBiSe(2), indicating that the hexagonal deformation of the Fermi surface is responsible for the deviation from the ideal helical spin texture. The observed out-of-plane polarization is much smaller than that expected from the existing theory, suggesting that an additional ingredient is necessary for correctly understanding the surface spin polarization in Bi(2)Te(3).     

A nonlinear signal-based control method and its applications to input identification for nonlinear SIMO problems

The problem of control system design can be conceptualised as identifying an input signal to a plant (the system to be controlled) so that the corresponding output matches that of a pre-defined reference signal. Primarily, this problem is solved via well-known techniques based upon the principle of feedback design, an essential component for ensuring stability and robustness of the controlled system. However, feedforward design techniques also have a large part to play, whereby (in the absence of feedback control and assuming that the plant is stable) a model of the plant dynamics can be used to modify the reference signal so that the resultant feedforward input signal generates a plant output signal that is sufficiently close to the original reference signal.     

Fermi surface and anisotropic spin-orbit coupling of Sb(111) studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

High-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy has been performed on Sb(111) to elucidate the origin of anomalous electronic properties in group-V semimetal surfaces. The surface was found to be metallic despite the semimetallic character of bulk. We clearly observed two surface-derived Fermi surfaces which are likely spin split, demonstrating that the spin-orbit interaction plays a dominant role in characterizing the surface electronic states of group-V semimetals. The universality or dissimilarity of the electronic structure in Bi and Sb is discussed in relation to the granular superconductivity, electron-phonon coupling, and surface charge or spin density wave.     

Continuous nondemolition measurement of the Cs clock transition pseudospin

We demonstrate a weak continuous measurement of the pseudospin associated with the clock transition in a sample of Cs atoms. Our scheme uses an optical probe tuned near the D1 transition to measure the sample birefringence, which depends on the component of the collective pseudospin. At certain probe frequencies the differential light shift of the clock states vanishes, and the measurement is nonperturbing. In dense samples the measurement can be used to squeeze the collective clock pseudospin and has the potential to improve the performance of atomic clocks and interferometers.     

On the presence of the S4z-term in Fe(HCOO)2 · 2H2O

The magnetic specific heat of ferrous formate dihydrate is analysed on the basis of a model, $\text{S}{}_{\mathrm{A}}\text{=}\text{1}\text{2}$ and S_B = 2. The experimental result turns out to be well explained by the introduction of a large S⁴_z-term for B site ions.     

High-resolution photoemission study of MgB2

We have performed high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy on MgB2 and observed opening of a superconducting gap with a narrow coherent peak. We found that the superconducting gap is s like with the gap value ( Delta) of 4.5+/-0.3 meV at 15 K. The temperature dependence (15-40 K) of the gap value follows well the BCS form, suggesting that 2Delta/k(B)T(c) at T = 0 is about 3. No pseudogap behavior is observed in the normal state. The present results strongly suggest that MgB2 is categorized into a phonon-mediated BCS superconductor in the weak-coupling regime.     

Effect of the frustration to the ground state energy and entropy of the spin-glass in the random bond Ising model on the square lattice

The energies and the entropies of the spin-glass state and the paramagnetic state at T = 0 of the random-bond Ising mixture of the ferromagnetic bond (concentration p) and the antiferromagnetic bond (concentration 1 ? p) on the square lattice are calculated by the method of the square approximation in the simple version. A self-consistent relation that the partial trace of the normalized density matrix of the square cluster is equal to that of the vertex ($\text{tr}\text{(}{}_{\mathrm{jkl}}\text{?}\text{?}{}^{\mathrm{(4)}}\text{(i,j,k,l) =}\text{?}\text{?}{}^{\mathrm{(1)}}\text{(i)}$) leads to an integral equation for the distribution function of the effective fields, and it is solved exactly at T = 0. The symmetric solution of the integral equation contains the paramagnetic state and two spin-glass states, SG1 and SG2. The energies and the entropies of these states are obtained as functions of the concentration p. The values of the energies per spin at $\text{p =}\text{1}\text{2}$ are -0.75|E_F|, -0.72746|E_F|, -0.72543|E_F|, and correspond to a minimum, a saddle point, and a maximum, respectively, and the values of the entropies are 0, 0.082886k_B, and 0.054457k_B, respectively. The present results are compared with those of the pair approximation and discussed.     

Homological properties of balanced Cohen-Macaulay algebras

A balanced Cohen-Macaulay algebra is a connected algebra having a balanced dualizing complex in the sense of Yekutieli (1992) for some integer and some graded - bimodule . We study some homological properties of a balanced Cohen-Macaulay algebra. In particular, we will prove the following theorem:
 

As a corollary, we will have the following characterizations of AS Gorenstein algebras and AS regular algebras: