Divergent ecological responses to typhoon disturbance revealed via landscape-scale acoustic monitoring.

Climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme weather events across the globe. Understanding the capacity for ecological communities to withstand and recover from such events is critical. Typhoons are extreme weather events that are expected to broadly homogenize ecological dynamics through structural damage to vegetation and longer-term effects of salinization. Given their unpredictable nature, monitoring ecological responses to typhoons is challenging, particularly for mobile animals such as birds. Here, we report spatially variable ecological responses to typhoons across terrestrial landscapes. Using a high temporal resolution passive acoustic monitoring network across 24 sites on the subtropical island of Okinawa, Japan, we found that typhoons elicit divergent ecological responses among Okinawa's diverse terrestrial habitats, as indicated by increased spatial variability of biological sound production (biophony) and individual species detections. This suggests that soniferous communities are capable of a diversity of different responses to typhoons. That is, spatial insurance effects among local ecological communities provide resilience to typhoons at the landscape scale. Even though site-level typhoon impacts on soundscapes and bird detections were not particularly strong, monitoring at scale with high temporal resolution across a broad spatial extent nevertheless enabled detection of spatial heterogeneity in typhoon responses. Further, species-level responses mirrored those of acoustic indices, underscoring the utility of such indices for revealing insight into fundamental questions concerning disturbance and stability. Our findings demonstrate the significant potential of landscape-scale acoustic sensor networks to capture the understudied ecological impacts of unpredictable extreme weather events.

Breakdown in seasonal dynamics of subtropical ant communities with land-cover change.

Concerns about widespread human-induced declines in insect populations are mounting, yet little is known about how land-use change modifies both the trends and variability of insect communities, particularly in understudied regions. Here, we examine how the seasonal activity patterns of ants-key drivers of terrestrial ecosystem functioning-vary with anthropogenic land-cover change on a subtropical island landscape, and whether differences in temperature or species composition can explain observed patterns. Using trap captures sampled biweekly over 2 years from a biodiversity monitoring network covering Okinawa Island, Japan, we processed 1.2 million individuals and reconstructed activity patterns within and across habitat types. Forest communities exhibited greater temporal variability of activity than those in more developed areas. Using time-series decomposition to deconstruct this pattern, we found that sites with greater human development exhibited ant communities with diminished seasonality, reduced synchrony and higher stochasticity compared with sites with greater forest cover. Our results cannot be explained by variation in regional or site temperature patterns, or by differences in species richness or composition among sites. Our study raises the possibility that disruptions to natural seasonal patterns of functionally key insect communities may comprise an important and underappreciated consequence of global environmental change that must be better understood across Earth's biomes.

Richness and resilience in the Pacific: DNA metabarcoding enables parallelized evaluation of biogeographic patterns.

Islands make up a large proportion of Earth's biodiversity, yet are also some of the most sensitive systems to environmental perturbation. Biogeographic theory predicts that geologic age, area, and isolation typically drive islands' diversity patterns, and thus potentially impact non-native spread and community homogenization across island systems. One limitation in testing such predictions has been the difficulty of performing comprehensive inventories of island biotas and distinguishing native from introduced taxa. Here, we use DNA metabarcoding and statistical modelling as a high throughput method to survey community-wide arthropod richness, the proportion of native and non-native species, and the incursion of non-natives into primary habitats on three archipelagos in the Pacific - the Ryukyus, the Marianas and Hawaii - which vary in age, isolation and area. Diversity patterns largely match expectations based on island biogeography theory, with the oldest and most geographically connected archipelago, the Ryukyus, showing the highest taxonomic richness and lowest proportion of introduced species. Moreover, we find evidence that forest habitats are more resilient to incursions of non-natives in the Ryukyus than in the less taxonomically rich archipelagos. Surprisingly, we do not find evidence for biotic homogenization across these three archipelagos: the assemblage of non-native species on each island is highly distinct. Our study demonstrates the potential of DNA metabarcoding to facilitate rapid estimation of biogeographic patterns, the spread of non-native species, and the resilience of ecosystems.

High-power deep-ultraviolet light generation at 266†nm from frequency quadrupling of a picosecond pulsed 1064†nm laser with a Nd:YVO4 amplifier pumped by a 914†nm laser diode.

We report the generation of picosecond pulsed light at a 266 nm wavelength with an average power of 53 W. We developed a picosecond pulsed 1064 nm laser source with an average power of 261 W, a repetition rate of 1 MHz, and a pulse duration of 14 ps, using a gain-switched DFB laser diode as a seed laser and a 914 nm laser-diode-pumped Nd-doped YVO4 power amplifier. We achieved stable generation of 266 nm light with an average power of 53 W from frequency quadrupling using an LBO and a CLBO crystals. The amplified power of 261 W and the 266 nm average power of 53 W from the 914 nm pumped Nd:YVO4 amplifier are the highest ever reported, to the best of our knowledge.

Design and fabrication of a microcoil metamaterial absorber for the sub-terahertz region.

The development of electromagnetic wave absorbers operating in the sub-terahertz (sub-THz) region is necessary in 6G communications. We designed and fabricated a sub-THz metamaterial absorber based on metal microcoils embedded and periodically arranged in a dielectric substrate. The microcoil parameters were optimized by calculating the electromagnetic response of the metamaterial using finite element analysis. An actual metamaterial was then fabricated based on the optimized parameters and characterized using THz time-domain spectroscopy. Our microcoil absorber exhibits an absorptance of >80% and a high shielding performance at about 250 GHz. The resonance frequency can be precisely adjusted by modifying the microcoil array dimensions.

Stable 10,000-hour operation of 20-W deep ultraviolet laser generation at 266†nm.

We report 10,000-hour stable operation of a 266-nm picosecond laser with an average power of 20 W. We have developed a narrow-linewidth, high-peak-power 1064-nm laser source with a repetition rate of 600 kHz, an average power of 129 W, a linewidth of 0.15 nm, and a pulse duration of 14 ps using a gain-switched DFB-LD as a picosecond pulse seed source and a four-stage power amplifier with an Nd:YVO4 crystal. A 266-nm laser with a maximum average power of 25.4 W was generated by frequency conversion using LBO and CLBO crystals and had a pulse duration of 8 ps and beam quality factor of 1.5 at 20W. To the best of our knowledge, we also demonstrated that the average power and the beam quality can be maintained for 10,000 hours for the first time. We have confirmed the durability of the developed deep ultraviolet laser for industrial applications.

DUV coherent light emission from ultracompact microcavity wavelength conversion device.

A unique design of our ultracompact microcavity wavelength conversion device exploits the simple principle that the wavelength conversion efficiency is proportional to the square of the electric field amplitude of enhanced pump light in the microcavity, and expands the range of suitable device materials to include crystals that do not exhibit birefringence or ferroelectricity. Here, as a first step toward practical applications of all-solid-state ultracompact deep-ultraviolet coherent light sources, we adopted a low-birefringence paraelectric SrB4O7 crystal with great potential for wavelength conversion and high transparency down to 130 nm as our device material, and demonstrated 234 nm deep-ultraviolet coherent light generation, whose wavelength band is expected to be used for on-demand disinfection tools that can irradiate the human body.

High surface laser-induced damage threshold of SrB4O7 single crystals under 266-nm (DUV) laser irradiation.

Under 266-nm (deep ultraviolet, DUV) laser irradiation, an SrB4O7 (SBO) single crystal has been found to exhibit a surface laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of ∼ 16.4 J/cm2, which is higher than those of a synthetic silica glass (4.8 J/cm2) and a calcium fluoride (CaF2) crystal (11.4 J/cm2). By catalyst-referred etching (CARE), the LIDT of an SBO crystal can also be improved to around 24.1 J/cm2, which is 1.4 and 6.0 times higher compared to an unetched crystal and a silica glass, respectively. With high surface LIDTs, SBO single crystals can then be used as optical window materials for high-power DUV laser systems.

High-power DUV picosecond pulse laser with a gain-switched-LD-seeded MOPA and large CLBO crystal.

We report the generation of a 266 nm deep ultraviolet (DUV) picosecond pulse with an average output power of 14 W by the fourth-harmonic generation (FHG) from two consecutive frequency-doubling stages of a 1064 nm pulse based on a gain-switched-laser-diode (LD)-seeded hybrid fiber/solid-state master oscillator and power amplifier (MOPA) system. Through the gain-switched operation of a narrow-spectral-linewidth distributed-feedback laser diode and by using a Yb-doped fiber and a two-stage ${\rm Nd}:{{\rm YVO}_4}$Nd:YVO4 solid-state amplifier, we achieved an average power of 46.5 W near the Fourier transform limit for a 13 ps pulse with a repetition rate of 200 kHz. The narrow linewidth pulse characteristics enabled highly efficient frequency conversion, and the efficiency of conversion from 532 to 266 nm was 54%, and from 1064 to 266 nm was 31%. The beam quality factor ${M^2}$M2 of the generated DUV pulse was below 1.2. The highly efficient FHG process resulted in appeasing thermal stress caused by nonlinear absorption in the crystal, and more than 5000 h of continuous operation were achieved without any power down or beam profile degradation.

Soft X-Ray Imaging of Cellular Carbon and Nitrogen Distributions in Heterocystous Cyanobacteria.

Soft x-ray microscopy (SXM) is a minimally invasive technique for single-cell high-resolution imaging as well as the visualization of intracellular distributions of light elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. We used SXM to observe photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation in the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, which can form heterocysts during nitrogen starvation. Statistical and spectroscopic analyses from SXM images around the K-absorption edge of nitrogen revealed a significant difference in the carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio between vegetative cells and heterocysts. Application of this analysis to soft x-ray images of Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 revealed inhomogenous C/N ratios in the cells. Furthermore, soft x-ray tomography of Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 revealed differing cellular C/N ratios, indicating different carbon and nitrogen distributions between vegetative cells and heterocysts in three dimensions.

Enhancing terahertz magnetic near field induced by a micro-split-ring resonator with a tapered waveguide.

Substantial enhancement of terahertz magnetic near field achieved by the combination of a tapered metallic waveguide and a micro-split-ring resonator is demonstrated. The magnetic near field is probed directly via the magneto-optic sampling with a Tb3Ga5O12 crystal. The incident terahertz wave with a half-cycle waveform is generated by using the pulse-front tilting method. The magnetic near field at the resonant frequency is enhanced by more than 30 times through the combination of the waveguide and the resonator. The peak amplitude of the magnetic field with a damped oscillation waveform in the time domain is up to 0.4 T. The resonant frequency can be tuned by adopting different resonator designs. The mechanism of the enhancement is analyzed by performing calculations based on the finite element method. The strong terahertz magnetic near field enables the excitation of large-amplitude spin dynamics and can be utilized for an ultrafast spin control.

Characterization of Novel 18F-Labeled Phenoxymethylpyridine Derivatives as Amylin Imaging Probes.

Deposition of islet amyloid consisting of amylin constitutes one of pathological hallmarks of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and it may be involved in the development and progression of T2DM. However, the details about the relationship between the deposition of islet amyloid and the pathology of T2DM remain unclear, since no useful imaging tracer enabling the visualization of pancreatic amylin is available. In the present study, we synthesized and evaluated six novel 18F-labeled phenoxymethylpyridine (PMP) derivatives as amylin imaging probes. All 18F-labeled PMP derivatives showed not only affinity for islet amyloid in the post-mortem T2DM pancreatic sections but also excellent pharmacokinetics in normal mice. Furthermore, ex vivo autoradiographic studies demonstrated that [18F]FPMP-5 showed intense labeling of islet amyloids in the diabetes model mouse pancreas in vivo. The preclinical studies suggested that [18F]FPMP-5 may have potential as an imaging probe that targets amylin aggregates in the T2DM pancreas.

Development of (99m)Tc-Labeled Pyridyl Benzofuran Derivatives To Detect Pancreatic Amylin in Islet Amyloid Model Mice.

While islet amyloid deposition comprising amylin is one of pathological hallmarks of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), no useful amylin-imaging probe has been reported. In this study, we evaluated two (99m)Tc-labeled pyridyl benzofuran derivatives as novel amylin-imaging probes using the newly established islet amyloid model mouse. Binding experiments in vitro demonstrated that [(99m)Tc]1 displayed a higher affinity for amylin aggregates than [(99m)Tc]2. Autoradiographic studies using human pancreas sections with T2DM revealed that [(99m)Tc]1 clearly labeled islet amyloid in T2DM pancreatic sections, while [(99m)Tc]2 did not. Although the initial uptake of [(99m)Tc]1 by the normal mouse pancreas was low (0.74%ID/g at 2 min post-injection), [(99m)Tc]1 showed higher retention in the model mouse pancreas than that of the normal mouse, and exhibited strong binding to amylin aggregates in the living pancreas of the model mice. These results suggest that [(99m)Tc]1 is a potential imaging probe targeting islet amyloids in the T2DM pancreas.

Picosecond high-power 355-nm UV generation in CsLiB6O10 crystal.

We report third-harmonic generation (THG) at 355 nm in CsLiB6O10 (CLBO) by using sum-frequency mixing process. As a fundamental laser source, we employ a hybrid master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system seeded by a gain-switched laser diode (GS-LD) at 1064 nm to produce narrow spectral picosecond pulses. Both CLBO and walk-off compensated prism-coupled CLBO device generate over 30-W output of 355-nm UV lights, which means walk-off effect in CLBO is negligible in the picosecond laser system. The maximum THG conversion efficiency from the fundamental reaches about 48%, which is 1.2 times higher than that of LiB3O5 (LBO). Theoretical THG outputs with CLBO and LBO are numerically calculated in order to verify the validity of these experimental results in detail.

Enhancement of binding affinity for amyloid aggregates by multivalent interactions of 99mTc-hydroxamamide complexes.

Deposition of amyloid aggregates has been regarded as an early stage of amyloidosis progression. An imaging probe that can image amyloid aggregates enables the early diagnosis of amyloidosis and contributes to the development of new medical therapies. High binding affinity for amyloid aggregates is essential to develop a useful molecular imaging probe. This article describes a new strategy to enhance the binding affinity of imaging agents targeting amyloid aggregates. We designed and synthesized novel (99m)Tc-hydroxamamide ((99m)Tc-Ham) complexes with a bivalent amyloid ligand and evaluated their binding affinity for amyloid aggregates by using ß-amyloid peptide (Aß(1-42)) aggregates as a model. In vitro inhibition assay indicated that bivalent (99m)Tc-Ham complexes had much higher binding affinity for amyloid aggregates than monovalent complexes. In vitro autoradiography using Tg2576 mice showed the specific binding of bivalent (99m)Tc-Ham complexes to Aß plaques in the mouse brain, as reflected in the results of the inhibition assay. The preliminary results suggest that a new molecular design based on bivalent (99m)Tc-Ham complexes may be reasonable to develop an imaging probe targeting amyloid aggregates.

A (68)Ga complex based on benzofuran scaffold for the detection of ß-amyloid plaques.

Since the imaging of ß-amyloid (Aß) plaques in the brain is believed to be a useful tool for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a number of imaging probes to detect Aß plaques have been developed. Because the radionuclide (68)Ga (t1/2=68 min) for PET imaging could become an attractive alternative to (11)C and (18)F, we designed and synthesized a benzofuran derivative conjugated with a (68)Ga complex ((68)Ga-DOTA-C3-BF) as a novel Aß imaging probe. In an in vitro binding assay, Ga-DOTA-C3-BF showed high affinity for Aß(1-42) aggregates (Ki=10.8 nM). The Ga-DOTA-C3-BF clearly stained Aß plaques in a section of Tg2576 mouse, reflecting the affinity for Aß(1-42) aggregates in vitro. In a biodistribution study in normal mice, (68)Ga-DOTA-C3-BF displayed low initial uptake (0.45% ID/g) in the brain at 2 min post-injection. While improvement of the brain uptake of (68)Ga complexes appears to be essential, these results suggest that novel PET imaging probes that include (68)Ga as the radionuclide for PET may be feasible.

Spatiotemporal Control of Polymorphic Phase Transition of Glycine Crystals by Three-Dimensional Femtosecond Laser Ablation Processing.

Spatiotemporal control of the polymorphic phase transition of glycine crystals was demonstrated by three-dimensional (3D) processing with a focused femtosecond laser pulse as an external stimulus. We found that the transition from a metastable form (ß-form) to more stable ones (α- or γ-form) could be triggered from the irradiated area of not only the surface but also inside of glycine crystals. This 3D processing with a focused femtosecond laser pulse enabled us to precisely monitor the transition dynamics from a targeted position to the entire part of crystals. The systematic study with the space-selective phase transition method revealed that the phase transition inside of glycine crystals was significantly slower (e.g., ∼50 times) than that at the crystal surface, which indicates the crucial role of water molecules in air on the phase transition dynamics. We foresee that this laser method can be a practical tool for monitoring spatiotemporal dynamics of phase transition.

The impact of crystal phase transition on the hardness and structure of kidney stones.

Calcium oxalate kidney stones, the most prevalent type of kidney stones, undergo a multi-step process of crystal nucleation, growth, aggregation, and secondary transition. The secondary transition has been rather overlooked, and thus, the effects on the disease and the underlying mechanism remain unclear. Here, we show, by periodic micro-CT images of human kidney stones in an ex vivo incubation experiment, that the growth of porous aggregates of calcium oxalate dihydrate (COD) crystals triggers the hardening of the kidney stones that causes difficulty in lithotripsy of kidney stone disease in the secondary transition. This hardening was caused by the internal nucleation and growth of precise calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM) crystals from isolated urine in which the calcium oxalate concentrations decreased by the growth of COD in closed grain boundaries of COD aggregate kidney stones. Reducing the calcium oxalate concentrations in urine is regarded as a typical approach for avoiding the recurrence. However, our results revealed that the decrease of the concentrations in closed microenvironments conversely promotes the transition of the COD aggregates into hard COM aggregates. We anticipate that the suppression of the secondary transition has the potential to manage the deterioration of kidney stone disease.

Calcium phosphate controls nucleation and growth of calcium oxalate crystal phases in kidney stones.

Kidney stone disease is a serious disease due to the severe pain it causes, high morbidity, and high recurrence rate. Notably, calcium oxalate stones are the most common type of kidney stone. Calcium oxalate appears in two forms in kidney stones: the stable phase, monohydrate (COM), and the metastable phase, dihydrate (COD). Particularly, COM stones with concentric structures are hard and difficult to treat. However, the factor determining the growth of either COM or COD crystals in the urine, which is supersaturated for both phases, remains unclear. This study shows that calcium phosphate ingredients preferentially induce COM crystal nucleation and growth, by observing and analyzing kidney stones containing both COM and COD crystals. The forms of calcium phosphate are not limited to Randall's plaques (1-2 mm size aggregates, which contain calcium phosphate nanoparticles and proteins, and form in the renal papilla). For example, aggregates of strip-shaped calcium phosphate crystals and fields of dispersed calcium phosphate microcrystals (nano to micrometer order) also promote the growth of concentric COM structures. This suggests that patients who excrete urine with a higher quantity of calcium phosphate crystals may be more prone to forming hard and troublesome COM stones.

Molecular imaging of ß-amyloid plaques with near-infrared boron dipyrromethane (BODIPY)-based fluorescent probes.

The formation of ß-amyloid (Aß) plaques is a critical neurodegenerative change in Alzheimer disease (AD). We designed and synthesized novel boron dipyrromethane (BODIPY)-based Aß probes (BAPs) and evaluated their utility for near-infrared fluorescence imaging of Aß plaques in the brain. In binding experiments in vitro, BAPs showed high affinity for synthetic Aß aggregates (Kd  =  18-149 nM). Furthermore, BAPs clearly stained Aß plaques in sections of Tg2576 mice. In mouse brain tissue, BAPs showed sufficient uptake for optical imaging. In addition, ex vivo fluorescent staining of brain sections from Tg2576 mice after the injection of BAP-2 showed selective binding of Aß plaques with little nonspecific binding. BAPs may be useful as a near-infrared fluorescent probe for imaging Aß plaques.