Nippon Kaigi [The Japan Conference], established in 1997, is the largest right-wing organization in Japan. The organization is a major supporter of the current Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, and both Japanese and foreign media report that Abe, and many of his cabinet, are prominent member of its Diet Members League. Despite Nippon Kaigi's influence on governmental policies of Japan, the organization was little known to the general public until 2015. In 2016, however, numerous books and magazine articles focusing on Nippon Kaigi were published, some becoming best sellers. This created a “Nippon Kaigi boom” in the publishing world.

Workforce planning aims to model and predict supply and demand in medical specialties. In Scotland it is undertaken jointly by the Scottish Government and the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland to ensure workforce sustainability. The survey described in this paper aimed to ascertain why doctors continue to choose to take a break from/delay training programmes or pursue alternative jobs and career pathways. Career breaks, time out of training, less than full-time working patterns, dual training and non-clinical careers need to be taken into account during workforce planning not only to make psychiatry an attractive specialty to work in, but to ensure robust future sustainability in the psychiatric workforce in Scotland and the UK.

For near-future missions planed for Mars Sample Return (MSR), an international working group organized by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) developed the sample safety assessment framework (SSAF). For the SSAF, analytical instruments were selected by taking the practical limitations of hosting them within a facility with the highest level of biosafety precautions (biosafety level 4) and the precious nature of returned samples into account. To prepare for MSR, analytical instruments of high sensitivity need to be tested on effective Mars analogue materials. As an analogue material, we selected a rock core of basalt, a prominent rock type on the Martian surface. Two basalt samples with aqueous alteration cached in Jezero crater by the Perseverance rover are planned to be returned to Earth. Our previously published analytical procedures using destructive but spatially sensitive instruments such as nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) and transmission electron microscopy coupled to energy-dispersive spectroscopy revealed microbial colonization at clay-filled fractures. With an aim to test the capability of an analytical instrument listed in SSAF, we now extend that work to conventional Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) microscopy with a spatial resolution of 10 μm. Although Fe-rich smectite called nontronite was identified after crushing some portion of the rock core sample into powder, the application of conventional FT-IR microscopy is limited to a sample thickness of <30 μm. In order to obtain IR-based spectra without destructive preparation, a new technique called optical-photothermal infrared (O-PTIR) spectroscopy with a spatial resolution of 0.5 μm was applied to a 100 μm thick section of the rock core. By O-PTIR spectroscopic analysis of the clay-filled fracture, we obtained in-situ spectra diagnostic to microbial cells, consistent with our previously published data obtained by NanoSIMS. In addition, nontronite identification was also possible by O-PTIR spectroscopic analysis. From these results, O-PTIR spectroscopy is suggested be superior to deep ultraviolet fluorescence microscopy/μ-Raman spectroscopy, particularly for smectite identification. A simultaneous acquisition of the spatial distribution of structural motifs associated with biomolecules and smectites is critical for distinguishing biological material in samples as well as characterizing an abiotic background.

Foraging traces associated with the web-footed avian footprint ichnotaxon Presbyornithiformipes feduccii are described. Four new ichnospecies in three new ichnogenera are established to identify and describe the traces that resulted from foraging behaviors. All four ichnotaxa are, in places, overprinted by P. feduccii footprints and occur either laterally to, or sinuously woven between, P. feduccii trackways and therefore were clearly emplaced by the P. feduccii tracemaker.

Erevnoichnus blochi new ichnogenus new ichnospecies is established for a series of pits, joined by a marginal groove, that are associated with web-footed bird trackways. This ichnotaxon is interpreted to record regular probing/gaping as a waterbird swept its head from side to side searching for food. Erevnoichnus strimmena n. igen. new ichnospecies is established for en-echelon, gently arcuate grooves produced through forward probing by a waterbird searching for food. Ravdosichnus guntheri new ichnogenus new ichnospecies is established for simple grooves with u-shaped profiles produced when a waterbird dragged its bill backwards through the sediment. Aptosichnus diatarachi new ichnogenus new ichnospecies is established for a broad, shallow groove/trough characterized by sinuous margins and a complex, irregular fill. It is interpreted to record thorough bill stirring in an area with common prey.

All four ichnotaxa named herein are interpreted to record tactile feeding behavior by a marginal lacustrine waterbird searching for prey. Their association with Presbyornithiformipes feduccii suggests that the purported tracemaker, Presbyornis pervetus, did not forage solely through filter-feeding but was also capable of tactile foraging for larger prey.

UUID: www.zoobank.org/42c5d24b-6e9a-45da-9a48-78f8f040311c

Lewy body dementias (LBD) are the second most common dementia. Several genes have been associated with LBD, but little is known about their contributions to LBD pathophysiology. Each gene may transcribe multiple RNA, and LBD brains have extensive RNA splicing dysregulation. Hence, we completed the first transcriptome-wide transcript-level differential expression analysis of post-mortem LBD brains for gaining more insights into LBD molecular pathology that are essential for facilitating discovery of novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers for LBD. We completed transcript-level quantification of next-generation RNA-sequencing data from post-mortem anterior cingulate (ACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC) of people with pathology-verified LBD (LBD = 14; Controls = 7) using Salmon. We identified differentially expressed transcripts (DET) using edgeR and investigated their functional implications using DAVID. We performed transcriptome-wide alternative splicing analysis using DRIMseq. We identified 74 DET in ACC and 96 DET in DLPFC after Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) correction (5%). There were 135 and 98 FDR-corrected alternatively spliced genes in ACC and DLPFC of LBD brains, respectively. Identified DET may contribute to LBD pathology by altering DNA repair, apoptosis, neuroplasticity, protein phosphorylation, and regulation of RNA transcription. We confirm widespread alternative splicing and absence of chronic neuroinflammation in LBD brains. Transcript-level differential expression analysis can reveal specific DET that cannot be detected by gene-level expression analyses. Therapeutic and diagnostic biomarker potential of identified DET, especially those from TMEM18, MICB, MPO, and GABRB3, warrant further investigation. Future LBD blood-based biomarker studies should prioritise measuring the identified DET in small extracellular vesicles.

Polygenic scores (PGSs) have garnered increasing attention in the clinical sciences due to their robust prediction signals for psychopathology, including externalizing (EXT) behaviors. However, studies leveraging PGSs have rarely accounted for the phenotypic and developmental heterogeneity in EXT outcomes. We used the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (analytic N = 4,416), spanning ages 13 to 41, to examine associations between EXT PGSs and trajectories of antisocial behaviors (ASB) and substance use behaviors (SUB) identified via growth mixture modeling. Four trajectories of ASB were identified: High Decline (3.6% of the sample), Moderate (18.9%), Adolescence-Peaked (10.6%), and Low (67%), while three were identified for SUB: High Use (35.2%), Typical Use (41.7%), and Low Use (23%). EXT PGSs were consistently associated with persistent trajectories of ASB and SUB (High Decline and High Use, respectively), relative to comparison groups. EXT PGSs were also associated with the Low Use trajectory of SUB, relative to the comparison group. Results suggest PGSs may be sensitive to developmental typologies of EXT, where PGSs are more strongly predictive of chronicity in addition to (or possibly rather than) absolute severity.

When an employee sexually harasses a fellow employee away from the workplace or outside work hours, such as at a bar or a private party, difficult questions arise as to whether the employer should be held vicariously liable. Conversely, difficult questions arise as to the extent to which an employer might legitimately seek to supervise or regulate the conduct of its employees outside of work.

This article traces the key decisions that have considered this issue of sexual harassment away from the workplace or outside normal work hours (for convenience, I have referred to such conduct as ‘off-duty sexual harassment’).

As the discussion in Part Two illustrates, the leading decisions in the Australian federal jurisdiction considering the scope of vicarious liability for off-duty sexual harassment have taken a consistently broad approach to the requisite nexus with the employment. This culminated in the watershed decision of the Federal Magistrates Court last year in Lee v Smith, where an employer was held vicariously liable when an employee raped a fellow employee at a private residence following a social dinner party.