The ALMA Survey of 70 µm dark High-mass clumps in Early Stages (ASHES) has been designed to systematically characterize the earliest stages and to constrain theories of high-mass star formation. A deep understanding of highmass star formation requires the study of the clustered mode, which is the most commonly found in nature. A total of 12 massive (>500 M ), cold (≤15 K), 3.6-70 µm dark prestellar clump candidates, embedded in infrared dark clouds (IRDCs), were carefully selected in the pilot survey to be observed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA). Exploiting the unique capabilities of ALMA, we have mosaiced each clump (∼1 arcmin 2 ) in dust continuum and line emission with the 12 m, 7 m, and Total Power arrays at 224 GHz (1.34 mm), resulting in ∼1. 2 angular resolution (∼4800 AU at the average source distance of 4 kpc). As the first paper of the series, we concentrate on the dust continuum emission to reveal the clump fragmentation. We have detected a total of 294 cores, from which 84 (29%) are categorized as protostellar based on outflow activity or "warm core" line emission. The remaining 210 (71%) are considered prestellar core candidates. The number of detected cores is independent of the mass sensitivity range of the observations and, on average, more massive clumps tend to form more cores. We find no correlation between the mass of the host clump and the most massive embedded core. We find a large population of low-mass (<1 M ) cores and no high-mass (>30 M ) prestellar cores. The most massive prestellar core has a mass of 11 M . From the prestellar core mass function, we derive a power law index of 1.17 ± 0.10, slightly shallower than the Salpeter index of 1.35. We have used the minimum spanning tree technique to characterize the separation between cores and their spatial distribution, and to derive mass segregation ratios. While there is a range of core masses and core separations detected in the sample, the mean separation and mean mass of cores per clump are well explained

We developed a new endoscopic thyroid surgery by the axillo-bilateral-breast approach (ABBA) method, which is different from the previously described breast approach (BA) in that the port sites are modified to obtain a better view and to prevent the interference of surgical instruments. This modification also improves cosmetic results by eliminating the parasternal incision, which results in hypertrophic scar in a significant number of cases treated with BA. Twelve patients with benign thyroid tumors successfully underwent endoscopic thyroid surgery by ABBA, and their clinical outcomes were compared with those of four patients treated with BA. The mean operation time was significantly shorter in the ABBA group than in the BA group (188 minutes vs. 270 minutes; P < 0.01). Furthermore, the mean blood loss in the ABBA group (53 mL) was half of that in the BA group (108 mL). Neither conversion to open surgery nor significant intraoperative complications were experienced. The operative scars by ABBA became inconspicuous in a few weeks. These results seem to indicate that ABBA is a better method than BA and can be a feasible option, particularly for young patients who opt for the better cosmetic outcome.

We present distributions of two molecular clouds having velocities of 2 and 14 km s −1 toward RCW 38, the youngest super star cluster in the Milky Way, in the 12 CO J = 1-0 and 3-2 and 13 CO J = 1-0 transitions. The two clouds are likely physically associated with the cluster as verified by the high intensity ratio of the J = 3-2 emission to the J = 1-0 emission, the bridging feature connecting the two clouds in velocity, and their morphological correspondence with the infrared dust emission. The velocity difference is too large for the clouds to be gravitationally bound. We frame a hypothesis that the two clouds are colliding with each other by chance to trigger formation of the ∼20 O stars that are localized within ∼0.5 pc of the cluster center in the 2 km s −1 cloud. We suggest that the collision is currently continuing toward part of the 2 km s −1 cloud where the bridging feature is localized. This is the third super star cluster alongside Westerlund 2 and NGC 3603 where cloud-cloud collision has triggered the cluster formation. RCW 38 is the youngest super star cluster in the Milky Way, holding a possible sign of on-going O star formation, and is a promising site where we may be able to witness the moment of O star formation.

A new laparoscopic operation for the treatment of mucosal or submucosal gastric lesions has been designed and performed on eight patients. In this procedure, all three trocars are placed in the gastric lumen, penetrating both the abdominal and stomach walls in order to perform a laparoscopic removal of gastric lesions. The operation is then carried out in the gastric lumen with currently available laparoscopic instruments and laparoscopic monitoring. The procedure is easy, safe, and feasible for mucosal or submucosal lesions of the stomach which cannot be treated by gastrofiberscopic technique. In this series, 6 patients with early gastric cancer, 1 with a submucosal leiomyoma, and 1 with giant polyp of the stomach were treated without complications. Since this technique is based on a new concept in laparoscopic surgery, the author has named this intraluminal operation "laparoscopic intragastric surgery."

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We have performed a dense core survey toward the Infrared Dark Cloud G14.225-0.506 at 3 mm continuum emission with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). This survey covers the two hub-filament systems with an angular resolution of ∼ 3 ′′ (∼ 0.03 pc). We identified 48 dense cores. Twenty out of the 48 cores are protostellar due to their association with young stellar objects (YSOs) and/or X-ray point-sources, while the other 28 cores are likely prestellar and unrelated with known IR or X-ray emission. Using APEX 870 µm continuum emission, we also identified the 18 clumps hosting these cores. Through virial analysis using the ALMA N 2 H + and VLA/Effelsberg NH 3 molecular line data, we found a decreasing trend in the virial parameter with decreasing scales from filaments to clumps, and then to cores. The virial parameters of 0.1 − 1.3 in cores, indicate that cores are likely undergoing dynamical collapse. The cumulative Core Mass Function (CMF) for the prestellar cores candidates has a power law index of α = 1.6, with masses ranging from 1.5 to 22 M ⊙ . We find no massive prestellar or protostellar cores. Previous studies suggest that massive O-tpye stars have not been produced yet in this region. Therefore, high-mass stars should be formed in the prestellar cores by accreting a significant amount of gas from the surrounding medium. Another possibility is that low-mass YSOs become massive by accreting from their parent cores that are fed by filaments. These two possibilities might be consistent with the scenario of global hierarchical collapse.

We observed thirteen Planck cold clumps with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope/SCUBA-2 and with the Nobeyama 45 m radio telescope. The N 2 H + distribution obtained with the Nobeyama telescope is quite similar to SCUBA-2 dust distribution. The 82 GHz HC 3 N, 82 GHz CCS, and 94 GHz CCS emission are often distributed differently with respect to the N 2 H + emission. The CCS emission, which is known to be abundant in starless molecular cloud cores, is often very clumpy in the observed targets. We made deep single-pointing observations in DNC, HN 13 C, N 2 D + , cyclic-C 3 H 2 toward nine clumps. The detection rate of N 2 D + is 50%. Furthermore, we observed the NH 3 emission toward 15 Planck cold clumps to estimate the kinetic temperature, and confirmed that most of targets are cold ( 20 K). In two of the starless clumps observe, the CCS emission is distributed as it surrounds the N 2 H + core (chemically evolved gas), which resembles the case of L1544, a prestellar core showing

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