Women were significantly more distressed than men. Poor quality of the marital relationship was significantly associated with impaired psychological adjustment among women, but not among men. These gender discrepancies may foster a mutual worsening of psychological adjustment and marital relationships in RPL couples. The need to seek help not only in women but also in a substantial portion of men suggests the importance of couple-based psychological care in the management of RPL.

Cyanobacteriochromes (CBCRs) are bilin-binding photosensors of the phytochrome superfamily that show remarkable spectral diversity. The green/red CBCR subfamily is important for regulating chromatic acclimation of photosynthetic antenna in cyanobacteria and is applied for optogenetic control of gene expression in synthetic biology. It is suggested that the absorption change of this subfamily is caused by the bilin C15-Z/C15-E photoisomerization and a subsequent change in the bilin protonation state. However, structural information and direct evidence of the bilin protonation state are lacking. Here, we report a high-resolution (1.63Å) crystal structure of the bilin-binding domain of the chromatic acclimation sensor RcaE in the red-absorbing photoproduct state. The bilin is buried within a “bucket” consisting of hydrophobic residues, in which the bilin configuration/conformation is C5-Z,syn/C10-Z,syn/C15-E,syn with the A- through C-rings coplanar and the D-ring tilted. Three pyrrole nitrogens of the A- through C-rings are covered in the α-face with a hydrophobic lid of Leu249 influencing the bilin pKa, whereas they are directly hydrogen bonded in the β-face with the carboxyl group of Glu217. Glu217 is further connected to a cluster of waters forming a hole in the bucket, which are in exchange with solvent waters in molecular dynamics simulation. We propose that the “leaky bucket” structure functions as a proton exit/influx pathway upon photoconversion. NMR analysis demonstrated that the four pyrrole nitrogen atoms are indeed fully protonated in the red-absorbing state, but one of them, most likely the B-ring nitrogen, is deprotonated in the green-absorbing state. These findings deepen our understanding of the diverse spectral tuning mechanisms present in CBCRs.

We report the successful fabrication of a novel type of blackbody material based on a graphene nanostructure. We demonstrate that the graphene nanostructure not only shows a low reflectance comparable to that of a carbon nanotube array but also shows an extremely high heat resistance at temperatures greater than 2500 K. The graphene nanostructure, which has an emissivity higher than 0.99 over a wide range of wavelengths, behaves as a standard blackbody material; therefore, the radiation spectrum and the temperature can be precisely measured in a simple manner. Here, the spectral emissivities of tungsten and tantalum are experimentally obtained using this ideal blackbody material and are compared to previously reported spectra. We clearly demonstrate the existence of a temperature-independent fixed point of emissivity at a certain wavelength. Both the spectral emissivity as a function of temperature and the cross-over point in the emissivity spectrum are well described by the complex dielectric function based on the Lorentz-Drude model with the phonon-scattering effect.

BackgroundPrevalence of postnatal depression (PND) is high (Western countries, 10–15%; Japan, 17%). PND can cause parenting impairment and affect family health (e.g. child behaviors, cognitive development and physical health). This study aimed to reveal the risk factors of PND during the pregnancy period in a Japanese sample, and to identify the psychosocial risk factors of PND that should be appended to existing obstetric interview sheets. A cohort study with a Japanese sample was conducted.MethodsAll 14 obstetrics hospitals in the Setagaya ward, Tokyo, Japan, participated in this study. Pregnant women who booked their delivery between December 2012 and May 2013 were enrolled. Data used for this study were collected at 20 weeks gestation, a few days and one month postnatal. The questionnaires consisted of psychosocial factors and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). To identify PND risk factors, multivariate analyses were performed.ResultsA total of 1,775 women participated in this study. Eventually, the data of 1,133 women were used for the multivariate analyses. The demonstrated significant risk factors include EPDS score, primipara, “a perceived lack of family cohesion”, “current physical illness treatment” and “current psychiatric illness treatment”.ConclusionThis study highlights the importance of mental health screening using psychological measures during the pregnancy period. In addition, family environment, parity, physical and psychiatric illness should be paid attention by professionals in maternal and child health. The results also suggest that mothers’ feelings of developing their families should be supported.

Electroluminescence at an emission power of over 0.4 mW is achieved at an emission wavelength of 1.6 m using a p-Si/ ␤-FeSi 2 / n-Si double-heterostructure light-emitting diode. This emission power is obtained at room temperature under current injection of 460 mA, corresponding to an external quantum efficiency of approximately 0.1%. Photoluminescence and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements for devices with different thicknesses of ␤-FeSi 2 indicate that radiative recombination rate increased as the thickness of the ␤-FeSi 2 active layer is increased.