Group behavioral activation for patients with severe obesity and binge eating disorder: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Alfonsson, Sven; Parling, Thomas; Ghaderi, Ata

2015-03-01

The aim of the present study was to assess whether behavioral activation (BA) is an efficacious treatment for decreasing eating disorder symptoms in patients with obesity and binge eating disorder (BED). Ninety-six patients with severe obesity and BED were randomized to either 10 sessions of group BA or wait-list control. The study was conducted at an obesity clinic in a regular hospital setting. The treatment improved some aspects of disordered eating and had a positive effect on depressive symptoms but there was no significant difference between the groups regarding binge eating and most other symptoms. Improved mood but lack of effect on binge eating suggests that dysfunctional eating (including BED) is maintained by other mechanisms than low activation and negative mood. However, future studies need to investigate whether effects of BA on binge eating might emerge later than at post-assessment, as in interpersonal psychotherapy for bulimia nervosa. © The Author(s) 2014.

Behavioral Activation and Therapeutic Exposure: An Investigation of Relative Symptom Changes in PTSD and Depression during the Course of Integrated Behavioral Activation, Situational Exposure, and Imaginal Exposure Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gros, Daniel F.; Price, Matthew; Strachan, Martha; Yuen, Erica K.; Milanak, Melissa E.; Acierno, Ron

2012-01-01

Effectiveness of exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be adversely influenced by comorbid disorders. The present study investigated behavioral activation and therapeutic exposure (BA-TE), a new integrated treatment designed specifically for comorbid symptoms of PTSD and depression. Combat veterans with PTSD (N = 117)…

Functional brain imaging of a complex navigation task following one night of total sleep deprivation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Strangman, Gary; Thompson, John H.; Strauss, Monica M.; Marshburn, Thomas H.; Sutton, Jeffrey P.

2006-01-01

Study Objectives: To assess the cerebral effects associated with sleep deprivation in a simulation of a complex, real-world, high-risk task. Design and Interventions: A two-week, repeated measures, cross-over experimental protocol, with counterbalanced orders of normal sleep (NS) and total sleep deprivation (TSD). Setting: Each subject underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a dual-joystick, 3D sensorimotor navigation task (simulated orbital docking). Scanning was performed twice per subject, once following a night of normal sleep (NS), and once following a single night of total sleep deprivation (TSD). Five runs (eight 24s docking trials each) were performed during each scanning session. Participants: Six healthy, young, right-handed volunteers (2 women; mean age 20) participated. Measurements and Results: Behavioral performance on multiple measures was comparable in the two sleep conditions. Neuroimaging results within sleep conditions revealed similar locations of peak activity for NS and TSD, including left sensorimotor cortex, left precuneus (BA 7), and right visual areas (BA 18/19). However, cerebral activation following TSD was substantially larger and exhibited higher amplitude modulations from baseline. When directly comparing NS and TSD, most regions exhibited TSD>NS activity, including multiple prefrontal cortical areas (BA 8/9,44/45,47), lateral parieto-occipital areas (BA 19/39, 40), superior temporal cortex (BA 22), and bilateral thalamus and amygdala. Only left parietal cortex (BA 7) demonstrated NS>TSD activity. Conclusions: The large network of cerebral differences between the two conditions, even with comparable behavioral performance, suggests the possibility of detecting TSD-induced stress via functional brain imaging techniques on complex tasks before stress-induced failures.

Metal and hydrocarbon behavior in sediments from Brazilian shallow waters drilling activities using nonaqueous drilling fluids (NAFs).

PubMed

do Carmo R Peralba, Maria; Pozebon, Dirce; dos Santos, João H Z; Maia, Sandra M; Pizzolato, Tânia M; Cioccari, Giovani; Barrionuevo, Simone

2010-08-01

The impact of drilling oil activities in the Brazilian Bonito Field/Campos Basin (Rio de Janeiro) shell drilling (300 m) using nonaqueous fluids (NAFs) was investigated with respect to Al, Fe, Mn, Ba, Co, Pb, Cu, As, Hg, Cr, Ni, Zn, Cd, V, and aliphatic and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons concentrations in the sediment. Sampling took place in three different times during approximately 33 months. For the metals Al, As, Co, Cr, Cu, Cd, Fe, Ni, Mn, V, and Zn, no significant variation was observed after drilling activities in most of the stations. However, an increase was found in Ba concentration--due to the drilling activity--without return to the levels found 22 months after drilling. High Ba contents was already detected prior to well drilling, probably due to drilling activities in other wells nearby. Hydrocarbon contents also suggest previous anthropogenic activities. Aliphatic hydrocarbon contents were in the range usually reported in other drilling sites. The same behavior was observed in the case of polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Nevertheless, the n-alkane concentration increased sharply after drilling, returning almost to predrilling levels 22 months after drilling activities.

Measuring Homework Completion in Behavioral Activation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Busch, Andrew M.; Uebelacker, Lisa A.; Kalibatseva, Zornitsa; Miller, Ivan W.

2010-01-01

The aim of this study was to develop and validate an observer-based coding system for the characterization and completion of homework assignments during Behavioral Activation (BA). Existing measures of homework completion are generally unsophisticated, and there is no current measure of homework completion designed to capture the particularities…

Development and Pilot Investigation of Behavioral Activation for Negative Symptoms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mairs, Hilary; Lovell, Karina; Campbell, Malcolm; Keeley, Philip

2011-01-01

Negative symptoms cause functional impairment and impede recovery from psychosis, not least, because of limited developments in empirically validated treatments. This article details a pilot evaluation of a behavioral activation (BA) treatment with eight people presenting with psychosis and marked negative symptoms. The rationale for this…

[Morita Therapy to Treat Depression: When and How to Encourage Patients to Join Activities].

PubMed

Nakamura, Kei

2015-01-01

The author discusses how Morita therapy is used to treat depression, illustrated with a clinical case, and makes comparisons between Morita therapy and behavioral activation (BA). The author further examines the issue of when and how to encourage patients to join activities in clinical practice in Japan. Both Morita therapy and BA share at least a common view that it is effective to activate patients' constructive behavior at a certain point in depression treatment. However, BA therapists, compared to Morita therapists, seem to pay less attention to the necessity of resting and the appropriate timing for introducing behavioral activation. There may be some contextual differences between depressive patients in Japan and those in North America. In the case of Japanese patients, exhaustion from overwork is often considered a factor triggering the development of depression. At the same time, the Morita-based pathogenic model of depression seems different from BA's model of the same disorder. BA's approach to understanding depression may be considered a psychological (behavioristic) model. In this model, the cause of depression lies in: (a) a lack of positive reinforcement, and (b) negative reinforcement resulting from avoidance of the experience of discomfort. Therefore, the basic strategy of BA is to release depressive patients from an avoidant lifestyle, which serves as a basis for negative reinforcement, and to redirect the patients toward activities which offer the experience of positive reinforcement BA is primarily practiced by clinical psychologists in the U. S. while psychiatrists prescribe medication as a medical service. On the other hand, the clinical practice of treating depression in Japan is based primarily on medical models of depression. This is also true of Morita therapy, but in a broad sense. While those who follow medical models in a narrow sense try to identify the cause of illness and then remove it, Morita therapists pay more attention to the recovery process rather than the pathogeneses of depression, and attempt to foster patients' natural healing power and resilience. Therefore, it may be more appropriate to refer to the model used in Morita therapy as "a health-recovery model." Moreover, the Moritian model of depression partially incorporates a psychological model because patients' dogmatic thinking (e. g., perfectionistic self-expectations and high demands on self) is regarded as a factor hindering their recovery, which Morita therapists try to modify. In conclusion, it is recommended that we reconsider the importance of incorporating psychological help which is compatible with the initial treatment principle based on resting and pharmacotherapy in clinical practice in Japan.

Modulation of neurotoxic behavior in F-344 rats by temporal disposition of benzo(a)pyrene.

PubMed

Saunders, Crystal R; Ramesh, Aramandla; Shockley, Dolores C

2002-03-24

The behavioral changes caused by benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compound, were monitored, and also its metabolite levels in cerebellum and cortex were measured in BaP treated rats to see if any relationship existed between these two aspects. Rats were administered 0, 25, 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg of BaP in peanut oil by oral gavage. Plasma, and brain tissue (cerebellum and cortex) samples were collected at 0, 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h post administration. Neurotoxic effects peaked at 2 h after dosing and lasted 48 h after dosing for all dose groups. The metabolite levels remained the same from 2 to 4 h, reached a peak at 6 h post gavage and showed a gradual decline returning to baseline levels at 72 h when the motor activity of treatment groups also returned to control levels, indicating recovery from the effects of BaP. A significant (P<0.05) correlation between neurotoxic effects and BaP plasma, and brain metabolite concentrations suggests that metabolism plays an important role in modulating the neurobehavioral effects of BaP.

Framework for behavioral analytics in anomaly identification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Touma, Maroun; Bertino, Elisa; Rivera, Brian; Verma, Dinesh; Calo, Seraphin

2017-05-01

Behavioral Analytics (BA) relies on digital breadcrumbs to build user profiles and create clusters of entities that exhibit a large degree of similarity. The prevailing assumption is that an entity will assimilate the group behavior of the cluster it belongs to. Our understanding of BA and its application in different domains continues to evolve and is a direct result of the growing interest in Machine Learning research. When trying to detect security threats, we use BA techniques to identify anomalies, defined in this paper as deviation from the group behavior. Early research papers in this field reveal a high number of false positives where a security alert is triggered based on deviation from the cluster learned behavior but still within the norm of what the system defines as an acceptable behavior. Further, domain specific security policies tend to be narrow and inadequately represent what an entity can do. Hence, they: a) limit the amount of useful data during the learning phase; and, b) lead to violation of policy during the execution phase. In this paper, we propose a framework for future research on the role of policies and behavior security in a coalition setting with emphasis on anomaly detection and individual's deviation from group activities.

Foraging behavior of two cattle breeds, a whole-year study: I. Heat production, activity, and energy costs.

PubMed

Aharoni, Y; Dolev, A; Henkin, Z; Yehuda, Y; Ezra, A; Ungar, E D; Shabtay, A; Brosh, A

2013-03-01

The foraging behavior and energy costs of activity of 19 large-frame Beefmaster × Simford (BS) cross mature cows and 14 small-frame Baladi (BA) mature cows was determined. Cows were allocated to the same paddock of a Mediterranean pasture and were monitored during 5 seasons throughout 2006 and 2007: spring (April 2006), summer (June 2006), autumn (September 2006), winter (February 2007), and early spring (March 2007). Cows were given poultry litter (25% CP, DM basis) as supplemental feed during autumn only. The cows were fitted for 3 to 4 d in each season with global positioning system (GPS) monitors, activity monitors attached to 1 of their hind legs, and heart rate (HR) monitors harnessed to their chests. Oxygen consumption per heart beat was determined for each cow during each season to enable conversion of the diurnal HR patterns to heat production (HP) units. All GPS data of cattle locations and activity and the HR and HP data were synchronized to produce simultaneous 5-min interval records; step length also was calculated for each record. These records provided summaries of partitioning among activities: lying down, standing, foraging, and walking without foraging as well as horizontal and vertical distances walked per day and number of steps taken per day. These attributes were analyzed using multiple regression models to relate these activities to HP and to estimate specific HP costs per unit of each activity. Accordingly, the daily energy costs of activity were calculated for the 2 cattle types in each season as the product of the specific activity and the number of units of each activity per day. The HP level of the large-frame BS cows was greater than that of the small-frame BA cows in winter and lower in spring (P < 0.001); however, the respective HP levels were much closer in summer and autumn, with BA cows having values greater by 3% than those of BS cows. The BA cows were more active than the BS cows during all seasons: they foraged for more hours per day (P < 0.001) and walked longer distances (P < 0.001). The mean specific costs of activity of BA cows were 20% less than those of BS cows (P < 0.001). The BA cows took longer steps during foraging and walking idle compared with BS cows despite their much smaller frame. The BA cows were more efficient in conditions of low herbage quality whereas metabolic rate of BS cows was greater in conditions of high herbage quality.

Behavioral Activation in the Treatment of Comorbid Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulick, Patrick S.; Naugle, Amy E.

2009-01-01

This study investigated the efficacy of 10-weeks of Behavioral Activation (BA) in the treatment of comorbid Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in four adults using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design. All participants met full "DSM-IV" criteria for both MDD and PTSD at the…

A Randomized Controlled Trial of In-Home Tele-Behavioral Health Care Utilizing Behavioral Activation for Depression

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-01

therapy for depressed low-income homebound older adults. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22, 263–271. doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2013.01.037 Cohen, S...frequently co-occurs with other conditions, such as PTSD and physical injuries among military personnel and Veterans and can slow recovery and return...the relative clinical efficacy of HBTBH. Key Words Behavioral Activation (BA) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Depression Military Post

Investigating the effect of multiple grain-grain interfaces on electric transport behavior of [50 wt% BaFe12O19-50 wt% Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3] magnetoelectric nanocomposite system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pattanayak, Ranjit; Raut, Subhajit; Dash, Tapan; Mohapatra, Soumyaranjan; Muduli, Rakesh; Panigrahi, Simanchala

2017-05-01

Polycrystalline [50 wt% BaFe12O19 (BaM)-50 wt% Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 (NBT)] particulate novel magnetoelectric nanocomposite system was successfully fabricated by solid state reaction technique. The Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction pattern was provided the evidence about the pure phase formation of desired nanocomposite system as well as the presence of both ferrimagnetic (FM) BaM & ferroelectric (FE) NBT phases separately. The Field Scanning Electron Micrograph (FESEM) and Scanning Tunneling Electron Micrograph (STEM) explored the information about grain size and connectivity of the composite system. The XPS study was helped to examine the presence of oxygen vacancy (Ov) as well as multi oxidation states of transition metal ions for nanocomposite system. In this report we have systematically examined the conduction mechanism of different interfaces (BaM-BaM, BaM-NBT and NBT-NBT) by the help of complex impedance spectroscopy technique. From our investigation it was observed that, different interfaces activates at different temperature ranges. Due to absence of OV, BaM-NBT interfaces conduction dominants over BaM-BaM interfaces conduction even at room temperature (RT). The mechanism behind the appeared high dielectric loss (tanδ) at RT which was reduced when NBT-NBT interfaces were activates at higher temperature was explained by Maxwell-Wagner type interfacial polarization concept.

Boswellic Acid Improves Cognitive Function in a Rat Model Through Its Antioxidant Activity

PubMed Central

Ebrahimpour, Saeedeh; Fazeli, Mehdi; Mehri, Soghra; Taherianfard, Mahnaz; Hosseinzadeh, Hossein

2017-01-01

Objectives: Boswellic acid (BA), a compound isolated from the gum-resin of Boswellia carterii, is a pentacyclic terpenoid that is active against many inflammatory diseases, including cancer, arthritis, chronic colitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, and memory impairment, but the mechanism is poorly understood. This study investigated the effects of boswellic acid on spatial learning and memory impairment induced by trimethyltin (TMT) in Wistar rats. Methods: Forty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: Normal group, TMT-administrated rats (8.0 mg/kg, Intraperitoneally, i.p.) and TMT + BA (40, 80 and 160 mg/kg, i.p.)-administrated rats. BA was used daily for 21 days. To evaluate the cognitive improving of BA, we performed the Morris water maze test. Moreover, to investigate the neuroprotective effect of BA, we determined the acetylcholinesterase (AchE) activity, the malondialdehyde (MDA) level as a marker of lipid peroxidation, and the glutathione (GSH) content in the cerebral cortex. Results: Treatment with TMT impaired learning and memory, and treatment with BA at a dose of 160 mg/kg produced a significant improvement in learning and memory abilities in the water maze tasks. Consistent with behavioral data, the activity of AChE was significantly increased in the TMT-injected rats compared to the control group (P < 0.01) whereas all groups treated with BA presented a more significant inhibitory effect against AChE than the TMT-injected animals. In addition, TMT reduced the GSH content and increased the MDA level in the cerebral cortex as compared to the control group) P < 0.01). On the other hand, treatment with BA at 160 mg/kg slightly increased the GSH content and reduced the MDA level in comparison to the TMT-administered group (P < 0.01). Conclusion: The above results suggest that the effect of BA in improving the cognitive function may be mediated through its antioxidant activity. PMID:28392957

Identification of prefrontal cortex (BA10) activation while performing Stroop test using diffuse optical tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khadka, Sabin; Chityala, Srujan R.; Tian, Fenghua; Liu, Hanli

2011-03-01

Stroop test is commonly used as a behavior-testing tool for psychological examinations that are related to attention and cognitive control of the human brain. Studies have shown activations in Broadmann area 10 (BA10) of prefrontal cortex (PFC) during attention and cognitive process. The use of diffuse optical tomography (DOT) for human brain mapping is becoming more prevalent. In this study we expect to find neural correlates between the performed cognitive tasks and hemodynamic signals detected by a DOT system. Our initial observation showed activation of oxy-hemoglobin concentration in BA 10, which is consistent with some results seen by positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Our study demonstrates the possibility of combining DOT with Stroop test to quantitatively investigate cognitive functions of the human brain at the prefrontal cortex.

Nanocrystallization in Fluorochlorozirconate Glass-Ceramics.

PubMed

Alvarez, Carlos J; Liu, Yuzi; Leonard, Russell L; Johnson, Jacqueline A; Petford-Long, Amanda K

2013-11-01

Heat treating fluorochlorozirconate (FCZ) glasses nucleates nanocrystals in the glass matrix, resulting in a nanocomposite glass-ceramic that has optical properties suitable for use as a medical imaging plate. Understanding the way in which the nanocrystal nucleation proceeds is critical to controlling the optical behavior. The nucleation and growth of nanocrystals in FCZ glass-ceramics was investigated with in situ transmission electron microscopy heating experiments. The experiments showed the nucleation and growth of previously unreported BaF 2 nanocrystals in addition to the expected BaCl 2 nanocrystals. Chemical analysis of the BaF 2 nanocrystals shows an association with the optically active dopant previously thought only to interact with BaCl 2 nanocrystals. The association of the dopant with BaF 2 crystals suggests that it plays a role in the photoluminescent (PL) properties of FCZ glass-ceramics.

A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of Internet-delivered behavioral activation.

PubMed

Huguet, Anna; Miller, Alyssa; Kisely, Steve; Rao, Sanjay; Saadat, Nelda; McGrath, Patrick J

2018-08-01

Behavioral activation (BA) is an evidence-based treatment for depression which has attracted interest and started to accumulate evidence for other conditions when delivered face-to-face. Due to its parsimoniousness, it is suitable to be delivered via the Internet. The goal of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to determine the efficacy of Internet-based BA and assess the quality of this evidence. Studies were identified from electronic databases (EMBASE, ISI Web of Knowledge, Medline, CINHAL, PsychINFO, Cochrane) and reference lists of included studies. Two reviewers independently screened articles for inclusion and extracted data. They assessed the quality of evidence for each outcome using The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework. Nine RCTs on different forms of depression were included with 2157 adult participants. Random effects meta-analyses showed that in non-clinical settings, guided Internet-based BA was non-inferior to other forms of behavioral therapy and mindfulness (mainly very low to low quality evidence) and superior to physical activity (very low quality evidence), psychoeducation/treatment as usual (moderate quality evidence) and waitlist (low quality evidence) at reducing depression and anxiety outcomes at post-treatment and short follow-up. The poor quality of some of the findings means that results should be cautiously interpreted. Evidence for the efficacy of Internet-based BA as a treatment for depression is promising. However, high quality studies with longer follow-ups are needed to increase confidence in findings and determine its efficacy in clinical settings and other conditions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characterization of oxygen vacancies and their migration in Ba-doped Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 ferroelectrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, M. F.; Wang, Y.; Wang, K. F.; Zhu, J. S.; Liu, J.-M.

2009-03-01

We investigate in detail the migration kinetics of oxygen vacancies (OVs) in Ba-doped Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PZT) ferroelectrics by complex impedance spectroscopy. The temperature dependent dc-electrical conductivity σdc suggests that Ba doping into PZT can lower significantly the density of OVs, leading to the distinctly decreased σdc and slightly enhanced activation energy U for the migration of OVs, thus benefiting the polarization fatigue resistance. Furthermore, the polarization fluctuation induced by the relaxation of OVs is reduced by the Ba doping. The Cole-Cole fitting to the dielectric loss manifests strong correlation among OVs, and the migration of OVs appears to be a collective behavior.

Theory-Driven Intervention for Changing Personality: Expectancy Value Theory, Behavioral Activation, and Conscientiousness

PubMed Central

Magidson, Jessica F.; Roberts, Brent; Collado-Rodriguez, Anahi; Lejuez, C.W.

2013-01-01

Considerable evidence suggests that personality traits may be changeable, raising the possibility that personality traits most linked to health problems can be modified with intervention. A growing body of research suggests that problematic personality traits may be altered with behavioral intervention using a bottom-approach. That is, by targeting core behaviors that underlie personality traits with the goal of engendering new, healthier patterns of behavior that over time become automatized and manifest in changes in personality traits. Nevertheless, a bottom-up model for changing personality traits is somewhat diffuse and requires clearer integration of theory and relevant interventions to enable real clinical application. As such, this manuscript proposes a set of guiding principles for theory-driven modification of targeted personality traits using a bottom-up approach, focusing specifically on targeting the trait of conscientiousness using a relevant behavioral intervention, Behavioral Activation (BA), considered within the motivational framework of Expectancy Value Theory (EVT). We conclude with a real case example of the application of BA to alter behaviors counter to conscientiousness in a substance dependent patient, highlighting the EVT principles most relevant to the approach and the importance and viability of a theoretically-driven, bottom-up approach to changing personality traits. PMID:23106844

Biosorption behavior and mechanism of lead (II) from aqueous solution by aerobic granules (AG) and bacterial alginate (BA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Lin; Li, Yu

2012-12-01

Lead (Pb) and its compounds are common pollutants in industrial wastewaters. To develop appropriate Pb2+ treatment technologies, aerobic granules (AG) and bacterial alginates (BA) were studied as alternative biosorbents to remove Pb2+ from aqueous solutions. The biosorption mechanism of AG and BA were further analyzed to determine which functional groups in AG and BA are active in Pb2+ biosorption. In this paper, the Pb2+ biosorption behavior of AG and BA was respectively investigated in batch experiments from the perspectives of the initial pH, contact time, and initial Pb2+ concentration. The results showed that biosorption of Pb2+ by AG and BA occurred within 60min at the initial Pb2+ concentrations (0-150 mg L-1). The actual saturated Pb2+ biosorption capability of AG was 101.97 mg g-1 (dry weight of aerobic granular biomass). When the initial pH was 5, the biosorption capability of AG and BA was highest at the initial Pb2+ concentrations (0-20mg L-1). During the process of Pb2+ biosorption, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ were released. The Ion Chromatography (IC) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) further highlighted the main role of ion exchange between Ca2+ and Pb2+ and sequestration of Pb2+ with carboxyl (-COO-) of AG and BA. This analogical analysis verifies that BA is responsible for biosorption of Pb2+ by AG. At the same optimal pH, AG cultivated with different carbon source has different Pb2+ biosorption capacity. The Pb2+ biosorption by AG with sodium acetate as the sole carbon source is higher than AG with glucose as carbon source.

The neural basis of implicit moral attitude--an IAT study using event-related fMRI.

PubMed

Luo, Qian; Nakic, Marina; Wheatley, Thalia; Richell, Rebecca; Martin, Alex; Blair, R James R

2006-05-01

Recent models of morality have suggested the importance of affect-based automatic moral attitudes in moral reasoning. However, previous investigations of moral reasoning have frequently relied upon explicit measures that are susceptible to voluntary control. To investigate participant's automatic moral attitudes, we used a morality Implicit Association Test (IAT). Participants rated the legality of visually depicted legal and illegal behaviors of two different intensity levels (e.g., high intensity illegal = interpersonal violence; low intensity illegal = vandalism) both when the target concept (e.g., illegal) was behaviorally paired with an associated attribute (e.g., bad; congruent condition) or an unassociated attribute (e.g., good; incongruent condition). Behaviorally, an IAT effect was shown; RTs were faster in the congruent rather than incongruent conditions. At the neural level, implicit moral attitude, as indexed by increased BOLD response as a function of stimulus intensity, was associated with increased activation in the right amygdala and the ventromedial orbitofrontal cortex. In addition, performance on incongruent trials relative to congruent trials was associated with increased activity in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 47), left subgenual cingulate gyrus (BA 25), bilateral premotor cortex (BA 6) and the left caudate. The functional contributions of these regions in moral reasoning are discussed.

Optical Mapping of Brain Activation and Connectivity in Occipitotemporal Cortex During Chinese Character Recognition.

PubMed

Hu, Zhishan; Zhang, Juan; Couto, Tania Alexandra; Xu, Shiyang; Luan, Ping; Yuan, Zhen

2018-06-22

In this study, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to examine the brain activation and connectivity in occipitotemporal cortex during Chinese character recognition (CCR). Eighteen healthy participants were recruited to perform a well-designed task with three categories of stimuli (real characters, pseudo characters, and checkerboards). By inspecting the brain activation difference and its relationship with behavioral data, the left laterality during CCR was clearly identified in the Brodmann area (BA) 18 and 19. In addition, our novel findings also demonstrated that the bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG), bilateral BA 19, and left fusiform gyrus were also involved in high-level lexical information processing such as semantic and phonological ones. Meanwhile, by examining functional brain networks, we discovered that the right BA 19 exhibited enhanced brain connectivity. In particular, the connectivity in the right fusiform gyrus, right BA 19, and left STG showed significant correlation with the performance of CCR. Consequently, the combination of fNIRS technique with functional network analysis paves a new avenue for improved understanding of the cognitive mechanism underlying CCR.

A preliminary investigation of the effects of the unified protocol on temperament.

PubMed

Carl, Jenna R; Gallagher, Matthew W; Sauer-Zavala, Shannon E; Bentley, Kate H; Barlow, David H

2014-08-01

Previous research has shown that two dimensions of temperament referred to as neuroticism/behavioral inhibition (N/BI) and extraversion/behavioral activation (E/BA) are key risk factors in the development and maintenance of anxiety and mood disorders (Brown & Barlow, 2009). Given such findings, these temperamental dimensions may represent promising treatment targets for individuals with emotional disorders; however, to date, few studies have investigated the effects of psychological treatments on temperamental constructs generally assumed to be "stable, inflexible, and pervasive" (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The present study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the effects of the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (UP; Barlow et al., 2011), a cognitive-behavioral therapy designed to target core processes of N/BI and E/BA temperaments, in a sample of adults with principal anxiety disorders and a range of comorbid conditions. Results revealed small effects of the UP on N/BI and E/BA compared with a waitlist control group at post-treatment. Additionally, decreases in N/BI and increases in E/BA during treatment were associated with improvements in symptoms, functioning, and quality of life. Findings provide preliminary support for the notion that the UP treatment facilitates beneficial changes in dimensions of temperament. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cloning, expression, and characterization of recombinant nitric oxide synthase-like protein from Bacillus anthracis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Midha, Shuchi; Mishra, Rajeev; Aziz, M.A.

2005-10-14

Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is amongst a family of evolutionarily conserved enzymes, involved in a multi-turnover process that results in NO as a product. The significant role of NO in various pathological and physiological processes has created an interest in this enzyme from several perspectives. This study describes for the first time, cloning and expression of a NOS-like protein, baNOS, from Bacillus anthracis, a pathogenic bacterium responsible for causing anthrax. baNOS was expressed in Escherichia coli as a soluble and catalytically active enzyme. Homology models generated for baNOS indicated that the key structural features that are involved in the substratemore » and active site interaction have been highly conserved. Further, the behavior of baNOS in terms of heme-substrate interactions and heme-transitions was studied in detail. The optical perturbation spectra of the heme domain demonstrated that the ligands perturb the heme site in a ligand specific manner. baNOS forms a five-coordinate, high-spin complex with L-arginine analogs and a six-coordinate low-spin complex with inhibitor imidazole. Studies indicated that the binding of L-arginine, N {sup {omega}}-hydroxy-L-arginine, and imidazole produces various spectroscopic species that closely correspond to the equivalent complexes of mammalian NOS. The values of spectral binding constants further corroborated these results. The overall conservation of the key structural features and the correlation of heme-substrate interactions in baNOS and mammalian NOS, thus, point towards an interesting phenomenon of convergent evolution. Importantly, the NO generated by NOS of mammalian macrophages plays a potent role in antimicrobicidal activity. Because of the existence of high structural and behavioral similarity between mammalian NOS and baNOS, we propose that NO produced by B. anthracis may also have a pivotal pathophysiological role in anthrax infection. Therefore, this first report of characterization of a NOS-like protein from a pathogenic bacterium opens up avenues for further studies in understanding the importance of this protein in pathogenicity.« less

A learning theory account of depression.

PubMed

Ramnerö, Jonas; Folke, Fredrik; Kanter, Jonathan W

2015-06-11

Learning theory provides a foundation for understanding and deriving treatment principles for impacting a spectrum of functional processes relevant to the construct of depression. While behavioral interventions have been commonplace in the cognitive behavioral tradition, most often conceptualized within a cognitive theoretical framework, recent years have seen renewed interest in more purely behavioral models. These modern learning theory accounts of depression focus on the interchange between behavior and the environment, mainly in terms of lack of reinforcement, extinction of instrumental behavior, and excesses of aversive control, and include a conceptualization of relevant cognitive and emotional variables. These positions, drawn from extensive basic and applied research, cohere with biological theories on reduced reward learning and reward responsiveness and views of depression as a heterogeneous, complex set of disorders. Treatment techniques based on learning theory, often labeled Behavioral Activation (BA) focus on activating the individual in directions that increase contact with potential reinforcers, as defined ideographically with the client. BA is considered an empirically well-established treatment that generalizes well across diverse contexts and populations. The learning theory account is discussed in terms of being a parsimonious model and ground for treatments highly suitable for large scale dissemination. © 2015 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Promoting effect of alkaline earth metal doping on catalytic activity of HC and NOx conversion over Pd-only three-way catalyst.

PubMed

Yang, Linyan; Lin, Siyu; Yang, Xue; Fang, Weimin; Zhou, Renxian

2014-08-30

The influence of alkaline earth metal (M=Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba) promoter on the structural/textural properties of Ce0.67Zr0.33O2 (designated as CZ) and the catalytic behavior of its supported Pd-only three-way catalyst (Pd/CZM) have been investigated. The results show that the modification with alkaline earth metal obviously improves the catalytic activity for hydrocarbon (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) conversion, especially the introduction of Ba. Furthermore, the operation window of the promoted catalysts has also been widened. The doping of alkaline earth metal leads to the formation of more homogeneous Ce-Zr-M ternary solid solution with higher surface area and smaller crystallite size, and the corresponding Pd/CZM catalysts present improved reducibility of PdO species. The modification with Ca, Sr and Ba improves the thermal aging resistance, especially Ba. DRIFTS results reveal that the doping of alkaline earth metal enhances the oxygen and electron transfer ability and favors the dissociation of NO, which promotes the activation and storage capacity of the acidic atoms like NOx, and leads to enhanced catalytic activity performance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electrochemically Driven Deactivation and Recovery in PrBaCo2 O5+δ Oxygen Electrodes for Reversible Solid Oxide Fuel Cells.

PubMed

Zhu, Lin; Wei, Bo; Wang, Zhihong; Chen, Kongfa; Zhang, Haiwu; Zhang, Yaohui; Huang, Xiqiang; Lü, Zhe

2016-09-08

The understanding of surface chemistry changes on oxygen electrodes is critical for the development of reversible solid oxide fuel cell (RSOFC). Here, we report for the first time that the electrochemical potentials can drastically affect the surface composition and hence the electrochemical activity and stability of PrBaCo2 O5+δ (PBCO) electrodes. Anodic polarization degrades the activity of the PBCO electrode, whereas the cathodic bias could recover its performance. Alternating anodic/cathodic polarization for 180 h confirms this behavior. Microstructure and chemical analysis clearly show that anodic bias leads to the accumulation and segregation of insulating nanosized BaO on the electrode surface, whereas cathodic polarization depletes the surface species. Therefore, a mechanism based on the segregation and incorporation of BaO species under electrochemical potentials is considered to be responsible for the observed deactivation and recovery process, respectively. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Deficient Activity in the Neural Systems That Mediate Self-regulatory Control in Bulimia Nervosa

PubMed Central

Marsh, Rachel; Steinglass, Joanna E.; Gerber, Andrew J.; O’Leary, Kara Graziano; Wang, Zhishun; Murphy, David; Walsh, B. Timothy; Peterson, Bradley S.

2009-01-01

Context Disturbances in neural systems that mediate voluntary self-regulatory processes may contribute to bulimia nervosa (BN) by releasing feeding behaviors from regulatory control. Objective To study the functional activity in neural circuits that subserve self-regulatory control in women with BN. Design We compared functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygenation level–dependent responses in patients with BN with healthy controls during performance of the Simon Spatial Incompatibility task. Setting University research institute. Participants Forty women: 20 patients with BN and 20 healthy control participants. Main Outcome Measure We used general linear modeling of Simon Spatial Incompatibility task–related activations to compare groups on their patterns of brain activation associated with the successful or unsuccessful engagement of self-regulatory control. Results Patients with BN responded more impulsively and made more errors on the task than did healthy controls; patients with the most severe symptoms made the most errors. During correct responding on incongruent trials, patients failed to activate frontostriatal circuits to the same degree as healthy controls in the left inferolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann area [BA] 45), bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (BA 44), lenticular and caudate nuclei, and anterior cingulate cortex (BA 24/32). Patients activated the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA 32) more when making errors than when responding correctly. In contrast, healthy participants activated the anterior cingulate cortex more during correct than incorrect responses, and they activated the striatum more when responding incorrectly, likely reflecting an automatic response tendency that, in the absence of concomitant anterior cingulate cortex activity, produced incorrect responses. Conclusions Self-regulatory processes are impaired in women with BN, likely because of their failure to engage frontostriatal circuits appropriately. These findings enhance our understanding of the pathogenesis of BN by pointing to functional abnormalities within a neural system that subserves self-regulatory control, which may contribute to binge eating and other impulsive behaviors in women with BN. PMID:19124688

On the effects of multimodal information integration in multitasking.

PubMed

Stock, Ann-Kathrin; Gohil, Krutika; Huster, René J; Beste, Christian

2017-07-07

There have recently been considerable advances in our understanding of the neuronal mechanisms underlying multitasking, but the role of multimodal integration for this faculty has remained rather unclear. We examined this issue by comparing different modality combinations in a multitasking (stop-change) paradigm. In-depth neurophysiological analyses of event-related potentials (ERPs) were conducted to complement the obtained behavioral data. Specifically, we applied signal decomposition using second order blind identification (SOBI) to the multi-subject ERP data and source localization. We found that both general multimodal information integration and modality-specific aspects (potentially related to task difficulty) modulate behavioral performance and associated neurophysiological correlates. Simultaneous multimodal input generally increased early attentional processing of visual stimuli (i.e. P1 and N1 amplitudes) as well as measures of cognitive effort and conflict (i.e. central P3 amplitudes). Yet, tactile-visual input caused larger impairments in multitasking than audio-visual input. General aspects of multimodal information integration modulated the activity in the premotor cortex (BA 6) as well as different visual association areas concerned with the integration of visual information with input from other modalities (BA 19, BA 21, BA 37). On top of this, differences in the specific combination of modalities also affected performance and measures of conflict/effort originating in prefrontal regions (BA 6).

Behavior of radioactive cesium during incineration of radioactively contaminated wastes from decontamination activities in Fukushima.

PubMed

Fujiwara, Hiroshi; Kuramochi, Hidetoshi; Nomura, Kazutaka; Maeseto, Tomoharu; Osako, Masahiro

2017-11-01

Large volumes of decontamination wastes (DW) generated by off-site decontamination activities in Fukushima Prefecture have been incinerated since 2015. The behavior of radioactive cesium during incineration of DW was investigated at a working incineration plant. The incineration discharged bottom ash (BA) and fly ash (FA) with similar levels of radiocesium, and the leachability of the radiocesium from both types of ash was very low (<1%). These results are significantly different from those obtained for the incineration of contaminated municipal solid waste (CMSW) reported in earlier studies. The source of radiocesium in DW-FA is chiefly small particles derived from DW and DW-BA blown into the flue gas, not the deposition of gaseous synthesized radiocesium compounds on the surfaces of ash particles in the flue gas as observed in CMSW incineration. This source difference causes the behavior of radiocesium during waste incineration to differ between DW and CMSW. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Personal involvement is related to increased search motivation and associated with activity in left BA44-a pilot study.

PubMed

Schaefer, Michael; Rumpel, Franziska; Sadrieh, Abdolkarim; Reimann, Martin; Denke, Claudia

2015-01-01

Numerous studies explore consumer perception of brands in a more or less passive way. This may still be representative for many situations or decisions we make each day. Nevertheless, sometimes we often actively search for and use information to make informed and reasoned choices, thus implying a rational and thinking consumer. Researchers suggested describing this distinction as low relative to high involvement consumer behavior. Although the involvement concept has been widely used to explain consumer behavior, behavioral and neural correlates of this concept are poorly understood. The current study aims to describe a behavioral measure that is associated with high involvement, the length of search behavior. A second aim of this study was to explore brain activations associated with involvement by employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We presented participants information cues for different products and told them that they had to answer questions with respect to these products at the end of the experiment. Participants were free to stop the information search if they think they gathered enough information or to continue with collecting information. Behavioral results confirmed our hypothesis of a relationship between searching behavior and personal involvement by demonstrating that the length of search correlated significantly with the degree of personal involvement of the participants. fMRI data revealed that personal involvement was associated with activation in BA44. Since this brain region is known to be involved in semantic memory, the results of this pilot study suggest that high involvement consumer behavior may be linked to cognitive load and attention towards a product.

Theory-driven intervention for changing personality: expectancy value theory, behavioral activation, and conscientiousness.

PubMed

Magidson, Jessica F; Roberts, Brent W; Collado-Rodriguez, Anahi; Lejuez, C W

2014-05-01

Considerable evidence suggests that personality traits may be changeable, raising the possibility that personality traits most linked to health problems can be modified with intervention. A growing body of research suggests that problematic personality traits may be altered with behavioral intervention using a bottom-up approach. That is, by targeting core behaviors that underlie personality traits with the goal of engendering new, healthier patterns of behavior that, over time, become automatized and manifest in changes in personality traits. Nevertheless, a bottom-up model for changing personality traits is somewhat diffuse and requires clearer integration of theory and relevant interventions to enable real clinical application. As such, this article proposes a set of guiding principles for theory-driven modification of targeted personality traits using a bottom-up approach, focusing specifically on targeting the trait of conscientiousness using a relevant behavioral intervention, Behavioral Activation (BA), considered within the motivational framework of expectancy value theory (EVT). We conclude with a real case example of the application of BA to alter behaviors counter to conscientiousness in a substance-dependent patient, highlighting the EVT principles most relevant to the approach and the importance and viability of a theoretically driven, bottom-up approach to changing personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Pressure-induced photoluminescence in Mn2+-doped BaF2 and SrF2 fluorites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández, Ignacio; Rodríguez, Fernando

2003-01-01

This work reports an effective way for inducing room temperature photoluminescence (PL) in Mn2+-doped BaF2 and SrF2 using high-pressure techniques. The aim is to understand the surprising PL behavior exhibited by Mn2+ at the cubal site of the fluorite structure. While Mn2+-doped CaF2 shows a green PL with quantum yield close to 1 at room temperature, Mn2+-doped MF2 (M=Ba,Sr) is not PL either at room temperature (SrF2) or at any temperature (BaF2) at ambient pressure. We associate the loss of Mn2+ PL on passing from CaF2 to SrF2 or BaF2 with nonradiative multiphonon relaxation whose thermal activation energy decreases along the series CaF2→SrF2→BaF2. A salient feature of this work deals with the increase of activation energy induced by pressure. It leads to a quantum yield enhancement, which favors PL recovery. Furthermore, the activation energy mainly depends on the crystal volume per molecule irrespective of the crystal structure or the local symmetry around the impurity. In this way, the relevance of the fluorite-to-cotunnite phase transition is analyzed in connection with the PL properties of the investigated compounds. The PL spectrum and the corresponding lifetime are reported for both structural phases as a function of pressure.

Neural correlates of individual performance differences in resolving perceptual conflict.

PubMed

Labrenz, Franziska; Themann, Maria; Wascher, Edmund; Beste, Christian; Pfleiderer, Bettina

2012-01-01

Attentional mechanisms are a crucial prerequisite to organize behavior. Most situations may be characterized by a 'competition' between salient, but irrelevant stimuli and less salient, relevant stimuli. In such situations top-down and bottom-up mechanisms interact with each other. In the present fMRI study, we examined how interindividual differences in resolving situations of perceptual conflict are reflected in brain networks mediating attentional selection. Doing so, we employed a change detection task in which subjects had to detect luminance changes in the presence and absence of competing distractors. The results show that good performers presented increased activation in the orbitofrontal cortex (BA 11), anterior cingulate (BA 25), inferior parietal lobule (BA 40) and visual areas V2 and V3 but decreased activation in BA 39. This suggests that areas mediating top-down attentional control are stronger activated in this group. Increased activity in visual areas reflects distinct neuronal enhancement relating to selective attentional mechanisms in order to solve the perceptual conflict. Opposed to good performers, brain areas activated by poor performers comprised the left inferior parietal lobule (BA 39) and fronto-parietal and visual regions were continuously deactivated, suggesting that poor performers perceive stronger conflict than good performers. Moreover, the suppression of neural activation in visual areas might indicate a strategy of poor performers to inhibit the processing of the irrelevant non-target feature. These results indicate that high sensitivity in perceptual areas and increased attentional control led to less conflict in stimulus processing and consequently to higher performance in competitive attentional selection.

Default mode network activity in male adolescents with conduct and substance use disorder*

PubMed Central

Dalwani, Manish S.; Tregellas, Jason R.; Andrews-Hanna, Jessica R.; Mikulich-Gilbertson, Susan K.; Raymond, Kristen M.; Banich, Marie T.; Crowley, Thomas J.; Sakai, Joseph T.

2013-01-01

Background Adolescents with conduct disorder (CD) and substance use disorders (SUD) experience difficulty evaluating and regulating their behavior in anticipation of future consequences. Given the role of the brain's default mode network (DMN) in self-reflection and future thought, this study investigates whether DMN is altered in adolescents with CD and SUD, relative to controls. Methods Twenty adolescent males with CD and SUD and 20 male controls of similar ages underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging as they completed a risk-taking decision task. We used independent component analysis as a data-driven approach to identify the DMN spatial component in individual subjects. DMN activity was then compared between groups. Results Compared to controls, patients showed reduced activity in superior, medial and middle frontal gyrus (Brodmann area (BA) 10), retrosplenial cortex (BA 30) and lingual gyrus (BA 18), and bilateral middle temporal gryus (BA 21/22) - DMN regions thought to support self-referential evaluation, memory, foresight, and perspective taking. Furthermore, this pattern of reduced activity in patients remained robust after adjusting for the effects of depression and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Conversely, when not adjusting for effects of depression and ADHD, patients demonstrated greater DMN activity than controls solely in the cuneus (BA 19). Conclusions Collectively, these results suggest that comorbid CD and SUD in adolescents is characterized by atypical activity in brain regions thought to play an important role in introspective processing. These functional imbalances in brain networks may provide further insight into the neural underpinnings of conduct and substance use disorders. PMID:24210423

Brief Behavioral Interventions for Symptoms of Depression and Insomnia in University Primary Care

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Funderburk, Jennifer S.; Shepardson, Robyn L.; Krenek, Marketa

2015-01-01

Objective: To describe how behavioral activation (BA) for depression and stimulus control (SC) for insomnia can be modified to a brief format for use in a university primary care setting, and to evaluate preliminarily their effectiveness in reducing symptoms of depression and insomnia, respectively, using data collected in routine clinical care.…

Differential Role of CBT Skills, DBT Skills and Psychological Flexibility in Predicting Depressive versus Anxiety Symptom Improvement

PubMed Central

Webb, Christian A.; Beard, Courtney; Kertz, Sarah J.; Hsu, Kean; Björgvinsson, Thröstur

2016-01-01

Objective Studies have reported associations between cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skill use and symptom improvement in depressed outpatient samples. However, little is known regarding the temporal relationship between different subsets of therapeutic skills and symptom change among relatively severely depressed patients receiving treatment in psychiatric hospital settings. Method Adult patients with major depression (N=173) receiving combined psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatment at a psychiatric hospital completed repeated assessments of traditional CBT skills, DBT skills and psychological flexibility, as well as depressive and anxiety symptoms. Results Results indicated that only use of behavioral activation (BA) strategies significantly predicted depressive symptom improvement in this sample; whereas DBT skills and psychological flexibility predicted anxiety symptom change. In addition, a baseline symptom severity X BA strategies interaction emerged indicating that those patients with higher pretreatment depression severity exhibited the strongest association between use of BA strategies and depressive symptom improvement. Conclusions Findings suggest the importance of emphasizing the acquisition and regular use of BA strategies with severely depressed patients in short-term psychiatric settings. In contrast, an emphasis on the development of DBT skills and the cultivation of psychological flexibility may prove beneficial for the amelioration of anxiety symptoms. PMID:27057997

Changes in cerebral blood flow after cognitive behavior therapy in patients with panic disorder: a SPECT study

PubMed Central

Seo, Ho-Jun; Choi, Young Hee; Chung, Yong-An; Rho, Wangku; Chae, Jeong-Ho

2014-01-01

Aim Inconsistent results continue to be reported in studies that examine the neural correlates of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in patients with panic disorder. We examined the changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) associated with the alleviation of anxiety by CBT in panic patients. Methods The change in rCBF and clinical symptoms before and after CBT were assessed using single photon emission computed tomography and various clinical measures were analyzed. Results Fourteen subjects who completed CBT showed significant improvements in symptoms on clinical measures, including the Panic and Agoraphobic Scale and the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-Revised. After CBT, increased rCBF was detected in the left postcentral gyrus (BA 43), left precentral gyrus (BA 4), and left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 9 and BA 47), whereas decreased rCBF was detected in the left pons. Correlation analysis of the association between the changes in rCBF and changes in each clinical measure did not show significant results. Conclusion We found changes in the rCBF associated with the successful completion of CBT. The present findings may help clarify the effects of CBT on changes in brain activity in panic disorder. PMID:24790449

Personal involvement is related to increased search motivation and associated with activity in left BA44—a pilot study

PubMed Central

Schaefer, Michael; Rumpel, Franziska; Sadrieh, Abdolkarim; Reimann, Martin; Denke, Claudia

2015-01-01

Numerous studies explore consumer perception of brands in a more or less passive way. This may still be representative for many situations or decisions we make each day. Nevertheless, sometimes we often actively search for and use information to make informed and reasoned choices, thus implying a rational and thinking consumer. Researchers suggested describing this distinction as low relative to high involvement consumer behavior. Although the involvement concept has been widely used to explain consumer behavior, behavioral and neural correlates of this concept are poorly understood. The current study aims to describe a behavioral measure that is associated with high involvement, the length of search behavior. A second aim of this study was to explore brain activations associated with involvement by employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We presented participants information cues for different products and told them that they had to answer questions with respect to these products at the end of the experiment. Participants were free to stop the information search if they think they gathered enough information or to continue with collecting information. Behavioral results confirmed our hypothesis of a relationship between searching behavior and personal involvement by demonstrating that the length of search correlated significantly with the degree of personal involvement of the participants. fMRI data revealed that personal involvement was associated with activation in BA44. Since this brain region is known to be involved in semantic memory, the results of this pilot study suggest that high involvement consumer behavior may be linked to cognitive load and attention towards a product. PMID:25859200

A Temperature-Dependent Battery Model for Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Rodrigues, Leonardo M; Montez, Carlos; Moraes, Ricardo; Portugal, Paulo; Vasques, Francisco

2017-02-22

Energy consumption is a major issue in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), as nodes are powered by chemical batteries with an upper bounded lifetime. Estimating the lifetime of batteries is a difficult task, as it depends on several factors, such as operating temperatures and discharge rates. Analytical battery models can be used for estimating both the battery lifetime and the voltage behavior over time. Still, available models usually do not consider the impact of operating temperatures on the battery behavior. The target of this work is to extend the widely-used Kinetic Battery Model (KiBaM) to include the effect of temperature on the battery behavior. The proposed Temperature-Dependent KiBaM (T-KiBaM) is able to handle operating temperatures, providing better estimates for the battery lifetime and voltage behavior. The performed experimental validation shows that T-KiBaM achieves an average accuracy error smaller than 0.33%, when estimating the lifetime of Ni-MH batteries for different temperature conditions. In addition, T-KiBaM significantly improves the original KiBaM voltage model. The proposed model can be easily adapted to handle other battery technologies, enabling the consideration of different WSN deployments.

A Temperature-Dependent Battery Model for Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Rodrigues, Leonardo M.; Montez, Carlos; Moraes, Ricardo; Portugal, Paulo; Vasques, Francisco

2017-01-01

Energy consumption is a major issue in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), as nodes are powered by chemical batteries with an upper bounded lifetime. Estimating the lifetime of batteries is a difficult task, as it depends on several factors, such as operating temperatures and discharge rates. Analytical battery models can be used for estimating both the battery lifetime and the voltage behavior over time. Still, available models usually do not consider the impact of operating temperatures on the battery behavior. The target of this work is to extend the widely-used Kinetic Battery Model (KiBaM) to include the effect of temperature on the battery behavior. The proposed Temperature-Dependent KiBaM (T-KiBaM) is able to handle operating temperatures, providing better estimates for the battery lifetime and voltage behavior. The performed experimental validation shows that T-KiBaM achieves an average accuracy error smaller than 0.33%, when estimating the lifetime of Ni-MH batteries for different temperature conditions. In addition, T-KiBaM significantly improves the original KiBaM voltage model. The proposed model can be easily adapted to handle other battery technologies, enabling the consideration of different WSN deployments. PMID:28241444

Prefrontal contributions to domain-general executive control processes during temporal context retrieval.

PubMed

Rajah, M Natasha; Ames, Blaine; D'Esposito, Mark

2008-03-07

Neuroimaging studies have reported increased prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during temporal context retrieval versus recognition memory. However, it remains unclear if these activations reflect PFC contributions to domain-general executive control processes or domain-specific retrieval processes. To gain a better understanding of the functional roles of these various PFC regions during temporal context retrieval we propose it is necessary to examine PFC activity across tasks from different domains, in which parallel manipulations are included targeting specific cognitive processes. In the current fMRI study, we examined domain-general and domain-specific PFC contributions to temporal context retrieval by increasing stimulus (but maintaining response number) and increasing response number (but maintaining stimulus number) across temporal context memory and ordering control tasks, for faces. The control task required subjects to order faces from youngest to oldest. Our behavioral results indicate that the combination of increased stimulus and response numbers significantly increased task difficulty for temporal context retrieval and ordering tasks. Across domains, increasing stimulus number, while maintaining response numbers, caused greater right lateral premotor cortex (BA 6/8) activity; whereas increasing response number, while maintaining stimulus number, caused greater domain-general left DLPFC (BA 9) and VLPFC (BA 44/45) activity. In addition, we found domain-specific right DLPFC (BA 9) activity only during retrieval events. These results highlight the functional heterogeneity of frontal cortex, and suggest its involvement in temporal context retrieval is related to its role in various cognitive control processes.

Differential role of CBT skills, DBT skills and psychological flexibility in predicting depressive versus anxiety symptom improvement.

PubMed

Webb, Christian A; Beard, Courtney; Kertz, Sarah J; Hsu, Kean J; Björgvinsson, Thröstur

2016-06-01

Studies have reported associations between cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skill use and symptom improvement in depressed outpatient samples. However, little is known regarding the temporal relationship between different subsets of therapeutic skills and symptom change among relatively severely depressed patients receiving treatment in psychiatric hospital settings. Adult patients with major depression (N = 173) receiving combined psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatment at a psychiatric hospital completed repeated assessments of traditional CBT skills, DBT skills and psychological flexibility, as well as depressive and anxiety symptoms. Results indicated that only use of behavioral activation (BA) strategies significantly predicted depressive symptom improvement in this sample; whereas DBT skills and psychological flexibility predicted anxiety symptom change. In addition, a baseline symptom severity X BA strategies interaction emerged indicating that those patients with higher pretreatment depression severity exhibited the strongest association between use of BA strategies and depressive symptom improvement. Findings suggest the importance of emphasizing the acquisition and regular use of BA strategies with severely depressed patients in short-term psychiatric settings. In contrast, an emphasis on the development of DBT skills and the cultivation of psychological flexibility may prove beneficial for the amelioration of anxiety symptoms. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Changing levels of quiet in an intensive care nursery.

PubMed

Philbin, M Kathleen; Gray, Lincoln

2002-09-01

To document low sound levels, the range and pattern of levels, and the relative effects of operational (staff and equipment generated) and facility (building generated) noise on the acoustic environment of a level III nursery. A quasi-experimental, prospective, longitudinal study of one bed space. Operational noise was reduced through staff behavior change while facility noise was reduced through renovation. Initial noise levels were typical of those in the literature and in recently measured nurseries. About 80% of sound levels were between 62 and 70 dBA. The lowest levels (L(min)) were 60 to 65 dBA. After staff behavior change, L(min) was about 56 dBA although the highest levels (L(max)) remained at 78 to 100 dBA. Levels following renovation were reduced to L(min)s of 47 to 51 dBA and L(max)s of 68 to 84 dBA, perceived as three or four times quieter than initially. Staff behavior as well as the acoustical characteristics of the facility determine the levels of noise and quiet in an intensive care nursery.

Electromagnon in the Y-type hexaferrite BaSrCoZnFe11AlO22

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vít, Jakub; Kadlec, Filip; Kadlec, Christelle; Borodavka, Fedir; Chai, Yi Sheng; Zhai, Kun; Sun, Young; Kamba, Stanislav

2018-04-01

We investigated static and dynamic magnetoelectric properties of single crystalline BaSrCoZnFe11AlO22 , which is a room-temperature multiferroic with Y-type hexaferrite crystal structure. Below 300 K, a purely electric-dipole-active electromagnon at ≈1.2 THz with the electric polarization oscillating along the hexagonal axis was observed by THz and Raman spectroscopies. We investigated the behavior of the electromagnon with applied dc magnetic field and linked its properties to static measurements of the magnetic structure. Our analytical calculations determined selection rules for electromagnons activated by the magnetostriction mechanism in various magnetic structures of Y-type hexaferrite. Comparison with our experiment supports that the electromagnon is indeed activated by the magnetostriction mechanism involving spin vibrations along the hexagonal axis.

Dual spectra band emissive Eu2+/Mn2+ co-activated alkaline earth phosphates for indoor plant growth novel phosphor converted-LEDs.

PubMed

Yun, Young Jun; Kim, Jin Kyu; Ju, Ji Young; Choi, Seul Ki; Park, Woon Ik; Suh, Jae Yong; Jung, Ha-Kyun; Kim, Yongseon; Choi, Sungho

2017-05-10

This paper reports designing a novel single composition blue/red color illuminating phosphor followed by fabricating "smart" agricultural/horticultural LED lighting. Color-tunable Eu 2+ /Mn 2+ co-activated alkaline earth phosphates, Na(Sr,Ba)PO 4 and Ca 3 Mg 3 (PO 4 ) 4 , are considered, and the stable doping sites for the corresponding activators are identified by using first-principle DFT calculations. We can realize the designated color purity with stable thermal quenching preserved luminescence behavior is induced by the Eu 2+ center positioned at different coordination states with intermixed Sr 2+ /Ba 2+ sites in Na(Sr,Ba)PO 4 hosts. Moreover, we demonstrate that the resultant LED lighting adopting the proposed novel phosphor composition stimulates the enhanced photosynthesis reaction for indoor hydroponics plants, such as oats and onions, which is superior to the narrow line emission band induced by the mixture of conventional red/green/blue LEDs. Thus, using the color-tunable single composition luminescent material may produce an innovative energy-efficient artificial lighting for indoor plant growth.

Context-Dependent Encoding of Fear and Extinction Memories in a Large-Scale Network Model of the Basal Amygdala

PubMed Central

Vlachos, Ioannis; Herry, Cyril; Lüthi, Andreas; Aertsen, Ad; Kumar, Arvind

2011-01-01

The basal nucleus of the amygdala (BA) is involved in the formation of context-dependent conditioned fear and extinction memories. To understand the underlying neural mechanisms we developed a large-scale neuron network model of the BA, composed of excitatory and inhibitory leaky-integrate-and-fire neurons. Excitatory BA neurons received conditioned stimulus (CS)-related input from the adjacent lateral nucleus (LA) and contextual input from the hippocampus or medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). We implemented a plasticity mechanism according to which CS and contextual synapses were potentiated if CS and contextual inputs temporally coincided on the afferents of the excitatory neurons. Our simulations revealed a differential recruitment of two distinct subpopulations of BA neurons during conditioning and extinction, mimicking the activation of experimentally observed cell populations. We propose that these two subgroups encode contextual specificity of fear and extinction memories, respectively. Mutual competition between them, mediated by feedback inhibition and driven by contextual inputs, regulates the activity in the central amygdala (CEA) thereby controlling amygdala output and fear behavior. The model makes multiple testable predictions that may advance our understanding of fear and extinction memories. PMID:21437238

Effect of SiO2/B2O3 Ratio on the Crystallization Behavior and Dielectric Properties of Barium Strontium Titanate Glass-Ceramics Prepared by Sol-Gel Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yongzhou; Zhang, Yong; Song, Xiaozhen; Shen, Ziqin; Zhang, Tianyuan

2018-05-01

Ferroelectric glass-ceramics, with a basic composition 90 wt.% (Ba0.65Sr0.35)TiO3-10 wt.% (B2O3-nSiO2) (n = 0.5, 1, 3, 5) were synthesized by the sol-gel method and their phase development and dielectric properties were investigated by differential thermal analysis, x-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, dielectric temperature curves and impedance spectroscopy. From the differential thermal analysis, glass transition and crystallization behavior can be observed. From the x-ray diffraction study, two crystalline phases (Ba,Sr)TiO3 and Ba2TiSi2O8 were formed over the entire composition range of the glass-ceramics. In addition, the main crystal phase has undergone a transformation from (Ba,Sr)TiO3 to Ba2TiSi2O8 with the increase of n. A typical structure in which the crystal phase was surrounded by a glassy matrix has been observed in the scanning electron microscope images. As a result of temperature dependent dielectric property measurements, the dielectric constant increased obviously with the increase of n from 0.5 to 1. Further increasing n led to a reduction of the dielectric constant, which is in coincidence with the variation of the intensity of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 phase with n. According to the impedance spectroscopy analysis and the activation energy calculation, the relaxation peak in both Z″ and M″ data should be attributed to the crystal-glass interface, and the change of conduction mechanism with the increase of SiO2/B2O3 ratio may be attributed to the corresponding transition of the main crystal phase.

Defect-induced wetting on BaF 2(111) and CaF 2(111) at ambient conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cardellach, M.; Verdaguer, A.; Fraxedas, J.

2011-12-01

The interaction of water with freshly cleaved (111) surfaces of isostructural BaF2 and CaF2 single crystals at ambient conditions (room temperature and under controlled humidity) has been studied using scanning force microscopy in different operation modes and optical microscopy. Such surfaces exhibit contrasting behaviors for both materials: while on BaF2(111) two-dimensional water layers are formed after accumulation at step edges, CaF2(111) does not promote the formation of such layers. We attribute such opposed behavior to lattice match (mismatch) between hexagonal water ice and the hexagonal (111) surfaces of BaF2(CaF2). Optical microscope images reveal that this behavior also determines the way the surfaces become wetted at a macroscopic level.

Effect of divalent Ba cation substitution with Sr on coupled ‘multiglass’ state in the magnetoelectric multiferroic compound Ba3NbFe3Si2O14

PubMed Central

Rathore, Satyapal Singh; Vitta, Satish

2015-01-01

(Ba/Sr)3NbFe3Si2O14 is a magneto-electric multiferroic with an incommensurate antiferromagnetic spiral magnetic structure which induces electric polarization at 26 K. Structural studies show that both the compounds have similar crystal structure down to 6 K. They exhibit a transition, TN at 26 K and 25 K respectively, as indicated by heat capacity and magnetization, into an antiferromagnetic state. Although Ba and Sr are isovalent, they exhibit very different static and dynamic magnetic behaviors. The Ba-compound exhibits a glassy behavior with critical slowing dynamics with a freezing temperature of ~35 K and a critical exponent of 3.9, a value close to the 3-D Ising model above TN, in addition to the invariant transition into an antiferromagnetic state. The Sr-compound however does not exhibit any dispersive behavior except for the invariant transition at TN. The dielectric constant reflects magnetic behavior of the two compounds: the Ba-compound has two distinct dispersive peaks while the Sr-compound has a single dispersive peak. Thus the compounds exhibit coupled ‘multiglass’ behavior. The difference in magnetic properties between the two compounds is found to be due to modifications to super exchange path angle and length as well as anti-site defects which stabilize either ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic interactions. PMID:25988657

Functional organization of the language network in three- and six-year-old children.

PubMed

Vissiennon, Kodjo; Friederici, Angela D; Brauer, Jens; Wu, Chiao-Yi

2017-04-01

The organization of the language network undergoes continuous changes during development as children learn to understand sentences. In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging and behavioral measures were utilized to investigate functional activation and functional connectivity (FC) in three-year-old (3yo) and six-year-old (6yo) children during sentence comprehension. Transitive German sentences varying the word order (subject-initial and object-initial) with case marking were presented auditorily. We selected children who were capable of processing the subject-initial sentences above chance level accuracy from each age group to ensure that we were tapping real comprehension. Both age groups showed a main effect of word order in the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG), with greater activation for object-initial compared to subject-initial sentences. However, age differences were observed in the FC between left pSTG and the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). The 6yo group showed stronger FC between the left pSTG and Brodmann area (BA) 44 of the left IFG compared to the 3yo group. For the 3yo group, in turn, the FC between left pSTG and left BA 45 was stronger than with left BA 44. Our study demonstrates that while task-related activation was comparable, the small behavioral differences between age groups were reflected in the underlying functional organization revealing the ongoing development of the neural language network. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Neural activity induced by visual food stimuli presented out of awareness: a preliminary magnetoencephalography study.

PubMed

Takada, Katsuko; Ishii, Akira; Matsuo, Takashi; Nakamura, Chika; Uji, Masato; Yoshikawa, Takahiro

2018-02-15

Obesity is a major public health problem in modern society. Appetitive behavior has been proposed to be partially driven by unconscious decision-making processes and thus, targeting the unconscious cognitive processes related to eating behavior is essential to develop strategies for overweight individuals and obese patients. Here, we presented food pictures below the threshold of awareness to healthy male volunteers and examined neural activity related to appetitive behavior using magnetoencephalography. We found that, among participants who did not recognize food pictures during the experiment, an index of heart rate variability assessed by electrocardiography (low-frequency component power/high-frequency component power ratio, LF/HF) just after picture presentation was increased compared with that just before presentation, and the increase in LF/HF was negatively associated with the score for cognitive restraint of food intake. In addition, increased LF/HF was negatively associated with increased alpha band power in Brodmann area (BA) 47 caused by food pictures presented below the threshold of awareness, and level of cognitive restraint was positively associated with increased alpha band power in BA13. Our findings may provide valuable clues to the development of methods assessing unconscious regulation of appetite and offer avenues for further study of the neural mechanisms related to eating behavior.

Fatigue mechanism of textured Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 ceramics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Yongke; Zhou, Yuan; Gupta, Shashaank; Priya, Shashank

2013-08-01

Grain orientation, BaTiO3 heterogeneous template content, and electrode materials are expected to play an important role in controlling the polarization fatigue behavior of ⟨001⟩ textured Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 ceramics. A comparative analysis with randomly oriented ceramics showed that ⟨001⟩ grain orientation/texture exhibits improved fatigue characteristics due to the reduced switching activation energy and high domain mobility. The hypothesis was validated from the systematic characterization of polarization—electric field behavior and domain wall density. The defect accumulation at the grain boundary and clamping effect arising from the presence of BaTiO3 heterogeneous template in the final microstructure was found to be the main cause for polarization degradation in textured ceramic.

Ba3Fe1.56Ir1.44O9: A Polar Semiconducting Triple Perovskite with Near Room Temperature Magnetic Ordering.

PubMed

Ferreira, Timothy; Carone, Darren; Huon, Amanda; Herklotz, Andreas; Stoian, Sebastian A; Heald, Steve M; Morrison, Gregory; Smith, Mark D; Loye, Hans-Conrad Zur

2018-05-29

The crystal chemistry and magnetic properties for two triple perovskites, Ba 3 Fe 1.56 Ir 1.44 O 9 and Ba 3 NiIr 2 O 9 , grown as large, highly faceted single crystals from a molten strontium carbonate flux, are reported. Unlike the idealized A 3 MM 2 'O 9 hexagonal symmetry characteristic of most triple perovskites, including Ba 3 NiIr 2 O 9, Ba 3 Fe 1.56 Ir 1.44 O 9 possesses significant site-disorder, resulting in a noncentrosymmetric polar structure with trigonal symmetry. The valence of iron and iridium in the heavily distorted Fe/Ir sites was determined to be Fe(III) and Ir(V) by X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES). Density functional theory calculations were conducted to understand the effect of the trigonal distortion on the local Fe(III)O 6 electronic structure, and the spin state of iron was determined to be S = 5/2 by Mössbauer spectroscopy. Conductivity measurements indicate thermally activated semiconducting behavior in the trigonal perovskite. Magnetic properties were measured and near room temperature magnetic ordering (T N = 270 K) was observed for Ba 3 Fe 1.56 Ir 1.44 O 9 .

Two sides of the same coin? A new instrument to assess body checking and avoidance behaviors in eating disorders.

PubMed

Legenbauer, Tanja; Martin, Franziska; Blaschke, Ariane; Schwenzfeier, Anne; Blechert, Jens; Schnicker, Katja

2017-06-01

Body checking (BC) and avoidance behaviors (BA) are the dominant behavioral features of body image disturbances (BID) that characterize most individuals with eating disorders (EDs). Whereas BC can be reliably assessed, a valid assessment tool for BA is lacking, preventing an adequate assessment of BID differences across different EDs (anorexia nervosa, AN; bulimia nervosa, BN; binge eating disorder, BED). A total of 310 women with EDs and 112 nonclinical controls completed measures of BC-, BA- and ED-related symptoms. BA did not differentiate between EDs, whereas BC did: it was highest in AN and BN, and lowest in BED. Multivariate analyses also discriminated AN from BN based on BC. Given that results are of preliminary nature, evidence is promising that EDs can be discriminated from healthy controls and that differential BID profiles for the behavioral component among ED subgroups exist. However, replication of the factor structure remains open within ED subsamples. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Treatment of comorbid pain and PTSD in returning veterans: a collaborative approach utilizing behavioral activation.

PubMed

Plagge, Jane M; Lu, Mary W; Lovejoy, Travis I; Karl, Andrea I; Dobscha, Steven K

2013-08-01

We explore preliminary clinical effectiveness and feasibility of an intervention utilizing collaborative care components and behavioral activation (BA) to treat comorbid chronic pain and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Descriptive, including pre- and posttreatment assessment results. Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Fifty-eight Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with chronic pain and PTSD symptoms. Veterans participated in a biopsychosocial evaluation and up to eight BA sessions using a collaborative approach involving primary care, mental health, and other clinicians. A physiatrist assisted the psychologist in providing recommendations to primary care providers. Participants were administered pre- and posttreatment measures of PTSD, pain severity, pain interference, mental health, quality of life, satisfaction, and global ratings of change with the purpose of assessing progress and improving quality. Of the 58 participants, 30 completed treatment. Common recommendations included physical therapy and exercise programs, pain medication or pain medication adjustments, and additional diagnostic workups, such as imaging. Participants who completed the program showed significant improvements on measures of PTSD, pain severity, and pain interference. Improvements were also evident on measures of mental health and quality of life. Overall, participants were satisfied with the program, and on average reported feeling "somewhat better." These findings suggest that a collaborative approach that includes BA is feasible and a potentially effective treatment for comorbid chronic pain and PTSD. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Neural substrates related to auditory working memory comparisons in dyslexia: An fMRI study

PubMed Central

CONWAY, TIM; HEILMAN, KENNETH M.; GOPINATH, KAUNDINYA; PECK, KYUNG; BAUER, RUSSELL; BRIGGS, RICHARD W.; TORGESEN, JOSEPH K.; CROSSON, BRUCE

2010-01-01

Adult readers with developmental phonological dyslexia exhibit significant difficulty comparing pseudowords and pure tones in auditory working memory (AWM). This suggests deficient AWM skills for adults diagnosed with dyslexia. Despite behavioral differences, it is unknown whether neural substrates of AWM differ between adults diagnosed with dyslexia and normal readers. Prior neuroimaging of adults diagnosed with dyslexia and normal readers, and post-mortem findings of neural structural anomalies in adults diagnosed with dyslexia support the hypothesis of atypical neural activity in temporoparietal and inferior frontal regions during AWM tasks in adults diagnosed with dyslexia. We used fMRI during two binaural AWM tasks (pseudowords or pure tones comparisons) in adults diagnosed with dyslexia (n = 11) and normal readers (n = 11). For both AWM tasks, adults diagnosed with dyslexia exhibited greater activity in left posterior superior temporal (BA 22) and inferior parietal regions (BA 40) than normal readers. Comparing neural activity between groups and between stimuli contrasts (pseudowords vs. tones), adults diagnosed with dyslexia showed greater primary auditory cortex activity (BA 42; tones > pseudowords) than normal readers. Thus, greater activity in primary auditory, posterior superior temporal, and inferior parietal cortices during linguistic and non-linguistic AWM tasks for adults diagnosed with dyslexia compared to normal readers indicate differences in neural substrates of AWM comparison tasks. PMID:18577292

Thermoelectric properties of Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O6-δ ceramics in different oxygen-reduction conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yi; Liu, Jian; Wang, Chun-Lei; Su, Wen-Bin; Zhu, Yuan-Hu; Li, Ji-Chao; Mei, Liang-Mo

2015-04-01

The thermoelectric properties of Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O6-δ ceramics, reduced in different conditions, are investigated in the temperature range from 323 K to 1073 K. The electrical transport behaviors of the samples are dominated by the thermal-activated polaron hopping in the low temperature range, the Fermi glass behavior in the middle temperature range, and the Anderson localized behavior in the high temperature range. The thermal conductivity presents a plateau at high-temperatures, indicating a glass-like thermal conduction behavior. Both the thermoelectric power factor and the thermal conductivity increase with the increase of the degree of oxygen-reduction. Taking these two factors into account, the oxygen-reduction can still contribute to promoting the thermoelectric figure of merit. The highest ZT value is obtained to be ˜0.19 at 1073 K in the heaviest oxygen reduced sample. Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2013CB632506) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51202132 and 51002087).

Antiferromagnetism in semiconducting SrMn2Sb2 and BaMn2Sb2 single crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sangeetha, N. S.; Smetana, V.; Mudring, A.-V.; Johnston, D. C.

2018-01-01

Crystals of SrMn2Sb2 and BaMn2Sb2 were grown using Sn flux and characterized by powder and single-crystal x-ray diffraction, respectively, and by single-crystal electrical resistivity ρ , heat capacity Cp, and magnetic susceptibility χ measurements versus temperature T , and magnetization versus field M (H ) isotherm measurements. SrMn2Sb2 adopts the trigonal CaAl2Si2 -type structure, whereas BaMn2Sb2 crystallizes in the tetragonal ThCr2Si2 -type structure. The ρ (T ) data indicate semiconducting behaviors for both compounds with activation energies of ≳0.35 eV for SrMn2Sb2 and 0.16 eV for BaMn2Sb2 . The χ (T ) and Cp(T ) data reveal antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering at TN = 110 K for SrMn2Sb2 and 450 K for BaMn2Sb2 . The anisotropic χ (T ≤TN) data also show that the ordered moments in SrMn2Sb2 are aligned in the hexagonal a b plane, whereas the ordered moments in BaMn2Sb2 are aligned collinearly along the tetragonal c axis. The a b -plane M (H ) data for SrMn2Sb2 exhibit a continuous metamagnetic transition at low fields 0

Innovative Service Delivery for Secondary Prevention of PTSD in At-Risk OIF-OEF Service Men and Women

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-02-01

therapy , Mr B reported an increase in symptoms at the 30-day follow-up assessment, which was probably related to a hospitalization for a physical health...PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, prolonged exposure, behavioral activation, cognitive behavior therapy , psychotherapy, learning theory, extinction...of exposure therapy for PTSD (BA-TE and PE). As such, we had a large sample of treatment dropouts available. We recontacted participants 10

Abnormal expression and functional characteristics of cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding protein in postmortem brain of suicide subjects.

PubMed

Dwivedi, Yogesh; Rao, Jagadeesh Sridhara; Rizavi, Hooriyah S; Kotowski, Jacek; Conley, Robert R; Roberts, Rosalinda C; Tamminga, Carol A; Pandey, Ghanshyam N

2003-03-01

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding protein (CREB) is a transcription factor that, on phosphorylation by protein kinases, is activated, and in response, regulates the transcription of many neuronally expressed genes. In view of the recent observations that catalytic properties and/or expression of many kinases that mediate their physiological responses through the activation of CREB are altered in the postmortem brain of subjects who commit suicide (hereafter referred to as suicide subjects), we examined the status of CREB in suicidal behavior. These studies were performed in Brodmann area (BA) 9 and hippocampus obtained from 26 suicide subjects and 20 nonpsychiatric healthy control subjects. Messenger RNA levels of CREB and neuron-specific enolase were determined in total RNA by means of quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Protein levels and the functional characteristics of CREB were determined in nuclear fractions by means of Western blot and cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element (CRE)-DNA binding activity, respectively. In the same nuclear fraction, we determined the catalytic activity of cyclic adenosine monophosphate-stimulated protein kinase A by means of enzymatic assay. We observed a significant reduction in messenger RNA and protein levels of CREB, CRE-DNA binding activity, and basal and cyclic adenosine monophosphate-stimulated protein kinase A activity in BA 9 and hippocampus of suicide subjects, without any change in messenger RNA levels of neuron-specific enolase in BA 9. Except for protein kinase A activity, changes in CREB expression and CRE-DNA binding activity were present in all suicide subjects, irrespective of diagnosis. These changes were unrelated to postmortem intervals, age, sex, or antidepressant treatment. Given the significance of CREB in mediating various physiological functions through gene transcription, our results of decreased expression and functional characteristics of CREB in postmortem brain of suicide subjects suggest that CREB may play an important role in suicidal behavior.

Difference between resistance degradation of fixed valence acceptor (Mg) and variable valence acceptor (Mn)-doped BaTiO3 ceramics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Seok-Hyun; Randall, Clive A.; Hur, Kang-Heon

2010-09-01

The difference in the resistance degradation behavior was investigated between fixed valence acceptor (Mg) and the variable valence acceptor (Mn)-doped BaTiO3 ceramics with an increase of each acceptor concentration. Coarse-grained specimens with uniform grain sizes and different acceptor concentrations were prepared. In the case of Mg-doped BaTiO3, the time to degradation systematically decreased with the increase in Mg concentration. In contrast, there is a systematically increased time to degradation with the increase in Mn concentration in Mn-doped BaTiO3. The fast degradation by the increase in Mg concentration directly corresponded to an increase in the Warburg impedance and ionic transference number (tion) associated with an increase in oxygen vacancy concentration ([VO••]). On the other hand, no distinct Warburg impedance or ionic conduction contribution could be observed with the increase in Mn concentration. It is supposed that the increase in [VO••] is negligible in spite of the increase in acceptor Mn concentration, when it is compared to Mg-doped BaTiO3. The much lower [VO••] and more dominant electron/hole trapping effect due to multivalence nature of Mn are supposed to cause such a contrary degradation behavior between Mg and Mn-doped BaTiO3. Reoxidation in a slightly reducing atmosphere (N2) showed better resistance to degradation behavior than in a oxidizing air atmosphere in both Mg and Mn-doped BaTiO3, which is anticipated to be an increase in the electron/hole trapping sites. All these behaviors could be explained by the low temperature defect chemical model that shows difference in the defect structure between Mg and Mn-doped BaTiO3, and its dependence on the oxygen partial pressure (pO2) during reoxidation and cooling. Not only the [VO••], but also the density of electron/hole trap sites, are believed to be crucial in controlling resistance degradation.

Neural circuit of verbal humor comprehension in schizophrenia - an fMRI study.

PubMed

Adamczyk, Przemysław; Wyczesany, Miroslaw; Domagalik, Aleksandra; Daren, Artur; Cepuch, Kamil; Błądziński, Piotr; Cechnicki, Andrzej; Marek, Tadeusz

2017-01-01

Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit problems with understanding the figurative meaning of language. This study evaluates neural correlates of diminished humor comprehension observed in schizophrenia. The study included chronic schizophrenia (SCH) outpatients (n = 20), and sex, age and education level matched healthy controls (n = 20). The fMRI punchline based humor comprehension task consisted of 60 stories of which 20 had funny, 20 nonsensical and 20 neutral (not funny) punchlines. After the punchlines were presented, the participants were asked to indicate whether the story was comprehensible and how funny it was. Three contrasts were analyzed in both groups reflecting stages of humor processing: abstract vs neutral stories - incongruity detection; funny vs abstract - incongruity resolution and elaboration; and funny vs neutral - complete humor processing. Additionally, parametric modulation analysis was performed using both subjective ratings separately. Between-group comparisons revealed that the SCH subjects had attenuated activation in the right posterior superior temporal gyrus (BA 41) in case of irresolvable incongruity processing of nonsensical puns; in the left dorsomedial middle and superior frontal gyri (BA 8/9) in case of incongruity resolution and elaboration processing of funny puns; and in the interhemispheric dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA 24) in case of complete processing of funny puns. Additionally, during comprehensibility ratings the SCH group showed a suppressed activity in the left dorsomedial middle and superior frontal gyri (BA 8/9) and revealed weaker activation during funniness ratings in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA 24). Interestingly, these differences in the SCH group were accompanied behaviorally by a protraction of time in both types of rating responses and by indicating funny punchlines less comprehensible. Summarizing, our results indicate neural substrates of humor comprehension processing impairments in schizophrenia, which is accompanied by fronto-temporal hypoactivation.

A neighbor pixel communication filtering structure for Dynamic Vision Sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Yuan; Liu, Shiqi; Lu, Hehui; Zhang, Zilong

2017-02-01

For Dynamic Vision Sensors (DVS), thermal noise and junction leakage current induced Background Activity (BA) is the major cause of the deterioration of images quality. Inspired by the smoothing filtering principle of horizontal cells in vertebrate retina, A DVS pixel with Neighbor Pixel Communication (NPC) filtering structure is proposed to solve this issue. The NPC structure is designed to judge the validity of pixel's activity through the communication between its 4 adjacent pixels. The pixel's outputs will be suppressed if its activities are determined not real. The proposed pixel's area is 23.76×24.71μm2 and only 3ns output latency is introduced. In order to validate the effectiveness of the structure, a 5×5 pixel array has been implemented in SMIC 0.13μm CIS process. 3 test cases of array's behavioral model show that the NPC-DVS have an ability of filtering the BA.

Noise distribution of an incubator with nebulizer at a neonatal intensive care unit in southern Taiwan.

PubMed

Chen, H F; Chang, Y J

2001-06-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the noise distribution and sources of peak noise inside an incubator with a nebulizer at a neonatal intensive care unit of a medical center in Southern Taiwan. Sound levels were monitored continuously with an electronic sound-meter for 24 hours daily over a one-week period. Three working hours (day, evening, and night hours) in the weekday and weekend (total 48 hours) were selected randomly from the one-week period of noise survey to observe peak noise at levels > or = 65 dBA. Results revealed that 24.8% of the total monitoring period had sound levels at < or = 59 dBA, 58.9% at 60-64 dBA, 10.7% at 65-69 dBA, and 5.6% at > or = 70 dBA. Furthermore, a total of 947 peak noises > or = 65 dBA were found within the 48 hours, of which 61.5% were in a range of 65-69 dBA, 24% of 70-74 dBA, 9.8% of 75-79 dBA, and 4.8% > or = 80 dBA. Human-related sources, equaling 79%, were the dominant peak noises. These noises included opening and closing doors, banging the incubator hood, conversation among staff, nursing activity inside the incubator, tearing and opening paper or bags, opening and closing trash can lids, and bumping metal carts or other apparatus. Nonhuman-related sources were 21% including alarms of monitors and running of the incubator motor. Results of this study showed that the noise distribution in the incubator with nebulizer was far above a protective limitation of 58 dBA, suggested by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1974. However, most peak noises could be reduced by modification of staff behavior. Therefore, determinations of noise distribution and sources of peak noise in this study are useful for further noise reduction programs.

Complementary resistive switching in BaTiO3/NiO bilayer with opposite switching polarities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Shuo; Wei, Xianhua; Lei, Yao; Yuan, Xincai; Zeng, Huizhong

2016-12-01

Resistive switching behaviors have been investigated in the Au/BaTiO3/NiO/Pt structure by stacking the two elements with different switching types. The conducting atomic force microscope measurements on BaTiO3 thin films and NiO thin films suggest that with the same active resistive switching region, the switching polarities in the two semiconductors are opposite to each other. It is in agreement with the bipolar hysteresis I-V curves with opposite switching polarities for single-layer devices. The bilayer devices show complementary resistive switching (CRS) without electroforming and unipolar resistive switching (URS) after electroforming. The coexistence of CRS and URS is mainly ascribed to the co-effect of electric field and Joule heating mechanisms, indicating that changeable of resistance in this device is dominated by the redistribution of oxygen vacancies in BaTiO3 and the formation, disruption, restoration of conducting filaments in NiO. CRS in bilayer with opposite switching polarities is effective to solve the sneak current without the introduction of any selector elements or an additional metal electrode.

Pain Modulation in Waking and Hypnosis in Women: Event-Related Potentials and Sources of Cortical Activity

PubMed Central

De Pascalis, Vilfredo; Varriale, Vincenzo; Cacace, Immacolata

2015-01-01

Using a strict subject selection procedure, we tested in High and Low Hypnotizable subjects (HHs and LHs) whether treatments of hypoalgesia and hyperalgesia, as compared to a relaxation-control, differentially affected subjective pain ratings and somatosensory event-related potentials (SERPs) during painful electric stimulation. Treatments were administered in waking and hypnosis conditions. LHs showed little differentiation in pain and distress ratings between hypoalgesia and hyperalgesia treatments, whereas HHs showed a greater spread in the instructed direction. HHs had larger prefrontal N140 and P200 waves of the SERPs during hypnotic hyperalgesia as compared to relaxation-control treatment. Importantly, HHs showed significant smaller frontocentral N140 and frontotemporal P200 waves during hypnotic hypoalgesia. LHs did not show significant differences for these SERP waves among treatments in both waking and hypnosis conditions. Source localization (sLORETA) method revealed significant activations of the bilateral primary somatosensory (BA3), middle frontal gyrus (BA6) and anterior cingulate cortices (BA24). Activity of these contralateral regions significantly correlated with subjective numerical pain scores for control treatment in waking condition. Moreover, multivariate regression analyses distinguished the contralateral BA3 as the only region reflecting a stable pattern of pain coding changes across all treatments in waking and hypnosis conditions. More direct testing showed that hypnosis reduced the strength of the association of pain modulation and brain activity changes at BA3. sLORETA in HHs revealed, for the N140 wave, that during hypnotic hyperalgesia, there was an increased activity within medial, supramarginal and superior frontal gyri, and cingulated gyrus (BA32), while for the P200 wave, activity was increased in the superior (BA22), middle (BA37), inferior temporal (BA19) gyri and superior parietal lobule (BA7). Hypnotic hypoalgesia in HHs, for N140 wave, showed reduced activity within medial and superior frontal gyri (BA9,8), paraippocampal gyrus (BA34), and postcentral gyrus (BA1), while for the P200, activity was reduced within middle and superior frontal gyri (BA9 and BA10), anterior cingulate (BA33), cuneus (BA19) and sub-lobar insula (BA13). These findings demonstrate that hypnotic suggestions can exert a top-down modulatory effect on attention/preconscious brain processes involved in pain perception. PMID:26030417

Effect of continuous theta burst stimulation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on cerebral blood flow changes during decision making.

PubMed

Cho, Sang Soo; Pellecchia, Giovanna; Ko, Ji Hyun; Ray, Nicola; Obeso, Ignacio; Houle, Sylvain; Strafella, Antonio P

2012-04-01

Decision making is a cognitive function relaying on a complex neural network. In particular, the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a key role within this network. We used positron emission tomography (PET) combined with continuous theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS) to investigate neuronal and behavioral changes in normal volunteers while performing a delay discounting (DD) task. We aimed to test whether stimulation of right DLPFC would modify the activation pattern of the neural circuit underlying decision making during the DD task and influence discounting behavior. We found that cTBS of the right DLPFC influenced decision making by reducing impulsivity and inducing participants to favor large but delayed rewards instead of immediate but small rewards. Stimulation also affected activation in several prefrontal areas associated with DD. In particular, we observed a reduced regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the ipsilateral DLPFC (BA 46) extending into the rostral part of the prefrontal cortex (BA 10) as well as a disrupted relationship between impulsivity (k-value) and rCBF in these and other prefrontal areas. These findings suggest that transcranial magnetic stimulation of the DLPFC influences the neural network underlying impulsive decision making behavior. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Altered intrinsic regional brain activity in male patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study

PubMed Central

Peng, De-Chang; Dai, Xi-Jian; Gong, Hong-Han; Li, Hai-Jun; Nie, Xiao; Zhang, Wei

2014-01-01

Background Previous studies have demonstrated that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with abnormal brain structural deficits. However, little is known about the changes in local synchronization of spontaneous activity in patients with OSA. The primary aim of the present study was to investigate spontaneous brain activity in patients with OSA compared with good sleepers (GSs) using regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods Twenty-five untreated male patients with severe OSA and 25 male GSs matched for age and years of education were included in this study. The ReHo method was calculated to assess the strength of local signal synchrony and was compared between the two groups. The observed mean ReHo values were entered into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software to assess their correlation with behavioral performance. Results Compared with GSs, patients with OSA showed significantly lower ReHo in the right medial frontal gyrus (BA11), right superior frontal gyrus (BA10), right cluster of the precuneus and angular gyrus (BA39), and left superior parietal lobule (BA7), and higher ReHo in the right posterior lobe of the cerebellum, right cingulate gyrus (BA23), and bilateral cluster covering the lentiform nucleus, putamen, and insula (BA13). The lower mean ReHo value in the right cluster of the precuneus and angular gyrus had a significant negative correlation with sleep time (r=−0.430, P=0.032), and higher ReHo in the right posterior lobe of the cerebellum showed a significant positive correlation with stage 3 sleep (r=0.458, P=0.021) and in the right cingulate gyrus showed a significant positive correlation with percent rapid eye movement sleep (r=0.405, P=0.045). Conclusion Patients with OSA showed significant regional spontaneous activity deficits in default mode network areas. The ReHo method is a useful noninvasive imaging tool for detection of early changes in cerebral ReHo in patients with OSA. PMID:25278755

Liquid-liquid phase separation in dilute solutions of poly(styrene sulfonate) with multivalent cations: Phase diagrams, chain morphology, and impact of temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansch, Markus; Hämisch, Benjamin; Schweins, Ralf; Prévost, Sylvain; Huber, Klaus

2018-01-01

The dilute solution behavior of sodium poly(styrene sulfonate) is studied in the presence of trivalent Al3+ and bivalent Ba2+ cations at various levels of excess NaCl. The study evaluates the phase behavior and the morphology of the polyelectrolyte chains with increasing extent of decoration with the Al3+ and Ba2+ cations and analyses the effect of temperature on these decorated chains. The phase behavior is presented in the form of the cation concentration versus the respective poly(styrene sulfonate) concentration, recorded at the onset of precipitation. Whereas poly(styrene sulfonate) with Al3+ exhibits a linear phase boundary, denoted as the "threshold line," which increases with increasing poly(styrene sulfonate) concentration, Ba2+ cations show a threshold line which is independent of the poly(styrene sulfonate) concentration. An additional re-entrant phase, at considerably higher cation content than those of the threshold lines, is observed with Al3+ cations but not with Ba2+ cations. The threshold line and the re-entrant phase boundary form parts of the liquid-liquid phase boundary observed at the limit of low polymer concentration. The dimensions of the polyelectrolyte chains shrink considerably while approaching the respective threshold lines on increase of the Al3+ and Ba2+ cation content. However, subtle differences occur between the morphological transformation induced by Al3+ and Ba2+. Most strikingly, coils decorated with Al3+ respond very differently to temperature variations than coils decorated with Ba2+ do. As the temperature increases, the poly(styrene sulfonate) chains decrease their size in the presence of Al3+ cations but increase in size in the presence of Ba2+ cations.

Antiferromagnetism in semiconducting SrMn 2 Sb 2 and BaMn 2 Sb 2 single crystals

DOE PAGES

Sangeetha, N. S.; Smetana, V.; Mudring, A. -V.; ...

2018-01-03

Here, crystals of SrMn 2Sb 2 and BaMn 2Sb 2 were grown using Sn flux and characterized by powder and single-crystal x-ray diffraction, respectively, and by single-crystal electrical resistivity ρ, heat capacity C p, and magnetic susceptibility χ measurements versus temperature T, and magnetization versus field M(H) isotherm measurements. SrMn 2Sb 2 adopts the trigonal CaAl 2Si 2-type structure, whereas BaMn 2Sb 2 crystallizes in the tetragonal ThCr 2Si 2-type structure. The ρ(T) data indicate semiconducting behaviors for both compounds with activation energies of ≳0.35 eV for SrMn 2Sb 2 and 0.16 eV for BaMn 2Sb 2. The χ(T) andmore » C p(T) data reveal antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering at T N = 110 K for SrMn 2Sb 2 and 450 K for BaMn 2Sb 2. The anisotropic χ(T≤T N) data also show that the ordered moments in SrMn 2Sb 2 are aligned in the hexagonal ab plane, whereas the ordered moments in BaMn 2Sb 2 are aligned collinearly along the tetragonal c axis. The ab-plane M(H) data for SrMn 2Sb 2 exhibit a continuous metamagnetic transition at low fields 02Sb 2 exhibits no metamagnetic transitions up to 5.5 T. The χ(T) and C p(T) data for both SrMn 2Sb 2 and BaMn 2Sb 2 indicate strong dynamic short-range AFM correlations above their respective T N up to at least 900 K within a local-moment picture, corresponding to quasi-two-dimensional magnetic behavior. The present results and a survey of the literature for Mn pnictides with the CaAl 2Si 2 and ThCr 2Si 2 crystal structures show that the T N values for the CaAl 2Si 2-type compounds are much smaller than those for the ThCr 2Si 2-type materials.« less

Preparation, Crystal Structure, Dielectric Properties, and Magnetic Behavior of Ba 2Fe 2Ti 4O 13

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vanderah, T. A.; Huang, Q.; Wong-Ng, W.; Chakoumakos, B. C.; Goldfarb, R. B.; Geyer, R. G.; Baker-Jarvis, J.; Roth, R. S.; Santoro, A.

1995-11-01

The preparation, crystal structure, dielectric properties, and magnetic behavior of the new compound Ba2Fe2Ti4O13 are reported. Structural studies carried out by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and neutron powder diffraction show that this phase is isostructural with K2Ti6O13 and Ba2ZnTi5O13 (C2/m (No. 12); a = 15.216(1), b = 3.8979(3), c = 9.1350(6) Å, β = 98.460(7)°; V = 535.90(8) Å3; Z = 2). The cations Fe3+ and Ti4+ are partially ordered among distorted octahedral sites with Ba2+ occupying eleven-coordinated polyhedra. Ba2Fe2Ti4O13 exhibits TE0 resonance near 10 GHz with a dielectric constant of ∼28 and a dielectric loss tangent of 2 × 10-3. The compound displays complex paramagnetic behavior with marked field dependence; the magnetization at 80 kA/m is several orders of magnitude smaller than that of most ferrites. Spin-glass effects have not been observed; however, weak collective interactions are clearly present. No magnetic ordering has been detected by neutron diffraction down to 13 K.

Compensatory brain activation in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder during a simplified Go/No-go task.

PubMed

Ma, Jun; Lei, Du; Jin, Xingming; Du, Xiaoxia; Jiang, Fan; Li, Fei; Zhang, Yiwen; Shen, Xiaoming

2012-05-01

Given that a number of recent studies have shown attenuated brain activation in prefrontal regions in children with ADHD, it has been recognized as a disorder in executive function. However, fewer studies have focused exclusively on the compensatory brain activation in ADHD. The present study objective was to investigate the compensatory brain activation patterns during response inhibition (RI) processing in ADHD children. In this study, 15 ADHD children and 15 sex-, age-, and IQ-matched control children were scanned with a 3-T MRI equipment while performing a simplified letter Go/No-go task. The results showed more brain activation in the ADHD group compared with the control group, whereas the accuracy and reaction time of behavioral performance were the same. Children with ADHD did not activate the normal RI brain circuits, which are thought to be predominantly located in the right middle/inferior frontal gyrus (BA46/44), right inferior parietal regions (BA40), and pre-SMA(BA6), but instead, activated brain regions, such as the left inferior frontal cortex, the right inferior temporal cortex, the right precentral gyrus, the left postcentral gyrus, the inferior occipital cortex, the middle occipital cortex, the right calcarine, the right hippocampus, the right midbrain, and the cerebellum. Our conclusion is that children with ADHD tend to compensatorily use more posterior and diffusive brain regions to sustain normal RI function. © Springer-Verlag 2011

The Behavior Analysis Follow Through Evaluation Strategy: A Multifaceted Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Dan S.; And Others

The Behavior Analysis (BA) approach to Project Follow Through, a federally funded education intervention program, has reversed the trend of academic failure of poor children by improving the educational experience of poor children from 12 communities in the urban East, Midwest, rural South, and on Indian reservations in the West. The BA model is…

Reaction enthalpy from the binding of multivalent cations to anionic polyelectrolytes in dilute solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansch, Markus; Kaub, Hans Peter; Deck, Sascha; Carl, Nico; Huber, Klaus

2018-03-01

Dilute solutions of sodium poly(styrene sulfonate) (NaPSS) in the presence of Al3+, Ca2+, and Ba2+ were analysed by means of isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) in order to investigate the heat effect of bond formation between those cations and the anionic SO3- residues of NaPSS. The selection of the cations was guided by the solution behavior of the corresponding PSS salts from a preceding study [M. Hansch et al., J. Chem. Phys. 148(1), 014901 (2018)], where bonds between Ba2+ and anionic PSS showed an increasing solubility with decreasing temperature and Al3+ exhibited the inverse trend. Unlike to Al3+ and Ba2+, Ca2+ is expected to behave as a purely electrostatically interacting bivalent cation and was thus included in the present study. Results from ITC satisfactorily succeeded to explain the temperature-dependent solution behavior of the salts with Al3+ and Ba2+ and confirmed the non-specific behavior of Ca2+. Additional ITC experiments with salts of Ca2+ and Ba2+ and sodium poly(acrylate) complemented the results on PSS by data from a chemically different polyanion. Availability of these joint sets of polyanion-cation combinations not only offers the chance to identify common features and subtle differences in the solution behavior of polyelectrolytes in the presence of multi-valent cations but also points to a new class of responsive materials.

Preparation and luminescence properties of orange-red Ba3Y(PO4)3:Sm3+ phosphors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Qiguang; Xu, Denghui; Sun, Jiayue

2015-04-01

Ba3Y(PO4)3:Sm3+ phosphors were prepared by a high temperature solid-state reaction in air. X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence spectra and temperature-dependent emission spectra were utilized to characterize the structure and luminescence properties of the as-prepared phosphor. The results show that the phosphor can be efficiently excited by ultraviolet light and emit a satisfactory orange-red performance, nicely, fitting in well with the widely used UV LED chip. Under 403 nm excitation, the 4G5/2 → 6HJ (J = 5/2, 7/2, 9/2, and 11/2) emissions of Sm3+ are obviously observed. The optimum doping concentration is 5 mol% and corresponding quenching behavior is ascribed to be electric dipole-dipole interaction according to Dexter's theory. The temperature dependent luminescence of Ba3Y(PO4)3:Sm3+ phosphor is also discussed, and the activation energy for thermal quenching is calculated as 0.34 eV. Furthermore, the chromaticity coordinates of Ba3Y(PO4)3:Sm3+ phosphor are calculated to be (0.5558, 0.4380) and the lifetime values of Ba3Y0.995(PO4)3:0.005Sm3+ was 2.45 ms.

The effect of a behavioral activation program on improving mental and physical health complaints associated with radiation stress among mothers in Fukushima: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Imamura, Kotaro; Sekiya, Yuki; Asai, Yumi; Umeda, Maki; Horikoshi, Naoko; Yasumura, Seiji; Yabe, Hirooki; Akiyama, Tsuyoshi; Kawakami, Norito

2016-11-08

Mothers living with small children in Fukushima prefecture may experience radiation anxiety and related symptoms after the Fukushima Dai'ich Nuclear Power Plant Accident. A behavioral activation (BA) program was developed to improve their psychosomatic symptoms. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the effectiveness of a BA program for improving psychological distress and physical symptoms among mothers with preschool children in Fukushima-prefecture 3 years after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Participants were recruited from mothers living with a preschool child(ren) in Fukushima city and surrounding areas though a newspaper advertisement, posters, and flyers. Participants allocated to the intervention group received a newly developed group-based BA program, which consisted of two 90- min lessons with a 1-week interval. Psychological distress and physical symptoms as a primary outcome, and radiation anxiety and positive well-being (liveliness and life satisfaction) as a secondary outcome, were measured at baseline, 1- and 3-month follow-ups. Participants were randomly allocated to either an intervention or a control group (18 and 19, respectively). The BA program showed a marginally significant intervention effect on psychological distress (p = 0.051) and physical symptoms (p = 0.07) at 1-month follow-up, while the effect became smaller at 3-month follow-up. The effect sizes at 1-month were medium to large (-0.72 and -0.56, respectively). There was a significant intervention effect on increasing liveliness at 3-month follow-up (p = 0.02); and there were marginally significant effects on life satisfaction at 1- and 3-month follow-ups (both p = 0.09). This BA program may be effective for improving psychological distress, physical symptoms, and well-being, at least for a short duration, among mothers with preschool children after the nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima, while a further large-scale study is needed. The UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR; ID =  UMIN000014081 ). Registered 27 May 2014.

Effect of surface moisture on dielectric behavior of ultrafine BaTiO3 particulates.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mountvala, A. J.

1971-01-01

The effects of adsorbed H2O on the dielectric properties of ultrafine BaTiO3 particulates of varying particle size and environmental history were determined. The dielectric behavior depends strongly on surface hydration. No particle size dependence of dielectric constant was found for dehydroxylated surfaces in ultrafine particulate (unsintered) BaTiO3 materials. For equivalent particle sizes, the ac conductivity is sensitive to surface morphology. Reactions with H2O vapor appear to account for the variations in dielectric properties. Surface dehydration was effectively accomplished by washing as-received powders in isopropanol.

Tailoring the structure and thermoelectric properties of BaTiO3via Eu2+ substitution.

PubMed

Xiao, Xingxing; Widenmeyer, Marc; Xie, Wenjie; Zou, Tianhua; Yoon, Songhak; Scavini, Marco; Checchia, Stefano; Zhong, Zhicheng; Hansmann, Philipp; Kilper, Stefan; Kovalevsky, Andrei; Weidenkaff, Anke

2017-05-31

A series of Ba 1-x Eu x TiO 3-δ (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.9) phases with ∼40 nm particle size were synthesized via a Pechini method followed by annealing and sintering under a reducing atmosphere. The effects of Eu 2+ substitution on the BaTiO 3 crystal structure and the thermoelectric transport properties were systematically investigated. According to synchrotron X-ray diffraction data only cubic perovskite structures were observed. On the local scale below about 20 Å (equal to ∼5 unit cells) deviations from the cubic structure model (Pm3[combining macron]m) were detected by evaluation of the pair distribution function (PDF). These deviations cannot be explained by a simple symmetry breaking model like in EuTiO 3-δ . The best fit was achieved in the space group Amm2 allowing for a movement of Ti and Ba/Eu along 〈110〉 of the parent unit cell as observed for BaTiO 3 . Density functional calculations delivered an insight into the electronic structure of Ba 1-x Eu x TiO 3-δ . From the obtained density of states a significant reduction of the band gap by the presence of filled Eu 2+ 4f states at the top of the valence band was observed. The physical property measurements revealed that barium-europium titanates exhibit n-type semiconducting behavior and at high temperature the electrical conductivity strongly depended on the Eu 2+ content. Activation energies calculated from the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient data indicate that at high temperatures (800 K < T < 1123 K) the conduction mechanism of Ba 1-x Eu x TiO 3-δ (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.9) is a polaron hopping when 0 < x ≤ 0.6 and is a thermally activated process when 0.6 < x < 1. Besides, the thermal conductivity increases with increasing Eu 2+ concentration. Due to a remarkable improvement of the power factor, Ba 0.1 Eu 0.9 TiO 3-δ showed a ZT value of 0.24 at 1123 K.

Dielectric and ferroelectric properties of highly (100)-oriented (Na 0.5Bi 0.5) 0.94Ba 0.06TiO 3 thin films grown on LaNiO 3/γ-Al 2O 3/Si substrates by chemical solution deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Yiping; Akai, Daisuke; Sawada, Kazauki; Ishida, Makoto

2008-07-01

A (Na 0.5Bi 0.5) 0.94Ba 0.06TiO 3 chemical solution was prepared by using barium acetate, nitrate of sodium, nitrate of bismuth, and Ti-isopropoxide as raw materials. A white precipitation appeared during the preparation was analyzed to be Ba(NO 3) 2. We found that ethanolamine is a very effective coordinating ligand of Ba 2+. A transparent and stable (Na 0.5Bi 0.5) 0.94Ba 0.06TiO 3 precursor chemical solution has been achieved by using ethanolamine as a ligand of Ba 2+. (Na 0.5Bi 0.5) 0.94Ba 0.06TiO 3 films were grown on LaNiO 3/γ-Al 2O 3/Si substrates. Highly (100)-oriented (Na 0.5Bi 0.5) 0.94Ba 0.06TiO 3 films were obtained in this work due to lattice match growth. The dielectric, ferroelectric and insulative characteristics against applied field were studied. The conduction current shows an Ohmic conduction behavior at lower voltages and space-charge-limited behavior at higher voltages, respectively. These results indicate that, the (Na 0.5Bi 0.5) 0.94Ba 0.06TiO 3 film is a promising lead-free ferroelectric film.

The systematic activation method as a nursing intervention in depressed elderly: a protocol for a multi-centre cluster randomized trial.

PubMed

Clignet, Frans; van Meijel, Berno; van Straten, Annemiek; Cuijpers, Pim

2012-09-18

Depression in later life is a common mental disorder with a prevalence rate of between 3% and 35% for minor depression and approximately 2% for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The most common treatment modalities for MDD are antidepressant medication and psychological interventions. Recently, Behavioral Activation (BA) has gained renewed attention as an effective treatment modality in MDD. Although BA is considered an easy accessible intervention for both patients and health care workers (such as nurses), there is no research on the effectiveness of the intervention in inpatient depressed elderly.The aim of study, described in the present proposal, is to examine the effects of BA when executed by nurses in an inpatient population of elderly persons with MDD. The study is designed as a multi-center cluster randomized controlled trial. BA, described as The Systematic Activation Method (SAM) will be compared with Treatment as Usual (TAU). We aim to include ten mental health care units in the Netherlands that will each participate as a control unit or an experimental unit. The patients will meet the following criteria: (1) a primary diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) according to the DSM-IV criteria; (2) 60 years or older; (3) able to read and write in Dutch; (4) have consented to participate via the informed consent procedure. Based on an effect size d = 0.7, we intend to include 51 participants per condition (n = 102). The SAM will be implemented within the experimental units as an adjunctive therapy to Treatment As Usual (TAU). All patients will be assessed at baseline, after eight weeks, and after six months. The primary outcome will be the level of depression measured by means of the Beck Depression Inventory (Dutch version). Other assessments will be activity level, mastery, costs, anxiety and quality of life. To our knowledge this is the first study to test the effect of Behavioral Activation as a nursing intervention in an inpatient elderly population. This research has been approved by the medical research ethics committee for health-care settings in the Netherlands (No. NL26878.029.09) and is listed in the Dutch Trial Register (NTR No.1809).

The systematic activation method as a nursing intervention in depressed elderly: a protocol for a multi – centre cluster randomized trial

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Depression in later life is a common mental disorder with a prevalence rate of between 3% and 35% for minor depression and approximately 2% for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The most common treatment modalities for MDD are antidepressant medication and psychological interventions. Recently, Behavioral Activation (BA) has gained renewed attention as an effective treatment modality in MDD. Although BA is considered an easy accessible intervention for both patients and health care workers (such as nurses), there is no research on the effectiveness of the intervention in inpatient depressed elderly. The aim of study, described in the present proposal, is to examine the effects of BA when executed by nurses in an inpatient population of elderly persons with MDD. Methods/design The study is designed as a multi-center cluster randomized controlled trial. BA, described as The Systematic Activation Method (SAM) will be compared with Treatment as Usual (TAU). We aim to include ten mental health care units in the Netherlands that will each participate as a control unit or an experimental unit. The patients will meet the following criteria: (1) a primary diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) according to the DSM-IV criteria; (2) 60 years or older; (3) able to read and write in Dutch; (4) have consented to participate via the informed consent procedure. Based on an effect size d = 0.7, we intend to include 51 participants per condition (n = 102). The SAM will be implemented within the experimental units as an adjunctive therapy to Treatment As Usual (TAU). All patients will be assessed at baseline, after eight weeks, and after six months. The primary outcome will be the level of depression measured by means of the Beck Depression Inventory (Dutch version). Other assessments will be activity level, mastery, costs, anxiety and quality of life. Discussion To our knowledge this is the first study to test the effect of Behavioral Activation as a nursing intervention in an inpatient elderly population. This research has been approved by the medical research ethics committee for health-care settings in the Netherlands (No. NL26878.029.09) and is listed in the Dutch Trial Register (NTR No.1809). PMID:22989021

Sex- and Estrus-Dependent Differences in Rat Basolateral Amygdala

PubMed Central

Blume, Shannon R.; Freedberg, Mari; Vantrease, Jaime E.; Chan, Ronny; Padival, Mallika; Record, Matthew J.; DeJoseph, M. Regina; Urban, Janice H.

2017-01-01

Depression and anxiety are diagnosed almost twice as often in women, and the symptomology differs in men and women and is sensitive to sex hormones. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) contributes to emotion-related behaviors that differ between males and females and across the reproductive cycle. This hints at sex- or estrus-dependent features of BLA function, about which very little is known. The purpose of this study was to test whether there are sex differences or estrous cyclicity in rat BLA physiology and to determine their mechanistic correlates. We found substantial sex differences in the activity of neurons in lateral nuclei (LAT) and basal nuclei (BA) of the BLA that were associated with greater excitatory synaptic input in females. We also found strong differences in the activity of LAT and BA neurons across the estrous cycle. These differences were associated with a shift in the inhibition–excitation balance such that LAT had relatively greater inhibition during proestrus which paralleled more rapid cued fear extinction. In contrast, BA had relatively greater inhibition during diestrus that paralleled more rapid contextual fear extinction. These results are the first to demonstrate sex differences in BLA neuronal activity and the impact of estrous cyclicity on these measures. The shift between LAT and BA predominance across the estrous cycle provides a simple construct for understanding the effects of the estrous cycle on BLA-dependent behaviors. These results provide a novel framework to understand the cyclicity of emotional memory and highlight the importance of considering ovarian cycle when studying the BLA of females. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT There are differences in emotional responses and many psychiatric symptoms between males and females. This may point to sex differences in limbic brain regions. Here we demonstrate sex differences in neuronal activity in one key limbic region, the basolateral amygdala (BLA), whose activity fluctuates across the estrous cycle due to a shift in the balance of inhibition and excitation across two BLA regions, the lateral and basal nuclei. By uncovering this push–pull shift between lateral and basal nuclei, these results help to explain disparate findings about the effects of biological sex and estrous cyclicity on emotion and provide a framework for understanding fluctuations in emotional memory and psychiatric symptoms. PMID:28954870

A new oxytelluride: Perovskite and CsCl intergrowth in Ba 3Yb 2O 5Te

DOE PAGES

Whalen, J. B.; Besara, T.; Vasquez, R.; ...

2013-04-27

The new oxytelluride Ba 3Yb 2O 5Te was obtained from an alkaline earth flux. Ba3Yb2O5Te crystallizes in the tetragonal space group P4/ mmm (#123), with a=4.3615(3) Å and c=11.7596(11) angstrom, Z=1. The structure combines two distinct building blocks, a Ba 2Yb 2O 5 perovskite-like double layer with square bipyramidal coordination of the ytterbium ions, and a CsCl-type BaTe layer. Short range magnetic order is apparent at below 5 K, with the magnetic behavior above this temperature dominated by crystal field effects. The structure may be considered as an analog to the Ruddlesden-Popper phases, where the NaCl-type layer has been replacedmore » by the CsCl-type layer. Finally, the two-dimensional magnetic behavior is expected based on the highly anisotropic nature of the structure.« less

Effects of subchronic benzo(a)pyrene exposure on neurotransmitter receptor gene expression in the rat hippocampus related with spatial learning and memory change.

PubMed

Qiu, Chongying; Cheng, Shuqun; Xia, Yinyin; Peng, Bin; Tang, Qian; Tu, Baijie

2011-11-18

Exposure of laboratory rats to Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), an environmental contaminant with its high lipophilicify which is widely dispersed in the environment and can easily cross the blood brain barrier presenting in the central nervous system, is associated with impaired learning and memory. The purpose of the research was to examine whether subchronic exposure to BaP affects spatial learning and memory, and how it alters normal gene expression in hippocampus, as well as selection of candidate genes involving neurotransmitter receptor attributed to learning and memory. Morris water maze (MWM) was used to evaluate behavioral differences between BaP-treated and vehicle-treated groups. To gain a better insight into the mechanism of BaP-induced neurotoxicity on learning and memory, we used whole genome oligo microarrays as well as Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to assess the global impact of gene expression. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were intraperitoneally injected with 6.25mg/kg of BaP or vehicle for 14 weeks. The results from the Morris water maze (MWM) test showed that rats treated with BaP exhibited significantly higher mean latencies as compared to vehicle controls. BaP exposure significantly decreased the number of crossing the platform and the time spent in the target area. After the hippocampus was collected from each rat, total RNA was isolated. Microarray and PCR revealed that exposure to BaP affected mRNA expression of neurotransmitter receptors. The web tool DAVID was used to analyze the significantly enriched gene ontology (GO) and KEGG pathways in the differentially expressed genes. Analysis showed that the most significantly affected gene ontology category was behavior. Furthermore, the fourth highest significantly affected gene ontology category was learning and memory. KEGG molecular pathway analysis showed that "neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction" was affected by BaP with highest statistical significance, and 9 candidate neurotransmitter receptor genes involving learning and memory were selected out. Our results revealed a close link between behavioral changes and altered neurotransmitter receptor gene expression in BaP-treated rats. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Molecular friction dissipation and mode coupling in organic monolayers and polymer films.

PubMed

Knorr, Daniel B; Widjaja, Peggy; Acton, Orb; Overney, René M

2011-03-14

The impact of thermally active molecular rotational and translational relaxation modes on the friction dissipation process involving smooth nano-asperity contacts has been studied by atomic force microscopy, using the widely known Eyring analysis and a recently introduced method, dubbed intrinsic friction analysis. Two distinctly different model systems, i.e., monolayers of octadecyl-phosphonic acid (ODPA) and thin films of poly(tert-butyl acrylate) (PtBA) were investigated regarding shear-rate critical dissipation phenomena originating from diverging mode coupling behaviors between the external shear perturbation and the internal molecular modes of relaxation. Rapidly (ODPA) versus slowly (PtBA) relaxing systems, in comparison to the sliding rate, revealed monotonous logarithmic and nonmonotonous spectral shear rate dependences, respectively. Shear coupled, enthalpic activation energies of 46 kJ∕mol for ODPA and of 35 and ∼65 kJ∕mol for PtBA (below and above the glass transition) were found that could be attributed to intrinsic modes of relaxations. Also, entropic energies involved in the cooperative backbone mobility of PtBA could be quantified, dwarfing the activation energy by more than a factor of five. This study provides (i) a material specific understanding of the molecular scale dissipation process in shear compliant substances, (ii) analyses of material intrinsic shear-rate mode coupling, shear coordination and energetics, (iii) a verification of Eyring's model applied to tribological systems toward material intrinsic specificity, and (iv) a valuable extension of the Eyring analysis for complex macromolecular systems that are slowly relaxing, and thus, exhibit shear-rate mode coupling.

Bacoside A: Role in Cigarette Smoking Induced Changes in Brain

PubMed Central

Vani, G.; Anbarasi, K.; Shyamaladevi, C. S.

2015-01-01

Cigarette smoking (CS) is a major health hazard that exerts diverse physiologic and biochemical effects mediated by the components present and generated during smoking. Recent experimental studies have shown predisposition to several biological consequences from both active and passive cigarette smoke exposure. In particular, passive smoking is linked to a number of adverse health effects which are equally harmful as active smoking. A pragmatic approach should be considered for designing a pharmacological intervention to combat the adverse effects of passive smoking. This review describes the results from a controlled experimental condition, testing the effect of bacoside A (BA) on the causal role of passive/secondhand smoke exposure that caused pathological and neurological changes in rat brain. Chronic exposure to cigarette smoke induced significant changes in rat brain histologically and at the neurotransmitter level, lipid peroxidation states, mitochondrial functions, membrane alterations, and apoptotic damage in rat brain. Bacoside A is a neuroactive agent isolated from Bacopa monnieri. As a neuroactive agent, BA was effective in combating these changes. Future research should examine the effects of BA at molecular level and assess its functional effects on neurobiological and behavioral processes associated with passive smoke. PMID:26413118

Bacoside A: Role in Cigarette Smoking Induced Changes in Brain.

PubMed

Vani, G; Anbarasi, K; Shyamaladevi, C S

2015-01-01

Cigarette smoking (CS) is a major health hazard that exerts diverse physiologic and biochemical effects mediated by the components present and generated during smoking. Recent experimental studies have shown predisposition to several biological consequences from both active and passive cigarette smoke exposure. In particular, passive smoking is linked to a number of adverse health effects which are equally harmful as active smoking. A pragmatic approach should be considered for designing a pharmacological intervention to combat the adverse effects of passive smoking. This review describes the results from a controlled experimental condition, testing the effect of bacoside A (BA) on the causal role of passive/secondhand smoke exposure that caused pathological and neurological changes in rat brain. Chronic exposure to cigarette smoke induced significant changes in rat brain histologically and at the neurotransmitter level, lipid peroxidation states, mitochondrial functions, membrane alterations, and apoptotic damage in rat brain. Bacoside A is a neuroactive agent isolated from Bacopa monnieri. As a neuroactive agent, BA was effective in combating these changes. Future research should examine the effects of BA at molecular level and assess its functional effects on neurobiological and behavioral processes associated with passive smoke.

Effect of benzo[a]pyrene on detoxification and the activity of antioxidant enzymes of marine microalgae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Chen; Miao, Jingjing; Li, Yun; Pan, Luqing

2016-04-01

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) on the detoxification and antioxidant systems of two microalgae, Isochrysis zhanjiangensis and Platymonas subcordiformis. In our study, these two algae were exposed to BaP for 4 days at three different concentrations including 0.5 μg L-1 (low), 3 μg L-1 (mid) and 18 μg L-1 (high). The activity of detoxification enzymes, ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) increased in P. subcordiformis in all BaP-treated groups. In I. zhanjiangensis, the activity of these two enzymes increased at the beginning of exposure, and then decreased in the groups treated with mid- and high BaP. The activity of antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) increased in I. zhanjiangensis in all BaP-treated groups, and then decreased in high BaP-treated group, while no significant change was observed in P. subcordiformis. The activity of antioxidant enzyme catalase (CAT) increased in I. zhanjiangensis and P. subcordiformis in all BaPtreated groups. The content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in Isochrysis zhanjiangensis increased first, and then decreased in high BaP-treated group, while no change occurred in P. subcordiformis. These results demonstrated that BaP significantly influenced the activity of detoxifying and antioxidant enzymes in microalgae. The metabolic related enzymes (EROD, GST and CAT) may serve as sensitive biomarkers of measuring the contamination level of BaP in marine water.

In-treatment cigarette demand among treatment-seeking smokers with depressive symptoms.

PubMed

Weidberg, S; Vallejo-Seco, G; González-Roz, A; García-Pérez, Á; Secades-Villa, R

2018-07-01

Despite previous evidence supporting the use of the Cigarette Purchase Task (CPT) as a valid tool for assessing smoking reinforcement, research assessing how environmental changes affect CPT performance is scarce. This study addressed for the first time the differential effect of treatment condition [Cognitive Behavioral Treatment (CBT) + Behavioral Activation (BA) versus CBT + BA + Contingency Management (CM)] on cigarette demand among treatment seeking smokers with depressive symptoms. It also sought to assess whether reductions in smoking consumption arranged over the course of an intervention for smoking cessation impact on in-treatment cigarette demand. Participants were 92 smokers with depressive symptoms from a randomized clinical trial that received eight weeks of either CBT + BA or CBT + BA + CM. Individuals completed the CPT 8 times; the first during the intake visit and the remaining 7 scheduled once a week in midweek sessions. Cotinine samples were collected in each session. Participants receiving CBT + BA + CM showed higher reduction in cigarette demand across sessions than participants receiving CBT + BA, although this comparison was only significant for the intensity index (p = .004). Cotinine was positively related to cigarette demand (all p values < .001), although this association became less prominent across sessions. In-treatment cotinine decreases were associated with demand reductions (all p values < .001), but this association was not significant for elasticity. Reductions in nicotine intake arranged over the course of an intervention for smoking cessation impact in-treatment cigarette demand. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-temperature tunneling electroresistance in metal/ferroelectric/semiconductor tunnel junctions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xi, Zhongnan; Jin, Qiao; Zheng, Chunyan; Zhang, Yongcheng; Lu, Chaojing; Li, Qiang; Li, Shandong; Dai, Jiyan; Wen, Zheng

2017-09-01

Recently, ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) have attracted great attention due to promising applications in non-volatile memories. In this study, we report high-temperature tunneling electroresistance (TER) of metal/ferroelectric/semiconductor FTJs. Hysteretic resistance-voltage loops are observed in the Pt/BaTiO3/Nb:SrTiO3 tunnel junction from 300 to 513 K due to the modulation of interfacial Schottky barrier by polarization switching in the 4 u.c.-thick BaTiO3 barrier via a ferroelectric field effect. The Pt/BaTiO3/Nb:SrTiO3 device exhibits a giant ROFF/RON resistance ratio of ˜3 × 105 at 383 K and maintains bipolar resistance switching up to 513 K, suggesting excellent thermal endurance of the FTJs. The temperature-dependent TER behaviors are discussed in terms of the decrease of polarization in the BaTiO3 barrier, and the associated junction barrier profiles are deduced by transport and capacitance analyses. In addition, by extrapolating the retention time at elevated temperature in an Arrhenius-type relation, activation energy of ˜0.93 eV and room-temperature retention time of ˜70 years can be extracted.

Direct observation of oxygen-vacancy-enhanced polarization in a SrTiO 3-buffered ferroelectric BaTiO 3 film on GaAs

DOE PAGES

Qiao, Q.; Zhang, Y.; Contreras-Guerrero, Rocio; ...

2015-11-16

The integration of functional oxide thin-films on compound semiconductors can lead to a class of reconfigurable spin-based optoelectronic devices if defect-free, fully reversible active layers are stabilized. However, previous first-principles calculations predicted that SrTiO 3 thin filmsgrown on Si exhibit pinned ferroelectric behavior that is not switchable, due to the presence of interfacial vacancies. Meanwhile, piezoresponse force microscopy measurements have demonstrated ferroelectricity in BaTiO 3 grown on semiconductor substrates. The presence of interfacial oxygen vacancies in such complex-oxide/semiconductor systems remains unexplored, and their effect on ferroelectricity is controversial. We also use a combination of aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy andmore » first-principles density functional theory modeling to examine the role of interfacial oxygen vacancies on the ferroelectricpolarization of a BaTiO 3 thin filmgrown on GaAs. Moreover, we demonstrate that interfacial oxygen vacancies enhance the polar discontinuity (and thus the single domain, out-of-plane polarization pinning in BaTiO 3), and propose that the presence of surface charge screening allows the formation of switchable domains.« less

First-principles study of (Ba ,Ca ) TiO3 and Ba (Ti ,Zr ) O3 solid solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amoroso, Danila; Cano, Andrés; Ghosez, Philippe

2018-05-01

(Ba ,Ca ) TiO3 and Ba (Ti ,Zr ) O3 solid solutions are the building blocks of lead-free piezoelectric materials that attract a renewed interest. We investigate the properties of these systems by means of first-principles calculations, with a focus on the lattice dynamics and the competition between different ferroelectric phases. We first analyze the four parent compounds in order to compare their properties and their different tendency towards ferroelectricity. The core of our study is systematic characterization of the binary systems (Ba ,Ca ) TiO3 and Ba (Ti ,Zr ) O3 within both the virtual crystal approximation and direct supercell calculations. In the case of Ca doping, we find a gradual transformation from B -site to A -site ferroelectricity due to steric effects that largely determines the behavior of the system. In the case of Zr doping, in contrast, the behavior is eventually dominated by cooperative Zr-Ti motions and the local electrostatics. In addition, our comparative study reveals that the specific microscopic physics of these solids sets severe limits to the applicability of the virtual crystal approximation for these systems.

Behavior of lanthanum containing barium stannate nanoparticles synthesized by cetyltriammonium bromide assisted wet chemistry route

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Astakala Anil; Kumar, Ashok; Quamara, J. K.

2018-02-01

In present study, we report dielectric, ferroelectric and pyroelectric behavior of pristine and La3+ containing barium stannate nanoparticles synthesized via wet chemical route involving cetyltriammonium bromide assisted thermal decomposition of binary precursors. The X-ray diffraction patterns of pristine and La3+ (2, 4 and 6 at%) doped BaSnO3 nanoparticles showed the formation of cubic perovskite phase. On substitution of Ba2+ lattice sites by La3+ at the La content of 6 at%, the sample exhibited fourfold increase in conductivity in comparison to pristine BaSnO3. Polarization hysteresis (P-E) curves of La containing barium stannate nanoparticles showed anti-ferroelectric behavior. The pyroelectric coefficient of pristine and La (2, 4 and 6 at%) containing BaSnO3 nanoparticles at 473 K were found to be 7.8, 11.6, 14.1 and 17.2 μCm-2K-1, respectively. Further, the responsivity and detectivity values were higher in comparison to the materials, such as AlN, GaN, CdS and ZnO.

Decreased bilateral cortical representation patterns in writer's cramp: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study at 3.0 T.

PubMed

Islam, Tina; Kupsch, Andreas; Bruhn, Harald; Scheurig, Christian; Schmidt, Sein; Hoffmann, Karl-Titus

2009-06-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to characterize patterns of cortical activation in response to sensory and motor tasks in patients with writer's cramp. 17 patients and 17 healthy subjects were examined during finger-tapping, index finger flexion, and electrical median nerve stimulation of both hands during electromyographic monitoring. SPM2 was used to evaluate Brodmann area (BA) 4, 1, 2, 3, 6, 40. Patients showed decreased activation in the left BA 4 with motor tasks of both hands and the left BA 1-3 with right finger-tapping. With left finger-tapping there was bilateral underactivation of single areas of the somatosensory cortex. Patients exhibited decreased activation in the bilateral BA 6 with left motor tasks and in the right BA 6 with right finger-tapping. Patients had decreased activation in bilateral BA 40 with finger-tapping of both hands. The findings suggest decreased baseline activity or an impaired activation in response to motor tasks in BA 1-4, 6, 40 in patients with writer's cramp for the dystonic and the clinically unaffected hand.

Regional brain changes in bipolar I depression: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

PubMed Central

Altshuler, Lori; Bookheimer, Susan; Townsend, Jennifer; Proenza, Manuel A; Sabb, Fred; Mintz, Jim; Cohen, Mark S

2011-01-01

Objective To investigate neural activity in prefrontal cortex and amygdala during bipolar depression. Methods Eleven bipolar I depressed and 17 normal subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing a task known to activate prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Whole brain activation patterns were determined using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) when subjects matched faces displaying neutral or negative affect (match condition) or matched a geometric form (control condition). Contrasts for each group for the match versus control conditions were used in a second-level random effects analysis. Results Random effects between-group analysis revealed significant attenuation in right and left orbitofrontal cortex (BA47) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (BA9) in bipolar depressed subjects. Additionally, random effects analysis showed a significantly increased activation in left lateral orbitofrontal cortex (BA10) in the bipolar depressed versus control subjects. Within-group contrasts demonstrated significant amygdala activation in the controls and no significant amygdala activation in the bipolar depressed subjects. The amygdala between-group difference, however, was not significant. Conclusions Bipolar depression is associated with attenuated bilateral orbitofrontal (BA47) activation, attenuated right DLPFC (BA9) activation and heightened left orbitofrontal (BA10) activation. BA47 attenuation has also been reported in mania and may thus represent a trait feature of the disorder. Increased left prefrontal (BA10) activation may be a state marker to bipolar depression. Our findings suggest dissociation between mood-dependent and disease-dependent functional brain abnormalities in bipolar disorder. PMID:18837865

Preparation and properties of Ba xSr 1- xCo yFe 1- yO 3- δ cathode material for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Hailei; Shen, Wei; Zhu, Zhiming; Li, Xue; Wang, Zhifeng

Ba xSr 1- xCo yFe 1- yO 3- δ (BSCF) materials with perovskite structure were synthesized via solid-state reaction. Their structural characteristics, electrical-conduction behavior and cathode performance were investigated. Compared to A-site elements, B-site elements show a wide solid-solution range in BSCF. The electrical-conduction behavior of BSCF obeys the small polaron-hopping mechanism. An increase of Ba or Co content in the BSCF samples results in a decrease of electrical conductivity, which is mainly attributable to the preferential existence of B 3+ rather than B 4+ in Ba- or Co-rich samples. At the same time, this leads to increases in the lattice parameter a and the number of oxygen vacancies. BSCF samples with high Ba content show a high structural stability (high oxygen-loss temperature). Ba 0.6Sr 0.4Co 0.8Fe 0.2O 3- δ and Ba 0.5Sr 0.5Co 0.8Fe 0.2O 3- δ materials present good thermal-cycling stability of the electrical conductivity. Compared with Ba 0.5Sr 0.5Co 0.8Fe 0.2O 3- δ, Ba 0.6Sr 0.4Co 0.8Fe 0.2O 3- δ exhibits a better cathode performance in a Ce 0.8Gd 0.2O 2- δ (GDC)-supported half cell. The cell performance can be improved by introducing a certain amount of GDC electrolyte into the BSCF cathode material.

Psychometric Performance of the Arabic Versions of the Cancer Behavior Inventory-Brief and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast.

PubMed

Algamdi, Maaidah M; Hanneman, Sandra K

2018-02-14

Valid and reliable instruments in Arabic are needed to measure self-efficacy and quality of life for Arabic patients with cancer. The aim of this study was to test the psychometric performance of the Cancer Behavior Inventory-Brief Arabic (CBI-BA), including participant understanding of items, and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast Arabic (FACT-BA). Using a cross-sectional design, 438 cancer patients completed the CBI-BA, 30 of whom completed cognitive interviews. A subsample 167 women with breast cancer also completed the FACT-BA. Internal consistency evidence was assessed with Cronbach's α and construct validity with principal axis factoring. Internal consistency estimates were acceptable for the total CBI-BA (α = .81) and FACT-BA (α = .88) scales. Exploratory factor analyses showed evidence of construct validity for the CBI-BA; 1 factor was derived, compared with four in the original English version. Cognitive interviews indicated satisfactory patient understanding of CBI-BA items. The Arabic version of the general FACT-General scale had 4 factors according to expectation. The CBI-BA has adequate psychometric performance for the measurement of self-efficacy for coping with cancer in Arabic patients. The FACT-General Arabic has adequate evidence of reliability and validity for the measurement of quality of life in Arabic women with breast cancer. The availability of culturally sensitive and psychometrically sound instruments for Arabic patients diagnosed with cancer should be valuable for healthcare clinicians and researchers to assess self-efficacy for coping with cancer and quality of life.

Ex vivo dissection of optogenetically activated mPFC and hippocampal inputs to neurons in the basolateral amygdala: implications for fear and emotional memory

PubMed Central

Hübner, Cora; Bosch, Daniel; Gall, Andrea; Lüthi, Andreas; Ehrlich, Ingrid

2014-01-01

Many lines of evidence suggest that a reciprocally interconnected network comprising the amygdala, ventral hippocampus (vHC), and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) participates in different aspects of the acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear responses and fear behavior. This could at least in part be mediated by direct connections from mPFC or vHC to amygdala to control amygdala activity and output. However, currently the interactions between mPFC and vHC afferents and their specific targets in the amygdala are still poorly understood. Here, we use an ex-vivo optogenetic approach to dissect synaptic properties of inputs from mPFC and vHC to defined neuronal populations in the basal amygdala (BA), the area that we identify as a major target of these projections. We find that BA principal neurons (PNs) and local BA interneurons (INs) receive monosynaptic excitatory inputs from mPFC and vHC. In addition, both these inputs also recruit GABAergic feedforward inhibition in a substantial fraction of PNs, in some neurons this also comprises a slow GABAB-component. Amongst the innervated PNs we identify neurons that project back to subregions of the mPFC, indicating a loop between neurons in mPFC and BA, and a pathway from vHC to mPFC via BA. Interestingly, mPFC inputs also recruit feedforward inhibition in a fraction of INs, suggesting that these inputs can activate dis-inhibitory circuits in the BA. A general feature of both mPFC and vHC inputs to local INs is that excitatory inputs display faster rise and decay kinetics than in PNs, which would enable temporally precise signaling. However, mPFC and vHC inputs to both PNs and INs differ in their presynaptic release properties, in that vHC inputs are more depressing. In summary, our data describe novel wiring, and features of synaptic connections from mPFC and vHC to amygdala that could help to interpret functions of these interconnected brain areas at the network level. PMID:24634648

Effects of Chronic Active Cannabis Use on Visuomotor Integration, in Relation to Brain Activation and Cortisol Levels

PubMed Central

King, G.R.; Ernst, T.; Deng, W.; Stenger, A.; Gonzales, R.M.K; Nakama, H.; Chang, L.

2012-01-01

Cannabis is the most abused illegal substance in the United States. Alterations in brain function and motor behavior have been reported in chronic cannabis users, but the results have been variable. The current study aimed to determine whether chronic active cannabis use in humans may alter psychomotor function, brain activation, and hypothalamic-pituitary-axis (HPA) function in men and women. 30 cannabis users (16 men and 14 women, 18 to 45 years old) and 30 non-drug user controls (16 men and 14 women, 19 to 44 years old) were evaluated with neuropsychological tests designed to assess motor behavior and functional MRI (fMRI), using a 3 Tesla scanner, during a visually paced finger-sequencing task, cued by a flashing checkerboard (at 2 or 4 Hz). Salivary cortisol was measured to assess HPA function. Male, but not female, cannabis users had significantly slower performance on psychomotor speed tests. As a group, cannabis users had greater activation in BA 6 than controls, while controls had greater activation in the visual area BA 17 than cannabis users. Cannabis users also had higher salivary cortisol levels than controls (p = 0.002). Chronic active cannabis use is associated with slower and less efficient psychomotor function, especially in the male users, as indicated by a shift from regions involved with automated visually guided responses to more executive or attentional control areas. These brain activities may be attenuated by the higher cortisol levels in the cannabis users which in turn may lead to less efficient visual-motor function. PMID:22159107

Eu(2+)-Activated Phase-Pure Oxonitridosilicate Phosphor in a Ba-Si-O-N System via Facile Silicate-Assisted Routes Designed by First-Principles Thermodynamic Simulation.

PubMed

Yun, Young Jun; Kim, Jin Kyu; Ju, Ji Young; Choi, Seul Ki; Park, Woon Ik; Jung, Ha-Kyun; Kim, Yongseon; Choi, Sungho

2016-09-06

Eu(2+)-activated single phase Ba(2+)-oxonitridosilicate phosphors were prepared under a mild synthetic condition via silicate precursors, and their luminescent properties were investigated. Both the preferred oxonitridosilicate formation as for the available host compounds and thermodynamic stability within the Ba-Si-O-N system were elucidated in detail by the theoretical simulation based on the first-principles density functional theory. Those results can visualize the optimum synthetic conditions for Eu(2+)-activated highly luminescent Ba(2+)-oxonitridosilicates, especially Ba3Si6O12N2, as promising conversion phosphors for white LEDs, including Ba3Si6O9N4 and BaSi2O2N2 phases. To prove the simulated design rule, we synthesized the Ba3Si6O12N2:Eu(2+) phosphor using various silicate precursors, Ba2Si4O10, Ba2Si3O8, and BaSiO3, in a carbothermal reduction ambient and finally succeeded in obtaining a phase of pure highly luminescent oxonitridosilicate phosphor without using any solid-state nitride addition and/or high pressure synthetic procedures. Our study provides useful guidelines for robust synthetic procedures for developing thermally stable rare-earth-ion activated oxonitridosilicate phosphors and an established simulation method that can be effectively applied to other multigas systems.

Betulinic acid exerts anti-hepatitis C virus activity via the suppression of NF-κB- and MAPK-ERK1/2-mediated COX-2 expression.

PubMed

Lin, Chun-Kuang; Tseng, Chin-Kai; Chen, Kai-Hsun; Wu, Shih-Hsiung; Liaw, Chih-Chuang; Lee, Jin-Ching

2015-06-23

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of betulinic acid (BA), extracted from Avicennia marina, on the replication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and to investigate the mechanism of this BA-mediated anti-HCV activity. HCV replicon and infectious systems were used to evaluate the anti-HCV activity of BA. Exogenous COX-2 or knock-down of COX-2 expression was used to investigate the role of COX-2 in the anti-HCV activity of BA. The effects of BA on the phosphorylation of NF-κB and on kinases in the MAPK signalling pathway were determined. The anti-HCV activity of BA in combination with other HCV inhibitors was also determined to assess its use as an anti-HCV supplement. BA inhibited HCV replication in both Ava5 replicon cells and in a cell culture-derived infectious HCV particle system. Treatment with a combination of BA and IFN-α, the protease inhibitor telaprevir or the NS5B polymerase inhibitor sofosbuvir resulted in the synergistic suppression of HCV RNA replication. Exogenous overexpression of COX-2 gradually attenuated the inhibitory effect of BA on HCV replication, suggesting that BA reduces HCV replication by suppressing the expression of COX-2. In particular, BA down-regulated HCV-induced COX-2 expression by reducing the phosphorylation of NF-κB and ERK1/2 of the MAPK signalling pathway. BA inhibits HCV replication by suppressing the NF-κB- and ERK1/2-mediated COX-2 pathway and may serve as a promising compound for drug development or as a potential supplement for use in the treatment of HCV-infected patients. © 2015 The British Pharmacological Society.

56. The Role of Prefrontal Cortex in Self-Referential Memory Retrieval in Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Jimenez, Amy; Lee, Junghee; Wynn, Jonathan K.; Horan, William; Iglesias, Julio; Hoy, Jennifer; Green, Michael F.

2017-01-01

Abstract Background: Enhanced memory for self-oriented information is known as the self-referential memory (SRM) effect. fMRI studies of the SRM effect have largely focused on encoding, revealing selective engagement of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during “self” relative to other semantic processing conditions. Other areas typically activated during self-processing include the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Previous imaging work by our group indicated that patients with schizophrenia activate regions similar to controls during encoding of self-referential information. However, little is known about activation patterns during retrieval, or how activation during encoding relates to retrieval behaviorally. The current study utilized an SRM task to examine: (1) the neural correlates of the retrieval of previously encoded self-oriented information, and (2) the relationship between behavioral data from the retrieval phase and fMRI data at encoding. Methods: 20 clinically stable schizophrenia outpatients and 16 demographically matched healthy controls completed an SRM task modified for event-related fMRI. During the encoding phase, trait adjectives were judged in terms of structural features (“case” condition), social desirability (“other” condition), or as self-referential (“self” condition). Following a 12-minute delay comprised of distractor tasks, memory for trait adjectives was tested during an unexpected yes–no recognition test (retrieval phase). Voxel-wise whole-brain BOLD signal analysis of retrieval phase data was used to examine contrasts of interest with a cluster-threshold of Z = 2.3, P < .05, corrected for multiple comparisons. Results: During retrieval, both groups demonstrated better recognition discriminability (d-prime) for adjectives from the “self” and “other” conditions compared to the “case” condition; d-prime scores were greater for the “self” condition compared to the “other” condition at the trend level. During retrieval, controls showed greater activation than patients in several areas of lateral prefrontal cortex including inferior frontal gyrus (Brodmann Area, BA, 44/45) and middle frontal gyrus (BA 9) for words from the “self” condition. Further, level of activation of mPFC (BA 10) during encoding was positively correlated with d-prime for the “self” condition in controls, but not patients. Conclusion: Although the groups demonstrated comparable behavioral performance during the retrieval phase of an SRM task, regional BOLD activation of prefrontal regions discriminated patients from controls during the retrieval of self-oriented information. The current findings add to a growing body of literature highlighting the critical role of disrupted mPFC activity in self-oriented processing in schizophrenia.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sangeetha, N. S.; Smetana, V.; Mudring, A. -V.

Here, crystals of SrMn 2Sb 2 and BaMn 2Sb 2 were grown using Sn flux and characterized by powder and single-crystal x-ray diffraction, respectively, and by single-crystal electrical resistivity ρ, heat capacity C p, and magnetic susceptibility χ measurements versus temperature T, and magnetization versus field M(H) isotherm measurements. SrMn 2Sb 2 adopts the trigonal CaAl 2Si 2-type structure, whereas BaMn 2Sb 2 crystallizes in the tetragonal ThCr 2Si 2-type structure. The ρ(T) data indicate semiconducting behaviors for both compounds with activation energies of ≳0.35 eV for SrMn 2Sb 2 and 0.16 eV for BaMn 2Sb 2. The χ(T) andmore » C p(T) data reveal antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering at T N = 110 K for SrMn 2Sb 2 and 450 K for BaMn 2Sb 2. The anisotropic χ(T≤T N) data also show that the ordered moments in SrMn 2Sb 2 are aligned in the hexagonal ab plane, whereas the ordered moments in BaMn 2Sb 2 are aligned collinearly along the tetragonal c axis. The ab-plane M(H) data for SrMn 2Sb 2 exhibit a continuous metamagnetic transition at low fields 02Sb 2 exhibits no metamagnetic transitions up to 5.5 T. The χ(T) and C p(T) data for both SrMn 2Sb 2 and BaMn 2Sb 2 indicate strong dynamic short-range AFM correlations above their respective T N up to at least 900 K within a local-moment picture, corresponding to quasi-two-dimensional magnetic behavior. The present results and a survey of the literature for Mn pnictides with the CaAl 2Si 2 and ThCr 2Si 2 crystal structures show that the T N values for the CaAl 2Si 2-type compounds are much smaller than those for the ThCr 2Si 2-type materials.« less

Composition and Elution Behavior of Various Elements from Printed Circuit Boards, Cathode-ray Tube Glass, and Liquid-crystal Displays in Waste Consumer Electronics.

PubMed

Inaba, Kazuho; Murata, Tomoyoshi; Yamamura, Shigeki; Nagano, Masaaki; Iwasaki, Kazuhiro; Nakajima, Daisuke; Takigami, Hidetaka

2018-01-01

The contents and elution behavior of metals in consumer electronics parts were determined so as to understand their maximum environmental risk. Elements contained most in printed-circuit boards were Cu, Si, Br, Ca, Al, Sn, Pb, Sb, Ba, Fe, Ni, Ti, and Zn; in cathode-ray tube glass were Si, Pb, Ba, Sr, Zn, Zr, Ca, and Sb; in arsenic contained liquid-crystal displays were Si, Ca, Sr, Ba, As, and Fe; and in antimony contained liquid-crystal displays were Si, Ba, Ca, Sb, Sr, Fe, and Sn. The elements eluted most from printed-circuit boards were Zn, Pb, and Cu; from cathode-ray tube glass were Pb, Zn, B, Ba, and Si; and from liquid-crystal displays were B and Si, and the toxic As and Sb. The amount eluted was greatest at acidic pH. It was revealed that officially recommended 6-h-shaking with a pure water test was insufficient to understand the real environmental risk of waste electronics.

Elemental fractionation and magnetic properties of melt-based Y1Ba2Cu3Oz containing excess Tb or Pt

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hojaji, Hamid; Barkatt, Aaron; Hu, Shouxiang; Michael, Karen A.; Thorpe, Arthur N.; Talmy, Inna G.; Haught, Debbie A.; Alterescu, Sidney

1990-01-01

Scanning electron microscopy of certain partially melted Y-Ba-Cu-O materials containing minority metal oxide species (Y:Tb:Ba:Cu = 1:0.1:2:3 or Y:Ba:Cu with Pt impurities), accompanied by both EDX and EMP analysis, indicates that the minority species (Tb or Pt) is quantitatively concentrated in a relatively small number of 123-type grains. High magnetic susceptibility and magnetization observed for these materials indicate that such elemental distribution is not detrimental to superconducting behavior.

Knowledge, Attitudes, Behaviors and Noise Exposure of Baristas

PubMed Central

Pursley, Alyssa J.; Saunders, Gabrielle H.

2016-01-01

Objective To examine the daily noise exposure of baristas working in cafés, and to measure their knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding hearing conservation and perceptions of noise in their work environment. Design Fifteen baristas from six cafés in Portland completed the Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors questionnaire, a sound disturbance survey, and a structured interview to document perceptions of noise in the work environment. To measure daily noise exposure, a subset of eight participants wore a personal dosimeter for three different work shifts. Study Sample 11 females and 4 males aged between 19 and 36 years old (mean: 26.3, SD: 4.6) recruited from independently owned cafés in the Portland metro area. Results Dosimetry measurements revealed Leq measurements between 71 dBA and 83 dBA, with noise doses ranging from 4% to 74%, indicating that baristas are not exposed to sound levels above the regulatory criterion. Questionnaire results indicated that baristas have low awareness about the hazards of noise, are not opposed to hearing conservation, and rarely use hearing protection when engaged in noisy activities. Conclusions Baristas here lacked the pertinent education and motivation to commit to invaluable hearing conservation practices. PMID:26795371

Does Shape Discrimination by the Mouth Activate the Parietal and Occipital Lobes? – Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

PubMed Central

Kagawa, Tomonori; Narita, Noriyuki; Iwaki, Sunao; Kawasaki, Shingo; Kamiya, Kazunobu; Minakuchi, Shunsuke

2014-01-01

A cross-modal association between somatosensory tactile sensation and parietal and occipital activities during Braille reading was initially discovered in tests with blind subjects, with sighted and blindfolded healthy subjects used as controls. However, the neural background of oral stereognosis remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated whether the parietal and occipital cortices are activated during shape discrimination by the mouth using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Following presentation of the test piece shape, a sham discrimination trial without the test pieces induced posterior parietal lobe (BA7), extrastriate cortex (BA18, BA19), and striate cortex (BA17) activation as compared with the rest session, while shape discrimination of the test pieces markedly activated those areas as compared with the rest session. Furthermore, shape discrimination of the test pieces specifically activated the posterior parietal cortex (precuneus/BA7), extrastriate cortex (BA18, 19), and striate cortex (BA17), as compared with sham sessions without a test piece. We concluded that oral tactile sensation is recognized through tactile/visual cross-modal substrates in the parietal and occipital cortices during shape discrimination by the mouth. PMID:25299397

Does shape discrimination by the mouth activate the parietal and occipital lobes? - near-infrared spectroscopy study.

PubMed

Kagawa, Tomonori; Narita, Noriyuki; Iwaki, Sunao; Kawasaki, Shingo; Kamiya, Kazunobu; Minakuchi, Shunsuke

2014-01-01

A cross-modal association between somatosensory tactile sensation and parietal and occipital activities during Braille reading was initially discovered in tests with blind subjects, with sighted and blindfolded healthy subjects used as controls. However, the neural background of oral stereognosis remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated whether the parietal and occipital cortices are activated during shape discrimination by the mouth using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Following presentation of the test piece shape, a sham discrimination trial without the test pieces induced posterior parietal lobe (BA7), extrastriate cortex (BA18, BA19), and striate cortex (BA17) activation as compared with the rest session, while shape discrimination of the test pieces markedly activated those areas as compared with the rest session. Furthermore, shape discrimination of the test pieces specifically activated the posterior parietal cortex (precuneus/BA7), extrastriate cortex (BA18, 19), and striate cortex (BA17), as compared with sham sessions without a test piece. We concluded that oral tactile sensation is recognized through tactile/visual cross-modal substrates in the parietal and occipital cortices during shape discrimination by the mouth.

Effect of band and knife castration of beef calves on welfare indicators of pain at three relevant industry ages: I. Acute pain.

PubMed

Meléndez, D M; Marti, S; Pajor, E A; Moya, D; Heuston, C E M; Gellatly, D; Janzen, E D; Schwartzkopf-Genswein, K S

2017-10-01

Three experiments evaluated the effect of band and knife castration on acute pain for the first 7 d after the procedure on 1-wk-, 2-mo-, and 4-mo-old calves. All calves were blocked by age and weight and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments: sham castration (control, CT), band castration (BA), and knife castration (KN). Experiment 1 evaluated 1-wk-old Angus bull calves ( = 34; 43.0 ± 6.61 kg BW), Exp. 2 evaluated 2-mo-old Angus bull calves ( = 34; 91.5 ± 11.93 kg BW), and Exp. 3 evaluated 4-mo-old Angus bull calves ( = 35; 157.6 ± 22.52 kg BW). For all experiments, physiological and behavioral parameters were collected before (d -1 and immediately before castration [T0]) and after (60 and 120 min and on d 7) castration to assess acute pain. Physiological measures included complete blood cell count, cortisol, substance P, and scrotal temperature. Behavioral measures consisted of a visual analog scale, stride length, and time and frequency budgets for walking, standing, lying, tail flicking, foot stamping, and head turning. Performance parameters included initial and final BW and ADG. In Exp. 1, tail flicking was greater ( = 0.02) in KN calves compared to BA calves 2 to 4 h after castration, although no differences were seen between BA and KN compared to CT calves. In Exp. 2, a treatment × time interaction ( = 0.02) was observed for cortisol, where KN calves had greater cortisol concentrations 120 min after castration compared to BA and CT calves; KN calves also lay down and ate less ( < 0.01; = 0.02) and stood and walked more ( < 0.01; = 0.05) compared to BA and CT calves 2 to 4 h after castration. In Exp. 3, a treatment × time interaction ( < 0.01) was observed for cortisol concentrations in which all treatments were different from one another at 60 and 120 min, with BA calves having the greatest concentrations, KN calves being intermediate, and CT having the lowest concentrations. Overall, KN and BA castrated calves presented physiological and behavioral changes associated with acute pain; however, 2-mo-old BA calves presented the fewest behavioral changes and no physiological changes associated with acute pain compared to CT calves.

Melting curve of compressed barium carbonate from in situ ionic conductivity measurements: Implications for the melting behavior of alkaline earth carbonates in Earth's deep carbon cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, J.; Li, J.; Zhu, F.; Li, Z.; Farawi, R.

2017-12-01

The whereabouts of subducted carbonates place a major constraint on the Earth's deep carbon cycle, but the fraction of carbon retained in the slab and transported into the deep mantle, compared to that released from the slab and recycled to the surface, is still under debate. Knowledge of the stability of carbonated mantle rocks is pivotal for assessing the ability of slabs to carry carbonates into the deep mantle. Determination and systematic comparison of the melting curves of alkali and alkaline earth carbonates at high pressure can help construct thermodynamic models to predict the melting behavior of complex carbonated mantle rocks. Among alkaline earth carbonates, the melting behavior of barium carbonate (BaCO3) has not been adequately understood. The reported melting point of BaCO3at 1 bar differ by nearly 800 °C and constraints on the melting curve of BaCO3 at high pressure are not available. In this study, the melting temperatures of BaCO3 were determined up to 11 GPa from in situ ionic conductivity measurements using the multi-anvil apparatus at the University of Michigan. The solid-liquid boundary at high pressure was detected on the basis of a steep rise in conductivity through the sample upon melting. The melting point of BaCO3 was found to drop from 1797 °C at 3.3 GPa to 1600 °C at 5.5 GPa and then rise with pressure to 2180 °C at 11 GPa. The observed melting depression point at 5.5 GPa corresponds to the phase transition of BaCO3 from the aragonite structure (Pmcn) to post-aragonite structure (Pmmn) at 6.3 GPa, 877 °C and 8.0 GPa, 727 °C, determined from synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements using laser-heated DAC experiments at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. These results are also compared with ex situ falling marker experiments, and the three methods together place tight constraints on the melting curve of BaCO3 and elucidates the effect of structural phase transitions on its melting behavior.

Abnormal brain function in neuromyelitis optica: A fMRI investigation of mPASAT.

PubMed

Wang, Fei; Liu, Yaou; Li, Jianjun; Sondag, Matthew; Law, Meng; Zee, Chi-Shing; Dong, Huiqing; Li, Kuncheng

2017-10-01

Cognitive impairment with the Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) patients is debated. The present study is to study patterns of brain activation in NMO patients during a pair of task-related fMRI. We studied 20 patients with NMO and 20 control subjects matched for age, gender, education and handedness. All patients with NMO met the 2006 Wingerchuk diagnostic criteria. The fMRI paradigm included an auditory attention monitoring task and a modified version of the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (mPASAT). Both tasks were temporally and spatially balanced, with the exception of task difficulty. In mPASAT, Activation regions in control subjects included bilateral superior temporal gyri (BA22), left inferior frontal gyrus (BA45), bilateral inferior parietal lobule (BA7), left cingulate gyrus (BA32), left insula (BA13), and cerebellum. Activation regions in NMO patients included bilateral superior temporal gyri (BA22), left inferior frontal gyrus (BA9), right cingulate gyrus (BA32), right inferior parietal gyrus (BA40), left insula (BA13) and cerebellum. Some dispersed cognition related regions are greater in the patients. The present study showed altered cerebral activation during mPASAT in patients with NMO relative to healthy controls. These results are speculated to provide further evidence for brain plasticity in patients with NMO. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Near real-time estimation of burned area using VIIRS 375 m active fire product

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oliva, P.; Schroeder, W.

2016-12-01

Every year, more than 300 million hectares of land burn globally, causing significant ecological and economic consequences, and associated climatological effects as a result of fire emissions. In recent decades, burned area estimates generated from satellite data have provided systematic global information for ecological analysis of fire impacts, climate and carbon cycle models, and fire regimes studies, among many others. However, there is still need of near real-time burned area estimations in order to assess the impacts of fire and estimate smoke and emissions. The enhanced characteristics of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) 375 m channels on board the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnesship (S-NPP) make possible the use of near real-time active fire detection data for burned area estimation. In this study, consecutive VIIRS 375 m active fire detections were aggregated to produce the VIIRS 375 m burned area (BA) estimation over ten ecologically diverse study areas. The accuracy of the BA estimations was assessed by comparison with Landsat-8 supervised burned area classification. The performance of the VIIRS 375 m BA estimates was dependent on the ecosystem characteristics and fire behavior. Higher accuracy was observed in forested areas characterized by large long-duration fires, while grasslands, savannas and agricultural areas showed the highest omission and commission errors. Complementing those analyses, we performed the burned area estimation of the largest fires in Oregon and Washington states during 2015 and the Fort McMurray fire in Canada 2016. The results showed good agreement with NIROPs airborne fire perimeters proving that the VIIRS 375 m BA estimations can be used for near real-time assessments of fire effects.

Neuron density is decreased in the prefrontal cortex in Williams syndrome.

PubMed

Lew, Caroline Horton; Brown, Chelsea; Bellugi, Ursula; Semendeferi, Katerina

2017-01-01

Williams Syndrome (WS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder associated with a hemideletion in chromosome 7, which manifests a distinct behavioral phenotype characterized by a hyperaffiliative social drive, in striking contrast to the social avoidance behaviors that are common in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). MRI studies have observed structural and functional abnormalities in WS cortex, including the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a region implicated in social cognition. This study utilizes the Bellugi Williams Syndrome Brain Collection, a unique resource that comprises the largest WS postmortem brain collection in existence, and is the first to quantitatively examine WS PFC cytoarchitecture. We measured neuron density in layers II/III and V/VI of five cortical areas: PFC areas BA 10 and BA 11, primary motor BA 4, primary somatosensory BA 3, and visual area BA 18 in six matched pairs of WS and typically developing (TD) controls. Neuron density in PFC was lower in WS relative to TD, with layers V/VI demonstrating the largest decrease in density, reaching statistical significance in BA 10. In contrast, BA 3 and BA 18 demonstrated a higher density in WS compared to TD, although this difference was not statistically significant. Neuron density in BA 4 was similar in WS and TD. While other cortical areas were altered in WS, prefrontal areas appeared to be most affected. Neuron density is also altered in the PFC of individuals with ASD. Together these findings suggest that the PFC is targeted in neurodevelopmental disorders associated with sociobehavioral alterations. Autism Res 2017, 10: 99-112. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Magnetically induced electrical transport and dielectric properties of 3d transition elemental substitution at the Mn-site in Nd0.67Ba0.33MnO3 manganites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudakshina, B.; Arun, B.; Chandrasekhar, K. Devi; Yang, H. D.; Vasundhara, M.

2018-05-01

We have investigated the temperature dependence of electrical transport and dielectric properties along with magnetoresistance and magneto dielectric behavior in Nd0.67Ba0.33Mn0.9TR0.1O3 (TR= Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu) manganites. All the compounds crystallized into an orthorhombic structure with Imma space group. Nd0.67Ba0.33MnO3 shows insulating to metallic behavior at intermediate temperatures, but, with the substitution of transitional elements it shows insulating in nature, down to lowest temperature measured for all the compounds. Dielectric measurement shows the intrinsic behavior of these lossy materials. A large value of magneto resistance is obtained for all the compounds and considerable amount of magneto-dielectric effect is shown for all the substituted compounds at lower temperatures.

A pilot trial of integrated behavioral activation and sexual risk reduction counseling for HIV-uninfected men who have sex with men abusing crystal methamphetamine.

PubMed

Mimiaga, Matthew J; Reisner, Sari L; Pantalone, David W; O'Cleirigh, Conall; Mayer, Kenneth H; Safren, Steven A

2012-11-01

Crystal methamphetamine use is a major driver behind high-risk sexual behavior among men who have sex with men (MSM). Prior work suggests a cycle of continued crystal methamphetamine use and high-risk sex due to loss of the ability to enjoy other activities, which appears to be a side effect of this drug. Behavioral activation (BA) is a treatment for depression that involves learning to reengage in life's activities. We evaluated a novel intervention for crystal methamphetamine abuse and high-risk sex in MSM, incorporating 10 sessions of BA with integrated HIV risk reduction counseling (RR). Forty-four subjects were screened, of whom 21 met initial entry criteria. A total of 19 participants enrolled; 16 completed an open-phase study of the intervention. Behavioral assessments were conducted at baseline, 3 months postbaseline, and 6 months postbaseline. Linear mixed effects regression models were fit to assess change over time. Mean unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) episodes decreased significantly from baseline to acute postintervention (β=-4.86; 95% confidence interval [CI]=-7.48, -2.24; p=0.0015) and from baseline to 6 months postbaseline (β=-5.07; 95% CI=-7.85, -2.29; p=0.0017; test of fixed effects χ(2)=16.59; df=2,13; p=0.0002). On average, there was a significant decrease over time in the number of crystal methamphetamine episodes in the past 3 months (χ(2)=22.43; df=2,15; p<0.0001), and the number of days of crystal methamphetamine use in the past 30 days (χ(2)=9.21; df=2,15; p=0.010). Statistically significant reductions in depressive symptoms and poly-substance use were also maintained. Adding behavioral activation to risk reduction counseling for MSM with problematic crystal methamphetamine use may augment the potency of a risk reduction intervention for this population. Due to the small sample size and time intensive intervention, future testing in a randomized design is necessary to determine efficacy, with subsequent effectiveness testing.

A Pilot Trial of Integrated Behavioral Activation and Sexual Risk Reduction Counseling for HIV-Uninfected Men Who Have Sex with Men Abusing Crystal Methamphetamine

PubMed Central

Reisner, Sari L.; Pantalone, David W.; O'Cleirigh, Conall; Mayer, Kenneth H.; Safren, Steven A.

2012-01-01

Abstract Crystal methamphetamine use is a major driver behind high-risk sexual behavior among men who have sex with men (MSM). Prior work suggests a cycle of continued crystal methamphetamine use and high-risk sex due to loss of the ability to enjoy other activities, which appears to be a side effect of this drug. Behavioral activation (BA) is a treatment for depression that involves learning to reengage in life's activities. We evaluated a novel intervention for crystal methamphetamine abuse and high-risk sex in MSM, incorporating 10 sessions of BA with integrated HIV risk reduction counseling (RR). Forty-four subjects were screened, of whom 21 met initial entry criteria. A total of 19 participants enrolled; 16 completed an open-phase study of the intervention. Behavioral assessments were conducted at baseline, 3 months postbaseline, and 6 months postbaseline. Linear mixed effects regression models were fit to assess change over time. Mean unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) episodes decreased significantly from baseline to acute postintervention (β=−4.86; 95% confidence interval [CI]=−7.48, −2.24; p=0.0015) and from baseline to 6 months postbaseline (β=−5.07; 95% CI=−7.85, −2.29; p=0.0017; test of fixed effects χ2=16.59; df=2,13; p=0.0002). On average, there was a significant decrease over time in the number of crystal methamphetamine episodes in the past 3 months (χ2=22.43; df=2,15; p<0.0001), and the number of days of crystal methamphetamine use in the past 30 days (χ2=9.21; df=2,15; p=0.010). Statistically significant reductions in depressive symptoms and poly-substance use were also maintained. Adding behavioral activation to risk reduction counseling for MSM with problematic crystal methamphetamine use may augment the potency of a risk reduction intervention for this population. Due to the small sample size and time intensive intervention, future testing in a randomized design is necessary to determine efficacy, with subsequent effectiveness testing. PMID:23030605

Dielectric relaxation and electrical conduction mechanism in A2HoSbO6 (A=Ba, Sr, Ca) Double Perovskite Ceramics: An impedance spectroscopic analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halder, Saswata; Dutta, Alo; Sinha, T. P.

2017-03-01

The AC electrical properties of polycrystalline double perovskite oxides A2HoSbO6 (A=Ba, Sr, Ca; AHS) synthesized by solid state reaction technique has been explored by using impedance spectroscopic studies. The Rietveld refinement of the room temperature X-ray diffraction data show that Ba2HoSbO6 (BHS) has cubic phase and Sr2HoSbO6 (SHS) and Ca2HoSbO6 (CHS) crystallize in monoclinic phase. The samples show significant frequency dispersion in their dielectric properties. The polydispersive nature of the relaxation mechanism is explained by the modified Cole-Cole model. The scaling behavior of dielectric loss indicate the temperature independence of the relaxation mechanism. The magnitude of the activation energy indicates that the hopping mechanism is responsible for carrier transport in AHS. The frequency dependent conductivity spectra follow the double power law. Impedance spectroscopic data presented in the Nyquist plot (Z" versus Z‧) are used to identify an equivalent circuit along with to know the grain, grain boundary and interface contributions. The constant phase element (CPE) is used to analyze the experimental response of BHS, SHS and CHS comprehending the contribution of different microstructural features to the conduction process. The temperature dependent electrical conductivity shows a semiconducting behavior.

151. Bromocriptine Challenge Affects Working Memory Processing in Humans Depending on DRD2-Related Genes

PubMed Central

Pergola, Giulio; Selvaggi, Pierluigi; Gelao, Barbara; Di Carlo, Pasquale; Nettis, Maria Antonietta; Amico, Graziella; Felici, Valentina; Fazio, Leonardo; Rampino, Antonio; Sambataro, Fabio; Blasi, Giuseppe; Bertolino, Alessandro

2017-01-01

Abstract Background: Dopamine D2 receptors (D2R) contribute to the inverted-U shaped relationship between dopamine dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and working memory (WM). Genetic variation in DRD2 coding for D2Rs modulates D2 signaling, but other genes in its pathway may be involved. In a previous work, using gene co-expression networks we identified 84 partner genes coregulated with DRD2 and eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) predicting coexpression of the whole gene set in the human DLPFC [1]. These SNPs combined into a polygenic coexpression index (PCI) predicted WM performance and DLPFC activity in two independent samples of living healthy humans [1]. Here, we asked whether response to D2R targeting drugs is associated with this PCI. Thus, we investigated the interaction between WM behavioral/brain response to the D2R agonist Bromocriptine (BRO) and the PCI. [1] Pergola G, Di Carlo P, et al. (In press). Translational Psychiatry. Methods: Fifty healthy volunteers entered a double-blind, crossover, randomized, placebo-controlled fMRI study with BRO 1.25 mg and performed the N-Back WM task during the fMRI scanning session. We computed the PCI for all participants and investigated its association with WM-related behavior and brain activity using general linear models. Results: A PCI by drug interaction was significant on both DLPFC signal (right BA46, 242 voxels, F(1, 48) = 24; right BA9, 177 voxels, F(1, 48) = 19; P < .05 cluster-level FWE corrected) and behavioral scores, F(1, 46) = 4.6, P = .045, using a U-shaped quadratic model. The U-shaped relationship between the PCI and WM processing found on placebo was reversed on BRO. Furthermore, the increase in behavioral performance on BRO correlated with a decrease in BA46 activity, t(48) = −2.0, P = .049). Conclusion: The combined effect of multiple alleles on DRD2 coexpression covaried with drug response such that different allelic patterns were associated with similar responses, as in the inverted U-shaped model of WM. Thus, multiple genes and multiple allelic patterns are implicated in the inverted U-shaped dopamine/WM relationship. This relationship is reversed when individuals are administered BRO, suggesting that brain and behavioral response to this pharmacological challenge depends on a pleiotropic individual genetic background. Hence, pharmacogenomics in schizophrenia should take into account allelic patterns associated with molecular phenomena such as gene expression to predict drug response.

Growth of single crystals of BaFe12O19 by solid state crystal growth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, John G.; Sun, Hengyang; Kook, Young-Geun; Kim, Joon-Seong; Le, Phan Gia

2016-10-01

Single crystals of BaFe12O19 are grown for the first time by solid state crystal growth. Seed crystals of BaFe12O19 are buried in BaFe12O19+1 wt% BaCO3 powder, which are then pressed into pellets containing the seed crystals. During sintering, single crystals of BaFe12O19 up to ∼130 μm thick in the c-axis direction grow on the seed crystals by consuming grains from the surrounding polycrystalline matrix. Scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis shows that the single crystal and the surrounding polycrystalline matrix have the same chemical composition. Micro-Raman scattering shows the single crystal to have the BaFe12O19 structure. The optimum growth temperature is found to be 1200 °C. The single crystal growth behavior is explained using the mixed control theory of grain growth.

Unconscious processing modulates creative problem solving: evidence from an electrophysiological study.

PubMed

Gao, Ying; Zhang, Hao

2014-05-01

Previous behavioral studies have identified the significant role of subliminal cues in creative problem solving. However, neural mechanisms of such unconscious processing remain poorly understood. Here we utilized an event-related potential (ERP) approach and sandwich mask technique to investigate cerebral activities underlying the unconscious processing of cues in creative problem solving. College students were instructed to solve divergent problems under three different conditions (conscious cue, unconscious cue and no-cue conditions). Our data showed that creative problem solving can benefit from unconscious cues, although not as much as from conscious cues. More importantly, we found that there are crucial ERP components associated with unconscious processing of cues in solving divergent problems. Similar to the processing of conscious cues, processing unconscious cues in problem solving involves the semantic activation of unconscious cues (N280-340) in the right inferior parietal lobule (BA 40), new association formation (P350-450) in the right parahippocampal gyrus (BA 36), and mental representation transformation (P500-760) in the right superior temporal gyrus (BA 22). The present results suggest that creative problem solving can be modulated by unconscious processing of enlightening information that is weakly diffused in the semantic network beyond our conscious awareness. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of reductive treatments on Pt behavior and NOx storage in lean NOx trap catalysts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Xianqin; Kim, Do Heui; Kwak, Ja Hun

2011-10-01

Lean NOx trap (LNT) catalysts represent a promising approach to meet increasingly stringent NOx emission regulations on diesel and other lean-burn engines. Pt material properties, including dispersion and particle size, are known to be important factors in determining NOx uptake performance, since Pt provides active sites for NO oxidation to NO2 necessary for storing NOx as nitrates, and for the reduction of nitrates to N2. In this work, the physicochemical properties of Pt in Pt-BaO/Al2O3 LNT catalysts, such as the Pt accessible surface area and particle size, were investigated by using various tools, such as irreversible volumetric H2 chemisorption, highmore » resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), following successive reductive treatments at elevated temperatures. NOx uptake activities were also measured to establish a relationship between the properties of Pt and NOx storage following identical high-temperature reductive treatments. We find that the reductive treatments of Pt-BaO/Al2O3 lean NOx trap catalysts at temperatures up to 500 ºC promote a significant increase in NOx uptake explained, in part, by an induced close interaction between Pt and BaO phases in the catalyst, thus enabling facilitation of the NOx storage process.« less

Local geometric and electronic structures and origin of magnetism in Co-doped BaTiO3 multiferroics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phan, The-Long; Thang, P. D.; Ho, T. A.; Manh, T. V.; Thanh, Tran Dang; Lam, V. D.; Dang, N. T.; Yu, S. C.

2015-05-01

We have prepared polycrystalline samples BaTi1-xCoxO3 (x = 0-0.1) by solid-state reaction. X-ray diffraction and Raman-scattering studies reveal the phase separation in crystal structure as changing Co-doping content (x). The samples with x = 0-0.01 are single phase in a tetragonal structure. At higher doping contents (x > 0.01), there is the formation and development of a secondary hexagonal phase. Magnetization measurements at room temperature indicate a coexistence of paramagnetic and weak-ferromagnetic behaviors in BaTi1-xCoxO3 samples with x > 0, while pure BaTiO3 is diamagnetic. Both these properties increase with increasing x. Analyses of X-ray absorption spectra recorded from BaTi1-xCoxO3 for the Co and Ti K-edges indicate the presence of Co2+ and Co3+ ions. They locate in the Ti4+ site of the tetragonal and hexagonal BaTiO3 structures. Particularly, there is a shift of oxidation state from Co2+ to Co3+ when Co-doping content increases. We believe that the paramagnetic nature in BaTi1-xCoxO3 samples is due to isolated Co2+ and Co3+ centers. The addition of Co3+ ions enhances the paramagnetic behavior. Meanwhile, the origin of ferromagnetism is due to lattice defects, which is less influenced by the changes caused by the variation in concentration of Co2+ and Co3+ ions.

Betulinic acid ameliorates experimental diabetic-induced renal inflammation and fibrosis via inhibiting the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway.

PubMed

Wang, Shaogui; Yang, Zhiying; Xiong, Fengxiao; Chen, Cheng; Chao, Xiaojuan; Huang, Junying; Huang, Heqing

2016-10-15

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the leading cause of end-stage renal failure and is characterized by excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins such as fibronectin (FN), in the glomerular mesangium and tubulointerstitium. Betulinic acid (BA), a pentacyclic triterpene derived from the bark of the white birch tree, has been demonstrated to have many pharmacological activities. However, the effect of BA on DN has not been fully elucidated. To explore the possible anti-inflammatory effects of BA and their underlying mechanisms, we used streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat kidneys and high glucose-treated glomerular mesangial cells. Our study showed BA could inhibit the degradation of IκBα and the activity of NF-κB in diabetic rat kidneys and high glucose-induced mesangial cells, resulting in reduction of FN expression. In addition, BA suppressed the DNA binding activity and transcriptional activity of NF-κB in high glucose-induced glomerular mesangial cells (GMCs). Furthermore, BA enhanced the interaction between IκBα and β-arrestin2 in mesangial cells. Taken together, our data suggest BA inhibits NF-κB activation through stabilizing NF-κB inhibitory protein IκBα, thereby preventing diabetic renal fibrosis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Metrological activity determination of 133Ba by sum-peak absolute method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

da Silva, R. L.; de Almeida, M. C. M.; Delgado, J. U.; Poledna, R.; Santos, A.; de Veras, E. V.; Rangel, J.; Trindade, O. L.

2016-07-01

The National Laboratory for Metrology of Ionizing Radiation provides gamma sources of radionuclide and standardized in activity with reduced uncertainties. Relative methods require standards to determine the sample activity while the absolute methods, as sum-peak, not. The activity is obtained directly with good accuracy and low uncertainties. 133Ba is used in research laboratories and on calibration of detectors for analysis in different work areas. Classical absolute methods don't calibrate 133Ba due to its complex decay scheme. The sum-peak method using gamma spectrometry with germanium detector standardizes 133Ba samples. Uncertainties lower than 1% to activity results were obtained.

The Structural and Functional Organization of Cognition

PubMed Central

Snow, Peter J.

2016-01-01

This article proposes that what have been historically and contemporarily defined as different domains of human cognition are served by one of four functionally- and structurally-distinct areas of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Their contributions to human intelligence are as follows: (a) BA9, enables our emotional intelligence, engaging the psychosocial domain; (b) BA47, enables our practical intelligence, engaging the material domain; (c) BA46 (or BA46-9/46), enables our abstract intelligence, engaging the hypothetical domain; and (d) BA10, enables our temporal intelligence, engaging in planning within any of the other three domains. Given their unique contribution to human cognition, it is proposed that these areas be called the, social (BA9), material (BA47), abstract (BA46-9/46) and temporal (BA10) mind. The evidence that BA47 participates strongly in verbal and gestural communication suggests that language evolved primarily as a consequence of the extreme selective pressure for practicality; an observation supported by the functional connectivity between BA47 and orbital areas that negatively reinforce lying. It is further proposed that the abstract mind (BA46-9/46) is the primary seat of metacognition charged with creating adaptive behavioral strategies by generating higher-order concepts (hypotheses) from lower-order concepts originating from the other three domains of cognition. PMID:27799901

Effects of Sulfation Level on the Desulfation Behavior of Presulfated Pt-BaO/Al2O3 Lean

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, D.; Szanyi, J; Kwak, J

2009-01-01

Desulfation by hydrogen of presulfated Pt (2 wt %)-BaO(20 wt %)/Al2O3 with various sulfur loading (S/Ba = 0.12, 0.31, and 0.62) were investigated by combining H2 temperature programmed reaction (TPRX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), in situ sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES), and synchrotron time-resolved X-ray diffraction (TR-XRD) techniques. We find that the amount of H2S desorbed during the desulfation in the H2 TPRX experiments is not proportional to the amount of initial sulfur loading. The results of both in situ sulfur K-edge XANES and TR-XRD show that at low sulfur loadings, sulfates were transformed to a BaS phasemore » and remained in the catalyst rather than being removed as H2S. On the other hand, when the deposited sulfur level exceeded a certain threshold (at least S/Ba = 0.31) sulfates were reduced to form H2S, and the relative amount of the residual sulfide species in the catalyst was much less than at low sulfur loading. Unlike samples with high sulfur loading (e.g., S/Ba = 0.62), H2O did not promote the desulfation for the sample with S/Ba of 0.12, implying that the formed BaS species originating from the reduction of sulfates at low sulfur loading are more stable to hydrolysis. The results of this combined spectroscopy investigation provide clear evidence to show that sulfates at low sulfur loadings are less likely to be removed as H2S and have a greater tendency to be transformed to BaS on the material, leading to the conclusion that desulfation behavior of Pt-BaO/Al2O3 lean NOx trap catalysts is markedly dependent on the sulfation levels.« less

Interaction potentials and transport properties of Ba, Ba+, and Ba2+ in rare gases from He to Xe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buchachenko, Alexei A.; Viehland, Larry A.

2018-04-01

A highly accurate, consistent set of ab initio interaction potentials is obtained for the title systems at the coupled cluster with singles, doubles, and non-iterative triples level of theory with extrapolation to the complete basis set limit. These potentials are shown to be more reliable than the previous potentials based on their long-range behavior, equilibrium properties, collision cross sections, and transport properties.

Thermodynamic properties of Ba{sub 1-x}La{sub x}CoO{sub 3}

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gaur, N. K., E-mail: srl-nkgaur@yahoo.co.in; Thakur, Rasna, E-mail: rasnathakur@yahoo.com; Thakur, Rajesh K., E-mail: thakur.rajesh2009@gmail.com

2016-05-06

We have predicted the thermodynamic behavior of Ba{sub 1-x}La{sub x}CoO{sub 3} family at temperature 1K≤T≤300K using the Modified Rigid Ion Model (MRIM). The specific heat of BaCoO{sub 3} with La doping in the perovskite structure at A-site has been reported. Also, the cohesive energy (ϕ), molecular force constant (f), Reststrahlen frequency (υ), Debye temperature (θ{sub D}), specific heat (C) and Gruneisen parameter (γ) of Ba{sub 1-x}La{sub x}CoO{sub 3} compounds are discussed.

Ba 2TeO: A new layered oxytelluride

DOE PAGES

Besara, T.; Ramirez, D.; Sun, J.; ...

2015-02-01

For single crystals of the new semiconducting oxytelluride phase, Ba 2TeO, we synthesized from barium oxide powder and elemental tellurium in a molten barium metal flux. Ba 2TeO crystallizes in tetragonal symmetry with space group P4/nmm (#129), a=5.0337(1) Å, c=9.9437(4) Å, Z=2. The crystals were characterized by single crystal x-ray diffraction, heat capacity and optical measurements. Moreover, the optical measurements along with electronic band structure calculations indicate semiconductor behavior with a band gap of 2.93 eV. Resistivity measurements show that Ba 2TeO is highly insulating.

Vocal Behavior in Environmental Noise: Comparisons Between Work and Leisure Conditions in Women With Work-related Voice Disorders and Matched Controls.

PubMed

Szabo Portela, Annika; Granqvist, Svante; Ternström, Sten; Södersten, Maria

2018-01-01

This study aimed to assess vocal behavior in women with voice-intensive occupations to investigate differences between patients and controls and between work and leisure conditions with environmental noise level as an experimental factor. Patients with work-related voice disorders, 10 with phonasthenia and 10 with vocal nodules, were matched regarding age, profession, and workplace with 20 vocally healthy colleagues. The sound pressure level of environmental noise and the speakers' voice, fundamental frequency, and phonation ratio were registered from morning to night during 1 week with a voice accumulator. Voice data were assessed in low (≤55 dBA), moderate, and high (>70 dBA) environmental noise levels. The average environmental noise level was significantly higher during the work condition for patients with vocal nodules (73.9 dBA) and their controls (73.0 dBA) compared with patients with phonasthenia (68.3 dBA) and their controls (67.1 dBA). The average voice level and the fundamental frequency were also significantly higher during work for the patients with vocal nodules and their controls. During the leisure condition, there were no significant differences in average noise and voice level nor fundamental frequency between the groups. The patients with vocal nodules and their controls spent significantly more time and used their voices significantly more in high-environmental noise levels. High noise levels during work and demands from the occupation impact vocal behavior. Thus, assessment of voice ergonomics should be part of the work environmental management. To reduce environmental noise levels is important to improve voice ergonomic conditions in communication-intensive and vocally demanding workplaces. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Doping- and irradiation-controlled pinning of vortices in BaFe 2 (As 1 - x P x ) 2 single crystals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fang, L.; Jia, Y.; Schlueter, J. A.

We report on the systematic evolution of vortex pinning behavior in isovalent doped single crystals of BaFe 2 (As 1 - x P x ) 2 . Proceeding from optimal doped to overdoped samples, we find a clear transformation of the magnetization hysteresis from a fishtail behavior to a distinct peak effect, followed by a reversible magnetization and Bean-Livingston surface barriers. Strong point pinning dominates the vortex behavior at low fields whereas weak collective pinning determines the behavior at higher fields. In addition to doping effects, we show that particle irradiation by energetic protons can tune vortex pinning in thesemore » materials.« less

Doping- and irradiation-controlled pinning of vortices in BaFe{<_2}(As{<_1-x}P{<_x}){<_2} single crystals.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fang, L.; Jia, Y.; Schlueter, J. A.

We report on the systematic evolution of vortex pinning behavior in isovalent doped single crystals of BaFe{sub 2}(As{sub 1-x}P{sub x}){sub 2}. Proceeding from optimal doped to overdoped samples, we find a clear transformation of the magnetization hysteresis from a fishtail behavior to a distinct peak effect, followed by a reversible magnetization and Bean-Livingston surface barriers. Strong point pinning dominates the vortex behavior at low fields whereas weak collective pinning determines the behavior at higher fields. In addition to doping effects, we show that particle irradiation by energetic protons can tune vortex pinning in these materials.

Protective effect of betulinic acid against intracerebroventricular streptozotocin induced cognitive impairment and neuronal damage in rats: Possible neurotransmitters and neuroinflammatory mechanism.

PubMed

Kaundal, Madhu; Deshmukh, Rahul; Akhtar, Mohd

2018-06-01

The purpose of the study was to explore the therapeutic potential of Betulinic acid (BA) in streptozotocin (STZ) induced memory damage in experimental rats. STZ (3mg/kg bilaterally) as intracerebroventrical (icv) route was administered on day 1 and 3 in rats. Donepezil (5mg/kg/day po), used as standard, and BA (5, 10 and 15mg/kg/day po) were administered after 1h of 1st STZ infusion up to 21days. Object recognition task (ORT) for non-spatial, Morris water maze (MWM) for spatial and locomotor activity were performed to evaluate behavioral changes in rats. On 22nd day, animals were decapitated and hippocampus was separated to perform biochemical (AChE, LPO, GSH, nitrite), neuroinflammatory (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6), neurotransmitters (NTs) (dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin) analysis. STZ infusion significantly impaired memory as observed in MWM and ORT, increased oxidative stress, pro-inflammatory cytokine's level and altered NTs level. Moreover, BA demonstrated a neuroprotective effect in a dose-dependent manner. BA dose dependently (5, 10 and 15mg/kg) significantly restore STZ induced memory changes and pathological abnormalities in rat brain. The findings of the current study suggests that BA protect rat brain from STZ induced neuronal damage via acting through multiple mechanisms and would be used to curb cognitive decline associated with neurodegenerative disorders especially AD. Copyright © 2017 Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Infants born very preterm react to variations of the acoustic environment in their incubator from a minimum signal-to-noise ratio threshold of 5 to 10 dBA.

PubMed

Kuhn, Pierre; Zores, Claire; Pebayle, Thierry; Hoeft, Alain; Langlet, Claire; Escande, Benoît; Astruc, Dominique; Dufour, André

2012-04-01

Very early preterm infants (VPIs) are exposed to unpredictable noise in neonatal intensive care units. Their ability to perceive moderate acoustic environmental changes has not been fully investigated. Physiological values of the 598 isolated sound peaks (SPs) that were 5-10 and 10-15 dB slow-response A (dBA) above background noise levels and that occurred during infants' sleep varied significantly, indicating that VPIs detect them. Exposure to 10-15 dBA SPs during active sleep significantly increased mean heart rate and decreased mean respiratory rate and mean systemic and cerebral oxygen saturations relative to baseline. VPIs are sensitive to changes in their nosocomial acoustic environment, with a minimal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) threshold of 5-10 dBA. These acoustic changes can alter their well-being. In this observational study, we evaluated their differential auditory sensitivity to sound-pressure level (SPL) increments below 70-75 dBA equivalent continuous level in their incubators. Environmental (SPL and audio recording), physiological, cerebral, and behavioral data were prospectively collected over 10 h in 26 VPIs (GA 28 (26-31) wk). SPs emerging from background noise levels were identified and newborns' arousal states at the time of SPs were determined. Changes in parameters were compared over 5-s periods between baseline and the 40 s following the SPs depending on their SNR thresholds above background noise.

Pulsed Laser Deposition of High Temperature Protonic Films

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dynys, Fred W.; Berger, M. H.; Sayir, Ali

2006-01-01

Pulsed laser deposition has been used to fabricate nanostructured BaCe(0.85)Y(0.15)O3- sigma) films. Protonic conduction of fabricated BaCe(0.85)Y(0.15)O(3-sigma) films was compared to sintered BaCe(0.85)Y(0.15)O(3-sigma). Sintered samples and laser targets were prepared by sintering BaCe(0.85)Y(0.15)O(3-sigma) powders derived by solid state synthesis. Films 1 to 8 micron thick were deposited by KrF excimer laser on porous Al2O3 substrates. Thin films were fabricated at deposition temperatures of 700 to 950 C at O2 pressures up to 200 mTorr using laser pulse energies of 0.45 - 0.95 J. Fabricated films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy and electrical impedance spectroscopy. Single phase BaCe(0.85)Y(0.15)O(3-sigma) films with a columnar growth morphology are observed with preferred crystal growth along the [100] or [001] direction. Results indicate [100] growth dependence upon laser pulse energy. Electrical conductivity of bulk samples produced by solid state sintering and thin film samples were measured over a temperature range of 100 C to 900 C. Electrical conduction behavior was dependent upon film deposition temperature. Maximum conductivity occurs at deposition temperature of 900 oC; the electrical conductivity exceeds the sintered specimen. All other deposited films exhibit a lower electrical conductivity than the sintered specimen. Activation energy for electrical conduction showed dependence upon deposition temperature, it varied

Spatiotemporal mapping of sex differences during attentional processing.

PubMed

Neuhaus, Andres H; Opgen-Rhein, Carolin; Urbanek, Carsten; Gross, Melanie; Hahn, Eric; Ta, Thi Minh Tam; Koehler, Simone; Dettling, Michael

2009-09-01

Functional neuroimaging studies have increasingly aimed at approximating neural substrates of human cognitive sex differences elicited by visuospatial challenge. It has been suggested that females and males use different behaviorally relevant neurocognitive strategies. In females, greater right prefrontal cortex activation has been found in several studies. The spatiotemporal dynamics of neural events associated with these sex differences is still unclear. We studied 22 female and 22 male participants matched for age, education, and nicotine with 29-channel-electroencephalogram recorded under a visual selective attention paradigm, the Attention Network Test. Visual event-related potentials (ERP) were topographically analyzed and neuroelectric sources were estimated. In absence of behavioral differences, ERP analysis revealed a novel frontal-occipital second peak of visual N100 that was significantly increased in females relative to males. Further, in females exclusively, a corresponding central ERP component at around 220 ms was found; here, a strong correlation between stimulus salience and sex difference of the central ERP component amplitude was observed. Subsequent source analysis revealed increased cortical current densities in right rostral prefrontal (BA 10) and occipital cortex (BA 19) in female subjects. This is the first study to report on a tripartite association between sex differences in ERPs, visual stimulus salience, and right prefrontal cortex activation during attentional processing. 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Modality Specific Cerebro-Cerebellar Activations in Verbal Working Memory: An fMRI Study

PubMed Central

Kirschen, Matthew P.; Chen, S. H. Annabel; Desmond, John E.

2010-01-01

Verbal working memory (VWM) engages frontal and temporal/parietal circuits subserving the phonological loop, as well as, superior and inferior cerebellar regions which have projections from these neocortical areas. Different cerebro-cerebellar circuits may be engaged for integrating aurally- and visually-presented information for VWM. The present fMRI study investigated load (2, 4, or 6 letters) and modality (auditory and visual) dependent cerebro-cerebellar VWM activation using a Sternberg task. FMRI revealed modality-independent activations in left frontal (BA 6/9/44), insular, cingulate (BA 32), and bilateral inferior parietal/supramarginal (BA 40) regions, as well as in bilateral superior (HVI) and right inferior (HVIII) cerebellar regions. Visual presentation evoked prominent activations in right superior (HVI/CrusI) cerebellum, bilateral occipital (BA19) and left parietal (BA7/40) cortex while auditory presentation showed robust activations predominately in bilateral temporal regions (BA21/22). In the cerebellum, we noted a visual to auditory emphasis of function progressing from superior to inferior and from lateral to medial regions. These results extend our previous findings of fMRI activation in cerebro-cerebellar networks during VWM, and demonstrate both modality dependent commonalities and differences in activations with increasing memory load. PMID:20714061

Modality specific cerebro-cerebellar activations in verbal working memory: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Kirschen, Matthew P; Chen, S H Annabel; Desmond, John E

2010-01-01

Verbal working memory (VWM) engages frontal and temporal/parietal circuits subserving the phonological loop, as well as, superior and inferior cerebellar regions which have projections from these neocortical areas. Different cerebro-cerebellar circuits may be engaged for integrating aurally- and visually-presented information for VWM. The present fMRI study investigated load (2, 4, or 6 letters) and modality (auditory and visual) dependent cerebro-cerebellar VWM activation using a Sternberg task. FMRI revealed modality-independent activations in left frontal (BA 6/9/44), insular, cingulate (BA 32), and bilateral inferior parietal/supramarginal (BA 40) regions, as well as in bilateral superior (HVI) and right inferior (HVIII) cerebellar regions. Visual presentation evoked prominent activations in right superior (HVI/CrusI) cerebellum, bilateral occipital (BA19) and left parietal (BA7/40) cortex while auditory presentation showed robust activations predominantly in bilateral temporal regions (BA21/22). In the cerebellum, we noted a visual to auditory emphasis of function progressing from superior to inferior and from lateral to medial regions. These results extend our previous findings of fMRI activation in cerebro-cerebellar networks during VWM, and demonstrate both modality dependent commonalities and differences in activations with increasing memory load.

(Mis)use of (133)Ba as a calibration surrogate for (131)I in clinical activity calibrators.

PubMed

Zimmerman, B E; Bergeron, D E

2016-03-01

Using NIST-calibrated solutions of (131)Ba and (131)I in the 5mL NIST ampoule geometry, measurements were made in three NIST-maintained Capintec activity calibrators and the NIST Vinten 671 ionization chamber to evaluate the suitability of using (133)Ba as a calibration surrogate for (131)I. For the Capintec calibrators, the (133)Ba response was a factor of about 300% higher than that of the same amount of (131)I. For the Vinten 671, the Ba-133 response was about 7% higher than that of (131)I. These results demonstrate that (133)Ba is a poor surrogate for (131)I. New calibration factors for these radionuclides in the ampoule geometry for the Vinten 671 and Capintec activity calibrators were also determined. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Brief motivational intervention to reduce alcohol and HIV/sexual risk behavior in emergency department patients: A randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Monti, Peter M; Mastroleo, Nadine R; Barnett, Nancy P; Colby, Suzanne M; Kahler, Christopher W; Operario, Don

2016-07-01

Given the prevalence of co-occurring risky sexual behavior and drinking among emergency department (ED) patients, we developed a motivational intervention (MI) to address both behaviors. This study tested efficacy of a single-session MI compared to brief advice (BA) for reducing heavy drinking and condomless sex in adult ED patients screening positive for both. We randomized 372 patients to MI (n = 184) or BA (n = 188). Alcohol and sex risk outcomes were assessed over 9 months. Generalized estimating equations models analyzing 327 patients with follow-up data provided strong support for efficacy of this integrated alcohol and sex-risk MI. Compared to BA, and after controlling for baseline covariates, those in MI reported significantly fewer heavy drinking days, drinks per week, and were less likely to engage in excessive drinking over follow-up (all ps < .05). MI was also favored over BA for reducing sex risk. Compared to BA, those in MI reported significantly fewer days on which they engaged in condomless sex with casual partners, had lower odds of reporting any condomless sex with a casual partner, and reported fewer days of sex under the influence of alcohol/other drugs (all ps < .05). This innovative MI was acceptable, feasible, and successfully delivered in 2 community hospitals and thus shows great promise for scalability and dissemination into complex health settings where newly insured at-risk individuals are likely to seek care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A study approach on ferroelectric domains in BaTiO{sub 3}

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rocha, L.S.R.; Cavalcanti, C.S.

Atomic Force Acoustic Microscopy (AFAM) and Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM) were used to study local elastic and electromechanical response in BaTiO{sub 3} ceramics. A commercial multi-mode Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) and AFAM mode to image contact stiffness were employed to accomplish the aforementioned purposes. Stiffness parameters along with Young's moduli and piezo coefficients were quantitatively determined. PFM studies were based on electrostatic and electromechanical response from localized tip-surface contact. Comparison was made regarding the Young's moduli obtained by AFAM and PFM. In addition, phase and amplitude images were analyzed based on poling behavior, obtained via the application of − 10more » V to + 10 V local voltage. - Highlights: •Nanoscale behavior of piezo domains in BaTiO{sub 3} ferroelectric materials •Use of Atomic Force Acoustic Microscopy (AFAM) and Piezo Force Microscopy (PFM) •Local elastic and electromechanical response in BaTiO{sub 3} ceramics •The young's moduli obtained from AFAM and PFM.« less

Pseudogap and anharmonic phonon behavior in Ba{sub 8}Ga{sub 16}Ge{sub 30}: An NMR study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sirusi, Ali A., E-mail: alisirusi@tamu.edu; Ross, Joseph H., E-mail: jhross@tamu.edu; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843

2016-08-07

We have performed {sup 69}Ga, {sup 71}Ga, and {sup 137}Ba NMR on Ba{sub 8}Ga{sub 16}Ge{sub 30}, a clathrate semiconductor which has been of considerable interest due to its large figure of merit for thermoelectric applications. In measurements from 4 K to 450 K, we used measurements on the two Ga nuclei to separate the magnetic and electric quadrupole hyperfine contributions and thereby gain information about the metallic and phonon behavior. The results show the presence of a pseudogap in the Ga electronic states within the conduction band, superposed upon a large Ba contribution to the conduction band. Meanwhile the phononmore » contributions to the Ga relaxation rates are large and increase more rapidly with temperature than typical semiconductors. These results provide evidence for enhanced anharmonicity of the propagative phonon modes over a wide range, providing experimental evidence for enhanced phonon-phonon scattering as a mechanism for the reduced thermal conductivity.« less

Re-entrant relaxor behavior of Ba{sub 5}RTi{sub 3}Nb{sub 7}O{sub 30} (R = La, Nd, Sm) tungsten bronze ceramics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Kun; Li Zhu, Xiao; Qiang Liu, Xiao

2013-03-18

Ba{sub 5}RTi{sub 3}Nb{sub 7}O{sub 30} (R = La, Nd, Sm) tungsten bronze ceramics were prepared, and the dielectric and ferroelectric properties were investigated over a broad temperature range. The relaxor nature was determined for all compositions in their permittivity curves, and a second anomaly of the dielectric loss (tan {delta}) was observed around 250 K in Ba{sub 5}NdTi{sub 3}Nb{sub 7}O{sub 30} and around 275 K in Ba{sub 5}SmTi{sub 3}Nb{sub 7}O{sub 30}. Both the maximum and remanent polarization tended to decrease and vanish at low temperatures in the ferroelectric phase for all compositions, which was referred to as the low temperaturemore » re-entrant relaxor behavior. The remanent polarization increased with decreasing temperature first and then reached the maximum value at the re-entrant temperature (T{sub r}). For Ba{sub 5}RTi{sub 3}Nb{sub 7}O{sub 30} (R = La, Nd, Sm), T{sub r} decreased with the radius of R{sup 3+} cations and the applied field amplitude.« less

E2 potentializes benzo(a)pyrene-induced hepatic cytochrome P450 enzyme activities in Nile tilapia at high concentrations.

PubMed

Rodrigues, Aline Cristina Ferreira; Moneró, Tatiana de Oliveira; Frighetto, Rosa Toyoko Shiraishi; de Almeida, Eduardo Alves

2015-11-01

In the aquatic environment, biotransformation enzymes are established biomarkers for assessing PAH exposure in fish, but little is known about the effect of 17β-estradiol (E2) on these enzymes during exposure to benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). In this study, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were exposed for 3, 5, and 10 days to BaP (300 μg L(-1)) and E2 (5 μg L(-1)). These substances were applied isolated or mixed. In the mixture experiment, fish were analyzed pre- and postexposure in order to better understand whether preexposure to the hormone masks the responses activated by PAH or vice versa. Phase I enzymes ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD), pentoxyresorufin-O-depenthylase (PROD), and benzyloxyresorufin-O-debenzylase (BROD) activities as well as the phase II enzyme glutathione S-transferase (GST) were analyzed. Isolated E2 treatment decreased EROD activity after 3 days, but this enzyme activity returned to control values after 5 and 10 days of exposure. Isolated BaP treatment significantly induced EROD activity after 3 and 5 days, and the activity returned to control levels after ten exposure days. Combined treatment (E2 + Bap) significantly increased EROD activity, both in the pre- and postexposure. This increase was even higher than in the isolated BaP treatment, suggesting a synergism between these two compounds. When E2 and BaP were used singly, they did not change BROD and PROD activities. However, combined treatment (E2 + Bap) significantly increased PROD activity. Isolated BaP treatment increased GST activity after 10 days. However, this response was not observed in the mixture treatment, suggesting that E2 suppressed the GST induction modulated by BaP. The results put together indicated that E2 altered the biotransformation pathway regarding enzymes activated by BaP in Nile tilapia.

Apoptosis of Corneal Epithelial Cells Caused by Ultraviolet B-induced Loss of K+ is Inhibited by Ba2+

PubMed Central

Glupker, Courtney D.; Boersma, Peter M.; Schotanus, Mark P.; Haarsma, Loren D.; Ubels, John L.

2017-01-01

UVB exposure at ambient outdoor levels triggers rapid K+ loss and apoptosis in human corneal limbal epithelial (HCLE) cells cultured in medium containing 5.5 mM K+, but considerably less apoptosis occurs when the medium contains the high K+ concentration that is present in tears (25 mM). Since Ba2+ blocks several K+ channels, we tested whether Ba2+-sensitive K+ channels are responsible for some or all of the UVB-activated K+ loss and subsequent activation of the caspase cascade and apoptosis. Corneal epithelial cells in culture were exposed to UVB at 80 or 150 mJ/cm2. Patch-clamp recording was used to measure UVB-induced K+ currents. Caspase-activity and TUNEL assays were performed on HCLE cells exposed to UVB followed by incubation in the presence or absence of Ba2+. K+ currents were activated in HCLE cells following UVB-exposure. These currents were reversibly blocked by 5 mM Ba2+. When HCLE cells were incubated with 5 mM Ba2+ after exposure to UVB, activation of caspases-9, -8, and -3 and DNA fragmentation were significantly decreased. The data confirm that UVB-induced K+ current activation and loss of intracellular K+ leads to activation of the caspase cascade and apoptosis. Extracellular Ba2+ inhibits UVB-induced apoptosis by preventing loss of intracellular K+ when K+ channels are activated. Ba2+ therefore has effects similar to elevated extracellular K+ in protecting HCLE cells from UVB-induced apoptosis. This supports our overall hypothesis that elevated K+ in tears contributes to protection of the corneal epithelium from adverse effects of ambient outdoor UVB. PMID:27189864

Hop bitter acids exhibit anti-fibrogenic effects on hepatic stellate cells in vitro.

PubMed

Saugspier, Michael; Dorn, Christoph; Thasler, Wolfgang E; Gehrig, Manfred; Heilmann, Jörg; Hellerbrand, Claus

2012-04-01

Female inflorescences of the hop plant Humulus lupulus L. contain a variety of secondary metabolites with bitter acids (BA) as quantitatively dominating secondary metabolites. The use of hops in beer brewing has a long history due to the antibacterial effects of the BA and their typical bitter taste. Furthermore, hop cones are used in traditional medicine and for pharmaceutical purposes. Recent studies indicate that BA may affect activity of the transcription factor NFκB. NFκB plays a key role in the activation process of hepatic stellate cells (HSC), which is the key event of hepatic fibrosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of BA on HSC (activation) and their potential to inhibit molecular processes involved in the pathogenesis of hepatic fibrosis. HSC were isolated from murine and human liver tissue and incubated with a characterized fraction of bitter acids purified from a CO(2) hop extract. At a concentration of 25μg/ml BA started to induce LDH leakage. Already at lower concentrations BA lead to a dose dependent inhibition of HSC proliferation and inhibited IκB-α-phosphorylation, nuclear p65 translocation and binding activity in a dose dependent way (up to 10μg/ml). Accordingly, the same BA-doses inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory and NFκB regulated genes as MCP-1 and RANTES, but did not affect expression of genes not related to NFκB signaling. In addition to the effect on activated HSC, BA inhibited the in vitro activation process of freshly isolated HSC as evidenced by delayed expression of collagen I and α-SMA mRNA and protein. Together, these findings indicate that BA inhibit NFκB activation, and herewith the activation and development of profibrogenic phenotype of HSC. Thus, bitter acids appear as potential functional nutrients for the prevention or treatment hepatic fibrosis in chronic liver disease. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Depression Using Mind Over Mood: CBT Skill Use and Differential Symptom Alleviation.

PubMed

Hawley, Lance L; Padesky, Christine A; Hollon, Steven D; Mancuso, Enza; Laposa, Judith M; Brozina, Karen; Segal, Zindel V

2017-01-01

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression is highly effective. An essential element of this therapy involves acquiring and utilizing CBT skills; however, it is unclear whether the type of CBT skill used is associated with differential symptom alleviation. Outpatients (N = 356) diagnosed with a primary mood disorder received 14 two-hour group sessions of CBT for depression, using the Mind Over Mood protocol. In each session, patients completed the Beck Depression Inventory and throughout the week they reported on their use of CBT skills: behavioral activation (BA), cognitive restructuring (CR), and core belief (CB) strategies. Bivariate latent difference score (LDS) longitudinal analyses were used to examine patterns of differential skill use and subsequent symptom change, and multigroup LDS analyses were used to determine whether longitudinal associations differed as a function of initial depression severity. Higher levels of BA use were associated with a greater subsequent decrease in depressive symptoms for patients with mild to moderate initial depression symptoms relative to those with severe symptoms. Higher levels of CR use were associated with a greater subsequent decrease in depressive symptoms, whereas higher levels of CB use were followed by a subsequent increase in depressive symptoms, regardless of initial severity. Results indicated that the type of CBT skill used is associated with differential patterns of subsequent symptom change. BA use was associated with differential subsequent change as a function of initial severity (patients with less severe depression symptoms demonstrated greater symptom improvement), whereas CR use was associated with symptom alleviation and CB use with an increase in subsequent symptoms as related to initial severity. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Antioxidant responses to benzo[a]pyrene, tributyltin and their mixture in the spleen of Sebasticus marmoratus.

PubMed

Wu, Yu-Qiong; Wang, Chong-Gang; Wang, Yun; Zhao, Yang; Chen, Yi-Xin; Zuo, Zheng-Hong

2007-01-01

It has been reported that there is an interaction between Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a widespread carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and tributyltin (TBT), an organometal used as an antifouling biocide. This study was therefore designed to examine the potential in vivo influence of BaP, TBT and their mixture on splenic antioxidant defense systems of Sebastiscus marmoratus. The fish were exposed to water containing environmentally relevant concentrations of BaP, TBT and their mixture. Spleens were collected for biochemical analysis after exposure for 7, 25, 50 d and after recovery for 7, 20 d. Cotreatment with BaP and TBT for 7 d potentiated the induction of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity by BaP or TBT alone. The cotreatment for 25 and 50 d resulted in inhibition of GPx activity, which was similar to the effect of TBT. Splenic glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities were significantly elevated in S. marmoratus exposed to BaP starting from 7 d and remained high up to 25 d. However, no further activity change was found with prolonged exposure. Cotreatment of BaP and TBT primarily inhibited the GST activity, which was similar to the effect of TBT. Cotreatment with BaP and TBT for 25 or 50 d potentiated the depletion of GSH (glutathione) by BaP or TBT alone. MDA (malondialdehyde) contents in spleen of S. marmoratus were not significantly altered compared with the control during the test period. Spleen, as an immune organ, is sensitive to exposure of BaP or TBT. It should have an effective mechanism to counteract oxidative damage. Antioxidative defense systems in spleen of S. marmoratus should be considered as potential biomarkers. Short-term exposure of BaP or TBT could result in induction of antioxidant defense system. A significant decrease of these indices, such as GSH, GST, GPx might indicate more severe contamination.

fMRI activation in the middle frontal gyrus as an indicator of hemispheric dominance for language in brain tumor patients: a comparison with Broca's area

PubMed Central

Dong, Jian W.; Brennan, Nicole M. Petrovich; Izzo, Giana; Peck, Kyung K.; Holodny, Andrei I.

2016-01-01

Introduction Functional MRI (fMRI) can assess language lateralization in brain tumor patients; however, this can be limited if the primary language area—Broca's area (BA)—is affected by the tumor. We hypothesized that the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) can be used as a clinical indicator of hemispheric dominance for language during presurgical workup. Methods Fifty-two right-handed subjects with solitary left-hemispheric primary brain tumors were retrospectively studied. Subjects performed a verbal fluency task during fMRI. The MFG was compared to BA for fMRI voxel activation, language laterality index (LI), and the effect of tumor grade on the LI. Results Language fMRI (verbal fluency) activated more voxels in MFG than in BA (MFG = 315, BA = 216, p < 0.001). Voxel activations in the left-hemispheric MFG and BA were positively correlated (r = 0.69, p < 0.001). Mean LI in the MFG was comparable to that in BA (MFG = 0.48, BA = 0.39, p = 0.06). LIs in MFG and BA were positively correlated (r = 0.62, p < 0.001). Subjects with high-grade tumors demonstrate lower language lateralization than those with low-grade tumors in both BA and MFG (p = 0.02, p = 0.02, respectively). Conclusion MFG is comparable to BA in its ability to indicate hemispheric dominance for language using a measure of verbal fluency and may be an adjunct measure in the clinical determination of language laterality for presurgical planning. PMID:26847705

Linguistic processing in visual and modality-nonspecific brain areas: PET recordings during selective attention.

PubMed

Vorobyev, Victor A; Alho, Kimmo; Medvedev, Svyatoslav V; Pakhomov, Sergey V; Roudas, Marina S; Rutkovskaya, Julia M; Tervaniemi, Mari; Van Zuijen, Titia L; Näätänen, Risto

2004-07-01

Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to investigate the neural basis of selective processing of linguistic material during concurrent presentation of multiple stimulus streams ("cocktail-party effect"). Fifteen healthy right-handed adult males were to attend to one of three simultaneously presented messages: one presented visually, one to the left ear, and one to the right ear. During the control condition, subjects attended to visually presented consonant letter strings and ignored auditory messages. This paper reports the modality-nonspecific language processing and visual word-form processing, whereas the auditory attention effects have been reported elsewhere [Cogn. Brain Res. 17 (2003) 201]. The left-hemisphere areas activated by both the selective processing of text and speech were as follows: the inferior prefrontal (Brodmann's area, BA 45, 47), anterior temporal (BA 38), posterior insular (BA 13), inferior (BA 20) and middle temporal (BA 21), occipital (BA 18/30) cortices, the caudate nucleus, and the amygdala. In addition, bilateral activations were observed in the medial occipito-temporal cortex and the cerebellum. Decreases of activation during both text and speech processing were found in the parietal (BA 7, 40), frontal (BA 6, 8, 44) and occipito-temporal (BA 37) regions of the right hemisphere. Furthermore, the present data suggest that the left occipito-temporal cortex (BA 18, 20, 37, 21) can be subdivided into three functionally distinct regions in the posterior-anterior direction on the basis of their activation during attentive processing of sublexical orthography, visual word form, and supramodal higher-level aspects of language.

Connarus favosus Planch.: An inhibitor of the hemorrhagic activity of Bothrops atrox venom and a potential antioxidant and antibacterial agent.

PubMed

Silva, Thaís Pereira da; Moura, Valéria Mourão de; Souza, Maria Carolina Scheffer de; Santos, Vanessa Neves Carvalho; Silva, Kissinara A M Moreira da; Mendes, Mara Giselle Guimarães; Nunez, Cecília Verônica; Almeida, Patrícia Danielle Oliveira de; Lima, Emerson Silva; Mourão, Rosa Helena Veras; Dos-Santos, Maria Cristina

2016-05-13

The plant species Connarus favosus is used in folk medicine in the west of Pará state, Brazil, to treat snakebites. To investigate the potential of the aqueous extract of Connarus favosus (AECf) to inhibit hemorrhagic and phospholipase A2 activities induced by Bothrops atrox venom (BaV) and to determine the antioxidant and antimicrobial potentials of the extract. AECf was analyzed phytochemically for phenolics (condensed tannins and hydrolyzable tannins) by colorimetry. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by quantitative assays using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and Fe(3+)/phenanthroline. Antimicrobial activity was evaluated by the minimal inhibitory concentration test, and cytotoxicity was evaluated using human fibroblast cells (MRC-5). Inhibition of BaV-induced hemorrhagic activity was assessed after oral administration of the extract using pre-treatment, post-treatment and combined (BA plus AECf) treatment protocols. Inhibition of indirect hemolysis caused by phospholipase A2 (PLA2) was investigated in vitro. Interaction between AECf and BaV was investigated by SDS-PAGE electrophoresis, Western blot (Wb) and zymography. The phytochemical profile of AECf revealed ten secondary metabolite classes, and colorimetry showed high total phenolic and total (condensed and hydrolyzable) tannin content. AECf exhibited high antioxidant and antimicrobial potentials. The IC50 for the cytotoxic effect was 51.91 (46.86-57.50)µg/mL. Inhibition of BaV-induced hemorrhagic activity was significant in all the protocols, and inhibition of PLA2 activity was significant with the two highest concentrations. The BaV/AECf mixture produced the same bands as BaV by itself in SDS-PAGE and Wb although the bands were much fainter. Zymography confirmed the proteolytic activity of BaV, but when the venom was pre-incubated with AECf this activity was blocked. AECf was effective in reducing BaV-induced hemorrhagic activity when administered by the same route as that used in folk medicine and exhibited antioxidant and antimicrobial potentials. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developmental changes in brain regions involved in phonological and orthographic processing during spoken language processing

PubMed Central

Cone, Nadia E.; Burman, Douglas D.; Bitan, Tali; Bolger, Donald J.; Booth, James R.

2008-01-01

Developmental differences in brain activation of 9- to 15-year-old children were examined during an auditory rhyme decision task to spoken words using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). As a group, children showed activation in left superior/middle temporal gyri (BA 22, 21), right middle temporal gyrus (BA 21), dorsal (BA 45, pars opercularis) and ventral (BA 46, pars triangularis) aspects of left inferior frontal gyrus, and left fusiform gyrus (BA 37). There was a developmental increase in activation in left middle temporal gyrus (BA 22) across all lexical conditions, suggesting that automatic semantic processing increases with age regardless of task demands. Activation in left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus also showed developmental increases for the conflicting (e.g. PINT-MINT) compared to the non-conflicting (e.g. PRESS-LIST) non-rhyming conditions, indicating that this area becomes increasingly involved in strategic phonological processing in the face of conflicting orthographic and phonological representations. Left inferior temporal/fusiform gyrus (BA 37) activation was also greater for the conflicting (e.g. PINT-MINT) condition, and a developmental increase was found in the positive relationship between individuals' reaction time and activation in left lingual/fusiform gyrus (BA 18) in this condition, indicating an age-related increase in the association between longer reaction times and greater visual-orthographic processing in this conflicting condition. These results suggest that orthographic processing is automatically engaged by children in a task that does not require access to orthographic information for correct performance, especially when orthographic and phonological representations conflict, and especially for longer response latencies in older children. PMID:18413290

Enhanced visual processing contributes to matrix reasoning in autism

PubMed Central

Soulières, Isabelle; Dawson, Michelle; Samson, Fabienne; Barbeau, Elise B.; Sahyoun, Cherif; Strangman, Gary E.; Zeffiro, Thomas A.; Mottron, Laurent

2009-01-01

Recent behavioral investigations have revealed that autistics perform more proficiently on Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) than would be predicted by their Wechsler intelligence scores. A widely-used test of fluid reasoning and intelligence, the RSPM assays abilities to flexibly infer rules, manage goal hierarchies, and perform high-level abstractions. The neural substrates for these abilities are known to encompass a large frontoparietal network, with different processing models placing variable emphasis on the specific roles of the prefrontal or posterior regions. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the neural bases of autistics' RSPM problem solving. Fifteen autistic and eighteen non-autistic participants, matched on age, sex, manual preference and Wechsler IQ, completed 60 self-paced randomly-ordered RSPM items along with a visually similar 60-item pattern matching comparison task. Accuracy and response times did not differ between groups in the pattern matching task. In the RSPM task, autistics performed with similar accuracy, but with shorter response times, compared to their non-autistic controls. In both the entire sample and a subsample of participants additionally matched on RSPM performance to control for potential response time confounds, neural activity was similar in both groups for the pattern matching task. However, for the RSPM task, autistics displayed relatively increased task-related activity in extrastriate areas (BA18), and decreased activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex (BA9) and the medial posterior parietal cortex (BA7). Visual processing mechanisms may therefore play a more prominent role in reasoning in autistics. PMID:19530215

Dabbling duck behavior and aircraft activity in coastal North Carolina

USGS Publications Warehouse

Conomy, J.T.; Collazo, J.A.; Dubovsky, J.A.; Fleming, W.J.

1998-01-01

Requests to increase military aircraft activity in some training facilities in the United States have prompted the need to determine if waterfowl and other wildlife are adversely affected by aircraft disturbance. We quantified behavioral responses of wintering American black ducks (Anas rubripes), American wigeon (A. americana), gadwall (A. strepera), and American green-winged teal (A. crecca carolinensis) exposed to low-level flying military aircrafts at Piney and Cedar islands, North Carolina, in 1991 and 1992. Waterfowl spent ???1.4% of their time responding to aircraft, which included flying, swimming, and alert behaviors. Mean duration of responses by species ranged from 10 to 40 sec. Costs to each species were deemed low because disruptions represented a low percentage of their time-activity budgets only a small proportion of birds reacted to disturbance (13/672; 2%); and the likelihood of resuming the activity disrupted by an aircraft disturbance event was high (64%). Recorded levels of aircraft disturbance (i.e., x?? = 85.1 dBA) were not adversely affecting the time-activity budgets of selected waterfowl species wintering at Piney and Cedar islands.

Study of activation cross sections of deuteron induced reactions on barium. Production of 131Cs, 133Ba

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tárkányi, F.; Hermanne, A.; Ditrói, F.; Takács, S.; Szücs, Z.; Brezovcsik, K.

2018-01-01

In the frame of a systematic study of deuteron induced activation processes on middle mass elements, excitation functions of the natBa(d,x) 135,133,132La, 135m,133m,133mg,131mgBa, 136mg,134mg,132,129Cs reactions were measured up to 50 MeV for the first time. Cross sections were measured with the activation method using a stacked foil irradiation technique followed by HPGe γ-ray spectrometry. A comparison with the results of the nuclear model TALYS code (reported in the TENDL-2015 library) was done. The potential use of the deuteron induced reactions on Ba for applications (131Cs and 131Ba production) is discussed.

Ionization studies in laser-excited alkaline-earth vapors.

PubMed

Hermann, J P; Wynne, J J

1980-06-01

We report on the time behavior of ionization signals produced by laser excitation of Ca and Ba atomic vapor to high-Rydberg states. A space-charge-limited thermionic diode detector shows a long-lived (>I-msec) ionization signal. However, optical detection of atomic ions (Ca+, Ba+) shows that these species live for much shorter times (<100 microsec). These results, in conjunction with published results on mass-spectrometric studies of high-density atomic beams, suggest that our ionization signal is primarily due to molecular species (Ca2+, Ba2+). We also observed optically pumped amplified spontaneous emission and stimulated electronic Raman scattering in Ca+ and Ba+.

Interaction of antimicrobial preservatives with blow-fill-seal packs: correlating sorption with solubility parameters.

PubMed

Amin, Aeshna; Dare, Manish; Sangamwar, Abhay; Bansal, Arvind Kumar

2012-01-01

The aim of this work was to study the interaction of four commonly used ophthalmic antimicrobial preservatives [benzyl alcohol (BA), chlorbutol (CBL), benzalkonium chloride (BKC), and chlorhexidine gluconate (CG)] with Blow-Fill-Seal (BFS) packs. Effect of packaging material [low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP)], humidity (25% RH, 75% RH) and concentration (0.5, 1.0, 2.0 mM BA/CBL in LDPE) was studied. BKC and CG gave negligible loss (<4%) in BFS packs over a period of 3 months. BA and CBL, however, gave marked losses in LDPE (ca. 70-90%) and PP (ca. 7-25%) packs. Humidity did not have any effect on the sorption loss of any preservative. Loss of BA switched from Case II to anomalous behavior with increasing initial concentration. A two-stage sorption behavior was inherent at all concentrations. Loss of CBL followed anomalous behavior with biphasic kinetics of loss. It was concluded that all the four preservatives were appropriate for use in PP BFS packs. However, only BKC and CG were amenable to be used in LDPE BFS packs. Lastly, an empirical expression consisting of the "solubility parameter distance" and "molar volume" of preservatives was developed to correlate the preservative loss in LDPE with the physicochemical properties of the preservatives.

Deformation behavior of open-cell dry natural rubber foam: Effect of different concentration of blowing agent and compression strain rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samsudin, M. S. F.; Ariff, Z. M.; Ariffin, A.

2017-04-01

Compression and deformation behavior of partially open cell natural rubber (NR) foam produced from dry natural rubber (DNR), were investigated by performing compressive deformation at different strains and strain rates. Different concentrations of sodium bicarbonate as a blowing agent (BA) were utilized, from 4 to 16 phr in order to produce foams with range of cell size and morphology. Overall, increasing of blowing agent concentration had significantly changed relative foam density. Compression stress-strain curves of the foams exhibited that the compression behavior was directly correlated to the foam cells morphology and physical density. Pronounced changes were noticed for foams with bigger cells particularly at 4 phr concentration of BA where the compression stress at plateau region was greater compared to those with higher concentration of BA. Cell deformation progressive images confirmed that the foams demonstrated small degree of struts bending at 15% of strain and followed by continuous severe struts bending and elastic buckling up to 50% of strain. Compression test at different strain rates revealed that the strain rate factor only affected the foams with 4 phr of BA by causing immediate increment in the compression stress value when higher strain rate was applied.

A novel single-phase white phosphor NaBaBO{sub 3}:Dy{sup 3+},K{sup +} for near-UV white light-emitting diodes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zheng, Jianghui; Cheng, Qijin; Wu, Jieyang

Highlights: • A white phosphor NaBaBO{sub 3}:Dy{sup 3+},K{sup +} with CIE coordinate (0.301, 0.308) was synthesized. • The optimum doping concentration of Dy{sup 3+} ions was found. • The effect and mechanism of K{sup +} ion as a charge compensator were discussed. • Temperature-dependent PL property of NaBaBO{sub 3}:Dy{sup 3+},K{sup +} was studied. • PL decay and quantum efficiency behaviors of the samples were investigated. - Abstract: A novel Dy{sup 3+}-doped NaBaBO{sub 3} white-emitting phosphor has been prepared by high temperature solid-state reaction method. The phase structure and luminescence properties of NaBaBO{sub 3}:Dy{sup 3+},K{sup +} samples were investigated. Photoluminescence resultsmore » show that the as-prepared samples could be effectively excited by near-ultraviolet (NUV) light and generate white light emission due to the {sup 4}F{sub 9/2} → {sup 6}H{sub 15/2} (blue) transition and {sup 4}F{sub 9/2} → {sup 6}H{sub 13/2} (yellow) transition of Dy{sup 3+} ions, respectively. The optimum doping concentration of Dy{sup 3+} ions in the NaBaBO{sub 3} host was determined to be 5.0 mol% and the CIE chromaticity of the sample was determined to be (0.301, 0.308). Moreover, the mechanism of K{sup +} ion as a charge compensator on the improvement of photoluminescence property and the effect of temperature on the photoluminescence property of NaBaBO{sub 3}:Dy{sup 3+},K{sup +} were investigated. Furthermore, photoluminescence decay and quantum efficiency behaviors of NaBaBO{sub 3}:Dy{sup 3+},K{sup +} were also studied. The present work demonstrates that the NaBaBO{sub 3}:Dy{sup 3+},K{sup +} phosphor is a potential candidate for NUV white light emitting diodes.« less

A comparison of the ability of Bellucia dichotoma Cogn. (Melastomataceae) extract to inhibit the local effects of Bothrops atrox venom when pre-incubated and when used according to traditional methods.

PubMed

Mourão de Moura, Valéria; Serra Bezerra, Adrielle N; Veras Mourão, Rosa Helena; Varjão Lameiras, Juliana L; Almeida Raposo, Juliana D; Luckwu de Sousa, Rafael; Boechat, Antônio Luiz; Bezerra de Oliveira, Ricardo; de Menezes Chalkidis, Hipocrátes; Dos-Santos, Maria Cristina

2014-07-01

Bellucia dichotoma Cogn. (Melastomataceae) is one of various plant species used in folk medicine in the west of the state of Pará, Brazil, to treat snake bites. Many studies have been carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-snake bite plants, but few of these use the same preparation methods and doses as those traditionally used by the local populations. This study therefore compared inhibition of the main local effects of B. atrox venom (BaV) by aqueous extract of B. dichotoma (AEBd) administered according to traditional methods and pre-incubated with BaV). The concentrations of phenolic compounds (tannins and flavonoids) in AEBd were determined by colorimetric assays. The effectiveness of AEBd in inhibiting the hemorrhagic and edematogenic activities of BaV was evaluated in mice in four different experimental in vivo protocols: (1) pre-incubation (venom:extract, w/w); (2) pre-treatment (p.o.); (3) post-treatment (p.o.); and (4) AEBd (p.o.) in combination with Bothrops antivenom (BA) (i.v.). To assess in vitro inhibition of BaV phospholipase A₂ activity, the pre-incubation method or incorporation of AEBd or BA in agarose gels were used. The effect of AEBd on BaV was determined by SDS-PAGE, zymography and Western blot. Colorimetric assays revealed higher concentrations of (condensed and hydrolyzable) tannins than flavonoids in AEBd. Hemorrhagic activity was completely inhibited using the pre-incubation protocol. However, with pre-treatment there was no significant inhibition for the concentrations tested, and with the post-treatment only the 725 mg/kg dose of AEBd was able to inhibit 40.5% (p = 0.001) of the hemorrhagic activity of BaV. Phospholipase A₂ activity was only inhibited when AEBd was pre-incubated with BaV. BaV-induced edema was completely inhibited with pre-incubation (p < 0.05) and significantly reduced (p < 0.05) with pre- and post-treatment (p.o.) for the concentrations tested. The reduction in local edema was even greater when AEBd was administered in combination with BA. The SDS-PAGE profiles showed that several of the BaV protein (SDS-PAGE) and enzyme (zymography) bands were not detected when the venom was pre-incubated, and Western blot revealed that this was not caused by the AEBd enzymes observed in the zymogram. The "pseudo inhibition" observed after pre-incubation in this study may be due to the presence of tannins in the extract, which could act as chelating agents, removing metalloproteins and Ca²⁺ ions and thus inhibiting hemorrhagin and PLA₂ activity. However, when administered according to traditional methods, B. dichotoma extract was effective in blocking BaV-induced edematogenic activity and had an additional effect on inhibition of this activity by BA. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Substitution behavior of x(Na0.5K0.5)NbO3-(1 - x)BaTiO3 ceramics for multilayer ceramic capacitors by a near edge x-ray absorption fine structure analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ha, Jooyeon; Ryu, Jiseung; Lee, Heesoo

2014-06-01

The doping effect of (Na0.5K0.5)NbO3 (NKN) as alternatives for rare-earth elements on the electrical properties of BaTiO3 has been investigated, in terms of their substitution behavior. The dielectric constant of a specimen with x = 0.05 was about 79% higher than that of pure BaTiO3, and the temperature coefficient of capacitance was satisfied by the X7R specification. The specimen with x = 0.05 showed the lowest tetragonality among the four compositions and had a fine grain size of <2 μm. Although the addition of NKN decreased the specimen's tetragonality, the electrical properties were enhanced by the formation of defect dipoles and conduction electrons, which resulted from an acceptor and donor substitution behavior. Through O K-edge near edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, the practical substitution behavior was defined by the change in Ti 3d orbital states. The energy separation of the Ti 3d orbitals was more apparent with the specimen of x = 0.05, which is related to the donor level from the donor substitution of Nb5+ ion for Ti-sites. Therefore, the simultaneous substitution of Na+/K+ and Nb5+ ions into BaTiO3 can improve dielectric properties, based on the charge-transfer process.

Growing barium hexaferrite (BaFe{sub 12}O{sub 19}) thin films using chemical solution deposition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Budiawanti, Sri, E-mail: awanty77@yahoo.com; Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Sebelas Maret University; Soegijono, Bambang

Barium hexaferrite (BaFe{sub 12}O{sub 19}, or simply known as BaM) thin films has been recognized as a potential candidate for microwave-based devices, magnetic recording media and data storage. To grow BaM thin films, chemical solution deposition is conducted using the aqueous solution of metal nitrates, which involves spin coatings on Si substrates. Furthermore, Thermal Gravimeter Analysis (TGA), X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) are applied to evaluate the decomposition behavior, structure, morphology, and magnetic properties of BaM thin films. Additionally, the effects of number of layers variation are also investigated. Finally, magnetic properties analysismore » indicates the isotropic nature of the films.« less

Bactericidal activities of plant essential oils and some of their isolated constituents against Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella enterica.

PubMed

Friedman, Mendel; Henika, Philip R; Mandrell, Robert E

2002-10-01

An improved method of sample preparation was used in a microplate assay to evaluate the bactericidal activity levels of 96 essential oils and 23 oil compounds against Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella enterica obtained from food and clinical sources. Bactericidal activity (BA50) was defined as the percentage of the sample in the assay mixture that resulted in a 50% decrease in CFU relative to a buffer control. Twenty-seven oils and 12 compounds were active against all four species of bacteria. The oils that were most active against C. jejuni (with BA50 values ranging from 0.003 to 0.009) were marigold, ginger root, jasmine, patchouli, gardenia, cedarwood, carrot seed, celery seed, mugwort, spikenard, and orange bitter oils; those that were most active against E. coli (with BA50 values ranging from 0.046 to 0.14) were oregano, thyme, cinnamon, palmarosa, bay leaf, clove bud, lemon grass, and allspice oils; those that were most active against L monocytogenes (with BA50 values ranging from 0.057 to 0.092) were gardenia, cedarwood, bay leaf, clove bud, oregano, cinnamon, allspice, thyme, and patchouli oils; and those that were most active against S. enterica (with BA50 values ranging from 0.045 to 0.14) were thyme, oregano, cinnamon, clove bud, allspice, bay leaf, palmarosa, and marjoram oils. The oil compounds that were most active against C. jejuni (with BA50 values ranging from 0.003 to 0.034) were cinnamaldehyde, estragole, carvacrol, benzaldehyde, citral, thymol, eugenol, perillaldehyde, carvone R, and geranyl acetate; those that were most active against E. coli (with BA50 values ranging from 0.057 to 0.28) were carvacrol, cinnamaldehyde, thymol, eugenol, salicylaldehyde, geraniol, isoeugenol, citral, perillaldehyde, and estragole; those that were most active against L monocytogenes (with BA50 values ranging from 0.019 to 0.43) were cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, thymol, carvacrol, citral, geraniol, perillaldehyde, carvone S, estragole, and salicylaldehyde; and those that were most active against S. enterica (with BA50 values ranging from 0.034 to 0.21) were thymol, cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol, eugenol, salicylaldehyde, geraniol, isoeugenol, terpineol, perillaldehyde, and estragole. The possible significance of these results with regard to food microbiology is discussed.

Bile acids-mediated overexpression of MUC4 via FAK-dependent c-Jun activation in pancreatic cancer.

PubMed

Joshi, Suhasini; Cruz, Eric; Rachagani, Satyanarayana; Guha, Sushovan; Brand, Randall E; Ponnusamy, Moorthy P; Kumar, Sushil; Batra, Surinder K

2016-08-01

The majority of pancreatic cancer (PC) patients are clinically presented with obstructive jaundice with elevated levels of circulatory bilirubin and alkaline phosphatases. In the current study, we examined the implications of bile acids (BA), an important component of bile, on the pathophysiology of PC and investigated their mechanistic association in tumor-promoting functions. Integration of results from PC patient samples and autochthonous mouse models showed an elevated levels of BA (p < 0.05) in serum samples compared to healthy controls. Similarly, an elevated BA levels was observed in pancreatic juice derived from PC patients (p < 0.05) than non-pancreatic non-healthy (NPNH) controls, further establishing the clinical association of BA with the pathogenesis of PC. The tumor-promoting functions of BA were established by observed transcriptional upregulation of oncogenic MUC4 expression. Luciferase reporter assay revealed distal MUC4 promoter as the primary responsive site to BA. In silico analysis recognized two c-Jun binding sites at MUC4 distal promoter, which was biochemically established using ChIP assay. Interestingly, BA treatment led to an increased transcription and activation of c-Jun in a FAK-dependent manner. Additionally, BA receptor, namely FXR, which is also upregulated at transcriptional level in PC patient samples, was demonstrated as an upstream molecule in BA-mediated FAK activation, plausibly by regulating Src activation. Altogether, these results demonstrate that elevated levels of BA increase the tumorigenic potential of PC cells by inducing FXR/FAK/c-Jun axis to upregulate MUC4 expression, which is overexpressed in pancreatic tumors and is known to be associated with progression and metastasis of PC. Published by Elsevier B.V.

BA3b and BA1 activate in a serial fashion after median nerve stimulation: direct evidence from combining source analysis of evoked fields and cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps.

PubMed

Papadelis, Christos; Eickhoff, Simon B; Zilles, Karl; Ioannides, Andreas A

2011-01-01

This study combines source analysis imaging data for early somatosensory processing and the probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps (PCMs). Human somatosensory evoked fields (SEFs) were recorded by stimulating left and right median nerves. Filtering the recorded responses in different frequency ranges identified the most responsive frequency band. The short-latency averaged SEFs were analyzed using a single equivalent current dipole (ECD) model and magnetic field tomography (MFT). The identified foci of activity were superimposed with PCMs. Two major components of opposite polarity were prominent around 21 and 31 ms. A weak component around 25 ms was also identified. For the most responsive frequency band (50-150 Hz) ECD and MFT revealed one focal source at the contralateral Brodmann area 3b (BA3b) at the peak of N20. The component ~25 ms was localised in Brodmann area 1 (BA1) in 50-150 Hz. By using ECD, focal generators around 28-30 ms located initially in BA3b and 2 ms later to BA1. MFT also revealed two focal sources - one in BA3b and one in BA1 for these latencies. Our results provide direct evidence that the earliest cortical response after median nerve stimulation is generated within the contralateral BA3b. BA1 activation few milliseconds later indicates a serial mode of somatosensory processing within cytoarchitectonic SI subdivisions. Analysis of non-invasive magnetoencephalography (MEG) data and the use of PCMs allow unambiguous and quantitative (probabilistic) interpretation of cytoarchitectonic identity of activated areas following median nerve stimulation, even with the simple ECD model, but only when the model fits the data extremely well. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fear extinction causes target-specific remodeling of perisomatic inhibitory synapses

PubMed Central

Trouche, Stéphanie; Sasaki, Jennifer M.; Tu, Tiffany; Reijmers, Leon G.

2013-01-01

SUMMARY A more complete understanding of how fear extinction alters neuronal activity and connectivity within fear circuits may aid in the development of strategies to treat human fear disorders. Using a c-fos based transgenic mouse, we found that contextual fear extinction silenced basal amygdala (BA) excitatory neurons that had been previously activated during fear conditioning. We hypothesized that the silencing of BA fear neurons was caused by an action of extinction on BA inhibitory synapses. In support of this hypothesis, we found extinction-induced target-specific remodeling of BA perisomatic inhibitory synapses originating from parvalbumin and cholecystokinin-positive interneurons. Interestingly, the predicted changes in the balance of perisomatic inhibition matched the silent and active states of the target BA fear neurons. These observations suggest that target-specific changes in perisomatic inhibitory synapses represent a mechanism through which experience can sculpt the activation patterns within a neural circuit. PMID:24183705

Fear extinction causes target-specific remodeling of perisomatic inhibitory synapses.

PubMed

Trouche, Stéphanie; Sasaki, Jennifer M; Tu, Tiffany; Reijmers, Leon G

2013-11-20

A more complete understanding of how fear extinction alters neuronal activity and connectivity within fear circuits may aid in the development of strategies to treat human fear disorders. Using a c-fos-based transgenic mouse, we found that contextual fear extinction silenced basal amygdala (BA) excitatory neurons that had been previously activated during fear conditioning. We hypothesized that the silencing of BA fear neurons was caused by an action of extinction on BA inhibitory synapses. In support of this hypothesis, we found extinction-induced target-specific remodeling of BA perisomatic inhibitory synapses originating from parvalbumin and cholecystokinin-positive interneurons. Interestingly, the predicted changes in the balance of perisomatic inhibition matched the silent and active states of the target BA fear neurons. These observations suggest that target-specific changes in perisomatic inhibitory synapses represent a mechanism through which experience can sculpt the activation patterns within a neural circuit. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

BACTERICIDAL COATINGS ON TEXTILES FOR REMEDIATION OF INTERMICROBE ACTIVITY (BaCTeRIA) SUMMARY REPORT

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-07-07

Activity by Bacillus sp. P11” Food Bioprocess Technol. 4:822- 828. (2011) Levy, S.B and Marshal,l B.; “ Antibacterial resistance worldwide: causes...TEXTILES FOR REMEDIATION OF INTERMICROBE ACTIVITY (BaCTeRIA) SUMMARY REPORT by Tobyn A. Branck Courtney M. Cowell Jennifer M. Rego and...October 2011 – September 2015 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE BACTERICIDAL COATINGS ON TEXTILES FOR REMEDIATION OF INTERMICROBE ACTIVITY (BaCTeRIA) SUMMARY REPORT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sobinoff, A.P.; Pye, V.; Nixon, B.

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is an ovotoxic constituent of cigarette smoke associated with pre-mature ovarian failure and decreased rates of conception in IVF patients. Although the overall effect of BaP on female fertility has been documented, the exact molecular mechanisms behind its ovotoxicity remain elusive. In this study we examined the effects of BaP exposure on the ovarian transcriptome, and observed the effects of in vivo exposure on oocyte dysfunction. Microarray analysis of BaP cultured neonatal ovaries revealed a complex mechanism of ovotoxicity involving a small cohort of genes associated with follicular growth, cell cycle progression, and cell death. Histomorphological and immunohistochemicalmore » analysis supported these results, with BaP exposure causing increased primordial follicle activation and developing follicle atresia in vitro and in vivo. Functional analysis of oocytes obtained from adult Swiss mice treated neonatally revealed significantly increased levels of mitochondrial ROS/lipid peroxidation, and severely reduced sperm-egg binding and fusion in both low (1.5 mg/kg/daily) and high (3 mg/kg/daily) dose treatments. Our results reveal a complex mechanism of BaP induced ovotoxicity involving developing follicle atresia and accelerated primordial follicle activation, and suggest short term neonatal BaP exposure causes mitochondrial leakage resulting in reduced oolemma fluidity and impaired fertilisation in adulthood. This study highlights BaP as a key compound which may be partially responsible for the documented effects of cigarette smoke on follicular development and sub-fertility. -- Highlights: ► BaP exposure up-regulates canonical pathways linked with follicular growth/atresia. ► BaP causes primordial follicle activation and developing follicle atresia. ► BaP causes oocyte mitochondrial ROS and lipid peroxidation, impairing fertilisation. ► Short term neonatal BaP exposure compromises adult oocyte quality.« less

Curcumin and Vitamin E Protect against Adverse Effects of Benzo[a]pyrene in Lung Epithelial Cells

PubMed Central

Cai, Qingsong; Lv, Tangfeng; Singh, Kamaleshwar; Gao, Weimin

2014-01-01

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a well-known environmental carcinogen, promotes oxidative stress and DNA damage. Curcumin and vitamin E (VE) have potent antioxidative activity that protects cells from oxidative stress and cellular damage. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the adverse effects of BaP on normal human lung epithelial cells (BEAS-2B), the potential protective effects of curcumin and VE against BaP-induced cellular damage, and the molecular mechanisms of action. MTT assay, flow cytometry, fluorescence microplate assay, HPLC, qRT-PCR, and western blot were performed to analyze cytotoxicity, cell cycle, reactive oxygen species (ROS), BaP diol-epoxidation (BPDE)-DNA adducts, gene expression, and protein expression, respectively. Curcumin or VE prevented cells from BaP-induced cell cycle arrest and growth inhibition, significantly suppressed BaP-induced ROS levels, and decreased BPDE-DNA adducts. While CYP1A1 and 1B1 were induced by BaP, these inductions were not significantly reduced by curcumin or VE. Moreover, the level of activated p53 and PARP-1 were significantly induced by BaP, whereas this induction was markedly reduced after curcumin and VE co-treatment. Survivin was significantly down-regulated by BaP, and curcumin significantly restored survivin expression in BaP-exposed cells. The ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 was also significantly increased in cells exposed to BaP and this increase was reversed by VE co-treatment. Taken together, BaP-induced cytotoxicity occurs through DNA damage, cell cycle arrest, ROS production, modulation of metabolizing enzymes, and the expression/activation of p53, PARP-1, survivin, and Bax/Bcl-2. Curcumin and VE could reverse some of these BaP-mediated alterations and therefore be effective natural compounds against the adverse effects of BaP in lung cells. PMID:24664296

Neuro-cognitive aspects of "OM" sound/syllable perception: A functional neuroimaging study.

PubMed

Kumar, Uttam; Guleria, Anupam; Khetrapal, Chunni Lal

2015-01-01

The sound "OM" is believed to bring mental peace and calm. The cortical activation associated with listening to sound "OM" in contrast to similar non-meaningful sound (TOM) and listening to a meaningful Hindi word (AAM) has been investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The behaviour interleaved gradient technique was employed in order to avoid interference of scanner noise. The results reveal that listening to "OM" sound in contrast to the meaningful Hindi word condition activates areas of bilateral cerebellum, left middle frontal gyrus (dorsolateral middle frontal/BA 9), right precuneus (BA 5) and right supramarginal gyrus (SMG). Listening to "OM" sound in contrast to "non-meaningful" sound condition leads to cortical activation in bilateral middle frontal (BA9), right middle temporal (BA37), right angular gyrus (BA 40), right SMG and right superior middle frontal gyrus (BA 8). The conjunction analysis reveals that the common neural regions activated in listening to "OM" sound during both conditions are middle frontal (left dorsolateral middle frontal cortex) and right SMG. The results correspond to the fact that listening to "OM" sound recruits neural systems implicated in emotional empathy.

Betulinic acid derivatives NVX-207 and B10 for treatment of glioblastoma--an in vitro study of cytotoxicity and radiosensitization.

PubMed

Bache, Matthias; Bernhardt, Stephan; Passin, Sarina; Wichmann, Henri; Hein, Anja; Zschornak, Martin; Kappler, Matthias; Taubert, Helge; Paschke, Reinhard; Vordermark, Dirk

2014-10-30

Betulinic acid (BA), a pentacyclic triterpene, represents a new therapeutic substance that has potential benefits for treating glioblastoma. Recently, new strategies for producing BA derivatives with improved properties have evolved. However, few studies have examined the combination of BA or BA derivatives using radiotherapy. The effects of two BA derivatives, NVX-207 and B10, on cellular and radiobiological behavior were analyzed using glioblastoma cell lines (U251MG, U343MG and LN229). Based on IC50 values under normoxic conditions, we detected a 1.3-2.9-fold higher cytotoxicity of the BA derivatives B10 and NVX-207, respectively, compared to BA. Incubation using both BA derivatives led to decreased cell migration, cleavage of PARP and decreased protein expression levels of Survivin. Weak radiation sensitivity enhancement was observed in U251MG cells after treatment with both BA derivatives. The enhancement factors at an irradiation dose of 6 Gy after treatment with 5 µM NVX-207 and 5 µM B10 were 1.32 (p=0.029) and 1.55 (p=0.002), respectively. In contrast to BA, neither NVX-207 nor B10 had additional effects under hypoxic conditions. Our results suggest that the BA derivatives NVX-207 and B10 improve the effects of radiotherapy on human malignant glioma cells, particularly under normoxic conditions.

Betulinic Acid Derivatives NVX-207 and B10 for Treatment of Glioblastoma—An in Vitro Study of Cytotoxicity and Radiosensitization

PubMed Central

Bache, Matthias; Bernhardt, Stephan; Passin, Sarina; Wichmann, Henri; Hein, Anja; Zschornak, Martin; Kappler, Matthias; Taubert, Helge; Paschke, Reinhard; Vordermark, Dirk

2014-01-01

Betulinic acid (BA), a pentacyclic triterpene, represents a new therapeutic substance that has potential benefits for treating glioblastoma. Recently, new strategies for producing BA derivatives with improved properties have evolved. However, few studies have examined the combination of BA or BA derivatives using radiotherapy. The effects of two BA derivatives, NVX-207 and B10, on cellular and radiobiological behavior were analyzed using glioblastoma cell lines (U251MG, U343MG and LN229). Based on IC50 values under normoxic conditions, we detected a 1.3–2.9-fold higher cytotoxicity of the BA derivatives B10 and NVX-207, respectively, compared to BA. Incubation using both BA derivatives led to decreased cell migration, cleavage of PARP and decreased protein expression levels of Survivin. Weak radiation sensitivity enhancement was observed in U251MG cells after treatment with both BA derivatives. The enhancement factors at an irradiation dose of 6 Gy after treatment with 5 µM NVX-207 and 5 µM B10 were 1.32 (p = 0.029) and 1.55 (p = 0.002), respectively. In contrast to BA, neither NVX-207 nor B10 had additional effects under hypoxic conditions. Our results suggest that the BA derivatives NVX-207 and B10 improve the effects of radiotherapy on human malignant glioma cells, particularly under normoxic conditions. PMID:25361208

Magnetic and thermoelectric properties of the ternary pseudo-hollandite BaxCr5Se8 (0.5 < x < 0.55) solid solution.

PubMed

Lefèvre, Robin; Berthebaud, David; Bux, Sabah; Hébert, Sylvie; Gascoin, Franck

2016-07-26

The structure of Ba0.5Cr5Se8 has been recently resolved, and its thermoelectric and magnetic properties have been studied. A ZT of 0.12 was found at around 800 K. Here, we report a study on the pseudo-hollandite BaxCr5Se8 solid-solution with 0.5 ≤ x ≤ 0.55 and its thermoelectric and magnetic properties. There is no significant impact either on the cell parameters depending on the cation content or on the magnetic properties. However, thermoelectric properties are radically changed depending on x content. While the low thermal conductivity, around 0.8 W m(-1) K(-1), remains similar for all samples, a respective increase and decrease of the resistivity and the Seebeck coefficient are observed with increasing Ba content. The maximum Seebeck coefficient is found with Ba0.5Cr5Se8 at around 635 K with 315 μV K(-1), and the Seebeck coefficient then decreases and is correlated with an activation of minority charge carriers confirmed by Hall measurements. A similar but steeper behavior is observed for the Ba0.55Cr5Se8 temperature dependence plot at around 573 K. Finally, the best thermoelectric performances are found using the lowest content of Ba, unlike when x tends to 0.55, ZT approaches a tenth of the initial best value. BaxCr5Se8 compounds are antiferromagnetic with TN = 58 K. A large peak in thermal conductivity is observed around the antiferromagnetic transition for all stoichiometry.

Effect of microwaves on the synthesis, structural and dielectric properties of Ca-modified BaTiO3 ceramics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salhi, Abdelaziz; Sayouri, Salah-eddine; Jaber, Boujemaa; Omari, L.-Haj

2018-05-01

A pre-heat treatment with a domestic microwave, (MW), performed on gel-dry of sol gel processed Ca-modified BaTiO3, with the chemical formulation Ba1- x Ca x TiO3 such as x = 0, 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30%, has been shown to lower the calcination temperature of these samples and to strongly influence their physicochemical properties. Indeed, X-ray diffraction and Raman characterizations of the samples revealed a gradual change from tetragonal to pseudo cubic phase with increasing x and a predominance of the occupation of the Ti-site for the composition x < 10 and that of the Ba-site for x ≥ 10. Dielectric measurements have shown that the temperature, T m, of the ferro-to-paraelectric transition is sensitive to the above-mentioned behavior, with a diffuse character of this transition; T m first decreases for the concentrations in x such as x < = 10 (predominance of occupation of Ti sites) before it increases for the compositions with x > 10 (predominance of occupation of Ba-sites). The thermal behavior of the permittivity has been approached by the modified Uchino's law, allowing the calculation of the dielectric parameters (diffuseness and relaxation parameters).

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in behavioral and food addiction: a systematic review of efficacy, technical, and methodological issues

PubMed Central

Sauvaget, Anne; Trojak, Benoît; Bulteau, Samuel; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Wolz, Ines; Menchón, José M.; Achab, Sophia; Vanelle, Jean-Marie; Grall-Bronnec, Marie

2015-01-01

Objectives: Behavioral addictions (BA) are complex disorders for which pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments have shown their limits. Non-invasive brain stimulation, among which transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), has opened up new perspectives in addiction treatment. The purpose of this work is to conduct a critical and systematic review of tDCS efficacy, and of technical and methodological considerations in the field of BA. Methods: A bibliographic search has been conducted on the Medline and ScienceDirect databases until December 2014, based on the following selection criteria: clinical studies on tDCS and BA (namely eating disorders, compulsive buying, Internet addiction, pathological gambling, sexual addiction, sports addiction, video games addiction). Study selection, data analysis, and reporting were conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. Results: Out of 402 potential articles, seven studies were selected. So far focusing essentially on abnormal eating, these studies suggest that tDCS (right prefrontal anode/left prefrontal cathode) reduces food craving induced by visual stimuli. Conclusions: Despite methodological and technical differences between studies, the results are promising. So far, only few studies of tDCS in BA have been conducted. New research is recommended on the use of tDCS in BA, other than eating disorders. PMID:26500478

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in behavioral and food addiction: a systematic review of efficacy, technical, and methodological issues.

PubMed

Sauvaget, Anne; Trojak, Benoît; Bulteau, Samuel; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Wolz, Ines; Menchón, José M; Achab, Sophia; Vanelle, Jean-Marie; Grall-Bronnec, Marie

2015-01-01

Behavioral addictions (BA) are complex disorders for which pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments have shown their limits. Non-invasive brain stimulation, among which transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), has opened up new perspectives in addiction treatment. The purpose of this work is to conduct a critical and systematic review of tDCS efficacy, and of technical and methodological considerations in the field of BA. A bibliographic search has been conducted on the Medline and ScienceDirect databases until December 2014, based on the following selection criteria: clinical studies on tDCS and BA (namely eating disorders, compulsive buying, Internet addiction, pathological gambling, sexual addiction, sports addiction, video games addiction). Study selection, data analysis, and reporting were conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. Out of 402 potential articles, seven studies were selected. So far focusing essentially on abnormal eating, these studies suggest that tDCS (right prefrontal anode/left prefrontal cathode) reduces food craving induced by visual stimuli. Despite methodological and technical differences between studies, the results are promising. So far, only few studies of tDCS in BA have been conducted. New research is recommended on the use of tDCS in BA, other than eating disorders.

Effects of sulfation level on the desulfation behavior of pre-sulfated Pt BaO/Al2O3 lean NOx trap catalysts: a combined H2 Temperature-Programmed Reaction, in-situ sulfur K-edge X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, and Time-Resolved X-ray Diffraction Study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Do Heui; Szanyi, Janos; Kwak, Ja Hun

2009-04-03

Desulfation by hydrogen of pre-sulfated Pt(2wt%) BaO(20wt%)/Al2O3 with various sulfur loading (S/Ba = 0.12, 0.31 and 0.62) were investigated by combining H2 temperature programmed reaction (TPRX), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), in-situ sulfur K-edge x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES), and synchrotron time-resolved x-ray diffraction (TR-XRD) techniques. We find that the amount of H2S desorbed during the desulfation in the H2 TPRX experiments is not proportional to the amount of initial sulfur loading. The results of both in-situ sulfur K-edge XANES and TR-XRD show that at low sulfur loadings, sulfates were transformed to a BaS phase and remained in the catalyst, rathermore » than being removed as H2S. On the other hand, when the deposited sulfur level exceeded a certain threshold (at least S/Ba = 0.31) sulfates were reduced to form H2S, and the relative amount of the residual sulfide species in the catalyst was much less than at low sulfur loading. Unlike samples with high sulfur loading (e.g., S/Ba = 0.62), H2O did not promote the desulfation for the sample with S/Ba of 0.12, implying that the formed BaS species originating from the reduction of sulfates at low sulfur loading are more stable to hydrolysis. The results of this combined spectroscopy investigation provide clear evidence to show that sulfates at low sulfur loadings are less likely to be removed as H2S and have a greater tendency to be transformed to BaS on the material, leading to the conclusion that desulfation behavior of Pt BaO/Al2O3 lean NOx trap catalysts is markedly dependent on the sulfation levels.« less

Effects of Sulfation Level on the Desulfation Behavior of Presulfated Pt-BaO/Al2O3 Lean NOx Trap Catalysts: A Combined H2 Temperature-Programmed Reaction, in Situ Sulfur K-Edge X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, and Time-Resolved X-ray Diffraction Study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, D.H.; Hanson, J.; Szanyi, J.

2009-04-30

Desulfation by hydrogen of presulfated Pt (2 wt %)-BaO(20 wt %)/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} with various sulfur loading (S/Ba = 0.12, 0.31, and 0.62) were investigated by combining H{sub 2} temperature programmed reaction (TPRX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), in situ sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES), and synchrotron time-resolved X-ray diffraction (TR-XRD) techniques. We find that the amount of H{sub 2}S desorbed during the desulfation in the H{sub 2} TPRX experiments is not proportional to the amount of initial sulfur loading. The results of both in situ sulfur K-edge XANES and TR-XRD show that at low sulfur loadings, sulfates weremore » transformed to a BaS phase and remained in the catalyst rather than being removed as H{sub 2}S. On the other hand, when the deposited sulfur level exceeded a certain threshold (at least S/Ba = 0.31) sulfates were reduced to form H{sub 2}S, and the relative amount of the residual sulfide species in the catalyst was much less than at low sulfur loading. Unlike samples with high sulfur loading (e.g., S/Ba = 0.62), H{sub 2}O did not promote the desulfation for the sample with S/Ba of 0.12, implying that the formed BaS species originating from the reduction of sulfates at low sulfur loading are more stable to hydrolysis. The results of this combined spectroscopy investigation provide clear evidence to show that sulfates at low sulfur loadings are less likely to be removed as H{sub 2}S and have a greater tendency to be transformed to BaS on the material, leading to the conclusion that desulfation behavior of Pt-BaO/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} lean NO{sub x} trap catalysts is markedly dependent on the sulfation levels.« less

Long-term observation of particulate barium fluxes in the subtropical Northeast Atlantic (33 N, 22 W)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stern, Judith; Dellwig, Olaf; Waniek, Joanna J.

2017-04-01

Particle flux material was collected with a sediment trap in 2000 m depth of the deep-sea mooring Kiel 276. The mooring is located in the oligotrophic subtropical NE Atlantic (33˚ N, 22˚ W), which is influenced by the Azores Current and its associated front and lithogenic particle inputs via atmospheric transport pathways. Total barium fluxes and biogenic barium (Babio) fluxes between 2002 and 2008, calculated on the basis of Ba amounts measured with ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry), are demonstrated in this study. The behavior of (biogenic) barium in the deep-sea is of great interest because it is used as a proxy for surface ocean productivity. Nevertheless, formation and transport mechanisms of particulate Ba, especially barite, in the oceans are still under debate. Especially, long-term Ba flux studies demonstrating inter and intra annual variability are missing. To fill this gap we used time-series measurements of Ba fluxes observed at Kiel 276 to demonstrate the variability of particulate Ba formation and transport. Total Ba fluxes and Babio fluxes at the mooring are characterized by flux pattern attributed to the behavior of the total particle flux. The particle flux is highly variable with peak fluxes up to 365 mg m-2 d-1 during winter and early spring just after highest primary production (winter bloom of coccolithophores) and maximum dust concentration in the atmosphere occurred. The Babioflux (up to 97 % of the total Ba flux) is influenced by productivity but also by the position of the Azores Front leading to a clear reduced Babio flux from 2005 onwards related to changes in shape and size of the catchment area of the sediment trap and reduced productivity due to lower nutrient availability. We observed a close connection of Babio flux and Ca flux results from incorporation of Ba in biogenic CaCO3 and from the formation of aggregates including Ba-bearing particles like barite and biogenic CaCO3. The transport of particulate Ba seems to be mainly driven by the formation of aggregates in the water column.

Activation of Constitutive Androstane Receptor (CAR) in Mice Results in Maintained Biliary Excretion of Bile Acids Despite a Marked Decrease of Bile Acids in Liver.

PubMed

Lickteig, Andrew J; Csanaky, Iván L; Pratt-Hyatt, Matthew; Klaassen, Curtis D

2016-06-01

Activation of Constitutive Androstane Receptor (CAR) protects against bile acid (BA)-induced liver injury. This study was performed to determine the effect of CAR activation on bile flow, BA profile, as well as expression of BA synthesis and transport genes. Synthetic CAR ligand 1,4-bis-[2-(3,5-dichloropyridyloxy)]benzene (TCPOBOP) was administered to mice for 4 days. BAs were quantified by UPLC-MS/MS (ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry). CAR activation decreases total BAs in livers of male (49%) and female mice (26%), largely attributable to decreases of the 12α-hydroxylated BA taurocholic acid (T-CA) (males (M) 65%, females (F) 45%). Bile flow in both sexes was increased by CAR activation, and the increases were BA-independent. CAR activation did not alter biliary excretion of total BAs, but overall BA composition changed. Excretion of muricholic (6-hydroxylated) BAs was increased in males (101%), and the 12α-OH proportion of biliary BAs was decreased in both males (37%) and females (28%). The decrease of T-CA in livers of males and females correlates with the decreased mRNA of the sterol 12α-hydroxylase Cyp8b1 in males (71%) and females (54%). As a response to restore BAs to physiologic concentrations in liver, mRNA of Cyp7a1 is upregulated following TCPOBOP (males 185%, females 132%). In ilea, mRNA of the negative feedback regulator Fgf15 was unaltered by CAR activation, indicating biliary BA excretion was sufficient to maintain concentrations of total BAs in the small intestine. In summary, the effects of CAR activation on BAs in male and female mice are quite similar, with a marked decrease in the major BA T-CA in the liver. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Activation of Constitutive Androstane Receptor (CAR) in Mice Results in Maintained Biliary Excretion of Bile Acids Despite a Marked Decrease of Bile Acids in Liver

PubMed Central

Lickteig, Andrew J.; Csanaky, Iván L.; Pratt-Hyatt, Matthew

2016-01-01

Activation of Constitutive Androstane Receptor (CAR) protects against bile acid (BA)-induced liver injury. This study was performed to determine the effect of CAR activation on bile flow, BA profile, as well as expression of BA synthesis and transport genes. Synthetic CAR ligand 1,4-bis-[2-(3,5-dichloropyridyloxy)]benzene (TCPOBOP) was administered to mice for 4 days. BAs were quantified by UPLC-MS/MS (ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry). CAR activation decreases total BAs in livers of male (49%) and female mice (26%), largely attributable to decreases of the 12α-hydroxylated BA taurocholic acid (T-CA) (males (M) 65%, females (F) 45%). Bile flow in both sexes was increased by CAR activation, and the increases were BA-independent. CAR activation did not alter biliary excretion of total BAs, but overall BA composition changed. Excretion of muricholic (6-hydroxylated) BAs was increased in males (101%), and the 12α-OH proportion of biliary BAs was decreased in both males (37%) and females (28%). The decrease of T-CA in livers of males and females correlates with the decreased mRNA of the sterol 12α-hydroxylase Cyp8b1 in males (71%) and females (54%). As a response to restore BAs to physiologic concentrations in liver, mRNA of Cyp7a1 is upregulated following TCPOBOP (males 185%, females 132%). In ilea, mRNA of the negative feedback regulator Fgf15 was unaltered by CAR activation, indicating biliary BA excretion was sufficient to maintain concentrations of total BAs in the small intestine. In summary, the effects of CAR activation on BAs in male and female mice are quite similar, with a marked decrease in the major BA T-CA in the liver. PMID:26984780

Autoregulatory Characteristics of a Bacillus anthracis Serine/Threonine Kinase▿

PubMed Central

Bryant-Hudson, Katie M.; Shakir, Salika M.; Ballard, Jimmy D.

2011-01-01

BA-Stk1 is a serine/threonine kinase (STK) expressed by Bacillus anthracis. In previous studies, we found that BA-Stk1 activity is modulated through dephosphorylation by a partner phosphatase, BA-Stp1. In this study, we identified critical phosphorylation regions of BA-Stk1 and determined the contributions of these phosphodomains to autophosphorylation and substrate phosphorylation. The data indicate that BA-Stk1 undergoes trans-autophosphorylation within a regulatory domain, referred to as the activation loop, which carries eight putative regulatory serine and threonine residues. We identified activation loop mutants that impacted kinase activity in three different manners: regulation of autophosphorylation (T162), regulation of substrate phosphorylation (T159 and S169), and regulation of overall kinase activity (T163). Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) analysis of the phosphorylation profile of each mutant revealed a second site of phosphorylation on the kinase that was influenced by the phosphorylation status of the activation loop. This second region of the kinase contained a single phosphorylation residue, S214. Previous work has shown S214 to be necessary for downstream substrate phosphorylation, and we have shown that this residue is subject to dephosphorylation by BA-Stp1. These findings indicate a connection between the phosphorylation status of the activation loop and phosphorylation of S214, and this suggests a previously undescribed model for how a bacterial STK shifts from a state of autophosphorylation to targeting downstream substrates. PMID:21296958

Damage to temporo-parietal cortex decreases incidental activation of thematic relations during spoken word comprehension

PubMed Central

Mirman, Daniel; Graziano, Kristen M.

2012-01-01

Both taxonomic and thematic semantic relations have been studied extensively in behavioral studies and there is an emerging consensus that the anterior temporal lobe plays a particularly important role in the representation and processing of taxonomic relations, but the neural basis of thematic semantics is less clear. We used eye tracking to examine incidental activation of taxonomic and thematic relations during spoken word comprehension in participants with aphasia. Three groups of participants were tested: neurologically intact control participants (N=14), individuals with aphasia resulting from lesions in left hemisphere BA 39 and surrounding temporo-parietal cortex regions (N=7), and individuals with the same degree of aphasia severity and semantic impairment and anterior left hemisphere lesions (primarily inferior frontal gyrus and anterior temporal lobe) that spared BA 39 (N=6). The posterior lesion group showed reduced and delayed activation of thematic relations, but not taxonomic relations. In contrast, the anterior lesion group exhibited longer-lasting activation of taxonomic relations and did not differ from control participants in terms of activation of thematic relations. These results suggest that taxonomic and thematic semantic knowledge are functionally and neuroanatomically distinct, with the temporo-parietal cortex playing a particularly important role in thematic semantics. PMID:22571932

The potent insulin secretagogue effect of betulinic acid is mediated by potassium and chloride channels.

PubMed

Gomes Castro, Allisson Jhonatan; Cazarolli, Luisa Helena; Bretanha, Lizandra C; Sulis, Paola Miranda; Rey Padilla, Diana Patricia; Aragón Novoa, Diana Marcela; Dambrós, Betina Fernanda; Pizzolatti, Moacir G; Mena Barreto Silva, Fátima Regina

2018-06-15

Betulinic acid (BA) has been described as an insulin secretagogue which may explain its potent antihyperglycemic effect; however, the exact role of BA as an insulinogenic agent is not clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of BA on calcium influx and static insulin secretion in pancreatic islets isolated from euglycemic rats. We found that BA triggers calcium influx by a mechanism dependent on ATP-dependent potassium channels and L-type voltage-dependent calcium channels. Additionally, the voltage-dependent and calcium-dependent chloride channels are also involved in the mechanism of BA, probably due to an indirect stimulation of calcium entry and increased intracellular calcium. Additionally, the downstream activation of PKC, which is necessary for the effect of BA on calcium influx, is involved in the full stimulatory response of the triterpene. BA stimulated the static secretion of insulin in pancreatic islets, indicating that the abrupt calcium influx may be a key step in its secretagogue effect. As such, BA stimulates insulin secretion through the activation of electrophysiological mechanisms, such as the closure of potassium channels and opening of calcium and chloride channels, inducing cellular depolarization associated with metabolic-biochemical effects, in turn activating PKC and ensuring the secretion of insulin. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Kinetics and Mechanism Study of Competitive Inhibition of Jack-Bean Urease by Baicalin

PubMed Central

Tan, Lirong; Su, Jiyan; Wu, Dianwei; Yu, Xiaodan; Su, Zuqing; Wu, Xiaoli; Kong, Songzhi; Lai, Xiaoping; Lin, Ji; Su, Ziren

2013-01-01

Baicalin (BA) is the principal component of Radix Scutellariae responsible for its pharmacological activity. In this study, kinetics and mechanism of inhibition by BA against jack-bean urease were investigated for its therapeutic potential. It was revealed that the IC50 of BA against jack-bean urease was 2.74 ± 0.51 mM, which was proved to be a competitive and concentration-dependent inhibition with slow-binding progress curves. The rapid formation of initial BA-urease complex with an inhibition constant of K i = 3.89 × 10−3 mM was followed by a slow isomerization into the final complex with an overall inhibition constant of K i* = 1.47 × 10−4 mM. High effectiveness of thiol protectors against BA inhibition indicated that the strategic role of the active-site sulfhydryl group of the urease was involved in the blocking process. Moreover, the inhibition of BA was proved to be reversible due to the fact that urease could be reactivated by dithiothreitol but not reactant dilution. Molecular docking assay suggested that BA made contacts with the important activating sulfhydryl group Cys-592 residues and restricted the mobility of the active-site flap. Taken together, it could be deduced that BA was a competitive inhibitor targeting thiol groups of urease in a slow-binding manner both reversibly and concentration-dependently, serving as a promising urease inhibitor for treatments on urease-related diseases. PMID:24198731

c-Axis oriented epitaxial Ba 0.25Sr 0.75TiO 3 films display Curie-Weiss behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boikov, Yu. A.; Claeson, T.

2002-02-01

Thin films of ferroelectrics have inferior dielectric properties, including microwave losses, compared to bulk material and generally do not display a proper Curie-Weiss behavior. This study shows that the film properties can be improved considerably, with a Curie-Weiss behavior, by choosing lattice matched electrodes and proper stoichiometry. A 700 nm thick Ba 0.25Sr 0.75TiO 3 layer was inserted, by laser ablation, between two epitaxial metallic oxide (200 nm) SrRuO 3 electrodes. Because of compressive stress in the plane of the substrate, the c-axis of the unit cell in the Ba 0.25Sr 0.75TiO 3 layer was normal to the substrate plane. Grains were of the order of 100-200 nm (with small misorientation angles in a× b plane) as determined by X-rays and AFM. The positions of pronounced maxima in the temperature dependence of the permittivity depended on external bias voltage applied between the SrRuO 3 electrodes to the dielectric film. The measured ε( T) curves agreed well with existing theoretical models at temperatures below and above the ferroelectric phase transition point. At T≈200 K, ε/ ε0 for the Ba 0.25Sr 0.75TiO 3 layer was suppressed up to 85% (from 4400 down to 560) when ±2.5 V bias voltage was applied to the metallic oxide electrodes. Well saturated polarization-vs.-voltage hysteresis loops were measured for the Ba 0.25Sr 0.75TiO 3 layer in the temperature interval 4.2-200 K. Because of depolarization effects, the polarization of the Ba 0.25Sr 0.75TiO 3 layer was suppressed at positive voltage applied between the electrodes, as compared with a negative one.

Transport properties of layered Ba(Pb,Bi)O3 thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassink, G. W. J.; Munakata, K.; Hammond, R. H.; Beasley, M. R.

2012-02-01

Doped BaBiO3 is a 3D oxide superconductor with a maximum Tc of 30 K for Ba0.6K0.4BiO3. There has been a lot of discussion on whether this high Tc can be explained purely by electron-phonon coupling with a high coupling constant λ. In addition, the presence of real-space paired 6s^2 electrons in the parent compound raise intriguing questions about whether there is an electron-electron coupling interaction as well. This possible negative-U interaction might be used to implement the suggestion by Berg, Orgad and Kivelson [Phys.Rev.B 78, 094509] that for a two-layer system where one layer provides electron pairing interaction and the other layer is conducting, the whole can be superconducting with a high Tc. Here we discuss the transport properties of BaPbO3/BaBiO3 bilayers, where the BaBiO3 layer is thought to act as the pairing layer, while the BaPbO3 acts as the conducting layer. The transport behavior changes to insulating upon decreasing the metallic BaPbO3 layer thickness at values that single films are expected to still be metallic.

Snynthesis and magnetization of BaLn2O4 (Ln = lanthanide)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lundberg, Matthew

The BaLn2O4 family has been synthesized successfully as single crystals by the flux-growth method. The phases crystallize in the CaV2O4 structure prototype in space group Pnma (# 62). The structure has been studied using single-crystal x-ray diffraction, and stoichiometry confirmed with EDS, and the unit cell parameters and atomic positions have been determined for the whole lanthanide series (with the exception of the Lu compound). The effects of the lanthanide ionic radius on the atomic positions in the unit cell has been studied in terms of fractional atomic coordinates, bond lengths and angles, and bond valence sums. Magnetic measurements have been performed on the series with the exception of the La, Eu, and Lu members in the form of susceptibility versus temperature. The crystals all show signs of geometric antiferromagnetic frustration with the Neel temperatures significantly below the temperature predicted by the Weiss constant. Additionally some members of the family, namely BaCe2O4, BaNd2O4, BaPr 2O4, BaSm2O4, BaTb2O 4, and BaYb2O4 show significant crystal field splitting, that causes deviation from Currie-Weiss behavior.

Lanthanoid-free perovskite oxide catalyst for dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene working with redox mechanism.

PubMed

Watanabe, Ryo; Ikushima, Maiko; Mukawa, Kei; Sumomozawa, Fumitaka; Ogo, Shuhei; Sekine, Yasushi

2013-01-01

For the development of highly active and robust catalysts for dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene (EBDH) to produce styrene; an important monomer for polystyrene production, perovskite-type oxides were applied to the reaction. Controlling the mobility of lattice oxygen by changing the structure of Ba1 - x SrxFe y Mn1 - y O3 - δ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1, 0.2 ≤ y ≤ 0.8), perovskite catalyst showed higher activity and stability on EBDH. The optimized Ba/Sr and Fe/Mn molar ratios were 0.4/0.6 and 0.6/0.4, respectively. Comparison of the dehydrogenation activity of Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ catalyst with that of an industrial potassium promoted iron (Fe-K) catalyst revealed that the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ catalyst showed higher initial activity than the industrial Fe-K oxide catalyst. Additionally, the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ catalyst showed high activity and stability under severe conditions, even at temperatures as low as 783 K, or at the low steam/EB ratio of 2, while, the Fe-K catalyst showed low activity in such conditions. Comparing reduction profiles of the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ and the Fe-K catalysts in a H2O/H2 atmosphere, reduction was suppressed by the presence of H2O over the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ catalyst while the Fe-K catalyst was reduced. In other words, Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ catalyst had higher potential for activating the steam than the Fe-K catalyst. The lattice oxygen in perovskite-structure was consumed by H2, subsequently the consumed lattice oxygen was regenerated by H2O. So the catalytic performance of Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ was superior to that of Fe-K catalyst thanks to the high redox property of the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ perovskite oxide.

Lanthanoid-free perovskite oxide catalyst for dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene working with redox mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watanabe, Ryo; Ikushima, Maiko; Mukawa, Kei; Sumomozawa, Fumitaka; Ogo, Shuhei; Sekine, Yasushi

2013-10-01

For the development of highly active and robust catalysts for dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene (EBDH) to produce styrene; an important monomer for polystyrene production, perovskite-type oxides were applied to the reaction. Controlling the mobility of lattice oxygen by changing the structure of Ba1-xSrxFeyMn1-yO3-d(0 ≤ x≤ 1, 0.2 ≤ y≤ 0.8), perovskite catalyst showed higher activity and stability on EBDH. The optimized Ba/Sr and Fe/Mn molar ratios were 0.4/0.6 and 0.6/0.4, respectively. Comparison of the dehydrogenation activity of Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3-d catalyst with that of an industrial potassium promoted iron (Fe-K) catalyst revealed that the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3-d catalyst showed higher initial activity than the industrial Fe-K oxide catalyst. Additionally, the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3-d catalyst showed high activity and stability under severe conditions, even at temperatures as low as 783 K, or at the low steam/EB ratio of 2, while, the Fe-K catalyst showed low activity in such conditions. Comparing reduction profiles of the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3-d and the Fe-K catalysts in aH2O/H2 atmosphere, reduction was suppressed by the presence of H2O over the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3-d catalyst while the Fe-K catalyst was reduced. In other words, Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3-d catalyst had higher potential for activating the steam than the Fe-K catalyst. The lattice oxygen in perovskite-structure was consumed by H2, subsequently the consumed lattice oxygen was regenerated by H2O. So the catalytic performance of Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3-d was superior to that of Fe-K catalyst thanks to the high redox property of the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3-d perovskite oxide.

Charge ordering transition in GdBaCo2O5: Evidence of reentrant behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allieta, M.; Scavini, M.; Lo Presti, L.; Coduri, M.; Loconte, L.; Cappelli, S.; Oliva, C.; Ghigna, P.; Pattison, P.; Scagnoli, V.

2013-12-01

We present a detailed study on the charge ordering transition in a GdBaCo2O5.0 system by combining high-resolution synchrotron powder/single-crystal diffraction with electron paramagnetic resonance experiments as a function of temperature. We found a second-order structural phase transition at TCO = 247 K (Pmmm to Pmma) associated with the onset of long-range charge ordering. At Tmin ≈ 1.2TCO, the electron paramagnetic resonance linewidth rapidly broadens, providing evidence of antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations. This likely indicates that, analogously to manganites, the long-range antiferromagnetic order in GdBaCo2O5.0 sets in at ≈TCO. Pair distribution function analysis of diffraction data revealed signatures of structural inhomogeneities at low temperature. By comparing the average and local bond valences, we found that above TCO the local structure is consistent with a fully random occupation of Co2+ and Co3+ in a 1:1 ratio and with a complete charge ordering below TCO. Below T ≈ 100 K the charge localization is partially melted at the local scale, suggesting a reentrant behavior of charge ordering. This result is supported by the weakening of superstructure reflections and the temperature evolution of electron paramagnetic resonance linewidth that is consistent with paramagnetic reentrant behavior reported in the GdBaCo2O5.5 parent compound.

Relaxorlike dielectric behavior in Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zednik, Ricardo J.; McIntyre, Paul C.; Baniecki, John D.; Ishii, Masatoshi; Shioga, Takeshi; Kurihara, Kazuaki

2007-03-01

We present the results of a systematic dielectric study for sputter deposited barium strontium titanate thin film planar capacitors measured over a wide temperature range of 20-575K for frequencies between 1kHz and 1MHz. Our observations of dielectric loss peaks in the temperature and frequency domains cannot be understood in the typical framework of intrinsic phonon losses. We find that the accepted phenomenological Curie-von Schweidler dielectric behavior (universal relaxation law) in our barium strontium titanate films is only applicable over a narrow temperature range. An excellent fit to the Vogel-Fulcher expression suggests relaxorlike behavior in these films. The activation energy of the observed phenomenon suggests that oxygen ion motion play a role in the apparent relaxor behavior, although further experimental work is required to test this hypothesis.

Effects of oxygen vacancy on the photoconductivity in BaSnO3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Jisung; Char, Kookrin; Institute of Applied Physics, Department of Physics; Astronomy, Seoul National University Team

We have found the photoconductive behavior of BaSnO3, especially their magnitude and time dependence, is very sensitive to the oxygen vacancy concentration. We made epitaxial BaSnO3 film with BaHfO3 buffer layer by pulsed laser deposition. As we had reported before, MgO substrate with its large band gap size about 7.8 eV was used to exclude any photoconductance from the substrate. BaHfO3 layer was used to reduce the threading dislocation density in BaSnO3 film. To control the oxygen vacancy concentration in the BaSnO3 film, we annealed the sample in Ar or O2 atmosphere with varying annealing conditions. After each annealing process, photoconductivity of BaSnO3 was measured during illumination of UV light. The result showed that the magnitude of photoconductivity of BaSnO3 increased after annealing at higher temperature in Ar atmosphere, while the changes in the dark current remains minimal. The result can be explained by a hole trap mechanism. Higher Fermi level due to the increased oxygen vacancy concentration can cause occupation of deep acceptor levels in dislocations of the BaSnO3 film. These occupied deep acceptor levels in turn trap photo-generated holes so that the recombination of electron-hole pair is deterred. Samsung Science and Technology Foundation.

Facial and meridional isomers of holmium-nitrate N-tert-butylacetamide complexes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Ye-Di; Xue, Jun-Hui; Kang, Xiao-Yan; Yang, Li-Min; Li, Wei-Hong; Xu, Yi-Zhuang; Zhao, Guo-Zhong; Zhang, Gao-Hui; Liu, Ke-Xin; Chen, Jia-Er; Wu, Jin-Guang

2018-06-01

Two Ho(C6H13NO)3(NO3)3 complexes formed by holmium nitrate and N-tert-butylacetamide (NtBA) (Ho-NtBA(I) in a Cc space group, and Ho-NtBA(II) in a P21/c space group) are reported here to investigate the coordination of lanthanide ions with amide groups. Using X-ray single crystal diffraction, FTIR, Raman, FIR and THz methods the structures of the two complexes were identified, in which Ho3+ is 9-coordinated to three carbonyl oxygen atoms provided by three NtBA ligands and three bidentate nitrate ions to form the "facial" and "meridional" isomers. Their FTIR and Raman spectra indicate the formation of two holmium complexes, the variations of NtBA after holmium coordination and the spectra are similar for the isomers in some extent. Their FIR and THz spectroscopic results show the coordination of holmium ions and THz maybe more sensitive to isomers. The results demonstrate the coordination behaviors of holmium ions and NtBA ligand.

Terahertz dielectric response of ferroelectric Ba(x)Sr(1-x)TiO3 thin films.

PubMed

Kang, Seung Beom; Kwak, Min Hwan; Choi, Muhan; Kim, Sungil; Kim, Taeyong; Cha, Eun Jong; Kang, Kwang Yong

2011-11-01

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy has been used to investigate the dielectric and optical properties of ferroelectric Ba(x)Sr(1-x)TiO(3) thin films for nominal x-values of 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 in the frequency range of 0.3 to 2.5 THz. The ferroelectric thin films were deposited at approximately 700 nm thickness on [001] MgO substrate by pulsed laser deposition. The measured complex dielectric and optical constants were compared with the Cole-Cole relaxation model. The results show that the Cole-Cole relaxation model fits well with the data throughout the frequency range and the dielectric relaxation behavior of ferroelectric Ba(x)Sr(1-x)TiO(3) thin films varies with the films compositions. Among the compositions of Ba(x)Sr(1-x)TiO(3) films with different Ba/Sr ratios, Ba(0.6)Sr(0.4)TiO(3) has the highest dielectric constants and the shortest dielectric relaxation time.

SA72. Neural Correlates of Self-Reflection in Schizophrenia: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

PubMed Central

Hiremath, Chaitra; Dey, Avyarthana

2017-01-01

Abstract Background: Self-reflection is the process of conscious evaluation of one’s traits, abilities, and attitudes. Deficient self-reflective processes might underlie lack of insight into schizophrenia. The limited research literature on the neural correlates of self-reflection in schizophrenia is inconclusive. In this study, we investigated the neural correlates of self-reflection in schizophrenia patients attending a tertiary care hospital in India. Methods: Nineteen male schizophrenia patients (mean age = 32.68 ± 7.11, mean years of education =15.21 ± 1.93) and 19 male healthy controls (mean age = 26.96 ± 4.67, mean years of education = 18.11 ± 3.13) participated in the study. Participants performed a previously validated self-reflection task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI; 3-Tesla). The task comprised of 144 words subdivided into 4 domains: Self-reflection, Other-reflection, Affect labeling, and Perceptual. The task was presented as 3 runs of 8 blocks each. The images were preprocessed and analyzed using SPM-12. After preprocessing, contrasts comparing Self-reflection with the other domains were modeled at the individual subject level. In second-level analysis, the first-level contrasts were entered into a 2-sample t test to compare patient and healthy control groups. The results were thresholded at P < .001 (uncorrected) and a cluster size of 6 voxels. Results: For the Self-reflection > Other-reflection contrast, schizophrenia patients demonstrated greater activation of right and left superior parietal lobules (BA 5 and 7), right inferior parietal lobule (BA 39), left parahippocampal gyrus (BA 36), and left premotor cortex (BA 6). For the Self-reflection > Affect labeling contrast, patients showed greater activation of precuneus (BA 7) and right inferior occipital gyrus (BA 19), and lesser activation of left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45 and 47). And for the Self-reflection > Perceptual contrast, patients showed greater activation of left middle frontal gyrus (BA 10), left posterior cingulate gyrus (BA 31), right superior parietal lobule (BA 7), right and left inferior parietal lobules (BA 39 and 40), and left premotor cortex (BA 6). Conclusion: The results indicate that patients with schizophrenia have aberrant activity in brain regions that subserve self-reflection. The greater activation of posterior brain areas might suggest that schizophrenia is associated with an anterior-to-posterior shift in introspection-related activation, as seen from earlier studies. Further studies with a larger sample are needed to examine neural processes underlying self-reflection abnormalities in schizophrenia. Research grant: Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India - INSPIRE Faculty Award (IFA12-LSBM)

The accumulation of regulatory T cells in the hepatic hilar lymph nodes in biliary atresia.

PubMed

Sakamoto, Naoya; Muraji, Toshihiro; Ohtani, Haruo; Masumoto, Kouji

2017-10-01

A proposed etiopathogenesis of biliary atresia (BA) involves T-cell-mediated inflammatory bile duct damage and progressive hepatic fibrosis. Pediatric surgeons often observe swelling of the hepatic hilar lymph nodes during the Kasai procedure. Given the importance of regulatory mechanisms in immune responses, the present study was designed to analyze the quantitative changes of regulatory T cells (T reg cells) in the hepatic hilar lymph nodes (hepatic hilar LNs) and peripheral blood (PB) in BA. The hepatic hilar LNs and PB obtained during the Kasai procedure were analyzed by flow cytometry. The ratios of total and active Tregs to the total CD4 + cells in the PB and the hepatic hilar LNs were compared. In patients with BA, the ratios of both the total and active T reg cells in the hepatic hilar LNs were higher than those in the PB (total T reg cells: PB vs. LN; P < 0.001; active T reg cells: PB vs. LN; P = 0.001). In BA patients, the increase in the ratio of active T reg cells to the CD4 + cells in the LNs in comparison to the PB was greater than that in control patients. The ratio observed in the BA patients was almost double the ratio observed in the control patients. The median LN/PB ratio in the BA patients was 3.1, while that in controls was 1.6 (P = 0.03). The present study showed that the ratios of both total T reg cells and active T reg cells were higher in the hepatic hilar lymph nodes of BA patients. This finding could shed light on the pathogenesis of BA.

Neural basis of scientific innovation induced by heuristic prototype.

PubMed

Luo, Junlong; Li, Wenfu; Qiu, Jiang; Wei, Dongtao; Liu, Yijun; Zhang, Qinlin

2013-01-01

A number of major inventions in history have been based on bionic imitation. Heuristics, by applying biological systems to the creation of artificial devices and machines, might be one of the most critical processes in scientific innovation. In particular, prototype heuristics propositions that innovation may engage automatic activation of a prototype such as a biological system to form novel associations between a prototype's function and problem-solving. We speculated that the cortical dissociation between the automatic activation and forming novel associations in innovation is critical point to heuristic creativity. In the present study, novel and old scientific innovations (NSI and OSI) were selected as experimental materials in using learning-testing paradigm to explore the neural basis of scientific innovation induced by heuristic prototype. College students were required to resolve NSI problems (to which they did not know the answers) and OSI problems (to which they knew the answers). From two fMRI experiments, our results showed that the subjects could resolve NSI when provided with heuristic prototypes. In Experiment 1, it was found that the lingual gyrus (LG; BA18) might be related to prototype heuristics in college students resolving NSI after learning a relative prototype. In Experiment 2, the LG (BA18) and precuneus (BA31) were significantly activated for NSI compared to OSI when college students learned all prototypes one day before the test. In addition, the mean beta-values of these brain regions of NSI were all correlated with the behavior accuracy of NSI. As our hypothesis indicated, the findings suggested that the LG might be involved in forming novel associations using heuristic information, while the precuneus might be involved in the automatic activation of heuristic prototype during scientific innovation.

Neural Basis of Scientific Innovation Induced by Heuristic Prototype

PubMed Central

Qiu, Jiang; Wei, Dongtao; Liu, Yijun; Zhang, Qinlin

2013-01-01

A number of major inventions in history have been based on bionic imitation. Heuristics, by applying biological systems to the creation of artificial devices and machines, might be one of the most critical processes in scientific innovation. In particular, prototype heuristics propositions that innovation may engage automatic activation of a prototype such as a biological system to form novel associations between a prototype's function and problem-solving. We speculated that the cortical dissociation between the automatic activation and forming novel associations in innovation is critical point to heuristic creativity. In the present study, novel and old scientific innovations (NSI and OSI) were selected as experimental materials in using learning-testing paradigm to explore the neural basis of scientific innovation induced by heuristic prototype. College students were required to resolve NSI problems (to which they did not know the answers) and OSI problems (to which they knew the answers). From two fMRI experiments, our results showed that the subjects could resolve NSI when provided with heuristic prototypes. In Experiment 1, it was found that the lingual gyrus (LG; BA18) might be related to prototype heuristics in college students resolving NSI after learning a relative prototype. In Experiment 2, the LG (BA18) and precuneus (BA31) were significantly activated for NSI compared to OSI when college students learned all prototypes one day before the test. In addition, the mean beta-values of these brain regions of NSI were all correlated with the behavior accuracy of NSI. As our hypothesis indicated, the findings suggested that the LG might be involved in forming novel associations using heuristic information, while the precuneus might be involved in the automatic activation of heuristic prototype during scientific innovation. PMID:23372641

Cortical activation during power grip task with pneumatic pressure gauge: an fMRI study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohamad, M.; Mardan, N. H.; Ismail, S. S.

2017-05-01

Aging is associated with a decline in cognitive and motor function. But, the relationships with motor performance are less well understood. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess cortical activation in older adults. This study employed power grip task that utilised block paradigm consisted of alternate 30s rest and active. A visual cue was used to pace the hand grip movement that clenched a cylindrical rubber bulb connected with pressure pneumatic gauge that measure the pressure (Psi). The objective of this study is determined the brain areas activated during motor task and the correlation between percentage signal change of each motor area (BA 4 and 6) and hand grip pressure. Result showed there was a significant difference in mean percentage signal change in BA 4 and BA 6 in both hemispheres and negative correlation obtained in BA 4 and BA 6. These results indicate that a reduced ability in the motor networks contribute to age-related decline in motor performance.

Dielectric properties of calicum and barium-doped strontium titanate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tung, Li-Chun

Dielectric properties of high quality polycrystalline Ca- and Ba-doped SrTiO3 perovskites are studied by means of dielectric constant, dielectric loss and ferroelectric hysteresis measurements. Low frequency dispersion of the dielectric constant is found to be very small and a simple relaxor model may not be able to explain its dielectric behavior. Relaxation modes are found in these samples, and they are all interpreted as thermally activated Bipolar re-orientation across energy barriers. In Sr1- xCaxTiO3 (x = 0--0.3), two modes are found associated with different relaxation processes, and the concentration dependence implies a competition between these processes. In Sr1-xBa xTiO3 (x = 0--0.25), relaxation modes are found to be related to the structural transitions, and the relaxation modes persist at low doping levels (x < 0.1), where structural ordering is not observed by previous neutron scattering studies. The validity of well-accepted Barret formula is discussed and two of the well-accepted models, anharmonic oscillator model and transverse Ising model, are found to be equivalent. Both of the Ca and Ba systems can be understood qualitatively within the concept of transverse Ising model.

Differential effects of black raspberry and strawberry extracts on BaPDE-induced activation of transcription factors and their target genes.

PubMed

Li, Jingxia; Zhang, Dongyun; Stoner, Gary D; Huang, Chuanshu

2008-04-01

The chemopreventive properties of edible berries have been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo, however, the specific molecular mechanisms underlying their anti-cancer effects are largely unknown. Our previous studies have shown that a methanol extract fraction of freeze-dried black raspberries inhibits benzoapyrene (BaP)-induced transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells. This fraction also blocks activation of activator protein-1 (AP-1) and nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) induced by benzoapyrene diol-epoxide (BaPDE) in mouse epidermal JB6 Cl 41 cells. To determine if different berry types exhibit specific mechanisms for their anti-cancer effects, we compared the effects of extract fractions from both black raspberries and strawberries on BaPDE-induced activation of various signaling pathways in Cl 41 cells. Black raspberry fractions inhibited the activation of AP-1, NF-kappaB, and nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) by BaPDE as well as their upstream PI-3K/Akt-p70(S6K) and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways. In contrast, strawberry fractions inhibited NFAT activation, but did not inhibit the activation of AP-1, NF-kappaB or the PI-3K/Akt-p70(S6K) and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways. Consistent with the effects on NFAT activation, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) induction by BaPDE was blocked by extract fractions of both black raspberries and strawberries, whereas vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, which depends on AP-1 activation, was suppressed by black raspberry fractions but not strawberry fractions. These results suggest that black raspberry and strawberry components may target different signaling pathways in exerting their anti-carcinogenic effects. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Differential Effects of Black Raspberry and Strawberry Extracts on BaPDE-Induced Activation of Transcription Factors and Their Target Genes

PubMed Central

Li, Jingxia; Zhang, Dongyun; Stoner, Gary D.; Huang, Chuanshu

2013-01-01

The chemopreventive properties of edible berries have been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo, however, the specific molecular mechanisms underlying their anti-cancer effects are largely unknown. Our previous studies have shown that a methanol extract fraction of freeze-dried black raspberries inhibits benzoapyrene (BaP)-induced transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells. This fraction also blocks activation of activator protein-1 (AP-1) and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) induced by benzoapyrene diol-epoxide (BaPDE) in mouse epidermal JB6 Cl 41 cells. To determine if different berry types exhibit specific mechanisms for their anti-cancer effects, we compared the effects of extract fractions from both black raspberries and strawberries on BaPDE-induced activation of various signaling pathways in Cl 41 cells. Black raspberry fractions inhibited the activation of AP-1, NF-κB, and nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) by BaPDE as well as their upstream PI-3K/Akt-p70S6K and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways. In contrast, strawberry fractions inhibited NFAT activation, but did not inhibit the activation of AP-1, NF-κB or the PI-3K/Akt-p70S6K and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways. Consistent with the effects on NFAT activation, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) induction by BaPDE was blocked by extract fractions of both black raspberries and strawberries, whereas vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, which depends on AP-1 activation, was suppressed by black raspberry fractions but not strawberry fractions. These results suggest that black raspberry and strawberry components may target different signaling pathways in exerting their anti-carcinogenic effects. PMID:18085529

The role of the insula in intuitive expert bug detection in computer code: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Castelhano, Joao; Duarte, Isabel C; Ferreira, Carlos; Duraes, Joao; Madeira, Henrique; Castelo-Branco, Miguel

2018-05-09

Software programming is a complex and relatively recent human activity, involving the integration of mathematical, recursive thinking and language processing. The neural correlates of this recent human activity are still poorly understood. Error monitoring during this type of task, requiring the integration of language, logical symbol manipulation and other mathematical skills, is particularly challenging. We therefore aimed to investigate the neural correlates of decision-making during source code understanding and mental manipulation in professional participants with high expertise. The present fMRI study directly addressed error monitoring during source code comprehension, expert bug detection and decision-making. We used C code, which triggers the same sort of processing irrespective of the native language of the programmer. We discovered a distinct role for the insula in bug monitoring and detection and a novel connectivity pattern that goes beyond the expected activation pattern evoked by source code understanding in semantic language and mathematical processing regions. Importantly, insula activity levels were critically related to the quality of error detection, involving intuition, as signalled by reported initial bug suspicion, prior to final decision and bug detection. Activity in this salience network (SN) region evoked by bug suspicion was predictive of bug detection precision, suggesting that it encodes the quality of the behavioral evidence. Connectivity analysis provided evidence for top-down circuit "reutilization" stemming from anterior cingulate cortex (BA32), a core region in the SN that evolved for complex error monitoring such as required for this type of recent human activity. Cingulate (BA32) and anterolateral (BA10) frontal regions causally modulated decision processes in the insula, which in turn was related to activity of math processing regions in early parietal cortex. In other words, earlier brain regions used during evolution for other functions seem to be reutilized in a top-down manner for a new complex function, in an analogous manner as described for other cultural creations such as reading and literacy.

Physical properties of high performance fluoride ion conductor BaSnF4 thin films by pulsed laser deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patro, L. N.; Ravi Chandra Raju, N.; Meher, S. R.; Kamala Bharathi, K.

2013-09-01

This article presents the results on the growth and characterization of BaSnF4 thin films on glass substrates prepared by pulsed laser deposition technique. The structural results of BaSnF4 thin film carried out by glancing angle X-ray diffraction technique indicates the formation of the film with similar structure (tetragonal, P4/nmm) to the bulk target material. The absorption coefficient and band gap of the film is determined by suitable analysis of the transmittance spectra. The transport properties of the thin films are studied using impedance spectroscopy in the temperature range of 323-573 K. The frequency-dependent imaginary part of impedance plot shows that the conductivity relaxation is non-Debye in nature. The scaling behavior of the imaginary part of impedance at various frequencies indicates temperature-independent relaxation behavior.

Numerical solutions of anharmonic vibration of BaO and SrO molecules

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pramudito, Sidikrubadi; Sanjaya, Nugraha Wanda; Sumaryada, Tony, E-mail: tsumaryada@ipb.ac.id

2016-03-11

The Morse potential is a potential model that is used to describe the anharmonic behavior of molecular vibration between atoms. The BaO and SrO molecules, which are two almost similar diatomic molecules, were investigated in this research. Some of their properties like the value of the dissociation energy, the energy eigenvalues of each energy level, and the profile of the wavefunctions in their correspondence vibrational states were presented in this paper. Calculation of the energy eigenvalues and plotting the wave function’s profiles were performed using Numerov method combined with the shooting method. In general we concluded that the Morse potentialmore » solved with numerical methods could accurately produce the vibrational properties and the wavefunction behavior of BaO and SrO molecules from the ground state to the higher states close to the dissociation level.« less

UVA Photoirradiation of Oxygenated Benz[a]anthracene and 3-Methylcholanthene - Generation of Singlet Oxygen and Induction of Lipid Peroxidation

PubMed Central

Yin, Jun-Jie; Xia, Qingsu; Cherng, Shu-Hui; Tang, I-Wah; Fu, Peter P.; Lin, Ge; Yu, Hongtao; Herreño Sáenz, Diógenes

2008-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widespread genotoxic environmental pollutants and potentially pose a health risk to humans. Although the biological and toxicological activities, including metabolism, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity, of PAHs have been thoroughly studied, their phototoxicity and photo-induced biological activity have not been well examined. We have long been interested in phototoxicity of PAHs and their derivatives induced by irradiation with UV light. In this paper we report the photoirradiation of a series of oxygenated benz[a]anthracene (BA) and 3-methylcholanthene (3-MC) by UVA light in the presence of a lipid, methyl linoleate. The studied PAHs include 2-hydroxy-BA (2-OH-BA), 3-hydroxy-BA (3-OH-BA), 5-hydroxymethyl-BA (5-CH2OH-BA), 7-hydroxymethyl-BA (7-CH2OH-BA), 12-hydroxymethyl-BA (12-CH2OH-BA), 7-hydroxymethyl-12-methyl-BA (7-CH2OH-12-MBA), 5-formyl-BA (5-CHO-BA), BA 5,6-cis-dihydrodiol (BA 5,6-cis-diol), 1-hydroxy-3-methylcholanthene (1-OH-3-MC), 1-keto-3-methylcholanthene (1-keto-3-MC), and 3-MC 1,2-diol. The results indicate that upon photoirradiation by UVA at 7 and 21 J/cm2, respectively all these compounds induced lipid peroxidation and exhibited a relationship between the dose of the light and the level of lipid peroxidation induced. To determine whether or not photoirradiation of these compounds by UVA light produces ROS, an ESR spin-trap technique was employed to provide direct evidence. Photoirradiation of 3-keto-3-MC by UVA (at 389 nm) in the presence of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine (TEMP), a specific probe for singlet oxygen, resulted in the formation of TEMPO, indicating that singlet oxygen was generated. These overall results suggest that UVA photoirradiation of oxygenated BA and 3-methylcholanthrene generates singlet oxygen, one of the reactive oxygen species (ROS), which induce lipid peroxidation. PMID:18441402

Body awareness in persons diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis

PubMed Central

Lööf, Helena; Johansson, Unn-Britt; Henriksson, Elisabet W.; Lindblad, Staffan; Bullington, Jennifer

2014-01-01

Living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) poses physiological and psychological demands on a person. RA is a autoimmune disease that can cause pain, disability, and suffering. The ability to notice bodily inner sensations and stimuli (body awareness, BA) is described in the literature in ways that could have either a positive or a negative impact on a person’s health. The concept of BA is complex and a thorough understanding is needed about what BA means from the patient’s perspective. This study was therefore conducted to acquire greater insight into this phenomenon. The study is grounded in a phenomenological life-world perspective. Eighteen narrative interviews were conducted in patients (age range 23–78 years) with RA. The interviews were analyzed using the Empirical Phenomenological Psychological method. General characteristics were found running through all 18 interviews, indicating that the disease resulted in a higher degree of negatively toned BA. BA was either a reactive process of searching or controlling after disease-related symptoms or a reactive process triggered by emotions. BA was an active process of taking an inventory of abilities. All participants had the ability to shift focus from BA to the outside world. Four typologies were identified: “A reactive process on symptoms,” “A reactive process on emotional triggers,” “An active process of taking an inventory of abilities,” and “A shifting from BA to the outside world.” In conclusion, because BA can be both positively and negatively toned, health care professionals must have a good understanding of when BA is positive and when it is negative in relation to the patient. RA had caused a higher degree of negatively toned BA. Thus, the ability to shift attention from BA to activity in the outside world could sometimes be beneficial for the patient’s general health. PMID:25363521

Rietveld refined structural and room temperature vibrational properties of BaTiO3 doped La0.67Ba0.33MnO3 composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dar, M. A.; Sheikh, M. W.; Malla, M. S.; Varshney, Dinesh

2016-05-01

The composites of (1-x) La0.67Ba0.33MnO3 (LBMO) + xBaTiO3 (BTO) (x = 0, 0.25 and 1.0) were synthesized by conventional solid-state reaction method. Rietveld refinement was employed to characterize the structural information of the prepared ceramics. The result of the Rietveld refinement of X-ray powder diffraction of La0.67Ba0.33MnO3 and BaTiO3 shows that these compounds crystallize in rhombohedral (R3c) and tetragonal (P4mm), respectively. The structural parameters and the reliability factors for the LBMO-BTO composite ceramics were successfully determined by the Rietveld refinement. At room temperature, Raman active phonon modes predicted by the group theory were observed only in BaTiO3 and composite sample. Pure LBMO does not show any Raman active Phonon mode at room temperature.

Temperature and composition phase diagram in the iron-based ladder compounds Ba 1 - x Cs x Fe 2 Se 3

DOE PAGES

Hawai, Takafumi; Nambu, Yusuke; Ohgushi, Kenya; ...

2015-05-28

We investigated the iron-based ladder compounds (Ba,Cs)Fe₂Se₃. Their parent compounds BaFe₂Se₃ and CsFe₂Se₃ have different space groups, formal valences of Fe, and magnetic structures. Electrical resistivity, specific heat, magnetic susceptibility, x-ray diffraction, and powder neutron diffraction measurements were conducted to obtain a temperature and composition phase diagram of this system. Block magnetism observed in BaFe₂Se₃ is drastically suppressed with Cs doping. In contrast, stripe magnetism observed in CsFe₂Se₃ is not so fragile against Ba doping. A new type of magnetic structure appears in intermediate compositions, which is similar to stripe magnetism of CsFe₂Se₃, but interladder spin configuration is different. Intermediatemore » compounds show insulating behavior, nevertheless a finite T-linear contribution in specific heat was obtained at low temperatures.« less

Temperature and composition phase diagram in the iron-based ladder compounds Ba1-xCsxFe2Se3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hawai, Takafumi; Nambu, Yusuke; Ohgushi, Kenya; Du, Fei; Hirata, Yasuyuki; Avdeev, Maxim; Uwatoko, Yoshiya; Sekine, Yurina; Fukazawa, Hiroshi; Ma, Jie; Chi, Songxue; Ueda, Yutaka; Yoshizawa, Hideki; Sato, Taku J.

2015-05-01

We investigated the iron-based ladder compounds (Ba,Cs ) Fe2Se3 . Their parent compounds BaFe2Se3 and CsFe2Se3 have different space groups, formal valences of Fe, and magnetic structures. Electrical resistivity, specific heat, magnetic susceptibility, x-ray diffraction, and powder neutron diffraction measurements were conducted to obtain a temperature and composition phase diagram of this system. Block magnetism observed in BaFe2Se3 is drastically suppressed with Cs doping. In contrast, stripe magnetism observed in CsFe2Se3 is not so fragile against Ba doping. A new type of magnetic structure appears in intermediate compositions, which is similar to stripe magnetism of CsFe2Se3 , but interladder spin configuration is different. Intermediate compounds show insulating behavior, nevertheless a finite T -linear contribution in specific heat was obtained at low temperatures.

The Effects of Spark-Plasma Sintering (SPS) on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of BaTiO3/3Y-TZP Composites

PubMed Central

Li, Jing; Cui, Bencang; Wang, Huining; Lin, Yuanhua; Deng, Xuliang; Li, Ming; Nan, Cewen

2016-01-01

Composite ceramics BaTiO3/3Y-TZP containing 0 mol %, 3 mol %, 5 mol %, 7 mol %, and 10 mol % BaTiO3 have been prepared by conventional sintering and spark-plasma sintering (SPS), respectively. Analysis of the XRD patterns and Raman spectra reveal that the phase composition of t-ZrO2, m-ZrO2, and BaTiO3 has been obtained. Our results indicate that SPS can be effective for the decrease in grain size and porosity compared with conventional sintering, which results in a lower concentration of m-ZrO2 and residual stress. Therefore, the fracture toughness is enhanced by the BaTiO3 phase through the SPS technique, while the behavior was impaired by the piezoelectric second phase through conventional sintering. PMID:28773445

A Co-Drug of Butyric Acid Derived from Fermentation Metabolites of the Human Skin Microbiome Stimulates Adipogenic Differentiation of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells: Implications in Tissue Augmentation.

PubMed

Wang, Yanhan; Zhang, Lingjuan; Yu, Jinghua; Huang, Stephen; Wang, Zhenping; Chun, Kimberly Ann; Lee, Tammy Ling; Chen, Ying-Tung; Gallo, Richard L; Huang, Chun-Ming

2017-01-01

We show that Staphylococcus epidermidis, a commensal bacterium in the human skin microbiome, produces short-chain fatty acids by glycerol fermentation that can induce adipogenesis. Although the antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities of short-chain fatty acids have been previously well characterized, little is known about the contribution of short-chain fatty acids to the adipogenic differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs). We show that ADSCs differentiated into adipocytes and accumulated lipids in the cytoplasm when cultured with butyric acid, a principal short-chain fatty acid in the fermentation metabolites of S. epidermidis. Additionally, a co-drug, butyric acid 2-(2-butyryloxyethoxy) ethyl ester (BA-DEG-BA), released active butyric acid when it was intradermally injected into mouse ears and induced ADSC differentiation, characterized by an increased expression of cytoplasmic lipids and perilipin A. The BA-DEG-BA-induced adipogenic differentiation was mediated via peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma. Furthermore, intradermal injection of ADSCs along with BA-DEG-BA into mouse ears markedly enhanced the adipogenic differentiation of ADSCs, leading to dermal augmentation. Our study introduces BA-DEG-BA as an enhancer of ADSC adipogenesis and suggests an integral interaction between the human skin microbiome and ADSCs. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pretreatment with β-Boswellic Acid Improves Blood Stasis Induced Endothelial Dysfunction: Role of eNOS Activation

PubMed Central

Wang, Mingming; Chen, Minchun; Ding, Yi; Zhu, Zhihui; Zhang, Yikai; Wei, Peifeng; Wang, Jingwen; Qiao, Yi; Li, Liang; Li, Yuwen; Wen, Aidong

2015-01-01

Vascular endothelial cells play an important role in modulating anti-thrombus and maintaining the natural function of vascular by secreting many active substances. β-boswellic acid (β-BA) is an active triterpenoid compound from the extract of boswellia serrate. In this study, it is demonstrated that β-BA ameliorates plasma coagulation parameters, protects endothelium from blood stasis induced injury and prevents blood stasis induced impairment of endothelium-dependent vasodilatation. Moreover, it is found that β-BA significantly increases nitric oxide (NO) and cyclic guanosine 3’, 5’-monophosphate (cGMP) levels in carotid aortas of blood stasis rats. To stimulate blood stasis-like conditions in vitro, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were exposed to transient oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD). Treatment of β-BA significantly increased intracellular NO level. Western blot and immunofluorescence as well as immunohistochemistry reveal that β-BA increases phosphorylation of enzyme nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) at Ser1177. In addition, β-BA mediated endothelium-dependent vasodilatation can be markedly blocked by eNOS inhibitor L-NAME in blood stasis rats. In OGD treated HUEVCs, the protective effect of β-BA is attenuated by knockdown of eNOS. In conclusion, the above findings provide convincing evidence for the protective effects of β-BA on blood stasis induced endothelial dysfunction by eNOS signaling pathway. PMID:26482008

fMRI activation in the middle frontal gyrus as an indicator of hemispheric dominance for language in brain tumor patients: a comparison with Broca's area.

PubMed

Dong, Jian W; Brennan, Nicole M Petrovich; Izzo, Giana; Peck, Kyung K; Holodny, Andrei I

2016-05-01

Functional MRI (fMRI) can assess language lateralization in brain tumor patients; however, this can be limited if the primary language area-Broca's area (BA)-is affected by the tumor. We hypothesized that the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) can be used as a clinical indicator of hemispheric dominance for language during presurgical workup. Fifty-two right-handed subjects with solitary left-hemispheric primary brain tumors were retrospectively studied. Subjects performed a verbal fluency task during fMRI. The MFG was compared to BA for fMRI voxel activation, language laterality index (LI), and the effect of tumor grade on the LI. Language fMRI (verbal fluency) activated more voxels in MFG than in BA (MFG = 315, BA = 216, p < 0.001). Voxel activations in the left-hemispheric MFG and BA were positively correlated (r = 0.69, p < 0.001). Mean LI in the MFG was comparable to that in BA (MFG = 0.48, BA = 0.39, p = 0.06). LIs in MFG and BA were positively correlated (r = 0.62, p < 0.001). Subjects with high-grade tumors demonstrate lower language lateralization than those with low-grade tumors in both BA and MFG (p = 0.02, p = 0.02, respectively). MFG is comparable to BA in its ability to indicate hemispheric dominance for language using a measure of verbal fluency and may be an adjunct measure in the clinical determination of language laterality for presurgical planning.

Cigarette smoking and schizophrenia independently and reversibly altered intrinsic brain activity.

PubMed

Liu, Huan; Luo, Qi; Du, Wanyi; Li, Xingbao; Zhang, Zhiwei; Yu, Renqiang; Chen, Xiaolu; Meng, Huaqing; Du, Lian

2018-01-03

Schizophrenia patients are at high risk for cigarette smoking, but the neurobiological mechanisms of this comorbid association are relatively unknown. Long-term nicotine intake may impact brain that are independently and additively associated with schizophrenia. We investigated whether altered intrinsic brain activity (iBA) related to schizophrenia pathology is also associated with nicotine addiction. Forty-two schizophrenia patients (21 smokers and 21 nonsmokers) and 21 sex- and age-matched healthy nonsmokers underwent task-free functional MRI. Whole brain iBA was measured by the amplitude of spontaneous low frequency fluctuation. Furthermore, correlation analyses between iBA, symptom severity and nicotine addiction severity were performed. We found that prefrontal cortex, right caudate, and right postcentral gyrus were related to both disease and nicotine addiction effects. More importantly, schizophrenia smokers, compared to schizophrenia nonsmokers showed reversed iBA in the above brain regions. In addition, schizophrenia smokers, relative to nonsmokers, altered iBA in the left striatal and motor cortices. The iBA of the right caudate was negatively correlated with symptom severity. The iBA of the right postcentral gyrus negatively correlated with nicotine addiction severity. The striatal and motor cortices could potentially increase the vulnerability of smoking in schizophrenia. More importantly, smoking reversed iBA in the right striatal and prefrontal cortices, consistent with the self-medication theory in schizophrenia. Smoking altered left striatal and motor cortices activity, suggesting that the nicotine addiction effect was independent of disease. These results provide a local property of intrinsic brain activity mechanism that contributes to cigarette smoking and schizophrenia.

Enhancement of ferromagnetic properties in composites of BaSnO3 and CoFe2O4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manju, M. R.; Ajay, K. S.; D'Souza, Noel M.; Hunagund, Shivakumar; Hadimani, R. L.; Dayal, Vijaylakshmi

2018-04-01

In this paper, we report structural and magnetic properties of BaSnO3(BSO)(1-x)-CoFe2O4 (CFO)(x) composite (with x = 0%, 1% (C1), 2% (C2) and 5% (C3) in molar ratio) synthesized using nitrate precursor method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the composite powder confirmed presence of both BaSnO3 with the cubic perovskite structure and CoFe2O4 with the cubic spinel structure. No signature of any other phases in pure BaSnO3, CoFe2O4 and composites have been detected either in XRD or energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) analysis. The temperature dependent zero field cooled (ZFC) & field cooled (FC) magnetization and magnetic field dependence magnetization measurements have been carried at room temperature of the pure BaSnO3. We observe a weak ferromagnetic (FM) behavior at room temperature in pure BaSnO3 even though it is non-magnetic in nature. The room temperature Raman spectroscopy and electron spin resonance measurements of the sample confirm the presence of oxygen vacancy and formation of F-center, which is responsible for the FM behavior. The oxidation state and elemental analysis have been carried out using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The magnetic field dependence of magnetization of the composite samples reveal increase of saturation magnetization (Ms), remanence magnetization (Mr) and coercivity (Hc) with increase in ferrite content in the composite. Significant enhancement in FM components is observed with lowering of temperature.

Biodistribution and Radiation Dosimetry of the Integrin Marker 64Cu-BaBaSar-RGD2 Determined from Whole-Body PET/CT in a Non-Human Primate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Shuanglong; Vorobyova, Ivetta; Park, Ryan; Conti, Peter S.

2017-10-01

Introduction: 64Cu-BaBaSar-RGD2 is a positron emission radiotracer taken up by integrin αvβ3, which is overexpressed in many malignancies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biodistribution of 64Cu-BaBaSar-RGD2 in a non-human primate with positron emission tomography and to estimate the absorbed doses in major organs for human. Materials and methods: Whole-body PET imaging was done in a Siemens Biograph scanner in a male macaque monkey. After an i.v. injection of 13.1–19.7 MBq/kg of 64Cu-BaBaSar-RGD2, whole body scan was collected for a total duration of 180 min. Attenuation and scatter corrections were applied to reconstruction of the whole-body emission scan. After image reconstruction, three-dimensional volumes of interest (VOI) were hand-drawn on the PET transaxial or coronal slices of the frame where the organ was most conspicuous. Time-activity curves for each VOI were obtained, and residence time of each organ was calculated by integration of the time-activity curves. Human absorbed doses were estimated using the standard human model in OLINDA/EXM software. Results: Injection of 64Cu-BaBaSar-RGD2 was well tolerated in the macaque monkey, with no serious tracer-related adverse events observed. 64Cu-BaBaSar-RGD2 was cleared rapidly from the blood pool, with a 12.1-min biological half-time. Increased 64Cu-BaBaSar-RGD2 uptake was observed in the kidneys, and bladder, with mean percentage injected dose (ID%) values at 1 h after injection approximately 35.50 ± 6.47 and 36.89 ± 5.48, respectively. The calculated effective dose was 15.30 ± 2.21 µSv/MBq, and the kidneys had the highest absorbed dose at 108.43 ± 16.41 µGy/MBq using the non-voiding model. For an injected activity of 925 MBq 64Cu for human, the effective dose would be 14.2 ± 2.1 mSv. Discussion: Due to the limitation of the monkey number, we evaluated 64Cu-BaBaSar-RGD2 in the same monkey of three imaging sessions. Measured absorbed doses and effective doses of 64Cu-BaBaSar-RGD2 are comparable to other reported RGD-derived radiopharmaceuticals labeled with 64Cu and 18F. Therefore, 64Cu-BaBaSar-RGD2 can be safely injected into humans for studying integrin αvβ3 expression non-invasively.

Microbial release of 226Ra2+ from (Ba,Ra)SO4 sludges from uranium mine wastes.

PubMed Central

Fedorak, P M; Westlake, D W; Anders, C; Kratochvil, B; Motkosky, N; Anderson, W B; Huck, P M

1986-01-01

226Ra2+ is removed from uranium mine effluents by coprecipitation with BaSO4. (Ba,Ra)SO4 sludge samples from two Canadian mine sites were found to contain active heterotrophic populations of aerobic, anaerobic, denitrifying, and sulfate-reducing bacteria. Under laboratory conditions, sulfate reduction occurred in batch cultures when carbon sources such as acetate, glucose, glycollate, lactate, or pyruvate were added to samples of (Ba,Ra)SO4 sludge. No external sources of nitrogen or phosphate were required for this activity. Further studies with lactate supplementation showed that once the soluble SO4(2-) in the overlying water was depleted, Ba2+ and 226Ra2+ were dissolved from the (Ba,Ra)SO4 sludge, with the concurrent production of S2-. Levels of dissolved 226Ra2+ reached approximately 400 Bq/liter after 10 weeks of incubation. Results suggest that the ultimate disposal of these sludges must maintain conditions to minimize the activity of the indigenous sulfate-reducing bacteria to ensure that unacceptably high levels of 226Ra2+ are not released to the environment. PMID:3752993

Enhancement of nitric oxide decomposition efficiency achieved with lanthanum-based perovskite-type catalyst.

PubMed

Pan, Kuan Lun; Chen, Mei Chung; Yu, Sheng Jen; Yan, Shaw Yi; Chang, Moo Been

2016-06-01

Direct decompositions of nitric oxide (NO) by La0.7Ce0.3SrNiO4, La0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4, and Pr0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4 are experimentally investigated, and the catalysts are tested with different operating parameters to evaluate their activities. Experimental results indicate that the physical and chemical properties of La0.7Ce0.3SrNiO4 are significantly improved by doping with Ba and partial substitution with Pr. NO decomposition efficiencies achieved with La0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4 and Pr0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4 are 32% and 68%, respectively, at 400 °C with He as carrier gas. As the temperature is increased to 600 °C, NO decomposition efficiencies achieved with La0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4 and Pr0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4, respectively, reach 100% with the inlet NO concentration of 1000 ppm while the space velocity is fixed at 8000 hr(-1). Effects of O2, H2O(g), and CO2 contents and space velocity on NO decomposition are also explored. The results indicate that NO decomposition efficiencies achieved with La0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4 and Pr0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4, respectively, are slightly reduced as space velocity is increased from 8000 to 20,000 hr(-1) at 500 °C. In addition, the activities of both catalysts (La0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4 and Pr0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4) for NO decomposition are slightly reduced in the presence of 5% O2, 5% CO2, or 5% H2O(g). For durability test, with the space velocity of 8000 hr(-1) and operating temperature of 600 °C, high N2 yield is maintained throughout the durability test of 60 hr, revealing the long-term stability of Pr0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4 for NO decomposition. Overall, Pr0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4 shows good catalytic activity for NO decomposition. Nitrous oxide (NO) not only causes adverse environmental effects such as acid rain, photochemical smog, and deterioration of visibility and water quality, but also harms human lungs and respiratory system. Pervoskite-type catalysts, including La0.7Ce0.3SrNiO4, La0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4, and Pr0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4, are applied for direct NO decomposition. The results show that NO decomposition can be enhanced as La0.7Ce0.3SrNiO4 is substituted with Ba and/or Pr. At 600 °C, NO decomposition efficiencies achieved with La0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4 and Pr0.4Ba0.4Ce0.2SrNiO4 reach 100%, demonstrating high activity and good potential for direct NO decomposition. Effects of O2, H2O(g), and CO2 contents on catalytic activities are also evaluated and discussed.

Neural markers of opposite-sex bias in face processing.

PubMed

Proverbio, Alice Mado; Riva, Federica; Martin, Eleonora; Zani, Alberto

2010-01-01

Some behavioral and neuroimaging studies suggest that adults prefer to view attractive faces of the opposite sex more than attractive faces of the same sex. However, unlike the other-race face effect (Caldara et al., 2004), little is known regarding the existence of an opposite-/same-sex bias in face processing. In this study, the faces of 130 attractive male and female adults were foveally presented to 40 heterosexual university students (20 men and 20 women) who were engaged in a secondary perceptual task (landscape detection). The automatic processing of face gender was investigated by recording ERPs from 128 scalp sites. Neural markers of opposite- vs. same-sex bias in face processing included larger and earlier centro-parietal N400s in response to faces of the opposite sex and a larger late positivity (LP) to same-sex faces. Analysis of intra-cortical neural generators (swLORETA) showed that facial processing-related (FG, BA37, BA20/21) and emotion-related brain areas (the right parahippocampal gyrus, BA35; uncus, BA36/38; and the cingulate gyrus, BA24) had higher activations in response to opposite- than same-sex faces. The results of this analysis, along with data obtained from ERP recordings, support the hypothesis that both genders process opposite-sex faces differently than same-sex faces. The data also suggest a hemispheric asymmetry in the processing of opposite-/same-sex faces, with the right hemisphere involved in processing same-sex faces and the left hemisphere involved in processing faces of the opposite sex. The data support previous literature suggesting a right lateralization for the representation of self-image and body awareness.

Ce-Fe-modified zeolite-rich tuff to remove Ba(2+)-like (226)Ra(2+) in presence of As(V) and F(-) from aqueous media as pollutants of drinking water.

PubMed

Olguín, María Teresa; Deng, Shuguang

2016-01-25

The sorption behavior of the Ba(2+)-like (226)Ra(2+) in the presence of H2AsO4(-)/HAsO4(2-) and F(-) from aqueous media using Ce-Fe-modified zeolite-rich tuff was investigated in this work. The Na-modified zeolite-rich tuff was also considered for comparison purposes. The zeolite-rich tuff collected from Wyoming (US) was in contact with NaCl and CeCl3-FeCl3 solutions to obtain the Na- and Ce-Fe-modified zeolite-rich tuffs (ZUSNa and ZUSCeFe). These zeolites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The BET-specific surface and the points of zero charge were determined as well as the content of Na, Ce and Fe by neutron activation analysis. The textural characteristics and the point of zero charge were changed by the presence of Ce and Fe species in the zeolitic network. A linear model described the Ba(2+)-like (226)Ra(2+) sorption isotherms and the distribution coefficients (Kd) varied with respect to the metallic species present in the zeolitic material. The As(V) oxianionic chemical species and F(-) affected this parameter when the Ba(2+)-like (226)Ra(2+)-As(V)-F(-) solutions were in contact with ZUSCeFe. The H2AsO4(-)/HAsO4(2-) and F(-) were adsorbed by ZUSCeFe in the same amount, independent of the concentration of Ba(2+)-like (226)Ra(2+) in the initial solution. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Thermoelectric power factor of La0.9M0.1FeO3 (M = Ca and Ba) system: Structural, band gap and electrical transport evaluations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karthikeyan, N.; Kumar, R. Ramesh; Jaiganesh, G.; Sivakumar, K.

2018-01-01

The search for thermoelectric materials has been incredibly increased due to the increase in global energy demand. Hence the present work focus on preparation and characterization of thermal transport phenomena of pure and Ba/Ca substituted perovskite LaFeO3 orthoferrite system. The conventional solid state reaction technique is utilized for the preparation of LaFeO3 and La0.9M0.1FeO3 (M = Ca and Ba) compounds. Crystal structure analyses of the prepared samples are analyses using Rietveld refinement process which confirms the orthoferrite crystal structure of all the prepared compounds with induced distortion in position of atoms by the incorporation of substituent atoms. The electronic structure calculations are performed by VASP. As the LaFeO3 compound is a strongly energy correlated system, the Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations are performed by DFT + U (Hubbard function) method. The computed band gap values are compared with the energy gap values calculated from UV-Vis spectral analysis. Electrical conductivity measurement and Arrhenius behavior for the temperature range of room temperature to 650 K are analyzed and the drift increase in conductivity with respect to temperature is due to the thermally activated mobility of charge carriers. Temperature dependent thermopower analysis is also examined using homemade seebeck coefficient measurement system. The calculation of thermoelectric power factor reveals that the Ba substituted LaFeO3 compound show highest power factor value of 3.73 μW/K2 cm at higher temperature and the superior power factor values observed in the Ba substituted compound determine the material's capability in power generating devices based on thermoelectric effect.

Inhibition of aryl hydrocarbon receptor transactivation and DNA adduct formation by CYP1 isoform-selective metabolic deactivation of benzo[a]pyrene

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Endo, Kaori; Uno, Shigeyuki; Seki, Taiichiro

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a polyaromatic hydrocarbon produced by the combustion of cigarettes and coke ovens, is a known procarcinogen. BaP activates the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and induces the expression of a battery of genes, including CYP1A1, which metabolize BaP to toxic compounds. The possible role of CYP1 enzymes in mediating BaP detoxification or metabolic activation remains to be elucidated. In this study, we assessed the effects of CYP1 enzymes (CYP1A1, CYP1A2 and CYP1B1) on BaP-induced AhR transactivation and DNA adduct formation in HEK293 cells and HepG2 cells. Transfection of CYP1A1 and CYP1B1, but not CYP1A2, suppressed BaP-induced activation of AhR.more » Expression of CYP1A1 and CYP1A2, but not CYP1B1, inhibited DNA adduct formation in BaP-treated HepG2 cells. These results indicate that CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 play a role in deactivation of BaP on AhR and that CYP1A1 and CYP1A2 are involved in BaP detoxification by suppressing DNA adduct formation. BaP treatment did not induce DNA adduct formation in HEK293 cells, even after transfection of CYP1 enzymes, suggesting that expression of CYP1 enzymes is not sufficient for DNA adduct formation. Lower expression of epoxide hydrolase and higher expression of glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) and GSTM1/M2 were observed in HEK293 cells compared with HepG2 cells. Dynamic expression of CYP1A1, CYP1A2 and CYP1B1 along with expression of other enzymes such as epoxide hydrolase and phase II enzymes may determine the detoxification or metabolic activation of BaP.« less

Temporal changes of ethoxyresorufin-o-deethylase (EROD) activities and lysosome accumulation in intestine of fish on chronic exposure to dietary benzo[a]pyrene: linking erod induction to cytological effects.

PubMed

Yuen, Bonny B H; Au, Doris W T

2006-10-01

Temporal changes of intestinal and hepatic ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activities and quantitative changes of secondary and tertiary (e.g., 2 degrees/3 degrees) lysosomes in enterocytes were compared for the juvenile grouper (Epinephelus coioides) on chronic exposure to foodborne benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) at two environmentally realistic levels (0.25 and 12.5 microg/g fish/d) over a four-week exposure and four-week depuration period. Intestinal EROD induction was rapid (within 3 d) and sustained in the BaP-exposed fish, while a fast recovery (within one week) was observed on withdrawal of BaP intake. A dose-response relationship was demonstrated between intestinal EROD activities and the levels of foodborne BaP. Conversely, hepatic EROD induction was weak and subsided rapidly in the exposed fish, signifying that hepatic EROD activity is not a good indicator of oral intake of BaP. Significant increase of 2 degrees/3 degrees lysosomes, as measured by Vv(lysosome, mucosa), was detected in young enterocytes of fish in the high-dosing group (12.5 microg/g fish/d) at exposure day 3 and persisted until recovery week 2. Importantly, intestinal EROD activity was significantly correlated to 2 degrees/3 degrees lysosome accumulation in enterocytes (r = 0.571, p < 0.001). These results further corroborate our earlier findings that induction of EROD activities in fish do not merely indicate exposure to BaP but also are correlated to harmful biological effects. We recommend the use of these two biochemical and cytological changes in intestines as specific biomarkers to indicate current and recent exposure of fish to BaP via oral intake.

Control of Amygdala Circuits by 5-HT Neurons via 5-HT and Glutamate Cotransmission.

PubMed

Sengupta, Ayesha; Bocchio, Marco; Bannerman, David M; Sharp, Trevor; Capogna, Marco

2017-02-15

The serotonin (5-HT) system and the amygdala are key regulators of emotional behavior. Several lines of evidence suggest that 5-HT transmission in the amygdala is implicated in the susceptibility and drug treatment of mood disorders. Therefore, elucidating the physiological mechanisms through which midbrain 5-HT neurons modulate amygdala circuits could be pivotal in understanding emotional regulation in health and disease. To shed light on these mechanisms, we performed patch-clamp recordings from basal amygdala (BA) neurons in brain slices from mice with channelrhodopsin genetically targeted to 5-HT neurons. Optical stimulation of 5-HT terminals at low frequencies (≤1 Hz) evoked a short-latency excitation of BA interneurons (INs) that was depressed at higher frequencies. Pharmacological analysis revealed that this effect was mediated by glutamate and not 5-HT because it was abolished by ionotropic glutamate receptor antagonists. Optical stimulation of 5-HT terminals at higher frequencies (10-20 Hz) evoked both slow excitation and slow inhibition of INs. These effects were mediated by 5-HT because they were blocked by antagonists of 5-HT 2A and 5-HT 1A receptors, respectively. These fast glutamate- and slow 5-HT-mediated responses often coexisted in the same neuron. Interestingly, fast-spiking and non-fast-spiking INs displayed differential modulation by glutamate and 5-HT. Furthermore, optical stimulation of 5-HT terminals did not evoke glutamate release onto BA principal neurons, but inhibited these cells directly via activation of 5-HT 1A receptors and indirectly via enhanced GABA release. Collectively, these findings suggest that 5-HT neurons exert a frequency-dependent, cell-type-specific control over BA circuitry via 5-HT and glutamate co-release to inhibit the BA output. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The modulation of the amygdala by serotonin (5-HT) is important for emotional regulation and is implicated in the pathogenesis and treatment of affective disorders. Therefore, it is essential to determine the physiological mechanisms through which 5-HT neurons in the dorsal raphe nuclei modulate amygdala circuits. Here, we combined optogenetic, electrophysiological, and pharmacological approaches to study the effects of activation of 5-HT axons in the basal nucleus of the amygdala (BA). We found that 5-HT neurons co-release 5-HT and glutamate onto BA neurons in a cell-type-specific and frequency-dependent manner. Therefore, we suggest that theories on the contribution of 5-HT neurons to amygdala function should be revised to incorporate the concept of 5-HT/glutamate cotransmission. Copyright © 2017 Sengupta et al.

Control of Amygdala Circuits by 5-HT Neurons via 5-HT and Glutamate Cotransmission

PubMed Central

Bannerman, David M.

2017-01-01

The serotonin (5-HT) system and the amygdala are key regulators of emotional behavior. Several lines of evidence suggest that 5-HT transmission in the amygdala is implicated in the susceptibility and drug treatment of mood disorders. Therefore, elucidating the physiological mechanisms through which midbrain 5-HT neurons modulate amygdala circuits could be pivotal in understanding emotional regulation in health and disease. To shed light on these mechanisms, we performed patch-clamp recordings from basal amygdala (BA) neurons in brain slices from mice with channelrhodopsin genetically targeted to 5-HT neurons. Optical stimulation of 5-HT terminals at low frequencies (≤1 Hz) evoked a short-latency excitation of BA interneurons (INs) that was depressed at higher frequencies. Pharmacological analysis revealed that this effect was mediated by glutamate and not 5-HT because it was abolished by ionotropic glutamate receptor antagonists. Optical stimulation of 5-HT terminals at higher frequencies (10–20 Hz) evoked both slow excitation and slow inhibition of INs. These effects were mediated by 5-HT because they were blocked by antagonists of 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A receptors, respectively. These fast glutamate- and slow 5-HT-mediated responses often coexisted in the same neuron. Interestingly, fast-spiking and non-fast-spiking INs displayed differential modulation by glutamate and 5-HT. Furthermore, optical stimulation of 5-HT terminals did not evoke glutamate release onto BA principal neurons, but inhibited these cells directly via activation of 5-HT1A receptors and indirectly via enhanced GABA release. Collectively, these findings suggest that 5-HT neurons exert a frequency-dependent, cell-type-specific control over BA circuitry via 5-HT and glutamate co-release to inhibit the BA output. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The modulation of the amygdala by serotonin (5-HT) is important for emotional regulation and is implicated in the pathogenesis and treatment of affective disorders. Therefore, it is essential to determine the physiological mechanisms through which 5-HT neurons in the dorsal raphe nuclei modulate amygdala circuits. Here, we combined optogenetic, electrophysiological, and pharmacological approaches to study the effects of activation of 5-HT axons in the basal nucleus of the amygdala (BA). We found that 5-HT neurons co-release 5-HT and glutamate onto BA neurons in a cell-type-specific and frequency-dependent manner. Therefore, we suggest that theories on the contribution of 5-HT neurons to amygdala function should be revised to incorporate the concept of 5-HT/glutamate cotransmission. PMID:28087766

Phase equilibria, crystal structures, and dielectric anomaly in the BaZrO 3-CaZrO 3 system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levin, Igor; Amos, Tammy G.; Bell, Steven M.; Farber, Leon; Vanderah, Terrell A.; Roth, Robert S.; Toby, Brian H.

2003-11-01

Phase equilibria in the (1- x)BaZrO 3- xCaZrO 3 system were analyzed using a combination of X-ray and neutron powder diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. The proposed phase diagram features two extended two-phase fields containing mixtures of a Ba-rich cubic phase and a tetragonal, or orthorhombic Ca-rich phase, all having perovskite-related structures. The symmetry differences in the Ca-rich phases are caused by different tilting patterns of the [ZrO 6] octahedra. In specimens quenched from 1650°C, CaZrO 3 dissolves only a few percent of Ba, whereas the solubility of Ca in BaZrO 3 is approximately 30 at% . The BaZrO 3-CaZrO 3 system features at least two tilting phase transitions, Pm3 m→ I4/ mcm and I4/ mcm→ Pbnm. Rietveld refinements of the Ba 0.8Ca 0.2ZrO 3 structure using variable-temperature neutron powder diffraction data confirmed that the Pm3 m→ I4/ mcm transition corresponds to a rotation of octahedra about one of the cubic axes; successive octahedra along this axis rotate in opposite directions. In situ variable-temperature electron diffraction studies indicated that the transition temperature increases with increasing Ca-substitution on the A-sites, from approximately -120°C at 5 at% Ca to 225°C at 20 at% Ca. Dielectric measurements revealed that the permittivity increases monotonically from 36 for BaZrO 3 to 53 for Ba 0.9Ca 0.1ZrO 3, and then decreases to 50 for Ba 0.8Ca 0.2ZrO 3. This later specimen was the Ca-richest composition for which pellets could be quenched from the single-phase cubic field with presently available equipment. Strongly non-monotonic behavior was also observed for the temperature coefficient of resonant frequency; however, in this case, the maximum occurred at a lower Ca concentration, 0.05⩽ x⩽0.1. The non-linear behavior of the dielectric properties was attributed to two competing structural effects: a positive effect associated with substitution of relatively small Ca cations on the A-sites, resulting in stretched Ca-O bonds, and a negative effect, related to the distortion of the A-site environment (bond strain relaxation) upon octahedral tilting.

Mixtures of benzo(a)pyrene, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and tributyltin are more toxic to neotropical fish Rhamdia quelen than isolated exposures.

PubMed

Oliveira, Heloísa H P; Liebel, Samuel; Rossi, Stéfani C; Azevedo, Ana C B; Barrera, Ellie A L; Garcia, Juan Ramon Esquivel; Grötzner, Sônia Regina; Neto, Francisco Filipak; Randi, Marco A F; Ribeiro, Ciro A O

2015-12-01

The effects of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and tributyltin (TBT) association were investigated through a multi-biomarker approach. Ten Rhamdia quelen fish per group were exposed through intraperitoneal injections either to BaP (0.3; 3 or 30 mg kg(-1)), DDT or TBT (0.03; 0.3 or 3 mg kg(-1)) or BaP/DDT, BaP/TBT, DDT/TBT or BaP/DDT/TBT on their lowest doses. The experiments were divided in acute (one dose, 5-day) and sub-chronic (3 doses, 15-day). Control groups received an equal volume of PBS or canola oil (1 ml kg(-1)). The three tested contaminants altered AChE activity in brain and muscle in similar ways; the mixtures antagonized the increase evoked by the contaminants alone. BaP and TBT increased GSH content and mixtures reduced it. GPx activity was increased by DDT and TBT in the 15-day experiment and reduced by the mixtures. BaP increased GST activity in sub-chronic experiment while TBT reduced it in the acute experiment. BaP/TBT increased GST activity compared to all groups; the other mixtures reduced it compared to BaP or DDT in the 5-day experiment. BaP, DDT and TBT increased δ-ALAd activity mainly in acute exposure; the mixtures also increased δ-ALAd compared to DDT or TBT in 5 and 15-day. BaP, TBT and BaP/DDT decreased LPO in the acute experiment. In the sub-chronic experiment DDT/TBT increased LPO when compared to TBT. None of the contaminants alone altered PCO, but all mixtures increased it compared to one or another contaminant. Contaminants isolated had a more acute effect in ALT plasma level; their lowest dose, which had no effect alone, in combination has led to an increase of this enzyme, especially after 15 days. DDT increased AST in the acute and sub-chronic experiments, while TBT did the same in the latter. DDT/TBT decreased AST opposing the effect of the contaminants alone in the 5-day experiment. Hepatic lesions index could be explained by a more acute effect of the contaminants alone or combined and by activation of cell defenses after the sub-chronic exposure. TBT increased melanomacrophages counting in the 5-day experiment and the mixtures increased it in the 5 and 15-day experiments. Overall, the majority of the biomarkers pointed to a more toxic effect when these contaminants were combined, leading to unexpected toxicities compared to individual exposure scenarios. These findings are relevant considering environmental exposure conditions, since organisms are often exposed to different combinations of contaminants. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interstitial micelles in binary blends of A B A triblock copolymers and homopolymers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wołoszczuk, S.; Banaszak, M.

2018-01-01

We investigate triblock-homopolymer blends of types A1BA2/A and A1BA2/B, using a lattice Monte Carlo method. While the simulated triblock chains are compositionally symmetric in terms of the A-to-B volume ratio, the A1 block is significantly shorter than the A2 block. For the pure A1BA2 melt and the A1BA2 solutions in selective solvent the phase behavior is relatively well known, including existence and stability of the interstitial micelles which were discovered in previous Monte Carlo simulations. In this paper we study the stability of the interstitial micelles as a function of triblock volume fraction in selective homopolymers of either type A or type B, using two significantly different homopolymer chain lengths. We found that adding selective homopolymer of type A shifts the stability of the interstitial micelles into significantly higher temperatures. We also obtained, via self-assembly, intriguing new nanostructures which can be identified as ordered truncated octahedra. Finally, we established that the phase behavior of the triblock-homopolymer blends depends relatively weakly on the chain length of the added homopolymer.

A frontal but not parietal neural correlate of auditory consciousness.

PubMed

Brancucci, Alfredo; Lugli, Victor; Perrucci, Mauro Gianni; Del Gratta, Cosimo; Tommasi, Luca

2016-01-01

Hemodynamic correlates of consciousness were investigated in humans during the presentation of a dichotic sequence inducing illusory auditory percepts with features analogous to visual multistability. The sequence consisted of a variation of the original stimulation eliciting the Deutsch's octave illusion, created to maintain a stable illusory percept long enough to allow the detection of the underlying hemodynamic activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Two specular 500 ms dichotic stimuli (400 and 800 Hz) presented in alternation by means of earphones cause an illusory segregation of pitch and ear of origin which can yield up to four different auditory percepts per dichotic stimulus. Such percepts are maintained stable when one of the two dichotic stimuli is presented repeatedly for 6 s, immediately after the alternation. We observed hemodynamic activity specifically accompanying conscious experience of pitch in a bilateral network including the superior frontal gyrus (SFG, BA9 and BA10), medial frontal gyrus (BA6 and BA9), insula (BA13), and posterior lateral nucleus of the thalamus. Conscious experience of side (ear of origin) was instead specifically accompanied by bilateral activity in the MFG (BA6), STG (BA41), parahippocampal gyrus (BA28), and insula (BA13). These results suggest that the neural substrate of auditory consciousness, differently from that of visual consciousness, may rest upon a fronto-temporal rather than upon a fronto-parietal network. Moreover, they indicate that the neural correlates of consciousness depend on the specific features of the stimulus and suggest the SFG-MFG and the insula as important cortical nodes for auditory conscious experience.

BENZYL ALCOHOL PROTECTS AGAINST ACETAMINOPHEN HEPATOTOXICITY BY INHIBITING CYTOCHROME P450 ENZYMES BUT CAUSES MITOCHONDRIAL DYSFUNCTION AND CELL DEATH AT HIGHER DOSES

PubMed Central

Du, Kuo; McGill, Mitchell R.; Xie, Yuchao; Jaeschke, Hartmut

2015-01-01

Acetaminophen (APAP) hepatotoxicity is a serious public health problem in western countries. Current treatment options for APAP poisoning are limited and novel therapeutic intervention strategies are needed. A recent publication suggested that benzyl alcohol (BA) protects against APAP hepatotoxicity and could serve as a promising antidote for APAP poisoning. To assess the protective mechanisms of BA, C56Bl/6J mice were treated with 400mg/kg APAP and/or 270mg/kg BA. APAP alone caused extensive liver injury at 6h and 24h post-APAP. This injury was attenuated by BA co-treatment. Assessment of protein adduct formation demonstrated that BA inhibits APAP metabolic activation. In support of this, in vitro experiments also showed that BA dose-dependently inhibits cytochrome P450 activities. Correlating with the hepatoprotection of BA, APAP-induced oxidant stress and mitochondrial dysfunction were reduced. Similar results were obtained in primary mouse hepatocytes. Interestingly, BA alone caused mitochondrial membrane potential loss and cell toxicity at high doses, and its protective effect could not be reproduced in primary human hepatocytes (PHH). We conclude that BA protects against APAP hepatotoxicity mainly by inhibiting cytochrome P450 enzymes in mice. Considering its toxic effect and the loss of protection in PHH, BA is not a clinically useful treatment option for APAP overdose patient. PMID:26522885

Photoluminescence and thermal stability of yellow-emitting Na{sub 2}Ba{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 7}:Sm{sup 3+} phosphor for light-emitting diodes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sun, Jiayue, E-mail: jiayue_sun@126.com; Di, Qiumei; Cui, Dianpeng

2014-12-15

Highlights: • Na{sub 2}Ba{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 7}:Sm{sup 3+} phosphors are obtained via a solid-state reaction method. • Excitation at 402 nm, the yellow color purity is close to 100%. • The mechanism of concentration quenching is dipole–dipole interaction. • The temperature-dependent luminescence property exceed that of YAG:Ce{sup 3+}. - Abstract: A series of yellow-emitting Na{sub 2}(Ba{sub 2−x}Sm{sub x})Si{sub 2}O{sub 7} phosphors have been prepared via solid-state reaction technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) spectra, temperature-dependent luminescence property, concentration quenching mechanism and luminescence lifetime are applied to characterize the obtained samples. Under 402 nm near ultraviolent excitation, the samples emit yellowmore » light and the color purity is close to 100%. The critical quenching concentration of Sm{sup 3+} in the Na{sub 2}Ba{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 7} host is about 3.6 mol% and corresponding quenching behavior is ascribed to be electric dipole–dipole interaction. Furthermore, the phosphor has good thermal stability property, superior to the commercial yellow Y{sub 3}Al{sub 5}O{sub 12}:Ce{sup 3+} phosphor and the activation energy for thermal quenching is calculated as 0.18 eV.« less

Enhanced Neuroactivation during Working Memory Task in Postmenopausal Women Receiving Hormone Therapy: A Coordinate-Based Meta-Analysis.

PubMed

Li, Ke; Huang, Xiaoyan; Han, Yingping; Zhang, Jun; Lai, Yuhan; Yuan, Li; Lu, Jiaojiao; Zeng, Dong

2015-01-01

Hormone therapy (HT) has long been thought beneficial for controlling menopausal symptoms and human cognition. Studies have suggested that HT has a positive association with working memory, but no consistent relationship between HT and neural activity has been shown in any cognitive domain. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess the convergence of findings from published randomized control trials studies that examined brain activation changes in postmenopausal women. A systematic search for fMRI studies of neural responses during working memory tasks in postmenopausal women was performed. Studies were excluded if they were not treatment studies and did not contain placebo or blank controls. For the purpose of the meta-analysis, 8 studies were identified, with 103 postmenopausal women taking HT and 109 controls. Compared with controls, postmenopausal women who took HT increased activation in the left frontal lobe, including superior frontal gyrus (BA 8), right middle frontal gyrus (BA 9), anterior lobe, paracentral lobule (BA 7), limbic lobe, and anterior cingulate (BA 32). Additionally, decreased activation is noted in the right limbic lobe, including parahippocampal gyrus (BA 28), left parietal lobe, and superior parietal lobule (BA 7). All regions were significant at p ≤ 0.05 with correction for multiple comparisons. Hormone treatment is associated with BOLD signal activation in key anatomical areas during fMRI working memory tasks in healthy hormone-treated postmenopausal women. A positive correlation between activation and task performance suggests that hormone use may benefit working memory.

Benzo[a]pyrene exposure increases toxic biomarkers and morphological disorders in mouse cervix.

PubMed

Gao, Meili; Li, Yongfei; Sun, Ying; Shah, Walayat; Yang, Shuiyun; Wang, Yili; Long, Jiangang

2011-11-01

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is a representative compound of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons exerting cytotoxicity and genotoxicity in the human liver, lung, stomach and skin. However, the toxic effect of BaP on cervical tissue remains unclear. This study was carried out to investigate the toxic effects of BaP on the cervix of ICR mice. Female mice were treated with BaP by intraperitoneal injection and oral gavage at a dose of 2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg body-weight, twice a week for 14 weeks. BaP treatment caused a significant increase in the levels of MDA and IL-6 with significantly increased activity of CYP1A1, creatine kinase and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and decreased activity of glutathione-S-transferase in the cervix and liver. The relative cervix weight was markedly reduced in the intraperitoneal BaP injection groups, whereas only a slight reduction was observed in the oral gavage groups. The increase in weight decreased with increasing BaP dose. Moreover, BaP treatment induced significant pathomorphological changes in the cervical tissue and increased the mortality of the mice. Taken together, these results suggest that BaP causes a certain toxic effect on cervical tissue. © 2011 The Authors. Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology © 2011 Nordic Pharmacological Society.

Lanthanoid-free perovskite oxide catalyst for dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene working with redox mechanism

PubMed Central

Watanabe, Ryo; Ikushima, Maiko; Mukawa, Kei; Sumomozawa, Fumitaka; Ogo, Shuhei; Sekine, Yasushi

2013-01-01

For the development of highly active and robust catalysts for dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene (EBDH) to produce styrene; an important monomer for polystyrene production, perovskite-type oxides were applied to the reaction. Controlling the mobility of lattice oxygen by changing the structure of Ba1 − xSrxFeyMn1 − yO3 − δ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1, 0.2 ≤ y ≤ 0.8), perovskite catalyst showed higher activity and stability on EBDH. The optimized Ba/Sr and Fe/Mn molar ratios were 0.4/0.6 and 0.6/0.4, respectively. Comparison of the dehydrogenation activity of Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 − δ catalyst with that of an industrial potassium promoted iron (Fe–K) catalyst revealed that the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 − δ catalyst showed higher initial activity than the industrial Fe–K oxide catalyst. Additionally, the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 − δ catalyst showed high activity and stability under severe conditions, even at temperatures as low as 783 K, or at the low steam/EB ratio of 2, while, the Fe–K catalyst showed low activity in such conditions. Comparing reduction profiles of the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 − δ and the Fe–K catalysts in a H2O/H2 atmosphere, reduction was suppressed by the presence of H2O over the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 − δ catalyst while the Fe–K catalyst was reduced. In other words, Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 − δ catalyst had higher potential for activating the steam than the Fe–K catalyst. The lattice oxygen in perovskite-structure was consumed by H2, subsequently the consumed lattice oxygen was regenerated by H2O. So the catalytic performance of Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 − δ was superior to that of Fe–K catalyst thanks to the high redox property of the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 − δ perovskite oxide. PMID:24790949

Word and picture matching: a PET study of semantic category effects.

PubMed

Perani, D; Schnur, T; Tettamanti, M; Gorno-Tempini, M; Cappa, S F; Fazio, F

1999-03-01

We report two positron emission tomography (PET) studies of cerebral activation during picture and word matching tasks, in which we compared directly the processing of stimuli belonging to different semantic categories (animate and inanimate) in the visual (pictures) and verbal (words) modality. In the first experiment, brain activation was measured in eleven healthy adults during a same/different matching task for textures, meaningless shapes and pictures of animals and artefacts (tools). Activations for meaningless shapes when compared to visual texture discrimination were localized in the left occipital and inferior temporal cortex. Animal picture identification, either in the comparison with meaningless shapes and in the direct comparison with non-living pictures, involved primarily activation of occipital regions, namely the lingual gyrus bilaterally and the left fusiform gyrus. For artefact picture identification, in the same comparison with meaningless shape-baseline and in the direct comparison with living pictures, all activations were left hemispheric, through the dorsolateral frontal (Ba 44/6 and 45) and temporal (Ba 21, 20) cortex. In the second experiment, brain activation was measured in eight healthy adults during a same/different matching task for visually presented words referring to animals and manipulable objects (tools); the baseline was a pseudoword discrimination task. When compared with the tool condition, the animal condition activated posterior left hemispheric areas, namely the fusiform (Ba 37) and the inferior occipital gyrus (Ba 18). The right superior parietal lobule (Ba 7) and the left thalamus were also activated. The reverse comparison (tools vs animals) showed left hemispheric activations in the middle temporal gyrus (Ba 21) and precuneus (Ba 7), as well as bilateral activation in the occipital regions. These results are compatible with different brain networks subserving the identification of living and non-living entities; in particular, they indicate a crucial role of the left fusiform gyrus in the processing of animate entities and of the left middle temporal gyrus for tools, both from words and pictures. The activation of other areas, such as the dorsolateral frontal cortex, appears to be specific for the semantic access of tools only from pictures.

An individually tailored behavioral medicine treatment in physical therapy for tension-type headache - two experimental case studies.

PubMed

Söderlund, Anne; Lagerlöf, Helena

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to describe and evaluate the effect of an individually tailored behavioral medicine treatment in physical therapy, based on a functional behavioral analysis (FBA), for tension-type headache (TTH). Two case studies with A1-A2-B-A3 design of two patients with TTH was conducted. Outcome variables were headache frequency, headache index (mean intensity), consumption of analgesics, self-efficacy in headache management (Headache Management Self-efficacy Scale [HMSE]), disability, and perceived loss of happiness for activities with family and friends. The results showed that headache frequency and headache index decreased for one of the patients. Self-efficacy in headache management increased markedly for both patients. A behavioral medicine treatment in physical therapy based on an FBA can be a way for physical therapists to handle patients with TTH. Future investigations should focus on large group studies with longer observation periods.

Structure analysis of BaCe{sub 0.8}Y{sub 0.2}O{sub 3−δ} in dry and wet atmospheres by high-temperature X-ray diffraction measurement

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Han, Donglin, E-mail: han.donglin.8n@kyoto-u.ac.jp; Majima, Masatoshi; Uda, Tetsuya, E-mail: materials_process@aqua.mtl.kyoto-u.ac.jp

2013-09-15

High temperature X-ray diffraction measurements were performed under dry and wet atmospheres to investigate phase behavior of BaCe{sub 0.8}Y{sub 0.2}O{sub 3−δ} (BCY20). In the temperature range of 30–400 °C, BCY20 was identified to be rhombohedral and monoclinic structures in dry and wet atmospheres, respectively. Larger lattice volumes were obtained in a wet atmosphere due to a chemical expansion induced by water incorporation. A gradual change in diffraction peak shape due to a phase transformation from rhombohedral to monoclinic was observed at 300 °C when moisture was introduced into the atmosphere. These results indicated clearly the dependence of phase behavior ofmore » BCY20 on partial pressure of water vapor in atmosphere. - Graphical abstract: A BaCe{sub 0.8}Y{sub 0.2}O{sub 3−δ} rhombohedral phase transited to a monoclinic phase at 300 °C when moisture was introduced into the atmosphere. Display Omitted - Highlights: • Different structures for hydrated and dehydrated BaCe{sub 0.8}Y{sub 0.2}O{sub 3−δ} (BCY20). • Slow phase transition from rhombohedral to monoclinic at 300 °C in wet atmosphere. • Chemical expansion of BCY20 in wet atmosphere. • Importance of considering moisture when discussing phase behavior of BCY20.« less

Adsorption behavior of benzenesulfonic acid by novel weakly basic anion exchange resins.

PubMed

Sun, Yue; Zuo, Peng; Luo, Junfen; Singh, Rajendra Prasad

2017-04-01

Two novel weakly basic anion exchange resins (SZ-1 and SZ-2) were prepared via the reaction of macroporous chloromethylated polystyrene-divinylbenzene (Cl-PS-DVB) beads with dicyclohexylamine and piperidine, respectively. The physicochemical structures of the resulting resins were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and pore size distribution analysis. The adsorption behavior of SZ-1 and SZ-2 for benzenesulfonic acid (BA) was evaluated, and the common commercial weakly basic anion exchanger D301 was also employed for comparison purpose. Adsorption isotherms and influence of solution pH, temperature and coexisting competitive inorganic salts (Na 2 SO 4 and NaCl) on adsorption behavior were investigated and the optimum desorption agent was obtained. Adsorption isotherms of BA were found to be well represented by the Langmuir model. Thermodynamic parameters involving ΔH, ΔG and ΔS were also calculated and the results indicate that adsorption is an exothermic and spontaneous process. Enhanced selectivity of BA sorption over sulfate on the two novel resins was observed by comparison with the commercial anion exchanger D301. The fact that the tested resins loaded with BA can be efficiently regenerated by NaCl solution indicates the reversible sorption process. From a mechanistic viewpoint, this observation clearly suggests that electrostatic interaction is the predominant adsorption mechanism. Furthermore, results of column tests show that SZ-1 possesses a better adsorption property than D301, which reinforces the feasibility of SZ-1 for potential industrial application. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Mathematically gifted adolescents use more extensive and more bilateral areas of the fronto-parietal network than controls during executive functioning and fluid reasoning tasks.

PubMed

Desco, Manuel; Navas-Sanchez, Francisco J; Sanchez-González, Javier; Reig, Santiago; Robles, Olalla; Franco, Carolina; Guzmán-De-Villoria, Juan A; García-Barreno, Pedro; Arango, Celso

2011-07-01

The main goal of this study was to investigate the neural substrates of fluid reasoning and visuospatial working memory in adolescents with precocious mathematical ability. The study population comprised two groups of adolescents: 13 math-gifted adolescents and 14 controls with average mathematical skills. Patterns of activation specific to reasoning tasks in math-gifted subjects were examined using functional magnetic resonance images acquired while the subjects were performing Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM) and the Tower of London (TOL) tasks. During the tasks, both groups showed significant activations in the frontoparietal network. In the math-gifted group, clusters of activation were always bilateral and more regions were recruited, especially in the right hemisphere. In the TOL task, math-gifted adolescents showed significant hyper-activations relative to controls in the precuneus, superior occipital lobe (BA 19), and medial temporal lobe (BA 39). The maximum differences between the groups were detected during RAPM tasks at the highest level of difficulty, where math-gifted subjects showed significant activations relative to controls in the right inferior parietal lobule (BA 40), anterior cingulated gyrus (BA 32), and frontal (BA 9, and BA 6) areas. Our results support the hypothesis that greater ability for complex mathematical reasoning may be related to more bilateral patterns of activation and that increased activation in the parietal and frontal regions of math-gifted adolescents is associated with enhanced skills in visuospatial processing and logical reasoning. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Frontal activations associated with accessing and evaluating information in working memory: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Zhang, John X; Leung, Hoi-Chung; Johnson, Marcia K

2003-11-01

To investigate the involvement of frontal cortex in accessing and evaluating information in working memory, we used a variant of a Sternberg paradigm and compared brain activations between positive and negative responses (known to differentially tax access/evaluation processes). Participants remembered two trigrams in each trial and were then cued to discard one of them and maintain the other one as the target set. After a delay, a probe letter was presented and participants made decisions about whether or not it was in the target set. Several frontal areas--anterior cingulate (BA32), middle frontal gyrus (bilateral BA9, right BA10, and right BA46), and left inferior frontal gyrus (BA44/45)--showed increased activity when participants made correct negative responses relative to when they made correct positive responses. No areas activated significantly more for the positive responses than for the negative responses. It is suggested that the multiple frontal areas involved in the test phase of this task may reflect several component processes that underlie more general frontal functions.

Human Ecstasy Use is Associated with Increased Cortical Excitability: An fMRI Study

PubMed Central

Bauernfeind, Amy L; Dietrich, Mary S; Blackford, Jennifer U; Charboneau, Evonne J; Lillevig, James G; Cannistraci, Christopher J; Woodward, Neil D; Cao, Aize; Watkins, Tristan; Di Iorio, Christina R; Cascio, Carissa; Salomon, Ronald M; Cowan, Ronald L

2011-01-01

The serotonergic neurotoxin, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA/Ecstasy), is a highly popular recreational drug. Human recreational MDMA users have neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric impairments, and human neuroimaging data are consistent with animal reports of serotonin neurotoxicity. However, functional neuroimaging studies have not found consistent effects of MDMA on brain neurophysiology in human users. Several lines of evidence suggest that studying MDMA effects in visual system might reveal the general cortical and subcortical neurophysiological consequences of MDMA use. We used 3 T functional magnetic resonance imaging during visual stimulation to compare visual system lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and Brodmann Area (BA) 17 and BA 18 activation in 20 long abstinent (479.95±580.65 days) MDMA users and 20 non-MDMA user controls. Lifetime quantity of MDMA use was strongly positively correlated with blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal intensity in bilateral LGN (rs=0.59; p=0.007), BA 17 (rs=0.50; p=0.027), and BA 18 (rs=0.48; p=0.031), and with the spatial extent of activation in BA 17 (rs=0.059; p=0.007) and BA 18 (rs=0.55; p=0.013). There were no between-group differences in brain activation in any region, but the heaviest MDMA users showed a significantly greater spatial extent of activation than controls in BA 17 (p=0.031) and BA 18 (p=0.049). These results suggest that human recreational MDMA use may be associated with a long-lasting increase in cortical excitability, possibly through loss of serotonin input to cortical and subcortical regions. When considered in the context of previous results, cortical hyper-excitability may be a biomarker for MDMA-induced serotonin neurotoxicity. PMID:21326196

Nonlinear responses within the medial prefrontal cortex reveal when specific implicit information influences economic decision making.

PubMed

Deppe, Michael; Schwindt, Wolfram; Kugel, Harald; Plassmann, Hilke; Kenning, Peter

2005-04-01

The authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how individual economic decisions are influenced by implicit memory contributions. Twenty-two participants were asked to make binary decisions between different brands of sensorily nearly undistinguishable consumer goods. Changes of brain activity comparing decisions in the presence or absence of a specific target brand were detected by fMRI. Only when the tar get brand was the participant's favorite one did the authors find reduced activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal, posterior parietal, and occipital cortices and the left premotor area (Brodmann areas [BA] 9, 46, 7/19, and 6). Simultaneously, activity was increased in the inferior precuneus and posterior cingulate (BA 7), right superior frontal gyrus (BA 10), right supramarginal gyrus (BA 40), and, most pronounced, in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (BA 10). For products mainly distinguishable by brand information, the authors revealed a nonlinear winner-take-all effect for a participant's favorite brand characterized, on one hand, by reduced activation in brain areas associated with working memory and reasoning and, on the other hand, increased activation in areas involved in processing of emotions and self-reflections during decision making.

Analysis of benzo[a]pyrene metabolites formed by rat hepatic microsomes using high pressure liquid chromatography: optimization of the method

PubMed Central

Moserová, Michaela; Kotrbová, Věra; Aimová, Dagmar; Šulc, Miroslav; Frei, Eva; Stiborová, Marie

2009-01-01

A simple and sensitive method was developed to separate the carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), and six of its oxidation metabolites generated by rat hepatic microsomes enriched with cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A1, by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). The HPLC method, using an acetonitrile/water gradient as mobile phase and UV detection, provided appropriate separation and detection of both mono- and di-hydroxylated metabolites of BaP as well as BaP diones formed by rat hepatic microsomes and the parental BaP. In this enzymatic system, 3-hydroxy BaP, 9-hydroxy BaP, BaP-4,5-dihydrodiol, BaP-7,8-dihydrodiol, BaP-9,10-dihydrodiol and BaP-dione were generated. Among them the mono-hydroxylated BaP metabolite, 3-hydroxy BaP followed by di-hydroxylated BaP products, BaP-7,8-dihydrodiol and BaP-9,10-dihydrodiol, predominated, while BaP-dione was a minor metabolite. This HPLC method will be useful for further defining the roles of the CYP1A1 enzyme with both in vitro and in vivo models in understanding its real role in activation and detoxification of BaP. PMID:21217860

LCA of management strategies for RDF incineration and gasification bottom ash based on experimental leaching data.

PubMed

Di Gianfilippo, Martina; Costa, Giulia; Pantini, Sara; Allegrini, Elisa; Lombardi, Francesco; Astrup, Thomas Fruergaard

2016-01-01

The main characteristics and environmental properties of the bottom ash (BA) generated from thermal treatment of waste may vary significantly depending on the type of waste and thermal technology employed. Thus, to ensure that the strategies selected for the management of these residues do not cause adverse environmental impacts, the specific properties of BA, in particular its leaching behavior, should be taken into account. This study focuses on the evaluation of potential environmental impacts associated with two different management options for BA from thermal treatment of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF): landfilling and recycling as a filler for road sub bases. Two types of thermal treatment were considered: incineration and gasification. Potential environmental impacts were evaluated by life-cycle assessment (LCA) using the EASETECH model. Both non-toxicity related impact categories (i.e. global warming and mineral abiotic resource depletion) and toxic impact categories (i.e. human toxicity and ecotoxicity) were assessed. The system boundaries included BA transport from the incineration/gasification plants to the landfills and road construction sites, leaching of potentially toxic metals from the BA, the avoided extraction, crushing, transport and leaching of virgin raw materials for the road scenarios, and material and energy consumption for the construction of the landfills. To provide a quantitative assessment of the leaching properties of the two types of BA, experimental leaching data were used to estimate the potential release from each of the two types of residues. Specific attention was placed on the sensitivity of leaching properties and the determination of emissions by leaching, including: leaching data selection, material properties and assumptions related to emission modeling. The LCA results showed that for both types of BA, landfilling was associated with the highest environmental impacts in the non-toxicity related categories. For the toxicity related categories, the two types of residues behaved differently. For incineration BA the contribution of metal leaching to the total impacts had a dominant role, with the highest environmental loads resulting for the road scenario. For the gasification BA, the opposite result was obtained, due to the lower release of contaminants observed for this material compared to incineration BA. Based on the results of this study, it may be concluded that, depending on the type of BA considered, its leaching behavior may significantly affect the results of a LCA regarding its management strategies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The unusual chemical bonding and thermoelectric properties of a new type Zintl phase compounds Ba3Al2As4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Gui; Zhang, Guangbiao; Wang, Chao; Wang, Yuanxu

2016-07-01

Ba3Al2As4 exhibits an unusual anisotropic electrical conductivity, that is, the electrical conductivity along the chain is smaller than those along other two directions. The results is conflict with previous conclusion for Ca5M2Pn6. Earlier studies on Ca5M2Pn6 showed that a higher electrical conductivity could be obtained along the chain. The band decomposed charge density is used to explain such unusual behavior. Our calculations indicate the existence of a conductive pathway near the Fermi level is responsible for the electrons transport. Further, the Ba-As bonding of Ba3Al2As4 has some degree covalency which is novel for the Zintl compounds.

Brain activity related to phonation in young patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia.

PubMed

Kiyuna, Asanori; Maeda, Hiroyuki; Higa, Asano; Shingaki, Kouta; Uehara, Takayuki; Suzuki, Mikio

2014-06-01

This study investigated the brain activities during phonation of young patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) of relatively short disease duration (<10 years). Six subjects with ADSD of short duration (mean age: 24. 3 years; mean disease duration: 41 months) and six healthy controls (mean age: 30.8 years) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using a sparse sampling method to identify brain activity during vowel phonation (/i:/). Intragroup and intergroup analyses were performed using statistical parametric mapping software. Areas of activation in the ADSD and control groups were similar to those reported previously for vowel phonation. All of the activated areas were observed bilaterally and symmetrically. Intergroup analysis revealed higher brain activities in the SD group in the auditory-related areas (Brodmann's areas [BA] 40, 41), motor speech areas (BA44, 45), bilateral insula (BA13), bilateral cerebellum, and middle frontal gyrus (BA46). Areas with lower activation were in the left primary sensory area (BA1-3) and bilateral subcortical nucleus (putamen and globus pallidus). The auditory cortical responses observed may reflect that young ADSD patients control their voice by use of the motor speech area, insula, inferior parietal cortex, and cerebellum. Neural activity in the primary sensory area and basal ganglia may affect the voice symptoms of young ADSD patients with short disease duration. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Luminescence properties of Eu2+ in M2MgSi2O7 (M=Ca, Sr, and Ba) phosphors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, T.; Kim, Y.; Kang, S.

2012-03-01

The photoluminescence properties of alkali-earth magnesium silicates (M2MgSi2O7, M=Ca, Sr, and Ba) doped with Eu2+ were investigated. Solid solutions of Ba x Sr2- x Si2O7, Ca2MgSi2O7, and Sr2MgSi2O7 were prepared. Ba x Sr2- x Si2O7 retained a tetragonal crystal structure similar to the structure of the other compounds up to a stoichiometry of x=1.6, which enabled a systematic study of the common structure. Monoclinic Ba2MgSi2O7 was prepared, and the luminescence properties were compared with those of other samples. The emission and excitation spectra of tetragonal M2MgSi2O7 (M=Ca, Sr, and Ba) changed as a function of the covalency, site symmetry, and crystal field strength. The luminescence properties showed excellent agreement with theoretical predictions based on these factors. The Stokes shift differentiated the emission behaviors of the tetragonal and monoclinic structures.

ACTIVE MEDIA: BaY2F8 single crystals doped with rare-earth ions as promising up-conversion media for UV and VUV lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pushkar', A. A.; Uvarova, T. V.; Molchanov, V. N.

2008-04-01

BaY2F8 crystals are studied as promising active media for UV and VUV lasers. The up-conversion pumping of rare-earth activators is proposed to solve problems related to the solarisation of the medium and the selection of pump sources. The technology of growing oriented BaY2F8 single crystals is developed and the influence of the crystal orientation on the growth rate and quality of single crystals is determined.

Butyric acid stimulates bone sialoprotein gene transcription.

PubMed

Yang, Li; Li, Zhengyang; Li, Xinyue; Wang, Zhitao; Wang, Shuang; Sasaki, Yoko; Takai, Hideki; Ogata, Yorimasa

2010-06-01

Butyric acid (sodium butyrate; BA) is an extracellular metabolite secreted from periodontopathic bacteria present in subgingival plaque. BA induces apoptosis of T and B cells, and acts as a potent inhibitor of histone deacetylases. Bone sialoprotein (BSP) is thought to function in the initial mineralization of bone, and may be crucial for osteoblast differentiation, bone matrix mineralization and tumor metastasis. In the present study we investigated the regulation of BSP transcription by BA in rat osteoblast-like ROS17/2.8 cells. At 12 h, BA (10(-4) M) increased the level of BSP mRNA, and enhanced the luciferase activity of the construct pLUC3, which includes the promoter sequence between nucleotides -116 and +60. Transcriptional stimulation by BA was abrogated in the pLUC3 construct which containing a 2-bp mutation in the fibroblast growth factor 2 response element (FRE). Gel shift analyses showed that BA increased the binding of nuclear protein to FRE. These data suggest that BA increases the transcription of the BSP gene mediated through FRE in the rat BSP gene promoter, and induces osteoblast activity in the early stage of bone formation.

Altered patterns of cortical activation in ALS patients during attention and cognitive response inhibition tasks.

PubMed

Goldstein, L H; Newsom-Davis, I C; Bryant, V; Brammer, M; Leigh, P N; Simmons, A

2011-12-01

Since amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can be accompanied by executive dysfunction, it is hypothesised that ALS patients will have impaired performance on tests of cognitive inhibition. We predicted that ALS patients would show patterns of abnormal activation in extramotor regions when performing tests requiring the inhibition of prepotent responses (the Stroop effect) and the inhibition of prior negatively primed responses (the negative priming effect) when compared to healthy controls. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure activation during a sparse sequence block design paradigm investigating the Stroop and negative priming effects in 14 ALS patients and 8 healthy age- and IQ-matched controls. Behavioural measures of performance were collected. Both groups' reaction times (RTs) reflected the Stroop effect during scanning. The ALS and control groups did not differ significantly for any of the behavioural measures but did show significant differences in cerebral activation during both tasks. The ALS group showed increased activation predominantly in the left middle temporal gyrus (BA 20/21), left superior temporal gyrus (BA 22) and left anterior cingulate gyrus (BA 32). Neither group's RT data showed clear evidence of a negative priming effect. However the ALS group showed decreased activation, relative to controls, particularly in the left cingulate gyrus (BA 23/24), left precentral gyrus (BA 4/6) and left medial frontal gyrus (BA 6). Greater cerebral activation in the ALS group accompanying the performance of the Stroop effect and areas of decreased activation during the negative priming comparison suggest altered inhibitory processing in ALS, consistent with other evidence of executive dysfunction in ALS. The current findings require further exploration in a larger study.

Molecular glues for manipulating enzymes: trypsin inhibition by benzamidine-conjugated molecular glues† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Synthesis of TEG–BA, Gluen–BA, mGluen–BA and Gluen–Ph; 1H NMR, 13C NMR, MALDI-TOF MS, electronic absorption, and CD spectra; zeta potential distributions; SLS plots; DLS histograms; and related experimental procedures. See DOI: 10.1039/c5sc00524h Click here for additional data file.

PubMed Central

Mogaki, Rina

2015-01-01

Water-soluble bioadhesive polymers bearing multiple guanidinium ion (Gu+) pendants at their side-chain termini (Gluen–BA, n = 10 and 29) that were conjugated with benzamidine (BA) as a trypsin inhibitor were developed. The Gluen–BA molecules are supposed to adhere to oxyanionic regions of the trypsin surface, even in buffer, via a multivalent Gu+/oxyanion salt-bridge interaction, such that their BA group properly blocks the substrate-binding site. In fact, Glue10–BA and Glue29–BA exhibited 35- and 200-fold higher affinities for trypsin, respectively, than a BA derivative without the glue moiety (TEG–BA). Most importantly, Glue10–BA inhibited the protease activity of trypsin 13-fold more than TEG–BA. In sharp contrast, mGlue27–BA, which bears 27 Gu+ units along the main chain and has a 5-fold higher affinity than TEG–BA for trypsin, was inferior even to TEG–BA for trypsin inhibition. PMID:28706668

Effects of tributyltin and benzo[a]pyrene on the immune-associated activities of hemocytes and recovery responses in the gastropod abalone, Haliotis diversicolor.

PubMed

Gopalakrishnan, Singaram; Huang, Wei-Bin; Wang, Qiang-Wei; Wu, Man-Li; Liu, Jie; Wang, Ke-Jian

2011-08-01

Our previous study reports that short-term exposure to sublethal concentrations of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) induces immunomodulation in the gastropod abalone, Haliotis diversicolor. In the present study, it was further observed that long-term chronic exposure to sublethal concentrations of BaP modulated the immunocompetence of abalones in terms of the change in activity of the antioxidant and immune associated parameters tested. In addition, the effect of tributyltin (TBT), another important genotoxicant in the aquatic environment, was investigated. Exposure of abalones to sublethal concentrations of TBT and BaP for 21 days resulted in significant decrease of total hemocyte count, phagocytosis, membrane stability and lysozyme activity. Conversely induction of extra and intra cellular superoxide generation, nitric oxide, nitric oxide synthase and myeloperoxidase activity was present when the abalones were exposed to TBT and BaP. Most of the immune associated parameters tested showed clear time dependent response to both toxicants. Within 14 days after the 21 day exposure to BaP, recovery was observed as evidenced by most of the parameters returning to their normal level. However, no recovery was observed within 14 days after the 21 day exposure to TBT as evidenced by continued elevation of intra cellular superoxide and nitrite production and decrease in THC, membrane stability and lysozyme activity. This suggested a prolonged TBT-induced impact on the immune reaction and possibly more damage than that caused by BaP. Overall the results suggest that chronic exposure to sublethal concentrations of TBT or BaP causes modulations in the immunocompetence of abalones with most of the immune associated parameters tested being stimulated, and this might be harmful to the host. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

White-light-controlled resistive switching in ZnO/BaTiO3/C multilayer layer at room temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Junshuai; Liang, Dandan; Wu, Liangchen; Li, Xiaoping; Chen, Peng

2018-07-01

The bipolar resistance switching effect is observed in ZnO/BaTiO3/C structure. The resistance switching behavior can be modulated by white light. The resistance switch states and threshold voltage can be changed when subjected to white light. This research can help explore multi-functional materials and applications in nonvolatile memory device.

Interface control in BaTiO3 based supercapacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maglione, Mario; Elissalde, Catherine; Chung, U.-Chan

2010-03-01

Core shell BaTiO3 based particles sintered using advanced processes provide a high control of grain boundaries in bulk composites. As a result, supercapacitor behavior was evidenced which came from the balance between inner grain conductivity and grain boundary dielectric barrier. Thanks to the core-shell structure of the starting particles, improved control of the effective dielectric parameters can be achieved.

A Laterally-Mobile Mixed Polymer/Polyelectrolyte Brush Undergoes a Macroscopic Phase Separation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Hoyoung; Park, Hae-Woong; Tsouris, Vasilios; Choi, Je; Mustafa, Rafid; Lim, Yunho; Meron, Mati; Lin, Binhua; Won, You-Yeon

2013-03-01

We studied mixed PEO and PDMAEMA brushes. The question we attempted to answer was: When the chain grafting points are laterally mobile, how will this lateral mobility influence the structure and phase behavior of the mixed brush? Two different model mixed PEO/PDMAEMA brush systems were prepared: a mobile mixed brush by spreading a mixture of two diblock copolymers, PEO-PnBA and PDMAEMA-PnBA, onto the air-water interface, and an inseparable mixed brush using a PEO-PnBA-PDMAEMA triblock copolymer having respective brush molecular weights matched to those of the diblock copolymers. These two systems were investigated by surface pressure-area isotherm, X-ray reflectivity and AFM imaging measurements. The results suggest that the mobile mixed brush undergoes a lateral macroscopic phase separation at high chain grafting densities, whereas the inseparable system is only microscopically phase separated under comparable brush density conditions. We also conducted an SCF analysis of the phase behavior of the mixed brush system. This analysis further supported the experimental findings. The macroscopic phase separation observed in the mobile system is in contrast to the microphase separation behavior commonly observed in two-dimensional laterally-mobile small molecule mixtures.

Energy storage properties and relaxor behavior of lead-free Ba1-xSm2x/3Zr0.15Ti0.85O3 ceramics.

PubMed

Sun, Zheng; Li, Lingxia; Yu, Shihui; Kang, Xinyu; Chen, Siliang

2017-10-24

Lead-free Ba 1-x Sm 2x/3 Zr 0.15 Ti 0.85 O 3 (BSZT) ceramics were synthesized by a solid state reaction route. The microstructure, dielectric relaxor behavior and energy storage properties of BSZT ceramics were studied. The growth of grain size was suppressed with the increase of Sm addition and kept in the submicrometer scale. Successive substitution of Sm 3+ for Ba 2+ disrupted the long-range dipole and promoted the increase of polar nano-region (PNR) size, resulting in the enhanced degree of relaxor behavior. The increasing PNR size also lead to the slimmer hysteresis loops and improved the energy storage efficiency. Furthermore, high saturated polarization (P max ) and low remnant polarization (P r ) were obtained due to the formation of defect dipoles, which facilitated the switch of PNRs and contributed to the enhancement of energy storage density. The x = 0.003 sample was found to exhibit a higher energy storage density of 1.15 J cm -3 and an energy storage efficiency of 92%. The result revealed that the BSZT ceramics may be a good candidate for energy storage application.

Synthesis of flower-like BaTiO3/Fe3O4 hierarchically structured particles and their electrorheological and magnetic properties.

PubMed

Wang, Baoxiang; Yin, Yichao; Liu, Chenjie; Yu, Shoushan; Chen, Kezheng

2013-07-21

Flower-like BaTiO3/Fe3O4 hierarchically structured particles composed of nano-scale structures on micro-scale materials were synthesized by a simple solvothermal approach and characterized by the means of X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), magnetic testing and rotary viscometer. The influences on the morphology and structure of solvothermal times, type and amount of surfactant, EG : H2O ratio, etc. were studied. Magnetic testing results show that the samples have strong magnetism and they exhibit superparamagnetic behavior, as evidenced by no coercivity and the remanence at room temperature, due to their very small sizes, observed on the M-H loop. The saturation magnetization (M(s)) value can achieve 18.3 emu g(-1). The electrorheological (ER) effect was investigated using a suspension of the flower-like BaTiO3/Fe3O4 hierarchically structured particles dispersed in silicone oil. We can observe a slight shear-thinning behavior of shear viscosity at a low shear rate region even at zero applied electric field and a Newtonian fluid behavior at high shear rate regions.

Ionic-Liquid-Assisted Microwave Synthesis of Solid Solutions of Sr 1–xBa xSnO 3 Perovskite for Photocatalytic Applications

DOE PAGES

Alammar, Tarek; Slowing, Igor I.; Anderegg, Jim; ...

2017-06-06

Nanocrystalline Sr 1–xBa xSnO 3 (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1) perovskite photocatalysts were prepared by microwave synthesis in an ionic liquid (IL) and subsequent heat-treatment. The influence of the Sr/Ba substitution on the structure, crystallization, morphology, and photocatalytic efficiency was investigated and the samples were fully characterized. On the basis of X-ray diffraction results, as the Ba content in the SrSnO 3 lattice increases, a symmetry increase was observed from the orthorhombic perovskite structure for SrSnO 3 to the cubic BaSnO 3 structure. The analysis of the sample morphology by SEM reveals that the Sr 1–xBa xSnO 3more » samples favor the formation of nanorods (500 nm–5 μm in diameter and several micrometers long). The photophysical properties were examined by UV/Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The band gap decreases from 3.85 to 3.19 eV with increasing Ba 2+ content. Furthermore, the photocatalytic properties were evaluated for the hydroxylation of terephthalic acid (TA). The order of the activities for TA hydroxylation was Sr 0.8Ba 0.2SnO 3 > SrSnO 3 > BaSnO 3 > Sr 0.6Ba 0.4SnO 3 > Sr 0.2Ba 0.8SnO 3. Here, the highest photocatalytic activity was observed for Sr 0.8Ba 0.2SnO 3, and this can be attributed to the synergistic impacts of the modification of the crystal structure and morphology, the relatively large surface area associated with the small crystallite size, and the suitable band gap and band-edge position.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Peigong; Fan, Caimei, E-mail: fancm@163.com; Wang, Yawen

Graphical abstract: The cubic phase BaTiO{sub 3} nanoparticles can be obtained at 600 °C and changed into tetragonal phase at 900 °C by a dual chelating sol–gel method, and the photocatalytic activities of the photocatalysts calcined at different temperatures were investigated by the removal of humic acid (HA) from water under UV light irradiation. Highlights: ► The humic acid in water was firstly degradated by BaTiO{sub 3} photocatalyst. ► The cubic BaTiO{sub 3} was obtained and changed into tetragonal phase at lower temperature. ► The chelating agents had an important influence on the phase formation of BaTiO{sub 3}. ► Themore » tetragonal phase BaTiO{sub 3} calcined at 900 °C exhibited higher photocatalytic activity under UV irradiation. -- Abstract: In this paper, a dual chelating sol–gel method was used to synthesize BaTiO{sub 3} nanoparticles by using acetylacetone and citric acid as chelating agents. The samples calcined at different temperatures were analyzed by thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–vis). The results indicated that cubic phase BaTiO{sub 3} nanoparticles about 19.6 nm can be obtained at 600 °C and changed into tetragonal phase at 900 °C about 97.1 nm. All the BaTiO{sub 3} nanoparticles showed effective photocatalytic activities on the removal of humic acid (HA) under UV light irradiation. A comparison of single (acetylacetone or citric acid) and dual chelating (acetylacetone and citric acid) synthetic processes was also studied and the results demonstrated that the dual chelating agents indeed reduced phase transformation temperature from cubic to tetragonal BaTiO{sub 3}.« less

Intravaginal boric acid: is it an alternative therapeutic option for vaginal trichomoniasis?

PubMed

Thorley, Nicola; Ross, Jonathan

2017-12-09

Trichomoniasis, caused by Trichomonas vaginalis (TV), is the most common curable sexually transmitted infection worldwide. Current guidance in the UK is to treat TV with a nitroimidazole antibiotic. The high prevalence of TV, high rate of antibiotic resistance and limited tolerability to nitroimidazoles suggest that alternative treatment regimens are needed. Intravaginal boric acid (BA) has been used safely for the treatment of candida vulvovaginitis and bacterial vaginosis, and in vitro studies suggest BA is active against TV. We review the evidence for the efficacy of BA in patients with TV. MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, HMIC and BNI and Grey literature databases, The Cochrane Library, Trial Registers, conference abstracts and proceedings were searched. Inclusion criteria were women aged 16 years or over with microbiological confirmation of TV infection and using BA as treatment. There were no restrictions on language, publication date or study design. The in vitro evidence for BA activity against TV was also reviewed. No randomised controlled trials or case series were found. Four case reports demonstrated TV clearance with BA using a variety of dose regimens (dose 600 mg alternate nights to 600 mg two times per day; duration 1-5 months). In vitro studies suggest that BA has activity against TV which is independent of its effect on pH. Further evaluation of BA for the treatment of uncomplicated TV is required, but it may be useful when therapeutic options are limited. If shown to be safe and effective, intravaginal BA might provide a well-tolerated alternative anti-infective treatment which reduces community exposure to systemic antibiotics. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Synthesis of Y1Ba2Cu3O(sub x) superconducting powders by intermediate phase reaction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, C.; Fernandez, J. F.; Recio, P.; Duran, P.

1990-01-01

One of the more striking problems for the synthesis of the Y1Ba2Cu3Ox compound is the high-temperature decomposition of the BaCO3. This compound is present as raw material or as an intermediate compound in chemical processes such as amorphous citrate, coprecipitation oxalate, sol-gel process, acetate pyrolisis, etc. This fact makes difficult the total formation reaction of the Y1Ba2Cu3Ox phase and leads to the presence of undesirable phases such as the BaCuO2 phase, the 'green phase', Y2BaCuO5 and others. Here, a new procedure to overcome this difficulty is studied. The barium cation is previously combined with yttrium and/or copper to form intermediate compounds which can react between them to give Y1Ba2Cu3Ox. BaY2O4 and BaCu2O3 react according to the equation BaY2O4+3BaCu2O3 yields 2Y1Ba2Cu3Ox. BaY2O4 is a stable compound of the Y2O3-BaO system; BaCu2O3 is an intimate mixture of BaCuO2 and uncombined CuO. The reaction kinetics of these phases have been established between 860 and 920 C. The phase evolution has been determined. The crystal structure of the Y1Ba2Cu3Ox obtained powder was studied. According to the results obtained from the kinetics study the Y1Ba2Cu3Ox the synthesis was performed at temperatures of 910 to 920 C for short treatment times (1 to 2 hours). Pure Y1Ba2Cu3Ox was prepared, which develops orthorombic type I structure despite of the cooling cycle. Superconducting transition took place at 91 K. The sintering behavior and the superconducting properties of sintered samples were studied. Density, microstructure and electrical conductivity were measured. Sintering densities higher than 95 percent D(sub th) were attained at temperatures below 940 C. Relatively fine grained microstructure was observed, and little or no-liquid phase was detected.

Advances in understanding of bile acid diarrhea

PubMed Central

Camilleri, Michael

2014-01-01

Bile acids (BA) are actively reabsorbed in the terminal ileum by the apical Na+-dependent bile salt transporter. This review addresses the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of BA diarrhea (BAD). BAD is typically caused by ileal resection or disease; 25–33% of patients with chronic functional diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome-diarrhea (IBS-D) have BAD, possibly from deficiency in the ileal hormone, FGF-19, which normally provides feedback inhibition of BA synthesis. Diagnosis of BAD is typically based on reduced BA retention of radiolabeled BA (75SeHCAT), increased BA synthesis (serum C4) or increased fecal BA loss. In clinical practice, diagnosis is often based on response to BA sequestrants (e.g., cholestyramine or colesevelam). Diagnostic tests for BA malabsorption (BAM) need to be used more extensively in clinical practice. In the future, farnesoid X receptor agonists that stimulate ileal production of FGF-19 may be alternative treatments of BAD. PMID:24410472

The effects of preparation conditions for a BaNbO2 N photocatalyst on its physical properties.

PubMed

Hisatomi, Takashi; Katayama, Chisato; Teramura, Kentaro; Takata, Tsuyoshi; Moriya, Yosuke; Minegishi, Tsutomu; Katayama, Masao; Nishiyama, Hiroshi; Yamada, Taro; Domen, Kazunari

2014-07-01

BaNbO2 N is a semiconductor photocatalyst active for water oxidation under visible-light irradiation up to λ=740 nm. It is important to understand the nitridation processes of precursor materials to form BaNbO2 N to tune the physical properties and improve the photocatalytic activity. Comprehensive experiments and analyses of temperatures, durations, ammonia flow rates, and barium/niobium ratios in the precursor during the nitridation process reveals that faster ammonia flow rates and higher barium/niobium ratios in the precursors help to suppress reduction of pentavalent niobium ions in the nitridation products and that the use of a precursor prepared by a soft-chemistry route allows the production of BaNbO2 N at lower temperatures in shorter times than the use of physical mixtures of BaCO3 and Nb2 O5 because the niobium species is dispersed among the barium species. BaNbO2 N prepared by the soft-chemistry route exhibits comparatively higher activity than that prepared from physical mixtures of BaCO3 and Nb2 O5 , probably because of lower nitridation temperatures, which suppress excessive dissociation of ammonia, and thereby reduce pentavalent niobium ions, and intimate interaction of niobium and barium sources, which lowers the densities of mid-gap states associated with defects. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Improvement of the catalytic performance of a Bispora antennata cellulase by replacing the N-terminal semi-barrel structure.

PubMed

Zheng, Fei; Huang, Huoqing; Wang, Xiaoyu; Tu, Tao; Liu, Qiong; Meng, Kun; Wang, Yuan; Su, Xiaoyun; Xie, Xiangming; Luo, Huiying

2016-10-01

The aim of this work was to study the contribution of the N-terminal structure to cellulase catalytic performance. A wild-type cellulase (BaCel5) of glycosyl hydrolase (GH) family 5 from Bispora antennata and two hybrid enzymes (BaCel5(127) and BaCel5(167)) with replacement of the N-terminal (βα)3 (127 residues) or (βα)4 (167 residues)-barrel with the corresponding sequences of TeEgl5A from Talaromyces emersonii were produced in Pichia pastoris and biochemically characterized. BaCel5 exhibited optimal activity at pH 5.0 and 50°C but had low catalytic efficiency (25.4±0.8mLs(-1)mg(-1)). In contrast, BaCel5(127) and BaCel5(167) showed similar enzymatic properties but improved catalytic performance. When using CMC-Na, barley β-glucan, lichenan, and cellooligosaccharides as substrates, BaCel5(127) and BaCel5(167) had increased specific activities and catalytic efficiencies by ∼1.8-6.7-fold and ∼1.0-4.7-fold, respectively. The catalytic efficiency of BaCel5(167) was even higher than that of parental proteins. The underlying mechanism was analyzed by molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Combination of blood oxygen level–dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging and visual evoked potential recordings for abnormal visual cortex in two types of amblyopia

PubMed Central

Wang, Xinmei; Cui, Dongmei; Zheng, Ling; Yang, Xiao; Yang, Hui

2012-01-01

Purpose To elucidate the different neuromechanisms of subjects with strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia compared with normal vision subjects using blood oxygen level–dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-fMRI) and pattern-reversal visual evoked potential (PR-VEP). Methods Fifty-three subjects, age range seven to 12 years, diagnosed with strabismic amblyopia (17 cases), anisometropic amblyopia (20 cases), and normal vision (16 cases), were examined using the BOLD-fMRI and PR-VEP of UTAS-E3000 techniques. Cortical activation by binocular viewing of reversal checkerboard patterns was examined in terms of the calcarine region of interest (ROI)-based and spatial frequency–dependent analysis. The correlation of cortical activation in fMRI and the P100 amplitude in VEP were analyzed using the SPSS 12.0 software package. Results In the BOLD-fMRI procedure, reduced areas and decreased activation levels were found in Brodmann area (BA) 17 and other extrastriate areas in subjects with amblyopia compared with the normal vision group. In general, the reduced areas mainly resided in the striate visual cortex in subjects with anisometropic amblyopia. In subjects with strabismic amblyopia, a more significant cortical impairment was found in bilateral BA 18 and BA 19 than that in subjects with anisometropic amblyopia. The activation by high-spatial-frequency stimuli was reduced in bilateral BA 18 and 19 as well as BA 17 in subjects with anisometropic amblyopia, whereas the activation was mainly reduced in BA 18 and BA 19 in subjects with strabismic amblyopia. These findings were further confirmed by the ROI-based analysis of BA 17. During spatial frequency–dependent VEP detection, subjects with anisometropic amblyopia had reduced sensitivity for high spatial frequency compared to subjects with strabismic amblyopia. The cortical activation in fMRI with the calcarine ROI-based analysis of BA 17 was significantly correlated with the P100 amplitude in VEP recording. Conclusions This study suggested that different types of amblyopia had different cortical responses and combinations of spatial frequency–dependent BOLD-fMRI with PR-VEP could differentiate among various kinds of amblyopia according to the different cortical responses. This study can supply new methods for amblyopia neurology study. PMID:22539870

Neural Basis of Semantic and Syntactic Interference in Sentence Comprehension

PubMed Central

Glaser, Yi G.; Martin, Randi C.; Van Dyke, Julie A.; Hamilton, A. Cris; Tan, Yingying

2013-01-01

According to the cue-based parsing approach (Lewis, Vasishth, & Van Dyke, 2006), sentence comprehension difficulty derives from interference from material that partially matches syntactic and semantic retrieval cues. In a 2 (low vs. high semantic interference) × 2 (low vs. high syntactic interference) fMRI study, greater activation was observed in left BA 44/45 for high versus low syntactic interference conditions following sentences and in BA 45/47 for high versus low semantic interference following comprehension questions. A conjunction analysis showed BA45 associated with both types of interference, while BA47 was associated with only semantic interference. Greater activation was also observed in the left STG in the high interference conditions. Importantly, the results for the LIFG could not be attributed to greater working memory capacity demands for high interference conditions. The results favor a fractionation of LIFG wherein BA45 is associated with post-retrieval selection and BA47 with controlled retrieval of semantic information. PMID:23933471

Satellite-based Assessment of Climate Controls on US Burned Area

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morton, D. C.; Collatz, G. J.; Wang, D.; Randerson, J. T.; Giglio, L.; Chen, Y.

2012-01-01

Climate regulates fire activity through the buildup and drying of fuels and the conditions for fire ignition and spread. Understanding the dynamics of contemporary climate-fire relationships at national and sub-national scales is critical to assess the likelihood of changes in future fire activity and the potential options for mitigation and adaptation. Here, we conducted the first national assessment of climate controls on US fire activity using two satellite-based estimates of monthly burned area (BA), the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED, 1997 2010) and Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS, 1984 2009) BA products. For each US National Climate Assessment (NCA) region, we analyzed the relationships between monthly BA and potential evaporation (PE) derived from reanalysis climate data at 0.5 resolution. US fire activity increased over the past 25 yr, with statistically significant increases in MTBS BA for entire US and the Southeast and Southwest NCA regions. Monthly PE was strongly correlated with US fire activity, yet the climate driver of PE varied regionally. Fire season temperature and shortwave radiation were the primary controls on PE and fire activity in the Alaska, while water deficit (precipitation PE) was strongly correlated with fire activity in the Plains regions and Northwest US. BA and precipitation anomalies were negatively correlated in all regions, although fuel-limited ecosystems in the Southern Plains and Southwest exhibited positive correlations with longer lead times (6 12 months). Fire season PE in creased from the 1980s 2000s, enhancing climate-driven fire risk in the southern and western US where PE-BA correlations were strongest. Spatial and temporal patterns of increasing fire season PE and BA during the 1990s 2000s highlight the potential sensitivity of US fire activity to climate change in coming decades. However, climatefire relationships at the national scale are complex, based on the diversity of fire types, ecosystems, and ignition sources within each NCA region. Changes in the seasonality or magnitude of climate anomalies are therefore unlikely to result in uniform changes in US fire activity.

Temperature-dependent electron paramagnetic resonance detect oxygen vacancy defects and Cr valence of tetragonal Ba(Ti1-xCrx)O3 ceramics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Dan-Dan; Lu, Da-Yong; Meng, Fan-Ling; Yu, Xin-Yu

2018-03-01

Temperature-dependent electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study was employed to detect oxygen vacancy defects in the tetragonal Ba(Ti1-xCrx)O3 (x = 5%) ceramic for the first time. In the rhombohedral phase below -150 °C, an EPR signal at g = 1.955 appeared in the insulating Ba(Ti1-xCrx)O3 (x = 5%) ceramic with an electrical resistivity of 108 Ω cm and was assigned to ionized oxygen vacancy defects. Ba(Ti1-xCrx)O3 ceramics exhibited a tetragonal structure except Ba(Ti1-xCrx)O3 (x = 10%) with a tetragonal-hexagonal mixed phase and a first-order phase transition dielectric behavior (ε‧m > 11,000). Mixed valence Cr ions could coexist in ceramics, form CrTi‧-VOrad rad or CrTirad-TiTi‧ defect complexes and make no contribution to a dielectric peak shift towards low temperature.

A statistical inference for concentrations of benzo[a]pyrene partially measured in the ambient air of an industrial city in Korea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Yongku; Seo, Young-Kyo; Baek, Sung-Ok

2013-12-01

Although large quantities of air pollutants are released into the atmosphere, they are partially monitored and routinely assessed for their health implications. This paper proposes a statistical model describing the temporal behavior of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), which can have negative effects on human health. Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is selected for statistical modeling. The proposed model incorporates the linkage between BaP and meteorology and is specifically formulated to identify meteorological effects and allow for seasonal trends. The model is used to estimate and forecast temporal fields of BaP conditional on observed (or forecasted) meteorological conditions, including temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and air quality. The effects of BaP on human health are examined by characterizing health indicators, namely the cancer risk and the hazard quotient. The model provides useful information for the optimal monitoring period and projection of future BaP concentrations for both industrial and residential areas in Korea.

Dielectric and Energy Storage Properties of Ba0.65Sr0.35TiO3 Ceramics Modified by BiNbO4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Yi; Zhang, Jihua; Wei, Meng; Dong, Xiangxiang; Huang, Jiapeng; Wu, Kaituo; Chen, Hongwei

2018-02-01

(1 - x) (Ba0.65Sr0.35TiO3)-xBiNbO4 (x = 0.0-0.15) ceramic were prepared by solid-state reaction method. The phase composition, microstructure, dielectric properties, polarization-electric field, breakdown strength and energy storage behaviors for the BiNbO4-modified Ba0.65Sr0.35TiO3 ceramics were investigated. With the addition of BiNbO4, the remnant polarization and saturation polarization decreased and the nonlinearity was suppressed. When x = 0.07, the maximum recoverable energy storage achieved was 0.5 J/cm3, 1.5 times that of un-doped Ba0.65Sr0.35TiO3 ceramics, with an efficiency of 96.89% and a breakdown electric field reaching 15.3 kV/mm. Therefore, BiNbO4 doping could improve the energy storage properties of Ba0.65Sr0.35TiO3 for high-energy pulse capacitor application.

Zn2+ in-situ substitution behavior during the formation of BaTiO3 coatings from plasma-sprayed powders collected in liquid nitrogen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhe; Xing, Zhiguo; Wang, Haidou; Xue, Zifan; Chen, Shuying; Cui, Xiufang; Jin, Guo

2018-04-01

The dielectric performance of BaTiO3 ceramic coatings is enhanced significantly by the addition of ZnO. In this study, the maximum relative permittivity value (εr ≈ 923) was measured in BaTiO3 coatings with ZnO added at 6 wt%. The Curie temperature (Tc) was in the range of 111 °C-121 °C for all of the ZnO-modified BaTiO3 coatings. Tc shifted to low temperatures as the ZnO content increased. Detailed analyses were performed to determine the phase composition and optical band gaps of powders collected in liquid nitrogen, which showed that the Zn2+ ions were incorporated into the BaTiO3 lattice where they substituted into the Ti4+ sites, and the composite powders (BaTiO3 + 6 wt% ZnO) tolerated high temperatures in the plasma beam. In addition, some residual Zn accumulated in the grain boundary in the form of ZnO. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy showed that the substitution led to changes in the compositional and structural properties. The red shift in the optical band gap of BaTiO3 indicated that the ZnTi'' defects caused by the dopants acted as carriers in the doped BaTiO3 coatings.

Improved osteoblasts growth on osteomimetic hydroxyapatite/BaTiO3 composites with aligned lamellar porous structure.

PubMed

Liu, Beilei; Chen, Liangjian; Shao, Chunsheng; Zhang, Fuqiang; Zhou, Kechao; Cao, Jun; Zhang, Dou

2016-04-01

Osteoblasts growing into bone substitute is an important step of bone regeneration. This study prepared porous hydroxyapatite (HA)/BaTiO3 piezoelectric composites with porosity of 40%, 50% and 60% by ice-templating method. Effects of HA/BaTiO3 composites with different porosities, with and without polarizing treatment on adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts were investigated in vitro. Results revealed that cell densities of the porous groups were significantly higher than those of the dense group (p<0.05), so did the alkaline phosphate (ALP) and bone gla protein (BGP) activities. Porosity of 50% group exhibited higher ALP activity and BGP activity than those of the 40% and 60% groups. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations revealed that osteoblasts adhered and stretched better on porous HA/BaTiO3 than on the dense one, especially HA/BaTiO3 with porosity of 50% and 60%. However, there was no significant difference in the cell morphology, cell densities, ALP and BGP activities between the polarized group and the non-polarized group (p>0.05). The absence of mechanical loading on the polarized samples may account for this. The results indicated that hierarchically porous HA/BaTiO3 played a favorable part in osteoblasts proliferation, differentiation and adhesion process and is a promising bone substitute material. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Structural, electronic, optical and thermoelectric investigations of antiperovskites A3SnO (A = Ca, Sr, Ba) using density functional theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassan, M.; Shahid, A.; Mahmood, Q.

2018-02-01

Density functional theory study of the structural, electrical, optical and thermoelectric behaviors of very less investigated anti-perovskites A3SnO (A = Ca, Sr, Ba) is performed with FP-LAPW technique. The A3SnO exhibit narrow direct band gap, in contrast to the wide indirect band gap of the respective perovskites. Hence, indirect to direct band gap transformation can be realized by the structural transition from perovskite to anti-perovskite. The p-p hybridization between A and O states result in the covalent bonding. The transparency and maximum reflectivity to the certain energies, and the verification of the Penn's model indicate potential optical device applications. Thermoelectric behaviors computed within 200-800 K depict that Ca3SnO exhibits good thermoelectric performance than Ba3SnO and Sr3SnO, and all three operate at their best at 800 K suggesting high temperature thermoelectric device applications.

Macroscopic lateral heterogeneity observed in a laterally mobile immiscible mixed polyelectrolyte-neutral polymer brush

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Hoyoung; Tsouris, Vasilios; Lim, Yunho

We studied mixed poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) brushes. The question we attempted to answer was: when the chain grafting points are laterally mobile, how will this lateral mobility influence the structure and phase behavior of the mixed brush? Three different model mixed PEO/PDMAEMA brush systems were prepared: (1) a laterally mobile mixed brush by spreading onto the air–water interface a mixture of poly(ethylene oxide)–poly(n-butyl acrylate) (PEO–PnBA) and poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate)–poly(n-butyl acrylate) (PDMAEMA–PnBA) diblock copolymers (the specific diblock copolymers used will be denoted as PEO 113–PnBA 100 and PDMAEMA 118–PnBA 100, where the subscripts refer to the number-average degreesmore » of polymerization of the individual blocks), (2) a mobility-restricted (inseparable) version of the above mixed brush prepared using a PEO–PnBA–PDMAEMA triblock copolymer (denoted as PEO 113–PnBA 89–PDMAEMA 120) having respective brush molecular weights matched with those of the diblock copolymers, and (3) a different laterally mobile mixed PEO and PDMAEMA brush prepared from a PEO 113–PnBA 100 and PDMAEMA 200–PnBA 103 diblock copolymer combination, which represents a further more height-mismatched mixed brush situation than described in (1). These three mixed brush systems were investigated by surface pressure–area isotherm and X-ray (XR) reflectivity measurements. These experimental data were analyzed within the theoretical framework of a continuum self-consistent field (SCF) polymer brush model. The combined experimental and theoretical results suggest that the mobile mixed brush derived using the PEO 113–PnBA 100 and PDMAEMA 118–PnBA 100 combination (i.e., mixed brush System #1) undergoes a lateral macroscopic phase separation at high chain grafting densities, whereas the more height-mismatched system (System #3) is only microscopically phase separated under comparable brush density conditions even though the lateral mobility of the grafted chains is unrestricted. The macroscopic phase separation observed in the laterally mobile mixed brush system is in contrast with the microphase separation behavior commonly observed in two-dimensional laterally mobile charged small molecule mixtures. Further study is needed to determine the detailed morphologies of the macro- and microphase-separated mixed PEO/PDMAEMA brushes.« less

Periodontal disease level-butyric acid amounts locally administered in the rat gingival mucosa induce ER stress in the systemic blood.

PubMed

Cueno, Marni E; Saito, Yuko; Ochiai, Kuniyasu

2016-05-01

Periodontal diseases have long been postulated to contribute to systemic diseases and, likewise, it has been proposed that periodontal disease treatment may ameliorate certain systemic diseases. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) are major secondary metabolites produced by oral anaerobic bacteria and, among the SCFAs, butyric acid (BA) in high amounts contribute to periodontal disease development. Periodontal disease level-butyric acid (PDL-BA) is found among patients suffering from periodontal disease and has previously shown to induce oxidative stress, whereas, oxidative stress is correlated to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. This would imply that PDL-BA may likewise stimulate ER stress, however, this was never elucidated. A better understanding of the correlation between PDL-BA and systemic ER stress stimulation could shed light on the possible systemic effects of PDL-BA-related periodontal diseases. Here, PDL-BA was injected into the gingival mucosa and the systemic blood obtained from the rat jugular was collected at 0, 15, 60, and 180 min post-injection. Collected blood samples were purified and only the blood cytosol was used throughout this study. Subsequently, we measured blood cytosolic GADD153, Ca(2+), representative apoptotic and inflammatory caspases, and NF-κB amounts. We found that PDL-BA presence increased blood cytosolic GADD153 and Ca(2+) amounts. Moreover, we observed that blood cytosolic caspases and NF-κB were activated only at 60 and 180 min post-injection in the rat gingival mucosa. This suggests that PDL-BA administered through the gingival mucosa may influence the systemic blood via ER stress stimulation and, moreover, prolonged PDL-BA retention in the gingival mucosa may play a significant role in ER stress-related caspase and NF-κB activation. In a periodontal disease scenario, we propose that PDL-BA-related ER stress stimulation leading to the simultaneous activation of apoptosis and inflammation may contribute to periodontal disease pathogenesis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Boric acid destabilizes the hyphal cytoskeleton and inhibits invasive growth of Candida albicans.

PubMed

Pointer, Benjamin R; Boyer, Michael P; Schmidt, Martin

2015-04-01

Exposure of Candida albicans to sub-lethal concentrations of boric acid (BA) restricts the dimorphic fungus to its yeast morphology and prevents the formation of invasive hyphae on solid substrates. Exposure to BA causes a rapid and reversible disappearance of polarisome and Spitzenkörper in growing hyphae. In BA-treated hyphae of C. albicans, actin quickly reorganizes from cytoplasmic cables to cortical patches and cell wall growth switches from an apical to an isotropic pattern. As a result of the cytoskeletal changes, the hyphal tips broaden and directional growth of hyphae ceases in the presence of BA. An analysis of homozygous deletion strains showed that mutants with constitutive or enhanced hyphal growth (tup1, nrg1, ssn6, rbf1) are BA-sensitive, demonstrating that cellular morphology is a major determinant of BA tolerance. The screening of deletion mutants also showed that deficiencies of the main activator of hyphal gene expression, Efg1, and the Rim101-signalling cascade, leading to Efg1 activation, cause BA resistance. Taken together, the data presented show that the selective inhibitory effect on BA on C. albicans hyphae is rooted in a disruption of apical cytoskeletal elements of growing hyphae. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Inhibition mechanisms of baicalin and its phospholipid complex against DHAV-1 replication.

PubMed

Chen, Yun; Yuan, Wenjuan; Yang, Yuhui; Yao, Fangke; Ming, Ke; Liu, Jiaguo

2018-06-15

Duck hepatitis A virus type 1 (DHAV-1) is a serious infectious virus of ducklings. Recent study showed baicalin (BA) and baicalin phospholipid complex (BAPC) possessed anti-DHAV-1 effect. However, the antiviral mechanism is not clear. Therefore, the aim of the present work is to study influences and mechanisms of BA and BAPC on DHAV-1. The effects of BA and BAPC on DHAV-1 replication were analyzed by CCK-8 and RT-qPCR methods. And the results showed BA inhibited the replication of DHAV-1, and BAPC was more effective. Then, the influences of BA and BAPC on DHAV-1 protein translation and RNA synthesis were detected by western blot and RT-qPCR. Both BA and BAPC inhibited the protein translation, and BAPC did better. Furthermore, BAPC also inhibited the RNA synthesis. Afterwards, DHAV-1 IRES activity, DHAV-1 3D protein stability, and cellular Hsp70 expression were studied to in-depth understand the inhibition effects of BA and BAPC on DHAV-1 replication. The results indicated BA and BAPC dropped the protein translation via suppressing DHAV-1 IRES activity. Additionally, BAPC dropped the RNA synthesis via reducing the 3D protein stability and inhibiting cellular Hsp70 expression.

Designing a protonic ceramic fuel cell with novel electrochemically active oxygen electrodes based on doped Nd0.5Ba0.5FeO3-δ.

PubMed

Lyagaeva, Julia; Danilov, Nilolay; Tarutin, Arthem; Vdovin, Gennady; Medvedev, Dmitry; Demin, Anatoly; Tsiakaras, Panagiotis

2018-06-19

The Fe-based perovskite-structured Nd0.5Ba0.5FeO3-δ (NBF) system represents the basis for developing promising electrode materials for solid oxide fuel cells with proton-conducting electrolytes. This study aims at investigating the strategy of slight doping of neodymium-barium ferrite with some transition metals (M = Ni, Cu, Co) and examining the effect of this doping on the functional characteristics, such as phase structure, thermal expansion, total and ionic conductivity as well as electrochemical behavior, of Nd0.5Ba0.5Fe0.9M0.1O3-δ (NBFM) under testing in symmetrical cell (SC) and fuel cell (FC) modes of operation. Among the investigated dopants, cobalt (Co) is found to be the optimal dopant, resulting in an enhancement of transport properties and avoiding an undesirable increase in the thermal expansion coefficient. As a result, the electrode material made of NBFCo exhibits highest ionic conductivity and lowest polarization resistance in the SC mode of operation. Electrochemical characterization of the NBFCo cathode material in a protonic ceramic fuel cell (PCFC) followed by comparison of the obtained results with literature data demonstrates that NBFCo is an attractive cathode candidate for PCFC applications.

Magneto electric effects in BaTiO3-CoFe2O4 bulk composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agarwal, Shivani; Caltun, O. F.; Sreenivas, K.

2012-11-01

Influence of a static magnetic field (HDC) on the hysteresis and remanence in the longitudinal and transverse magneto electric voltage coefficients (MEVC) observed in [BaTiO3]1-x-[CoFe2O4]x bulk composites are analyzed. Remanence in MEVC at zero bias (HDC=0) is stronger in the transverse configuration over the longitudinal case. The observed hysteretic behavior in MEVC vs. HDC is correlated with the changes observed in the magnetostriction characteristics (λ and dλ/dH) reported for [BaTiO3]1-x-[CoFe2O4]x bulk composites.

Memristive behavior in BaTiO 3 thin films integrated with semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singamaneni, Srinivasa Rao; Prater, John; Narayan, Jay

BaTiO3 has been studied for emerging non-volatile memory applications. However, most of the previous work has focused on this material when it was deposited on insulting oxide substrates such as SrTiO3. Unfortunately, this substrate is not suitable for CMOS-based microelectronics applications. This motivated us to carry out the present work. We have studied the resistive switching behavior in BaTiO3/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (BTO/LSMO) heterostructures integrated with Si (100) using pulsed laser deposition1,2. I-V measurements were conducted on BTO (500nm)/LSMO (25nm) devices at 200K, with the compliance current of 10mA. Here, Pt was used as a top electrode and LSMO served as bottom electrode. A few important observations are noted: (a) broad hysteresis in forward and reverse voltage sweeps -ideal for memory applications, (b) the ratio of high resistance to low resistance state is ~600 -important for switching devices, (c) the device is stable at least up to 50 cycles. However, we found that hysteretic behavior was collapsed after 36 cycles upon oxygen annealing of the device at 1 atmospheric pressure, 200o C for 1 hour, inferring the important role of oxygen vacancies in the resistive switching behavior of BTO/LSMO device. The comprehensive experimental data will be presented and discussed.1,2.

Variation in the activities of late stage filaggrin processing enzymes, calpain-1 and bleomycin hydrolase, together with pyrrolidone carboxylic acid levels, corneocyte phenotypes and plasmin activities in non-sun-exposed and sun-exposed facial stratum corneum of different ethnicities.

PubMed

Raj, N; Voegeli, R; Rawlings, A V; Summers, B; Munday, M R; Lane, M E

2016-12-01

Knowledge of the ethnic differences and effects of photodamage on the relative amounts of natural moisturizing factor (NMF) together with filaggrin processing enzymes in facial stratum corneum is limited. Our aim was to characterize the activities of calpain-1 (C-1), bleomycin hydrolase (BH) and the levels of pyrrolidone carboxylic acid (PCA) as a marker for total NMF levels and to relate them to plasmin activities and corneocyte maturation. Enzyme activities, PCA levels and corneocyte maturation were determined from facial tape strippings of photoexposed cheek and photoprotected post-auricular areas (PA) of healthy Caucasian (C), Black African (BA) and albino African (AA) female subjects living in South Africa. PCA concentration levels were of the order AA > BA > C subjects, and the highest activities of BH were present in the AA subjects. BH activities were greater on the photoexposed sites for the BA and C subjects, but they were only numerically elevated in the AA subjects. Photoprotected sites had an increase in C-1 activity in pigmented groups (C and BA), whereas in the AA subjects, the opposite was measured. Plasmin activities were greater on the cheek compared with the PA site for the AA and C subjects, but the activity was low in the BA subjects. In both test sites, the AA, but not the BA and C subjects, had smaller, parakeratotic and less mature corneocytes. Variation in PCA levels has been found for different ethnic groups in this study (AA > BA > C subjects). The values in the AA subjects are surprising as one might expect that the lack of pigmentation, and thereby increased photodamage, might lead to lower levels. Increased BH, but not C-1 activity, was observed in the AA subjects indicating that BH is associated with PCA production to a greater extent. Surprisingly, corneocyte maturation is still impaired with elevated PCA levels in AA subjects. The higher levels of plasmin and BH activities on the cheeks, especially for AA and C subjects, suggest that they can be used as markers for epidermal photodamage. © 2016 Society of Cosmetic Scientists and the Société Française de Cosmétologie.

Three-dimensional barium-sulfate-impregnated reduced graphene oxide aerogel for removal of strontium from aqueous solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jang, Jiseon; Lee, Dae Sung

2018-06-01

A three-dimensional barium-sulfate-impregnated reduced graphene oxide (BaSO4-rGO) aerogel was successfully synthesized by a facile one-step hydrothermal method and was used as an adsorbent to remove strontium from aqueous solutions. The characterized elemental composition, crystal structure, and morphology of the prepared aerogel confirmed that barium sulfate particles were firmly anchored on the surface of the rGO sheets and exhibited a porous 3D structure with a high surface area of 129.37 m2/g. The mass ratio of BaSO4 in the BaSO4-rGO aerogel substantially affected strontium adsorption, and the optimal BaSO4/rGO ratio was found to be 1:1. The synthesized BaSO4-rGO aerogel not only reached adsorption equilibrium within 1 h, but also showed much higher adsorption capacity than an rGO aerogel. The experimental data were well fitted to a pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the adsorption behavior followed the Langmuir isotherm. The adsorption capacity of strontium on BaSO4-rGO aerogels remained relatively high even under ionic competition in simulated seawater. These results showed that the BaSO4-rGO aerogel is an efficient and promising adsorbent for the treatment of strontium in aqueous solutions.

Mouth-Level Intake of Benzo[a]pyrene from Reduced Nicotine Cigarettes

PubMed Central

Ding, Yan S.; Ward, Jennye; Hammond, David; Watson, Clifford H.

2014-01-01

Cigarette smoke is a known source of exposure to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), especially benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). Exposure to BaP in cigarette smoke is influenced by how a person smokes and factors, such as tobacco blend. To determine whether sustained use of reduced-nicotine cigarettes is associated with changes in exposure to nicotine and BaP, levels of BaP in spent cigarette filter butts were correlated with levels of BaP in cigarette smoke to estimate mouth-level intake (MLI) of BaP for 72 daily smokers given three progressively reduced nicotine content cigarettes. Urinary cotinine, a marker of nicotine exposure, and urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-HOP), a marker of PAH exposure, were measured throughout the study. Median daily BaP MLI and urine cotinine decreased in a similar manner as smokers switched to progressively lower nicotine cigarettes, despite relatively constant daily cigarette consumption. 1-HOP levels were less responsive to the use of reduced nicotine content cigarettes. We demonstrate that spent cigarette filter butt analysis is a promising tool to estimate MLI of harmful chemicals on a per cigarette or per-day basis, which partially addresses the concerns of the temporal influence of smoking behavior or differences in cigarette design on exposure. PMID:25411724

Direct Observation of Surface Potential Distribution in Insulation Resistance Degraded Acceptor-Doped BaTiO3 Multilayered Ceramic Capacitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Kootak; Lee, Tae Hyung; Suh, Jun Min; Park, Jae-Sung; Kwon, Hyung-Soon; Choi, Jaeho; Jang, Ho Won

2018-05-01

Insulation resistance (IR) degradation in BaTiO3 is a key issue for developing miniaturized multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) with high capacity. Despite rapid progress in BaTiO3-based MLCCs, the mechanism of IR degradation is still controversial. In this study, we demonstrate the Al doping effect on IR degradation behavior of BaTiO3 MLCCs by electrical measurements and scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM). As the Al doping concentration in BaTiO3 increases, IR degradation of MLCCs seems to be suppressed from electrical characterization results. However, SKPM results reveal that the conductive regions near the cathode become lager with Al doping after IR degradation. The formation of conducting regions is attributed to the migration of oxygen vacancies, which is the origin of IR degradation in BaTiO3, in dielectric layers. These results imply that acceptor doping in BaTiO3 solely cannot suppress the IR degradation in MLCC even though less asymmetric IR characteristics and IR degradation in MLCCs with higher Al doping concentration are observed from electrical characterization. Our results strongly suggest that observing the surface potential distribution in IR degraded dielectric layers using SKPM is an effective method to unravel the mechanism of IR degradation in MLCCs.

The relationship between arterial stiffness and the lifestyle habits of female athletes after retiring from competitive sports: a prospective study.

PubMed

Koshiba, Hiroya; Maeshima, Estuko; Okumura, Yuka

2017-09-01

This study investigated the relationship between changes in arterial stiffness and the lifestyle habits of endurance athletes after retiring from competition. The subjects were 10 female university endurance athletes. We used formPWV/ABI ® as an index for arterial stiffness and measured brachial-ankle pulse-wave velocity (baPWV) directly before subjects retired (0Y) and at 2 years after retirement (2Y). Furthermore, to investigate the relationship between arterial stiffness and lifestyle habits 2 years later, Lifecorder ® PLUS was used to measure physical activity levels, hours of sleep were surveyed using a questionnaire, and a food intake survey was conducted using Excel Eiyoukun Food Frequency Questionnaire Based on Food Group, FFQg Ver. 3.5. We found that baPWV increased significantly from 0Y to 2Y (P<0·05). Furthermore, negative correlations were observed between 2Y baPWV and step count as the physical activity index (r = -0·653, P<0·05) and moderate physical activity (r = -0·663, P<0·05). With regard to lifestyle habits that affected the amount of increase in baPWV from 0Y to 2Y (ΔbaPWV), negative correlations were noted between the step count (r = -0·690, P<0·05) and total physical activity (r = -0·657, P<0·05). However, no significant correlations were observed between 2Y baPWV and ΔbaPWV with food intake or hours of sleep. The results of this study suggested that physical activity was a lifestyle habit that inhibited an increase in arterial stiffness after retirement from competition and that having a high step count or engaging in physical activity for long periods of time in particular was useful in this regard. © 2015 Scandinavian Society of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A multi-stimuli responive, self-assembling, boronic acid dipeptide

DOE PAGES

Jones, Brad Howard; Martinez, Alina Marissa; Wheeler, Jill S.; ...

2015-08-11

Modification of the dipeptide of phenylalanine, FF, with a boronic acid (BA) functionality imparts unique aqueous self-assembly behavior that responds to multiple stimuli. Changes in pH and ionic strength are used to trigger hydrogelation via the formation of nanoribbon networks. Thus, we show for the first time that the binding of polyols to the BA functionality can modulate a peptide between its assembled and disassembled states.

Effect of Sr doping on structural and magnetic behavior of SmBa1-xSrxCo2O5+δ (x = 0 and 1)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumari, Archana; Dhanasekhar, C.; Das, A. K.

2018-05-01

Layered double perovskite, SmBa1-xSrxCo2O5+δ (x = 0, δ = 0.5 and x = 1, δ = 1) samples were prepared by solid state reaction method. X-ray diffraction studies show that the SmBaCo2O5.5 sample crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal structure with Pmmm space group, whereas SmSrCo2O6 sample crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal structure with Pnma space group. The temperature dependent magnetization of the SmBaCo2O5.5 sample shows a paramagnetic (PM)-ferromagnetic (FM) and a FM-antiferromagnetic (AFM) transitions at TC = 267 K and TN = 221 K, respectively. In contrast, the SmSrCo2O6 sample shows a PM-FM transition at TC = 175 K. According to Goodenough-Kanamori-Anderson rules, the ferromagnetic behavior in SmSrCo2O6 can be understood from the super exchange interaction between the intermediate spin Co3+ and low spin Co4+ via O2- (IS Co3+ -O2- - LS Co4+). The change in magnetic entropy (ΔSMmax) is found to be maximum for the SmSrCo2O6 sample.

Up-conversion multiwave (White) luminescence in the visible spectral range under excitation by IR laser diodes in the active BaY2F8:Yb3+,Pr3+ medium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pushkar', A. A.; Uvarova, T. V.; Kiiko, V. V.

2011-08-01

The possibilities of occupying high-lying 4 f states of Pr3+ ions in the active BaY2F8:Yb3+,Pr3+ medium according to the photon avalanche and step-by-step sensitization mechanisms are compared. It is shown that the photon avalanche is unlikely to occur in the BaY2F8:Yb3+,Pr3+ crystal. The multiband luminescence spectra in the visible spectral range (white emission) under single- and multiwave pumping of BaY2F8:Yb3+,Pr3+ crystal by IR laser diodes are reported.

Concomitant Use of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Computer-Assisted Training for the Rehabilitation of Attention in Traumatic Brain Injured Patients: Behavioral and Neuroimaging Results.

PubMed

Sacco, Katiuscia; Galetto, Valentina; Dimitri, Danilo; Geda, Elisabetta; Perotti, Francesca; Zettin, Marina; Geminiani, Giuliano C

2016-01-01

Divided attention (DA), the ability to distribute cognitive resources among two or more simultaneous tasks, may be severely compromised after traumatic brain injury (TBI), resulting in problems with numerous activities involved with daily living. So far, no research has investigated whether the use of non-invasive brain stimulation associated with neuropsychological rehabilitation might contribute to the recovery of such cognitive function. The main purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of 10 transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) sessions combined with computer-assisted training; it also intended to explore the neural modifications induced by the treatment. Thirty-two patients with severe TBI participated in the study: 16 were part of the experimental group, and 16 part of the control group. The treatment included 20' of tDCS, administered twice a day for 5 days. The electrodes were placed on the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex. Their location varied across patients and it depended on each participant's specific area of damage. The control group received sham tDCS. After each tDCS session, the patient received computer-assisted cognitive training on DA for 40'. The results showed that the experimental group significantly improved in DA performance between pre- and post-treatment, showing faster reaction times (RTs), and fewer omissions. No improvement was detected between the baseline assessment (i.e., 1 month before treatment) and the pre-training assessment, or within the control group. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, obtained on the experimental group during a DA task, showed post-treatment lower cerebral activations in the right superior temporal gyrus (BA 42), right and left middle frontal gyrus (BA 6), right postcentral gyrus (BA 3) and left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 9). We interpreted such neural changes as normalization of previously abnormal hyperactivations.

Carcinogenicity of airborne fine particulate benzo(a)pyrene: an appraisal of the evidence and the need for control.

PubMed Central

Perera, F

1981-01-01

Benzo(a)pyrene(BaP) originating from fossil fuel and other organic combustion processes is largely adsorbed on fine particulate and hence is a widespread atmospheric pollutant. Available emissions and air quality data are based on the total weight of particulate matter without reference to size and give little information on trends and concentrations of fine particulate BaP. Greater reliance on coal, synfuels and diesel fuel for energy production and transportation will significantly increase ambient levels of BaP. Because of the particulate size, BaP is substantially deposited in the lower lung and readily eluted into surrounding tissue. After elution in the lung, BaP is metabolically activated to its electrophilic, carcinogenic from by a complex enzyme system whose activity is increased by prior exposure to air pollutants, cigarette smoke and certain drugs. The resultant diol epoxide metabolite has been shown to bind covalently with the DNA of the lung. In experimental animals, BaP is a potent initiating carcinogen whose action is enhanced by sulfur dioxide, promoting agents and carrier fine particles. The effect of small, divided doses of BaP has been shown to be greater than that of a single high dose; no threshold has been established. Epidemiological studies show that mixtures containing BaP (such as urban air, industrial emissions and cigarette smoke) are carcinogenic and may interact synergistically. Occupational studies indicate that the action of BaP-containing mixtures is enhanced in the presence of SO2. However, quantitative risk assessment for BaP is precluded by problems in extrapolating to the general population from small-scale animal studies; uncertainties in findings of epidemiology; and imprecise exposure data. Existing stationary and mobile controls preferentially remove coarse particulate matter and are inefficient collectors of the particulate BaP. In the current absence of health and environmental standards for BaP, there is little incentive to control BaP emissions. BaP meets the criteria for regulation under the Clean Air Act; however, no such BaP standards have yet been proposed. PMID:6277615

Hysteretic Characteristics of Pulsed Laser Deposited 0.5Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3-0.5(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3/ZnO Bilayers.

PubMed

Silva, J P B; Wang, J; Koster, G; Rijnders, G; Negrea, R F; Ghica, C; Sekhar, K C; Moreira, J Agostinho; Gomes, M J M

2018-05-02

In the present work, we study the hysteretic behavior in the electric-field-dependent capacitance and the current characteristics of 0.5Ba(Zr 0.2 Ti 0.8 )O 3 -0.5(Ba 0.7 Ca 0.3 )TiO 3 (BCZT)/ZnO bilayers deposited on 0.7 wt % Nb-doped (001)-SrTiO 3 (Nb:STO) substrates in a metal-ferroelectric-semiconductor (MFS) configuration. The X-ray diffraction measurements show that the BCZT and ZnO layers are highly oriented along the c-axis and have a single perovskite and wurtzite phases, respectively, whereas high-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed very sharp Nb:STO/BCZT/ZnO interfaces. The capacitance-electric field ( C- E) characteristics of the bilayers exhibit a memory window of 47 kV/cm and a capacitance decrease of 22%, at a negative bias. The later result is explained by the formation of a depletion region in the ZnO layer. Moreover, an unusual resistive switching (RS) behavior is observed in the BCZT films, where the RS ratio can be 500 times enhanced in the BCZT/ZnO bilayers. The RS enhancement can be understood by the barrier potential profile modulation at the depletion region, in the BCZT/ZnO junction, via ferroelectric polarization switching of the BCZT layer. This work builds a bridge between the hysteretic behavior observed either in the C- E and current-electric field characteristics on a MFS structure.

New stable ternary alkaline-earth metal Pb(II) oxides: Ca / Sr / BaPb 2 O 3 and BaPbO 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Yuwei; Zhang, Lijun; Singh, David J.

The different but related chemical behaviors of Pb(II) oxides compared to Sn(II) oxides, and the existence of known alkali/alkali-earth metal Sn(II) ternary phases, suggest that there should be additional ternary Pb(II) oxide phases. Here, we report structure searches on the ternary alkaline-earth metal Pb(II) oxides leading to four new phases. These are two ternary Pb(II) oxides, SrPb 2O 3 and BaPb 2O 3, which have larger chemical potential stability ranges compared with the corresponding Sn(II) oxides, and additionally two other ternary Pb(II) oxides, CaPb 2O 3 and BaPbO 2, for which there are no corresponding Sn(II) oxides. Those Pb(II) oxidesmore » are stabilized by Pb-rich conditions. These structures follow the Zintl behavior and consist of basic structural motifs of (PbO 3) 4- anionic units separated and stabilized by the alkaline-earth metal ions. They show wide band gaps ranging from 2.86 to 3.12 eV, and two compounds (CaPb 2O 3 and SrPb 2O 3) show rather light hole effective masses (around 2m 0). The valence band maxima of these compounds have a Pb-6s/O-2p antibonding character, which may lead to p-type defect (or doping) tolerant behavior. This then suggests alkaline-earth metal Pb(II) oxides may be potential p-type transparent conducting oxides.« less

New stable ternary alkaline-earth metal Pb(II) oxides: Ca / Sr / BaPb 2 O 3 and BaPbO 2

DOE PAGES

Li, Yuwei; Zhang, Lijun; Singh, David J.

2017-10-16

The different but related chemical behaviors of Pb(II) oxides compared to Sn(II) oxides, and the existence of known alkali/alkali-earth metal Sn(II) ternary phases, suggest that there should be additional ternary Pb(II) oxide phases. Here, we report structure searches on the ternary alkaline-earth metal Pb(II) oxides leading to four new phases. These are two ternary Pb(II) oxides, SrPb 2O 3 and BaPb 2O 3, which have larger chemical potential stability ranges compared with the corresponding Sn(II) oxides, and additionally two other ternary Pb(II) oxides, CaPb 2O 3 and BaPbO 2, for which there are no corresponding Sn(II) oxides. Those Pb(II) oxidesmore » are stabilized by Pb-rich conditions. These structures follow the Zintl behavior and consist of basic structural motifs of (PbO 3) 4- anionic units separated and stabilized by the alkaline-earth metal ions. They show wide band gaps ranging from 2.86 to 3.12 eV, and two compounds (CaPb 2O 3 and SrPb 2O 3) show rather light hole effective masses (around 2m 0). The valence band maxima of these compounds have a Pb-6s/O-2p antibonding character, which may lead to p-type defect (or doping) tolerant behavior. This then suggests alkaline-earth metal Pb(II) oxides may be potential p-type transparent conducting oxides.« less

Costs of a motivational enhancement therapy coupled with cognitive behavioral therapy versus brief advice for pregnant substance users.

PubMed

Xu, Xiao; Yonkers, Kimberly A; Ruger, Jennifer P

2014-01-01

To determine and compare costs of a nurse-administered behavioral intervention for pregnant substance users that integrated motivational enhancement therapy with cognitive behavioral therapy (MET-CBT) to brief advice (BA) administered by an obstetrical provider. Both interventions were provided concurrent with prenatal care. We conducted a micro-costing study that prospectively collected detailed resource utilization and unit cost data for each of the two intervention arms (MET-CBT and BA) within the context of a randomized controlled trial. A three-step approach for identifying, measuring and valuing resource utilization was used. All cost estimates were inflation adjusted to 2011 U.S. dollars. A total of 82 participants received the MET-CBT intervention and 86 participants received BA. From the societal perspective, the total cost (including participants' time cost) of the MET-CBT intervention was $120,483 or $1,469 per participant. In contrast, the total cost of the BA intervention was $27,199 or $316 per participant. Personnel costs (nurse therapists and obstetric providers) for delivering the intervention sessions and supervising the program composed the largest share of the MET-CBT intervention costs. Program set up costs, especially intervention material design and training costs, also contributed substantially to the overall cost. Implementation of an MET-CBT program to promote drug abstinence in pregnant women is associated with modest costs. Future cost effectiveness and cost benefit analyses integrating costs with outcomes and benefits data will enable a more comprehensive understanding of the intervention in improving the care of substance abusing pregnant women.

Ba{sub 2}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Ce{sup 3+}: A novel blue emitting phosphor for white LEDs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Panlai, E-mail: li_panlai@126.com; Wang, Zhijun, E-mail: wangzj1998@126.com; Yang, Zhiping

2014-12-15

Graphical abstract: Under the 350 nm radiation excitation, Ba{sub 2}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Ce{sup 3+} has a broad blue emission band. When the temperature turned up to 150 °C, the emission intensity of Ba{sub 1.97}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:0.03Ce{sup 3+} is 63.4% of the initial value at room temperature. The activation energy ΔE is calculated to be 0.25 eV, which prove the good thermal stability of Ba{sub 2}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Ce{sup 3+}. All the properties indicate that Ba{sub 2}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Ce{sup 3+} may have potential application in white LEDs. - Highlights: • Ba{sub 2}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Ce{sup 3+} has a broad blue emission band under themore » 350 nm radiation excitation. • Emission intensity of Ba{sub 2}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Ce{sup 3+} is 63.4% (150 °C) of the initial value (30 °C). • The activation energy ΔE for thermal quenching is 0.25 eV. - Abstract: A novel blue emitting phosphor Ba{sub 2}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Ce{sup 3+} is synthesized by a high temperature solid state method. The luminescent property and the thermal stability of Ba{sub 2}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Ce{sup 3+} are investigated. Under the 350 nm radiation excitation, Ba{sub 2}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Ce{sup 3+} has a broad blue emission band, and the peak locates at 417 nm which is assigned to the 5d{sup 1}–4f{sup 1} transition of Ce{sup 3+}. It is further proved that the dipole–dipole interaction results in the concentration quenching of Ce{sup 3+} in Ba{sub 2}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Ce{sup 3+}. When the temperature turned up to 150 °C, the emission intensity of Ba{sub 1.97}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:0.03Ce{sup 3+} is 63.4% of the initial value at room temperature. The activation energy ΔE is calculated to be 0.25 eV, which prove the good thermal stability of Ba{sub 2}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Ce{sup 3+}. All the properties indicate that Ba{sub 2}B{sub 2}O{sub 5}:Ce{sup 3+} may have potential application in white LEDs.« less

Brain correlates of aesthetic judgment of beauty.

PubMed

Jacobsen, Thomas; Schubotz, Ricarda I; Höfel, Lea; Cramon, D Yves V

2006-01-01

Functional MRI was used to investigate the neural correlates of aesthetic judgments of beauty of geometrical shapes. Participants performed evaluative aesthetic judgments (beautiful or not?) and descriptive symmetry judgments (symmetric or not?) on the same stimulus material. Symmetry was employed because aesthetic judgments are known to be often guided by criteria of symmetry. Novel, abstract graphic patterns were presented to minimize influences of attitudes or memory-related processes and to test effects of stimulus symmetry and complexity. Behavioral results confirmed the influence of stimulus symmetry and complexity on aesthetic judgments. Direct contrasts showed specific activations for aesthetic judgments in the frontomedian cortex (BA 9/10), bilateral prefrontal BA 45/47, and posterior cingulate, left temporal pole, and the temporoparietal junction. In contrast, symmetry judgments elicited specific activations in parietal and premotor areas subserving spatial processing. Interestingly, beautiful judgments enhanced BOLD signals not only in the frontomedian cortex, but also in the left intraparietal sulcus of the symmetry network. Moreover, stimulus complexity caused differential effects for each of the two judgment types. Findings indicate aesthetic judgments of beauty to rely on a network partially overlapping with that underlying evaluative judgments on social and moral cues and substantiate the significance of symmetry and complexity for our judgment of beauty.

A comparative study of the Aurivillius phase ferroelectrics CaBi 4Ti 4O 15 and BaBi 4Ti 4O 15

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tellier, J.; Boullay, Ph.; Manier, M.; Mercurio, D.

2004-06-01

The room temperature structures of the four-layer Aurivillius phase ferroelectrics CaBi 4Ti 4O 15 and BaBi 4Ti 4O 15 are determined by means of single crystal X-ray diffraction. Regarding the CaBi 4Ti 4O 15 phase, in agreement with the tolerance factor, a significant deformation of the perovskite blocks is observed. The rotation system of the octahedra is typical from even layer Aurivillius phases and leads to the use of the space group A2 1am. For the BaBi 4Ti 4O 15 phase, only a weak variation with respect to the F2 mm space group can be suggested from single crystal X-ray diffraction. A significant presence of Ba atoms in the [ M2O 2] slabs is confirmed in agreement with the previous works but specific Ba 2+ and Bi 3+ sites have to be considered due to the large difference in bounding requirement of these cations. Possible origins for the ferroelectric relaxor behavior of the Ba-based compound are discussed in view of the presented structural analyses.

Point contact Andreev reflection spectroscopic (PCARS) studies on 122-type iron-based superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Xin; Park, W. K.; Greene, L. H.; Yuan, H. Q.; Chen, G. F.; Luo, G. L.; Wang, N. L.; Sefat, A. S.; McGuire, M. A.; Jin, R.; Sales, B. C.; Mandrus, D.; Gillett, J.; Sebastian, S. E.

2010-03-01

PCARS is applied to investigate the superconducting gap in iron pnictide single crystal superconductors of the AFe2As2 (A=Ba, Sr) family with two categories of G(V) curves observed [1]: one where Andreev reflection (AR) is present for (Ba0.6K0.4)Fe2As2 and Ba(Fe0.9Co0.1)2As2, and the other without AR but a V^2/3 shape for Sr0.6Na0.4Fe2As2 and Sr(Fe0.9Co0.1)2As2. The latter is also observed in the nonsuperconducting parent compound BaFe2As2. Mesoscopic phase-separated coexistence of magnetic and superconducting orders is considered to explain distinct behaviors. A gap size ˜3.0-4.0 meV with 2δ0/kBTc˜2.0-2.6 is observed for PCARS on Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2. For the Ba(Fe0.9Co0.1)2As2, G(V) curves typically display a zero-bias conductance peak, sometimes with a V-shape background. [1] Xin Lu et al., arXiv:0910.4230

The effect of strontium and barium doping on perovskite-structured energy materials for photovoltaic applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Ming-Chung; Chen, Wei-Cheng; Chan, Shun-Hsiang; Su, Wei-Fang

2018-01-01

Perovskite solar cell is a novel photovoltaic technology with the superior progress in efficiency and the simple solution processes. Develop lead-free or lead-reduced perovskite materials is a significant concern for high-performance perovskite solar cell. Among the alkaline earth metals, the Sr2+ and Ba2+ are suitable for Pb2+ replacement in perovskite film due to fitting Goldschmidt's tolerance factor. In this study, we adopted Ba-doped and Sr-doped perovskite structured materials with different doping levels, including 1.0, 5.0, and 10.0 mol%, to prepare perovskite solar cells. Both Ba-doped and Sr-doped perovskite structured materials have a related tendency in absorption behavior and surface morphology. At 10.0 mol% doping level, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of Sr-doped perovskite solar cells is only ∼0.5%, but the PCE of Ba-doped perovskite solar cells can be achieved to ∼9.7%. Ba-doped perovskite solar cells showed the acceptable photovoltaic characteristics than Sr-doped perovskite solar cells. Ba dopant can partially replace the amount of lead in the perovskite solar cells, and it could be a potential candidate in the field of lead-free or lead-reduced perovskite energy materials.

Diabetic cognitive dysfunction is associated with increased bile acids in liver and activation of bile acid signaling in intestine.

PubMed

Wang, Xue; Wang, Fangyu; Zhang, Yidan; Xiong, Hui; Zhang, Yanjun; Zhuang, Pengwei; Zhang, Youcai

2018-05-01

Impaired regulation of bile acid (BA) homeostasis has been suggested to be associated with adverse metabolic consequences. However, whether BA homeostasis is altered in diabetes-induced cognitive dysfunction (DCD) remains unknown. In the present study, mice were divided into four groups, namely normal control (NC) group, high-fat diet (HFD) group, diabetes without cognitive dysfunction (unDCD) group, and DCD group. Compared to HFD mice, the concentration of total BAs in liver was higher in unDCD and DCD mice, due to increased intestinal BA absorption. DCD mice tended to have higher BA concentrations in both liver and ileum than unDCD mice. Consequently, DCD mice had increased basolateral BA efflux (Ostα, Ostβ, and Mrp4) and decreased BA synthesis (Cyp7a1, Cyp8b1, and Cyp7b1) in the liver as well as activated Fxr-Fgf15 signaling in the ileum. DCD mice also had increased BA hydroxylation (Cyp3a11) and BA sulfation (Sult2a1) in the liver compared to HFD mice. Furthermore, the bacterial community composition was altered in the cecum of DCD mice, characterized with a marked increase in Defferribacteres and Candidatus Saccharibacteria. In summary, the present study provides the first comprehensive analysis of BA homeostasis in DCD mice, and revealed a potential role of BAs in DCD development. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Frequency-dependent impedance spectroscopy on the 0.925(Bi0.5Na0.40K0.10)TiO3-0.075(Ba0.70Sr0.30)TiO3 ceramic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ullah, Amir; Rahman, Muneeb-ur; Iqbal, Muhammad Javid; Ahn, Chang Won; Kim, Ill Won; Ullah, Aman

2016-06-01

The electrical properties of the 0.925(Bi0.5(Na0.40K0.10)TiO3-0.075(Ba0.70Sr0.30)TiO3 (0.925BNKT-0.075BST) ceramic were investigated by using AC impedance spectroscopy over a wide range of frequencies (10 -2 ~ 105 Hz). The X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed the formation of a single-phase compound. A single semicircular arc in the impedance spectrum indicates that the main contribution of the bulk resistance ( R b ) were due to grain effects, with Rb decreasing with increasing temperature. The conductivity of the ceramics increased with increasing temperature, and the activation energy resulting from the DC conductivity was 0.86 eV. The ceramic displayed a typical negative temperature coefficient of resistance (NTCR) behavior, like that of a semiconductor.

One-dimensional pinning behavior in Co-doped BaFe2As2 thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishev, V.; Seeböck, W.; Eisterer, M.; Iida, K.; Kurth, F.; Hänisch, J.; Reich, E.; Holzapfel, B.

2013-12-01

Angle-resolved transport measurements revealed that planar defects dominate flux pinning in the investigated Co-doped BaFe2As2 thin film. For any given field and temperature, the critical current depends only on the angle between the crystallographic c-axis and the applied magnetic field but not on the angle between the current and the field. The critical current is therefore limited only by the in-plane component of the Lorentz force but independent of the out-of-plane component, which is entirely balanced by the pinning force exerted by the planar defects. This one-dimensional pinning behavior shows similarities and differences to intrinsic pinning in layered superconductors.

Synthesis and Thermal Properties of Acrylonitrile/Butyl Acrylate/Fumaronitrile and Acrylonitrile/Ethyl Hexyl Acrylate/Fumaronitrile Terpolymers as a Potential Precursor for Carbon Fiber

PubMed Central

Jamil, Siti Nurul Ain Md; Daik, Rusli; Ahmad, Ishak

2014-01-01

A synthesis of acrylonitrile (AN)/butyl acrylate (BA)/fumaronitrile (FN) and AN/EHA (ethyl hexyl acrylate)/FN terpolymers was carried out by redox polymerization using sodium bisulfite (SBS) and potassium persulphate (KPS) as initiator at 40 °C. The effect of comonomers, BA and EHA and termonomer, FN on the glass transition temperature (Tg) and stabilization temperature was studied using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The degradation behavior and char yield were obtained by Thermogravimetric Analysis. The conversions of AN, comonomers (BA and EHA) and FN were 55%–71%, 85%–91% and 76%–79%, respectively. It was found that with the same comonomer feed (10%), the Tg of AN/EHA copolymer was lower at 63 °C compared to AN/BA copolymer (70 °C). AN/EHA/FN terpolymer also exhibited a lower Tg at 63 °C when compared to that of the AN/BA/FN terpolymer (67 °C). By incorporating BA and EHA into a PAN system, the char yield was reduced to ~38.0% compared to that of AN (~47.7%). It was found that FN reduced the initial cyclization temperature of AN/BA/FN and AN/EHA/FN terpolymers to 228 and 221 °C, respectively, in comparison to that of AN/BA and AN/EHA copolymers (~260 °C). In addition, FN reduced the heat liberation per unit time during the stabilization process that consequently reduced the emission of volatile group during this process. As a result, the char yields of AN/BA/FN and AN/EHA/FN terpolymers are higher at ~45.1% and ~43.9%, respectively, as compared to those of AN/BA copolymer (37.1%) and AN/EHA copolymer (38.0%). PMID:28788187

Synthesis and Thermal Properties of Acrylonitrile/Butyl Acrylate/Fumaronitrile and Acrylonitrile/Ethyl Hexyl Acrylate/Fumaronitrile Terpolymers as a Potential Precursor for Carbon Fiber.

PubMed

Jamil, Siti Nurul Ain Md; Daik, Rusli; Ahmad, Ishak

2014-09-01

A synthesis of acrylonitrile (AN)/butyl acrylate (BA)/fumaronitrile (FN) and AN/EHA (ethyl hexyl acrylate)/FN terpolymers was carried out by redox polymerization using sodium bisulfite (SBS) and potassium persulphate (KPS) as initiator at 40 °C. The effect of comonomers, BA and EHA and termonomer, FN on the glass transition temperature (T g ) and stabilization temperature was studied using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The degradation behavior and char yield were obtained by Thermogravimetric Analysis. The conversions of AN, comonomers (BA and EHA) and FN were 55%-71%, 85%-91% and 76%-79%, respectively. It was found that with the same comonomer feed (10%), the T g of AN/EHA copolymer was lower at 63 °C compared to AN/BA copolymer (70 °C). AN/EHA/FN terpolymer also exhibited a lower T g at 63 °C when compared to that of the AN/BA/FN terpolymer (67 °C). By incorporating BA and EHA into a PAN system, the char yield was reduced to ~38.0% compared to that of AN (~47.7%). It was found that FN reduced the initial cyclization temperature of AN/BA/FN and AN/EHA/FN terpolymers to 228 and 221 °C, respectively, in comparison to that of AN/BA and AN/EHA copolymers (~260 °C). In addition, FN reduced the heat liberation per unit time during the stabilization process that consequently reduced the emission of volatile group during this process. As a result, the char yields of AN/BA/FN and AN/EHA/FN terpolymers are higher at ~45.1% and ~43.9%, respectively, as compared to those of AN/BA copolymer (37.1%) and AN/EHA copolymer (38.0%).

Evidence of extended cation solubility in atomic layer deposited nanocrystalline BaTiO3 thin films and its strong impact on the electrical properties.

PubMed

Falmbigl, Matthias; Karateev, Igor A; Golovina, Iryna S; Plokhikh, Aleksandr V; Parker, Thomas C; Vasiliev, Alexander L; Spanier, Jonathan E

2018-06-22

Thin films of ≈50 nm thickness with Ba/Ti-ratios ranging from 0.8 to 1.06 were prepared by depositing alternating layers of Ba(OH)2 and TiO2. Annealing at 750 °C promoted the solid-solid transformation into polycrystalline BaTiO3 films containing a mixture of the perovskite and the hexagonal polymorphs with average crystallite sizes smaller than 14 nm and without impurity phases. This, together with an increase of the cubic lattice parameters for Ba-rich films, suggests an extended metastable solubility range for the perovskite-phase in these nanocrystalline thin films on both sides of the stoichiometric composition. Mapping of the cation distribution utilizing energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy corroborates defect accommodation within the BaTiO3 grains. While the cation off-stoichiometry in thermodynamic equilibrium is negligible for BaTiO3, the metastable extended solubility range in the thin films can be directly correlated to the low annealing temperature and nanocrystalline nature. The leakage current behavior can be explained by the formation of Schottky defects for nonstoichiometric films, and the cation ratio has a distinct impact on the dielectric properties: while excess-BaO has a marginal detrimental effect on the permittivity, the dielectric constant declines rapidly by more than 50% towards the Ti-rich side. The present findings highlight the importance of compositional control for the synthesis of nanocrystalline BaTiO3 thin films, in particular for low annealing and/or deposition temperatures. Our synthesis approach using alternating layers of Ba(OH)2 and TiO2 provides a route to precisely control the cation stoichiometry.

Box-and-arrow explanations need not be more abstract than neuroscientific mechanism descriptions.

PubMed

Datteri, Edoardo; Laudisa, Federico

2014-01-01

The nature of the relationship between box-and-arrow (BA) explanations and neuroscientific mechanism descriptions (NMDs) is a key foundational issue for cognitive science. In this article we attempt to identify the nature of the constraints imposed by BA explanations on the formulation of NMDs. On the basis of a case study about motor control, we argue that BA explanations and NMDs both identify regularities that hold in the system, and that these regularities place constraints on the formulation of NMDs from BA analyses, and vice versa. The regularities identified in the two kinds of explanation play a crucial role in reasoning about the relationship between them, and in justifying the use of neuroscientific experimental techniques for the empirical testing of BA analyses of behavior. In addition, we make claims concerning the similarities and differences between BA analyses and NMDs. First, we argue that both types of explanation describe mechanisms. Second, we propose that they differ in terms of the theoretical vocabulary used to denote the entities and properties involved in the mechanism and engaging in regular, mutual interactions. On the contrary, the notion of abstractness, defined as omission of detail, does not help to distinguish BA analyses from NMDs: there is a sense in which BA analyses are more detailed than NMDs. In relation to this, we also focus on the nature of the extra detail included in NMDs and missing from BA analyses, arguing that such detail does not always concern how the system works. Finally, we propose reasons for doubting that BA analyses, unlike NMDs, may be considered "mechanism sketches." We have developed these views by critically analyzing recent claims in the philosophical literature regarding the foundations of cognitive science.

PEGylated Self-Assembled Nano-Bacitracin A: Probing the Antibacterial Mechanism and Real-Time Tracing of Target Delivery in Vivo.

PubMed

Hong, Wei; Zhao, Yining; Guo, Yuru; Huang, Chengcheng; Qiu, Peng; Zhu, Jia; Chu, Chun; Shi, Hong; Liu, Mingchun

2018-04-04

Although nano-self-assemblies of hydrophobic-modified bacitracin A with poly(d,l-lactic- co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) (nano-BA PLGA ) have demonstrated promising antibacterial activities, the application of nano-BA PLGA was severely compromised by low water solubility. In this study, a series of PEGylated PLGA copolymers were selected to conjugate with the N-terminus of bacitracin A to construct PEGylated self-assembled nano-BAs and to further develop nano-self-assemblies of bacitracin A with strong antibacterial potency and high solubility. Compared with nano-BA PLGA , all PEGylated nano-BAs, except nano-BA 5k , exhibited strong antibacterial efficiency against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria by inducing loss of cytoplasmic membrane potential, membrane permeabilization, and leakage of calcein from artificial cell membranes. Studies elucidating the underlying mechanism of PEGylated nano-BAs against Gram-negative bacteria indicated that the strong hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions between PLGA and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) could bind, neutralize, and disassociate LPS, facilitating cellular uptake of the nanoparticles, which could destabilize the membrane, resulting in cell death. Moreover, PEGylated nano-BAs (nano-BA 12k ) with a longer PLGA block were expected to occupy a higher local density of BA mass on the surface and result in stronger hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions with LPS, which were responsible for the enhanced antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and emerging antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria, respectively. In vivo imaging verified that PEGylated nano-BAs exhibited higher inflammatory tissue distribution and longer circulation time than nano-BA PLGA . Therefore, although PEGylation did not affect antibacterial activity, it is necessary for target delivery and resistance to clearance of the observed PEGylated nano-BAs. In vivo, nano-BA 12k also showed the highest therapeutic index against infection burden in a mouse thigh infection model among the tested formulations, which showed good correlation with the in vitro results. In conclusion, nano-BA 12k showed high efficacy in the treatment of invasive infections. This new approach of constructing nanoantibiotics by modification of commercially available antibiotics with PEGylated copolymers is safe, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly.

Barium isotopes in cold-water corals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hemsing, Freya; Hsieh, Yu-Te; Bridgestock, Luke; Spooner, Peter T.; Robinson, Laura F.; Frank, Norbert; Henderson, Gideon M.

2018-06-01

Recent studies have introduced stable Ba isotopes (δ 138 / 134Ba) as a novel tracer for ocean processes. Ba isotopes could potentially provide insight into the oceanic Ba cycle, the ocean's biological pump, water-mass provenance in the deep ocean, changes in activity of hydrothermal vents, and land-sea interactions including tracing riverine inputs. Here, we show that aragonite skeletons of various colonial and solitary cold-water coral (CWC) taxa record the seawater (SW) Ba isotope composition. Thirty-six corals of eight different taxa from three oceanic regions were analysed and compared to δ 138 / 134Ba measurements of co-located seawater samples. Sites were chosen to cover a wide range of temperature, salinity, Ba concentrations and Ba isotope compositions. Seawater samples at the three sites exhibit the well-established anti-correlation between Ba concentration and δ 138 / 134Ba. Furthermore, our data set suggests that Ba/Ca values in CWCs are linearly correlated with dissolved [Ba] in ambient seawater, with an average partition coefficient of DCWC/SW = 1.8 ± 0.4 (2SD). The mean isotope fractionation of Ba between seawater and CWCs Δ138/134BaCWC-SW is -0.21 ± 0.08‰ (2SD), indicating that CWC aragonite preferentially incorporates the lighter isotopes. This fractionation likely does not depend on temperature or other environmental variables, suggesting that aragonite CWCs could be used to trace the Ba isotope composition in ambient seawater. Coupled [Ba] and δ 138 / 134Ba analysis on fossil CWCs has the potential to provide new information about past changes in the local and global relationship between [Ba] and δ 138 / 134Ba and hence about the operation of the past global oceanic Ba cycle in different climate regimes.

Theoretical study on the ground state of the polar alkali-metal-barium molecules: Potential energy curve and permanent dipole moment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gou, Dezhi; Kuang, Xiaoyu, E-mail: scu-kuang@163.com; Gao, Yufeng

2015-01-21

In this paper, we systematically investigate the electronic structure for the {sup 2}Σ{sup +} ground state of the polar alkali-metal-alkaline-earth-metal molecules BaAlk (Alk = Li, Na, K, Rb, and Cs). Potential energy curves and permanent dipole moments (PDMs) are determined using power quantum chemistry complete active space self-consistent field and multi-reference configuration interaction methods. Basic spectroscopic constants are derived from ro-vibrational bound state calculation. From the calculations, it is shown that BaK, BaRb, and BaCs molecules have moderate values of PDM at the equilibrium bond distance (BaK:1.62 D, BaRb:3.32 D, and BaCs:4.02 D). Besides, the equilibrium bond length (4.93 Åmore » and 5.19 Å) and dissociation energy (0.1825 eV and 0.1817 eV) for the BaRb and BaCs are also obtained.« less

Alleviative effects from boswellic acid on acetaminophen-induced hepatic injury - Corrected and republished from: Biomedicine (Taipei). 2016 Jun; 6 (2): 9. doi: 10.7603/s40681-016-0009-1PMCID: PMC4864770.

PubMed

Chen, Lung-Che; Hu, Li-Hong; Yin, Mei-Chin

2017-06-01

Protective effects of boswellic acid (BA) against acetaminophen (APAP)-induced hepatotoxicity in Balb/ cA mice were examined. BA, at 0.05 or 0.1%, was supplied for 4 weeks. Acute liver injury was induced by APAP treatment. Results showed that BA intake increased hepatic BA bioavailability. APAP treatment decreased glutathione (GSH) level, increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) production; and lowered activity and protein expression of glutathione reductase (GR) and heme oxygenase (HO)-1 in liver. BA intake at both doses alleviated subsequent APAP-induced oxidative stress by retaining GSH content, decreasing ROS and GSSG formations, reserving activity and expression of GR and HO-1 in liver, and lowering hepatic cytochrome P450 2E1 activity and expression. APAP treatment enhanced hepatic levels of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1. BA pre-intake diminished APAP-induced release of those inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. APAP up-regulated hepatic protein expression of toll-like receptor (TLR)-3, TLR-4, MyD88, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) p50, NF-κB p65 and JNK. BA pre-intake at both doses suppressed the expression of NF-κB p65 and p-JNK, and only at 0.1% down-regulated hepatic TLR-3, TLR-4 and MyD88 expression. APAP led to obvious foci of inflammatory cell infiltration in liver, determined by H&E stain. BA intake at both doses attenuated hepatic inflammatory infiltration. These findings support that boswellic acid is a potent hepato-protective agent. © Author(s) 2017. This article is published with open access by China Medical University.

Working memory circuit as a function of increasing age in healthy adolescence: A systematic review and meta-analyses.

PubMed

Andre, Julia; Picchioni, Marco; Zhang, Ruibin; Toulopoulou, Timothea

2016-01-01

Working memory ability matures through puberty and early adulthood. Deficits in working memory are linked to the risk of onset of neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia, and there is a significant temporal overlap between the peak of first episode psychosis risk and working memory maturation. In order to characterize the normal working memory functional maturation process through this critical phase of cognitive development we conducted a systematic review and coordinate based meta-analyses of all the available primary functional magnetic resonance imaging studies (n = 382) that mapped WM function in healthy adolescents (10-17 years) and young adults (18-30 years). Activation Likelihood Estimation analyses across all WM tasks revealed increased activation with increasing subject age in the middle frontal gyrus (BA6) bilaterally, the left middle frontal gyrus (BA10), the left precuneus and left inferior parietal gyri (BA7; 40). Decreased activation with increasing age was found in the right superior frontal (BA8), left junction of postcentral and inferior parietal (BA3/40), and left limbic cingulate gyrus (BA31). These results suggest that brain activation during adolescence increased with age principally in higher order cortices, part of the core working memory network, while reductions were detected in more diffuse and potentially more immature neural networks. Understanding the process by which the brain and its cognitive functions mature through healthy adulthood may provide us with new clues to understanding the vulnerability to neurodevelopmental disorders.

Pregnane X receptor regulates the AhR/Cyp1A1 pathway and protects liver cells from benzo-[α]-pyrene-induced DNA damage.

PubMed

Cui, Hongmei; Gu, Xinsheng; Chen, Jingshu; Xie, Ying; Ke, Sui; Wu, Jing; Golovko, Andrei; Morpurgo, Benjamin; Yan, Chunhong; Phillips, Timothy D; Xie, Wen; Luo, Jianyuan; Zhou, Zhijun; Tian, Yanan

2017-06-05

Pregnane X receptor (PXR) plays an important role in protecting cells from mutagenic DNA damages induced by endogenous and exogenous toxicants. This protective function is often attributed to the PXR-regulated metabolic detoxification. Here we report a novel potential mechanism that PXR reduces benzo-[α]-pyrene(BaP)-induced DNA damage through inhibiting the transcriptional activity of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) which plays a pivotal role in the bioactivation of BaP. We have utilized three well-characterized cell lines, i.e. Hepa1c1c7, AhR +/+; Bpr lacks AhR obligatory partner ARNT; Tao, lacks AhR, to analyze pivotal role of AhR/ARNT complex in mediating the BaP-induced DNA damages using comet assay (single-cell gel electrophoresis). We found that PXR activation could significantly inhibit BaP-induced DNA damage in the HepG2 cells as well as mouse hepatocytes. Using PXR-null and wild type mouse hepatocytes we showed that PXR activation by pregnenolone 16α-carbonitrile (PCN) significantly inhibited BaP-induced DNA damage and this protective effect was abolished in PXR-null hepatocytes. Mechanistically, PXR activation inhibited expression of AhR-target genes for CYP1A1, CYP1B1 and CYP1A2 that are required for BaP biotransformation in cultured liver cells, or in the livers of C57BL/6J mice. Using an AhR-responsive reporter assay as well as chromatin immunoprecipitation assay we found that PXR activation transcriptionally represses AhR-regulated gene expression. Furthermore, we found that PXR directly bound AhR at its DNA-binding domain, and this association may play a role in preventing of the AhR from binding to its target genes as shown in the ChIP assay. Taken together, our study has revealed a novel mechanism by which PXR protects liver cells from BaP-induced DNA damage through inhibiting the BaP biotransformation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Translational validity of PASAT and the effect of fatigue and mood in patients with relapsing remitting MS: A functional MRI study.

PubMed

Iancheva, Dessislava; Trenova, Anastasiya G; Terziyski, Kiril; Kandilarova, Sevdalina; Mantarova, Stefka

2018-04-03

Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) is used for assessment of information processing speed, attention, and working memory, which are the most frequently affected cognitive domains in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, and may be significantly affected by fatigue. However, the effect of fatigue and mood on the PASAT performance in MS patients translationally validated by fMRI has not been studied yet. The aim of this study is to investigate the translational validity of the PASAT, using fMRI during a paced visual serial addition test (PVSAT) paradigm in patients with relapsing remitting MS (RRMS) and to assess the impact of fatigue and mood on test performance. Fourteen patients with RRMS in remission and 14 healthy controls, matched by sex, age, and educational status, were enrolled in the study. The subjects underwent a standard neurological examination, neuropsychological evaluation with the PASAT 3', fMRI scanning with a PVSAT paradigm, and Beck Depression Inventory. All patients were assessed by the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale. Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test score was lower in patients (41.4 ± 15.5 vs 51.6 ± 7.5, P = .035). A moderate negative correlation (P = -0.563, P = 0.036) was found between PASAT and MIFS scores. The fMRI scanning showed significant activations in several clusters that differed between patients and controls. The patient group presented wider cluster activation; Brodmann area (BA) 6-bilaterally; left BA7, 8, and 9; and right BA40, while controls presented with activations in left BA6 and BA44. Significant negative correlations between PASAT score and cortical activations in left BA23, right BA32, and left BA7 were observed in patients only. Our results show that poorer performance on the PASAT is associated with higher activation in areas connected with working memory, attention, and emotional processes during the fMRI assessment with PVSAT paradigm, which provides evidence for the translational validity of the PASAT in patients with RRMS. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Organophosphorus pesticides enhance the genotoxicity of benzo(a)pyrene by modulating its metabolism.

PubMed

Hreljac, Irena; Filipic, Metka

2009-12-01

Organophosphorus compounds (OPs) are widely used as pesticides. They act primarily as neurotoxins, but there is increasing evidence for secondary mechanisms of their toxicity. We have shown that the model OPs, methyl parathion (PT) and methyl paraoxon (PO), are genotoxic. Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is a widespread environmental genotoxin found in cigarette smoke, polluted air and grilled food. As people are constantly exposed to low concentrations of BaP and also to OPs, the aim of this study was to determine possible synergistic effects of PT and PO on BaP-induced genotoxicity. In the bacterial reverse mutation assay, PT and PO increased the number of BaP-induced mutations. The comet assay with human hepatoma HepG2 cells showed that BaP-induced DNA strand breaks were increased by PT but slightly decreased by PO. Using the acellular comet assay with UVC-induced DNA strand breaks, we observed a decrease in DNA migration, indicating that OPs cause cross-linking, thus interfering with comet assay results. In HepG2 cells the two OPs induced micronuclei formation at very low doses (0.01 microg/ml) and together with BaP, a more than additive increase of micronuclei was observed, confirming their co-genotoxic effect. We demonstrated for the first time that PT and PO modulate the metabolic activation of BaP. Addition of PT or PO increased aldo-keto reductase (AKR1C1/2) levels in the presence of BaP, while cytochrome 1A (CYP1A) mRNA expression and activity were decreased. Further, specific inhibition of CYP1A had no effect on BaP or OP+BaP-induced micronuclei, whereas inhibition of AKR1C dramatically decreased the number of micronuclei induced by BaP or OP+BaP. Based on these results we propose that co-genotoxicity results from OPs mediated modulation of BaP metabolism, favouring the induction of AKR1C enzymes known to catalyse the formation of DNA reactive BaP o-quinones and the production of reactive oxygen species.

Biochanin A improves hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance by regulating the hepatic lipid and glucose metabolic pathways in diet-induced obese mice.

PubMed

Park, Hee-Sook; Hur, Haeng Jeon; Kim, Soon-Hee; Park, Su-Jin; Hong, Moon Ju; Sung, Mi Jeong; Kwon, Dae Young; Kim, Myung-Sunny

2016-09-01

Natural compounds that regulate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα) have been reported to have beneficial effects in obesity-mediated metabolic disorders. In this study, we demonstrated that biochanin A (BA), an agonist of PPAR-α, improved hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance by regulating hepatic lipid and glucose metabolism. C57BL/6 mice were fed a normal chow diet, a high-fat diet (HFD), and an HFD supplemented with 0.05% BA for 12 weeks. Histological and biochemical examinations indicated that BA prevented obesity-induced hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance in HFD-fed mice. BA stimulated the transcriptional activation of PPAR-α in vitro and increased the expression of PPAR-α and its regulatory proteins in the liver. CE-TOF/MS analyses indicated that BA administration promoted the recovery of metabolites involved in phosphatidylcholine synthesis, lipogenesis, and beta-oxidation in the livers of obese mice. BA also suppressed the levels of gluconeogenesis-related metabolites and the expression of the associated enzymes, glucose 6-phosphatase and pyruvate kinase. Taken together, these results showed that BA ameliorated metabolic disorders such as hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance by modulating lipid and glucose metabolism in diet-induced obesity. Thus, BA may be a potential therapeutic agent for the prevention of obesity-mediated hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Left cytoarchitectonic BA 44 processes syntactic gender violations in determiner phrases.

PubMed

Heim, Stefan; van Ermingen, Muna; Huber, Walter; Amunts, Katrin

2010-10-01

Recent neuroimaging studies make contradictory predictions about the involvement of left Brodmann's area (BA) 44 in processing local syntactic violations in determiner phrases (DPs). Some studies suggest a role for BA 44 in detecting local syntactic violations, whereas others attribute this function to the left premotor cortex. Therefore, the present event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated whether left-cytoarchitectonic BA 44 was activated when German DPs involving syntactic gender violations were compared with correct DPs (correct: 'der Baum'-the[masculine] tree[masculine]; violated: 'das Baum'--the[neuter] tree[masculine]). Grammaticality judgements were made for both visual and auditory DPs to be able to generalize the results across modalities. Grammaticality judgements involved, among others, left BA 44 and left BA 6 in the premotor cortex for visual and auditory stimuli. Most importantly, activation in left BA 44 was consistently higher for violated than for correct DPs. This finding was behaviourally corroborated by longer reaction times for violated versus correct DPs. Additional brain regions, showing the same effect, included left premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, right middle and superior frontal cortex, and left cerebellum. Based on earlier findings from the literature, the results indicate the involvement of left BA 44 in processing local syntactic violations when these include morphological features, whereas left premotor cortex seems crucial for the detection of local word category violations. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Active learning in forensic science using Brownfield Action in a traditional or hybrid course in earth, environmental, or engineering sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bower, P.; Liddicoat (2), J.

2009-04-01

Brownfield Action (BA - http://www.brownfieldaction.org) is a web-based, interactive, three-dimensional digital space and learning simulation in which students form geotechnical consulting companies and work collaboratively to explore and solve problems in environmental forensics. BA is being used in the United States at 10 colleges and universities in earth, environmental, or engineering sciences undergraduate and graduate courses. As a semester-long activity or done in modular form for specific topics, BA encourages active learning that requires attention to detail, intuition, and positive interaction between peers that results in Phase 1 and Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessments. Besides use in higher education courses, BA also can be adapted for instruction to local, state, and federal governmental employees, and employees in industry where brownfields need to be investigated or require remediation.

Neurofunctional Differences Among Youth With and at Varying Risk for Developing Mania.

PubMed

Welge, Jeffrey A; Saliba, Lawrence J; Strawn, Jeffrey R; Eliassen, James C; Patino, L Rodrigo; Adler, Caleb M; Weber, Wade; Schneider, Marguerite Reid; Barzman, Drew H; Strakowski, Stephen M; DelBello, Melissa P; McNamara, Robert K

2016-11-01

To examine prefrontal and amygdala activation during emotional processing in youth with or at varying risk for developing mania to identify candidate central prodromal risk biomarkers. Four groups of medication-free adolescents (10-20 years old) participated: adolescents with first-episode bipolar I disorder (BP-I; n = 32), adolescents with a parent with bipolar disorder and a depressive disorder (at-risk depressed [ARD]; n = 32), healthy adolescents with a parent with bipolar disorder (at-risk healthy [ARH]; n = 32), and healthy adolescents with no personal or family history of psychiatric illness (healthy comparison [HC]; n = 32). Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a continuous performance task with emotional and neutral distracters. Region-of-interest analyses were performed for the bilateral amygdala and for subregions of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. Overall, no group differences in bilateral amygdala and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann area [BA] 45/47) activation during emotional or neutral stimuli were observed. The BP-I group exhibited lower right pregenual anterior cingulate cortex activation compared with the HC group, and activation in the left BA 44 was greater in the ARH and ARD groups compared with the HC group. BP-I and ARD groups exhibited blunted activation in the right BA 10 compared with the ARH group. During emotional processing, amygdala and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 45/47) activation does not differ in youth with or at increasing risk for BP-I. However, blunted pregenual anterior cingulate cortex activation in first-episode mania could represent an illness biomarker, and greater prefrontal BA 10 and BA 44 activations in at-risk youth could represent a biomarker of risk or resilience warranting additional investigation in prospective longitudinal studies. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multiphase nanodomains in a strained BaTiO3 film on a GdScO3 substrate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kobayashi, Shunsuke; Inoue, Kazutoshi; Kato, Takeharu; Ikuhara, Yuichi; Yamamoto, Takahisa

2018-02-01

Controlling the crystal structure of ferroelectric materials via epitaxial strain, which is a well-known technique in strain engineering, can lead to the formation of unique domain structures generating non-intrinsic phenomena such as electronic conductivity, photovoltages, and enhanced piezoelectric characteristics. Strained BaTiO3 films are promising ferroelectric materials as theoretical modeling predicts that different domain morphologies can introduce additional properties not observed in conventional BaTiO3 ceramics. To rationally design materials for practical application, a thorough understanding of the formation mechanisms and stabilities of different domain structures in strained BaTiO3 films is required. However, there have been very few experimental reports on this topic, and details about the domain structures in strained BaTiO3 films are currently lacking. In this paper, we report multiphase nanodomains in a strained BaTiO3 film deposited on an orthorhombic GdScO3 substrate. The phase-transition behavior of the strained BaTiO3 film reveals that it contains multiple phases at room temperature; the film first undergoes a phase-transition upon heating at around 550 K, and then a paraelectric phase forms at temperatures above 690 K. A picometer-scale analysis of the Ti ion displacements, using an advanced scanning transmission electron microscopy technique, is used to characterize the complex multiphase nanodomains, providing useful insights into the control of domain structures in BaTiO3 films by applying epitaxial strain.

Cs-Ba separation using N 2O as a reactant gas in a Multiple Collector-Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer collision-reaction cell: Application to the measurements of Cs isotopes in spent nuclear fuel samples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Granet, M.; Nonell, A.; Favre, G.; Chartier, F.; Isnard, H.; Moureau, J.; Caussignac, C.; Tran, B.

2008-11-01

In the general frameworks of the nuclear fuel cycle and environmental research field, the Cs isotopic composition must be known with high precision and accuracy. The direct determination of Cs isotopes by mass spectrometry techniques is generally hampered by the presence of Ba isobaric interferences however. Here we present a new method which takes advantage of the collision-reaction cell based Multiple Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) and allows to analyse Cs isotopes in the presence of Ba without prior separation step. The addition of N 2O gas in the cell leads to an antagonistic behavior of Cs + and Ba + as the latter reacts with the gas to form BaO + and BaOH + products whereas Cs + remains unreactive. The efficiency of the method was demonstrated for an UOx sample by comparing the results obtained (1) from the measurements of pure Cs fractions and (2) from Fission Products fractions containing more than 30 ionisable elements in addition to Cs, Ba, and where U and Pu were previously removed by using ion exchange resin. An excellent agreement is achieved between each set of experiments with an external reproducibility always better than 0.5% (RSD, k = 2). This study confirms the strong potential of collision-reaction cell to measure Cs isotopes in presence of interfering Ba, precluding therefore former systematic chemical separations.

Synthesis of pH-responsive β-CD-based star polymer and impact of its self-assembly behavior on pectinase activity.

PubMed

Hu, Dong; Yang, Hong; Liu, Jiangtao; Lei, Zhongli

2017-03-01

A novel type of pH-responsive star polymer based on β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) was synthesized and further covalently conjugated with enzyme. The impact of its self-assembly behavior on enzyme activity was investigated. In our design, azide containing the polymer (N 3 ) 7 -β-CD-(PtBA) 14 was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization of tert-butyl acrylate using (N 3 ) 7 -β-CD-(Br) 14 as the multifunctional initiator. The final product (N 3 ) 7 -β-CD-(PAA) 14 was obtained via hydrolysis and covalently conjugating pectinase onto pH-responsive polyacrylic acid (PAA) arms. PAA can change its conformation with the self-assembly by altered pH, leading its nanostructure into micellar nanoparticles in aqueous solution and further affecting the activity of immobilized pectinase. The results were proved by fluorescence spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering. This system proves that the activity of immobilized enzyme can be tailored predictably, and this pH-responsive polymer holds great potential for controllable delivery of enzymes. © 2016 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Synthesis, Structure, and Rigid Unit Mode-like Anisotropic Thermal Expansion of BaIr 2 In 9

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Calta, Nicholas P.; Han, Fei; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G.

2015-09-08

This Article reports the synthesis of large single crystals of BaIr 2In 9 using In flux and their characterization by variable-temperature single-crystal and synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction, resistivity, and magnetization measurements. The title compound adopts the BaFe 2Al 9-type structure in the space group P6/mmm with room temperature unit cell parameters a = 8.8548(6) angstrom and c = 4.2696(4) A. BaIr 2In 9 exhibits anisotropic thermal expansion behavior with linear expansion along the c axis more than 3 times larger than expansion in the ab plane between 90 and 400 K. This anisotropic expansion originates from a rigid unit mode-likemore » mechanism similar to the mechanism of zero and negative thermal expansion observed in many anomalous thermal expansion materials such as ZrW 2O 8 and ScF 3.« less

Synthesis, Structure, and Rigid Unit Mode-like Anisotropic Thermal Expansion of BaIr2In9.

PubMed

Calta, Nicholas P; Han, Fei; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G

2015-09-08

This Article reports the synthesis of large single crystals of BaIr2In9 using In flux and their characterization by variable-temperature single-crystal and synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction, resistivity, and magnetization measurements. The title compound adopts the BaFe2Al9-type structure in the space group P6/mmm with room temperature unit cell parameters a = 8.8548(6) Å and c = 4.2696(4) Å. BaIr2In9 exhibits anisotropic thermal expansion behavior with linear expansion along the c axis more than 3 times larger than expansion in the ab plane between 90 and 400 K. This anisotropic expansion originates from a rigid unit mode-like mechanism similar to the mechanism of zero and negative thermal expansion observed in many anomalous thermal expansion materials such as ZrW2O8 and ScF3.

Large dielectric permittivity and possible correlation between magnetic and dielectric properties in bulk BaFeO{sub 3−δ}

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sagdeo, Archna; Gautam, Kamini; Singh, M. N.

2014-07-28

We report structural, magnetic, and dielectric properties of oxygen deficient hexagonal BaFeO{sub 3−δ}. A large dielectric permittivity comparable to that of other semiconducting oxides is observed in BaFeO{sub 3−δ}. Magnetization measurements indicate magnetic inhomogeneity and the system shows a paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition at ∼160 K. Remarkably, the temperature, at which paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition occurs, around this temperature, a huge drop in the dissipation factor takes place and resistivity shoots up; this indicates the possible correlation among magnetic and dielectric properties. First principle simulations reveal that some of these behaviors may be explained in terms of many body electron correlationmore » effect in the presence of oxygen vacancy present in BaFeO{sub 3−δ} indicating its importance in both fundamental science as well as in applications.« less

Effect of ionic radii on the Curie temperature in Ba1-x-ySrxCayTiO3 compounds.

PubMed

Berenov, A; Le Goupil, F; Alford, N

2016-06-21

A series of Ba1-x-ySrxCayTiO3 compounds were prepared with varying average ionic radii and cation disorder on A-site. All samples showed typical ferroelectric behavior. A simple empirical equation correlated Curie temperature, TC, with the values of ionic radii of A-site cations. This correlation was related to the distortion of TiO6 octahedra observed during neutron diffraction studies. The equation was used for the selection of compounds with predetermined values of TC. The effects of A-site ionic radii on the temperatures of phase transitions in Ba1-x-ySrxCayTiO3 were discussed.

Preliminary findings of altered functional connectivity of the default mode network linked to functional outcomes one year after pediatric traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Stephens, Jaclyn A; Salorio, Cynthia F; Barber, Anita D; Risen, Sarah R; Mostofsky, Stewart H; Suskauer, Stacy J

2017-07-10

This study examined functional connectivity of the default mode network (DMN) and examined brain-behavior relationships in a pilot cohort of children with chronic mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). Compared to uninjured peers, children with TBI demonstrated less anti-correlated functional connectivity between DMN and right Brodmann Area 40 (BA 40). In children with TBI, more anomalous less anti-correlated) connectivity between DMN and right BA 40 was linked to poorer performance on response inhibition tasks. Collectively, these preliminary findings suggest that functional connectivity between DMN and BA 40 may relate to longterm functional outcomes in chronic pediatric TBI.

Data-Driven Modeling of Target Human Behavior in Military Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-12

Military Operations Elizabeth Mezzacappa, Ph.D. Gordon Cooke, MEME Gladstone Reid, MSBMS Robert DeMarco, MSBMS Charles Sheridan BA John...stress, and human behavior modeling and simulation issues. GORDON COOKE, MEME , is a Principal Investigator at the TBRL. He was also a Chief

Does controlling for biological maturity improve physical activity tracking?

PubMed

Erlandson, Marta C; Sherar, Lauren B; Mosewich, Amber D; Kowalski, Kent C; Bailey, Donald A; Baxter-Jones, Adam D G

2011-05-01

Tracking of physical activity through childhood and adolescence tends to be low. Variation in the timing of biological maturation within youth of the same chronological age (CA) might affect participation in physical activity and may partially explain the low tracking. To examine the stability of physical activity over time from childhood to late adolescence when aligned on CA and biological age (BA). A total of 91 males and 96 females aged 8-15 yr from the Saskatchewan Pediatric Bone Mineral Accrual Study (PBMAS) were assessed annually for 8 yr. BA was calculated as years from age at peak height velocity. Physical activity was assessed using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children/Adolescents. Tracking was analyzed using intraclass correlations for both CA and BA (2-yr groupings). To be included in the analysis, an individual required a measure at both time points within an interval; however, not all individuals were present at all tracking intervals. Physical activity tracking by CA 2-yr intervals were, in general, moderate in males (r=0.42-0.59) and females (r=0.43-0.44). However, the 9- to 11-yr CA interval was low and nonsignificant (r=0.23-0.30). Likewise, tracking of physical activity by BA 2-yr intervals was moderate to high in males (r=0.44-0.60) and females (r=0.39-0.62). Accounting for differences in the timing of biological maturity had little effect on tracking physical activity. However, point estimates for tracking are higher in early adolescence in males and to a greater extent in females when aligned by BA versus CA. This suggests that maturity may be more important in physical activity participation in females than males. © 2011 by the American College of Sports Medicine

Synthesis and luminescence characterization of Y2 BaZnO5 :RE (RE = Eu3+ , Tb3+ , Pr3+ and Sm3+ ) phosphors.

PubMed

Taikar, D R; Joshi, C P; Moharil, S V

2017-09-01

Modified synthesis and luminescence of Y 2 BaZnO 5 phosphors activated with the rare earths (RE) Eu 3 + , Tb 3 + , Pr 3 + and Sm 3 + are reported. RE 2 BaZnO 5 phosphors have attracted attention because of their interesting magnetic and optical properties; and are usually prepared using a two-step solid-state reaction. In the first step, carbonates or similar precursors are thoroughly mixed and heated at 900°C to decompose them to oxides. To eliminate the unwanted phases like BaRE 2 O 4 , the resulting powders are reheated at 1100°C for a long time. We prepared Y 2 BaZnO 5 phosphors activated with various activators by replacing the first step with combustion synthesis. The photoluminescence results are presented. The photoluminescence results for Eu 3 + , Tb 3 + and Pr 3 + are in good agreement with the literature. However, photoluminescence emission from Sm 3 + has not been documented previously. The excitation spectrum of Eu 3 + is dominated by a charge transfer band around 261 nm, and an additional band around 238 nm is always present, irrespective of the type of activator. The presence of this band for all these different types of activators was interpreted as host absorption. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Betulinic acid, a natural PDE inhibitor restores hippocampal cAMP/cGMP and BDNF, improve cerebral blood flow and recover memory deficits in permanent BCCAO induced vascular dementia in rats.

PubMed

Kaundal, Madhu; Zameer, Saima; Najmi, Abul Kalam; Parvez, Suhel; Akhtar, Mohd

2018-08-05

Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common form of senile dementia, embraces memory deficits, neuroinflammation, executive function damage, mood and behavioral changes and abnormal cerebral blood flow. The purpose of the study was to explore the therapeutic potential of betulinic acid in bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) induced VaD in experimental rats. VaD was induced by BCCAO in rats and betulinic acid (10 and 15 mg/kg/day po) was administered 1 week after surgery. The cerebral blood pressure of the animal was recorded before and after the treatment using Laser Doppler flow meter. Object recognition task for non-spatial, Morris water maze for spatial and locomotor activity was performed to evaluate behavioral changes in rats. At the end of the study, animals were decapitated and hippocampus was separated to perform biochemical, neuroinflammatory and second messengers cAMP/cGMP analysis. Histology was done to study the brain pathophysiology. BCCAO surgery was able to significantly impaired memory in rats as observed behavioral and biochemical parameters. Moreover, BA demonstrated a neuroprotective effect in a dose-dependent manner. BA was able to re-establish cerebral blood flow, restore behavioral parameters and showed significant improvements in the as cAMP,cGMP and BDNF levels, restrain the oxidative stress and inflammatory parameters. In histopathology, betulinic acid treated groups showed a decrease in microgliosis and less pathological abnormalities comparable to diseased rat's brain. The observed effect might be attributed to the neuroprotective potential of betulinic acid and its ability to restore cognitive impairment and hippocampal neurochemistry in VaD. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Purification and characterization of two novel peroxidases from the dye-decolorizing fungus Bjerkandera adusta strain CX-9.

PubMed

Bouacem, Khelifa; Rekik, Hatem; Jaouadi, Nadia Zaraî; Zenati, Bilal; Kourdali, Sidali; El Hattab, Mohamed; Badis, Abdelmalek; Annane, Rachid; Bejar, Samir; Hacene, Hocine; Bouanane-Darenfed, Amel; Jaouadi, Bassem

2018-01-01

Two extracellular peroxidases from Bjerkandera adusta strain CX-9, namely a lignin peroxidase (called LiP BA45) and manganese peroxidase (called MnP BA30), were purified simultaneously by applying successively, ammonium sulfate precipitation-dialysis, Mono-S Sepharose anion-exchange and Sephacryl S-200 gel filtration and biochemically characterized. The sequence of their NH 2 -terminal amino acid residues showed high homology with those of fungi peroxidases. Matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS) analysis revealed that the purified enzymes MnP BA30 and LiP BA45 were a monomers with a molecular masses 30125.16 and 45221.10Da, respectively. While MnP BA30 was optimally active at pH 3 and 70°C, LiP BA45 showed optimum activity at pH 4 and 50°C. The two enzymes were inhibited by sodium azide and potassium cyanide, suggesting the presence of heme-components in their tertiary structures. The K m and V max for LiP BA45 toward 2,4-Dichlorolphenol (2,4-DCP) were 0.099mM and 9.12U/mg, respectively and for MnP BA30 toward 2,6-Dimethylphenol (2,6-DMP), they were 0.151mM and 18.60U/mg, respectively. Interestingly, MnP BA30 and LiP BA45 demonstrated higher catalytic efficiency than that of other tested peroxidases (MnP, LiP, HaP4, and LiP-SN) and marked organic solvent-stability and dye-decolorization efficiency. Data suggest that these peroxidases may be considered as potential candidates for future applications in distaining synthetic-dyes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Structural, microstructural and electrical characterization of BaSnO3 and Ba0.90Y0.10SnO3 synthesized by solution combustion method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Upendra; Yadav, Dharmendra; Upadhyay, Shail; Thakur, Anukul K.

2018-04-01

Powder of perovskite oxides BaSnO3 and Ba0.90Y0.10SnO3 have been synthesized by solution combustion method. Rietveld profile analysis shows that the phases crystallize with cubic unit cell in the space group pm3m. Further purity of the synthesized powders was checked by Fourier transform of infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The average grain size of the sintered samples was obtained using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and found to be 4.9 and 2.8 1m for BaSnO3 and Ba0.90Y0.10SnO3, respectively. The AC conductivity (σac) of synthesized samples was measured in the frequency range from 24Hz-1MHz and temperature range 100 - 600°C. Conductivity spectra of both the samples followed universal Johnscher's power law at different temperatures. The value of bulk or dc conductivity (σdc) at different temperatures has been extracted by fitting the Johnscher's power law to AC conductivity spectra. The activation energy for σc has been obtained from the least square linear fit of data points and found to be 0.53 eV and 0.43 eV, respectively for BaSnO3 and Ba0.90Y0.10SnO3. Based on the value of activation energy it is proposed that conduction in these samples is govern via hopping of (OH)•. The value of conductivity at temperature 550°C of Ba0.90Y0.10SnO3 is 0.00406 S-cm-1 higher than BaSnO3 (0.00173 S-cm-1) at the same temperature.

Bile Acids in the Treatment of Cardiometabolic Diseases.

PubMed

Vítek, Libor

2017-11-01

Bile acids (BA), for decades considered only to have fat-emulsifying functions in the gut lumen, have recently emerged as novel cardio-metabolic modulators. They have real endocrine effects, acting via multiple intracellular receptors in various organs and tissues. BA affect energy homeostasis through the modulation of glucose and lipid metabolism, predominantly by activating the nuclear farnesoid X receptor (FXR), as well as the cytoplasmic membrane G protein-coupled BA receptor TGR5 in a variety of tissues; although numerous other intracellular targets of BA are also in play.The roles of BA in the pathogenesis of diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases are seriously being considered, and BA and their derivatives seem to represent novel potential therapeutics to treat these diseases of civilization.

Barium-isotopic fractionation in seawater mediated by barite cycling and oceanic circulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horner, Tristan J.; Kinsley, Christopher W.; Nielsen, Sune G.

2015-11-01

The marine biogeochemical cycle of Ba is thought to be controlled by particulate BaSO4 (barite) precipitation associated with the microbial oxidation of organic carbon and its subsequent dissolution in the BaSO4-undersaturated water column. Despite many of these processes being largely unique to Ba cycling, concentrations of Ba and Si in seawater exhibit a strong linear correlation. The reasons for this correlation are ambiguous, as are the depth ranges corresponding to the most active BaSO4 cycling and the intermediate sources of Ba to particulate BaSO4. Stable isotopic analyses of dissolved Ba in seawater should help address these issues, as Ba-isotopic compositions are predicted to be sensitive to the physical and biogeochemical process that cycle Ba. We report a new methodology for the determination of dissolved Ba-isotopic compositions in seawater and results from a 4500 m depth profile in the South Atlantic at 39.99° S, 0.92° E that exhibit oceanographically-consistent variation with depth. These data reveal that water masses obtain their [Ba] and Ba-isotopic signatures when at or near the surface, which relates to the cycling of marine BaSO4. The shallow origin of these signatures requires that the substantial Ba-isotopic variations in the bathypelagic zone were inherited from when those deep waters were last ventilated. Indeed, the water column below 600 m is well explained by conservative mixing of water masses with distinct [Ba] and Ba-isotopic compositions. This leads us to conclude that large scale oceanic circulation is important for sustaining the similar oceanographic distributions of Ba and Si in the South Atlantic, and possibly elsewhere. These data demonstrate that the processes of organic carbon oxidation, BaSO4 cycling, and Ba-isotopic fractionation in seawater are closely coupled, such that Ba-isotopic analyses harbor great potential as a tracer of the carbon cycle in the modern and paleo-oceans.

Structural and dielectric characteristics of Ba3Ln3Ti5Nb5O30 (Ln = La, Nd, Sm) filled tungsten bronze ceramics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Wang; Gao, Ting Ting; Zhu, Xiao Li; Chen, Xiang Ming

2018-03-01

In the present work, the structural, dielectric and relaxor ferroelectric properties were investigated for Ba3Ln3Ti5Nb5O30 (Ln = La, Nd, Sm) ceramics. The filled tungsten bronze phase with space group P4/mbm was confirmed for all compositions, while a small amount of secondary phase was detected in Ba3Nd3Ti5Nb5O30 and Ba3Sm3Ti5Nb5O30. The typical relaxor ferroelectric behaviors were observed: a broad peak of dielectric constant shifting to higher temperatures and decreasing its magnitude with increasing frequency and the frequency dispersion obeying the Vogel-Fulcher relationship. The P-E (polarization-electric field) hysteresis loops were obtained for Ba3Ln3Ti5Nb5O30 (Ln = La, Nd, Sm) ceramics at low temperatures. The nanoscale ferroelectric 180° domains with strip-like shape were observed in the paraelectric matrix at room temperature, where the commensurate structural modulations were determined in the domains and incommensurate ones were determined in the matrix. The significant differences were determined between the present ceramics and Ba4Ln2Ti4Nb6O30 and Ba5LnTi3Nb7O30 because of the different distribution patterns of A1 and A2 cations.

Up-conversion media on basis single crystals BaY2F8 for UV and VUV solid state lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pushkar, A. A.; Ouvarova, T. V.; Molchanov, V. N.

2007-04-01

Crystal BaY IIF 8 represents the big interest as the perspective active media for lasers ultra-violet (UV) and vacuumultra- violet (VUV) regions. For the decision of problems with solarization this media and a choice of sources pump it is offered to use up-conversion mechanisms pump with activators from rare-earth elements (RE). We have developed technology of grown of oriented monocrystals BaY IIF 8, have defined influence of orientation on growth rate and quality ofthe received monocrystals.

238U sbnd 230Th sbnd 226Ra disequilibria in young Mount St. Helens rocks: time constraint for magma formation and crystallization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Volpe, Alan M.; Hammond, Paul E.

1991-12-01

We use 238U-series nuclides and 230Th/ 232Th ratios measured by mass spectrometry to constrain processes and time scales of calc-alkaline magma genesis at Mount St. Helens, Washington. Olivine basalt, pyroxene andesites and dacites that erupted 10-2 ka ago show 3-14% ( 230Th) sbnd ( 238U) and 6-54% 226Ra sbnd 230Th disequilibria. Mineral phases exhibit robust ( 226Ra) sbnd ( 230Th) fractionation. Plagioclase has large 65-280% ( 226Ra) excesses, and magnetite has large 65% ( 226Ra) deficits relative to ( 230Th). Calculated partition coefficients for Ba, Th, and U in mineral-groundmass pairs, except Ba in plagioclase, are low (⩽ 0.04). Correlation between ( 226Ra/ 230Th ) activity ratios and rm/BaTh element ratios in the minerals suggests that 226Ra partitions similar to Ba during crystallization. Internal ( 230Th) sbnd ( 238U) isochrons for 1982 summit and East Dome dacites and Goat Rocks and Kalama andesites show that closed Th sbnd U system fractionation occurred 2-6 ka ago. Apparent internal isochrons for Castle Creek basalt (34 ka) and andesite (27 ka) suggest longer magma chamber residence times and mixing of old crystals and young melt. Mineral ( 226Ra) sbnd ( 230Th) disequilibrium on Ba-normalized internal isochron diagrams suggests average magma chamber residence times of 500-3000 years. In addition, radioactive ( 226Ra/ 230Th ) heterogeneity between minerals and groundmass or whole rock is evidence for open-system Ra sbnd Th behavior. This heterogeneity suggests there has been recent, post-crystallization, changes in melt chemical composition that affected 226Ra more than 230Th. Clearly, magma fractionation, residence and transport of crystal-melt before eruption of chemically diverse lavas at Mount St. Helens occurs over geologically short periods.

Imaging of odor perception delineates functional disintegration of the limbic circuits in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Ciumas, Carolina; Lindström, Per; Aoun, Bernard; Savic, Ivanka

2008-01-15

Metabolic and neuro-receptor abnormalities within the extrafocal limbic circuits are established in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). However, very little is known about how these circuits process external stimuli. We tested whether odor activation can help delineate limbic functional disintegration in MTLE, and measured cerebral blood flow with PET during birhinal smelling of familiar and unfamiliar odors, using smelling of odorless air as the baseline condition. Patients with MTLE (13 left-sided, 10 right-sided) and 21 controls were investigated. In addition to odor activation, the analysis included functional connectivity, using right and left piriform cortex as seed regions. Healthy controls activated the amygdala, piriform, anterior insular, and cingulate cortices on both sides. Smelling of familiar odors engaged, in addition, the right parahippocampus, and the left Brodmann Area (BA) 44, 45, 47. Patients failed to activate the amygdala, piriform and the anterior insular cortex in the epileptogenic hemisphere. Furthermore, those with left MTLE did not activate the left BA 44, 45 and 47 with familiar odors, which they perceived as less familiar than controls. Congruent with the activation data each seed region was in patients functionally disconnected with the contralateral amygdala+piriform+insular cortex. The functional disintegration in patients exceeded the reduced activation, and included the contralateral temporal neocortex, and in subjects with right MTLE also the right orbitofrontal cortex. Imaging of odor perception may be used to delineate functional disintegration of the limbic networks in MTLE. It shows an altered response in several regions, which may underlie some interictal behavioral problems associated with this condition.

A wide diversity of bacteria from the human gut produces and degrades biogenic amines.

PubMed

Pugin, Benoit; Barcik, Weronika; Westermann, Patrick; Heider, Anja; Wawrzyniak, Marcin; Hellings, Peter; Akdis, Cezmi A; O'Mahony, Liam

2017-01-01

Background : Biogenic amines (BAs) are metabolites produced by the decarboxylation of amino acids with significant physiological functions in eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. BAs can be produced by bacteria in fermented foods, but little is known concerning the potential for microbes within the human gut microbiota to produce or degrade BAs. Objective : To isolate and identify BA-producing and BA-degrading microbes from the human gastrointestinal tract. Design : Fecal samples from human volunteers were screened on multiple growth media, under multiple growth conditions. Bacterial species were identified using 16S rRNA sequencing and BA production or degradation was assessed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography. Results : In total, 74 BA-producing or BA-degrading strains were isolated from the human gut. These isolates belong to the genera Bifidobacterium , Clostridium , Enterococcus , Lactobacillus , Pediococcus , Streptococcus , Enterobacter , Escherichia , Klebsiella , Morganella and Proteus . While differences in production or degradation of specific BAs were observed at the strain level, our results suggest that these metabolic activities are widely spread across different taxa present within the human gut microbiota. Conclusions : The isolation and identification of microbes from the human gut with BA-producing and BA-degrading metabolic activity is an important first step in developing a better understanding of how these metabolites influence health and disease.

Spin dynamics near a putative antiferromagnetic quantum critical point in Cu-substituted BaFe 2 As 2 and its relation to high-temperature superconductivity

DOE PAGES

Kim, M. G.; Wang, M.; Tucker, G. S.; ...

2015-12-02

We present the results of elastic and inelastic neutron scattering measurements on nonsuperconducting Ba(Fe 0.957Cu 0.043) 2As 2, a composition close to a quantum critical point between antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordered and paramagnetic phases. By comparing these results with the spin fluctuations in the low-Cu composition as well as the parent compound BaFe 2As 2 and superconducting Ba(Fe 1–xNi x) 2As 2 compounds, we demonstrate that paramagnon-like spin fluctuations are evident in the antiferromagnetically ordered state of Ba(Fe 0.957Cu 0.043) 2As 2, which is distinct from the AFM-like spin fluctuations in the superconducting compounds. Our observations suggest that Cu substitution decouplesmore » the interaction between quasiparticles and the spin fluctuations. In addition, we show that the spin-spin correlation length ξ(T) increases rapidly as the temperature is lowered and find ω/T scaling behavior, the hallmark of quantum criticality, at an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point.« less

Particle Morphology Effects on Flow Characteristics of PS304 Plasma Spray Coating Feedstock Powder Blend

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stanford, Malcolm K.; DellaCorte, Christopher; Eylon, Daniel

2002-01-01

The effects of BaF2-CaF 2 particle morphology on PS304 feedstock powder flow ability have been investigated. BaF2-CaF2 eutectic powders were fabricated by comminution (angular) and by gas atomization (spherical). The fluoride powders were added incrementally to the other powder constituents of the PS304 feedstock: nichrome, chromia, and silver powders. A linear relationship between flow time and concentration of BaF2-CaF2 powder was found. Flow of the powder blend with spherical BaF2-CaF2 was better than the angular BaF2-CaF2. Flow ability of the powder blend with angular fluorides decreased linearly with increasing fluoride concentration. Flow of the powder blend with spherical fluorides was independent of fluoride concentration. Results suggest that for this material blend, particle morphology plays a significant role in powder blend flow behavior, offering potential methods to improve powder flow ability and enhance the commercial potential. These findings may have applicability to other difficult-to-flow powders such as cohesive ceramics.

Interplay of magnetism and superconductivity in the compressed Fe-ladder compound BaFe 2 Se 3

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ying, Jianjun; Lei, Hechang; Petrovic, Cedomir

High pressure resistance, susceptibility, and Fe K β x-ray emission spectroscopy measurements were performed on Fe-ladder compound BaFe 2 Se 3 . Pressure-induced superconductivity was observed which is similar to the previously reported superconductivity in the BaFe 2 S 3 samples. The slope of local magnetic moment versus pressure shows an anomaly across the insulator-metal transition pressure in the BaFe 2 Se 3 samples. The local magnetic moment is continuously decreasing with increasing pressure, and the superconductivity appears only when the local magnetic moment value is comparable to the one in the iron-pnictide superconductors. Our results indicate that the compressedmore » BaFe 2 C h 3 ( C h = S , Se) is a new family of iron-based superconductors. Despite the crystal structures completely different from the known iron-based superconducting materials, the magnetism in this Fe-ladder material plays a critical role in superconductivity. This behavior is similar to the other members of iron-based superconducting materials.« less

Impedance spectroscopy of V2O5-Bi2O3-BaTiO3 glass-ceramics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-syadi, Aref M.; Yousef, El Sayed; El-Desoky, M. M.; Al-Assiri, M. S.

2013-12-01

The glasses within composition as: (80 - x)V2O5/20Bi2O3/xBaTiO3 with x = 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 mol% have been prepared. The glass transition (Tg) increases with increasing BaTiO3 content. Synthesized glasses ceramic containing BaTi4O9, Ba3TiV4O15 nanoparticles of the order of 25-35 nm and 30-46 nm, respectively were estimated using XRD. The dielectric properties over wide ranges of frequencies and temperatures were investigated as a function of BaTiO3 content by impedance spectroscopy measurements. The hopping frequency, ωh, dielectric constant, ɛ', activation energies for the DC conduction, Eσ, the relaxation process, Ec, and stretched exponential parameter β of the glasses samples have been estimated. The, ωh,β, decrease from 51.63 to 0.31 × 106 (s-1), 0.84 to 0.79 with increasing BaTiO3 respectively. Otherwise, the Eσ, increase from 0.279 to 0.306 eV with increasing BaTiO3. The value of dielectric constant equal 9.5·103 for the 2.5BaTiO3/77.5V2O5/20Bi2O3 glasses-ceramic at 330 K for 1 KHz which is ten times larger than that of same glasses composition. Finally the relaxation properties of the investigated glasses are presented in the electric modulus formalism, where the relaxation time and the respective activation energy were determined.

Defense Acquisition University Program Managers Tool Kit

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

46–47 Goal 2: Affordable System Operational Effectiveness (SOE) ................................ 48 Goal... System Development and Demonstration 6.6 BA 6 RDT&E Management Support --- BA 7 Operational System Development *NOTE: Although similar, titles of the...addition, the “ Operational System Development” Budget Activity for RDT&E BA 7 is not considered MFP 6. While correctly funded with RDT&E dollars

Effect of A-Site Cation Ordering on Chemical Stability, Oxygen Stoichiometry and Electrical Conductivity in Layered LaBaCo2O5+δ Double Perovskite

PubMed Central

Bernuy-Lopez, Carlos; Høydalsvik, Kristin; Einarsrud, Mari-Ann; Grande, Tor

2016-01-01

The effect of the A-site cation ordering on the chemical stability, oxygen stoichiometry and electrical conductivity in layered LaBaCo2O5+δ double perovskite was studied as a function of temperature and partial pressure of oxygen. Tetragonal A-site cation ordered layered LaBaCo2O5+δ double perovskite was obtained by annealing cubic A-site cation disordered La0.5Ba0.5CoO3-δ perovskite at 1100 °C in N2. High temperature X-ray diffraction between room temperature (RT) and 800 °C revealed that LaBaCo2O5+δ remains tetragonal during heating in oxidizing atmosphere, but goes through two phase transitions in N2 and between 450 °C and 675 °C from tetragonal P4/mmm to orthorhombic Pmmm and back to P4/mmm due to oxygen vacancy ordering followed by disordering of the oxygen vacancies. An anisotropic chemical and thermal expansion of LaBaCo2O5+δ was demonstrated. La0.5Ba0.5CoO3-δ remained cubic at the studied temperature irrespective of partial pressure of oxygen. LaBaCo2O5+δ is metastable with respect to La0.5Ba0.5CoO3-δ at oxidizing conditions inferred from the thermal evolution of the oxygen deficiency and oxidation state of Co in the two materials. The oxidation state of Co is higher in La0.5Ba0.5CoO3-δ resulting in a higher electrical conductivity relative to LaBaCo2O5+δ. The conductivity in both materials was reduced with decreasing partial pressure of oxygen pointing to a p-type semiconducting behavior. PMID:28773279

Eu(2+)-Activated Alkaline-Earth Halophosphates, M5(PO4)3X:Eu(2+) (M = Ca, Sr, Ba; X = F, Cl, Br) for NUV-LEDs: Site-Selective Crystal Field Effect.

PubMed

Kim, Donghyeon; Kim, Sung-Chul; Bae, Jong-Seong; Kim, Sungyun; Kim, Seung-Joo; Park, Jung-Chul

2016-09-06

Eu(2+)-activated M5(PO4)3X (M = Ca, Sr, Ba; X = F, Cl, Br) compounds providing different alkaline-earth metal and halide ions were successfully synthesized and characterized. The emission peak maxima of the M5(PO4)3Cl:Eu(2+) (M = Ca, Sr, Ba) compounds were blue-shifted from Ca to Ba (454 nm for Ca, 444 nm for Sr, and 434 nm for Ba), and those of the Sr5(PO4)3X:Eu(2+) (X = F, Cl, Br) compounds were red-shifted along the series of halides, F → Cl → Br (437 nm for F, 444 nm for Cl, and 448 nm for Br). The site selectivity and occupancy of the activator ions (Eu(2+)) in the M5(PO4)3X:Eu(2+) (M = Ca, Sr, Ba; X = F, Cl, Br) crystal lattices were estimated based on theoretical calculation of the 5d → 4f transition energies of Eu(2+) using LCAO. In combination with the photoluminescence measurements and theoretical calculation, it was elucidated that the Eu(2+) ions preferably enter the fully oxygen-coordinated sites in the M5(PO4)3X:Eu(2+) (M = Ca, Sr, Ba; X = F, Cl, Br) compounds. This trend can be well explained by "Pauling's rules". These compounds may provide a platform for modeling a new phosphor and application in the solid-state lighting field.

Influence of CoO Nanoparticles on Properties of Barium Zirconium Titanate Ceramics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jarupoom, Parkpoom; Jaita, Pharatree; Boothrawong, Narongdetch; Phatungthane, Thanatep; Sanjoom, Ratabongkot; Rujijanagul, Gobwute; Cann, David P.

2017-07-01

Composites of Ba(Zr0.07Ti0.93)O3 ceramic and CoO nanoparticles (at 1.0 vol.% to 3.0 vol.%) have been fabricated to investigate the effects of the CoO nanoparticles on the properties of the composites. X-ray diffraction data revealed that the modified samples contained Ba(Zr0.07Ti0.93)O3 and CoO phases. Addition of CoO nanoparticles improved the magnetic behavior and resulted in slight changes in ferroelectric properties. The composites showed a magnetoelectric effect in which the negative value of the magnetocapacitance increased with increasing CoO concentration. Examination of the dielectric spectra showed that the two phase-transition temperatures as observed for unmodified Ba(Zr0.07Ti0.93)O3 merged into a single phase-transition temperature for the composite samples. The composite samples also showed broad relative permittivity versus temperature ( ɛ r - T) curves with frequency dispersion. This dielectric behavior can be explained in terms of the Maxwell-Wagner mechanism. In addition, the Vickers hardness ( H v) value of the samples increased with increasing CoO content.

[Characterization of structural change of ascorbate peroxidase from Chinese kale during denaturation by circular dichroism].

PubMed

Xi, Jia-Fu; Tang, Lei; Zhang, Jian-Hua; Zhang, Hong-Jian; Chen, Xu-Sheng; Mao, Zhong-Gui

2014-11-01

Circular dichroism (CD) is a special absorption spectrum. The secondary structure of protein such as α-helix, β-sheet and β-turn in the far ultraviolet region (190-250 nm) has a characteristic CD spectrum. In order to understand the activity and structural changes of ascorbate peroxidase from Chinese kale (BaAPX) during denaturation, specific activity and percentage of secondary structure of BaAPX under different time, temperature and concentration were analyzed by CD dynamically. In addition, the percentage of four secondary structures in BaAPX was calculated by CD analysis software Dichroweb. The results show that BaAPX is a full α-type enzyme whose specific activity is positively related to the percentage of α-helix. During denaturation of BaAPX, three kinds of structural changes were proposed: the one-step structural change from initial state (N state) to minimum state of α-helix (R state) under low concentration and low temperature; the one-step structural change from N state to equilibrium state (T state) under high concentration and low temperature; the two-step structural changes from N state through R state to final T state under heat treatment and low temperature renaturation.

Thermal hysteresis and electrocaloric effect in Ba1-xZrxTiO3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yingtang

2018-04-01

Samples of lead-free Ba(ZrxTi1-x)O3 bulk and thick film were fabricated using solid state reaction and tape - casting technique, respectively. A comprehensive investigation of dielectric, ferroelectric, and electrocaloric properties of these samples has been carried out. The results show that there is a dielectric relaxation behavior in the thick film Meantime, the "re-entrant relaxor behavior" and thermal hysteresis are observed in the bulk. Moreover, the electrocaloric effects are observed in the thick film and the bulk. The peak values of ΔTEC of the bulk and the thick film are 2.78 K and 0.37 K, respectively. This work is beneficial for realizing high efficiency and environmentally friendly cooling technology.

Hepatoprotective effect of Bacoside-A, a major constituent of Bacopa monniera Linn.

PubMed

Sumathi, T; Nongbri, A

2008-10-01

Bacoside-A (B-A) was evaluated for its hepatoprotective activity against d-GalN induced liver injury in rats. B-A is a major constituent isolated from the plant Bacopa monniera Linn. B-A (10mg/kg of body weight) was administered orally once daily for 21 days and then d-GalN (300 mg/kg of body weight) was injected on 21st day after final administration of B-A. B-A reduces the elevated levels of serum alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma-glutamyl transferase (gamma-GT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), 5'nucleotidase (5'ND). In addition B-A also significantly restored towards normalization of the decreased levels of Vit-C, and Vit-E induced by d-GalN both in liver and plasma. These results suggest that B-A has hepatoprotective effect against d-GalN induced hepatotoxicity in rats.

Benzo[a]pyrene impedes self-renewal and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells and influences fracture healing.

PubMed

Zhou, Yiqing; Jiang, Rong; An, Liqin; Wang, Hong; Cheng, Sicheng; Qiong, Shi; Weng, Yaguang

2017-06-01

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are implicated in the bone-forming process during fracture repair. Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP)-a cigarette smoke component and powerful motivator of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (Ahr)-unfavorably influences bone condition and osteoblast differentiation. The first thing we noticed decreases self-renewal and differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem (hBM-MSCs) from smokers and activates Ahr signaling in MSCs by up-regulating the Ahr target gene cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1B1 expression. In vitro studies, we employed C3H10T1/2 and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) with BaP and discovered that BaP impaired innate properties of MSCs. Further investigation into MSCs showed that exposure to BaP activated Ahr signaling and inhibited TGF-β1/SMAD4 and TGF-β1/ERK/AKT signaling pathways. Corresponding with the outcomes, tibial fracture calluses produced by BaP-administered rats appeared to delay healing. This effect of BaP was abrogated by resveratrol, a natural Ahr antagonist, in vitro and in vivo. These data demonstrated that Ahr may play a key role in BaP-impaired innate properties by inhibiting SMAD-dependent signaling pathways TGF-β1/SMAD4 and SMAD-independent TGF-β1/ERK/AKT signaling pathways. Furthermore, resveratrol inhibited MSCs from adverse effects caused by BaP. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A critical Examination of the Phenomenon of Bonding Area - Bonding Strength Interplay in Powder Tableting.

PubMed

Osei-Yeboah, Frederick; Chang, Shao-Yu; Sun, Changquan Calvin

2016-05-01

Although the bonding area (BA) and bonding strength (BS) interplay is used to explain complex tableting behaviors, it has never been experimentally proven. The purpose of this study is to unambiguously establish the distinct contributions of each by decoupling the contributions from BA and BS. To modulate BA, a Soluplus® powder was compressed into tablets at different temperatures and then broken following equilibration at 25°C. To modulate BS, tablets were equilibrated at different temperatures. To simultaneously modulate BA and BS, both powder compression and tablet breaking test were carried out at different temperatures. Lower tablet tensile strength is observed when the powder is compressed at a lower temperature but broken at 25°C. This is consistent with the increased resistance to polymer deformation at lower temperatures. When equilibrated at different temperatures, the tensile strength of tablets prepared under identical conditions increases with decreasing storage temperature, indicating that BS is higher at a lower temperature. When powder compression and tablet breaking are carried out at the same temperature, the profile with a maximum tensile strength at 4°C is observed due to the BA-BS interplay. By systematically varying temperature during tablet compression and breaking, we have experimentally demonstrated the phenomenon of BA-BS interplay in tableting.

Sustainable High Quality Recycling of Aggregates from Waste-to-Energy, Treated in a Wet Bottom Ash Processing Installation, for Use in Concrete Products

PubMed Central

Van den Heede, Philip; Ringoot, Niels; Beirnaert, Arno; Van Brecht, Andres; Van den Brande, Erwin; De Schutter, Geert; De Belie, Nele

2015-01-01

Nowadays, more efforts towards sustainability are required from the concrete industry. Replacing traditional aggregates by recycled bottom ash (BA) from municipal solid waste incineration can contribute to this goal. Until now, only partial replacement has been considered to keep the concrete workability, strength and durability under control. In this research, the feasibility of a full aggregate replacement was investigated for producing prefabricated Lego bricks. It was found that the required compressive strength class for this purpose (C20/25) could be achieved. Nevertheless, a thorough understanding of the BA properties is needed to overcome other issues. As BA is highly absorptive, the concrete’s water demand is high. This workability issue can be dealt with by subjecting the fine BA fraction to a crushing operation to eliminate the porous elements and by pre-wetting the fine and coarse BA fractions in a controlled manner. In addition, a reactive NaOH washing is needed to avoid formation of longitudinal voids and the resulting expansion due to the metallic aluminum present in the BA. Regarding the long-term behavior, heavy metal leaching and freeze-thaw exposure are not problematic, though there is susceptibility to acetic and lactic acid attack and maybe increased sensitivity to alkali-silica reaction. PMID:28787809

Sustainable High Quality Recycling of Aggregates from Waste-to-Energy, Treated in a Wet Bottom Ash Processing Installation, for Use in Concrete Products.

PubMed

Van den Heede, Philip; Ringoot, Niels; Beirnaert, Arno; Van Brecht, Andres; Van den Brande, Erwin; De Schutter, Geert; De Belie, Nele

2015-12-25

Nowadays, more efforts towards sustainability are required from the concrete industry. Replacing traditional aggregates by recycled bottom ash (BA) from municipal solid waste incineration can contribute to this goal. Until now, only partial replacement has been considered to keep the concrete workability, strength and durability under control. In this research, the feasibility of a full aggregate replacement was investigated for producing prefabricated Lego bricks. It was found that the required compressive strength class for this purpose (C20/25) could be achieved. Nevertheless, a thorough understanding of the BA properties is needed to overcome other issues. As BA is highly absorptive, the concrete's water demand is high. This workability issue can be dealt with by subjecting the fine BA fraction to a crushing operation to eliminate the porous elements and by pre-wetting the fine and coarse BA fractions in a controlled manner. In addition, a reactive NaOH washing is needed to avoid formation of longitudinal voids and the resulting expansion due to the metallic aluminum present in the BA. Regarding the long-term behavior, heavy metal leaching and freeze-thaw exposure are not problematic, though there is susceptibility to acetic and lactic acid attack and maybe increased sensitivity to alkali-silica reaction.

Direct Observation of Pressure-Driven Valence Electron Transfer in Ba 3 BiRu 2 O 9 , Ba 3 BiIr 2 O 9 , and Ba 4 BiIr 3 O 12

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blanchard, Peter E. R.; Chapman, Karena W.; Heald, Steve M.

The hexagonal perovskites Ba3BiIr2O9, Ba3BiRu2O9 and Ba4BiIr3O12 all undergo pressure-induced 1% volume collapses above 5 GPa. These first-order transitions have been ascribed to internal transfer of valence electrons between bismuth and iridium/ruthenium, which is driven by external applied pressure because the reduction in volume achieved by emptying the 6s shell of bismuth upon oxidation to Bi5+ is greater in magnitude than the increase in volume by reducing iridium or ruthenium. Here, we report direct observation of these valence transfers for the first time, using high-pressure X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) measurements. Our data also support the highly unusual “4+” nominalmore » oxidation state of bismuth in these compounds, although the possibility of local disproportionation into Bi3+/Bi5+ cannot be definitively ruled out. Ab initio calculations reproduce the transition, support its interpretation as a valence electron transfer from Bi to Ir/Ru, and suggest that the high-pressure phase may show metallic behavior (in contrast to the insulating ambient-pressure phase).« less

Structural, optoelectronic, and thermoelectric properties of AZn13 (A=Na, K, Ca, Sr, Ba) compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basit, Abdul; Murtaza, G.; Mahmood, Asif; Yar, Abdullah; Muhammad, S.

2016-08-01

We report the structural, electronic, optical, and thermoelectric properties of the five cubic alkali-earth transition-metals AZn13 (A-Na, K, Ca, Sr, Ba) using density functional theory. Structural properties, electronic structures and optical behaviors are calculated explicitly via highly accurate contemporary full potential-linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method. The investigated ground state data of these materials is quite close to the experimental information. The modified Becke-Johnson (mBJ) predicts the intermetallic nature of AZn13 (A-Na, K, Ca, Sr, Ba) materials. The complex dielectric function of these intermetallic compounds has been calculated and the observed noticeable peaks are examined through mBJ. With the help of complex dielectric function, the other important optical parameters like reflectivities, conductivities and refractive indices of AZn13 (A-Na, K, Ca, Sr, Ba) have been calculated as a function of energy. The optical response suggests that AZn13 (A-Na, K, Ca, Sr, Ba) compounds can be used for the optoelectronic devices. Further, the thermoelectric properties have been calculated through BoltzTraP program, the calculated values for different thermoelectric parameters recommend that these AZn13 (A-Na, K, Ca, Sr, Ba) materials are the suitable candidates for thermoelectric applications.

A coordinate-based ALE functional MRI meta-analysis of brain activation during verbal fluency tasks in healthy control subjects

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The processing of verbal fluency tasks relies on the coordinated activity of a number of brain areas, particularly in the frontal and temporal lobes of the left hemisphere. Recent studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural networks subserving verbal fluency functions have yielded divergent results especially with respect to a parcellation of the inferior frontal gyrus for phonemic and semantic verbal fluency. We conducted a coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on brain activation during the processing of phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tasks involving 28 individual studies with 490 healthy volunteers. Results For phonemic as well as for semantic verbal fluency, the most prominent clusters of brain activation were found in the left inferior/middle frontal gyrus (LIFG/MIFG) and the anterior cingulate gyrus. BA 44 was only involved in the processing of phonemic verbal fluency tasks, BA 45 and 47 in the processing of phonemic and semantic fluency tasks. Conclusions Our comparison of brain activation during the execution of either phonemic or semantic verbal fluency tasks revealed evidence for spatially different activation in BA 44, but not other regions of the LIFG/LMFG (BA 9, 45, 47) during phonemic and semantic verbal fluency processing. PMID:24456150

Bioavailability of barium to plants and invertebrates in soils contaminated by barite.

PubMed

Lamb, Dane T; Matanitobua, Vitukawalu P; Palanisami, Thavamani; Megharaj, Mallavarapu; Naidu, Ravi

2013-05-07

Barium (Ba) is a nonessential element to terrestrial organisms and is known to be toxic at elevated concentrations. In this study, the bioavailability and toxicity of Ba in barite (BaSO4) contaminated soils was studied using standard test organisms (Lactuca sativa L. "Great Lakes", Eisenia fetida). Contamination resulted from barite mining activities. Barium concentrations in contaminated soils determined by X-ray fluorescence were in the range 0.13-29.2%. Barite contaminated soils were shown to negatively impact both E. fetida and L. sativa relative to control soil. For E. fetida, pore-water concentrations and acid extractable Ba were linearly related to % body weight loss. In L. sativa, pore-water Ba and exchangeable Ba were both strongly related to shoot Ba and shoot biomass production. A negative linear relationship was observed between shoot Ba content and shoot weight (P < 0.0004, R(2) = 0.39), indicating that Ba accumulation is likely to have induced phytotoxicity. Plant weights were correlated to % weight loss in earthworm (r = -0.568, P = 0.028). Barium concentrations in pore-water were lower than predicted from barite solubility estimates but strongly related to exchangeable Ba, indicating an influence of ion exchange on Ba solubility and toxicity to E. fetida and L. sativa.

Behavioral Toxicology in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities for Behavioral Scientists

EPA Science Inventory

The National Research Council of the National Academies of Science recently published a report of its vision of toxicity testing in the 21st Century. The report proposes that the current toxicity testing paradigm that depends upon whole-animal tests be replaced with a strategy ba...

Contradictory Reasoning Network: An EEG and fMRI Study

PubMed Central

Thai, Ngoc Jade; Seri, Stefano; Rotshtein, Pia; Tecchio, Franca

2014-01-01

Contradiction is a cornerstone of human rationality, essential for everyday life and communication. We investigated electroencephalographic (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in separate recording sessions during contradictory judgments, using a logical structure based on categorical propositions of the Aristotelian Square of Opposition (ASoO). The use of ASoO propositions, while controlling for potential linguistic or semantic confounds, enabled us to observe the spatial temporal unfolding of this contradictory reasoning. The processing started with the inversion of the logical operators corresponding to right middle frontal gyrus (rMFG-BA11) activation, followed by identification of contradictory statement associated with in the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG-BA47) activation. Right medial frontal gyrus (rMeFG, BA10) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, BA32) contributed to the later stages of process. We observed a correlation between the delayed latency of rBA11 response and the reaction time delay during inductive vs. deductive reasoning. This supports the notion that rBA11 is crucial for manipulating the logical operators. Slower processing time and stronger brain responses for inductive logic suggested that examples are easier to process than general principles and are more likely to simplify communication. PMID:24667491

Contradictory reasoning network: an EEG and FMRI study.

PubMed

Porcaro, Camillo; Medaglia, Maria Teresa; Thai, Ngoc Jade; Seri, Stefano; Rotshtein, Pia; Tecchio, Franca

2014-01-01

Contradiction is a cornerstone of human rationality, essential for everyday life and communication. We investigated electroencephalographic (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in separate recording sessions during contradictory judgments, using a logical structure based on categorical propositions of the Aristotelian Square of Opposition (ASoO). The use of ASoO propositions, while controlling for potential linguistic or semantic confounds, enabled us to observe the spatial temporal unfolding of this contradictory reasoning. The processing started with the inversion of the logical operators corresponding to right middle frontal gyrus (rMFG-BA11) activation, followed by identification of contradictory statement associated with in the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG-BA47) activation. Right medial frontal gyrus (rMeFG, BA10) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, BA32) contributed to the later stages of process. We observed a correlation between the delayed latency of rBA11 response and the reaction time delay during inductive vs. deductive reasoning. This supports the notion that rBA11 is crucial for manipulating the logical operators. Slower processing time and stronger brain responses for inductive logic suggested that examples are easier to process than general principles and are more likely to simplify communication.

Monoclinic β-BaY2F8—a novel crystal simultaneously active for SRS and Ln3+-ion lasing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaminskii, A. A.; Lux, O.; Hanuza, J.; Rhee, H.; Eichler, H. J.; Zhang, J.; Tang, D.; Shen, D.; Yu, H.; Wang, J.; Yoneda, H.; Shirakawa, A.

2015-01-01

This paper presents the first investigation of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in the monoclinic fluoride crystal β-BaY2F8, which is known as a promising host-material for trivalent lanthanide (Ln3+) lasant ions. Picosecond laser excitation in the visible and near-IR spectral range at room temperature revealed the manifestation of nine SRS-promoting phonon modes, which are related to Ag and Bg vibrations of the crystal. Besides multi-phonon Stokes and anti-Stokes generation, we observed cross-cascaded χ(3) ↔ χ(3) processes involving different pairs of SRS-active phonons. A comparative estimation of the first Stokes steady-state Raman gain coefficients, both in the visible and near-IR region related to the most active SRS-phonon mode ωSRS1 ≈ 208 cm-1 of β-BaY2F8, was also performed. Furthermore, a brief review of the pioneering papers on laser action of Ln3+-ions doped in β-BaY2F8 single crystals and other known SRS-active fluoride crystals is given in tabular form.

Fenton-like Degradation of Phenol Catalyzed by a Series of Fe-Containing Mixed Oxides Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alhmoud, T. T.; Mahmoud, S. S.; Hammoudeh, A. Y.

2018-02-01

In our attempts to develop a solid catalyst to degrade organic pollutants in wastewater via the Fenton-like reaction, six Fe-containing mixed oxide systems were prepared by means of the sol-gel auto-combustion method to have the following stoichiometries: CuFe1.2O2.8, BaFe7.2O11.8, BaFe7.2Cu2O13.8, BaFe5.4V3O16.6, BaFe4.8Cu2V3O17.7 and Ag2Fe5.4V3O16.6. The prepared systems were thermally treated at 550°C, 650°C, 800°C and 1100°C, and then characterized by XRD to identify the present phases. The systems were tested with respect to their catalytic efficiency in the degradation of phenol (200 ppm) in water where CuFe1.2O2.8 was found to be the most reactive one (80% removal in 60 min). It showed thereby first-order kinetics and an enhanced behavior under irradiation with a 30-W LED light source. The positive role of irradiation was most obvious in the case of Ag2Fe5.4V3O16.6 in which almost complete conversion was achieved in 120 min compared to only 45% in the same period but without irradiation. However, increasing the temperature at which thermal treatment is performed was found to suppress the catalytic activity of the system. Due to their high efficiency and rather low leaching rates of constituents, CuFe1.2O2.8 or Ag2Fe5.4V3O16.6 seem to be very promising in the Fenton-like degradation of organic pollutants.

Piezochromism and structural and electronic properties of benz[a]anthracene under pressure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cai, Weizhao; Zhang, Rong; Yao, Yansun

2017-01-31

We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of the high pressure behavior of a herringbone-type hydrocarbon benz[a]anthracene (BaA) using fluorescence spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, optical absorption, photoconductivity measurements, and first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The ambient-pressure molecular solid phase of BaA was found to be stable up to ~15.0 GPa. Increasing the external pressure within this region would induce a reversible piezochromic colour change in the sample, from yellow-green to light brown. The reversibility of the colour change was confirmed by both optical observations and fluorescence measurements. Further compression beyond 15 GPa leads to polymerization of the sample andmore » formation of an amorphous hydrogenated carbon. The low pressure crystalline phase is not recoverable when the sample is decompressed from pressure above 15 GPa. DFT investigation of the structures at zero temperature suggests that the formation of a crystalline polymeric phase can take place between 30 and 117 GPa, however the kinetic barriers hinder the process at low pressure regions. The phase transition is therefore suggested to proceed along a gradual transition path to an amorphous phase at a lower reaction threshold, activated by finite temperature effects. Optical absorption measurements reveal that the band gap of BaA decreases at high pressure, from 2.4 eV at 0.5 GPa to 1.0 eV at 50.6 GPa. The DFT calculations further suggest that the band gap of BaA in the molecular phase could reduce to ~0.1 eV at 117 GPa. Photoconductivity measurements show a continuous increase of photocurrent in the molecular phase region, which most likely originated from the increase of carrier mobility under pressure.« less

Abnormal intrinsic functional hubs in alcohol dependence: evidence from a voxelwise degree centrality analysis.

PubMed

Luo, Xiaoping; Guo, Linghong; Dai, Xi-Jian; Wang, Qinglai; Zhu, Wenzhong; Miao, Xinjun; Gong, Honghan

2017-01-01

To explore the abnormal intrinsic functional hubs in alcohol dependence using voxelwise degree centrality analysis approach, and their relationships with clinical features. Twenty-four male alcohol dependence subjects free of medicine (mean age, 50.21±9.62 years) and 24 age- and education-matched male healthy controls (mean age, 50.29±8.92 years) were recruited. The alcohol use disorders identification test and the severity of alcohol dependence questionnaire (SADQ) were administered to assess the severity of alcohol craving. Voxelwise degree centrality approach was used to assess the abnormal intrinsic functional hubs features in alcohol dependence. Simple linear regression analysis was performed to investigate the relationships between the clinical features and abnormal intrinsic functional hubs. Compared with healthy controls, alcohol dependence subjects exhibited significantly different degree centrality values in widespread left lateralization brain areas, including higher degree centrality values in the left precentral gyrus (BA 6), right hippocampus (BA 35, 36), and left orbitofrontal cortex (BA 11) and lower degree centrality values in the left cerebellum posterior lobe, bilateral secondary visual network (BA 18), and left precuneus (BA 7, 19). SADQ revealed a negative linear correlation with the degree centrality value in the left precentral gyrus ( R 2 =0.296, P =0.006). The specific abnormal intrinsic functional hubs appear to be disrupted by alcohol intoxication, which implicates at least three principal neural systems: including cerebellar, executive control, and visual cortex, which may further affect the normal motor behavior such as an explicit type of impaired driving behavior. These findings expand our understanding of the functional characteristics of alcohol dependence and may provide a new insight into the understanding of the dysfunction and pathophysiology of alcohol dependence.

Effect of finite size in magnetic properties of BaFe12O19

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, A. Sendil; Bhatnagar, Anil K.

2018-05-01

BaFe12O19 Nanoparticles are prepared through auto ignition method and structure, microstructure and magnetic properties are characterized. Samples having spherical shapes and elongated nanorods are chosen to investigate the role of finite size effect in magnetic properties. Magnetization studies show superparamagnetic, antiferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic behaviors depending on the size and shape. Very small coercive field of around 200 Oe is observed for spherical nanoparticles and a large coercive field of around 7000 Oe for nanorods is found. The shape and size plays an important role in magnetic properties of BaFe12O19 nanoparticles. Shape anisotropy has significant value compared to other anisotropies. Therefore shape of nanoparticles influences the magnetic order.

Auditory risk assessment of college music students in jazz band-based instructional activity.

PubMed

Gopal, Kamakshi V; Chesky, Kris; Beschoner, Elizabeth A; Nelson, Paul D; Stewart, Bradley J

2013-01-01

It is well-known that musicians are at risk for music-induced hearing loss, however, systematic evaluation of music exposure and its effects on the auditory system are still difficult to assess. The purpose of the study was to determine if college students in jazz band-based instructional activity are exposed to loud classroom noise and consequently exhibit acute but significant changes in basic auditory measures compared to non-music students in regular classroom sessions. For this we (1) measured and compared personal exposure levels of college students (n = 14) participating in a routine 50 min jazz ensemble-based instructional activity (experimental) to personal exposure levels of non-music students (n = 11) participating in a 50-min regular classroom activity (control), and (2) measured and compared pre- to post-auditory changes associated with these two types of classroom exposures. Results showed that the L eq (equivalent continuous noise level) generated during the 50 min jazz ensemble-based instructional activity ranged from 95 dBA to 105.8 dBA with a mean of 99.5 ± 2.5 dBA. In the regular classroom, the L eq ranged from 46.4 dBA to 67.4 dBA with a mean of 49.9 ± 10.6 dBA. Additionally, significant differences were observed in pre to post-auditory measures between the two groups. The experimental group showed a significant temporary threshold shift bilaterally at 4000 Hz (P < 0.05), and a significant decrease in the amplitude of transient-evoked otoacoustic emission response in both ears (P < 0.05) after exposure to the jazz ensemble-based instructional activity. No significant changes were found in the control group between pre- and post-exposure measures. This study quantified the noise exposure in jazz band-based practice sessions and its effects on basic auditory measures. Temporary, yet significant, auditory changes seen in music students place them at risk for hearing loss compared to their non-music cohorts.

Changing Morphology of BaO/AI₂O₃ during NO₂ Uptake and Release

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Szanyi, Janos; Kwak, Ja Hun; Hanson, Jonathan

2005-04-21

The changes in the morphology of Ba-oxide-based NOx storage/reduction catalysts were investigated using time resolved x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersed spectroscopy. Large Ba(NO₃)₂ crystallites form on the alumina support when the catalyst is prepared by the incipient wetness method using an aqueous Ba(NO₃)₂ solution. Heating the sample to 873K in a He flow results in the decomposition of the Ba(NO₃)₂ phase and the formation of both a monolayer BaO film strongly interacting with the alumina support, and nano crystalline BaO particles. Upon NO₂ exposure of these BaO phases at room temperature, small (nano-sized) Ba(NO₃)₂ crystals and amore » monolayer of surface nitrate form. Heating this sample in NO₂ results in the coalescence of the nano crystalline Ba(NO₃)₂ particles into large crystals. The average crystal size in the re-formed Ba(NO₃)₂ layer is significantly smaller than that measured after the catalyst preparation. Evidence is also presented for the existence of a monolayer Ba(NO₃)₂ phase after thermal treatment in NO₂, in addition to these large crystals. These results clearly demonstrate the dynamic nature of the Ba-containing phases that are active in the NOx storage/reduction process. The proposed morphology cycle may contribute to the understanding of the changes observed in the performances of these catalysts during actual operating conditions.« less

Age of acquisition modulates neural activity for both regular and irregular syntactic functions

PubMed Central

Hernandez, Arturo E.; Hofmann, Juliane; Kotz, Sonja A.

2007-01-01

Studies have found that neural activity is greater for irregular grammatical items than regular items. Findings with monolingual Spanish speakers have revealed a similar effect when making gender decisions for visually presented nouns. The current study extended previous studies by looking at the role of regularity in modulating differences in groups that differ in the age of acquisition of a language. Early and late learners of Spanish matched on measures of language proficiency were asked to make gender decisions to regular (-o for masculine and –a for feminine) and irregular items (which can end in e,l,n,r,s,t and z). Results revealed increased activity in left BA 44 for irregular compared to regular items in separate comparisons for both early and late learners. In addition, within group-comparisons revealed that neural activity for irregulars extended into left BA 47 for late learners and into left BA 6 for early learners. Direct comparisons between-groups revealed increased activity in left BA 44/45 for irregular items indicating the need for more extensive syntactic processing in late learners. The results revealed that processing of irregular grammatical gender leads to increased activity in left BA 44 and adjacent areas in the left IFG regardless of when a language is learned. Furthermore, these findings suggest differential recruitment of brain areas associated with grammatical processing in late learners. The results are discussed with regard to a model which considers L2 learning as emerging from the competitive interplay between two languages. PMID:17490895

Ionic‐Liquid‐Assisted Microwave Synthesis of Solid Solutions of Sr1−xBaxSnO3 Perovskite for Photocatalytic Applications

PubMed Central

Alammar, Tarek; Slowing, Igor I.; Anderegg, Jim

2017-01-01

Abstract Nanocrystalline Sr1−xBaxSnO3 (x=0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1) perovskite photocatalysts were prepared by microwave synthesis in an ionic liquid (IL) and subsequent heat‐treatment. The influence of the Sr/Ba substitution on the structure, crystallization, morphology, and photocatalytic efficiency was investigated and the samples were fully characterized. On the basis of X‐ray diffraction results, as the Ba content in the SrSnO3 lattice increases, a symmetry increase was observed from the orthorhombic perovskite structure for SrSnO3 to the cubic BaSnO3 structure. The analysis of the sample morphology by SEM reveals that the Sr1−xBaxSnO3 samples favor the formation of nanorods (500 nm–5 μm in diameter and several micrometers long). The photophysical properties were examined by UV/Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The band gap decreases from 3.85 to 3.19 eV with increasing Ba2+ content. Furthermore, the photocatalytic properties were evaluated for the hydroxylation of terephthalic acid (TA). The order of the activities for TA hydroxylation was Sr0.8Ba0.2SnO3>SrSnO3>BaSnO3>Sr0.6Ba0.4SnO3>Sr0.2Ba0.8SnO3. The highest photocatalytic activity was observed for Sr0.8Ba0.2SnO3, and this can be attributed to the synergistic impacts of the modification of the crystal structure and morphology, the relatively large surface area associated with the small crystallite size, and the suitable band gap and band‐edge position. PMID:28589568

Thermal Decoating of Aerospace Aluminum Alloys for Aircraft Recycling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muñiz Lerma, Jose Alberto; Jung, In-Ho; Brochu, Mathieu

2016-06-01

Recycling of aircraft aluminum alloys can be complex due to the presence of their corrosion protection coating that includes inorganic compounds containing Cr(VI). In this study, the characterization and thermal degradation behavior of the coating on aluminum substrates coming from an aircraft destined for recycling are presented. Elements such as Sr, Cr, Si, Ba, Ti, S, C, and O were found in three different layers by EDS elemental mapping corresponding to SrCrO4, Rutile-TiO2, SiO2, and BaSO4 with an overall particle size D 50 = 1.96 µm. The thermal degradation profile analyzed by TGA showed four different stages. The temperature of complete degradation at the fourth stage occurred at 753.15 K (480 °C) at lower heating rates. At higher heating rates and holding an isotherm at the same temperature, the residence time to fully decompose the aircraft coating has been estimated as 4.0 ± 0.2 minutes. The activation energy calculated by the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa and the modified Coats-Redfern methods for multiple fraction of decomposition showed a non-constant behavior indicating the complexity of the reaction. Finally, the concentration of Cr(VI) released to the environment during thermal decoating was obtained by UV-Vis spectroscopy. It was found that 2.6 ± 0.1 µg of Cr(VI)/mm2 of aluminum substrate could be released unless adequate particle controls are used.

Blazeispirol A from Agaricus blazei fermentation product induces cell death in human hepatoma Hep 3B cells through caspase-dependent and caspase-independent pathways.

PubMed

Su, Zheng-Yuan; Tung, Yen-Chen; Hwang, Lucy Sun; Sheen, Lee-Yan

2011-05-11

Currently, liver cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer. Previously, it was reported that blazeispirol A (BA) is the most active antihepatoma compound in an ethanolic extract of Agaricus blazei fermentation product. The aim of this study was to understand the antihepatoma mechanism of BA in human liver cancer Hep 3B cells. The results showed that BA inhibited the growth of Hep 3B cells and increased the percentage of cells in sub-G1 phase in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. In addition, BA treatment resulted in DNA fragmentation, caspase-9 and caspase-3 activations, poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase (PARP) degradation, down-regulation of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL expressions, up-regulation of Bax expression, and disruption of the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in Hep 3B cells. Furthermore, z-VAD-fmk, a caspase inhibitor, did not enhance the viability of BA-treated Hep 3B cells, and BA induced the release of HtrA2/Omi and apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) from mitochondria into the cytosol. These findings suggested that BA with novel chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic potentials causes both caspase-dependent and caspase-independent cell death in Hep 3B cells.

Bacillus anthracis TIR Domain-Containing Protein Localises to Cellular Microtubule Structures and Induces Autophagy.

PubMed

Carlsson, Emil; Thwaite, Joanne E; Jenner, Dominic C; Spear, Abigail M; Flick-Smith, Helen; Atkins, Helen S; Byrne, Bernadette; Ding, Jeak Ling

2016-01-01

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognise invading pathogens and mediate downstream immune signalling via Toll/IL-1 receptor (TIR) domains. TIR domain proteins (Tdps) have been identified in multiple pathogenic bacteria and have recently been implicated as negative regulators of host innate immune activation. A Tdp has been identified in Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax. Here we present the first study of this protein, designated BaTdp. Recombinantly expressed and purified BaTdp TIR domain interacted with several human TIR domains, including that of the key TLR adaptor MyD88, although BaTdp expression in cultured HEK293 cells had no effect on TLR4- or TLR2- mediated immune activation. During expression in mammalian cells, BaTdp localised to microtubular networks and caused an increase in lipidated cytosolic microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (LC3), indicative of autophagosome formation. In vivo intra-nasal infection experiments in mice showed that a BaTdp knockout strain colonised host tissue faster with higher bacterial load within 4 days post-infection compared to the wild type B. anthracis. Taken together, these findings indicate that BaTdp does not play an immune suppressive role, but rather, its absence increases virulence. BaTdp present in wild type B. anthracis plausibly interact with the infected host cell, which undergoes autophagy in self-defence.

First-principles study of twin grain boundaries in epitaxial BaSi{sub 2} on Si(111)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baba, Masakazu; Suemasu, Takashi, E-mail: suemasu@bk.tsukuba.ac.jp; Kohyama, Masanori

2016-08-28

Epitaxial films of BaSi{sub 2} on Si(111) for solar cell applications possess three epitaxial variants and exhibit a minority carrier diffusion length (ca. 9.4 μm) much larger than the domain size (ca. 0.2 μm); thus, the domain boundaries (DBs) between the variants do not act as carrier recombination centers. In this work, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to observe the atomic arrangements around the DBs in BaSi{sub 2} epitaxial films on Si(111), and the most stable atomic configuration was determined by first-principles calculations based on density functional theory to provide possible interface models. Bright-field TEM along the a-axis of BaSi{sub 2}more » revealed that each DB was a twin boundary between two different epitaxial variants, and that Ba{sup (II)} atoms form hexagons containing central Ba{sup (I)} atoms in both the bulk and DB regions. Four possible interface models containing Ba{sup (I)}-atom interface layers were constructed, each consistent with TEM observations and distinguished by the relationship between the Si tetrahedron arrays in the two domains adjacent across the interface. This study assessed the structural relaxation of initial interface models constructed from surface slabs terminated by Ba{sup (I)} atoms or from zigzag surface slabs terminated by Si tetrahedra and Ba{sup (II)} atoms. In these models, the interactions or relative positions between Si tetrahedra appear to dominate the relaxation behavior and DB energies. One of the four interface models whose relationship between first-neighboring Si tetrahedra across the interface was the same as that in the bulk was particularly stable, with a DB energy of 95 mJ/m{sup 2}. There were no significant differences in the partial densities of states and band gaps between the bulk and DB regions, and it was therefore concluded that such DBs do not affect the minority carrier properties of BaSi{sub 2}.« less

Synthesis and Photoluminescence Properties of BaWO4:RE3+ (RE = Eu or Sm) Phosphors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, Shinho

2018-04-01

BaWO4:RE3+ (RE = Eu or Sm) phosphor powders were prepared with different doping concentrations of the activator ion by using the conventional solid-state reaction method. The dependences in the crystal structure, luminescence intensity, and morphology on the Eu3+ and the Sm3+ concentrations in BaWO4 were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence spectrophotometry, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. XRD analysis showed tetragonal BaWO4 structures for all the phosphors synthesized, regardless of the type and the doping concentration of the activator ion. SEM images indicated that as the concentration of activator ions was increased, the crystalline particles showed an increasing tendency to agglomerate irregularly. The room temperature excitation spectra of Eu3+- or Sm3+-doped BaWO4 phosphors consisted of a broad charge transfer band in the ultraviolet region and several sharp 4 f-4 f transitions. When Eu3+-doped BaWO4 phosphors were excited at 274 nm, the emission spectra exhibited sharp bands due to inner shell transitions occurring from the excited energy state 5 D 0 to the lower energy levels 7 F J ( J = 1, 2, 3, and 4). For Sm3+-doped BaWO4 phosphors, three intense emission peaks at 568, 603, and 649 nm and a very weak line at 712 nm were observed. The highest asymmetry ratio-the intensity ratio of the 4 G 5/2 → 6 H 9/2 electric dipole to the 4 G 5/2 → 6 H 5/2 magnetic dipole transitions-was obtained for 1 mol% doping of Sm3+, indicating that the Sm3+ ions occupied the non-inversion symmetry sites.

A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies on divergent thinking using activation likelihood estimation.

PubMed

Wu, Xin; Yang, Wenjing; Tong, Dandan; Sun, Jiangzhou; Chen, Qunlin; Wei, Dongtao; Zhang, Qinglin; Zhang, Meng; Qiu, Jiang

2015-07-01

In this study, an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis was used to conduct a quantitative investigation of neuroimaging studies on divergent thinking. Based on the ALE results, the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies showed that distributed brain regions were more active under divergent thinking tasks (DTTs) than those under control tasks, but a large portion of the brain regions were deactivated. The ALE results indicated that the brain networks of the creative idea generation in DTTs may be composed of the lateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex [such as the inferior parietal lobule (BA 40) and precuneus (BA 7)], anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (BA 32), and several regions in the temporal cortex [such as the left middle temporal gyrus (BA 39), and left fusiform gyrus (BA 37)]. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 46) was related to selecting the loosely and remotely associated concepts and organizing them into creative ideas, whereas the ACC (BA 32) was related to observing and forming distant semantic associations in performing DTTs. The posterior parietal cortex may be involved in the semantic information related to the retrieval and buffering of the formed creative ideas, and several regions in the temporal cortex may be related to the stored long-term memory. In addition, the ALE results of the structural studies showed that divergent thinking was related to the dopaminergic system (e.g., left caudate and claustrum). Based on the ALE results, both fMRI and structural MRI studies could uncover the neural basis of divergent thinking from different aspects (e.g., specific cognitive processing and stable individual difference of cognitive capability). © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Design, synthesis and luminescence properties of Ba2 YB2 O6 Cl- and Ba2 YB2 O6 F-based phosphors.

PubMed

Chen, Wanping; Yang, Xin; Liu, Yan; Dai, Xiaoyan

2015-05-01

Using a high-temperature solid-state reaction, the chlorine in Ba2 YB2 O6 Cl is gradually replaced by F, and a new compound with the nominal chemical formula Ba2 YB2 O6 F and two phosphors doped with Ce(3+) and Eu(3+) , respectively, are obtained. X-Ray diffraction and photoluminescence spectroscopy are used to characterize the as-synthesized samples. The as-synthesized Ba2 YB2 O6 Cl exhibits bright blue emission in the spectral range ~ 330-410 nm with a maximum around 363 nm under X-ray or UV excitation. Ba2 YB2 O6 F:0.01Ce(3+) exhibits blue emission in the range ~ 340-570 nm with a maximum around 383 nm. Ba2 YB2 O6 F:0.01Eu(3+) exhibits a predominantly (5) D0 -(7)  F2 emission (~610 nm) and the relative intensities of the (5) D0 -(7)  F0,1,2 emissions are tunable under different wavelength UV excitation. The luminescence behaviors of the two phosphors are explained simply in terms of the host composition and site occupancy probability of Ce(3+) and Eu(3+) , respectively. The results indicate that these phosphors have potential application as a blue phosphor or as a red phosphor. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Synthesis and electrical characterization of BaZr0.9Ho0.1O3-δ electrolyte ceramic for IT - SOFCs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saini, Deepash S.; Singh, Lalit K.; Bhattacharya, D.

2018-04-01

A cost-effective modified combustion method using citric acid and glycine has recently been developed to synthesize high quality, and nanosized BaZr0.9Ho0.1O3 ceramic powder. BaZr0.9Ho0.1O3-δ ceramic powder was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). XRD pattern of BaZr0.9Ho0.1O3-δ ceramic sintered at 1600 °C has shown that pure phase of BaZr0.9Ho0.1O3-δ with cubic Pm3¯m space group symmetry. The transmission electron microscopic investigation has shown that the particle size of the powder calcined at 1100 °C was in the range 30-80 nm. The FESEM image of sintered pellet at 1600 °C for 4 h reveals porous nature of BaZr0.9Ho0.1O3-δ with 83.7 relative density. Impedance analysis reveal three type relaxations in the temperature range 250 °C to 500 °C as studied at different frequencies over 100 Hz to 1 MHz in air. The grain boundary conductivity of BaZr0.9Ho0.1O3-δ ceramic is found lower then grain (bulk) conductivity due to core-space charge layer behavior in grain boundary.

Nrf2-Dependent Induction of NQO1 in Mouse Aortic Endothelial Cells Overexpressing Catalase

PubMed Central

Lin, Xinghua; Yang, Hong; Zhou, LiChun; Guo, ZhongMao

2011-01-01

Overexpression of catalase has been shown to accelerate benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) detoxification in mouse aortic endothelial cells (MAECs ). NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase1 (NQO1) is an enzyme that catalyzes BaP-quinone detoxification. Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor-2 (Nrf2) are transcription factors that control NQO1 expression. Here, we investigated the effect of catalase overexpression on NQO1, Nrf2 and AhR expressions. The levels of NQO1 mRNA and protein were comparable in MAECs isolated from wild-type and transgenic mice that overexpress human catalase (hCatTg). BaP treatment increased NQO1 mRNA and protein levels in both groups, with a significantly greater induction in hCatTg MAECs than in wild-type cells. BaP-induced NQO1 promoter activity was dramatically higher in hCatTg MAECs than in wild-type cells. Our data also showed that the basal level of AhR and the BaP-induced level of Nrf2 were significantly higher in hCatTg MAECs than in wild-type cells. Inhibition of specificity protein-1 (Sp1) binding to the AhR promoter region by mithramycin A reversed the enhanced effect of catalase overexpression on AhR expression. Knockdown of AhR by RNA interference diminished BaP-induced expression of Nrf2 and NQO1. Knockdown of Nrf2 significantly decreased NQO1 mRNA and protein levels in cells with or without BaP treatment. NQO1 promoter activity was abrogated by mutation of the Nrf2-binding site in this promoter. In contrast, mutation of the AhR-binding site in NQO1 promoter did not affect the promoter activity. These results suggest that catalase overexpression upregulates BaP-induced NQO1 expression via enhancing the Sp1-AhR-Nrf2 signaling cascade. PMID:21569840

The behavior and concentration of CO2 in the suboceanic mantle: Inferences from undegassed ocean ridge and ocean island basalts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michael, Peter J.; Graham, David W.

2015-11-01

In order to better determine the behavior of CO2 relative to incompatible elements, and improve the accuracy of mantle CO2 concentration and flux estimates, we determined CO2 glass and vesicle concentrations, plus trace element contents for fifty-one ultradepleted mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) glasses from the global mid-ocean ridge system. Fifteen contained no vesicles and were volatile undersaturated for their depth of eruption. Thirty-six contained vesicles and/or were slightly oversaturated, and so may not have retained all of their CO2. If this latter group lost some bubbles during emplacement, then CO2/Ba calculated for the undersaturated group alone is the most reliable and uniform ratio at 98 ± 10, and CO2/Nb is 283 ± 32. If the oversaturated MORBs did not lose bubbles, then CO2/Nb is the most uniform ratio within the entire suite of ultradepleted MORBs at 291 ± 132, while CO2/Ba decreases with increasing incompatible element enrichment. Additional constraints on CO2/Ba and CO2/Nb ratios are provided by published estimates of CO2 contents in highly vesicular enriched basalts that may have retained their vesicles e.g., the Mid-Atlantic Ridge "popping rocks", and from olivine-hosted melt inclusions in normal MORBs. As incompatible element enrichment increases, CO2/Nb increases progressively from 283 ± 32 in ultradepleted MORBs to 603 ± 69 in depleted melt inclusions to 936 ± 132 in enriched, vesicular basalts. In contrast, CO2/Ba is nearly uniform in these sample suites at 98 ± 10, 106 ± 24 and 111 ± 11 respectively. This suggests that Ba is the best proxy for estimating CO2 contents of MORBs, with an overall average CO2/Ba = 105 ± 9. Atlantic, Pacific and Indian basalts have similar values. Gakkel Ridge has lower CO2/Ba because of anomalously high Ba, and is not included in our global averages. Using the CO2/Ba ratio and published compilations of trace elements in average MORBs, the CO2 concentration of a primary, average MORB is 2085+ 473/- 427 ppm, while primary NMORB magmas (> 500 km from ocean island hotspots) have 1840 ppm CO2. The annual flux of CO2 from mid-ocean ridges is 1.25 ± 0.16 × 1014 g/yr, with possible values as low as 0.93 and as high as 1.61 × 1014 g/yr. This amount is equivalent to approximately 0.3% of the anthropogenic addition of CO2 to Earth's atmosphere. NMORB mantle has 183 ppm CO2 (50 ppm C) based on simple melting models and 13% melting. More realistic estimates of incompatible element concentrations in the depleted mantle that are consistent with complex melting models yield much lower estimates for CO2 in the depleted mantle: around 60-130 ppm CO2, with large uncertainties that are more related to melting models than to CO2/Ba. CO2/Ba is not correlated with isotopic or trace element ratios, but there may be systematic regional mantle variations. Iceland melt inclusions and Gakkel Ridge MORBs have lower CO2/Ba ratios, showing that these regional high Ba anomalies are not accompanied by correspondingly high CO2 concentrations.

Implicit and explicit processing of kanji and kana words and non-words studied with fMRI.

PubMed

Thuy, Dinh Ha Duy; Matsuo, Kayako; Nakamura, Kimihiro; Toma, Keiichiro; Oga, Tatsuhide; Nakai, Toshiharu; Shibasaki, Hiroshi; Fukuyama, Hidenao

2004-11-01

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated the implicit language processing of kanji and kana words (i.e., hiragana transcriptions of normally written kanji words) and non-words. Twelve right-handed native Japanese speakers performed size judgments for character stimuli (implicit language task for linguistic stimuli), size judgments for scrambled-character stimuli (implicit language task for non-linguistic stimuli), and lexical decisions (explicit language task). The size judgments for scrambled-kanji stimuli and scrambled-kana stimuli produced activations on the bilateral lingual gyri (BA 18), the bilateral occipitotemporal regions (BA 19/37), and the bilateral superior and inferior parietal cortices (BA 7/40). Interestingly, besides these areas, activations of the left inferior frontal region (Broca's area, BA 44/45) and the left posterior inferior temporal cortex (PITC, BA 37), which have been considered as language areas, were additionally activated during size judgment for kanji character stimuli. Size judgment for kana character stimuli also activated Broca's area, the left PITC, and the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG, BA 40). The activations of these language areas were replicated in the lexical decisions for both kanji and kana. These findings suggest that language processing of both kanji and kana scripts is obligatory to literate Japanese subjects. Moreover, comparison between the scrambled kanji and the scrambled kana showed no activation in the language areas, while greater activation in the bilateral fusiform gyri (left-side predominant) was found in kanji vs. kana comparison during the size judgment and the lexical decision. Kana minus kanji activated the left SMG during the size judgment, and Broca's area and the left middle/superior temporal junction during the lexical decision. These results probably reflect that in implicit or explicit reading of kanji words and kana words (i.e., hiragana transcriptions of kanji words), although using largely overlapping cortical regions, there are still some differences. Kanji reading may involve more heavily visual orthographic retrieval and lexical-semantic system through the ventral route, while kana transcriptions of kanji words require phonological recoding to gain semantic access through the dorsal route.

Performance on the Frontal Assessment Battery is sensitive to frontal lobe damage in stroke patients.

PubMed

Kopp, Bruno; Rösser, Nina; Tabeling, Sandra; Stürenburg, Hans Jörg; de Haan, Bianca; Karnath, Hans-Otto; Wessel, Karl

2013-11-16

The Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) is a brief battery of six neuropsychological tasks designed to assess frontal lobe function at bedside [Neurology 55:1621-1626, 2000]. The six FAB tasks explore cognitive and behavioral domains that are thought to be under the control of the frontal lobes, most notably conceptualization and abstract reasoning, lexical verbal fluency and mental flexibility, motor programming and executive control of action, self-regulation and resistance to interference, inhibitory control, and environmental autonomy. We examined the sensitivity of performance on the FAB to frontal lobe damage in right-hemisphere-damaged first-ever stroke patients based on voxel-based lesion-behavior mapping. Voxel-based lesion-behavior mapping of FAB performance revealed that the integrity of the right anterior insula (BA13) is crucial for the FAB global composite score, for the FAB conceptualization score, as well as for the FAB inhibitory control score. Furthermore, the FAB conceptualization and mental flexibility scores were sensitive to damage of the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG; BA9). Finally, the FAB inhibitory control score was sensitive to damage of the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG; BA44/45). These findings indicate that several FAB scores (including composite and item scores) provide valid measures of right hemispheric lateral frontal lobe dysfunction, specifically of focal lesions near the anterior insula, in the MFG and in the IFG.

Performance on the Frontal Assessment Battery is sensitive to frontal lobe damage in stroke patients

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) is a brief battery of six neuropsychological tasks designed to assess frontal lobe function at bedside [Neurology 55:1621-1626, 2000]. The six FAB tasks explore cognitive and behavioral domains that are thought to be under the control of the frontal lobes, most notably conceptualization and abstract reasoning, lexical verbal fluency and mental flexibility, motor programming and executive control of action, self-regulation and resistance to interference, inhibitory control, and environmental autonomy. Methods We examined the sensitivity of performance on the FAB to frontal lobe damage in right-hemisphere-damaged first-ever stroke patients based on voxel-based lesion-behavior mapping. Results Voxel-based lesion-behavior mapping of FAB performance revealed that the integrity of the right anterior insula (BA13) is crucial for the FAB global composite score, for the FAB conceptualization score, as well as for the FAB inhibitory control score. Furthermore, the FAB conceptualization and mental flexibility scores were sensitive to damage of the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG; BA9). Finally, the FAB inhibitory control score was sensitive to damage of the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG; BA44/45). Conclusions These findings indicate that several FAB scores (including composite and item scores) provide valid measures of right hemispheric lateral frontal lobe dysfunction, specifically of focal lesions near the anterior insula, in the MFG and in the IFG. PMID:24237624

Extraordinarily large intrinsic magnetodielectric coupling of the Tb member within the Haldane spin-chain family R2BaNiO5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Upadhyay, Sanjay Kumar; Paulose, P. L.; Sampathkumaran, E. V.

2017-07-01

The Haldane spin-chain compound Tb2BaNiO5 has been known to order antiferromagnetically below (TN= )63 K . The present magnetic studies on the polycrystals bring out that there is another magnetic transition at a lower temperature (T2=)25 K with pronounced magnetic-field-induced metamagnetic and metaelectric behaviors. Multiferroic features are found below T2 only and not at TN. The most intriguing observation is that the observed change in dielectric constant (Δɛ') is intrinsic and largest (e.g., ˜18% at 15 K) within this Haldane spin-chain family R2BaNiO5 . Taking into account the fact that this trend (that is, the largest value of Δɛ' for the Tb case within this family) correlates well with a similar trend in TN (with the values of TN being ˜55, 58, 53, and 32 K for Gd, Dy, Ho, and Er cases), we believe that the explanation usually offered for this TN behavior in rare-earth systems is applicable for this Δɛ' behavior as well. That is, single-ion anisotropy following crystal-field splitting is responsible for the extraordinary magnetodielectric effect in this Tb case. This work provides a pathway in the field of multiferroics to promote magnetoelectric coupling.

Elaboration versus suppression of cued memories: influence of memory recall instruction and success on parietal lobe, default network, and hippocampal activity.

PubMed

Gimbel, Sarah I; Brewer, James B

2014-01-01

Functional imaging studies of episodic memory retrieval consistently report task-evoked and memory-related activity in the medial temporal lobe, default network and parietal lobe subregions. Associated components of memory retrieval, such as attention-shifts, search, retrieval success, and post-retrieval processing also influence regional activity, but these influences remain ill-defined. To better understand how top-down control affects the neural bases of memory retrieval, we examined how regional activity responses were modulated by task goals during recall success or failure. Specifically, activity was examined during memory suppression, recall, and elaborative recall of paired-associates. Parietal lobe was subdivided into dorsal (BA 7), posterior ventral (BA 39), and anterior ventral (BA 40) regions, which were investigated separately to examine hypothesized distinctions in sub-regional functional responses related to differential attention-to-memory and memory strength. Top-down suppression of recall abolished memory strength effects in BA 39, which showed a task-negative response, and BA 40, which showed a task-positive response. The task-negative response in default network showed greater negatively-deflected signal for forgotten pairs when task goals required recall. Hippocampal activity was task-positive and was influenced by memory strength only when task goals required recall. As in previous studies, we show a memory strength effect in parietal lobe and hippocampus, but we show that this effect is top-down controlled and sensitive to whether the subject is trying to suppress or retrieve a memory. These regions are all implicated in memory recall, but their individual activity patterns show distinct memory-strength-related responses when task goals are varied. In parietal lobe, default network, and hippocampus, top-down control can override the commonly identified effects of memory strength.

Cytological changes in association with ethoxyresorufin o-deethylase induction in fish upon dietary exposure to benzo[a]pyrene.

PubMed

Au, Doris W T; Chen, Ping; Pollino, Carmel A

2004-04-01

Juvenile areolated grouper (Epinephelus areolatus) were exposed to two levels of dietary benzo[a]pyrene (BaP; 0.25-12.5 microg/g body wt/d) for four weeks, followed by four weeks of depuration. Significant increase in hepatic ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activities was found after one week, preceding an increase in lipopigments (as measured by quantitative transmission electron microscopy) in week 2 of exposure. The EROD activities in the BaP-treated fish subsided at week 4 of exposure and throughout the depuration period. Lipopigments in the high-dose group appeared to be more persistent than that of the EROD activity during the exposure period and remained significantly higher than that of the controls at week 4. Levels of lipopigments, however, rapidly subsided on withdrawal of BaP exposure. These results appear to suggest that changes in EROD activities would precede cytological changes and that both the observed cytological and biochemical changes are reversible. Results of the present study also lend further support to our earlier findings on Solea ovata, that a significant relationship exists between EROD activity and lipopigment accumulation (as measured by volume density, absolute volume, numerical density, and absolute density; r = 0.483-0.358, p < 0.05), regardless of fish species (S. ovata and aerolated grouper) as well as the routes of exposure to BaP (intraperitoneal injection or dietary exposure). This provides strong supporting evidence that elevated EROD activities in fish liver do not merely indicate exposure to polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) but are also associated with significant biological effects. Our results showed that hepatic EROD activity and lipopigments could be used to indicate recent exposure of the fish to BaP/PAHs.

Elaboration versus Suppression of Cued Memories: Influence of Memory Recall Instruction and Success on Parietal Lobe, Default Network, and Hippocampal Activity

PubMed Central

Gimbel, Sarah I.; Brewer, James B.

2014-01-01

Functional imaging studies of episodic memory retrieval consistently report task-evoked and memory-related activity in the medial temporal lobe, default network and parietal lobe subregions. Associated components of memory retrieval, such as attention-shifts, search, retrieval success, and post-retrieval processing also influence regional activity, but these influences remain ill-defined. To better understand how top-down control affects the neural bases of memory retrieval, we examined how regional activity responses were modulated by task goals during recall success or failure. Specifically, activity was examined during memory suppression, recall, and elaborative recall of paired-associates. Parietal lobe was subdivided into dorsal (BA 7), posterior ventral (BA 39), and anterior ventral (BA 40) regions, which were investigated separately to examine hypothesized distinctions in sub-regional functional responses related to differential attention-to-memory and memory strength. Top-down suppression of recall abolished memory strength effects in BA 39, which showed a task-negative response, and BA 40, which showed a task-positive response. The task-negative response in default network showed greater negatively-deflected signal for forgotten pairs when task goals required recall. Hippocampal activity was task-positive and was influenced by memory strength only when task goals required recall. As in previous studies, we show a memory strength effect in parietal lobe and hippocampus, but we show that this effect is top-down controlled and sensitive to whether the subject is trying to suppress or retrieve a memory. These regions are all implicated in memory recall, but their individual activity patterns show distinct memory-strength-related responses when task goals are varied. In parietal lobe, default network, and hippocampus, top-down control can override the commonly identified effects of memory strength. PMID:24586492

Relation between brain activation and lexical performance.

PubMed

Booth, James R; Burman, Douglas D; Meyer, Joel R; Gitelman, Darren R; Parrish, Todd B; Mesulam, M Marsel

2003-07-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to determine whether performance on lexical tasks was correlated with cerebral activation patterns. We found that such relationships did exist and that their anatomical distribution reflected the neurocognitive processing routes required by the task. Better performance on intramodal tasks (determining if visual words were spelled the same or if auditory words rhymed) was correlated with more activation in unimodal regions corresponding to the modality of sensory input, namely the fusiform gyrus (BA 37) for written words and the superior temporal gyrus (BA 22) for spoken words. Better performance in tasks requiring cross-modal conversions (determining if auditory words were spelled the same or if visual words rhymed), on the other hand, was correlated with more activation in posterior heteromodal regions, including the supramarginal gyrus (BA 40) and the angular gyrus (BA 39). Better performance in these cross-modal tasks was also correlated with greater activation in unimodal regions corresponding to the target modality of the conversion process (i.e., fusiform gyrus for auditory spelling and superior temporal gyrus for visual rhyming). In contrast, performance on the auditory spelling task was inversely correlated with activation in the superior temporal gyrus possibly reflecting a greater emphasis on the properties of the perceptual input rather than on the relevant transmodal conversions. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Neural evidence for a multifaceted model of attachment security.

PubMed

Canterberry, Melanie; Gillath, Omri

2013-06-01

The sense of attachment security has been linked with a host of beneficial outcomes related to personal and relational well-being. Moreover, research has demonstrated that the sense of attachment security can be enhanced via cognitive priming techniques. Studies using such techniques have shown that security priming results with similar outcomes as dispositional attachment security. The way security priming leads to these effects, however, is yet to be unveiled. Using fMRI we took one step in that direction and examined the neural mechanisms underlying enhanced attachment security. Participants were exposed to explicit and implicit security- and insecurity-related words. Security priming led to co-occurring activation in brain areas reflective of cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes (e.g., medial frontal cortex, parahippocampus, BA 6). There were activation differences based on attachment style. This research serves as an important step in mapping out the security process and supports a conceptualization of security as part of a behavioral system with multiple components. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cry64Ba and Cry64Ca, Two ETX/MTX2-Type Bacillus thuringiensis Insecticidal Proteins Active against Hemipteran Pests.

PubMed

Liu, Yonglei; Wang, Yinglong; Shu, Changlong; Lin, Kejian; Song, Fuping; Bravo, Alejandra; Soberón, Mario; Zhang, Jie

2018-02-01

Genetically modified crops that express insecticidal Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins have become a primary approach for control of lepidopteran (moth) and coleopteran (beetle) pests that feed by chewing the plants. However, the sap-sucking insects (Hemiptera) are not particularly susceptible to Bt toxins. In this study, we describe two Cry toxins (Cry64Ba and Cry64Ca) from Bt strain 1012 that showed toxicity against two important hemipteran rice pests, Laodelphax striatellus and Sogatella furcifera Both of these proteins contain an ETX/MTX2 domain and share common sequence features with the β-pore-forming toxins. Coexpression of cry64Ba and cry64Ca genes in the acrystalliferous Bt strain HD73 - resulted in high insecticidal activity against both hemipteran pests. No toxicity was observed on other pests such as Ostrinia furnacalis , Plutella xylostella , or Colaphellus bowringi Also, no hemolytic activity or toxicity against cancer cells was detected. Binding assays showed specific binding of the Cry64Ba/Cry64Ca toxin complex to brush border membrane vesicles isolated from L. striatellus Cry64Ba and Cry64Ca are Bt Cry toxins highly effective against hemipteran pests and could provide a novel strategy for the environmentally friendly biological control of rice planthoppers in transgenic plants. IMPORTANCE In Asia, rice is an important staple food, whose production is threatened by rice planthoppers. To date, no effective Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein has been shown to have activity against rice planthoppers. We cloned two Bt toxin genes from Bt strain 1012 that showed toxicity against small brown planthoppers ( Laodelphax striatellus ) and white-backed planthoppers ( Sogatella furcifera ). To our knowledge, the proteins encoded by the cry64Ba and cry64Ca genes are the most efficient insecticidal Bt Cry proteins with activity against hemipteran insects reported so far. Cry64Ba and Cry64Ca showed no toxicity against some lepidopteran or coleopteran pests. These two proteins should be able to be used for integrated hemipteran pest management. Copyright © 2018 American Society for Microbiology.

Protective effects of dietary selenium and vitamin C in barium-induced cardiotoxicity.

PubMed

Elwej, Awatef; Ghorbel, Imen; Chaabane, Mariem; Soudani, Nejla; Marrekchi, Rim; Jamoussi, Kamel; Mnif, Hela; Boudawara, Tahia; Zeghal, Najiba; Sefi, Mediha

2017-11-01

Several metals including barium (Ba) known as environmental pollutants provoke deleterious effects on human health. The present work pertains to the potential ability of selenium (Se) and/or vitamin C, used as nutritional supplements, to alleviate the toxic effects induced by barium chloride (BaCl 2 ) in the heart of adult rats. Animals were randomly divided into seven groups of six each: group 1, serving as negative controls, received distilled water; group 2 received in their drinking water BaCl 2 (67 ppm); group 3 received both Ba and Se (sodium selenite 0.5 mg kg -1 of diet); group 4 received both Ba and vitamin C (200 mg kg -1 bodyweight) via force feeding; group 5 received Ba, Se, and vitamin C; and groups 6 and 7, serving as positive controls, received either Se or vitamin C for 21 days. The exposure of rats to BaCl 2 caused cardiotoxicity as monitored by an increase in malondialdehyde, hydrogen peroxide, and advanced oxidation protein product levels, a decrease in Na + -K + adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase), Mg 2+ ATPase, and acetylcholinesterase activities and in antioxidant defense system (catalase, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione, and nonprotein thiols). Plasma lactate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase activities, total cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels increased, while high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol level decreased. Coadministration of Se and/or vitamin C restored the parameters indicated above to near control values. The histopathological findings confirmed the biochemical results. Se and vitamin C may be a promising therapeutic strategy for Ba-induced heart injury.

External Barium Affects the Gating of KCNQ1 Potassium Channels and Produces a Pore Block via Two Discrete Sites

PubMed Central

Gibor, Gilad; Yakubovich, Daniel; Peretz, Asher; Attali, Bernard

2004-01-01

The pore properties and the reciprocal interactions between permeant ions and the gating of KCNQ channels are poorly understood. Here we used external barium to investigate the permeation characteristics of homomeric KCNQ1 channels. We assessed the Ba2+ binding kinetics and the concentration and voltage dependence of Ba2+ steady-state block. Our results indicate that extracellular Ba2+ exerts a series of complex effects, including a voltage-dependent pore blockade as well as unique gating alterations. External barium interacts with the permeation pathway of KCNQ1 at two discrete and nonsequential sites. (a) A slow deep Ba2+ site that occludes the channel pore and could be simulated by a model of voltage-dependent block. (b) A fast superficial Ba2+ site that barely contributes to channel block and mostly affects channel gating by shifting rightward the voltage dependence of activation, slowing activation, speeding up deactivation kinetics, and inhibiting channel inactivation. A model of voltage-dependent block cannot predict the complex impact of Ba2+ on channel gating in low external K+ solutions. Ba2+ binding to this superficial site likely modifies the gating transitions states of KCNQ1. Both sites appear to reside in the permeation pathway as high external K+ attenuates Ba2+ inhibition of channel conductance and abolishes its impact on channel gating. Our data suggest that despite the high degree of homology of the pore region among the various K+ channels, KCNQ1 channels display significant structural and functional uniqueness. PMID:15226366

Step-down vs. step-up noxious stimulation: differential effects on pain perception and patterns of brain activation.

PubMed

Choi, J C; Kim, J; Kang, E; Choi, J-H; Park, W Y; Choi, Y-S; Cha, J; Han, C; Park, S K; Kim, M H; Lee, G H; Do, H-J; Jung, S W; Lee, J-M

2016-01-01

We hypothesize that pain and brain responses are affected by changes in the presentation sequence of noxious stimuli that are, overall, identical in intensity and duration. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning, 21 participants experienced three patterns of noxious stimulation: Up-type (step-up noxious stimulation, 15 s), Down-type (step-down noxious stimulation, 15 s), and Down-up-type (decreasing and increasing pattern of noxious stimulation, 15 s). The total intensity and duration of the three noxious stimulation patterns were identical, but the stimulation sequences were different. Pain and unpleasantness ratings in the Down- and Down-up-type noxious stimulations were lower than in the Up-type noxious stimulation. The left prefrontal cortex [(PFC, BA (Brodmann area) 10, (-45, 50, 1)] was more highly activated in the Down- and Down-up-type noxious stimulations than in the Up-type noxious stimulation. The S1, S2, insula, bilateral PFC (BA 46), and midcingulate cortex were more highly activated in the Up-type noxious stimulation than in the Down-type noxious stimulation. PFC BA 10 was located at an inferior level compared to the bilateral PFC BA 46 (Z axis = 1 for BA 10, compared to 22 and 25 for the right and left BA 46, respectively). When cortisol level was increased, the left hippocampal cortex, along with the left parahippocampal cortex, was greatly activated for the Up-type noxious stimulation. When pain cannot be avoided in clinical practice, noxious stimuli should be applied to patients in a step-down pattern that delivers the most intense pain first and the least intense pain last. © 2015 The Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A decade of mangrove recovery at affected area by the 2004 tsunami along coast of Banda Aceh city

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Onrizal; Mansor, M.

2018-03-01

Banda Aceh (BA) is the capital of Aceh Province, Indonesia. It was the most affected areas by the 2004 tsunami. Before the natural catastrophe, most of the BA mangroves disturbed by human activities and remaining mangroves were fragmented and had a low density of trees. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to calculate the impact of the tsunami on mangrove and subsequently to evaluate the mangrove recovery based on spatial and temporal analysis and ground truthing method within the period 11 years in intertidal areas of BA. Three regions of BA coastal areas were selected, namely Kuala Cangkoy, Gampong Jawa and Lambada coasts. Before the tsunami, the mangrove forests in BA were only 13.6% of BA coastlands and fragmented. Approximately 48.9% of the mangroves have destroyed due to the tsunami. The BA mangroves at 5 and 11 years after tsunami were 66.5% and 81.3% relative to the data before tsunami, respectively. It means that the BA is very vulnerable due to the future tsunami occur. Therefore, the mangrove restoration in BA needs to be improved and maintain based on green belt concept for coastal protection as well as productivity of estuarine ecosystem.

Neuropilin-1 interacts with the second branchial arch microenvironment to mediate chick neural crest cell dynamics

PubMed Central

McLennan, Rebecca; Kulesa, Paul M.

2011-01-01

Cranial neural crest cells (NCCs) require neuropilin signaling to reach and invade the branchial arches. Here, we use an in vivo chick model to investigate whether the neuropilin-1 knockdown phenotype is specific to the second branchial arch (ba2), changes in NCC behaviors and phenotypic consequences, and whether neuropilins work together to facilitate entry into and invasion of ba2. We find that cranial NCCs with reduced neuropilin-1 expression displayed shorter protrusions and decreased cell body and nuclear length-to-width ratios characteristic of a loss in polarity and motility, after specific interaction with ba2. Directed NCC migration was rescued by transplantation of transfected cells into rhombomere 4 of younger hosts. Lastly, reduction of neuropilin-2 expression by shRNA either solely or with reduction of neuropilin-1 expression did not lead to a stronger head phenotype. Thus, NCCs, independent of rhombomere origin, require neuropilin-1, but not neuropilin-2 to maintain polarity and directed migration into ba2. PMID:20503363

Oxygen hyperstoichiometric hexagonal ferrite CaBaFe4O7+δ (δ≈0.14): Coexistence of ferrimagnetism and spin glass behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarkar, Tapati; Duffort, V.; Pralong, V.; Caignaert, V.; Raveau, B.

2011-03-01

An oxygen hyperstoichiometric ferrite CaBaFe4O7+δ (δ ≈ 0.14) has been synthesized using “soft” reduction of CaBaFe4O8. Like the oxygen stoichiometric ferrimagnet CaBaFe4O7, this oxide also keeps the hexagonal symmetry (space group P63mc), and exhibits the same high Curie temperature of 270 K. However, the introduction of extra oxygen into the system weakens the ferrimagnetic interaction significantly at the cost of increased magnetic frustration at low temperature. Moreover, this canonical spin glass (Tg~166 K) exhibits an intriguing crossover from de Almeida-Thouless type to Gabay-Toulouse type critical line in the field temperature plane above a certain field strength, which can be identified as the anisotropy field. Domain-wall pinning is also observed below 110 K. These results are interpreted on the basis of cationic disordering on the iron sites.

"It runs in my family …": The association of perceived family history with body dissatisfaction and weight bias internalization among overweight women.

PubMed

Eisenberg, Miriam H; Street, Richard L; Persky, Susan

2017-04-01

Aspects of poor body acceptance (BA), such as internalized weight bias and dissatisfaction with one's shape and size, are the strongest predictors of disordered eating and are associated with reduced engagement in healthy behaviors. Perceiving oneself as having a family history of overweight (PFH) could boost BA by increasing attributions for inherited, biological causes of weight. A community sample of 289 women who were overweight from the Washington, DC metropolitan area who were dissatisfied with their current weight (68% Black; 32% White) enrolled in this study in 2012. PFH of overweight was associated with decreased internalized weight bias among white women and marginally increased body shape satisfaction generally. The relationship between PFH and BA was not explained by biological attributions for weight. Perceptions that overweight runs in one's family can be protective with respect to BA. This is suggestive of the potential benefit of integrating family-based approaches into weight management interventions.

New Fluoride-arsenide Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor (Ba,K)F(Zn,Mn)As with Independent Spin and Charge Doping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Bijuan; Deng, Zheng; Li, Wenmin; Gao, Moran; Liu, Qingqing; Gu, C. Z.; Hu, F. X.; Shen, B. G.; Frandsen, Benjamin; Cheung, Sky; Lian, Liu; Uemura, Yasutomo J.; Ding, Cui; Guo, Shengli; Ning, Fanlong; Munsie, Timothy J. S.; Wilson, Murray Neff; Cai, Yipeng; Luke, Graeme; Guguchia, Zurab; Yonezawa, Shingo; Li, Zhi; Jin, Changqing

2016-11-01

We report the discovery of a new fluoride-arsenide bulk diluted magnetic semiconductor (Ba,K)F(Zn,Mn)As with the tetragonal ZrCuSiAs-type structure which is identical to that of the “1111” iron-based superconductors. The joint hole doping via (Ba,K) substitution & spin doping via (Zn,Mn) substitution results in ferromagnetic order with Curie temperature up to 30 K and demonstrates that the ferromagnetic interactions between the localized spins are mediated by the carriers. Muon spin relaxation measurements confirm the intrinsic nature of the long range magnetic order in the entire volume in the ferromagnetic phase. This is the first time that a diluted magnetic semiconductor with decoupled spin and charge doping is achieved in a fluoride compound. Comparing to the isostructure oxide counterpart of LaOZnSb, the fluoride DMS (Ba,K)F(Zn,Mn)As shows much improved semiconductive behavior that would be benefit for further application developments.

Permeation and gating properties of the L-type calcium channel in mouse pancreatic beta cells

PubMed Central

1993-01-01

Ba2+ currents through L-type Ca2+ channels were recorded from cell- attached patches on mouse pancreatic beta cells. In 10 mM Ba2+, single- channel currents were recorded at -70 mV, the beta cell resting membrane potential. This suggests that Ca2+ influx at negative membrane potentials may contribute to the resting intracellular Ca2+ concentration and thus to basal insulin release. Increasing external Ba2+ increased the single-channel current amplitude and shifted the current-voltage relation to more positive potentials. This voltage shift could be modeled by assuming that divalent cations both screen and bind to surface charges located at the channel mouth. The single- channel conductance was related to the bulk Ba2+ concentration by a Langmuir isotherm with a dissociation constant (Kd(gamma)) of 5.5 mM and a maximum single-channel conductance (gamma max) of 22 pS. A closer fit to the data was obtained when the barium concentration at the membrane surface was used (Kd(gamma) = 200 mM and gamma max = 47 pS), which suggests that saturation of the concentration-conductance curve may be due to saturation of the surface Ba2+ concentration. Increasing external Ba2+ also shifted the voltage dependence of ensemble currents to positive potentials, consistent with Ba2+ screening and binding to membrane surface charge associated with gating. Ensemble currents recorded with 10 mM Ca2+ activated at more positive potentials than in 10 mM Ba2+, suggesting that external Ca2+ binds more tightly to membrane surface charge associated with gating. The perforated-patch technique was used to record whole-cell currents flowing through L-type Ca2+ channels. Inward currents in 10 mM Ba2+ had a similar voltage dependence to those recorded at a physiological Ca2+ concentration (2.6 mM). BAY-K 8644 (1 microM) increased the amplitude of the ensemble and whole-cell currents but did not alter their voltage dependence. Our results suggest that the high divalent cation solutions usually used to record single L-type Ca2+ channel activity produce a positive shift in the voltage dependence of activation (approximately 32 mV in 100 mM Ba2+). PMID:7687645

Bile acids at neutral and acidic pH induce apoptosis and gene cleavages in nasopharyngeal epithelial cells: implications in chromosome rearrangement.

PubMed

Tan, Sang-Nee; Sim, Sai-Peng

2018-04-12

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) increases the risk of developing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) while nasopharyngeal reflux is known to be one of the major aetiological factors of CRS. Bile acid (BA), the component of gastric duodenal contents, has been recognised as a carcinogen. BA-induced apoptosis was suggested to be involved in human malignancies. Cells have the potential and tendency to survive apoptosis. However, cells that evade apoptosis upon erroneous DNA repair may carry chromosome rearrangements. Apoptotic nuclease, caspase-activated deoxyribonuclease (CAD) has been implicated in mediating translocation in leukaemia. We hypothesised that BA-induced apoptosis may cause chromosome breaks mediated by CAD leading to chromosome rearrangement in NPC. This study targeted the AF9 gene located at 9p22 because 9p22 is one of the most common deletion sites in NPC. We tested the ability of BA at neutral and acidic pH in inducing phosphatidylserine (PS) externalisation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) disruption, and caspase 3/7 activity in normal nasopharyngeal epithelial (NP69) and NPC (TWO4) cells. Inverse-PCR (IPCR) was employed to detect AF9 gene cleavages. To investigate the role of CAD in mediating these cleavages, caspase inhibition was performed. IPCR bands representing AF9 cleaved fragments were sequenced. BA-treated cells showed higher levels of PS externalisation, ROS production, MMP loss and caspase 3/7 activity than untreated control cells. The effect of BA in the induction of these intracellular events was enhanced by acid. BA at neutral and acidic pH also induced significant cleavage of the AF9 gene. These BA-induced gene cleavages were inhibited by Z-DEVD-FMK, a caspase-3 inhibitor. Intriguingly, a few chromosome breaks were identified within the AF9 region that was previously reported to participate in reciprocal translocation between the mixed lineage leukaemia (MLL) and AF9 genes in an acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) patient. These findings suggest a role for BA-induced apoptosis in mediating chromosome rearrangements in NPC. In addition, CAD may be a key player in chromosome cleavages mediated by BA-induced apoptosis. Persistent exposure of sinonasal tract to gastric duodenal refluxate may increase genomic instability in surviving cells.

Barium isotope composition of altered oceanic crust from the IODP Site 1256 at the East Pacific Rise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nan, X.; Yu, H.; Gao, Y.

2017-12-01

To understand the behavior of Ba isotopes in the oceanic crust during seawater alteration, we analyzed Ba isotopes for altered oceanic crust (AOC) from the IODP Site 1256 at the East Pacific Rise (EPR). The samples include 33 basalts, 5 gabbros, and 1 gabbronorite. This drill profile has four sections from top to bottom, including the volcanic section, transition zone, sheeted dyke complex, and plutonic complex. They display various degrees of alteration with obviously variable temperatures and water/rock ratios (Gao et al., 2012). The volcanic section is slightly to moderately altered by seawater at 100 to 250°; the transition zone is a mixing zone between upwelling hydrothermal fluids and downwelling seawater; and the sheeted dyke complex and plutonic complex are highly altered by hydrothermal fluids (˜250°). Ba isotopes were analyzed on a Neptune Plus MC-ICP-MS at the University of Science and Technology of China. The long-term precision of δ137/134Ba is better than 0.04‰ (2SD). The δ137/134Ba of the volcanic section and the top of the transition zone range between -0.01 and 0.30‰, higher than the δ137/134Ba of fresh MORB and upper mantle (0.020 ± 0.021‰, 2SE, Huang et al., 2015). Similarly, the δ137/134Ba of the sheeted dyke complex ranges from 0.05 to 0.28‰. The plutonic section has δ137/134Ba from -0.17 to -0.05‰, which is lower than the upper mantle, with one exception that has δ137/134Ba of 0.19‰. No correlation exists between Ba contents and δ137/134Ba. The weighted average δ137/134Ba of the AOC samples is 0.13±0.04‰ (2SE), significantly higher than that of the upper mantle. In all, our AOC data reveal obvious Ba isotopic fractionation, reflecting alteration of the AOC by hydrothermal fluids and seawater. The obvious difference of Ba isotope composition between the AOC and the upper mantle further indicates that recycling of the AOC could result in Ba isotope heterogeneity of the mantle. References: Gao Y, Vils F, Cooper K M, et al. (2012) Downhole variation of lithium and oxygen isotopic compositions of oceanic crust at East Pacific Rise, ODP Site 1256. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems,13(10). Huang F., Nan X., Hu M., Huang S. and Huang J. (2015) Barium isotope compositions of igneous rocks. Goldschm. Abstr.2015, 1331.

Interaction of ultra-depleted MORBs with plagioclase: implications for CO2/Ba ratios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimizu, K.; Hauri, E.; Saal, A. E.; Perfit, M. R.; Hekinian, R.

2017-12-01

Carbon in Earth's upper mantle can significantly reduce its solidus temperature, which in turn can affect other physical properties through generation of partial melt. Carbon content in the depleted upper mantle can be estimated using ultra-depleted mid-ocean ridge basalt (UD-MORB) glasses and melt inclusions that are undersaturated in CO2. CO2 has been shown to behave as a highly incompatible element during mantle melting both through natural samples and experiments. Given its highly incompatible behavior, CO2/Ba and CO2/Nb ratios in CO2 undersaturated UD-MORBs have been used to estimate the CO2/Ba and CO2/Nb ratios and carbon content in Earth's upper mantle. A potential issue with part of this approach is the effect of melt-plagioclase chemical interaction on the CO2/Ba ratios in UD-MORBs. Plagioclase is ubiquitous in the oceanic crust and is enriched in Ba relative to other phases. Chemical interactions (assimilation and/or diffusion) between MORB melts and plagioclase bearing rocks have been shown to affect the Ba (and Sr and Eu) concentrations in MORBs, implying that such processes may also affect their CO2/Ba ratio. Hence, understanding the effect of chemical interaction between plagioclase and UD-MORBs is important for having better constraints on CO2/Ba ratio and carbon content in Earth's upper mantle. In this study, we report on the compositions of olivine-hosted melt inclusions and glasses from the Siqueiros and Garrett transform faults. A subset of melt inclusions in lavas from both transform faults show potential signatures of chemical interaction with plagioclase such as low CO2/Ba, Nb/Ba, and Nd/Sr. CO2 degassing cannot explain the low CO2/Ba ratio in the samples as they are undersaturated in CO2. To better understand the effect of chemical interaction with plagioclase on the composition of UD-MORBs, we model end-member scenarios, which are (1) assimilation of plagioclase and (2) diffusion of elements from plagioclase into the UD-MORBs. In general, the trends produced by these end-member scenarios bracket those observed in the samples (trends between CO2/Ba, Nb/Ba, and Nd/Sr as well as between Al2O3, FeO, and MgO). Hence, chemical interaction with plagioclase may affect the CO2/Ba ratio in UD-MORBs, and care should be taken to evaluate this effect using Nd/Sr and Nb/Ba ratios.

Electrical behavior of aluminosilicate glass-ceramic sealants and their interaction with metallic solid oxide fuel cell interconnects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goel, Ashutosh; Tulyaganov, Dilshat U.; Kharton, Vladislav V.; Yaremchenko, Aleksey A.; Ferreira, José M. F.

A series of alkaline-earth aluminosilicate glass-ceramics (GCs) were appraised with respect to their suitability as sealants for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The parent composition with general formula Ca 0.9MgAl 0.1La 0.1Si 1.9O 6 was modified with Cr 2O 3 and BaO. The addition of BaO led to a substantial decrease in the total electrical conductivity of the GCs, thus improving their insulating properties. BaO-containing GCs exhibited higher coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in comparison to BaO-free GCs. An extensive segregation of oxides of Ti and Mn, components of the Crofer22 APU interconnect alloy, along with negligible formation of BaCrO 4 was observed at the interface between GC/interconnects diffusion couples. Thermal shock resistance and gas-tightness of GC sealants in contact with yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolyte (8YSZ) was evaluated in air and water. Good matching of CTE and strong, but not reactive, adhesion to the solid electrolyte and interconnect, in conjunction with a high level of electrical resistivity, are all advantageous for potential SOFC applications.

Study of the structure and ferroelectric behavior of BaBi4-xLaxTi4O15 ceramics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khokhar, Anita; Goyal, Parveen K.; Thakur, O. P.; Sreenivas, K.

2015-06-01

The structure and ferroelectric properties of Lanthanum substituted barium bismuth titanate BaBi4-xLaxTi4O15 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) ceramics prepared by solid-state reaction method have been investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirms the formation of a single phase material. The distribution of lanthanum into the perovskite layers and (Bi2O2)2+ layers of BaBi4Ti4O15 ceramics have been revealed through Raman spectroscopy. At lower value of x, it is seen that La3+ ions prefer to substitute A-site Bi3+ ions in the perovskite layers while for higher x values, La3+ ions get incorporated into the (Bi2O2)2+ layers. A critical La content of x ˜ 0.2 in BaBi4-xLaxTi4O15 is seen to exhibit a large remnant polarization (Pr) with low coercive field (Ec). The improvement in the ferroelectric properties of La substituted BaBi4Ti4O15 ceramics has been explained in terms of changing oxygen vacancy concentration and structural relaxation. Tunable ferroelectric materials can be obtained by manipulating the doping amount of lanthanum ion.

Particle Size Effects on Flow Properties of PS304 Plasma Spray Feedstock Powder Blend

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stanford, Malcolm K.; DellaCorte, Christopher; Eylon, Daniel

2002-01-01

The effects of BaF2-CaF2 particle size and size distribution on PS304 feedstock powder flowability have been investigated. Angular BaF2-CaF2 eutectic powders were produced by comminution and classified by screening to obtain 38 to 45 microns 45 to 106 microns, 63 to 106 microns, 45 to 53 microns, 63 to 75 microns, and 90 to 106 microns particle size distributions. The fluorides were added incrementally from 0 to 10 wt% to the other powder constituents of the PS304 feedstock: nichrome, chromia, and silver powders. The flow rate of the powder blends decreased linearly with increasing concentration of the fluorides. Flow was degraded with decreasing BaF2-CaF2 particle size and with increasing BaF2-CaF2 particle size distribution. A semiempirical relationship is offered to describe the PS304 powder blend flow behavior. The Hausner Ratio confirmed the funnel flow test results, but was slightly less sensitive to differences in BaF2-CaF2 particle size and size distribution. These findings may have applicability to other powders that do not flow easily, such as ceramic powders.

Effect of Cr3+ substitution on AC susceptibility of Ba hexaferrite nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slimani, Y.; Baykal, A.; Manikandan, A.

2018-07-01

In this study, nano-sized particles of BaCrxFe12-xO19 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) hexaferrite were fabricated through citrate auto gel combustion process and the impact of Cr-ion substitution on ac magnetic susceptibility properties of Ba-hexaferrite were explored. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) measurements approved the purity of prepared samples and showed a reduction of the average crystallite size with increasing the content of Cr. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation indicated the hexagonal morphology of all samples. AC susceptibility measurements displayed a frequency dependence of the magnetic responses. These measurements indicated that there are strong magnetic interactions (which is the highest for BaCr0.3Fe11.7O19 NP) between particles which cause a superspin glass-like (SSG) behavior at low temperatures. Estimating the values of loss power density revealed an increase of loss power density with increasing Cr-substitution element. The relative sensitivity of the prepared MNPs to the variation of applied frequency is very influenced by Cr-substitution and is highest in BaCr0.3Fe11.7O19 MNPs, suggesting that this sample can be considered as magnetic nanomaterial for hyperthermia and for many other applications.

Optimization of single crystals of solid electrolytes with tysonite-type structure (LaF3) for conductivity at 293 K: 2. Nonstoichiometric phases R 1- y M y F3- y ( R = La-Lu, Y; M = Sr, Ba)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sorokin, N. I.; Sobolev, B. P.; Krivandina, E. A.; Zhmurova, Z. I.

2015-01-01

Single crystals of fluorine-conducting solid electrolytes R 1 - y Sr y F3 - y and R 1 - y Ba y F3 - y ( R = La-Lu, Y) with a tysonite-type structure (LaF3) have been optimized for room-temperature conductivity σ293 K. The optimization is based on high-temperature measurements of σ( T) in two-component nonstoichiometric phases R 1 - y M y F3 - y ( M = Sr, Ba) as a function of the MF2 content. Optimization for thermal stability is based on studying the phase diagrams of MF2- RF3 systems ( M = Sr, Ba) and the behavior of nonstoichiometric crystals upon heating when measuring temperature dependences σ( T). Single crystals of many studied R 1 - y Sr y F3 - y and R 1 - y Ba y F3 - y phases have σ293 K values large enough to use these materials in solid-state electrochemical devices (chemical sensors, fluorine-ion batteries, accumulators, etc.) operating at room temperature.

The intensity of physical activity influences bone mineral accrual in childhood: the childhood health, activity and motor performance school (the CHAMPS) study, Denmark.

PubMed

Heidemann, Malene; Mølgaard, Christian; Husby, Steffen; Schou, Anders J; Klakk, Heidi; Møller, Niels Chr; Holst, René; Wedderkopp, Niels

2013-03-02

Studies indicate genetic and lifestyle factors can contribute to optimal bone development. In particular, the intensity level of physical activity may have an impact on bone health. This study aims to assess the relationship between physical activity at different intensities and Bone Mineral Content (BMC), Bone Mineral Density (BMD) and Bone Area (BA) accretion. This longitudinal study is a part of The CHAMPS study-DK. Whole-body DXA scans were performed at baseline and after two years follows up. BMC, BMD, and BA were measured. The total body less head (TBLH) values were used. Physical activity (PA) was recorded by accelerometers (ActiGraph, model GT3X). Percentages of different PA intensity levels were calculated and log odds of two intensity levels of activity relative to the third level were calculated. Multilevel regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between the categories of physical activity and bone traits. Of 800 invited children, 742 (93%) accepted to participate. Of these, 682/742 (92%) participated at follow up. Complete datasets were obtained in 602/742 (81%) children. Mean (range) of age was 11.5 years (9.7-13.9). PA at different intensity levels was for boys and girls respectively, sedentary 62% and 64%, low 29% for both genders and moderate to high 9% and 7% of the total time. Mean (range) BMC, BMD, and BA was 1179 g (563-2326), 0.84 g/cm2 (0.64-1.15) and 1393 cm2 (851-2164), respectively. Valid accelerometer data were obtained for a mean of 6.1 days, 13 hours per day. There 7was a positive relationship between the log odds of moderate to high-level PA versus low level activity and BMC, BMD and BA. Children with an increased proportion of time in moderate to high-level activity as opposed to sedentary and low-level activity achieved positive effects on BMC, BMD and BA.

Electrocaloric effects in the lead-free Ba (Zr ,Ti )O3 relaxor ferroelectric from atomistic simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Zhijun; Prokhorenko, Sergei; Prosandeev, Sergey; Nahas, Y.; Wang, D.; Íñiguez, Jorge; Defay, E.; Bellaiche, L.

2017-07-01

Atomistic effective Hamiltonian simulations are used to investigate electrocaloric (EC) effects in the lead-free Ba (Zr0.5Ti0.5)O3 (BZT) relaxor ferroelectric. We find that the EC coefficient varies nonmonotonically with the field at any temperature, presenting a maximum that can be traced back to the behavior of BZT's polar nanoregions. We also introduce a simple Landau-based model that reproduces the EC behavior of BZT as a function of field and temperature, and which is directly applicable to other compounds. Finally, we confirm that, for low temperatures (i.e., in nonergodic conditions), the usual indirect approach to measure the EC response provides an estimate that differs quantitatively from a direct evaluation of the field-induced temperature change.

Bacoside A downregulates matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 in DEN-induced hepatocellular carcinoma.

PubMed

Janani, Panneerselvam; Sivakumari, Kanakarajan; Geetha, Arumugam; Yuvaraj, Sambandam; Parthasarathy, Chandrakesan

2010-03-01

Cancer metastasis is a complex multi-step process, responsible for a majority of cancer-related deaths by affecting the critical organs and causing complications in therapies. Hepatocellular carcinoma is a multi-factorial disease and is the third most common cause of cancer related mortality worldwide. Clinical and experimental studies have shown that MMP-2 and MMP-9 are involved in tumor invasion and metastases and their elevated expression has been associated with poor prognosis. Our recent studies showed a strong anti-oxidant and hepatoprotective effects of bacoside A (BA) against carcinogen. Nevertheless the effect of BA on the activities and expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 during hepatocellular carcinoma is not yet recognized. Therefore, the present study was designed to assess the same. Results of gelatin zymography study showed that BA co-treatment significantly decreased the activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9, which is increased during hepatocellular carcinoma. Further immunoblot analysis showed decreased expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in rats co-treated with BA compared to DEN-induced hepatocellular carcinoma. Our results reveal that BA exerts its anti-metastatic effect against DEN-induced hepatocellular carcinoma by inhibiting the activities and expressions of MMP-2 and MMP-9. 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Electrical and magnetic properties of La0.67Ba0.33Mn1- x (Me) x O3 perovskite manganites: case of manganese substituted by trivalent (Me = Cr) and tetravalent (Me = Ti) elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oumezzine, Marwène; Peña, Octavio; Kallel, Sami; Kallel, Nabil; Guizouarn, Thierry; Gouttefangeas, Francis; Oumezzine, Mohamed

2014-03-01

The effects of non-magnetic Ti4+ substitution on the structural, electrical and magnetic properties of La0.67Ba0.33Mn1- x Ti x O3 (0≤ x≤0.1) are investigated and compared to those existing in La0.67Ba0.33Mn1- x Cr x O3 (magnetic Cr3+). The structural refinement by the Rietveld method revealed that Ti-doped samples crystallize in the cubic lattice with space group , while samples with Cr crystallize in the hexagonal setting of the rhombohedral space group for identical contents of dopant. The most relevant structural features are an increase of the lattice parameters, of the cell volume and of the inter-ionic distances with increasing Ti doping level. Both series of samples show a decrease of the paramagnetic-ferromagnetic transition temperature when the amount of chromium or titanium increases. Transport measurements show that when increasing the metal doping, the resistivity increases whereas the metallic behavior of the parent compound La0.67Ba0.33MnO3 is destroyed. For a substitution higher than 5 at.% of Ti and 10 at.% of Cr, the samples exhibit a semiconducting behavior in the whole range of temperature, for which the electronic transport can be explained by variable range hopping and/or small polaron hopping models.

Dielectric maximum temperature non-monotonic behavior in unaxial Sr0.75Ba0.25Nb2O6 relaxor seen via acoustic emission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dul'kin, E.; Kojima, S.; Roth, M.

2011-08-01

[100] oriented Sr0.75Ba0.25Nb2O6 relaxor crystals have been studied by means of acoustic emission (AE) over a wide 20-400 °C temperature range. Both the Burns temperature, Td = 350 °C, and the intermediate temperature, T* = 183°C, and the susceptibility maximum temperature, Tm (59 °C on heating and 47 °C on cooling), have been successfully detected. Dependent upon the external electric field, the Tm exhibits a local minimum near 0.25 kV/cm accompanied by pronounced AE maximum in a manner which had recently been detected in Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.33PbTiO3 by Dul'kin et al. [Appl. Phys. Lett. 94, 252904 (2009)] and in Pb(Sc1/2Ta1/2)O3 by Dul'kin et al. [Phys. Rev. B 82, 180101(R) (2010)], whereas the T* increases monotonically, similar to that which had recently been revealed in BaTiO3 by Dul'kin et al. [Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 032903 (2010)] with a rate of 7.5 K cm/kV. An observed Tm behavior is discussed from the point of view of the existence of the random electric field components along the [100] direction in Sr0.75Ba0.25Nb2O6 crystals.

Sintering of BaCe(sub 0.85)Y(sub 0.15)O(sub 3-delta) with/without SrTiO3 Dopant

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dynys, F.; Sayir, A.; Heimann, P. J.

2004-01-01

The perovskite composition, BaCe(sub 0.85)Y(sub 0.15)O(sub 3-delta), displays excellent protonic conduction at high temperatures making it a desirable candidate for hydrogen separation membranes. This paper reports on the sintering behavior of BaCe(sub 0.85)Y(sub 0.15)O(sub 3-delta) powders doped with SrTiO3. Two methods were used to synthesize BaCe(sub 0.85)Y(sub 0.15)O(sub 3-delta) powders: (1) solid state reaction and (2) wet chemical co-precipitation. Co-precipitated powder crystallized into the perovskite phase at 1000 C for 4 hrs. Complete reaction and crystallization of the perovskite phase by solid state was achieved by calcining at 1200 C for 24 hrs. Solid state synthesis produced a coarser powder with an average particle size of 1.3 microns and surface area of 0.74 sq m/g. Co-precipitation produced a finer powder with a average particle size of 65 nm and surface area of 14.9 sq m/g. Powders were doped with 1, 2, 5, and 10 mole % SrTiO3. Samples were sintered at 1450 C, 1550 C and 1650 C. SrTiO3 enhances sintering, optimal dopant level is different for powders synthesized by solid state and co-precipitation. Both powders exhibit similar grain growth behavior. Dopant levels of 5 and 10 mole % SrTiO3 significantly enhances the grain size.

Color-tunable photoluminescence and energy transfer properties of single-phase Ba{sub 10}(PO{sub 4}){sub 6}O:Eu{sup 2+}, Mn{sup 2+} phosphors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guo, Qingfeng; Liao, Libing, E-mail: clayl@cugb.edu.cn; Mei, Lefu, E-mail: mlf@cugb.edu.cn

2015-12-15

Single-phase Ba{sub 10−x−y}(PO{sub 4}){sub 6}O:xEu{sup 2+},yMn{sup 2+} samples with apatite structure have been synthesized via a solid-state reaction method. The phase structure, luminescence properties, lifetime, PL thermal stability, as well as fluorescence decay curves of the samples were investigated. Effective energy transfer occurs from Eu{sup 2+} to Mn{sup 2+} in Ba{sub 10}(PO{sub 4}){sub 6}O and a possible mechanism of the energy-transfer from Eu{sup 2+} to Mn{sup 2+} is proposed. The critical distances R{sub c} was calculated by concentration quenching and turned out to be about 0.817 nm (x{sub c}=0.21). The CIE and thermally stable luminescence behaviors of Ba{sub 9.94}(PO{sub 4}){submore » 6}O:0.06Eu{sup 2+} phosphor were also studied in detail. All the results indicate that Ba{sub 10−x−y}(PO{sub 4}){sub 6}O:xEu{sup 2+}, yMn{sup 2+} phosphors have potential applications as near UV-convertible phosphors for white light-emitting diodes. - Graphical abstract: Crystal structure and luminescence property of Ba{sub 10−x−y}(PO{sub 4}){sub 6}O:xEu{sup 2+},yMn{sup 2+} have been discussed. - Highlights: • Ba{sub 10−x−y}(PO{sub 4}){sub 6}O:xEu{sup 2+},yMn{sup 2+} was firstly reported. • Ba{sub 9.94}(PO{sub 4}){sub 6}O:0.06Eu{sup 2+} exhibits high thermal quenching resistance. • The energy transfer between Eu{sup 2+} and Mn{sup 2+} was investigated.« less

Barium isotope fractionation during witherite (BaCO3) dissolution, precipitation and at equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mavromatis, Vasileios; van Zuilen, Kirsten; Purgstaller, Bettina; Baldermann, Andre; Nägler, Thomas F.; Dietzel, Martin

2016-10-01

This study examines the behavior of Ba isotope fractionation between witherite and fluid during mineral dissolution, precipitation and at chemical equilibrium. Experiments were performed in batch reactors at 25 °C in 10-2 M NaCl solution where the pH was adjusted by continuous bubbling of a water saturated gas phase of CO2 or atmospheric air. During witherite dissolution no Ba isotope fractionation was observed between solid and fluid. In contrast, during witherite precipitation, caused by a pH increase, a preferential uptake of the lighter 134Ba isotopomer in the solid phase was observed. In this case, the isotope fractionation factor αwitherite-fluid is calculated to be 0.99993 ± 0.00004 (or Δ137/134Bawitherite-fluid ≈ -0.07 ± 0.04‰, 2 sd). The most interesting feature of this study, however, is that after the attainment of chemical equilibrium, the Ba isotope composition of the aqueous phase is progressively becoming lighter, indicating a continuous exchange of Ba2+ ions between witherite and fluid. Mass balance calculations indicate that the detachment of Ba from the solid is not only restricted to the outer surface layer of the solid, but affects several (∼7 unit cells) subsurface layers of the crystal. This observation comes in excellent agreement with the concept of a dynamic system at chemical equilibrium in a mineral-fluid system, denoting that the time required for the achievement of isotopic equilibrium in the witherite-fluid system is longer compared to that observed for chemical equilibrium. Overall, these results indicate that the isotopic composition of Ba bearing carbonates in natural environments may be altered due to changes in fluid composition without a net dissolution/precipitation to be observed.

Factors Influencing Biogenic Amines Accumulation in Dairy Products

PubMed Central

Linares, Daniel M.; del Río, Beatriz; Ladero, Victor; Martínez, Noelia; Fernández, María; Martín, María Cruz; Álvarez, Miguel A.

2012-01-01

Fermented foods are among the food products more often complained of having caused episodes of biogenic amines (BA) poisoning. Concerning milk-based fermented foods, cheese is the main product likely to contain potentially harmful levels of BA, specially tyramine, histamine, and putrescine. Prompted by the increasing awareness of the risks related to dietary uptake of high biogenic amine loads, in this review we report all those elaboration and processing technological aspects affecting BA biosynthesis and accumulation in dairy foods. Improved knowledge of the factors involved in the synthesis and accumulation of BA should lead to a reduction in their incidence in milk products. Synthesis of BA is possible only when three conditions converge: (i) availability of the substrate amino acids; (ii) presence of microorganisms with the appropriate catabolic pathway activated; and (iii) environmental conditions favorable to the decarboxylation activity. These conditions depend on several factors such as milk treatment (pasteurization), use of starter cultures, NaCl concentration, time, and temperature of ripening and preservation, pH, temperature, or post-ripening technological processes, which will be discussed in this chapter. PMID:22783233

Probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens mediate M1 macrophage polarization in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages.

PubMed

Ji, Jian; Hu, Sheng-Lan; Cui, Zhi-Wen; Li, Wei-Fen

2013-05-01

Depending on the microenvironment, macrophages can acquire distinct functional phenotypes, referred to as classically activated M1 and M2. M1 macrophages are considered potent effector cells that kill intracellular pathogens, and M2 macrophages promote the resolution of wound healing. In this study, we are interested to know whether probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (Ba) can induce macrophages polarization. Real-time fluorescence PCR analysis demonstrated that the expression of IL-1β, iNOS, TNF-α and IL-6 genes for M1 macrophages was significantly increased at 1.5 h after probiotic Ba treatment compared to the probiotic Ba-free treatment (P < 0.01), whereas the expression of M2 macrophage marker genes (Arg1, Fizz1, MR, Ym1) was decreased (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the phagocytic activity was dramatically increased in the Ba-treated BMDMs using a FITC-dextran endocytosis assay. Together, these findings indicated that probiotic Ba facilitated polarization of M1 macrophages and enhanced its phagocytic capacity. The results expanded our knowledge about probiotic function-involved macrophage polarization.

North Pacific barium isotope distributions illustrate importance of ocean mixing in controlling barium distributions despite weak regional circulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geyman, B.; Auro, M. E. E.; LaVigne, M.; Ptacek, J. L.; Horner, T. J.

2016-12-01

The dissolved behavior of barium in the ocean exhibits a `refractory' nutrient-type profile similar to that of silicon, which has led to the use of Ba as a proxy for paleo-productivity and carbon cycling. Marine barium cycling appears to be controlled by the precipitation of micron-scale barite crystals in the mesopelagic and their subsequent dissolution throughout the water column, which has been shown to impart an isotopic signature that may itself harbor information about ocean circulation and export production. However, the utility of Ba-based proxies in chemical and paleoceanography relies on a sound understanding of the processes governing marine barium distributions, which remain unresolved. Here, we report the first full oceanographic depth profile of barium isotopes from the North Pacific Ocean (30 N, 140 W), which offers the ability to resolve biogeochemical cycling from mixing processes in a given water mass. Our data confirm findings from other oceanographic regions showing a close coupling between increasing [Ba] and decreasing Ba-isotope compositions with depth. Unlike other profiles however, this coupling is restricted to the upper 1,000 m of the North Pacific water column, with samples from between 1,000 m and 4,500 m showing a roughly 60 % increase in [Ba] but essentially no changes in their Ba-isotope compositions (within measurement uncertainty of 15 ppm/AMU). As with Atlantic data, samples spanning the entire profile define a linear trend (R2 > 0.9) when plotted as Ba-isotope compositions against 1/[Ba], indicating that conservative mixing can account for much of the Ba-isotope variation in the North Pacific water column. Overall, these findings highlight the utility of stable isotope measurements to illuminate the processes governing nutrient cycling, and support the critical role of large-scale ocean circulation in setting `refractory' nutrient distributions. These results have particular relevance to regions with relatively weak overturning circulation, such as the North Pacific, because they elucidate the mechanistic basis that underpins Ba/Ca and other Ba-based tracers of the marine carbon cycle in paleoceanography.

Structural, morphological and Raman studies on hybridized PVDF/BaTiO3 nanocomposites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rajamanickam, N.; Jayakumar, K.; Ramachandran, K.

2017-05-01

Hybridized nanocomposites of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and nano - barium titanate (BaTiO3) were prepared using the solution casting method for different concentrations of nano-BaTiO3 and were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The flower like structure for morphology was observed in SEM. Raman analysis showed that the modified BaTiO3 particles, due to higher specific surfaces, induce, predominantly, the crystallization of the electrically active β-phase of PVDF, while the initial micron size particles induce the formation of the most common but non-polar α-crystal form.

The laser-diode-excited 5 d-4 f luminescence of Ce3+ and Pr3+ ions embedded into a BaR2F8 matrix

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pushkar', A. A.; Uvarova, T. V.; Kozlova, N. S.; Kuznetsov, S. Yu.; Uvarova, A. G.

2013-06-01

We show the possibility of obtaining UV luminescence from 5 d-4 f transitions of rare-earth ions in the BaY2F8: (Yb3+, Pr3+, Ce3+) crystal under upconversion excitation by standard laser diodes with lasing wavelengths of 960, 808, and 840 nm. Various upconversion mechanisms of pumping for populating the higher-lying energy levels of the active ions, as well as methods of adaptation of the active medium BaY2F8: (Yb3+, Pr3+, Ce3+) to these mechanisms, are considered.

Betulinyl Sulfamates as Anticancer Agents and Radiosensitizers in Human Breast Cancer Cells.

PubMed

Bache, Matthias; Münch, Christin; Güttler, Antje; Wichmann, Henri; Theuerkorn, Katharina; Emmerich, Daniel; Paschke, Reinhard; Vordermark, Dirk

2015-11-03

Betulinic acid (BA), a natural compound of birch bark, is cytotoxic for many tumors. Recently, a betulinyl sulfamate was described that inhibits carbonic anhydrases (CA), such as CAIX, an attractive target for tumor-selective therapy strategies in hypoxic cancer cells. Data on combined CAIX inhibition with radiotherapy are rare. In the human breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB231 and MCF7, the effects of BA and betulinyl sulfamates on cellular and radiobiological behavior under normoxia and hypoxia were evaluated. The two most effective betulinyl sulfamates CAI 1 and CAI 3 demonstrated a 1.8-2.8-fold higher cytotoxicity than BA under normoxia in breast cancer cells, with IC50 values between 11.1 and 18.1 µM. BA exhibits its strongest cytotoxicity with IC50 values of 8.2 and 16.4 µM under hypoxia. All three substances show a dose-dependent increase in apoptosis, inhibition of migration, and inhibition of hypoxia-induced gene expression. In combination with irradiation, betulinyl sulfamates act as radiosensitizers, with DMF10 values of 1.47 (CAI 1) and 1.75 (CAI 3) under hypoxia in MDA-MB231 cells. BA showed additive effects in combination with irradiation. Taken together; our results suggest that BA and betulinyl sulfamates seem to be attractive substances to combine with radiotherapy; particularly for hypoxic breast cancer.

Betulinyl Sulfamates as Anticancer Agents and Radiosensitizers in Human Breast Cancer Cells

PubMed Central

Bache, Matthias; Münch, Christin; Güttler, Antje; Wichmann, Henri; Theuerkorn, Katharina; Emmerich, Daniel; Paschke, Reinhard; Vordermark, Dirk

2015-01-01

Betulinic acid (BA), a natural compound of birch bark, is cytotoxic for many tumors. Recently, a betulinyl sulfamate was described that inhibits carbonic anhydrases (CA), such as CAIX, an attractive target for tumor-selective therapy strategies in hypoxic cancer cells. Data on combined CAIX inhibition with radiotherapy are rare. In the human breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB231 and MCF7, the effects of BA and betulinyl sulfamates on cellular and radiobiological behavior under normoxia and hypoxia were evaluated. The two most effective betulinyl sulfamates CAI 1 and CAI 3 demonstrated a 1.8–2.8-fold higher cytotoxicity than BA under normoxia in breast cancer cells, with IC50 values between 11.1 and 18.1 µM. BA exhibits its strongest cytotoxicity with IC50 values of 8.2 and 16.4 µM under hypoxia. All three substances show a dose-dependent increase in apoptosis, inhibition of migration, and inhibition of hypoxia-induced gene expression. In combination with irradiation, betulinyl sulfamates act as radiosensitizers, with DMF10 values of 1.47 (CAI 1) and 1.75 (CAI 3) under hypoxia in MDA-MB231 cells. BA showed additive effects in combination with irradiation. Taken together; our results suggest that BA and betulinyl sulfamates seem to be attractive substances to combine with radiotherapy; particularly for hypoxic breast cancer. PMID:26540049

Large linear magnetoresistance in a new Dirac material BaMnBi2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yi-Yan; Yu, Qiao-He; Xia, Tian-Long

2016-10-01

Dirac semimetal is a class of materials that host Dirac fermions as emergent quasi-particles. Dirac cone-type band structure can bring interesting properties such as quantum linear magnetoresistance and large mobility in the materials. In this paper, we report the synthesis of high quality single crystals of BaMnBi2 and investigate the transport properties of the samples. BaMnBi2 is a metal with an antiferromagnetic transition at T N = 288 K. The temperature dependence of magnetization displays different behavior from CaMnBi2 and SrMnBi2, which suggests the possible different magnetic structure of BaMnBi2. The Hall data reveals electron-type carriers and a mobility μ(5 K) = 1500 cm2/V·s. Angle-dependent magnetoresistance reveals the quasi-two-dimensional (2D) Fermi surface in BaMnBi2. A crossover from semiclassical MR ˜ H 2 dependence in low field to MR ˜ H dependence in high field, which is attributed to the quantum limit of Dirac fermions, has been observed in magnetoresistance. Our results indicate the existence of Dirac fermions in BaMnBi2. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11574391), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Research Funds of Renmin University of China (Grant No. 14XNLQ07).

Ba2F2Fe2+ 0.5Fe3+ S3: a two-dimensional inhomogeneous mixed valence iron compound.

PubMed

Kabbour, Houria; Cario, Laurent

2008-03-03

The structure of the new mixed valence compound Ba2F2Fe1.5S3 was solved by means of single crystal X-ray analysis. It crystallizes in an orthorhombic cell, in the Pnma space group with the cell parameters a = 12.528(3) A, b = 18.852(4) A, and c = 6.0896(12) A. The structure is formed by the alternated stacking of fluorite type [Ba2F2]2+ blocks and the newly discovered [Fe1.5S3]2- blocks. This [Fe1.5S3]2- block exhibits a mixed valence of iron with Fe(+II) located in octahedrons and Fe(+III) in tetrahedrons. Preliminary susceptibility measurements suggest a low dimensional antiferromagnetic behavior.

The Integral Method, a new approach to quantify bactericidal activity.

PubMed

Gottardi, Waldemar; Pfleiderer, Jörg; Nagl, Markus

2015-08-01

The bactericidal activity (BA) of antimicrobial agents is generally derived from the results of killing assays. A reliable quantitative characterization and particularly a comparison of these substances, however, are impossible with this information. We here propose a new method that takes into account the course of the complete killing curve for assaying BA and that allows a clear-cut quantitative comparison of antimicrobial agents with only one number. The new Integral Method, based on the reciprocal area below the killing curve, reliably calculates an average BA [log10 CFU/min] and, by implementation of the agent's concentration C, the average specific bactericidal activity SBA=BA/C [log10 CFU/min/mM]. Based on experimental killing data, the pertaining BA and SBA values of exemplary active halogen compounds were established, allowing quantitative assertions. N-chlorotaurine (NCT), chloramine T (CAT), monochloramine (NH2Cl), and iodine (I2) showed extremely diverging SBA values of 0.0020±0.0005, 1.11±0.15, 3.49±0.22, and 291±137log10 CFU/min/mM, respectively, against Staphylococcus aureus. This immediately demonstrates an approximately 550-fold stronger activity of CAT, 1730-fold of NH2Cl, and 150,000-fold of I2 compared to NCT. The inferred quantitative assertions and conclusions prove the new method suitable for characterizing bactericidal activity. Its application comprises the effect of defined agents on various bacteria, the consequence of temperature shifts, the influence of varying drug structure, dose-effect relationships, ranking of isosteric agents, comparison of competing commercial antimicrobial formulations, and the effect of additives. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Lattice dynamics of BaFe 2 X 3 ( X = S , Se ) compounds

DOE PAGES

Popović, Z. V.; Šćepanović, M.; Lazarević, N.; ...

2015-02-27

We present the Raman scattering spectra of the S=2 spin ladder compounds BaFe₂X₃ (X=S,Se) in a temperature range between 20 and 400 K. Although the crystal structures of these two compounds are both orthorhombic and very similar, they are not isostructural. The unit cell of BaFe₂S₃ (BaFe₂Se₃) is base-centered Cmcm (primitive Pnma), giving 18 (36) modes to be observed in the Raman scattering experiment. We have detected almost all Raman active modes, predicted by factor group analysis, which can be observed from the cleavage planes of these compounds. Assignment of the observed Raman modes of BaFe₂S(Se)₃ is supported by themore » lattice dynamics calculations. The antiferromagnetic long-range spin ordering in BaFe₂Se₃ below T N=255K leaves a fingerprint both in the A 1g and B 3g phonon mode linewidth and energy.« less

Rapid ray motions in barium plasma clouds and auroras

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wescott, E. M.; Hallinan, T. J.; Stenbaek-Nielsen, H. C.; Swift, D. W.; Wallis, D. D.

1993-01-01

On two evenings in 1968, anomalous field-aligned brightenings or emission enhancements of up to 3X were observed to move rapidly through three different Ba(+) clouds over Andoya, Norway. Similar effects were observed in Ba(+) clouds released from rockets launched from Poker Flat, Alaska, on March 21, 1973 and on March 22, 1980. On these occasions, auroras on or near the Ba(+) L shell also exhibited active rapid ray motions, which prompts the assumption that the two phenomena are related and the expectation that an explanation of the rapid ray motions in the Ba(+) clouds would lead to a better understanding of the physics of auroral ray motions and the auroral atmosphere. Seven possible mechanisms to produce the observed moving emission enhancements are discussed. The observations provide strong evidence for the existence of transient electric fields of order 100 mV/m at altitudes as low as 200 km during active aurora with rapid ray motions.

Biliary atresia: unity in diversity.

PubMed

Petersen, Claus

2017-12-01

Biliary atresia (BA) is a rare disease of unknown origin and unsatisfying outcome. Single, multicenter and national evaluations of epidemiological and outcome data on BA have been periodically published over the course of decades. However, the diversity of the registered parameters and outcome measures impede comparability and cumulative analysis of these very worthwhile studies. Taking into account the fact that BA is a good example of translational research and transition of patients from pediatric surgery and hepatology to transplant surgery and hepatology in general, the interdisciplinary community should make every effort to develop a common platform upon which further activities are conducted. Extending this topic to BA-related diseases might increase the acceptance of research studies and enhance the effectiveness of any recommendations outlined therein. The use of the Internet-based communication platform and registry on http://www.bard-online.com represents the first step in this direction, and the database should be viewed as a helpful tool that guides further activities.

Origin of giant dielectric permittivity and weak ferromagnetic behavior in (1-x)LaFeO3-xBaTiO3 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.25) solid solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sreenivasu, T.; Tirupathi, P.; Prabahar, K.; Suryanarayana, B.; Chandra Mouli, K.

The solid solutions of (1-x) LaFeO3-xBaTiO3 (0.0≤x≤0.25) have been synthesized successfully by the conventional solid-state reaction method. Room temperature (RT) X-ray diffraction studies reveal the stabilization of orthorhombic phase with Pbnm space group. Complete solubility in the perovskite series was demonstrated up to x=0.25. The dielectric permittivity shows colossal dielectric constant (CDC) at RT. The doping of BaTiO3 in LaFeO3 exhibit pronounced CDC up to a composition x=0.15, further it starts to decrease. The frequency-dependent dielectric loss exhibits polaronic conduction, which can attribute to presence of multiple valence of iron. The relaxation frequency and polaronic conduction mechanism was shifted towards RT as function of x. Moreover, large magnetic moment with weak ferromagnetic behavior is observed in doped LaFeO3 solid solution, which might be the destruction of spin cycloid structure due to insertion of Ti in Fe-O-Fe network of LaFeO3.

Thermoelectric power of high-pressure synthesized CuBa{sub 2}Ca{sub 3}Cu{sub 4}O{sub 11{minus}{delta}}

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, C.; Jin, C.; Yamauchi, H.

We report measurements of thermoelectric power (TEP) for high-pressure synthesized CuBa{sub 2}Ca{sub 3}Cu{sub 4}O{sub 11{minus}{delta}} superconductors. The magnitude of TEP for the sample with {ital T}{sub {ital c},zero}=115.9 K is very small and shows a sign crossover at {approximately}160 K. The TEP shows a peak behavior and displays an approximately linear temperature dependence with a negative slope {minus}0.033 {mu}V/K{sup 2} for 120{le}{ital T}{le}240 K. These features resemble those for other known high-{ital T}{sub {ital c}} cuprate superconductors, in particular {ital S}{sub {ital a}} in the {ital a} direction for an untwinned YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7{minus}{delta}} single crystal and polycrystalline Tl-2201more » samples. A brief discussion is given on the TEP behavior in comparison with CuBa{sub 2}YCu{sub 2}O{sub 7{minus}{delta}} cuprate superconductors by considering their similar structure of building blocks and type of charge reservoir. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}« less

Structural and multiferroic properties of Ba2+ doped BiFeO3 nanoparticles synthesized via sol-gel method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shisode, M. V.; Kharat, Prashant B.; Bhoyar, Dhananjay N.; Vinayak, Vithal; Babrekar, M. K.; Jadhav, K. M.

2018-05-01

Ba2+ doped Bismuth ferrite nanoparticles having general formula Bi1-xBaxFeO3 (where, x = 0.00 and 0.20) were successfully synthesized by sol gel method, using nitrates as a starting material. Ethylene glycol was used as a solvent. The synthesized powder was sintered at 650°C for 4 hours to obtain pure phase BFO. Leaching with dilute nitric acid (HNO3) and distilled water (H2O) is done to remove the impurities. The structural, morphological, magnetic and ferroelectric properties were systematically investigated using standard characterization techniques like X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) and room temperature magnetic behavior of the samples was studied using pulse field hysteresis loop tracer technique showing increase in saturation magnetizaion. P-E loop confirms the ferroelectric behavior of prepared nanoparticles. The coexistence of ferromagnetic and ferroelectric hysteresis loops in BFO and Bi0.8Ba0.2FeO3 nanoparticles samples at room temperature; it indicates that the samples are potential candidates for information storage and spintronics devices. The increase in magnetic properties may be important for practical application at room temperature.

Neurobiological evidence for attention bias to food, emotional dysregulation, disinhibition and deficient somatosensory awareness in obesity with binge eating disorder.

PubMed

Aviram-Friedman, Roni; Astbury, Nerys; Ochner, Christopher N; Contento, Isobel; Geliebter, Allan

2018-02-01

To refine the biobehavioral markers of binge eating disorder (BED). We conducted fMRI brain scans using images of high energy processed food (HEPF), low energy unprocessed food (LEUF), or non-foods (NF) in 42 adults (obese with BED [obese -BED; n=13] and obese with no BED [obese non-BED; n=29]) selected via ads. Two blood oxygenated level dependent (BOLD) signal contrast maps were examined: food versus nonfood, and HEPF versus LEUF. In addition, score differences on the disinhibition scale were correlated with BOLD signals. food versus nonfood showed greater BOLD activity for BED in emotional, motivational and somatosensory brain areas: insula, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), Brodmann areas (BA) 19 & 32, inferior parietal lobule (IPL), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and lingual, postcentral, middle temporal and cuneate gyri (p≤0.005; k≥88). HEPF versus LEUF showed greater BOLD activity for BED in inhibitory brain regions: BA 6, middle and superior frontal gyri (p<0.01; k≥119). The groups also differed in the relationships between disinhibition and BOLD activity in the postcentral gyrus (PCG; p=0.04) and ACC-BA 32 (p=0.02). For all participants jointly, PCG BOLD amplitude predicted greater disinhibition (p=0.04). Food images elicited neural activity indicating attention bias (cuneate & PCG), emotion dysregulation (BA 19 & 32), and disinhibition (MFG, BA6 & SFG) in obese with BED. These may help tailor a treatment for the obesity with BED phenotype. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Using gridded multimedia model to simulate spatial fate of Benzo[α]pyrene on regional scale.

PubMed

Liu, Shijie; Lu, Yonglong; Wang, Tieyu; Xie, Shuangwei; Jones, Kevin C; Sweetman, Andrew J

2014-02-01

Predicting the environmental multimedia fate is an essential step in the process of assessing the human exposure and health impacts of chemicals released into the environment. Multimedia fate models have been widely applied to calculate the fate and distribution of chemicals in the environment, which can serve as input to a human exposure model. In this study, a grid based multimedia fugacity model at regional scale was developed together with a case study modeling the fate and transfer of Benzo[α]pyrene (BaP) in Bohai coastal region, China. Based on the estimated emission and in-site survey in 2008, the BaP concentrations in air, vegetation, soil, fresh water, fresh water sediment and coastal water as well as the transfer fluxes were derived under the steady-state assumption. The model results were validated through comparison between the measured and modeled concentrations of BaP. The model results indicated that the predicted concentrations of BaP in air, fresh water, soil and sediment generally agreed with field observations. Model predictions suggest that soil was the dominant sink of BaP in terrestrial systems. Flow from air to soil, vegetation and costal water were three major pathways of BaP inter-media transport processes. Most of the BaP entering the sea was transferred by air flow, which was also the crucial driving force in the spatial distribution processes of BaP. The Yellow River, Liaohe River and Daliao River played an important role in the spatial transformation processes of BaP. Compared with advection outflow, degradation was more important in removal processes of BaP. Sensitivities of the model estimates to input parameters were tested. The result showed that emission rates, compartment dimensions, transport velocity and degradation rates of BaP were the most influential parameters for the model output. Monte Carlo simulation was carried out to determine parameter uncertainty, from which the coefficients of variation for the estimated BaP concentrations in air and soil were computed, which were 0.46 and 1.53, respectively. The model output-concentrations of BaP in multimedia environment can be used in human exposure and risk assessment in the Bohai coastal region. The results also provide significant indicators on the likely dominant fate, influence range of emission and transport processes determining behavior of BaP in the Bohai coastal region, which is instrumental in human exposure and risk assessment in the region. © 2013.

Neural mechanisms of voluntary and involuntary recall: a PET study.

PubMed

Hall, Nicoline Marie; Gjedde, Albert; Kupers, Ron

2008-01-25

Neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies on episodic memory retrieval have primarily focused on volitional memory tasks. However, some conscious memories arise involuntarily, i.e. without a strategic retrieval attempt, yet little is known about the neural network underlying involuntary episodic memory. The aim of this study was to determine whether voluntary and involuntary recall are mediated by separate cortical networks. We used positron emission tomography (PET) to measure changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in 12 healthy subjects during voluntary and involuntary cued recall of pictures and a control condition with no episodic memory requirements. Involuntary recall was elicited by using an incidental memory task. Compared to the control condition, voluntary and involuntary recall were both associated with significant regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) increases in posterior cingulate gyrus (PCG; BA 23), left precuneus (BA 7), and right parahippocampal gyrus (BA 35/36). In addition, rCBF in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC; BA 8/9) and left precuneus (BA 7) was significantly larger during voluntary compared to involuntary recall, while rCBF was enhanced in left dorsolateral PFC (BA 9) during involuntary recall. The findings corroborate an association of the right PFC with a strategic component of episodic memory retrieval. Moreover, they show for the first time that it is possible to activate the medial temporal lobe, the PCG, and the precuneus, regions normally associated with retrieval success, without this strategic element. The relatively higher activity in precuneus during voluntary compared to involuntary recall suggests that activity in this region co-varies not only with retrieval success but also with retrieval intentionality.

Crystal structure of glycoside hydrolase family 127 β-L-arabinofuranosidase from Bifidobacterium longum

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ito, Tasuku; Saikawa, Kyo; Kim, Seonah

2014-04-25

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • HypBA1 β-L-arabinofuranosidase belongs to glycoside hydrolase family 127. • Crystal structure of HypBA1 was determined. • HypBA1 consists of a catalytic barrel and two additional β-sandwich domains. • The active site contains a Zn{sup 2+} coordinated by glutamate and three cysteines. • A possible reaction mechanism involving cysteine as the nucleophile is proposed. - Abstract: Enzymes acting on β-linked arabinofuranosides have been unknown until recently, in spite of wide distribution of β-L-arabinofuranosyl oligosaccharides in plant cells. Recently, a β-L-arabinofuranosidase from the glycoside hydrolase family 127 (HypBA1) was discovered in the newly characterized degradation system ofmore » hydroxyproline-linked β-L-arabinooligosaccharides in the bacterium Bifidobacterium longum. Here, we report the crystal structure of HypBA1 in the ligand-free and β-L-arabinofuranose complex forms. The structure of HypBA1 consists of a catalytic barrel domain and two additional β-sandwich domains, with one β-sandwich domain involved in the formation of a dimer. Interestingly, there is an unprecedented metal-binding motif with Zn{sup 2+} coordinated by glutamate and three cysteines in the active site. The glutamate residue is located far from the anomeric carbon of the β-L-arabinofuranose ligand, but one cysteine residue is appropriately located for nucleophilic attack for glycosidic bond cleavage. The residues around the active site are highly conserved among GH127 members. Based on biochemical experiments and quantum mechanical calculations, a possible reaction mechanism involving cysteine as the nucleophile is proposed.« less

Analysis of the Protective Biochemical and Pathologic Effects of Aminoguanidine on an Experimental Aspiration Pneumonitis Model Induced by Bile Acids

PubMed Central

Karli, Rifat; Alacam, Hasan; Duran, Latif; Alici, Omer; Kati, Celal; Karli, Arzu; Guzel, Ahmet

2012-01-01

Background Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) is a common clinical pathology detected in childhood. Bile acids (BAs) are present in reflux and cause various pathologies in the esophagus, the larynx, and the lungs. Objective We aimed to show if aminoguanidine (AG) contributes to the biochemical and histopathologic treatment of experimental aspiration pneumonitis induced by BAs. Methods Twenty-eight female Sprague Dawley rats were used. There were 4 groups in the study: (1) group aspirated with 0.9% saline (n = 7), (2) group aspirated with 0.9% saline and treated with AG (n = 7), (3) group aspirated with a solution of 10 mg/kg taurocholic acid and 5 mg/kg taurochenodeoxycholate (n = 7), and (4) group aspirated with BA and treated with AG (n = 7). The saline and BA solutions were administered as 1 mL/kg intratracheally. The AG was administered intraperitoneally twice a day at a 150 mg/kg dose for 7 days. The different histopathologic and biochemical parameters were analyzed. Results Clara cell protein 16 and malondialdehyde levels were found to be significantly higher in the BA group than in the group where saline was administered; however, they were significantly lower in the BA + AG group than in the BA group. The total superoxide dismutase activity decreased significantly in the BA group compared with the group where saline was administered. A significant increase in superoxide dismutase activity was observed in the BA + AG group when compared with the group where only BA was administered. When the group where BA was administered solely was compared with the group where saline was administered, peribronchial inflammatory cell infiltration, alveolar septal infiltration, alveolar histiocytes, interstitial fibrosis, and granuloma were significantly higher in the BA group than in the saline group. When the BA + AG group was compared with the BA group, peribronchial inflammatory cell infiltration, alveolar septal infiltration, alveolar histiocytes, interstitial fibrosis, and granuloma were found to be significantly lower. Conclusions Oxidant stress increases and antioxidant capacity decreases in pneumonitis induced by BAs. AG administration as an antioxidant helps in recovery, both biochemically and histopathologically. Consequently, AG seems to be an alternative that should be considered in a conservative approach to treating aspiration pneumonitis. PMID:24653522

Nephroprotective activity of Bilvādi agada in gentamicin induced nephrotoxicity in male Wistar rats.

PubMed

Kanna, Sangeeta; Hiremath, S K; Unger, Banappa S

2015-01-01

Gentamicin (GM) nephrotoxicity accounts for 10-30% of the acute renal failure (ARF) among drug-induced ARF. In Ayurveda such side effects are considered as the poisonous effects of low potent poisons called gara viṣa. Bilvādi agada (BA), a classical formulation is indicated in gara viṣa and most of its ingredients have proven for their nephroprotective activity. The aim was to evaluate the effect of BA in GM-induced nephrotoxicity in male Wistar rats. BA, GM, normal saline were procured from standard companies. Eighteen male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups, viz. Control group which received normal saline intraperitoneal (i.p.) daily for 8 days; toxic group received GM 80 mg/kg/day i.p. for 8 days, and trial group received both GM 80 mg/kg/day i.p. and BA 216 mg/each rat weighing ~200 g orally 1 h after administration of GM. All the values were expressed as mean ± standard error and data were analyzed by applying one-way analysis of variance followed by Dunnett's test for multiple comparison. BA treated group showed a significant change (P < 0.05) in levels of serum creatinine, urine creatinine, and urine potassium. There was no significant change (P > 0.05) seen in serum potassium, sodium, chloride, calcium and phosphorus and urine sodium, chloride in all three groups. Glomerular congestion, interstitial edema, tubular necrosis, interstitial hemorrhage was reduced in BA treated group. The results of this study indicate that BA reduces GM-induced nephrotoxicity and it may be due to anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, diuretic and anti-oxidant properties of drugs. Further studies are necessary to explore the exact mechanism of BA in nephroprotection.

Nephroprotective activity of Bilvādi agada in gentamicin induced nephrotoxicity in male Wistar rats

PubMed Central

Kanna, Sangeeta; Hiremath, S. K.; Unger, Banappa S.

2015-01-01

Background: Gentamicin (GM) nephrotoxicity accounts for 10–30% of the acute renal failure (ARF) among drug-induced ARF. In Ayurveda such side effects are considered as the poisonous effects of low potent poisons called gara viṣa. Bilvādi agada (BA), a classical formulation is indicated in gara viṣa and most of its ingredients have proven for their nephroprotective activity. Aim: The aim was to evaluate the effect of BA in GM-induced nephrotoxicity in male Wistar rats. Materials and Methods: BA, GM, normal saline were procured from standard companies. Settings and Designs: Eighteen male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups, viz. Control group which received normal saline intraperitoneal (i.p.) daily for 8 days; toxic group received GM 80 mg/kg/day i.p. for 8 days, and trial group received both GM 80 mg/kg/day i.p. and BA 216 mg/each rat weighing ~200 g orally 1 h after administration of GM. Statistics: All the values were expressed as mean ± standard error and data were analyzed by applying one-way analysis of variance followed by Dunnett's test for multiple comparison. Results: BA treated group showed a significant change (P < 0.05) in levels of serum creatinine, urine creatinine, and urine potassium. There was no significant change (P > 0.05) seen in serum potassium, sodium, chloride, calcium and phosphorus and urine sodium, chloride in all three groups. Glomerular congestion, interstitial edema, tubular necrosis, interstitial hemorrhage was reduced in BA treated group. The results of this study indicate that BA reduces GM-induced nephrotoxicity and it may be due to anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, diuretic and anti-oxidant properties of drugs. Further studies are necessary to explore the exact mechanism of BA in nephroprotection. PMID:26120225

Balanites aegyptiaca ameliorates insulin secretion and decreases pancreatic apoptosis in diabetic rats: Role of SAPK/JNK pathway.

PubMed

Hassanin, Kamel M A; Mahmoud, Mohamed O; Hassan, Hossam M; Abdel-Razik, Abdel-Razik H; Aziz, Lourin N; Rateb, Mostafa E

2018-06-01

SAPK-JNK pathway performs a significant role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. Balanites aegyptiaca (BA) is used as an anti-diabetic agent in folk medicine however its hypoglycemic mechanism is not fully elucidated. The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of crude extract, butanol, and dichloromethane fractions from BA on the stress-activated protein kinase/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (SAPK-JNK) pathway in experimental diabetic rats. Six groups of male Wistar rats were included: normal control, diabetic, diabetic rats treated with crude, butanol or dichloromethane fraction from BA (50 mg/kg BW) and diabetic rats treated with gliclazide as a reference drug for one month. Our results suggested a protective role of treatment of diabetic rats with BA against oxidative stress-induced SAPK-JNK pathway. Moreover, BA treatment produced a reduction in plasma glucose, HbA 1c , lactic acid, lipid profile, malondialdehyde levels and produced an increase in insulin, reduced glutathione levels, catalase and superoxide dismutase activities compared with untreated diabetic rats. Moreover, it decreased apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1, c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1, protein 53 and increased insulin receptor substrate 1 in rat pancreas while it increased glucose transporter 4 in rat muscle. Analysis of BA extracts by LC-HRMS revealed the presence of different saponins with reported hypoglycemic effect. In conclusion, BA exerted hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, insulinotropic and antioxidant effects. Additionally, it reduced apoptosis in pancreatic β-cells and increased glucose uptake in muscle. These results suggest that the hypoglycemic effect of BA is due to the inhibition of the SAPK-JNK pathway. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Midgut GPI-anchored proteins with alkaline phosphatase activity from the cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) are putative receptors for the Cry1B protein of Bacillus thuringiensis.

PubMed

Martins, Erica Soares; Monnerat, Rose Gomes; Queiroz, Paulo Roberto; Dumas, Vinicius Fiuza; Braz, Shélida Vasconcelos; de Souza Aguiar, Raimundo Wagner; Gomes, Ana Cristina Menezes Mendes; Sánchez, Jorge; Bravo, Alejandra; Ribeiro, Bergmann Morais

2010-02-01

Cry toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are used for insect control. They interact with specific receptors located on the host cell surface and are activated by host proteases following receptor binding resulting in midgut epithelial cells lysis. In this work we had cloned, sequenced and expressed a cry1Ba toxin gene from the B thuringiensis S601 strain which was previously shown to be toxic to Anthonomus grandis, a cotton pest. The Cry1Ba6 protein expressed in an acrystaliferous B. thuringiensis strain was toxic to A. grandis in bioassays. The binding of Cry1Ba6 toxin to proteins located in the midgut brush border membrane of A. grandis was analyzed and we found that Cry1Ba6 binds to two proteins (62 and 65kDa) that showed alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. This work is the first report that shows the localization of Cry toxin receptors in the midgut cells of A. grandis. 2009. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Superconductivity in the Sn-Ba-Sr-Y-Cu-O system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aleksandrov, K. S.; Khrustalev, B. P.; Krivomazov, S. N.; Petrov, M. I.; Vasilyev, A. D.; Zwegintsev, S. A.

1991-01-01

After the discovery of high-T(sub c) superconductivity in the La-Ba-Cu-O compound, several families of superconducting oxides were synthesized. Here, researchers report the results of the search for superconductivity in the compounds based on tin which has a lone electron pair like Bi, Tl, and Pb. The following compounds were synthesized: Sn1Ba1Sr1Cu3O(sub x), Sn1Ba1Ca1Cu3O(sub x), Sn1Ba1Mg1Cu3O(sub x), Sn1Sr1Ca1Cu3O(sub x), Sn1Sr1Mg1Cu3O(sub x), and Sn1Ca1Mg1Cu3O(sub x). The initial components were oxides and carbonates of the appropriate elements. A standard firing-grinding procedure was used. Final heating was carried out at 960 C during 12 hours. Then the samples were cooled inside the furnace. All the synthesis cycles were carried out in air atmosphere. Among the synthesized compounds only Sn1Ba1Sr1Cu3O(sub x) showed remarkable conductivity. Other compounds were practically dielectrics. Presence of a possible superconductivity in Sn1Ba1Sr1Cu3O(sub x) was defined by using the Meissner effect. At low temperature a deviation from paramagnetic behavior is observed. The hysteresis loops obtained at lower temperature undoubtly testify to the presence of a superconductive phase in the sample. However, the part of the superconductive phase in the Sn1Ba1Sr1Cu3O(sub x) ceramic turned out to be small, less than 2 percent, which agrees with the estimation from magnetic data. In order to increase the content of the superconductive phase, two-valent cations Ba and Sr were partially substituted by univalent (K) and three-valent ones (Y).

Characterisation of Ba(OH){sub 2}–Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4}–blast furnace slag cement-like composites for the immobilisation of sulfate bearing nuclear wastes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mobasher, Neda; Bernal, Susan A.; Hussain, Oday H.

2014-12-15

Soluble sulfate ions in nuclear waste can have detrimental effects on cementitious wasteforms and disposal facilities based on Portland cement. As an alternative, Ba(OH){sub 2}–Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4}–blast furnace slag composites are studied for immobilisation of sulfate-bearing nuclear wastes. Calcium aluminosilicate hydrate (C–A–S–H) with some barium substitution is the main binder phase, with barium also present in the low solubility salts BaSO{sub 4} and BaCO{sub 3}, along with Ba-substituted calcium sulfoaluminate hydrates, and a hydrotalcite-type layered double hydroxide. This reaction product assemblage indicates that Ba(OH){sub 2} and Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4} act as alkaline activators and control the reaction of the slagmore » in addition to forming insoluble BaSO{sub 4}, and this restricts sulfate availability for further reaction as long as sufficient Ba(OH){sub 2} is added. An increased content of Ba(OH){sub 2} promotes a higher degree of reaction, and the formation of a highly cross-linked C–A–S–H gel. These Ba(OH){sub 2}–Na{sub 2}SO{sub 4}–blast furnace slag composite binders could be effective in the immobilisation of sulfate-bearing nuclear wastes.« less

Solar Twins and the Barium Puzzle

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reddy, Arumalla B. S.; Lambert, David L., E-mail: bala@astro.as.utexas.edu

Several abundance analyses of Galactic open clusters (OCs) have shown a tendency for Ba but not for other heavy elements (La−Sm) to increase sharply with decreasing age such that Ba was claimed to reach [Ba/Fe] ≃ +0.6 in the youngest clusters (ages < 100 Myr) rising from [Ba/Fe] = 0.00 dex in solar-age clusters. Within the formulation of the s -process, the difficulty to replicate higher Ba abundance and normal La−Sm abundances in young clusters is known as the barium puzzle. Here, we investigate the barium puzzle using extremely high-resolution and high signal-to-noise spectra of 24 solar twins and measuredmore » the heavy elements Ba, La, Ce, Nd, and Sm with a precision of 0.03 dex. We demonstrate that the enhanced Ba ii relative to La−Sm seen among solar twins, stellar associations, and OCs at young ages (<100 Myr) is unrelated to aspects of stellar nucleosynthesis but has resulted from overestimation of Ba by standard methods of LTE abundance analysis in which the microturbulence derived from the Fe lines formed deep in the photosphere is insufficient to represent the true line broadening imposed on Ba ii lines by the upper photospheric layers from where the Ba ii lines emerge. Because the young stars have relatively active photospheres, Ba overabundances most likely result from the adoption of a too low value of microturbulence in the spectrum synthesis of the strong Ba ii lines but the change of microturbulence in the upper photosphere has only a minor affect on La−Sm abundances measured from the weak lines.« less

Solar Twins and the Barium Puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reddy, Arumalla B. S.; Lambert, David L.

2017-08-01

Several abundance analyses of Galactic open clusters (OCs) have shown a tendency for Ba but not for other heavy elements (La-Sm) to increase sharply with decreasing age such that Ba was claimed to reach [Ba/Fe] ≃ +0.6 in the youngest clusters (ages < 100 Myr) rising from [Ba/Fe] = 0.00 dex in solar-age clusters. Within the formulation of the s-process, the difficulty to replicate higher Ba abundance and normal La-Sm abundances in young clusters is known as the barium puzzle. Here, we investigate the barium puzzle using extremely high-resolution and high signal-to-noise spectra of 24 solar twins and measured the heavy elements Ba, La, Ce, Nd, and Sm with a precision of 0.03 dex. We demonstrate that the enhanced Ba II relative to La-Sm seen among solar twins, stellar associations, and OCs at young ages (<100 Myr) is unrelated to aspects of stellar nucleosynthesis but has resulted from overestimation of Ba by standard methods of LTE abundance analysis in which the microturbulence derived from the Fe lines formed deep in the photosphere is insufficient to represent the true line broadening imposed on Ba II lines by the upper photospheric layers from where the Ba II lines emerge. Because the young stars have relatively active photospheres, Ba overabundances most likely result from the adoption of a too low value of microturbulence in the spectrum synthesis of the strong Ba II lines but the change of microturbulence in the upper photosphere has only a minor affect on La-Sm abundances measured from the weak lines.

33 CFR 334.761 - Naval Support Activity Panama City; St. Andrews Bay; restricted areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... waterline to 30°09′57.5″ N, 085°44′37″ W; then northerly to point of origin. (2) Area BA-1. The area is...) Area BA-2. The area is bounded by a line directly connecting the following coordinates (listed by... northerly to point of origin. (4) Area BA-3. The area is bounded by a line directly connecting the following...

33 CFR 334.761 - Naval Support Activity Panama City; St. Andrews Bay; restricted areas.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... waterline to 30°09′57.5″ N, 085°44′37″ W; then northerly to point of origin. (2) Area BA-1. The area is...) Area BA-2. The area is bounded by a line directly connecting the following coordinates (listed by... northerly to point of origin. (4) Area BA-3. The area is bounded by a line directly connecting the following...

Changes in cortical activation in craniomandibular disorders during splint therapy - a single subject fMRI study.

PubMed

Lickteig, Rita; Lotze, Martin; Lucas, Christian; Domin, Martin; Kordass, Bernd

2012-03-20

There is some controversial discussion within the therapy of craniomandibular disorders (CMDs) about the mode of action of occlusal splints. Here we present a case report on one CMD-patient measuring cerebral activation changes with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after therapy with a stabilization splint. Wearing the Michigan splint for 11 nights and partially days resulted in substantial pain relief and changes in occlusal movement performance. Cerebral activation during occlusion was decreased after therapy (PRE-POST) in bilateral sensorimotor regions but also additional areas such as left posterior insula, right superior temporal cortex and bilateral occipital lobe. During the first usage of the splint in the scanner (PRE) increased activation in the left dorsolateral prefrontal lobe (BA 9) was observed. After splint training occlusion with the splint compared to without a splint increasingly involved the left superior parietal lobe (BA 7, POST). Whereas BA 9 might be associated with increasing working memory load due to the manipulation with an unusual object, the BA 7 activation in the POST session might document increased sensorimotor interaction after getting used to the splint. Our findings indicate that wearing an occlusion splint triggers activation in parietal sensorimotor integration areas, also observed after long periods of sensorimotor training. These additional recourses might improve coordination and physiological handling of the masticatory system. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Emission and evaporation properties of 75 at.% Re-25 at.% W mixed matrix impregnated cathode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lai, Chen; Wang, Jinshu; Zhou, Fan; Liu, Wei; den Engelsen, Daniel; Miao, Naihua

2018-01-01

We present a comprehensive study on the phase, emission performance, surface composition, chemical states and evaporation properties of a 75 at.% Re-25 at.% W (75Re) mixed matrix impregnated cathode by several modern analyzers, including XRD, electron emission test device, in situ AES, XPS and Quartz Crystal Oscillation Instrument (QCOI). On the basis of experimental results, the adsorption energy and charge transfer of the Ba-O dipole adsorbed on cathode surface was investigated by the first-principles density functional theory calculations. The in situ AES analyses indicate that the atomic ratio of Ba:O of the active emission layer on the cathode surface converged to 3:2 for a conventional Ba-W cathode and to about 3:1 for the 75Re cathode. Due to the larger adsorption energy of Ba and Ba-O on 75Re cathode surface, the total evaporation rate of Ba and BaO in the 75Re cathode is much lower than that for the Ba-W cathode, which is agreed favorably with the experimental evaporation data. Our characterizations and calculations suggest that rhenium in the matrix of impregnated cathodes improves the stability of Ba-O dipole on the cathode surface and enhances the emission capability substantially.

Boric Acid Inhibition of Trichophyton rubrum Growth and Conidia Formation.

PubMed

Schmidt, Martin

2017-12-01

Trichophyton rubrum is a common human dermatophyte that is the causative agent of 80-93% of fungal infections of the skin and nails. While dermatophyte infections in healthy people are easily treatable with over-the-counter medications, such infections pose a higher risk for patients with compromised immune function and impaired regenerative potential. The efficacy of boric acid (BA) for the treatment of vaginal yeast infections prompted an investigation of the effect of BA on growth and morphology of T. rubrum. This is of particular interest since BA facilitates wound healing, raising the possibility that treating athlete's foot with BA, either alone or in combination with other antifungal drugs, would combine the benefits of antimicrobial activity and tissue regeneration to accelerate healing of infected skin. The data presented here show that BA represses T. rubrum growth at a concentration reported to be beneficial for host tissue regeneration. Oxygen exposure increases BA toxicity, and mycelia growing under BA stress avoid colonizing the surface of the growth surface, which leads to a suppression of aerial mycelium growth and surface conidia formation. BA penetrates into solid agar matrices, but the relative lack of oxygen below the substrate surface limits the effectiveness of BA in suppressing growth of embedded T. rubrum cells.

Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity in Bi1-x Ba x FeO3 Prepared by a PEG400 Assisted Sol-Gel Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Chenlan; Chen, Jianguo; Jin, Dengren; Cheng, Jinrong

2018-03-01

Ferroelectric Bi1-x Ba x FeO3 nanoparticles for x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05 and 0.10 were synthesized by a polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400) assisted sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction reveals that Bi1-x Ba x FeO3 nanoparticles exhibit a distorted rhombohedral structure with the R3c space group, and the diffraction peaks shift upon incorporation of Ba. Transmission electron microscope analysis shows that the particle size of Bi1-x Ba x FeO3 nanoparticles is in the range of 30-60 nm, decreasing with an increase in Ba content. Bi1-x Ba x FeO3 nanoparticles have band gaps in the range of 1.68-2.0 eV, which are capable of responding to visible light irradiation. The rate of the photocatalytic degradation of Bi1-x Ba x FeO3 nanoparticles for x = 0.03 to methyl orange (MO) dye achieves about 81% under visible light irradiation for 3 h, which is higher than that of 66% for pure phase BiFeO3 (BFO). Moreover, the effects of Ba2+ modification on the band gap of BFO crystallites have been investigated and discussed.

Isomer-sensitive deboronation in reductive aminations of aryl boronic acids

DOE PAGES

Jones, Brad Howard; Wheeler, David R.; Wheeler, Jill S.; ...

2015-09-05

Deboronation is observed during the reductive amination of formylphenylboronic acid (FPBA) to the amine termini and side chains of peptides. This deboronation is sensitive to the isomerism of the boronic acid (BA), with ortho-FPBA yielding complete deboronation in the preparation of an N-terminally-modified dipeptide. The observed behavior is also clearly mediated by the chemical identity of the amine substrate. These results reveal a previously undocumented subtlety of BA functionalization and highlight the importance of thorough spectroscopic characterization in the preparation of peptide and small molecule BAs.

Modulation of Cardiac Ryanodine Receptor Channels by Alkaline Earth Cations

PubMed Central

Diaz-Sylvester, Paula L.; Porta, Maura; Copello, Julio A.

2011-01-01

Cardiac ryanodine receptor (RyR2) function is modulated by Ca2+ and Mg2+. To better characterize Ca2+ and Mg2+ binding sites involved in RyR2 regulation, the effects of cytosolic and luminal earth alkaline divalent cations (M2+: Mg2+, Ca2+, Sr2+, Ba2+) were studied on RyR2 from pig ventricle reconstituted in bilayers. RyR2 were activated by M2+ binding to high affinity activating sites at the cytosolic channel surface, specific for Ca2+ or Sr2+. This activation was interfered by Mg2+ and Ba2+ acting at low affinity M2+-unspecific binding sites. When testing the effects of luminal M2+ as current carriers, all M2+ increased maximal RyR2 open probability (compared to Cs+), suggesting the existence of low affinity activating M2+-unspecific sites at the luminal surface. Responses to M2+ vary from channel to channel (heterogeneity). However, with luminal Ba2+or Mg2+, RyR2 were less sensitive to cytosolic Ca2+ and caffeine-mediated activation, openings were shorter and voltage-dependence was more marked (compared to RyR2 with luminal Ca2+or Sr2+). Kinetics of RyR2 with mixtures of luminal Ba2+/Ca2+ and additive action of luminal plus cytosolic Ba2+ or Mg2+ suggest luminal M2+ differentially act on luminal sites rather than accessing cytosolic sites through the pore. This suggests the presence of additional luminal activating Ca2+/Sr2+-specific sites, which stabilize high Po mode (less voltage-dependent) and increase RyR2 sensitivity to cytosolic Ca2+ activation. In summary, RyR2 luminal and cytosolic surfaces have at least two sets of M2+ binding sites (specific for Ca2+ and unspecific for Ca2+/Mg2+) that dynamically modulate channel activity and gating status, depending on SR voltage. PMID:22039534

Experimental and numerical analysis of metal leaching from fly ash-amended highway bases

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cetin, Bora; Aydilek, Ahmet H., E-mail: aydilek@umd.edu; Li, Lin

2012-05-15

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer This study is the evaluation of leaching potential of fly ash-lime mixed soils. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer This objective is met with experimental and numerical analysis. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Zn leaching decreases with increase in fly ash content while Ba, B, Cu increases. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Decrease in lime content promoted leaching of Ba, B and Cu while Zn increases. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Numerical analysis predicted lower field metal concentrations. - Abstract: A study was conducted to evaluate the leaching potential of unpaved road materials (URM) mixed with lime activated high carbon fly ashes and to evaluate groundwater impacts of barium, boron, copper, and zinc leaching. Thismore » objective was met by a combination of batch water leach tests, column leach tests, and computer modeling. The laboratory tests were conducted on soil alone, fly ash alone, and URM-fly ash-lime kiln dust mixtures. The results indicated that an increase in fly ash and lime content has significant effects on leaching behavior of heavy metals from URM-fly ash mixture. An increase in fly ash content and a decrease in lime content promoted leaching of Ba, B and Cu whereas Zn leaching was primarily affected by the fly ash content. Numerically predicted field metal concentrations were significantly lower than the peak metal concentrations obtained in laboratory column leach tests, and field concentrations decreased with time and distance due to dispersion in soil vadose zone.« less

Metaheuristic simulation optimisation for the stochastic multi-retailer supply chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omar, Marina; Mustaffa, Noorfa Haszlinna H.; Othman, Siti Norsyahida

2013-04-01

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is an important activity in all producing facilities and in many organizations to enable vendors, manufacturers and suppliers to interact gainfully and plan optimally their flow of goods and services. A simulation optimization approach has been widely used in research nowadays on finding the best solution for decision-making process in Supply Chain Management (SCM) that generally faced a complexity with large sources of uncertainty and various decision factors. Metahueristic method is the most popular simulation optimization approach. However, very few researches have applied this approach in optimizing the simulation model for supply chains. Thus, this paper interested in evaluating the performance of metahueristic method for stochastic supply chains in determining the best flexible inventory replenishment parameters that minimize the total operating cost. The simulation optimization model is proposed based on the Bees algorithm (BA) which has been widely applied in engineering application such as training neural networks for pattern recognition. BA is a new member of meta-heuristics. BA tries to model natural behavior of honey bees in food foraging. Honey bees use several mechanisms like waggle dance to optimally locate food sources and to search new ones. This makes them a good candidate for developing new algorithms for solving optimization problems. This model considers an outbound centralised distribution system consisting of one supplier and 3 identical retailers and is assumed to be independent and identically distributed with unlimited supply capacity at supplier.

Do you make a difference? Social context in a betting task

PubMed Central

Nelson, Eric E.; Pine, Daniel S.; Ernst, Monique

2008-01-01

Social context strongly influences human motivated behavior. The triadic model implicates three major nodes in the regulation of motivated behavior, i.e. amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and striatum. The present work examines how social context modulates this system. Nineteen healthy subjects completed an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study of a monetary betting task in the presence (social trials) and in the absence of a social peer (nonsocial trials). In the social trials, the scanned subject played along with another subject, although their performances were independent from one another. In the nonsocial trials the scanned subject played alone. Although behavioral performance did not differ between social and nonsocial trials, BOLD signal changes during betting were significantly greater in the amygdala bilaterally and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 9) in the social condition relative to the nonsocial condition. In contrast, activation was greater in ventral striatum in the nonsocial condition relative to the social condition. These findings suggest that social context modulates the triadic neural-systems ensemble to adjust motivated behavior to the unique demands associated with the presence of conspecifics. PMID:19015081

Understanding Ferromagnetic Phase Stability, Electronic and Transport Properties of BaPaO3 and BaNpO3 from Ab-Initio Calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khandy, Shakeel Ahmad; Gupta, Dinesh C.

2017-10-01

An extensive study of rare-earth perovskite BaPaO3 and BaNpO3 has been performed by first-principles tactics based on density functional theory (DFT), because the delocalized f-electrons play an important role in the band structure formation, to reveal their impact on the overall physical and chemical properties; it has turned out to be an interesting theme. Along with critical radii and thermoelectric properties, two different theories are employed to calculate the structural properties. The DFT and empirically calculated lattice constants are in rational accord with the experimental results. The critical radius calculations show that the BaPaO3 lattice has a smaller oxygen migration activation energy than the BaNpO3. In addition, we discuss the band profile and magnetic moments for these materials, which demonstrate the half-metallic ferromagnetism with a direct energy gap of 3.91 eV for BaPaO3 and an indirect gap of 3.79 eV for BaNpO3. More interestingly, the integral magnetic moments are in accordance with the Slater-Pauling rule.

Neural indices of phonemic discrimination and sentence-level speech intelligibility in quiet and noise: A P3 study.

PubMed

Koerner, Tess K; Zhang, Yang; Nelson, Peggy B; Wang, Boxiang; Zou, Hui

2017-07-01

This study examined how speech babble noise differentially affected the auditory P3 responses and the associated neural oscillatory activities for consonant and vowel discrimination in relation to segmental- and sentence-level speech perception in noise. The data were collected from 16 normal-hearing participants in a double-oddball paradigm that contained a consonant (/ba/ to /da/) and vowel (/ba/ to /bu/) change in quiet and noise (speech-babble background at a -3 dB signal-to-noise ratio) conditions. Time-frequency analysis was applied to obtain inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC) and event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) measures in delta, theta, and alpha frequency bands for the P3 response. Behavioral measures included percent correct phoneme detection and reaction time as well as percent correct IEEE sentence recognition in quiet and in noise. Linear mixed-effects models were applied to determine possible brain-behavior correlates. A significant noise-induced reduction in P3 amplitude was found, accompanied by significantly longer P3 latency and decreases in ITPC across all frequency bands of interest. There was a differential effect of noise on consonant discrimination and vowel discrimination in both ERP and behavioral measures, such that noise impacted the detection of the consonant change more than the vowel change. The P3 amplitude and some of the ITPC and ERSP measures were significant predictors of speech perception at segmental- and sentence-levels across listening conditions and stimuli. These data demonstrate that the P3 response with its associated cortical oscillations represents a potential neurophysiological marker for speech perception in noise. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Carbon-Hydrogen Bond Activation in Hydridotris(pyrazolyl)borate Platinum(IV) Complexes:  Comparison of Density Functionals, Basis Sets, and Bonding Patterns.

PubMed

Vastine, Benjamin Alan; Webster, Charles Edwin; Hall, Michael B

2007-11-01

The reaction mechanism for the cycle beginning with the reductive elimination (RE) of methane from κ(3)-TpPt(IV)(CH3)2H (1) (Tp = hydridotris(pyrazolyl)borate) and subsequent oxidative addition (OA) of benzene to form finally κ(3)-TpPt(IV)(Ph)2H (19) was investigated by density functional theory (DFT). Two mechanistic steps are of particular interest, namely the barrier to C-H coupling (barrier 1 - Ba1) and the barrier to methane release (barrier 2 - Ba2). For 31 density functionals, the calculated values for Ba1 and Ba2 were benchmarked against the experimentally reported values of 26 (Ba1) and 35 (Ba2) kcal·mol(-1), respectively. Specifically, the values for Ba1 and Ba2, calculated at the B3LYP/double-ζ plus polarization level of theory, are 24.6 and 34.3 kcal·mol(-1), respectively. Overall, the best performing functional was BPW91 where the mae associated with the calculated values of the two barriers is 0.68 kcal·mol(-1). The calculated B3LYP values of Ba1 ranged between 20 and 26 kcal·mol(-1) for 12 effective core potential basis sets for platinum and 29 all-electron basis sets for the first row elements. Polarization functions for the first row elements were important for accurate values, but the addition of diffuse functions to non-hydrogen (+) and hydrogen atoms (++) had little effect on the calculated values. Basis set saturation was achieved with APNO basis sets utilized for first-row atoms. Bader's "Atoms in Molecules" was used to analyze the electron density of several complexes, and the electron density at the Pt-Nax bond critical point (trans to the active site for C-H coupling) varied over a wider range than any of the other Pt-N bonds.

Studies of ferroelectric and dielectric properties of pure and doped barium titanate prepared by sol-gel method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bisen, Supriya; Mishra, Ashutosh; Jarabana, Kanaka M.

2016-05-01

In this work, Barium Titanate (BaTiO3) powders were synthesized via Sol-Gel auto combustion method using citric acid as a chelating agent. We study the behavior of ferroelectric and dielectric properties of pure and doped BaTiO3 on different concentration. To understand the phase and structure of the powder calcined at 900°C were characterized by X-ray Diffraction shows that tetragonal phase is dominant for pure and doped BTO and data fitted by Rietveld Refinement. Electric and Dielectric properties were characterized by P-E Hysteresis and Dielectric measurement. In P-E measurement ferroelectric loop tracer applied for different voltage. The temperature dependant dielectric constant behavior was observed as a function of frequency recorded on hp-Hewlett Packard 4192A, LF impedance, 5Hz-13Hz analyzer.

Where language meets meaningful action: a combined behavior and lesion analysis of aphasia and apraxia.

PubMed

Weiss, Peter H; Ubben, Simon D; Kaesberg, Stephanie; Kalbe, Elke; Kessler, Josef; Liebig, Thomas; Fink, Gereon R

2016-01-01

It is debated how language and praxis are co-represented in the left hemisphere (LH). As voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping in LH stroke patients with aphasia and/or apraxia may contribute to this debate, we here investigated the relationship between language and praxis deficits at the behavioral and lesion levels in 50 sub-acute stroke patients. We hypothesized that language and (meaningful) action are linked via semantic processing in Broca's region. Behaviorally, half of the patients suffered from co-morbid aphasia and apraxia. While 24% (n = 12) of all patients exhibited aphasia without apraxia, apraxia without aphasia was rare (n = 2, 4%). Left inferior frontal, insular, inferior parietal, and superior temporal lesions were specifically associated with deficits in naming, reading, writing, or auditory comprehension. In contrast, lesions affecting the left inferior frontal gyrus, premotor cortex, and the central region as well as the inferior parietal lobe were associated with apraxic deficits (i.e., pantomime, imitation of meaningful and meaningless gestures). Thus, contrary to the predictions of the embodied cognition theory, lesions to sensorimotor and premotor areas were associated with the severity of praxis but not language deficits. Lesions of Brodmann area (BA) 44 led to combined apraxic and aphasic deficits. Data suggest that BA 44 acts as an interface between language and (meaningful) action thereby supporting parcellation schemes (based on connectivity and receptor mapping) which revealed a BA 44 sub-area involved in semantic processing.

An integrative psychotherapist's account of his focus when treating self-critical patients.

PubMed

Shahar, Golan

2013-09-01

This article presents the factors on which I focus as an integrative psychotherapist when treating self-critical patients. I first describe my personal version of psychotherapy integration. Drawing principally from Wachtel's cyclical psychodynamic model, I also incorporate existential and neurocognitive elements highlighting patients' future-oriented thinking and goal-directed action. I then relate this integrative model to the vexing clinical problem of self-criticism. Finally, I outline three types of interventions I attempt to implement in each session: (1) Multiple-Selves Analysis (MSA); (2) Behavioral Activation (BA), conceptualized integratively; and (3) use of therapist's presence. 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Evaluative-feedback stimuli selectively activate the self-related brain area: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Pan, Xiaohong; Hu, Yang; Li, Lei; Li, Jianqi

2009-11-06

Evaluative-feedback, occurring in our daily life, generally contains subjective appraisal of one's specific abilities and personality characteristics besides objective right-or-wrong information. Traditional psychological researches have proved it to be important in building up one's self-concept; however, the neural basis underlying its cognitive processing remains unclear. The present neuroimaging study revealed the mechanism of evaluative-feedback processing at the neural level. 19 healthy Chinese subjects participated in this experiment, and completed the time-estimation task to better their performance according to four types of feedback, namely positive evaluative- and performance-feedback as well as negative evaluative- and performance-feedback. Neuroimaging findings showed that evaluative- rather than performance-feedback can induce increased activities mainly distributed in the cortical midline structures (CMS), including medial prefrontal cortex (BA 8/9)/anterior cigulate cortex (ACC, BA 20), precuneus (BA 7/31) adjacent to posterior cingulate gyrus (PCC, BA 23) of both hemispheres, as well as right inferior lobule (BA 40). This phenomenon can provide evidence that evaluative-feedback may significantly elicit the self-related processing in our brain. In addition, our results also revealed that more brain areas, particularly some self-related neural substrates were activated by the positive evaluative-feedback, in comparative with the negative one. In sum, this study suggested that evaluative-feedback was closely correlated with the self-concept processing, which distinguished it from the performance-feedback.

Women are better at seeing faces where there are none: an ERP study of face pareidolia

PubMed Central

Galli, Jessica

2016-01-01

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in 26 right-handed students while they detected pictures of animals intermixed with those of familiar objects, faces and faces-in-things (FITs). The face-specific N170 ERP component over the right hemisphere was larger in response to faces and FITs than to objects. The vertex positive potential (VPP) showed a difference in FIT encoding processes between males and females at frontal sites; while for men, the FIT stimuli elicited a VPP of intermediate amplitude (between that for faces and objects), for women, there was no difference in VPP responses to faces or FITs, suggesting a marked anthropomorphization of objects in women. SwLORETA source reconstructions carried out to estimate the intracortical generators of ERPs in the 150–190 ms time window showed how, in the female brain, FIT perception was associated with the activation of brain areas involved in the affective processing of faces (right STS, BA22; posterior cingulate cortex, BA22; and orbitofrontal cortex, BA10) in addition to regions linked to shape processing (left cuneus, BA18/30). Conversely, in the men, the activation of occipito/parietal regions was prevalent, with a considerably smaller activation of BA10. The data suggest that the female brain is more inclined to anthropomorphize perfectly real objects compared to the male brain. PMID:27217120

Radioluminescence as a function of temperature and low temperature thermoluminescence of BaY2F8:Ce and BaY2F8:Nd crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kowalski, Z.; Kaczmarek, S. M.; Brylew, K.; Drozdowski, W.

2016-09-01

Radioluminescence spectra at temperatures ranging from 10 to 320 K and low temperature thermoluminescence glow curves of BaY2F8:Ce and BaY2F8:Nd scintillator crystals have been investigated. In both materials the intensities of the excitonic and the activator ion's emission at X-ray excitation vary with temperature, anticorrelating with each other, which provides valuable information on the host-to-ion energy transfer. Detailed thermoluminescence studies, in turn, prove the existence of charge traps, which introduce quasi-continuous distributions of energy levels into the bandgap.

Insecticidal peptides from the theraposid spider Brachypelma albiceps: an NMR-based model of Ba2.

PubMed

Corzo, Gerardo; Bernard, Cedric; Clement, Herlinda; Villegas, Elba; Bosmans, Frank; Tytgat, Jan; Possani, Lourival D; Darbon, Herve; Alagón, Alejandro

2009-08-01

Soluble venom and purified fractions of the theraposid spider Brachypelma albiceps were screened for insecticidal peptides based on toxicity to crickets. Two insecticidal peptides, named Ba1 and Ba2, were obtained after the soluble venom was separated by high performance liquid chromatography and cation exchange chromatography. The two insecticidal peptides contain 39 amino acid residues and three disulfide bonds, and based on their amino acid sequence, they are highly identical to the insecticidal peptides from the theraposid spiders Aphonopelma sp. from the USA and Haplopelma huwenum from China indicating a relationship among these genera. Although Ba1 and Ba2 were not able to modify currents in insect and vertebrate cloned voltage-gated sodium ion channels, they have noteworthy insecticidal activities compared to classical arachnid insecticidal toxins indicating that they might target unknown receptors in insect species. The most abundant insecticidal peptide Ba2 was submitted to NMR spectroscopy to determine its 3-D structure; a remarkable characteristic of Ba2 is a cluster of basic residues, which might be important for receptor recognition.

The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons benzo[a]pyrene and phenanthrene inhibit intestinal lipase activity in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

PubMed

de Gelder, Stefan; Sæle, Øystein; de Veen, Bas T H; Vos, Joëlle; Flik, Gert; Berntssen, Marc H G; Klaren, Peter H M

2017-08-01

Elevated levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are detected in aquafeeds where fish oils are (partially) replaced by vegetable oils. The highly lipophilic PAHs solubilize readily in oil droplets and micelles in the intestinal lumen that can affect enzymatic lipid digestion by altering lipase activity. We therefore investigated the effect of two PAHs, benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and phenanthrene (PHE), on bile salt-activated lipase (BAL) activity in desalted luminal extracts of the proximal intestine of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) using the triacylglycerides rapeseed oil and fish oil as substrates. The hydrolysis of rapeseed oil and fish oil measured at a calculated substrate concentration of 2.2mM, increased linearly up to 30min at 15°C. Substrate dependency under initial velocity conditions was described by simple Michaelis-Menten kinetics with a K m value of 1.2mM for rapeseed and fish oil. Rapeseed oil hydrolysis was inhibited by 1nM BaP and 10nM PHE. The hydrolysis of fish oil was only inhibited by 10μM BaP. The in vitro lipase activity data were corroborated by TLC/HPLC analysis of the reaction products, showing that in the presence of BaP and PHE, 46-80% less free fatty acids (FFA) were hydrolysed from rapeseed and fish oil triacylglycerides. The presence of low concentrations of BaP and PHE decreased rapeseed oil hydrolysis by BAL whereas fish oil hydrolysis was not affected. The replacement of fish oil by rapeseed oil in aquafeeds introduces PAHs that could affect lipid digestion. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Changes of oscillatory activity in pitch processing network and related tinnitus relief induced by acoustic CR neuromodulation

PubMed Central

Adamchic, Ilya; Hauptmann, Christian; Tass, Peter A.

2012-01-01

Chronic subjective tinnitus is characterized by abnormal neuronal synchronization in the central auditory system. As shown in a controlled clinical trial, acoustic coordinated reset (CR) neuromodulation causes a significant relief of tinnitus symptoms along with a significant decrease of pathological oscillatory activity in a network comprising auditory and non-auditory brain areas, which is often accompanied with a significant tinnitus pitch change. Here we studied if the tinnitus pitch change correlates with a reduction of tinnitus loudness and/or annoyance as assessed by visual analog scale (VAS) scores. Furthermore, we studied if the changes of the pattern of brain synchrony in tinnitus patients induced by 12 weeks of CR therapy depend on whether or not the patients undergo a pronounced tinnitus pitch change. Therefore, we applied standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) to EEG recordings from two groups of patients with a sustained CR-induced relief of tinnitus symptoms with and without tinnitus pitch change. We found that absolute changes of VAS loudness and VAS annoyance scores significantly correlate with the modulus, i.e., the absolute value, of the tinnitus pitch change. Moreover, as opposed to patients with small or no pitch change we found a significantly stronger decrease in gamma power in patients with pronounced tinnitus pitch change in right parietal cortex (Brodmann area, BA 40), right frontal cortex (BA 9, 46), left temporal cortex (BA 22, 42), and left frontal cortex (BA 4, 6), combined with a significantly stronger increase of alpha (10–12 Hz) activity in the right and left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC; BA 32, 24). In addition, we revealed a significantly lower functional connectivity in the gamma band between the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 46) and the right ACC (BA 32) after 12 weeks of CR therapy in patients with pronounced pitch change. Our results indicate a substantial, CR-induced reduction of tinnitus-related auditory binding in a pitch processing network. PMID:22493570

Co-exposure of the organic nanomaterial fullerene C₆₀ with benzo[a]pyrene in Danio rerio (zebrafish) hepatocytes: evidence of toxicological interactions.

PubMed

Ferreira, Josencler L Ribas; Lonné, María Noelia; França, Thiago A; Maximilla, Naiana R; Lugokenski, Thiago H; Costa, Patrícia G; Fillmann, Gilberto; Antunes Soares, Félix A; de la Torre, Fernando R; Monserrat, José María

2014-02-01

Compounds from the nanotechnology industry, such as carbon-based nanomaterials, are strong candidates to contaminate aquatic environments because their production and disposal have exponentially grown in a few years. Previous evidence shows that fullerene C60, a carbon nanomaterial, can facilitate the intake of metals or PAHs both in vivo and in vitro, potentially amplifying the deleterious effects of these toxicants in organisms. The present work aimed to investigate the effects of fullerene C60 in a Danio rerio (zebrafish) hepatocyte cell lineage exposed to benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) in terms of cell viability, oxidative stress parameters and BaP intracellular accumulation. Additionally, a computational docking was performed to investigate the interaction of the fullerene C60 molecule with the detoxificatory and antioxidant enzyme πGST. Fullerene C60 provoked a significant (p<0.05) loss in cellular viability when co-exposed with BaP at 0.01, 0.1 and 1.0 μg/L, and induced an increase (p<0.05) in BaP accumulation in the cells after 3 and 4h of exposure. The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cells exposed to BaP were diminished (p<0.05) by the fullerene addition, and the increase of the GST activity observed in the BaP-only treated cells was reduced to the basal levels by co-exposure to fullerene. However, despite the potential of the fullerene molecule to inhibit π GST activity, demonstrated by the computational docking, the nanomaterial did not significantly (p>0.05) alter the enzyme activity when added to GST purified extracts from the zebrafish hepatocyte cells. These results show that fullerene C60 can increase the intake of BaP into the cells, decreasing cell viability and impairing the detoxificatory response by phase II enzymes, such as GST, and this latter effect should be occurring at the transcriptional level. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Verification of threshold activation detection (TAD) technique in prompt fission neutron detection using scintillators containing 19F

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sibczynski, P.; Kownacki, J.; Moszyński, M.; Iwanowska-Hanke, J.; Syntfeld-Każuch, A.; Gójska, A.; Gierlik, M.; Kaźmierczak, Ł.; Jakubowska, E.; Kędzierski, G.; Kujawiński, Ł.; Wojnarowicz, J.; Carrel, F.; Ledieu, M.; Lainé, F.

2015-09-01

In the present study ⌀ 5''× 3'' and ⌀ 2''× 2'' EJ-313 liquid fluorocarbon as well as ⌀ 2'' × 3'' BaF2 scintillators were exposed to neutrons from a 252Cf neutron source and a Sodern Genie 16GT deuterium-tritium (D+T) neutron generator. The scintillators responses to β- particles with maximum endpoint energy of 10.4 MeV from the n+19F reactions were studied. Response of a ⌀ 5'' × 3'' BC-408 plastic scintillator was also studied as a reference. The β- particles are the products of interaction of fast neutrons with 19F which is a component of the EJ-313 and BaF2 scintillators. The method of fast neutron detection via fluorine activation is already known as Threshold Activation Detection (TAD) and was proposed for photofission prompt neutron detection from fissionable and Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) in the field of Homeland Security and Border Monitoring. Measurements of the number of counts between 6.0 and 10.5 MeV with a 252Cf source showed that the relative neutron detection efficiency ratio, defined as epsilonBaF2 / epsilonEJ-313-5'', is 32.0% ± 2.3% and 44.6% ± 3.4% for front-on and side-on orientation of the BaF2, respectively. Moreover, the ⌀ 5'' EJ-313 and side-on oriented BaF2 were also exposed to neutrons from the D+T neutron generator, and the relative efficiency epsilonBaF2 / epsilonEJ-313-5'' was estimated to be 39.3%. Measurements of prompt photofission neutrons with the BaF2 detector by means of data acquisition after irradiation (out-of-beam) of nuclear material and between the beam pulses (beam-off) techniques were also conducted on the 9 MeV LINAC of the SAPHIR facility.

The influence of high pressure to crystalline and magnetic structure of Ba 2 FeMoO 6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turchenko, V. A.; Kalanda, N. A.; Kovalev, L. V.; Yarmolich, M. V.; Petrov, A. V.; Lukin, Ye V.; Doroshkevich, A. S.; Balasoiu, M.; Lupu, N.; Savenko, B. N.

2018-03-01

The behavior of the crystalline and magnetic structure of Ba 2 FeMoO 6 compound in a wide pressure range from 0 to 4.7 GPa was studied. The crystal structure of ceramic sample was described in the framework of SG I4/mmm (No 139) and contains less 10% of anti-site defects. The change of tetragonal structure (I4/mmm) was not observed in all measured pressure range. It was shown multidirectional influence of ambient pressure onto the average interionic distances of metal-ligand in oxygen octahedrons of FeO 6 and MoO 6. For tetragonal structure of Ba 2 FeMoO 6 were determined coefficients of the linear and all-round compressibility. The influence of ambient pressure on the value of magnetic moment of iron sublattice was shown.

Effects of applied electric field during postannealing on the tunable properties of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xia, Yidong; Cheng, Jinbo; Pan, Bai; Wu, Di; Meng, Xiangkang; Liu, Zhiguo

2005-08-01

The impact of postannealing in electric field on the structure, tunability, and dielectric behavior of rf magnetron sputtering derived (Ba,Sr)TiO3 films has been studied. It has been demonstrated that postannealing in the proper electric field can increase the dielectric constant and the tunability remarkably and destroy the symmetry of capacitance-voltage characteristics of the films. The increased out-of-plane lattice constant and the appearance of the hysteresis loops in the electric-annealed films indicated the formation of small polar regions with tetragonal structure, which are responsible for the increased dielectric constant and tunability. It was proposed that the segregation of Ti3+ ions caused by electric annealing could induce the formation of BaTiO3-like regions, which are ferroelectric at room temperature.

Antioxidant Activities of Basella alba Aqueous Leave Extract In Blood, Pancreas, and Gonadal Tissues of Diabetic Male Wistar Rats.

PubMed

Arokoyo, Dennis Seyi; Oyeyipo, Ibukun Peter; Du Plessis, Stefan Simon; Aboua, Yapo Guillaume

2018-01-01

Oxidative stress is frequently identified as a key element in the pathophysiology of many complications of diabetes mellitus, including reproductive complications. The antioxidant potential of medicinal plants have been suggested for therapeutic focus of diseases in recent reports. To investigate the effect of Basella alba (Ba) aqueous leave extract on diabetes-induced oxidative stress. Forty male Wistar rats (8-10 weeks) were randomly divided into four groups ( n = 10) and treated as follows; Control (C + Ns) and Diabetic (D + Ns) animals received oral normal saline 0.5 ml/100 g body weight daily, while Healthy Treatment (H + Ba) and Diabetic Treatment (D + Ba) rats were given Ba extract at an oral dose of 200 mg/kg body weight daily. Treatment was by gavage and lasted 4 weeks in all groups. Diabetes was induced in D + Ns and D + Ba rats by single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (55 mg/kg) and fasting blood sugar (FBS) recorded weekly in all rats afterwards. Animals were euthanized at the end of the experiment and blood samples, pancreas, testes, and epididymis were preserved for analysis of oxidative stress biomarkers. Oral administration of aqueous leave extract of Ba significantly ( P < 0.0001) lowered FBS in D + Ba rats. There was significantly higher blood superoxide dismutase activity and serum ferric reducing antioxidant power, but lower serum concentration of conjugated dienes and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in D + Ba compared to D + Ns rats ( P < 0.05). Ba exerts antioxidant effects in the gonads by enhancing antioxidant parameters in circulating blood, but not necessarily in the gonadal tissues. Oral treatment of diabetic rats with aqueous leave extract of Basella alba exerts antioxidant effects in the gonads by enhancing antioxidant parameters in circulating blood, but not necessarily in the gonadal tissues. Abbreviations Used: AP - Antioxidant parameters, Ba - Basella alba , CAT - Catalase, CDs - Conjugated dienes, DM - Diabetes mellitus, FBS - Fasting blood sugar, FRAP - Ferric reducing antioxidant power, GSH - reduced glutathione, Ns - Normal saline, ORAC - oxygen radical antioxidant capacity, RNS - reactive nitrogen species, ROS - reactive oxygen species, SOD - superoxide dismutase, TAC - Total antioxidant capacity, TBARS - thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, TEAC - trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity.

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens supplementation alleviates immunological stress in lipopolysaccharide-challenged broilers at early age.

PubMed

Li, Y; Zhang, H; Chen, Y P; Yang, M X; Zhang, L L; Lu, Z X; Zhou, Y M; Wang, T

2015-07-01

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens ( BA: ) on the immune function of broilers challenged with lipopolysaccharide ( LPS: ). 192 one-day-old male Arbor Acre broiler chickens were randomly distributed into four treatments: 1) broilers fed a basal diet; 2) broilers fed a basal diet supplemented with BA; 3) LPS-challenged broilers fed a basal diet; and 4) LPS-challenged broilers fed a basal diet supplemented with BA. Each treatment consisted of six replicates with eight broilers per replicate. Broilers were intraperitoneally injected with either 500 μg LPS per kg body weight or sterile saline at 16, 18 and 20 d of age. LPS decreased the average daily gain ( ADG: , P = 0.001) and average daily feed intake (P = 0.001). The decreased ADG (P = 0.009) and increased feed conversion ratio (P = 0.047) in LPS-challenged broilers were alleviated by BA. LPS increased the relative spleen weight (P = 0.001). Relative spleen (P = 0.014) and bursa (P = 0.024) weights in the LPS-challenged broilers were reduced by BA. LPS increased white blood cell ( WBC: ) numbers (P = 0.001). However, the WBC numbers (P = 0.042) and the ratio of lymphocytes to WBC (P = 0.020) in LPS-challenged broilers were decreased with BA treatment. LPS decreased plasma lysozyme activity (P = 0.001), but increased concentrations of plasma corticosterone (P = 0.012) and IL-2 (P = 0.020). In contrast, BA increased lysozyme activity in plasma (P = 0.040). LPS increased mRNA abundances of splenic toll-like receptor 4 (P = 0.046), interferon γ (P = 0.008), IL-1β (P = 0.045) and IL-6, (P = 0.006). IL-2 (P = 0.014) and IL-6 (P = 0.074) mRNA abundances in LPS-challenged broilers were reduced by BA, although BA had an opposite effect for IL-10 mRNA expression in those broilers (P = 0.004). In conclusion, BA supplementation could partially alleviate the compromised growth performance and immune status of broilers under immune stress induced by LPS challenge at early age. © 2015 Poultry Science Association Inc.

An Experimental Implementation of Chemical Subtraction

PubMed Central

Chen, Shao-Nong; Turner, Allison; Jaki, Birgit U.; Nikolic, Dejan; van Breemen, Richard B.; Friesen, J. Brent; Pauli, Guido F.

2008-01-01

A preparative analytical method was developed to selectively remove (“chemically subtract”) a single compound from a complex mixture, such as a natural extract or fraction, in a single step. The proof of concept is demonstrated by the removal of pure benzoic acid (BA) from cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) juice fractions that exhibit anti-adhesive effects vs. uropathogenic E. coli. Chemical subtraction of BA, representing a major constituent of the fractions, eliminates the potential in vitro interference of the bacteriostatic effect of BA on the E. coli anti-adherence action measured in bioassays. Upon BA removal, the anti-adherent activity of the fraction was fully retained, 36% inhibition of adherence in the parent fraction at 100 ug/mL increased to 58% in the BA-free active fraction. The method employs countercurrent chromatography (CCC) and operates loss-free for both the subtracted and the retained portions as only liquid-liquid partitioning is involved. While the high purity (97.47% by quantitative 1H NMR) of the subtracted BA confirms the selectivity of the method, one minor impurity was determined to be scopoletin by HR-ESI-MS and (q)HNMR and represents the first coumarin reported from cranberries. A general concept for the selective removal of phytoconstituents by CCC is presented, which has potential broad applicability in the biological evaluation of medicinal plant extracts and complex pharmaceutical preparations. PMID:18234463

Barium isotope geochemistry of subduction-zone magmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, H.; Nan, X.; Huang, J.; Wörner, G.; Huang, F.

2017-12-01

Subduction zones are crucial tectonic setting to study material exchange between crust and mantle, mantle partial melting with fluid addition, and formation of ore-deposits1-3. The geochemical characteristics of arc lavas from subduction zones are different from magmas erupted at mid-ocean ridges4, because there are addition of fluids/melts from subducted AOC and its overlying sediments into their source regions in the sub-arc mantle4. Ba is highly incompatible during mantle melting5, and it is enriched in crust (456 ppm)6 relative to the mantle (7.0 ppm)7. The subducted sediments are also enriched in Ba (776 ppm of GLOSS)8. Moreover, because Ba is fluid soluble during subduction, it has been used to track contributions of subduction-related fluids to arc magmas9 or recycled sediments to the mantle10-11. To study the Ba isotope fractionation behavior during subduction process, we analyzed well-characterized, chemically-diverse arc lavas from Central American, Kamchatka, Central-Eastern Aleutian, and Southern Lesser Antilles. The δ137/134Ba of Central American arc lavas range from -0.13 to 0.24‰, and have larger variation than the arc samples from other locations. Except one sample from Central-Eastern Aleutian arc with obviously heavy δ137/134Ba values (0.27‰), all other samples from Kamchatka, Central-Eastern Aleutian, Southern Lesser Antilles arcs are within the range of OIB. The δ137/134Ba is not correlated with the distance to trench, partial melting degrees (Mg#), or subducting slab-derived components. The samples enriched with heavy Ba isotopes have low Ba contents, indicating that Ba isotopes can be fractionated at the beginning of dehydration process with small amount of Ba releasing to the mantle wedge. With the dehydration degree increasing, more Ba of the subducted slab can be added to the source of arc lavas, likely homogenizing the Ba isotope signatures. 1. Rudnick, R., 1995 Nature; 2. Tatsumi, Y. & Kogiso, T., 2003; 3. Sun, W., et al., 2015 Ore Geol. Rev.; 4. Pearce, J., & Peate, D., 1995 Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci.; 5. Pilet, S., et al., 2011 J. Petrol.; 6. Sun S. & McDonough, W., 1989; 7. Rudnick, R. & Gao, S., 2003 Treatise on geochem.; 8. Plank, T. & Langmuir, C., 1998, CG; 9. Hawkesworth, C. & Norry, M., 1983 Shiva Pub.; 10. Murphy, D., et al., 2002 J. Petrol.; 11. Kuritani, T., et al., 2011 Nat. Geosci.

Is desire for social relationships mediated by the serotonergic system in the prefrontal cortex? An [(18)F]setoperone PET study.

PubMed

Gerretsen, Philip; Graff-Guerrero, Ariel; Menon, Mahesh; Pollock, Bruce G; Kapur, Shitij; Vasdev, Neil; Houle, Sylvain; Mamo, David

2010-01-01

Social behavior and desire for social relationships have been independently linked to the serotonergic system, the prefrontal cortex, especially the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The goal of this study was to explore the role of serotonin 5HT(2A) receptors in these brain regions in forming and maintaining close interpersonal relationships. Twenty-four healthy subjects completed the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) prior to undergoing [(18)F]setoperone brain positron emission tomography (PET) to measure serotonin 5HT(2A) receptor availability within the OFC (BA 11 and 47) and ACC (BA 32). We explored the relationship between desire for social relationships, as measured by the TCI reward dependence (RD) scale, and 5HT(2A) receptor non-displaceable binding potential (BP(nd)) in these regions. Scores of RD were negatively correlated with 5HT(2A) BP(nd) in the ACC (BA 32, r = -.528, p = .012) and OFC (BA 11, r = -.489, p = .021; BA 47, r = -.501, p = .017). These correlations were corroborated by a voxel-wise analysis. These results suggest that the serotonergic system may have a regulatory effect on the OFC and ACC for establishing and maintaining social relationships.