bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Zeeman splitting and dynamical mass generation in Dirac semimetal ZrTe5
Authors: Liu Yanwen , Yuan Xiang , Zhang Cheng , Jin Zhao , Narayan Awadhesh , Luo Chen , Chen Zhigang , Yang Lei , Zou Jin , Wu Xing , Sanvito Stefano , Xia Zhengcai , Li Liang , Wang Zhong , Xiu Faxian 
Published: August 2016

AbstractDirac semimetals have attracted extensive attentions in recent years. It has been theoretically suggested that many-body interactions may drive exotic phase transitions, spontaneously generating a Dirac mass for the nominally massless Dirac electrons. So far, signature of interaction-driven transition has been lacking. In this work, we report high-magnetic-field transport measurements of the Dirac semimetal candidate ZrTe5. Owing to the large g factor in ZrTe5, the Zeeman splitting can be observed at magnetic field as low as 3 T. Most prominently, high pulsed magnetic field up to 60 T drives the system into the ultra-quantum limit, where we observe abrupt changes in the magnetoresistance, indicating field-induced phase transitions. This is interpreted as an interaction-induced spontaneous mass generation of the Dirac fermions, which bears resemblance to the dynamical mass generation of nucleons in high-energy physics. Our work establishes Dirac semimetals as ideal platforms for investigating emerging correlation effects in topological matters.
Determinants of patients’ needs in asthma treatment: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Loerbroks Adrian , Sheikh Aziz , Leucht Verena , Apfelbacher Christian J , Icks Andrea , Angerer Peter 
Published: August 2016

AbstractPatients’ needs in asthma remain insufficiently understood and met. We therefore aimed to investigate the potential determinants of patients’ needs in asthma treatment. Our study was based on survey data on 189 adults with asthma. Needs were measured using the 13-item Needs in Asthma Treatment questionnaire, which yields a total score and subscale-specific scores (‘exacerbations’, ‘patient expertise’, ‘handling drugs’ and ‘drug effects’). We considered age, sex, education, years since diagnosis and anxiety/depression (measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-4) as potential determinants. Associations were estimated by multivariable linear regression. Overall, we observed that younger age, poor mental health and a more recently established asthma diagnosis were independently associated with increased needs. Information on drug effects was an exception to this pattern as the need in that domain was solely determined by sex (being greater in men). In conclusion, our study provides novel evidence on patient characteristics that are associated with needs in asthma treatment. If confirmed by future studies, our observations may assist healthcare professionals to identify asthma patients with potentially elevated information, support and training needs and could contribute to the development of tailored interventions.
Loophole-free Bell test using electron spins in diamond: second experiment and additional analysis
Authors: Hensen B. , Kalb N. , Blok M. S. , Dréau A. E. , Reiserer A. , Vermeulen R. F. L. , Schouten R. N. , Markham M. , Twitchen D. J. , Goodenough K. , Elkouss D. , Wehner S. , Taminiau T. H. , Hanson R. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThe recently reported violation of a Bell inequality using entangled electronic spins in diamonds (Hensen et al., Nature 526, 682–686) provided the first loophole-free evidence against local-realist theories of nature. Here we report on data from a second Bell experiment using the same experimental setup with minor modifications. We find a violation of the CHSH-Bell inequality of 2.35 ± 0.18, in agreement with the first run, yielding an overall value of S = 2.38 ± 0.14. We calculate the resulting P-values of the second experiment and of the combined Bell tests. We provide an additional analysis of the distribution of settings choices recorded during the two tests, finding that the observed distributions are consistent with uniform settings for both tests. Finally, we analytically study the effect of particular models of random number generator (RNG) imperfection on our hypothesis test. We find that the winning probability per trial in the CHSH game can be bounded knowing only the mean of the RNG bias. This implies that our experimental result is robust for any model underlying the estimated average RNG bias, for random bits produced up to 690 ns too early by the random number generator.
Systems Level Analysis of the Yeast Osmo-Stat
Authors: Talemi Soheil Rastgou , Tiger Carl-Fredrik , Andersson Mikael , Babazadeh Roja , Welkenhuysen Niek , Klipp Edda , Hohmann Stefan , Schaber Jörg 
Published: August 2016

AbstractAdaptation is an important property of living organisms enabling them to cope with environmental stress and maintaining homeostasis. Adaptation is mediated by signaling pathways responding to different stimuli. Those signaling pathways might communicate in order to orchestrate the cellular response to multiple simultaneous stimuli, a phenomenon called crosstalk. Here, we investigate possible mechanisms of crosstalk between the High Osmolarity Glycerol (HOG) and the Cell Wall Integrity (CWI) pathways in yeast, which mediate adaptation to hyper- and hypo-osmotic challenges, respectively. We combine ensemble modeling with experimental investigations to test in quantitative terms different hypotheses about the crosstalk of the HOG and the CWI pathways. Our analyses indicate that for the conditions studied i) the CWI pathway activation employs an adaptive mechanism with a variable volume-dependent threshold, in contrast to the HOG pathway, whose activation relies on a fixed volume-dependent threshold, ii) there is no or little direct crosstalk between the HOG and CWI pathways and iii) its mainly the HOG alone mediating adaptation of cellular osmotic pressure for both hyper- as well as hypo-osmotic stress. Thus, by iteratively combining mathematical modeling with experimentation we achieved a better understanding of regulatory mechanisms of yeast osmo-homeostasis and formulated new hypotheses about osmo-sensing.
Localized Down-regulation of P-glycoprotein by Focused Ultrasound and Microbubbles induced Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption in Rat Brain
Authors: Cho HongSeok , Lee Hwa-Youn , Han Mun , Choi Jong-ryul , Ahn Sanghyun , Lee Taekwan , Chang Yongmin , Park Juyoung 
Published: August 2016

AbstractMulti-drug resistant efflux transporters found in Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) acts as a functional barrier, by pumping out most of the drugs into the blood. Previous studies showed focused ultrasound (FUS) induced microbubble oscillation can disrupt the BBB by loosening the tight junctions in the brain endothelial cells; however, no study was performed to investigate its impact on the functional barrier of the BBB. In this study, the BBB in rat brains were disrupted using the MRI guided FUS and microbubbles. The immunofluorescence study evaluated the expression of the P-glycoprotein (P-gp), the most dominant multi-drug resistant protein found in the BBB. Intensity of the P-gp expression at the BBB disruption (BBBD) regions was significantly reduced (63.2 ± 18.4%) compared to the control area. The magnitude of the BBBD and the level of the P-gp down-regulation were significantly correlated. Both the immunofluorescence and histologic analysis at the BBBD regions revealed no apparent damage in the brain endothelial cells. The results demonstrate that the FUS and microbubbles can induce a localized down-regulation of P-gp expression in rat brain. The study suggests a clinically translation of this method to treat neural diseases through targeted delivery of the wide ranges of brain disorder related drugs.
Performance comparison of MOF and other sorbent materials in removing key odorants emitted from pigpen slurry
Authors: Ahmed Ezaz , Deep Akash , Kwon Eilhann E. , Brown Richard J. C. , Kim Ki-Hyun 
Published: August 2016

AbstractA batch-type dynamic headspace (HS) system was used to generate vapor-phase volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from a pigpen slurry sample. Sorptive removal capability of MOF-199 and other sorbents (zeolite (ZL) and activated carbon (AC)) was assessed against a total of 13 slurry-borne odorants ((methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), isobutyl alcohol (i-BuAl), benzene (B), toluene (T), p-xylene (p-X), m-xylene (m-X), o-xylene (o-X), styrene (S), o-cresol (o-C), phenol (PhAl), p-cresol (p-C), indole (ID), and skatole (SK)). Adsorption capacity of MOF-199 and two sorbents, when assessed for the 13 odorants at a 10% breakthrough volume (BTV), was 22.6 ± 42.3, 0.70 ± 1.08, and 11.0 ± 18.3 μg g−1, respectively. The adsorption capacity (μg g−1) assessed at 10% BTV showed the superiority of MOF-199 towards phenolic and indolic compounds (such as o-C (0.31 ± 0.04), PhAl (61.6 ± 4.98), p-C (140 ± 7.95), ID (27.8 ± 2.23), and SK (63.9 ± 1.55)), demonstrating the feasibility of MOF as sorption media for treating certain nuisance components.
A universal explanation of tunneling conductance in exotic superconductors
Authors: Hong Jongbae , Abergel D. S. L. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractA longstanding mystery in understanding cuprate superconductors is the inconsistency between the experimental data measured by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). In particular, the gap between prominent side peaks observed in STS is much bigger than the superconducting gap observed by ARPES measurements. Here, we reconcile the two experimental techniques by generalising a theory which was previously applied to zero-dimensional mesoscopic Kondo systems to strongly correlated two-dimensional (2D) exotic superconductors. We show that the side peaks observed in tunneling conductance measurements in all these materials have a universal origin: They are formed by coherence-mediated tunneling under bias and do not directly reflect the underlying density of states (DOS) of the sample. We obtain theoretical predictions of the tunneling conductance and the density of states of the sample simultaneously and show that for cuprate and pnictide superconductors, the extracted sample DOS is consistent with the superconducting gap measured by ARPES.
Application of ADA1 as a new marker enzyme in sandwich ELISA to study the effect of adenosine on activated monocytes
Authors: Liu Chengqian , Skaldin Maksym , Wu Chengxiang , Lu Yuanan , Zavialov Andrey V. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractEnzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a valuable technique to detect antigens in biological fluids. Horse radish peroxidase (HRP) is one of the most common enzymes used for signal amplification in ELISA. Despite new advances in technology, such as a large-scale production of recombinant enzymes and availability of new detection systems, limited research is devoted to finding alternative enzymes and their substrates to amplify the ELISA signals. Here, HRP-avidin was substituted with the human adenosine deaminase (hADA1)-streptavidin complex and adenosine as a detection system in commercial ELISA kits. The hADA1 ELISA was successfully used to demonstrate that adenosine, bound to A1 and A3 adenosine receptors, increases cytokine secretion by LPS activated monocytes. We show that hADA1-based ELISA has the same sensitivity and also provides identical results, as HRP ELISA. In addition, the sensitivity of hADA1-based ELISA could be easily adjusted by changing the adenosine concentration and the incubation time. Therefore, hADA1 could be used as a detection enzyme with any commercial ELISA kit with a wide range of concentration of antigens.
Influence of grain boundary characteristics on thermal stability in nanotwinned copper
Authors: Niu Rongmei , Han Ke , Su Yi-feng , Besara Tiglet , Siegrist Theo M. , Zuo Xiaowei 
Published: August 2016

AbstractHigh density grain boundaries provide high strength, but may introduce undesirable features, such as high Fermi levels and instability. We investigated the kinetics of recovery and recrystallization of Cu that was manufactured to include both nanotwins (NT) and high-angle columnar boundaries. We used the isothermal Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov (JMAK) model to estimate activation energy values for recovery and recrystallization and compared those to values derived using the non-isothermal Kissinger equation. The JMAK model hinges on an exponent that expresses the growth mechanism of a material. The exponent for this Cu was close to 0.5, indicating low-dimensional microstructure evolution, which is associated with anisotropic twin coarsening, heterogeneous recrystallization and high stability. Since this Cu was of high purity, there was a negligible impurity-drag-effect on boundaries. The twin coarsening and heterogeneous recrystallization resulted from migration of high-angle columnar boundaries with their triple junctions in one direction, assisted by the presence of high concentration vacancies at boundaries. Analyses performed by electron energy loss spectroscopy of atomic columns at twin boundaries (TBs) and in the interior showed similar plasma peak shapes and L3 edge positions. This implies that values for conductivity and Fermi level are equal for atoms at TBs and in the interior.
Basin entropy: a new tool to analyze uncertainty in dynamical systems
Authors: Daza Alvar , Wagemakers Alexandre , Georgeot Bertrand , Guéry-Odelin David , Sanjuán Miguel A. F. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractIn nonlinear dynamics, basins of attraction link a given set of initial conditions to its corresponding final states. This notion appears in a broad range of applications where several outcomes are possible, which is a common situation in neuroscience, economy, astronomy, ecology and many other disciplines. Depending on the nature of the basins, prediction can be difficult even in systems that evolve under deterministic rules. From this respect, a proper classification of this unpredictability is clearly required. To address this issue, we introduce the basin entropy, a measure to quantify this uncertainty. Its application is illustrated with several paradigmatic examples that allow us to identify the ingredients that hinder the prediction of the final state. The basin entropy provides an efficient method to probe the behavior of a system when different parameters are varied. Additionally, we provide a sufficient condition for the existence of fractal basin boundaries: when the basin entropy of the boundaries is larger than log2, the basin is fractal.
Mitochondria-Mediated Protein Regulation Mechanism of Polymorphs-Dependent Inhibition of Nanoselenium on Cancer Cells
Authors: Wang Ge , Guo Yuming , Yang Gai , Yang Lin , Ma Xiaoming , Wang Kui , Zhu Lin , Sun Jiaojiao , Wang Xiaobing , Zhang Hua 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThe present study was (i) to prepare two types of selenium nanoparticles, namely an amorphous form of selenium quantum dots (A-SeQDs) and a crystalline form of selenium quantum dots (C-SeQDs); and (ii) to investigate the nano-bio interactions of A-SeQDs and C-SeQDs in MCF-7, HepG2, HeLa, NIH/3T3, L929 cells and BRL-3A cells. It was found that A-SeQDs could induce the mitochondria-mediated apoptosis, necrosis and death of cells, while C-SeQDs had much weaker effects. This polymorphs-dependent anti-proliferative activity of nano-selenium was scarcely reported. Further investigation demonstrated that A-SeQDs could differentially regulate 61 proteins and several pathways related to stress response, protein synthesis, cell migration and cell cycle, including “p38 MAPK Signaling”, “p53 Signaling”, “14-3-3-mediated Signaling”, “p70S6K Signaling” and “Protein Ubiquitination Pathway”. This was the first report to demonstrate the involvement of protein synthesis and post-translational modification pathways in the anti-proliferative activity associated with NMs. Compared with previously fragmentary studies, this study use a nanomics approach combining bioinformatics and proteomics to systematically investigate the nano-bio interactions of selenium nanoparticles in cancer cells.
Neuroprotective effects of apigenin against inflammation, neuronal excitability and apoptosis in an induced pluripotent stem cell model of Alzheimer’s disease
Authors: Balez Rachelle , Steiner Nicole , Engel Martin , Muñoz Sonia Sanz , Lum Jeremy Stephen , Wu Yizhen , Wang Dadong , Vallotton Pascal , Sachdev Perminder , O’Connor Michael , Sidhu Kuldip , Münch Gerald , Ooi Lezanne 
Published: August 2016

AbstractAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases, yet current therapeutic treatments are inadequate due to a complex disease pathogenesis. The plant polyphenol apigenin has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties in a number of cell and animal models; however a comprehensive assessment has not been performed in a human model of AD. Here we have used a human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) model of familial and sporadic AD, in addition to healthy controls, to assess the neuroprotective activity of apigenin. The iPSC-derived AD neurons demonstrated a hyper-excitable calcium signalling phenotype, elevated levels of nitrite, increased cytotoxicity and apoptosis, reduced neurite length and increased susceptibility to inflammatory stress challenge from activated murine microglia, in comparison to control neurons. We identified that apigenin has potent anti-inflammatory properties with the ability to protect neurites and cell viability by promoting a global down-regulation of cytokine and nitric oxide (NO) release in inflammatory cells. In addition, we show that apigenin is able to protect iPSC-derived AD neurons via multiple means by reducing the frequency of spontaneous Ca2+ signals and significantly reducing caspase-3/7 mediated apoptosis. These data demonstrate the broad neuroprotective action of apigenin against AD pathogenesis in a human disease model.
Facial feedback and autonomic responsiveness reflect impaired emotional processing in Parkinson’s Disease
Authors: Balconi Michela , Pala Francesca , Manenti Rosa , Brambilla Michela , Cobelli Chiara , Rosini Sandra , Benussi Alberto , Padovani Alessandro , Borroni Barbara , Cotelli Maria 
Published: August 2016

AbstractEmotional deficits are part of the non-motor features of Parkinson’s disease but few attention has been paid to specific aspects such as subjective emotional experience and autonomic responses. This study aimed to investigate the mechanisms of emotional recognition in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) using the following levels: explicit evaluation of emotions (Self-Assessment Manikin) and implicit reactivity (Skin Conductance Response; electromyographic measure of facial feedback of the zygomaticus and corrugator muscles). 20 PD Patients and 34 healthy controls were required to observe and evaluate affective pictures during physiological parameters recording. In PD, the appraisal process on both valence and arousal features of emotional cues were preserved, but we found significant impairment in autonomic responses. Specifically, in comparison to healthy controls, PD patients revealed lower Skin Conductance Response values to negative and high arousing emotional stimuli. In addition, the electromyographic measures showed defective responses exclusively limited to negative and high arousing emotional category: PD did not show increasing of corrugator activity in response to negative emotions as happened in heathy controls. PD subjects inadequately respond to the emotional categories which were considered more “salient”: they had preserved appraisal process, but impaired automatic ability to distinguish between different emotional contexts.
Urothelium muscarinic activation phosphorylates CBSSer227 via cGMP/PKG pathway causing human bladder relaxation through H2S production
Authors: d’Emmanuele di Villa Bianca Roberta , Mitidieri Emma , Fusco Ferdinando , Russo Annapina , Pagliara Valentina , Tramontano Teresa , Donnarumma Erminia , Mirone Vincenzo , Cirino Giuseppe , Russo Giulia , Sorrentino Raffaella 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThe urothelium modulates detrusor activity through releasing factors whose nature has not been clearly defined. Here we have investigated the involvement of H2S as possible mediator released downstream following muscarinic (M) activation, by using human bladder and urothelial T24 cell line. Carbachol stimulation enhances H2S production and in turn cGMP in human urothelium or in T24 cells. This effect is reversed by cysthationine-β-synthase (CBS) inhibition. The blockade of M1 and M3 receptors reverses the increase in H2S production in human urothelium. In T24 cells, the blockade of M1 receptor significantly reduces carbachol-induced H2S production. In the functional studies, the urothelium removal from human bladder strips leads to an increase in carbachol-induced contraction that is mimicked by CBS inhibition. Instead, the CSE blockade does not significantly affect carbachol-induced contraction. The increase in H2S production and in turn of cGMP is driven by CBS-cGMP/PKG-dependent phosphorylation at Ser227 following carbachol stimulation. The finding of the presence of this crosstalk between the cGMP/PKG and H2S pathway downstream to the M1/M3 receptor in the human urothelium further implies a key role for H2S in bladder physiopathology. Thus, the modulation of the H2S pathway can represent a feasible therapeutic target to develop drugs for bladder disorders.
The caffeine-binding adenosine A2A receptor induces age-like HPA-axis dysfunction by targeting glucocorticoid receptor function
Authors: Batalha Vânia L. , Ferreira Diana G. , Coelho Joana E. , Valadas Jorge S. , Gomes Rui , Temido-Ferreira Mariana , Shmidt Tatiana , Baqi Younis , Buée Luc , Müller Christa E. , Hamdane Malika , Outeiro Tiago F. , Bader Michael , Meijsing Sebastiaan H. , Sadri-Vakili Ghazaleh , Blum David , Lopes Luísa V. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractCaffeine is associated with procognitive effects in humans by counteracting overactivation of the adenosine A2A receptor (A2AR), which is upregulated in the human forebrain of aged and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients. We have previously shown that an anti-A2AR therapy reverts age-like memory deficits, by reestablishment of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis feedback and corticosterone circadian levels. These observations suggest that A2AR over-activation and glucocorticoid dysfunction are key events in age-related hippocampal deficits; but their direct connection has never been explored. We now show that inducing A2AR overexpression in an aging-like profile is sufficient to trigger HPA-axis dysfunction, namely loss of plasmatic corticosterone circadian oscillation, and promotes reduction of GR hippocampal levels. The synaptic plasticity and memory deficits triggered by GR in the hippocampus are amplified by A2AR over-activation and were rescued by anti-A2AR therapy; finally, we demonstrate that A2AR act on GR nuclear translocation and GR-dependent transcriptional regulation. We provide the first demonstration that A2AR is a major regulator of GR function and that this functional interconnection may be a trigger to age-related memory deficits. This supports the idea that the procognitive effects of A2AR antagonists, namely caffeine, on Alzheimer’s and age-related cognitive impairments may rely on its ability to modulate GR actions.