Febrile seizures: an appropriate-aged model suitable for long-term studies.

Seizures induced by fever are the most prevalent age-specific seizures in infants and young children. Whether they result in long-term sequelae such as neuronal loss and temporal lobe epilepsy is controversial. Prospective studies of human febrile seizures have found no adverse effects on the developing brain. However, adults with temporal lobe epilepsy and associated limbic cell loss frequently have a history of prolonged febrile seizures in early life. These critical issues may be resolved using appropriate animal models. Published models of hyperthermic seizures have used 'adolescent' and older rats, have yielded a low percentage of animals with actual seizures, or have suffered from a high mortality, rendering them unsuitable for long-term studies. This article describes the establishment of a model of febrile seizures using the infant rat. Hyperthermia was induced by a regulated stream of mildly heated air, and the seizures were determined by both behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) criteria. Stereotyped seizures were generated in 93.6% of 10-11-day-old rats. EEG correlates of these seizures were not evident in cortical recordings, but were clearly present in depth recordings from the amygdala and hippocampus. Prolonged febrile seizures could be induced without burns, yielding a low mortality (11%) and long-term survival. In summary, in infant rat paradigm of EEG-confirmed, hyperthermia-induced seizures which is suitable for long-term studies is described. This model should be highly valuable for studying the mechanisms and sequelae of febrile seizures

Corticotropin releasing hormone antagonist does not prevent adrenalectomy-induced apoptosis in the dentate gyrus of the rat hippocampus.

Adrenalectomy in the mature rat leads to death of granule cells in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation. The mechanisms underlying this cell death have not been fully clarified: It has been considered that the granule cells require adrenal steroids for their survival, since corticosterone replacement prevents their death. However, adrenalectomy-induced loss of negative feedback also increases levels of corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) in several limbic brain regions. CRH is known to induce neuronal death in hippocampal regions rich in CRH receptors. This study tested the hypothesis that adrenalectomy-induced granule cell death is mediated via the enhanced activation of CRH receptors. The extent of granule cell degeneration was compared among 4 groups of young adult male rats: Sham-adrenalectomy controls, adrenalectomized rats, adrenalectomized rats infused with a CRH antagonist from the onset of steroid deprivation to the time of sacrifice, and adrenalectomized rats infused with vehicle only. (9-41)-alpha-helical CRH was administered using an osmotic pump into the cerebral ventricles. Adrenalectomy led to robust granule cell degeneration, which was maximal in the suprapyramidal blade of the dentate gyrus. Infusion of the CRH antagonist in doses shown to block CRH actions on limbic neurons did not decrease the number of degenerating granule cells compared with the untreated or vehicle-infused adrenalectomized groups. Therefore, blocking the actions of CRH does not prevent adrenalectomy-induced granule cell death, consistent with a direct effect of corticoids on the survival of these neurons

Electron beam profile imaging in the presence of coherent optical radiation effects

High-brightness electron beams with low energy spread at existing and future x-ray free-electron lasers are affected by various collective beam self-interactions and microbunching instabilities. The corresponding coherent optical radiation effects, e.g., coherent optical transition radiation, render electron beam profile imaging impossible and become a serious issue for all kinds of electron beam diagnostics using imaging screens. Furthermore, coherent optical radiation effects can also be related to intrinsically ultrashort electron bunches or the existence of ultrashort spikes inside the electron bunches. In this paper, we discuss methods to suppress coherent optical radiation effects both by electron beam profile imaging in dispersive beamlines and by using scintillation imaging screens in combination with separation techniques. The suppression of coherent optical emission in dispersive beamlines is shown by analytical calculations, numerical simulations, and measurements. Transverse and longitudinal electron beam profile measurements in the presence of coherent optical radiation effects in non-dispersive beamlines are demonstrated by applying a temporal separation technique.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beam

Real-time data acquisition and processing system for MHz repetition rate image sensors

An electro-optic detector is one of the diagnostic setups used in particle accelerators. It employs an electro-optic crystal to encode the longitudinal beam charge profile in the spectrum of a light pulse. The charge distribution is then reconstructed using data captured by a fast spectrometer. The measurement repetition rate should match or exceed the machine bunching frequency, which is often in the range of several MHz. A high-speed optical line detector (HOLD) is a linear camera designed for easy integration with scientific experiments. The use of modern FPGA circuits helps in the efficient collection and processing of data. The solution is based on Xilinx 7-Series FPGA circuits and implements a custom latency-optimized architecture utilizing the AXI4 family of interfaces. HOLD is one of the fastest line cameras in the world. Thanks to its hardware architecture and a powerful KALYPSO sensor from KIT, it outperforms the fastest comparable commercial devices

Discordant Supramolecular Fibres Reversibly Depolymerised by Temperature and Light

Synthetic stimuli responsive supramolecular polymers attract increasing interest for their ability to mimic the unique properties of natural assemblies. Here we focus on the well-studied benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (BTA) motif, and substitute it with two (S)-3,7-dimethyloctyl groups and an azobenzene photoswitch. We demonstrate the UV (λ=365 nm) induced depolymerisation of the helical hydrogen-bonded polymers in methylcyclohexane (MCH) through circular dichroism and UV-vis spectroscopy in dilute solution (15 μm), and NMR and iPAINT super-resolution microscopy in concentrated solution (300 μm). The superstructure can be regenerated after thermal depolymerization, whilst repeated depolymerisation can be reversed without degradation by irradiating at λ=455 nm. Molecular dynamics simulations show that the most energetically favourable configuration for these polymers in MCH is a left-handed helical network of hydrogen-bonds between the BTA cores surrounded by two right-handed helices of azobenzenes. The responsiveness to two orthogonal triggers across a broad concentration range holds promise for use in, for example, photo-responsive gelation

Host genotype and genetic diversity shape the evolution of a novel bacterial infection

Pathogens continue to emerge from increased contact with novel host species. Whilst these hosts can represent distinct environments for pathogens, the impacts of host genetic background on how a pathogen evolves post-emergence are unclear. In a novel interaction, we experimentally evolved a pathogen (Staphylococcus aureus) in populations of wild nematodes (Caenorhabditis elegans) to test whether host genotype and genetic diversity affect pathogen evolution. After ten rounds of selection, we found that pathogen virulence evolved to vary across host genotypes, with differences in host metal ion acquisition detected as a possible driver of increased host exploitation. Diverse host populations selected for the highest levels of pathogen virulence, but infectivity was constrained, unlike in host monocultures. We hypothesise that population heterogeneity might pool together individuals that contribute disproportionately to the spread of infection or to enhanced virulence. The genomes of evolved populations were sequenced, and it was revealed that pathogens selected in distantly-related host genotypes diverged more than those in closely-related host genotypes. S. aureus nevertheless maintained a broad host range. Our study provides unique empirical insight into the evolutionary dynamics that could occur in other novel infections of wildlife and humans

An automatic abstraction technique for verifying featured, parameterised systems

A general technique combining model checking and abstraction is presented that allows property based analysis of systems consisting of an arbitrary number of featured components. We show how parameterised systems can be specified in a guarded command form with constraints placed on variables which occur in guards. We prove that results that hold for a small number of components can be shown to scale up. We then show how featured systems can be specified in a similar way, by relaxing constraints on guards. The main result is a generalisation theorem for featured systems which we apply to two well known examples

Functional values and brand personality: The perception of consumers and media professionals in six European countries

The process of consolidation and concentration in the business of traditional media in Western countries was fed by the global financial crisis during the last three years. We argue that after the global financial crisis, branding and differentiation from competitors is becoming even more important. Traditional media need more effort in managing their brands. Our leading research question is: “What functional values and personality do different media brands represent in the minds of media consumers and media professionals in different European countries?” Useful theoretical background to further develop this research problem can be found in literature on journalism cultures and the functions of the media, as well as brand management in the media industry. To answer our research question, we conducted a survey in six big metropolitan areas: Berlin (N=741), Copenhagen (N=749), London (N=740), Paris (N=741), Rome (N=738), and Zurich (N=748). We asked media consumers what purpose their favourite newspaper and favourite TV news programme serves (functional value) and what personality items best fit the image they have of their favourite media brand. The same questions were asked media managers and senior editors (N=58) in the respective areas. ANOVA tests reveal significant differences among all six areas. Our results show that considerably more than consumers, media professionals see their brands in the light of traditional functions of journalism. Moreover, we found some evidence that the perception of functional values and brand personality in the UK is different from all other countries