A Mild Hydration of Nitriles Catalysed by Copper (ll) Acetate

A simple, mild and general procedure for the hydration of nitriles to amides using copper as catalyst and promoted by N,N-diethylhydroxylamine is described. The reaction can be conducted in water at low temperature in short reaction times. This new procedure allows amides to be obtained from a wide range of substrates in excellent yields

On the Emergence of Tremor in Prodromal Parkinson's Disease

Clinical, neuropathological and neuroimaging research suggests that pathological changes in Parkinson’s disease (PD) start many years before the emergence of motor signs. Since disease-modifying treatments are likely to be most effective when initiated early in the disease process, there has been significant interest in characterizing prodromal PD. Some people with PD describe autonomic symptoms at the time of diagnosis suggesting that autonomic dysfunction is a common feature of prodromal PD. Furthermore, subtle motor signs may be present and emerge prior to the time of diagnosis. We present a series of patients who, in the prodromal phase of PD, experienced the emergence of tremor initially only while yawning or straining at stool and discuss how early involvement of autonomic brainstem nuclei could lead to these previously unreported phenomena. The hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) plays a central role in autonomic control including bowel/bladder function, cardiovascular homeostasis and yawning and innervates multiple brainstem nuclei involved in autonomic functions (including brainstem reticular formation, locus ceruleus, dorsal raphe nucleus and motor nucleus of the vagus). The PVN is affected in PD and evidence from related phenomena suggest that the PVN could increase tremor either by increasing downstream cholinergic activity on brainstem nuclei such as the reticular formation or by stimulating the locus ceruleus to activate the cerebellothalamocortical network via the ventrolateral nucleus of the thalamus. Aberrant cholinergic/noradrenergic transmission between these brainstem nuclei early in PD couldlead to tremor before the emergence of other parkinsonian signs, representing an early clinical clue to prodromal PD

Glucose metabolism during liver transplantation in dogs

Arterial and hepatic venous blood levels of glucose were studied in 12 dogs during orthotopic liver transplantation peformed under ketamine anesthesia without exogenous glucose administration. During the early part of surgery, arterial blood glucose levels were stable: 161 ± 12 mg/dl (mean ± SEM) after laparotomy and 183 ± 16 mg/dl 5 min before the anhepatic stage. During the anhepatic stage, arterial blood glucose levels decreased progressively to 135 ± 9 and 88 ± 8 mg/dl, 5 min in the anhepatic stage and 5 min before reperfusion of the graft liver, respectively (P < 0.05). Reperfusion of the graft liver resulted in an increase in arterial glucose levels to 206 ± 17 and 240 ± 24 mg/dl, 5 and 30 min after reperfusion, respectively (P < 0.05). Hepatic venous blood glucose levels increased after reperfusion (405 ± 37 and 346 ± 41 mg/dl, 5 and 30 min after reperfusion, respectively) and were significantly higher than in arterial blood (P < 0.05). Arterial lasma insulin, measured in 5 animals, did not change significantly during the procedure, whereas plasma glucagon levels, stable during the preanhepatic and anhepatic stages, increased steadily after reperfusion of the graft liver, from 66.1 ± 14.2 to 108.4 ± 38.1 pg/ml (P < 0.05). This study shows that in dogs with ketamine anesthesia mild hypoglycemia occurs during the anhepatic stage of liver transplantation without exogenous glucose administration followed by hyperglycemia on reperfusion of the graft liver, possibly secondary to the release of glucose from the donor liver

Photoconductive Laser Spectroscopy as a Method to Enhance Defect Spectral Signatures in Amorphous Oxide Semiconductor Thin-film Transistors

Defects in semiconductor thin-films often leave optical spectral signatures that can be used for their identification. In this letter, we report on spectrally resolved photoconductivity measurements of amorphous oxide semiconductor thin-film transistors. In contrast to previously reported photoconductive spectroscopy measurements recorded using spectrally filtered broadband light sources, we used a wavelength tunable picosecond laser to illuminate the thin-film. We extracted the absorption coeficient as a function of wavelength from the photocurrent measurement and showed that it followed the typical characteristic behaviour previously reported for amorphous oxide semiconductor thin-films. However, in addition, we observed several sharp spectral peaks in the photoconductivity spectrum which can be associated with sub-bandgap defects. These enhanced peaks are not normally visible in previously reported photoconductivity spectra. Furthermore, we show that we can control the sensitivity of our measurement by changing the applied gate bias voltage when the thin-films were fabricated into transistors. The enhancement achieved by using the wavelength tunable laser makes this a particularly sensitive characterisation tool and can additionally be used to discriminate between defects which have been incorporated after device fabrication

The nature of weather and climate impacts in the energy sector

The power sector’s meteorological information needs are diverse and cover many different distinct applications and users. Recognising this diversity, it is important to understand the general nature of how weather and climate influence the energy sector and the implications they have for quantitative impact modelling. Using conceptual examples and illustrations from recent research, this chapter argues that the traditional ‘transfer function’ approach that is common to many industrial applications of weather and climate science—whereby weather can be directly mapped to an energy impact—is inadequate for many important power system applications (such as price forecasting and system operations and planning). The chapter concludes by arguing that a deeper understanding of how meteorological impacts in the energy sector are modelled is required

Radio Emission from Ultra-Cool Dwarfs

The 2001 discovery of radio emission from ultra-cool dwarfs (UCDs), the very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs with spectral types of ~M7 and later, revealed that these objects can generate and dissipate powerful magnetic fields. Radio observations provide unparalleled insight into UCD magnetism: detections extend to brown dwarfs with temperatures <1000 K, where no other observational probes are effective. The data reveal that UCDs can generate strong (kG) fields, sometimes with a stable dipolar structure; that they can produce and retain nonthermal plasmas with electron acceleration extending to MeV energies; and that they can drive auroral current systems resulting in significant atmospheric energy deposition and powerful, coherent radio bursts. Still to be understood are the underlying dynamo processes, the precise means by which particles are accelerated around these objects, the observed diversity of magnetic phenomenologies, and how all of these factors change as the mass of the central object approaches that of Jupiter. The answers to these questions are doubly important because UCDs are both potential exoplanet hosts, as in the TRAPPIST-1 system, and analogues of extrasolar giant planets themselves.Comment: 19 pages; submitted chapter to the Handbook of Exoplanets, eds. Hans J. Deeg and Juan Antonio Belmonte (Springer-Verlag

Cardiosphere-derived cells suppress allogeneic lymphocytes by production of PGE2 acting via the EP4 receptor

derived cells (CDCs) are a cardiac progenitor cell population, which have been shown to possess cardiac regenerative properties and can improve heart function in a variety of cardiac diseases. Studies in large animal models have predominantly focussed on using autologous cells for safety, however allogeneic cell banks would allow for a practical, cost-effective and efficient use in a clinical setting. The aim of this work was to determine the immunomodulatory status of these cells using CDCs and lymphocytes from 5 dogs. CDCs expressed MHC I but not MHC II molecules and in mixed lymphocyte reactions demonstrated a lack of lymphocyte proliferation in response to MHC-mismatched CDCs. Furthermore, MHC-mismatched CDCs suppressed lymphocyte proliferation and activation in response to Concanavalin A. Transwell experiments demonstrated that this was predominantly due to direct cell-cell contact in addition to soluble mediators whereby CDCs produced high levels of PGE2 under inflammatory conditions. This led to down-regulation of CD25 expression on lymphocytes via the EP4 receptor. Blocking prostaglandin synthesis restored both, proliferation and activation (measured via CD25 expression) of stimulated lymphocytes. We demonstrated for the first time in a large animal model that CDCs inhibit proliferation in allo-reactive lymphocytes and have potent immunosuppressive activity mediated via PGE2

Extensive Copy-Number Variation of Young Genes across Stickleback Populations

MM received funding from the Max Planck innovation funds for this project. PGDF was supported by a Marie Curie European Reintegration Grant (proposal nr 270891). CE was supported by German Science Foundation grants (DFG, EI 841/4-1 and EI 841/6-1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

The role of childhood social position in adult type 2 diabetes: Evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Copyright @ 2014 Pikhartova et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Background: Socioeconomic circumstances in childhood and early adulthood may influence the later onset of chronic disease, although such research is limited for type 2 diabetes and its risk factors at the different stages of life. The main aim of the present study is to examine the role of childhood social position and later inflammatory markers and health behaviours in developing type 2 diabetes at older ages using a pathway analytic approach. Methods. Data on childhood and adult life circumstances of 2,994 men and 4,021 women from English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) were used to evaluate their association with diabetes at age 50 years and more. The cases of diabetes were based on having increased blood levels of glycated haemoglobin and/or self-reported medication for diabetes and/or being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Father's job when ELSA participants were aged 14 years was used as the measure of childhood social position. Current social characteristics, health behaviours and inflammatory biomarkers were used as potential mediators in the statistical analysis to assess direct and indirect effects of childhood circumstances on diabetes in later life. Results: 12.6 per cent of participants were classified as having diabetes. A disadvantaged social position in childhood, as measured by father's manual occupation, was associated at conventional levels of statistical significance with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in adulthood, both directly and indirectly through inflammation, adulthood social position and a risk score constructed from adult health behaviours including tobacco smoking and limited physical activity. The direct effect of childhood social position was reduced by mediation analysis (standardised coefficient decreased from 0.089 to 0.043) but remained statistically significant (p = 0.035). All three indirect pathways made a statistically significantly contribution to the overall effect of childhood social position on adulthood type 2 diabetes. Conclusions: Childhood social position influences adult diabetes directly and indirectly through inflammatory markers, adulthood social position and adult health behaviours. © 2014Pikhartova et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.Economic and Social Research Council-funded International Centre for Life Course Studies in Society and Health (RES-596-28-0001)

Tooth Brushing, Flossing, and Preventive Dental Visits by Detroit-area Residents in Relation to Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors

A survey was conducted to identify (a) factors that influence preventive dental behaviors and (b) target groups for interventions. Data were collected in face-to-face interviews with a probability sample of 662 dentate adults living in the Detroit tricounty area. The interviews included questions about demographic and socioeconomic variables and about three preventive behaviors: brushing, flossing, and preventive dental visits. All behaviors were positively associated with socioeconomic status. Females were more likely than males to perform each of the behaviors at the recommended frequency. The behaviors were only weakly associated with age. Whites were more likely than nonwhites to make regular dental visits, but frequency of brushing and flossing did not vary substantially across racial groups. The impact of race on frequency of dental visits was reduced when socioeconomic status was statistically controlled. Findings suggest that socioeconomic status, race, and sex remain important considerations when planning dental health education or other interventions.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65274/1/j.1752-7325.1993.tb02692.x.pd