Video-rate volumetric neuronal imaging using 3D targeted illumination

Fast volumetric microscopy is required to monitor large-scale neural ensembles with high spatio-temporal resolution. Widefield fluorescence microscopy can image large 2D fields of view at high resolution and speed while remaining simple and costeffective. A focal sweep add-on can further extend the capacity of widefield microscopy by enabling extended-depth-of-field (EDOF) imaging, but suffers from an inability to reject out-of-focus fluorescence background. Here, by using a digital micromirror device to target only in-focus sample features, we perform EDOF imaging with greatly enhanced contrast and signal-to-noise ratio, while reducing the light dosage delivered to the sample. Image quality is further improved by the application of a robust deconvolution algorithm. We demonstrate the advantages of our technique for in vivo calcium imaging in the mouse brain.This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health (R21EY026310) and the National Science Foundation (CBET-1508988). The authors wish to thank E. McCarthy and Prof. M.J. Baum for providing mouse brain slices used in this manuscript, and A. I. Mohammed for providing in vivo mouse brain samples in the early stages of this work. (R21EY026310 - National Institutes of Health; CBET-1508988 - National Science Foundation)Published versio

Simultaneous profiling of transcriptome and DNA methylome from a single cell.

BackgroundSingle-cell transcriptome and single-cell methylome technologies have become powerful tools to study RNA and DNA methylation profiles of single cells at a genome-wide scale. A major challenge has been to understand the direct correlation of DNA methylation and gene expression within single-cells. Due to large cell-to-cell variability and the lack of direct measurements of transcriptome and methylome of the same cell, the association is still unclear.ResultsHere, we describe a novel method (scMT-seq) that simultaneously profiles both DNA methylome and transcriptome from the same cell. In sensory neurons, we consistently identify transcriptome and methylome heterogeneity among single cells but the majority of the expression variance is not explained by proximal promoter methylation, with the exception of genes that do not contain CpG islands. By contrast, gene body methylation is positively associated with gene expression for only those genes that contain a CpG island promoter. Furthermore, using single nucleotide polymorphism patterns from our hybrid mouse model, we also find positive correlation of allelic gene body methylation with allelic expression.ConclusionsOur method can be used to detect transcriptome, methylome, and single nucleotide polymorphism information within single cells to dissect the mechanisms of epigenetic gene regulation

Validation of Monitoring Septic Thymus Involution in Mice Using Ultrasound.

Sepsis is a dangerous condition commonly seen in the intensive care unit (ICU) of hospitals. It causes the thymus, a crucial immune organ, to shrink. This process is known as thymus involution. Although thymus involution is a natural process that occurs as we age, it is accelerated during sepsis. This process is associated with poor outcomes in septic patients, yet it had never been studied using ultrasonography in a septic mouse model. Researchers from the University of Kentucky have validated a non-invasive ultrasound imaging approach to monitor septic thymus involution in a cecum ligation and puncture (CLP) sepsis mouse model. In this study, scientists randomly divided 35 C57BL/6J mice into three groups: baseline, post-CLP at 3 days, and post-CLP at 10 days. In each group, they first obtained estimated thymus area and volumes using 2D and 3D ultrasound imaging. The mice were then euthanized to measure thymus weights ex-vivo. The ex-vivo weights were correlated with the in-vivo 2D and 3D estimated areas and volumes and proved the reliability of this approach for monitoring thymus changes during sepsis. The study, led by Dr. Xiang-An Li, a professor of physiology at the University of Kentucky, was published in Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. It has paved the way for further studies investigating the mechanism of thymus involution during sepsis, which is a crucial but poorly understood phenomenon that exacerbates immunosuppression in septic patients

Scheme for remote implementation of partially unknown quantum operation of two qubits in cavity QED

By constructing the recovery operations of the protocol of remote implementation of partially unknown quantum operation of two qubits [An Min Wang: PRA, \textbf{74}, 032317(2006)], we present a scheme to implement it in cavity QED. Long-lived Rydberg atoms are used as qubits, and the interaction between the atoms and the field of cavity is a nonresonant one. Finally, we analyze the experimental feasibility of this scheme.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Seguimiento online de la conductividad eléctrica del vino inducido por ultrasonido

We assessed the effects of ultrasonic frequency, power, temperature and exposure time on the electric conductivity (EC) of wine to evaluate the feasibility of the online EC monitoring as an indicator to reflect the changes of wine quality under the ultrasound irradiation. Results showed that the continuously monitored curve of EC was significantly different from the values recorded at the beginning and end of sonication. An abrupt rise and a rapid drop of wine EC were observed at the start and end points of sonication, respectively, in all working conditions. With regards to the assayed wine temperatures, the effect exerted by this parameter on EC before sonication was totally different from that observed when the samples were cooled down after ultrasound treatment. All in all, these results suggest that the online EC monitoring of wine may be used as an efficient indicator to control and reflect the real changes of wine under ultrasound treatment.Hemos estudiado los efectos de la frecuencia de ultrasonido, la potencia, la temperatura y el tiempo de exposición en la conductividad eléctrica (EC) del vino para evaluar la viabilidad del seguimiento EC online como indicador para reflejar los cambios en la calidad del vino bajo irradiación de ultrasonido. Los resultados mostraron que la curva de EC supervisada en continuo fue significativamente diferente de los valores registrados al principio y al final de la sonicación. Se observaron un aumento brusco y una rápida caída de EC del vino al principio y al final de la sonicación, respectivamente, para todas las condiciones estudiadas. En referencia a las temperaturas testadas del vino, el efecto ejercido por este parámetro en EC antes de la sonicación fue totalmente distinto de aquel observado cuando se enfriaron las muestras después del tratamiento de ultrasonido. En resumen, estos resultados sugieren que el seguimiento online de EC del vino podría ser utilizado como un indicador eficiente para controlar y reflejar los cambios reales en el vino con el uso de tratamiento de ultrasonido.National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 31101324]Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province, China [grant number 2015JM3097]Technology Transfer Promotion Project of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China [grant number CXY1434(5)]Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China [grant number GK201302039], [grant number GK201404006], [grant number GK201505128

Development of Superplastic Structural Ceramics

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65140/1/j.1151-2916.1990.tb06734.x.pd