Origin of strange metallic phase in cuprate superconductors

The origin of strange metallic phase is shown to exist due to these two conditions---(i) the electrons are strongly interacting such that there are no band and Mott-Hubbard gaps, and (ii) the electronic energy levels are crossed in such a way that there is an electronic energy gap between two energy levels associated to two different wave functions. The theory is also exploited to explain (i) the upward- and downward-shifts in the $T$-linear resistivity curves, and (ii) the spectral weight transfer observed in the soft X-ray absorption spectroscopic measurements of the La-Sr-Cu-O Mott insulator.Comment: To be published in J. Supercond. Nov. Mag

Quantum thermodynamics at critical points during melting and solidification processes

We systematically explore and show the existence of finite-temperature continuous quantum phase transition (CTQPT) at a critical point, namely, during solidification or melting such that the first-order thermal phase transition is a special case within CTQPT. Infact, CTQPT is related to chemical reaction where quantum fluctuation (due to wavefunction transformation) is caused by thermal energy and it can occur maximally for temperatures much higher than zero Kelvin. To extract the quantity related to CTQPT, we use the ionization energy theory and the energy-level spacing renormalization group method to derive the energy-level spacing entropy, renormalized Bose-Einstein distribution and the time-dependent specific heat capacity. This work unambiguously shows that the quantum phase transition applies for any finite temperatures.Comment: To be published in Indian Journal of Physics (Kolkata

Current status of epilepsy in Malaysia and way ahead

Epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder, following stroke and Alzheimer’s disease with the highest frequency of newly identified cases occurring among children and adults. About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly 80% of epilepsy occur in developing countries including Malaysia. In Malaysia, epilepsy is still a highly misunderstood and a number of studies explored the poor understanding of the illness. Epilepsy patients have the serious impact on quality of life. Both individuals and families of the patients have an appalling experience. Another factor is cost of AEDs which is very high. It is a burden for both patients and their families to meet the costs. There is a significant need persists to develop an accessible, cost effective, efficacious and less toxic antiepileptic drugs. Natural products used in traditional herbal medicine can be an important source for the search of novel anti-epileptogenic compounds. A number of plants used in traditional medicine have shown to possess anticonvulsant activity. Malaysia is rich in medicinal plants. Attempts have been made in the past to explore the effectiveness of some medicinal plants for the treatment of epilepsy, but the rationale for selection of plants was not justifiable and hence they failed to get a hit. Some of the Malaysian plants are used by traditional healers in the treatment of epilepsy, but their therapeutic effectiveness is not being scientifically explored. This review focused to enlighten the status of epilepsy and research required for the Malaysian medicinal plants for the treatment of epilepsy.Alina Arulsamy, Bey Hing Goh, Mohd Farooq Shaik

Temporal changes in tau phosphorylation and related kinase and phosphatases following two models of traumatic brain injury

Published: November 09, 2018A history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is linked to later neurodegeneration, with a key feature accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau. Tau is a microtubule stability protein that undergoes frequent cycles of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation due to kinases and phosphatase activity. Hyperphosphorylation of tau destabilizes microtubules interrupting axonal transport, as well as promotes aggregation disturbing synaptic dysfunction. Aberrant phosphorylation of tau post-injury is thought to be a key player in later neurodegeneration. However, it is not known whether type of TBI- a single severe injury compared to repeated mild injuries- affects the time course of tau accumulation or the pattern of changes in kinases and phosphatases that facilitate this phosphorylation. To investigate, male Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to either a single moderate/severe or 3 mild TBIs spaced 5 days apart (rmTBI) utlising the Marmarou impact-acceleration model. Levels of cortical ptau (AT180, pSer422, oligomeric tau), pGSK3β, pCDK5, pERK1/2, pAkt and PP2Ac were evaluated at 24h, 7 days, 1 month and 3 months post-injury, with changes in tau phosphorylation confirmed via immunohistochemistry. A similar time course of AT180 tau phosphorylation was seen irrespective of the nature of the initiating insult, with a spike at 24h post-injury return to baseline and then increasing chronically at 3 months post-injury. In line with this, levels of PP2Ac were decreased at 24h and 3 months post-injury, indicating a potential loss of phosphatase activity. Interestingly, minimal changes were seen in the kinases examined, with a spike in phosphorylation of GSK3β, at the inhibitory Ser site, at 24h and 3 months following rmTBI, but not single moderate severe TBI, suggesting a possible protective effect only post-rmTBI. This study highlights that changes in levels of phosphorylated tau are similar, regardless of the initiating injury, and highlights the need to further understand the driving mechanisms behind this phenomenon.Lyndsey Collins-Praino, Daniel Gutschmidt, Jessica Sharkey, Alina Arulsamy, and Frances Corriga

Understanding the Role of Hyponitrite in Nitric Oxide Reduction

Herein, we review the preparation and coordination chemistry of cis and trans isomers of hyponitrite, [N2O2](2-). Hyponitrite is known to bind to metals via a variety of bonding modes. In fact, at least eight different bonding modes have been observed, which is remarkable for such a simple ligand. More importantly, it is apparent that the cis isomer of hyponitrite is more reactive than the trans isomer because the barrier of N2O elimination from cis-hyponitrite is lower than that of trans-hyponitrite. This observation may have important mechanistic implications for both heterogeneous NOx reduction catalysts and NO reductase. However, our understanding of the hyponitrite ligand has been limited by the lack of a general route to this fragment, and most instances of its formation have been serendipitous

Synthesis of N₈-macrocyclic ligands by polyphosphoric acid-catalysed condensation <span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-IN;mso-fareast-language: EN-IN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA" lang="EN-IN">of trimethoprim with amino acids</span>

1282-1284<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family: " times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:="" en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-IN">Trimethoprim [2,4-diamino-5-(3', 4',5'-trimethoxybenzyl) pyrimidine] reacts with amino acids to give colourless N8-macrocyclic compounds by the polyphosphoric acid-catalysed condensation. The products contain a cross conjugated macrocyclic system of a novel type, related to some extent to azoporphins. The condensation proceeds to give products which, in certain instances, are not readily attainable by conventional condensation techniques.</span

Age, but not severity of injury, mediates decline in executive function: validation of the rodent touchscreen paradigm for preclinical models of traumatic brain injury

Increasingly, it is being recognised that traumatic brain injury (TBI) is not just an acute event but instead results in ongoing neuronal injury that may lead to chronic impairments in multiple cognitive domains. Of these, deficits in executive function are one of the more common changes reported following TBI, and are a major predictor of well-being, social function and quality of life in individuals with a history of TBI. In order to fully understand the relationship between TBI and executive dysfunction, including brain mechanisms that may account for this, experimental models are clearly needed. However, to date, there have been a lack of preclinical studies systematically comparing the effect of injury severity on executive function, particularly at long-term timepoints post-injury. Furthermore, many previous studies have not used behavioural measures that are sensitive to the full range of executive function impairments that may manifest after injury, particularly in models of diffuse axonal injury (Lv et al.). The current study aimed to investigate the temporal profile, up to 12 months post-injury, of the evolution of executive dysfunction following different severities of injury in an experimental model of DAI. In order to do so, we utilised a rodent touchscreen paradigm to administer the 5 Choice- Continuous Performance Task (5C-CPT), an extension of the 5-choice serial reaction time task (5CSRT). Interestingly, there were no differences in learning, motivation, attention, response time or impulsivity at 1 month, 6 months or 12 months post-injury in any of the TBI groups compared to sham, regardless of the initial severity of the injury. Instead, most of the effects on executive function seen at the 12 month timepoint appeared to be a result of ageing, not injury. As even the 12-month timepoint represents middle age in the rat, future studies will be needed to further probe these effects, in order to determine whether DAI may influence the presentation of executive dysfunction in older age.Alina Arulsamy, Frances Corrigan, Lyndsey E.Collins-Prain