Amplitude differences of evoked alpha and gamma oscillations in two different age groups

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the amplitude of gamma-band activity is influenced by the factor age. We examined alpha- and gamma-band EEG activity and event-related potentials (ERPs) of 12 subjects. Six subjects constituted the younger (mean age=36.6 years) and another six the older age group (mean age=47.6 years). Subjects performed a visual discrimination task which required a response to Kanizsa squares (targets) among Kanizsa-triangles and non-Kanizsa figures. The ERPs of the younger group revealed a significantly larger N170 amplitude. The amplitudes of evoked alpha- and gamma-band activity were also found to be significantly higher in the younger group. We discuss the implications of these findings and possible reasons for a change of the oscillatory activity in the older age group

On the structure of the energy distribution function in the hopping regime

The impact of the dispersion of the transport coefficients on the structure of the energy distribution function for charge carriers far from equilibrium has been investigated in effective-medium approximation for model densities of states. The investigations show that two regimes can be observed in energy relaxation processes. Below a characteristic temperature the structure of the energy distribution function is determined by the dispersion of the transport coefficients. Thermal energy diffusion is irrelevant in this regime. Above the characteristic temperature the structure of the energy distribution function is determined by energy diffusion. The characteristic temperature depends on the degree of disorder and increases with increasing disorder. Explicit expressions for the energy distribution function in both regimes are derived for a constant and an exponential density of states.Comment: 16 page

Effects of clinical breakpoint changes in CLSI guidelines 2010/2011 and EUCAST guidelines 2011 on antibiotic susceptibility test reporting of Gram-negative bacilli

Objectives The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of clinical breakpoint changes in CLSI 2010 and 2011 guidelines and EUCAST 2011 guidelines on antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) reports. Methods In total, 3713 non-duplicate clinical isolates of Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Acinetobacter baumannii were analysed. Inhibition zone diameters were determined for β-lactams, carbapenems, fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. CLSI 2009-11 and EUCAST 2011 clinical breakpoints were applied. Results Changes in resistance as defined per the guidelines affected individual species and drug classes differently. The cefepime resistance rate in Escherichia coli and Enterobacter cloacae increased from 2.1% and 1.3% to 8.2% and 6.9%, respectively, applying CLSI 2009-11 versus EUCAST 2011 guidelines. Ertapenem resistance rates in E. cloacae increased from 2.6% with CLSI 2009 to 7.2% for CLSI 2010 and 2011, and to 10.1% when applying EUCAST 2011. Cefepime and meropenem resistance rates in P. aeruginosa increased from 12.2% and 20.6% to 19.8% and 27.7%, respectively, comparing CLSI 2009-11 with EUCAST 2011. Tobramycin and gentamicin resistance rates in A. baumannii increased from 15.9% and 25.4% to 34.9% and 44.4% applying CLSI 2009-11 versus EUCAST 2011. Conclusions Higher resistance rates reported due to breakpoint changes in CLSI and EUCAST guidelines will result in increasing numbers of Gram-negative bacilli reported as multidrug resistant. AST reports classifying amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, cefepime or carbapenem resistance will lead clinicians to use alternative agents. Upon implementation of the EUCAST guidelines, laboratories should be aware of the implications of modified drug susceptibility testing reports on antibiotic prescription policie

Tuberculosis vaccine strain Mycobacterium bovis BCG Russia is a natural recA mutant

BACKGROUND: The current tuberculosis vaccine is a live vaccine derived from Mycobacterium bovis and attenuated by serial in vitro passaging. All vaccine substrains in use stem from one source, strain Bacille Calmette-Guérin. However, they differ in regions of genomic deletions, antigen expression levels, immunogenicity, and protective efficacy. RESULTS: As a RecA phenotype increases genetic stability and may contribute restricting the ongoing evolution of the various BCG substrains while maintaining their protective efficacy, we aimed to inactivate recA by allelic replacement in BCG vaccine strains representing different phylogenetic lineages (Pasteur, Frappier, Denmark, Russia). Homologous gene replacement was achieved successfully in three out of four strains. However, only illegitimate recombination was observed in BCG substrain Russia. Sequence analyses of recA revealed that a single nucleotide insertion in the 5' part of recA led to a translational frameshift with an early stop codon making BCG Russia a natural recA mutant. At the protein level BCG Russia failed to express RecA. CONCLUSION: According to phylogenetic analyses BCG Russia is an ancient vaccine strain most closely related to the parental M. bovis. We hypothesize that recA inactivation in BCG Russia occurred early and is in part responsible for its high degree of genomic stability, resulting in a substrain that has less genetic alterations than other vaccine substrains with respect to M. bovis AF2122/97 wild-type

Thermoelectric three-terminal hopping transport through one-dimensional nanosystems

A two-site nanostructure (e.g, a "molecule") bridging two conducting leads and connected to a phonon bath is considered. The two relevant levels closest to the Fermi energy are connected each to its lead. The leads have slightly different temperatures and chemical potentials and the nanos- tructure is also coupled to a thermal (third) phonon bath. The 3 x 3 linear transport ("Onsager") matrix is evaluated, along with the ensuing new figure of merit, and found to be very favorable for thermoelectric energy conversion.Comment: Accepted by Phys. Rev.

Controlled Compositional Disorder in Er3+:Y2SiO5 Provides a Wide-Bandwidth Spectral Hole Burning Material at 1.5mum

The subgigahertz spectral bandwidth of the lowest energy 1.5mum Er3+ I15/24--\u3eI13/24 optical transition in Er3+:Y2SiO5 has been increased to ˜22GHz by intentionally introducing compositional disorder through codoping with Eu3+ impurity ions. This illustrates a general bandwidth control technique for spectral hole burning device applications including spatial-spectral holography and quantum computing. Coherence measurements by stimulated photon echoes demonstrated that the increased disorder does not perturb the dynamical properties of the Er3+ transition and, thus, gives the desired bandwidth enhancement without penalty in other properties. The echo measurements and model analysis also show that phonon-driven spin flips of Er3+ ions in the ground state are responsible for the spectral diffusion that was observed for the optical transition. These results collectively give a better understanding of both the nature of disorder and of the ion-ion interactions in doped materials, and they also enable the high bandwidths required for signal processing and memory applications at 1.5mum based on spectral hole burning

Optical Decoherence and Spectral Diffusion at 1.5 μM in Er3+: Y2 SiO5 versus Magnetic Field, Temperature, and Er3+ Concentration

The mechanisms and effects of spectral diffusion for optical transitions of paramagnetic ions have been explored using the inhomogeneously broadened 1536 nm I15∕24→I13∕24 transition in Er3+:Y2SiO5. Using photon echo spectroscopy, spectral diffusion was measured by observing the evolution of the effective coherence lifetimes over time scales from 1μs to 20 ms for magnetic-field strengths from 0.3 to 6.0 T, temperatures from 1.6 to 6.5 K, and nominal Er3+ concentrations of 0.0015%, 0.005%, and 0.02%. To understand the effect of spectral diffusion on material decoherence for different environmental conditions and material compositions, data and models were compared to identify spectral diffusion mechanisms and microscopic spin dynamics. Observations were successfully modeled by Er3+−Er3+ magnetic dipole interactions and Er3+ electron spin flips driven by the one-phonon direct process. At temperatures of 4.2 K and higher, spectral diffusion due to Y89 nuclear spin flips was also observed. The success in describing our extensive experimental results using simple models provides an important capability for exploring larger parameter spaces, accelerating the design and optimization of materials for spatial-spectral holography, and spectral hole-burning devices. The broad insight into spectral diffusion mechanisms and dynamics is applicable to other paramagnetic materials, such as those containing Yb3+ or Nd3+