Minireview: high-fructose diet and the ultrastructure of brain synapses

The brain is the hungriest organ. With this great energy demand, the brain’s function may depend on what it is being fed to a greater extent than previously appreciated. Consumption of fructose and glucose in sustained high quantities in industrially processed foods and beverages in the modern Western diet raises complex questions of metabolic, and neurological well-being. Here, we review the effects of sugar on hippocampus associated short term memory. The following work on rodent models, and human clinical trials expound the influence of increased fructose versus glucose, or starch intake on the synaptic organization of a brain region extensively involved in cognitive functions. Through the well supported structure-function relationship of dendritic synapse profiles, synaptic functionality effects of increased fructose versus glucose consumption on hippocampal synapse ultrastructure may be seen. Together with behavioral, and functional findings, ultrastructural data demonstrate potential changes in hippocampal associated cognitive processes directly related to either elevated fructose or glucose intake

How the Planned V0 Railway Line Would Increase the Resilience of the Railway Network of Hungary Against Attacks

The spatial distribution of the railway crossings on the river Danube in Hungary is very uneven. There is only one electrified and double-tracked bridge in the country, the Southern Railway Bridge in Budapest. The \'Ujpest bridge in Budapest only provides connection through line 4 which is not electrified and the Baja bridge is not electrified, too, and both of them are single-tracked. The long-planned V0 railway line that is to be cross the Danube approximately halfway between Budapest and Baja would not only help to redistribute the total network flow which currently passes through almost exclusively the Southern bridge but would also provide redundancy for the existing bridges in the case of their disruption. Four of the five proposed V0 path alternatives are analyzed on the basis of these two network properties.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, 4 table

Beliefs About COVID-19 in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States: A Novel Test of Political Polarization and Motivated Reasoning

What are the psychological consequences of the increasingly politicized nature of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States relative to similar Western countries? In a two-wave study completed early (March) and later (December) in the pandemic, we found that polarization was greater in the United States (N = 1,339) than in Canada (N = 644) and the United Kingdom. (N = 1,283). Political conservatism in the United States was strongly associated with engaging in weaker mitigation behaviors, lower COVID-19 risk perceptions, greater misperceptions, and stronger vaccination hesitancy. Although there was some evidence that cognitive sophistication was associated with increased polarization in the United States in December (but not March), cognitive sophistication was nonetheless consistently negatively correlated with misperceptions and vaccination hesitancy across time, countries, and party lines. Furthermore, COVID-19 skepticism in the United States was strongly correlated with distrust in liberal-leaning mainstream news outlets and trust in conservative-leaning news outlets, suggesting that polarization may be driven by differences in information environments

Push-out tests on embedded shear connections for hybrid girders with trapezoidal web

[EN] Hybrid girders with corrugated web are increasingly used in bridge engineering due to its numerous favorable properties. For the web-to-slab connection different layouts have been developed in the past, however, just a few design proposals can be found in the international literature for the determination of the connection’s resistance, especially for the embedded types. In case of these connections the corrugated web is simply embedded into the concrete slab strengthened by transverse rebars through concrete dowels or horizontal headed studs welded to the web. The aim of the current research program is to investigate the structural behavior and the shear capacity of embedded connections by full scale push-out tests. In the current paper the results of 5 push-out tests are introduced having different embedded connection types investigating (i) the effect of the embedding depth, (ii) the existence of the concrete dowels (through cut-outs in the steel web) with transverse rebars and (iii) the influence of the steel flange. These parameters may have significant influence on the behavior and capacity of embedded type connections, which are studied in the research program. During the tests the applied load and the slip between the steel web and concrete slabs are measured in order to study the initial stiffness, the ductility and the shear capacity of the connections.The presented research program is part of the “BridgeBeam” R&D project No. GINOP-2.1.1-15-2015-00659; the financial support is gratefully acknowledged. Through the first, second and fourth authors the paper was also supported by the ÚNKP-17-3-IV., ÚNKP-17-2- I. and ÚNKP-17-4 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry of Human Capacities, respectively; the financial supports are gratefully acknowledged.Jáger, B.; Németh, G.; Kovács, N.; Kövesdi, B.; Kachichian, M. (2018). Push-out tests on embedded shear connections for hybrid girders with trapezoidal web. En Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Advances in Steel-Concrete Composite Structures. ASCCS 2018. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 581-586. https://doi.org/10.4995/ASCCS2018.2018.7158OCS58158

Transport, Magnetic and Vibrational Properties of Chemically Exfoliated Few Layer Graphene

We study the vibrational, magnetic and transport properties of Few Layer Graphene (FLG) using Raman and electron spin resonance spectroscopy and microwave conductivity measurements. FLG samples were produced using wet chemical exfoliation with different post-processing, namely ultrasound treatment, shear mixing, and magnetic stirring. Raman spectroscopy shows a low intensity D mode which attests a high sample quality. The G mode is present at $1580$ cm$^{-1}$ as expected for graphene. The 2D mode consists of 2 components with varying intensities among the different samples. This is assigned to the presence of single and few layer graphene in the samples. ESR spectroscopy shows a main line in all types of materials with a width of about $1$ mT and and a $g$-factor in the range of $2.005-2.010$. Paramagnetic defect centers with a uniaxial $g$-factor anisotropy are identified, which shows that these are related to the local sp$^2$ bonds of the material. All kinds of investigated FLGs have a temperature dependent resistance which is compatible with a small gap semiconductor. The difference in resistance is related to the different grain size of the samples

Can hypnotic suggestibility be measured online?

Hypnosis and hypnotic suggestions are gradually gaining popularity within the consciousness community as established tools for the experimental manipulation of illusions of involuntariness, hallucinations and delusions. However, hypnosis is still far from being a widespread instrument; a crucial hindrance to taking it up is the amount of time needed to invest in identifying people high and low in responsiveness to suggestion. In this study, we introduced an online assessment of hypnotic response and estimated the extent to which the scores and psychometric properties of an online screening differ from an offline one. We propose that the online screening of hypnotic response is viable as it reduces the level of responsiveness only by a slight extent. The application of online screening may prompt researchers to run large-scale studies with more heterogeneous samples, which would help researchers to overcome some of the issues underlying the current replication crisis in psychology