The Healing of Nerves:

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Evolution of transport properties of BaFe2-xRuxAs2 in a wide range of isovalent Ru substitution

The effects of isovalent Ru substitution at the Fe sites of BaFe2-xRuxAs2 are investigated by measuring resistivity and Hall coefficient on high-quality single crystals in a wide range of doping (0 < x < 1.4). Ru substitution weakens the antiferromagnetic (AFM) order, inducing superconductivity for relatively high doping level of 0.4 < x < 0.9. Near the AFM phase boundary, the transport properties show non-Fermi-liquid-like behaviors with a linear-temperature dependence of resistivity and a strong temperature dependence of Hall coefficient with a sign change. Upon higher doping, however, both of them recover conventional Fermi-liquid behaviors. Strong doping dependence of Hall coefficient together with a small magnetoresistance suggest that the anomalous transport properties can be explained in terms of anisotropic charge carrier scattering due to interband AFM fluctuations rather than a conventional multi-band scenario.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Based Technology Adoption in the Construction Industry: A Cross National Perspective Using the Technology Acceptance Model

The research has chosen the workers in construction-related companies in South Korea and the United Kingdom (UK) as research subjects in order to analyse factors that influence their usage intention of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based technologies. The perceived usefulness had a positive impact (+) on technological satisfaction and usage intention in terms of the commonalities shown by the construction industry workers in both countries, South Korea and the UK, in adopting AI-based technologies. Moreover, the most remarkable differences were personal competence and social influence when choosing AI-based technologies. It was analysed that in the case of South Korea, personal competence had a positive impact (+) on perceived ease of use, whereas the UK had a positive impact (+) on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. This study holds particular significance in the domain of cross-cultural research within the construction industry. It conducts an analysis of the factors influencing the adoption of AI-driven technologies or products, with a specific focus on the cultural differences between two nations: South Korea and the UK, which represent Eastern and Western cultural paradigms, respectively

Thalidomide-induced Teratogenesis : History and Mechanisms

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Is "not just right experience" (NJRE) in obsessive-compulsive disorder part of an autistic phenotype?

OBJECTIVE: Harm avoidance (HA) and "not just right experience" (NJRE) have been proposed to be 2 core motivational processes underlying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The objective of this study was to explore whether NJRE demarcates a neurodevelopmental OCD subgroup distinct from HA related to autistic traits and/or to a broader phenotype of cognitive rigidity and sensory processing difficulties associated with an earlier age of OCD onset. METHODS: A correlational design investigated whether NJRE and HA are distinct entities in OCD and explored their relationship to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits measured by the Autism Quotient (AQ), sensory processing, set-shifting, and age of OCD onset in an OCD sample (N=25). RESULTS: NJRE was only moderately (r=.34) correlated to HA and not significant in this study. Consistent with predictions, NJRE was associated with sensory processing difficulties and an earlier age of OCD onset. No significant relationships were found between NJRE and ASD traits as measured by the AQ or set-shifting difficulties. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings suggest a lack of evidence demonstrating NJRE as a manifestation of core autistic traits as measured by the AQ. However, NJRE was associated with sensory abnormalities and an earlier age of OCD onset. The role of NJRE as a developmental, and possibly neurodevelopmental, risk factor for OCD possibly warrants further investigation

Development of bacterial cell-based system for intracellular antioxidant activity screening assay using green fluorescence protein (GFP) reporter

The novel bacterial cell-based assay was developed for evaluating the intracellular antioxidant activity. The genetically engineered Escherichia coli strains harboring the fusions of sodA::gfp and fumC::gfp were constructed and applied as reporters in response to cellular superoxide stress. Using this assay, twelve pure compounds and three Thai medicinal plants were investigated for intracellular antioxidant activity in comparison with conventional chemical-based assays; 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity assays. Both strains demonstrated that quercetin and α- tocopherol exhibited the most potent and significant antioxidant activity with more than 60% reduction of intracellular superoxide. These compounds also showed high DPPH radical scavenging activity. Interestingly, gallic, caffeic and protocatechuic acids had the most significant DPPH radical scavenging and SOD-like activities but with moderate to weak intracellular antioxidant activity. Our hypothesis was that the lower intracellular antioxidant activity possibly occurs due to poor permeability of compounds into biological membrane based on their structures. Moreover, our results demonstrated that intracellular antioxidant activity of three plant extracts well correlated to results from DPPH assay. Our bacterial-based assay is simple, reproducible, very specific and applicable as an alternative screening tool for assessing the activity of compounds and plant extracts affecting cellular oxidative stress.Key words: Bacterial cell-based assay, antioxidant activity, oxidative stress, superoxide dismutase, fumarase, green fluorescence protein (GFP) reporter, plant extracts