Role of GABAergic signaling and the GABAA receptor subunit gene cluster at 15q11-q13 in autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and heroin addiction

AbstractAutism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, and heroin addiction are all complex disorders with both genetic and environmental components to their etiology. The most common chromosomal abnormality in autism is a maternally derived duplication at 15q11-q13, which is where a cluster of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABAA) receptor subunit genes lies. In addition, copy number variations in this area have been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. These findings suggest that GABAergic signaling might play a crucial role in contributing to susceptibility to the development of autism and schizophrenia. Furthermore, there is considerable evidence supporting a role for GABA neurotransmission in mediating the addictive properties of heroin. Hence, this review explores recent findings related to the involvement of GABAergic system in autism, schizophrenia, and heroin addiction. We also outline the implications that the presence of genetic variants in the GABAA receptor subunit cluster at 15q11-q13 may have on the risk of developing these psychiatric disorders. Finally, we make recommendations for future work that might help define the mechanisms underpinning the neuropathology that contributes to these psychiatric disorders

A steady-state magneto-optical trap with 100 fold improved phase-space density

We demonstrate a continuously loaded $^{88}\mathrm{Sr}$ magneto-optical trap (MOT) with a steady-state phase-space density of $1.3(2) \times 10^{-3}$. This is two orders of magnitude higher than reported in previous steady-state MOTs. Our approach is to flow atoms through a series of spatially separated laser cooling stages before capturing them in a MOT operated on the 7.4-kHz linewidth Sr intercombination line using a hybrid slower+MOT configuration. We also demonstrate producing a Bose-Einstein condensate at the MOT location, despite the presence of laser cooling light on resonance with the 30-MHz linewidth transition used to initially slow atoms in a separate chamber. Our steady-state high phase-space density MOT is an excellent starting point for a continuous atom laser and dead-time free atom interferometers or clocks.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Concise Synthesis of (+)-allo-Kainic Acid via MgI2-Mediated Tandem Aziridine Ring Opening-Formal [3+2] Cycloaddition

3-Methyl vinyl aziridine undergoes a mild MgI2-promoted S(N)2' ring opening and concomitant cyclization with fumarate Michael acceptors to give trisubstituted pyrrolidines. The process is efficient and highly diastereoselective. This methodology has been applied to a concise asymmetric synthesis of (+)-allo-kainic acid.</p

Sisyphus Optical Lattice Decelerator

We experimentally demonstrate a variation on a Sisyphus cooling technique that was proposed for cooling antihydrogen. In our implementation, atoms are selectively excited to an electronic state whose energy is spatially modulated by an optical lattice, and the ensuing spontaneous decay completes one Sisyphus cooling cycle. We characterize the cooling efficiency of this technique on a continuous beam of Sr, and compare it with radiation pressure based laser cooling. We demonstrate that this technique provides similar atom number for lower end temperatures, provides additional cooling per scattering event and is compatible with other laser cooling methods. This method can be instrumental in bringing new exotic species and molecules to the ultracold regime.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure

Perioperative Stroke Following General Surgery

AbstractPerioperative stroke is rare; however, patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery are considered to be at high risk for perioperative stroke. Here, we outline a case where perioperative stroke occurred following total hip replacement surgery. The risk factors and possible causes of the stroke in this patient are discussed. In addition, we reiterate the appropriate management approaches needed to prevent perioperative stroke. Briefly, the importance of precise preoperative evaluation and of proper intraoperative and postoperative management should not be overlooked. Finally, it is important to realize that decreasing perioperative strokes and the disabilities associated with them will lower the financial burden on families and the community

Stepwise Increases in Left Ventricular Mass Index and Decreases in Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction Correspond with the Stages of Chronic Kidney Disease in Diabetes Patients

Aims. Patients with diabetic nephropathy are reported to have a high prevalence of left ventricular structural and functional abnormalities. This study was designed to assess the determinants of left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in diabetic patients at various stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods. This cross-sectional study enrolled 285 diabetic patients with CKD stages 3 to 5 from our outpatient department of internal medicine. Clinical and echocardiographic parameters were compared and analyzed. Results. We found a significant stepwise increase in LVMI (P < 0.001), LVH (P < 0.001), and LVEF <55% (P = 0.013) and a stepwise decrease in LVEF (P = 0.038) corresponding to advance in CKD stages. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that increases in LVMI and decreases in LVEF coincide with advances in CKD stages in patients with diabetes

Clinical Application of Surface Plasmon Resonance-Based Biosensors for Fetal Fibronectin Detection

Preterm birth is the leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Fetal fibronectin (fFN), a glycoprotein in the extracellular matrix of the amniotic membranes, is the most powerful biomarker for predicting the risk of preterm birth. Biosensors using the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) response are potentially useful in quantitatively measuring molecules. We established a standard calibration curve of SPR intensity against fFN concentration and used the SPR-based biosensor to detect fFN concentrations in the cervicovaginal secretions of pregnant women between 22 and 34 weeks of gestation. The calibration curve extends from 0.5 ng/mL to 100 ng/mL with an excellent correlation (R2 = 0.985) based on standard fFN samples. A cutoff value of 50 ng/mL fFN concentration in commercial ELISA kits corresponds to a relative intensity of 17 arbitrary units (a.u.) in SPR. Thirty-two pregnant women were analyzed in our study. In 11 women, the SPR relative intensity was greater than or equal to 17 a.u., and in 21 women, the SPR relative intensity was less than 17 a.u. There were significant differences between the two groups in regular uterine contractions (p = 0.040), hospitalization for tocolysis (p = 0.049), and delivery weeks (p = 0.043). Our prospective study concluded that SPR-based biosensors can quantitatively measure fFN concentrations. These results reveal the potential utility of SPR-based biosensors in predicting the risk of preterm birth

Methyl 4-[(5-chloro­pyrimidin-2-yl)carbamo­yl]benzoate

Mol­ecules of the title compound, C13H10ClN3O3, form centrosymmetric dimers via inter­molecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds generating an R 2 2(8) motif. The dimers are further connected through an O⋯Cl—C halogen bond [O⋯Cl = 3.233 (1) Å and O⋯Cl—C = 167.33 (1)°] into a chain along [110]. The secondary amide group adopts a cis conformation. Weak C—H⋯N hydrogen bonds among the methyl benzoate and pyrimidyl rings are also observed in the crystal structure

Why Focal Firms Share Information? A Study of the Effects of Power and Information Technology Competence

Supply chain management has become an important issue for Taiwan\u27s manufacturing industry due to escalating global competition. Virtual vertical integration is an important issue in supply chain management. Because organizations only have limited resources, they pursue long-term partnership with specific transaction partners. They share information to improve visibility, speed responses to markets, and reduce costs from information distortion or information asymmetry. This study empirically explores the factors affecting inter-organizational information sharing from the perspective of focal firms. 1,000 questionnaires were administered to top 1,000 manufacturing companies in Taiwan, with 139 valid responses. The results show that partner\u27s power and relation-specific asset investments positively affect inter-organizational information sharing. On the other hand, the partner\u27s power does not significantly affect the organization\u27s relation-specific investments. This study further investigates the moderating role of information technology competence. The result indicates that when an organization has lower information technology competence, the relationship between the partner\u27s power and relation-specific investments is significant. Implications and discussion are then provided

SASMU: boost the performance of generalized recognition model using synthetic face dataset

Nowadays, deploying a robust face recognition product becomes easy with the development of face recognition techniques for decades. Not only profile image verification but also the state-of-the-art method can handle the in-the-wild image almost perfectly. However, the concern of privacy issues raise rapidly since mainstream research results are powered by tons of web-crawled data, which faces the privacy invasion issue. The community tries to escape this predicament completely by training the face recognition model with synthetic data but faces severe domain gap issues, which still need to access real images and identity labels to fine-tune the model. In this paper, we propose SASMU, a simple, novel, and effective method for face recognition using a synthetic dataset. Our proposed method consists of spatial data augmentation (SA) and spectrum mixup (SMU). We first analyze the existing synthetic datasets for developing a face recognition system. Then, we reveal that heavy data augmentation is helpful for boosting performance when using synthetic data. By analyzing the previous frequency mixup studies, we proposed a novel method for domain generalization. Extensive experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of SASMU, achieving state-of-the-art performance on several common benchmarks, such as LFW, AgeDB-30, CA-LFW, CFP-FP, and CP-LFW.Comment: under revie