Structure and thermal decomposition of ammonium metatungstate

The structure and morphology of ammonium metatungstate (AMT), (NH 4)6[H2W12O40] ·4H2O, and its thermal decomposition in air and nitrogen atmospheres were investigated by SEM, FTIR, XRD, and TG/DTA-MS. The cell parameters of the AMT sample were determined and refined with a full profile fit. The thermal decomposition of AMT involved several steps in inert atmosphere: (i) release of crystal water between 25 and 200 °C resulting in dehydrated AMT, (ii) formation of an amorphous phase between 200 and 380 °C, (iii) from which hexagonal WO3 formed between 380 and 500 °C, and (iv) which then transformed into the more stable m-WO3 between 500 and 600 °C. As a difference in air, the as-formed NH3 ignited with an exothermic heat effect, and nitrous oxides formed as combustion products. The thermal behavior of AMT was similar to ammonium paratungstate (APT), (NH4)10[H2W12O 42]·4H2O, the only main difference being the lack of dry NH3 evolution between 170 and 240 °C in the case of AMT. © 2013 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary

Distribution and classification of the extracellular matrix in the olfactory bulb

L

Attention and speech-processing related functional brain networks activated in a multi-speaker environment

Human listeners can focus on one speech stream out of several concurrent ones. The present study aimed to assess the whole-brain functional networks underlying a) the process of focusing attention on a single speech stream vs. dividing attention between two streams and 2) speech processing on different time-scales and depth. Two spoken narratives were presented simultaneously while listeners were instructed to a) track and memorize the contents of a speech stream and b) detect the presence of numerals or syntactic violations in the same (“focused attended condition”) or in the parallel stream (“divided attended condition”). Speech content tracking was found to be associated with stronger connectivity in lower frequency bands (delta band- 0,5–4 Hz), whereas the detection tasks were linked with networks operating in the faster alpha (8–10 Hz) and beta (13–30 Hz) bands. These results suggest that the oscillation frequencies of the dominant brain networks during speech processing may be related to the duration of the time window within which information is integrated. We also found that focusing attention on a single speaker compared to dividing attention between two concurrent speakers was predominantly associated with connections involving the frontal cortices in the delta (0.5–4 Hz), alpha (8–10 Hz), and beta bands (13–30 Hz), whereas dividing attention between two parallel speech streams was linked with stronger connectivity involving the parietal cortices in the delta and beta frequency bands. Overall, connections strengthened by focused attention may reflect control over information selection, whereas connections strengthened by divided attention may reflect the need for maintaining two streams in parallel and the related control processes necessary for performing the tasks.</div

Chronic Cerebral Hypoperfusion-Induced Disturbed Proteostasis of Mitochondria and MAM Is Reflected in the CSF of Rats by Proteomic Analysis

Declining cerebral blood flow leads to chronic cerebral hypoperfusion which can induce neurodegenerative disorders, such as vascular dementia. The reduced energy supply of the brain impairs mitochondrial functions that could trigger further damaging cellular processes. We carried out stepwise bilateral common carotid occlusions on rats and investigated long-term mitochondrial, mitochondria-associated membrane (MAM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteome changes. Samples were studied by gel-based and mass spectrometry-based proteomic analyses. We found 19, 35, and 12 significantly altered proteins in the mitochondria, MAM, and CSF, respectively. Most of the changed proteins were involved in protein turnover and import in all three sample types. We confirmed decreased levels of proteins involved in protein folding and amino acid catabolism, such as P4hb and Hibadh in the mitochondria by western blot. We detected reduced levels of several components of protein synthesis and degradation in the CSF as well as in the subcellular fractions, implying that hypoperfusion-induced altered protein turnover of brain tissue can be detected in the CSF by proteomic analysis