Sulforaphane induces adipocyte browning and promotes glucose and lipid utilization

Scope: Obesity is closely related to the imbalance of white adipose tissue storing excess calories, and brown adipose tissue dissipating energy to produce heat in mammals. Recent studies revealed that acquisition of brown characteristics by white adipocytes, termed “browning,” may positively contribute to cellular bioenergetics and metabolism homeostasis. The goal was to investigate the putative effects of natural antioxidant sulforaphane (1-isothiocyanate-4-methyl-sulfonyl butane; SFN) on browning of white adipocytes. Methods and Results: 3T3-L1 mature white adipocytes were treated with SFN for 48 h, and then the mitochondrial content, function, and energy utilization were assessed. SFN was found to induce 3T3-L1 adipocytes browning based on the increased mitochondrial content and activity of respiratory chain enzymes, whereas the mechanism involved the upregulation of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2/ sirtuin1/ peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha signaling. SFN enhanced uncoupling protein 1 expression, a marker for brown adipocyte, leading to the decrease in cellular ATP. SFN also enhanced glucose uptake and oxidative utilization, lipolysis and fatty acid oxidation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Conclusion: SFN-induced browning of white adipocytes enhanced the utilization of cellular fuel, and the application of SFN is a promising strategy to combat obesity and obesity-related metabolic disorder

Trapped interacting two-component bosons

In this paper we solve one dimensional trapped SU(2) bosons with repulsive $\delta$-function interaction by means of Bethe-ansatz method. The features of ground state and low-lying excited states are studied by numerical and analytic methods. We show that the ground state is an isospin "ferromagnetic" state which differs from spin-1/2 fermions system. There exist three quasi-particles in the excitation spectra, and both holon-antiholon and holon-isospinon excitations are gapless for large systems. The thermodynamics equilibrium of the system at finite temperature is studied by thermodynamic Bethe ansatz. The thermodynamic quantities, such as specific heat etc. are obtained for the case of strong coupling limit.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Cell-type-specific whole-brain direct inputs to the anterior and posterior piriform cortex

The piriform cortex (PC) is a key region in the brain that is involved in both processing and coding of olfactory information. It is implicated in various brain disorders, such as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and autism. The PC consists of anterior (APC) and posterior (PPC) parts, which are largely different both in their anatomy and functions. However, the monosynaptic input networks to specific neural populations within APC and PPC remain poorly understood. Here, we mapped the whole-brain monosynaptic inputs to the two major neural populations, the excitatory glutamatergic principal neurons and the inhibitory γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic interneurons within the APC and PPC using the rabies virus-mediated retrograde trans-synaptic tracing system. We found that for both types of neurons, APC and PPC share some similarities in input networks, with dominant inputs originating from the olfactory areas (OLF), followed by the isocortex, hippocampal formation (HPF), cortical subplate (CTXsp), cerebral nuclei (CNU) and interbrain (IB), whereas the midbrain (MB) and hindbrain (HB) were either blank or sporadically labeled. However, APC and PPC also showed distinct features in their input distribution patterns. For both types of neurons, the APC was innervated more heavily by bilateral OLF and cortical areas compared to the PPC; whereas the input proportions from the HPF to the PPC were higher than to the APC. Overall, our results revealed that monosynaptic input networks to both excitatory and inhibitory neural populations of different PC subdivisions, may provide the structural architecture for revealing the diverse functions of the PC

Vertical jetting induced by shear horizontal leaky surface acoustic wave on 36°Y-X LiTaO3

Shear horizontal surface acoustic waves (SH-SAWs) have been regarded as a good candidate for liquid sensing applications, but being inefficient in fluid manipulation due to a minimal fluid coupling between the fluid and acoustic waves. However, in this letter, a vertical jetting function was realized using the SH-SAW generated from a 36°Y-X LiTaO3 SAW device. The jetting of the droplet induced by the SH-SAWs was observed nearly along vertical direction, and the aspect ratio of the liquid beam is proportional to the applied power before breaking up, which is dramatically different from those generated from the conventional Rayleigh SAWs. By conducting theoretical simulation and experimental investigation on the SH-SAWs systematically, we concluded that the wave/energy pressure dissipated into the sessile droplets causes this vertical ejection on the device surface

Fermions tunnelling from the charged dilatonic black holes

Kerner and Mann's recent work shows that, for an uncharged and non-rotating black hole, its Hawking temperature can be exactly derived by fermions tunnelling from its horizons. In this paper, our main work is to improve the analysis to deal with charged fermion tunnelling from the general dilatonic black holes, specifically including the charged, spherically symmetric dilatonic black hole, the rotating Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton-Axion (EMDA) black hole and the rotating Kaluza-Klein (KK) black hole. As a result, the correct Hawking temperatures are well recovered by charged fermions tunnelling from these black holes.Comment: 16 pages, revised version to appear in Class. Quant. Gra

ZnO nanoparticles embedded in sapphire fabricated by ion implantation and annealing

ZnO nanoparticles were fabricated in sapphire (α-Al2O3 single crystal) by Zn ion implantation (48 keV) at an ion fluence of 1 × 1017 cm−2 and subsequent thermal annealing in a flowing oxygen atmosphere. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis revealed that metallic Zn nanoparticles of 3–10 nm in dimensions formed in the as-implanted sample and that ZnO nanoparticles of 10–12 nm in dimensions formed after annealing at 600 °C. A broad absorption band, peaked at 280 nm, appeared in the as-implanted crystal, due to surface plasma resonance (SPR) absorption of metallic Zn nanoparticles. After annealing at 600 °C, ZnO nanoparticles resulted in an exciton absorption peak at 360 nm. The photoluminescence (PL) of the as-implanted sample was very weak when using a He–Cd 325 nm line as the excitation source. However, two emission peaks appeared in the PL spectrum of ZnO nanopraticles, i.e., one ultraviolet (UV) peak at 370 nm and the other a green peak at 500 nm. The emission at 500 nm is stronger and has potential applications in green/blue light-emitting devices.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49223/2/nano6_10_032.pd

The Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment and the Standard Model

The muon anomalous magnetic moment measurement, when compared with theory, can be used to test many extensions to the standard model. The most recent measurement made by the Brookhaven E821 Collaboration reduces the uncertainty on the world average of a_mu to 0.7 ppm, comparable in precision to theory. This paper describes the experiment and the current theoretical efforts to establish a correct standard model reference value for the muon anomaly.Comment: Plenary Talk; PANIC'02 XVI Particles and Nuclear International Conference, Osaka, Japan; Sept. 30 - Oct. 4, 2002; Report describes the published 0.7 ppm result and updates the theory statu

Search for Lorentz and CPT Violation Effects in Muon Spin Precession

The spin precession frequency of muons stored in the $(g-2)$ storage ring has been analyzed for evidence of Lorentz and CPT violation. Two Lorentz and CPT violation signatures were searched for: a nonzero $\Delta\omega_{a}$ (=$\omega_{a}^{\mu^{+}}-\omega_{a}^{\mu^{-}}$); and a sidereal variation of $\omega_{a}^{\mu^{\pm}}$. No significant effect is found, and the following limits on the standard-model extension parameters are obtained: $b_{Z} =-(1.0 \pm 1.1)\times 10^{-23}$ GeV; $(m_{\mu}d_{Z0}+H_{XY}) = (1.8 \pm 6.0 \times 10^{-23})$ GeV; and the 95% confidence level limits $\check{b}_{\perp}^{\mu^{+}}< 1.4 \times 10^{-24}$ GeV and $\check{b}_{\perp}^{\mu^{-}} < 2.6 \times 10^{-24}$ GeV.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters, Modified to answer the referees suggestion

One dimensional SU(3) bosons with δ\delta function interaction

In this paper we solve one dimensional SU(3) bosons with repulsive $\delta$-function interaction by means of Bethe ansatz method. The features of ground state and low-lying excited states are studied by both numerical and analytic methods. We show that the ground state is a SU(3) color ferromagnetic state. The configurations of quantum numbers for the ground state are given explicitly. For finite $N$ system the spectra of low-lying excitations and the dispersion relations of four possible elementary particles (holon, antiholon, $\sigma$-coloron and $\omega$-coloron) are obtained by solving Bethe-ansatz equation numerically. The thermodynamic equilibrium of the system at finite temperature is studied by using the strategy of thermodynamic Bethe ansatz, a revised Gaudin-Takahashi equation which is useful for numerical method are given . The thermodynamic quantities, such as specific heat, are obtain for some special cases. We find that the magnetic property of the model in high temperature regime is dominated by Curie's law: $\chi\propto 1/T$ and the system has Fermi-liquid like specific heat in the strong coupling limit at low temperature.Comment: RevTex 28 pages, 10 figure