307 research outputs found
Stochastic Generation of Particle Structures with Controlled Degree of Heterogeneity
The recently developed void expansion method (VEM) allows for an efficient
generation of porous packings of spherical particles over a wide range of
volume fractions. The method is based on a random placement of the structural
particles under addition of much smaller "void-particles" whose radii are
repeatedly increased during the void expansion. Thereby, they rearrange the
structural particles until formation of a dense particle packing and introduce
local heterogeneities in the structure. In this paper, microstructures with
volume fractions between 0.4 and 0.6 produced by VEM are analyzed with respect
to their degree of heterogeneity (DOH). In particular, the influence of the
void- to structural particle number ratio, which constitutes a principal
VEM-parameter, on the DOH is studied. The DOH is quantified using the pore size
distribution, the Voronoi volume distribution and the density-fluctuation
method in conjunction with fit functions or integral measures. This analysis
has revealed that for volume fractions between 0.4 and 0.55 the void-particle
number allows for a quasi-continuous adjustment of the DOH. Additionally, the
DOH-range of VEM-generated microstructures with a volume fraction of 0.4 is
compared to the range covered by microstructures generated using previous
Brownian dynamics simulations, which represent the structure of coagulated
colloidal suspensions. Both sets of microstructures cover similarly broad and
overlapping DOH-ranges, which allows concluding that VEM is an efficient method
to stochastically reproduce colloidal microstructures with varying DOH.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Dense Particle Gels: Microstructural Characterization
The macroscopic mechanical properties of densely packed coagulated colloidal
particle gels strongly depend on the local arrangement of the powder particles
on length scales of a few particle diameters. Heterogeneous microstructures
exhibit up to one order of magnitude higher elastic properties and yield
strengths than their homogeneous counterparts. The microstructures of these
gels are analyzed by the straight path method quantifying quasi-linear particle
arrangements of particles. They show similar characteristics than force chains
bearing the mechanical load in granular material. Applying this concept to gels
revealed that heterogeneous colloidal microstructures show a significantly
higher straight paths density and exhibit longer straight paths than their
homogeneous counterparts.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure
Dietary exposure to PCBs and dioxins.
comments on S. Patandin et al. : Dietary exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins from infancy until adulthood: a comparison between breast-feeding, toddler, and long-term exposure. Environ Health Perspect 107:45-51 (1999)
Impact of alpha-synuclein spreading on the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway depends on the onset of the pathology
Misfolded alpha-synuclein spreads along anatomically connected areas through the brain, prompting progressive neurodegeneration of the nigrostriatal pathway in Parkinson's disease. To investigate the impact of early stage seeding and spreading of misfolded alpha-synuclein along with the nigrostriatal pathway, we studied the pathophysiologic effect induced by a single acute alpha-synuclein preformed fibrils (PFFs) inoculation into the midbrain. Further, to model the progressive vulnerability that characterizes the dopamine (DA) neuron life span, we used two cohorts of mice with different ages: 2-month-old (young) and 5-month-old (adult) mice. Two months after a-synuclein PFFs injection, we found that striatal DA release decreased exclusively in adult mice. Adult DA neurons showed an increased level of pathology spreading along with the nigrostriatal pathway accompanied with a lower volume of alpha-synuclein deposition in the midbrain, impaired neurotransmission, rigid DA terminal composition, and less microglial reactivity compared with young neurons. Notably, preserved DA release and increased microglial coverage in the PFFs-seeded hemisphere coexist with decreased large-sized terminal density in young DA neurons. This suggests the presence of a targeted pruning mechanism that limits the detrimental effect of alpha-synuclein early spreading. This study suggests that the impact of the pathophysiology caused by misfolded alpha-synuclein spreading along the nigrostriatal pathway depends on the age of the DA network, reducing striatal DA release specifically in adult mice
Generation of Porous Particle Structures using the Void Expansion Method
The newly developed "void expansion method" allows for an efficient
generation of porous packings of spherical particles over a wide range of
volume fractions using the discrete element method. Particles are randomly
placed under addition of much smaller "void-particles". Then, the void-particle
radius is increased repeatedly, thereby rearranging the structural particles
until formation of a dense particle packing.
The structural particles' mean coordination number was used to characterize
the evolving microstructures. At some void radius, a transition from an
initially low to a higher mean coordination number is found, which was used to
characterize the influence of the various simulation parameters. For structural
and void-particle stiffnesses of the same order of magnitude, the transition is
found at constant total volume fraction slightly below the random close packing
limit. For decreasing void-particle stiffness the transition is shifted towards
a smaller void-particle radius and becomes smoother.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Neurogenesis from Sox2 expressing cells in the adult cerebellar cortex
We identified a rare undifferentiated cell population that is intermingled with the Bergmann glia of the adult murine cerebellar cortex, expresses the stem cell markers Sox2 and Nestin, and lacks markers of glial or neuronal differentiation. Interestingly, such Sox2(+) S100(-) cells of the adult cerebellum expanded after adequate physiological stimuli in mice (exercise), and Sox2(+) precursors acquired positivity for the neuronal marker NeuN over time and integrated into cellular networks. In human patients, SOX2(+) S100(-) cells similarly increased in number after relevant pathological insults (infarcts), suggesting a similar expansion of cells that lack terminal glial differentiation
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