A threshold heating rate for single-stage heat treatments in glass-ceramics containing seed formers

The development of glass-ceramic materials is often achieved using an elementary microstructural strategy that splits the tasks of seed formation and functionality between two types of crystals. This strategy requires customized time-temperature ceramization protocols, which have been so far implemented using empirical parameters. Here, a more fundamental approach is proposed: the extent of overlap Oe between seed formation and volume crystallization is evaluated by calorimetric and dilatometric measurements, targeting the computation of a threshold heating rate qt for effective single-stage heat treatments. The applicability of this novel parameter is tested in TiO2-doped lithium magnesium aluminosilicate glass-ceramics, whose seed formation stage is thoroughly characterized by Raman spectroscopy and STEM. High-temperature X-ray diffraction demonstrates that insufficient seeding results in potentially weaker performances of the final products, due to large sizes and silica deficiency of the functional quartz solid solution crystals

Model Studies on the Formation of the Solid Electrolyte Interphase: Reaction of Li with Ultrathin Adsorbed Ionic-Liquid Films and Co3_{3}O4_{4}(111) Thin Films

In this work we aim towards the molecular understanding of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation at the electrode electrolyte interface (EEI). Herein, we investigated the interaction between the battery‐relevant ionic liquid (IL) 1‐butyl‐1‐methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (BMP‐TFSI), Li and a Co$_{3}$O$_{4}$(111) thin film model anode grown on Ir(100) as a model study of the SEI formation in Li‐ion batteries (LIBs). We employed mostly X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in combination with dispersion‐corrected density functional theory calculations (DFT‐D3). If the surface is pre‐covered by BMP‐TFSI species (model electrolyte), post‐deposition of Li (Li$^{+}$ ion shuttle) reveals thermodynamically favorable TFSI decomposition products such as LiCN, Li$_{2}$NSO$_{2}$CF$_{3}$, LiF, Li$_{2}$S, Li$_{2}$O$_{2}$, Li$_{2}$O, but also kinetic products like Li$_{2}$NCH$_{3}$C$_{4}$H$_{9}$ or LiNCH$_{3}$C$_{4}$H$_{9}$ of BMP. Simultaneously, Li adsorption and/or lithiation of Co$_{3}$O$_{4}$(111) to LinCo$_{3}$O$_{4}$ takes place due to insertion via step edges or defects; a partial transformation to CoO cannot be excluded. Formation of Co$^{0}$ could not be observed in the experiment indicating that surface reaction products and inserted/adsorbed Li at the step edges may inhibit or slow down further Li diffusion into the bulk. This study provides detailed insights of the SEI formation at the EEI, which might be crucial for the improvement of future batteries

Treatment adaptation and Quality of life of hypertensive patients

Giriş: Hipertansiyon, Dünya Sağlık Örgütüne göre dünyadaki her sekiz ölümden birinin sorumlusu olup en öldürücü üçüncü hastalıktır. Amaç: Bu çalışma, hipertansiyon tanısı almış hastaların yaşam kalitesi, tedavi uyumları ve etkileyen faktörleri incelemek amacıyla tanımlayıcı tipte yapılmıştır. Yöntem: Araştırma Isparta Uluborlu İlçe Devlet Hastanesinde Ekim 2011, Ocak 2012 tarihleri arasında yürütülmüştür. Araştırmanın örneklemini tedavi ya da kontrol için başvuran ve çalışmaya katılma kriterlerini karşılayan 165 gönüllü birey oluşturmuştur. Veri toplama araçları olarak, "Sosyo-Demografik Özellikler Formu", "Hill Bone Hipertansiyon Tedavisine Uyum Ölçeği" ve "SF-36 Yaşam Kalitesi Ölçeği" kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın uygulanması için etik kurul izni dahil gerekli izinlerin tümü alınmıştır. Bulgular: Bulgularımıza göre orta öğretim grubu, beslenme açısından okur-yazar ve ilköğretim gruplarından daha uyumsuzdur. İlginç bir şekilde en düşük beslenme uyumu yüksek öğretim grubuna aittir. Fazla kilolu, 1. ve 2. derece obez olan grupların total uyum düzeylerinin birbirlerinden anlamlı düzeyde daha yüksek olduğu saptanmış ancak, 3. derece obez grubun uyum düzeyinin diğer grupların hepsinden daha düşük olduğu saptanmıştır. SF-36 fiziksel fonksiyon, rol güç fiziksel fonksiyon, ağrı, genel sağlık, vitalite ve sosyal fonksiyon skorlarının tamamı erkeklerde kadınlara göre daha yüksek bulunmuştur (p<0.05). Sonuç: Sonuç olarak hastaların sadece %15,8'inin tedaviye tam uyumlu olduğu, tedaviye uyumda yaş, cinsiyet, eğitim durumu, medeni durumun yanı sıra yaşam kalitelerinin etkili olduğu belirlenmiştir. Hipertansif hastaların tedavi ve bakımında bu faktörler göz önünde bulundurulmalıdır Background: Hypertension is responsible for one of every eight deaths, and it is third most deadly disease of the world according to the World Health Organization. Objectives: This study was made as a descriptive type in order to examine the quality of life of patients who diagnosed with hypertension, compliance with treatment, and the factors affecting it. Methods: Research was made at Uluborlu Town Hospital between October 2011 to January 2012. Sample of the research are 165 voluntary individuals who applied to a policlinic for treatment or control and also meets the criteria for participating in the study. Data collection tools used in this study is; Socio-demographic form, Hill Bone Hypertension Treatment Compliance Scale (HBHTCS) and SF-36 Quality of Life Scale. All of necessary permits included ethics committee approval for the implementation of research was taken. Results: According to our findings secondary education group are incompatible than literacy and primary education groups in terms of nutrition. Interestingly, the lowest dietary compliance belongs to a group of higher education. Overweight, first and secondary obese patients' compliance levels are gradually higher than each other but compliance level of third degree obese group were lower than all other groups. All of the SF-36 scores such as physical functioning, role-power physical function, pain, general health, vitality and social functioning scores were higher in men compared to women. Conclusion: As a result, it was determined that only 15.8% of patients is fully compliant with treatment, age, gender, education level, marital status, as well as the quality of life to be effective in adaptation to the treatment. These factors should be considered in the treatment and care of hypertensive patients

Structural and mechanistic consequences of polypeptide binding by GroEL

The remarkable ability of the chaperonin GroEL to recognise a diverse range of non-native states of proteins constitutes one of the most fascinating molecular recognition events in protein chemistry. Recent structural studies have revealed a possible model for substrate binding by GroEL and a high-resolution image of the GroEL–GroES folding machinery has provided important new insights into our understanding of the mechanism of action of this chaperonin. Studies with a variety of model substrates reveal that the binding of substrate proteins to GroEL is not just a passive event, but can result in significant changes in the structure and stability of the bound polypeptide. The potential impact of this on the mechanism of chaperonin-assisted folding is not fully understood, but provides exciting scope for further experiment

Experimental Investigation of Droplet Injections in the Vicinity of the Critical Point: A comparison of different model approaches

[EN] The disintegration process of liquid fuel within combustion chambers is one of the most important parameters for efficient and stable combustion. Especially for high pressures exceeding the critical value of the injected fluids the mixing processes are not fully understood yet. Recently, different theoretical macroscopic models have been introduced to understand breakdown of the classical two phase regime and predict the transition from evaporation to a diffuse-mixing process. In order to gain deeper insight into the physical processes of this transition, a parametric study of free-falling n-pentane droplets in an inert nitrogen atmosphere is presented. Atmospheric conditions varied systematically from sub- to supercritical values with respect to the fluid properties. An overlay of a diffuse lighted image with a shadowgram directly in the optical setup (front lighted shadowgraphy) was applied to simultaneously detect the presence of a material surface of the droplet as well as changes in density gradients in the surrounding atmosphere. The experimental investigation illustrates, that the presence of a material surface cannot be shown by a direct shadowgram. However, reflections and refractions caused by diffuse ambient illumination are able to indicate the presence of a material surface. In case of the supercritical droplet injections in this study, front lighted shadowgraphy clearly revealed the presence of a material surface, even when the pre-heated droplets are released into a supercritical atmosphere. This detection of the droplet interface indicates, that the droplet remains subcritical in the region of interest, even though it is injected into a supercritical atmosphere. Based on the adiabatic mixing assumption recent Raman-scattering results in the wake of the droplet are re-evaluated to compute the temperature distribution. Presented experimental findings as well as the re-evaluation of recent Raman scattering results are compared to thermodynamic models to predict the onset of diffuse-mixing and supercritical disintegration of the droplet. Additionally, a one dimensional evaporation model is used to evaluate the validity of the adiabatic mixing assumption in the estimation of the droplet temperature. The presented findings contribute to the understanding of recent theoretical models for prediction of spray and droplet disintegration and the onset of diffuse-mixing processes.The authors gratefully acknowledge the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the financial support through the collaborative research centre SFB/Transregio 75.Steinhausen, C.; Lamanna, G.; Weigand, B.; Stierle, R.; Groß, J.; Preusche, A.; Dreizler, A. (2017). Experimental Investigation of Droplet Injections in the Vicinity of the Critical Point: A comparison of different model approaches. En Ilass Europe. 28th european conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 830-837. https://doi.org/10.4995/ILASS2017.2017.4635OCS83083

Nach dem Ölpreisfall: Aufschwung ohne Inflation? Thesen zum 33. Kieler Konjunkturgespräch

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Clec12a Is an Inhibitory Receptor for Uric Acid Crystals that Regulates Inflammation in Response to Cell Death

SummaryRecognition of cell death by the innate immune system triggers inflammatory responses. However, how these reactions are regulated is not well understood. Here, we identify the inhibitory C-type lectin receptor Clec12a as a specific receptor for dead cells. Both human and mouse Clec12a could physically sense uric acid crystals (monosodium urate, MSU), which are key danger signals for cell-death-induced immunity. Clec12a inhibited inflammatory responses to MSU in vitro, and Clec12a-deficient mice exhibited hyperinflammatory responses after being challenged with MSU or necrotic cells and after radiation-induced thymocyte killing in vivo. Thus, we identified a negative regulatory MSU receptor that controls noninfectious inflammation in response to cell death that has implications for autoimmunity and inflammatory disease

Population genomic analysis of elongated skulls reveals extensive female-biased immigration in Early Medieval Bavaria

Modern European genetic structure demonstrates strong correlations with geography, while genetic analysis of prehistoric humans has indicated at least two major waves of immigration from outside the continent during periods of cultural change. However, population-level genome data that could shed light on the demographic processes occurring during the intervening periods have been absent. Therefore, we generated genomic data from 41 individuals dating mostly to the late 5th/early 6th century AD from present-day Bavaria in southern Germany, including 11 whole genomes (mean depth 5.56×). In addition we developed a capture array to sequence neutral regions spanning a total of 5 Mb and 486 functional polymorphic sites to high depth (mean 72×) in all individuals. Our data indicate that while men generally had ancestry that closely resembles modern northern and central Europeans, women exhibit a very high genetic heterogeneity; this includes signals of genetic ancestry ranging from western Europe to East Asia. Particularly striking are women with artificial skull deformations; the analysis of their collective genetic ancestry suggests an origin in southeastern Europe. In addition, functional variants indicate that they also differed in visible characteristics. This example of female-biased migration indicates that complex demographic processes during the Early Medieval period may have contributed in an unexpected way to shape the modern European genetic landscape. Examination of the panel of functional loci also revealed that many alleles associated with recent positive selection were already at modern-like frequencies in European populations ∼1,500 years ago

Molecular pathophysiology of human MICU1 deficiency.

Funder: Ministerium für Innovation, Wissenschaft und Forschung des Landes Nordrhein‐Westfalen; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100009591Funder: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002347AIMS: MICU1 encodes the gatekeeper of the mitochondrial Ca2+ uniporter, MICU1 and biallelic loss-of-function mutations cause a complex, neuromuscular disorder in children. Although the role of the protein is well understood, the precise molecular pathophysiology leading to this neuropaediatric phenotype has not been fully elucidated. Here we aimed to obtain novel insights into MICU1 pathophysiology. METHODS: Molecular genetic studies along with proteomic profiling, electron-, light- and Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy and immuno-based studies of protein abundances and Ca2+ transport studies were employed to examine the pathophysiology of MICU1 deficiency in humans. RESULTS: We describe two patients carrying MICU1 mutations, two nonsense (c.52C>T; p.(Arg18*) and c.553C>T; p.(Arg185*)) and an intragenic exon 2-deletion presenting with ataxia, developmental delay and early onset myopathy, clinodactyly, attention deficits, insomnia and impaired cognitive pain perception. Muscle biopsies revealed signs of dystrophy and neurogenic atrophy, severe mitochondrial perturbations, altered Golgi structure, vacuoles and altered lipid homeostasis. Comparative mitochondrial Ca2+ transport and proteomic studies on lymphoblastoid cells revealed that the [Ca2+ ] threshold and the cooperative activation of mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake were lost in MICU1-deficient cells and that 39 proteins were altered in abundance. Several of those proteins are linked to mitochondrial dysfunction and/or perturbed Ca2+ homeostasis, also impacting on regular cytoskeleton (affecting Spectrin) and Golgi architecture, as well as cellular survival mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings (i) link dysregulation of mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake with muscle pathology (including perturbed lipid homeostasis and ER-Golgi morphology), (ii) support the concept of a functional interplay of ER-Golgi and mitochondria in lipid homeostasis and (iii) reveal the vulnerability of the cellular proteome as part of the MICU1-related pathophysiology