112 research outputs found
Alcohol acutely enhances decoding of positive emotions and emotional concern for positive stimuli and facilitates the viewing of sexual images
Social cognition influences social interactions. Alcohol reportedly facilitates social interactions. However, the acute effects of alcohol on social cognition are relatively poorly studied.; We investigated the effects of alcoholic or non-alcoholic beer on emotion recognition, empathy, and sexual arousal using the dynamic face emotion recognition task (FERT), Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET), and Sexual Arousal Task (SAT) in a double-blind, random-order, cross-over study in 60 healthy social drinkers. We also assessed subjective effects using visual analog scales (VASs), blood alcohol concentrations, and plasma oxytocin levels.; Alcohol increased VAS ratings of stimulated, happy, talkative, open, and want to be with others. The subjective effects of alcohol were greater in participants with higher trait inhibitedness. Alcohol facilitated the recognition of happy faces on the FERT and enhanced emotional empathy for positive stimuli on the MET, particularly in participants with low trait empathy. Pictures of explicit sexual content were rated as less pleasant than neutral pictures after non-alcoholic beer but not after alcoholic beer. Explicit sexual pictures were rated as more pleasant after alcoholic beer compared with non-alcoholic beer, particularly in women. Alcohol did not alter the levels of circulating oxytocin.; Alcohol biased emotion recognition toward better decoding of positive emotions and increased emotional concern for positive stimuli. No support was found for a modulatory role of oxytocin. Alcohol also facilitated the viewing of sexual images, consistent with disinhibition, but it did not actually enhance sexual arousal. These effects of alcohol on social cognition likely enhance sociability.; www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02318823
Charge transfer dynamical processes at graphene-transition metal oxides/electrolyte interface for energy storage: Insights from in-situ Raman spectroelectrochemistry
Hybrids consisting of supercapacitive functionalized graphene (graphene oxide; GO reduced graphene oxide; rGO multilayer graphene; MLG, electrochemically reduced GO; ErGO) and three-dimensional graphene scaffold (rGO HT ; hydrothermally prepared) decorated with cobalt nanoparticles (CoNP), nanostructured cobalt (CoO and Co 3 O 4 ) and manganese (MnO 2 ) oxide polymorphs, assembled electrochemically facilitate chemically bridged interfaces with tunable properties. Since Raman spectroscopy can capture variations in structural and chemical bonding, Raman spectro-electrochemistry in operando i.e. under electrochemical environment with applied bias is employed to 1) probe graphene/metal bonding and dynamic processes, 2) monitor the spectral changes with successive redox interfacial reactions, and 3) quantify the associated parameters including type and fraction of charge transfer. The transverse optical (TO) and longitudinal optical (LO) phonons above 500 cm -1 belonging to Co 3 O 4 , CoO, MnO 2 and carbon-carbon bonding occurring at 1340 cm -1 , 1590 cm -1 and 2670 cm -1 belonging to D, G, and 2D bands, respectively, are analyzed with applied potential. Consistent variation in Raman band position and intensity ratio reveal structural modification, combined charge transfer due to localized orbital re-hybridization and mechanical strain, all resulting in finely tuned electronic properties. Moreover, the heterogeneous basal and edge plane sites of graphene nanosheets in conjunction with transition metal oxide \u27hybrids\u27 reinforce efficient surface/interfacial electron transfer and available electronic density of states near Fermi level for enhanced performance. We estimated the extent and nature (n- or p-) of charge transfer complemented with Density Functional Theory calculations affected by hydration and demonstrate the synergistic coupling between graphene nanosheets and nanoscale cobalt (and manganese) oxides for applied electrochemical applications
Cross-species analysis of viral nucleic acid interacting proteins identifies TAOKs as innate immune regulators
The cell intrinsic antiviral response of multicellular organisms developed over millions of years and critically relies on the ability to sense and eliminate viral nucleic acids. Here we use an affinity proteomics approach in evolutionary distant species (human, mouse and fly) to identify proteins that are conserved in their ability to associate with diverse viral nucleic acids. This approach shows a core of orthologous proteins targeting viral genetic material and species-specific interactions. Functional characterization of the influence of 181 candidates on replication of 6 distinct viruses in human cells and flies identifies 128 nucleic acid binding proteins with an impact on virus growth. We identify the family of TAO kinases (TAOK1, -2 and -3) as dsRNA-interacting antiviral proteins and show their requirement for type-I interferon induction. Depletion of TAO kinases in mammals or flies leads to an impaired response to virus infection characterized by a reduced induction of interferon stimulated genes in mammals and impaired expression of srg1 and diedel in flies. Overall, our study shows a larger set of proteins able to mediate the interaction between viral genetic material and host factors than anticipated so far, attesting to the ancestral roots of innate immunity and to the lineage-specific pressures exerted by viruses. Whether there are conserved nucleic acid (NA) binding proteins across species is not fully known. Using data from human, mouse and fly, the authors identify common binders, implicate TAOKs and show that these kinases bind NAs across species and promote virus defence in mammalian cells.We further thank Korbinian Mayr, Igor Paron, and Gaby Sowa for maintaining mass spectrometers and the MPI-B core facility, especially Judith Scholz, Leopold Urich, Sabine Suppmann, and Stephan Uebel, for support..
Activation of Regulatory T Cells during Inflammatory Response Is Not an Exclusive Property of Stem Cells
BACKGROUND: Sepsis and systemic-inflammatory-response-syndrome (SIRS) remain major causes for fatalities on intensive care units despite up-to-date therapy. It is well accepted that stem cells have immunomodulatory properties during inflammation and sepsis, including the activation of regulatory T cells and the attenuation of distant organ damage. Evidence from recent work suggests that these properties may not be exclusively attributed to stem cells. This study was designed to evaluate the immunomodulatory potency of cellular treatment during acute inflammation in a model of sublethal endotoxemia and to investigate the hypothesis that immunomodulations by cellular treatment during inflammatory response is not stem cell specific. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Endotoxemia was induced via intra-peritoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in wild type mice (C3H/HeN). Mice were treated with either vital or homogenized amniotic fluid stem cells (AFS) and sacrificed for specimen collection 24 h after LPS injection. Endpoints were plasma cytokine levels (BDâą Cytometric Bead Arrays), T cell subpopulations (flow-cytometry) and pulmonary neutrophil influx (immunohistochemistry). To define stem cell specific effects, treatment with either vital or homogenized human-embryonic-kidney-cells (HEK) was investigated in a second subset of experiments. Mice treated with homogenized AFS cells showed significantly increased percentages of regulatory T cells and Interleukin-2 as well as decreased amounts of pulmonary neutrophils compared to saline-treated controls. These results could be reproduced in mice treated with vital HEK cells. No further differences were observed between plasma cytokine levels of endotoxemic mice. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results revealed that both AFS and HEK cells modulate cellular immune response and distant organ damage during sublethal endotoxemia. The observed effects support the hypothesis, that immunomodulations are not exclusive attributes of stem cells
Early continence in patients with localized prostate cancer. A comparison between open retropubic (RRPE) and endoscopic extraperitoneal radical prostatectomy (EERPE) àŹ
Abstract Objective: The study examined and compared continence rates in prostate cancer patients who had undergone either open retropubic prostatectomy (RRPE) or endoscopic extraperitoneal radical prostatectomy (EERPE). The core question was whether the surgical approach had an effect on the patients' continence status 3 months after surgery. Methods: We conducted a multicentric, longitudinal study in 7 German hospitals. Three hundred fifty prostate cancer patients (166 EERPE, 184 RRPE) were asked to self-assess symptoms associated with urinary incontinence (UI) 1 day before and 3 months after prostatectomy. Symptoms of UI were assessed using the EORTC QLQ-PR25 questionnaire. Urinary continence was defined according to (1) the use of no protective pad, (2) the use of up to a single protective pad in a 24-hour period, and (3) according to the patient's self-assessment. A binary regression model was employed to predict early continence status. Results: Three months after prostatectomy, 44% of patients who underwent EERPE and 40% of patients who underwent RRPE were completely continent. Patients who underwent nerve-sparing prostatectomy and patients younger than 65 years had a better chance of regaining urinary continence earlier. The surgical approach had no significant impact on the patients' continence status. Limitations of the study are a drop-out rate of 39% and sociodemographic and clinical differences between both treatment groups. Conclusions: Three months after prostatectomy, there were no significant differences between both treatment groups regarding urinary continence. The surgical approach had no significant effect on the patients' continence status. Higher age and non-nerve-sparing surgery are associated with a longer period of convalescence
Single-Molecule Electrochemical Transistor Utilizing a Nickel-Pyridyl Spinterface
Using a scanning tunnelling microscope
break-junction technique,
we produce 4,4âČ-bipyridine (44BP) single-molecule junctions
with Ni and Au contacts. Electrochemical control is used to prevent
Ni oxidation and to modulate the conductance of the devices via nonredox
gatingîžthe first time this has been shown using non-Au contacts.
Remarkably the conductance and gain of the resulting Ni-44BP-Ni electrochemical
transistors is significantly higher than analogous Au-based devices.
Ab-initio calculations reveal that this behavior arises because charge
transport is mediated by spin-polarized Ni <i>d</i>-electrons,
which hybridize strongly with molecular orbitals to form a âspinterfaceâ.
Our results highlight the important role of the contact material for
single-molecule devices and show that it can be varied to provide
control of charge and spin transport
CuO cauliflowers for supercapacitor application: novel potentiodynamic deposition
Abstract not availableDeepak P. Dubal, Girish S. Gund, Chandrakant D. Lokhande, Rudolf Holz
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