Thermoelectric power of bulk black-phosphorus

The potential of bulk black-phosphorus for thermoelectric applications has been experimentally studied. The Seebeck Coefficient (S) has been measured in the temperature range from 300 K to 385 K, finding a value of S = +335 +- 10 uV/K at room temperature (indicating a naturally occurring p-type conductivity). S increases with temperature, as expected for p-type semiconductors, which can be attributed to an increase of the charge carrier density. The electrical resistance drops up to a 40 % while heating in the studied temperature range. As a consequence, the power factor at 385 K is 2.7 times higher than that at room temperature. This work demonstrates the feasibility of black-phosphorus in thermoelectric applications, such as thermal energy scavenging, which typically require devices with high performance at temperatures above room temperature.Comment: 3 figure

Molecular Pathogenesis of Post-Transplant Acute Kidney Injury: Assessment of Whole-Genome mRNA and MiRNA Profiles.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) affects roughly 25% of all recipients of deceased donor organs. The prevention of post-transplant AKI is still an unmet clinical need. We prospectively collected zero-hour, indication as well as protocol kidney biopsies from 166 allografts between 2011 and 2013. In this cohort eight cases with AKI and ten matched allografts without pathology serving as control group were identified with a follow-up biopsy within the first twelve days after engraftment. For this set the zero-hour and follow-up biopsies were subjected to genome wide microRNA and mRNA profiling and analysis, followed by validation in independent expression profiles of 42 AKI and 21 protocol biopsies for strictly controlling the false discovery rate. Follow-up biopsies of AKI allografts compared to time-matched protocol biopsies, further baseline adjustment for zero-hour biopsy expression level and validation in independent datasets, revealed a molecular AKI signature holding 20 mRNAs and two miRNAs (miR-182-5p and miR-21-3p). Next to several established biomarkers such as lipocalin-2 also novel candidates of interest were identified in the signature. In further experimental evaluation the elevated transcript expression level of the secretory leukocyte peptidase inhibitor (SLPI) in AKI allografts was confirmed in plasma and urine on the protein level (p<0.001 and p = 0.003, respectively). miR-182-5p was identified as a molecular regulator of post-transplant AKI, strongly correlated with global gene expression changes during AKI. In summary, we identified an AKI-specific molecular signature providing the ground for novel biomarkers and target candidates such as SLPI and miR-182-5p in addressing AKI

190832.qxd

Abstract Albino mammals show very characteristic deficits in their optokinetic system, and albino ferrets are even optokinetically blind. To investigate the neuronal causes for this defect we compared the morphology of retinal slip cells in the pretectal nucleus of the optic tract and the dorsal terminal nucleus of the accessory optic system (NOT-DTN) in pigmented and albino ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) using retrograde tracing techniques. After tracer injections into the inferior olive, equal numbers of NOT-DTN neurons were retrogradely labelled in pigmented and albino animals. However, NOT-DTN cells in albino ferrets had fewer stem dendrites, and the cumulative dendritic length was reduced by 30% when compared with NOT-DTN neurons in pigmented animals. In addition, the prominent network formed by distal dendrites observed in the NOT-DTN of pigmented ferrets was largely diminished in albinos. Taken together with behavioural and physiological data, these findings indicate that the NOT-DTN as the main visuomotor interface in the optokinetic system is clearly defective in albino ferrets