Robust paramagnetism in Bi2-xMxRu2O7 (M=Mn,Fe,Co,Ni,Cu) pyrochlore

We report physical property characterization of Bi2-xMxRu2O7 pyrochlores, including magnetic suseptibility, resistivity, and Seebeck coefficients. The solid solution exists up to x=0.5 for (M=Cu,Ni,Co) and up to x=0.1 for (M=Fe,Mn). None of the doped materials exhibit ferromagnetism or any localized ruthenium moment behavior. Instead we find the Ru-O and Bi-O sublattices to be essentially independent, with any magnetism resulting from the unpaired transition metal dopant spins. Cobalt substitution for bismuth results in localized Co{2+}, and low temperature spin-glass transitions in several cases. Nickel moments on the pyrochlore lattice display properties intermediate to localized and itinerant. Finally, copper doping results in only an enhancement of the Pauli metallic density of states.Comment: submitted, Phys. Rev.

Cardioprotective role of heat shock proteins in atrial fibrillation: From mechanism of action to therapeutic and diagnostic t

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common age-related cardiac arrhythmia worldwide and is associated with ischemic stroke, heart failure, and substantial morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, current AF therapy is only moderately effective and does not prevent AF progression from recurrent intermittent episodes (paroxysmal) to persistent and finally permanent AF. It has been recognized that AF persistence is related to the presence of electropathology. Electropathology is defined as structural damage, including degradation of sarcomere structures, in the atrial tissue which, in turn, impairs electrical conduction and subsequently the contractile function of atrial cardiomyocytes. Recent research findings indicate that derailed proteostasis underlies structural damage and, consequently, electrical conduction impairment. A healthy proteostasis is of vital importance for proper function of cells, including cardiomyocytes. Cells respond to a loss of proteostatic control by inducing a heat shock response (HSR), which results in heat shock protein (HSP) expression. Emerging clinical evidence indicates that AF-induced proteostasis derailment is rooted in exhaustion of HSPs. Cardiomyocytes lose defense against structural damage-inducing pathways, which drives progression of AF and induction of HSP expression. In particular, small HSPB1 conserves sarcomere structures by preventing their degradation by proteases, and overexpression of HSPB1 accelerates recovery from structural damage in experimental AF model systems. In this review, we provide an overview of the mechanisms of action of HSPs in preventing AF and discuss the therapeutic potential of HSP-inducing compounds in clinical AF, as well as the potential of HSPs as biomarkers to discriminate between the various stages of AF and recurrence of AF after treatment

Atrial fibrillation fingerprinting; spotting bio-electrical markers to early recognize atrial fibrillation by the use of a bottom-up approach (AFFIP): Rationale and design

Background: The exact pathophysiology of atrial fibrillation (AF) remains incompletely understood and treatment of AF is associated with high recurrence rates. Persistence of AF is rooted in the presence of electropathology, defined as complex electrical conduction disorders caused by structural damage of atrial tissue. The atrial fibrillation fingerprinting (AFFIP) study aims to characterize electropathology, enabling development of a novel diagnostic instrument to predict AF onset and early progression. Hypotheses: History of AF, development of post-operative AF, age, gender, underlying heart disease, and other clinical characteristics impact the degree of electropathology. Methods: This study is a prospective observational study with a planned duration of 48 months. Three study groups are defined: (1) patients with (longstanding) persistent AF, (2) patients with paroxysmal AF, and (3) patients without a history of AF, all undergoing open-chest cardiac surgery. Intra-operative high-resolution epicardial mapping is performed to identify the patient-specific electrical profile, whereas the patient-specific biological profile is assessed by evaluating proteostasis markers in blood samples and atrial appendage tissue samples. Post-operative continuous rhythm monitoring is perfo

Loop Distribution and Fusion with Timing and Code Size Optimization for Embedded DSPs

International Conference on Embedded and Ubiquitous Computing (EUC 2005), Nagasaki, Japan,6-9 Dec 2005Loop distribution and loop fusion are two e.ective loop transformation techniques to optimize the execution of the programs in DSP applications. In this paper, we propose a new technique combining loop distribution with direct loop fusion, which will improve the timing performance without jeopardizing the code size. We .rst develop the loop distribution theorems that state the legality conditions of loop distribution for multi-level nested loops. We show that if the summation of the edge weights of the dependence cycle satis.es a certain condition, then the statements involved in the dependence cycle can be distributed; otherwise, they should be put in the same loop after loop distribution. Then, we propose the technique of maximum loop distribution with direct loop fusion. The experimental results show that the execution time of the transformed loops by our technique is reduced 21.0compared to the original loops and the code size of the transformed loops is reduced 7.0% on average compared to the original loops.Department of Computin

How strongly do word reading times and lexical decision times correlate? Combining data from eye movement corpora and megastudies

We assess the amount of shared variance between three measures of visual word recognition latencies: eye movement latencies, lexical decision times and naming times. After partialling out the effects of word frequency and word length, two well-documented predictors of word recognition latencies, we see that 7-44% of the variance is uniquely shared between lexical decision times and naming times, depending on the frequency range of the words used. A similar analysis of eye movement latencies shows that the percentage of variance they uniquely share either with lexical decision times or with naming times is much lower. It is 5 – 17% for gaze durations and lexical decision times in studies with target words presented in neutral sentences, but drops to .2% for corpus studies in which eye movements to all words are analysed. Correlations between gaze durations and naming latencies are lower still. These findings suggest that processing times in isolated word processing and continuous text reading are affected by specific task demands and presentation format, and that lexical decision times and naming times are not very informative in predicting eye movement latencies in text reading once the effect of word frequency and word length are taken into account. The difference between controlled experiments and natural reading suggests that reading strategies and stimulus materials may determine the degree to which the immediacy-of-processing assumption and the eye-mind assumption apply. Fixation times are more likely to exclusively reflect the lexical processing of the currently fixated word in controlled studies with unpredictable target words rather than in natural reading of sentences or texts

Daily Supplementation of L-Glutamine in Atrial Fibrillation Patients: The Effect on Heat Shock Proteins and Metabolites

Pharmaco-therapeutic strategies of atrial fibrillation (AF) are moderately effective and do not prevent AF onset and progression. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel therapies. Previous studies revealed heat shock protein (HSP)-inducing compounds to mitigate AF onset and progression. Such an HSP inducing compound is L-glutamine. In the current study we investigate the effect of L-glutamine supplementation on serum HSP27 and HSP70 levels and metabolite levels in patients with AF patients (n = 21). Hereto, HSP27

Cdk1 phosphorylation of Esp1/Separase functions with PP2A and Slk19 to regulate pericentric Cohesin and anaphase onset

Anaphase onset is an irreversible cell cycle transition that is triggered by the activation of the protease Separase. Separase cleaves the Mcd1 (also known as Scc1) subunit of Cohesin, a complex of proteins that physically links sister chromatids, triggering sister chromatid separation. Separase is regulated by the degradation of the anaphase inhibitor Securin which liberates Separase from inhibitory Securin/Separase complexes. In many organisms, Securin is not essential suggesting that Separase is regulated by additional mechanisms. In this work, we show that in budding yeast Cdk1 activates Separase (Esp1 in yeast) through phosphorylation to trigger anaphase onset. Esp1 activation is opposed by protein phosphatase 2A associated with its regulatory subunit Cdc55 (PP2ACdc55) and the spindle protein Slk19. Premature anaphase spindle elongation occurs when Securin (Pds1 in yeast) is inducibly degraded in cells that also contain phospho-mimetic mutations in ESP1, or deletion of CDC55 or SLK19. This striking phenotype is accompanied by advanced degradation of Mcd1, disruption of pericentric Cohesin organization and chromosome mis-segregation. Our findings suggest that PP2ACdc55and Slk19 function redundantly with Pds1 to inhibit Esp1 within pericentric chromatin, and both Pds1 degradation and Cdk1-dependent phosphorylation of Esp1 act together to trigger anaphase onset

Interaction of Low - Energy Induced Gravity with Quantized Matter and Phase Transition Induced by Curvature

At high energy scale the only quantum effect of any asymptotic free and asymptotically conformal invariant GUT is the trace anomaly of the energy-momentum tensor. Anomaly generates the new degree of freedom, that is propagating conformal factor. At lower energies conformal factor starts to interact with scalar field because of the violation of conformal invariance. We estimate the effect of such an interaction and find the running of the nonminimal coupling from conformal value $\frac{1}{6}$ to $0$. Then we discuss the possibility of the first order phase transition induced by curvature in a region close to the stable fixed point and calculate the induced values of Newtonian and cosmological constants.Comment: 11 pages, LaTex, KEK-TH-397-KEK Preprint 94-3

Socially impaired robots: Human social disorders and robots’ socio-emotional intelligence

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014. Social robots need intelligence in order to safely coexist and interact with humans. Robots without functional abilities in understanding others and unable to empathise might be a societal risk and they may lead to a society of socially impaired robots. In this work we provide a survey of three relevant human social disorders, namely autism, psychopathy and schizophrenia, as a means to gain a better understanding of social robots’ future capability requirements.We provide evidence supporting the idea that social robots will require a combination of emotional intelligence and social intelligence, namely socio-emotional intelligence. We argue that a robot with a simple socio-emotional process requires a simulation-driven model of intelligence. Finally, we provide some critical guidelines for designing future socio-emotional robots