Hyperglycaemia does not increase perfusion deficits after focal cerebral ischaemia in male Wistar rats

Background: Hyperglycaemia is associated with a worse outcome in acute ischaemic stroke patients; yet the pathophysiological mechanisms of hyperglycaemia-induced damage are poorly understood. We hypothesised that hyperglycaemia at the time of stroke onset exacerbates ischaemic brain damage by increasing the severity of the blood flow deficit. Methods: Adult, male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to receive vehicle or glucose solutions prior to permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion. Cerebral blood flow was assessed semi-quantitatively either 1 h after middle cerebral artery occlusion using 99mTc-D, L-hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (99mTc-HMPAO) autoradiography or, in a separate study, using quantitative pseudo-continuous arterial spin labelling for 4 h after middle cerebral artery occlusion. Diffusion weighted imaging was performed alongside pseudo-continuous arterial spin labelling and acute lesion volumes calculated from apparent diffusion coefficient maps. Infarct volume was measured at 24 h using rapid acquisition with refocused echoes T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Results: Glucose administration had no effect on the severity of ischaemia when assessed by either 99mTc-HMPAO autoradiography or pseudo-continuous arterial spin labelling perfusion imaging. In comparison to the vehicle group, apparent diffusion coefficient–derived lesion volume 2–4 h post-middle cerebral artery occlusion and infarct volume 24 h post-middle cerebral artery occlusion were significantly greater in the glucose group. Conclusions: Hyperglycaemia increased acute lesion and infarct volumes but there was no evidence that the acute blood flow deficit was exacerbated. The data reinforce the conclusion that the detrimental effects of hyperglycaemia are rapid, and that treatment of post-stroke hyperglycaemia in the acute period is essential but the mechanisms of hyperglycaemia-induced harm remain unclear

Improved methods for detecting gravitational waves associated with short gamma-ray bursts

In the era of second generation ground-based gravitational wave detectors, short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) will be among the most promising astrophysical events for joint electromagnetic and gravitational wave observation. A targeted search for gravitational wave compact binary merger signals in coincidence with short GRBs was developed and used to analyze data from the first generation LIGO and Virgo instruments. In this paper, we present improvements to this search that enhance our ability to detect gravitational wave counterparts to short GRBs. Specifically, we introduce an improved method for estimating the gravitational wave background to obtain the event significance required to make detections; implement a method of tiling extended sky regions, as required when searching for signals associated to poorly localized GRBs from Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor or the InterPlanetary Network; and incorporate astrophysical knowledge about the beaming of GRB emission to restrict the search parameter space. We describe the implementation of these enhancements and demonstrate how they improve the ability to observe binary merger gravitational wave signals associated with short GRBs.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Fabrication and properties of gallium phosphide variable colour displays

The unique properties of single-junction gallium phosphide devices incorporating both red and green radiative recombination centers were investigated in application to the fabrication of monolithic 5 x 7 displays capable of displaying symbolic and alphanumeric information in a multicolor format. A number of potentially suitable material preparation techniques were evaluated in terms of both material properties and device performance. Optimum results were obtained for double liquid-phase-epitaxial process in which an open-tube dipping technique was used for n-layer growth and a sealed tipping procedure for subsequent p-layer growth. It was demonstrated that to prepare devices exhibiting a satisfactory range of dominant wavelengths which can be perceived as distinct emission colors extending from the red through green region of the visible spectrum involves a compromise between the material properties necessary for efficient red emission and those considered optimum for efficient green emission

T cell receptor specificity is critical for the development of epidermal gammadelta T cells.

A particular feature of gammadelta T cell biology is that cells expressing T cell receptor (TCR) using specific Vgamma/Vdelta segments are localized in distinct epithelial sites, e.g., in mouse epidermis nearly all gammadelta T cells express Vgamma3/Vdelta1. These cells, referred to as dendritic epidermal T cells (DETC) originate from fetal Vgamma3+ thymocytes. The role of gammadelta TCR specificity in DETC's migration/localization to the skin has remained controversial. To address this issue we have generated transgenic (Tg) mice expressing a TCR delta chain (Vdelta6.3-Ddelta1-Ddelta2-Jdelta1-Cdelta), which can pair with Vgamma3 in fetal thymocytes but is not normally expressed by DETC. In wild-type (wt) Vdelta6.3Tg mice DETC were present and virtually all of them express Vdelta6.3. However, DETC were absent in TCR-delta(-/-) Vdelta6.3Tg mice, despite the fact that Vdelta6.3Tg gammadelta T cells were present in normal numbers in other lymphoid and nonlymphoid tissues. In wt Vdelta6.3Tg mice, a high proportion of in-frame Vdelta1 transcripts were found in DETC, suggesting that the expression of an endogenous TCR-delta (most probably Vdelta1) was required for the development of Vdelta6.3+ epidermal gammadelta T cells. Collectively our data demonstrate that TCR specificity is essential for the development of gammadelta T cells in the epidermis. Moreover, they show that the TCR-delta locus is not allelically excluded

Tibial osteotomy as a mechanical model of primary osteoarthritis in rats

This study has presented the first purely biomechanical surgical model of osteoarthritis (OA) in rats, which could be more representative of the human primary disease than intra-articular techniques published previously. A surgical tibial osteotomy (TO) was used to induce degenerative cartilage changes in the medial knee of Sprague-Dawley rats. The presence of osteoarthritic changes in the medial knee compartment of the operated animals was evaluated histologically and through analysis of serum carboxy-terminal telepeptides of type II collagen (CTX-II). In-vivo biomechanical analyses were carried out using a musculoskeletal model of the rat hindlimb to evaluate the loading conditions in the knee pre and post-surgically. Qualitative and quantitative medial cartilage degeneration consistent with OA was found in the knees of the operated animals alongside elevated CTX-II levels and increased tibial compressive loading. The potential avoidance of joint inflammation post-surgically, the maintenance of internal joint biomechanics and the ability to quantify the alterations in joint loading should make this model of OA a better candidate for modeling primary forms of the disease in humans

Interannual variation in summer N2O concentration in the hypoxic region of the northern Gulf of Mexico, 1985–2007

Microbial nitrous oxide (N2O) production in the ocean is enhanced under low-oxygen (O2) conditions. This is especially important in the context of increasing hypoxia (i.e., oceanic zones with extremely reduced O2 concentrations). Here, we present a study on the interannual variation in summertime nitrous oxide (N2O) concentrations in the bottom waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM), which is well-known as the site of the second largest seasonally occurring hypoxic zone worldwide. To this end we developed a simple model that computes bottom-water N2O concentrations with a tri-linear 1N2O/O2 relationship based on water-column O2 concentrations, derived from summer (July) Texas–Louisiana shelf-wide hydrographic data between 1985 and 2007. 1N2O (i.e., excess N2O) was computed including nitrification and denitrification as the major microbial production and consumption pathways of N2O. The mean modeled bottom-water N2O concentration for July in the nGOM was 14.5±2.3 nmol L−1 (min: 11.0±4.5 nmol L−1 in 2000 and max: 20.6±11.3 nmol L−1 in 2002). The mean bottom-water N2O concentrations were significantly correlated with the areal extent of hypoxia in the nGOM. Our modeling analysis indicates that the nGOM is a persistent summer source of N2O, and nitrification is dominating N2O production in this region. Based on the ongoing increase in the areal extent of hypoxia in the nGOM, we conclude that N2O production (and its subsequent emissions)from this environmentally stressed region will probably continue to increase into the future

Collective excitations in double-layer quantum Hall systems

We study the collective excitation spectra of double-layer quantum-Hall systems using the single mode approximation. The double-layer in-phase density excitations are similar to those of a single-layer system. For out-of-phase density excitations, however, both inter-Landau-level and intra-Landau-level double-layer modes have finite dipole oscillator strengths. The oscillator strengths at long wavelengths for the latter transitions are shifted upward by interactions by identical amounts proportional to the interlayer Coulomb coupling. The intra-Landau-level out-of-phase mode has a gap when the ground state is incompressible except in the presence of spontaneous inter-layer coherence. We compare our results with predictions based on the Chern-Simons-Landau-Ginzburg theory for double-layer quantum Hall systems.Comment: RevTeX, 21 page

Statistics of quantum transport in chaotic cavities with broken time-reversal symmetry

The statistical properties of quantum transport through a chaotic cavity are encoded in the traces \T={\rm Tr}(tt^\dag)^n, where $t$ is the transmission matrix. Within the Random Matrix Theory approach, these traces are random variables whose probability distribution depends on the symmetries of the system. For the case of broken time-reversal symmetry, we present explicit closed expressions for the average value and for the variance of \T for all $n$. In particular, this provides the charge cumulants \Q of all orders. We also compute the moments $$ of the conductance $g=\mathcal{T}_1$. All the results obtained are exact, {\it i.e.} they are valid for arbitrary numbers of open channels.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. v2-minor change

Intraindividual reaction time variability is malleable: feedback- and education-related reductions in variability with age

Intraindividual variability (IIV) in trial-to-trial reaction time (RT) is a robust and stable within-person marker of aging. However, it remains unknown whether IIV can be modulated experimentally. In a sample of healthy younger and older adults, we examined the effects of motivation- and performance-based feedback, age, and education level on IIV in a choice RT task (four blocks over 15 min). We found that IIV was reduced with block-by-block feedback, particularly for highly educated older adults. Notably, the baseline difference in IIV levels between this group and the young adults was reduced by 50% by the final testing block, this advantaged older group had improved such that they were statistically indistinguishable from young adults on two of three preceding testing blocks. Our findings confirmed that response IIV is indeed modifiable, within mere minutes of feedback and testing

Vertex Operators, Grassmannians, and Hilbert Schemes

We describe a well-known collection of vertex operators on the infinite wedge representation as a limit of geometric correspondences on the equivariant cohomology groups of a finite-dimensional approximation of the Sato grassmannian, by cutoffs in high and low degrees. We prove that locality, the boson-fermion correspondence, and intertwining relations with the Virasoro algebra are limits of the localization expression for the composition of these operators. We then show that these operators are, almost by definition, the Hilbert scheme vertex operators defined by Okounkov and the author in \cite{CO} when the surface is $\mathbb{C}^2$ with the torus action $z\cdot (x,y) = (zx,z^{-1}y)$.Comment: 20 pages, 0 figure