Dielectric response of BaTiO electronic states under AC fields via microsecond time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy

This research was performed under the approval of the Photon Factory Program Advisory Committee (PF-PAC; Contract Numbers 2015G580, 2017G587, and 2019G614) and was financially supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 18H01153 , 19H02426 , and 18K19126 . The experiment for measuring spectra in Fig. 6 (b) was performed on beamline BM26A (proposal MA 2731) at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France. We are grateful to Local Contact at the ESRF for providing assistance in using beamline BM26A. Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART². © 2021 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )For the first time, the dielectric response of a BaTiO thin film under an AC electric field is investigated using microsecond time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Ti K-edge in order to clarify correlated contributions of each constituent atom on the electronic states. Intensities of the pre-edge peak and shoulder structure just below the main edge increase with an increase in the amplitude of the applied electric field, whereas that of the main peak decreases in an opposite manner. Based on the multiple scattering theory, the increase and decrease of the and main peaks are simulated for different Ti off-center displacements. Our results indicate that these spectral features reflect the inter- and intra-atomic hybridization of Ti 3 with O 2 and Ti 4 respectively. In contrast, the shoulder structure is not affected by changes in the Ti off-center displacement but is susceptible to the effect of the corner site Ba ions. This is the first experimental verification of electronic contribution of Ba to polarization reversal.----/ / /---- This is open access article of S. Kato, N. Nakajima, S. Yasui, S. Yasuhara, D. Fu, J. Adachi, H. Nitani, Y. Takeichi, A. Anspoks, Dielectric response of BaTiO3 electronic states under AC fields via microsecond time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy (DOI 10.1016/j.actamat.2021.116681), Acta Materialia, Volume 207, 2021,116681 - under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )Photon Factory Program Advisory Committee (PF-PAC; Contract Numbers 2015G580, 2017G587, and 2019G614); JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 18H01153 , 19H02426 , and 18K19126; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART²

Nuclear abnormalities in aspirated thyroid cells and chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes of residents near the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site

Chromosomal studies in peripheral lymphocytes from 63 residents near the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, at ages of 52–63 years old, were performed in 2001–2002. A higher rate of chromosome aberrations was observed in the two contaminated villages, Dolon and Sarjal, compared with the control village, Kokpekti. Moreover, a relationship of frequency of cells with radiation induced chromosome aberrations and the previously estimated exposure dose was observed. Furthermore, apparent nuclear abnormalities (ANA) of thyroid follicular cells were studied in 30 out of 63 residents, who were examined for chromosome aberrations. A higher rate of ANA was also found in the residents in the exposed villages compared with those in the control village. These results suggest radiation effects both on the chromosomes in peripheral lymphocytes and on the follicular cells in the thyroid

Nuclear abnormalities in aspirated thyroid cells and chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes of residents near the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site

Chromosomal studies in peripheral lymphocytes from 63 residents near the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, at ages of 52–63 years old, were performed in 2001–2002. A higher rate of chromosome aberrations was observed in the two contaminated villages, Dolon and Sarjal, compared with the control village, Kokpekti. Moreover, a relationship of frequency of cells with radiation induced chromosome aberrations and the previously estimated exposure dose was observed. Furthermore, apparent nuclear abnormalities (ANA) of thyroid follicular cells were studied in 30 out of 63 residents, who were examined for chromosome aberrations. A higher rate of ANA was also found in the residents in the exposed villages compared with those in the control village. These results suggest radiation effects both on the chromosomes in peripheral lymphocytes and on the follicular cells in the thyroid

Genome-wide study of association and interaction with maternal cytomegalovirus infection suggests new schizophrenia loci.

Genetic and environmental components as well as their interaction contribute to the risk of schizophrenia, making it highly relevant to include environmental factors in genetic studies of schizophrenia. This study comprises genome-wide association (GWA) and follow-up analyses of all individuals born in Denmark since 1981 and diagnosed with schizophrenia as well as controls from the same birth cohort. Furthermore, we present the first genome-wide interaction survey of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and maternal cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. The GWA analysis included 888 cases and 882 controls, and the follow-up investigation of the top GWA results was performed in independent Danish (1396 cases and 1803 controls) and German-Dutch (1169 cases, 3714 controls) samples. The SNPs most strongly associated in the single-marker analysis of the combined Danish samples were rs4757144 in ARNTL (P=3.78 × 10(-6)) and rs8057927 in CDH13 (P=1.39 × 10(-5)). Both genes have previously been linked to schizophrenia or other psychiatric disorders. The strongest associated SNP in the combined analysis, including Danish and German-Dutch samples, was rs12922317 in RUNDC2A (P=9.04 × 10(-7)). A region-based analysis summarizing independent signals in segments of 100 kb identified a new region-based genome-wide significant locus overlapping the gene ZEB1 (P=7.0 × 10(-7)). This signal was replicated in the follow-up analysis (P=2.3 × 10(-2)). Significant interaction with maternal CMV infection was found for rs7902091 (P(SNP × CMV)=7.3 × 10(-7)) in CTNNA3, a gene not previously implicated in schizophrenia, stressing the importance of including environmental factors in genetic studies

Inverse correlation between E-cadherin and Snail expression in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines in vitro and in vivo

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a well-known malignancy in the world. However, the molecular mechanism of carcinogenesis and tumour progression remains unclear. Recently, reduced E-cadherin expression due to transcriptional suppressor Snail was proven in a panel of epithelial and dedifferentiated cells derived from carcinomas of various etiologies. In the present study, we examined Snail and E-cadherin mRNA/protein expression in five hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines with variable phenotypes (HuL-1, Hep-G2, Changliver, HLE, and HLF). The results demonstrated that the presence of Snail mRNA in HuL-1, Changliver, HLE and HLF cells detected by RT–PCR, which was further proven by in situ hybridization in tumours induced by HuL-1, Changliver, and HLF cells where Snail mRNA signals expressed in each of the sections. By contrast, E-cadherin mRNA and protein expression were only detected in Hep-G2 cells by RT–PCR and Western blot, respectively. These results were also consistent with the data obtained from in vivo immunohistochemical staining where membranous expression of endogenous E-cadherin protein was revealed only in tumour sections induced by Hep-G2 cells. Here we are the first to report that there is an inverse correlation between Snail and E-cadherin expression in HCC cells as well

A potential new, stable state of the E-cadherin strand-swapped dimer in solution

E-cadherin is a transmembrane glycoprotein that facilitates inter-cellular adhesion in the epithelium. The ectodomain of the native structure is comprised of five repeated immunoglobulin-like domains. All E-cadherin crystal structures show the protein in one of three alternative conformations: a monomer, a strand-swapped trans homodimer and the so-called X-dimer, which is proposed to be a kinetic intermediate to forming the strand-swapped trans homodimer. However, previous studies have indicated that even once the trans strand-swapped dimer is formed, the complex is highly dynamic and the E-cadherin monomers may reorient relative to each other. Here, molecular dynamics simulations have been used to investigate the stability and conformational flexibility of the human E-cadherin trans strand-swapped dimer. In four independent, 100 ns simulations, the dimer moved away from the starting structure and converged to a previously unreported structure, which we call the Y-dimer. The Y-dimer was present for over 90% of the combined simulation time, suggesting that it represents a stable conformation of the E-cadherin dimer in solution. The Y-dimer conformation is stabilised by interactions present in both the trans strand-swapped dimer and X-dimer crystal structures, as well as additional interactions not found in any E-cadherin dimer crystal structures. The Y-dimer represents a previously unreported, stable conformation of the human E-cadherin trans strand-swapped dimer and suggests that the available crystal structures do not fully capture the conformations that the human E-cadherin trans homodimer adopts in solution