Origin of the Mosaicity in Graphene Grown on Cu(111)

We use low-energy electron microscopy to investigate how graphene grows on Cu(111). Graphene islands first nucleate at substrate defects such as step bunches and impurities. A considerable fraction of these islands can be rotationally misaligned with the substrate, generating grain boundaries upon interisland impingement. New rotational boundaries are also generated as graphene grows across substrate step bunches. Thus, rougher substrates lead to higher degrees of mosaicity than do flatter substrates. Increasing the growth temperature improves crystallographic alignment. We demonstrate that graphene growth on Cu(111) is surface diffusion limited by comparing simulations of the time evolution of island shapes with experiments. Islands are dendritic with distinct lobes, but unlike the polycrystalline, four-lobed islands observed on (100)-textured Cu foils, each island can be a single crystal. Thus, epitaxial graphene on smooth, clean Cu(111) has fewer structural defects than it does on Cu(100).Comment: Article revised following reviewer comment

Extraordinary epitaxial alignment of graphene islands on Au(111)

Pristine, single-crystalline graphene displays a unique collection of remarkable electronic properties that arise from its two-dimensional, honeycomb structure. Using in-situ low-energy electron microscopy, we show that when deposited on the (111) surface of Au carbon forms such a structure. The resulting monolayer, epitaxial film is formed by the coalescence of dendritic graphene islands that nucleate at a high density. Over 95% of these islands can be identically aligned with respect to each other and to the Au substrate. Remarkably, the dominant island orientation is not the better lattice-matched 30^{\circ} rotated orientation but instead one in which the graphene [01] and Au [011] in-plane directions are parallel. The epitaxial graphene film is only weakly coupled to the Au surface, which maintains its reconstruction under the slightly p-type doped graphene. The linear electronic dispersion characteristic of free-standing graphene is retained regardless of orientation. That a weakly interacting, non-lattice matched substrate is able to lock graphene into a particular orientation is surprising. This ability, however, makes Au(111) a promising substrate for the growth of single crystalline graphene films

Nitroglycerin for treatment of retained placenta: a randomized, placebo-controlled, multicentre double blind trial in the UK

Funding: The GOT-IT trial was funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR; https://www.nihr.ac.uk) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Program in response to a specific commissioned grant call (Project number 12/29/01). The following co-authors were grant holders: FCD, GM, MP, JB, GS, JL, JN and JEN. The funders played no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. This work was undertaken in the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health which is funded by MRC Centre grant (MRC G1002033). Data Availability: The GOT-IT Trial contains a centrally-managed cross centre dataset which is available, upon request, from the Digital Curation Centre within the University of Edinburgh. Data requests can be made at [email protected] reviewedPublisher PD

Glyceryl trinitrate to reduce the need for manual removal of retained placenta following vaginal delivery:the GOT-IT RCT

Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 23, No. 70. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Entry of antiepileptic drugs (valproate and lamotrigine) into the developing rat brain [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Background: Women with epilepsy face difficult choices whether to continue antiepileptic drug treatment during pregnancy, as uncontrolled seizures carry great risk to mother and fetus but continuing treatment may have adverse effects on baby’s development. This study aimed at evaluating antiepileptic drug entry into developing brain. Methods: Anaesthetised pregnant, non-pregnant adult females, postnatal and fetal rats were injected intraperitoneally with different doses, single or in combinations, of valproate and lamotrigine, all within clinical range. Injectate included 3H-labelled drug. After 30min, CSF, blood and brain samples were obtained; radioactivity was measured using liquid scintillation counting. Some animals were also exposed to valproate in feed throughout pregnancy and into neonatal period. Drug levels were measured by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Results are given as CSF or tissue/plasma% as index of drug entry. Results: Entry of valproate into brain and CSF was higher at E19 and P4 compared to adult but was not dose-dependent;  placental transfer increased significantly at highest dose of 100mg/Kg. Lamotrigine entry into the brain was dose dependent only at E19. Chronic valproate treatment, or combination of valproate and lamotrigine had little effect on either drug entry, except for reduced valproate brain entry in adult brain with chronic treatment. Placental transfer decreased significantly after chronic valproate treatment. LC-MS measurement of valproate in adults confirmed that rat plasma values were within the clinical range and CSF/plasma and brain/plasma ratios for LC-MS and 3H-valproate were similar. Conclusion: Results suggest that entry of valproate may be higher in developing brain, the capacity of barrier mechanism is mostly unaffected by doses within the clinical range, with or without addition of lamotrigine. Chronic valproate exposure may result in upregulation in cellular mechanisms restricting its entry into the brain. Entry of lamotrigine was little different at different ages and was not dose dependent

Ethnocentrism in the Netherlands: A typological analysis

Contains fulltext : 3327.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)In research on unfavourable attitudes towards outgroups, the related favourable attitude towards the ingroup is generally ignored. Sumner (1906) called the presence of both related attitudes ethnocentrism. Since then only a small amount of empirical research has been dedicated to this theme. Based oh survey-data from a representative sample of Dutch citizens (N= 1,799) taken in 1985, this article concludes that ethnocentrism exists in The Netherlands. This contains unfavourable stereotypes about several outgroups as well as favourable stereotypes about the ingroup. The latter dimension also refers to nationalistic feelings. Both attitudes are highly related to each other. In this study the social and cultural pattern of ethnocentric people is shown to be of an authoritarian-conservative nature

Efficient excitation of surface plasmons in metal nanorods using large longitudinal component of high index nano fibers

We report theoretical calculations of the mode fields of high index lead silicate and silicon nano fibers, and show that their strong longitudinal component enables efficient excitation of surface plasmons within a silver nanorod placed at the fiber tip. An excitation efficiency 1600 times higher than that of the standard single mode fibers has been achieved using a 350nm diameter silicon fiber at 1.1μm wavelength, while a factor of 640 times higher efficiency is achieved for a 400nm diameter lead silicate F2 glass fiber. The strong localized field emerging from the end of the rod serves as a nano-scale source with adjustable beam width, and such sources offer a new approach to high-resolution microscopy, particle manipulation and sensing.Yinlan Ruan, Shahraam Afshar V., and Tanya M. Monr

HIV-1 Tat protein directly induces mitochondrial membrane permeabilization and inactivates cytochrome c oxidase

The Trans-activator protein (Tat) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a pleiotropic protein involved in different aspects of AIDS pathogenesis. As a number of viral proteins Tat is suspected to disturb mitochondrial function. We prepared pure synthetic full-length Tat by native chemical ligation (NCL), and Tat peptides, to evaluate their direct effects on isolated mitochondria. Submicromolar doses of synthetic Tat cause a rapid dissipation of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (ΔΨm) as well as cytochrome c release in mitochondria isolated from mouse liver, heart, and brain. Accordingly, Tat decreases substrate oxidation by mitochondria isolated from these tissues, with oxygen uptake being initially restored by adding cytochrome c. The anion-channel inhibitor 4,4′-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid (DIDS) protects isolated mitochondria against Tat-induced mitochondrial membrane permeabilization (MMP), whereas ruthenium red, a ryanodine receptor blocker, does not. Pharmacologic inhibitors of the permeability transition pore, Bax/Bak inhibitors, and recombinant Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL proteins do not reduce Tat-induced MMP. We finally observed that Tat inhibits cytochrome c oxidase (COX) activity in disrupted mitochondria isolated from liver, heart, and brain of both mouse and human samples, making it the first described viral protein to be a potential COX inhibitor

IP-10-Mediated T Cell Homing Promotes Cerebral Inflammation over Splenic Immunity to Malaria Infection

Plasmodium falciparum malaria causes 660 million clinical cases with over 2 million deaths each year. Acquired host immunity limits the clinical impact of malaria infection and provides protection against parasite replication. Experimental evidence indicates that cell-mediated immune responses also result in detrimental inflammation and contribute to severe disease induction. In both humans and mice, the spleen is a crucial organ involved in blood stage malaria clearance, while organ-specific disease appears to be associated with sequestration of parasitized erythrocytes in vascular beds and subsequent recruitment of inflammatory leukocytes. Using a rodent model of cerebral malaria, we have previously found that the majority of T lymphocytes in intravascular infiltrates of cerebral malaria-affected mice express the chemokine receptor CXCR3. Here we investigated the effect of IP-10 blockade in the development of experimental cerebral malaria and the induction of splenic anti-parasite immunity. We found that specific neutralization of IP-10 over the course of infection and genetic deletion of this chemokine in knockout mice reduces cerebral intravascular inflammation and is sufficient to protect P. berghei ANKA-infected mice from fatality. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that lack of IP-10 during infection significantly reduces peripheral parasitemia. The increased resistance to infection observed in the absence of IP-10-mediated cell trafficking was associated with retention and subsequent expansion of parasite-specific T cells in spleens of infected animals, which appears to be advantageous for the control of parasite burden. Thus, our results demonstrate that modulating homing of cellular immune responses to malaria is critical for reaching a balance between protective immunity and immunopathogenesis