Rechtliche Tendenzen des Umweltschutzes in Deutschland unter dem Einfluss der Europaischen Union

訳 : 磯村, 篤

A Molecular Platinum Cluster Junction: A Single-Molecule Switch

We present a theoretical study of the electronic transport through single-molecule junctions incorporating a Pt6 metal cluster bound within an organic framework. We show that the insertion of this molecule between a pair of electrodes leads to a fully atomically engineered nano-metallic device with high conductance at the Fermi level and two sequential high on/off switching states. The origin of this property can be traced back to the existence of a HOMO which consists of two degenerate and asymmetric orbitals, lying close in energy to the Fermi level of the metallic leads. Their degeneracy is broken when the molecule is contacted to the leads, giving rise to two resonances which become pinned close to the Fermi level and display destructive interference.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Reprinted (adapted) with permission from J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135 (6), 2052. Copyright 2013 American Chemical Societ

CuInSe2 thin films produced by rf sputtering in Ar/H2 atmospheres

Structural, compositional, optical, and electrical properties of CuInSe2thin filmsgrown by rf reactive sputtering from a Se excess target in Ar/H2 atmospheres are presented. The addition of H2 to the sputtering atmospheres allows the control of stoichiometry of films giving rise to remarkable changes in the film properties. Variation of substrate temperature causes changes in film composition because of the variation of hydrogen reactivity at the substrate. Measurements of resistivity at variable temperatures indicate a hopping conduction mechanism through gap states for films grown at low temperature (100–250 °C), the existence of three acceptor levels at about 0.046, 0.098, and 0.144 eV above valence band for films grown at intermediate temperature (250–350 °C), and a pseudometallic behavior for film grown at high temperatures (350–450 °C). Chalcopyrite polycrystalline thin films of CuInSe2 with an average grain size of 1 μm, an optical gap of 1.01 eV, and resistivities from 10− 1 to 103 Ω cm can be obtained by adding 1.5% of H2 to the sputtering atmosphere and by varying the substrate temperature from 300 to 400 °C

Measles vaccine coverage and factors related to uncompleted vaccination among 18-month-old and 36-month-old children in Kyoto, Japan

BACKGROUND: Due to low vaccine coverage, Japan has not only experienced outbreaks of measles but has also been exporting it overseas. This study aims to survey measles vaccine coverage and the factors uncompleted vaccination among community-living children. METHODS: Subjects were the parents whose children had undergone either an 18-month or a 36-month checkup publicly provided by Kyoto City during November 2001 to January 2002. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted. RESULTS: The coverage was 73.2% among the 18-month-old children (n = 2707) and 88.9% among the 36-month-old children (n = 2340), respectively. The following characteristics of mothers were related to uncompleted measles vaccination: aged below 30, working, concerned about the adverse events of the vaccine, and had insufficient knowledge. Similarly, the following characteristics among children were related to uncompleted measles vaccination: not the first-born child, interacting with other children in group settings. The coverage was the lowest among the children whose mothers were concerned about the adverse events of the vaccine without proper knowledge of measles and its vaccination. CONCLUSION: To increase vaccine coverage among children, parents' awareness about measles and vaccination against it should be promoted, especially for working mothers. Efforts to enhance access to vaccination services and to communicate with parents about changing vaccination schedules are necessary

Power-Law Inter-Spike Interval Distributions Infer a Conditional Maximization of Entropy in Cortical Neurons

The brain is considered to use a relatively small amount of energy for its efficient information processing. Under a severe restriction on the energy consumption, the maximization of mutual information (MMI), which is adequate for designing artificial processing machines, may not suit for the brain. The MMI attempts to send information as accurate as possible and this usually requires a sufficient energy supply for establishing clearly discretized communication bands. Here, we derive an alternative hypothesis for neural code from the neuronal activities recorded juxtacellularly in the sensorimotor cortex of behaving rats. Our hypothesis states that in vivo cortical neurons maximize the entropy of neuronal firing under two constraints, one limiting the energy consumption (as assumed previously) and one restricting the uncertainty in output spike sequences at given firing rate. Thus, the conditional maximization of firing-rate entropy (CMFE) solves a tradeoff between the energy cost and noise in neuronal response. In short, the CMFE sends a rich variety of information through broader communication bands (i.e., widely distributed firing rates) at the cost of accuracy. We demonstrate that the CMFE is reflected in the long-tailed, typically power law, distributions of inter-spike intervals obtained for the majority of recorded neurons. In other words, the power-law tails are more consistent with the CMFE rather than the MMI. Thus, we propose the mathematical principle by which cortical neurons may represent information about synaptic input into their output spike trains

Human cytomegalovirus gene UL76 induces IL-8 expression through activation of the DNA damage response.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a β-herpesvirus, has evolved many strategies to subvert both innate and adaptive host immunity in order to ensure its survival and propagation within the host. Induction of IL-8 is particularly important during HCMV infection as neutrophils, primarily attracted by IL-8, play a key role in virus dissemination. Moreover, IL-8 has a positive effect in the replication of HCMV. This work has identified an HCMV gene (UL76), with the relevant property of inducing IL-8 expression at both transcriptional and protein levels. Up-regulation of IL-8 by UL76 results from activation of the NF-kB pathway as inhibition of both IKK-β activity or degradation of Ikβα abolishes the IL-8 induction and, concomitantly, expression of UL76 is associated with the translocation of p65 to the nucleus where it binds to the IL-8 promoter. Furthermore, the UL76-mediated induction of IL-8 requires ATM and is correlated with the phosphorylation of NEMO on serine 85, indicating that UL76 activates NF-kB pathway by the DNA Damage response, similar to the impact of genotoxic drugs. More importantly, a UL76 deletion mutant virus was significantly less efficient in stimulating IL-8 production than the wild type virus. In addition, there was a significant reduction of IL-8 secretion when ATM -/- cells were infected with wild type HCMV, thus, indicating that ATM is also involved in the induction of IL-8 by HCMV. In conclusion, we demonstrate that expression of UL76 gene induces IL-8 expression as a result of the DNA damage response and that both UL76 and ATM have a role in the mechanism of IL-8 induction during HCMV infection. Hence, this work characterizes a new role of the activation of DNA Damage response in the context of host-pathogen interactions

Large-Scale Cortical Dynamics of Sleep Slow Waves

Slow waves constitute the main signature of sleep in the electroencephalogram (EEG). They reflect alternating periods of neuronal hyperpolarization and depolarization in cortical networks. While recent findings have demonstrated their functional role in shaping and strengthening neuronal networks, a large-scale characterization of these two processes remains elusive in the human brain. In this study, by using simultaneous scalp EEG and intracranial recordings in 10 epileptic subjects, we examined the dynamics of hyperpolarization and depolarization waves over a large extent of the human cortex. We report that both hyperpolarization and depolarization processes can occur with two different characteristic time durations which are consistent across all subjects. For both hyperpolarization and depolarization waves, their average speed over the cortex was estimated to be approximately 1 m/s. Finally, we characterized their propagation pathways by studying the preferential trajectories between most involved intracranial contacts. For both waves, although single events could begin in almost all investigated sites across the entire cortex, we found that the majority of the preferential starting locations were located in frontal regions of the brain while they had a tendency to end in posterior and temporal regions

The Intracellular DNA Sensor IFI16 Gene Acts as Restriction Factor for Human Cytomegalovirus Replication

Human interferon (IFN)-inducible IFI16 protein, an innate immune sensor of intracellular DNA, modulates various cell functions, however, its role in regulating virus growth remains unresolved. Here, we adopt two approaches to investigate whether IFI16 exerts pro- and/or anti-viral actions. First, the IFI16 gene was silenced using specific small interfering RNAs (siRNA) in human embryo lung fibroblasts (HELF) and replication of DNA and RNA viruses evaluated. IFI16-knockdown resulted in enhanced replication of Herpesviruses, in particular, Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV). Consistent with this, HELF transduction with a dominant negative form of IFI16 lacking the PYRIN domain (PYD) enhanced the replication of HCMV. Second, HCMV replication was compared between HELFs overexpressing either the IFI16 gene or the LacZ gene. IFI16 overexpression decreased both virus yield and viral DNA copy number. Early and late, but not immediate-early, mRNAs and proteins were strongly down-regulated, thus IFI16 may exert its antiviral effect by impairing viral DNA synthesis. Constructs with the luciferase reporter gene driven by deleted or site-specific mutated forms of the HCMV DNA polymerase (UL54) promoter demonstrated that the inverted repeat element 1 (IR-1), located between −54 and −43 relative to the transcription start site, is the target of IFI16 suppression. Indeed, electrophoretic mobility shift assays and chromatin immunoprecipitation demonstrated that suppression of the UL54 promoter is mediated by IFI16-induced blocking of Sp1-like factors. Consistent with these results, deletion of the putative Sp1 responsive element from the HCMV UL44 promoter also relieved IFI16 suppression. Together, these data implicate IFI16 as a novel restriction factor against HCMV replication and provide new insight into the physiological functions of the IFN-inducible gene IFI16 as a viral restriction factor