Thalamic metabolic abnormalities in patients with Huntington's disease measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurologic disorder that is not completely understood; its fundamental physiological mechanisms and chemical effects remain somewhat unclear. Among these uncertainties, we can highlight information about the concentrations of brain metabolites, which have been widely discussed. Concentration differences in affected, compared to healthy, individuals could lead to the development of useful tools for evaluating the progression of disease, or to the advance of investigations of different/alternative treatments. The aim of this study was to compare the thalamic concentration of metabolites in HD patients and healthy individuals using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We used a 2.0-Tesla magnetic field, repetition time of 1500 ms, and echo time of 135 ms. Spectra from 40 adult HD patients and 26 control subjects were compared. Quantitative analysis was performed using the LCModel method. There were statistically significant differences between HD patients and controls in the concentrations of N-acetylaspartate+N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAA+NAAG; t-test, P<0.001), and glycerophosphocholine+phosphocholine (GPC+PCh; t-test, P=0.001) relative to creatine+phosphocreatine (Cr+PCr). The NAA+NAAG/Cr+PCr ratio was decreased by 9% and GPC+PCh/Cr+PCr increased by 17% in patients compared with controls. There were no correlations between the concentration ratios and clinical features. Although these results could be caused by T1 and T2 changes, rather than variations in metabolite concentrations given the short repetition time and long echo time values used, our findings point to thalamic dysfunction, corroborating prior evidence.72272

Interface state contribution to the photovoltaic effect in organic phototransistors:Photocapacitance measurements and optical sensing

Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-11T16:50:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-01-01Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Eletrônica OrgânicaWe report the results of an investigation into the contribution that trapping in interface states makes to the photovoltaic effect observed in organic phototransistors. To isolate this effect from other processes that occur in the transistor structure when under illumination, we focus attention on the photo-response of metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitors - the core structure of transistors. The capacitors comprised poly(3-hexylthiophene), (P3HT), as the active semiconductor in combination with one of three insulators, namely, poly(amide-imide), (PAI), SU-8 photoresist and polysilsesquioxane (PSQ). Following initial characterization in the dark, the capacitor response was measured both during and after irradiation with light in the wavelength range 400–700 nm. Three different approaches were employed to study the photo-response, each providing a different insight into the processes occurring. Capacitance-voltage sweeps before, during and after illumination provided direct evidence supporting the view that the photovoltaic effect occurred as a result of electron trapping in interface states of density up to ∼2 × 1012 cm−2 in the P3HT/PAI combination but lower for SU-8 and PSQ. The dynamic photo-response, in which device capacitance was held constant by changing the applied bias, showed a fast component related to optically induced photoconduction in the semiconductor and a slower component reflecting the dynamics of interface electron trapping. Finally, photo-induced capacitance changes occurring with constant applied voltage were used to demonstrate a simple 3 × 3 imaging array.School of Electronic Engineering Bangor University, Dean StreetBrazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano) Brazilian Centre of Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM)Department of Physics São Paulo State University (UNESP), PO Box 266Institute of Physics of São Carlos University of São Paulo (USP), PO Box 369Catarinense Federal Institute of Education Science and Technology, PO Box 21Department of Physics São Paulo State University (UNESP), PO Box 26

Experimental and numerical simulations of oblique extreme wave conditions in front of a breakwater's trunk and round head

ABSTARCT: Climate change studies already reported sea level rise as an accepted scenario, which induces changes in nearshore wave conditions. A large range of new experiences including water level, run-up, overtopping, hydrodynamic data for different wave steepnesses and directions was performed in the Leibniz Universität Hannover (LUH) wave basin for a rubble mound breakwater with a slope of 1(V):2(H). This work presents, focusing on oblique extreme wave conditions, numerical simulations of the hydrodynamics in that experiment using OpenFOAM®. Results of the wave generation boundary conditions and their propagation, namely elevation of the water level free-surface and velocity data at specific locations are compared and discussed with data from experimental measurements acquired by acoustic wave gauges and acoustic doppler velocimeter (ADV) / Vectrino equipment. Although an exact match between numerical and laboratory values was not reached, an appropriate incident wave angle and a reasonable amplitude of velocities and water depths was achieved and the same happened to the statistics of those values

Low Temperature Performance of a Large Area Avalanche Photodiode

A Large Area Avalanche Photodiode (LAAPD) was studied, aiming to access its performance as light detector at low temperatures, down to -80 C. The excess noise factor, F, was measured and found to be approximately independent of the temperature. A linear dependence of F on the APD gain with a slope of 0.00239 +/- 0.00008 was observed for gains above 100. The detection of low intensity light pulses, producing only a few primary electron-hole pairs in the photodiode, is reported.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures; was presented at 3-rd conference "New Developments in Photodetection" Beaune, France, June 17-21, 2002; submitted to NI

The electron-furfural scattering dynamics for 63 energetically open electronic states

14 págs.; 15 figs.We report on integral-, momentum transfer- and differential cross sections for elastic and electronically inelastic electron collisions with furfural (CHO). The calculations were performed with two different theoretical methodologies, the Schwinger multichannel method with pseudopotentials (SMCPP) and the independent atom method with screening corrected additivity rule (IAM-SCAR) that now incorporates a further interference (I) term. The SMCPP with N energetically open electronic states (N) at either the static-exchange (N ch-SE) or the static-exchange-plus-polarisation (N ch-SEP) approximation was employed to calculate the scattering amplitudes at impact energies lying between 5 eV and 50 eV, using a channel coupling scheme that ranges from the 1ch-SEP up to the 63ch-SE level of approximation depending on the energy considered. For elastic scattering, we found very good overall agreement at higher energies among our SMCPP cross sections, our IAM-SCAR+I cross sections and the experimental data for furan (a molecule that differs from furfural only by the substitution of a hydrogen atom in furan with an aldehyde functional group). This is a good indication that our elastic cross sections are converged with respect to the multichannel coupling effect for most of the investigated intermediate energies. However, although the present application represents the most sophisticated calculation performed with the SMCPP method thus far, the inelastic cross sections, even for the low lying energy states, are still not completely converged for intermediate and higher energies. We discuss possible reasons leading to this discrepancy and point out what further steps need to be undertaken in order to improve the agreement between the calculated and measured cross sections. ©2016 AIP Publishing LLCR.F.d.C., M.C.A.L., M.H.F.B., M.T.d.N.V., and M.A.P.L. acknowledge support from the Brazilian agency Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq). M.T.d.N.V. acknowledges support from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP). D.B.J. thanks the Australian Research Council (ARC) for financial support provided through a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. M.J.B. thanks the ARC for some financial support and also thanks CNPq for his “Special Visiting Professor” award at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora. G.G. thanks the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad under Project No. FIS2012- 31230 and the European Union COST Action No. CM1301 for funding.Peer Reviewe

Theoretical and experimental differential cross sections for electron impact excitation of the electronic bands of furfural

13 págs.; 8 figs.; 6 tabs.We report results from a joint experimental and theoretical investigation into electron scattering from the important industrial species furfural (CHO). Specifically, differential cross sections (DCSs) have been measured and calculated for the electron-impact excitation of the electronic states of CHO. The measurements were carried out at energies in the range 20-40 eV, and for scattered-electron angles between 10°and 90°. The energy resolution of those experiments was typically ∼80 meV. Corresponding Schwinger multichannel method with pseudo-potential calculations, for energies between 6-50 eV and with and without Born-closure, were also performed for a sub-set of the excited electronic-states that were accessed in the measurements. Those calculations were undertaken at the static exchange plus polarisation-level using a minimum orbital basis for single configuration interaction (MOB-SCI) approach. Agreement between the measured and calculated DCSs was qualitatively quite good, although to obtain quantitative accord, the theory would need to incorporate even more channels into the MOB-SCI. The role of multichannel coupling on the computed electronic-state DCSs is also explored in some detail. ©2016 AIP Publishing LLCR.F.C.N. thanks CNPq (Brazil) and the Science Without Borders Programme for opportunities to study abroad. D.B.J. thanks the Australian Research Council (ARC) for financial support provided through a Discovery Early Career Research Award, while M.J.B. also thanks the ARC for their support. M.J.B. and M.C.A.L. acknowledge the Brazilian agencies CNPq and FAPEMIG. P.L.-V. acknowledges the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCTMEC) through Grant Nos. PTDC/FIS-ATO/1832/2012 and UIO/FIS/00068/2013. G.G. acknowledges partial financial support from the Spanish Ministry MINECO (Project No. FIS2012-31230) and the European Union COST Action No. CM1301 (CELINA). Finally, R.F.d.C., M.T.d.N.V., M.H.F.B., and M.A.P.L. acknowledge support from the Brazilian agency CNPq and M.T.d.N.V. also thanks FAPESP.Peer Reviewe

Material screening and selection for XENON100

Results of the extensive radioactivity screening campaign to identify materials for the construction of XENON100 are reported. This Dark Matter search experiment is operated underground at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), Italy. Several ultra sensitive High Purity Germanium detectors (HPGe) have been used for gamma ray spectrometry. Mass spectrometry has been applied for a few low mass plastic samples. Detailed tables with the radioactive contaminations of all screened samples are presented, together with the implications for XENON100.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur