Topological mechanochemistry of graphene

In view of a formal topology, two common terms, namely, connectivity and adjacency, determine the quality of C-C bonds of sp2 nanocarbons. The feature is the most sensitive point of the inherent topology of the species so that such external action as mechanical deformation should obviously change it and result in particular topological effects. The current paper describes the effects caused by uniaxial tension of a graphene molecule in due course of a mechanochemical reaction. Basing on the molecular theory of graphene, the effects are attributed to both mechanical loading and chemical modification of edge atoms of the molecule. The mechanical behavior is shown to be not only highly anisotropic with respect to the direction of the load application, but greatly dependent on the chemical modification of the molecule edge atoms thus revealing topological character of the graphene deformation.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1301.094

Cytokine Production by Leukocytes of Military Personnel with Depressive Symptoms after Deployment to a Combat-Zone: A Prospective, Longitudinal Study

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is frequently diagnosed in military personnel returning from deployment. Literature suggests that MDD is associated with a pro-inflammatory state. To the best of our knowledge, no prospective, longitudinal studies on the association between development of depressive symptomatology and cytokine production by peripheral blood leukocytes have been published. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the presence of depressive symptomatology six months after military deployment is associated with the capacity to produce cytokines, as assessed before and after deployment. 1023 military personnel were included before deployment. Depressive symptoms and LPS- and T-cell mitogen-induced production of 16 cytokines and chemokines in whole blood cultures were measured before (T0), 1 (T1), and 6 (T2) months after return from deployment. Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) was used for data reduction into cytokine patterns. Multiple group latent growth modeling was used to investigate differences in the longitudinal course of cytokine production between individuals with (n = 68) and without (n = 665) depressive symptoms at T2. Individuals with depressive symptoms after deployment showed higher T-cell cytokine production before deployment. Moreover, pre-deployment T-cell cytokine production significantly predicted the presence of depressive symptomatology 6 months after return. There was an increase in T-cell cytokine production over time, but this increase was significantly smaller in individuals developing depressive symptoms. T-cell chemokine and LPS-induced innate cytokine production decreased over time and were not associated with depressive symptoms. These results indicate that increased T-cell mitogen-induced cytokine production before deployment may be a vulnerability factor for development of depressive symptomatology in response to deployment to a combat-zone. In addition, deployment to a combat-zone affects the capacity of T-cells and monocytes to produce cytokines and chemokines until at least 6 months after return

Vampires in the village Žrnovo on the island of Korčula: following an archival document from the 18th century

Središnja tema rada usmjerena je na raščlambu spisa pohranjenog u Državnom arhivu u Mlecima (fond: Capi del Consiglio de’ Dieci: Lettere di Rettori e di altre cariche) koji se odnosi na događaj iz 1748. godine u korčulanskom selu Žrnovo, kada su mještani – vjerujući da su se pojavili vampiri – oskvrnuli nekoliko mjesnih grobova. U radu se podrobno iznose osnovni podaci iz spisa te rečeni događaj analizira u širem društvenom kontekstu i prate se lokalna vjerovanja.The main interest of this essay is the analysis of the document from the State Archive in Venice (file: Capi del Consiglio de’ Dieci: Lettere di Rettori e di altre cariche) which is connected with the episode from 1748 when the inhabitants of the village Žrnove on the island of Korčula in Croatia opened tombs on the local cemetery in the fear of the vampires treating. This essay try to show some social circumstances connected with this event as well as a local vernacular tradition concerning superstitions

The developmental order of emotional and cognitive empathy in adolescents, and the role of mothers

This four-year study with annual measurements investigated the longitudinal interplay between affective and cognitive empathy in adolescents and their mothers. We studied 1) whether the developmental order of empathy in adolescence progresses from affective to cognitive empathy, or vice versa; 2) whether mothers’ empathy predicts their children’s empathy development; 3) whether adolescent gender moderates such intergenerational transmission from mothers to adolescents; and 4) whether inter-respondent differences in empathy were more stable for affective or cognitive empathy, and for adolescents or for mothers. Results indicated that affective empathy positively predicted the development of cognitive empathy one year later, but not vice versa. Mothers’ greater cognitive empathy predicted increasing cognitive empathy over time in daughters, but not in sons. Inter-respondent differences were more stable for affective empathy than for cognitive empathy in adolescents. In mothers, both empathy dimensions were equally stable, and more stable than in adolescents. This study thereby suggests that the developmental order of empathy in adolescence progresses from affective to cognitive empathy, in contrast to prior experimental and theoretical work which has emphasized the reverse direction of effects. It further offers support for the intergenerational transmission of cognitive empathy over time. Together with the lower stability of cognitive empathy, these findings suggest that adolescence is a developmentally sensitive period for cognitive empathy