Steric effects of ions in the charge-related wetting phenomena

Steric effects of ions on the charge-related wetting phenomena are studied. Along with a general treatment, three specific problems in two-dimensional system are considered: a droplet on an electrode, a droplet on a charged surface, and an electrowetting phenomenon on a dielectric. For computation of wetting tension, the electromechanical approach is adopted with the principle of mechanical force balance for each phase. The modified Poisson-Boltzmann equation, which was originally proposed by Bikerman [Philos. Mag. 33, 384 (1942)], is adopted for the analysis of the steric effects. It is found that the steric hindrance reduces significantly both the osmotic pressure and the electrical stress near the triple contact line. This reduction results in a considerable decrease in the wetting tension when the ratio of the capacitance per unit area of the electrical double layer to that of the dielectric layer is small.open111817sciescopu

Depressed Adolescents’ Pupillary Response to Peer Acceptance and Rejection: The Role of Rumination

Heightened emotional reactivity to peer feedback is predictive of adolescents’ depression risk. Examining variation in emotional reactivity within currently depressed adolescents may identify subgroups that struggle the most with these daily interactions. We tested whether trait rumination, which amplifies emotional reactions, explained variance in depressed adolescents’ physiological reactivity to peer feedback, hypothesizing that rumination would be associated with greater pupillary response to peer rejection and diminished response to peer acceptance. Twenty currently depressed adolescents (12–17) completed a virtual peer interaction paradigm where they received fictitious rejection and acceptance feedback. Pupillary response provided a time-sensitive index of physiological arousal. Rumination was associated with greater initial pupil dilation to both peer rejection and acceptance, and diminished late pupillary response to peer acceptance trials only. Results indicate that depressed adolescents high on trait rumination are more reactive to social feedback regardless of valence, but fail to sustain cognitive-affective load on positive feedback

Single cell label-free probing of chromatin dynamics during B lymphocyte maturation

This is the final version. Available on open access from Frontiers Media via the DOI in this recordData availability: The original contributions presented in the study are publicly available. This data can be found here: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14135219.v1Large-scale intracellular signalling during developmental growth or in response to environmental alterations are largely orchestrated by chromatin within the cell nuclei. Chemical and conformational modifications of the chromatin architecture are critical steps in the regulation of differential gene expression and ultimately cell fate determination. Therefore, establishing chemical properties of the nucleus could provide key markers for phenotypic characterisation of cellular processes on a scale of individual cells. Raman microscopy is a sensitive technique that is capable of probing single cell chemical composition - and sub-cellular regions - in a label-free optical manner. As such, it has great potential in both clinical and basic research. However, perceived limitations of Raman spectroscopy such as low signal intensity and the difficulty in linking alterations in vibrational signals directly with ensuing biological effects have hampered advances in the field. Here we use immune B lymphocyte development as a model to assess chromatin and transcriptional changes using confocal Raman microscopy in combination with microfluidic devices and correlative transcriptomics, thereby linking changes in chemical and structural properties to biological outcomes. Live B lymphocytes were assessed before and after maturation. Multivariate analysis was applied to distinguish cellular components within each cell. The spectral differences between non-activated and activated B lymphocytes were then identified, and their correlation with known intracellular biological changes were assessed in comparison to conventional RNA-seq analysis. Our data shows that spectral analysis provides a powerful tool to study gene activation that can complement conventional molecular biology techniques and opens the way for mapping the dynamics in the biochemical makeup of individual cells.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)SNFRosetrees Trust FundUZH Research Priority ProgramRGSMedical Research Council (MRC

Homozygosity for a missense mutation in the 67 kDa isoform of glutamate decarboxylase in a family with autosomal recessive spastic cerebral palsy: parallels with Stiff-Person Syndrome and other movement disorders

Background Cerebral palsy (CP) is an heterogeneous group of neurological disorders of movement and/or posture, with an estimated incidence of 1 in 1000 live births. Non-progressive forms of symmetrical, spastic CP have been identified, which show a Mendelian autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance. We recently described the mapping of a recessive spastic CP locus to a 5 cM chromosomal region located at 2q24-31.1, in rare consanguineous families. Methods Here we present data that refine this locus to a 0.5 cM region, flanked by the microsatellite markers D2S2345 and D2S326. The minimal region contains the candidate gene GAD1, which encodes a glutamate decarboxylase isoform (GAD67), involved in conversion of the amino acid and excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate to the inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Results A novel amino acid mis-sense mutation in GAD67 was detected, which segregated with CP in affected individuals. Conclusions This result is interesting because auto-antibodies to GAD67 and the more widely studied GAD65 homologue encoded by the GAD2 gene, are described in patients with Stiff-Person Syndrome (SPS), epilepsy, cerebellar ataxia and Batten disease. Further investigation seems merited of the possibility that variation in the GAD1 sequence, potentially affecting glutamate/GABA ratios, may underlie this form of spastic CP, given the presence of anti-GAD antibodies in SPS and the recognised excitotoxicity of glutamate in various contexts

Water dispersible microbicidal cellulose acetate phthalate film

BACKGROUND: Cellulose acetate phthalate (CAP) has been used for several decades in the pharmaceutical industry for enteric film coating of oral tablets and capsules. Micronized CAP, available commercially as "Aquateric" and containing additional ingredients required for micronization, used for tablet coating from water dispersions, was shown to adsorb and inactivate the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), herpesviruses (HSV) and other sexually transmitted disease (STD) pathogens. Earlier studies indicate that a gel formulation of micronized CAP has a potential as a topical microbicide for prevention of STDs including the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The objective of endeavors described here was to develop a water dispersible CAP film amenable to inexpensive industrial mass production. METHODS: CAP and hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) were dissolved in different organic solvent mixtures, poured into dishes, and the solvents evaporated. Graded quantities of a resulting selected film were mixed for 5 min at 37°C with HIV-1, HSV and other STD pathogens, respectively. Residual infectivity of the treated viruses and bacteria was determined. RESULTS: The prerequisites for producing CAP films which are soft, flexible and dispersible in water, resulting in smooth gels, are combining CAP with HPC (other cellulose derivatives are unsuitable), and casting from organic solvent mixtures containing ≈50 to ≈65% ethanol (EtOH). The films are ≈100 µ thick and have a textured surface with alternating protrusions and depressions revealed by scanning electron microscopy. The films, before complete conversion into a gel, rapidly inactivated HIV-1 and HSV and reduced the infectivity of non-viral STD pathogens >1,000-fold. CONCLUSIONS: Soft pliable CAP-HPC composite films can be generated by casting from organic solvent mixtures containing EtOH. The films rapidly reduce the infectivity of several STD pathogens, including HIV-1. They are converted into gels and thus do not have to be removed following application and use. In addition to their potential as topical microbicides, the films have promise for mucosal delivery of pharmaceuticals other than CAP

Determining solar effects in Neptune’s atmosphere

Long-duration observations of Neptune’s brightness in two visible wavelengths provide a disk-averaged estimate of its atmospheric aerosol. Brightness variations were previously associated with the 11-year solar cycle, through solar-modulated mechanisms linked with either ultra-violet (UV) or galactic cosmic ray (GCR) effects on atmospheric particles. Here we use a recently extended brightness dataset (1972-2014), with physically realistic modelling to show that rather than alternatives, UV and GCR are likely to be modulating Neptune’s atmosphere in combination. The importance of GCR is further supported by the response of Neptune's atmosphere to an intermittent 1.5 to 1.9 year periodicity, which occurred preferentially in GCR (not UV) during the mid-1980s. This periodicity was detected both at Earth, and in GCR measured by Voyager 2, then near Neptune. A similar coincident variability in Neptune’s brightness suggests nucleation onto GCR ions. Both GCR and UV mechanisms may occur more rapidly than the subsequent atmospheric particle transport

Two New Loci for Body-Weight Regulation Identified in a Joint Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies for Early-Onset Extreme Obesity in French and German Study Groups

Meta-analyses of population-based genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in adults have recently led to the detection of new genetic loci for obesity. Here we aimed to discover additional obesity loci in extremely obese children and adolescents. We also investigated if these results generalize by estimating the effects of these obesity loci in adults and in population-based samples including both children and adults. We jointly analysed two GWAS of 2,258 individuals and followed-up the best, according to lowest p-values, 44 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) from 21 genomic regions in 3,141 individuals. After this DISCOVERY step, we explored if the findings derived from the extremely obese children and adolescents (10 SNPs from 5 genomic regions) generalized to (i) the population level and (ii) to adults by genotyping another 31,182 individuals (GENERALIZATION step). Apart from previously identified FTO, MC4R, and TMEM18, we detected two new loci for obesity: one in SDCCAG8 (serologically defined colon cancer antigen 8 gene; p = 1.85610 x 10(-8) in the DISCOVERY step) and one between TNKS (tankyrase, TRF1-interacting ankyrin-related ADP-ribose polymerase gene) and MSRA (methionine sulfoxide reductase A gene; p = 4.84 x 10(-7)), the latter finding being limited to children and adolescents as demonstrated in the GENERALIZATION step. The odds ratios for early-onset obesity were estimated at similar to 1.10 per risk allele for both loci. Interestingly, the TNKS/MSRA locus has recently been found to be associated with adult waist circumference. In summary, we have completed a meta-analysis of two GWAS which both focus on extremely obese children and adolescents and replicated our findings in a large followed-up data set. We observed that genetic variants in or near FTO, MC4R, TMEM18, SDCCAG8, and TNKS/MSRA were robustly associated with early-onset obesity. We conclude that the currently known major common variants related to obesity overlap to a substantial degree between children and adults

The hidden world within plants: ecological and evolutionary considerations for defining functioning of microbial endophytes

All plants are inhabited internally by diverse microbial communities comprising bacterial, archaeal, fungal, and protistic taxa. These microorganisms showing endophytic lifestyles play crucial roles in plant development, growth, fitness, and diversification. The increasing awareness of and information on endophytes provide insight into the complexity of the plant microbiome. The nature of plant-endophyte interactions ranges from mutualism to pathogenicity. This depends on a set of abiotic and biotic factors, including the genotypes of plants and microbes, environmental conditions, and the dynamic network of interactions within the plant biome. In this review, we address the concept of endophytism, considering the latest insights into evolution, plant ecosystem functioning, and multipartite interactions.EU Cost Action [FA1103, 312117]; FWF (Austrian Science Foundation) [P26203-B22, P24569-B25]; Portuguese FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) [SFRH/BPD/78931/2011]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio