784 research outputs found
A Blueprint for Ocean Literacy: EU4Ocean
In this paper, we discuss the importance of the efficient communication of science results to citizens across the world. In order for people to absorb information, we need to understand the principles and apply the best available means to facilitate the process of increasing global awareness of the changes. This explicitly applies to the verification of how we appeal to people with respect to various environmental issues and, hence, how we can modernize the educational approaches to challenge the global change. We state that, in order to follow the philosophy of sustainable development goals with respect to ocean issues, we need an attractive alternative to the existing areas of consumption. We also state that the ocean issues are at the core of any process aiming to secure sustainability. New methods and tools of education and scientific communication, especially those which are offered by non-formal approaches, are necessary, and we present here some of the activities of the EU4Ocean coalition as best practice examples
Cannabidiol in neurological and neoplastic diseases: Latest developments on the molecular mechanism of action
As the major nonpsychotropic constituent of Cannabis sativa, cannabidiol (CBD) is regarded as one of the most promising therapeutic agents due to its proven effectiveness in clinical trials for many human diseases. Due to the urgent need for more efficient pharmacological treatments for several chronic diseases, in this review, we discuss the potential beneficial effects of CBD for Alzheimers disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and neurological cancers. Due to its wide range of pharmacological activities (e.g., antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective properties), CBD is considered a multimodal drug for the treatment of a range of neurodegenerative disorders, and various cancer types, including neoplasms of the neural system. The different mechanisms of action of CBD are here disclosed, together with recent progress in the use of this cannabis-derived constituent as a new therapeutic approach. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Institute of Human Genetics, Polish Academy of
Sciences by the internal grant for the implementation of a single scientific activity and by the National
Centre for Research and Development by the grant ONKOKAN, INNOMED/I/11/NCBR/2014info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Isospin Dynamics in Heavy Ion Collisions: from Coulomb Barrier to Quark Gluon Plasma
Heavy Ion Collisions (HIC) represent a unique tool to probe the in-medium
nuclear interaction in regions away from saturation. In this report we present
a selection of new reaction observables in dissipative collisions particularly
sensitive to the symmetry term of the nuclear Equation of State (Iso-EoS). We
will first discuss the Isospin Equilibration Dynamics. At low energies this
manifests via the recently observed Dynamical Dipole Radiation, due to a
collective neutron-proton oscillation with the symmetry term acting as a
restoring force. At higher beam energies Iso-EoS effects will be seen in
Imbalance Ratio Measurements, in particular from the correlations with the
total kinetic energy loss. For fragmentation reactions in central events we
suggest to look at the coupling between isospin distillation and radial flow.
In Neck Fragmentation reactions important information can be obtained
from the correlation between isospin content and alignement. The high density
symmetry term can be probed from isospin effects on heavy ion reactions at
relativistic energies (few AGeV range). Rather isospin sensitive observables
are proposed from nucleon/cluster emissions, collective flows and meson
production. The possibility to shed light on the controversial neutron/proton
effective mass splitting in asymmetric matter is also suggested. A large
symmetry repulsion at high baryon density will also lead to an "earlier"
hadron-deconfinement transition in n-rich matter. A suitable treatment of the
isovector interaction in the partonic EoS appears very relevant.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, lecture at the 2008 Erice School on Nuclear
Physics, to appear in Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physic
Optogenetic targeting of cardiac myocytes and non-myocytes: tools, challenges and utility
In optogenetics, light-activated proteins are used to monitor and modulate cellular behaviour with light. Combining genetic targeting of distinct cellular populations with defined patterns of optical stimulation enables one to study specific cell classes in complex biological tissues. In the current study we attempted to investigate the functional relevance of heterocellular electrotonic coupling in cardiac tissue in situ. In order to do that, we used a Cre-Lox approach to express the light-gated cation channel Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) specifically in either cardiac myocytes or non-myocytes. Despite high specificity when using the same Cre driver lines in a previous study in combination with a different optogenetic probe, we found patchy off-target ChR2 expression in cryo-sections and extended z-stack imaging through the ventricular wall of hearts cleared using CLARITY. Based on immunohistochemical analysis, single-cell electrophysiological recordings and whole-genome sequencing, we reason that non-specificity is caused on the Cre recombination level. Our study highlights the importance of careful design and validation of the Cre recombination targets for reliable cell class specific expression of optogenetic tools
Constraining the Symmetry Energy: A Journey in the Isospin Physics from Coulomb Barrier to Deconfinement
Heavy Ion Collisions (HIC) represent a unique tool to probe the in-medium
nuclear interaction in regions away from saturation. In this work we present a
selection of reaction observables in dissipative collisions particularly
sensitive to the isovector part of the interaction, i.e. to the symmetry term
of the nuclear Equation of State (EoS). At low energies the behavior of the
symmetry energy around saturation influences dissipation and fragment
production mechanisms. We will first discuss the recently observed Dynamical
Dipole Radiation, due to a collective neutron-proton oscillation during the
charge equilibration in fusion and deep-inelastic collisions. Important Iso-EOS
effects are stressed. Reactions induced by unstable 132Sn beams appear to be
very promising tools to test the sub-saturation Isovector EoS. New Isospin
sensitive observables are also presented for deep-inelastic, fragmentation
collisions and Isospin equilibration measurements (Imbalance Ratios). The high
density symmetry term can be derived from isospin effects on heavy ion
reactions at relativistic energies (few AGeV range), that can even allow a
``direct'' study of the covariant structure of the isovector interaction in the
hadron medium. Rather sensitive observables are proposed from collective flows
and from pion/kaon production. The possibility of the transition to a mixed
hadron-quark phase, at high baryon and isospin density, is finally suggested.
Some signatures could come from an expected ``neutron trapping'' effect. The
importance of studying violent collisions with radioactive beams from low to
relativistic energies is finally stressed.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, Int.Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics in Heavy Ion
Reactions and Neutron Stars, Beijing Normal Univ. July 07, to appear in
Int.Journ.Modern Physics E (2008
Photoluminescence studies of selected styrylquinolinium thin films made using thermal evaporation deposition technique
In this paper we present a photoluminescence (PL) study of new styrylquinolinium dyes. We made a comparative study of the luminescent properties of thin films grown on quartz substrates using thermal evaporation deposition method. Investigated films show PL emission from the violet to near-IR region at room temperature
- …