A Pseudo Non-Cartesian Pulse Sequence For Hyperpolarized Xenon-129 Gas MRI of Rodent Lungs At Low Magnetic Field Strength

Background: Early diagnosis of radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) following radiation therapy is critical for prevention of permanent lung damage. Pulmonary imaging using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of hyperpolarized xenon (129Xe) gas shows promise for early measurement of RILI. Methods: An ultra-short echo time imaging sequence based on a pseudo-Cartesian k-space trajectory, known as Sectoral, is implemented at low magnetic field (0.07 T) for efficient use of the non-renewable magnetization of hyperpolarized 129Xe gas. A pilot study was performed to demonstrate the feasibility of ADC mapping using the Sectoral sequence on healthy and 2-weeks post irradiated rats. Results: A significant (p \u3c 0.05) correlation between mean ADC values from Sectoral ADC maps and the mean linear intercept (Lm), as a measure of interalveolar wall distance, from histological sections of the lungs was observed (p = 0.0061) and a significant (p \u3c 0.05) separation between healthy and irradiated lungs was observed with full width at half maximum ADC (p = 0.0317). Conclusion: Sectoral MRI with 129Xe is feasible in rats. Decreases in ADC were measured following lung irradiations which correlate with Lm

A method to simulate inhomogeneously irradiated objects with a superposition of 1D models

In close binary systems the atmosphere of one or both components can be significantly influenced by irradiation from the companion. Often the irradiated atmosphere is simulated with a single-temperature approximation for the entire half-sphere. We present a scheme to take the varying irradiation angle into account by combining several separate 1D models. This is independent of the actual code which provides the separate stellar spectra. We calculate the projected area of zones with given irradiation angle and use this geometrical factor to scale separate 1D models. As an example we calculate two different irradiation scenarios with the PHOENIX code. The scheme to calculate the projected area is applicable independent of the physical mechanism that forms these zones. In the case of irradiation by a primary with T=125000 K, the secondary forms ions at different ionisation states for different irradiation angles. No single irradiation angle exists which provides an accurate description of the spectrum. We show a similar simulation for weaker irradiation, where the profile of the H$\alpha$ line depends on the irradiation angle.Comment: published in A&

The structure and spectra of irradiated secondaries in close binaries (pre-CVs)

Many stars evolve not alone but along one or more companions. While the evolution of single isolated stars is well predicted by theoretical calculations, close binary systems with their interactions are on the one hand far more difficult to handle, but on the other hand well constrained in their masses and sizes. One mechanism thought to produce such close binaries is the Common Envelope Evolution (CEE). Especially young post CEE binaries show great temperature differences between both components of about a factor 10 at a separation of just a few solar radii. This work focuses on close binary systems with a hot primary component (e.g. a subdwarf O-type star (sdO)) and a much cooler secondary component (e.g. a main-sequence star), which is heavily influenced by external radiation originating from the first. The technique to include external radiation into the stellar atmosphere code PHOENIX, i.e., the deviation of the outer boundary condition and the change in the temperature correction method, is described in detail. To concentrate on the irradiation effect, other difficulties such as asymmetric effects due to tear-drop shaped stars, ongoing mass accretion or shadows of a circumbinary disc, are avoided by selecting pre-cataclysmic variables (pre CVs) out of the class of close binaries as laboratory. The total eclipsing binary system UU~Sagittae is used as an example for massive irradiation and observed spectral features in the optical are fitted ...thesi

The Influence of Impaired Functioning of Brain Structures on the Ability to Read Emotions and Showing Empathy by People with Autism

Mental states are difficult to understand for people with autism, of course, they need close emotional relationships and refer such contacts, and feel compassion, but sometimes they appear only incidentally, in a unique, social hardship for reading, understanding and acceptance. In the following text, in simple and short way are traced some of the selected concepts of psychological and neurobiological, trying to find some answers to the questions posed at the same time trying to understand the behavior of my patients.Udostępnienie publikacji Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego finansowane w ramach projektu „Doskonałość naukowa kluczem do doskonałości kształcenia”. Projekt realizowany jest ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój; nr umowy: POWER.03.05.00-00-Z092/17-00

\u3csup\u3e1\u3c/sup\u3eH MR spectroscopy of the motor cortex immediately following transcranial direct current stimulation at 7 Tesla

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a form of non-invasive brain stimulation that may modulate cortical excitability, metabolite concentration, and human behaviour. The supplementary motor area (SMA) has been largely ignored as a potential target for tDCS neurorehabilitation but is an important region in motor compensation after brain injury with strong efferent connections to the primary motor cortex (M1). The objective of this work was to measure tissue metabolite changes in the human motor cortex immediately following tDCS. We hypothesized that bihemispheric tDCS would change levels of metabolites involved in neuromodulation including N-acetylaspartate (NAA), glutamate (Glu), and creatine (tCr). In this single-blind, randomized, cross-over study, fifteen healthy adults aged 21–60 participated in two 7T MRI sessions, to identify changes in metabolite concentrations by magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Immediately after 20 minutes of tDCS, there were no significant changes in metabolite levels or metabolite ratios comparing tDCS to sham. However there was a trend toward increased NAA/tCr concentration (p = 0.08) in M1 under the stimulating cathode. There was a strong, positive correlation between the change in the absolute concentration of NAA and the change in the absolute concentration of tCr (p\u3c0.001) suggesting an effect of tDCS. Both NAA and creatine are important markers of neurometabolism. Our findings provide novel insight into the modulation of neural metabolites in the motor cortex immediately following application of bihemispheric tDCS

Modelling the vertical UL 94 test: competition and collaboration between melt dripping, gasification and combustion

An experimental and numerical investigation of the effect of bisphenol A bis(diphenyl phosphate) (BDP) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) on the fire behaviour of bisphenol A polycarbonate/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PC/ABS) in the vertical UL 94 scenario is presented. Four PC/ABS blends were discussed, which satisfy different UL 94 classifi cations d ue to the  competing ef fects of gasifica ti on, charring, flame inhibition and melt flow/dripping. For numerical investigation, the particle finite element method (PFEM) is used. Its capability to model the complex fire behaviour of polymers in the UL 94 is analysed. The materials’ properties are characterised, in particular the additives impact on the dripping behaviour during thermal exposure. BDP is an efficie nt p lasticiser; adding PTFE p reve nts dripping  by causing a flo w limit. P FEM simulation s reproduce the dripping and burning behaviour, in particular the competition between gasification and dripping. The thermal impact of both the burner and the flame is approximated taking into account flame inhibition, charring and effective heat of combustion. PFEM is a promising numerical tool for the investigation of the fire behaviour of polymers, particularly when large deformations are involved. Not only the principal phenomena but also the different UL 94 classi fi cations and t he exti nc tion times are well predicted

Heterologous expression of cytotoxic sesquiterpenoids from the medicinal mushroom Lignosus rhinocerotis in yeast

Background: Genome mining facilitated by heterologous systems is an emerging approach to access the chemical diversity encoded in basidiomycete genomes. In this study, three sesquiterpene synthase genes, GME3634, GME3638, and GME9210, which were highly expressed in the sclerotium of the medicinal mushroom Lignosus rhinocerotis, were cloned and heterologously expressed in a yeast system. Results: Metabolite profile analysis of the yeast culture extracts by GC-MS showed the production of several sesquiterpene alcohols (C 15 H 26 O), including cadinols and germacrene D-4-ol as major products. Other detected sesquiterpenes include selina-6-en-4-ol, ß-elemene, ß-cubebene, and cedrene. Two purified major compounds namely (+)-torreyol and a-cadinol synthesised by GME3638 and GME3634 respectively, are stereoisomers and their chemical structures were confirmed by 1 H and 13 C NMR. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that GME3638 and GME3634 are a pair of orthologues, and are grouped together with terpene synthases that synthesise cadinenes and related sesquiterpenes. (+)-Torreyol and a-cadinol were tested against a panel of human cancer cell lines and the latter was found to exhibit selective potent cytotoxicity in breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF7) with IC 50 value of 3.5 ± 0.58 µg/ml while a-cadinol is less active (IC 50 = 18.0 ± 3.27 µg/ml). Conclusions: This demonstrates that yeast-based genome mining, guided by transcriptomics, is a promising approach for uncovering bioactive compounds from medicinal mushrooms

Métaphysique et facticité : penser la présence à partir de Martin Heidegger

The focus of the present study is to investigate Heidegger's concept of facticity in the context of what he calls the destruction of the history of ontology, followed by, the overcoming of metaphysics. On the one hand, my task is to elucidate Heidegger's thought in its historical development, from a precise perspective, that of the concept of facticity. On the other hand, I aim to develop a concept of radicalized facticity. In Heidegger's thinking, facticity has been conceived since the early 1920s under the name of "facticial life" and can be understood in Being and Time as a "thrown project" of human existence (Dasein). In this time, an appropriate grasping of facticity would require a "destruction of the history of ontology." Ever since the so-called "turn" in the 1930s, the event thinking (Ereignisdenken) requires an "overcoming of metaphysics" or an "appropriation of metaphysics". My general guiding question is the following: if facticity in the early Heidegger is a condition of the possibility of the destruction of ontology, what would be analogically a condition of possibility of an overcoming (or appropriation) of metaphysics? It is generally accepted that facticity is the starting point of Heidegger's philosophy, but it disappears over time. One of the hypothesis of this work asserts that the concept of facticity, mutatis mutandis, is radicalized under the name of the event of appropriation (Ereignis). The "there" (Da) of Heidegger's concept of being-there (Dasein) is to be understood as facticity of existence. Therefore, my entire doctoral work handles, to a certain extent, the philosophical explanation of this "there", in a critical examination of metaphysics, whose only subject, according to Heidegger, is being (Sein).La présente étude questionne le concept heideggérien de facticité dans le contexte de ce que Heidegger appelle la destruction de l'histoire de l'ontologie et, plus tard, le dépassement de la métaphysique. D'une part, il s'agit d'éclairer la pensée de Heidegger dans son développement historique, a partir d'une perspective précise, celle du concept de facticité. D'autre part, la tâche de mon travail est de développer un concept de facticité radicalisée. Dans la pensée de Heidegger, la facticité a été conçue depuis le début des années 1920 sous le nom de « vie facticielle » et peut etre aussi comprise dans Etre et temps comme « projet jeté » de l'existence humaine (Dasein). Une saisie adéquate de la facticité exigerait dans cette période une « destruction de l'histoire de l'ontologie ». Apres le soi-disant « tournant » dans les années 1930, la pensée relevant de l'histoire de l'etre (Ereignisdenken) nécessite un « dépassement de la métaphysique » ou une « appropriation de la métaphysique ». La question directrice que nous nous posons est la suivante : si la facticité chez le premier Heidegger est une condition de possibilité de la destruction de l'ontologie, quelle serait donc analogiquement une condition de possibilité d'un dépassement (ou d'un appropriation) de la métaphysique ? Il est généralement admis que la facticité est le point de départ de la philosophie heideggérienne, mais elle disparaît avec le temps. Une hypothese de ce travail affirme que le concept de facticité, mutatis mutandis, est radicalisé sous le nom de l'événement d'appropriation (Ereignis). Le « la » (Da) du concept d'etre-la (Dasein) de Heidegger est a comprendre comme facticité de l'existence. Par conséquent, tout notre travail de doctorat s’exprime dans une certaine mesure comme une explication philosophique de ce « la », dans un examen critique de la métaphysique dont le seul theme, selon Heidegger, est l'etre (Sein)