137 research outputs found
Evidence for hard and soft substructures in thermoelectric SnSe
SnSe is a topical thermoelectric material with a low thermal conductivity
which is linked to its unique crystal structure. We use low-temperature heat
capacity measurements to demonstrate the presence of two characteristic
vibrational energy scales in SnSe with Debye temperatures thetaD1 = 345(9) K
and thetaD2 = 154(2) K. These hard and soft substructures are quantitatively
linked to the strong and weak Sn-Se bonds in the crystal structure. The heat
capacity model predicts the temperature evolution of the unit cell volume,
confirming that this two-substructure model captures the basic thermal
properties. Comparison with phonon calculations reveals that the soft
substructure is associated with the low energy phonon modes that are
responsible for the thermal transport. This suggests that searching for
materials containing highly divergent bond distances should be a fruitful route
for discovering low thermal conductivity materials.Comment: Accepted by Applied Physics Letter
Serum Penicillin G Levels Are Lower Than Expected in Adults within Two Weeks of Administration of 1.2 Million Units
When introduced in the 1950s, benzathine penicillin G (BPG) was shown to be effective in eradicating group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus (GAS) for at least 3 weeks after administration. Several studies since the 1990s suggest that at 3–4 weeks serum penicillin G levels are less than adequate (below MIC90 of 0.016 µg/ml). We studied these levels for 4 weeks after the recommended dose of BPG in military recruits, for whom it is used as prophylaxis against GAS. The 329 subjects (mean age 20 years) each received 1.2 million units BPG IM and gave sera 1 day post injection and twice more at staggered time points over 4 weeks. Serum penicillin G levels were measured by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectometry. The half-life of serum penicillin G was 4.1 days. By day 11, mean levels were <0.02 µg/ml, and by day 15<0.01 µg/ml. Levels in more than 50% of the subjects were below 0.02 µg/ml on day 9, and <.01 µg/ml on day 16. There was no demonstrable effect of subject body-surface area nor of the four different lots of BPG used. These data indicate that in healthy young adults serum penicillin G levels become less than protective <2½ weeks after injection of 1.2 million units of BPG. The findings require serious consideration in future medical and public health recommendations for treatment and prophylaxis of GAS upper respiratory tract infections
Purification of molybdenum oxide, growth and characterization of medium size zinc molybdate crystals for the LUMINEU program
The LUMINEU program aims at performing a pilot experiment on neutrinoless
double beta decay of 100Mo using radiopure ZnMoO4 crystals operated as
scintillating bolometers. Growth of high quality radiopure crystals is a
complex task, since there are no commercially available molybdenum compounds
with the required levels of purity and radioactive contamination. This paper
discusses approaches to purify molybdenum and synthesize compound for high
quality radiopure ZnMoO4 crystal growth. A combination of a double sublimation
(with addition of zinc molybdate) with subsequent recrystallization in aqueous
solutions (using zinc molybdate as a collector) was used. Zinc molybdate
crystals up to 1.5 kg were grown by the low-thermal-gradient Czochralski
technique, their optical, luminescent, diamagnetic, thermal and bolometric
properties were tested.Comment: Contribution to Proc. of Int. Workshop on Radiopure Scintillators
RPSCINT 2013, 17-20 September 2013, Kyiv, Ukraine; to be published in EPJ Web
of Conferences; expected to be online in January 2014; 6 pages, 6 figures,
and 3 table
Scintillating bolometers based on ZnMoO4 and Zn100MoO4 crystals to search for 0ν2β decay of 100Mo (LUMINEU project): first tests at the Modane Underground Laboratory
The technology of scintillating bolometers based on zinc molybdate (ZnMoO4) crystals is under development within the LUMINEU project to search for decay of 100Mo with the goal to set the basis for large scale experiments capable to explore the inverted hierarchy region of the neutrino mass pattern. Advanced ZnMoO4 crystal scintillators with mass of ∼0.3 kg were developed and Zn100MoO4 crystal from enriched 100Mo was produced for the first time by using the low-thermal-gradient Czochralski technique. One ZnMoO4 scintillator and two samples (59 g and 63 g) cut from the enriched boule were tested aboveground at milli-Kelvin temperature as scintillating bolometers showing a high detection performance. The first results of the low background measurements with three ZnMoO4 and two enriched detectors installed in the EDELWEISS set-up at the Modane Underground Laboratory (France) are presented
Rat prostatic binding protein: the complete sequence of the C2 gene and its flanking regions.
The complete sequence (2879 bp) of the androgen-controlled rat prostatic binding protein C2 gene and 1023 bp of the 5'- and 2127 bp of the 3'-flanking regions have been determined. The gene contains three exons (93, 203 and 147 bp) and two introns (1630 and 806 bp). It is flanked by two homopurine-homopyrimidine stretches of 55 and 131 nucleotides respectively, located at positions -405 and 4151. These sequences are remarkably sensitive towards S1-nuclease, indicating an altered DNA conformation under superhelical stress. Several palindromes and dyad structures are observed in the 5'-upstream region of the gene and at position -457, and 80% homology to the consensus sequence of a glucocorticoid receptor binding site is found
Tau immunotherapies for Alzheimer\u27s disease
INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer\u27s dementia (AD) is the most common form of dementia in the World. Pathologically, it is characterized by extracellular β-amyloid plaques and intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). The latter is composed of irregular, pathological forms of the tau protein. Currently, FDA-approved symptomatic treatments are limited to the targeting of cholinergic deficits and glutamatergic dysfunctions. However, as understanding of β-amyloid plaques and NFTs expands, these dysfunctional proteins represent potential therapeutic interventions. The present review article evaluates active and passive immunotherapies in clinical development for AD to date and their potential to significantly improve the treatment of AD going forward. AREAS COVERED: All clinical trials that have targeted β-amyloid to date have produced somewhat disappointing results, leading to a shift in intervention focus to targeting tau protein. A key component in understanding the value of targeting tau in therapeutic paradigms has come from the conceptualization of prion-like pathological spread of tau isoforms from neuron to neuron, and referred to as \u27tauons\u27. Immunotherapies currently under investigation include approaches aiming at preventing pathological tau aggregation, stabilizing microtubules, and blocking of tauons. EXPERT OPINION: A multi-targeted approach that would use biologics targeting tau offers great promise to the development of effective AD therapeutic interventions
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