29 research outputs found
Spectral Signatures of the Diffusional Anomaly in Water
Analysis of power spectrum profiles for various tagged particle quantities in
bulk SPC/E water is used to demonstrate that variations in mobility associated
with the diffusional anomaly are mirrored in the exponent of the \onebyf\
region. Monitoring of \onebyf behaviour is shown to be a simple and direct
method for linking phenomena on three distinctive length and time scales: the
local molecular environment, hydrogen bond network reorganisations and the
diffusivity. The results indicate that experimental studies of supercooled
water to probe the density dependence of spectral features, or
equivalent stretched exponential behaviour in time-correlation functions, will
be of interest.Comment: 5 Pages, 4 Figure
"Smoking gun" signatures of topological milestones in trivial materials by measurement fine-tuning and data postselection
Exploring the topology of electronic bands is a way to realize new states of
matter with possible implications for information technology. Because bands
cannot always be observed directly, a central question is how to tell that a
topological regime has been achieved. Experiments are often guided by a
prediction of a unique signal or a pattern, called "the smoking gun". Examples
include peaks in conductivity, microwave resonances, and shifts in interference
fringes. However, many condensed matter experiments are performed on relatively
small, micron or nanometer-scale, specimens. These structures are in the
so-called mesoscopic regime, between atomic and macroscopic physics, where
phenomenology is particularly rich. In this paper, we demonstrate that the
trivial effects of quantum confinement, quantum interference and charge
dynamics in nanostructures can reproduce accepted smoking gun signatures of
triplet supercurrents, Majorana modes, topological Josephson junctions and
fractionalized particles. The examples we use correspond to milestones of
topological quantum computing: qubit spectroscopy, fusion and braiding. None of
the samples we use are in the topological regime. The smoking gun patterns are
achieved by fine-tuning during data acquisition and by subsequent data
selection to pick non-representative examples out of a fluid multitude of
similar patterns that do not generally fit the "smoking gun" designation.
Building on this insight, we discuss ways that experimentalists can rigorously
delineate between topological and non-topological effects, and the effects of
fine-tuning by deeper analysis of larger volumes of data.Comment: Data are available through Zenodo at DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.834930
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Flavonoid-rich orange juice is associated with acute improvements in cognitive function in healthy middle-aged males
Purpose:
Epidemiological evidence suggests that chronic consumption of fruit-based flavonoids is associated with cognitive benefits; however, the acute effects of flavonoid-rich (FR) drinks on cognitive function in the immediate postprandial period require examination. The objective was to investigate whether consumption of FR orange juice is associated with acute cognitive benefits over 6 h in healthy middle-aged adults.
Methods:
Males aged 30–65 consumed a 240-ml FR orange juice (272 mg) and a calorie-matched placebo in a randomized, double-blind, counterbalanced order on 2 days separated by a 2-week washout. Cognitive function and subjective mood were assessed at baseline (prior to drink consumption) and 2 and 6 h post consumption. The cognitive battery included eight individual cognitive tests. A standardized breakfast was consumed prior to the baseline measures, and a standardized lunch was consumed 3 h post-drink consumption.
Results:
Change from baseline analysis revealed that performance on tests of executive function and psychomotor speed was significantly better following the FR drink compared to the placebo. The effects of objective cognitive function were supported by significant benefits for subjective alertness following the FR drink relative to the placebo.
Conclusions:
These data demonstrate that consumption of FR orange juice can acutely enhance objective and subjective cognition over the course of 6 h in healthy middle-aged adults
In vitro Anticancer Screening of 24 Locally Used Nigerian Medicinal Plants
Background: Plants that are used as traditional medicine represent a relevant pool for selecting plant candidates that may have anticancer properties. In this study, the ethnomedicinal approach was used to select several medicinal plants native to Nigeria, on the basis of their local or traditional uses. The collected plants were then evaluated for cytoxicity. Methods: The antitumor activity of methanolic extracts obtained from 24 of the selected plants, were evaluated in vitro on five human cancer cell lines. Results: Results obtained from the plants screened indicate that 18 plant extracts of folk medicine exhibited promising cytotoxic activity against human carcinoma cell lines. Erythrophleum suaveolens (Guill. & Perr.) Brenan was found to demonstrate potent anti-cancer activity in this study exhibiting IC50 = 0.2-1.3 g/ml. Conclusions: Based on the significantly potent activity of some plants extracts reported here, further studies aimed at mechanism elucidation and bio-guided isolation of active anticancer compounds is currently underway.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog