894 research outputs found
Superconducting nano-mechanical diamond resonators
In this work we present the fabrication and characterization of
superconducting nano-mechanical resonators made from nanocrystalline boron
doped diamond (BDD). The oscillators can be driven and read out in their
superconducting state and show quality factors as high as 40,000 at a resonance
frequency of around 10 MHz. Mechanical damping is studied for magnetic fields
up to 3 T where the resonators still show superconducting properties. Due to
their simple fabrication procedure, the devices can easily be coupled to other
superconducting circuits and their performance is comparable with
state-of-the-art technology.Comment: 5 pages 6 figures, Accepted for publication in Carbo
Efficient Radio Frequency filters for space constrained cryogenic set-ups
Noise filtering is an essential part for measurement of quantum phenomena at
extremely low temperatures. Here, we present the design of a filter which can
be installed in space constrained cryogenic environment containing a large
number of signal carrying lines. Our filters have a -3db point of 65kHz and its
performance at GHz frequencies are comparable to the best available RF filters.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, The capacitor reference in the first version was
wrong and has been changed to the right on
Theoretical, numerical, and experimental study of a flying qubit electronic interferometer
We discuss an electronic interferometer recently measured by Yamamoto et al.
This "flying quantum bit" experiment showed quantum oscillations between
electronic trajectories of two tunnel-coupled wires connected via an
Aharanov-Bohm ring. We present a simple scattering model as well as a numerical
microscopic model to describe this experiment. In addition, we present new
experimental data to which we confront our numerical results. While our
analytical model provides basic concepts for designing the flying qubit device,
we find that our numerical simulations allow to reproduce detailed features of
the transport measurements such as in-phase and anti-phase oscillations of the
two output currents as well as a smooth phase shift when sweeping a side gate.
Furthermore, we find remarkable resemblance for the magneto conductance
oscillations in both conductance and visibility between simulations and
experiments within a specific parameter range.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figure
Association between DRD2/ANKK1 TaqIA Allele Status and Striatal Dopamine D2/3 Receptor Availability in Alcohol Use Disorder
Background: The association between blunted dopaminergic neurotransmission and alcohol use disorder (AUD) is well-known. In particular, the impairment of postsynaptic dopamine 2 and 3 receptors (DRD2/3) in the ventral and dorsal striatum during the development and maintenance of alcohol addiction has been investigated in several positron emission tomography (PET) studies. However, it is unclear whether these changes are the result of adaptation or genetic predisposition.
Methods: Here we investigated the association between DRD2/ankyrin repeat and kinase domain-containing 1 (ANKK1) TaqIA allele (rs1800497) status and striatal DRD2/3 availability measured by 18F-fallypride PET in 12 AUD patients and 17 sex-matched healthy controls. Age and smoking status were included as covariates.
Results: Contrary to our expectations, TaqIA allele status was not associated with striatal DRD2/3 availability in either group and there was no significant difference between groups, possibly due to the relatively small sample size (N = 29).
Conclusions: Nonetheless, this is the first in vivo study investigating the relationship between dopamine receptor availability and genetic factors in AUD. The pitfalls of assessing such relationships in a relatively small sample are discussed.
Clinical Trial Registration: The published analysis is an additional, post hoc analysis to the preregistered trial with clinical trial number NCT01679145 available on https://clinical - trials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01679145
WALLABY Early Science - I. The NGC 7162 Galaxy Group
We present Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind Survey (WALLABY) early
science results from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP)
observations of the NGC 7162 galaxy group. We use archival HIPASS and Australia
Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) observations of this group to validate the new
ASKAP data and the data reduction pipeline ASKAPsoft. We detect six galaxies in
the neutral hydrogen (HI) 21-cm line, expanding the NGC 7162 group membership
from four to seven galaxies. Two of the new detections are also the first HI
detections of the dwarf galaxies, AM 2159-434 and GALEXASC J220338.65-431128.7,
for which we have measured velocities of and km s,
respectively. We confirm that there is extended HI emission around NGC 7162
possibly due to past interactions in the group as indicated by the
offset between the kinematic and morphological major axes for NGC 7162A, and
its HI richness. Taking advantage of the increased resolution (factor of
) of the ASKAP data over archival ATCA observations, we fit a tilted
ring model and use envelope tracing to determine the galaxies' rotation curves.
Using these we estimate the dynamical masses and find, as expected, high dark
matter fractions of for all group members. The
ASKAP data are publicly available.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Patterns of connectome variability in autism across five functional activation tasks: findings from the LEAP project
Background: Autism spectrum disorder (autism) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition with pronounced behavioral, cognitive, and neural heterogeneities across individuals. Here, our goal was to characterize heterogeneity in autism by identifying patterns of neural diversity as reflected in BOLD fMRI in the way individuals with autism engage with a varied array of cognitive tasks.
Methods: All analyses were based on the EU-AIMS/AIMS-2-TRIALS multisite Longitudinal European Autism Project (LEAP) with participants with autism (n = 282) and typically developing (TD) controls (n = 221) between 6 and 30 years of age. We employed a novel task potency approach which combines the unique aspects of both resting state fMRI and task-fMRI to quantify task-induced variations in the functional connectome. Normative modelling was used to map atypicality of features on an individual basis with respect to their distribution in neurotypical control participants. We applied robust out-of-sample canonical correlation analysis (CCA) to relate connectome data to behavioral data.
Results: Deviation from the normative ranges of global functional connectivity was greater for individuals with autism compared to TD in each fMRI task paradigm (all tasks p < 0.001). The similarity across individuals of the deviation pattern was significantly increased in autistic relative to TD individuals (p < 0.002). The CCA identified significant and robust brain-behavior covariation between functional connectivity atypicality and autism-related behavioral features.
Conclusions: Individuals with autism engage with tasks in a globally atypical way, but the particular spatial pattern of this atypicality is nevertheless similar across tasks. Atypicalities in the tasks originate mostly from prefrontal cortex and default mode network regions, but also speech and auditory networks. We show how sophisticated modeling methods such as task potency and normative modeling can be used toward unravelling complex heterogeneous conditions like autism
Reduced expression of C/EBPβ-LIP extends health- and lifespan in mice
Ageing is associated with physical decline and the development of age-related diseases such as metabolic disorders and cancer. Few conditions are known that attenuate the adverse effects of ageing, including calorie restriction (CR) and reduced signalling through the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway. Synthesis of the metabolic transcription factor C/EBPβ-LIP is stimulated by mTORC1, which critically depends on a short upstream open reading frame (uORF) in the Cebpb-mRNA. Here we describe that reduced C/EBPβ-LIP expression due to genetic ablation of the uORF delays the development of age-associated phenotypes in mice. Moreover, female C/EBPβΔuORF mice display an extended lifespan. Since LIP levels increase upon aging in wild type mice, our data reveal an important role for C/EBPβ in the aging process and suggest that restriction of LIP expression sustains health and fitness. Thus, therapeutic strategies targeting C/EBPβ-LIP may offer new possibilities to treat age-related diseases and to prolong healthspan
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