The conductivity of graphene samples with various levels of disorder is investigated for a set of specimens with mobility in the range of 1-20x10(3) cm2/V sec. Comparing the experimental data with ...the theoretical transport calculations based on charged impurity scattering, we estimate that the impurity concentration in the samples varies from 2-15x10(11) cm(-2). In the low carrier density limit, the conductivity exhibits values in the range of 2-12e2/h, which can be related to the residual density induced by the inhomogeneous charge distribution in the samples. The shape of the conductivity curves indicates that high mobility samples contain some short-range disorder whereas low mobility samples are dominated by long-range scatterers.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
Orientation selectivity is a property of mammalian primary visual cortex (V1) neurons, yet its emergence along the visual pathway varies across species. In carnivores and primates, elongated ...receptive fields first appear in V1, whereas in lagomorphs such receptive fields emerge earlier, in the retina. Here we examine the mouse visual pathway and reveal the existence of orientation selectivity in lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) relay cells. Cortical inactivation does not reduce this orientation selectivity, indicating that cortical feedback is not its source. Orientation selectivity is similar for LGN relay cells spiking and subthreshold input to V1 neurons, suggesting that cortical orientation selectivity is inherited from the LGN in mouse. In contrast, orientation selectivity of cat LGN relay cells is small relative to subthreshold inputs onto V1 simple cells. Together, these differences show that although orientation selectivity exists in visual neurons of both rodents and carnivores, its emergence along the visual pathway, and thus its underlying neuronal circuitry, is fundamentally different.
In the mammalian cerebral cortex, neural responses are highly variable during spontaneous activity and sensory stimulation. To explain this variability, the cortex of alert animals has been proposed ...to be in an asynchronous high-conductance state in which irregular spiking arises from the convergence of large numbers of uncorrelated excitatory and inhibitory inputs onto individual neurons. Signatures of this state are that a neuron's membrane potential (Vm) hovers just below spike threshold, and its aggregate synaptic input is nearly Gaussian, arising from many uncorrelated inputs. Alternatively, irregular spiking could arise from infrequent correlated input events that elicit large fluctuations in Vm (refs 5, 6). To distinguish between these hypotheses, we developed a technique to perform whole-cell Vm measurements from the cortex of behaving monkeys, focusing on primary visual cortex (V1) of monkeys performing a visual fixation task. Here we show that, contrary to the predictions of an asynchronous state, mean Vm during fixation was far from threshold (14 mV) and spiking was triggered by occasional large spontaneous fluctuations. Distributions of Vm values were skewed beyond that expected for a range of Gaussian input, but were consistent with synaptic input arising from infrequent correlated events. Furthermore, spontaneous fluctuations in Vm were correlated with the surrounding network activity, as reflected in simultaneously recorded nearby local field potential. Visual stimulation, however, led to responses more consistent with an asynchronous state: mean Vm approached threshold, fluctuations became more Gaussian, and correlations between single neurons and the surrounding network were disrupted. These observations show that sensory drive can shift a common cortical circuitry from a synchronous to an asynchronous state.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
This study was conducted to explore the interrelationships among caregiver burden, emotional status and quality of life (QoL) in caregivers of lung cancer patients, and to identify whether caregiver ...burden and health status are associated with patient emotional status and QoL. Forty‐three dyads of lung cancer patients and their caregivers were included for analysis. Caregiver‐reported outcomes were measured by Caregiver Burden Scale (CBS), Caregivers Quality of Life Index‐Cancer (CQOLC) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), while patient‐reported outcomes were collected by HADS and Lung Cancer Symptom Scale (LCSS). The majority of the CBS and CQOLC scores were significantly higher in anxious and depressed caregivers than non‐anxious and non‐depressed caregivers (p < .01 or .05). Caregivers of depressed patients experienced significantly greater emotional distress than those of non‐depressed patients (p < .01). Significantly positive associations were identified among most of the CBS, CQOLC and caregiver HADS scores. Patient LCSS scores were positively correlated with the CBS and caregiver HADS scores, and patient HADS scores were also positively related to caregiver HADS scores. The close interrelationships between caregiver and patient health outcomes provide evidence that lung cancer patients and their caregivers should be viewed as a unit in future supportive service models.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Macrophages are specialized phagocytic cells, present in all tissues, which engulf and digest pathogens, infected and dying cells, and debris, and can recruit and regulate other immune cells and the ...inflammatory response and aid in tissue repair. Macrophage subpopulations play distinct roles in these processes and in disease, and are typically recognized by differences in marker expression, immune function, or tissue of residency. Although macrophage subpopulations in the brain have been found to have distinct developmental origins, the extent to which development contributes to macrophage diversity between tissues and within tissues is not well understood. Here, we investigate the development and maintenance of mouse lung macrophages by marker expression patterns, genetic lineage tracing and parabiosis. We show that macrophages populate the lung in three developmental waves, each giving rise to a distinct lineage. These lineages express different markers, reside in different locations, renew in different ways, and show little or no interconversion. Thus, development contributes significantly to lung macrophage diversity and targets each lineage to a different anatomical domain.
The accurate prediction of physicochemical properties of condensed systems is a longstanding goal of theoretical (quantum) chemistry. Ionic liquids comprising entirely of ions provide a unique ...challenge in this respect due to the diverse chemical nature of available ions and the complex interplay of intermolecular interactions among them, thus resulting in the wide variability of physicochemical properties, such as thermodynamic, transport, and spectroscopic properties. It is well understood that intermolecular forces are directly linked to physicochemical properties of condensed systems, and therefore, an understanding of this relationship would greatly aid in the design and synthesis of functionalized materials with tailored properties for an application at hand. This review aims to give an overview of how electronic structure properties obtained from quantum chemical methods such as interaction/binding energy and its fundamental components, dipole moment, polarizability, and orbital energies, can help shed light on the energetic, physical, and spectroscopic properties of semi-Coulomb systems such as ionic liquids. Particular emphasis is given to the prediction of their thermodynamic, transport, spectroscopic, and solubilizing properties.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Bacterial sepsis is a major killer in hospitalized patients. Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) with the leading species Staphylococcus epidermidis are the most frequent causes of nosocomial ...sepsis, with most infectious isolates being methicillin-resistant. However, which bacterial factors underlie the pathogenesis of CNS sepsis is unknown. While it has been commonly believed that invariant structures on the surface of CNS trigger sepsis by causing an over-reaction of the immune system, we show here that sepsis caused by methicillin-resistant S. epidermidis is to a large extent mediated by the methicillin resistance island-encoded peptide toxin, PSM-mec. PSM-mec contributed to bacterial survival in whole human blood and resistance to neutrophil-mediated killing, and caused significantly increased mortality and cytokine expression in a mouse sepsis model. Furthermore, we show that the PSM-mec peptide itself, rather than the regulatory RNA in which its gene is embedded, is responsible for the observed virulence phenotype. This finding is of particular importance given the contrasting roles of the psm-mec locus that have been reported in S. aureus strains, inasmuch as our findings suggest that the psm-mec locus may exert effects in the background of S. aureus strains that differ from its original role in the CNS environment due to originally "unintended" interferences. Notably, while toxins have never been clearly implied in CNS infections, our tissue culture and mouse infection model data indicate that an important type of infection caused by the predominant CNS species is mediated to a large extent by a toxin. These findings suggest that CNS infections may be amenable to virulence-targeted drug development approaches.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Less is more: A minimalist “clickable” photo‐crosslinker (see scheme) was incorporated with numerous small‐molecule kinase inhibitors. The resulting probes were used for both in vitro (cell lysates) ...and in situ (live cells) proteome profiling, for large‐scale identification of their potential cellular kinase targets and shows improved outcomes over previous probes.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
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