A combination of ab initio calculations and classical molecular dynamics simulations was used to calculate the free energy of reacting an aprotic heterocyclic anion ionic liquid with CO2. The overall ...reaction was broken into a series of steps using a thermodynamic cycle to calculate the free energy of the gas phase reaction and the free energy contributions of solvation environment effects, which make comparable contributions to the total free energy of reaction. CO2 absorption isotherms that agree reasonably well with experimental data were calculated using a derived expression for the free energy of reaction as a function of temperature, pressure, and the extent of reaction.
Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are promising bioelectronic devices, especially because of their ability to transport charge both ionically and electronically. Conductive polymers are ...typically used as the active materials of OECTs. Crosslinked, cast, and dried films of commercially available poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) suspensions are commonly and widely used for OECTs so far. Electrochemical polymerization of PEDOT from 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) monomer can also be used to fabricate OECTs; however, this approach has not been investigated in as much detail. In particular, the role of various counterions that can be incorporated into the PEDOT films of OECTs has not been systematically studied. Here, we report the electrochemical fabrication and characterization of OECTs using PEDOT with several different counterion salts including lithium perchlorate (LiClO4), sodium p-toluene sulfonate (pTS), and poly(sodium 4-styrene sulfonate) (PSS). We found that the characteristic dimensions of PEDOT films deposited on the electrodes could be precisely controlled by total charge density, with a nominal thickness of about one micron requiring a current density of about 0.6 C/cm2 regardless of the choice of counterion. The films with the PSS counterion were relatively smooth, while PEDOT films prepared with the pTS and LiClO4 were much rougher due to the sizes of counterions. The PEDOT films with pTS and PSS grew along the substrate surface (in-plane direction) much faster than with LiClO4. The maximum transconductance (g m) of a PEDOT OECT was 46 mS with pTS as the counterion with the high on-current level (>10 mA) based on the large channel area. These results provide an effective and efficient way to fabricate OECTs with various monomers and additives as active materials in order to modify the device characteristics for further applications.
The global impact of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic necessitated a rapid shift to online/teletherapy psychotherapy services. While research suggests the feasibility and efficacy of teletherapy, there is ...limited investigation into couple teletherapy's impact on satisfaction and therapeutic alliance. This study aimed to address this gap by examining changes in couple satisfaction during tele- and in-person therapy sessions over 12 sessions and exploring whether therapeutic alliance development mediates these changes. Using growth curve modeling in a sample of 416 couples, it found that teletherapy participants initially reported higher couple satisfaction, but improvement in this domain was slower than in-person therapy recipients. The development of the therapeutic alliance mediated this effect via two indirect paths. Implications include the need for focused attention on alliance development in teletherapy and more empirically-informed approaches in couple teletherapy.
Transformer differential protection application has always been a challenge to protection engineers and commissioning personnel, even with older electromechanical and solid-state technologies. The ...emergence of microprocessor-based protection, where the intelligence is implemented numerically in software algorithms, and the fact that different relay models, even from the same manufacturer, apply different algorithms and compensation techniques and use different terminology and notation, has made it increasingly more complicated to apply the protection and even more challenging to correctly test them during commissioning. This paper reviews how phase differential protection principles are implemented in numerical technology by different relay models, provide guidance in their application, and guide test personnel in performing their work. Test methods are proposed for use with modern test systems that can be applied to test all transformer phase differential protection functions easily and effectively.
•Sn nanoparticles can readily act as a VLS growth catalyst for GaP nanowire deposition.•Sn nanoparticles could be more easily removed by acid etching.•Au- and Sn-seeded GaP nanowires were ...non-degenerate n-type and degenerate n-type, respectively.
Gallium phosphide (GaP) nanowire film electrodes have been prepared via solid sublimation of GaP powder using both gold (Au) and tin (Sn) nanoparticles as the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) catalysts on Si(1 1 1) and GaP(1 1 1)B substrates. The resultant GaP nanowires are compared and contrasted in terms of structures and photoactivity in photoelectrochemical half cells. Raman spectra implicated a difference in the surface condition of the two types of nanowires. Complete wet etching removal of metallic VLS catalysts from the as-prepared GaP nanowires was possible with Sn catalysts but not with Au catalysts. The photoresponses of both Sn- and Au-seeded GaP nanowire films were collected and examined under 100 mW cm−2 white light illumination. Au-seeded nanowire films exhibited strong n-type characteristics when measured in nonaqueous electrolyte with ferrocene/ferricenium as the redox species while Sn-seeded nanowires showed behavior consistent with degenerate n-type doping.
The chytrid fungus
(Bd) is a major threat to amphibians, yet there are no reports of major disease impacts in East Asian frogs. Genetic variation of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has ...been associated with resistance to Bd in frogs from East Asia and worldwide. Using transcriptomic data collated from 11 Japanese frog species (one individual per species), we isolated MHC class I and IIb sequences and validated using molecular cloning. We then compared MHC from Japanese frogs and other species worldwide, with varying Bd susceptibility. Supertyping analysis, which groups MHC alleles based on physicochemical properties of peptide binding sites, identified that all examined East Asian frogs contained at least one MHC-IIb allele belonging to supertype ST-1. This indicates that, despite the large divergence times between some Japanese frogs (up to 145 million years), particular functional properties in the peptide binding sites of MHC-II are conserved among East Asian frogs. Furthermore, preliminary analysis using NetMHCIIpan-4.0, which predicts potential Bd-peptide binding ability, suggests that MHC-IIb ST-1 and ST-2 have higher overall peptide binding ability than other supertypes, irrespective of whether the peptides are derived from Bd, other fungi, or bacteria. Our findings suggest that MHC-IIb among East Asian frogs may have co-evolved under the same selective pressure. Given that Bd originated in this region, it may be a major driver of MHC evolution in East Asian frogs.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
α-synuclein (αS) is an abundant, neuronal protein that assembles into fibrillar pathological inclusions in a spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases that include Lewy body diseases (LBD) and Multiple ...System Atrophy (MSA). The cellular and regional distributions of pathological inclusions vary widely between different synucleinopathies contributing to the spectrum of clinical presentations. Extensive cleavage within the carboxy (C)-terminal region of αS is associated with inclusion formation, although the events leading to these modifications and the implications for pathobiology are of ongoing study. αS preformed fibrils can induce prion-like spread of αS pathology in both in vitro and animal models of disease. Using C truncation-specific antibodies, we demonstrated here that prion-like cellular uptake and processing of αS preformed fibrils resulted in two major cleavages at residues 103 and 114. A third cleavage product (122 αS) accumulated upon application of lysosomal protease inhibitors. In vitro, both 1-103 and 1-114 αS polymerized rapidly and extensively in isolation and in the presence of full-length αS. 1-103 αS also demonstrated more extensive aggregation when expressed in cultured cells. Furthermore, we used novel antibodies to αS cleaved at residue Glu114, to assess x-114 αS pathology in postmortem brain tissue from patients with LBD and MSA, as well as three different transgenic αS mouse models of prion-like induction. The distribution of x-114 αS pathology was distinct from that of overall αS pathology. These studies reveal the cellular formation and behavior of αS C-truncated at residues 114 and 103 as well as the disease dependent distribution of x-114 αS pathology.
Two NF-kappaB signaling pathways, Toll and immune deficiency (imd), are required for survival to bacterial infections in Drosophila. In response to septic injury, these pathways mediate rapid ...transcriptional activation of distinct sets of effector molecules, including antimicrobial peptides, which are important components of a humoral defense response. However, it is less clear to what extent macrophage-like hemocytes contribute to host defense.
In order to dissect the relative importance of humoral and cellular defenses after septic injury with three different gram-positive bacteria (Micrococcus luteus, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus), we used latex bead pre-injection to ablate macrophage function in flies wildtype or mutant for various Toll and imd pathway components. We found that in all three infection models a compromised phagocytic system impaired fly survival--independently of concomitant Toll or imd pathway activation. Our data failed to confirm a role of the PGRP-SA and GNBP1 Pattern Recognition Receptors for phagocytosis of S. aureus. The Drosophila scavenger receptor Eater mediates the phagocytosis by hemocytes or S2 cells of E. faecalis and S. aureus, but not of M. luteus. In the case of M. luteus and E. faecalis, but not S. aureus, decreased survival due to defective phagocytosis could be compensated for by genetically enhancing the humoral immune response.
Our results underscore the fundamental importance of both cellular and humoral mechanisms in Drosophila immunity and shed light on the balance between these two arms of host defense depending on the invading pathogen.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
α-Synuclein misfolding and aggregation plays a major role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Although loss of function mutations in the ubiquitin ligase, parkin, cause autosomal recessive ...Parkinson's disease, there is evidence that parkin is inactivated in sporadic Parkinson's disease. Whether parkin inactivation is a driver of neurodegeneration in sporadic Parkinson's disease or a mere spectator is unknown. Here we show that parkin in inactivated through c-Abelson kinase phosphorylation of parkin in three α-synuclein-induced models of neurodegeneration. This results in the accumulation of parkin interacting substrate protein (zinc finger protein 746) and aminoacyl tRNA synthetase complex interacting multifunctional protein 2 with increased parkin interacting substrate protein levels playing a critical role in α-synuclein-induced neurodegeneration, since knockout of parkin interacting substrate protein attenuates the degenerative process. Thus, accumulation of parkin interacting substrate protein links parkin inactivation and α-synuclein in a common pathogenic neurodegenerative pathway relevant to both sporadic and familial forms Parkinson's disease. Thus, suppression of parkin interacting substrate protein could be a potential therapeutic strategy to halt the progression of Parkinson's disease and related α-synucleinopathies.
Growing evidence has identified that autophagy plays an important role in sustaining normal cellular function. Endurance exercise (EE) is a potent inducer of autophagy in multiple tissues. However, ...the exact underlying signaling pathways responsible for exercise‐induced autophagy in brain has not been fully understood yet. In this study, we investigated potential signaling pathways involved in EE‐induced autophagy and mitochondrial dynamics in the cortex of the brain. C57BL/6 male mice were randomly assigned to a control group (CON, n=12) and an endurance exercise group (EXE, n=12). Our data demonstrated that EE‐induced autophagy evidenced by upregulation of autophagy‐related proteins (e.g., LC3 II, BECLIN1, ATG7, LAMP2, CATHEPSIN L and TFEB) coincides with increased anabolic signaling state (p‐AKT, p‐mTOR and p‐p70S6K). Furthermore, we revealed that EE promoted mitophagy evidenced by increases in LC3 II, p62, BNIP3, PINK, DRP1 in isolated mitochondrial fraction). We attempted to examine if low degree of oxidative stress would be a potential factor involved in EE‐induced autophagy. As opposed to our postulation, oxidative stress was not the case since EE did not increase protein oxidation, but rather enhanced antioxidative capacity (CATALASE and PRX III). Taken together, our results indicate that EE‐induced autophagy/mitophagy concomitant with anabolic signaling activation may be a novel protective signaling that mediates facilitation of healthy brain.
Support or Funding Information
This project was supported by a research grant from the University of West Florida though Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (R0062) and UWF Florida Research Fellowship to YL (CF6672 and CR0070).
This is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this published in The FASEB Journal.
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