Elucidating a normal function of huntingtin by functional and microarray analysis of huntingtin-null mouse embryonic fibroblasts

Background

Multi-sensory integration is necessary for organisms to discriminate different environmental stimuli and thus determine behavior. Caenorhabditis elegans has 12 pairs of amphid sensory neurons, which are involved in generating behaviors such as thermotaxis toward cultivation temperature, and chemotaxis toward chemical stimuli. This arrangement of known sensory neurons and measurable behavioral output makes C. elegans suitable for addressing questions of multi-sensory integration in the nervous system. Previous studies have suggested that C. elegans can process different chemoattractants simultaneously. However, little is known about how these organisms can integrate information from stimuli of different modality, such as thermal and chemical stimuli.

Results

We studied the behavior of a population of C. elegans during simultaneous presentation of thermal and chemical stimuli. First, we examined thermotaxis within the radial temperature gradient produced by a feedback-controlled thermoregulator. Separately, we examined chemotaxis toward sodium chloride or isoamyl alcohol. Then, assays for simultaneous presentations of 15°C (colder temperature than 20°C room temperature) and chemoattractant were performed with 15°C-cultivated wild-type worms. Unlike the sum of behavioral indices for each separate behavior, simultaneous presentation resulted in a biased migration to cold regions in the first 10 min of the assay, and sodium chloride-regions in the last 40 min. However, when sodium chloride was replaced with isoamyl alcohol in the simultaneous presentation, the behavioral index was very similar to the sum of separate single presentation indices. We then recorded tracks of single worms and analyzed their behavior. For behavior toward sodium chloride, frequencies of forward and backward movements in simultaneous presentation were significantly different from those in single presentation. Also, migration toward 15°C in simultaneous presentation was faster than that in 15°C-single presentation.

Conclusion

We conclude that worms preferred temperature to chemoattractant at first, but preferred the chemoattractant sodium chloride thereafter. This preference was not seen for isoamyl alcohol presentation. We attribute this phase-dependent preference to the result of integration of thermosensory and chemosensory signals received by distinct sensory neurons.     

Superior diffusion kinetics and electrochemical properties of α/β–type NaMn0.89Co0.11O2 as cathode for sodium-ion batteries

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Sodium-ion batteries have emerged as an exciting alternative to commercially dominant lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other applications....     

Effect of N-doping on hard carbon nano-balls as anode for Li-ion battery: improved hydrothermal synthesis and volume expansion study

Using an improved single-step hydrothermal method, mesoporous hard carbon nano-balls, with nitrogen doping, have been successfully synthesized. These materials exhibit good reversible charge capacity during half-cell tests. Gravimetric capacity for undoped nano-sized and micron-sized mesoporous hard carbon balls is 506 and 475 mAh g^?1, respectively. After nitrogen doping, the specific gravimetric capacities of both nano- and micron-sized carbon balls increase by 6.9 and 8%, respectively. Nitrogen doping enhances retention in specific capacity of both anode materials, particularly in nano-sized carbon balls with capacity retention of 83.9% after 100 cycles. The enhancement is attributed to a significant decrease in volume expansion due to the nitrogen doping. Density functional theory-based computation confirms the reduction of volume expansion by 60%. Improved electrochemical performance of nitrogen-doped hard carbon is due to the drop in volume expansion rate during lithiation along with increased porosity and electronic conductivity. Furthermore, this one-step synthesis can be extended to other carbon sources to get nitrogen-doped hard carbon with sizes varying from micro to nano.     

Revisiting and enhancing electrochemical properties of SnO2 as anode for sodium-ion batteries

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - The tin oxide (SnO2) thin films have been prepared by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at deposition temperatures (Td) ranging from 300 to...     

An efficient strategy for N-alkylation of benzimidazoles/imidazoles in SDS-aqueous basic medium and N-alkylation induced ring opening of benzimidazoles

A sustainable route for the N-1 alkylation of imidazole and benzimidazole derivatives has been developed under volatile organic solvent free condition in alkaline water-SDS system. Incorporation of SDS in the reaction medium enhances the reaction rate by suppressing the solubility issue that arises for different substrates. This method provides high yield of the alkylated product in a shorter reaction time. For reactive alkyl halides reaction proceeds at ambient temperature whereas in the cases of less reactive alkyl halides require 55–60?°C to complete alkylation process. N-alkylation induced ring opening of the heterocyclic ring in benzimidazole derivatives to multifunctional aromatic compounds were noticed at 60?°C when more than two equivalents of alkyl halide was used.     

Removal of VOCs from air by membrane-based absorption and stripping

Atmospheric emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as toluene, xylene, acetone etc. from industrial facilities causes serious environmental problems and financial losses. Existing technologies for VOC emission abatement have many strengths as well as considerable limitations. A regenerative absorption-based process for removal of VOCs from N₂ in an inert, nonvolatile, organic liquid flowing in compact hollow fiber devices has been studied here. These devices eliminate flooding, loading and entrainment encountered in conventional absorption units. Detailed experimental results and theoretical analyses for absorption studies were communicated elsewhere. The overall performance of the combined absorption-stripping process is described here; it appears to be controlled by stripping due to the low temperature and the lower membrane surface area in the stripper. The difference between only absorption and combined absorption-stripping results was more pronounced for VOC-absorbent systems having higher Henry's law constant and diffusivity. A theoretical model has been developed from first principles to simulate the behavior of the membrane stripper; this has been combined with the model for the membrane absorber to determine the overall process performance. Simulated results obtained from the mathematical models agree well with the experimental results for combined absorption-stripping. Simulation results suggest that higher stripping temperature and larger stripper area enhance the performance considerably.     

Vortex dynamics of a cylinder wake in proximity to a wall

Large-eddy simulations (LES) are used to investigate the modifications of wake dynamics and turbulence characteristics behind a circular cylinder placed near a wall for varying gap-to-diameter (G/D) ratios (where G signifies the gap between the wall and the cylinder, and D the cylinder diameter). The three-dimensional (3-D), time-dependent, incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with a dynamic subgrid-scale model are solved using a symmetry-preserving finite-difference scheme of second-order spatial and temporal accuracy. The immersed boundary (IB) method is employed to impose the no-slip boundary condition on the cylinder surface. Flow visualizations along with turbulence statistics are presented to gain insight into the flow structures that are due to interaction between the shear layers and the approaching boundary layer. Apart from the vortex shedding mechanism, the paper illustrates the physics involving the shear layer transition, stretching, breakdown and turbulence generation, either qualitatively or quantitatively, in the presence of a wall for a Reynolds number of Re=1440 (based on D and the inlet free-stream velocity U_∞).     

Effect of Symmetry and H‐bond Strength of Hard Segments on the Structure‐Property Relationships of Segmented,Nonchain Extended Polyurethanes and Polyureas

Segmented, nonchain extended polyurethanes and polyureas based on PTMO soft segments (SS) and hard segments (HSs) based on only single molecules of a diisocyanate were synthesized. Type and nature of the diisocyanate was systematically varied in order to analyze the effect of HS symmetry and type of linkage between the HS and SS on the structure‐property relationship of these segmented copolymers. Results showed that the increased symmetry of the diisocyanates allows a more efficient packing of the HSs which leads to a microphase‐separated structure with the crystalline hard ribbon or thread‐like domains percolated throughout the SS matrix, even with a low HS content (ca. 13 wt.%). The service window of these segmented copolymers was significantly influenced by the symmetry and type of linkage between the HS and SS. Most copolymers also showed evidence of strain hardening accented by the strain induced crystallization of the PTMO SS.