120 research outputs found

    Slip of the tongue: implications for evolution and language development

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    prevailing theory regarding the evolution of language implicates a gestural stage prior to the emergence of speech. In support of a transition of human language from a gestural to a vocal system, articulation of the hands and the tongue are underpinned by overlapping left hemisphere dominant neural regions. Behavioral studies demonstrate that human adults perform sympathetic mouth actions in imitative synchrony with manual actions. Additionally, right-handedness for precision manual actions in children has been corre- lated with the typical development of language, while a lack of hand bias has been associ- ated with psychopathology. It therefore stands to reason that sympathetic mouth actions during fine precision motor action of the hands may be lateralized. We employed a fine-grained behavioral coding paradigm to provide the first investigation of tongue pro- trusions in typically developing 4-year old children. Tongue protrusions were investigated across a range of cognitive tasks that required varying degrees of manual action: precision motor action, gross motor action and no motor actions. The rate of tongue protrusions was influenced by the motor requirements of the task and tongue protrusions were signifi- cantly right-biased for only precision manual motor action (p < .001). From an evolutionary perspective, tongue protrusions can drive new investigations regarding how an early human communication system transitioned from hand to mouth. From a developmental perspective, the present study may serve to reveal patterns of tongue protrusions during the motor development of typically developing children

    Inkjet‐Printed p‐NiO/n‐ZnO Heterojunction Diodes for Photodetection Applications

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    Transparent Conducting Oxides (TCOs) are an enticing family of optoelectronic materials which have been proven to increase efficiency when incorporated into perovskite light emitting diode (PE-LED) and organic OLED architectures as transport layers. Solution-processed metal oxide inks have already been demonstrated, although there is still a need for high-quality inkjet-printable metal oxide inks with a thermal post-process below 200 °C. The set of inks in this work are adapted from low-boiling point colloidal suspensions of metal oxide nanoparticles synthesized via flame spray pyrolysis. High quality, pinhole- and wrinkle-free inkjet-printed layers are obtained at low temperatures through vacuum oven post process, as proven by scanning electron microscopy. The crystallinity of the layers is confirmed by X-ray diffraction, showing the expected hexagonal and cubic structures respectively for ZnO and NiO. The thin film layers reach over 70% (ZnO) and 90% (NiO) transparency in the visible spectrum. Their implementation in the inkjet-printed p-n diode shows excellent I-V rectifying behavior with an ON/OFF ratio of two orders of magnitude at ±3 V and a forward threshold voltage of 2 V. Furthermore, the device exhibits an increase in photocurrent around four orders of magnitude when illuminated under a 1-sun solar simulator

    Reconstruction of primary vertices at the ATLAS experiment in Run 1 proton–proton collisions at the LHC

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    This paper presents the method and performance of primary vertex reconstruction in proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment during Run 1 of the LHC. The studies presented focus on data taken during 2012 at a centre-of-mass energy of √s=8 TeV. The performance has been measured as a function of the number of interactions per bunch crossing over a wide range, from one to seventy. The measurement of the position and size of the luminous region and its use as a constraint to improve the primary vertex resolution are discussed. A longitudinal vertex position resolution of about 30μm is achieved for events with high multiplicity of reconstructed tracks. The transverse position resolution is better than 20μm and is dominated by the precision on the size of the luminous region. An analytical model is proposed to describe the primary vertex reconstruction efficiency as a function of the number of interactions per bunch crossing and of the longitudinal size of the luminous region. Agreement between the data and the predictions of this model is better than 3% up to seventy interactions per bunch crossing

    MarShie: a clearing protocol for 3D analysis of single cells throughout the bone marrow at subcellular resolution

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    Analyzing immune cell interactions in the bone marrow is vital for understanding hematopoiesis and bone homeostasis. Three-dimensional analysis of the complete, intact bone marrow within the cortex of whole long bones remains a challenge, especially at subcellular resolution. We present a method that stabilizes the marrow and provides subcellular resolution of fluorescent signals throughout the murine femur, enabling identification and spatial characterization of hematopoietic and stromal cell subsets. By combining a pre-processing algorithm for stripe artifact removal with a machine-learning approach, we demonstrate reliable cell segmentation down to the deepest bone marrow regions. This reveals age-related changes in the marrow. It highlights the interaction between CX3CR1+ cells and the vascular system in homeostasis, in contrast to other myeloid cell types, and reveals their spatial characteristics after injury. The broad applicability of this method will contribute to a better understanding of bone marrow biology

    Decoding plasma cell maturation dynamics with BCMA

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    Plasma cells provide protective antibodies following an infection or vaccination. A network of intrinsic and extrinsic factors fine-tunes the generation of a heterogenous plasma cell pool with varying metabolic requirements, transcriptional profiles and lifespans. Among these, the B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) has been implicated in the APRIL-mediated survival of long-lived plasma cells. To characterize the terminal maturation of plasma cells, we constructed a BCMA reporter mouse (BCMA:Tom) that exclusively labeled antibody-secreting cells and revealed that BCMA:Tom expression varied by IgH isotype and increased with plasma cell maturity. The BCMA reporter, used alongside the Blimp1-GFP reporter, also allowed detailed tracking of plasma cell development and highlighted the importance of the in vivo microenvironment to complete plasma cell maturation. Therefore, the BCMA:Tom reporter mouse provides a valuable tool for tracking plasma cell development and maturation with flow cytometry or advanced imaging techniques, enabling a deeper understanding of the mechanisms regulating plasma cell heterogeneity and longevity

    Fully Inkjet-Printed Green-Emitting PEDOT:PSS/NiO/Colloidal CsPbBr3/SnO2 Perovskite Light-Emitting Diode on Rigid and Flexible Substrates

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    After establishing themselves as promising active materials in the field of solar cells, halide perovskites are currently being explored for fabrication of low-cost, easily processable, and highly efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Despite this, the highest efficiencies reported for perovskite-based LEDs (PeLEDs) are achieved through spin coating or vacuum evaporation deposition techniques, which are not adequate, in most of the cases, for an industrial-scale production. Additionally, the long-term stability is still a big handicap, even though all inorganic perovskites, such as CsPbBr3, are found to be more stable to external variables. In this context, herein, the fabrication of fully inkjet-printed (IJP) CsPbBr3-based PeLEDs in ambient conditions, on rigid and flexible substrates, on a proof-of-concept basis, with the successful incorporation of NiO and SnO2 as hole- and electron-selective contacts, respectively, is reported. Despite the moderate luminance (324 cd m−2) value obtained, this result paves the way toward the development of upscalable fabrication of PeLEDs based on deposition techniques with controlled spatial resolution.The authors wish to thank the financial support from the European Commission via FET Open Grant (862656, DROP-IT), MINECO (Spain) for grant PID2019-105658RB-I00 (PRITES project), Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain under Project STABLE (PID2019-107314RB-I00), and Generalitat Valenciana via Prometeo Grant Q-Devices (Prometeo/2018/098)

    Fully Inkjet-Printed Green-Emitting PEDOT:PSS/NiO/Colloidal CsPbBr3/SnO2 Perovskite Light-Emitting Diode on Rigid and Flexible Substrates

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    After establishing themselves as promising active materials in the field of solar cells, halide perovskites are currently being explored for fabrication of low-cost, easily processable, and highly efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Despite this, the highest efficiencies reported for perovskite-based LEDs (PeLEDs) are achieved through spin coating or vacuum evaporation deposition techniques, which are not adequate, in most of the cases, for an industrial-scale production. Additionally, the long-term stability is still a big handicap, even though all inorganic perovskites, such as CsPbBr3, are found to be more stable to external variables. In this context, herein, the fabrication of fully inkjet-printed (IJP) CsPbBr3-based PeLEDs in ambient conditions, on rigid and flexible substrates, on a proof-of-concept basis, with the successful incorporation of NiO and SnO2 as hole- and electron-selective contacts, respectively, is reported. Despite the moderate luminance (324 cd m−2) value obtained, this result paves the way toward the development of upscalable fabrication of PeLEDs based on deposition techniques with controlled spatial resolution

    Distinct tissue niches direct lung immunopathology via CCL18 and CCL21 in severe COVID-19

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    Prolonged lung pathology has been associated with COVID-19, yet the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind this chronic inflammatory disease are poorly understood. In this study, we combine advanced imaging and spatial transcriptomics to shed light on the local immune response in severe COVID-19. We show that activated adventitial niches are crucial microenvironments contributing to the orchestration of prolonged lung immunopathology. Up-regulation of the chemokines CCL21 and CCL18 associates to endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition and tissue fibrosis within these niches. CCL21 over-expression additionally links to the local accumulation of T cells expressing the cognate receptor CCR7. These T cells are imprinted with an exhausted phenotype and form lymphoid aggregates that can organize in ectopic lymphoid structures. Our work proposes immune-stromal interaction mechanisms promoting a self-sustained and non-resolving local immune response that extends beyond active viral infection and perpetuates tissue remodeling
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