Dielectric nonlinearity of relaxor ferroelectric ceramics at low ac drives

Dielectric nonlinear response of (PbMg$_{1/3}$Nb$_{2/3}$O$_3$)$_{0.9}$(PbTiO$_3$)$_{0.1}$ (0.9PMN-0.1PT) relaxor ceramics was investigated under different ac drive voltages. It was observed that: (i) the dielectric permittivity is independent on ac field amplitude at high temperatures; (ii) with increasing ac drive, the permittivity maximum increases, and the temperature of the maximum shifts to lower temperature; (iii) the nonlinear effect is weakened when the measurement frequency increases. The influences of increasing ac drive were found to be similar to that of decreasing frequency. It is believed that the dielectric nonlinearities of relaxors at low drives can be explained by the phase transition theory of ergodic space shrinking in succession. A Monte Carlo simulation was performed on the flips of micro polarizations at low ac drives to verify the theory.Comment: Submitted to J. Phys.: Cond. Matte

Levinson's theorem for the Schr\"{o}dinger equation in two dimensions

Levinson's theorem for the Schr\"{o}dinger equation with a cylindrically symmetric potential in two dimensions is re-established by the Sturm-Liouville theorem. The critical case, where the Schr\"{o}dinger equation has a finite zero-energy solution, is analyzed in detail. It is shown that, in comparison with Levinson's theorem in non-critical case, the half bound state for $P$ wave, in which the wave function for the zero-energy solution does not decay fast enough at infinity to be square integrable, will cause the phase shift of $P$ wave at zero energy to increase an additional $\pi$.Comment: Latex 11 pages, no figure and accepted by P.R.A (in August); Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Urban energy consumption and CO2 emissions in Beijing: current and future

This paper calculates the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of Beijing over 2005–2011 in light of the Beijing’s energy balance table and the carbon emission coefficients of IPCC. Furthermore, based on a series of energy conservation planning program issued in Beijing, the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP)-BJ model is developed to study the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of Beijing’s six end-use sectors and the energy conversion sector over 2012–2030 under the BAU scenario and POL scenario. Some results are found in this research: (1) During 2005–2011, the energy consumption kept increasing, while the total CO2 emissions fluctuated obviously in 2008 and 2011. The energy structure and the industrial structure have been optimized to a certain extent. (2) If the policies are completely implemented, the POL scenario is projected to save 21.36 and 35.37 % of the total energy consumption and CO2 emissions than the BAU scenario during 2012 and 2030. (3) The POL scenario presents a more optimized energy structure compared with the BAU scenario, with the decrease of coal consumption and the increase of natural gas consumption. (4) The commerce and service sector and the energy conversion sector will become the largest contributor to energy consumption and CO2 emissions, respectively. The transport sector and the industrial sector are the two most potential sectors in energy savings and carbon reduction. In terms of subscenarios, the energy conservation in transport (TEC) is the most effective one. (5) The macroparameters, such as the GDP growth rate and the industrial structure, have great influence on the urban energy consumption and carbon emissions

Frataxin deficiency increases cyclooxygenase 2 and prostaglandins in cell and animal models of Friedreich's ataxia

© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.An inherited deficiency of the mitochondrial protein frataxin causes Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA); the mechanism by which this deficiency triggers neuro- and cardio-degeneration is unclear. Microarrays of neural tissue of animal models of the disease showed decreases in antioxidant genes, and increases in inflammatory genes. Cyclooxygenase (COX)-derived oxylipins are important mediators of inflammation. We measured oxylipin levels using tandem mass spectrometry and ELISAs in multiple cell and animal models of FRDA. Mass spectrometry revealed increases in concentrations of prostaglandins, thromboxane B2, 15-HETE and 11-HETE in cerebellar samples of knockin knockout mice. One possible explanation for the elevated oxylipins is that frataxin deficiency results in increased COX activity. While constitutive COX1 was unchanged, inducible COX2 expression was elevated over 1.35-fold (P < 0.05) in two Friedreich's mouse models and Friedreich's lymphocytes. Consistent with higher COX2 expression, its activity was also increased by 58% over controls. COX2 expression is driven by multiple transcription factors, including activator protein 1 and cAMP response element-binding protein, both of which were elevated over 1.52-fold in cerebella. Taken together, the results support the hypothesis that reduced expression of frataxin leads to elevation of COX2-mediated oxylipin synthesis stimulated by increases in transcription factors that respond to increased reactive oxygen species. These findings support a neuroinflammatory mechanism in FRDA, which has both pathomechanistic and therapeutic implications.The study was supported by NIH grants NS077777, EY012245 and AG025532 to G.A.C., and USDA-ARS Intramural Projects 5306-51530-019-00D and 1 U24 DK097154-01 to J.W.N. Funding to pay the Open Access publication charges for this article was provided by the NIH

RNA Viral Community in Human Feces: Prevalence of Plant Pathogenic Viruses

The human gut is known to be a reservoir of a wide variety of microbes, including viruses. Many RNA viruses are known to be associated with gastroenteritis; however, the enteric RNA viral community present in healthy humans has not been described. Here, we present a comparative metagenomic analysis of the RNA viruses found in three fecal samples from two healthy human individuals. For this study, uncultured viruses were concentrated by tangential flow filtration, and viral RNA was extracted and cloned into shotgun viral cDNA libraries for sequencing analysis. The vast majority of the 36,769 viral sequences obtained were similar to plant pathogenic RNA viruses. The most abundant fecal virus in this study was pepper mild mottle virus (PMMV), which was found in high concentrations—up to 10(9) virions per gram of dry weight fecal matter. PMMV was also detected in 12 (66.7%) of 18 fecal samples collected from healthy individuals on two continents, indicating that this plant virus is prevalent in the human population. A number of pepper-based foods tested positive for PMMV, suggesting dietary origins for this virus. Intriguingly, the fecal PMMV was infectious to host plants, suggesting that humans might act as a vehicle for the dissemination of certain plant viruses

Loss-of-function mutations in Lysyl-tRNA synthetase cause various leukoencephalopathy phenotypes

Objective: To expand the clinical spectrum of lysyl-tRNA synthetase (KARS) gene–related diseases, which so far includes Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, congenital visual impairment and microcephaly, and nonsyndromic hearing impairment. Methods: Whole-exome sequencing was performed on index patients from 4 unrelated families with leukoencephalopathy. Candidate pathogenic variants and their cosegregation were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Effects of mutations on KARS protein function were examined by aminoacylation assays and yeast complementation assays. Results: Common clinical features of the patients in this study included impaired cognitive ability, seizure, hypotonia, ataxia, and abnormal brain imaging, suggesting that the CNS involvement is the main clinical presentation. Six previously unreported and 1 known KARS mutations were identified and cosegregated in these families. Two patients are compound heterozygous for missense mutations, 1 patient is homozygous for a missense mutation, and 1 patient harbored an insertion mutation and a missense mutation. Functional and structural analyses revealed that these mutations impair aminoacylation activity of lysyl-tRNA synthetase, indicating that de- fective KARS function is responsible for the phenotypes in these individuals. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that patients with loss-of-function KARS mutations can manifest CNS disorders, thus broadening the phenotypic spectrum associated with KARS-related disease

Comparison of sequencing-based methods to profile DNA methylation and identification of monoallelic epigenetic modifications.

Analysis of DNA methylation patterns relies increasingly on sequencing-based profiling methods. The four most frequently used sequencing-based technologies are the bisulfite-based methods MethylC-seq and reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS), and the enrichment-based techniques methylated DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeDIP-seq) and methylated DNA binding domain sequencing (MBD-seq). We applied all four methods to biological replicates of human embryonic stem cells to assess their genome-wide CpG coverage, resolution, cost, concordance and the influence of CpG density and genomic context. The methylation levels assessed by the two bisulfite methods were concordant (their difference did not exceed a given threshold) for 82% for CpGs and 99% of the non-CpG cytosines. Using binary methylation calls, the two enrichment methods were 99% concordant and regions assessed by all four methods were 97% concordant. We combined MeDIP-seq with methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme (MRE-seq) sequencing for comprehensive methylome coverage at lower cost. This, along with RNA-seq and ChIP-seq of the ES cells enabled us to detect regions with allele-specific epigenetic states, identifying most known imprinted regions and new loci with monoallelic epigenetic marks and monoallelic expression