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showing 10 items of 8538 documents
Two-qubit entanglement dynamics for two different non-Markovian environments
2009
We study the time behavior of entanglement between two noninteracting qubits each immersed in its own environment for two different non-Markovian conditions: a high-$Q$ cavity slightly off-resonant with the qubit transition frequency and a nonperfect photonic band-gap, respectively. We find that revivals and retardation of entanglement loss may occur by adjusting the cavity-qubit detuning, in the first case, while partial entanglement trapping occurs in non-ideal photonic-band gap.
'Palaeoshellomics' reveals the use of freshwater mother-of-pearl in prehistory
2019
The extensive use of mollusc shell as a versatile raw material is testament to its importance in prehistoric times. The consistent choice of certain species for different purposes, including the making of ornaments, is a direct representation of how humans viewed and exploited their environment. The necessary taxonomic information, however, is often impossible to obtain from objects that are small, heavily worked or degraded. Here we propose a novel biogeochemical approach to track the biological origin of prehistoric mollusc shell. We conducted an in-depth study of archaeological ornaments using microstructural, geochemical and biomolecular analyses, including ‘palaeoshellomics’, the first…
Comments on "Dental lessons from past to present: Ultrastructure and composition of teeth from plesiosaurs, dinosaurs, extinct and recent sharks" by …
2016
The paper mentioned in the title suggests that several groups of extinct vertebrates used fluoroapatite as a tooth mineral in dentine and enamel when alive; its authors posit that this tooth mineralization drastically changed in all these lineages at some point during their evolution, leading to the use of hydroxyapatite as an alternative primary tooth mineral, because of hitherto unconsidered environmental changes. These conclusions are based on their finding high fluoride levels (i.e. fluoroapatite) in the dentine of fossilised shark teeth as well as in both the dentine and enamel of plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, and dinosaurs, which is in sharp contrast to recent teeth (which contain almost no…
Effect of in-office bleaching gels with calcium or fluoride on color, roughness, and enamel microhardness
2019
Background Commercial bleaching gels with remineralizing agents were developed to reduce the adverse effects of dental bleaching. The present study evaluated the effects on teeth of in-office bleaching gels containing 35-40% hydrogen peroxide (HP) with Calcium (Ca) or Fluoride (F). Material and methods Bovine enamel/dentin blocks (4x4x2.5 mm) were randomly divided into the following groups (n=12): no treatment (control); 35% HP (Whiteness HP, FGM); 35% HP with Ca (Whiteness HP Blue, FGM); 40% HP with F (Opalescence Boost, Ultradent). The specimens were analyzed for color (ΔL*, Δa*, Δb*, and ΔE), roughness (Ra), and Knoop microhardness (KHN). The color and KHN data were submitted to ANOVA an…
Impact of Green Vegetables and Green Smoothies on Enamel Mineral Composition In Vitro
2019
Background: Recently, smoothies with a high vegetable content have become very popular, especially among young adults. Objectives: This in vitro study was conducted to determine the erosive potential of selected green vegetables and green smoothies on human dental enamel. Methods: A total of ten green smoothies and eight freshly mixed vegetables were chosen, and pH, calcium and oxalic acid contents were measured. The enamel specimens were obtained from wisdom teeth and incubated with 3 selected foods (spinach, parsley, or green smoothie) for 12 and 24 hours (N = 6). Control samples were incubated with a physiological salt solution. An electron probe microanalyzer (Jeol JXA 8900RL) was utili…
Exposure to a Highly Caloric Palatable Diet During Pregestational and Gestational Periods Affects Hypothalamic and Hippocampal Endocannabinoid Levels…
2016
Journal Article; Exposure to unbalanced diets during pre-gestational and gestational periods may result in long-term alterations in metabolism and behavior. The contribution of the endocannabinoid system to these long-term adaptive responses is unknown. In the present study, we investigated the impact of female rat exposure to a hypercaloric-hypoproteic palatable diet during pre-gestational, gestational and lactational periods on the development of male offspring. In addition, the hypothalamic and hippocampal endocannabinoid contents at birth and the behavioral performance in adulthood were investigated. Exposure to a palatable diet resulted in low weight offspring who exhibited low hypotha…
AMPA receptor complex constituents: Control of receptor assembly, membrane trafficking and subcellular localization
2018
Fast excitatory transmission at synapses of the central nervous system is mainly mediated by AMPA receptors (AMPARs). Synaptic AMPAR number and function correlates with synaptic strength. AMPARs are thus key proteins of activity-dependent plasticity in neuronal communication. Up- or down-regulation of synaptic AMPAR number is a tightly controlled dynamic process that involves export of receptors from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi apparatus, exocytosis and endocytosis as well as lateral diffusion of the receptors in the cell membrane. The four AMPAR subunits are embedded into a dynamic network of more than 30 interacting proteins. Many of these proteins are known to modulate recep…
Sex- and age patterns in incidence of infectious diseases in Germany: analyses of surveillance records over a 13-year period (2001–2013)
2018
AbstractSex differences in the incidence of infections may indicate different risk factors and behaviour but have not been analysed across pathogens. Based on 3.96 million records of 33 pathogens in Germany, notified from 2001 to 2013, we applied Poisson regression to generate age-standardised incidence rate ratios and assessed their distribution across age and sex. The following trends became apparent: (a) pathogens with male incidence preponderance at infant and child age (meningococcal disease (incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.19, 95% CI 1.03–1.38, age = 0–4); influenza (IRR = 1.09, 95% CI 1.06–1.13, age = 0–4)), (b) pathogens with sex-switch in incidence preponderance at puberty (e.g. nor…
Incidentalome in Neurogenetics: Pathogenic Variant of NSD1 in a Patient With Spinocerebellar Ataxia (SCA)
2018
Background: Genetic studies of late-onset sporadic ataxias (>40 years of age) are not routinely indicated. For unresolved cases, next-generation sequencing (NGS) tools, such as whole-exome sequencing (WES), are available for a definitive diagnosis.Case presentation: Our patient is a woman with a usual facial phenotype and anthropometry, who developed ataxia at 45 years of age, with no relevant family history and an initial clinical approach that ruled out common aetiologies. WES was performed when the patient was 54 years old. The results identified the heterozygous pathogenic variant c.248delA (p.N83MfsX4) in the nuclear receptor-binding SET domain protein 1 (NSD1; MIM 606681) gene (rel…
Stability of a Split Streptomycin Binding Aptamer
2016
Here we investigated the stability of an aptamer, which is formed by two RNA strands and binds the antibiotic streptomycin. Molecular dynamics simulations in aqueous solution confirmed the geometry and the pattern of hydrogen bond interactions that was derived from the crystal structure (1NTB). The result of umbrella sampling simulations indicated a favored streptomycin binding with a free energy of ΔGbind° = −101.7 kJ mol–1. Experimentally, the increase in oligonucleotide stability upon binding of streptomycin was probed by single-molecule force spectroscopy. Rate dependent force spectroscopy measurements revealed a decrease in the natural off-rate (koff-COMPLEX = 0.22 ± 0.16 s–1) for the …