@article{6140, abstract = {Genome sequence comparisons have highlighted many novel gene families that are conserved across animal phyla but whose biological function is unknown. Here, we functionally characterize a member of one such family, the macoilins. Macoilins are characterized by several highly conserved predicted transmembrane domains towards the N-terminus and by coiled-coil regions C-terminally. They are found throughout Eumetazoa but not in other organisms. Mutants for the single Caenorhabditis elegans macoilin, maco-1, exhibit a constellation of behavioral phenotypes, including defects in aggregation, O2 responses, and swimming. MACO-1 protein is expressed broadly and specifically in the nervous system and localizes to the rough endoplasmic reticulum; it is excluded from dendrites and axons. Apart from subtle synapse defects, nervous system development appears wild-type in maco-1 mutants. However, maco-1 animals are resistant to the cholinesterase inhibitor aldicarb and sensitive to levamisole, suggesting pre-synaptic defects. Using in vivo imaging, we show that macoilin is required to evoke Ca2+ transients, at least in some neurons: in maco-1 mutants the O2-sensing neuron PQR is unable to generate a Ca2+ response to a rise in O2. By genetically disrupting neurotransmission, we show that pre-synaptic input is not necessary for PQR to respond to O2, indicating that the response is mediated by cell-intrinsic sensory transduction and amplification. Disrupting the sodium leak channels NCA-1/NCA-2, or the N-,P/Q,R-type voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, also fails to disrupt Ca2+ responses in the PQR cell body to O2 stimuli. By contrast, mutations in egl-19, which encodes the only Caenorhabditis elegans L-type voltage-gated Ca2+ channel α1 subunit, recapitulate the Ca2+ response defect we see in maco-1 mutants, although we do not see defects in localization of EGL-19. Together, our data suggest that macoilin acts in the ER to regulate assembly or traffic of ion channels or ion channel regulators.}, author = {Arellano-Carbajal, Fausto and Briseño-Roa, Luis and Couto, Africa and Cheung, Benny H. H. and Labouesse, Michel and de Bono, Mario}, issn = {1553-7404}, journal = {PLoS Genetics}, number = {3}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, title = {{Macoilin, a conserved nervous system–specific ER membrane protein that regulates neuronal excitability}}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1001341}, volume = {7}, year = {2011}, } @article{6137, abstract = {Variation in food quality and abundance requires animals to decide whether to stay on a poor food patch or leave in search of better food. An important question in behavioral ecology asks when is it optimal for an animal to leave a food patch it is depleting. Although optimal foraging is central to evolutionary success, the neural and molecular mechanisms underlying it are poorly understood. Here we investigate the neuronal basis for adaptive food-leaving behavior in response to resource depletion in Caenorhabditis elegans, and identify several of the signaling pathways involved. The ASE neurons, previously implicated in salt chemoattraction, promote food-leaving behavior via a cGMP pathway as food becomes limited. High ambient O2 promotes food-leaving via the O2-sensing neurons AQR, PQR, and URX. Ectopic activation of these neurons using channelrhodopsin is sufficient to induce high food-leaving behavior. In contrast, the neuropeptide receptor NPR-1, which regulates social behavior on food, acts in the ASE neurons, the nociceptive ASH neurons, and in the RMG interneuron to repress food-leaving. Finally, we show that neuroendocrine signaling by TGF-β/DAF-7 and neuronal insulin signaling are necessary for adaptive food-leaving behavior. We suggest that animals integrate information about their nutritional state with ambient oxygen and gustatory stimuli to formulate optimal foraging strategies.}, author = {Milward, K. and Busch, K. E. and Murphy, R. J. and de Bono, Mario and Olofsson, B.}, issn = {0027-8424}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, number = {51}, pages = {20672--20677}, publisher = {National Academy of Sciences}, title = {{Neuronal and molecular substrates for optimal foraging in Caenorhabditis elegans}}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.1106134109}, volume = {108}, year = {2011}, } @article{6138, author = {Bretscher, Andrew Jonathan and Kodama-Namba, Eiji and Busch, Karl Emanuel and Murphy, Robin Joseph and Soltesz, Zoltan and Laurent, Patrick and de Bono, Mario}, issn = {0896-6273}, journal = {Neuron}, number = {6}, pages = {1099--1113}, publisher = {Elsevier BV}, title = {{Temperature, oxygen, and salt-sensing neurons in C. elegans are carbon dioxide sensors that control avoidance behavior}}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuron.2011.02.023}, volume = {69}, year = {2011}, } @article{6298, abstract = {Tumor necrosis factor-stimulated gene-6 (TSG-6) is a hyalu-ronan (HA)-binding protein that plays important roles ininflammation and ovulation. TSG-6-mediated cross-linking ofHA has been proposed as a functional mechanism (e.g.for regu-lating leukocyte adhesion), but direct evidence for cross-linkingis lacking, and we know very little about its impact on HA ultra-structure. Here we used films of polymeric and oligomeric HAchains, end-grafted to a solid support, and a combination ofsurface-sensitive biophysical techniques to quantify the bindingof TSG-6 into HA films and to correlate binding to morpholog-ical changes. We find that full-length TSG-6 binds with pro-nounced positive cooperativity and demonstrate that it cancross-link HA at physiologically relevant concentrations. Ourdata indicate that cooperative binding of full-length TSG-6arises from HA-induced protein oligomerization and that theTSG-6 oligomers act as cross-linkers. In contrast, the HA-bind-ing domain of TSG-6 (the Link module) alone binds withoutpositive cooperativity and weaker than the full-length protein.Both the Link module and full-length TSG-6 condensed andrigidified HA films, and the degree of condensation scaled withthe affinity between the TSG-6 constructs and HA. We proposethat condensation is the result of protein-mediated HA cross-linking. Our findings firmly establish that TSG-6 is a potent HAcross-linking agent and might hence have important implica-tions for the mechanistic understanding of the biological func-tion of TSG-6 (e.g.in inflammation).}, author = {Baranova, Natalia and Nilebäck, Erik and Haller, F. Michael and Briggs, David C. and Svedhem, Sofia and Day, Anthony J. and Richter, Ralf P.}, issn = {0021-9258}, journal = {Journal of Biological Chemistry}, number = {29}, pages = {25675--25686}, publisher = {American Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology}, title = {{The inflammation-associated protein TSG-6 cross-links hyaluronan via hyaluronan-induced TSG-6 oligomers}}, doi = {10.1074/jbc.m111.247395}, volume = {286}, year = {2011}, } @article{6496, abstract = {We report the switching behavior of the full bacterial flagellum system that includes the filament and the motor in wild-type Escherichia coli cells. In sorting the motor behavior by the clockwise bias, we find that the distributions of the clockwise (CW) and counterclockwise (CCW) intervals are either exponential or nonexponential with long tails. At low bias, CW intervals are exponentially distributed and CCW intervals exhibit long tails. At intermediate CW bias (0.5) both CW and CCW intervals are mainly exponentially distributed. A simple model suggests that these two distinct switching behaviors are governed by the presence of signaling noise within the chemotaxis network. Low noise yields exponentially distributed intervals, whereas large noise yields nonexponential behavior with long tails. These drastically different motor statistics may play a role in optimizing bacterial behavior for a wide range of environmental conditions.}, author = {Park, Heungwon and Oikonomou, Panos and Guet, Calin C and Cluzel, Philippe}, issn = {0006-3495}, journal = {Biophysical Journal}, number = {10}, pages = {2336--2340}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Noise underlies switching behavior of the bacterial flagellum}}, doi = {10.1016/j.bpj.2011.09.040}, volume = {101}, year = {2011}, } @article{6749, abstract = {This article refers to algorithms based on finite difference schemes for computing mean and affine curvature evolutions of digital images, introduced by Alvarez and Morel [L. Alvarez, J.M. Morel, “Formalization and computational aspects of image analysis”, Acta Numerica, pp. 159, 1994]. We discuss consistency, stability and convergence. Our analysis focuses on some possible choices of the parameters, choices that generate multiple variants in the implementations. Meaningful visual examples on how the algorithms actually work are provided.}, author = {Mondelli, Marco and Ciomaga, Adina}, issn = {2105-1232}, journal = {Image Processing On Line}, pages = {127--177}, publisher = {IPOL Image Processing On Line}, title = {{Finite difference schemes for MCM and AMSS}}, doi = {10.5201/ipol.2011.cm_fds}, volume = {1}, year = {2011}, } @inproceedings{6767, abstract = {In the present paper we give a thorough analysis of two finite difference schemes for the Mean Curvature Motion and its affine variant, the Affine Morphological Scale Space, schemes introduced in the Image Processing framework. This analysis brings in a series of parameters that allow us to compute an accurate discrete evolution of curvature motions. The choice of these parameters is based on intrinsic geometric properties of the evolution equations for linear, radial and elliptical functions. In the last part we present several examples, underlining the main advantages of the algorithms (the removal of pixelization effects and JPEG artifacts) as well as their major drawbacks (absence of contrast invariance and grid dependence). A detailed explanatory report, the ANSI C implementations and an on-line demo can be found at http://www.ipol.im/.}, author = {Mondelli, Marco and Ciomaga, Adina}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Student Conference on Pure and Applied Mathematics}, isbn = {978-973-703-602-5}, location = {Iasi, Romania}, pages = {137--156}, publisher = {Editura Universitãtii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” Iasi}, title = {{On finite difference schemes for curvature motions}}, doi = {10.13140/2.1.1862.4646}, year = {2011}, } @article{7076, abstract = {Iron is a ubiquitous impurity in metamict (radiation-damaged and partially amorphized) materials such as titanite (CaSiTiO5). Using 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy we find that iron in metamict titanite is partitioned between amorphous and crystalline regions based on valence. Trivalent iron exists in the crystalline titanite matrix whereas divalent iron exists almost exclusively in radiation-amorphized regions. We find that the relative abundances of the oxidation states correlate with the volume fraction of amorphous and crystalline regions. Our data also show that oxidation of iron proceeds along with the recrystallization of the amorphized regions. Recrystallization is confirmed to occur over the range 700 °C < T < 925 °C, and no further structural changes are observed at higher temperatures. It is surprising that our Mössbauer measurements show divalent iron to be surrounded by titanite with a high degree of short-range structural order in the amorphized regions. This observation is fundamentally different from other metamict materials such as zircon (ZrSiO4), where amorphized regions show no short-range order.}, author = {Salje, E K H and Safarik, D J and Taylor, R D and Pasternak, M P and Modic, Kimberly A and Groat, L A and Lashley, J C}, issn = {0953-8984}, journal = {Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter}, number = {10}, publisher = {IOP Publishing}, title = {{Determination of iron sites and the amount of amorphization in radiation-damaged titanite (CaSiTiO5)}}, doi = {10.1088/0953-8984/23/10/105402}, volume = {23}, year = {2011}, } @article{7077, abstract = {Pb, Te, Ag and Se, when reacted in a 1:1:x:1 (x = 1.9, 2.0, 2.01) molar ratio, form a two phase composite which consists of a phase which crystallizes in the fcc cubic PbSe structure and a phase that crystallizes in the Ag2Te structure. In this article, we demonstrate that by varying the Ag concentration, we can manipulate which variant of the Ag2Te structure stabilizes at room temperature (monoclinic α-Ag2Te or cubic β-Ag1.9Te) and can consequently manipulate the electrical and thermal transport behavior of the composite and hence the thermoelectric performance. Additionally, we show that Cu-doping results in an overall improvement in thermoelectric performance. Our results suggest that formation of composites is a viable path for achieving a phonon-glass-electron-crystal (PGEC) alloy.}, author = {Capps, J. and Ma, B. and Drye, T. and Nucklos, C. and Lindsey, S. and Rhodes, D. and Zhang, Q. and Modic, Kimberly A and Cawthorne, S. and Drymiotis, F.}, issn = {0925-8388}, journal = {Journal of Alloys and Compounds}, number = {5}, pages = {1544--1549}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{The effect of Ag concentration on the structural, electrical and thermal transport behavior of Pb:Te:Ag:Se mixtures and improvement of thermoelectric performance via Cu doping}}, doi = {10.1016/j.jallcom.2010.10.187}, volume = {509}, year = {2011}, } @article{7313, abstract = {Li-ion batteries have transformed portable electronics and will play a key role in the electrification of transport. However, the highest energy storage possible for Li-ion batteries is insufficient for the long-term needs of society, for example, extended-range electric vehicles. To go beyond the horizon of Li-ion batteries is a formidable challenge; there are few options. Here we consider two: Li–air (O2) and Li–S. The energy that can be stored in Li–air (based on aqueous or non-aqueous electrolytes) and Li–S cells is compared with Li-ion; the operation of the cells is discussed, as are the significant hurdles that will have to be overcome if such batteries are to succeed. Fundamental scientific advances in understanding the reactions occurring in the cells as well as new materials are key to overcoming these obstacles. The potential benefits of Li–air and Li–S justify the continued research effort that will be needed.}, author = {Bruce, Peter G. and Freunberger, Stefan Alexander and Hardwick, Laurence J. and Tarascon, Jean-Marie}, issn = {1476-1122}, journal = {Nature Materials}, number = {1}, pages = {19--29}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Li–O2 and Li–S batteries with high energy storage}}, doi = {10.1038/nmat3191}, volume = {11}, year = {2011}, }