TY - JOUR AB - We report the fabrication of BaTiO3-Ni magnetoelectric nanocomposites comprising of BaTiO3 nanotubes surrounded by Ni matrix. BaTiO3 nanotubes obtained from the hydrothermal transformation of TiO2 have both inner and outer surfaces, which facilitates greater magnetoelectric coupling with the surrounding Ni matrix. The magnetoelectric coupling was studied by measuring the piezoelectric behavior in the presence of an in-plane direct magnetic field. A higher magnetoelectric voltage coefficient of 110 mV/cm·Oe was obtained, because of better coupling between Ni and BaTiO3 through the walls of the nanotubes. Such nanocomposite developed directly on Ti substrate may lead to efficient fabrication of magnetoelectric devices. AU - Vadla, Samba Siva AU - Costanzo, Tommaso AU - John, Subish AU - Caruntu, Gabriel AU - Roy, Somnath C. ID - 7459 JF - Scripta Materialia SN - 1359-6462 TI - Local probing of magnetoelectric coupling in BaTiO3-Ni 1–3 composites VL - 159 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The sebaceous gland (SG) is an essential component of the skin, and SG dysfunction is debilitating1,2. Yet, the cellular bases for its origin, development and subsequent maintenance remain poorly understood. Here, we apply large-scale quantitative fate mapping to define the patterns of cell fate behaviour during SG development and maintenance. We show that the SG develops from a defined number of lineage-restricted progenitors that undergo a programme of independent and stochastic cell fate decisions. Following an expansion phase, equipotent progenitors transition into a phase of homeostatic turnover, which is correlated with changes in the mechanical properties of the stroma and spatial restrictions on gland size. Expression of the oncogene KrasG12D results in a release from these constraints and unbridled gland expansion. Quantitative clonal fate analysis reveals that, during this phase, the primary effect of the Kras oncogene is to drive a constant fate bias with little effect on cell division rates. These findings provide insight into the developmental programme of the SG, as well as the mechanisms that drive tumour progression and gland dysfunction. AU - Andersen, Marianne Stemann AU - Hannezo, Edouard B AU - Ulyanchenko, Svetlana AU - Estrach, Soline AU - Antoku, Yasuko AU - Pisano, Sabrina AU - Boonekamp, Kim E. AU - Sendrup, Sarah AU - Maimets, Martti AU - Pedersen, Marianne Terndrup AU - Johansen, Jens V. AU - Clement, Ditte L. AU - Feral, Chloe C. AU - Simons, Benjamin D. AU - Jensen, Kim B. ID - 7476 IS - 8 JF - Nature Cell Biology SN - 1465-7392 TI - Tracing the cellular dynamics of sebaceous gland development in normal and perturbed states VL - 21 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Although the aggregation of the amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) into amyloid fibrils is a well-established hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, the complex mechanisms linking this process to neurodegeneration are still incompletely understood. The nematode worm C. elegans is a valuable model organism through which to study these mechanisms because of its simple nervous system and its relatively short lifespan. Standard Aβ-based C. elegans models of Alzheimer’s disease are designed to study the toxic effects of the overexpression of Aβ in the muscle or nervous systems. However, the wide variety of effects associated with the tissue-level overexpression of Aβ makes it difficult to single out and study specific cellular mechanisms related to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Here, to better understand how to investigate the early events affecting neuronal signalling, we created a C. elegans model expressing Aβ42, the 42-residue form of Aβ, from a single-copy gene insertion in just one pair of glutamatergic sensory neurons, the BAG neurons. In behavioural assays, we found that the Aβ42-expressing animals displayed a subtle modulation of the response to CO2, compared to controls. Ca2+ imaging revealed that the BAG neurons in young Aβ42-expressing nematodes were activated more strongly than in control animals, and that neuronal activation remained intact until old age. Taken together, our results suggest that Aβ42-expression in this very subtle model of AD is sufficient to modulate the behavioural response but not strong enough to generate significant neurotoxicity, suggesting that slightly more aggressive perturbations will enable effectively studies of the links between the modulation of a physiological response and its associated neurotoxicity. AU - Sinnige, Tessa AU - Ciryam, Prashanth AU - Casford, Samuel AU - Dobson, Christopher M. AU - de Bono, Mario AU - Vendruscolo, Michele ID - 7548 IS - 5 JF - PLOS ONE SN - 1932-6203 TI - Expression of the amyloid-β peptide in a single pair of C. elegans sensory neurons modulates the associated behavioural response VL - 14 ER - TY - JOUR AB - The BH3-only family of proteins is key for initiating apoptosis in a variety of contexts, and may also contribute to non-apoptotic cellular processes. Historically, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has provided a powerful system for studying and identifying conserved regulators of BH3-only proteins. In C. elegans, the BH3-only protein egl-1 is expressed during development to cell-autonomously trigger most developmental cell deaths. Here we provide evidence that egl-1 is also transcribed after development in the sensory neuron pair URX without inducing apoptosis. We used genetic screening and epistasis analysis to determine that its transcription is regulated in URX by neuronal activity and/or in parallel by orthologs of Protein Kinase G and the Salt-Inducible Kinase family. Because several BH3-only family proteins are also expressed in the adult nervous system of mammals, we suggest that studying egl-1 expression in URX may shed light on mechanisms that regulate conserved family members in higher organisms. AU - Cohn, Jesse AU - Dwivedi, Vivek AU - Valperga, Giulio AU - Zarate, Nicole AU - de Bono, Mario AU - Horvitz, H. Robert AU - Pierce, Jonathan T. ID - 7547 IS - 11 JF - G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics SN - 2160-1836 TI - Activity-dependent regulation of the proapoptotic BH3-only gene egl-1 in a living neuron pair in Caenorhabditis elegans VL - 9 ER - TY - JOUR AB - We consider an optimal control problem for an abstract nonlinear dissipative evolution equation. The differential constraint is penalized by augmenting the target functional by a nonnegative global-in-time functional which is null-minimized in the evolution equation is satisfied. Different variational settings are presented, leading to the convergence of the penalization method for gradient flows, noncyclic and semimonotone flows, doubly nonlinear evolutions, and GENERIC systems. AU - Portinale, Lorenzo AU - Stefanelli, Ulisse ID - 7550 IS - 2 JF - Advances in Mathematical Sciences and Applications SN - 1343-4373 TI - Penalization via global functionals of optimal-control problems for dissipative evolution VL - 28 ER -