Polarons in the infrared spectra of high-T c materials

Polaronic absorption features, induced by excess charges in both electron and hole doped cuprates, have been measured. The features here reported include additional phonon-like peaks in the far infrared and a broad overtone band centered at ～1000 cm^?1 (d band). The peaks in the far infrared are attributed to local modes. Thed band is produced by overtone and combination bands of a few of these local modes and is well fitted in a polaron model. Most of these polaronic contributions survive in the metallic phase, where they are superimposed on the Drude term due to free carriers.     

Word-fragment cuing: The lexical search hypothesis.

In four experiments we evaluated aspects of the hypothesis that word-fragment completion depends on the results of lexical but not semantic search. Experiment 1 showed that the number of meaningful associates linked to a studied word does not affect its recovery when the test cue consists of letters and spaces for missing letters. Experiments 2 and 3 showed retroactive interference effects in fragment completion when words in a second list were lexically related to words in a first list but not when the words in the second list were meaningfully related. Experiment 4 indicated that for studied words, instructions to search at the word level facilitated completion performance and that instructions to generate letters to fill missing spaces had no effect. Other findings indicate that completion was affected by the number of words lexically related to the fragment and by the number of letters missing from the fragment. In general, experimental manipulations that focused on lexical characteristics were effective, and those that focused on semantic characteristics were ineffective. The findings support the conclusion that word fragments engender a lexical search process that does not depend on retrieving encoded meaning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-validiation of the Neuropsychology Behavior and Affect Profile in stroke patients.

Internal stability and discriminant validity of the Neuropsychology Behavior and Affect Profile (L. Nelson et al, 1989) were examined in samples of 70 stroke patients and 88 elderly controls. The test is designed to yield indices of premorbid (before-item subset) and present (now-item subset) levels of emotional functioning in each of 5 scales. With coefficient alphas ranging from .76 to .87, results indicated moderate to high internal stability. The test was also able to reliably distinguish between the criterion stroke sample (n?=?42) and a matched group of elderly controls in terms of present levels of emotional functioning (2 wks poststroke). When discriminant validity was examined in terms of premorbid emotional status (before-item subset), group differences were unexpectedly obtained. Clinical and research implications of these results are discussed, noting the possibility of early, noncognitive correlates preceding stroke. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Platelet lysate and adipose mesenchymal stromal cells on silk fibroin nonwoven mats for wound healing

In this work platelet lysate (PL) and adipose‐derived mesenchymal stromal cells (ASCs) seeded on nonwoven fibroin mats were in vitro and in vivo evaluated for tissue regenerative applications. Nonwoven mats obtained by a large scale water entanglement technique were characterized for their physico‐chemical properties. Results indicated a high purity of fibroin fibers, their stability after sterilization process and appropriate technological properties suitable for tissue engineering. Moreover, the scaffolds in vitro supported adhesion and migration of ASCs and the presence of PL improved the cell proliferation. The products were then applied on epithelial/dermal wounds carried out on the dorsal surface of rabbit: the skin reparative process was solved in 9 days, with a completely restitutio ad integrum of the epithelium in animals treated with PL alone; ASCs did not further improve the wound healing. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 42942.     

Aquaporins Are One of the Critical Factors in the Disruption of the Skin Barrier in Inflammatory Skin Diseases

The skin is the largest organ of the human body, serving as an effective mechanical barrier between the internal milieu and the external environment. The skin is widely considered the first-line defence of the body, with an essential function in rejecting pathogens and preventing mechanical, chemical, and physical damages. Keratinocytes are the predominant cells of the outer skin layer, the epidermis, which acts as a mechanical and water-permeability barrier. The epidermis is a permanently renewed tissue where undifferentiated keratinocytes located at the basal layer proliferate and migrate to the overlying layers. During this migration process, keratinocytes undertake a differentiation program known as keratinization process. Dysregulation of this differentiation process can result in a series of skin disorders. In this context, aquaporins (AQPs), a family of membrane channel proteins allowing the movement of water and small neutral solutes, are emerging as important players in skin physiology and skin diseases. Here, we review the role of AQPs in skin keratinization, hydration, keratinocytes proliferation, water retention, barrier repair, wound healing, and immune response activation. We also discuss the dysregulated involvement of AQPs in some common inflammatory dermatological diseases characterised by skin barrier disruption.     

Design and Characterization of Myristoylated and Non-Myristoylated Peptides Effective against Candida spp. Clinical Isolates

The increasing resistance of fungi to antibiotics is a severe challenge in public health, and newly effective drugs are required. Promising potential medications are lipopeptides, linear antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) conjugated to a lipid tail, usually at the N-terminus. In this paper, we investigated the in vitro and in vivo antifungal activity of three short myristoylated and non-myristoylated peptides derived from a mutant of the AMP Chionodracine. We determined their interaction with anionic and zwitterionic membrane-mimicking vesicles and their structure during this interaction. We then investigated their cytotoxic and hemolytic activity against mammalian cells. Lipidated peptides showed a broad spectrum of activity against a relevant panel of pathogen fungi belonging to Candida spp., including the multidrug-resistant C. auris. The antifungal activity was also observed vs. biofilms of C. albicans, C. tropicalis, and C. auris. Finally, a pilot efficacy study was conducted on the in vivo model consisting of Galleria mellonella larvae. Treatment with the most-promising myristoylated peptide was effective in counteracting the infection from C. auris and C. albicans and the death of the larvae. Therefore, this myristoylated peptide is a potential candidate to develop antifungal agents against human fungal pathogens.     

Charge carrier transport anisotropy in ultrananocrystalline diamond films

The optoelectronic properties of ultrananocrystalline diamond films (UNCD) grown using N₂ = 0 and 5% in the deposition gas mixture, are investigated by transient photocurrent measurements under nanosecond light pulses, both in planar and sandwich contact arrangements.Independent of contact configuration and N₂% value, very similar characteristic times in the 6-7 ns range are detected in the nanosecond range, reflecting a homogeneous distribution of states responsible for such decay times. On a longer time scale, nitrogen addition appears to slow down carrier transport promoting trapping and detrapping processes responsible for single and two power law photocurrent decays in films deposited using N₂ = 5% for sandwich and planar contact arrangements, respectively. Such a result suggests a nitrogen induced transport anisotropy tentatively related to structural modifications occurring at relatively low N₂%.