Evaluation of mouse behavioral responses to nutritive versus nonnutritive sugar using a deep learning-based 3D real-time pose estimation system.

Animals are able to detect the nutritional content of sugar independently of taste. When given a choice between nutritive sugar and nonnutritive sugar, animals develop a preference for nutritive sugar over nonnutritive sugar during a period of food deprivation (Buchanan et al., 2022; Dus et al., 2011; 2015; Tan et al., 2020; Tellez et al., 2016). To quantify behavioral features during an episode of licking nutritive versus nonnutritive sugar, we implemented a multi-vision, deep learning-based 3D pose estimation system, termed the AI Vision Analysis for Three-dimensional Action in Real-Time (AVATAR)(Kim et al., 2022). Using this method, we found that mice exhibit significantly different approach behavioral responses toward nutritive sugar versus nonnutritive sugar even before licking a sugar solution. Notably, the behavioral sequences during the approach toward nutritive versus nonnutritive sugar became significantly different over time. These results suggest that the nutritional value of sugar not only promotes its consumption but also elicits distinct repertoires of feeding behavior in deprived mice.

Exploration driven by a medial preoptic circuit facilitates fear extinction in mice.

Repetitive exposure to fear-associated targets is a typical treatment for patients with panic or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The success of exposure therapy depends on the active exploration of a fear-eliciting target despite an innate drive to avoid it. Here, we found that a circuit running from CaMKIIα-positive neurons of the medial preoptic area to the ventral periaqueductal gray (MPA-vPAG) facilitates the exploration of a fear-conditioned zone and subsequent fear extinction in mice. Activation or inhibition of this circuit did not induce preference/avoidance of a specific zone. Repeated entries into the fear-conditioned zone, induced by the motivation to chase a head-mounted object due to MPA-vPAG circuit photostimulation, facilitated fear extinction. Our results show how the brain forms extinction memory against avoidance of a fearful target and suggest a circuit-based mechanism of exposure therapy.

Characteristics of Plasma Flow for Microwave Plasma Assisted Aerosol Deposition.

To validate the possibility of the developed microwave plasma source with a novel structure for plasma aerosol deposition, the characteristics of the plasma flow velocity generated from the microwave plasma source were investigated by a Mach probe with pressure variation. Simulation with the turbulent model was introduced to deduce calibration factor of the Mach probe and to compare experimental measurements for analyses of collisional plasma conditions. The results show calibration factor does not seem to be a constant parameter and highly dependent on the collision parameter. The measured plasma flow velocity, which witnessed fluctuations produced by a shock flow, was between 400 and 700 m/s. The optimized conditions for microwave plasma assisted aerosol deposition were derived by the results obtained from analyses of the parameters of microwave plasma jet. Under the optimized conditions, Y2O3 coatings deposited on an aluminum substrate were investigated using scanning electron microscope. The results presented in this study show the microwave plasma assisted aerosol deposition with the developed microwave plasma source is highly feasible for thick films with >50 µm.

Molecular laterality encodes stress susceptibility in the medial prefrontal cortex.

Functional lateralization of the prefrontal cortex has been implicated in stress and emotional disorders, yet underlying gene expression changes remains unknown. Here, we report molecular signatures lateralized by chronic social defeats between the two medial prefrontal cortices (mPFCs). Stressed mice show 526 asymmetrically expressed genes between the mPFCs. This cortical asymmetry selectively occurs in stressed mice with depressed social activity, but not in resilient mice with normal behavior. We have isolated highly asymmetric genes including connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), a molecule that modulates wound healing at the periphery. Knockdown of CTGF gene in the right mPFC by shRNA led to a stress-resistant behavioral phenotype. Overexpression of CTGF in the right mPFC using viral transduction induces social avoidance while the left mPFC thereof prevent stress-induced social avoidance. Our study provides a molecular window into the mechanism of stress-induced socioemotional disorders, which can pave the way for new interventions by targeting cortical asymmetry.

Progress in Brain-Compatible Interfaces with Soft Nanomaterials.

Neural interfaces facilitating communication between the brain and machines must be compatible with the soft, curvilinear, and elastic tissues of the brain and yet yield enough power to read and write information across a wide range of brain areas through high-throughput recordings or optogenetics. Biocompatible-material engineering has facilitated the development of brain-compatible neural interfaces to support built-in modulation of neural circuits and neurological disorders. Recent developments in brain-compatible neural interfaces that use soft nanomaterials more suitable for complex neural circuit analysis and modulation are reviewed. Preclinical tests of the compatibility and specificity of these interfaces in animal models are also discussed.

Publisher Correction: Medial preoptic circuit induces hunting-like actions to target objects and prey.

In the version of this article initially published, a sentence in the fifth paragraph of the Results read, "Immunohistochemistry revealed that VGLUT2+ MPA neurons rarely expressed CaMKIIα, which is a putative marker for subcortical glutamatergic neurons." It should have read, "Immunohistochemistry revealed that CaMKIIα+ MPA neurons rarely expressed VGLUT2, which is a putative marker for subcortical glutamatergic neurons." The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article. In the supplementary information originally posted online, the wrong version of Supplementary Fig. 1 was posted and some of the supplementary videos were interchanged. In the corrected Supplementary Fig. 1, the top right subpanel was added and the original Supplementary Fig. 1a was divided into 1a and 1b, with subsequent panels incremented accordingly. The legend was changed from "a. Schematic illustrating electrical lesioning of the rat anterior hypothalamus. Electrical lesion areas (gray) in five representative brain sections are depicted. Scale bar, 1 mm" to "a. Repetitive electrical stimulations of the anterior hypothalamus using bipolar electrodes (Left) caused a lesion at the hypothalamic area (middle, marked by asterisk) successfully in 7 rats (Right, overlapped images of brain sections located from the bregma -0.24 mm). Scale bar, 1 mm. b. Electrical lesion areas (gray) in five representative brain sections from anterior to posterior are depicted." The errors have been corrected online.

Controllable Bipolar Doping of Graphene with 2D Molecular Dopants.

The fine control of graphene doping levels over a wide energy range remains a challenging issue for the electronic applications of graphene. Here, the controllable doping of chemical vapor deposited graphene, which provides a wide range of energy levels (shifts up to ± 0.5 eV), is demonstrated through physical contact with chemically versatile graphene oxide (GO) sheets, a 2D dopant that can be solution-processed. GO sheets are a p-type dopant due to their abundance of electron-withdrawing functional groups. To expand the energy window of GO-doped graphene, the GO surface is chemically modified with electron-donating ethylene diamine molecules. The amine-functionalized GO sheets exhibit strong n-type doping behaviors. In addition, the particular physicochemical characteristics of the GO sheets, namely their sheet sizes, number of layers, and degree of oxidation and amine functionality, are systematically varied to finely tune their energy levels. Finally, the tailor-made GO sheet dopants are applied into graphene-based electronic devices, which are found to exhibit improved device performances. These results demonstrate the potential of GO sheet dopants in many graphene-based electronics applications.

Medial preoptic circuit induces hunting-like actions to target objects and prey.

As animals forage, they must obtain useful targets by orchestrating appropriate actions that range from searching to chasing, biting and carrying. Here, we reveal that neurons positive for the α subunit of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKIIα) in the medial preoptic area (MPA) that send projections to the ventral periaqueductal gray (vPAG) mediate these target-directed actions in mice. During photostimulation of the MPA-vPAG circuit, mice vigorously engaged with 3D objects and chased moving objects. When exposed to a cricket, they hunted down the prey and bit it to kill. By applying a head-mounted object control with timely photostimulation of the MPA-vPAG circuit, we found that MPA-vPAG circuit-induced actions occurred only when the target was detected within the binocular visual field. Using this device, we successfully guided mice to navigate specified routes. Our study explains how the brain yields a strong motivation to acquire a target object along the continuum of hunting behavior.

Field-scale electrolysis/ceramic membrane system for the treatment of sewage from decentralized small communities.

The electrolysis process adopting copper electrodes and ceramic membrane with pore sizes of 0.1-0.2 µm were consisted to a system for the treatment of sewage from decentralized small communities. The system was operated under an HRT of 0.1 hour, voltage of 24 V, and TMP of 0.05 MPa. The system showed average removals of organics, nitrogen, phosphorus, and solids of up to 80%, 52%, 92%, and 100%, respectively. Removal of organics and nitrogen dramatically increased in proportion to increment of influent loading. Phosphorus and solids were remarkably eliminated by both electro-coagulation and membrane filtration. The residual particulate constituents could also be removed successfully through membrane process. A system composed of electrolysis process with ceramic membrane would be a compact, reliable, and flexible option for the treatment of sewage from decentralized small communities.

Integrated nitrogen removal biofilter system with ceramic membrane for advanced post-treatment of municipal wastewater.

The pre-denitrification biofilm process for nitrogen removal was combined with ceramic membrane with pore sizes of 0.05-0.1 µm as a system for advanced post-treatment of municipal wastewater. The system was operated under an empty bed hydraulic retention time of 7.8 h, recirculation ratio of 3, and transmembrane pressure of 0.47 bar. The system showed average removals of organics, total nitrogen, and solids as high as 93%, 80%, and 100%, respectively. Rapid nitrification could be achieved and denitrification was performed in the anoxic filter without external carbon supplements. The residual particulate organics and nitrogen in effluent from biofilm process could be also removed successfully through membrane filtration and the removal of total coliform was noticeably improved after membrane filtration. Thus, a system composed of the pre-denitrification biofilm process with ceramic membrane would be a compact and flexible option for advanced post-treatment of municipal wastewater.

Remote guidance of untrained turtles by controlling voluntary instinct behavior.

Recently, several studies have been carried out on the direct control of behavior in insects and other lower animals in order to apply these behaviors to the performance of specialized tasks in an attempt to find more efficient means of carrying out these tasks than artificial intelligence agents. While most of the current methods cause involuntary behavior in animals by electronically stimulating the corresponding brain area or muscle, we show that, in turtles, it is also possible to control certain types of behavior, such as movement trajectory, by evoking an appropriate voluntary instinctive behavior. We have found that causing a particular behavior, such as obstacle avoidance, by providing a specific visual stimulus results in effective control of the turtle's movement. We propose that this principle may be adapted and expanded into a general framework to control any animal behavior as an alternative to robotic probes.

Ag/Al(OH)3 mesoporous nanocomposite film as antibacterial agent.

In this study, Ag/Al(OH)(3) mesoporous nanocomposite film was fabricated for antibacterial agent. As a matrix, a mesoporous Al(OH)(3) layer was prepared by alkali surface modification of an Al substrate. Subsequently, mesoporous Al(OH)(3) matrix was immersed in a polyol solution for 4h at an elevated temperature to deposit silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) by in situ dispersion. The Al(OH)(3) porous matrix had flaky crystals weaved and covered all substrate surface so that the specific surface area was considerably increased because of voids having several tens of nanometers between the flakes. After in situ dispersion of Ag NPs by polyol process, the Ag NPs were nucleated and grown at the surface of mesoporous Al(OH)(3) layer with tight binding. In antibacterial activity, Ag/Al(OH)(3) mesoporous nanocomposite film demonstrated an excellent bacterial growth inhibition property. It is believed that the Ag/Al(OH)(3) mesoporous nanocomposite film is suitable for the antibacterial agent in a wide variety of biomedical applications.

Phosphate filtering characteristics of a hybridized porous Al alloy prepared by surface modification.

In this study, a porous Al alloy filter was designed for water purification systems. The combination of higher permeability for fluid flow and excellent filtering characteristics for removing pollutants is required for water purification. The filter's macropore structure was controlled by a powder metallurgical process using granulated powders for high permeability and its micropore structure was generated by alkali surface modification on the macroporous sintered body for enhanced filtration efficiency. After surface modification, the specific surface area was increased by 10 times over the as-sintered specimen. Phosphate filtering characteristic was noticeably improved by a ligand exchange between phosphate and aluminum hydroxide formed by alkali surface modification.