Dec 2020 • Scientific reports
Osnat Cohen-Zontag, Rotem Gershon, Orit Harari-Steinberg, Itamar Kanter, Dorit Omer, Oren Pleniceanu, Gal Tam, Sarit Oriel, Herzel Ben-Hur, Guy Katz, Zohar Dotan, Tomer Kalisky, Benjamin Dekel, Naomi Pode-Shakked
In-vivo single cell clonal analysis in the adult mouse kidney has previously shown lineage-restricted clonal proliferation within varying nephron segments as a mechanism responsible for cell replacement and local regeneration. To analyze ex-vivo clonal growth, we now preformed limiting dilution to generate genuine clonal cultures from one single human renal epithelial cell, which can give rise to up to 3.4* 10 6 cells, and analyzed their characteristics using transcriptomics. A comparison between clonal cultures revealed restriction to either proximal or distal kidney sub-lineages with distinct cellular and molecular characteristics; rapidly amplifying de-differentiated clones and a stably proliferating cuboidal epithelial-appearing clones, respectively. Furthermore, each showed distinct molecular features including cell-cycle, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, oxidative phosphorylation, BMP signaling pathway and cell …
Show moreDec 2020 • Journal of nanobiotechnology
Narsingh R Nirala, Yifat Harel, Jean-Paul Lellouche, Giorgi Shtenberg
Haptoglobin is an acute-phase protein used as predicting diagnostic biomarker both in humans (i.e., diabetes, ovarian cancer, some neurological and cardiovascular disorders) and in animals (e.g., bovine mastitis). The latter is a frequent disease of dairy industry with staggering economical losses upon decreased milk production and increased health care costs. Early stage diagnosis of the associated diseases or inflammation onset is almost impossible by conventional analytical manners. The present study demonstrates a simple, rapid, and cost-effective label-free chemiluminescence bioassay based on magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) for sensitive detection of haptoglobin by employing the specific interaction of hemoglobin-modified MNPs. The resulting haptoglobin-hemoglobin complex inhibits the peroxidase-like activity of luminol/H2O2-hemoglobin-MNPs sensing scheme and reduces the chemiluminescence intensities correspondingly to the innate haptoglobin concentrations. Quantitative detection of bovine haptoglobin was obtained within the range of 1 pg mL−1 to 1 µg mL−1, while presenting 0.89 pg mL−1 limit of detection. Moreover, the influence of causative pathogenic bacteria (i.e., Streptococcus dysgalactiae and Escherichia coli) and somatic cell counts (depicting healthy, sub-clinical and clinical mastitis) on the emitted chemiluminescence radiation were established. The presented bioassay quantitative performances correspond with a standardized assay kit in differentiating dissimilar milk qualities. Overall, the main advantage of the presented sensing concept is the ability to detect haptoglobin, at clinically relevant concentrations …
Show moreDec 2020 • Nature Physics
Yiming Pan, Jie Zhang, Eliahu Cohen, Chun-wang Wu, Ping-Xing Chen, Nir Davidson
Quantum measurement remains a puzzle through its stormy history from the birth of quantum mechanics to state-of-the-art quantum technologies. Two complementary measurement schemes have been widely investigated in a variety of quantum systems: von Neumann’s projective ‘strong’measurement and Aharonov’s weak measurement. Here, we report the observation of a weak-to-strong measurement transition in a single trapped 40 Ca+ ion system. The transition is realized by tuning the interaction strength between the ion’s internal electronic state and its vibrational motion, which play the roles of the measured system and the measuring pointer, respectively. By pre-and post-selecting the internal state, a pointer state composed of two of the ion’s motional wavepackets is obtained, and its central-position shift, which corresponds to the measurement outcome, demonstrates the transition from the weak-value …
Show moreDec 2020 • Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects
Sharon Bretler, Naftali Kanovsky, Taly Iline-Vul, Sarit Cohen, Shlomo Margel
Polymeric films, e.g., polyethylene (PE), coated with a thin layer of silica micro/nano-particles (SiO2 M/NPs) were prepared using a modified Stöber method in the presence of corona treated and non-treated PE films. The obtained films were washed of excess reagents and non-bonded (free) SiO2 M/NPs and dried. Only the corona-treated PE films were coated with a thin layer of SiO2 M/NPs while the non-treated films were almost empty of bound SiO2 particles. PE films composed of bound mesoporous silica NPs were similarly prepared with the addition of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in the polymerization process. The effect of various polymerization parameters, e.g., tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) concentration, ammonium hydroxide concentration and the volume ratio [ethanol]/[water], on the diameter and diameter distribution of the free and surface bound particles were elucidated. Characterization of …
Show moreDec 2020 • physica status solidi (a)
Yuri S Kaganovskii, Hadar Genish, Michael Rosenbluh
Herein, precision recording of indented dots and lines in As10Se90 and As2S3 chalcogenide glass films by a focused laser beam is demonstrated and the kinetics and mechanisms of mass transfer under illumination are studied. Due to inhomogeneous intensity distribution and local heating of the film at the focal point, the beam at rest produces an indentation whose depth increases with time and laser power. Illumination by a moving beam leads to formation of groves whose morphology depends on the beam speed and power. At low light intensities, formation of the indentations occurs in the solid phase, due to photoinduced radial diffusion of the film constituents coupled with electrons and holes created by light. The two main driving forces present are: 1) a lateral steady‐state electric field formed due to different mobilities of electrons and holes and 2) driving force of thermodiffusion (Soret effect). At high light …
Show moreDec 2020 • Brain Research
Danko D Georgiev, Stefan K Kolev, Eliahu Cohen, James F Glazebrook
The electric activities of cortical pyramidal neurons are supported by structurally stable, morphologically complex axo-dendritic trees. Anatomical differences between axons and dendrites in regard to their length or caliber reflect the underlying functional specializations, for input or output of neural information, respectively. For a proper assessment of the computational capacity of pyramidal neurons, we have analyzed an extensive dataset of three-dimensional digital reconstructions from the NeuroMorpho. Org database, and quantified basic dendritic or axonal morphometric measures in different regions and layers of the mouse, rat or human cerebral cortex. Physical estimates of the total number and type of ions involved in neuronal electric spiking based on the obtained morphometric data, combined with energetics of neurotransmitter release and signaling fueled by glucose consumed by the active brain, support …
Show moreDec 2020 • ACS nano
Chen Tzror-Azankot, Oshra Betzer, Tamar Sadan, Menachem Motiei, Shai Rahimipour, Ayelet Atkins, Aron Popovtzer, Rachela Popovtzer
Fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET) is a powerful tool for cancer detection, staging, and follow-up. However, 18F-FDG-PET imaging has high rates of false positives, as it cannot distinguish between tumor and inflammation regions that both feature increased glucose metabolic activity. In the present study, we engineered liposomes coated with glucose and the chelator dodecane tetraacetic acid (DOTA) complexed with copper, to serve as a diagnostic technology for differentiating between cancer and inflammation. This liposome technology is based on FDA-approved materials and enables complexation with metal cations and radionuclides. We found that these liposomes were preferentially uptaken by cancer cell lines with high metabolic activity, mediated via glucose transporter-1. In vivo, these liposomes were avidly uptaken by tumors, as compared to liposomes without glucose …
Show moreDec 2020 • Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics
Meir Abuaf, Yitzhak Mastai
Chiral polymeric particles have emerged as a new and exciting field of research and in the last years due to their possible use for many applications in chiral chemistry. In this article, an important question is focused upon that has not been explored in detail in the field of chiral polymeric particles. The main question is whether the chiral composition of the polymeric particles affects their chiral recognition. The hypothesis is that chiral polymeric particles with a variety of different chiral groups will improve chiral recognition and improve their use of enantioselectivity crystallization. Consequently, chiral microparticles based on one up to three different amino acids based monomers are prepared by precipitation polymerization. The chiral microspheres are characterized by dynamic light scattering, scanning electron microscope (SEM), mass spectrometry (MS), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and display a narrow …
Show moreDec 2020 • Genome biology
Michal Barak, Hagit T Porath, Gilad Finkelstein, Binyamin A Knisbacher, Ilana Buchumenski, Shalom Hillel Roth, Erez Y Levanon, Eli Eisenberg
Mobile elements comprise a large fraction of metazoan genomes. Accumulation of mobile elements is bound to produce multiple putative double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) structures within the transcriptome. These endogenous dsRNA structures resemble viral RNA and may trigger false activation of the innate immune response, leading to severe damage to the host cell. Adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing is a common post-transcriptional modification, abundant within repetitive elements of all metazoans. It was recently shown that a key function of A-to-I RNA editing by ADAR1 is to suppress the immunogenic response by endogenous dsRNAs. Here, we analyze the transcriptomes of dozens of species across the Metazoa and identify a strong genomic selection against endogenous dsRNAs, resulting in their purification from the canonical transcriptome. This purifying selection is especially strong for long and nearly perfect dsRNAs. These are almost absent from mRNAs, but not pre-mRNAs, supporting the notion of selection due to cytoplasmic processes. The few long and nearly perfect structures found in human transcripts are weakly expressed and often heavily edited. Purifying selection of long dsRNA is an important defense mechanism against false activation of innate immunity. This newly identified principle governs the integration of mobile elements into the genome, a major driving force of genome evolution. Furthermore, we find that most ADAR1 activity is not required to prevent an immune response to endogenous dsRNAs. The critical targets of ADAR1 editing are, likely, to be found mostly in non-canonical transcripts.
Show moreDec 2020 • Applied Physics Letters
Hariharan Nhalil, Proloy T Das, Moty Schultz, Shai Amrusi, Asaf Grosz, Lior Klein
We fabricate elliptical planar Hall effect magnetometers with Permalloy thickness ranging between 25 and 200 nm. We study the thickness dependence of their equivalent magnetic noise by examining the effect of the layer thickness on the signal and noise including Joule heating contributions. Sensors with a thickness of 50 nm achieve equivalent magnetic noise as low as ∼24 pT/ √ Hz at 50 Hz and ∼36 pT/ √ Hz at 10 Hz, which are the best reported values for any type of magnetic sensor of similar or smaller size. These results are achieved without the use of magnetic flux concentrators, which helps to reduce the sensor volume while improving its spatial resolution and reducing the complexity and time of its production and, hence, its potential cost. We discuss different routes for further resolution improvements.
Show moreDec 2020 • ACS Applied Nano Materials
Poushali Das, Moorthy Maruthapandi, Arumugam Saravanan, Michal Natan, Gila Jacobi, Ehud Banin, Aharon Gedanken
Currently, the technologies accompanying the usage of waste materials for the fabrication of innovative useful materials have been significantly advanced. For the same purpose, a possible sustainable approach was demonstrated for the utilization of jute caddies, known as jute industry waste. From the industrial waste, carbon dots (CDs) were sonochemically prepared, followed by their surface modification with benzalkonium chloride (BZC) to yield waste jute-derived fluorescent surface-quaternized CDs (JB-CDs), which exhibit excellent water solubility, excitation-dependent emission, and good photostability, and were utilized as a fluorescent nanoswitch to detect inorganic pollutants, such as chromium (VI) [Cr(VI)] ions, in aqueous solutions. JB-CDs can detect Cr(VI) concentrations as low as 0.03 μM through luminescence quenching (“turn-off”) and further recover their fluorescence (“turn-on”) selectively for …
Show moreDec 2020 • Physical Review D
Eliahu Cohen, Marina Cortês, Avshalom C Elitzur, Lee Smolin
We describe a new form of retrocausality, which is found in the behavior of a class of causal set theories, called energetic causal sets (ECS). These are discrete sets of events, connected by causal relations. They have three orders:(1) a birth order, which is the order in which events are generated; this is a total order which is the true causal order,(2) a dynamical partial order, which prescribes the flows of energy and momentum among events,(3) an emergent causal order, which is defined by the geometry of an emergent Minkowski spacetime, in which the events of the causal sets are embedded. However, the embedding of the events in the emergent Minkowski spacetime may preserve neither the true causal order in (1) nor correspond completely with the microscopic partial order in (2). We call this disordered causality, and we here demonstrate its occurrence in specific ECS models. This is the second in a series of …
Show moreDec 2020 • Journal of Experimental Botany
Santosh Kumar, Nurit Adiram-Filiba, Shula Blum, Javier Arturo Sanchez-Lopez, Oren Tzfadia, Ayelet Omid, Hanne Volpin, Yael Heifetz, Gil Goobes, Rivka Elbaum
Silicon is absorbed by plant roots as silicic acid. The acid moves with the transpiration stream to the shoot, and mineralizes as silica. In grasses, leaf epidermal cells called silica cells deposit silica in most of their volume using an unknown biological factor. Using bioinformatics tools, we identified a previously uncharacterized protein in Sorghum bicolor, which we named Siliplant1 (Slp1). Slp1 is a basic protein with seven repeat units rich in proline, lysine, and glutamic acid. We found Slp1 RNA in sorghum immature leaf and immature inflorescence. In leaves, transcription was highest just before the active silicification zone (ASZ). There, Slp1 was localized specifically to developing silica cells, packed inside vesicles and scattered throughout the cytoplasm or near the cell boundary. These vesicles fused with the membrane, releasing their content in the apoplastic space. A short peptide that is repeated five times …
Show moreDec 2020 • Scientific Reports
Matan Benyamin, Hadar Genish, Ran Califa, Lauren Wolbromsky, Michal Ganani, Zhen Wang, Shuyun Zhou, Zheng Xie, Zeev Zalevsky
Photoacoustics is a promising technique for in-depth imaging of biological tissues. However, the lateral resolution of photoacoustic imaging is limited by size of the optical excitation spot, and therefore by light diffraction and scattering. Several super-resolution approaches, among which methods based on localization of labels and particles, have been suggested, presenting promising but limited solutions. This work demonstrates a novel concept for extended-resolution imaging based on separation and localization of multiple sub-pixel absorbers, each characterized by a distinct acoustic response. Sparse autoencoder algorithm is used to blindly decompose the acoustic signal into its various sources and resolve sub-pixel features. This method can be used independently or as a combination with other super-resolution techniques to gain further resolution enhancement and may also be extended to other imaging …
Show moreDec 2020 • ACS Applied Nano Materials
Lev Rovinsky, Barun Kumar Barick, Elnatan Lieberman, Efrat Shawat Avraham, Gilbert Daniel Nessim, Tamar Segal-Peretz, Noa Lachman
In this article, the limits of thin-film deposition on very rough topographies are demonstrated by depositing alumina on vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs). Vapor deposition techniques are the enabling platforms of the thin-film industry, offering high material versatility and good coverage ability on relatively flat surfaces, leading to frequent use in a large array of applications, especially nanoscale electronic devices such as sensors and electrodes. However, when surface topography exhibits high roughness, even depositions that are not limited to line-of-sight show only partial coverage, significantly hindering performances. Our manufacturing process of VACNT/Al2O3 nanocomposites has three vaporous steps: CNT growth by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), functionalization via controlled thermal oxidation, and atomic layer deposition (ALD) of alumina. The same limited accessibility hinders each of …
Show moreDec 2020 • Iscience
K Shanmugha Rajan, Tirza Doniger, Smadar Cohen-Chalamish, Praveenkumar Rengaraj, Beathrice Galili, Saurav Aryal, Ron Unger, Christian Tschudi, Shulamit Michaeli
The parasite Trypanosoma brucei is the causative agent of sleeping sickness and cycles between insect and mammalian hosts. The parasite appears to lack conventional transcriptional regulation of protein coding genes, and mRNAs are processed from polycistronic transcripts by the concerted action of trans-splicing and polyadenylation. Regulation of mRNA function is mediated mainly by RNA binding proteins affecting mRNA stability and translation. In this study, we describe the identification of 62 non-coding (nc) RNAs that are developmentally regulated and/or respond to stress. We characterized two novel anti-sense RNA regulators (TBsRNA-33 and 37) that originate from the rRNA loci, associate with ribosomes and polyribosomes, and interact in vivo with distinct mRNA species to regulate translation. Thus, this study suggests for the first-time anti-sense RNA regulators as an additional layer for controlling …
Show moreDec 2020 • Physical Review B
Kun Tang, M Makwana, Richard V Craster, Patrick Sebbah
We experimentally investigate the valley-Hall effect for interfacial edge states, highlighting the importance of the modal patterns between geometrically distinct regions within a structured elastic plate. These experiments, for vibration, are at a scale where detailed measurements are taken throughout the system and not just at the input/output ports; this exposes the coupling between geometrically distinct modes that underlie the differences between wave transport around gentle and sharp bends.
Show moreNov 2020 • The journal of physical chemistry letters
Zdenek Futera, Ichiro Ide, Ben Kayser, Kavita Garg, Xiuyun Jiang, Jessica H van Wonderen, Julea N Butt, Hisao Ishii, Israel Pecht, Mordechai Sheves, David Cahen, Jochen Blumberger
Multi-heme cytochromes (MHCs) are fascinating proteins used by bacterial organisms to shuttle electrons within, between, and out of their cells. When placed in solid-state electronic junctions, MHCs support temperature-independent currents over several nanometers that are 3 orders of magnitude higher compared to other redox proteins of similar size. To gain molecular-level insight into their astonishingly high conductivities, we combine experimental photoemission spectroscopy with DFT+Σ current–voltage calculations on a representative Gold-MHC-Gold junction. We find that conduction across the dry, 3 nm long protein occurs via off-resonant coherent tunneling, mediated by a large number of protein valence-band orbitals that are strongly delocalized over heme and protein residues. This picture is profoundly different from the electron hopping mechanism induced electrochemically or photochemically under …
Show moreNov 2020 • ACS Applied Nano Materials
SK Tarik Aziz, Bibhudatta Malik, Hari Krishna Sadhanala, Aharon Gedanken, Malachi Noked, Gilbert Daniel Nessim
Exploring and identifying efficient materials with operative active sites for electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is of paramount importance for the future of energy conversion technologies like electrolyzers and fuel cells. Herein, we develop an effective strategy to couple physically distinct metal-rich nickel phosphide (Ni12P5) with mildly oxidized multiwall carbon nanotubes (O-MWCNTs) to boost the efficiency of OER. Ni12P5-O-MWCNTs outperforms O2 evolution activity in contrast to the parental materials, Ni12P5 and O-MWCNTs. Intriguingly, Ni12P5-O-MWCNTs shows an overpotential of 280 mV achieved at a current density of 10 mAcm–2. The hybrid, Ni12P5–O-MWCNTs demonstrates remarkable OER activity by the virtue of development of heterointerfaces in which the effective interaction between Ni12P5 and O-MWCNTs plays a crucial role. Moreover, we have analyzed the XPS and HR-TEM of …
Show moreNov 2020 • Journal of the Electrochemical Society
E Markevich, G Salitra, H Yoshida, S Sawada, D Aurbach
We report on stabilization of Li–S cells cycled with an areal charge/discharge capacity of 2 mAh cm− 2 at current densities of 1–2 mA cm− 2 using ethereal LiTFSI/LiNO 3/DOL/DME electrolyte solution containing 0.1 M Li 2 S 8. This electrolyte solution enables stable lithium metal stripping− plating both in symmetric Li mid Li and full Li–S cells with composite binder free sulfur impregnated activated carbon fibers cathodes. The addition of Li 2 S 8 substantially extends cycling life of these cells due to the formation of smooth non-dendritic Li metal surface protected with an effective SEI enriched with Li sulfides, sulfites and sulfates species. Symmetric Li mid Li could be cycled stably for more than 1000 h at 1–2 mA cm− 2 with Li 2 S 8-containing electrolyte solutions. Full Li–S cells demonstrate more than 500 stable cycles (at least 3 times more than with Li 2 S 8 free electrolyte solution) at a current density of 1 mA cm− 2 …
Show moreNov 2020 • Nature communications
Lior Shani, Aaron N Michelson, Brian Minevich, Yafit Fleger, Michael Stern, Avner Shaulov, Yosef Yeshurun, Oleg Gang