Dry and bright: To mimic the wings of the displayed Morpho butterfly, a new decorative material that exhibits both structural color and superhydrophobicity (the “lotus effect”) was developed by taking advantage of the unique structural properties of an inverse opal film, which was fabricated by the self‐assembly of polystyrene spheres and silica nanoparticles.

Spinalenheter og andre enheter2036 I Tidsskriftet nr. 14/2012 om temaserien om ryggmargsskader problematiserer Ragnar Stien to felter (1): begrepet «spi-nalenhet» på den ene siden og viktigheten av tette bånd mellom akuttbehandling og rehabilitering og oppfølging av rygg-margsskader på den andre. Det er viktig at akuttbehandlere har kunnskap om langtidsutfall som grunnlag for evaluering av sin virksomhet i tillegg til at det bør vaere tett kontakt og felles vurderinger når det gjelder eventuell kirurgisk behandling av komplikasjoner. Stien har nok et poeng i at samarbeid mellom akutt-og rehabiliteringsmiljøene kan forbedres, selv om mitt inntrykk er at dette står i sentrum hos de ryggmargs-skadebehandlende og-rehabiliterende miljøene i Norge. Et tettere samarbeid er nok ikke minst også mulig mellom miljøene som gjennomfører kirurgisk behandling av ryggmargsskadede. Når det gjelder begrepsbruken, synes Stien å forutsette at begrepet «enhet» kun kan brukes hvis behandlingen på en enhet omfatter alt fra akuttbehandling til langtidsoppfølging. Jeg tror få avdelinger i norsk helsevesen er organisert slik. Et eksempel er slagenhetene som står for akuttbehandling og tidlig rehabilitering av slagpasienter de første par ukene etter slaget, men som regel ikke videre oppfølging, unntatt eventuelt en poliklinisk kontroll 3-6 måneder etter slaget (som heller ikke alltid er tett knyttet opp mot slagenheten). Mye av den videre behandlingen og oppfølgingen innenfor spesialisthelsetjenesten, spesielt den delen som er rettet mot funksjonsnedsettelsene på grunn av hjerneslaget, skjer i reha-biliteringsavdelinger. Selv om dagens slagenheter dermed ikke er «comprehensive» i den forstand Stien nevner, synes «slagenhet» å vaere et nyttig begrep.

During immune reactions, functionally distinct B-cell subsets are generated by stochastic processes, including class-switch recombination (CSR) and plasma cell differentiation (PCD). In this study, we show a strong association between individual B-cell fates and mitochondrial functions. CSR occurs specifically in activated B cells with increased mitochondrial mass and membrane potential, which augment mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS), whereas PCD occurs in cells with decreased mitochondrial mass and potential. These events are consequences of initial slight changes in mROS in mitochondriahigh B-cell populations. In CSR-committed cells, mROS attenuates haeme synthesis by inhibiting ferrous ion addition to protoporphyrin IX, thereby maintaining Bach2 function. Reduced mROS then promotes PCD by increasing haeme synthesis. In PCD-committed cells, Blimp1 reduces mitochondrial mass, thereby reducing mROS levels. Identifying mROS as a haeme synthesis regulator increases the understanding of mechanisms regulating haeme homeostasis and cell fate determination after B-cell activation.

Purely organic materials are generally insulating. Some charge-carrier generation, however, can provide them with electrical conductivity. In multi-component organic systems, carrier generation by intermolecular charge transfer has given many molecular metals. By contrast, in purely organic single-component systems, metallic states have rarely been realized although some neutral-radical semiconductors have been reported. Here we uncover a new type of purely organic single-component molecular conductor by utilizing strong hydrogenbonding interactions between tetrathiafulvalene-based electron-donor molecules. These conductors are composed of highly symmetric molecular units constructed by the strong intra-unit hydrogen bond. Moreover, we demonstrate that, in this system, charge carriers are produced by the partial oxidation of the donor molecules and delocalized through the formation of the symmetric intra-unit hydrogen bonds. As a result, our conductors show the highest room-temperature electrical conductivity and the metallic state under the lowest physical pressure among the purely organic single-component systems, to our knowledge.

We report the results of SQUID and torque magnetometry of an organic spin-1/2 triangular-lattice κ-H(3)(Cat-EDT-TTF)(2). Despite antiferromagnetic exchange coupling at 80-100 K, we observed no sign of antiferromagnetic order down to 50 mK owing to spin frustration on the triangular lattice. In addition, we found nearly temperature-independent susceptibility below 3 K associated with Pauli paramagnetism. These observations suggest the development of gapless quantum spin liquid as the ground state. On the basis of a comparative discussion, we point out that the gapless quantum spin liquid states in organic systems share a possible mechanism, namely the formation of a band with a Fermi surface possibly attributed to spinons.