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Synaptic dysfunction is an important pathological hallmark and cause of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). High-frequency stimulation (HFS)-induced long-term potentiation (LTP) has been widely used to study synaptic plasticity, with impaired LTP found to be associated with AD. However, the exact molecular mechanism underlying synaptic plasticity has yet to be completely elucidated. Whether genes regulating synaptic plasticity are altered in AD and contribute to disease onset also remains unclear. Herein, we induced LTP in the hippocampal CA1 region of wildtype (WT) and AD model mice by administering HFS to the CA3 region and then studied transcriptome changes in the CA1 region. We identified 89 genes that may participate in normal synaptic plasticity by screening HFS-induced differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in mice with normal LTP, and 43 genes that may contribute to synaptic dysfunction in AD by comparing HFS-induced DEGs in mice with normal LTP and AD mice with impaired LTP. We further refined the 43 genes down to 14 by screening for genes with altered expression in pathological-stage AD mice without HFS induction. Among them, we found that the expression of Pygm, which catabolizes glycogen, was also decreased in AD patients. We further demonstrated that down-regulation of PYGM in neurons impaired synaptic plasticity and cognition in WT mice, while its overexpression attenuated synaptic dysfunction and cognitive deficits in AD mice. Moreover, we showed that PYGM directly regulated energy generation in neurons. Our study not only indicates that PYGM-mediated energy production in neurons plays an important role in synaptic function, but also provides a novel LTP-based strategy to systematically identify genes regulating synaptic plasticity under physiological and pathological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial carpets consist of randomly anchored uni-polar-flagellated sodium-motive bacterial matrix are prepared by flow deposition. Collective flow dynamics across the bacterial carpets are probed with optical tweezers-microsphere assay. Around the center of a uniform bacterial cluster, collective forces that pull microsphere towards carpet surface are detected at a distance of 10 lm away from carpets. At sodium-motive driving over a critical value, the force magnitudes increase abruptly, suggesting a threshold-like transition of hydrodynamic synchronization across bacterial carpet. The abrupt force increase is explained in term of bifurcation to phase synchronization in a noisy non-linearly coupled rotor array mediated by hydrodynamic interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common cause of cancer-related mortality. Adenocarcinoma (AC) is the predominant histological type of NSCLC; however, AC consists of several subtypes. It has not yet been determined whether there is a correlation of CRKL and AXL expression with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene status in lung AC. We assayed exons 18 through 21 of the EGFR gene by direct sequencing; ALK rearrangement and the expression of CRKL and AXL were detected by immunostaining. A total of 212 cases of AC were included in this study, diagnosed using the novel classification system established by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, the American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society in 2011, including 69 acinar ACs, 17 lepidic predominant ACs (LPAs), 63 papillary, 14 mucinous, 17 micropapillary and 32 solid ACs. Of the 212 cases, 101 harbored EGFR mutations. The most common subtypes carrying delK745-S753 were papillary and acinar ACs. ALK rearrangement was found in 23 cases (11%) of lung ACs. Acinar and solid ACs were the most frequent subtypes with ALK aberrance, particularly in acinar ACs with cribriform structure (4/5 cases, 80%). The expression of CRKL was significantly different among the AC subtypes (P = 0.01), with the highest and lowest expression levels of CRKL protein in papillary ACs and LPAs, respectively (P < 0.05). AXL expression was also significantly different among the AC subtypes (P = 0.002) and was correlated with lymph node infiltration in acinar ACs. ACs with EGFR mutations exhibited high levels of AXL protein expression compared to those without mutations (P < 0.001). Acinar AC with cribriform structure is a distinct subtype that frequently harbors ALK rearrangement. The activation of AXL may be one of the factors contributing to the invasion of acinar and micropapillary ACs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slim pump for cooling devices play an important role for cooling the electronics apparatus. This paper develops an axial-flux internal rotor type motor for the low-profile vortex pump. The integrated motor-pump structure is composed of an internal permanent magnet (PM) disc rotor and double-sided external coreless stators with windings piled up on the printed circuit board (PCB). The impeller is disposed on the periphery of the magnet and a fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) is set in the centre of the magnet to rotate relative to the centre shaft. A prototype of the axial-flux motor pump and drive circuit has been made and tested. Both simulated and experimental results show that the proposed motor would be an acceptable solution for the slim notebook (NB) applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]