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Background: Neuropathic pain (NP), which results from injury or lesion of the somatosensory nervous system, is intimately associated with glial cells. The roles of microglia and astrocytes in NP have been broadly described, while studies on oligodendrocytes have largely focused on axonal myelination. The mechanisms of oligodendrocytes and their interactions with other glial cells in NP development remain uncertain. Methods: To explore the function of the interaction of the three glial cells and their interactions on myelin development in NP, we evaluated changes in NP and myelin morphology after a chronic constriction injury (CCI) model in mice, and used single-cell sequencing to reveal the subpopulations characteristics of oligodendrocytes, microglia, and astrocytes in the spinal cord tissues, as well as their relationship with myelin lesions; the proliferation and differentiation trajectories of oligodendrocyte subpopulations were also revealed using pseudotime cell trajectory and RNA velocity analysis. In addition, we identified chemokine ligand-receptor pairs between glial cells by cellular communication and verified them using immunofluorescence. Results: Our study showed that NP peaked on day 7 after CCI in mice, a time at which myelin lesions were present in both the spinal cord and sciatic nerve. Oligodendrocytes, microglia, and astrocytes subpopulations in spinal cord tissue were heterogeneous after CCI and all were involved in suppressing the process of immune defense and myelin production. In addition, the differentiation trajectory of oligodendrocytes involved a unidirectional lattice process of OPC-1-Oligo-9, which was arrested at the Oligo-2 stage under the influence of microglia and astrocytes. And the CADM1-CADM1, NRP1-VEGFA interactions between glial cells are enhanced after CCI and they had a key role in myelin lesions and demyelination. Conclusions: Our study reveals the close relationship between the differentiation block of oligodendrocytes after CCI and their interaction with microglia and astrocytes-mediated myelin lesions and NP. CADM1/CADM1 and NRP-1/VEGFA may serve as potential therapeutic targets for use in the treatment of NP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-crystal germanium, as an excellent infrared optical material, has been widely applied in X-ray monochromators, night vision systems, and gamma radiation detectors. However, how to obtain high-quality optical lenses on their surfaces still faces challenges due to their hard and brittle properties. To this end, this paper proposes the in situ laser-assisted diamond turning (ILADT) process, which is the combination of a laser heating technique and a single-point diamond turning process. The in situ laser heating technique is employed to enhance the surface quality of the workpiece material, while the single-point diamond turning process is utilized to fabricate optical lenses. Experimental results showed that optical lenses with high surface quality were successfully machined. The profile error is 0.135 μm, indicating the high machining accuracy. The surface roughness Sa of the aspheric lens is 0.909 nm, indicating the high machining quality achieved by the proposed ILADT process. Therefore, this study provides an effective approach for producing high-quality optical lenses on single-crystal germanium surfaces, which holds great promise for future applications in the manufacturing of optical lenses with exceptional quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing light utilization is crucial in organic photovoltaics. Understanding the intricate connection between the optical properties and the chemical structure of organic materials is pivotal yet challenging in this regard. Herein, over 2800 published reports with a database of ≈300 organic non‐fullerene acceptors (NFAs) are surveyed and a mathematical model suitable for predicting and analyzing the optical properties of organic photovoltaic materials is established. The model is used to predict the optical properties of representative NFAs within experimental error, including four newly synthesized organic materials to validate the model. In addition, the reliability and applicability of the model through data transformation are demonstrated and it is found that the addition of double bonds and asymmetry in the chemical structure does not necessarily reduce the optical bandgap of organic materials. Based on the model, the strong noncovalent interaction is more significant than the weak noncovalent interaction and asymmetry on the reduction of the bandgap, which provides new insights into the design and development of organic photovoltaic materials with tunable optical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting has a wide range of applications in the field of precision cutting of difficult-to-machine metal materials. However, due to its intermittent cutting characteristics and the weak rigidity of the horn, cutting chatter is prone to occur during its cutting process, which has an important impact on cutting surface quality and tool wear. In this paper, the rigid/viscoplastic rod model is used to simulate the horn in the ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting device, and the influence factors of the amplitude-frequency response of the horn are analyzed. The influence of cutting speed and cutting depth on cutting chatter was studied by ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting experiment of tungsten heavy alloy, and the influence of cutting chatter on cutting surface morphology and diamond tool wear was studied. The research shows that cutting speed will change the excitation frequency of the horn, and reasonable cutting speed can inhibit the occurrence of cutting chatter and avoid resonance of the horn. The cutting depth will affect the excitation amplitude and amplify the vibration amplitude when chatter or resonance occurs. The experimental results show that in ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting of heavy tungsten alloy, chatter suppression can significantly improve the quality of the cutting surface and reduce the wear of diamond tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central neuropathic pain (CNP) after spinal cord injury (SCI) is related to the plasticity of cerebral cortex. The plasticity of cortex recorded by electroencephalogram (EEG) signal can be used as a biomarker of CNP. To analyze changes in the brain network mechanism under the combined effect of injury and pain or under the effect of pain, this paper mainly studies the changes of brain network functional connectivity in patients with neuropathic pain and without neuropathic pain after SCI. This paper has recorded the EEG with the CNP group after SCI, without the CNP group after SCI, and a healthy control group. Phase-locking value has been used to construct brain network topological connectivity maps. By comparing the brain networks of the two groups of SCI with the healthy group, it has been found that in the β and γ frequency bands, the injury increases the functional connectivity between the frontal lobe and occipital lobes, temporal, and parietal of the patients. Furthermore, the comparison of brain networks between the group with CNP and the group without CNP after SCI has found that pain has a greater effect on the increased connectivity within the patients' frontal lobes. Motor imagery (MI) data of CNP patients have been used to extract one-dimensional local binary pattern (1D-LBP) and common spatial pattern (CSP) features, the left and right hand movements of the patients' MI have been classified. The proposed LBP-CSP feature method has achieved the highest accuracy of 98.6% and the average accuracy of 91.5%. The results of this study have great clinical significance for the neural rehabilitation and brain–computer interface of CNP patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoscale surface roughness of tungsten heavy alloy components is required in the nuclear industry and precision instruments. In this study, a high-performance ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting (UEVC) system is developed to solve the precision machining problem of tungsten heavy alloy. A new design method of stepped bending vibration horn based on Timoshenko’s theory is first proposed, and its design process is greatly simplified. The arrangement and working principle of piezoelectric transducers on the ultrasonic vibrator using the fifth resonant mode of bending are analyzed to realize the dual-bending vibration modes. A cutting tool is installed at the end of the ultrasonic vibration unit to output the ultrasonic elliptical vibration locus, which is verified by finite element method. The vibration unit can display different three-degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) UEVC characteristics by adjusting the corresponding position of the unit and workpiece. A dual-channel ultrasonic power supply is developed to excite the ultrasonic vibration unit, which makes the UEVC system present the resonant frequency of 41 kHz and the maximum amplitude of 14.2 µm. Different microtopography and surface roughness are obtained by the cutting experiments of tungsten heavy alloy hemispherical workpiece with the UEVC system, which validates the proposed design’s technical capability and provides optimization basis for further improving the machining quality of the curved surface components of tungsten heavy alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon fiber–reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites are prone to delamination, tearing, and burrs in conventional drilling. It has been proven that longitudinal–torsional coupled ultrasonic-assisted drilling (LTC-UAD) can significantly improve the hole quality of CFRP composites, where the amplitude ratio is a key parameter which directly affects the contact state between the cutting edge and the CFRP composite. This paper investigates the effect of amplitude ratios on the hole quality in LTC-UAD of CFRP composites by kinematic characteristic analysis and drilling experiments. The increased amplitude ratio increases the effective rake angle of the main cutting edge, sharping the cutting edge and reducing the thrust force by 29.6%. The increased amplitude ratio also causes the reduction of up to 20.1% and 49.22% in burr factor and hole wall surface roughness, respectively, but the reduction in the delamination factor is not significant. The variable direction shear effect contributes to the shearing fracture of the fibers, thereby reducing the burrs and delamination. The variable stress state makes the fibers more susceptible to shear fracture, but the scraping and polishing effect of the minor cutting edge helps to remove excess fiber fragments and coat the hole wall evenly with the resin to fill the cavities, which in turn reduces the hole wall surface roughness. Additionally, the secondary cutting action of minor cutting edge on the hole wall is enhanced by the increased amplitude ratio, which results in a larger diameter deviation but within the range of 0.012 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this brief, we propose an efficient asynchronous parallel expected improvement matrix-based (EIM) constrained multi-objective optimization approach with mixed models for analog circuit sizing. In contrast to other asynchronous methods for single-objective optimization, our method aims to solve multi-objective problems with multiple constraints. The proposed new asynchronous strategy can parallelize not only circuit simulations but also the process of building models. We introduce an EIM criterion for objectives as the acquisition function and build radial basis function models for constraints. The proposed method is based on prescreening instead of internal optimization to further reduce the computational cost of models. Experimental results on two real-world circuits illustrate that when the batch size is 15, our proposed method provides with better trade-off information and reduces the total runtime of the optimization by up to 92X compared with NSGA-II. There is a speedup of up to 8X and 4X compared with the state-of-the-art synchronous approach and asynchronous approach in terms of the runtime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter presents a low noise amplifier (LNA) with a 3-dB gain bandwidth (3-dB BW) of 18–44 GHz in 65-nm CMOS technology. By deriving an analytical equation of input impedance, a co-design methodology for the first two stages of LNA that can simultaneously achieve broadband input matching and low noise figure (NF) is implemented. Weakly coupled asymmetric transformers that introduce a section of reverse parallel winding in the primary coil are designed to realize broadband interstage matching, optimize the gain flatness and boost the transconductance. The proposed LNA achieves a measured peak gain of 19.5 dB with a fractional 3-dB gain bandwidth (FBW) of 83.8%, covering the whole $K$ -band and $Ka$ -band. The measured NF is 2.6–3.5 dB from 20 to 43 GHz. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed LNA achieves the highest 3-dB BW and FBW with competitive NF. The measured input 1-dB gain compression point ($\text {IP}_{\mathrm {1\,dB}}$) ranges from −23 to −18.5 dBm over the entire 3-dB gain bandwidth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surface quality of tungsten heavy alloy parts has an important influence on its service performance. The accurate on-line prediction of surface roughness in ultra-precision cutting of tungsten heavy alloy has always been the difficulty of research. In this paper, the ultrasonic elliptical vibration cutting technology is used for ultra-precision machining of tungsten heavy alloy. Based on the idea of deep learning, the surface roughness is discretized, and the fitting problem in surface roughness is transformed into a classification problem. The generalization ability of the prediction model is improved by introducing batch standardization and Dropout. The relationship between the vibration signal and the surface roughness is established. Experimental results show that the model can achieve on-line prediction of cutting surface roughness. The prediction accuracy rate can be improved by more than 10% compared with the direct fitting method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Drug-eluting stents generally have superior performance to bare metal stents in the treatment of vertebral artery stenosis (VAS). This prospective, multicenter, and single-arm clinical trial was initiated to assess in-stent restenosis (ISR) and midterm outcome after rapamycin-eluting stent placement in patients with symptomatic extracranial VAS. Methods: The subjects underwent angiographic follow-up at 6 months and final clinical follow-up at 12 months. The primary efficacy endpoint was ISR at 6 months. Secondary endpoints included technical success, target lesion-related transient ischemic attack (TIA), stroke, or death, and all-cause TIA, stroke, or death during the 12-month follow-up period. Results: A total of 104 stents were implanted in the 101 patients and 83 patients (82.2%) completed angiographic follow-up at 6 months. The technical success rate was 86.1% (87/101); mean in-stent stenosis rate was 25.1 ± 17.1% and ISR rate was 5.9% (95% CI: 0.8–10.9%). All the patients with ISR were completely asymptomatic and no stent fractures were observed during angiographic follow-up. At the 12-month clinical follow-up, target lesion-related TIA, stroke, or death had occurred in two (2.0%) patients and all-cause TIA, stroke, or death had occurred in six (6.1%) patients. Conclusion: The placement of rapamycin-eluting stents in patients with symptomatic extracranial VAS yields favorable ISR results and showed a trend of favorable safety outcomes including low rates of perioperative complications and late stroke. However, further study is needed to establish the long-term clinical benefits of this stent in the treatment of VA disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, abundant coring analysis results from underground reservoirs were used to understand the characteristics of reservoir micro‐heterogeneity within a sequence stratigraphic framework, primarily including the distribution of reservoir particles, fillings, and pore‐throat heterogeneities. The vertical distribution pattern of the reservoir micro‐heterogeneity is then summarized, and the controlling effect of the sequence frameworks at different levels on the micro‐heterogeneity distribution is discussed. Generally, the micro‐heterogeneity within the quasi‐sequence decreases from bottom to top, which is characterized by coarsening grain size, increasing quartz content, decreasing feldspar, debris, clay mineral, and calcareous cement content. The pore volume and throat radius and pore–throat connectivity have also been better with weakening secondary pore development and permeability anisotropies. Differences are observed in the micro‐heterogeneity distribution between the retrograde quasi‐sequence group and the progradational quasi‐sequence group. The micro‐heterogeneity vertical distribution in the retrograde quasi‐sequence group shows one set of characteristics from bottom to top, in which the grain size becomes finer, the calcareous precipitation degree increases, and the micro‐heterogeneity of the reservoir generally shows enhanced trend upward; however, the micro‐heterogeneity vertical distribution in the progradational quasi‐sequence group shows the opposite characteristics. The micro‐heterogeneity of the reservoirs in the system tract also shows some regularity. The sea level in the high system tract has risen and fallen several times and shows a relative fallen trend overall, and the micro‐heterogeneity weakens while progressing upward. Reservoir micro‐heterogeneity variations in the sequence framework are of great significance for determining reservoir quality and performing predictions during oil and gas exploration and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel RF small-signal model in the form of a physics-based equivalent circuit for advanced bulk FinFETs is proposed. Based on the unique multifin structure, parallel resistance–capacitance branches are introduced to account for the gate–source and gate–drain admittances. The deembedding is carefully performed after its effectiveness is verified by accurately modeling the pad and interconnect parasitics. An analytical method is developed to directly extract the model parameters from measurements. The model is validated in 7 and 14 nm bulk FinFET technologies, and the modeled results show an excellent agreement with the measured data up to 50 GHz (~ ƒT/4). The dependencies of FinFET RF performances on the layout dimensions are investigated, and they are compared between the two advanced FinFET technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composites are extremely attractive in the manufacturing of structural and functional components in the aircraft manufacturing field due to their outstanding properties, such as good fatigue resistance, high specific stiffness/strength, and good shock absorption. However, because of their inherent anisotropy, low interlamination strength, and abrasive characteristics, CFRP composites are considered difficult-to-cut materials and are prone to generating serious hole defects, such as delamination, tearing, and burrs. The advanced longitudinal–torsional coupled ultrasonic vibration assisted drilling (LTC-UAD) method has a potential application for drilling CFRP composites. At present, LTC-UAD is mainly adopted for drilling metal materials and rarely for CFRP. Therefore, this study analyzes the kinematic characteristics and the influence of feed rate on the drilling performance of LTC-UAD. Experimental results indicate that LTC-UAD can reduce the thrust force by 39% compared to conventional drilling. Furthermore, LTC-UAD can decrease the delamination and burr factors and improve the surface quality of the hole wall. Thus, LTC-UAD is an applicable process method for drilling components made with CFRP composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebral ischemia is a common cerebrovascular condition which often induces neuronal apoptosis, leading to brain damage. The sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathway has been reported to be involved in ischemic stroke, but the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. In the present study, we demonstrated that expressions of Shh, Ptch, and Gli-1 were significantly downregulated at 24 h following oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) injury in neurons in vitro, effects which were associated with increasing numbers of apoptotic cells and reactive oxygen species generation. In addition, expressions of synaptic proteins (neuroligin and neurexin) were significantly downregulated at 8 h following OGD, also associated with concomitant neuronal apoptosis. Treatment with purmorphamine, a Shh agonist, increased Gli-1 in the nucleus of neurons and protected against OGD injury, whereas the Shh inhibitor, cyclopamine, produced the opposite effects. Activation of Shh signals promoted CREB and Akt phosphorylation; upregulated the expressions of BDNF, neuroligin, and neurexin; and decreased NF-κB phosphorylation following OGD. Notably, this activation of Shh signals was accompanied by improved neurobehavioral responses along with attenuations in edema and apoptosis at 48 h postischemic insult in rats. Taken together, these results demonstrate that activation of the Shh signaling pathway played a neuroprotective role in response to ischemic exposure via promotion of synaptic and neuronal health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuropathic pain (NP) is caused by primary or secondary impairment of the peripheral or central nervous systems. Its etiology is complex and involves abnormal patterns of gene expression and pathway activation. Using bioinformatics analysis, we aimed to identify NP-associated changes in genes and pathways in L4 and L5 dorsal root ganglia (DRG) in a rat model of NP induced by chronic compression of the DRG (CCD). Genome-wide transcriptional analyses were used to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying NP. We screened differentially expressed genes (DEGs) 7 days after CCD in comparison with sham-operated controls. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blotting were used to confirm the presence of key DEGs. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG)-pathway analysis of DEGs and global signal transduction network analysis of DEGs were also conducted. The CCD group developed clear mechanical and thermal allodynia in the ipsilateral hind paw compared with the sham group. This comparison identified 1,887 DEGs, with 1156 upregulated and 731 downregulated DEGs, and 123 DEG-enriched pathways. We identified the key candidate genes that might play a role in the development of NP, namely syndecan 1 (Sdc1), phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase , catalytic subunit gamma (Pi3k), Janus kinase 2 (Jak2), jun proto-oncogene, AP-1 transcription factor subunit (Jun), and interleukin 6 (IL-6) by analyzing the global signal transduction network. RT-qPCR and western blot analysis confirmed the microarray results. The DEGs Sdc1 , Pi3k , Jak2 , Jun , and IL-6 , and the cytokine signaling pathway, the neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, the toll-like receptor signaling pathway, and the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway may have decisive modulatory roles in both nerve regeneration and NP. These results provide deeper insight into the mechanism underlying NP and promising therapeutic targets for its treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purmorphamine (PUR), an agonist of the Smoothened (Smo) receptor, has been shown to function as a neuroprotectant in acute experimental ischemic stroke. Its role in hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury in neonatal mice remains unknown. Here we show that PUR attenuated acute brain injury, with a decrease in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio as well as inhibition of caspase-3 activation. These beneficial effects of PUR were associated with suppressing neuro-inflammation and oxidative stress. PUR exerted long-term protective effects upon tissue loss and improved neurobehavioral outcomes as determined at 14 and 28 days post-HI insult. Moreover, PUR increased synaptophysin (Syn) and postsynaptic density (PSD) protein 95 expression in HI-treated mice and attenuated synaptic loss. PUR upregulated the expression of Shh pathway mediators, while suppression of the Shh signaling pathway with cyclopamine (Cyc) reversed these beneficial effects of PUR on HI insult. Our study suggests a therapeutic potential for short-term PUR administration in HI-induced injury as a result of its capacity to exert multiple protective actions upon acute brain injury, long-term memory deficits, and impaired synapses. Moreover, we provide evidence indicating that one of the mechanisms underlying these beneficial effects of PUR involves activation of the Shh signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Vascular dementia is the second leading cause of dementia, which is strongly associated with diabetes. Ectopic expression of miR-133a in endothelial cells is involved in endothelial dysfunction in diabetes. Whether berberine, as a natural product in Coptis chinensis, improves vascular dementia induced by diabetes remains unknown. Methods: Diabetes and subsequent vascular dementia were induced in rats by injecting streptozotocin (50 mg/kg/day) for five consecutive days. The expression of miR-133a was determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The learning and memory were evaluated by step-down, step-through, and morris water maze (MWM) tests. Results: In streptozotocin-injected rats, hyperglycemia dramatically induced miR-133a ectopic expressions in vascular endothelium, reduced GTPCH1 gene expressions and BH4 levels, which were reversed by berberine administration (1.0 g/kg/day, 8 weeks). Hyperglycemia also inhibited acetylcholine-induced vasorelaxation in middle cerebral artery and reduced blood supply to the brain, which were bypassed by berberine. Ex vivo studies indicated that miR-133a agomirs abolished these beneficial effects of berberine on acetylcholine-induced vasorelaxation, while supplement of L-sepiapterin prevented endothelial dysfunction in middle cerebral artery isolated from rats. By performing step-down, step-through, and MWM tests, we observed that hyperglycemia significantly caused the impairments of learning and memory in streptozotocin-injected rats. Importantly, these aberrant phenotypes in diabetic rats were normalized by berberine therapy. Finally, berberine reduced miR-133a expression, and increased both BH4 levels and NO production in cultured endothelial cells treated with high glucose. Conclusion: Berberine improves vascular dementia in diabetes, which is possibly related to the suppression of miR-133a ectopic expression in endothelial cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are endogenous non-coding RNAs implicated in atherosclerosis. The aim of the present study was to explore the function of circRNA-0044073 in atherosclerosis. Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays were used to measure the expression levels of circRNA-0044073, microRNA (miRNA/miR)-107, janus kinase 1 (JAK1), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and v-myc avian myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog (c-myc) in in blood cells from patients with atherosclerosis. RNA pull-down and luciferase reporter assays were then used to determine the association between circRNA and miR expression, and miR and gene expression, respectively. Matrigel invasion assay and flow cytometry were used to analyze cell invasion and cell cycle. Western blot analysis and ELISA were used to evaluate the expression levels of proteins. It was identified that the expression of circRNA-0044073 was upregulated and the expression of miR-107 was downregulated in atherosclerotic blood cells. Overexpression of circRNA-0044073 promoted the proliferation of human vascular smooth muscle cells (HUVSMCs) and human vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs), while overexpression of miR-107 inhibited their proliferation. In addition, circRNA-0044073 suppressed the levels of miR-107 via a sponge mechanism. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) affected the proliferation of HUVSMCs and HUVECs, and also resulted in changes in circRNA-0044073 expression levels. CircRNA-0044073 promoted the proliferation and invasion of HUVSMCs and HUVECs in spite of the opposite effect observed with LPS treatment. The JAK/STAT signaling pathway was activated in patients with atherosclerosis. CircRNA-0044073 favored the activation of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway and inflammation in HUVSMCs and HUVECs. These data indicate that circRNA-0044073 is upregulated in atherosclerosis and promotes the proliferation and invasion of cells by targeting miR-107 and activating the JAK/STAT signaling pathway, potentially offering a target for novel treatment strategies against atherosclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: The present study first identified the involvement of OcUAXS2 and OcUXS1-3 in anticancer polysaccharides biosynthesis in O. caudatum. Abstract: UDP-xylose synthase (UXS) and UDP- d-apiose/UDP- d-xylose synthase (UAXS), both capable of converting UDP- d-glucuronic acid to UDP- d-xylose, are believed to transfer xylosyl residue to anticancer polysaccharides biosynthesis in Ornithogalum caudatum Ait. However, the cDNA isolation and functional characterization of genes encoding the two enzymes from O. caudatum has never been documented. Previously, the transcriptome sequencing of O. caudatum was performed in our laboratory. In this study, a total of six and two unigenes encoding UXS and UAXS were first retrieved based on RNA-Seq data. The eight putative genes were then successfully isolated from transcriptome of O. caudatum by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Phylogenetic analysis revealed the six putative UXS isoforms can be classified into three types, one soluble and two distinct putative membrane-bound. Moreover, the two UAXS isoenzymes were predicted to be soluble forms. Subsequently, these candidate cDNAs were characterized to be bona fide genes by functional expression in Escherichia coli individually. Although UXS and UAXS catalyzed the same reaction, their biochemical properties varied significantly. It is worth noting that a ratio switch of UDP- d-xylose/UDP- d-apiose for UAXS was established, which is assumed to be helpful for its biotechnological application. Furthermore, a series of mutants were generated to test the function of NAD binding motif GxxGxxG. Most importantly, the present study determined the involvement of OcUAXS2 and OcUXS1-3 in xylose-containing polysaccharides biosynthesis in O. caudatum. These data provide a comprehensive knowledge for UXS and UAXS families in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article titled "Neuroprotective Effects of the Sonic Hedgehog Signaling Pathway in Ischemic Injury through Promotion of Synaptic and Neuronal Health" [[1]], the authors have identified that in Figure 4, the incorrect images were provided due to an error during the preparation of the manuscript. Graph: (a) Graph: (b) Graph: (c) REFERENCES 1 Yin S., Bai X., Xin D., Li T., Chu X., Ke H., Han M., Chen W., Li X., Wang Z. Neuroprotective Effects of the Sonic Hedgehog Signaling Pathway in Ischemic Injury through Promotion of Synaptic and Neuronal Health. [Extracted from the article]

The F1 progeny from parents selected randomly for differences in performance traits from different families of mirror carp were used as a mapping panel. Linkage maps constructed using Join Map 4.0 software with 992 microsatellite polymorphic markers ultimately yielded 51 groups. Composite interval mapping ( CIM) of superoxide dismutase ( SOD) trait of three tissues (liver, anterior and posterior intestine) was conducted for quantitative trait loci ( QTL) location using Map QTL 6.0 software. Results shows that seven QTLs significantly ( P < 0.05) explained 8.2-18.5% of the phenotypic variations in liver, five QTLs explained 7.9-11.1% of the variation in anterior intestine ( P < 0.05) and six QTLs were located and explained 6.1-15.8% of the phenotypic variations in posterior intestine ( P < 0.05). NCBI BLASTn was used for homology analysis between the sequences from markers used in the located QTL regions and sequences from the zebrafish database, and many protein relating with the SOD expression were blasted (similarity >85%). These results showed that it is highly probable that these QTLs are the main regions of SOD expression. The data also support the value of forward genetic studies on organism development and serve as a basis for selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A complete three-dimensional finite difference scheme has been developed and used to analyze the nonlinear hydrodynamic pressures on arch dam during earthquakes. Both free-surface waves and nonlinear convective acceleration are included in the analysis. Various dam shapes and reservoir banks were studied and the characteristic of nonlinear contribution due to curved geometry and free-surface waves are discussed. Numerical experiments have been made to determine the desirable mesh size arrangements and time increments. The effects of surface wave and convective acceleration on hydrodynamic pressure could augment the hydrodynamic pressure to 10% larger than that of a linear analysis. For an earthquake with large ground displacement, a large rise of the water surface could probably happen and be a severe threat to human safety in recreational areas and even cause overflow to affect the safe operation of the arch dam. An empirical formula is given to predict approximate hydrodynamic force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plenoptic camera is a single lens stereo camera which can retrieve the direction of light rays while detecting their intensity distribution. In this paper, to reveal more truths of plenoptic camera imaging, we present the wavefront analysis for the plenoptic camera imaging from the angle of physical optics but not from the ray tracing model of geometric optics. Specifically, the wavefront imaging model of a plenoptic camera is analyzed and simulated by scalar diffraction theory and the depth estimation is redescribed based on physical optics. We simulate a set of raw plenoptic images of an object scene, thereby validating the analysis and derivations and the difference between the imaging analysis methods based on geometric optics and physical optics are also shown in simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]