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The RF to dc conversion efficiency of a rectenna often varies dramatically with the operating frequency, input power, and polarization tilt angle. To stabilize the efficiency, this article presents a polarization-independent rectifier, which employs a novel six-port Lange-based coupler with a grounded isolation point, as well as four subrectifiers. By the adoption of the novel six-port Lange-based coupler, the rectifier not only achieves stable efficiency at varied polarization tilt angles, but also widens operating frequency and input power ranges. In this case, when developing a dual-polarized rectenna with such a rectifier, the rectenna can receive incident energy at any polarization tilt angles with stable efficiency. For verification, the mechanism of the proposed rectifier is analyzed and a prototype is implemented. Measured results show that the rectifier operates efficiently at a frequency band from 1 to 2.7 GHz and an input power range beyond 18.5 dB. Furthermore, when the polarization tilt angle varies from 0° to 90°, the rectifier can work stably.

This retrospective study assessed the efficacy and safety of ketogenic diet therapies in children with epilepsy caused by SLC2A1 genetic mutations and glucose transporter type 1 deficiency syndrome.Pediatric patients with epilepsy symptoms admitted to our medical center between January 2017 and October 2021 were included if they presented with an SLC2A1 genetic mutation on whole-exome sequencing. We analyzed the patients' convulsions and treatment with antiepileptic drugs. The patients were followed up at different time periods after ketogenic diet therapies.Six patients with SLC2A1 mutations were included in this study. The patients had seizures of different types and frequencies, and they took antiepileptic drugs to relieve their symptoms. They were then treated with a ketogenic diet for at least four months. We analyzed epilepsy control rates at 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months after ketogenic diet treatment. All patients were seizure-free within a month of receiving the diet therapy. All patients were followed up for six months, three were followed up for 12 months after the treatment, and there was no recurrence of epilepsy during this period. After antiepileptic drug withdrawal, none of the patients experienced seizure relapse when receiving ketogenic diet treatment alone. No severe adverse events occurred during the therapy.Ketogenic diet therapy is very effective and safe for the treatment of epilepsy caused by SLC2A1 mutations. Therefore, patients with glucose transporter type 1 deficiency syndrome caused by SLC2A1 mutations should begin ketogenic diet treatment as soon as possible.

ObjectiveTo examine the protective effects of appropriate personal protective equipment for frontline healthcare professionals who provided care for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19).DesignCross sectional study.SettingFour hospitals in Wuhan, China.Participants420 healthcare professionals (116 doctors and 304 nurses) who were deployed to Wuhan by two affiliated hospitals of Sun Yat-sen University and Nanfang Hospital of Southern Medical University for 6-8 weeks from 24 January to 7 April 2020. These study participants were provided with appropriate personal protective equipment to deliver healthcare to patients admitted to hospital with covid-19 and were involved in aerosol generating procedures. 77 healthcare professionals with no exposure history to covid-19 and 80 patients who had recovered from covid-19 were recruited to verify the accuracy of antibody testing.Main outcome measuresCovid-19 related symptoms (fever, cough, and dyspnoea) and evidence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, defined as a positive test for virus specific nucleic acids in nasopharyngeal swabs, or a positive test for IgM or IgG antibodies in the serum samples.ResultsThe average age of study participants was 35.8 years and 68.1% (286/420) were women. These study participants worked 4-6 hour shifts for an average of 5.4 days a week; they worked an average of 16.2 hours each week in intensive care units. All 420 study participants had direct contact with patients with covid-19 and performed at least one aerosol generating procedure. During the deployment period in Wuhan, none of the study participants reported covid-19 related symptoms. When the participants returned home, they all tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 specific nucleic acids and IgM or IgG antibodies (95% confidence interval 0.0 to 0.7%).ConclusionBefore a safe and effective vaccine becomes available, healthcare professionals remain susceptible to covid-19. Despite being at high risk of exposure, study participants were appropriately protected and did not contract infection or develop protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2. Healthcare systems must give priority to the procurement and distribution of personal protective equipment, and provide adequate training to healthcare professionals in its use.

BackgroundUnlike mammals, goose fatty liver shows a strong tolerance to fatty acids without obvious injury. Stearyl-coenzyme A desaturase 1 (SCD1) serves crucial role in desaturation of saturated fatty acids (SAFs), but its role in the SAFs tolerance of goose hepatocytes has not been reported. This study was conducted to explore the role of SCD1 in regulating palmitic acid tolerance of goose primary hepatocytes.MethodsTo evaluate the palmitic acid tolerance of cultured hepatocytes, MTT was examined to reflect the effect of palmitic acid on cell viability, and quantitative PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression levels of several genes related to ER stress, inflammation, and apoptosis, and the role of SCD1 in palmitic acid tolerance of goose hepatocytes was explored using RNA interfere.ResultsOur results indicated that goose hepatocytes exhibited a higher tolerant capacity to palmitic acid than human hepatic cell line (LO2 cells). Furthermore, the mRNA levels of fatty acid desaturation-related genes (SCD1 and FADS2) and fatty acid elongate enzyme-related gene (ELOVL6) were significantly upregulated in goose primary hepatocytes treated with 0.6 mM palmitic acid. However, in cultured LO2 cells, expression of ER stress-related genes (XBP, BIP and ATF6), inflammatory response-related genes (IL-6, IL-1β and IFN-γ) and apoptosis-related genes (Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase-3 and Caspase-9) was significantly enhanced by the addition of 0.6 mM palmitic acid. Additionally, siRNA-mediated downregulation of SCD1 significantly reduced the palmitic acid tolerance of goose primary hepatocytes under the treatment of 0.6 mM palmitic acid; meanwhile, the mRNA expression of inflammatory-related genes (IL-6 and IL-1β) and several key genes involved in the PI3K/AKT, FoxO1, mTOR and AMPK pathways (AKT1, AKT2, FOXO1 and SIRT1), as well as the protein expression of cytochrome C and the apoptosis rate were also upregulated.ConclusionIn conclusion, our data suggested that SCD1 is involved in enhancing the palmitic acid tolerance of goose primary hepatocytes by regulating inflammation- and apoptosis-related genes expression.

Cardiac arrest-induced global cerebral ischemia is a main cause of neurological dysfunction in emergency medicine. Transplantation with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has been used in stroke models to repair the ischemic brain injury, but it is little studied in models with global cerebral ischemia. In the present study, a hypoxia precondition was used to improve the efficacy of MSC transplantation, given the low survival and migration rates and limited differentiation capacities of MSCs. We found that hypoxia can increase the expansion and migration of MSCs by activating the PI3K/AKT and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α/CXC chemokine receptor-4 pathways. By using a cardiac arrest-induced global cerebral ischemic model in rats, we found that transplantation of hypoxia-preconditioned MSCs promoted the migration and integration of MSCs and decreased neuronal death and inflammation in the ischemic cortex. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway on expression of angiotensinogen and AT1a receptor were investigated, to explore the role of TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway in cardiovascular disease. Neonatal rat left ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) were cultured and cardiomyocytes were identified by immunocytochemical staining of sarcomeric α-actin. NRVMs were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at a dose of 10, 100 and 1,000 ng/ml, and RT-PCR was performed 24 h later to detect the expression of TLR4, angiotensinogen (ATG) and AT1a at mRNA level. NRVMs were cultured and pretreated with caffeic acid phenethylester (CAPE) for 30 min. Then NRVMs were stimulated with LPS (1,000 ng/ml) for 24 h. Nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65 was detected by immunocytochemistry. Expression of TLR4, angiotensinogen and AT1a receptor after CAPE stimulation was detected by RT-PCR. TLR4 mRNA was highly expressed in in vitro cultured NRVMs, and the expression level was significantly increased by LPS (10–1,000 ng/ml) stimulation in a dose-dependent manner (P

Guang-Yu Wang,1,* Ling Li,2,* Bo Liu,1 Xiao Han,1 Chun-Hua Wang,1 Ji-Wen Wang3 1Department of Neurosurgery, 2Department of Pediatrics, Qilu Children’s Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 3Department of Neurology, Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Pudong New District, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally tothis work Purpose: This study aimed to explore significant genes and pathways involved in the pathogenesis of supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor (sPNET). Materials and methods: Gene expression profile of GSE14295 was downloaded from publicly available Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened out in primary sPNET samples compared with normal fetal and adult brain reference samples (sPNET vs fetal brain and sPNET vs adult brain). Pathway enrichment analysis of these DEGs was conducted, followed by protein–protein interaction (PPI) network construction and significant module selection. Additionally, transcription factors (TFs) regulating the common DEGs in the two comparison groups were identified, and the regulatory network was constructed. Results: In total, 526 DEGs (99 up- and 427 downregulated) in sPNET vs fetal brain and 815DEGs (200 up- and 615 downregulated) in sPNET vs adult brain were identified. DEGs in sPNET vs fetal brain and sPNET vs adult brain were associated with calcium signaling pathway, cell cycle, and p53 signaling pathway. CDK1, CDC20, BUB1B, and BUB1 were hub nodes in the PPI networks of DEGs in sPNET vs fetal brain and sPNET vs adult brain. Significant modules were extracted from the PPI networks. In addition, 64 upregulated and 200downregulated overlapping DEGs were identified in both sPNET vs fetal brain and sPNET vs adult brain. The genes involved in the regulatory network upon overlapping DEGs and the TFs were correlated with calcium signaling pathway. Conclusion: Calcium signaling pathway and several genes (CDK1, CDC20, BUB1B, and BUB1) may play important roles in the pathogenesis of sPNET. Keywords: primitive neuroectodermal tumor, microarray analysis, protein-protein interaction, transcription factors

Excitotoxicity and neuronal death following epilepsy involve α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPARs). It forms a protein complex with glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and co-internalizes upon activation of AMPA receptors after epilepsy. Disruption of the GluA2/GAPDH complex with an interfering peptide, TAT-GluA2NT1-3-2, protects cells against AMPAR-mediated excitotoxicity, which have been identified in in-vitro and in-vivo models of brain ischemia. We postulated that disruption of the GluA2/GAPDH interaction with the TAT-GluA2NT1-3-2 peptide would also protect against AMPAR-induced neuronal injury in an in-vivo model of status epilepticus (SE). In the present study, we divided pilocarpine-induced SE Wistar rats into three main groups: the TAT-GluA2NT1-3-2 peptide group, the TAT-GluA2NT-scram peptide group, and the normal saline group, and injected different doses of peptides stereotaxically into the hippocampus of SE rats to investigate whether the GluA2/GAPDH interaction could be disrupted by our TAT-GluA2NT1-3-2 peptide and determine its most appropriate dose. Then, the dose was administered stereotaxically at different time points after SE to determine the best administration time of neuronal protection. We found that the TAT-GluA2NT1-3-2 peptide can disrupt the GluA2/GAPDH interaction and protects against epilepsy-induced neuronal damage. The GluA2/GAPDH interaction may be a novel therapeutic target for epilepsy.

Many metabolites with novel structures and biological activities have been isolated from the mangrove fungi in the South China Sea, such as anthracenediones, xyloketals, sesquiterpenoids, chromones, lactones, coumarins and isocoumarin derivatives, xanthones, and peroxides. Some compounds have anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties, but the biosynthesis of these compounds is still limited. This review summarizes the advances in the study of secondary metabolites from the mangrove-derived fungi in the South China Sea, and their biological activities reported between 2008 and mid-2013.

Ethyl pyruvate (EP) has been reported to be neuroprotective in several models of brain injury, yet its influence on periventricular leukomalacia still remains elusive. Here we investigated whether repeated administration of EP could protect against white matter injury after hypoxia-ischemia (HI) (right common carotid artery ligation and 6 % O2 for 60 min) in post-natal 3 day rat pups. EP was injected (50 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) 10 min, 1 and 24 h after HI insult. Treatment with EP significantly reduced HI-induced ventricular enlargement, loss of developing oligodendrocytes, and hypomyelination. We further demonstrated a marked inhibitory effect of EP on inflammatory responses, as indicated by the decreased number of activated microglia and astrocytes and the reduced release of proinflammatory cytokines. Moreover, EP down-regulated the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and Bax, and up-regulated Bcl-2 expression after HI exposure. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that EP was able to provide potent protection on white matter injury through blocking the cerebral inflammatory responses and modulating the apoptotic death program of oligodendrocytes, indicating a potential neuroprotective agent in neonatal brain injury.

Summary Mutations of the gene encoding the α1 subunit of neuronal sodium channel, SCN1A , are reported to cause Dravet syndrome (DS). The prevalence of mutations reported in such studies (mainly in clinically confirmed DS) seems high enough to make genetic diagnosis feasible. In fact, commercially operating genetic diagnostic laboratories offering genetic analyses of SCN1A are available. Still, the exact prevalence of mutations of SCN1A remains elusive. Fukuoka University has been serving as a genetic diagnostic laboratory for DS for the last 10 years. In this study, we determined the prevalence of SCN1A mutations ( SCN1A , SCN2A , SCN1B and SCN2B ) in 448 patients with suspected DS and intractable childhood epilepsy. A total of 192 SCN1A mutations were identified in 188 of 448 patients (42.0%). The frequencies of SCN1A mutations in suspected severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (SMEI), its borderline phenotype (SMEB) and intractable epilepsy were 56.2%, 41.9% and 28.9% respectively. In addition, four SCN2A mutations were identified in 4 of 325 patients. No mutations of SCN1B and SCN2B were identified. These results are potentially helpful for the diagnosis of DS at early stage.

Cardiac arrest-induced global cerebral ischemia is a main cause of neurological dysfunction in emergency medicine. Transplantation with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has been used in stroke models to repair the ischemic brain injury, but it is little studied in models with global cerebral ischemia. In the present study, a hypoxia precondition was used to improve the efficacy of MSC transplantation, given the low survival and migration rates and limited differentiation capacities of MSCs. We found that hypoxia can increase the expansion and migration of MSCs by activating the PI3K/AKT and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α/CXC chemokine receptor-4 pathways. By using a cardiac arrest-induced global cerebral ischemic model in rats, we found that transplantation of hypoxia-preconditioned MSCs promoted the migration and integration of MSCs and decreased neuronal death and inflammation in the ischemic cortex. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The molecular pathogenesis of benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) remains unclear whereas mutations of the KCNQ2 and KCNQ3 genes have been identified as causes of benign familial neonatal convulsions. We report here a girl with benign neonatal convulsions followed by BECTS, for whom a mutation of KCNQ2 was identified. This case may provide the clue to the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of BECTS.

Graphene nanosheets were prepared by complete oxidation of pristine graphite followed by thermal exfoliation and reduction. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/graphene nanocomposites were prepared by melt compounding. Transmission electron microscopy observation indicated that graphene nanosheets exhibited a uniform dispersion in PET matrix. The incorporation of graphene greatly improved the electrical conductivity of PET, resulting in a sharp transition from electrical insulator to semiconductor with a low percolation threshold of 0.47 vol.%. A high electrical conductivity of 2.11 S/m was achieved with only 3.0 vol.% of graphene. The low percolation threshold and superior electrical conductivity are attributed to the high aspect ratio, large specific surface area and uniform dispersion of the graphene nanosheets in PET matrix.

Epidemiological data suggest a relationship between maternal infection and a high incidence of childhood epilepsy in offspring. However, there is little experimental evidence that links maternal infection with later seizure susceptibility in juvenile offspring. Here, we asked whether maternal immune challenge during pregnancy can alter seizure susceptibility and seizure-associated brain damage in adolescence. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or normal saline (NS) on gestational days 15 and 16. At postnatal day 21, seizure susceptibility to kainic acid (KA) was evaluated in male offspring. Four groups were studied, including normal control (NS-NS), prenatal infection (LPS-NS), juvenile seizure (NS-KA), and "two-hit" (LPS-KA) groups. Our results demonstrated that maternal LPS exposure caused long-term reactive astrogliosis and increased seizure susceptibility in juvenile rat offspring. Compared to the juvenile seizure group, animals in the "two-hit" group showed exaggerated astrogliosis, followed by worsened spatial learning ability in adulthood. In addition, prenatal immune challenge alone led to spatial learning impairment in offspring but had no effect on anxiety. These data suggest that prenatal immune challenge causes a long-term increase in juvenile seizure susceptibility and exacerbates seizure-induced brain injury, possibly by priming astroglia.

To develop an HPLC method for determination of emodin,chrysophanol and physcion from different medicinal parts of Berchemia lineata.Samples were analyzed on Diamonsil ODS C18 (250 mm x 4. 6 mm,5 μm), with the mobile phase consisted of methanol-0. 20% phosphoric acid solution(74: 26). The flow rate was 1.0 mL/min,column temperature was set at 35 °C ,and detection UV wavelength was 254 nm.The linear range of emodin, chrysophanol and physcion was 0. 00201~ 0. 0804 μg,0. 0066~0. 264 μg and 0. 0124 ~0. 496 μg,with the average recovery was 100. 43% ,101. 29% and 98. 36% ,respectively. The content of total anthraquinones in root was higher than that in taten of Berchemia lineata.The method is simple,accurate and reliable for quality control of Berchemia lineata.

This paper is concerned with solving the viscous and inviscid shallow water equations. The numerical method is based on second-order finite volume–finite element (FV–FE) discretization: the convective inviscid terms of the shallow water equations are computed by a finite volume method, while the diffusive viscous terms are computed with a finite element method. The method is implemented on unstructured meshes. The inviscid fluxes are evaluated with the approximate Riemann solver coupled with a second-order upwind reconstruction. Herein, the Roe and the Osher approximate Riemann solvers are used respectively and a comparison between them is made. Appropriate limiters are used to suppress spurious oscillations and the performance of three different limiters is assessed. Moreover, the second-order conforming piecewise linear finite elements are used. The second-order TVD Runge–Kutta method is applied to the time integration. Verification of the method for the full viscous system and the inviscid equations is carried out. By solving an advection–diffusion problem, the performance assessment for the FV–FE method, the full finite volume method, and the discontinuous Galerkin method is presented.

This study examines whether microdeletions and duplications of the gene encoding α1 subunit of the sodium channel (SCN1A) are underlying causes in Dravet syndrome (DS) with SCN1A missense mutation. Multiple exonic deletions were identified in 8/84 patients without mutation and 0/41 patients with missense mutations. Our findings indicate that while microdeletions are not rare in SCN1A-negative patients, they are not likely to be present simultaneously with other SCN1A mutations.

High specific surface area graphene nanosheets have been obtained from graphite oxide by using an effective modified exfoliation method under vacuum, the exfoliation temperature (135 degrees C) is much lower than that conventionally applied (1050 degrees C) to obtain monolayer graphene sheets via rapid thermal shock. These products have fluffy and highly porous structure and with a lateral size typically of a few micrometers. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation shows that it looks like a wrinkled transparent ultrathin film consisting of single or few-layer graphene sheets, and their Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area is as large as 750 m2/g. Simultaneously, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis revealed that considerable amount of oxygen-containing groups (C/O ratio, 5:1) retained on the graphene sheets after exfoliation process, which would provide convenience for further modification of the surface properties and chemistry of graphene sheets. This work offers a facile and scalable approach to fabricate graphene oxide and opens up a new vista of various potential applications electronics and composite materials.

The development of the follicular wall and apoptosis of corresponding cells are dependent upon the stage of follicle growth and levels of endogenous hormones. However, the development and apoptosis of prehierarchical follicles in geese is insufficiently known. In order to obtain an understanding about the microstructure, development and apoptosis of prehierarchical follicles in geese, firstly, a histological method was used to investigate the morphological structure of prehierarchical follicles. Results showed that the thickness of granulosa cell layers of the follicular wall increased first, then decreased to the lowest when follicles grew to 9-10 mm in diameter, and the theca layers also thinned to the lowest thickness at the same stage. Moreover, the expression of follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) mRNA and the enzyme activity of caspase-3 were analyzed and the results showed that the expression of FSHR was highest when follicles grew to 8-9 mm in diameter (p < 0.05); the enzyme activity of caspae-3 was the highest when follicles grew to 6-8 mm in diameter (p < 0.05). These collective findings suggested that follicles 6-10 mm in diameter were especially significant, and perhaps represent a turning point from growing follicles to dominant follicles to be selected into a hierarchical sequence or to other follicles to be degenerated during prehierarchical follicle development.

Automatic detection of seizures has vital significance for epileptic diagnosis and can efficiently reduce the workload of the medical staff. In this study, a novel seizure detection method based on Stockwell transform is proposed for intracranial long-term EEG data. The Stockwell transform is employed to obtain the time–frequency representation of the EEG signals, and then the power spectral density is calculated in the time–frequency plane to characterize the behavior of EEG recordings. After that, a classifier based on gradient boosting algorithm is used to make the classification. Finally, the postprocessing is utilized on the outputs of the classifier to obtain more stable and accurate detection results, which includes Kalman filter, threshold judgment, and collar technique. The performance of this method is assessed on the publicly available EEG database which contains approximately 533 h of intracranial EEG recordings. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method can achieve a satisfactory sensitivity of 94.26%, a specificity of 96.34%, as well as a very short delay time of 0.56 s.

Four typical finite volume methods, the Roe-MUSCL, Roe-Upwind, HLL-MUSCL and composite methods are implemented on unstructured triangular meshes. Two typical problems of discontinuous solutions of 2D shallow water, the 2D dam break problem and oblique hydraulic jump problem, are solved by the four methods, respectively. The numerical results, the computational speeds and the stabilities of the four methods are compared.

If a real signal can be written in the form u(t) = a(t) cos θ(t), we call a(t), θ(t) and graphic the instantaneous amplitude, phase and frequency of u(t), respectively. In many practical fields, the extraction of such instantaneous parameters as instantaneous amplitude, phase and frequency, is quite important. However, the existing methods for calculation of instantaneous parameters have some defects. In this paper, we construct a kind of wavelet, which has compact support in the frequency domain, and the Fourier transform of the wavelet has analytic expression. Using these wavelets, we obtain a fast, local and de-noising algorithm for calculation of instantaneous parameters of signal. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations show that our method is practical and efficient. It is believed that this method can meet the needs of many practical fields.

The Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm is an active field of optimization based on swarm intelligence in recent years. Inspired by the mutation strategies used in Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm, this paper introduced three types strategies (“rand”,” best”, and “current-to-best”) and one or two numbers of disturbance vectors to ABC algorithm. Although individual mutation strategies in DE have been used in ABC algorithm by some researchers in different occasions, there have not a comprehensive application and comparison of the mutation strategies used in ABC algorithm. In this paper, these improved ABC algorithms can be analyzed by a set of testing functions including the rapidity of the convergence. The results show that those improvements based on DE achieve better performance in the whole than basic ABC algorithm. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/telkomnika.v11i10.3343

To investigate the effect of ketogenic diet (KD) on the clinical and electroencephalogram features in children with pharmacoresistant epileptic encephalopathy.Thirty-one children (19 boys, 12 girls) aged 7 months to 7 years (mean 2 years 5 month) with epilepsy refractory to conventional antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were included in this study. In addition to their original AED treatment, the children were assigned to different ketogenic diets based on their age. The prospective electro-clinical assessment was performed prior to the KD and then one week, one month and again 3 months after the initiation of therapy, respectively.The reduction of seizure frequency in 52%, 68% and 71% of all patients exceeded 50% one week, one month and three months after KD treatment respectively. KD is particularly effective in myoclonic astatic epilepsy (MAE; Doose Syndrome) and West syndrome with 100% and 81.25% of the patients having a greater than 50% seizure reduction, respectively. After 3 months of KD treatment, more than 2/3 patients experienced a reduction in interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) and improvement in EEG background.The clinical and electroencephalographic improvement confirms that KD is beneficial in children with refractory epilepsy.

Our aim was to examine whether neonatal lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure is associated with changes in microglia and whether these alternations could influence later seizure-induced neurobehavioral outcomes. Male pups were first injected intraperitoneally with either LPS or saline on postnatal day 3 (P3) and postnatal day 5 (P5). Immunohistochemical analysis showed that LPS-treated animals exhibited increased microglia activation that persisted into adolescence. At P45, seizures were induced in rats by intraperitoneal injection of kainic acid (KA). Rats treated with LPS neonatally showed significantly greater proinflammatory responses and performed significantly worse in the Y-maze, Morris water maze, and inhibitory avoidance tasks after KA insult. Treatment with minocycline at the time of neonatal LPS exposure to block LPS-induced microglia alternation attenuated the exaggerated neuroinflammatory responses and alleviated memory impairment associated with the KA insult. Our findings suggest that neonatal immune activation can predispose the brain to exacerbated behavioral deficits following seizures in adulthood, possibly by priming microglia.

The neuroprotective effects of ethyl pyruvate (EP) have been proved in several brain injury models, yet very little is known about its action on neonatal white matter injury. To investigate the effect of EP on white matte damage, a stereotactic intracerebral injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 1 mg/kg) was performed on postnatal day 5 Sprague–Dawley rat pups, and EP was administrated intraperitoneally at a dose of 40 mg/kg immediately, 1 h and 12 h after LPS exposure. Significantly, treatment with EP reduced LPS-induced ventricle dilation, loss of O4+ and O1+ oligodendrocytes, apoptosis of oligodendrocytes, and hypomyelination. The protective effect of EP was associated with suppressed inflammatory responses, indicated by the inhibition of activation of microglia and astrocytes, as well as the decreased expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) in rat brains. Also, EP prevented the elevation of cleaved caspase-3 in periventricular white matter tissue after LPS insult. Taken together, these results suggest that EP confers potent protection against LPS-induced white matter injury via its anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic properties.

Objective: We found a novel marine drug, SZ–685C, that was isolated from the secondary metabolites of a mangrove endophytic fungus (No. 1403) collected from the South China Sea, which has been reported to inhibit the proliferation of certain tumor cells. However, its anticancer mechanism remains unknown. The aims of this study were to observe the effectiveness of SZ–685C on pituitary adenoma cells and determine the underlying mechanisms of action. Methods: A rat prolactinoma cell line, MMQ, was used in this study. A dose escalation of SZ–685C was performed on this cell line, and cell viability was assessed using an MTT assay. Hoechst 33342, Annexin V–FITC/PI, TUNEL staining and flow cytometry were used to evaluate the extent of apoptosis at each concentration of SZ–685C. The effect of SZ–685C on prolactin expression was also evaluated using RT–PCR and immunoblotting. Quantitative RT–PCR was used to detect the expression of miR–200c in SZ–685C–stimulated MMQ cells and pituitary adenoma tissues. This miRNA was then overexpressed in MMQ cells via transfection of a miR–200c mimic to identify the mechanism underling the anti–tumor effect of SZ–685C. Results: SZ–685C inhibited MMQ cell growth in a dose–dependent manner but showed little toxicity toward rat pituitary cells (RPCs). The IC50s of SZ–685C in MMQ cells and RPCs were 13.2 ± 1.3 mM and 49.1 ± 11.5 mM, respectively, which was statistically significant. Increasing numbers of apoptotic cells were observed in response to escalating concentrations of SZ–685C, and the expression level of prolactin (PRL) was inhibited. Nevertheless, the level of PRL mRNA was unchanged. Additionally, miR–200c was upregulated in MMQ cells compared with RPCs, and downregulation of miR– 200c was observed in SZ–685C–treated MMQ cells. Furthermore, the overexpression of miR–200c weakened the effect of SZ–685C–induced apoptosis of MMQ cells. Conclusions: Our results suggest that SZ–685C induces MMQ cell apoptosis in a miR–200c–dependent manner. Therefore, SZ–685C might be a useful alternative treatment for pituitary adenoma.

To evaluate the clinical efficiency of implant anchorage combined with segmental arch technique.Segmental arch technique of the micro-implant and adjacent teeth was used, ideal space for the superstructure of the implant was gained.The implant anchorage with segmental arch technique methods decreased the therapeutic process efficiency and made enough space for superstructure of the implant.Implant anchorage with segmental arch technique can undertake the vertical anchorage force efficiently, depress the molar safely and make enough space for superstructure of implants.

This paper presents a full research about earthquake catalogue. We use the earthquake factor to describe the earthquake, make the prediction based on the earthquake data during the past period of time. Considering the nonlinear prediction ability and the generalization ability, we make the seismicity variation rate as the input and create a neural network model. Then validate the model by analyzing the seismicities in East China and illustrate the steps of this method.

Slider-disk impact causes flash temperature rise on the disk surface, which may lead to magnetic erasure. The substrates with different thermal conductivity and Young's modulus show different influences on the flash temperature rise and magnetic erasure. The simulation results show that substrates with low thermal conductivity and high Young's modulus will cause higher flash temperature rise and larger thermal stress. It is suggested to use the substrate or intermediate layer with high thermal conductivity in magnetic media in order to reduce the probability of magnetic erasure by slider-disk impact.

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder that occurs more frequently in childhood than in adulthood. Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) which are used to treat seizures in pregnant women, infants, and young children may cause cognitive impairment or other uncertain injury. However, the exact mechanisms responsible for adverse effects of AEDs in the developing brain are still not clear. In the present study, we investigate the effects of AEDs on mRNA levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), cell neogenesis and mossy fiber sprouting (MFS) in the developing rat brain. Long-term treatment with Phenobarbital (40 mg/kg), valproate (100 mg/kg) and topiramate (40 mg/kg) reduces BDNF and NT-3 mRNA expression in the developing brain, while lamotrigine reduces mRNA expression only at high dose level (80 mg/kg). Cell neogenesis only increases in the rats treated with valproate and lamotrigine. And no differences are observed between the control group and the AEDs-treated groups in the Timm scores of the CA3 region and supragranular region. Our findings present some possible mechanisms to explain why different AEDs cause different cognitive impairment.

Summary Purpose: Genetic abnormalities of the gene encoding α1 subunit of the sodium channel (SCN1A), which can be detected by direct sequencing, are present in more than 60% of patients with severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SMEI) or its borderline phenotype (SMEB). Microchromosomal deletions have been recently reported as additional causes of SMEI. This study examines whether such microdeletions are associated with SMEI as well as with SMEB. Methods: We recruited patients with SMEI (n = 35) and SMEB (n = 34), who were confirmed previously to have no mutations of SCN1A by direct sequencing. Microdeletions were sought by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), and then confirmed and characterized by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and array-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH), respectively. Results: Heterozygous multiple exonic deletions were identified in 7/35 SMEI patients (20%) and 0/34 SMEB patients (0%), with a net frequency of 10.1% (7/69 patients). Deletions were confirmed by FISH and aCGH analysis. The concomitant deletions of adjacent genes were revealed by aCGH. None of the parents who agreed to undergo the analysis had such deletions suggesting that the deletions were de novo. The phenotypes of patients with the deletions were indistinguishable from those of SMEI resulting from point mutations. Discussion: Our findings indicate that microchromosomal deletion, often involving not only SCN1A but also several adjacent genes, is associated with core SMEI. As microchromosomal deletion cannot be anticipated by the phenotypes or detected by conventional methods, genetic abnormalities in SMEI should be carefully sought by techniques that can detect microdeletions.

This report describes a 4-year-old male patient experienced prolonged febrile seizures after 1 year of age, multiple febrile seizures and complex partial seizures with secondary generalization. The gene encoding voltage-gated sodium channel alpha1-subunit: SCN1A analysis revealed a heterozygous de novo one-point mutation (IVS16+2 T>C) at a splice-acceptor site. This mutation was inferred to cause truncation of the alpha1-subunit molecule and, thereby, a loss of channel function. To date, truncation mutation has been found exclusively in patients with severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SMEI), although only missense mutations have been found in generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+), partial epilepsy with FS+, FS+, and FS. The patient's phenotype is consistent with that of partial epilepsy with FS+, rather than SMEI, including borderline SMEI (SMEB). We present the first case report of partial epilepsy with FS+ associated with a truncation mutation of SCN1A. The possibility exists for concomitant involvement of multiple genes other than SCN1A for seizure phenotypes.

We report here the results of the sequence and structure analysis of mitochondrial tRNApro and tRNAthr genes in domestic goose breeds by sequencing the mitochondrial DNA from a total of 25 samples from 6 breeds of Chinese geese and 2 breeds of domestic Europe geese. Sequences and the cloverleaf structure of tRNApro (69 bp) and tRNAthr (68 bp) in domestic goose breeds were described and analysed They were compared amongst the three domestic goose breeds as well as between Anseriformes (Anser cygnoides) and Galliformes (Gallus gallus domesticus, Genbank accession number NC001323). Both goose tRNApro and tRNAthr genes have normal cloverleaf secondary structures. The amino acid arm and the anticodon loop of the cloverleaf structure of tRNApro and tRNAthr are very conservative among Anser albifrons, Anser anser and Anser cygnoides. The gene sequences in this study were deposited to GenBank under accession numbers AY427800-AY427805 and AY427812-AY427814.

Seizures occur more frequently in the neonatal period than at any other time in life. A controversy which has been debated for the recent years is whether recurrent neonatal seizures can lead to long-term adverse consequences or are simply a reflection of underlying brain dysfunction and are not intrinsically harmful. Despite numerous clinical observations showed that seizures may be detrimental to the developing brain, the pathological mechanism has not yet been completely understood. The goal of this study was to investigate what effect was induced by recurrent seizures in neonatal rats on dentate granule cell neurogenesis.Sixty-four neonatal Wistar rats were randomly divided into seizure group (n = 40) and control group (n = 24). The rats of seizure group were subjected to three times of pilocarpine injections intraperitonealy at postnatal day 1 (P1), 4 (P4) and 7 (P7). Neonatal rats of the control group were given saline injection (i.p.) at the same time points. The rat were sacrificed separately at the next four time points: immediately after the third seizure (P7), the fourth day after the seizure (P11), the fourteenth day (P21) and the forty fifth day (P52), corresponding control group rats were killed accordingly. The rats in both seizure and control groups were given bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) injection 36 hours before sacrifice to indicate newly generated cells. Brain tissue sections were prepared and subjected to Nissl staining for neuronal loss, by BrdU labeling for cell proliferation and by BrdU + NF200 (neurofilament 200) double labeling for the identification of the newly formed cells.The numbers of BrdU-labeled cells were age-dependent in the control group, decreased with age, and their morphorlogy and distribution changed (P0.01). BrdU-labeled cells decreased significantly in the seizure group compared with the matched controls at P7 and P11 (P0.01), while at P21 there was no significant difficence between the two groups. On the contrary, BrdU-labeled cells increased significantly in the seizure group compared with the matched controls at P52 (P0.01). Most BrdU-labeled cells in granular cell layer (GCL) of both seizure group and control group coexpressed NF200.Recurrent seizures during neonatal period lead to decreased neurogenesis at the early stage after the third seizure, and at later time points increase of neurogenesis. Most of newly generated cells can differentiate into neurons.

The mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene of 17 breeds of domestic goose (2 in Europe and 15 in China) was sequenced and compared with that of the representative of wild species Anser albifrons. Sequence analysis revealed that thirty-one variable sites and 4 different haplotypes were found among the 45 sequences examined, and nucleotide diversity and haplotype diversity were 0.0068 and 0.45, respectively. Mutations of insertion/deletion were not found. Across all sites,the abundance of G was low (14.2%), whereas the percentages of A, T, and C were quite similar among three Anser goose species. The frequency of guanine differs greatly among the three codon positions. Compositional bias is smaller at first and second positions (0.057 and 0.223) than at third positions (0.492), the probability of transition was higher than that of tranversion (Ts/Tv=9.5-19), there was the highest number of transition in the third codon. The phylogenetic analysis support the hypothesis of dual origin of domestic geese.

The 1 042 bp control region of mitochondrial DNA from 84 geese of 15 domestic goose breeds was sequenced and genetic differentiation was analysed. Results showed that the interpopulation nucleotide divergence was highest (3.805% -4.067%) between Yili and the other 14 breeds. The average nucleotide diversity variation within different domestic breeds was 0 - 0.116%. Excluding the Yili, the interpopulation nucleotide divergence between Huoyan and the remaining breeds, was 0.211% - 0.272%, which was significantly higher than that between any other two breeds (0 -0.094%). During the formation of domestic breeds in China,there is an association between the genetic differentiation of domestic geese and their geographic distribution. The divergence time of Huoyan breed was relatively earlier and genetic drift may have been the main factor to affect the genetic differentiation of the Huoyan breed (Nm = 0.02 -0.54). On the other hand, gene flow is the main reason for the lack of a clear differentiation among the remaining 13 Chinese domestic geese breeds (Nm = 12.0 - 65.33).