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High-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a widely used and effective biological treatment for depression. Although previous studies have shown that astrocyte function may be modified by rTMS, the specific neurobiological mechanisms underlying its antidepressant action are not clear. Substantial evidence has accumulated indicating that neurotrophin dysfunction and neuronal apoptosis play a role in the development of depression. To evaluate this hypothesis, we applied a chronical unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) protocol to induce depression-like behaviors in rats, followed by the delivery of 10-Hz rTMS for 3 weeks. Behavioral outcome measures consisted of a sucrose preference test, forced swimming test, and open field test. Histological analysis focused on apoptosis, expression of GFAP and FGF2, and FGF2 pathway-related proteins. The results showed that after rTMS treatment, the rats' sucrose preference increased, open field performance improved while the immobility time of forced swimming decreased. The behavioral changes seen in rTMS treated rats were accompanied by marked reductions in the number of TUNEL-positive neural cells and the level of expression of BAX and by an increase in Bcl2. Furthermore, the expression of GFAP and FGF2 was increased, along with activation of FGF2 downstream pathway. These results suggest that rTMS treatment can improve depression-like behavior, attenuate neural apoptosis, and reverse reduction of astrocytes in a rat model of depression. We hypothesize that the therapeutic action of rTMS in CUMS-induced rats is linked to the activation of the FGF2/FGFR1/p-ERK signaling pathway.

To investigate the prevalence of depression and anxiety in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) in Hohhot, a large city on the northern border of China, and to identify independent risk factors for depression and anxiety in these patients.Patients receiving MHD for3 months were enrolled in the four largest hemodialysis centers between September 2020 and December 2020. Depression and anxiety were assessed using the Zung self-rated depression scale (SDS) and Zung self-rated anxiety scale (SAS), respectively, with demographic and other data collected for logistic regression analyses.Among 305 MHD patients included in this study, the prevalence of depression was 55.1%, including 27.5%, 21.0%, and 6.6% with mild, moderate and severe cases, respectively. The prevalence of anxiety was 25.9%, with 20.0%, 4.6%, and 1.3% having mild, moderate, and severe cases, respectively. An independent protective factor for depression was family income of ≥1415 US dollars/month relative to157 US dollars/month (odds ratio [OR] 0.209, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.065-0.673), and predictors of depression included ≥3 comorbidities (OR 18.527, 95% CI 1.674-205.028) and severe pruritus (OR 15.971, 95% CI 5.173-49.315). Independent predictors of anxiety included infrequent exercise (OR 3.289, 95% CI 1.411-7.664) and severe pruritus (OR 5.912, 95% CI 1.733-20.168). The correlation between depression and anxiety in these patients was significant (MHD patients in Northern China had high prevalence rates of depression (55.1%) and anxiety (25.9%). Lower family income, more comorbidities, and a higher degree of pruritus were predictors of depression, while infrequent exercise and severe pruritus were predictors of anxiety. Depression correlated significantly with anxiety. Attention should be given to family income, comorbidity, exercise, and pruritus severity for improved management of depression and anxiety among MHD patients.

Traditional observational studies have suggested a potential association between trans fatty acids (TFAs), which are considered to be health-damaging fatty acids, and COVID-19. However, whether there is a causal relationship between them is currently unclear. We aimed to investigate the causal link between genetically determined TFAs and COVID-19. We performed univariate and multivariate Mendelian randomization (MR) studies using summary statistics from the European Pedigree TFAs (n= 8013), COVID-19 susceptibility (n= 159840), COVID-19 hospitalization (n= 44986), and COVID-19 severity (n= 18152) genome-wide association studies (GWAS). The inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was used as the primary MR analysis, and several other methods were used as supplements. In univariate MR analysis, higher levels of circulating trans, cis-18:2 TFAs were positively associated with a higher COVID-19 hospitalization rate (P0.0033; OR=1.637; 95% CI: 1.116-2.401) and COVID-19 severity (P0.0033; OR=2.575; 95% CI: 1.412-4.698). Furthermore, in multivariate MR analysis, trans, cis-18:2 had an independent and significant causal association with a higher COVID-19 hospitalization rate (P=0.00044; OR=1.862; 95% CI= 1.316-2.636) and COVID-19 severity (P=0.0016; OR=2.268; 95% CI=1.361-3.779) after the five TFAs were adjusted for each other. Together, our findings provide evidence that trans, cis-18:2 TFAs have an independent and robust causal effect on COVID-19 hospitalization and severity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Ecosystem services are the bridge between ecosystem functions and human welfare. Climate regulation service (CRS) has an extremely important role in ecosystem services. It is important to conduct a comprehensive assessment based on the whole process of CRS occurrence for scientific assessment of ecosystem services. With Fuzhou City as a case, we carried out the assessment of CRS at the local and municipal scales, and analyzed the spatial and temporal variations of CRS at the administrative unit and land use and land cover scales. The results showed that the aggregated physical capacity of CRS in Fuzhou City was 4.01×10生态系统服务是衔接生态系统功能和人类福利的桥梁,气候调节服务在生态系统服务中占有极其重要的地位。对气候调节服务发生的全过程进行评估,对科学开展生态系统服务评估具有重要意义。本研究以福州市为案例,开展地市尺度气候调节服务评估,分析气候调节服务在行政单元、地类尺度上的时空变化特征。结果表明: 2015、2018年,福州市气候调节服务总实物量分别为4.01×10

Exploring the spatio-temporal variation characteristics of carbon source and carbon sink under different disposal methods of crop straw is of great significance for optimizing the utilization policy of crop straw resources in China and realizing the goal of maximizing carbon emission reduction and carbon neutralization. Based on data from National Statistical Yearbook, we examined the changing trends of both the amount and value of carbon emission, carbon emission reduction, carbon sink enhancement under different crop straw disposal methods in 31 provinces of Chinese mainland. The results showed that the mean annual carbon emissions of straw burning in China from 2008 to 2019 were 8.74 million tons of CO探明农作物秸秆在不同处置方式下的碳源汇时空变化特征,对优化我国秸秆资源利用政策、实现碳减排最大化、实现碳中和目标具有重要意义。本研究以国家统计年鉴数据为基础,对我国31个省农作物秸秆不同处置下的碳排放、碳减排、碳增汇及其价值量的变化趋势进行研究。结果表明: 2008—2019年间,我国秸秆焚烧年均碳排放量为874万t CO

The gross economic-ecological product (GEEP) accounting is crucial to promote the construction of ecological civilization, and practice the ideas of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets". GEEP accounting had been conducted at national and provincial scales, but not at urban scale. According to the economic and ecological development, the GEEP accounting framework was built in Fuzhou City. The GEEP value of Fuzhou City in 2015 and 2018 was calculated and the spatiotemporal variation was analyzed. The results showed that the GEEP value of Fuzhou City was 1208.568 billion yuan in 2015. Among which, the value of GDP and ecological regulation, and the cost of environmental degradation and ecological damage were 577.742, 636.420, 3.095 and 2.500 billion yuan, respectively. Minqing County had the highest GEEP, with a value of 170.022 billion yuan, which accounted for 14.1% of that in Fuzhou City. The lowered values were found in Fuqing City, Minhou County and Yongtai County, accounting for 12.2%, 12.1% and 10.4%, respectively. In 2018, the GEEP of Fuzhou City increased to 1445.399 billion yuan, with an increase rate of 19.6%, mainly due to the GDP increase (up by 47.4% from 2015). The highest proportions of GEEP were observed in Minqing County and Gulou District (12.0%), followed by Fuqing and Minhou counties (11.0%). Compared with 2015, the increase trends were observed for the total value of GEEP, unit area and per capita of GEEP values in Fuzhou City. The cost of environmental and ecological degradation in Fuzhou decreased by 7.2% and 12.4%, respectively, indicating that the overall ecological environment of Fuzhou was improving. The accounting of GEEP in Fuzhou could effectively make up for the shortage of GDP assessment at the urban scale in China. It could provide an instrument for Fuzhou government to formulate rational ecological civilization assessment system and promote regional sustainable development.经济生态生产总值(GEEP)核算是推进生态文明建设、践行“绿水青山就是金山银山”理论的重要实践。目前已有研究开展了全国和省级尺度的GEEP核算,但关于城市尺度的GEEP核算尚鲜见。本研究根据福州市经济和生态发展情况,构建了适于福州市的GEEP核算框架体系,对2015和2018年福州市GEEP进行核算,探讨了福州市GEEP时空变化特征。结果表明: 2015年,福州市GEEP为12085.68亿元,其中,国民生产总值(GDP)为5777.42亿元,生态调节价值为6364.20亿元,环境退化成本和生态破坏成本分别为30.95和25.00亿元;其中,闽清县GEEP值最大,为1700.22亿元,占全市GEEP的14.1%,其次为福清市、闽侯县和永泰县,占比分别为12.2%、12.1%和10.4%。2018年,福州市GEEP有所增加,达14453.99亿元,较2015年上升19.6%,主要源于GDP的增长(较2015年增长了47.4%),闽清县和鼓楼区GEEP占比较大(12.0%),其次为福清市和闽侯县(11.0%)。与2015年相比,2018年福州市GEEP、单位面积和人均GEEP均有所升高,环境退化和生态破坏成本有所下降(降幅分别为7.2%和12.4%),表明福州市生态环境整体向好。本研究对福州市GEEP的核算可有效弥补目前我国唯GDP论考核的不足,同时也可为福州市政府合理制定生态文明考核体系建设、促进区域可持续发展奠定科学基础。.

Ecological degradation accounting is a critical content of building green GDP and gross economic-ecological product (GEEP) accounting systems. With ecosystems in Fuzhou City as a research object, we built an accounting framework for the cost of ecological degradation according to the unreasonable human activity. Following the accounting framework, we calculated the ecological degradation cost in Fuzhou City of 2015 and 2018. The results showed that the ecological degradation cost in Fuzhou City of 2015 was 9.08 billion yuan, accounting for 1.6% of local GDP. For different ecosystem types, marine ecological degradation cost was the largest, about 6.311 billion yuan, accounting for 69.5% of the total loss, followed by wetland ecosystem, accounting for 28.7%, and then arable land, contributing only 1.8%. In term of functions, the cost of provisioning degradation was the largest, about 6.313 billion yuan, accounting for 69.5% of the total loss, followed by regulation loss, accounting for 27.5%, mainly from the loss of climate regulation and hydrological regulation. In the regional distribution, the ecological degradation cost was mainly concentrated in Lianjiang County, Luoyuan County, Fuqing City, and Minqing County, up to 8.092 billion yuan in total, accounting for 89.7% of total loss. Compared with 2015, the ecological degradation cost in 2018 decreased by 2.608 billion yuan, showing an obvious downward trend, with a decrease rate of 28.7%. The reductions were major in Lianjiang County (86.4%), Luoyuan County (14.8%), Fuqing City (19.9%), and Minqing County (12.6%), and mainly concentrated in marine and wetland ecosystems. Such a result indicated that people's awareness of ecological protection in Fuzhou City was increasing, and that the ecological damage due to human activity in marine and wetland system was obviously decreased. This study provided data support for promoting regional sustainable development and ecological civilization construction.生态系统破坏损失核算是构建绿色国民经济和经济生态生产总值核算体系的关键内容。本研究以福州市生态系统为研究对象,根据其人类不合理利用生态情况,构建了符合福州市的生态系统破坏损失核算框架体系,对2015和2018年福州市生态系统破坏损失进行核算。结果表明: 福州市2015年生态破坏损失成本为90.81亿元,占GDP比重的1.6%。在系统类型上,海洋的生态破坏损失最大,为63.11亿元,占总生态破坏损失的69.5%,其次为湿地生态系统,占比28.7%,农田生态破坏损失最小,占比仅为1.8%;在功能组成上,产品供给功能损失最大,为63.13亿元,占总生态破坏损失的69.5%,其次为调节功能损失,占比27.5%,主要源于水流动调节功能和气候调节功能损失;在区域分布上,生态破坏损失成本主要集中在罗源县、连江县、福清市和闽清县,累计高达80.92亿元,占总生态破坏损失的89.7%。与2015年相比,2018年福州市生态系统破坏损失成本减少26.08亿元,呈明显降低趋势,降幅达28.7%,主要源于连江县、罗源县、福清市和闽清县生态破坏损失成本的降低,降幅分别为86.4%、14.8%、19.9%和12.6%,主要源于海洋和湿地生态系统类型人为破坏率的降低,表明福州市人民生态保护意识不断增强,海洋与湿地系统人为生态破坏现象明显好转。本研究对生态系统生态破坏损失的定价为促进区域可持续发展和生态文明建设提供了数据支撑。.

The determination of regional ecological compensation quota and spatial selection are key issues in the study of horizontal transfer payment ecological compensation mechanism. Taking 12 districts of Fuzhou City as the basic research unit, we accounted the ecological function values of forest, grassland, wetland, agriculture, and marine ecosystems in 2015 and 2018. Combined with local economic development situation, we constructed an ecological compensation model. With this model, we determined the ecological compensation quota and spatial distribution of different ecosystems in various districts and counties of Fuzhou. The results showed that from 2015 to 2018, Gulou District had the largest ecological payment, with 36.384 billion yuan, followed by Mawei, Cangshan and Jin'an districts, with 7.809, 6.974 and 6.669 billion yuan, respectively. Luoyuan County and Taijiang District had lower payment, which were 2.942 and 1.903 billion yuan respectively. Among the areas requiring ecological compensation, Lianjiang County and Changle District had high compensation quotas, being 25.120 and 20.261 billion yuan, followed by Yongtai County (12.570 billion yuan). The compensation amounts in Minhou County, Fuqing City and Minqing County were less than 10 billion yuan. The distribution of ecological compensation differed across various ecosystems. In general, the main ecological compensation areas of forest, grassland, wetland and agriculture ecosystem were in Yongtai, Minqing, Minhou, Lianjiang and Luoyuan counties. The compensation amounts were 2.424-31.379 billion yuan in forest, 1.181-20.708 billion yuan in grassland, 1.015-45.493 billion yuan in wetland, and 5.780-23.954 billion yuan in cropland. The main regions that need compensation for marine ecosystem were Lianjiang County, Changle District, and Fuqing City, with the amount of compensation being 8.216-47.854 billion yuan. The results could properly reflect the coordinated development of regional ecological and economic conditions, which could provide a reference for the improvement of the ecological compensation mechanism in Fuzhou City.区域生态补偿额度的确定和空间选择是横向转移支付生态补偿机制研究的关键问题。本研究以福州市12区县为基本研究单元,通过核算2015和2018年福州市各区县森林、草地、湿地、农田和海洋五大生态系统的生态功能价值,结合当地经济发展状况,构建生态补偿模型,确定了福州市各区县不同生态系统的生态补偿额度及空间分布。结果表明: 2015—2018年间,生态支付额度最大的地区为鼓楼区(363.84亿元),其次为马尾区、仓山区和晋安区,分别为78.09、69.74和66.69亿元,罗源县和台江区的支付额度较小,分别为29.42和19.03亿元。需要生态补偿的区域中,连江县和长乐区的补偿额度较高,分别为251.20和202.61亿元,其次为永泰县(125.70亿元),再次为闽侯县、福清市和闽清县,补偿额度在100亿元以下。不同生态系统类型的生态补偿区域分布不同,其中,永泰县、闽清县、闽侯县、连江县和罗源县是森林、草地、湿地和农田生态系统的主要生态补偿区,森林、草地、湿地和农田的补偿额分别在24.24～313.79、11.81～207.08、10.15～454.93和57.80～239.54亿元;海洋生态系统的补偿区主要在连江县、长乐区和福清市,补偿额在82.16～478.54亿元。该结果较好地反映区域生态与经济协调发展状况,可为福州市生态补偿机制的完善提供参考。.

Lysozyme is widely used in medical, food and industrial fields due to its bacteriolytic effect and thus it is significant to design and develop a specific adsorbent with high adsorption capacity and selectivity for lysozyme. Inspired by the high uptake capacity of tetrafluoroterephthalonitrile-crosslinked porous β-cyclodextrin polymers (P-CDPs) and the noncovalent interaction between lysozyme and carboxyl groups, the carboxyl-functionalized P-CDPs (P-CDP-COO−) were synthesized by base-catalysed hydrolysis of nitrile group in P-CDPs to carboxyl. Porous structure, large extent of carboxylic functional groups, cyclodextrin's preventing aggregation, and negatively charged make P-CDP-COO− possess an outstanding adsorption capability for lysozyme. The maximum saturated adsorption capacity reaches 1520 mg g−1, which is much better than the parent polymer and other reported materials. The as-prepared material was successfully utilized for the selective extraction of lysozyme from egg white.

Quinoxaline derivatives demonstrate many distinguished chemical, biological, and physical properties and have a wide application in dyes, electroluminescent material, organic semiconductors, biological agents, etc. However, the synthesis of quinoxaline still suffers from several drawbacks, for instance, longer reaction time, unsatisfactory yields, and use of metal catalysts. Here, utilizing microdroplet-assisted reaction, we demonstrate the successive synthesis of several important quinoxaline derivatives. For case studies of 1H-indeno [1, 2-b] quinoxaline and 3,5-dimethyl-2-phenylquinoxaline, the present microdroplet approach can complete in milliseconds and the conversion rate reached 90% without adding any catalyst, which is considerably quicker and higher than conversional bulk-phase reactions. When combined with MS detection, high-throughput screening of the optimal reaction conditions can be achieved. Several impacts of droplet volume, reaction flow rate, distance from the MS inlet, spray voltage, and flow rate of the auxiliary gas can be screened on-site quickly for enhanced reaction speed and yields. More importantly, this platform is capable to be used for the scaled-up microdroplet synthesis of quinoxaline diversities. Considering the facile, economic, and environmentally friendly features of the microdroplet approach, we sincerely hope that the current strategy can effectively promote the academic research and industrial fabrications of functional quinoxaline substances for chemical, biological, and pharmaceutical application developments.

This paper constructs a teaching resource sharing system based on big data platform technology, which provides a useful solution for the preservation and sharing of a large number of teaching resources at present and in the future, and accelerates the use of teaching resources and data, making accurate analysis and search become possible. While maintaining the stability of the system, we will improve the security and scalability of the big data platform system, and upgrade education and education informatization to a new level to support big data technology. This article details the software optimization of real-time embedded intelligent system based on non-volatile hybrid memory. This article introduces the main model and problem definition, the pulse-based distance accumulation (PBDA) algorithm proposed in the auxiliary case analysis and the detailed introduction of the auxiliary probability-based data allocation algorithm. The online golden course resources part of online and offline hybrid education, that is, the establishment of online public courses, has been recorded in schools at all levels, but there is no relatively complete warranty policy for offline golden course resources. The offline classroom teaching part is a particularly important part of the university’s mixed teaching, and this part is the embodiment of classroom teaching. The use of data can provide accurate decision-making for training, thereby providing teachers with personalized training and overall training support, and can more reasonably make teaching assistant work a demand of the times. However, the accumulation of data volume does not indicate the value of data. The current results are not satisfactory. One of the reasons is that data quality must be improved, and improving the quality of education data through data governance is one of the focuses of the education industry.

Berberine, the major constituent alkaloid originally from the famous Chinese herb Huanglian (Coptis chinensis), has been shown to exert antidepressant-like effects in rodents. However, it is still not clear the involvement of neuro-inflammation suppression in the effects of berberine. The purpose of this study was to determine whether berberine affects the neuro-inflammation system in mice induced by chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS). Berberine was orally administrated in normal or CUMS mice for successive four weeks. Behavioral evaluation showed that berberine prevented the depressive deficits both in sucrose preference test and novelty-suppressed feeding test. The elevation of hippocampal pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), as well as the activation of microglia were decreased by berberine. In addition, chronic berberine treatment inhibited nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) signaling pathway as the phosphorylated proteins of NF-κB, IκB kinase (IKK)α and IKKβ in the hippocampus were suppressed after berberine administration. Furthermore, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), one downstream target of NF-κB signaling pathway was also inhibited by berberine. In conclusion, these findings suggest that administration of berberine could prevent depressive-like behaviors in CUMS mice by suppressing neuro-inflammation in the hippocampus.

Due to the edge states of zigzag graphene nanoribbon (ZGNR), heterojunctions of p- and n-type doped ZGNRs with either high rectification ratios or high spin-filter efficiencies are constructed. Four ZGNR-based heterojunctions are designed theoretically by replacing the edge carbon atoms of two ZGNR electrodes with boron atoms and nitrogen atoms, respectively. The electron-transport properties and the spin-transport properties are studied by applying non-equilibrium Green's function method combined with first principles calculations. The numerical results show that, such heterojunctions show 100% spin-filter efficiencies in the lower negative bias regime. This excellent spin-filter behavior originates from the localized spin-up sub-bands that lie on the Fermi level of boron-doped electrode and lead to a destructive interference of electrons in the scattering region, thereby preventing the spin-up electrons from entering the electrode and leading to a near-zero spin-up current in lower bias regime. When the dopant boron and nitrogen atoms are hydrogenated, the 100% spin-filter efficiency disappears, but the rectification ratio up to 106 is obtained. This amazing rectification ratio results from the vanishing overlap of conduction bands of the two electrodes for both spin-up and spin-down sub-bands when the absolute value of the negative bias is greater than 0.4 V.

Bessel beams are of great potential applications in many fields due to their non-diffraction and self-reconstruction. Here we firstly present a type of nonlinear meta-axicon to generate second harmonic Bessel beams. The nonlinear meta-axicons are based on Au/WS2 hybrid nanostructures. Zero-order and first-order Bessel beams of second harmonic are generated under exciting of 810 nm femtosecond laser. In addition, the performances of the nonlinear meta-axicons, such as the second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency, non-diffracting distance and full width at half maximum (FWHM) are analyzed theoretically and experimentally. The experimental results are consistent with the predicted, which can enable miniaturized nonlinear optical devices related to generate nonlinear Bessel beams, having potential application in nonlinear optical manipulation, imaging and tractor beams.

Diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) plays a major role in decreased life quality of diabetes patients, however, the neural mechanisms underlying DNP remain unclear. Endomorphins are the endogenous ligands for mu-opioid receptor. There is increasing evidence implicating the involvement of spinal endomorphin-2 (EM2) in neuropathic pain. In this study, using a streptozotocin induced diabetic rat model that displayed obvious mechanical allodynia, it was found that the expression of spinal EM2 was significantly decreased in DNP rats. While intrathecal administration of exogenous EM2 attenuated mechanical allodynia in DNP rats, the mu-opioid receptor antagonist β-funaltrexamine facilitated these events. It was found that the reduction in spinal EM2 was mediated by increased activity of dipeptidylpeptidase IV, possibly as a consequence of diabetes-induced oxidative stress. Taken together, our results provide the first evidence that the reduction in the level of an endogenous opioid in primary afferents was significantly associated with DNP. This indicates that the chronic pain associated with DNP might be due to the loss of an inhibitory effect on pain signal transmission.

The adsorbing effect of calcined layered double hydroxide (CLDH) for chloride ions in simulated concrete pore (SCP) solutions was investigated with the potentiodynamic polarization method, impedance measurement, ion selective electrode analysis and XRD. CLDH could effectively adsorb Cl− and increase pH value in SCP solutions containing NaCl. The chloride to hydroxyl ions ratio ([Cl−]/[OH−]) of the solution greatly decreased by CLDH treatment. In CLDH treated SCP solution with Cl−, the pitting potential of carbon steel notably increased, and the surface impedance was much higher, indicating strengthened passivation. The process of CLDH adsorbing chloride ions from SCP solutions was accompanied with the reconstruction of the layered structure.

Efflux of monocaroxylates like lactate, pyruvate, and ketone bodies from astrocytes through monocarboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4) supplies the local neuron population with metabolic intermediates to meet energy requirements under conditions of increased demand. Disruption of this astroglial-neuron metabolic coupling pathway may contribute to epileptogenesis. We measured MCT4 expression in temporal lobe epileptic foci excised from patients with intractable epilepsy and in rats injected with pilocarpine, an animal model of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Cortical MCT4 expression levels were significantly lower in TLE patients compared with controls, due at least partially to MCT4 promoter methylation. Expression of MCT4 also decreased progressively in pilocarpine-treated rats from 12 h to 14 days post-administration. Underexpression of MCT4 in cultured astrocytes induced by a short hairpin RNA promoted apoptosis. Knockdown of astrocyte MCT4 also suppressed excitatory amino acid transporter 1 (EAAT1) expression. Reduced MCT4 and EAAT1 expression by astrocytes may lead to neuronal hyperexcitability and epileptogenesis in the temporal lobe by reducing the supply of metabolic intermediates and by allowing accumulation of extracellular glutamate.

Tuning the charge transfer rate between quantum dots (QDs) and metal oxide (MO) is important for improving the performances of QDs-MO devices. And tailoring the energy band of MO is one way to tune the charge transfer rate. In this work, we enhance the charge transfer rate between CdTe QDs and ZnO through tailoring the optical band gap of ZnO nanofilms by Ga-doping. The Ga doping influenced the photo luminescence (PL) performance of CdTe QDs/ZnO hybrid structures. The results of time-resolved fluorescence spectra revealed that the charge transfer rate from CdTe QDs to ZnO nanofilms could be tuned by varying the Ga doping concentrations in ZnO. And, transfer rate were increased by up to ~4.1 times through Ga doping. In addition, the structure showed electron transfer efficiency improvements to the tune of ~25.3%. We attribute the improvement to efficient electron transfer via band-band transfer and the defects pathways induced by Ga-doping. The experimental results will be useful for improving the efficiency of optical devices using QDs/ZnO hybrid structure.

We present a method for predicting the catalytic activity of the equilibrium surface of an alloy as a function of composition and temperature, allowing for the identification of the region of the alloy phase diagram that maximizes catalytic activity. This is accomplished by simultaneously treating the strain (due to the equilibrium lattice parameter of the bulk material) and ensemble (due to atomic order near the active site) effects with a lattice-parameter-dependent cluster expansion, where the energy of each cluster is expressed as a quadratic function of lattice parameter. We demonstrate our approach using the (111) surface of Pt–Ni catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), for which we present the catalytic activity of both ordered and disordered phases as a function of composition and temperature. We discuss how the optimal composition differs between the phases and suggest synthesis strategies for optimizing catalytic activity. We discuss other possible applications of our approach, including modeling strain effects that are driven by nanoparticle size effects or the creation of core-shell structures.

The stretching and breaking processes of stilbene-based molecular junctions, which contain S or N atoms in the terminal groups, are studied by using density functional theory. The numerical results show that for pyramid-shaped gold electrodes, a stretching force of about 0.59 nN is needed to break the molecular junction with —S terminals, which is larger than the force of 0.25 nN that is required by the molecule to stretch —SH terminals away from pyramid-shaped gold electrode. However, it is obviously smaller than the force of about 1.5 nN that is needed by the molecule to break —S terminals from planar-shaped gold electrode. If the terminal group is —NH2 or —NO2, the force for breaking the molecular junction is about 0.45 nN or 0.33 nN, respectively. More delocalized molecular orbitals formed by the coupling between the frontier occupied orbitals of molecule and electrodes, higher stretching force for breaking molecular junction is required. The natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis shows that more NBO net charges that the terminal atom possesses can enhance the stability of the molecule-electrode contact if there is no bonding orbital formed between end group of molecule and electrode. Based on the numerical results and the combination with previous studies, it can be found that —S terminal and —NH2 terminal show evident properties in distinguishing tip structures of gold electrodes, which provides useful information for precisely controlling the interactions and interface structures between molecule and electrodes.

Objective Atlanto-axial dislocation is one of the leading causes for occipito-cervical instability. This study aimed for investigating the clinical outcome of rod-screw construct rather than traditional posterior wiring for atlanto-axial dislocation. Methods Twenty one consecutive atlanto-axial dislocation patients undergoing surgery in our institution from April 2008 to May 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. Posterior reduction and instrumentation between occipital/C1 lateral mass and C2 pedicle, and concomitant occipital-atlanto-axial fusion were achieved with polyaxial-screw and rod construct. Clinical outcomes and complications were analyzed postoperatively at 3, 6, and 12 months. Results The satisfactory repositioning and internal fixation of the atlanto-axial joint, rigid screw placement and successful atlanto-axial fusion were confirmed in the 20 cases during follow-up. One patient died of a secondary ischemic injury to the brainstem 12 days after operation. The exception was a pediatric patient with loosened screws at 3 months follow-up postoperatively. Importantly, clinical symptoms and neurological function were significantly improved in all 20 cases during each follow-up as compared to preoperative scenarios. In addition, we noted that ischemic injury and screw detachment may be the main surgical risks. Conclusions This surgical procedure provided satisfactory reduction of the atlanto-axial joint with significant neurological improvement. Moreover, we successfully avoided complications of posterior wiring.

PAN-based carbon fiber was used to prepare brush anode, and its electrochemical performance was investigated in a tubular microbial fuel cells. Experimental results showed that electricity production can be enhanced by using brush anode, with maximum current (up to 25 mA) much higher than that of reported microbial fuel cells using other types of carbon materials. Heat treatment is demonstrated to be an effective method to further increase the performance of the brush anode, not only reducing the start-up time of the microbial fuel cells, but also increasing the duration of electricity production and polarization properties.

OBJECTIVE: A prospective cohort study to evaluate the efficacy of bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) on freezing of gait (FOG) in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease. METHODS: Patients ( n = 10) with advanced Parkinson's disease were surgically implanted with microelectrodes to facilitate STN-DBS. Evaluations of FOG, motor function, activities of daily living and neuropsychological function were carried out in on-medication and off-medication states (with and without levodopa treatment), before surgery and at 6 and 12 months postoperatively. RESULTS: STN-DBS was associated with significant improvement in FOG score and neuropsychological function at both 6 and 12 months postoperatively, compared with preoperatively. Significant postoperative improvements were also observed in motor function and activities of daily living. Daily levodopa dosage was significantly lower at both 6 and 12 months postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: STN-DBS improved FOG in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease. The significant reduction in levodopa dosage and improvement in neuropsychological function may be the reason for the therapeutic effect seen with STN-DBS.

The effect of 2,2′-dipyridyl (DP) on cerebral vasospasm was investigated in a double-injection rabbit model of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Thirty-six animals were divided between four groups: control (sham-operated), SAH (model alone), SAH + DP (the SAH model in which DP dissolved in dimethyl sulphoxide [DMSO] was injected once daily for 5 days into the cisterna magna), and SAH + DMSO (the SAH model in which DMSO [vehicle] was injected daily for 5 days). There were significant differences in the basilar artery luminal area, wall thickness, neurological deficit score and vasospasm index between the SAH + DP and SAH groups. There was a significant negative correlation between arterial luminal area and arterial wall thickness, and also between the neurological deficit score and vasospasm index. Cells that were positive for terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end-labelling (TUNEL) and p53 expression were significantly increased in the SAH + DMSO and SAH groups, but not in the SAH + DP group, versus controls. Thus, DP may attenuate cerebral vasospasm after SAH by suppressing p53-induced apoptosis in the cerebral vessels.

It has been shown that endomorphin-2-like immunoreactive (EM2-LI) neurons in dorsal root ganglion play important roles in regulating somatic information transmission. Although EM2-ergic neurons have been found in nodose ganglion (NG) which is mainly involved in transmitting visceral information into the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS), the neurochemical phenotypes of EM2-ergic neurons have not yet been investigated. In the present study, immunofluorescent histochemical staining showed that 43.5% of the NG neurons contained EM2 and these neurons were small to medium in size. 15.2%, 27.8%, 74.4% and 25.2% of the EM2-LI NG neurons expressed substance P (SP), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), respectively. In addition, about 90.8% of EM2-LI NG neurons also contained mu-opioid receptor (MOR). EM2/MOR and EM2/SP double-labeled peripheral axons were observed in the vagal trunk. Anterograde tracing combined with immunofluorescent staining showed EM2/MOR and EM2/SP double-labeled vagal afferents in the NTS. EM2/MOR/SP and EM2/MOR/CGRP triple-labeled neurons and axons were observed in the NG. Importantly, at the ultrastructrual level, post-embedding electron microscopy revealed that EM2-LI and SP-LI gold particles coexisted in the same large dense-cored synaptic vesicles in the pre-synaptic button, while MOR-LI gold particles existed on both pre- and post-synaptic membranes in the NTS. These results suggest that EM2 in axon terminals of NG neurons might be involved in visceral information transmission and homeostatic control through modulating the release of other neurotransmitters (such as SP, CGRP, NO, VIP) via pre-synaptic MOR and through post-synaptic mechanisms in the NTS.

The occurrence of patulin as a natural contaminant of apple juice is a worldwide problem. Most analytical methods consist of multiple liquid–liquid partition steps for the extraction of patulin in apple juice. Matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) is a valuable tool for extracting the analytes from foodstuffs .In MSPD clean-up is carried out simultaneously with, generally, good recoveries and precision. In this study, an efficient method with MSPD using C 18 -bonded silica as sorbent was developed for the analysis of patulin in apple and apple juice concentrate by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Recoveries of apple juice concentrate (AJC) sample and apple sample were in the range of 89.80–103.16% and 85.23–97.98%, respectively, for standard patulin solution. The coefficients of variations (CV) were 2.96–5.45% and the limit of detection (LOD) was 6 μg/kg. The MSPD method is fast, easy, accurate and reliable. Therefore, the proposed method is applicable to the efficient determination of patulin in the course of apple juice concentrate processing.

Chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain (CNP) is the major dose-limiting factor in cancer chemotherapy. However, the neural mechanisms underlying CNP remain enigmatic. Accumulating evidence implicates the involvement of spinal glia in some neuropathic pain models. In this study, using a vincristine-evoked CNP rat model with obvious mechanical allodynia, we found that spinal astrocyte rather than microglia was dramatically activated. The mechanical allodynia was dose-dependently attenuated by intrathecal administratration of L-α-aminoadipate (astrocytic specific inhibitor); whereas minocycline (microglial specific inhibitor) had no such effect, indicating that spinal astrocytic activation contributes to allodynia in CNP rat. Furthermore, oxidative stress mediated the development of spinal astrocytic activation, and activated astrocytes dramatically increased interleukin-1β expression which induced N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor (NMDAR) phosphorylation in spinal neurons to strengthen pain transmission. Taken together, our findings suggest that spinal activated astrocytes may be a crucial component of the pathophysiology of CNP and "Astrocyte-Cytokine-NMDAR-neuron" pathway may be one detailed neural mechanisms underlying CNP. Thus, inhibiting spinal astrocytic activation may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for treating CNP.

Oxidative injury has been implicated in the aetiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) and gypenosides (GP), which are saponins with various bioactivities, have shown antioxidative effects in vitro. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of GP on a 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced mouse model of PD. Acute administration of MPTP led to decreased glutathione content and reduced superoxide dismutase activity in the substantia nigra of the mice, which resulted in oxidative stress, loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons and motor dysfunction. Co-treatment with GP attenuated all the injuries induced by MPTP in a dose-dependent manner. The neuroprotective effect of GP may be attributed to increased antioxidation, as manifested by significantly increased glutathione content and enhanced superoxide dismutase activity in the substantia nigra. These results strongly indicate the possible therapeutic potential of GP as an antioxidant in PD.

Oxidative injury has been implicated in the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD). Gypenosides (GPs), the saponins extract derived from the Gynostemma pentaphyllum, has various bioactivities. In this study, GPs was investigated for its neuroprotective effects on the 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion (MPP(+))-induced oxidative injury of dopaminergic neurons in primary nigral culture. It was found that GPs pretreatment, cotreatment or posttreatment significantly and dose-dependently attenuated MPP(+)-induced oxidative damage, reduction of dopamine uptake, loss of tyrosine hydrolase (TH)-immunopositive neurons and degeneration of TH-immunopositive neurites. However, the preventive effect of GPs was more potential than its therapeutical effect. Most importantly, the neuroprotective effect of GPs may be attributed to GPs-induced strengthened antioxidation as manifested by significantly increased glutathione content and enhanced activity of glutathione peroxidase, catalyze and superoxide dismutase in nigral culture. The neuroprotective effects of GPs are specific for dopaminergic neurons and it may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of PD.

Purpose To study retrospectively the prognostic factors for acute basilar artery occlusion treated with intraarterial thrombolysis and stent placement. Materials and Methods Within 3–48 hours of disease onset, 52 patients with basilar artery occlusion were treated with emergency intraarterial thrombolysis with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) or urokinase (UK) or intraarterial thrombolysis combined with stent placement. Sixteen patients simultaneously received stent placement for the partial recanalization of basilar artery occlusion after intraarterial thrombolysis. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores and the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores of the patients were estimated. Results A favorable clinical outcome occurred in 22 patients (42.3%), and 20 patients (38.5%) died. The survival rate was 61.5% (32 patients). Successful recanalization of basilar artery occlusion was achieved in 24 patients (46.2%), and partial recanalization was achieved in 16 patients (30.7%). The rate of recanalization was 76.9%. NIHSS scores less than 14, treatment time window less than 24 hours, and a good recanalization were markedly correlated with good clinical prognosis. NIHSS scores less than 14 and treatment time window less than 24 hours were significantly correlated with recanalization. NIHSS scores less than 14 and good recanalization could act as independent predictors for clinical prognosis. Conclusions NIHSS scores less than 14 on admission and successful recanalization can predict favorable outcome for patients with basilar artery occlusion. This study shows that intraarterial thrombolysis and stent placement may be a useful treatment for acute basilar artery occlusion.