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Influenza pandemics pose public health threats annually for lacking vaccine that provides cross-protection against novel and emerging influenza viruses. Combining conserved antigens that induce cross-protective antibody responses with epitopes that activate cross-protective T cell responses might be an attractive strategy for developing a universal vaccine. In this study, we constructed a recombinant protein named NMHC that consists of influenza viral conserved epitopes and a superantigen fragment. NMHC promoted the maturation of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells and induced CD4+ T cells to differentiate into Th1, Th2, and Th17 subtypes. Mice vaccinated with NMHC produced high levels of immunoglobulins that cross-bound to HA fragments from six influenza virus subtypes with high antibody titers. Anti-NMHC serum showed potent hemagglutinin inhibition effects to highly divergent group 1 (H1 subtype) and group 2 (H3 subtype) influenza virus strains. Furthermore, purified anti-NMHC antibodies bound to multiple HAs with high affinities. NMHC vaccination effectively protected mice from infection and lung damage when exposed to two subtypes of H1N1 influenza virus. Moreover, NMHC vaccination elicited CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses that cleared the virus from infected tissues and prevented virus spread. In conclusion, this study provides proof of concept that NMHC vaccination triggers B and T cell immune responses against multiple influenza virus infections. Therefore, NMHC might be a candidate universal broad-spectrum vaccine for the prevention and treatment of multiple influenza viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bladder cancer (BC) is one of the commonest malignancies in the urinary system. Recent evidences have shown that Phospholysine phosphohistidine inorganic pyrophosphate phosphatase (LHPP) serves as a tumor suppressor in hepatocellular carcinoma and cervical cancer. However, little is known about its function in BC. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of LHPP in BC. We found that LHPP was down-regulated in BC tissues and cells. Knockdown of LHPP promoted the proliferation and growth of BC cells T24 and 5637. Inverse results were observed in SW780 and BIU87 cells with ectopic LHPP expression. LHPP also repressed the glycolysis of BC cells. At the molecular level, LHPP silencing led to enhanced phosphorylation of both AKT and p65, as well as up-regulation of their downstream targets Bcl-2 and Cyclin D1. Inhibition of AKT by MK2206 blunted the increased phosphorylation of p65 caused by LHPP knockdown, suggesting that LHPP silencing activated p65 through AKT. Importantly, p65 inhibitor (caffeic acid phenethyl ester) exhibited larger suppressive effect on the proliferation of LHPP knockdown BC cells as compared with Ctrl cell. Our study demonstrates that LHPP suppresses BC cell growth via inactivating AKT/p65 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the most challenging tasks of remote sensing big data mining, large-scale remote sensing image retrieval has attracted increasing attention from researchers. Existing large-scale remote sensing image retrieval approaches are generally implemented by using hashing learning methods, which take handcrafted features as inputs and map the highdimensional feature vector to the low-dimensional binary feature vector to reduce feature-searching complexity levels. As a means of applying the merits of deep learning, this paper proposes a novel large-scale remote sensing image retrieval approach based on deep hashing neural networks (DHNNs). More specifically, DHNNs are composed of deep feature learning neural networks and hashing learning neural networks and can be optimized in an end-to-end manner. Rather than requiring to dedicate expertise and effort to the design of feature descriptors, we can automatically learn good feature extraction operations and feature hashing mapping under the supervision of labeled samples. To broaden the application field, DHNNs are evaluated under two representative remote sensing cases: scarce and sufficient labeled samples. To make up for a lack of labeled samples, DHNNs can be trained via transfer learning for the former case. For the latter case, DHNNs can be trained via supervised learning from scratch with the aid of a vast number of labeled samples. Extensive experiments on one public remote sensing image data set with a limited number of labeled samples and on another public data set with plenty of labeled samples show that the proposed remote sensing image retrieval approach based on DHNNs can remarkably outperform state-of-the-art methods under both of the examined conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by the urgent demand of remote sensing big data management and knowledge discovery, large-scale remote sensing image retrieval (LSRSIR) has attracted more and more attention. As is well known, hashing learning has played an important role in coping with big data mining problems. In the literature, several hashing learning methods have been proposed to address LSRSIR. Until now, existing LSRSIR methods take only one type of feature descriptor as the input of hashing learning methods and ignore the complementary effects of multiple features, which may represent remote sensing images from different aspects. Different from the existing LSRSIR methods, this paper proposes a flexible multiple-feature hashing learning framework for LSRSIR, which takes multiple complementary features as the input and learns the hybrid feature mapping function, which projects multiple features of the remote sensing image to the low-dimensional binary (i.e., compact) feature representation. Furthermore, the compact feature representations can be directly utilized in LSRSIR with the aid of the hamming distance metric. In order to show the superiority of the proposed multiple feature hashing learning method, we compare the proposed approach with the existing methods on two publicly available large-scale remote sensing image datasets. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed approach can significantly outperform the state-of-the-art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with other underwater exploration robots, Spherical underwater robot has an outstanding advantage for the underwater exploration, whose spherical shell has the excellent resiliency to protect the internal electronic components. In addition, this steering resistance is very small to move flexibly. In this paper, a type of spherical underwater robot with the pendulums and a propeller was studied on moving at the water bottom in a rolling manner. The structure and force were analyzed to understand that the hydrodynamic force's affection on the robot's rolling at the water bottom. A mathematical model was established with the mass parameters and speeding parameters. The virtual simulation environment was established in Adams software. Furthermore, the coupling fluctuation characteristics of the speed, swing angle and the torque were studied by the simulation and the experiment in a pool. The study proved that this robot not only can use the propeller to move in water, but also can roll at the water bottom by driving the spherical shell. Especially, the result also can be obtained that the robot can roll at water bottom stably by increasing the pendulum mass and lowering the motor speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the urgent demand for automatic management of large numbers of high-resolution remote sensing images, content-based high-resolution remote sensing image retrieval (CB-HRRS-IR) has attracted much research interest. Accordingly, this paper proposes a novel high-resolution remote sensing image retrieval approach via multiple feature representation and collaborative affinity metric fusion (IRMFRCAMF). In IRMFRCAMF, we design four unsupervised convolutional neural networks with different layers to generate four types of unsupervised features from the fine level to the coarse level. In addition to these four types of unsupervised features, we also implement four traditional feature descriptors, including local binary pattern (LBP), gray level co-occurrence (GLCM), maximal response 8 (MR8), and scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT). In order to fully incorporate the complementary information among multiple features of one image and the mutual information across auxiliary images in the image dataset, this paper advocates collaborative affinity metric fusion to measure the similarity between images. The performance evaluation of high-resolution remote sensing image retrieval is implemented on two public datasets, the UC Merced (UCM) dataset and the Wuhan University (WH) dataset. Large numbers of experiments show that our proposed IRMFRCAMF can significantly outperform the state-of-the-art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, highly purified and stable gold nanoparticle (AuNP) dimers connected at the two ends of DNA linkage were prepared by a versatile method. A nanostructured, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) switching sensor system was fabricated based on the controlled organization of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by a DNA nanomachine through the controlled formation/deformation of SERS "hotspots". This strategy not only opens opportunities in the precise engineering of gap distances in gold-gold nanostructures in a highly controllable and reproducible fashion, but also provides a unique ability to research the origin of SERS and sequence-specific DNA detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planting date influences grain soybean yield and quality, but no information is available regarding the responses of seed chemical compositions to delayed planting date in vegetable soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]. Three vegetable soybean cultivars, CAS No.l, Tai 292, and 121, were planted on 3 May, 15 May, 27 May, and 8 June in the field during the 2010 and 2011 growing seasons. The experiment was a randomized complete block design with three replications on a typical Mollisol (black soil). We found that late planting reduced fresh pod yield in all cultivars and years. The reduction in fresh pod yield to delayed planting was significantly correlated with the reduction in the number of two-seed pods per plant. Cultivars with strong capacity in retaining more two-seed pods may possess an advantage if planting is delayed. Planting after 15 May increased seed protein content by 4.1% to 7.5% and reduced oil content by 2.4% to 26.3% for different cultivars. The contents of free amino acid, sum of fructose and glucose, raffinose, and stachyose in seed were also increased by late planting. By contrast, late planting reduced the seed sucrose content ranging from 7.6% to 45.5% for the different cultivars. Planting on 3 May usually produced the greatest fresh pod yield and highest seed sucrose content. These results demonstrated that late planting after early May might have a negative impact on the eating quality of vegetable soybean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a novel underwater exploration robot, BYSQ-2 spherical robot uses the heavy pendulum to change the attitudes with the characteristics of small steering resistance and high compressive strength. However, the greater water resistance in the process of moving forward obstructs the rapid movement, because the robot has a spherical shell and only one propeller. The maximum speed was obtained only 0.6 m/s according to experimental tests and theoretical calculations. In order to improve the movement speed, the robot's virtual assembly model was built to study the coupling hydrodynamic forces between the spherical shell and the propeller by CFD method. The coupling hydrodynamic forces were analyzed and summarized under different key structural parameters that include the pipe diameter and the shell diameter. Furthermore, in the conditions of different rotational speed, propeller thrust and water resistance of robot were simulated and calculated. According to the simulation results of the model with the appropriate structural parameters, it was demonstrated that the speed of the robot was improved obviously in the process of moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the reliability of changing tool for ATC (automatic tool changer), a horizontal tool changer of machining center is chosen as the example to study the dynamic characteristics in the condition of changing a heavy tool. This paper analyzes the structure and properties of the tool changer by simulation and experiment, and the space trajectory equations of the manipulator and tool are derived. The maximum force is calculated in the processing of changing tool. A virtual platform for the automatic tool changer is built to simulate and verify the dynamic performance of the tool changer; the simulation results show an obvious vibration in the process of changing tool, which increases the probability of failure for changing tool. Moreover, in order to find out the device's vibration reasons, a professional experiment platform is built to test the dynamic characteristics. Based on the testing results for a horizontal tool changer, it is known that the unstable vibration is mainly caused by the collision of the tool. Finally, an optimization method for the manipulator is proposed to reduce this vibration and improve the reliability of the tool changer. The final simulation and experiment results show that the optimized manipulator can grasp the heavy tool stably, and the vibration amplitude is significantly reduced in the process of changing tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With robots used widely in many fields in recent years, the underwater robot with various characteristics has been thoroughly researched. As a new type of underwater spherical robot, BYSQ-2 uses the heavy pendulum to adjust the attitude, which is flexible and novel. However, it has been not fully understood that how the heavy pendulum would affect the underactuated robot's regular movement. In this paper a fluctuation characteristic for the robot is shown, and then an adaptive control method is proposed to suppress the fluctuation. Based on the simplified structure of the robot, a swing phenomenon of the heavy pendulum is found. Moreover, the reason for the fluctuation is analyzed in the processes of the accelerating and pitching. A dynamic equation for this model is established to accurately calculate the characteristic, and the virtual simulation proves the validity of the theoretical calculation. The characteristics of this coupling fluctuation are summarized by changing motion parameters and structure parameters. The results prove that the pendulum's length and the controlling process are closely related with the velocity fluctuation of the robot. Moreover, in order to suppress the fluctuations, a pitching controller is designed to prevent the heavy pendulum from swinging based on the method of neural network sliding mode. The RBF neural network is used to compensate the nonlinearity and disturbance uncertainties, and two sliding mode structures make the swing rapidly inhibited. At the same time, the pitch angle's error also got convergence. The stability of the control system is proof by Lyapunov and Barbalat theories. Finally, the simulation and experiment show that the control method is feasible and excellent, which can fulfill the suppressed control for the fluctuation of the robot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the clinical trials on the application of cholinesterase inhibitors to manage cognitive impairment. Correlation between aging and dementia; Prognosis of patients with mild cognitive impairment; Prevalence of depression among patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Presents a letter to the editor on the potential of using cholinesterase inhibitors in treating vascular dementia.

It is of great importance to protect paper cultural relics, especially in terms of making them waterproof. One of the important ways to protect paper cultural relics is by hydrophobic modification treatment. However, most of the existing hydrophobic modification methods rely on a great deal of organic solvents, which poses greater risks to safety and pollution. In this work, a simple, green, and effective method for paper hydrophobic treatment was proposed and evaluated. The vapor of a fluorinated triethoxysilane was reacted with the active hydroxyl group on the paper in a closed space, which realized the hydrophobic modification of the paper in one step. The contact angle of the hydrophobic paper prepared by this method was 148.4° under optimal experimental conditions. In addition, this method did not damage the paper, based on the results of the scanning electron microscopy of the paper before and after hydrophobic treatment. The generality of this method was verified by using other substrates and hydrophobic reagents. This method is simple to operate and does not require the usage of a large amount of organic reagent. It is expected to receive widespread attention in the field of the protection of paper and wooden cultural relics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pot experiments were conducted in 2014 and 2015 with two vegetable soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] cultivars ('Zhongkemaodou 1' and '121') under normal rates of nitrogen and phosphorus application with three potassium (K) fertilization treatments: no K application (K0), 120 kg K2SO4 ha-1 at seeding (K1), and 120 kg K2SO4 ha-1 at seeding + 1% K2SO4 foliar application at flowering (K2). Potassium application significantly increased seed sucrose concentration, and the highest seed sucrose concentrations were uniformly observed in the treatment of foliar K application after flowering. At 7 wk after flowering, the highest stage of seed sucrose concentration, K1 and K2 treatments increased sucrose concentration by 19.8 to 44% and 29.1 to 86.4% for Zhongkemaodou 1, and 7.2 to 42.1% and 26.2 to 63.8% for 121, respectively. Changes of net activities of sucrosemetabolizing enzymes in seed paralleled the trend of sucrose accumulation. Potassium application increased the activities of sucrose phosphate synthase and sucrose synthase with increased sucrose synthesis but reduced the activity of sucrose synthase with increased sucrose decomposition. Potassium application also reduced the activities of acid invertase and neutral invertase, especially around seed ripening. Potassium fertilization enhanced seed net activities of key enzymes in sucrose metabolism and subsequently induced the increase in sucrose concentration of vegetable soybean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fouled anion exchange resins were regenerated by electric field intensification of Mg/Al doublemetal hydroxides. Regenerative experiments were performed with varying voltages (10-30 V) and dosages of Mg/Al hydroxides (0.045-0.135 mol and 0.015-0.045 mol, respectively) for 1-5 h. Optimal results were obtained under the following regenerative conditions: 20 V, 4 h, and 0.09/0.03 mol of Mg/Al hydroxides. The maximum regenerative capacity of resins was increased to 41.07%. The regenerative mechanism was presented by Fourier-transform infrared spectrum of resins and Mg/Al hydroxides, and the regenerative degree was analyzed with respect to conductivity, pH value, and electric current. Mg/Al hydroxides were also recycled after the regeneration. This method was proven to be cost-effective and environmentally friendly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the point stabilization problem for the underwater spherical roving robot (BYSQ-3) in the horizontal plane. The finite-time stable control laws are adopted to steer the robot to the origin fast, accurately and reliably. Firstly, the inner structure and operational principle of the robot is described and the kinematic and dynamic equations are established. Secondly, the diffeomorphism transformation and change of inputs are introduced to decouple the multivariable coupling system into two subsystems. The second subsystem consists of two double integrator systems. The finite-time controller is introduced to ensure part states converge to zero in finite time. Then, the other states are steered to the origin using the same method. Thirdly, the design process has no virtual input and the stability analysis is simple, the controller designed is easy for engineering implementation. The simulation and experiment results are presented to validate the shorter convergence time and better stability character of the controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new automatic and adaptive aircraft target detection algorithm in high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of airport. The proposed method is based on gradient textural saliency map under the contextual cues of apron area. Firstly, the candidate regions with the possible existence of airport are detected from the apron area. Secondly, directional local gradient distribution detector is used to obtain a gradient textural saliency map in the favor of the candidate regions. In addition, the final targets will be detected by segmenting the saliency map using CFAR-type algorithm. The real high-resolution airborne SAR image data is used to verify the proposed algorithm. The results demonstrate that this algorithm can detect aircraft targets quickly and accurately, and decrease the false alarm rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing intellectual property (IP) abuse in System-on-a-Chip design, watermarking technique is playing an important role for IP protection. In this paper, we combine watermarking methods at different levels to construct a hierarchical watermarking scheme for field programmable gate array (FPGA) IP protection. We first embed the watermark into the netlist by using a look-up table-SRL transformation. Then we embed the watermark into the bitstream of the same design by using JBits. We test our method on three public FPGA benchmarks. The experimental results show that the overhead of watermarking is significantly reduced due to our judicious strategies. The watermark embedded at high level is well propagated to lower level. Our technique provides a robust and secure watermarking solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To characterize the features of radiographic abnormalities of the tibial bone in Wistar rats which have been fed T-2 toxin and Kashin-Beck disease (KBD) epidemic district food. Ninety Wistar rats were divided into five groups. Group A was fed with a normal diet as control; group B was fed with a normal diet and T-2 toxin; group C was fed with a low-nutrition diet and T-2 toxin; group D was fed with a low-nutrition diet; and group E was fed with a KBD-affected diet. At 4, 8 and 12 weeks, six rats from each group were radiographed. After radiographic examination, samples of left knees were harvested and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. At 8 and 12 weeks, there were radiological changes in the epiphyseal plate. Abnormal radiological signs of blurring, thinning and irregularity were seen in groups C and E rats, and the length of tibial bones showed significant difference in the KBD-fed rats and low-nutrition diet combined T-2 toxin rats, compared to the control group rats ( P < 0.05). The epiphyseal plates showed more obvious necrosis of chondrocytes in groups C and E. A rat model of KBD can be established by a KBD-affected diet; proximal epiphyseal plate and metaphyseal bone of the tibia abnormalities on radiographs and histopathology were present in KBD model rats. A low nutrition diet may be involved the aetiology of KBD, and determination of this should be studied in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biochar can affect soil microbial abundance and community structure due to its excellent physiochemical properties. Our previous study of soil bacterial community discovered that the relative abundance of Acidobacteria was significantly influenced by biochar. In this study, we further investigated the effect of biochar on acidobacterial community composition generated with Acidobacteria-specific primers ACIDO/342 R using Illumina MiSeq sequencing in the same black soil samples after 3 years of biochar application. The qPCR results showed that biochar addition increased the acidobacterial abundance, especially at the rates of 4% and 8%. There were 18 acidobacterial subgroups detected, and Gp4 and Gp6 were the most abundant subgroups. The relative abundance of Gp4 was positively correlated with soil total potassium and negatively correlated with soil pH, while Gp6 was on the opposite. Biochar addition did not influence the α-diversity but altered the acidobacterial community composition. Redundancy analysis revealed that changes in the soil acidobacterial community compositions were closely associated with soil properties, such as pH, total potassium and available potassium. Given that these soil properties were highly correlated with biochar addition, which suggested that the long-term impacts of biochar on the soil acidobacterial community were indirectly driven by changes in soil properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CD8+ T cells can switch between fatty acid catabolism and mitochondrial energy metabolism to sustain expansion and their cytotoxic functions. ST-4 is a TCR-enhanced mutant derived from superantigen staphylococcal enterotoxin C2 (SEC2), which can hyperactivate CD4+ T cells without MHC class II molecules. However, whether ST-4/SEC2 can enhance metabolic reprogramming in CD8+ T cells remains poorly understood. In this study, we found that ST-4, but not SEC2, could induce proliferation of purified CD8+ T cell from BALB/c mice in Vβ8.2- and -8.3-specific manners. Results of gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy analysis showed that fatty acid contents in CD8+ T cells were increased after ST-4 stimulation. Flow cytometry and Seahorse analyses showed that ST-4 significantly promoted mitochondrial energy metabolism in CD8+ T cells. We also observed significantly upregulated levels of gene transcripts for fatty acid uptake and synthesis, and significantly increased protein expression levels of fatty acid and mitochondrial metabolic markers of mTOR/PPARg/SREBP1 and p38-MAPK signaling pathways in ST-4- activated CD8+ T cells. However, blocking mTOR, PPARγ, SREBP1, or p38-MAPK signals with specific inhibitors could significantly relieve the enhanced fatty acid catabolism and mitochondrial capacity induced by ST-4. In addition, blocking these signals inhibited ST-4-stimulated CD8+ T cell proliferation and effector functions. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that ST-4 enhanced fatty acid and mitochondria metabolic reprogramming through mTOR/PPARγ/SREBP and p38-MAPK signaling pathways, which may be important regulatory mechanisms of CD8+ T cell activation. Understanding the effects of ST-4-induced regulatory metabolic networks on CD8+ T cells provide important mechanistic insights to superantigen-based tumor therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD) therapy results in functional and structural alteration of the peritoneal membrane, including epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Interleukin 6 (IL-6) is a local pleiotropic cytokine, hypothesized to play an important role in EMT. This study was designed to investigate the role of IL-6 in EMT and peritoneal membrane dysfunction in long-term PD patients by assessing the level of IL-6 in dialysate and exploring the relationship between IL-6, the related signaling pathway JAK2/STAT3, and EMT, using in vitro cellular and molecular techniques. Plasma and dialysate levels of IL-6 were significantly higher in PD ultrafiltration failure patients compared with patients without ultrafiltration failure and were negatively correlated with measures of PD adequacy. In vitro IL-6 treatment changed human peritoneal mesothelial cell phenotype from a typical cobblestone-like to a fibroblast-like appearance and increased cell viability. IL-6 treatment increased α-smooth muscle actin and vascular endothelial growth factor expression but decreased E-cadherin expression. IL-6 treatment activated the JAK/STAT signaling pathway. However, the JAK2/STAT3 inhibitor WP1066 prevented IL-6- induced activation of the JAK2/STAT3 pathway and EMT. We conclude that IL-6 promotes the EMT process, possibly by activating the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. IL-6 may serve as a novel therapeutic target for preventing EMT, and preservation of the peritoneal membrane may arise from these studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An image layering and confidence analysis based small target detection method in infrared image is proposed. First, a Huffman tree is used to refine the histogram curve, and the valleys of the refined curve are detected automatically. Then, the grey values of the detected valleys are recorded as the segmenting thresholds to stratify the original infrared image. After detecting small abnormal regions in each layer and defining them to be candidate targets, the candidate target set is composed of the candidate targets in all layers. Finally, the abnormality-based confidence of each candidate target is calculated and sorted. The candidate target with maximum confidence is considered as the real one. The experiments show that the proposed method performs robustly and efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Questions exist regarding the causal relationship between malnutrition and stroke outcomes. This study aimed to determine whether nutritional status changes or malnutrition during hospitalisation could predict 3-month outcomes in acute stroke patients.Methods: During a 10-month period, patients who suffered their first stroke within 7 days after stroke onset were included in this prospective multi-centre study. The demographic parameters, stroke risk and severity factors, malnutrition risk factors and dysphagia were recorded. Nutritional status was assessed by 3 anthropometric and 3 biochemical indices. Changes in nutritional status were defined by comparing the admission values with the 2-week values. A Modified Rankin Scale score of 3-6 was defined as a poor outcome at the 3-month follow-up. Univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the power of nutritional status changes in predicting poor patient outcomes.Results: Data from 760 patients were analysed. Poor outcomes were observed in 264 (34.7%) patients. Malnutrition prevalence was 3.8% at admission and 7.5% after 2-weeks in hospital, which could not predict 3-month outcome. Emerging malnutrition was observed in 36 patients (4.7%) during the 2-week hospitalisation period and independently predicted poor 3-month outcomes after adjusting for confounding factors (odds ratio 1.37, 95% confidence interval 1.03-1.83).Conclusions: Emerging malnutrition during hospitalisation independently predicted poor 3-month outcomes in acute stroke patients in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background End-to-side neurorrhaphy is a promising procedure for nerve repair in peripheral nerve injury. However, in previous studies, this technique was limited to somatic nerves. The present study was designed to investigate the feasibility of nerve regeneration after end-to-side neurorrhaphy between autonomic nerve and somatic nerve. Materials and methods Thirty adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the following three groups (n = 10 per group) for different treatments: (1) end-to-side neurorrhaphy group, the left L6 and S1 spinal nerves were transected in the dura, and the distal stump of L6 ventral root (L6VR) was sutured to the lateral face of L4 ventral root (L4VR) through end-to-side coaptation; (2) no repair group, the rats received the same operation as the end-to-side neurorrhaphy group but without coaptation; (3) control group, the rats received the same operation as the end-to-side neurorrhaphy group but the L6VR was preserved. After 4 month, the origin and mechanism of nerve regeneration were evaluated by retrograde nerve tracing. Morphologic and functional properties of the regenerated nerve were investigated by morphologic examination and intravesical pressure measurement. Results Retrograde nerve tracing indicated that the new neural reflex pathway was successfully established, and the main regeneration mechanism was axon collateral sprouting. Morphologic examination and intravesical pressure measurement indicated prominent axonal regeneration and good bladder functional rehabilitation in the neurorrhaphy group. Wet weight and morphology of left extensor digitorum longus muscles appeared no detrimental effect on the donor nerve. Conclusions These results indicated that the somatic motor axons growth into autonomic nerve may be achieved through axon collateral sprouting for nerve repair and function rehabilitation after end-to-side neurorrhaphy of autonomic nerve and somatic nerve without apparent impairment of the donor somatic nerve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abnormal aggregation of α-synuclein (α-syn) is central to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) was previously shown to control major cell response pathways to the cytotoxic ubiquitinated aggregates in some protein aggregation diseases. Whether it influences the aggregation process of α-syn in PD models and its related mechanisms are not completely known. Here, we characterized the expression and function of HDAC6 in the ubiquitin-proteasome system impairment-induced PD model. Our results showed that HDAC6 inhibition further exacerbated the nigrostriatal dopamine neurodegeneration and upregulated α-syn oligomers levels, whereas HDAC6 overexpression in vitro showed the opposite effects. More importantly, we provided evidence for the first time that HDAC6 regulating α-syn oligomers levels were related to its ability to trigger the heat shock response in a heat shock protein 90-dependent manner. HDAC6 mediated the dissociation of heat shock protein 90-heat shock factor 1-containing complex, and the activation of heat shock factor 1, which led to the expression of major molecular chaperones to prevent the deleterious α-syn aggregation. Thus, we propose that HDAC6 appears as a key modulator of cell protective response to the cytotoxic α-syn aggregates and may serve as a potential target for therapy development in PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which discusses the efficiency of aspirin and clopidogrel as a combination therapy for providing protection against acute minor stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). Randomized controlled trial was applied to the study using placebo on patients who have undergone onset TIA. Results show that among TIA patients, the drug combination is more effective than aspirin alone.

Stroke is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Asia, and its pattern is changing. The incidence of haemorrhagic stroke is declining while the incidence of ischaemic stroke caused by large artery atherothromboembolism is increasing secondary to an increase in the prevalence of hypercholesterolaemia. The Working Group on Stroke and Lipids Management in Asia Consensus Panel assembled leading experts from the region to reach a consensus on how to address this challenge. The group discussed the observational epidemiology of the relationship between cholesterol and risk of stroke, the clinical trial evidence base for cholesterol-lowering for stroke prevention, and issues specific to stroke and lipid management for Asian doctors and patients. Stroke guidelines from many of the Asian countries have recently recommended consideration of statins for recurrent stroke prevention in patients with previous ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack. However, because these recommendations have yet to be implemented widely, there is a need to educate Asian physicians and patients about the importance of adequate control of hypercholesterolaemia. Further trials of statins in Asian patients are also needed, particularly in those with intracranial stenosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]