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Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), zinc finger homeodomain-2 (zfh-2), Abdominal-A (Abd-A), and Abdominal-B (Abd-B) regulate the growth and development of the insect abdomen. However, their potential roles in pest control have not been fully assessed. The development of insecticide resistance to multiple chemistries in the white-backed planthopper (WBPH), a major pest of rice, has prompted interest in novel pest control approaches that are ecologically friendly. Although pest management approaches based on double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) have potential, their susceptibility to degradation limits large-scale field applications. These limitations, however, can be overcome with nanoparticle-dsRNA complexes that have greater environmental stability and improved cellular uptake.In this study, at 5 days post-injection, transcripts for the four gene targets were reduced relative to controls and all of the experimental groups exhibited significant phenotypic defects and increased mortality. To evaluate the potential of these gene targets for field applications, a nanocarrier-dsRNA spray delivery system was assessed for RNAi efficacy. At 11 days post-spray, significant phenotypic defects and increased mortality were observed in all experimental groups.Taken together, the results confirm the suitability of the target genes (SfEGFR, Sfzfh-2, SfAbd-A, and SfAbd-B) for pest management and demonstrate the efficacy of the nanocarrier spray system for inducing RNAi-mediated knockdown. As such, the study lays the foundation for the further development and optimization of this technology for large-scale field applications. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

As a significant pest of rice the white-backed planthopper (WBPH) Sogatella furcifera is a focus of pest management. However, traditional chemical-based control methods risk the development of pesticide resistance as well as severe ecological repercussions. Although nanoparticle-encapsulated dsRNAs provide a promising alternative method for sustainable pest management, gene targets specific to WBPH have yet to be optimized. Genes in the tyrosine-melanin pathway impact epidermal melanization and sclerotization, two processes essential for insect development and metabolism, have been proposed as good candidate targets for pest management. Seven genes (aaNAT, black, DDC, ebony, tan, TH, and yellow-y) in this group were identified from WBPH genome and functionally characterized by using RNAi for their impact on WBPH body color, development, and mortality. Knockdown of SfDDC, Sfblack, SfaaNAT, and Sftan caused cuticles to turn black, whereas Sfyellow-y and Sfebony knockdown resulted in yellow coloration. SfTH knockdown resulted in pale-colored bodies and high mortality. Additionally, an Escherichia coli expression system for large-scale dsRNA production was coupled with star polycation nanoparticles to develop a sprayable RNAi method targeting SfTH that induced high WBPH mortality rates on rice seedlings. These findings lay the groundwork for the development of large-scale dsRNA nanoparticle sprays as a WBPH control method.

BACKGROUND Carboxyl/cholinesterases (CCEs) are thought to play a pivotal role in the degradation of sex pheromones and plant-derived odorants in insects, but their exact biochemistry and physiological functions remain unclear. RESULTS In this study, two paralogous antennae-enriched CCEs from Plutella xylostella (PxylCCE16a and 16c) were identified and functionally characterized. High-purity protein preparations of active recombinant PxylCCE16a and 16c have been obtained from Sf9 insect cells by Ni2+ affinity purification. Our results revealed that the purified recombinant PxylCCE016c is able to degrade two sex pheromone components Z9-14:Ac and Z11-16:Ac at 27.64 ± 0.79% and 24.40 ± 3.07%, respectively, while PxylCCE016a presented relatively lower activity. Additionally, a similar difference in activity was measured in plant-derived odorants. Furthermore, both CCEs displayed obvious preferences for the two sex pheromone components, especially on Z11-16:Ac (Km values are in the range 7.82-45.06 μmol L-1 ) which much lower than plant odorants (Km values are in the range 1290-4030 μmol L-1 ). Furthermore, the activity of the two newly identified CCEs is pH-dependent. The activity at pH 6.5 is obviously higher than that at pH 5.0. Interestingly, only PxylCCE016c can be inhibited by a common esterase inhibitor triphenyl phosphate (TPP) with LC50 of 1570 ± 520 μmol L-1 . CONCLUSION PxylCCE16c plays a more essential role in odorant degradation than PxylCCE16a. Moreover, the current study provides novel potential pesticide targets for the notorious moth Plutella xylostella. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

The German cockroach Blattella germanica (L.) is an important pest in medical, veterinary, and public health. Studies on the olfaction mechanism of hemimetabolous insects have rarely been reported, especially in cockroaches. Pheromone-binding proteins (PBPs) play a vital role in insect sex pheromone recognition, which solubilize and carry the hydrophobic pheromonal compounds through the antennal lymph to receptors. In this study, two potential PBPs (BgerOBP26 and BgerOBP40) were identified on the basis of their biased expression in male antennae using tissue transcriptome data and verified by the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction approach. We then expressed and purified the two identified odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) using the Escherichia coli expression system and affinity purification. In vitro binding studies showed that the two OBPs display stronger binding affinities to the female volatile sex pheromone blattellaquinone than to its analogues and contact sex pheromone components. Finally, three-dimensional modeling of the two OBPs and dock conformation with sex pheromone molecules showed BgerOBP26 has a larger odorant cavity and more conservative active amino acid residues than BgerOBP40. These results illuminated the binding characteristics of potential PBPs of B. germanica, which could lay the groundwork for improved understanding of many aspects of the chemical ecology of B. germanica. Moreover, this information complements the understanding of the olfactory molecular mechanism in cockroaches and provides potential gene targets for B. germanica control.

The German cockroach Blattella germanica is an important urban insect pest worldwide. In many insects, chemosensation is essential for guiding their behaviors for survival. Although a large number of chemosensory-related genes have been identified in B. germanica, little information on tissue-specific and developmental expression patterns has not been uncovered yet. In this study, we performed transcriptome analysis of different B. germanica tissues to reveal novel chemosensory proteins (CSPs) and sensory neuron membrane proteins (SNMPs). In addition, a phylogenetic tree and gender-specific expression of multiple chemosensory gene families have been analyzed. We identified three CSPs genes (BgerCSP11, BgerCSP12, and BgerCSP13) and five SNMP genes in B. germanica. Tissue-specific expression profiling showed that CSP1, 8, and 9 exhibited significant expression levels in both adult and 5th instar nymph antennae. The results have paved the way for further functional study of the chemosensory mechanism in B. germanica and provided potential insecticide targets.

Background The white-backed planthopper (WBPH) Sogatella furcifera, the brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens, and the small brown planthopper (SBPH) Laodelphax striatellus are three notorious rice pests that cause annual losses in rice yield through sap-sucking and virus transmission. Odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) are crucial olfactory genes involved in host-seeking behavior. Results We discovered the presence of 12, 12, and 16 OBPs in WBPH, BPH, and SBPH, respectively, including two novel OBPs in BPH and seven novel OBPs in SBPH. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that most of these OBPs have homologous genes, and one group (SfurOBP11, NlugOBP8, and LstrOBP2) show a slower evolution rate and are more conserved. Further, in vitro binding studies demonstrated that the three OBPs have similar binding affinities for some rice plant volatiles. Finally, RNA interference (RNAi) successfully inhibited the mRNA expression of the three OBPs, and in vivo behavioral tests showed that the OBP-deficient rice planthoppers were partly anosmic and lost some of their ability to locate rice plants. Conclusion These results demonstrate the crucial role of the rice planthopper OBP genes in seeking rice plants. This information complements the current genetic resources for the development of RNAi-based transgenic rice and other pest management technologies. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Si3N4 ceramics with a microscale rice leaf structure (MRLS) and titanium alloy were connected via brazing, and the influence of the surface microstructure on the ceramic connection was analyzed. MRLS fabrication is an efficient and high-degree-of-freedom method that can be used to change a material’s surface morphology and wettability. The MRLS was obtained at a laser power of 110 W, with line spacings of 100 and 50 μm. The laser-treated surface included nanoparticles and micro particles, exhibiting a coral-like structure after agglomeration. When the MRLS was used to braze the titanium alloy, no defects were observed at the brazing interface, and the formation was excellent. Throughout the brazed joint, the MRLS remained intact and formed a strong metallurgical bond with the brazing filler metal. A finite element analysis was performed to study the cross-sectional morphology after joint fracture; from the load-time curve, it was found that the MRLS on the surface not only helped improve the mechanical occlusion and brazing area at the interface, but also helped generate compressive stress on the Si3N4 side. Crack propagation was hindered, thereby increasing the joint strength.

Background The German cockroach, Blattella germanica, is one of the most severe pests of urban and rural areas. High-throughput genetic screening approaches indicate that the olfactory system of this pest is extremely powerful because it has an extensive array of olfactory receptor genes compared with many other insect species. Several of these genes have been identified previously, but their functions have not yet been characterized. Results This study describes the sequence of five transcriptomes of B. germanica adult male antennae, female antennae, maxillary palps, legs, and fifth-instar nymph antennae to investigate expression patterns of odorant receptors (ORs). Approximately 90% of ORs were found to be the most highly expressed genes in adult or nymph antennae. Additionally, every OR requires an odorant co-receptor (Orco) to become fully functional, and this was selected and successfully inhibited by injection of the corresponding double-stranded (ds)RNA targeting the Orco. A strong RNA interference (RNAi) effect was observed in which > 75% of Orco messenger RNA (mRNA) was clearly suppressed after 72 h of treatment. Olfactory behavioral assays showed that Orco-impaired B. germanica respond more slowly and show less attraction to one volatile sex pheromone and food resources compared with a control group. Conclusion The results show that Orco plays a pivotal role in both sex pheromone and food-seeking olfactory processes, and provide an alternative genetic technique for controlling this urban pest species by olfactory disruption. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

The German cockroach

Insect antennae play a fundamental role in perceiving and recognizing a broad spectrum of conventional semiochemicals and host plant-derived odors. As such, genes that are tightly associated with the antennae are thought to have olfactory-related roles related to signal transduction mechanisms. Several mechanisms suggest that enzymatic inactivation could contribute to the signal termination process, such as odorant-degrading enzymes (ODEs). To date, a few ODEs have been identified and characterized in detail in insect herbivores, but little is known about aldehyde oxidases (AOXs); moreover, direct in vivo experimental evidence is needed. AOXs are a major family of metabolic enzymes that oxidize a variety of aromatic aldehydes, and they may also play a significant role in detoxification and degradation of environmental chemical cues. Here, we report on the identification and characterization of a novel cDNA encoding the putative odorant-degrading enzyme, PxylAOX3, from the antennae of the diamondback moth, (DBM), Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae). The purified recombinant protein showed a wide-range of substrate zymography oxidizing both sex pheromone compounds as well as plant-derived aldehydes with distinct activities. Our data suggest PxylAOX3 might be involved in the degradation of many structurally diverse aldehyde odorants. Furthermore, PxylAOX3 could participate in olfactory neuron protection by inactivation of redundant odorants and xenobiotic detoxification, making it a potential target for pesticide development as well.

The white-backed planthopper (WBPH) Sogatella furcifera is a notorious rice pest in Asia. Olfaction is crucial for the WBPH to seek and locate rice plants. However, its mechanism is still not fully understood. Chemosensory proteins (CSPs) are some of the important olfactory-related proteins. In this study, we first used a bacterial system to successfully express the recombinant, antennae-enriched protein SfurCSP5. Further, competitive fluorescence binding assays with 86 candidate ligands, including some known rice plant volatiles, showed that SfurCSP5 has high affinities for 2-tridecanone, 2-pentadecanone, and β-ionone, which are known to be present in volatile mixtures that can attract rice planthoppers, and produced Ki values of 4.89, 4.09, and 1.39 μmol/L, respectively. Additionally, homology modeling of the protein structure of SfurCSP5 showed that it possesses five α-helixes (α-1, α-2, α-3, α-4, and α-5), which is a non-typical feature of the insect CSPs. Finally, ligand docking results revealed that Leu-44, Ile-64, Phe-90, Trp-98, and Phe-101 are five hydrophobic residues that interact with all of the ligands, indicating their key involvement in the binding of SfurCSP5. Our study lays the foundation for an understanding of the olfaction mechanism of rice planthoppers.

The white-backed planthopper (WBPH) Sogatella furcifera, the brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens, and the small brown planthopper (SBPH) Laodelphax striatellus are three notorious rice pests that cause annual losses in rice yield through sap-sucking and virus transmission. Odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) are crucial olfactory genes involved in host-seeking behavior.We discovered the presence of 12, 12, and 16 OBPs in WBPH, BPH, and SBPH, respectively, including two novel OBPs in BPH and seven novel OBPs in SBPH. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that most of these OBPs have homologous genes, and one group (SfurOBP11, NlugOBP8, and LstrOBP2) show a slower evolution rate and are more conserved. Further, in vitro binding studies demonstrated that the three OBPs have similar binding affinities for some rice plant volatiles. Finally, RNA interference (RNAi) successfully inhibited the mRNA expression of the three OBPs, and in vivo behavioral tests showed that the OBP-deficient rice planthoppers were partly anosmic and lost some of their ability to locate rice plants.These results demonstrate the crucial role of the rice planthopper OBP genes in seeking rice plants. This information complements the current genetic resources for the development of RNAi-based transgenic rice and other pest management technologies. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the value of chitinase 3-like 1 (CHI3L1) alone or in combination with other biomarkers in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. METHODS: Serum samples were collected from 70 patients with pancreatic cancer and 31 healthy subjects and the levels of CHI3L1, CA199, C3, C4, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoproteincholesterol (LDL-C) in serum were detected. RESULTS: The serum samples from pancreatic cancer patients showed significantly higher CHI3L1, CA199, C3, C4, HDL-C, and LDL-C levels than those from healthy subjects (P < 0.05). In patients with pancreatic cancer, serum CHI3L1 level was significantly correlated with the administration of anti-cancer therapy (P < 0.05), but not with gender, age, metastasis or other clinicopathological parameters (P > 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that serum CHI3L1, CA199, C3, C4, HDL-C, and LDL-C all had diagnostic value for pancreatic cancer. Multivariate analysis suggested that the combined detection model of CHI3L1, CA199, C3, and HDL-C (AUC=0.964) had a greater diagnostic value than CA199 (AUC=0.896) alone and the combined detection model consisting of CA199, C3, and HDL-C (AUC=0.923; P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Serum levels of CHI3L1, CA199, C3, C4, HDL-C, and LDL-C all have diagnostic value for pancreatic cancer, and the combined model consisting of CHI3L1, CA199, C3, and HDL-C have greater diagnostic efficacy than the other biomarkers either alone or in combination.

Background: It is important to choose an appropriate antiepileptic drug (AED) to manage partial epilepsy. Traditional AEDs, such as carbamazepine (CBZ) and valproate (VPA), have been proven to have good therapeutic effects. However, in recent years, a variety of new AEDs have increasingly been used as first-line treatments for partial epilepsy. As the studies regarding the effectiveness of new drugs and comparisons between new AEDs and traditional AEDs are few, it is determined that these are areas in need of further research. Accordingly, this study investigated the long-term effectiveness of six AEDs used as monotherapy in patients with partial epilepsy. Methods: This is a retrospective, long-term observational study. Patients with partial epilepsy who received monotherapy with one of six AEDs, namely, CBZ, VPA, topiramate (TPM), oxcarbazepine (OXC), lamotrigine (LTG), or levetiracetam (LEV), were identified and followed up from May 2007 to October 2014, and time to first seizure after treatment, 12-month remission rate, retention rate, reasons for treatment discontinuation, and adverse effects were evaluated. Results: A total of 789 patients were enrolled. The median time of follow-up was 56.95 months. CBZ exhibited the best time to first seizure, with a median time to first seizure of 36.06 months (95% confidential interval: 30.64-44.07). CBZ exhibited the highest 12-month remission rate (85.55%), which was significantly higher than those of TPM (69.38%, P = 0.006), LTG (70.79%, P = 0.001), LEV (72.54%, P = 0.005), and VPA (73.33%, P = 0.002). CBZ, OXC, and LEV had the best retention rate, followed by LTG, TPM, and VPA. Overall, adverse effects occurred in 45.87% of patients, and the most common adverse effects were memory problems (8.09%), rashes (7.76%), abnormal hepatic function (6.24%), and drowsiness (6.24%). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that CBZ, OXC, and LEV are relatively effective in managing focal epilepsy as measured by time to first seizure, 12-month remission rate, and retention rate.

The high-speed railway is a typical ground systems, if subjected to a larger GIC, will lead to serious incidents. For the power supply and wiring pattern of high-speed railway is different from the public grid, then how to monitor the GIC impact on the high-speed rail electrical systems need to be studied. The paper study the process and pattem of GIC in high-speed rail track circuit, and propose a signal acquisition method of GIC in the track circuit. The sampled signal will be go through the low-pass filter designed by the window function to obtain the GIC.

Along with the development of aviation industry, airplane emission pollutants is becoming more and more serious environment problem. All the pollutants of aero engine emission, the airplane and engine manufacture companies ,Airlines and environment protection departments care about most is how to reduce the NOx emission. In order to get the concentration distribution diagraph of NOx emission, a test-bed was constructed, the test-bed is designed of two test sections in emission pipeline, there are 13 sampling point in each section,3 test conditions selected to simulate different flying condition. The emission pollutants is monitored by Testo350,and the monitor results is analyzed by Fluent software to get the NOx concentration field distribution characteristics of a certain type of turbo-jet engine emission.

Based on the environmental impact assessment automation system (C4ISRE) and environmental remote sensing technology, integrating virtual reality simulation method, the environmental impact assessment of aircraft noise pollution was simulated by system simulation. Took Environmental Impact Assessment for new school site of Northeastern University for example, the simulation for environmental impact assessment of noise pollution was realized, which provided an effective way to further study Informatization Environmental Assessment.

The traditional heating system just controls the heat source by the PLC,but it dose not control the heating pipe.so it can not solve the problem that it is hot near the heat source but cold when far away from it.The problem of pipe network imbalance also can not be solved.To solve these problems,we design an intelligent control system of pipe network,which combine the traditional heating control system to realize saving energy.This paper introduces the design thought of the application of Siemens programmable controller in heating pipe network,and elaborate on the hardware design and the software programmable of the control system.The actual system operation shows that the remote monitoring system of heating pipe network based on Siemens PLC is high reliability and high stability, and the effect in energy saving is remarkable.

In order to fully recycle power plant’s circulatingwater heat, improve the thermal efficiency and protect the environment, thispaper designs the comprehensive scheme of heat pumptechnology recycling power plant’s circulating water heat, including theboiler mae-up water pre-heating system, the central heating circulatingsystem and the domestic hot water circulating system, which not only run at thesame time but also function independently. Even in non-heating seasons,the waste heat of circulating water can be utilized fully. It is worthmentioning that this paper puts forward to install climate compensationdevice in the central heating system, which can perform intelligent district timesharing control to meet different users’ needs.

The traditional Kalman filter cannot be used directly when some system parameters such as certain elements of the system matrix are not precisely known or gradually change with time. Some uncertain parameters can be described as an interval model. An interval Kalman filtering algorithm is studied in this paper, which can be used to process a system with uncertain parameters. A simple inversion algorithm of interval matrix has been applied and its statistic performances and iterative form are similar to those of traditional Kalman filter. Simulation results show that such filtering algorithm can provide the real time accuracy error estimation and can be applied to such kind of low-cost integrated navigation system.

By the Karamata regular variation theory and comparison principle, we establish the boundary behavior of positive weak solutions for the problem $$\Delta_{p}u=b(x)f(u), \quad x\in\Omega, \qquad u|_{\partial\Omega}= \infty, $$ where Ω is a bounded domain with smooth boundary in $R^{N}$ , the weight $b(x)\in C^{\alpha}(\overline{\Omega})$ , which may be vanishing on the boundary and rapidly varying near the boundary, and the nonlinearity f may be rapidly varying at infinity. For the case $f(s)=s^{m}\pm f_{1}(s)$ with sufficiently large s, where $m>p-1$ and $f_{1}$ is normalized regularly varying at infinity with index $m_{1}\in(0,p-1)$ , we show the influence of the geometry of Ω on the boundary behavior of solutions. Finally, we prove the existence and uniqueness of the solution for the problem.

Prior to the mechanization of agriculture and labor-intensive tasks, humans used donkeys (Equus africanus asinus) for farm work and packing. However, as mechanization increased, donkeys have been increasingly raised for meat, milk, and fur in China. To maintain the development of the donkey industry, breeding programs should focus on traits related to these new uses. Compared to conventional marker-assisted breeding plans, genome- and transcriptome-based selection methods are more efficient and effective. To analyze the coding genes of the donkey genome, we assembled the transcriptome of donkey white blood cells de novo. Using transcriptomic deep-sequencing data, we identified 264,714 distinct donkey unigenes and predicted 38,949 protein fragments. We annotated the donkey unigenes by BLAST searches against the non-redundant (NR) protein database. We also compared the donkey protein sequences with those of the horse (E. caballus) and wild horse (E. przewalskii), and linked the donkey protein fragments with mammalian phenotypes. As the outer ear size of donkeys and horses are obviously different, we compared the outer ear size-associated proteins in donkeys and horses. We identified three ear size-associated proteins, HIC1, PRKRA, and KMT2A, with sequence differences among the donkey, horse, and wild horse loci. Since the donkey genome sequence has not been released, the de novo assembled donkey transcriptome is helpful for preliminary investigations of donkey cultivars and for genetic improvement.

Here we investigated the characteristics and prevalence of headaches in patients with epilepsy in a Chinese epileptic center based on the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd edition. We found that 60.14% (667/1109) of patients reported headaches. Headache was less prevalent in males (57.17%) than in females (63.75%). Interictal headaches were present in 34.62% of patients, and 139/1109 (12.53%) patients had interictal migraine, which was a higher percentage than reported in a large population-based study from the same area (9.3%) using the same screening question. In addition, 469 (70.31%) patients had postictal headache, migraine characteristics were present in 73.35% of these patients, and 15.35% also suffered from interictal migraine. Lastly, 8.85% patients had preictal headache. These results confirm that headache is very common in patients with epilepsy. Seizures often trigger postictal headaches with migraine features. The comorbidity of migraines and epilepsy should receive clinical attention, as it may influence antiepileptic drug choice, and the headache may require specific treatment.

Mossy fiber sprouting (MFS) is a pathological phenomenon that is commonly observed in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying MFS remain unclear. It has been demonstrated that the tau protein is important in the progression of MFS by the regulation of microtubule dynamics and axonal transport, with all of these functions of tau modulated by its site-specific phosphorylation. Glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) is an active kinase that regulates the phosphorylation of tau protein. Therefore, it was hypothesized that GSK-3β contributes to MFS by phosphorylating tau protein. The aim of the present study was to determine the expression and activity of GSK-3β at different regions in the rat hippocampus during the pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-kindling process in order to demonstrate the possible correlation with MFS, and to investigate the involvement of GSK-3β in epileptogenesis. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=180) were randomly divided into the control and PTZ-treated groups. The chronic epileptic model was established by intraperitoneal injection of PTZ and the hippocampus was observed for the presence of MFS using Timm staining. GSK-3β mRNA, protein and activity were analyzed in various regions of the hippocampus using in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry and immunoprecipitation followed by a kinase assay and liquid scintillation counting, respectively. MFS was observed prior to kindling and an increased distribution of Timm granules were observed in the CA3 region of the PTZ-treated rats; however, this was not demonstrated in the supragranular layer of the dentate gyrus. The expression of GSK-3β mRNA and protein, as well as the GSK-3β activity, increased significantly from 3 days to 4 weeks in the PTZ group, and this was correlated with the progression of MFS in the CA3 area. In addition, it was demonstrated that MFS did not result from TLE. GSK-3β may therefore be involved in the progression of MFS and is important in epileptogenesis. An understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying MFS may lead to the identification of a novel therapeutic target to limit epileptogenesis.

The kinetics of photosensitizer 2-devinyl-2-(1-methoxylethyl) chlorinf(CPD4) uptake in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells is described by a diffusion kinetics model and experimentally investigated using laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). CPD4 permeated into MCF-7 cells with increasing incubation time, which was followed by its binding to cell organelles. Subcellular distribution study revealed that CPD4 was primarily localized on the mitochondria and membranes, supporting that the mode of transmembrane transport was diffusion. A kinetics model describing CPD4 passing through the plasma membrane of MCF-7 cells was proposed based on Fick's first law of diffusion. The kinetics of cellular uptake of CPD4 was studied by three-dimensional LSCM. By fitting the experimental data using the above model, important cellular uptake and distribution parameters were obtained, which are of clinical significance in photodynamic therapy.

Through embedded analysis of the calculating principles of suboptimal fading factors, this dissertation puts forward a method of time varying fading factors estimation without a prior knowledge. This method has been used to improve the strong tracking Kalman filter algorithm and applied to loose coupling system of MSINS/GPS integrated navigation. Respectively to fade different data channel with several suboptimal fading factors, it can effectively improve the tracking ability of the filtering algorithm. The simulation results show that this approach can resolve the problem of the measurement correlation and the sensitivity of initial values selecting. The real time character and robust of the system has been improved.

To observe the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5), p35, tau protein and the activity of Cdk5 in rat hippocampus during pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) kindling process and their correlation with mossy fiber sprouting (MFS) so as to investigate the role of Cdk5/p35 in epileptogenesis.A total of 240 healthy male SD rats were divided randomly into normal controls and pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) treatment groups. The epileptic models were established by injection of PTZ intraperitoneally. At Day 3, Weeks 1, 2, 46 after a daily injection of PTZ, Timm staining was scored in the CA3 region and dentate gyrus. At the same time, the mRNA and protein of Cdk5 and p35, total tau protein and its phosphorylation at ser202 and Cdk5 activity were analyzed in the hilus and stratum granulosum of dentate gyrus and the CA1, CA3 regions of hippocampus. The methods of in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, Western blot and immuno-precipitation and liquid scintillation counter were employed respectively.Prominent MFS was observed in area CA3 rather than the inner molecular layer in PTZ-treated rats. And the degree of MFS progressed with the development of behavioral kindled seizures. The expressions of Cdk5/p35 mRNA and protein, tau protein and its phosphorylation at Ser202 significantly increased from Day 3 to Week 4 in the PTZ treatment group. It was in accordance with the progression of MFS in area CA3.Cdk5/p35 and its substrate tau protein may be involved in MFS. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of MFS may lead to therapeutic interventions for limiting epileptogenesis.

The most well-documented synaptic reorganization associated with temporal lobe epilepsy is mossy fiber sprouting (MFS), which is believed to play a critical role in epileptogenesis. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unclear. Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) is a proline-directed serine/threonine kinase which is found to be crucial in axon growth and synaptic plasticity. We hypothesized that Cdk5 contributed to MFS via phosphorylating its substrate tau protein, which was known to facilitate microtubule stabilization and axonal elongation.240 male SD rats were randomly divided into the control group and PTZ group. The epileptic models were established by intraperitoneal PTZ injection, while the control rats were injected with an equal dose of saline. At different time points, Cdk5/p35 mRNA and protein, total tau protein and its phosphorylation at Ser202 (p-tau) and Cdk5 activity were analyzed in different regions of hippocampus by in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, Western blot, immuno-precipitation and liquid scintillation counter. Hippocampus was also evaluated for MFS with Timm stain.Prominent MFS was observed in area CA3 rather than the inner molecular layer in PTZ treated rats and the degree of MFS progressed with the development of behavioral kindled seizures. The expression of Cdk5/p35 mRNA and protein, tau protein and its phosphorylation at Ser202 significantly increased from 3 days to 4 weeks in the PTZ group, which was in accordance with the progression of MFS in area CA3.Cdk5/p35 and its substrate tau protein may be involved in MFS. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying MFS may lead to therapeutic interventions that limit epileptogenesis.

The refractive-index profile of ion-exchange channel waveguide is reconstructed by near-field measurement combined with two-dimensional inverse matrix method, which can avoid the problems brought by multimeasurements and iteration smoothing in the process. The method used here has the advantages of convenient operation and accurate results for the characteristics of the asymmetric channel waveguide. It can be also applied to the refractive-index profile measurements of graded index fibers, polarization maintaining fibers, and single-mode planar waveguides.

To determine the changes of mossy fiber sprouting in hippocampus of pre-kindling and post-kindling rats of chronic epilepsy induced by pentylenetetrazole (PTZ).Sixty rats were randomly divided into a control group and a PTZ group (PTZ 30 mg/kg, intraperitoneal injection, once daily). The changes of mossy fiber sprouting in hippocampus of pre-kindling and post-kindling rats were examined by Timm staining.Before the occurrence of convulsion confirmed by behavior and EEG, the mossy fiber sprouting was found in the PTZ group. The grade of the mossy fiber sprouting increased with the gradual establishment of kindling effect.Mossy fiber sprouting may play an important role in the onset and development of epilepsy.

We consider the multiple allocation hub maximal covering problem (MAHMCP): considering a serviced O–D flow was required to reach the destination optionally passing through one or two hubs in a limited time, cost or distance, what is the optimal way to locate p hubs to maximize the serviced flows. By designing a new model for the MAHMCP, we provide two artificial intelligence heuristics based on tabu search and genetic algorithm respectively. Then, we present computational experiments on hub airports location of Chinese aerial freight flows between 82 cities in 2002 and AP data set. By the computational experiments, we find that both GA and TS work well for MAHMCP. We also conclude that genetic algorithm readily finds a better computational result for the MAHMCP, while the tabu search may have a better computational efficiency.

Background To examine the association between headaches and epilepsy. Methods Consecutive adult epileptic patients who went to the outpatient clinic of the Epilepsy Center of PLA General Hospital between February 01, 2012, and May 10, 2013, were recruited into this study. A total of 1109 patients with epilepsy completed a questionnaire regarding headaches. Results Overall, 60.1% of the patients (male: 57.2%; female: 63.8%) reported headaches within the last year. The age-weighted prevalence of interictal migraine was 11.7% (male 8.9%, female 15.3%), which is higher than that reported in a large population-based study (8.5%, male 5.4%, female 11.6%) using the same screening questions. The prevalence of postictal headaches was 34.1% (males 32.7%, females 35.2%), and the presence of preictal headaches was 4.5% (males 4.3%, females 5.2%). The prevalence of headache yesterday in the general population was 4.8% (male 3.0%, female 6.6%). Thus, the prevalence of headaches, including migraine, is higher in epileptic patients in China. Conclusions The high prevalence of postictal headaches confirms the frequent triggering of a headache by a seizure. A much lower frequency of preictal headaches, a condition in which the real triggering effect of the headache on the seizure might be difficult to prove.