Search

The article focuses on the development and optimization of thermoelectric properties in GeTe-based materials through charge transfer engineering and structure modification. Topics discussed include the potential of GeTe-based materials as a replacement for environmentally harmful PbTe-based materials and explores strategies such as band structure engineering, defect engineering, and nanostructuring to enhance the thermoelectric properties.

Due to the inherent feedforward of load current, capacitor current (CC) control shows a fast transient response that makes it suitable for the power supplies used in various portable electronic devices. However, considering the effect of the outer voltage loop, the stable range of the duty-cycle is significantly diminished in CC controlled buck converters. To investigate the stability effect of the outer voltage loop on buck converters, a CC controlled buck converter with a proportion-integral (PI) compensator is taken as an example, and its second-order discrete-time model is established. Based on this model, the instability caused by the duty-cycle is discussed with consideration of the outer voltage loop. Then the dynamical effects of the feedback gain of the PI compensator and the equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the output capacitor on the CC controlled buck converter with a PI compensator are studied. Furthermore, the design-oriented closed-loop stability criterion is derived. Finally, PSIM simulations and experimental results are supplied to verify the theoretical analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The bacterial community of the small intestine is a key factor that has strong influence on the health of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) in mammals during and shortly after weaning. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of the diets of supplemented with epidermal growth factor (EGF)-expressed Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) on the duodenal microbiotas of weaned piglets. Results: Revealed in this study, at day 7, 14 and 21, respectively, the compositional sequencing analysis of the 16S rRNA in the duodenum had no marked difference in microbial diversity from the phylum to species levels between the INVSc1(EV) and other recombinant strains encompassing INVSc1-EE(+), INVSc1-TE(-), and INVSc1-IE(+). Furthermore, the populations of potentially enterobacteria (e.g., Clostridium and Prevotella) and probiotic (e.g., Lactobacilli and Lactococcus) also remained unchanged among recombinant S. cerevisiae groups (P > 0.05). However, the compositional sequencing analysis of the 16S rRNA in the duodenum revealed significant difference in microbial diversity from phylum to species levels between the control group and recombinant S. cerevisiae groups. In terms of the control group (the lack of S. cerevisiae), these data confirmed that dietary exogenous S. cerevisiae had the feasibility to be used as a supplement for enhancing potentially probiotic (e.g., Lactobacilli and Lactococcus) (P < 0.01), and reducing potentially pathogenic bacteria (e.g., Clostridium and Prevotella) (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Herein, altered the microbiome effect was really S. cerevisiae, and then different forms of recombinant EGF, including T-EGF, EE-EGF and IE-EGF, did not appear to make a significant difference to the microbiome of weaned piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the operation mode of the parallel hybrid system, for double-axis parallel hybrid electric vehicles, and combining the characteristics of engine and motor, using the demand of the difference of the torque and optimal engine torque and the battery state of charge (SOC) as inputs, with engine actual output, and the ratio of optimum torque value as the output, constructs the fuzzy reasoning rules and reasoning, to determine the optimal torque distribution of engine and motor, to the overall energy conversion efficiency of system is the highest. The computer simulation results show that compared with the electric assist control strategy, the design of fuzzy logic to the torque management strategy to improve fuel economy, and can control the battery SOC in the workspace remained stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and quantifying the fundamental physical property of coherence of thermal excitations is a long-standing and general problem in physics. The conventional theory, i.e., the phonon gas model, fails to describe coherence and its impact on thermal transport. In this Letter, we propose a general heat conduction formalism supported by theoretical arguments and direct atomic simulations, which takes into account both the conventional phonon gas model and the wave nature of thermal phonons. By naturally introducing wave packets in the heat flux from fundamental concepts, we derive an original thermal conductivity expression including coherence times and lifetimes. Our theory and simulations reveal two distinct types of coherence, i.e., intrinsic and mutual, appearing in two different temperature ranges. This contribution establishes a fundamental frame for understanding and quantifying the coherence of thermal phonons, which should have a general impact on the estimation of the thermal properties of solids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Popping characteristics play a determinant role in the utilization of popcorn (Zea mays L.). In this study, the RIL population with 258 recombinant inbred lines was evaluated to detect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for three popping characteristics (PF, popping fold; PV, popping volume; PR, popping rate) under four environments. Meta-analysis was used to integrate detected QTLs across three generations (RIL, F2:3 and BC2F2) derived from the same cross. All eleven QTLs were detected for three traits, on chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 6 and 10 for PF, on chromosomes 1, 4, 6, 7 and 10 for PV, and on chromosomes 1, 4, 6 and 10 for PR. Three, 1, 3, 6 and 6 QTL were detected in the same marker intervals in 4, 3, 2, 1 cases, respectively. Four QTLs at bins 1.05–1.06, 1.08–1.09 and 7.03–7.04 were commonly detected in the same or near bins in all three generations. Six and 2 QTLs showed consistency across RIL/F2:3 or RIL/BC2F2 generations respectively. Nine meta-QTLs (mQTL) were detected on chromosomes 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 10. Except mQTL7-1, only related with PV, other mQTLs included two or three traits, reflecting pleiotropic or tightly linkaged QTLs for popping characteristics. The QTL influencing all the three popping traits at bins 1.05–1.06 were also detected in other previous researches using different populations, which could be put into use in marker assisted breeding for popping characteristics in popcorn. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: It is increasingly recognized that Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) has the ability to protect against Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC)-induced damage of the epithelial monolayer barrier function by preventing changes in host cell morphology, attaching/effacing (A/E) lesion formation, monolayer resistance, and macromolecular permeability. However, the cellular mechanism involved in this protective effect still remained to be clarified. Methods: This study was to investigate the effect of L. plantarum on the changes of Caco-2 cells responding to Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC), the permeability of cell monolayer and the transmissivity of dextran, and the distribution and expression of the tight junction (TJ) proteins, such as Claudin-1, Occludin, JAM-1 and ZO-1 were examined when infected with EIEC or adhesived of L. plantarum after infection by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), immunohistochemistry and Western blotting, the cytoskeleton protein F-actin were observed with FITC-phalloidin. Results: This study demonstrated that the transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) step down and dextran integrated intensity (DII) step up with time after infected with EIEC, but after treating with L. plantarum, the changes of TER and DII were improved as compared with EIEC group. L. plantarum prevented the damage of expression and rearrangement of Claudin-1, Occludin, JAM-1 and ZO-1 proteins induced by EIEC, and could ameliorate the injury of cytoskeleton protein F-actin infected with EIEC. Conclusion: L. plantarum exerted a protective effect against the damage to integrity of Caco-2 monolayer cells and the structure and distribution of TJ proteins by EIEC infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel rate-distortion (R-D) model for rate control of video coding. First, we investigate the well-known heat conduction equation (HCE) in the heat conduction process for a thin bar. HCE describes the dynamic distribution of temperature in a thin bar using a partial differential equation (PDE). Motivated by the heat conduction process in a thin bar, a new rate transmission equation (RTE) is proposed to describe the dynamic behaviors of the bit-rate fluctuation during video coding. Second, a particular solution of RTE is employed as our proposed R-D model, which consists of two variables, i.e., the distortion D and the source statistical character M. Based on our model, a corresponding rate-control scheme is proposed for MPEG coding. Finally, extensive experimental results are reported to show that, compared with the well-known MPEG-4 Q2 rate-control scheme, our proposed work achieves better buffer status, higher control accuracy, and stabler and more consistent picture quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal conductivity of nanowires (NWs) is a crucial criterion to assess the operating performance of NWs-based device applications, such as in the field of heat dissipation, thermal management, and thermoelectrics. Therefore, numerous research interests have been focused on controlling and manipulating thermal conductivity of one-dimensional materials in the past decade. In this review, we summarize the state-of-the-art research status on thermal conductivity of NWs from both experimental and theoretical studies. Various NWs are included, such as Si, Ge, Bi, Ti, Cu, Ag, Bi2Te3, ZnO, AgTe, and their hybrids. First, several important size effects on thermal conductivity of NWs are discussed, such as the length, diameter, orientation, and cross-section. Then, we introduce diverse nanostructuring pathways to control the phonons and thermal transport in NWs, such as alloy, superlattices, core–shell structure, porous structure, resonant structure, and kinked structure. Distinct thermal transport behaviors and the associated underlying physical mechanisms are presented. Finally, we outline the important potential applications of NWs in the fields of thermoelectrics and thermal management, and provide an outlook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Type-I clathrate compounds with off-center guest ions can be used to realize the concept of phonon-glass electron-crystal because they exhibit lattice thermal conductivities κL that are almost identical to those observed in network-forming glasses. This is in contrast with type-I clathrates with on-center guest ions, which show κL of conventional crystalline structures. Glasslike κL stems from the peculiar THz frequency dynamics in off-center type-I clathrates, in which there appear three kinds of modes classified as extended, weakly localized (WL) and strongly localized (SL) modes, as demonstrated by Liu et al. [Phys. Rev. B 93, 214305 (2016)]. Our calculated results based on the hopping mechanism of SL modes via anharmonic interactions show fairly good agreement with the observed T-linear rise of κL above the plateau at a few tens Kelvin. We emphasize that both the magnitude and the temperature dependence are in accord with the experimental data of off-center type-I clathrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supported graphene on a standard SiO2 substrate exhibits unsatisfactory heat dissipation performance that is far inferior to the intrinsic ultrahigh thermal conductivity of a suspended sample. A suitable substrate for enhancing thermal transport in supported graphene is highly desirable for the development of graphene devices for thermal management. By using molecular dynamics simulations, here we demonstrate that bulk hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a more appealing substrate to achieve high performance heat dissipation in supported graphene. Notable length dependence and high thermal conductivity are observed in h-BN-supported single-layer graphene (SLG), suggesting that the thermal transport characteristics are close to that of suspended SLG. At room temperature, the thermal conductivity of h-BN-supported SLG is as high as 1347.3 ± 20.5 Wm−1 K−1, which is about 77% of that for the suspended case, and is more than twice that of the SiO2-supported SLG. Furthermore, we find that the smooth and atomically flat h-BN substrate gives rise to a regular and weak stress distribution in graphene, resulting in a less affected phonon relaxation time and dominant phonon mean free path. We also find that stacking and rotation significantly impacts the thermal transport in h-BN-supported graphene. Our study provides valuable insights towards the design of graphene devices on realistic substrate for high performance heat dissipation applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by the successful synthesis of three two-dimensional (2D) allotropes, the boron sheet has recently been one of the hottest 2D materials around. However, to date, phonon transport properties of these new materials are still unknown. By using the non-equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) combined with the first principles method, we study ballistic phonon transport in three types of boron sheets; two of them correspond to the structures reported in the experiments, while the third one is a stable structure that has not been synthesized yet. At room temperature, the highest thermal conductance of the boron nanoribbons is comparable with that of graphene, while the lowest thermal conductance is less than half of graphene’s. Compared with graphene, the three boron sheets exhibit diverse anisotropic transport characteristics. With an analysis of phonon dispersion, bonding charge density, and simplified models of atomic chains, the mechanisms of the diverse phonon properties are discussed. Moreover, we find that many hybrid patterns based on the boron allotropes can be constructed naturally without doping, adsorption, and defects. This provides abundant nanostructures for thermal management and thermoelectric applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat dissipation is a very critical problem for designing nano-functional devices, including MoS2/graphene heterojunctions. In this paper we investigate thermal transport in MoS2/graphene hybrid nanosheets under various heating conditions, by using molecular dynamics simulation. Diverse transport processes and characteristics, depending on the conducting layers, are found in these structures. The thermal conductivities can be tuned by interlayer coupling, environment temperature, and interlayer overlap. The highest thermal conductivity at room temperature is achieved as more than 5 times of that of single-layer MoS2 when both layers are heated and 100% overlapped. Different transport mechanisms in the hybrid nanosheets are explained by phonon density of states, temperature distribution, and interlayer thermal resistance. Our results could not only provide clues to master the heat transport in functional devices based on MoS2/graphene heterojunctions, but are also useful for analyzing thermal transport in other van der Waals hybrid nanosheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of tinnitus is high and seriously affects the daily life of patients. As the pathogenesis of tinnitus is not yet clear, there is a lack of rapid and objective diagnostic modalities. In order to provide clinicians with an objective diagnostic approach, this paper combines time-frequency domain and non-linear power analysis to investigate the differences in the specificity of the EEG signal in tinnitus patients compared to healthy subjects. In this paper, resting-state electroencephalograms (EEG) were collected from 10 cases each of tinnitus patients and healthy subjects, and the data from the two groups were compared in the δ (0.5 − 3.5 Hz), θ (4 − 7.5 Hz), α1 (8 − 10 Hz), α2 (10 − 12 Hz), β1 (13 − 18 Hz), β2 (18.5 − 21 Hz), β3 (21.5 − 30 Hz), and γ (30.5 − 44 Hz) bands for the differences in sample entropy values. The results of the resting state experiment revealed that the δ, α2 and β1 band samples of tinnitus patients all had greater entropy values than healthy subjects, with extremely significant differences compared to healthy subjects (p < 0.01). It is mainly concentrated in the δ band in the right parietal region of the cerebral cortex, the α2 band in the central region, and the γ band in the left prefrontal region. Finally, support vector machines combined with optimal feature combinations were used to achieve objective recognition of tinnitus disorders, with an 8.58% increase in accuracy compared to other features. Through the above study, entropy reflects the degree of chaos in the brain and the chaotic characteristics of the resting state EEG signal can characterise the onset of tinnitus, the results of which can help clinicians in the early diagnosis of tinnitus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New approaches to improve the traditional gene carriers are still required. Here we explore Fe3O4 modified with degradable polymers that enhances gene delivery and target delivery using permanent magnetic field. Two magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles coated with chitosan (CTS) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were synthesized by means of controlled chemical coprecipitation. Plasmid pEGFP was encapsulated as a reported gene. The ferriferous oxide complexes were approximately spherical; surface charge of CTS-Fe3O4 and PEG-Fe3O4Fe3O4 was about 20mv and 0mv, respectively. The controlled release of DNA from the CTS-Fe3O4 nanoparticles was observed. Concurrently, a desired Fe3O4 concentration of less than 2mM was verified as safe by means of a cytotoxicity test in vitro. Presence of the permanent magnetic field significantly increased the transfection efficiency. Furthermore, the passive target property and safety of magnetic nanoparticles were also demonstrated in an in vivo test. The novel gene delivery system was proved to be an effective tool required for future target expression and gene therapy in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new method for generating different texture images is presented. This method involves a simple transform from a certain one-dimensional (1-D) signal to an expected two-dimensional (2-D) image. Unlike traditional methods, the input signal is generated by a simple 1-D function in our work instead of a sample texture. We first transform the 1-D input signal into frequency domain using fast Fourier transform. Based on the sufficient analysis in 2-D discrete cosine transform (DCT) domain, where each of the coefficients expresses a texture feature in a certain direction, the 2-D pseudo-DCT coefficients are then constructed by appropriately rearranging the Fourier coefficients in terms of their frequency components. Finally, the corresponding texture image can be produced by 2-D inverse DCT algorithm. We applied the proposed method to generate several stochastic textures (i.e., cloud, illumination, and sand), and several structural texture images. Experimental results indicate the good performance of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel lifting integer wavelet transform based on difference correlation structure (DCCS-LIWT) is proposed. First, we establish a relationship between the performance of a linear predictor and the difference correlations of an image. The obtained results provide a theoretical foundation for the following construction of the optimal lifting filters. Then, the optimal prediction lifting coefficients in the sense of least-square prediction error are derived. DCCS-LIWT puts heavy emphasis on image inherent dependence. A distinct feature of this method is the use of the variance-normalized autocorrelation function of the difference image to construct a linear predictor and adapt the predictor to varying image sources. The proposed scheme also allows respective calculations of the lifting filters for the horizontal and vertical orientations. Experimental evaluation shows that the proposed method produces better results than the other well-known integer transforms for the lossless image compression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypoxia is associated with prostate tumor aggressiveness, local recurrence, and biochemical failure. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers insight into tumor pathophysiology and recent reports have related transverse relaxation rate (R2*) and longitudinal relaxation rate (R1) measurements to tumor hypoxia. We have investigated the inclusion of oxygen-enhanced MRI for multi-parametric evaluation of tumor malignancy. Multi-parametric MRI sequences at 3 Tesla were evaluated in 10 patients to investigate hypoxia in prostate cancer prior to radical prostatectomy. Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD), tissue oxygen level dependent (TOLD), dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE), and diffusion weighted imaging MRI were intercorrelated and compared with the Gleason score. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) was significantly lower in tumor than normal prostate. Baseline R2* (BOLD-contrast) was significantly higher in tumor than normal prostate. Upon the oxygen breathing challenge, R2* decreased significantly in the tumor tissue, suggesting improved vascular oxygenation, however changes in R1 were minimal. R2* of contralateral normal prostate decreased in most cases upon oxygen challenge, although the differences were not significant. Moderate correlation was found between ADC and Gleason score. ADC and R2* were correlated and trends were found between Gleason score and R2*, as well as maximum-intensity-projection and area-under-the-curve calculated from DCE. Tumor ADC and R2* have been associated with tumor hypoxia, and thus the correlations are of particular interest. A multi-parametric approach including oxygen-enhanced MRI is feasible and promises further insights into the pathophysiological information of tumor microenvironment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Osteosarcoma is a high malignant neoplasm, and conflicting findings have been reported on the survival and function recovery of osteosarcoma patients experiencing limb salvage or amputation. In the present study, we compared limb salvage surgery (LSS) with amputation in clinical outcomes of osteosarcoma patients by a meta-analysis. Methods: The survival rate of osteosarcoma patients was collected from research reports from CNKI, MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Database, and Google Scholar till April 30, 2016. The quality of including articles was evaluated by two independent reviewers. Differences between patients undergoing limb salvage surgery and amputation were analyzed based on postoperative survival rates. Results: Ten articles were included according to selection criteria. There were 1343 patients in total from these studies. Our results showed that there was no significant difference between limb salvage surgery and amputation according to local recurrence; however, patients with limb salvage surgery had a higher 5-year overall survival. Conclusions: LSS results in higher 5-year survival rates and better survival, while not increasing the risk of local recurrence. This study provided more evidences to support limb salvage surgery as a considerable treatment of osteosarcoma patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasonic-assisted enzymatic extraction (UEAE) and response surface methodology (RSM) were used to isolate polysaccharides from Setaria viridis (SVP). Optimal extraction conditions in the enzymatic hydrolysis process were: extraction duration, 68 min; extraction temperature, 51°C; ratio of enzyme to raw material, 1.6%; and ratio of liquid to raw material, 20 mL/g. Then, following ultrasonic treatment (180 W, 60°C, 60 min), the experimental yield was 8.94 ± 0.38%. Crude SVP was purified by DEAE cellulose-52 chromatography and Sephadex G-100 chromatography, resulting in the isolation of three fractions (designated SVP-1, SVP-2 and SVP-3). These SVPs were mainly composed of glucose residue, and SVP-3 had a significantly higher uronic acid content than the other two fractions. Additionally, all fractions showed strong antioxidant activities in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this study, we performed a meta-analysis to identify whether minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) was superior to conventional fixation techniques (CFT) for treating humeral shaft fractures. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted up to February 2016 in ScienceDirect, Springer, MEDLINE, and PubMed databases for relevant papers that compared the outcomes of MIPO with CFT, such as open reduction with plate osteosynthesis (ORPO) and intramedullary nail (IMN) for treating humeral shaft fractures. Meta-analysis was performed with Review Manager 5.0 software. Results: According to the search strategy, eight studies that covered 391 patients were enrolled, including four randomized controlled trials (RCTs), two prospective cohort trials, and two retrospective cohort trials. Our meta-analysis did not detect any significant difference between MIPO and CFT (IMN and ORPO) in terms of operative time, fracture union rate, and fracture union time. However, MIPO has a less rate of complications and iatrogenic radial nerve palsy than that of ORPO and higher adjacent joint function scores than those of IMN (p <0 . 0 5 ). Conclusions: Based on the present evidence, this meta-analysis suggested that MIPO was a better choice for treating humeral shaft fractures than CFT. However, more high-quality randomized trials are still needed to further confirm this conclusion in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fabric, our second skin with moisture and thermal capacity for skin temperature regulation, can arouse feelings of pleasant and discomfort. To examine the neurocognitive ability and emotion of fabric tactile perception under different local temperatures, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging with the same denim fabric stimuli and forearm contact area, and found a functional dissociation: the affective regions was more involved during warm condition, the discriminative regions were more involved during neutral condition and the basis regions were significance during cool condition. The higher local skin temperature environment can result in the improvement of sensitivity and discriminability by dorsal pathway (spatial) and ventral pathway (frequency) for fabric perception. Our results help to explain how the brain uses internal models to interpret external fabric tactile stimuli with micro environmental changing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed infections of Nicotiana benthamiana plants by Tobacco necrosis virus (TNV) and Turnip crinkle virus (TCV) exhibited an interference interaction. Accumulation of TNV (+)RNA as well as capsid protein in mixed infection were considerably lower than that of singly infected plants. There were also a slight reduction in the levels of TCV (+)RNA and capsid protein in doubly infected plants, which displayed the concentration of both viruses decreased in dually infected plants. Tissue immunoblot analysis of systemic N. benthamiana leaves infected by TNV and TCV singly or doubly showed the interference between the two viruses in situ, which exhibited the decrease of both viruses in doubly infected leaves although the distribution of them did not change remarkably. These results were consistent with the hybridization analysis of viral genomic RNA and coat protein. Both cross-protection test and mixed infection of the two viruses confirmed TCV had relatively stronger interference to the infection of TNV. Interference infection by TNV and TCV induced higher increase in the levels of cytochrome pathway respiration and alternative pathway respiration in host plants, especially the latter. Interference often occurred in different strains of one kind of virus or two different closely related viruses in one genus. Our results showed that interference could also occur in different viruses belonging to different genera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding the underlying mechanisms of neuropathic pain caused by damage to the peripheral nervous system remains challenging and could lead to significantly improved therapies. Disturbance of homeostasis not only occurs at the site of injury but also extends to the spinal cord and brain involving various types of cells. Emerging data implicate neuroimmune interaction in the initiation and maintenance of chronic pain hypersensitivity. Results: In this study, we sought to investigate the effects of TGF-β1, a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine, in alleviating nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain in rats. By using a well established neuropathic pain animal model (partial ligation of the sciatic nerve), we demonstrated that intrathecal infusion of recombinant TGF-β1 significantly attenuated nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain. TGF-β1 treatment not only prevents development of neuropathic pain following nerve injury, but also reverses previously established neuropathic pain conditions. The biological outcomes of TGF-β1 in this context are attributed to its pleiotropic effects. It inhibits peripheral nerve injury-induced spinal microgliosis, spinal microglial and astrocytic activation, and exhibits a powerful neuroprotective effect by preventing the induction of ATF3+ neurons following nerve ligation, consequently reducing the expression of chemokine MCP-1 in damaged neurons. TGF-β1 treatment also suppresses nerve injury-induced inflammatory response in the spinal cord, as revealed by a reduction in cytokine expression. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that TGF-β1 is effective in the treatment of neuropathic by targeting both neurons and glial cells. We suggest that therapeutic agents such as TGF-β1 having multipotent effects on different types of cells could work in synergy to regain homeostasis in local spinal cord microenvironments, therefore contributing to attenuate neuropathic pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The degradation effects of the GaInP/GaAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells irradiated by <200keV protons are investigated on the basis of the spectral response analysis and measurements of electric property. The experimental results show that with increasing proton fluence I sc, V oc and P max decrease obviously. The proton energy exhibits an important influence on the degradation effects of the triple-junction cells dependent on the proton penetration range in the cells. As the proton energy is lower than 100keV, irradiation-induced damage occurs in the top cell, while the irradiation with proton energy higher than 100keV causes damage mainly in the middle sub-cells. Comparing the changes in the electrical properties of the triple-junction cells, a conclusion can be made that the GaAs middle sub-cell plays a major role in leading to more severe degradation. In this case, the 170keV protons are suggested to be used to evaluate the performance of the GaAs triple-junction solar cells, for they can produce more severe degradation effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Quantitative trait loci (QTL) influencing three main kernel composition traits, starch, protein and oil concentrations, in unselected F2:3 and selected BC2F2 maize populations derived from the same cross of a dent corn inbred Dan232×an elite popcorn inbred N04 under the same conditions were detected. Four and two QTL for starch, four and three QTL for protein, and four and one QTL for oil were detected in the two populations, respectively, with three QTL jointly detected. The proportion of phenotypic variation explained by a single QTL was 5.2–10.6%, 5.0–14.3%, and 6.2–8.5% for the three traits. Ten QTL had favorable alleles contributed by Dan232. Several QTL detected in this study had identical or similar chromosome regions to those previously identified with other maize germplasms. No QTL with opposite effects for kernel composition traits and popping characteristics were detected in the same or near marker intervals. This reflected that some QTL detected in this study seemed to contribute to trait variation in a diverse array of maize populations and environments, and the opportunity existed for improving popcorn''s nutritional quality while maintaining acceptable popping characteristics. Inconsistent broad sense heritability and trait correlation estimates were also observed in the two populations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Low-energy proton irradiation is one of the important factors which affect applications of GaAs solar cells in space. The proton flux encountered in orbit is much lower than that used during ground-base radiation experiments, thus ground-based experiments are a so-called accelerated simulating process. In this paper, effects of the proton flux on the degradation of GaAs/Ge solar cells using I–V measurements are investigated. The results indicate that low-energy irradiation seriously damages the solar cells. Regardless of the proton energy, the radiation flux shows no influence on the degradation process of the solar cell. The mechanisms for these effects are discussed in detail here. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]