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This study tested the hypothesis that combined hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) and melatonin (Mel) was superior to either one for protecting the brain functional and parenchymal integrity from acute ischemic stroke (IS) injury. Adult-male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into groups 1 (sham-operated control), 2 (IS), 3 (IS + HBO), 4 (IS + Mel), and 5 (IS + HBO-Mel). By day 28 after IS, the brain infarct area (BIA) was lowest in group 1, highest in group 2, significantly higher in groups 3 and 4 than in group 5, but not different between groups 3 and 4. The neurological function at day 7, 14, and 28 exhibited an opposite pattern to BIA among the 5 groups. The protein expressions of inflammatory (IL-1β/IL-6/iNOS/TNF-α/p-NF-κB), apoptotic (cleaved-caspase3/cleaved-PARP/mitochondrial Bax), mitochondrial/DNA-damaged (cytochrome-C/γ-H2AX), oxidative stress (NOX-1/NOX-2), and autophagy (i.e. ratio of CL3B-II/CL3B-I) biomarkers displayed an identical pattern of BIA among 5 groups. Cellular expressions of inflammation (F4/80+/GFAP+) and DNA-damaged biomarker (γ-H2AX+) exhibited an identical pattern, whereas the integrities of myelin sheath/neuron (MPB+/NeuN+), endothelial cell (CD31+/vWF+), and number of small vessels exhibited an opposite pattern of BIA among the 5 groups. Combined HBO-Mel therapy offered an additional benefit in protecting the brain against IS injury.

This study tested the hypothesis that combined adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell (ADMSC) and low-energy extracorporeal shock wave (ECSW) therapy could protect brain from brain death (BD)-induced injury. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats were categorized into group 1 (sham control), group 2 (BD), group 3 (BD + ECSW [0.15 mJ/mm2/300 impulses] applied to the skull surface 3 hours after BD induction), group 4 (BD + ADMSC [1.2 × 106 cell] by intravenous injection 3 hours after BD induction) and group 5 (BD + ECSW + ADMSC). By 6 hours after BD induction, circulating/spleen levels of immune cells (CD3/CD4+, CD8/CD4+, Treg+) and circulating levels of inflammatory cells (MPO/Ly6G/CD11a/b) and soluble mediators (TNF-α/IL-6) were lowest in group 1 and significantly progressively reduced from groups 2 to 5 (all p < 0.0001). Brain protein expressions of inflammatory (TNF-α/NF-κB/MMP-9/IL-1β), apoptotic (caspase-3/PARP/mitochondrial-BAX), oxidative stress/DNA-damage (NOX-1/NOX-2/oxidized protein/γ-H2AX) biomarkers exhibited an identical pattern, whereas anti-oxidant (SIRT1/SIRT3) and mitochondrial-integrity (mitochondrial-cytochrome-C) biomarkers exhibited an opposite pattern to inflammatory biomarkers among the 5 groups (all p < 0.0001). The cellular expressions of inflammatory/brain-edema (F4/80/CD14+/GFAP/AQP4) biomarkers exhibited an identical pattern to inflammation among the 5 groups (all p < 0.0001). In conclusion, ECSW-ADMSC therapy is superior to either alone for attenuating brain from BD-induced damage.

Introduction Intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (II/R) injury is a life-threatening situation accompanied by severe organ injury, especially acute lung injury (ALI). A great body of evidence indicates that II/R injury is usually associated with hyperlactatemia. G-protein-coupled receptor 81 (GPR81), a receptor of lactate, has been recognized as a regulatory factor in inflammation, but whether it was involved in II/R injury-induced ALI is still unknown.Methods To establish the II/R injury model, the superior mesenteric artery of the mice was occluded gently by a microvascular clamp for 45 min to elicit intestinal ischemia and then a 90-min reperfusion was performed. Broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung tissues were obtained to evaluate the lung injury after II/R. The pulmonary histopathological alteration was evaluated by H&E staining. The concentration of proteins, the number of infiltrated cells, and the level of IL-6 were measured in BALF. The formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) was evaluated by the level of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) and myeloperoxidase- double-stranded DNA (MPO-dsDNA) complex in BALF, and the content of citrullinated histone H3 (Cit-H3) in lung tissue. The level of HMGB1 in the BALF and plasma was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results Administration of the GPR81 agonist 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHBA) aggravated II/R injury-induced lung histological abnormalities, upregulated the concentration of proteins, the number of infiltrated cells, and the level of IL-6 in BALF. In addition, DHBA treatment increased the level of dsDNA and MPO-dsDNA complex in BALF, and promoted the elevation of Cit-H3 in lung tissue and the release of HMGB1 in BALF and plasma.Conclusion After induction of ALI by II/R, the administration of DHBA aggravated ALI through NETs formation in the lung.

This study tested whether human umbilical cord–derived mesenchymal stem cells (HUCDMSCs) treatment effectively protected the rat lung against acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) injury, and benefits of early and dose-dependent treatment. Rat pulmonary epithelial cell line L2 (PECL2) were categorized into G1 (PECL2), G2 (PECL2 + healthy rat lung-derived extraction/50 mg/ml co-cultured for 24 h), G3 (PECL2 + ARDS rat lung-derived extraction/50 mg/ml co-cultured for 24 h), and G4 (condition as G3 + HUCDMSCs/1 × 105/co-cultured for 24 h). The result showed that the protein expressions of inflammatory (HMGB-1/TLR-2/TLR-4/MAL/TRAM/MyD88/TRIF/TRAF6/IkB/NF-κB/IL-1β/TNF-α), oxidative-stress/mitochondrial-damaged (NOX-1/NOX-2/ASK1/p-MKK4/p-MKK7/JNKs/JUN/cytosolic-cytochrome-C/cyclophilin-D/DRP1), and cell-apoptotic/fibrotic (cleaved-caspase 3/cleaved-PARP/TGF-β/p-Smad3) biomarkers were significantly increased in G3 than in G1/G2 and were significantly reversed in G4 (all P <0.001), but they were similar between G1/G2. Adult male rats (n= 42) were equally categorized into group 1 (normal control), group 2 (ARDS only), group 3 [ARDS + HUCDMSCs/1.2 × 106cells intravenous administration at 3 h after 48 h ARDS induction (i.e., early treatment)], group 4 [ARDS + HUCDMSCs/1.2 × 106cells intravenous administration at 24 h after 48 h ARDS induction (late treatment)], and group 5 [ARDS + HUCDMSCs/1.2 × 106cells intravenous administration at 3 h/24 h after-48 h ARDS induction (dose-dependent treatment)]. By day 5 after ARDS induction, the SaO2%/immune regulatory T cells were highest in group 1, lowest in group 2, significantly lower in group 4 than in groups 3/5, and significantly lower in group 3 than in group 5, whereas the circulatory/bronchioalveolar lavage fluid inflammatory cells (CD11b-c+/LyG6+/MPO+)/circulatory immune cells (CD3-C4+/CD3-CD8+)/lung-leakage-albumin level/lung injury score/lung protein expressions of inflammatory (HMGB-1/TLR-2/TLR-4/MAL/TRAM/MyD88/TRIF/TRAF6/IκB-β/p-NF-κB/IL-1β/TNF-α)/fibrotic (p-SMad3/TGF-β), apoptosis (mitochondrial-Bax/cleaved-caspase-3)/oxidative-cell-stress (NOX-1/NOX-2/ASK1/p-MKK4/p-MKK7/p-JNKs/p-cJUN)/mitochondrial damaged (cyclophilin-D/DRP1/cytosolic-cytochrome-C) biomarkers displayed an opposite pattern of SaO2% among the groups (all P <0.0001). Early administration was superior to and two-dose counterpart was even more superior to late HUCDMSCs treatment for protecting the lung against ARDS injury.

The complexity of multi-variety mixed production mode makes it difficult to find out the critical points to guide the quality control and improvement activities of the shopfloor. To excavate these critical nodes, a complex network analyze method is proposed in this article. A quality control network of multi-variety mixed production is constructed based on directed weighted network using unqualified batches’ manufacturing information. In order to evaluate the critical degree of a manufacturing resource node of quality control network, this article proposes a QCD-NodeRank indicator and an evaluation method based on improvement of PageRank method. This critical degree evaluation method reflects the connection relationship of manufacturing resource nodes and considers the quality situation of them. The manufacturing resource node with high QCD-NodeRank values is considered to be the critical one. Then, a hierarchical clustering method is introduced to evaluate the critical nodes for quality control. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the proposed approach.

This study tested whether combined hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) and allogenic adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) would be superior to either one for improving the locomotor recovery in rat after acute traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) in rat. Adult-male Sprague–Dawley rats were equally categorized into group 1 (sham-operated control), group 2 (TSCI), group 3 (TSCI + HBO for 1.5 h/day for 14 consecutive days after TSCI), group 4 (TSCI + ADMSCs/1.2 × 106cells by intravenous injection at 3 h and days 1/2 after TSCI), and group 5 (TSCI + HBO + ADMSCs), euthanized, and spinal cord tissue was harvested by day 49 after TSCI. The protein expressions of oxidative-stress (NOX-1/NOX-2), inflammatory-signaling (TLR-4/MyD88/IL-1β/TNF-α/substance-p), cell-stress signaling (PI3K/p-AKT/p-mTOR), and the voltage-gated sodium channel (Nav1.3/1.8/1.9) biomarkers were highest in group 2, lowest in group 1, and significantly lower in group 5 than in groups 3/4 (all P<0.0001), but they did not differ between groups 3 and 4. The spinal cord damaged area, the cellular levels of inflammatory/DNA-damaged biomarkers (CD68+/GFAP+/γ-H2AX+ cells), mitogen-activated protein kinase family biomarkers (p-P38/p-JNK/p-ERK1/2), and cellular expressions of voltage-gated sodium channel (Nav.1.3, Nav.1.8, and Nav.1.9 in NF200+ cells) as well as the pain-facilitated cellular expressions (p-P38+/peripherin+ cells, p-JNK+/peripherin+ cells, p-ERK/NF200+ cells) exhibited an identical pattern of inflammation, whereas the locomotor recovery displayed an opposite pattern of inflammation among the groups (all P< 0.0001). Combined HBO-ADMSCs therapy offered additional benefits for preserving the neurological architecture and facilitated the locomotor recovery against acute TSCI.

CoPt and CoPt/Au films prepared by magnetron sputtering were studied in this paper. The films were deposited at room temperature and then a post annealing was applied at temperatures (Ta) from 400°C to 800°C. The structure results showed that the ordering transformation occurred at Ta = 500°C in the Au-underlayered films, which is 100°C lower than that in the single layer CoPt samples. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study indicates an Au:CoPt composite structure with increased grain size was formed in Au/CoPt films when Ta exceeded 500°C where the ordering begins together with the magnetic hardening, which suggests that the gold layer may improve the ordering by enhancing the diffusion of CoPt. The best ordering was obtained at Ta = 700°C, the order parameters were 0.56 and 0.88 for CoPt and CoPt/ Au, respectively. As Ta was increased to 800°C, a drastic lattice distortion was observed. The tetragonal lattice of the Ll0 phase was found to transform into a cubic structure, resulting in a magnetic softening. The mechanism of this distortion is unclear and the atomic ordering of this cubic phase needs further investigation.

The reference and error sensors of active noise control (ANC) systems will be saturated in real-world applications if the noise level exceeds the dynamic range of the sensors. However, there is a lack of analysis of saturation effects on the performance of ANC systems. This paper proposes an indirect method for analyzing the saturation effects in steady state using Fourier analysis. This indirect method uses clipping to approximate saturation and decomposes the saturated narrowband signal as the summation of a set of rectangular waves and a pulse-amplitude modulated signal. The theoretical analysis shows that the clipping of a sinusoidal signal produces extra odd harmonics, thus affecting the convergence speed and steady-state solution of adaptive filter in ANC systems. This analysis can be extended to narrowband noises that consist of multiple sinusoidal components such as engine noise in many ANC applications. A low-pass filter is effective in reducing saturation effects for harmonic-related noises. Analysis results are verified by computer simulations using recorded engine noise and transfer functions measured from an experimental setup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The processing of tyrosinase, which catalyzes the limiting reaction in melanin synthesis, was investigated in melan-p1 melanocytes, which are null at the p locus. Endoglycosidase H digestion showed that a significant fraction of tyrosinase was retained in the endoplasmic reticulum. This retention could be rescued either by transfection of melan-p1 cells with an epitope-tagged wild-type p transcript or by treatment with either bafilomycin A1 or ammonium chloride. We found that the endoplasmic reticulum contains a significant amount of p protein, thus supporting a role for p within this compartment. Using immunofluoresence, we showed that most mature full-length tyrosinase in melan-p1 cells was located in the perinuclear area near the Golgi, in contrast to its punctate melanosomal pattern in wild-type melanocytes. Expression of p in melan-p1 cells restored tyrosinase to melanosomes. Triton X-114 phase separation revealed that an increased amount of tyrosinase was proteolyzed in melan-p1 cells compared with wild-type melanocytes. The proteolyzed tyrosinase was no longer membrane bound, but remained enzymatically active and a large proportion was secreted into the culture medium of melan-p1 cells. We conclude that p regulates posttranslational processing of tyrosinase, and hypopigmentation in melan-p1 cells is the result of altered tyrosinase processing and trafficking.

Abstract: Roofing membranes bonded to the substrate of a structure generally tend to blister, crack, etc., which often causes failure. The reasons for this are that it is almost impossible to eleminate risk of blistering from the moisture-bearing substrate [1], and that the membrane, with a free deformation length approaching zero, will certainly rupture when stretched as a consequence of cracking occurring in the substrate to which the membrane is bonded [2]. This situation can be improved by using a waterproofing membrane made of perforated asphalt felt that may have a higher resistance to bulging and cracking. However, aperture parameters of the perforated asphalt felt are as different as the countries where they are manufactured. A satisfactory method of determining the aperture parameters is yet to be found.

This study tested the hypothesis that both allogenic adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) and human inducible pluripotent stem cell-derived MSCs (iPS-MSCs) offered a comparable effect for protecting the lung against ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury in rodent through downregulating the inflammatory, oxidative stress, and autophagic signaling pathways. Adult male Sprague–Dawley rats (n= 32) were categorized into group 1 (sham-operated control), group 2 (IRI), group 3 [IRI + ADMSCs (1.0 × 106cells)/tail-vein administration at 0.5/18/36 h after IR], and group 4 [IRI + iPS-MSCs (1.0 × 106cells)/tail-vein administration at 0.5/18/36 h after IR], and lungs were harvested at 72 h after IR procedure. In vitrostudy demonstrated that protein expressions of three signaling pathways in inflammation (TLR4/MyD88/TAK1/IKK/I-?B/NF-?B/Cox-2/TNF-a/IL-1ß), mitochondrial damage/cell apoptosis (cytochrome C/cyclophilin D/DRP1/ASK1/APAF-1/mitochondrial-Bax/caspase3/8/9), and autophagy/cell death (ULK1/beclin-1/Atg5,7,12, ratio of LCB3-II/LC3B-I, p-AKT/m-TOR) were significantly higher in lung epithelial cells + 6h hypoxia as compared with the control, and those were significantly reversed by iPS-MSC treatment (all P< 0.001). Flow cytometric analysis revealed that percentages of the inflammatory cells in bronchioalveolar lavage fluid and circulation, and immune cells in circulation/spleen as well as circulatory early and late apoptotic cells were highest in group 2, lowest in group 1, and significantly higher in group 3 than in group 4 (all P< 0.0001). Microscopy showed the lung injury score and numbers of inflammatory cells and Western blot analysis showed the signaling pathways of inflammation, mitochondrial damage/cell apoptosis, autophagy, and oxidative stress exhibited an identical pattern of flow cytometric results among the four groups (all P< 0.0001). Both xenogeneic and allogenic MSCs protected the lung against IRI via suppressing the inflammatory, oxidative stress, and autophagic signaling.

In a population-based case-control study of colorectal cancer among Chinese men and women in western North America and the Peoples Republic of China, a common protocol was used to assess past life-style characteristics of 905 cases diagnosed during 1981–1986 and 2,488 controls. Risks for cancers of both the colon and rectum increased with increased food energy from fat, protein, carbohydrate, and all energy sources combined, for both sexes and on both continents. Yet, in multivariate analysis, colorectal cancer risk was significantly associated only with saturated fat; no relationships were seen with other dietary sources of energy. Colon cancer risk was elevated among men employed in sedentary occupations. On both continents and in both sexes, risks for cancers of both the colon and rectum increased with increasing time spent sitting. Further, the association between colorectal cancer risk and saturated fat was stronger among the sedentary than among the active. Risk among sedentary Chinese Americans of either sex increased more than fourfold from the lowest to the highest category of saturated fat intake. Among migrants to North America, risk increased with increasing years lived in North America. These observations suggest (a) that colorectal cancer risk increases with duration of exposure to a sedentary life-style and a diet rich in saturated fat; (b) that higher incidence among Chinese–American men relative to women is due to longer duration of these habits among men, who have lived longer in North America; and (c) that higher risk among Chinese Americans of both sexes relative to risk among the general population in China is due to differences in such habits. Attributable risk calculations suggest that, if these associations are causal, saturated fat intakes exceeding 10 g/day, particularly in combination with physical inactivity, could account for 60% of colorectal cancer incidence among Chinese–American men and 40% among Chinese–American women. [J Natl Cancer Inst 82:915–926, 1990]

This paper proposes a minor component analysis-based neural learning algorithm for designing linear-phase finite impulse response digital filters. The objective function to be minimized in the least-squares design can be formulated as the eigenvalue problem for solving an appropriate real, symmetric, and positive-definite matrix. To achieve the eigenfilter design, an alternative neural learning rule based on the minor component analysis algorithm is exploited. The optimal filter coefficients corresponding to the eigenvector of the smallest eigenvalue of the positive-definite matrix can be achieved in an iterative manner, avoiding the complex computation of eigenvalue decomposition. Furthermore, the learning step parameter that affects the convergence performance is investigated empirically. The simulation results indicate that the proposed neural-based approach can be applied to eigenfilter design and yields a lower computational complexity compared with traditional matrix algebraic-based approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We find a fiat band and a self-trapping band through the coupling of two unidirectional edge modes, which was originally achieved by Wang et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100. 013905 (2008); Nature 461, 772 (2009)] in two-dimensional magneto-optical photonic crystals. We break up a square-lattice yttrium-iron-garnet photonic crystal forming a waveguide and two edges. Given a proper interval of the two edges, two unidirectional edge modes with opposite group velocity directions can be coupled. The coupling leads to a wide flat band in which the group velocity is near zero, and a self-trapping band in which light is totally localized around the source. The position of the flat band and the group velocity can be adjusted by the external magnetic field. Numerical simulations and theoretical analysis both demonstrate the two interesting band structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]