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The serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) receptor 1A (5-HT1AR) is closely associated with serotonergic neurotransmission in the brain, being the most prevalent and widely distributed receptor of its kind. The purpose of this study is to investigate the regulation mechanism of 5-HT1AR by GSK4716. To investigate the mechanism of GSK4716-mediated 5-HT1AR regulation, we used hippocampus-derived HT22 cells expressing 5-HT1AR. The expression level of 5-HT1AR and associated proteins, were detected by reporter gene assay and western blotting. GSK4716, an estrogen-related receptor gamma agonist increased 5-HT1AR expression by interacting with the GR, a repressor of 5-HT1AR transcription. Dexamethasone, a GR agonist, decreased the GSK4716-induced increase in 5-HT1AR, which was associated with an alteration in nuclear GR. Furthermore, GR antagonist RU486 reversed the effects induced by dexamethasone, including the elevation of nuclear GR levels and the reduction of 5-HT1AR transcription and expression. The results could provide insight into the potential applications of small molecules, such as GSK4716, in the regulation of 5-HT1AR expression, which plays a role in serotonergic neurotransmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we investigate how the political geography of local power and national-subnational alignment influences the distribution of conflict between election contests. We ask how consistently local intermediaries, such as members of parliament (MPs), can sustain their own support and that of their successful national candidate. The best measure for the ability of local elites to generate and keep support is candidate vote margins. These election results recast elites and areas as core, swing or costly regime investments, which in turn influences the streams of patronage and authority between election cycles. Based on the political geographies that result from subnational election data for 13 African countries, we find that in core areas where support for the leader is high, there is limited violence by state forces; state violence is significantly higher in areas costly to the national leader; and violence by non-state armed actors (e.g. militias) is most likely to occur in swing areas where the winning margin of the last legislative election is narrow for the local candidate. It is in these swing regions that competing political elites engage in violence to replace poorly performing local intermediaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how different types of governance systems shape different forms of political violence. We identify four governance types by combining the “institutional” dimension of coalition size represented by a minimum winning coalition (MWC) and the “ethno-political” dimension represented by the size of ethnic groups participating in the governing coalition. This study hypothesizes that (a) an exclusive system (small MWC; narrow-based ethnic coalition) is likely to engender civil war, (b) an oversized system (small MWC; broad-based ethnic coalition) is likely to generate a coup, and (c) an undersized system (large MWC; narrow-based ethnic coalition) is likely to stimulate riots or protests. Statistical analyses confirm all three hypotheses, implying that opposition groups choose alternative forms of conflict that maximize their chances of accessing power under different governance configurations. The article concludes by identifying three possible paths toward inclusive governance and suggesting that institutional reform before ethnic inclusion makes a transition toward inclusive governance far less dangerous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, the centrifugal filter proposed by the authors was applied to classify aerosol particles followed by the detection of total mass or number concentrations so as to measure the size distribution of aerosol particles. The structure and operating condition of the centrifugal filter were optimized in order to attain sharp separation curves with various cut-off sizes between 0.3 and 10 μm. The aerosol penetrating the centrifugal filter at various rotation speeds was measured with a photometer to determine the total mass concentration. The virtue of this system is that the cut-off size is varied just by scanning the rotation speed of filter and that it can be applied to the measurement of high concentration aerosols without dilution by choosing an appropriate filter medium. As a result, the centrifugal filter was successfully applied to measure the size distribution of solid particles in size ranging from 0.3 to 10 μm. Copyright © 2017 American Association for Aerosol Research [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts are complex, dynamic processes wherein the frequency and intensity of violence changes throughout the contest. In this article, we explore the temporal dynamics of two long-term civil wars—DR-Congo and Sudan—to identify systematic and random conditions that lead to changes in civilian targeting. Violence committed by rival political actors, territorial exchange, and the number and addition of violent agents strongly shape the likelihood that civilian targeting events and casualties increase or decrease over time. General and country differences emerge from vector autoregression analysis to suggest that (1) three types of violent agents—rebels, militias, and the government—are locked in spirals of violence where violence against civilians by one actor leads to subsequent violence by another actor; (2) rebels and government forces respond to the other side’s acquisition of contested territory by increasing counterattacks on civilians, specifically in DR-Congo; and (3) increasing numbers of active nonstate agents lead to higher violence rates in the following months. Among these, civilian targeting by rival actors triggers the most follow-on violent events against civilians. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The electret filter is a potential component to remove airborne particles due to its high collection efficiency and low pressure drop. However, its filtration performance is gradually decreased by exposure to organic solvents, which limits the application of electret filters. The effect of ethanol exposure on the filtration performance of polypropylene electret filters was investigated experimentally to clarify the charge decay phenomenon in this study. Experimental results revealed that filter performance is strongly dependent upon the challenged mass and existing state of an ethanol solvent. The filter performance was drastically degraded by exposure to ethanol droplets generated from a solution with ethanol concentrations above 30%; however, it was maintained during exposure to ethanol vapors. This tendency was also seen in the surface potentials of the exposed filter media. In addition, we found that the critical challenging amount of ethanol droplets was in the vicinity of 0.045 g/cm2to neutralize a tested electret filter in this study. Copyright 2015 American Association for Aerosol Research [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Her laboratory test results showed that she had a complete blood count, electrolyte levels, liver function, and that her serum tumour markers were normal. Pheochromocytomas are rare tumours derived from chromaffin tissues of the adrenal medulla (Leung et al. [3]; Berends et al. [1]; Westover and Conran 2018). Pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and abdomen and pelvic computed tomography (CT) revealed a 4.7-cm-sized heterogeneous mass abutting to the right uterine corpus and a 9.0-cm-sized mass attached to the posterior lower uterine segment with the same nature (Figure 1). [Extracted from the article]

The silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic filter is the most favorable component to remove particulate matter from hot flue gas due to its high filtration efficiency and high thermal durability. The effect of SiC powder size on the physical properties and filtration performance to prepare high-performance granular ceramic filter media was investigated in this study. Disk-type filter media were prepared by mixing ceramic components followed by physical compression and sintering. The porosity and average pore diameter in the filter media increased with increasing powder size. However, the mechanical strength decreased with increasing powder size, while it increased with increasing physical compressive force. The filter performance factor,qFMwas introduced to evaluate the ceramic filter properties, and the SiC50 filter was the best of the ceramic filters prepared in this study. We also found that diffusion was a dominant collection mechanism for particles smaller than 0.7 μm, and direct interception and inertia were dominant collection mechanisms for particles larger than 0.7 μm in the SiC50 filter based on a single collector efficiency model. In addition, the predicted collection efficiencies showed reasonably good agreement with the experimental ones. Copyright 2014 American Association for Aerosol Research [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Electrospinning is a simple and versatile process to produce polymer nanofibers, which are useful for ultrafine particle filtration. In this study, a polyurethane filter with an average fiber diameter of 150–250 nm was prepared through the electrospinning process and its filtration characteristics were investigated. We found that the electrospun fiber diameter was highly dependent on the polyurethane concentration, electric field, and tip-to-collector distance. As the polyurethane concentration, electric field, and tip-to-collector distance under the same electric field increased, the fiber diameter increased. We also found that the produced filter media had a minimum collection efficiency at particles sizes from 80 to 100 nm, which implies an electrostatic attraction between the filter and the test particles. Furthermore, we observed that interception was a predominant collection mechanism at Peclet numbers higher than 10 in nanofiber filtration for ultrafine particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degradation of atrazine in aqueous solution by UV or UV/H2O2processes, and the toxic effects of the degradation products were explored. The mineralization of atrazine was not observed in the UV irradiation process, resulting in the production of hydroxyatrazine (OIET) as the final product. In the UV/H2O2process, the final product was ammeline (OAAT), which was obtained by two different pathways of reaction: dechlorination followed by hydroxylation, and the de-alkylation of atrazine. The by-products of the reaction of dechlorination followed by hydroxylation were OIET and hydroxydeethyl atrazine (OIAT), and those of de-alkylation were deisopropyl atrazine (CEAT), deethyl atrazine (CIAT), and deethyldeisopropyl atrazine (CAAT). OIAT and OAAT appeared to be quite stable in the degradation of atrazine by the UV/H2O2process. In a toxicity test usingDaphnia magna, the acute toxic unit (TUa) was less than 1 of TUa (100/EC50, %) in the UV/H2O2process after 30 min of reaction time, while 1.2 to 1.3 of TUa was observed in the UV process. The TUa values of atrazine and the degradation products have the following decreasing order: OIET> Atrazine> CEAT≈CIAT> CAAT. OIAT and OAAT did not show any toxic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Northeast Asia's rapid economic growth in the past two decades tremendously impacted the region's oil and natural gas consumption and its dependence on nonregional energy supplies. Growing energy demand is a preeminent security issue for Northeast Asia because of its distinctive energy vulnerabilities and geopolitical location. The author analyzes the implications of energy security for regional conflict and cooperation among China, Japan, and South Korea. The author suggests that energy can create shared interests and opportunities for cooperation, rather than act as a source of confrontation. China, Japan, and South Korea can work together to build multilateral energy security institutions for cooperation in such areas as offshore energy exploration, clean energy programs, antipiracy activities, and pipeline construction in East Siberia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outlines the context of PEER IN program, a workshop aimed at improving social interaction skills of children with disabilities in Australia. Application of social skills literature; Guidelines for creating an environment for social and emotional development in early childhood; Techniques for enhancing interaction between children.

A correction to the article "Improving the activity of Mn/TiO2 catalysts through control of the pH and valence state of Mn during their preparation" in the 2012 issue is presented.