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Exposure to drug-paired cues causes drug memories to be in a destabilized state and interfering with memory reconsolidation can inhibit relapse. Calpain, a calcium-dependent neutral cysteine protease, is involved in synaptic plasticity and the formation of long-term fear memory. However, the role of calpain in the reconsolidation of drug reward memory is still unknown. In the present study, using a conditioned place preference (CPP) model, we found that exposure to drug-paired contextual stimuli induced the activation of calpain and decreased the expression of glutamate receptor interacting protein 1 (GR1P1) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core, but not shell, of male rats. Infusions of calpain inhibitors in the NAc core immediately after retrieval disrupted the reconsolidation of cocaine/morphine cue memory and blocked retrieval-induced calpain activation and GRIP 1 degradation. The suppressive effect of calpain inhibitors on the expression of drug-induced CPP lasted for at least 14 d. The inhibition of calpain without retrieval 6 h after retrieval or after exposure to an unpaired context had no effects on the expression of reward memory. Calpain inhibition after retrieval also decreased cocaine seeking in a self-administration model and this effect did not recover spontaneously after 28 d. Moreover, the knock-down of GRIP1 expression in the NAc core by lentivirus-mediated short-hairpin RNA blocked disruption of the reconsolidation of drug cue memories that was induced by calpain inhibitor treatment. These results suggest that calpain activity in the NAc core is crucial for the reconsolidation of drug reward memory via the regulation of GRIP1 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IMPORTANCE A relapse into nicotine addiction during abstinence often occurs after the reactivation of nicotine reward memories, either by acute exposure to nicotine (a smoking episode) or by smoking-associated conditioned stimuli (CS). Preclinical studies suggest that drug reward memories can undergo memory reconsolidation after being reactivated, during which they can be weakened or erased by pharmacological or behavioral manipulations. However, translational clinical studies using CS-induced memory retrieval-reconsolidation procedures to decrease drug craving reported inconsistent results. OBJECTIVE To develop and test an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)-induced retrievalreconsolidation procedure to decrease nicotine craving among people who smoke. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A translational rat study and human study in an academic outpatient medical center among 96 male smokers (aged 18-45 years) to determine the association of propranolol administration within the time windowof memory reconsolidation (after retrieval of the nicotine-associated memories by nicotine UCS exposure) with relapse to nicotine-conditioned place preference (CPP) and operant nicotine seeking in rats, and measures of preference to nicotine-associated CS and nicotine craving among people who smoke. INTERVENTION The study rats were injected noncontingently with the UCS (nicotine 0.15mg/kg, subcutaneous) in their home cage, and the human study participants administered a dose of propranolol (40mg, per os; Zhongnuo Pharma). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Nicotine CPP and operant nicotine seeking in rats, and preference and craving ratings for newly learned and preexisting real-life nicotine-associated CS among people who smoke. RESULTS Sixty-nine male smokers completed the experiment andwere included for statistical analysis: 24 in the group that received placebo plus 1 hour plus UCS, 23 who received propranolol plus 1 hour plus UCS, and 22 who received UCS plus 6 hours plus propranolol. In rat relapse models, propranolol injections administered immediately after nicotine UCS-induced memory retrieval inhibited subsequent nicotine CPP and operant nicotine seeking after short (CPP, d = 1.72, 95%CI, 0.63-2.77; operant seeking, d = 1.61, 95%CI, 0.59-2.60) or prolonged abstinence (CPP, d = 1.46, 95%CI, 0.42-2.47; operant seeking: d = 1.69, 95%CI, 0.66-2.69), as well as nicotine priming-induced reinstatement of nicotine CPP (d = 1.28, 95%CI, 0.27-2.26) and operant nicotine seeking (d = 1.61, 95%CI, 0.59-2.60) after extinction. Among the smokers, oral propranolol administered prior to nicotine UCS-induced memory retrieval decreased subsequent nicotine preference induced by newly learned nicotine CS (CS1, Cohen d=0.61, 95%CI, 0.02-1.19 and CS2, d = 0.69, 95%CI, 0.10-1.28, respectively), preexisting nicotine CS (d = 0.57, 95%CI, -0.02 to 1.15), and nicotine priming (CS1, d = 0.82, 95%CI, 0.22-1.41 and CS2, d = 0.78, 95%CI, 0.18-1.37, respectively; preexisting nicotine CS, d = 0.92, 95%CI, 0.31-1.52), aswell as nicotine craving induced by the preexisting nicotine CS (d = 0.64, 95%CI, 0.05-1.22), and nicotine priming (d = 1.15, 95%CI, 0.52-1.76). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In rat-to-human translational study, a novel UCS-induced memory retrieval-reconsolidation interference procedure inhibited nicotine craving induced by exposure to diverse nicotine-associated CS and nicotine itself. This procedure should be studied further in clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The orientation angle is an important parameter that reflects the structure of molecules at interfaces. In order to obtain this parameter, second order nonlinear spectroscopic techniques including second harmonic generation (SHG) and sum frequency generation-vibrational spectroscopy (SFG-VS) have been successfully applied through analysis of the nonlinear signal from various polarizations. In some SHG and SFG-VS experiments, total internal reflection (TIR) configuration has been adopted to get enhanced signals. However, the reports on the detailed procedure of the polarization analysis and the calculation of the orientation angle of interfacial molecules under TIR configuration are still very few. In this paper, we measured the orientation angles of two molecules at the hexadecane-water interface under TIR and Non-TIR experimental configurations. The results measured from polarization analysis in TIR configuration consist with those obtained from Non-TIR configuration. This work demonstrates the feasibility and accuracy of polarization analysis in the determination of the orientation angle of molecules at the interfaces under TIR-SHG configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 18 biochemical parameters of serum were measured to analyze the pathogenic risks of the Yangtze River Source of Drinking Water in Nanjing area (YZR-SDW-NJ) on mouse Mus musculus for protection of human health in this research. The male mice Mus musculus were sampled and fed with YZR-SDW-NJ for 90 days then the eighteen serum biochemical levels were measured with Automatic Biochemical Analysis/RerLi 600. And the parameter data were treated by One-Way ANOVA statistic approach. The results showed that five parameter levels for the sample group mice were different from those for the control group significantly (0.01 < P or 0.05 < P). Four 4 of the 5 altered parameter levels were decreased including glutamate pyruvate transaminase 38% lower, glutamine-oxaloacetic transaminase 24% lower, triglyceride 76% lower and cystatin C 73% lower, only creatinine level was 26% higher than that in the control group. The data suggest that YZR-SDW-NJ had toxicity on the mouse and the organic pollutants in YZR-SDW-NJ might lead to liver, kidney, cardiovascular and metabolic pathogenic risks on the human beings. The results might be cited as evidence to control pollutants in the source water for the protection of NJ people's health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corrosion failure of steel is one of the key problems to shorten the service life of power facilities in some strong corrosive environments， such as marine and chemical plants.To address this problem， the proposition of substituting steel in power transmission and transformation equipment with high-strength 7xxx series aluminum alloys was introduced.Accelerated indoor simulation tests were conducted， using a 5%NaCl salt spray corrosion environment to emulate marine atmospheric conditions.A comparative analysis was performed on the mechanical property degradation and change law of surface corrosion morphology of Q345 steel for substation facilities and 7075 aluminum alloy after varying corrosion durations (7，21，42 d) by integrating tensile tests and microscopic structural observations.Further， employing corrosion weight loss methods and computer simulation techniques， the mechanical properties of the two materials under identical corrosion conditions and loads were comparatively studied.Results indicated that the mechanical properties of both materials tended to decline with the extension of salt spray corrosion time under 5%NaCl salt spray corrosion environment， moreover， the highest tensile strength attenuation rate of Q345 steel (24.58%) was 8 times that of 7075 aluminum alloy (3.00%).Both materials displayed a corrosion rate trend that initially increased and then decreased， with the average corrosion rate of Q345 steel [0.03 g/(m2·d)] being approximately 15 times that of the 7075 aluminum alloy [0.002 g/(m2·d)].At the same corrosion cycle， the corrosion pits in Q345 steel were larger and deeper than those in the 7075 aluminum alloy， resulting in a significantly higher degree of stress concentration caused by corrosion pits in Q345 steel under the same external load compared to 7075 aluminum alloy.Consequently， in theory，7075 aluminum alloy could replace Q345 steel as the base material for power facility components.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the influence of degree of polymerization of amylose on the digestibility characteristics of its ternary complexes. Methods: Ternary complexes of seedless breadfruit starch, prepared by separately mixing amyloses extracted from five cultivars (GJS, FSS, SMS, SS and CS) with amylopectin extracted from GJS, having the highest degree of polymerization among amylopectins from these cultviars, at a 1:1 ratio were prepared with lauric acid (LA) and β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) and characterized for supramolecular structure and digestion kinetics by high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. All five complex samples displayed obvious characteristic peaks of ternary complexes, V-type crystalline structure and rodlike molecular configuration. As the degree of polymerization of amylose increased, the complexing index (CI) (from 68.81% to 83.55%), relative crystallinity (from 21.10% to 28.35%), short-range order (from 0.44 to 0.63), molecular mass (from 2.90 × 106 to 8.02 × 106 Da), molecular density index (from 3.50 to 23.07 g/(mol·nm3), gelation temperature (from 98.52 to 103.71 ℃), and gelation enthalpy (from 13.95 to 18.73 J/g), second-order kinetic rate constant (from 1.00 × 10-2 to 2.92 × 10-2 min-1) increased, while the semicrystalline lamellae thickness (from 3.20 to 4.82 nm), mass fractal dimension (from 1.28 to 1.81), characteristic length of crystallite unit (from 6.33 to 7.01 Å), radius of gyration (from 70.31 to 93.94 nm), and nanosurface “blocklet” size (from 7.05 to 15.03 nm) dropped, which led to a decrease of in vitro glycemic index (from 78.83 to 85.71). Statistical analysis showed that the degree of polymerization of amylose could remarkably affect the multiscale superstructure of the ternary complexes, which in turn could change its digestion kinetics. The results provide new theoretical guidance for the production of starch-based multicomponent foods.

In this paper, we evaluate the security of an enhanced double random phase encoding (DRPE) image encryption scheme (2013 J. Lightwave Technol.31 2533). The original system employs a chaotic Baker map prior to DRPE to provide more protection to the plain image and hence promote the security level of DRPE, as claimed. However, cryptanalysis shows that this scheme is vulnerable to a chosen-plaintext attack, and the ciphertext can be precisely recovered. The corresponding improvement is subsequently reported upon the basic premise that no extra equipment or computational complexity is required. The simulation results and security analyses prove its effectiveness and security. The proposed achievements are suitable for all cryptosystems under permutation and, following that, the DRPE architecture, and we hope that our work can motivate the further research on optical image encryption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study measures dielectric properties (ε', ε" and tanδ) of zinc oxide dust produced in a rotary kiln, using a cavity perturbation method with microwaves at 2.45 GHz. The effect of apparent density of the dust on the dielectric properties was determined. The results indicated that zinc oxide dust has excellent absorbing performance and can reach 800 ºC in 6 minutes. The apparent density of zinc oxide dust and the microwave penetration depth were also related. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, amounts of permutation-diffusion architecture-based image cryptosystems have been proposed. However, the key stream elements in the diffusion procedure are merely depending on the secret key that is usually fixed during the whole encryption process. Cryptosystems of this type suffer from unsatisfactory encryption speed and are considered insecure upon known/chosen plaintext attacks. In this paper, an efficient diffusion scheme is proposed. This scheme consists of two diffusion procedures, with a supplementary diffusion procedure padded after the normal diffusion. In the supplementary diffusion module, the control parameter of the selected chaotic map is altered by the resultant image produced after the normal diffusion operation. As a result, a slight difference in the plain image can be transferred to the chaotic iteration and bring about distinct key streams, and hence totally different cipher images will be produced. Therefore, the scheme can remarkably accelerate the diffusion effect of the cryptosystem and will effectively resist known/chosen plaintext attacks. Theoretical analyses and experimental results prove the high security performance and satisfactory operation efficiency of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]