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OBJECTIVE: In recent years, many researchers have taken serum ubiquitin c-terminal hydrolase (Uch-L1) as an indicator of post-traumatic brain injury and associated it with cognitive impairment. Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by cognitive impairment and energy metabolism disorders. The purpose of this study was to detect whether serum Uch-L1 is related to cognition and brain energy metabolism in healthy people, and to explore whether it can be used as an early blood marker of Alzheimer’s disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, adult outpatients from a Grade 3A hospital were recruited. They completed the 18F-FDG-PET/CT examination in the nuclear medicine department and were screened by the Mini Mental State scale (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale (MoCA). Blood samples were collected from all outpatients to detect the concentration of serum Uch-L1, and the mean standard uptake value (SUVmean) of energy metabolism in the hippocampus during PET/CT examination was collected. RESULTS: A total of 37 participants, 14 participants with cognitive impairment (MMSE score < 27) and 23 controls (MMSE score 27-30) were included. There was a significant difference in the SUVmean of the hippocampus between the cognitive impairment group and the normal control group (p < 0.05). There was a significant correlation between the SUVmean of the hippocampus and the total score of MMSE in all participants [r = 0.439, 95% CI: (0.139-0.668), p = 0.007]. There were also significant correlations between serum Uch-L1 and MMSE. Based on the significant differences of demographic variables between groups, we conducted a multivariate linear regression analysis of MMSE cognitive scores based on age (X1), length of education (X2) and SUVmean of hippocampus (X3). The regression equation is as follows: Y = 25.709-0.072 X1 + 0.422 X2 + 0.232 X3. CONCLUSIONS: Brain cognitive ability is closely related to energy metabolism and serum Uch-L1 concentration, so serum Uch-L1 may become a blood marker for extensive screening of dementia in the future. We look forward to the introduction of a more accurate and low-cost method for detecting serum Uch-L1 concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper has a research on the distribution and bioaccumulation of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd and Cr) in the water, sediments, and three endemic fish species from the Huashan Reservoir, source of the Pearl River. The results showed that the water of Huashan Reservoir was under the grade II standard for most of the heavy metals according to the national environmental quality standard for surface water (GB3838-2002) launched by the State Environmental Protection Administration of China, and the metal concentrations of most surface sediments have exceeded the background values of the local soil in Yunnan Province. Furthermore, the Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd and Cr content in the sediment cores increased abruptly around early 1970s. Notably, most metals in all collected fish in this study didn't exceed the safety thresholds according to the national standards. Finally, the results found that the concentrations of heavy metals in the muscles of three fishes were all safe for human consumption, and the mean concentration in the fish organs followed the sequence of liver>gill>muscle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dietary vitamin E supplementation has been indicated to enhance the antioxidant capacity of breeders. As breeders age, the productive and reproductive performance rapidly decline, and dietary vitamin E supplementation may play a positive role in this process. Two trials were conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary vitamin E supplementation on laying performance, hatchability traits and antioxidant status in molted broiler breeder hens beyond 70 wk. A total of 512 (71-week-old) and 576 (75-week-old) molted Ross 308 breeder hens were assigned to 2 dietary vitamin E groups (6 or 100 mg/kg) and 3 dietary vitamin E groups (100, 200 or 400 mg/kg) for 12 wk, respectively. Eggs were collected and incubated at wk 9. Dietary vitamin E supplementation did not affect the laying performance of hens and the hatchability traits of eggs (P > 0.05). As dietary vitamin E concentration increased, the malonaldehyde (MDA) content in ovarian of hens, egg yolks and serum, brain, and yolk sac of chicks decreased (P < 0.05), the total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in serum and ovarian of hens, egg yolks and yolk sac of chicks increased (P < 0.05), and the alpha-tocopherol content in egg yolks increased (P < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary vitamin E supplementation did not influence egg production and hatchability traits. However, based on optimizing the antioxidant status of egg yolks and newly hatched chicks, the suitable vitamin E concentration in the molted broiler breeder hen (beyond 70 wk) diet is at least 200 mg/kg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether a dietary vitamin E (VE) supplement could alleviate any detrimental effects of aged corn on lipid metabolism and antioxidant status in laying hens. Methods: The experiment consisted of a 2×3 factorial design with two corn types (normal corn and aged corn (stored for 4 yr) and three concentrations of VE (0, 20, and 100 IU/kg). A total of 216 Lohmann laying hens (50 wk of age) were randomly allocated into six treatment diets for 12 wk. Each treatment had 6 replicates of 6 hens per replicate. Results: The results show that aged corn significantly decreased the content of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p<0.05), and reduced chemokine-like receptor 1 (CMKLR1) mRNA expression (p<0.05) in the liver compared to controls. Diet with VE did not alter the content of crude fat and cholesterol (p>0.05), or acetyl-CoA carboxylase, lipoprotein lipase, fatty acid synthase or CMKLR1 mRNA expression (p>0.05) in the liver among treatment groups. Aged corn significantly increased the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) (p<0.05) and decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (p<0.05) in the liver. The VE increased the content of MDA (p<0.05) but decreased glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in serum (p<0.01) and in the ovaries (p<0.05). Adding VE at 20 and 100 IU/kg significantly increased GSH-Px activity (p<0.05) in liver and in serum (p<0.01), 100 IU/kg VE significantly increased SOD activity (p<0.05) in serum. Aged corn had no significant effects on GSH-Px mRNA or SOD mRNA expression (p<0.01) in the liver and ovaries. Addition of 100 IU/kg VE could significantly increase SOD mRNA expression (p<0.01) in the liver and ovary. Conclusion: Aged corn affected lipid metabolism and decreased the antioxidant function of laying hens. Dietary VE supplementation was unable to counteract the negative effects of aged corn on lipid metabolism. However, addition of 100 IU/kg VE prevented aged corninduced lipid peroxidation in the organs of laying hens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exciton dissociation process at indium tin oxide (ITO)/copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) interface of ITO/CuPc(370 nm)/Al is studied by transient photovoltage method. A negative-to-positive change in the polarity of photovoltage upon pulsed laser irradiation is observed in CuPc thin film. The polarity change is regarded as a summation of the effect of exciton dissociation at ITO/CuPc interface (fast process) and that of free carrier separation by built-in field (slow process). Further experiments confirm the existence of exciton dissociation at ITO/CuPc interface, and the direction of which is electron injected into ITO, with holes left in CuPc film. This is opposite to that of the interfacial dissociation at donor/acceptor (D/A) interface in single heterojunction cells (ITO/D/A/buffer/Al). 3-nm-thick LiF insulating layer is inserted between ITO and CuPc to inhibit the exciton dissociation at ITO/CuPc interface. Thereby, the open-circuit voltage and power conversion efficiency of the single layer cell have been increased by several times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limitations of the analytical method for calculating the exciton distribution in organic thin films, attributed to the improper boundary conditions when the organic film approaches the exciton diffusion length, were analyzed by comparison with an exciton random walk simulation. The random walk simulation results are in better agreement with in situ photoluminescence measurements than predictions based on the one-dimensional (1D) diffusion equation, especially for thin films (<15 nm). The three-dimensional exciton diffusion length in tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum is determined to be 26 nm, equivalent to 15 nm upon projection to 1D. The result is not sensitive to the molecular size, a parameter arbitrarily set in the simulation. In addition, the exciton distribution in operating organic light emitting devices was also simulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proper cutter selection can reduce NC machining time greatly. Most researchers select cutters based on tool path generation, which is very time consuming, and only a very limited number of cutters can be selected. A new cutter selection methodology for complex mould machining based on an efficient interference detection algorithm is introduced. With this approach, the feasible regions for the candidate cutters are first identified without tool path generation. The machining times for different cutter combinations are then estimated based on the areas of the feasible regions and the cutter feed rates. The set of cutters that can machine the workplace with minimum time is selected as the optimal candidate cutters. Since no tool path needs to be generated before cutter selection, the cutters can be selected efficiently, and the number of the cutters that can be used in NC machining can be quite large. The system has been tested with several industrial parts and it can select optimal cutters effectively and efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of EDM electrodes are used in plastic injection mold manufacturing. However, electrode design is very time-consuming. This paper introduces a computer-aided electrode design system for plastic injection mold manufacturing. An algorithm to detect sharp corner uncut for electrode design is introduced in the paper. Through this algorithm, sharp corner uncut can be detected by calculating the surface angles at their common edges. Using this system, when electrode boundaries are identified either by the user or through detected sharp corner edges, the electrode tool, its holder and a working coordinate system (WCS) for electrode setting are created automatically. The system has been tested and has proved to be able to shorten the electrode design lead-time significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synchrotron radiation photoemission study showed that the energy level alignment at the interface between N, N'-bis(naphthalene-1-y1)-N, N'-bis(phenyl) benzidine (NPB), a typical hole transport material, and Al could be adjusted by precovering a thin C60 layer on Al. The interface dipoles so formed could shift both the highest occupied molecular orbital level of NPB and the secondary electron cutoff measured at the early stage of the NPB deposition. The barrier height for hole injection from Al to NPB could thus be lowered by as much as 0.98 eV, and the optimal thickness of the inserted C60 layer was found to be 8-12 Å. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of mir-637 on the proliferation, migration and apoptosis in human cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) cell line QBC939, and the impact of mir-637 on Cathepsin B (CTSB) expression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Expression of mir-637 and CTSB in CCA tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues were measured by Real-time PCR. CTSB expression in human CCA cell lines was detected with or without mir-637 exogenous overexpression through fluorescent quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) method. The efficiency of lentivirus-mir-637 vector infection, and the effect of mir-637 on the proliferation, migration ability, apoptosis and cell cycle of CCA cell were detected, respectively. The possibility of mir-637 targeting CTSB was also tested by bioinformatics method, correlation analysis and molecular biology method. RESULTS: Decreased mir-637 and increased CTSB expression were observed in CCA tissue compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues. CTSB expression in mir-637 exogenously overexpressed QBC939 cells decreased compared with negative control. Mir-637 overexpression caused significant decrease of proliferation and migration ability of QBC939 cell. In addition, mir-637 overexpression induced that the cell cycle was blocked in G0/G1 phase, and cell apoptosis rate increased significantly. CONCLUSIONS: mir-637 and CTSB play an important role in the proliferation and migration of CCA cells. Mir-637 could inhibit CTSB expression significantly, which in-turn down-regulates the proliferation, migration and invasion ability of QBC939 cell, and promotes apoptosis in QBC939 cell line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the expression of annexin A5 (ANXA5) in human cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) cell line and its effect on proliferation, migration, and apoptosis of human CCA cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Expression of ANXA5 was detected by fluorescent quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blotting method in 2 human CCA cell lines, QBC939 and RBE. 3 shRNA plasmids for ANXA5 silencing (ANXA5-sh1, ANXA5-sh2, ANXA5-sh3) and 1 negative control plasmid were constructed to infect QBC939 cells. The infection efficiency, expression of ANXA5, apoptosis and cell cycle of QBC939 cell were measured separately. RESULTS: The expression of ANXA5 in QBC939 cell was significantly higher than RBE cell. Expressed ANXA5 protein in the QBC939-KD cell (QBC939 cell treated by RNAi) was significantly lower than QBC939-BC (QBC939 cell) and QBC939-NC cells (QBC939 cell treated by scramble plasmid). The ratio of G0/1 phase cells and apoptosis rate increased in QBC939-KD cell. The proliferation activity and invasion ability decreased in QBC939-KD cell compared with QBC939-NC and QBC939-BC cells. CONCLUSIONS: ANXA5 play important role in the migration and apoptosis of CCA cells. Inhibiting the expression of ANXA5 significantly reduce the proliferation, migration and invasion ability of QBC939 cells, and increase the apoptosis of QBC939 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study that developed a mild electrochemical sulfurization technique which can form a very thick sulfide layer on a gallium arsenide (GaAs) surface. Information on the photoluminescence spectrum of anodic sulfurized GaAs samples; Use of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; Discussion on the passivation method used in semiconductors.