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The purpose of this study was to explore the differences in interhemispheric functional connectivity in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) based on a triple network model consisting of the default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and executive control network (ECN). The technique of voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) analysis was applied to explore the aberrant connectivity of all patients. The results showed that: (1) the statistically significant connections of interhemispheric brain regions included DMN-related brain regions (i.e. precuneus, calcarine, fusiform, cuneus, lingual gyrus, temporal inferior gyrus, and hippocampus), SN-related brain regions (i.e. frontoinsular cortex), and ECN-related brain regions (i.e. frontal middle gyrus and frontal inferior); (2) the precuneus and frontal middle gyrus in the AD group exhibited lower VMHC values than those in the aMCI and healthy control (HC) groups, but no significant difference was observed between the aMCI and HC groups; and (3) significant correlations were found between peak VMHC results from the precuneus and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Scale (MOCA) scores and their factor scores in the AD, aMCI, and AD plus aMCI groups, and between the results from the frontal middle gyrus and MOCA factor scores in the aMCI group. These findings indicated that impaired interhemispheric functional connectivity was observed in AD and could be a sensitive neuroimaging biomarker for AD. More specifically, the DMN was inhibited, while the SN and ECN were excited. VMHC results were correlated with MMSE and MOCA scores, highlighting that VMHC could be a sensitive neuroimaging biomarker for AD and the progression from aMCI to AD.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most frequent diseases in elderly people and causes high mortality. Its incidence is increasing annually and no effective therapeutic treatment currently exists. In the present study, salidroside, a major active ingredient of Rhodiola rosea, was able to protect PC-12 cells from the toxicity and apoptosis induced by AD inducer amyloid (A)β1--42. Salidroside significantly protected PC-12 cells by inhibiting Aβ1-42-induced cytotoxicity and mitochondria-mediated endogenous caspase apoptotic pathways. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that salidroside significantly activated the extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathways. This observation was further confirmed using the ERK1/2 inhibitor PD98059 and the AKT inhibitor LY294002, which demonstrated that salidroside promoted PC-12 cell survival and proliferation by activating the ERK1/2 and AKT signaling pathways. Salidroside is a therapeutic candidate for the treatment of AD and provides a basis for further drug development.

Thermosetting fluorinated polyurethane coating was prepared by using fluorinated polyether polyol (FPO) as the soft segment, 4,4`-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) as the hard segment, TEA as crosslinking agent. The structure ofthermosetting fluorinated polyurethane coating was confirmed by the use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).The FPU film’s surface property was investigated by contact angle (CA),water resistance and anti-corrosion resistance measurements. The results indicated that the surface of fluorinated polyurethanes was significantly enriched with fluorine groups. The water resistance of thermosetting FPU coating was evidently better than thermoplastic FPU coating. It was also found that the surface enrichment of fluorine atoms made the fluorinated polyurethane coating had outstanding anti-corrosion resistance.

Fluorinated polyurethanes (FPU) was prepared using fluorinated polyether polyol (FPO) as the soft segment, 4,4`-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) as the hard segment, 1,4-butanodiol (BDO) as the chain extender and catalysts. Tin metal catalysts were used to catalyze the polyurethane reaction of polyether polyols and isocyanate. The effect of different catalysts including stannous octoate (T-9) and dibutyltindalautrate (DBTDL) on the structure, surface properties and thermal properties of FPU was studied. The structural elucidation of the synthesized FPU was performed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and discovered that with decreasing catalyst efficiency or without catalyst, the strength of hydrogen bounds were enhanced. The FPU films surface was characterized by contact angle (CA) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) and it was found that the phase separation was increasing with increasing catalyst efficiency. The thermal property was exhibited by Thermo gravimetric (TG) and showed that joining catalyst improved stability significantly.