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High-performance polymer composites fabricated by the addition of hybrid fillers have been attracting great attention from the industry and researchers due to their synergistic effect and relativel...

Recently, polyethylene (PE)-based single polymer composites (SPCs) have been found to be potential candidates for high-voltage applications (HVAs) due to their ability to form supramolecular struct...

A bias power is usually applied in inductively coupled plasmas (ICP) to realize the separate control of the plasma density and the ion energy. In this research, a two-dimensional fluid/electron Monte Carlo hybrid model is developed to self-consistently investigate the bias effect on the stochastic heating and on the radial homogeneity in a biased argon ICP operated at low pressure (3 mTorr). The results show that the temporal evolution of the stochastic heating exhibits a plateau and a peak when the sheath collapses at high bias voltages, due to the limited sheath heating and the electron inertia. In addition, the plasma density in the diffusion chamber increases with bias voltage and bias frequency, because of the more pronounced stochastic heating both at the substrate and at the grounded wall. In the main discharge chamber, the plasma density decreases with bias voltage, due to the compression of the bulk plasma region, and this trend becomes less obvious at high bias frequency, because of the enhanced power absorption caused by the stochastic heating. Therefore, it is concluded that by tuning the bias voltage and bias frequency, the plasma radial uniformity could be modulated efficiently, which is very important for improving plasma processing.

This paper proposes a new method for the simultaneous determination of emerging contaminants (ECS) in the marine environment by solid-phase extraction (SPE)-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Organic corrosion inhibitors (OCI) and UV absorbers are common products in plastic rubber and personal care products, and they have been acknowledged as emerging contaminants due to their toxicity and bio-accumulative effects in the environment. In addition to common persistent organic pollutants (POPs), it is also necessary to detect and analyze the concentration and composition of these emerging organic contaminants in the ocean. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) and solid-phase microextraction (SPME) were used as two common pretreatment methods. After comparing their recoveries, SPE was used for treatment, and the conditions such as SPE cartridge, extraction solvent, extraction time, pH and elution solvent were optimized. The method was applied to determine the concentrations of these contaminants in seawater and sediments from the Yangtze River Estuary and its adjacent areas with a precision of about 10% and recoveries in the range of 67.40%-102.3% and 77.35%-101.8%, respectively. The detection limits of this method for the determination of contaminants in seawater and sediment were 0.03-0.47 ng/g and 0.01-0.58 ng/g. The method is simple to operate and has high precision, and can be applied to the detection of emerging pollutant concentrations in marine environments.

OKT4 is an important epitope of the CD4 molecular. Amino acid mutations in the CD4V3 region result in deficiency of the OKT4 epitope in human. Here, we firstly reported a case of hereditary deficiency of OKT4 epitope in an inbred Chinese rhesus macaque family. This epitope deficiency is due to cytosine to thymine transition and homozygote at the nucleotide position 793 of CD4 coding sequences, which leads to the replace of arginine at 265th position of CD4 molecule by tryptophan. The results reveal that OKT4 epitope deficiency is a very old phenotype and may be parentally inherited, and emphasize the importance of avoiding inbreeding in primate population breeding.

CSF1R-related leukoencephalopathy is a rare white-matter encephalopathy characterized by motor and neuropsychiatric symptoms due to colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) gene mutation. Few studies have investigated the intrinsic brain alternations of patients with CSF1R-related leukoencephalopathy. We aim to evaluate the structural and functional changes in those patients. Seven patients with CSF1R-related leukoencephalopathy and 15 age-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including high-resolution T1-weighted imaging, T2-weighted fluid attenuated inversion recovery imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging, diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) and resting-state functional MRI. First, to detect structural alterations, the gray matter volumes were compared using voxel-based morphometry analyses. Second, DKI parametric maps were used to evaluate the white matter (WM) connectivity changes. Finally, we constructed a seed-based resting-state functional connectivity matrix based on 90 regions of interest and examined the functional network changes of CSF1R-related leukoencephalopathy. Unlike the HCs, patients with CSF1R-related leukoencephalopathy predominantly had morphological atrophy in the bilateral thalamus and left hippocampus. In addition, the abnormal diffusivity was mainly distributed in the splenium of the corpus callosum, periventricular regions, centrum semiovale, subcortical U-fibers and midline cortex structures. Moreover, the patients had significantly reduced functional connectivity between the bilateral caudate nucleus and their contralateral hippocampus. Therefore, in addition to hyperintensity on the T2-weighted images, CSF1R-related leukoencephalopathy also showed abnormal structural and functional alterations, including subcortical atrophy and reduced functional connectivity, as well as altered diffuse parameters in the WM and subcortical regions. These findings expand our understanding of the potential pathophysiologic mechanism behind this hereditary disease.

To investigate the correlation between the behavioral performance and the expressions of substance P (SP) and neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1R) in the posterior horn of the L5－S2 spinal cord in rats with chronic prostatitis (CP).A CP model was made in 30 adult male SD rats by intraperitoneal injection of 0.5 ml dyphtheria pertussis tetanus (DPT) vaccine and mixed solution of 1 ml prostatein extract and complete adjuvant in a 1∶1 ratio, and another 10 rats were injected with the same volume of normal saline as controls. At 45 (n = 10), 60 (n = 10) and 90 days (n = 10) after modeling, the behavioral changes of the rats were observed by open-field and sucrose consumption tests, the prostatic indexes and levels of serum TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-2 and IL-10 were obtained, and the expressions of SP and NK1-R in the L5－S2 spinal cord were determined by immunohistochemistry.Compared with the controls, the CP model rats showed obviously decreased horizontal and vertical movement scores and sucrose consumption, particularly in the 90 d group (P0.05), significantly reduced prostatic indexes in the 45 d, 60 d and 90 d groups (all P0.05), even lower in the 90 d than in the 45 d and 60 d groups (P0.05). Edema and lymphocytes were increased in the prostatic tissue with the prolonged time of modeling. The levels of serum TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-2 and IL-10 were markedly elevated in all the CP rats as compared with those in the controls (P0.05), and so were the expressions of SP and NK-1R in the L5－S2 spinal cord (P0.05), even more significantly in the 90 d than in the 45 d and 60 d groups (P0.05).Rats with chronic prostatitis are characterized by behavioral manifestation of depression, increased levels of serum TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-2 and IL-10, and a time-dependent upregulation of the expressions of SP and NK-1R in the posterior horn of the L5-S2 spinal cord, which suggests a correlation between the behavioral performance and the expressions of SP and NK-1R in the L5－S2 spinal cord of the rats.

The effects of gas pressure and gas component on the power transfer efficiency [Formula: see text] and transition power threshold [Formula: see text] during the E–H mode transition in inductively coupled plasmas are studied. The evolutions of [Formula: see text] during the E–H mode transition in pure Ar and Ar/O2 discharges are similar, i.e., in E-mode discharge, [Formula: see text] slightly increases with raising the applied power ([Formula: see text] is below 30%), whereas, an abruptly upward jump of nearly two to four times for [Formula: see text] occurs when the discharge transits to H-mode, and then [Formula: see text] monotonously increases with increasing the applied power. In addition, as the pressure rises, [Formula: see text] increases rapidly first and then slowly in pure Ar discharge. However, [Formula: see text] in Ar/O2 mixture gases discharge shows a non-monotonic behavior. It reveals a tendency of first increase at low pressures and then decreases at high pressures, which is because the resistive component of the plasma varies with the electron density [Formula: see text] and the electron effective collision frequency [Formula: see text]. Furthermore, a non-monotonic behavior of transition power threshold [Formula: see text] with the pressure is found, i.e., with increasing the pressure, [Formula: see text] first decreases and then increases. It may be caused by the threshold electron density, which is constant at low pressures [Formula: see text] but increases at high pressures [Formula: see text].

Electrical excitability by membrane depolarization is crucial for survival and maturation of newborn cells in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. However, traditional technology for membrane depolarization lacks temporal and spatial precision. Optogenetics can be used to activate channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2), allowing cationic current to depolarize genetically targeted cells. In this study, we used ChR2-EGFP driven by doublecortin (DCX) to promote survival and maturation of newborn cells in the dentate gyrus after traumatic brain injury (TBI). C57BL/6 mice underwent lateral fluid percussion TBI. TBI mice were transfected with a lentivirus carrying the DCX-ChR2-EGFP gene. We observed that not only immature neurons but also type-2b intermediate progenitor (IPs) and neuroblasts expressed DCX-EGFP, indicating that DCX-expressing newborn cells could provide a long time window for electrical activity regulation. Quantitative results showed that the number of EGFP-expressing cells began to rise at 3 days after TBI and peaked at 9 days after TBI. By optical depolarization of DCX-EGFP-expressing cells between 3 and 12 days, we observed significantly improved cognitive deficits after TBI with enhanced survival and maturation of newborn cells in the dentate gyrus. We also investigated the role of optical depolarization in neural stem cells transfected with a lentivirus carrying the ChR2-DCX-EGFP gene in vitro. By administrating verapamil to block L-type calcium channels, we verified that the up-regulation of MAP2, NeuN, Neurog2, NeuroD1 and GluR2 in newborn cells was mediated by ChR2-elicted depolarization. By using β-catenin inhibitor Dkk1, we demonstrated that optical depolarization of DCX-EGFP-expressing cells facilitated survival and maturation probably through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling cascade.

The secretome of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) offers a series of immunoregulatory properties and is regarded as an effective method of mitigating secondary neuroinflammation induced by traumatic brain injury (TBI). The secretome of adipose-derived MSCs (ASC-ST) was collected under hypoxia conditions. Proteomics data were analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), and concentrations of major components were tested. After the TBI caused by an electric cortical contusion impactor, rats were injected ASC-ST through caudal veins for 7 days. The neurological functional prognosis of TBI rats was significantly improved, and the vasogenic edema of brain tissues that was measured 14 days after TBI was relieved by ASC-ST, corresponding to brain water content levels. ASC-ST ameliorated TBI-induced neuroinflammatory environments that caused the edema, the apoptosis of the neural cells, and the nerve fiber damage by increasing the number of M2 phenotypes present while reducing the number of M1 phenotype microglia present. Furthermore, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels were reduced, whereas transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) and tumor necrosis factor-stimulated gene 6 protein (TSG-6) levels were increased after secretome treatment. Altogether, ASC-ST is capable of improving neural functioning by modulating TBI-induced neuroinflammation and its related secondary insults. ASC-ST may be one of the most promising candidates for regulating the secondary inflammatory reactions of central nervous systems for clinical use.

Selectively localization of conductive fillers in polymer blends is able to tailor their dielectric properties. However, the controlled localization of these fillers is remaining a challenge. In this work, through a two-step melt compounding technique, we prepared polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)/multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) blends with controlled MWCNTs location. Structural characterizations were performed to reveal the relationship between processing parameters and the MWCNTs locations. Then, we showed the frequency-dependent dielectric constant (e) and dielectric loss (tanδ) of each sample and obtained PVDF/ABS/MWCNTs ternary blend with balanced e and tanδ of 165.1 and 0.20, respectively. Ultimately, the correlation between MWCNTs locations and the dielectric properties were established. For the first time, rather than the current understanding of achieving superior dielectric properties by locating the filler at interface, we put forward a brand new approach by controlling the fillers locating at both interface and the continuous phase, which could be a more effective route in enhancing the e without improving the tanδ. We believe this work can pave us a new avenue towards fabricating polymer dielectrics with high e and low tanδ through controlling localization of the conductive fillers been included.

In the etching process, a bias source is usually applied to the bottom electrode of an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source to control the ion energy and angular distribution function (IEADF) independently. In this work, a hybrid model, i.e., a global model combined bi-directionally with a fluid sheath model, is applied to investigate the plasma properties in biased ICPs sustained in Cl2 gases. The evolutions of the plasma properties with bias voltage are presented for various ICP powers (i.e., 200, 500, and 1000 W) at a pressure of 10 mTorr and bias frequency of 13.56 MHz. The results indicate that the Cl2 (v = 0) density decreases with ICP power, whereas the densities of electrons and Cl+ ions increase strikingly and they become the dominant charged species at 1000 W. In addition, the electron density and Cl+ density increase with bias voltage, and the increasing trend becomes more obvious at higher ICP powers. However, the evolution of the Cl2+ density and Cl− density with bias voltage depends on the ICP power. For instance, they first exhibit an increasing trend and then keep constant at 200 W, while a slight downward trend is observed at 1000 W. In addition, as the bias voltage increases, both the high-energy peak and low-energy peak of IEADFs move toward higher energy, and meanwhile the peak separation becomes wider. The results obtained in this work are of significant importance for improving the etching process.

Effective treatments promoting axonal regeneration and functional recovery for spinal cord injury (SCI) are still in the early stages of development. Most approaches have been focused on providing supportive substrates for guiding neurons and overcoming the physical and chemical barriers to healing that arise after SCI. Although collagen has become a promising natural substrate with good compatibility, its low mechanical properties restrict its potential applications. The mechanical properties mainly rely on the composition and pore structure of scaffolds. For the composition of a scaffold, we used heparin sulfate to react with collagen by crosslinking. For the structure, we adopted a three-dimensional (3D) printing technology to fabricate a scaffold with a uniform pore distributions. We observed that the internal structure of the scaffold printed with a 3D bioprinter was regular and porous. We also found that both the compression modulus and strengths of the scaffold were significantly enhanced by the collagen/heparin sulfate composition compared to a collagen scaffold. Meanwhile, the collagen/heparin sulfate scaffold presented good biocompatibility when it was co-cultured with neural stem cells in vitro. We also demonstrated that heparin sulfate modification significantly improved bFGF immobilization and absorption to the collagen by examining the release kinetics of bFGF from scaffolds. Two months after implantating the scaffold into transection lesions in T10 of the spinal cord in rats, the collagen/heparin sulfate group demonstrated significant recovery of locomotor function and according to electrophysiological examinations. Parallel to functional recovery, collagen/heparin sulfate treatment further ameliorated the pathological process and markedly increased the number of neurofilament (NF) positive cells compared to collagen treatment alone. These data suggested that a collagen/heparin sulfate scaffold fabricated by a 3D bioprinter could enhance the mechanical properties of collagen and provide continuous guidance channels for axons, which would improve the neurological function after SCI. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 105A: 1324-1332, 2017.

Conventional fabrication methods lack the ability to control both macro- and micro-structures of generated scaffolds. Three-dimensional printing is a solid free-form fabrication method that provides novel ways to create customized scaffolds with high precision and accuracy. In this study, an electrically controlled cortical impactor was used to induce randomized brain tissue defects. The overall shape of scaffolds was designed using rat-specific anatomical data obtained from magnetic resonance imaging, and the internal structure was created by computer-aided design. As the result of limitations arising from insufficient resolution of the manufacturing process, we magnified the size of the cavity model prototype five-fold to successfully fabricate customized collagen-chitosan scaffolds using three-dimensional printing. Results demonstrated that scaffolds have three-dimensional porous structures, high porosity, highly specific surface areas, pore connectivity and good internal characteristics. Neural stem cells co-cultured with scaffolds showed good viability, indicating good biocompatibility and biodegradability. This technique may be a promising new strategy for regenerating complex damaged brain tissues, and helps pave the way toward personalized medicine.

How to promote neural repair following traumatic brain injury (TBI) has long been an intractable problem. Although acupuncture has been demonstrated to facilitate the neurological recovery, the underlying mechanism is elusive. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) exerts substantial protective effects for neurological disorders. In this study, we found that the level of BDNF and tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) was elevated spontaneously after TBI and reached up to the peak at 12 h. Nevertheless, this enhancement is quickly declined to the normal at 48 h. After combined stimulation at the acupoints of Baihui, Renzhong, Hegu, and Zusanli, we found that BDNF and TrkB were still significantly elevated at 168 h. We also observed that the downstream molecular p-Akt and p-Erk1/2 were significantly increased, suggesting that acupuncture could persistently activate the BDNF/TrkB pathway. To further verify that acupuncture improved recovery through activating BDNF/TrkB pathway, K252a (specific inhibitor of TrkB) was treated by injection stereotaxically into lateral ventricle. We observed that K252a could significantly prevent the acupuncture-induced amelioration of motor, sensation, cognition, and synaptic plasticity. These data indicated that acupuncture promoted the recovery of neurological impairment after TBI by activating BDNF/TrkB signaling pathway, providing new molecular mechanism for understanding traditional therapy of acupuncture.

Although previous research has demonstrated that traumatic brain injury (TBI) accelerates the proliferation of neural stem cells in dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, most of these newborn cells undergo apoptosis in a traumatic microenvironment. Thus, promoting the long-term survival of newborn cells during neurogenesis is a compelling goal for the treatment of TBI. In this study, we investigated whether mild hypothermia (MHT) therapy, which mitigates the multiple secondary injury cascades of TBI, enhances the survival of newborn cells. SD rats were subjected to unilateral fluid percussion injury and received MHT therapy for 4 h (33.5 °C). Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was administered to label the mitotic cells. Spatial learning and memory were evaluated with the Morris water maze test. Brain sections were immunostained with antibodies against BrdU, DCX (a neuroblast marker) or NeuN (a mature neuron marker). The apoptosis levels in the dentate gyrus were examined with antibodies against the apoptotic proteins FAS, FASL, Bcl-2 and cleaved caspase 3. The results indicated that MHT could significantly prevent TBI-induced cognitive impairments. At 1 week after injury, the density of BrdU-immunoreactive cells significantly increased in both TBI and TBI + MHT rats. At 4 weeks after injury, the density of BrdU-positive cells further increased in TBI + MHT rats, whereas the density declined in the TBI rats. The density of DCX-positive cells in SGZ of the hippocampus at 1 week after injury in the TBI + MHT rats was significantly greater than in the TBI rats. Moreover, the density of NeuN-positive cells in the subgranular zone at 4 weeks after injury and in the granule cell layer at 7 weeks after injury was significantly increased in the TBI + MHT rats. The TBI + MHT rats displayed a lower level of apoptosis in the dentate gyrus compared with the TBI rats. These data indicate that TBI could only facilitate a burst of proliferation and short-term survival of newborn cells, whereas TBI + MHT could facilitate long-term survival and maturation of newborn cells through diminishing pro-apoptotic microenvironment. These results suggest that MHT-mediated neurogenesis may have an important therapeutic potential for the endogenous repair of TBI.

Recently, energy saving and emission reduction get more attention in the world, electric power industry is one of the major sectors of energy consumption. The national government has issued a series of related policies and regulations to change the power structure and control pollutant emissions, in order to improve the level of energy conservation and emission reduction. Some problems exist in the current policies and regulations. This paper puts forward measures and suggestions to strengthen energy conservation and emission reduction.

Both chemical and physical microenvironments appear to be important for lineage specification of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UCMSCs). However, physical factors such as the elastic modulus in traumatic brain injury (TBI) are seldom studied. Intracranial hypertension and cerebral edema after TBI may change the brain's physical microenvironment, which inhibits neural lineage specification of transplanted UCMSCs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential regulatory effect of mild hypothermia on the elastic modulus of the injured brain. First, we found that more UCMSCs grown on gels mimicking the elastic modulus of the brain (0.5 kPa) differentiated into neural cells, which were verified with the formation of branched cells and the expression of neural markers. Then, UCMSCs were transplanted into TBI rats, and we observed that mild hypothermia resulted in the differentiation of more neurons and astrocytes from transplanted UCMSCs. To demonstrate that more neural specification of UCMSCs was due to the regulation of the elastic modulus, we monitored intracranial pressure and cerebral edema. The results showed that mild hypothermia significantly reduced intracranial pressure and brain water content, indicating modulation of the elastic modulus by mild hypothermia. An examination with atomic force microscopy (AFM) in a cell injury model in vitro further verified hypothermia-regulated elastic modulus. In this study, we found a novel role of mild hypothermia in modulating the elastic modulus of the injured brain, resulting in the promotion of neural lineage specification of UCMSCs, which suggested that the combination of mild hypothermia had more advantages in cell-based therapy after TBI.

Degradation rate is an important index for evaluating biomaterials. The authors’ aim was to determine whether the degradation rate of biomaterials is different in distinct tissues and to clarify the underlying mechanism of degradation. The collagen-chitosan (CG-CS) composite scaffolds were prepared using freeze-drying technology. The porosity, water absorption and swelling ratio of the scaffolds were tested in vitro. The scaffolds were implanted into the subcutis, spinal cord and brain tissues of SD rats, the rate of degradation was assessed by continuous monitoring of weight loss, the pathological changes of target areas were observed by histological staining, and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) and lysozyme were detected at the rapid stage of degradation of the scaffolds. Physical and chemical property testing confirmed that CG-CS composite scaffold components can meet the biological requirements of in vivo transplantation. The in vivo experimental results showed that the scaffolds were completely absorbed in the subcutis at 12 days, the scaffolds in the spinal cord and brain groups exhibited progressive mass loss starting from the 3rd week, and a substantial fraction of the scaffold was degraded at 12 weeks. HE staining found that compared with the spinal cord and brain groups, macrophages and capillaries appeared earlier in the subcutis group, and the number was significantly higher (P

Although hypothermic-targeted temperature management (HTTM) holds great potential for the treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI), translation of the efficacy of hypothermia from animal models to TBI patientshas no entire consistency. This study aimed to find an ideal time window model in experimental rats which was more in accordance with clinical practice through the delayed HTTM intervention. Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to unilateral cortical contusion injury and received therapeutic hypothermia at 15mins, 2 h, 4 h respectively after TBI. The neurological function was evaluated with the modified neurological severity score and Morris water maze test. The brain edema and morphological changes were measured with the water content and H&E staining. Brain sections were immunostained with antibodies against DCX (a neuroblast marker) and GFAP (an astrocyte marker). The apoptosis levels in the ipsilateral hippocampi and cortex were examined with antibodies against the apoptotic proteins Bcl-2, Bax, and cleaved caspase-3 by the immunofluorescence and western blotting. The results indicated that each hypothermia therapy group could improve neurobehavioral and cognitive function, alleviate brain edema and reduce inflammation. Furthermore, we observed that therapeutic hypothermia increased DCX expression, decreased GFAP expression, upregulated Bcl-2 expression and downregulated Bax and cleaved Caspase-3 expression. The above results suggested that HTTM at 2h or even at 4h post-injury revealed beneficial brain protection similarly, despite the best effect at 15min post-injury. These findings may provide relatively ideal time window models, further making the following experimental results more credible and persuasive.

Background and purpose Hyperekplexia (HPX), a rare neurogenetic disorder, is classically characterized by neonatal hypertonia, exaggerated startle response provoked by the sudden external stimuli and followed by a shortly general stiffness. Glycine receptor alpha 1 (GLRA1) is the major pathogenic gene of the disease. We described the clinical manifestations of genetically confirmed HPX patients and made a literature review of GLRA1-related HPX to improve the early recognition and prompt the management of the disorder. Methods Extensive clinical evaluations were analyzed in 4 Chinese HPX patients from two unrelated families. Next generation sequencing was conducted in the probands. Sanger sequence and segregation analysis were applied to confirm the findings. Results All four patients including 3 males and 1 female presented with excessive startle reflex, a cautious gait and recurrent falls. Moreover, startle episodes were dramatically improved with the treatment of clonazepam in all cases. Exome sequencing revealed 2 homozygous GLRA1 mutations in the patients. The mutation c.1286T>A p.I429N has been previously reported, while c.754delC p.L252* is novel. Conclusions HPX is a treatable disease, and clonazepam is the drug of choice. By studying and reviewing the disorder, we summarized the phenotype, expanded the genotype spectrum, and discussed the possible pathogenic mechanisms to enhance the understanding and recognition of the disease. Early awareness of the disease is crucial to the prompt and proper administration, as well as the genetic counseling.

Baicalin is one bioactive flavone with anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective activities. The neuroprotective effects of baicalin on pathological changes and behavioral deficits were explored in a mouse model of amyloid β (Aβ)(1-42) protein-induced Alzheimer's disease (AD). Mice received a bilateral injection of Aβ(1-42) protein into the hippocampus, then they were treated with baicalin (30, 50 and 100 mg/kg body weight, orally) or Tween 80. The therapeutic effects of baicalin were monitored by Morris water maze trial and probe test. Then mice were sacrificed for immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis. After a relatively short-term treatment of 14 days, 100 mg/kg of baicalin significantly ameliorated memory impairment in the Morris water maze test and probe test, and also attenuated glial cell activations and increase of TNF-α and IL-6 expressions induced by Aβ(1-42) protein. These results suggest that baicalin ameliorated Aβ(1-42) protein-related pathology and cognitive dysfunction via its anti-neuroinflammatory activity, and may be a potential candidate for the treatment of AD.

This study shows the feasibility of using electrospinning technique to prepare polytetrafluoroethylene/poly (vinyl alcohol) (PTFE/PVA) nanofibers on PTFE microfiber membrane as substrate. Then, PVA in the fiber membrane was removed by thermal treatment at about 350 &deg, C. Compared to PTFE microfiber substrates, the composite PTFE fiber membranes (CPFMs) have improved filtration efficiency by 70% and water contact angle by 23&deg, Experimental test data showed that the water contact angle of the sample increased from about 107&deg, to 130&deg, the filtration efficiency of PM2.5 increased from 44.778% to 98.905%, and the filtration efficiency of PM7.25 increased from 66.655% to 100% due to the electrospun PTFE nanofiber layer. This work demonstrates the potential of CPFMs as a filter for the production of indoor or outdoor dust removal and industrially relevant gas filtration.

Accumulating evidence shows that Sirt1 regulates a variety of neurological functions through the deacetylation of many proteins besides histone; however, the literature on the relationship between Sirt1 and axonal outgrowth is limited. Here, we first demonstrated that Sirt1 was located in the axon, especially in the growth cone. Then, we found that genetic inhibition of Sirt1 retarded axonal development in embryonic hippocampal neurons, whereas genetic and pharmacologic upregulation of Sirt1 promoted not only the formation but also the elongation of axons. Sirt1 can deacetylate and thus activate Akt, and inhibition of Akt significantly reversed the axonogenesis induced by Sirt1 overexpression. We also found that Sirt1 inhibited the activity of glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3), whereas activation of GSK3 could abolish the effect of Sirt1. These results suggest that Sirt1 promotes axonogenesis by deacetylating Akt and thereby activates the Akt/GSK3 pathway, which could be a promising therapeutic target for axonopathy.

Effective treatments promoting axonal regeneration and functional recovery for spinal cord injury (SCI) are still in the early stages of development. Most approaches have been focused on providing supportive substrates for guiding neurons and overcoming the physical and chemical barriers to healing that arise after SCI. Although collagen has become a promising natural substrate with good compatibility, its low mechanical properties restrict its potential applications. The mechanical properties mainly rely on the composition and pore structure of scaffolds. For the composition of a scaffold, we used heparin sulfate to react with collagen by crosslinking. For the structure, we adopted a three-dimensional (3D) printing technology to fabricate a scaffold with a uniform pore distributions. We observed that the internal structure of the scaffold printed with a 3D bioprinter was regular and porous. We also found that both the compression modulus and strengths of the scaffold were significantly enhanced by the collagen/heparin sulfate composition compared to a collagen scaffold. Meanwhile, the collagen/heparin sulfate scaffold presented good biocompatibility when it was co-cultured with neural stem cells in vitro. We also demonstrated that heparin sulfate modification significantly improved bFGF immobilization and absorption to the collagen by examining the release kinetics of bFGF from scaffolds. Two months after implantating the scaffold into transection lesions in T10 of the spinal cord in rats, the collagen/heparin sulfate group demonstrated significant recovery of locomotor function and according to electrophysiological examinations. Parallel to functional recovery, collagen/heparin sulfate treatment further ameliorated the pathological process and markedly increased the number of neurofilament (NF) positive cells compared to collagen treatment alone. These data suggested that a collagen/heparin sulfate scaffold fabricated by a 3D bioprinter could enhance the mechanical properties of collagen and provide continuous guidance channels for axons, which would improve the neurological function after SCI. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 105A: 1324-1332, 2017.

In recent years, the control of induction motor has become an important research topic and a variety of control methods have been born.This paper proposes a new motor speed control approach based on methods of synergetic control thoery, which combines the traditional speed closed-loop control and synergetic control. The new method gets rid of PI regulators compared to the traditional conrtrol methods and the algorithm is very simple. The result of simulation shows that this control system has good dynamic and static performance.

MECDP copolyesters based on poly(ethylene terephthalate) were prepared with sodium-5-sulfo-bis-(hydroxyethyl)-isophthalate and poly(ethylene glycol) units as modifiers. Thermal properties of these copolyesters were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry and thermal gravity analyzer. Experimental results indicated that glass transition temperature, melting temperature and thermal degradation temperature reduced with increasing the poly(ethylene glycol) content. The incorporation of poly(ethylene glycol) increased the flexibility and irregularity of molecular chains which led to lower crystallinity, and bought more ether bonds into molecular chains. Besides, the thermal degradation under oxygen condition happened easily compared to that under nitrogen condition.

To simulate the chemical microenvironment of injured brain tissue, and to explore the effect of this chemical microenvironment on temperature sensitive umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (tsUC).Rat models of traumatic brain injury (TBI) were made by fluid percussion injury, and then the brain tissue extracts of the injured regions were acquired. Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC) were isolated and cultured, and the tsUC were obtained through the infection of temperature-sensitive Simian 40 Large T- antigen (ts-SV40LT) retrovirus. After that, both the two kinds of cells were cultured on the polyacrylamide gels which mimicking the elastic modulus of brain. Four groups were included: UC cultured under normal temperature (UC group), UC cultured added brain tissue extract under normal temperature (UC plus extract group), tsUC cultured under mild hypothermia (tsUC group), and tsUC added brain tissue extract under mild hypothermia for 3 days, then normal temperature for 4 days (tsUC plus extract group). After 24 hours, the apoptosis level was checked. Cell growth and morphological changes in each group were given dynamic observation. Seven days later, cell immunofluorescences were implemented for examining neural differentiation level.Compared with UC plus extract group, the apoptosis and proliferation in UC plus extract group were significantly reduced (P0.01) and increased (P0.01) respectively. Cell immunofluorescence showed that the both GFAP and Neuron positive cells were significantly enhanced in UC plus extract group than those in tsUC plus extract group.tsUC combining with mild hypothermia could significantly reverse injury induced cell apoptosis, improve cell proliferation and neural differentiation under chemical microenvironment after brain injury, which confirmed the adaptation and resistance of tsUC under mild hypothermia after TBI.

Two types of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) copolyesters were successfully prepared with sodium-5-sulfo-bis-(hydroxyethyl)-isophthalate (SIPE) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) units with different molecular weights named as cationic dyeable polyester and easy cationic dyeable polyester. Their chemical and crystalline structures were characterized by the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and small angle X-ray scattering measurement, and their thermal properties were tested by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis, respectively. NMR experimental results showed that the actual molar ratio of comonomers was basically consistent with the correlative feed ratio. WAXD results indicated that the crystalline structures of prepared copolyesters were similar to that of PET. Moreover, the glass transition temperature, melting temperature, and thermal degradation temperature were found to decrease with the reduction of the of PEG units as the incorporation of lower of PEG units brought more ether bonds into molecular chains, which increased the irregularity of molecular chain arrangement and led to lower crystallinity. In addition, because the incorporation of PEG units with lower molecular weight led to more ether bonds and hydroxyl end-groups in molecular chains, the value of contact angle of PET copolyesters dropped, manifesting PET copolyesters had better hydrophilicity with the decreasing molecular weight of PEG units.© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 39823.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of linezolid in the treatment of post-neurosurgical intracranial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (MRS) infection.The data from 14 patients, admitted to neurological intensive care unit (ICU) of Medical College of Chinese People's Armed Police Forces between March 2009 and November 2011, were retrospectively analyzed. All these cases suffered from post-neurosurgical intracranial infection by MRS and received linezolid treatment. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were collected before and 7 days and 14 days after treatment for routine and bacteriological examinations to assess clinical efficacy and adverse reactions of linezolid.After 14-day treatment with linezolid, the clinical and laboratory parameters showed significant improvement: glucose (mmol/L) in CSF rose from 1.00 (0.65) to 3.15 (1.60), protein (mg/L) in CSF dropped from 2238.50 (2072.50) to 606.50 (217.30), white blood cell count [×10⁶/L] in CSF fell from 920.00 (1587.50) to 30.00 (40.00), and the number of patients with CSF neutrophil ratio0.20 was reduced from 14 to 1 (all P0.01). In addition, serum procalcitonin level (μg/L) was significantly reduced from 0.65 (1.16) to 0.08 (0.09) after linezolid therapy (P0.01). Total effective rate was 85.7% (12/14), and CSF bacterial clearance rate reached 100%. No adverse events were found during the treatment.Linezolid could effectively control post--neurosurgical intracranial MRS infection and alleviate the inflammatory responses with safety.

To study the underlying mechanism of acupuncture of "Zusanli" (ST 36) in clinical treatment of spleen deficiency syndrome (SDS).Twenty-six adult male Wistar rats were randomized into normal control group (n=6), model group (n=8), saline + model (saline) group (n=6) and acupuncture + model (acupuncture) group (n=6). The spleen deficiency syndrome model was duplicated by intragastric perfusion of 50% alcohol (1 mL/100 g, once) and vinegar (pH 3, 1 mL/100 g, once daily for 10 d). Bilateral "Zusanli" (ST 36) was punctured with filiform needles which were manipulated for 1 min after insertion and retained for 20 min. The treatment was conducted once daily for 10 days. The contents of serum testosterone(T) and estradiol(E2)were detected by radioimmunoassay. The rats' physical strength was detected by exhausted swimming test in cool water.In comparison with the normal group, the duration of exhausted swimming, serum T and E2 contents and T/E, were decreased significantly in the model group (P0.05). Compared with the model group, the duration of exhausted swimming, serum T and E2 contents and T/E2 in the acupuncture group were upregulated significantly (P0.05). No significant differences were found between the saline and control groups (P0.05).Acupuncture of "Zusanli" (ST 36) is able to reverse SDS-induced decrease of sexual hormones in spleen deficiency syndrome rats, which may contribute to its effect in improving physical strength.

To develop simple but reliable intracellular labelling method for high-resolution visualization of the fine structure of single neurons in brain slice with thickness of 500 microm.Biocytin was introduced into neurons in 500 microm-thickness brain slices while blind whole cell recording. Following processed for histochemistry using the avidin-biotin-complex method, stained slices were mounted in glycerol on special glass slides. Labelled cells were digital photomicrographed every 30 microm and reconstructed with Adobe Photoshop software.After histochemistry, limited background staining was produced. The resolution was so high that fine structure, including branching, termination of individual axons and even spines of neurons could be identified in exquisite detail with optic microscope. With the help of software, the neurons of interest could be reconstructed from a stack of photomicrographs.The modified method provides an easy and reliable approach to revealing the detailed morphological properties of single neurons in 500 microm-thickness brain slice. Without requisition of special equipment, it is suited to be broadly applied.