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Photosensitive resin is a kind of polymer gel material. Due to its excellent UV curing performance, it is widely used in the emerging 3D printing industry. This article combines terahertz technology with microfluidic chip technology to study the terahertz spectral characteristics of liquid and solid photosensitive resins under different electric fields. In the experiment, it was found that an electric field can also cause polymerization of photosensitive resin monomers to form cross-linked polymers, increasing their curing degree. For solid photosensitive resins, the orientation of polymer molecules is enhanced under an electric field, and the molecular arrangement changes from a disordered state to an ordered state. Meanwhile, it was found that both liquid and solid photosensitive resins subjected to electric fields exhibit absorption coefficients below zero within a very small frequency range. We explain this from two aspects: energy and the Fabry Pérot effect. This article uses terahertz spectra to study the curing and structural changes in photosensitive resins under an electric field, laying a foundation for further improving 3D printing technology.

Graphene quantum dots are quasi-zero-dimensional nanomaterials with unique physical and chemical properties. This study utilized a terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy system to analyze the absorption characteristics of THz-waves by graphene quantum dots at different concentrations. Additionally, we applied electric fields and magnetic field to explore the THz-wave absorption properties of graphene quantum dots in greater detail. The results indicate that the THz absorbance of graphene quantum dots is positively correlated with sample concentration and applied electric field strength. However, it is negatively correlated with the intensity of the applied magnetic field. This work combines THz technology and microfluidic devices to propose a viable methodology for conducting in-depth study on graphene quantum dots.

Abstract Background Chinese medicine usually acts as "multi-ingredients, multi-targets and multi-pathways" on complex diseases, and these action modes reflect the coordination and integrity of the treatment process with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). System pharmacology is developed based on the cross-disciplines of directional pharmacology, system biology, and mathematics, has the characteristics of integrity and synergy in the treatment process of TCM. Therefore, it is suitable for analyzing the key ingredients and mechanisms of TCM in treating complex diseases. Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH) is one of the leading causes of death in China, with the characteristics of high mortality and disability rate. Bring a significant burden on people and society. An increasing number of studies have shown that Chinese medicine prescriptions have good advantages in the treatment of ICH, and Ditan Decoction (DTT) is one of the commonly used prescriptions in the treatment of ICH. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that DTT may play a therapeutic role in treating ICH by inhibiting brain inflammation, abnormal oxidative stress reaction and reducing neurological damage, but the specific key ingredients and mechanism are still unclear. Methods To solve this problem, we established PPI network based on the latest pathogenic gene data of ICH, and CT network based on ingredient and target data of DTT. Subsequently, we established optimization space based on PPI network and CT network, and constructed a new model for node importance calculation, and proposed a calculation method for PES score, thus calculating the functional core ingredients group (FCIG). These core functional groups may represent DTT therapy for ICH. Results Based on the strategy, 44 ingredients were predicted as FCIG, results showed that 80.44% of the FCIG targets enriched pathways were coincided with the enriched pathways of pathogenic genes. Both the literature and molecular docking results confirm the therapeutic effect of FCIG on ICH via targeting MAPK signaling pathway and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Conclusions The FCIG obtained by our network pharmacology method can represent the effect of DTT in treating ICH. These results confirmed that our strategy of active ingredient group optimization and the mechanism inference could provide methodological reference for optimization and secondary development of TCM.

Abstract Optical flow estimation in human facial video, which provides 2D correspondences between adjacent frames, is a fundamental pre-processing step for many applications, like facial expression capture and recognition. However, it is quite challenging as human facial images contain large areas of similar textures, rich expressions, and large rotations. These characteristics also result in the scarcity of large, annotated real-world datasets. We propose a robust and accurate method to learn facial optical flow in a self-supervised manner. Specifically, we utilize various shape priors, including face depth, landmarks, and parsing, to guide the self-supervised learning task via a differentiable nonrigid registration framework. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method achieves remarkable improvements for facial optical flow estimation in the presence of significant expressions and large rotations.

Abstract Background Depression is a recurrent and devastating mental disease that is highly prevalent worldwide. Prolonged exposure to stressful events or a stressful environment is detrimental to mental health. In recent years, an inflammatory hypothesis has been implicated in the pathogenesis of stress-induced depression. However, less attention has been given to the initial phases, when a series of stress reactions and immune responses are initiated. Peripheral CD4+ T cells have been reported as the major contributors to the occurrence of mental disorders. Chronic stress exposure-evoked release of cytokines can promote the differentiation of peripheral CD4+ cells into various phenotypes. Among them, Th17 cells have attracted much attention due to their high pathogenic potential in central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Thus, we intended to determine the crucial role of CD4+ Th17 cells in the development of specific subtypes of depression and unravel the underpinnings of their pathogenetic effect. Methods In the present research, a daily 6-h restraint stress paradigm was employed in rats for 28 successive days to mimic the repeated mild and predictable, but inevitable environmental stress in our daily lives. Then, depressive-like symptoms, brain–blood barrier (BBB) permeability, neuroinflammation, and the differentiation and functional changes of CD4+ cells were investigated. Results We noticed that restrained rats showed significant depressive-like symptoms, concomitant BBB disruption and neuroinflammation in the dorsal striatum (DS). We further observed a time-dependent increase in thymus- and spleen-derived naïve CD4+ T cells, as well as the aggregation of inflammatory Th17 cells in the DS during the period of chronic restraint stress (CRS) exposure. Moreover, increased Th17-derived cytokines in the brain can further impair the BBB integrity, thus allowing more immune cells and cytokines to gain easy access to the CNS. Our findings suggested that, through a complex cascade of events, peripheral immune responses were propagated to the CNS, and gradually exacerbated depressive-like symptoms. Furthermore, inhibiting the differentiation and function of CD4+ T cells with SR1001 in the early stages of CRS exposure ameliorated CRS-induced depressive-like behaviour and the inflammatory response. Conclusions Our data demonstrated that inflammatory Th17 cells were pivotal in accelerating the onset and exacerbation of depressive symptoms in CRS-exposed rats. This subtype of CD4+ T cells may be a promising therapeutic target for the early treatment of stress-induced depression.

Abstract Background Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is characterized by “multi- compounds, multi-targets and multi-pathway”, which has advanced benefits for preventing and treating complex diseases, but there still exists unsolved issues, mainly include unclear material basis and underlying mechanism of prescription. Integrated pharmacology is a hot cross research area based on system biology, mathematics and poly-pharmacology. It can systematically and comprehensively investigate the therapeutic reaction of compounds or drugs on pathogenic genes network, and is especially suitable for the study of complex CHM systems. Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH) is one of the main causes of death among Chinese residents, which is characterized with high mortality and high disability rate. In recent years, the treatment of ICH by CHM has been deeply researched. Xue Fu Zhu Yu Decoction (XFZYD), one of the commonly used prescriptions in treating ICH at clinic level, has not been clear about its mechanism. Methods Here, we established a strategy, which based on compounds-targets, pathogenetic genes, network analysis and node importance calculation. Using this strategy, the core compounds group (CCG) of XFZYD was predicted and validated by in vitro experiments. The molecular mechanism of XFZYD in treating ICH was deduced based on CCG and their targets. Results The results show that the CCG with 43 compounds predicted by this model is highly consistent with the corresponding Compound-Target (C-T) network in terms of gene coverage, enriched pathway coverage and accumulated contribution of key nodes at 89.49%, 88.72% and 90.11%, respectively, which confirmed the reliability and accuracy of the effective compound group optimization and mechanism speculation strategy proposed by us. Conclusions Our strategy of optimizing the effective compound groups and inferring the mechanism provides a strategic reference for explaining the optimization and inferring the molecular mechanism of prescriptions in treating complex diseases of CHM.

The nonstructural component–structure interaction (NSI) is a critical aspect in addressing the seismic design of structures and nonstructural components. However, the NSI is not considered in generating acceleration spectrum, which is the most commonly used tool for seismic design. To study the pattern of the NSI affecting acceleration response spectra of nonstructural components and floors, the acceleration response spectra of a benchmark steel frame structure with different parameters were calculated using a numerical method after the accuracy of the numerical method was verified by carrying out shaking table tests. These parameters are the damping ratio of the nonstructural component, the weight ratio of the nonstructural components to the floor, and the frequency ratio and height ratio of the nonstructural component to the structure. The influence of each parameter on acceleration response spectra was derived by comparing different spectra. The trend of acceleration response spectra of the nonstructural component with different combinations of parameters was compared to determine whether each parameter is relatively independent. This parametric analysis can be applied to calculating acceleration response spectra of the nonstructural component while considering the NSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy-ion collisions at very high colliding energies are expected to produce a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) at the highest temperature obtainable in a laboratory setting. Experimental studies of these reactions can provide an unprecedented range of information on properties of the QGP at high temperatures. We report theoretical investigations of the physics perspectives of heavy-ion collisions at a future high-energy collider. These include initial parton production, collective expansion of the dense medium, jet quenching, heavy-quark transport, dissociation and regeneration of quarkonia, photon and dilepton production. We illustrate the potential of future experimental studies of the initial particle production and formation of QGP at the highest temperature to provide constraints on properties of strongly interaction matter.

Abstract Background Chronic alcohol consumption disrupts psychomotor and cognitive functions, most of which are subserved by the dysfunction of hippocampus. Dysregulated excitatory glutamatergic transmission is implicated in repeated alcohol induced psychomotor and cognitive impairment. Ginsenoside Rg1, one of the main active ingredient of the traditional tonic medicine Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer (Araliaceae), has been used to treat cognitive deficits. Particularly, Rg1 has been demonstrated to improve hippocampus-dependent learning in mice and attenuate glutamate-induced excitotoxicity in vitro. Thus, in the present research, we sought to investigate the therapeutic effects of Ginsenoside Rg1 on repeated alcohol induced psychomotor and cognitive deficits in hippocampal-dependent behavioral tasks and unravel the underpinnings of its neuroprotection. Methods Male ICR (CD-1) mice were consecutively intragastrically treated with 20% (w/v) alcohol for 21 days. Then, behavior tests were conducted to evaluate repeated alcohol induced psychomotor and cognitive deficits. Histopathological changes, and biochemical and molecular alterations were assessed to determine the potential neuroprotective mechanism of Rg1. Results The results suggested that Rg1, at the optimal dose of 6 mg/kg, has the potential to ameliorate repeated alcohol induced cognitive deficits by regulating activities of NR2B containing NMDARs and excitotoxic signaling. Conclusion Our findings further provided a new strategy to treat chronic alcohol exposure induced adverse consequences.

Background: Emerging evidence suggests that gut microbiota plays a vital role in the occurrence of multiple endocrine disorders including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Shaoyao-Gancao Decoction (SGD), a classical Chinese prescription, has been widely used in the treatment of PCOS for decades. In previous studies, we found that SGD treatment could effectively reduce ovarian inflammation in PCOS rats. However, whether the anti-inflammation effect of SGD involves the regulation of the gut microbiota remains elusive.Methods: Letrozole-induced PCOS rat models were established, and the therapeutic effects of SGD were evaluated. Specifically, body weight, serum hormone concentrations, estrus phase and ovary histopathology were assessed. Then the structure of gut microbiota was determined by 16s rRNA sequencing. Additionally, the serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and LPS were measured by ELISA kits. The key gene and protein expressions of TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway were detected by quantitative real-time PCR and western blot.Results: SGD could effectively reduce body weight, regulate estrous cycles and ameliorate hyperandrogenism in PCOS rats. In addition, SGD treatment decreased releases of pro-inflammatory cytokines, enhanced the expressions of tight junction (occludin and claudin1), and then prevented a translocation of LPS into bloodstream. SGD could significantly reduce the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes, decrease the abundance of LPS-producing pathogens Proteobateria and enrich the abundance of Butyricicoccus, Coprococcus, Akkermansia Blautia and Bacteroides in PCOS rats. Furthermore, SGD blunted the key gene and protein expressions of TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway both in vivo and in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells.Conclusion: SGD administration could ameliorate the inflammatory response in PCOS rats by remodeling gut microbiome structure, protecting gut barrier, and suppressing TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.

The enterohepatic circulation of bile acids (BAs) critically depends on BA transporters and enzymes, which can be affected by inflammatory bowel disease. Diarrhea in colitis is believed to result in part from BA malabsorption. The work aimed to investigate whether diarrhea in colitis was associated with the expression of BA transporters, enzymes, and nuclear receptors. RT-qPCR and Western blot techniques were used to evaluate the gene and protein levels of Cyp7a1, Asbt, SHP, FXR, Ost[beta] in a 2.4.6- trinitrobenzenesulfonic-acid-induced rat model of colitis. The total BAs (TBAs) levels were assayed using ELISA kits, and the individual BAs were measured by LC-MS/MS. Results showed that the fecal excretions of TBAs were significantly increased by 1.6- fold in acute stage of colitis. In ileum, Asbt was significantly decreased; however, there was a compensatory increase in Cyp7a1 level in liver. Moreover, FXR has a decreased tendency and the downstream target gene SHP was downregulated. Contrary to acute stage, molecular changes were completely reversible during the remission phase. Our results indicated that the expression of Asbt and Cyp7a1 were altered in acute colitis, which performed vital roles in maintaining BA homeostasis. Early medical manipulation of BA transporters and enzymes may help prevent diarrhea.Key words: colitis, bile acid malabsorption, Asbt, Cyp7a1, FXR.Le cycle enterohepatique des acides biliaires (AB) depend de maniere cruciale des transporteurs et des enzymes des AB, lesquels peuvent etre affectes par les maladies inflammatoires du tube digestif. On croit que les diarrhees dans les colites sont en partie le fait d'une malabsorption des AB. Ces travaux visaient a etudier si dans la colite, la diarrhee etait associee a l'expression des transporteurs, des enzymes et des recepteurs nucleaires des AB. A l'aide des techniques de PCR quantitatif par transcriptase inverse et d'immunobuvardage de Western, nous avons evalue les taux des genes et des proteines pour Cyp7a1, Asbt, SHP, FXR et Ost[beta] dans un modele de colite provoquee par l'acide 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonique chez le rat. Nous avons mesure les taux d'AB totaux (ABT) a l'aide de kits d'ELISA et les taux d'AB individuels a l'aide de la chromatographie liquide couplee a la spectrometrie de masse en tandem (LC-MS/MS). Les resultats ont montre que l'excretion fecale d'ABT augmentait nettement par un facteur de 1,6 pendant les stades aigus de colite. Dans l'ileon, Asbt affichait une nette diminution, mais les taux hepatiques de Cyp7a1 augmentaient de maniere compensatoire. De plus, FXR affichait une tendance a la baisse, et le gene cible SHP en aval etait regule a la baisse. Contrairement a ce que nous observions au stade aigu, les modifications moleculaires etaient entierement reversibles pendant la phase de remission. Nos resultats ont montre que l'expression des genes Asbt et Cyp7a1 etait touchee pendant la colite aigue, alors que leur role est essentiel pour le maintien de l'homeostasie des AB. La manipulation precoce des transporteurs et des enzymes des AB par des moyens medicaux pourrait contribuer a prevenir la diarrhee. [Traduit par la Redaction]Mots-cles: colite, malabsorption des acides biliaires, Asbt, Cyp7a1, FXR., IntroductionInflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic recurrent inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, mainly Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (Scharl and Rogler 2012). The incidence of IBD is increasing each [...]