2,100 research outputs found
Striatal Morphological and Functional Alterations Induced by Prenatal Alcohol Exposure
Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is an insidious yet preventable cause of developmental disability. The prenatal stage is a critical period for brain development with the concurrence of high vulnerability to the acute and prolonged effects of PAE. There is substantial evidence from both human observations and laboratory experiments that PAE is a common risk factor that predisposes to an array of postnatal mental disorders, including emotional, cognitive, and motor deficits. Although it is well accepted that PAE causes substantial morbidity, available treatments are limited. One reason is the lack of sufficient understanding about the neuroalterations induced by PAE, and how these changes contribute to PAE-induced mental disorders. Among a number of brain structures that have been explored extensively in PAE, the striatum has attracted great attention in the last 20 years in the field of PAE neurobiology. Interestingly, in animal models, the striatum has been considered as a pivotal switch of brain dysfunction induced by PAE, such as addiction, anxiety, depression, and neurodegeneration. In this review, we focus on recent advances in the understanding of morphological and functional changes in brain regions related to alterations after PAE, in particular the striatum. Because this region is central for behavior, emotion and cognition, there is an urgent need for more studies to uncover the PAE-induced alterations at the circuit, neuronal, synaptic and molecular levels, which will not only improve our understanding of the neuroplasticity induced by PAE, but also provide novel biological targets to treat PAE-related mental disorders with translational significance
Representation Theorems for Quadratic -Consistent Nonlinear Expectations
In this paper we extend the notion of ``filtration-consistent nonlinear
expectation" (or "-consistent nonlinear expectation") to the case
when it is allowed to be dominated by a -expectation that may have a
quadratic growth. We show that for such a nonlinear expectation many
fundamental properties of a martingale can still make sense, including the
Doob-Meyer type decomposition theorem and the optional sampling theorem. More
importantly, we show that any quadratic -consistent nonlinear
expectation with a certain domination property must be a quadratic
-expectation. The main contribution of this paper is the finding of the
domination condition to replace the one used in all the previous works, which
is no longer valid in the quadratic case. We also show that the representation
generator must be deterministic, continuous, and actually must be of the simple
form
The impact of emotionally negative online reviews on consumer purchase intentions
Online reviews are an important factor influencing consumers\u27 purchasing decisions. However, there is no literature to explore the mechanism of emotional negative online reviews on consumer purchasing behavior. The research results enrich the theory of user information behavior, and have practical significance for merchants\u27 precision marketing and customer relationship management. Based on ELM theory and regulation focus theory, using the method of situational experiment, from the two paths of peripheral situation perception and core cognitive processing, explore the influence of regulation focus on consumer purchase intention under the stimulation of emotional negative online reviews effect. The research results show that: under the stimulus of negative emotional online reviews, prevention of targeted consumers is mainly affected by the emotional arousal of the edge path, and positively affects purchase intention through emotional response; promotion of targeted consumers is mainly affected by the perception of the central path The influence of effort positively affects purchase intention through cognitive response; among them, emotional response has a greater leading role in purchase intention
Nucleus accumbens shell small conductance potassium channels underlie adolescent ethanol exposure-induced anxiety
Alcohol use typically begins in adolescence, increasing the likelihood of adult mental disorders such as anxiety. However, the cellular mechanisms underlying the consequences of adolescent alcohol exposure as well as the behavioral consequences remain poorly understood. We examined the effects of adolescent or adult chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) exposure on intrinsic excitability of striatal medium-sized spiny neurons (MSNs) and anxiety levels. Rats underwent one of the following procedures: (1) light-dark transition (LDT) and open-field (OF) tests to evaluate anxiety levels and general locomotion; (2) whole-cell patch clamp recordings and biocytin labeling to assess excitability of striatal MSNs, as well as morphological properties; and (3) western blot immunostaining to determine small conductance (SK) calcium-activated potassium channel protein levels. Three weeks, but not 2 days, after CIE treatment, adolescent CIE-treated rats showed shorter crossover latency from the light to dark side in the LDT test and higher MSN excitability in the nucleus accumbens shell (NAcS). Furthermore, the amplitude of the medium afterhyperpolarization (mAHP), mediated by SK channels, and SK3 protein levels in the NAcS decreased concomitantly. Finally, increased anxiety levels, increased excitability, and decreased amplitude of mAHP of NAcS MSNs were reversed by SK channel activator 1-EBIO and mimicked by the SK channel blocker apamin. Thus, adolescent ethanol exposure increases adult anxiety-like behavior by downregulating SK channel function and protein expression, which leads to an increase of intrinsic excitability in NAcS MSNs. SK channels in the NAcS may serve as a target to treat adolescent alcohol binge exposure-induced mental disorders, such as anxiety in adulthood
Insights into neutron star equation of state by machine learning
Due to its powerful capability and high efficiency in big data analysis,
machine learning has been applied in various fields. We construct a neural
network platform to constrain the behaviors of the equation of state of nuclear
matter with respect to the properties of nuclear matter at saturation density
and the properties of neutron stars. It is found that the neural network is
able to give reasonable predictions of parameter space and provide new hints
into the constraints of hadron interactions. As a specific example, we take the
relativistic mean field approximation in a widely accepted Walecka-type model
to illustrate the feasibility and efficiency of the platform. The results show
that the neural network can indeed estimate the parameters of the model at a
certain precision such that both the properties of nuclear matter around
saturation density and global properties of neutron stars can be saturated. The
optimization of the present modularly designed neural network and extension to
other effective models are straightforward.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures. Comments are welcom
Calcium Permeable-AMPA Receptors and Excitotoxicity in Neurological Disorders
Excitotoxicity is one of the primary mechanisms of cell loss in a variety of diseases of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Other than the previously established signaling pathways of excitotoxicity, which depend on the excessive release of glutamate from axon terminals or over-activation of NMDA receptors (NMDARs), Ca2+ influx-triggered excitotoxicity through Ca2+-permeable (CP)-AMPA receptors (AMPARs) is detected in multiple disease models. In this review, both acute brain insults (e.g., brain trauma or spinal cord injury, ischemia) and chronic neurological disorders, including Epilepsy/Seizures, Huntington’s disease (HD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), chronic pain, and glaucoma, are discussed regarding the CP-AMPAR-mediated excitotoxicity. Considering the low expression or absence of CP-AMPARs in most cells, specific manipulation of the CP-AMPARs might be a more plausible strategy to delay the onset and progression of pathological alterations with fewer side effects than blocking NMDARs
Inhibition of miR-665 alleviates lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation via up-regulation of SOCS7 in chondrogenic ATDC5 cells
Purpose: To examine the effect and mechanism of action of miR-665 in osteoarthritis.Methods: An in vitro inflammatory injury model of osteoarthritis was established using chondrogenic ATDC5 cells with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment. The expression levels of inflammatory cytokines were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) and by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). A binding target for miR-665 was predicted using TargetScan and then evaluated using a dual-luciferase reporter assay.Results: Treatment with LPS significantly up-regulated the inflammatory cytokine expressions of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), in ATDC5 cells (p < 0.01), and the expression of miRNA-665 was significantly increased in LPS-treated ATDC5 cells (p < 0.01).Knockdown of miR-665 down-regulated the expression levels of these inflammatory cytokines. Suppressor of cytokine signaling 7 (SOCS7) was identified as a target of miR-665. Data from qRT-PCR and western-blot analyses indicated that SOCS7 expression was promoted by miR-665 inhibition and inhibited by miR-665 over-expression. LPS treatment significantly decreased the expression of SOCS7 protein in ATDC5 cells (p < 0.01), and over-expression of SOCS7 attenuated the LPS-stimulated inflammatory injury. In addition, over-expression of miR-655 enhanced the inflammatory injury and reversed the protective effect of SOCS7 against LPS-stimulated inflammation.Conclusion: Inhibition of miR-665 alleviated LPS-stimulated inflammatory injury in ATDC5 cells via the up-regulation of SOCS7, suggesting a potential therapeutic target for osteoarthritis.
Keywords: MiR-665, Lipopolysaccharide, Inflammation, SOCS7, Chondrogenic, ATDC
Tilting flat bands in an empty microcavity
Recently microcavities with anisotropic materials are shown to be able to
create novel bands with non-zero local Berry curvature. The anisotropic
refractive index of the cavity layer is believed to be critical in opening an
energy gap at the tilted Dirac points. In this work, we show that an
anticrossing between a cavity mode and a Bragg mode can also form within an
empty microcavity without any birefringent materials. Flat bands are observed
within the energy gap due to the particular refractive index distribution of
the sample. The intrinsic TE-TM splitting and XY splitting induce the squeezing
of the cavity modes in momentum space, so that the flat bands are
spin-dependently tilted. Our results pave the way to investigate the spin orbit
coupling of photons in a simple microcavity without anisotropic cavity layers
Differential Alterations of Insular Cortex Excitability after Adolescent or Adult Chronic Intermittent Ethanol Administration in Male Rats
Adolescent alcohol drinking, primarily in the form of binge-drinking episodes, is a serious public health concern. Binge drinking in laboratory animals has been modeled by a procedure involving chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) administration, as compared with chronic intermittent water (CIW). The prolonged effects of adolescent binge alcohol exposure in adults, such as high risk of developing alcohol use disorder, are severe but available treatments in the clinic are limited. One reason is the lack of sufficient understanding about the associated neuronal alterations. The involvement of the insular cortex, particularly the anterior agranular insula (AAI), has emerged as a critical region to explain neuronal mechanisms of substance abuse. This study was designed to evaluate the functional output of the AAI by measuring the intrinsic excitability of pyramidal neurons from male rats 2 or 21 days after adolescent or adult CIE treatment. Decreases in intrinsic excitability in AAI pyramidal neurons were detected 21 days, relative to 2 days, after adolescent CIE. Interestingly, the decreased intrinsic excitability in the AAI pyramidal neurons was observed 2 days after adult CIE, compared to adult CIW, but no difference was found between 2 versus 21 days after adult CIE. These data indicate that, although the AAI is influenced within a limited period after adult but not adolescent CIE, neuronal alterations in AAI are affected during the prolonged period of withdrawal from adolescent but not adult CIE. This may explain the prolonged vulnerability to mental disorders of subjects with an alcohol binge history during their adolescent stage
MGCN: Semi-supervised Classification in Multi-layer Graphs with Graph Convolutional Networks
Graph embedding is an important approach for graph analysis tasks such as
node classification and link prediction. The goal of graph embedding is to find
a low dimensional representation of graph nodes that preserves the graph
information. Recent methods like Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) try to
consider node attributes (if available) besides node relations and learn node
embeddings for unsupervised and semi-supervised tasks on graphs. On the other
hand, multi-layer graph analysis has been received attention recently. However,
the existing methods for multi-layer graph embedding cannot incorporate all
available information (like node attributes). Moreover, most of them consider
either type of nodes or type of edges, and they do not treat within and between
layer edges differently. In this paper, we propose a method called MGCN that
utilizes the GCN for multi-layer graphs. MGCN embeds nodes of multi-layer
graphs using both within and between layers relations and nodes attributes. We
evaluate our method on the semi-supervised node classification task.
Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method to
other multi-layer and single-layer competitors and also show the positive
effect of using cross-layer edges
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