Inhibition of miR-665 alleviates neuropathic pain by targeting SOCS1

Purpose: To investigate the effect of miR-665 in neuropathic pain and the possible molecular mechanism involved.Methods: A neuropathic pain model was established using chronic constriction injury (CCI) methods in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. Mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia were measured using paw withdrawal threshold (PWT) and paw withdrawal latency (PWL), respectively. The inflammation response was determined by assessing the production of inflammation factors. The target relationship of miR-665 and suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) was verified by luciferase assay.Results: In the CCI rat model, PWT and PWL decreased following treatment with miR-665 (p < 0.01). MiR-665 was elevated in the spinal cord and microglia of CCI rats at different time points (p < 0.01). Down-regulation of miR-665 increased PWT and PWL and inhibited the production of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in CCI rats (p < 0.01). Luciferase assay results indicate that SOCS1 was the target of miR-665 (p < 0.01). SOCS1 decreased in CCI rats (p < 0.01) after treatment with miR-665. MiR-665 negatively regulated the expression of SOCS1 (p < 0.01). Down-regulation of SOCS1 reversed the alleviating effect of decreased miR-665 on pain sensitivity and inflammationresponse (p < 0.01).Conclusion: Down-regulation of miR-665 alleviates neuropathic pain by targeting SOCS1, and hence making miR-665 a promising therapeutic target for neuropathic pain. Keywords: MiR-665, SOCS1, Neuropathic pain, CCI, Spinal cor

Melatonin reverses type 2 diabetes-induced cognitive deficits via attenuation of oxidative/nitrosative stress and NF-κB-mediated neuroinflammation in rat hippocampus

Purpose: To evaluate the protective effect of melatonin on diabetes-induced cognitive dysfunction. Methods: Rats were fed a high-fat diet + streptozotocin (HFD + STZ) for 15 weeks to induce type 2 diabetes (HFD + STZ group). At the end of the 15-week induction of diabetes, cognitive function in the diabetic rats was estimated using a Morris water maze and an object recognition task. Next, the diabetic rats were treated with melatonin (10 mg/ kg, po) for 3 weeks. Thereafter, cognitive function was reevaluated in the melatonin-treated diabetic rats (melatonin group). Results: There was a significant (p < 0.01) decrease in the serum glucose and insulin in melatonintreated diabetes type 2 rats compared with that of diabetes type 2 rats exposed to only HFD + STZ. Treatment with melatonin (10 mg/kg, po) for 3 weeks in diabetic type 2 rats also caused a significant increase (p < 0.01) in the time spent in the target quadrant and preference index in diabetic rats compared with the HFD + STZ group. There were significant decreases in reactive oxygen species (ROS), oxido-nitrosative stress markers, including thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), nitrite, and depleted glutathione (GSH) level in the hippocampus of melatonin-treated group, compared with the HFD + STZ-treated group. Moreover, the melatonin-treated group showed significant inhibition of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) and reduction in the levels of proinflammatory cytokines. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that melatonin prevents cognitive dysfunction in type 2 diabetic rats by attenuating oxido-nitrosative stress and NF-κB-mediated neuroinflammation. This effect suggests that melatonin may be useful for the management of cognitive dysfunction in patients suffering from diabetes. Keywords: Cognitive dysfunction, Melatonin, Neuroinflammation, Nuclear factor kappa-light-chainenhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), Oxido-nitrosative stress, Type 2 diabete

Experimental and Numerical Evaluation of Rock Dynamic Test with Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar

Feasibility of rock dynamic properties by split-Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) was experimentally and numerically evaluated with ANSYS/LS-DYNA. The effects of different diameters, different loading rates, and different propagation distances on wave dispersion of input bars in SHPB with rectangle and half-sine wave loadings were analyzed. The results show that the dispersion effect on the diameter of input bar, loading rate, and propagation distance under half-sine waveform loading is ignorable compared with the rectangle wave loading. Moreover, the degrees of stress uniformity under rectangle and half-sine input wave loadings are compared in SHPB tests, and the time required for stress uniformity is calculated under different above-mentioned loadings. It is confirmed that the stress uniformity can be realized more easily using the half-sine pulse loading compared to the rectangle pulse loading, and this has significant advantages in the dynamic test of rock-like materials. Finally, the Holmquist-Johnson-Concrete constitutive model is introduced to simulate the failure mechanism and failure and fragmentation characteristics of rock under different strain rates. And the numerical results agree with that obtained from the experiment, which confirms the effectiveness of the model and the method

Precise Measurements of Branching Fractions for Ds+D_s^+ Meson Decays to Two Pseudoscalar Mesons

We measure the branching fractions for seven $D_{s}^{+}$ two-body decays to pseudo-scalar mesons, by analyzing data collected at $\sqrt{s}=4.178\sim4.226$ GeV with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider. The branching fractions are determined to be $\mathcal{B}(D_s^+\to K^+\eta^{\prime})=(2.68\pm0.17\pm0.17\pm0.08)\times10^{-3}$, $\mathcal{B}(D_s^+\to\eta^{\prime}\pi^+)=(37.8\pm0.4\pm2.1\pm1.2)\times10^{-3}$, $\mathcal{B}(D_s^+\to K^+\eta)=(1.62\pm0.10\pm0.03\pm0.05)\times10^{-3}$, $\mathcal{B}(D_s^+\to\eta\pi^+)=(17.41\pm0.18\pm0.27\pm0.54)\times10^{-3}$, $\mathcal{B}(D_s^+\to K^+K_S^0)=(15.02\pm0.10\pm0.27\pm0.47)\times10^{-3}$, $\mathcal{B}(D_s^+\to K_S^0\pi^+)=(1.109\pm0.034\pm0.023\pm0.035)\times10^{-3}$, $\mathcal{B}(D_s^+\to K^+\pi^0)=(0.748\pm0.049\pm0.018\pm0.023)\times10^{-3}$, where the first uncertainties are statistical, the second are systematic, and the third are from external input branching fraction of the normalization mode $D_s^+\to K^+K^-\pi^+$. Precision of our measurements is significantly improved compared with that of the current world average values

Measurement of the e+e−→KS0KL0π0e^{+}e^{-} \to K_{S}^{0} K_{L}^{0} \pi^{0} cross sections from s=\sqrt{s}= 2.000 to 3.080 GeV

Based on $e^{+}e^{-}$ collision data collected at center-of-mass energies from 2.000 to 3.080 GeV by the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider, a partial wave analysis is performed for the process $e^{+}e^{-}\to K_{S}^{0} K_{L}^{0} \pi^{0}$. The results allow the Born cross sections of the process $e^{+}e^{-}\to K_{S}^{0} K_{L}^{0} \pi^{0}$, as well as its subprocesses $e^{+}e^{-}\to K^{*}(892)^{0}\bar{K}$ and $K^{*}_{2}(1430)^{0}\bar{K}$ to be measured. The Born cross sections for $e^{+}e^{-}\to K_{S}^{0} K_{L}^{0}\pi^{0}$ are consistent with previous measurements by BaBar and SND, but with substantially improved precision. The Born cross section lineshape of the process $e^{+}e^{-}\to K^{*}(892)^{0}\bar{K}$ is consistent with a vector meson state around 2.2 GeV with a statistical significance of 3.2$\sigma$. A Breit-Wigner fit determines its mass as $M_Y=(2164.1\pm9.6\pm3.1)~{\rm{MeV}}/c^{2}$ and its width as $\Gamma_{Y}=(32.4\pm21.1\pm1.5)~\rm{MeV}$, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second ones are systematic, respectively

Measurement of the cross section of e+e−→Ξ−Ξˉ+e^+e^-\rightarrow\Xi^{-}\bar\Xi^{+} at center-of-mass energies between 3.510 and 4.843 GeV

Using $e^+e^-$ collision data corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 12.9 $fb^{-1}$ collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider, the exclusive Born cross sections and the effective form factors of the reaction $e^+e^-\rightarrow\Xi^{-}\bar\Xi^{+}$ are measured via the single baryon-tag method at 23 center-of-mass energies between 3.510 and 4.843 GeV. Evidence for the decay $\psi(3770)\rightarrow\Xi^{-}\bar\Xi^{+}$ is observed with a significance of 4.5$\sigma$ by analyzing the measured cross sections together with earlier BESIII results. For the other charmonium(-like) states $\psi(4040)$, $\psi(4160)$, $Y(4230)$, $Y(4360)$, $\psi(4415)$, and $Y(4660)$, no significant signal of their decay to $\Xi^-\bar \Xi^+$ is found. For these states, upper limits of the products of the branching fraction and the electronic partial width at the 90% confidence level are provided.Comment: 18 pages, 10 pages, 4 table

Updated measurements of the M1 transition ψ(3686)→γηc(2S)\psi(3686) \to \gamma \eta_{c}(2S) with ηc(2S)→KKˉπ\eta_{c}(2S) \to K \bar{K} \pi

Based on a data sample of $(27.08 \pm 0.14 ) \times 10^8~\psi(3686)$ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider, the M1 transition $\psi(3686) \to \gamma \eta_{c}(2S)$ with $\eta_{c}(2S) \to K\bar{K}\pi$ is studied, where $K\bar{K}\pi$ is $K^{+} K^{-} \pi^{0}$ or $K_{S}^{0}K^{\pm}\pi^{\mp}$. The mass and width of the $\eta_{c}(2S)$ are measured to be $(3637.8 \pm 0.8 (\rm {stat}) \pm 0.2 (\rm {syst}))$ MeV/$c^{2}$ and $(10.5 \pm 1.7 (\rm {stat}) \pm 3.5 (\rm {syst}))$ MeV, respectively. The product branching fraction $\mathcal{B}\left(\psi(3686) \rightarrow \gamma \eta_{c}(2 S)\right) \times \mathcal{B}(\eta_{c}(2 S) \rightarrow K \bar{K} \pi)$ is determined to be $(0.97 \pm 0.06 (\rm {stat}) \pm 0.09 (\rm {syst})) \times 10^{-5}$. Using $\mathcal{BR}(\eta_{c}(2S)\to K\bar{K}\pi)=(1.86^{+0.68}_{-0.49})\%$, we obtain the branching fraction of the radiative transition to be $\mathcal{BR}(\psi(3686) \to \gamma \eta_{c}(2S)) = (5.2 \pm 0.3 (\rm {stat}) \pm 0.5 (\rm {syst}) ^{+1.9}_{-1.4} (extr)) \times 10^{-4}$, where the third uncertainty is due to the quoted $\mathcal{BR}(\eta_{c}(2S) \to K\bar{K}\pi)$

Measurement of branching fractions of Λc+\Lambda_{c}^{+} decays to Σ+K+K−\Sigma^{+} K^{+} K^{-}, Σ+ϕ\Sigma^{+}\phi and Σ+K+π−(π0)\Sigma^{+} K^{+} \pi^{-}(\pi^{0})

Based on 4.5 fb$^{-1}$ data taken at seven center-of-mass energies ranging from 4.600 to 4.699 GeV with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider, we measure the branching fractions of $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\rightarrow\Sigma^{+}+hadrons$ relative to $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\rightarrow \Sigma^+ \pi^+ \pi^-$. Combining with the world average branching fraction of $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\rightarrow \Sigma^+ \pi^+ \pi^-$, their branching fractions are measured to be $(0.377\pm0.042\pm0.018\pm0.021)\%$ for $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\rightarrow\Sigma^{+} K^{+} K^{-}$, $(0.200\pm0.023\pm0.010\pm0.011)\%$ for $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\rightarrow\Sigma^{+} K^{+} \pi^{-}$, $(0.414\pm0.080\pm0.029\pm0.023)\%$ for $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\rightarrow\Sigma^{+}\phi$ and $(0.197\pm0.036\pm0.008\pm0.011)\%$ for $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\rightarrow\Sigma^{+}K^{+} K^{-}$(non-$\phi$). In all the above results, the first uncertainties are statistical, the second are systematic and the third are from external input of the branching fraction of $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\rightarrow \Sigma^+ \pi^+ \pi^-$. Since no signal for $\Lambda_{c}^{+}\rightarrow\Sigma^{+} K^{+} \pi^{-}\pi^{0}$ is observed, the upper limit of its branching fraction is determined to be 0.11\% at the 90$\%$ confidence level

Investigating the ΔI=1/2\Delta I = 1/2 rule and CP violation through the measurement of decay asymmetry parameters in Ξ−\Xi^- decays

Using $(10087\pm44)\times 10^{6}$ $J/\psi$ events collected with the BESIII detector, numerous $\Xi^-$ and $\Lambda$ decay asymmetry parameters are simultaneously determined from the process $J/\psi \to \Xi^- \bar{\Xi}^+ \to \Lambda(p\pi^-) \pi^- \bar{\Lambda}(\bar{n} \pi^0) \pi^+$ and its charge-conjugate channel. The precisions of $\alpha_0$ for $\Lambda \to n\pi^0$ and $\bar{\alpha}_0$ for $\bar{\Lambda} \to \bar{n}\pi^0$ compared to world averages are improved by factors of 4 and 1.7, respectively. The ratio of decay asymmetry parameters of $\Lambda \to n\pi^0$ to that of $\Lambda \to p\pi^-$, $\langle \alpha_0 \rangle/ \langle \alpha_{\Lambda -} \rangle$, is determined to be $0.873 \pm 0.012^{+0.011}_{-0.010}$, where the first and the second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The ratio is smaller than unity, which is predicted by the $\Delta I = 1/2$ rule, with a statistical significance of more than $5\sigma$. We test for CP violation in $\Xi^- \to \Lambda \pi^-$ and in $\Lambda \to n \pi^{0}$ with the best precision to date.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl