S100B is increased in mood disorders and may be reduced by antidepressive treatment

Previous studies have reported alterations of glial cells and particularly astrocytes in mood disorders. Therefore, serum concentration of the astrocytic marker S100B was ascertained with an immunoluminometric assay in 20 patients with mood disorder and 12 healthy age-matched controls. Serum S100B was elevated in major depression (median after admission 410 ng/l, at discharge < 100 ng/l) and mania (130, 160 ng/l), when compared with controls (< 100 ng/l; rho< 0.01). Antidepressive treatment reduced S100B in conjunction with severity of depressive symptoms ( rho< 0.01). The severity of depression (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale) was positively correlated with S100B (r(s) = 0.51, rho< 0.005). Elevated serum S100B during depressive and manic episodes of mood disorders may indicate alterations of astrocytes, which are reversed by antidepressive treatment

Rational Approximations for Oscillatory Two-Parameter Mittag-Leffler Function

The two-parameter Mittag-Leffler function $E_{\alpha, \beta}$ is of fundamental importance in fractional calculus. It appears frequently in the solutions of fractional differential and integral equations. Nonetheless, this vital function is often expensive to compute. Several attempts have been made to construct cost-effective and accurate approximations. These attempts focus mainly on the completely monotone Mittag-Leffler functions. However, when $\alpha > 1$ the monotonicity property is largely lost and as such roots and oscillations are exhibited. Consequently, existing approximants constructed mainly for $\alpha \in (0,1)$ often fail to capture this oscillatory behavior. In this paper, we construct computationally efficient and accurate rational approximants for $E_{\alpha, \beta}(-t)$, $t \ge 0$, with $\alpha \in (1,2)$. This construction is fundamentally based on the decomposition of Mittag-Leffler function with real roots into one without and a polynomial. Following which new approximants are constructed by combining the global Pad\'e approximation with a polynomial of appropriate degree. The rational approximants are extended to approximation of matrix Mittag-Leffler and different approaches to achieve efficient implementation for matrix arguments are discussed. Numerical experiments are provided to illustrate the significant accuracy improvement achieved by the proposed approximants.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures and 5 table

Serum S100B is increased during early treatment with antipsychotics and in deficit schizophrenia

Previous studies reported controversial results concerning alterations of astrocytes in schizophrenia. Because S100B may be regarded as a marker for astrocytes, the objective of this study was to examine S100B serum concentrations in 30 patients with schizophrenia with a monoclonal two-site immunoluminometric assay that specifically detects S100B. An ANOVA revealed medication (p0.05). Patients with deficit (250.6±154.9 ng/l) had higher S100B levels than patients with nondeficit schizophrenia (146.7±107.2 ng/l, p<0.05) or controls (p<0.005). S100B was positively correlated with the subscore ‘thought disturbance’ of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (p<0.05). In summary, increased serum levels of S100B may indicate alterations of astrocytes during early treatment with antipsychotics and in deficit schizophrenia. Whether S100B is elevated due to injured astrocytes and a disrupted blood–brain barrier, or by active secretion of S100B by astrocytes, has to be clarified by further studies

Potential materials for food packaging from nanoclay/natural fibres filled hybrid composites

The increasing demand for new food packaging materials which satisfy people requirements provided thrust for advancement of nano-materials science. Inherent permeability of polymeric materials to gases and vapours; and poor barrier and mechanical properties of biopolymers have boosted interest in developing new strategies to improve these properties. Research and development in polymeric materials coupled with appropriate filler, matrix-filler interaction and new formulation strategies to develop composites have potential applications in food packaging. Advancement in food packaging materials expected to grow with the advent of cheap, renewable and sustainable materials with enhanced barrier and mechanical properties. Nanoparticles have proportionally larger surface area and significant aspect ratio than their micro-scale counterparts, which promotes the development of mechanical and barrier properties. Nanocomposites are attracting considerable interest in food packaging because of these fascinating features. On the other hand, natural fibres are susceptible to microorganisms and their biodegradability is one of the most promising aspects of their incorporation in polymeric materials. Present review article explain about different categories of nanoclay and natural fibre based composite with particular regard to its applications as packaging materials and also gives an overview of the most recent advances and emerging new aspects of nanotechnology for development of hybrid composites for environmentally compatible food packaging materials