Role of the Arachidonic Acid Cascade in the Expression of Withdrawal Signs in Alcohol Dependent Mice:

Withdrawal symptom in alcohol dependence is one the main problems in treating alcohol addiction. This study was aimed to clarify the role of the arachidonic acid cascade in the expression of withdrawal signs in animal model of alcohol dependence. Dependence was induced by repeated administration of 15% ethanol in 0.2% sucrose solution for 17 days. On the 18th day, the ethanol was not given, and one hour after the supposed time of ethanol administration, diclofenac at 10 mg/kg was injected i.p. to induce withdrawal. Observation of behavioral withdrawal signs was performed for 30 minutes, starting 25 minutes after diclofenac injection. Following behavioral observation, forced swimming test ensued to assess depression during withdrawal. In different group of mice, ibuprofen at 7.5 mg/kg was given every other day during ethanol regimen, 30 minutes prior to ethanol. Results showed that diclofenac induced the expression of withdrawal signs in mice receiving repeated alcohol. Incidences of facial preening (P<0.01), forepaw licking (P<0.01), grooming (P<0.01) and forepaw tremor (P<0.001) increased significantly by at least three times the normal value. In mice pretreated with ibuprofen significant decreases in body weight reduction (300%, P<0.01) and immobility time (50%, P<0.05) were observed compared to that of ethanol group. Taken together, the data indicates that suppressed arachidonic acid cascade signaling is involved in the expression of alcohol withdrawal.Withdrawal symptom in alcohol dependence is one the main problems in treating alcohol addiction. This study was aimed to clarify the role of the arachidonic acid cascade in the expression of withdrawal signs in animal model of alcohol dependence. Dependence was induced by repeated administration of 15% ethanol in 0.2% sucrose solution for 17 days. On the 18th day, the ethanol was not given, and one hour after the supposed time of ethanol administration, diclofenac at 10 mg/kg was injected i.p. to induce withdrawal. Observation of behavioral withdrawal signs was performed for 30 minutes, starting 25 minutes after diclofenac injection. Following behavioral observation, forced swimming test ensued to assess depression during withdrawal. In different group of mice, ibuprofen at 7.5 mg/kg was given every other day during ethanol regimen, 30 minutes prior to ethanol. Results showed that diclofenac induced the expression of withdrawal signs in mice receiving repeated alcohol. Incidences of facial preening (P<0.05, P<0.01), forepaw licking (P<0.01), grooming (P<0.01) and forepaw tremor (P<0.001) increased significantly. In mice pretreated ibuprofen significant decreases in body weight reduction (P<0.01) and immobility time (P<0.05) were observed compared to that of ethanol group. Taken together, the data indicates that suppressed arachidonic acid cascade signaling is involved in the expression of alcohol withdrawal

Spectroscopic Confirmation of a Protocluster at z=3.786

We present new observations of the field containing the z=3.786 protocluster, PC217.96+32.3. We confirm that it is one of the largest and most overdense high-redshift structures known. Such structures are rare even in the largest cosmological simulations. We used the Mayall/MOSAIC1.1 imaging camera to image a 1.2x0.6 deg area (~150x75 comoving Mpc) surrounding the protocluster's core and discovered 165 candidate Lyman Alpha emitting galaxies (LAEs) and 788 candidate Lyman Break galaxies (LBGs). There are at least 2 overdense regions traced by the LAEs, the largest of which shows an areal overdensity in its core (i.e., within a radius of 2.5 comoving Mpc) of 14+/-7 relative to the average LAE spatial density in the imaged field. Further, the average LAE spatial density in the imaged field is twice that derived by other field LAE surveys. Spectroscopy with Keck/DEIMOS yielded redshifts for 164 galaxies (79 LAEs and 85 LBGs); 65 lie at a redshift of 3.785+/-0.010. The velocity dispersion of galaxies near the core is 350+/-40 km/s, a value robust to selection effects. The overdensities are likely to collapse into systems with present-day masses of >10^{15} solar masses and >6x10^{14} solar masses. The low velocity dispersion may suggest a dynamically young protocluster. We find a weak trend between narrow-band (Lyman Alpha) luminosity and environmental density: the Lyman Alpha luminosity is enhanced on average by 1.35X within the protocluster core. There is no evidence that the Lyman Alpha equivalent width depends on environment. These suggest that star-formation and/or AGN activity is enhanced in the higher density regions of the structure. PC217.96+32.3 is a Coma cluster analog, witnessed in the process of formation.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal (March 27, 2016

Green Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles Using Aqueous Extract of Garcinia mangostana

The synthesis of gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) is performed by the reduction of aqueous gold metal ions in contact with the aqueous peel extract of plant, Garcinia mangostana (G. mangostana). An absorption peak of the gold nanoparticles is observed at the range of 540–550 nm using UV-visible spectroscopy. All the diffraction peaks at 2θ = 38.48°, 44.85°, 66.05°, and 78.00° that index to (111), (200), (220), and (311) planes confirm the successful synthesis of Au-NPs. Mostly spherical shape particles with size range of 32.96 ± 5.25 nm are measured using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). From the FTIR results, the peaks obtained are closely related to phenols, flavonoids, benzophenones, and anthocyanins which suggest that they may act as the reducing agent. This method is environmentally safe without the usage of synthetic materials which is highly potential in biomedical applications

Mechanical activation of vinculin binding to talin locks talin in an unfolded conformation

The force-dependent interaction between talin and vinculin plays a crucial role in the initiation and growth of focal adhesions. Here we use magnetic tweezers to characterise the mechano-sensitive compact N-terminal region of the talin rod, and show that the three helical bundles R1-R3 in this region unfold in three distinct steps consistent with the domains unfolding independently. Mechanical stretching of talin R1-R3 enhances its binding to vinculin and vinculin binding inhibits talin refolding after force is released. Mutations that stabilize R3 identify it as the initial mechano-sensing domain in talin, unfolding at ~5 pN, suggesting that 5 pN is the force threshold for vinculin binding and adhesion progression

Lactobacillus acidophilus: effects on the pharmacokinetics of marbofloxacin in rats

Background: Probiotics are currently produced commercially and widely used for improving human and animal health. They modulate the gut environment through secretion and production of different molecules and enzymes. Hence, they play a major role in changing the pharmacokinetics of an orally administered drug. Purpose: To determine the effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus (KCTC 3140) on the pharmacokinetics of marbofloxacin.Materials and Methods: Five male and five female 8-week old healthy Sprague Dawley rats were treated with 109 CFU/ml of L. acidophilus daily for seven days via the intra-gastric route. Marbofloxacin (20 mg/kg) was administered orally at the beginning and the end of the experiment. The plasma concentration of marbofloxacin was measured using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results: The area under the curve (AUC) of marbofloxacin declined from 5.78 µg.h/ml to 2.57 µg.h/ml after treatment with L. acidophilus. Similarly, the maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) of the drug decreased from 2.4 µg/ml to 1.2 µg/ml and the Tmax increased from 0.54 to 0.73 h. The elimination half-lives of marbofloxacin before and after treatment with L. acidophilus were 1.19 h and 0.69 h, respectively. The study was conducted by separating the male and female rats; no significant difference was observed between the sexes. Conclusion: The treatment of rats with L. acidophilus decreased the plasma AUC and Cmax after oral administration of marbofloxacin. Hence, studying the interaction of a probiotic with an antibiotic drug is essential prior to co-administration of the probiotic with the oral antibiotic

Non-centralized predictive control for drinking-water supply systems

The final publication is available at link.springer.comThis book presents a set of approaches for the real-time monitoring and control of drinking-water networks based on advanced information and communication technologies. It shows the reader how to achieve significant improvements in efficiency in terms of water use, energy consumption, water loss minimization, and water quality guarantees. The methods and approaches presented are illustrated and have been applied using real-life pilot demonstrations based on the drinking-water network in Barcelona, Spain. The proposed approaches and tools cover: - decision-making support for real-time optimal control of water transport networks, explaining how stochastic model predictive control algorithms that take explicit account of uncertainties associated with energy prices and real demand allow the main flow andpressure actuators—pumping stations and pressure regulation valves—and intermediate storage tanks to be operated to meet demand using the most sustainable types of source and with minimum electricity costs; - decision-making support for monitoring water balance and distribution network quality in real time, implementing fault detection anddiagnosis techniques and using information from hundreds of flow,pressure, and water-quality sensors together with hydraulic and quality-parameter-evolution models to detect and locate leaks in the network, possible breaches in water quality, and failures in sensors and/or actuators; - consumer-demand prediction, based on smart metering techniques, producing detailed analyses and forecasts of consumption patterns,providing a customer communications service, and suggesting economic measures intended to promote more efficient use of water at the household level. Researchers and engineers working with drinking-water networks will find this a vital support in overcoming the problems associated with increased population, environmental sensitivities and regulation, aging infrastructures, energy requirements, and limited water sources.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A hybrid computational intelligence approach to groundwater spring potential mapping

© 2019 by the authors. This study proposes a hybrid computational intelligence model that is a combination of alternating decision tree (ADTree) classifier and AdaBoost (AB) ensemble, namely "AB-ADTree", for groundwater spring potential mapping (GSPM) at the Chilgazi watershed in the Kurdistan province, Iran. Although ADTree and its ensembles have been widely used for environmental and ecological modeling, they have rarely been applied to GSPM. To that end, a groundwater spring inventory map and thirteen conditioning factors tested by the chi-square attribute evaluation (CSAE) technique were used to generate training and testing datasets for constructing and validating the proposed model. The performance of the proposed model was evaluated using statistical-index-based measures, such as positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), sensitivity, specificity accuracy, root mean square error (RMSE), and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUROC). The proposed hybrid model was also compared with five state-of-the-art benchmark soft computing models, including singleADTree, support vector machine (SVM), stochastic gradient descent (SGD), logistic model tree (LMT), logistic regression (LR), and random forest (RF). Results indicate that the proposed hybrid model significantly improved the predictive capability of the ADTree-based classifier (AUROC = 0.789). In addition, it was found that the hybrid model, AB-ADTree, (AUROC = 0.815), had the highest goodness-of-fit and prediction accuracy, followed by the LMT (AUROC = 0.803), RF (AUC = 0.803), SGD, and SVM (AUROC = 0.790) models. Indeed, this model is a powerful and robust technique for mapping of groundwater spring potential in the study area. Therefore, the proposed model is a promising tool to help planners, decision makers, managers, and governments in the management and planning of groundwater resources

Green Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles Using Aqueous Extract of Garcinia mangostana Fruit Peels

The synthesis of gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) is performed by the reduction of aqueous gold metal ions in contact with the aqueous peel extract of plant, Garcinia mangostana (G. mangostana). An absorption peak of the gold nanoparticles is observed at the range of 540-550 nm using UV-visible spectroscopy. All the diffraction peaks at 2 = 38.48 ∘ , 44.85 ∘ , 66.05 ∘ , and 78.00 ∘ that index to (111), (200), (220), and (311) planes confirm the successful synthesis of Au-NPs. Mostly spherical shape particles with size range of 32.96 ± 5.25 nm are measured using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). From the FTIR results, the peaks obtained are closely related to phenols, flavonoids, benzophenones, and anthocyanins which suggest that they may act as the reducing agent. This method is environmentally safe without the usage of synthetic materials which is highly potential in biomedical applications

The mechanical response of talin

Talin, a force-bearing cytoplasmic adapter essential for integrin-mediated cell adhesion, links the actin cytoskeleton to integrin-based cell–extracellular matrix adhesions at the plasma membrane. Its C-terminal rod domain, which contains 13 helical bundles, plays important roles in mechanosensing during cell adhesion and spreading. However, how the structural stability and transition kinetics of the 13 helical bundles of talin are utilized in the diverse talin-dependent mechanosensing processes remains poorly understood. Here we report the force-dependent unfolding and refolding kinetics of all talin rod domains. Using experimentally determined kinetics parameters, we determined the dynamics of force fluctuation during stretching of talin under physiologically relevant pulling speeds and experimentally measured extension fluctuation trajectories. Our results reveal that force-dependent stochastic unfolding and refolding of talin rod domains make talin a very effective force buffer that sets a physiological force range of only a few pNs in the talin-mediated force transmission pathway