Intraperitoneal Delivery of Acetate-Encapsulated Liposomal Nanoparticles for Neuroprotection of the Penumbra in a Rat Model of Ischemic Stroke

Background: Ischemic stroke is a devastating condition, with metabolic derangement and persistent inflammation enhancing the initial insult of ischaemia. Recombinant tissue plasminogen remains the only effective treatment but limited as therapy must commence soon after the onset of symptoms. Purpose: We investigated whether acetate, which modulates many pathways including inflammation, may attenuate brain injury in stroke. As acetate has a short blood half-life and high amounts irritate the gastrointestinal tract, acetate was administered encapsulated in a liposomal nanoparticle (liposomal-encapsulated acetate, LITA). Methods: Transient ischemia was induced by 90 mins middle-cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in Sprague-Dawley rats, and LITA or control liposomes given intraperitoneally at occlusion and daily for up to two weeks post-MCAO. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to estimate lesion volume at 24 h, 1 and 2 weeks post-MCAO and anterior lateral ventricular volume (ALVv) at 2 weeks post-MCAO. Locomotive behaviour was tested prior to the final MRI scan. After the final scan, brains were collected, and immunohistochemistry was performed. Results: Lesion volumes were decreased by ~80% from 24 h to one-week post-MCAO, in both control and LITA groups (P<0.05). However, the lesion was increased by ~50% over the subsequent 1 to 2 weeks after MCAO in the control group (from 24.1±10.0 to 58.7±28.6 mm3; P<0.05) but remained unchanged in the LITA group. ALVv were also attenuated by LITA treatment at 2 weeks post-MCAO (177.2±11.9% and 135.3±10.9% of contralateral ALVv for control and LITA groups, respectively; P<0.05). LITA-treated animals also appeared to have improved motor activity, moving with greater average velocity than control animals. Microglial immunoreactivity was ~40% lower in the LITA group compared to the control group (P<0.05), but LITA did not modulate neurogenesis, apoptosis, histone acetylation and lipid peroxidation. Conclusion: LITA appears to attenuate the harmful chronic neuroinflammation observed during brain remodeling after a focal ischemic insult

Chemical characteristics of Illinois crude oils with a discussion of their geologic occurrence

Includes bibliographical references (p. 24)

Engineering Entanglement between two cavity modes

We present scheme for generation of entanglement between different modes of radiation field inside high-Q superconducting cavities. Our scheme is based on the interaction of a three-level atom with the cavity field for pre-calculated interaction times with each mode. This work enables us to generate complete set of Bell basis states and GHZ state

Comparing plasma and faecal measures of steroid hormones in Adelie penguins Pygoscelis adeliae

Physiological measurements of both stress and sex hormones are often used to estimate the consequences of natural or human-induced change in ecological studies of various animals. Different methods of hormone measurement exist, potentially explaining variation in results across studies; methods should be cross-validated to ensure that they correlate. We directly compared faecal and plasma hormone measurements for the first time in a wild free-living species, the Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae). Blood and faecal samples were simultaneously collected from individual penguins for comparison and assayed for testosterone and corticosterone (or their metabolites). Sex differences and variability within each measure, and correlation of values across measures were compared. For both hormones, plasma samples showed greater variation than faecal samples. Males had higher mean corticosterone concentrations than females, but the difference was only statistically significant in faecal samples. Plasma testosterone, but not faecal testosterone, was significantly higher in males than females. Correlation between sample types was poor overall, and weaker in females than in males, perhaps because measures from plasma represent hormones that are both free and bound to globulins, whereas measures from faeces represent only the free portion. Faecal samples also represent a cumulative measure of hormones over time, as opposed to a plasma ‘snapshot’ concentration. Our data indicate that faecal sampling appears more suitable for assessing baseline hormone concentrations, whilst plasma sampling may best define immediate responses to environmental events. Consequently, future studies should ensure that they select the most appropriate matrix and method of hormone measurement to answer their research questions

Effects of dietary protein and fat level and rapeseed oil on growth and tissue fatty acid composition and metabolism in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) reared at low water temperatures

A 12 week feeding trial was conducted to elucidate the interactive effects of dietary fat and protein contents and oil source on growth, fatty acid composition, protein retention efficiency (PRE) and β-oxidation activity of muscle and liver in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) at low water temperatures (4.2 oC). Triplicate groups of Atlantic salmon (initial weight 1168 g) were fed six isoenergetic diets formulated to provide either 390 g kg-1 protein and 320 g kg-1 fat (high protein (HP) diets) or 340 g kg-1 protein and 360 g kg-1 fat (low protein (LP) diets); within each dietary protein/fat level crude RO comprised 0, 30 or 60% (R0, R30, R60, respectively) of the added oil. After 12 weeks the overall growth and FCR were very good for all treatments (TGC; 4.76 (±0.23), FCR; 0.85 (±0.02)). Significant effects were shown due to oil source on SGR and TGC only. The liver and muscle FA compositions were highly affected by the graded inclusion of RO. The PRE was significantly affected by the dietary protein level, while no significant effects were shown in total β-oxidation capacity of liver and muscle. The results of this study suggest that more sustainable, lower protein diets with moderate RO inclusion can be used in Atlantic salmon culture at low water temperatures with no negative effects on growth and feed conversion, no major detrimental effects on lipid and fatty acid metabolism and a positive effect on protein sparing

Efficient quantum key distribution scheme with nonmaximally entangled states

We propose an efficient quantum key distribution scheme based on entanglement. The sender chooses pairs of photons in one of the two equivalent nonmaximally entangled states randomly, and sends a sequence of photons from each pair to the receiver. They choose from the various bases independently but with substantially different probabilities, thus reducing the fraction of discarded data, and a significant gain in efficiency is achieved. We then show that such a refined data analysis guarantees the security of our scheme against a biased eavesdropping strategy.Comment: 5 Pages, No Figur

Universal behavior of localization of residue fluctuations in globular proteins

Localization properties of residue fluctuations in globular proteins are studied theoretically by using the Gaussian network model. Participation ratio for each residue fluctuation mode is calculated. It is found that the relationship between participation ratio and frequency is similar for all globular proteins, indicating a universal behavior in spite of their different size, shape, and architecture.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.

States insensitive to the Unruh effect in multi-level detectors

We give a general treatment of the spontaneous excitation rates and the non-relativistic Lamb shift of constantly accelerated multi-level atoms as a model for multi-level detectors. Using a covariant formulation of the dipole coupling between the atom and the electromagnetic field we show that new Raman-like transitions can be induced by the acceleration. Under certain conditions these transitions can lead to stable ground and excited states which are not affected by the non inertial motion. The magnitude of the Unruh effect is not altered by multi-level effects. Both the spontaneous excitation rates and the Lamb shift are not within the range of measurability.Comment: 9 Pages, late

Elliptic Flow and Shear Viscosity within a Transport Approach from RHIC to LHC Energy

We have investigated the build up of anisotropic flows within a parton cascade approach at fixed shear viscosity to entropy density \eta/s to study the generation of collective flows in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. We present a study of the impact of a temperature dependent \eta/s(T) on the generation of the elliptic flow at both RHIC and LHC. Finally we show that the transport approach, thanks to its wide validity range, is able to describe naturally the rise - fall and saturation of the v_2(p_T) observed at LHC.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, proceedings of the workshop EPIC@LHC, 6-8 July 2011, Bari, Ital