Potential antidepressant effects of scutellaria baicalensis, hericium erinaceus and rhodiola rosea

Recent studies focused on the pharmacology and feasibility of herbal compounds as a potential strategy to target a variety of human diseases ranging from metabolic to brain disorders. Accordingly, bioactive ingredients which are found within a variety of herbal compounds are reported to produce both neuroprotective and psychotropic activities which may help to combat mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances and cognitive alterations. In the present manuscript, we focus on three herbs which appear effective in mitigating anxiety or depression with favourable risk-benefit profiles, namely Scutellaria baicalensis (S. baicalensis), Hericium erinaceus (H. erinaceus) and Rhodiola rosea (R. rosea). These three traditional folk medicinal herbs target the main biochemical events that are implicated in mental disorders, mimicking, to some extent, the mechanisms of action of conventional antidepressants and mood stabilizers with a wide margin of tolerability. In detail, they rescue alterations in neurotransmitter and neuro-endocrine systems, stimulate neurogenesis and the synthesis of neurotrophic factors, and they counteract oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation. Albeit the encouraging results that emerge from both experimental and clinical evidence, further studies are needed to confirm and better understand the mental-health promoting, and specifically, the antidepressant effects of these herbs

Generalized Fourier Integral Operators on spaces of Colombeau type

Generalized Fourier integral operators (FIOs) acting on Colombeau algebras are defined. This is based on a theory of generalized oscillatory integrals (OIs) whose phase functions as well as amplitudes may be generalized functions of Colombeau type. The mapping properties of these FIOs are studied as the composition with a generalized pseudodifferential operator. Finally, the microlocal Colombeau regularity for OIs and the influence of the FIO action on generalized wave front sets are investigated. This theory of generalized FIOs is motivated by the need of a general framework for partial differential operators with non-smooth coefficients and distributional data

Crystal-chemistry of sulfates from the Apuan Alps, Tuscany, Italy. VIII. New data on khademite, Al(SO 4)F(H 2 O) 5

Khademite, ideally Al(SO4)F(H2O)5, from the Monte Arsiccio mine, Apuan Alps, Tuscany, Italy, has been characterised through quantitative electron microprobe analysis, micro-Raman spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Khademite occurs as colourless to whitish tabular crystals, up to 5 mm. Electron microprobe analysis (in wt.%, average of 20 spot analyses) gave: SO3 35.43, Al2O3 21.27, F 6.92, H2Ocalc 39.73, sum 103.35, -O = F 2.92, total 100.43. On the basis of 10 anions per formula unit, assuming the occurrence of 5 H2O groups and 1 (F+OH) atom per formula unit, its chemical formula can be written as Al0.96S1.02O4[F0.84(OH)0.16]Σ1.00·5H2O. The Raman spectrum of khademite is characterised by the occurrence of vibrational modes of SO4 groups and by broad and strong bands due to the O-H stretching modes. Khademite is orthorhombic, space group Pcab, with unit-cell parameters a = 11.1713(2), b = 13.0432(3), c = 10.8815(2) Å, V = 1585.54(5) Å3 and Z = 8. The crystal structure refinement converged to R1 = 0.0293 on the basis of 2359 unique reflections with Fo > 4σ(Fo) and 152 refined parameters. The crystal structure of khademite is characterised by the alternation, along b, of two distinct kinds of {010} layers, one formed by [001] rows of isolated Al-centred octahedra, connected to each other through H bonds, and the other showing isolated SO4 groups. Along b, oxygen atoms belonging to SO4 groups act as acceptor of H bonds from H2O groups coordinating Al atoms. The new data improved the description of the H bonds in khademite and led us to discuss about the possible existence of its (OH)-analogue, rostite. In addition, Raman spectroscopic data were collected on the same crystal used for the crystal-chemical characterisation, allowing a comparison with previous results

Dystonia: sparse synapses for D2 receptors in striatum of a DYT1 knock-out mouse model

Dystonia pathophysiology has been partly linked to downregulation and dysfunction of dopamine D2 receptors in striatum. We aimed to investigate the possible morpho-structural correlates of D2 receptor downregulation in the striatum of a DYT1 Tor1a mouse model. Adult control Tor1a+/+ and mutant Tor1a+/− mice were used. The brains were perfused and free-floating sections of basal ganglia were incubated with polyclonal anti-D2 antibody, followed by secondary immune-fluorescent antibody. Confocal microscopy was used to detect immune-fluorescent signals. The same primary antibody was used to evaluate D2 receptor expression by western blot. The D2 receptor immune-fluorescence appeared circumscribed in small disks (~0.3–0.5 μm diameter), likely representing D2 synapse aggregates, densely distributed in the striatum of Tor1a+/+ mice. In the Tor1a+/− mice the D2 aggregates were significantly smaller (μm2 2.4 ± SE 0.16, compared to μm2 6.73 ± SE 3.41 in Tor1a+/+) and sparse, with ~30% less number per microscopic field, value correspondent to the amount of reduced D2 expression in western blotting analysis. In DYT1 mutant mice the sparse and small D2 synapses in the striatum may be insufficient to “gate” the amount of presynaptic dopamine release diffusing in peri-synaptic space, and this consequently may result in a timing and spatially larger nonselective sphere of influence of dopamine action

Characterization of polyaniline-detonation nanodiamond nanocomposite fibers by atomic force microscopy based technique

Polyaniline (PANI) fibers were synthesized in presence of detonantion nanodiamond (DND) particles by precipitation polymerization technique. Morphological, electrical and mechanical characterizations of the obtained PANI/DND nanocomposited have been performed by different either standard or advanced atomic force microscopy (AFM) based techniques. Morphological characterization by tapping mode AFM supplied information about the structure of fibers and ribbons forming the PANI/DND network. An AFM based technique that takes advantage of an experimental configuration specifically devised for the purpose was used to assess the electrical properties of the fibers, in particular to verify their conductivity. Finally, mechanical characterization was carried out synergically using two different and recently proposed AFM based techniques, one based on AFM tapping mode and the other requiring AFM contact mode, which probed the nanocomposited nature of PANI/DND fiber sample down to different depths. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Bulk Cr tips for scanning tunneling microscopy and spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy

A simple, reliable method for preparation of bulk Cr tips for Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) is proposed and its potentialities in performing high-quality and high-resolution STM and Spin Polarized-STM (SP-STM) are investigated. Cr tips show atomic resolution on ordered surfaces. Contrary to what happens with conventional W tips, rest atoms of the Si(111)-7x7 reconstruction can be routinely observed, probably due to a different electronic structure of the tip apex. SP-STM measurements of the Cr(001) surface showing magnetic contrast are reported. Our results reveal that the peculiar properties of these tips can be suited in a number of STM experimental situations