L-theanine: potential use as a therapeutic agent for psychiatric conditions

Psychiatric conditions including attention disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia pose some of the most debilitating effects on the patient population worldwide. Treatments currently used to combat such illnesses have been a significant area of research in the medical community. As more molecular mechanisms are elucidated and a deeper pathophysiologic basis is discovered for such ailments, newer pharmacologic modalities pave way to provide greater symptomatic relief and treatment with fewer side effects. Enter L-theanine, a non-essential amino acid found in green tea leaves which has been touted to have anxiolytic and cognitive enhancing properties on a wide variety of patient demographics. Furthermore, it has been recently studied for its neuroprotective qualities and antihypertensive effects. This study delves into the current understanding of common psychiatric conditions, as well as providing a summary into the current understanding of L-theanine in its potential to a wide variety of psychiatric and neurologic conditions. The apparent potential in utilizing L-theanine as a treatment modality is promising, and the limited studies available warrant continued research to provide a safe, non-toxic way in alleviating psychiatric and neurologic conditions

Adaptive Power Control Protocol with Hardware Implementation for Wireless Sensor and RFID Reader Networks

The development and deployment of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems render a novel distributed sensor network which enhances visibility into manufacturing processes. In RFID systems, the detection range and read rates will suffer from interference among high-power reading devices. This problem grows severely and degrades system performance in dense RFID networks. Consequently, medium access protocols (MAC) protocols are needed for such networks to assess and provide access to the channel so that tags can be read accurately. In this paper, we investigate a suite of feasible power control schemes to ensure overall coverage area of the system while maintaining a desired read rate. The power control scheme and MAC protocol dynamically adjust the RFID reader power output in response to the interference level seen during tag reading and acceptable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We present novel distributed adaptive power control (DAPC) as a possible solution. A suitable back off scheme is also added with DAPC to improve coverage. A generic UHF wireless testbed is built using UMR/SLU GEN4-SSN for implementing the protocol. Both the methodology and hardware implementation of the schemes are presented, compared, and discussed. The results of hardware implementation illustrate that the protocol performs satisfactorily as expected

Removal of the Mitochondrial Fission Factor Mff Exacerbates Neuronal Loss and Neurological Phenotypes in a Huntington’s Disease Mouse Model

Objective: Excessive mitochondrial fission has been associated with several neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington’s disease (HD). Consequently, mitochondrial dynamics has been suggested to be a promising therapeutic target for Huntington’s disease. Mitochondrial fission depends on recruitment of Drp1 to mitochondria, and Mff (mitochondrial fission factor) is one of the key adaptor proteins for this process. Removal of Mff therefore greatly reduces mitochondrial fission. Here we investigate whether removal of Mff can mitigate HD-associated pathologies in HD transgenic mice (R6/2) expressing mutant Htt. Method: We compared the phenotype of HD mice with and without Mff. The mice were monitored for lifespan, neurological phenotypes, Htt aggregate formation, and brain histology. Results: We found that HD mice lacking Mff display more severe neurological phenotypes and have shortened lifespans. Loss of Mff does not affect mutant Htt aggregation, but it accelerates HD pathology, including neuronal loss and neuroinflammation. Conclusions: Our data indicate a protective role for mitochondrial fission in HD and suggest that more studies are needed before manipulation of mitochondrial dynamics can be applied to HD therapy

Printing of wirelessly rechargeable solid-state supercapacitors for soft, smart contact lenses with continuous operations

Recent advances in smart contact lenses are essential to the realization of medical applications and vision imaging for augmented reality through wireless communication systems. However, previous research on smart contact lenses has been driven by a wired system or wireless power transfer with temporal and spatial restrictions, which can limit their continuous use and require energy storage devices. Also, the rigidity, heat, and large sizes of conventional batteries are not suitable for the soft, smart contact lens. Here, we describe a human pilot trial of a soft, smart contact lens with a wirelessly rechargeable, solid-state supercapacitor for continuous operation. After printing the supercapacitor, all device components (antenna, rectifier, and light-emitting diode) are fully integrated with stretchable structures for this soft lens without obstructing vision. The good reliability against thermal and electromagnetic radiations and the results of the in vivo tests provide the substantial promise of future smart contact lenses

Elimination of paternal mitochondria in mouse embryos occurs through autophagic degradation dependent on PARKIN and MUL1

A defining feature of mitochondria is their maternal mode of inheritance. However, little is understood about the cellular mechanism through which paternal mitochondria, delivered from sperm, are eliminated from early mammalian embryos. Autophagy has been implicated in nematodes, but whether this mechanism is conserved in mammals has been disputed. Here, we show that cultured mouse fibroblasts and pre-implantation embryos use a common pathway for elimination of mitochondria. Both situations utilize mitophagy, in which mitochondria are sequestered by autophagosomes and delivered to lysosomes for degradation. The E3 ubiquitin ligases PARKIN and MUL1 play redundant roles in elimination of paternal mitochondria. The process is associated with depolarization of paternal mitochondria and additionally requires the mitochondrial outer membrane protein FIS1, the autophagy adaptor P62, and PINK1 kinase. Our results indicate that strict maternal transmission of mitochondria relies on mitophagy and uncover a collaboration between MUL1 and PARKIN in this process

Decentralized Power Control with Implementation for RFID Networks

In radio frequency identification (RFID) systems, the detection range and read rates will suffer from interference among high power reading devices. This problem grows severely and degrades system performance in dense RFID networks. In this paper, we investigate a suite of feasible power control schemes to ensure overall coverage area of the system while maintaining a desired read rate. The power control scheme and MAC protocol dynamically adjusts the RFID reader power output in response to the interference level seen locally during tag reading for an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We present novel distributed adaptive power control (DAPC) and probabilistic power control (PPC) as two possible solutions. A generic UHF wireless testbed is built using UMR/SLU GEN4-SSN for implementng the protocol. Simulation and hardware results are included

Barriers to Health Care for Chinese in the Netherlands

This study examines utilisation of the Dutch health care system by Chinese people in the Netherlands as well as their attitudes to the system, paying special attention to mental health. Information was gathered by semistructured interviews (n = 102). The main issues investigated are access, help-seeking behaviour, and quality of care. Results showed that most respondents used Dutch health care as their primary method of managing health problems. Inadequate knowledge about the system and lack of Dutch language proficiency impede access to care, in particular registration with a General Practitioner (GP). Users complained that the care given differed from what they expected. Results also showed that the major problems are to be found in the group coming from the Chinese-speaking region. Western concepts of mental health appear to be widely accepted by Chinese in the Netherlands. However, almost half of our respondents believed that traditional Chinese medicine or other methods can also help with mental health problems. The provision of relevant information in Chinese appears to be important for improving access. Better interpretation and translation services, especially for first-generation migrants from the Chinese-speaking region, are also required

Mapping local optical densities of states in silicon photonic structures with nanoscale electron spectroscopy

Relativistic electrons in a structured medium generate radiative losses such as Cherenkov and transition radiation that act as a virtual light source, coupling to the photonic densities of states. The effect is most pronounced when the imaginary part of the dielectric function is zero, a regime where in a non-retarded treatment no loss or coupling can occur. Maps of the resultant energy losses as a sub-5nm electron probe scans across finite waveguide structures reveal spatial distributions of optical modes in a spectral domain ranging from near-infrared to far ultraviolet.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure