Substance P scavenger enhances antioxidant defenses and prevents prothrombotic effects on the rat lung after acute exposure to oil smoke

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Airborne particulate matter, from cooking oil, smoking, engine exhaust and other sources, is associated with the development of atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction. In order to explore the cellular and molecular events following exposure of rats to lard oil smoke, we measured the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), substance P, cellular adhesion molecules, and thrombosis in relation to inhibitors of substance P, the NK-1 receptor, and antioxidants.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Rats were exposed to oil smoke for 120 min with or without 20 min pretreatment with lovastatin (substance P scavenger), L733060 (NK-1 receptor antagonist), vitamin E (antioxidant) or catechins (antioxidant). The levels of substance P and ROS were measured. Histological studies observed ROS damage in the form of HEL adducts. The prothrombotic effects of oil smoke exposure were measured by experimental induction of thrombosis in vivo.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Oil smoke exposure significantly increased substance P levels, ROS levels, ROS damage (HEL adduct levels), and the size of experimentally induced thrombi. The pretreatments reduced all of these effects of oil smoke exposure; at many time points the reductions were statistically significant.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We established a connection between oil smoke exposure and thrombosis which involves substance P and its receptor, the NK-1 receptor, and ROS. This study helps establish a mechanistic explanation of how airborne particulate matter can increase the risk of cardiovascular illness.</p

Comparative Study of Some Population-based Optimization Algorithms on Inverse Scattering of a Two-Dimensional Perfectly Conducting Cylinder in Slab Medium

[[abstract]]The application of four techniques for the shape reconstruction of a 2-D metallic cylinder buried in dielectric slab medium by measured the cattered fields outside is studied in the paper. The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique is employed for electromagnetic analyses for both the forward and inverse scattering problems, while the shape reconstruction problem is transformed into optimization one during the course of inverse scattering. Then, four techniques including asynchronous particle swarm optimization (APSO), PSO, dynamic differential evolution (DDE) and self-adaptive DDE (SADDE) are applied to reconstruct the location and shape of the 2-Dmetallic cylinder for comparative purposes. The statistical performances of these algorithms are compared. The results show that SADDE outperforms PSO, APSO and DDE in terms of the ability of exploring the optima. However, these results are considered to be indicative and do not generally apply to all optimization problems in electromagnetics.[[incitationindex]]SCI[[incitationindex]]EI[[booktype]]紙本[[booktype]]電子

Invited - Temporal information processing for in-sensor computing based on amorphous IGZO phototransistor

On facing the massive and unstructured data processing, it is imperative to emulate artificial neural networks with new physical hardware architectures in addition to software-based approaches, to overcome the barrier of the von Neumann bottleneck. By mimicking the human visual sensing system, the optoelectronic devices, which can perform data compression and reduce the network size through the reconstruction of input signals, are promising to develop the neuromorphic in-sensor computing for minimizing the time latency as well as improving the energy efficiency. In this work, we demonstrate an amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) phototransistor with ZrOx high-k dielectric layer with distinct responses to various optical stimulation inputs. Due to the persistent photoconductivity (PPC) effect of a-IGZO after lighting, our device is able to exhibit synaptic functions via the application of 405 nm light spikes, such as paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) and short-term memory (STM). Furthermore, in order to perform the temporal optical signals processing, the a-IGZO phototransistor is stimulated by four-timeframe temporal pulse streams composed of 405 nm light spikes and it expresses the different temporal responses. The distinct output photocurrent response reveals that the a-IGZO phototransistor can be applied to distinguish the time-series input light signals. Accordingly, the a-IGZO phototransistor have a promising potential for processing optical temporal information and can possibly be implemented for visual in-sensor computing techniques. Please click Download on the upper right corner to see the full abstract

The Effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Treating Patients with Leukemia

Leukemia is the most common malignancy among all childhood cancers and is associated with a low survival rate in adult patients. Since 1995, the National Health Insurance (NHI) program in Taiwan has been offering insurance coverage for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), along with conventional Western medicine (WM). This study analyzes the status of TCM utilization in Taiwan, in both pediatric and adult patients with leukemia. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using population-based National Health Insurance Research Database of Registry of Catastrophic Illness, involving patient data from 2001 to 2010 and follow-up data through 2011. The effectiveness of TCM use was evaluated. Relevant sociodemographic data showed that both pediatric and adult patients who were TCM users one year prior to leukemia diagnosis were more likely to utilize TCM services for cancer therapy. A greater part of medical expenditure of TCM users was lower than that of TCM nonusers, except little discrepancy in drug fee of adult patients. The survival rate is also higher in TCM users. Altogether, these data show that TCM has the potential to serve as an adjuvant therapy when combined with conventional WM in the treatment of patients with leukemia

Luteolin Suppresses Inflammatory Mediator Expression by Blocking the Akt/NFκB Pathway in Acute Lung Injury Induced by Lipopolysaccharide in Mice

Acute lung injury (ALI), instilled by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), is a severe illness with excessive mortality and has no specific treatment strategy. Luteolin is an anti-inflammatory flavonoid and widely distributed in the plants. Pretreatment with luteolin inhibited LPS-induced histological changes of ALI and lung tissue edema. In addition, LPS-induced inflammatory responses, including increased vascular permeability, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 production, and expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), were also reduced by luteolin in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, luteolin suppressed activation of NFκB and its upstream molecular factor, Akt. These results suggest that the protection mechanism of luteolin is by inhibition of NFκB activation possibly via Akt

Quantitative Mechanical Properties of the Relaxed Biceps and Triceps Brachii Muscles in Patients with Subacute Stroke: A Reliability Study of the Myoton-3 Myometer

Objective. Test-retest reliability of the myotonometer was investigated in patients with subacute stroke. Methods. Twelve patients with substroke (3 to 9 months poststroke) were examined in standardized testing position twice, 60 minutes apart, with the Myoton-3 myometer to measure tone, elasticity, and stiffness of relaxed bilateral biceps and triceps brachii muscles. Intrarater reliability of muscle properties was determined using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), the standard error of measurement (SEM), and the minimal detectable change (MDC). Results. Intrarater reliability of muscle properties of bilateral biceps and triceps brachii muscles were good (ICCs = 0.79–0.96) except for unaffected biceps tone (ICC = 0.72). The SEM and MDC of bilateral biceps and triceps brachii muscles indicated small measurement error (SEM% <10%, MDC% <25%). Conclusion. The Myoton-3 myometer is a reliable tool for quantifying muscle tone, elasticity, and stiffness of the biceps and triceps brachii in patients with subacute stroke

Wide-Angle and Broadband Polarization Converter

Apparatus and methods for a polarization converter comprising a polarization beam splitter for receiving an input light beam and allows a transverse magnetic to pass through the polarization beam splitter and reflects a transverse electric wave and a diffraction grating having a reflectivity and polarization convertible grating for receiving the transverse electric wave reflects back a reflected transverse electric wave having a polarization rotation. The broadband wide-angle polarization beam splitter can be alternative optical elements such as a prism or an optical device having multi-layered films. The diffraction grating can be a diffraction grating having alternating parallel protrusions and recesses, metallic diffraction grating, metal-coated diffraction grating, metal-coated multi-layered diffraction grating, non-metallic reflective material surface grating, volume grating, a multi-layer grating, diffractive grating having sub-wavelength grating periods or diffractive grating h

Long-Chain Fatty Acid Receptors Mediate Relaxation of the Porcine Lower Esophageal Sphincter

Long-chain fatty acids activate the free fatty acid receptor 1 (FFA1) and FFA4. In the gastrointestinal system, FFA1 and FFA4 have been found in the pancreas and intestine. Fatty food and decreased lower esophageal sphincter (LES) motility are associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease. The effect of long-chain fatty acids on the esophageal motility is unknown. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of long-chain fatty acids on the porcine LES motility ex vivo using isometric transducers. In endothelin 1-precontracted porcine LES strips, the FFA1 selective agonists, fasiglifam, TUG424, and GW9508, caused marked relaxations in a concentration-dependent manner. The relative efficacies to elicit relaxation were GW9508 &gt; TUG424 &gt; fasiglifam in both clasp and sling strips. In contrast, the FFA4 specific agonists, TUG891 and GSK137647, produced mild relaxations. In addition, the endogenous FFA1 agonist DHA caused a mild relaxation whereas GW1100, an FFA1 antagonist, inhibited GW9508 induced relaxation of the porcine LES clasp and sling muscle. Both real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry revealed that FFA1 and FFA4 were expressed in the porcine LES. Real-time PCR analysis showed that the FFA4 expression was much lower than FFA1. Taken together, long-chain fatty acid receptor agonists elicit relaxation of the porcine LES. FFA1 might influence LES motility