Deadly Pleasure

In this work, a girl’s father is one of the victims in the mass political persecution by Emperor Yongzheng, 18 A.D., and he is killed in front of his family. The Emperor is present during his murder and he notices the girl and her gorgeous, long hair. Because of this the girl survives the massacre of her entire family and is sent away and trained to become a concubine. It becomes the goal of the girl to work hard to become a chosen concubine by the Emperor so she can avenge the murder of her family with her gorgeous, magical hair. Deadly Pleasure is my Master’s of Fine Arts thesis film with a total runtime of five minutes and thirteen seconds. It is a 2D animation that was produced primarily in TVpaint, Photoshop, and After Effects. This paper outlines the entire creation process of making this 2D animated film. It details the very beginning of the story ideas to the final screening version. It describes all my intentions, obstacles, challenges and successes, as well as the problem-solution process

Differences in brain gray matter volume in patients with Crohn’s disease with and without abdominal pain

Increasing evidence indicates that abnormal pain processing is present in the central nervous system of patients with Crohn’s disease (CD). The purposes of this study were to assess changes in gray matter (GM) volumes in CD patients in remission and to correlate structural changes in the brain with abdominal pain. We used a 3.0 T magnetic resonance scanner to examine the GM structures in 21 CD patients with abdominal pain, 26 CD patients without abdominal pain, and 30 healthy control subjects (HCs). Voxel-based morphometric analyses were used to assess the brain GM volumes. Patients with abdominal pain exhibited higher CD activity index and lower inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire scores than those of the patients without abdominal pain. Compare to HCs and to patients without abdominal pain, patients with abdominal pain exhibited lower GM volumes in the insula and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC); whereas compare to HCs and to patients with abdominal pain, the patients without abdominal pain exhibited higher GM volumes in the hippocampal and parahippocampal cortex. The GM volumes in the insula and ACC were significantly negatively correlated with daily pain scores. These results suggest that differences exist in the brain GM volume between CD patients in remission with and without abdominal pain. The negative correlation between the GM volumes in the insula and ACC and the presence and severity of abdominal pain in CD suggests these structures are closely related to visceral pain processing

Difference in regional neural fluctuations and functional connectivity in Crohn’s disease: a resting-state functional MRI study

Patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) are shown to have abnormal changes in brain structures. This study aimed to further investigate whether these patients have abnormal brain activities and network connectivity. Sixty patients with CD and 40 healthy controls (HCs) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and seed-based functional connectivity (FC) were used to assess differences in spontaneous regional brain activity and functional connectivity. Compared to the HCs, patients with CD showed significantly higher ALFF values in hippocampus and parahippocampus (HIPP/paraHIPP), anterior cingulate cortex, insula, superior frontal cortex and precuneus. The ALFF values were significantly lower in secondary somatosensory cortex (S2), precentral gyrus, and medial prefrontal cortex. Functional connectivities between left HIPP and left inferior temporal cortex, and right middle cingulate cortex, HIPP, and fusiform area were significantly lower. The functional connectivities between right HIPP and right inferior orbitofrontal cortex and left HIPP were also significantly lower. Patients with CD showed higher or lower spontaneous activity in multiple brain regions. Altered activities in these brain regions may collectively reflect abnormal function and regulation of visceral pain and sensation, external environmental monitoring, and cognitive processing in these patients. Lower functional connectivity of the hippocampus-limbic system was observed in these patients. These findings may provide more information to elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms of the disease

Different brain responses to electro-acupuncture and moxibustion treatment in patients with Crohn's disease

This study aimed to investigate changes in resting state brain activity in remissive Crohn's Disease (CD) patients after electro-acupuncture or moxibustion treatment. Fifty-two CD patients and 36 healthy subjects were enrolled, and 36 patients were equally and randomly assigned to receive either electro-acupuncture or moxibustion treatment for twelve weeks. We used resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess Regional Homogeneity (ReHo) levels, and Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) scores to evaluate disease severity and quality of life. The results show that (i) The ReHo levels in CD patients were significantly increased in cortical but decreased in subcortical areas, and the coupling between them was declined. (ii) Both treatments decreased CDAI, increased IBDQ scores, and normalized the ReHo values of the cortical and subcortical regions. (iii) ReHo changes in multiple cortical regions were significantly correlated with CDAI score decreases. ReHo changes in several subcortical regions in the electro-acupuncture group, and those of several cortical regions in the moxibustion group, were correlated with reduced CDAI. These findings suggest that both treatments improved cortex-subcortical coupling in remissive CD patients, but electro-acupuncture regulated homeostatic afferent processing network, while moxibustion mainly regulated the default mode network of the brain

Models Analyses for Allelopathic Effects of Chicory at Equivalent Coupling of Nitrogen Supply and pH Level on F. arundinacea, T. repens and M. sativa

Alllelopathic potential of chicory was investigated by evaluating its effect on seed germination, soluble sugar, malondialdehyde (MDA) and the chlorophyll content of three target plants species (Festuca arundinacea, Trifolium repens and Medicago sativa). The secretion of allelochemicals was regulated by keeping the donor plant (chicory) separate from the three target plant species and using different pH and nitrogen levels. Leachates from donor pots with different pH levels and nitrogen concentrations continuously irrigated the target pots containing the seedlings. The allelopathic effects of the chicory at equivalent coupling of nitrogen supply and pH level on the three target plants species were explored via models analyses. The results suggested a positive effect of nitrogen supply and pH level on allelochemical secretion from chicory plants. The nitrogen supply and pH level were located at a rectangular area defined by 149 to 168 mg/l nitrogen supply combining 4.95 to 7.0 pH value and point located at nitrogen supply 177 mg/l, pH 6.33 when they were in equivalent coupling effects; whereas the inhibitory effects of equivalent coupling nitrogen supply and pH level were located at rectangular area defined by 125 to 131 mg/l nitrogen supply combining 6.71 to 6.88 pH value and two points respectively located at nitrogen supply 180 mg/l with pH 6.38 and nitrogen supply 166 mg/l with pH 7.59. Aqueous extracts of chicory fleshy roots and leaves accompanied by treatment at different sand pH values and nitrogen concentrations influenced germination, seedling growth, soluble sugar, MDA and chlorophyll of F. arundinacea, T. repens and M. sativa. Additionally, we determined the phenolics contents of root and leaf aqueous extracts, which were 0.104% and 0.044% on average, respectively

Synthesis and Morphology of Well-Defined Mixed Homopolymer Brushes Grafted on 150 - 180 nm Silica Particles

Mixed homopolymer brushes, composed of two distinct homopolymers randomly or alternatively immobilized by one end on a solid substrate, exhibit intriguing phase behavior. This dissertation work focuses on synthesis and morphology study of well-defined mixed brushes grafted on 150 – 180 nm silica particles. The brushes were grown from asymmetric difunctional initiator (Y-initiator)-functionalized silica particles by using two “living”/controlled polymerization techniques. Chapter 1 is an introduction to mixed brushes. Chapter 2 presents a study on the effect of overall grafting density (soverall) [Sigma overall] on morphology of mixed poly(tert-butyl acrylate) (PtBA)/polystyrene brushes synthesized by sequential surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization of tBA and nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization (NMRP) of styrene from Y-initiator-functionalized particles. By changing the mass ratio of Y-initiator to silica particles in the initiator immobilization step, a series of brush samples with different soverall values but similar molecular weights (MW) were synthesized. Transmission electron microscopy showed that at soverall ³ 0.34 chains/nm2 [chains/nanometer square], the brushes formed “rippled” structures after cast from chloroform. The normalized ripple wavelength (D) scaled with soverall-0.47 [sigma overall to the -0.47 power] in the soverall range of 1.06 to 0.54 chains/nm2. Chapter 3 describes a study on the effect of MW on morphology of mixed PtBA/PS brushes on silica particles. A series of samples with different average MWs, from 13.8 to 33.1 kDa, but comparable soverall were made and their morphologies were investigated. For samples cast from chloroform, D scaled with MW0.70 [MW to the 0.7 power] in the studied MW range. For uniformly collapsed mixed brushes cast from water, D was proportional to MW0.56 [MW to the 0.56 power]. Chapter 4 presents the synthesis of mixed brushes from Y-initiator-functionalized silica particles by surface-initiated ring-opening polymerization and NMRP. The soverall of mixed brushes can be tuned by varying the mass ratio of Y-initiator to silica particles in the initiator immobilization step. Chapter 5 describes the synthesis of two polymer brush acid catalysts and their applications for fructose dehydration to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in water. Both brush catalysts exhibited a higher catalytic activity than the corresponding free polymer catalysts. Chapter 6 presents conclusions and future work