The C-Terminal TDP-43 Fragments Have a High Aggregation Propensity and Harm Neurons by a Dominant-Negative Mechanism

TAR DNA binding protein 43 KD (TDP-43) is an essential gene that regulates gene transcription, mRNA splicing and stability. In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), two fatal neurodegenerative diseases, TDP-43 is fragmented, generating multiple fragments that include the C-terminal fragment of ∼25 KD. The role of these fragments in the pathogenesis of ALS and FTD is not clear. Here we investigated the aggregation propensity in various polypeptide regions of TDP-43 in mammalian cells and the effect of these fragments on cultured neurons. By expressing the full length and various TDP-43 fragments in motor neuron-derived NSC-34 cells and primary neurons, we found that both N- and C-terminal fragments of TDP-43 are prone to aggregate and the C-terminal end of RRM2 region is required, though not sufficient, for aggregation. The aggregation of the TDP-43 fragments can drive co-aggregation with the full-length TDP-43, consequently reducing the nuclear TDP-43. In addition, the TDP-43 fragments can impair neurite growth during neuronal differentiation. Importantly, overexpression of the full-length TDP-43 rescues the neurite growth phenotype whereas knockdown of the endogenous TDP-43 reproduces this phenotype. These results suggest that TDP-43 fragments, particularly the pathologically relevant C-terminal fragments, can impair neuronal differentiation by dominant-negatively interfering with the function of the full length TDP-43, thus playing a role in pathogenesis in ALS and FTD

Assembly, annotation, and comparative analysis of Ipomoea chloroplast genomes provide insights into the parasitic characteristics of Cuscuta species

In the Convolvulaceae family, around 1650 species belonging to 60 genera are widely distributed globally, mainly in the tropical and subtropical regions of America and Asia. Although a series of chloroplast genomes in Convolvulaceae were reported and investigated, the evolutionary and genetic relationships among the chloroplast genomes of the Convolvulaceae family have not been extensively elucidated till now. In this study, we first reported the complete chloroplast genome sequence of Ipomoea pes-caprae, a widely distributed coastal plant with medical values. The chloroplast genome of I. pes-caprae is 161667 bp in length, and the GC content is 37.56%. The chloroplastic DNA molecule of I. pes-caprae is a circular structure composed of LSC (large-single-copy), SSC (small-single-copy), and IR (inverted repeat) regions, with the size of the three regions being 88210 bp, 12117 bp, and 30670 bp, respectively. The chloroplast genome of I. pes-caprae contains 141 genes, and 35 SSRs are identified in the chloroplast genome. Our research results provide important genomic information for the molecular phylogeny of I. pes-caprae. The Phylogenetic analysis of 28 Convolvulaceae chloroplast genomes showed that the relationship of I. pes-caprae with I. involucrata or I. obscura was much closer than that with other Convolvulaccae species. Further comparative analyses between the Ipomoea species and Cuscuta species revealed the mechanism underlying the formation of parasitic characteristics of Cuscuta species from the perspective of the chloroplast genome

Combustion adjustment experiment of over-temperature in heating surfaces for 600 MW four-wall tangentially fired boiler

Over-temperature problem have been occurred at vertical water wall and platen super-heater of 600 MW four-wall tangentially fired boiler often since it is putted into production, the AGC function of the unit cannot be used properly, and the load capacity and quick variable load mode of the unit is influenced greatly. In this paper, the over-temperature mechanism of four-wall tangentially fired boiler is explained by numerical simulation firstly, then a combustion adjustment test including boiler coal pulverizing system and secondary air register optimization experiment was carried out. It is found that the cutting radius of combustion flame of four-wall tangentially fired boiler is too large to cause the high temperature flue gas brush the vertical water, which leads to the vertical water wall over-temperature. The residual rotation under the furnace arch at the outlet of the furnace still exist, leading to smoke temperature deviation on both sides of the outlet of the furnace, causing uneven heat absorption at the platen super-heater area, which leads to the platen super-heater over-temperature. The over-temperature problem of boiler heating surface is effectively controlled after the combustion adjustment test without equipment modification. The AGC function of the unit can be used properly, and the safe and economical operation of the unit have been greatly guaranteed

Alkaline thermal pretreatment at mild temperatures for biogas production from anaerobic digestion of antibiotic mycelial residue

This paper aims at lowering the temperature for thermal pretreatment (TPT) of antibiotic mycelial residue (AMR) by alkali addition but without significantly worsening subsequent anaerobic digestion (AD) for biogas. Batch TPT and AD experiments were conducted in a bench-scale autoclave and several bench-scale anaerobic digesters, respectively. The results showed that the methane yield (&lt;200 ml.(g VS)(-1)) was visibly lower with lowering pretreatment temperature, compared to that (290 ml.(g VS)(-1)) for TPT at the optimal temperature of 120 degrees C, while it rebounded to 231 ml.(g VS)(-1) when proper amounts of alkali were employed (to adjust the pH of the AMR to 12) for TPT at 80 degrees C. Further analysis indicated that low-temperature alkaline TPT was significantly less energy-consumption compared to only TPT, at cost of small amounts of alkali. It was more convenient and economical to implement AD of AMR in combination with alkaline TPT at mild temperatures for biogas. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.</p

Blind Photograph Watermarking with Robust Defocus-Based JND Model

Just noticeable distortion (JND) is widely employed to describe the perception redundancy in the quantization-based watermarking framework. However, the existing JND models are generally constructed to treat every region of the photograph with an equal focus level, whereas the defocus effect has never been considered. In this paper, the defocus feature, which can portray the aesthetic emphasis in the photograph, is provided to improve the perceptual JND model. Firstly, two indicators which consider the block energy in the defocus measurement (DM) are proposed. Then, the defocus feature map (DFM) is obtained by integrating the influence of the circumambient blocks, and it is applied to the proposed JND contrast masking (CM) processing. In this way, a new blind photograph watermarking method, with emphasis on defocus-JND estimation combined with the proposed CM, is presented. Simulations show that the proposed JND is more suitable for watermarking framework than some exiting JND models, and the proposed watermarking scheme with the improved defocus-based JND model has superior robustness compared with some watermarking schemes

Anaerobic digestion of antibiotic residue in combination with hydrothermal pretreatment for biogas

Antibiotic residues are difficult to be treated or utilized because of their high water content and residual antibiotics. This article is devoted to investigating the possibility of biogas production from cephalosporin C residue (CPCAR), one typical type of antibiotic residues, via anaerobic digestion in combination with hydrothermal pretreatment (HTPT). The results from the bench-scale experiments showed that the combination of HTPT and anaerobic digestion can provide a viable way to convert CPCAR into biogas, and the biogas and methane yields reached 290 and 200 ml (g TS)(-1), respectively. This article further evaluated the proposed technology in terms of energy balance and technical feasibility based on theoretical calculation using the data from a pilot HTPT test. It was shown that the process is totally self-sufficient in energy and its main challenging problem of ammonia inhibition can be solved via ammonia stripping. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Enhanced biogas production from sorghum stem by co-digestion with cow manure

In order to achieve high biogas yield and make clear the effects of carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio on digestion to further understand the co-digestion performance, this study investigated the high-solid anaerobic digestion (HSAD) of sorghum stem using urea to adjust its C/N ratio and the co-digestion of sorghum stem and cow manure. The HSAD of sorghum stem possessing high energy potential and high C/N ratio was easy to become acidified, even with addition of urea, leading to generation of plenty of hydrogen during the first 3 days of digestion. When the C/N ratio was adjusted to 25 with urea, the biogas yield was 413 mL/g VS, 26% higher than that of raw sorghum stem. With the C/N ratio of 25, the co-digestion of sorghum stem and cow manure generated the highest biogas yield of 478 mL/ g VS. Co-digestion enabled stable pH value and high digestion efficiency and avoided extreme acidification. On one hand, the improvement on biogas production by co-digestion was partially attributed to the adjusted C/N ratio. On the other hand, trace elements in cow manure such as Fe, Ni, Zn, Ca, etc may also contribute to the enhancement in biogas production. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

A Novel STDM Watermarking Using Visual Saliency-Based JND Model

The just noticeable distortion (JND) model plays an important role in measuring the visual visibility for spread transform dither modulation (STDM) watermarking. However, the existing JND model characterizes the suprathreshold distortions with an equal saliency level. Visual saliency (VS) has been widely studied by psychologists and computer scientists during the last decade, where the distortions are more likely to be noticeable to any viewer. With this consideration, we proposed a novel STDM watermarking method for a monochrome image by exploiting a visual saliency-based JND model. In our proposed JND model, a simple VS model is employed as a feature to reflect the importance of a local region and compute the final JND map. Extensive experiments performed on the classic image databases demonstrate that the proposed watermarking scheme works better in terms of the robustness than other related methods

Multi-Energy Load Collaborative Optimization of the Active Building Energy Management Strategy

Under the dual-carbon target, the popularization and application of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) and ground source heat pump systems have made active buildings a research hotspot in the field of architecture and energy. Aiming at this issue, based on the building energy consumption model of active buildings, an active building energy management system (EMS) control strategy based on multi-energy load collaborative optimization is proposed. Firstly, based on the thermal dynamic characteristics and building performance parameters of active buildings, the overall refined energy consumption model of active buildings is constructed. Secondly, based on the construction of BIPV, the ice storage air conditioning system, the ground source heat pump system, and the integrated demand response (IDR) model, a tiered carbon transaction cost model is introduced, and an energy management strategy that leverages the synergistic application of renewable and active technologies is proposed. This strategy aims to meet the comprehensive needs of active buildings in terms of economic benefits, comfort, and environmental protection. Finally, the strategy’s effectiveness is demonstrated through a practical example

Visual Saliency Based Just Noticeable Difference Estimation in DWT Domain

It has been known that human visual systems (HVSs) can be applied to describe the underlying masking properties for the image processing. In general, HVS can only perceive small changes in a scene when they are greater than the just noticeable distortion (JND) threshold. Recently, the cognitive resources of huma visual attention mechanisms are limited, which can not concentrate on all stimuli. To be specific, only more important stimuli will react from the mechanisms. When it comes to visual attention mechanisms, we need to introduce the visual saliency to model the human perception more accurately. In this paper, we presents a new wavelet-based JND estimation method that takes into account the interrelationship between visual saliency and JND threshold. In the experimental part, we verify it from both subjective and objective aspects. In addition, the experimental results show that extracting the saliency map of the image in the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) domain and then modulating its JND threshold is better than the non-modulated JND effect