Experimental Study on Bioluminescence Tomography with Multimodality Fusion

To verify the influence of a priori information on the nonuniqueness problem of bioluminescence tomography (BLT), the multimodality imaging fusion based BLT experiment is performed by multiview noncontact detection mode, which incorporates the anatomical information obtained by the microCT scanner and the background optical properties based on diffuse reflectance measurements. In the reconstruction procedure, the utilization of adaptive finite element methods (FEMs) and a priori permissible source region refines the reconstructed results and improves numerical robustness and efficiency. The comparison between the absence and employment of a priori information shows that multimodality imaging fusion is essential to quantitative BLT reconstruction

Sphingobium estronivorans sp. nov. and Sphingobium bisphenolivorans sp. nov., isolated from a wastewater treatment plant

Two Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, motile and rod-shaped bacteria, one designated as strain AXB(T), capable of degrading estrogens, and another, YL23(T), capable of degrading estrogen and bisphenol A, were isolated from activated sludge in Xiamen City, PR China. The optimum temperature and pH of both strains were 25-35 degrees C and pH 7.0-8.0. While strain AXB(T) could tolerate 3% (w/v) NaCl, YL23(T) could only grow between 0-1 % (w/v) NaCl. They contained ubiquinone-10 as the major quinone, spermidine as the major polyamine, summed feature 8 (comprising C-18:1 omega 6c and/or C-18:1 omega 7c) as the major fatty acids and diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and sphingoglycolipid as the major polar lipids. The DNA G+C contents of strains AXB(T) and YL23(T) were 63.6 and 63.7 mol%, respectively. Based on the results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strains AXB(T) and YL23(T) belonged to the genus Sphingobium. Strain AXB(T) was most closely related to Sphingobium chlorophenolicum NBRC 16172(T) (97.5%) and Sphingobium chungbukense DJ77(T) (97.2%), and strain YL23(T) was most closely related to S. chlorophenolicum NBRC 16172(T) (97.4%) and S. quisquiliarum P25(T) (97.1%). Average nucleotide identity values between these two strains and S. chlorophenolicum NBRC 16172(T), S. chungbukense DJ77(T), Sphingobium chinhatense IP26(T), Sphingobium quisquiliarum P25(T) and Sphingobium japonicum UT26S(T) were from 80.7 to 85.8%. In conclusion, strains AXB(T) and YL23(T) represent novel species of the genus Sphingobium, for which the names Sphingobium estronivorans sp. nov. and Sphingobium bisphenolivorans sp. nov. are proposed, respectively. The type strains of S. estronivorans and S. bisphenolivorans are AXB(T) (=MCCC 1K01232(T) =DSM 102173(T)) and YL23(T) (=MCCC 1K02300(T) =DSM 102172(T)). respectively

Oxytocin is implicated in social memory deficits induced by early sensory deprivation in mice

Acknowledgements We thank Miss Jia-Yin and Miss Yu-Ling Sun for their help in breading the mice. Funding This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81200933 to N.-N. Song; 81200692 to L. Chen; 81101026 to Y. Huang; 31528011 to B. Lang; 81221001, 91232724 and 81571332 to Y-Q. Ding), Zhejiang Province Natural Science Foundation of China (LQ13C090004 to C. Zhang), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2016 M591714 to C.-C. Qi), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2013KJ049).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A non-invasive measurement of tongue surface temperature

Oral temperature, tongue specifically, is a key factor affecting oral sensation and perception of food flavour and texture. It is therefore very important to know how the tongue temperature is affected by food consumption. Unfortunately, traditional methods such as clinical thermometers and thermocouples for oral temperature measurement are not most applicable during food oral consumption due to its invasive nature and interference with food. In this study, infrared thermal (IRT) imager was investigated for its feasibility for the measurement of tongue surface temperature. The IRT technique was firstly calibrated using a digital thermometer (DT). The technique was then used to measure tongue surface temperature after tongue was stimulated by (1) water rinsing at different temperatures (0-45℃); and (2) treated with capsaicin solutions (5, 10, and 20 ppm). For both cases, tongue surface temperature showed significant changes as a result of the physical and chemical stimulation. Results confirm that IRT is feasible for tongue temperature measurement and could be a useful supporting tool in future for the study of food oral processing and sensory perception

Photomodulating RNA cleavage using photolabile circular antisense oligodeoxynucleotides

Caged antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (asODNs) are synthesized by linking two ends of linear oligodeoxynucleotides using a photocleavable linker. Two of them (H30 and H40) have hairpin-like structures which show a large difference in thermal stability (ΔTm = 17.5°C and 11.6°C) comparing to uncaged ones. The other three (C20, C30 and C40) without stable secondary structures have the middle 20 deoxynucleotides complementary to 40-mer RNA. All caged asODNs have restricted opening which provides control over RNA/asODN interaction. RNase H assay results showed that 40-mer RNA digestion could be photo-modulated 2- to 3-fold upon light-activation with H30, H40, C30 and C40, while with C20, RNA digestion was almost not detectable; however, photo-activation triggered >20-fold increase of RNA digestion. And gel shift assays showed that it needed >0.04 μM H40 and 0.5 μM H30 to completely bind 0.02 μM 40-mer RNA, and for C40 and C30, it needed >0.2 μM and 0.5 μM for 0.02 μM 40-mer RNA binding. However, even 4 μM C20 was not able to fully bind the same concentration of 40-mer RNA. By simple adjustment of ring size of caged asODNs, we could successfully photoregulate their hybridization with mRNA and target RNA hydrolysis by RNase H with light activation

Earthquake Damage Assessment for RC Structures Based on Fuzzy Sets

A global damage index based on multiple linear force-deformation curves in pushover analysis is presented to evaluate the integrated damage of reinforced concrete structure. The modified coefficient is provided considering the cyclic load and hysteresis energy. The number of inelastic cycles and the coefficient of hysteresis energy concentration are also introduced as damage indices. Hence, multiple damage indices about displacement and energy for performance-based design are considered. The relation of multiple damage indices or factors and the fuzzy damage set is presented by comprehensive fuzzy evaluation; hence, a performance-based multiple fuzzy seismic damage-assessment method for reinforced concrete frame structures is established. The method can be accomplished based on pushover analysis, code spectrum, and capacity spectrum method. The fuzzy seismic damage-assessment method is verified through nonlinear analysis four different structures and the corresponding results and assessment conclusions are accurate

Bioluminescence tomography with Gaussian prior

Parameterizing the bioluminescent source globally in Gaussians provides several advantages over voxel representation in bioluminescence tomography. It is mathematically unique to recover Gaussians [Med. Phys. 31(8), 2289 (2004)] and practically sufficient to approximate various shapes by Gaussians in diffusive medium. The computational burden is significantly reduced since much fewer unknowns are required. Besides, there are physiological evidences that the source can be modeled by Gaussians. The simulations show that the proposed model and algorithm significantly improves accuracy and stability in the presence of Gaussian or non- Gaussian sources, noisy data or the optical background mismatch. It is also validated through in vivo experimental data