CS nerve growth factor regulates sevoflurane anesthesiainduced nerve injury in nerve cells

Purpose: Sevoflurane is the most commonly used anesthetic agent for surgery. However, it is associated with deficiency in learning and memory abilities. The study was aimed at investigating the role of nerve growth factor (NGF) in sevoflurane anesthesia-induced nerve injury.Methods: RT-qPCR assay was applied to measure expressions of NGF, miR-98-5p and other factors related to apoptosis. CCK-8 assay was used for detecting cell viability while luciferase reporter assay was employed to measure binding condition between miR-98-5p and NGF. Expressions of proteins in PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway was measured with western blot.Results: Sevoflurane reduced cell viability of RGC-5 cells, promoted apoptosis and reduced the expression of NGF. In sevoflurane-induced RGC-5 cells, over-expression of NGF promoted cell viability with reduced apoptosis. Also, there was reduction in the protein expression of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway by sevoflurane, while up-regulation of NGF promoted the expressions of these proteins. In the presence of PI3K inhibitor, reduction cell viability was reduced but apoptosis increased. Luciferase reporter assay detected MiR-98-5p as the target gene of NGF and its overexpression restored high cell viability in the over-expressed NGF. The rate of apoptosis and expressions of proteins was also restored with up-regulation of miR-98-5p.Conclusion: Sevoflurane caused damage to nerve cells, while over-expression of NGF reduced the injury through PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway and suppression of miR-98-5p. Keywords: Nerve growth factor, Sevoflurane, Nerve injury, Anesthesia, miR-98-5

Differences in Phenotypic Plasticity between Invasive and Native Plants Responding to Three Environmental Factors

The phenotypic plasticity hypothesis suggests that exotic plants may have greater phenotypic plasticity than native plants. However, whether phenotypic changes vary according to different environmental factors has not been well studied. We conducted a multi-species greenhouse experiment to study the responses of six different phenotypic traits, namely height, leaf number, specific leaf area, total biomass, root mass fraction, and leaf mass fraction, of native and invasive species to nutrients, water, and light. Each treatment was divided into two levels: high and low. In the nutrient addition experiment, only the leaf mass fraction and root mass fraction of the plants supported the phenotypic plasticity hypothesis. Then, none of the six traits supported the phenotypic plasticity hypothesis in the water or light treatment experiments. The results show that, for different environmental factors and phenotypes, the phenotypic plasticity hypothesis of plant invasion is inconsistent. When using the phenotypic plasticity hypothesis to explain plant invasion, variations in environmental factors and phenotypes should be considered

Preparation and characterization of quarter-wave plate at 12.4 μm based on CdSe single crystal

CdSe single crystal with good optic properties is great candidates for optical devices. In this paper, CdSe single crystal was grown by the modified vertical unseeded vapor sublimation method with the diameter of 36 mm and the length of 40 mm. The quarter wave plates of CdSe single crystal with size of 20 mm × 20 mm × 3 mm was cut along the (001) orientation. The transmittance of the CdSe wave plate was about 69% in the range of 8–14 μ m, where the absorption coefficient was about 0.04 cm ^−1 . The phase delay was 90.71176° at 12.4 μ m, which less than 5%. This work disclosures a high-quality and large size wave plate of CdSe single crystal, such wave plate has wide application prospects in mid-infrared

As-Built Inventory and Deformation Analysis of a High Rockfill Dam under Construction with Terrestrial Laser Scanning

The construction of large earth/rock fill dams, albeit its remarkable progress, still relies largely on past experiences. Therefore, a comprehensive yet dependable monitoring program is particularly beneficial for guiding the practice. However, conventional measurements can only produce limited discrete data. This paper exploits the potential of the terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) for an accurate inventory of as-built states of a concrete-faced rockfill dam under construction and for a full-field analysis of the 3D deformation pattern over its upstream face. For the former, a well-designed 3D geodetic system, with a particular consideration of the topography, promises a regulated acquisition of high-quality and blind-zone-free point cloud at field and also eases the cumbersome data registration process while maintaining its precision in house. For the latter, a problem-tailored processing pipeline is proposed for deformation extraction. Its core idea is to achieve a highly precise alignment of the point clouds with Iterative Closed Point algorithms from different epochs in datum areas that displays a featured, undeformed geometry at stable positions across epochs. Then, the alignment transformation matrix is applied to the point clouds of respective upstream face for each epoch, followed by pairwise comparisons of multiple adjusted point clouds for deformation evaluation. A processing pipeline is used to exploit the peal scene data redundancy of the GLQ dam acquired at six different epochs. Statistical analysis shows that satisfactory accuracy for deformation detection can be repeatably achieved, regardless of the scanner’s positioning uncertainties. The obtained 3D deformation patterns are characterised by three different zones: practically undeformed, outward and inward deformed zones. Their evolutions comply well with real construction stages and unique 3D valley topography. Abundant deformation results highlight the potential of TLS combined with the proposed data processing pipeline for cost-efficient monitoring of huge infrastructures compared to conventional labor-intense measurements

Annual Variation of Water Quality in Aquaculture Ponds for Apostichopus japonicus

By measuring water temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrite and ammonia nitrogen, the annual variation regularity of water quality in the aquaculture ponds for sea cucumbers Apostichopus japonicus in Dalian were studied. Results showed that the physicochemical indicators kept changing in the year, and the various ranges of water temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrite, and ammonia nitrogen were 6.38-27.27℃, 29.20‰-33.78‰, 7.86-8.38, 5.19-13.36 mg/L, 0.003 7-0.009 0 mg/L and 0.017 1-0.090 8 mg/L, respectively. Analysis indicated that there was an extremely significant negative correlation between water temperature and dissolved oxygen (P < 0.01), an extremely significant positive correlation between water temperature and ammonia nitrogen (P < 0.01), a significant negative correlation between salinity and nitrite (P < 0.05), a significant negative correlation between dissolved oxygen and nitrite (P < 0.05), and an extremely significant negative correlation between dissolved oxygen and ammonia nitrogen (P < 0.01) in the aquaculture ponds for sea cucumber in Dalian. Research showed that the water quality of aquaculture ponds kept fluctuating all the time during the tested period, there were complicated and close relationships among physicochemical indicators, and a slight variation of external factors would bring consecutive reactions to different indicators in the water quality of aquaculture ponds. A reference for the production and management of sea cucumbers could be provided from the results