The Effects of Vitamin D Receptor Silencing on the Expression of LVSCC-A1C and LVSCC-A1D and the Release of NGF in Cortical Neurons

Recent studies have suggested that vitamin D can act on cells in the nervous system. Associations between polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor (VDR), age-dependent cognitive decline, and insufficient serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D(3) levels in Alzheimer's patients and elderly people with cognitive decline have been reported. We have previously shown that amyloid β (Aβ) treatment eliminates VDR protein in cortical neurons. These results suggest a potential role for vitamin D and vitamin D-mediated mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and neurodegeneration. Vitamin D has been shown to down-regulate the L-type voltage-sensitive calcium channels, LVSCC-A1C and LVSCC-A1D, and up-regulate nerve growth factor (NGF). However, expression of these proteins when VDR is repressed is unknown. The aim of this study is to investigate LVSCC-A1C, LVSCC-A1D expression levels and NGF release in VDR-silenced primary cortical neurons prepared from Sprague-Dawley rat embryos.qRT-PCR and western blots were performed to determine VDR, LVSCC-A1C and -A1D expression levels. NGF and cytotoxicity levels were determined by ELISA. Apoptosis was determined by TUNEL. Our findings illustrate that LVSCC-A1C mRNA and protein levels increased rapidly in cortical neurons when VDR is down-regulated, whereas, LVSCC-A1D mRNA and protein levels did not change and NGF release decreased in response to VDR down-regulation. Although vitamin D regulates LVSCC-A1C through VDR, it may not regulate LVSCC-A1D through VDR.Our results indicate that suppression of VDR disrupts LVSCC-A1C and NGF production. In addition, when VDR is suppressed, neurons could be vulnerable to aging and neurodegeneration, and when combined with Aβ toxicity, it is possible to explain some of the events that occur during neurodegeneration

Optimal dividend policy with random interest rates

Several recent papers have studied the impact of macroeconomic shocks on the financial policies of firms. However, they only consider the case where these macroeconomic shocks affect the profitability of firms but not the financial markets conditions. We study the polar case where the profitability of firms is stationary, but interest rates and issuance costs are governed by an exogenous Markov chain. We characterize the optimal dividend policy and show that these two macroeconomic factors have opposing effects: all things being equal, firms distribute more dividends when interest rates are high and less when issuing costs are high

Smart Households and Home Energy Management Systems with Innovative Sizing of Distributed Generation and Storage for Customers

48th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) --JAN 05-08, 2015 -- Kauai, HIWOS: 000366264101059As a recently increasing trend among different applications of smart grid vision, smart households as a new implementation area of demand response (DR) strategies have drawn more attention both in research and in engineering practice. On the other hand, optimum sizing of renewable energy based small scale hybrid systems is also a topic that is widely covered by the existing literature. In this study, the sizing of additional distributed generation and energy storage systems to be applied in smart households, which due to DR activities have a different daily demand profile compared with normal household profiles, is investigated. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first attempt in the literature to consider the impact of DR on sizing. The study is conducted using a mixed-integer linear programming framework for home energy management system modeling and techno-economical sizing. Also, different sensitivity analyses considering the impacts of variation of economic inputs on the provided model are realized.IEEE Comp Soc, Univ Hawaii, Shidler Coll Business, Univ Hawaii, Dept EE, Univ Hawaii, Informat Sci Program, ONR, AFOSR, Natl Sci Fdn, IEEE Syst Sci & Cybernet Soc, ACM, SIAM, IEEE Hawaii Sect, IEEE Control Syst Soc, IEEE Grp Informat Theory, IEEE Grp Automat Control, ARO, Reg Med Program Hawaii, Univ Hawaii, Coll Business Adm, Nasda

Thermal structure of the crust in the Black Sea: comparative analysis of magnetic and heat flow data

This paper presents the first study of mapping of the Curie point depth (CPD) from magnetic data for the Black Sea and a comparison with a classical thermal modeling from heat flow data. The provided relationship between radially averaged power spectrum of the magnetic anomalies and the depths to the magnetic sources of the Black Sea vary from 22 to 36 km. Deepening of CPDs observed in the western and eastern Black Sea basins correspond with the thickest sediment areas, whereas the shallow CPDs are related to the Mid-Black Sea Ridge and thin sediment areas at the costal side of the Black Sea. For comparison, the temperature field was also modeled from heat flow data from the Black Sea along three approximately north-south directed profiles corresponding to known DSS soundings. The Curie isotherm along the profiles occurs at depths of 22-35 km. A comparison of the results of the two independent methods reveals only 8-10 % discrepancy. This discrepancy is equal to an accuracy of temperature determination from heat flow data

Risk factors, locations of the thrombus, prophylaxis, and treatment of the deep venous thrombosis patients in the İzmir City and Aegean Region: Results of a multicenter study

Objective: To determine whether there is a relationship between the risk factors and the locations of the thrombi, pharmacological prophylaxis, and the treatment modalities in patients with deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in the İzmir City and Aegean Region. Material and Method: We enrolled 531 consecutive patients with DVT which are confirmed by Doppler ultrasound and reviewed records of 13 hospitals in the Izmir City and Aegean Region, in this multicenteric cross-sectional study. The data of the patients were recorded on a questionnaire form and analyzed by using confidence intervals for odds ratios, Chi-square test and Student-t tests. Results: 85.3% of the patients were outpatients while 14.7% were inpatients. The most frequently encountered medical risk factors were chronic venous insufficiency-varices, immobilization and family history respectively. The most frequently seen surgical risk factors were lung cancer surgery and knee surgery, followed by gastrointestinal surgery in the surgical group. While DVT were seen more frequent in males who had lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and under chemotherapy receiving patients for a malignancy; otherwise, DVT was seen more frequently in females who were obese and had a hip fracture. Conclusion: Advanced age is a crucially important risk factor in population for DVT and be able to treat with low molecular weight heparin without hospitalization as outpatient settings especially, for pregnant or mothers in lactation period. Malignity and its related surgery are at the forefronts of DVT causes. The obese females are in danger for DVT if any surgery is planned. The population-based studies are needed to be planned to detect for the true prophylaxis rates. Copyright © 2011 by Türkiye Klinikleri

The protective effects of taurine on experimental acute pancreatitis in a rat model

The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effects of taurine (Tau) on experimental acute pancreatitis (AP) in a rat model by measuring cytokines and oxidant stress markers