2,170 research outputs found
Neurokinin-1 (NK-1) receptor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene expression is differentially modulated in the rat spinal dorsal horn and hippocampus during inflammatory pain
Persistent pain produces complex alterations in sensory pathways of the central nervous system (CNS) through activation of various nociceptive mechanisms. However, the effects of pain on higher brain centers, particularly the influence of the stressful component of pain on the limbic system, are poorly understood. Neurokinin-1 (NK-1) receptors and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), known neuromediators of hyperalgesia and spinal central sensitization, have also been implicated in the plasticity and neurodegeneration occurring in the hippocampal formation during exposures to various stressors. Results of this study showed that injections of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) into the hind paw increased NK-1 receptor and BDNF mRNA levels in the ipsilateral dorsal horn, supporting an important role for these nociceptive mediators in the amplification of ascending pain signaling. An opposite effect was observed in the hippocampus, where CFA down-regulated NK-1 receptor and BDNF gene expression, phenomena previously observed in immobilization models of stress and depression. Western blot analyses demonstrated that in the spinal cord, CFA also increased levels of phosphorylated cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), while in the hippocampus the activation of this transcription factor was significantly reduced, further suggesting that tissue specific transcription of either NK-1 or BDNF genes may be partially regulated by common intracellular transduction mechanisms mediated through activation of CREB. These findings suggest that persistent nociception induces differential regional regulation of NK-1 receptor and BDNF gene expression and CREB activation in the CNS, potentially reflecting varied roles of these neuromodulators in the spinal cord during persistent sensory activation vs. modulation of the higher brain structures such as the hippocampus
A Method for Identifying the Key Performance Shaping Factors to Prevent Human Errors during Oil Tanker Offloading Work
Acknowledgments: The authors would like to appreciate the experts and the engineers working in the Beihai Oil Terminal for their constructive supports during the development of this work. The authors would also like to thank the editors and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Detectability of Exoplanetary Transits from Radial Velocity Surveys
Of the known transiting extra-solar planets, a few have been detected through
photometric follow-up observations of radial velocity planets. Perhaps the best
known of these is the transiting exoplanet HD 209458b. For hot Jupiters
(periods less than ~5 days), the a priori information that 10% of these planets
will transit their parent star due to the geometric transit probability leads
to an estimate of the expected transit yields from radial velocity surveys. The
radial velocity information can be used to construct an effective photometric
follow-up strategy which will provide optimal detection of possible transits.
Since the planet-harbouring stars are already known in this case, one is only
limited by the photometric precision achieveable by the chosen
telescope/instrument. The radial velocity modelling code presented here
automatically produces a transit ephemeris for each planet dataset fitted by
the program. Since the transit duration is brief compared with the fitted
period, we calculate the maximum window for obtaining photometric transit
observations after the radial velocity data have been obtained, generalising
for eccentric orbits. We discuss a typically employed survey strategy which may
contribute to a possible radial velocity bias against detection of the very hot
Jupiters which have dominated the transit discoveries. Finally, we describe how
these methods can be applied to current and future radial velocity surveys.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, minor
correctio
Bismuth coordination networks containing deferiprone: synthesis, characterisation, stability and antibacterial activity
A series of bismuth–dicarboxylate–deferiprone coordination networks have been prepared and structurally characterised. The new compounds have been demonstrated to release the iron overload drug deferiprone on treatment with PBS and have also been shown to have antibacterial activity against H. pylori
Influence of the booming mining industry on the agricultural sector in Mongolia, The
Includes bibliographical references.Presented at the Building resilience of Mongolian rangelands: a trans-disciplinary research conference held on June 9-10, 2015 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.Mongolia's extensive mineral deposits and attendant growth in mining-sector activities have transformed Mongolia's economy, which traditionally has been dependent on herding and agriculture. In this paper a Keynesian type equilibrium displacement model is developed to deduce hypotheses about the effects of mining on agriculture. A major hypothesis to be tested is whether the effects have been adverse, as suggested by the "Dutch Disease" hypothesis
Missense-depleted regions in population exomes implicate ras superfamily nucleotide-binding protein alteration in patients with brain malformation.
Genomic sequence interpretation can miss clinically relevant missense variants for several reasons. Rare missense variants are numerous in the exome and difficult to prioritise. Affected genes may also not have existing disease association. To improve variant prioritisation, we leverage population exome data to identify intragenic missense-depleted regions (MDRs) genome-wide that may be important in disease. We then use missense depletion analyses to help prioritise undiagnosed disease exome variants. We demonstrate application of this strategy to identify a novel gene association for human brain malformation. We identified de novo missense variants that affect the GDP/GTP-binding site of ARF1 in three unrelated patients. Corresponding functional analysis suggests ARF1 GDP/GTP-activation is affected by the specific missense mutations associated with heterotopia. These findings expand the genetic pathway underpinning neurologic disease that classically includes FLNA. ARF1 along with ARFGEF2 add further evidence implicating ARF/GEFs in the brain. Using functional ontology, top MDR-containing genes were highly enriched for nucleotide-binding function, suggesting these may be candidates for human disease. Routine consideration of MDR in the interpretation of exome data for rare diseases may help identify strong genetic factors for many severe conditions, infertility/reduction in reproductive capability, and embryonic conditions contributing to preterm loss
Reversible DNA micro-patterning using the fluorous effect
We describe a new method for the immobilisation of DNA into defined patterns with sub-micron resolution, using the fluorous effect. The method is fully reversible via a simple solvent wash, allowing the patterning, regeneration and re-patterning of surfaces with no degradation in binding efficiency following multiple removal/attachment cycles of different DNA sequences
DeepBrain: Functional Representation of Neural In-Situ Hybridization Images for Gene Ontology Classification Using Deep Convolutional Autoencoders
This paper presents a novel deep learning-based method for learning a
functional representation of mammalian neural images. The method uses a deep
convolutional denoising autoencoder (CDAE) for generating an invariant, compact
representation of in situ hybridization (ISH) images. While most existing
methods for bio-imaging analysis were not developed to handle images with
highly complex anatomical structures, the results presented in this paper show
that functional representation extracted by CDAE can help learn features of
functional gene ontology categories for their classification in a highly
accurate manner. Using this CDAE representation, our method outperforms the
previous state-of-the-art classification rate, by improving the average AUC
from 0.92 to 0.98, i.e., achieving 75% reduction in error. The method operates
on input images that were downsampled significantly with respect to the
original ones to make it computationally feasible
The First Extrasolar Planet Discovered with a New Generation High Throughput Doppler Instrument
We report the detection of the first extrasolar planet, ET-1 (HD 102195b),
using the Exoplanet Tracker (ET), a new generation Doppler instrument. The
planet orbits HD 102195, a young star with solar metallicity that may be part
of the local association. The planet imparts radial velocity variability to the
star with a semiamplitude of m s and a period of 4.11 days.
The planetary minimum mass () is .Comment: 42 pages, 11 figures and 5 tables, Accepted for publication in Ap
- …