Anti-Amyloidogenic and Anti-Apoptotic Role of Melatonin in Alzheimer Disease

Alzheimer disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the presence of senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and neuronal loss. Amyloid-β protein (Aβ) deposition plays a critical role in the development of AD. It is now generally accepted that massive neuronal death due to apoptosis is a common characteristic in the brains of patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, and apoptotic cell death has been found in neurons and glial cells in AD. Melatonin is a secretory product of the pineal gland; melatonin is a potent antioxidant and free radical scavenger and may play an important role in aging and AD. Melatonin decreases during aging and patients with AD have a more profound reduction of this indoleamine. Additionally, the antioxidant properties, the anti-amyloidogenic properties and anti-apoptotic properties of melatonin in AD models have been studied. In this article, we review the anti-amyloidogenic and anti-apoptotic role of melatonin in A

Full color transflective cholesteric liquid crystal display with slant reflectors above transmissive pixels

A device and method for making full color cholesteric displays such as a narrow band and a broad band cholesteric display using high birefringence LC materials with color filtering processes. The invention includes positioning slant reflector(s) in the transmissive portion of the display to reflect backlight into reflection pixels. The LCD can display the same color images in both reflective and transmissive modes, maintain good readability in any ambient, has low power consumption, high brightness, full color capability and has a fabrication process that is compatible with conventional LCD fabrication

HumanNorm: Learning Normal Diffusion Model for High-quality and Realistic 3D Human Generation

Recent text-to-3D methods employing diffusion models have made significant advancements in 3D human generation. However, these approaches face challenges due to the limitations of text-to-image diffusion models, which lack an understanding of 3D structures. Consequently, these methods struggle to achieve high-quality human generation, resulting in smooth geometry and cartoon-like appearances. In this paper, we propose HumanNorm, a novel approach for high-quality and realistic 3D human generation. The main idea is to enhance the model's 2D perception of 3D geometry by learning a normal-adapted diffusion model and a normal-aligned diffusion model. The normal-adapted diffusion model can generate high-fidelity normal maps corresponding to user prompts with view-dependent and body-aware text. The normal-aligned diffusion model learns to generate color images aligned with the normal maps, thereby transforming physical geometry details into realistic appearance. Leveraging the proposed normal diffusion model, we devise a progressive geometry generation strategy and a multi-step Score Distillation Sampling (SDS) loss to enhance the performance of 3D human generation. Comprehensive experiments substantiate HumanNorm's ability to generate 3D humans with intricate geometry and realistic appearances. HumanNorm outperforms existing text-to-3D methods in both geometry and texture quality. The project page of HumanNorm is https://humannorm.github.io/.Comment: The project page of HumanNorm is https://humannorm.github.io

The effects of cardiac structure, valvular regurgitation, and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction on the diagnostic accuracy of Murray law–based quantitative flow ratio

ObjectiveThe study aimed to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of Murray law–based quantitative flow ratio (μQFR) from a single angiographic view in patients with abnormal cardiac structure, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, and valvular regurgitation.BackgroundμQFR is a novel fluid dynamics method for deriving fractional flow reserve (FFR). In addition, current studies of μQFR mainly analyzed patients with normal cardiac structure and function. The accuracy of μQFR when patients had abnormal cardiac structure, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, and valvular regurgitation has not been clear.MethodsThis study retrospectively analyzed 261 patients with 286 vessels that underwent both FFR and μQFR prior to intervention. The cardiac structure and function were measured using echocardiography. Pressure wire–derived FFR ≤0.80 was defined as hemodynamically significant coronary stenosis.ResultsμQFR had a moderate correlation with FFR (r = 0.73, p < 0.001), and the Bland–Altman plot presented no difference between the μQFR and FFR (0.006 ± 0.075, p = 0.192). With FFR as the standard, the diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of μQFR were 94.06% (90.65–96.50), 82.56% (72.87–89.90), 99.00% (96.44–99.88), 97.26 (89.91–99.30), and 92.96% (89.29–95.44), respectively. The concordance of μQFR/FFR was not associated with abnormal cardiac structure, valvular regurgitation (aortic valve, mitral valve, and tricuspid valve), and left ventricular diastolic function. Coronary hemodynamics showed no difference between normality and abnormality of cardiac structure and left ventricular diastolic function. Coronary hemodynamics demonstrated no difference among valvular regurgitation (none, mild, moderate, or severe).ConclusionμQFR showed an excellent agreement with FFR. The effect of abnormal cardiac structure, valvular regurgitation, and left ventricular diastolic function did not correlate with the diagnostic accuracy of μQFR. Coronary hemodynamics showed no difference in patients with abnormal cardiac structure, valvular regurgitation, and left ventricular diastolic function

Embedded distributed temperature sensing enabled multi-state joint observation of smart lithium-ion battery

Accurate monitoring of the internal statuses are highly valuable for the management of lithium-ion battery (LIB). This paper proposes a thermal model-based method for multi-state joint observation, enabled by a novel smart battery design with embedded and distributed temperature sensor. In particular, a novel smart battery is designed by implanting the distributed fiber optical sensor (DFOS) internally and externally. This promises a real-time distributed measurement of LIB internal and surface temperature with a high space resolution. Following this endeavor, a low-order joint observer is proposed to co-estimate the thermal parameters, heat generation rate, state of charge, and maximum capacity. Experimental results disclose that the smart battery has space-resolved self-monitoring capability with high reproducibility. With the new sensing data, the heat generation rate, state of charge, and maximum capacity of LIB can be observed precisely in real time. The proposed method validates to outperform the commonly-used electrical model-based method regarding the accuracy and the robustness to battery aging

Genome-wide identification of the heat shock transcription factor gene family in two kiwifruit species

High temperatures have a significant impact on plant growth and metabolism. In recent years, the fruit industry has faced a serious threat due to high-temperature stress on fruit plants caused by global warming. In the present study, we explored the molecular regulatory mechanisms that contribute to high-temperature tolerance in kiwifruit. A total of 36 Hsf genes were identified in the A. chinensis (Ac) genome, while 41 Hsf genes were found in the A. eriantha (Ae) genome. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the clustering of kiwifruit Hsfs into three distinct groups (groups A, B, and C). Synteny analysis indicated that the expansion of the Hsf gene family in the Ac and Ae genomes was primarily driven by whole genome duplication (WGD). Analysis of the gene expression profiles revealed a close relationship between the expression levels of Hsf genes and various plant tissues and stress treatments throughout fruit ripening. Subcellular localization analysis demonstrated that GFP-AcHsfA2a/AcHsfA7b and AcHsfA2a/AcHsfA7b -GFP were localized in the nucleus, while GFP-AcHsfA2a was also observed in the cytoplasm of Arabidopsis protoplasts. The results of real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and dual-luciferase reporter assay revealed that the majority of Hsf genes, especially AcHsfA2a, were expressed under high-temperature conditions. In conclusion, our findings establish a theoretical foundation for analyzing the potential role of Hsfs in high-temperature stress tolerance in kiwifruit. This study also offers valuable information to aid plant breeders in the development of heat-stress-resistant plant materials

Distribution and colocalization of melatonin 1a-receptor and NADPH-d in the trigeminal system of rat

Melatonin and nitric oxide (NO) are involved in orofacial signal processing in the trigeminal sensory system. The aim of the present study was to examine the distribution of melatonin 1a-receptor (MT1) and its colocalization with nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d) in the spinal trigeminal nucleus (STN), the trigeminal ganglion (TG), and the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus (MTN) in the rat, using histochemistry and immunohistochemistry. Our results show that MT1-positive neurons are widely distributed in the TG and the subnucleus caudalis of the STN. Furthermore, we found that MT1 colocalizes with NADPH-d throughout the TG and MTN, most extensively in the TG. The distribution pattern of MT1 and its colocalization with NADPH-d indicate that melatonin might play an important role in the trigeminal sensory system, which could be responsible for the regulation of NO levels