Arginine Vasopressin Injected into the Dorsal Motor Nucleus of the Vagus Inhibits Gastric Motility in Rats

Background. Until now, the effect of arginine vasopressin (AVP) in the DMV on gastric motility and the possible modulating pathway between the DMV and the gastrointestinal system remain poorly understood. Objectives. We aimed to explore the role of AVP in the DMV in regulating gastric motility and the possible central and peripheral pathways. Material and Methods. Firstly, we microinjected different doses of AVP into the DMV and investigated its effects on gastric motility in rats. Then, the possible central and peripheral pathways that regulate gastric motility were also discussed by microinjecting SR49059 (a specific AVP receptor antagonist) into the DMV and intravenous injection of hexamethonium (a specific neuronal nicotinic cholinergic receptor antagonist) before AVP microinjection. Results. Following microinjection of AVP (180 pmol and 18 pmol) into the DMV, the gastric motility (including total amplitude, total duration, and motility index of gastric contraction) was significantly inhibited (P<0.05). Moreover, the inhibitory effect of AVP (180 pmol) on gastric motility could be blocked completely by both SR49059 (320 pmol) and hexamethonium (8 μmol). Conclusions. It is concluded that AVP inhibits the gastric motility by acting on the specific AVP receptor in the DMV, with the potential involvement of the parasympathetic preganglionic cholinergic fibers

Traveling-Salesman-Problem Algorithm Based on Simulated Annealing and Gene-Expression Programming

The traveling-salesman problem can be regarded as an NP-hard problem. To better solve the best solution, many heuristic algorithms, such as simulated annealing, ant-colony optimization, tabu search, and genetic algorithm, were used. However, these algorithms either are easy to fall into local optimization or have low or poor convergence performance. This paper proposes a new algorithm based on simulated annealing and gene-expression programming to better solve the problem. In the algorithm, we use simulated annealing to increase the diversity of the Gene Expression Programming (GEP) population and improve the ability of global search. The comparative experiments results, using six benchmark instances, show that the proposed algorithm outperforms other well-known heuristic algorithms in terms of the best solution, the worst solution, the running time of the algorithm, the rate of difference between the best solution and the known optimal solution, and the convergent speed of algorithms

Genetic and biological characterizations of a Newcastle disease virus from swine in china

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) has been considered to only infect avian species. However, one paramyxovirus named as Xiny10 was isolated from swine. The differences of Xiny10, another previous swine NDV (JL01) and vaccine strain La Sota were compared on the basis of sequences of the whole-lengthen Fusion (F) gene and biological characteristics.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Through serologic tests and sequence alignment, Xiny10 was proved as NDV. It has great differences with JL01 in virulence, biological characteristics, genotype and amino acid homology of F gene. The sequence alignment showed Xiny10 and La Sota both belonged to genotype II. It shared 97.3% to 98.7% identities with genotype II NDVs, which was higher than these strains from the other genotypes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These above data suggested that the swine virus was NDV and it might be generated from La Sota.</p

Synthesis of the Putative Structure of (±)-Amarbellisine

The title compound was synthesized mainly by palladium catalytic coupling, cyclopropyl ring-opening rearrangement, epoxidation, Swern oxidation, demethanol reactions, and selective reduction. This synthesis was achieved in 16 steps with 9.7% overall yield. Unfortunately, the published spectroscopic data do not match with those of our synthetic compound

Precipitation behavior of yttrium-rich nano-phases in AlCoCrFeNi2.1Yx high-entropy alloy

In this paper, rare earth element yttrium (Y) was selected to be doped into AlCoCrFeNi _2.1 Y _x _ ( _x _ = 0, 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, and 1.0%) high-entropy alloy in order to refine grain and increase yielding strength. The precipitation behavior of the Y-rich nano-phases in the face centered cubic (FCC (L1 _2 )) phase and the body centered cubic (BCC (B2)) phase was investigated by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Refined crystal grains were observed due to the high-density precipitation. The nano-phase within the BCC(B2) phase was (Al-Ni-Y)-rich phase and single cubic (SC) structure. The nano-phase formed within the FCC (L1 _2 ) phase was (Fe-Co-Cr-Y)-rich phase and FCC structure. Fine (Al-Ni-Y)-rich nano-particles were formed due to the addition of Y and the amount of the nano-phase increased with increasing Y content. The adoption of Y promoted dispersed precipitation of (Al-Ni-Y)-rich nano-phase under deformation. The more Y content, the more nano-precipitates. When Y =1.0 at.%, the lamellar structure was transformed into bamboo-like structure in the BCC phase due to the segregation of Y. Double yielding phenomenon occurred during the compression deformation of the AlCoCrFeNi _2.1 Y _x alloys (when x  ≥ 0.5 at.%) and caused an increase of yielding strength by 40%. It was since the barrier effect of both the (Al-Ni-Y)-rich nano-precipitation and the (Fe-Co-Cr-Y)-rich nano-phases on the dislocations within grains and grain boundaries led to the second yielding. With the further increase of Y content, the lamellar BCC phase was separated from the bamboo-like BCC phase owing to the super-saturated precipitation and segregation of Y at the solidification front of B2 phase, leading to a degradation of mechanical properties

A mouse model to study infection against porcine circovirus type 2: viral distribution and lesions in mouse

Abstract Background Little information is known about viral distribution and transmission of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) in species other than swine. It is still a debated topic whether the PCV2 could be infected and caused clinical lesions. Our study is aimed to estimate the susceptibility of Kunming mouse to PCV2. Forty-eight, 6-week-old Kunming mice were randomly divided into four groups. Group A (C1-C12) was inoculated with PK-15 cell culture as a control group. Group B (sPCV1-12) was inoculated orally and intramuscularly with PCV2 (106.2TCID50/ml). Group C (mPCV1-12) was inoculated orally and intramuscularly with PCV2 (106.2TCID50/ml) and a booster inoculation at days 14 and 28 after the first inoculation. Group D (MixPCV1-12) was unvaccinated but released into Group C. Each group was sacrificed at 7, 14, 28, and 42 days post-inoculation, respectively. Necropsy was checked on every mouse. Sera samples were collected for the test of PCV2 specific antibody. Tissues were collected for histopathology study and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results The results showed that viral replication, seroconversion, and microscopic lesions were found in inoculated mice. Continuous existence of PCV2 viruses in lymph nodes have been confirmed by PCR, which took at least seven days for the virus to be transferred into other organs from the primary interface, and the diffusion to thymus had been retarded for seven days. Special PCV2 antibody could be found in PCV2 inoculation mice and was significantly higher than that in the control. Further more, microscopic lesions and the main target of PCV2 focused in the lymph nodes with a characteristic depletion and occasional necrosis of lymphocytes in the cortex and paracortex were found in inoculated mice. Conclusions The Kunming mouse could be infected by PCV2 virus and used as a PCV2 infected experimental model.</p

Early commitment on financial aid and college decision making of poor students: Evidence from a randomized evaluation in rural China

Many educational systems have struggled with the question about how best to give out financial aid. In particular, if students do not know the amount of financial aid that they can receive before they make a decision about where to go to college and what major to study, it may distort their decision. This study utilizes an experiment (implemented by the authors as a Randomized Control Trial) to analyze whether or not an alternative way of providing financial aid--by providing an early commitment on financial aid during the student's senior year of high school instead of after entering college--affects the college decision making of poor students in rural China. We find that if early commitments are made early enough; and they are large enough, students will make less distorting college decisions.Student financial aid College decision Rural China

Pd-CuFe Catalyst for Transfer Hydrogenation of Nitriles: Controllable Selectivity to Primary Amines and Secondary Amines

Summary: A multicomponent nanocatalyst system was fabricated for the transfer hydrogenation of nitrile compounds. This catalyst system contains palladium, copper, and iron, which are supported on the magnetite nanospheres, and the loading of palladium could be at the parts per million level. Palladium and copper contribute to the transformation of nitrile, and the product distribution highly depends on the alloying of Fe to Cu. The nitriles could be converted to primary amine by the Pd-Cu catalyst in the absence of Fe, whereas in the presence of Fe the products are secondary amines with high selectivity. This could be attributed to the electronic modulation of iron to copper. A variety of nitriles have been transformed to the corresponding primary or secondary amines with high selectivity, and the TOF reaches 2,929 hr−1 for Pd. Furthermore, the catalyst could be recycled by an external magnetic field and reused five times without severe activity loss. : Chemistry; Catalysis; Organic Chemistry Subject Areas: Chemistry, Catalysis, Organic Chemistr