Influence of Gd2O3 and Yb2O3 Co-doping on Phase Stability, Thermo-physical Properties and Sintering of 8YSZ

AbstractThe role of multicomponent rare earth oxides in phase stability, thermo-physical properties and sintering for ZrO2-based thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) materials is investigated. 8YSZ co-doped with 3 mol(Gd2O3 and 3 mol% Yb2O3 (GYb-YSZ) powders are synthesized by solid state reaction for 24 h at various temperatures. As temperature increases, stabilizers are dissolved into zirconia matrix gradually. Synthesized at 1 500 °C, GYb-YSZ is basically composed of cubic phase. GYb-YSZ exhibits excellent phase stability and sinters lower than 8YSZ by nearly three times. The thermal conductivity of GYb-YSZ is much lower than that of 8YSZ, and the thermal expansion coefficient of GYb-YSZ is comparable to that of 8YSZ. The influence of Gd2O3 and Yb2O3 co-doping on phase stability, thermal conductivity and sintering of 8YSZ is discussed

Temporal correlation analysis between malaria and meteorological factors in Motuo County, Tibet

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malaria has been endemic in Linzhi Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) over the past 20 years, especially in Motou County with a highest incidence in the country in recent years. Meteorological factors, such as rainfall, temperature and relative humidity in Motou County were unique compared to other areas in Tibet as well as other parts of China, thus the objective of this work was to analyse the temporal correlation between malaria incidence and meteorological factors in Motou County, in order to seek the particular interventions for malaria control.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The meteorological and malaria data during 1986-2009 in Motuo County were studied to analyse the statistical relationship between meteorological data time series and malaria incidence data series. Temporal correlation between malaria incidence and meteorological factors were analyzed using several statistical methods. Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to examine the association between monthly malaria incidence and meteorological variables. Cross-correlation analysis of monthly malaria incidence series and monthly meteorological data time series revealed the time lag(s) of meteorological factors preceding malaria at which the series showed strongest correlation. Multiplicative seasonal auto-regressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) models were used in the cross-correlation analysis with pre-whitening which remove seasonality and auto-correlation of meteorological data series. Differenced data analysis which called inter-annual analysis was carried out to find underlying relationship between malaria data series and meteorological data series.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>It has been revealed that meteorological variables, such as temperature, relative humidity and rainfall were the important environmental factors in the transmission of malaria. Spearman correlation analysis demonstrated relative humidity was greatest relative to malaria incidence and the correlation coefficient was 0.543(<it>P </it>< 0.01). Strong positive correlations were found for malaria incidence time series lagging one to three months behind rainfall (<it>r </it>> 0.4) and lagging zero to two months behind temperature and relative humidity (<it>r </it>> 0.5) by the cross-correlation. Correlations were weaker with pre-whitening than without. The cross-correlograms between malaria incidence and various meteorological variables were entirely different. It was fluctuated randomly for temperature but with trend for the other two factors, which showed positive correlated to malaria when lag was from 0 to 5 months and negative from 6 to 12 months. Besides, the inter-annual analysis showed strong correlation between differenced annual malaria incidence and differenced meteorological variables (annual average maximum temperature, annual average relative humidity and annual average rainfall). The correlations coefficients were -0.668 (<it>P </it>< 0.01), 0.451(<it>P </it>< 0.05) and 0.432(<it>P </it>< 0.05), respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Meteorological variables play important environmental roles in malaria transmission in Motou County. Relative humidity was the greatest influence factors, which affected the mosquito survival directly. The relationship between malaria incidence and rainfall was complex and it was not directly and linearly. The lags of temperature and relative humidity were similar and smaller than that of rainfall. Since the lags of meteorological variables affecting malaria transmission were short, it was difficult to do accurate long-term malaria incidence prediction using meteorological variables.</p

Genetic deficiency of neuronal RAGE protects against AGE-induced synaptic injury

Synaptic dysfunction and degeneration is an early pathological feature of aging and age-related diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Aging is associated with increased generation and deposition of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), resulting from nonenzymatic glycation (or oxidation) proteins and lipids. AGE formation is accelerated in diabetes and AD-affected brain, contributing to cellular perturbation. The extent of AGEs' involvement, if at all, in alterations in synaptic structure and function is currently unknown. Here we analyze the contribution of neuronal receptor of AGEs (RAGE) signaling to AGE-mediated synaptic injury using novel transgenic neuronal RAGE knockout mice specifically targeted to the forebrain and transgenic mice expressing neuronal dominant-negative RAGE (DN-RAGE). Addition of AGEs to brain slices impaired hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP). Similarly, treatment of hippocampal neurons with AGEs significantly decreases synaptic density. Such detrimental effects are largely reversed by genetic RAGE depletion. Notably, brain slices from mice with neuronal RAGE deficiency or DN-RAGE are resistant to AGE-induced LTP deficit. Further, RAGE deficiency or DN-RAGE blocks AGE-induced activation of p38 signaling. Taken together, these data show that neuronal RAGE functions as a signal transducer for AGE-induced synaptic dysfunction, thereby providing new insights into a mechanism by which the AGEs–RAGE-dependent signaling cascade contributes to synaptic injury via the p38 MAP kinase signal transduction pathway. Thus, RAGE blockade may be a target for development of interventions aimed at preventing the progression of cognitive decline in aging and age-related neurodegenerative diseases

Evaluation of simple antioxidant blood parameters in patients with migraine

BackgroundThe study aims to investigate the role of serum albumin (ALB) and creatinine (CRE), bilirubin (BIL), and uric acid (UA) as major intravascular antioxidants in migraine.MethodsWe enrolled 148 patients with migraine and 150 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The serum levels of ALB, TBIL, CRE, and UA were measured in patients with migraine of different subtypes. The risk of migraine was assessed by multiple stepwise logistic regression analysis.ResultsThe serum levels of ALB, total BIL (TBIL), CRE, and UA were significantly lower in the migraine group than in the HC group (p &lt; 0.05). The ALB and UA levels were lower during migraine attack periods (p &lt; 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences observed in serum ALB, TBIL, CRE, and UA levels between aura/without aura and episodic/chronic migraine subtypes (p &gt; 0.05). The multiple stepwise logistic regression revealed that ALB [odds ratio (OR) 0.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.69–0.89, p &lt; 0.001], TBIL (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.5–0.75, p &lt; 0.001), and UA (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.96–0.99, p = 0.014) were independently associated with migraine. In addition, the serum levels of ALB, TBIL, and UA were significantly lower in the migraine group when compared by sex.ConclusionThe serum levels of UA, TBIL, ALB, and CRE were lower in the patients with migraine, indicating a lower antioxidant status. In addition, ALB, TBIL, and UA were independently related to migraine. These results could provide insights into the possible role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of migraine

Energy-efficient node selection algorithms with correlation optimization in wireless sensor networks

The sensing data of nodes is generally correlated in dense wireless sensor networks, and the active node selection problem aims at selecting a minimum number of nodes to provide required data services within error threshold so as to efficiently extend the network lifetime. In this paper, we firstly propose a new Cover Sets Balance (CSB) algorithm to choose a set of active nodes with the partially ordered tuple (data coverage range, residual energy). Then, we introduce a new Correlated Node Set Computing (CNSC) algorithm to find the correlated node set for a given node. Finally, we propose a High Residual Energy First (HREF) node selection algorithm to further reduce the number of active nodes. Extensive experiments demonstrate that HREF significantly reduces the number of active nodes, and CSB and HREF effectively increase the lifetime of wireless sensor networks compared with related works.This work is supported by the National Science Foundation of China under Grand nos. 61370210 and 61103175, Fujian Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant nos. 2011J01345, 2013J01232, and 2013J01229, and the Development Foundation of Educational Committee of Fujian Province under Grand no. 2012JA12027. It has also been partially supported by the "Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion," through the "Plan Nacional de I+D+i 2008-2011" in the "Subprograma de Proyectos de Investigacion Fundamental," Project TEC2011-27516, and by the Polytechnic University of Valencia, though the PAID-15-11 multidisciplinary Projects.Cheng, H.; Su, Z.; Zhang, D.; Lloret, J.; Yu, Z. (2014). Energy-efficient node selection algorithms with correlation optimization in wireless sensor networks. 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Distortion Analysis for Real-Time Data Collection of Spatially Temporally Correlated Data Fields in Wireless Sensor Networks. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 58(3), 1583-1594. doi:10.1109/tvt.2008.928906Karasabun, E., Korpeoglu, I., & Aykanat, C. (2013). Active node determination for correlated data gathering in wireless sensor networks. Computer Networks, 57(5), 1124-1138. doi:10.1016/j.comnet.2012.11.018Gupta, H., Navda, V., Das, S., & Chowdhary, V. (2008). Efficient gathering of correlated data in sensor networks. ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks, 4(1), 1-31. doi:10.1145/1325651.1325655Campobello, G., Leonardi, A., & Palazzo, S. (2012). Improving Energy Saving and Reliability in Wireless Sensor Networks Using a Simple CRT-Based Packet-Forwarding Solution. IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, 20(1), 191-205. doi:10.1109/tnet.2011.2158442Tseng, L.-C., Chien, F.-T., Zhang, D., Chang, R. Y., Chung, W.-H., & Huang, C. (2013). 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Serum miR-195-5p Exhibits Clinical Significance in the Diagnosis of Essential Hypertension with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus by Targeting DRD1

OBJECTIVES: Diagnosis and management of essential hypertension (EH) or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) by combining comprehensive treatment and classificatory diagnosis have been continuously improved. However, understanding the pathogenesis of EH patients with concomitant T2DM and subsequent treatment remain the major challenges owing to the lack of non-invasive biomarkers and information regarding the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Herein, we collected 200 serum samples from EH and/or T2DM patients and healthy donors (N). Gene-expression profiling was conducted to identify candidate microRNAs with clinical significance. Then, a larger cohort of the aforementioned patients and 50 N were used to identify the correlation between the tumor suppressor miR-195-5p and EH and/or T2DM. The dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to explore the target genes of miR-195-5p. The suppressive effects of miR-195-5p on the 3′-UTR of the dopamine receptor D1 (DRD1) transcript in EH patients with concomitant T2DM were verified as well. RESULTS: Compared with that in other groups, serum miR-195-5p was highly downregulated in EH patients with concomitant T2DM. miR-195-5p overexpression efficiently suppressed DRD1 expression by binding to the two 3′-UTRs. Additionally, two single nucleotide polymorphisms, including 231T-A and 233C-G, in the miR-195-5p binding sites of the DRD1 3′-UTR were further identified. Collectively, we identified the potential clinical significance of&nbsp;DRD1&nbsp;regulation by miR-195-5p in EH patients with concomitant T2DM. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggested that miR-195-5p circulating in the peripheral blood served as a novel biomarker and therapeutic target for EH and T2DM, which could eventually help address major challenges during the diagnosis and treatment of EH and T2DM

Inhibition of ERK-DLP1 signaling and mitochondrial division alleviates mitochondrial dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease cybrid cell

Mitochondrial dysfunction is an early pathological feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The underlying mechanisms and strategies to repair it remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the direct consequences and potential mechanisms of mitochondrial functional defects associated with abnormal mitochondrial dynamics in AD. Using cytoplasmic hybrid (cybrid) neurons with incorporated platelet mitochondria from AD and age-matched non-AD human subjects into mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)-depleted neuronal cells, we observed that AD cybrid cells had significant changes in morphology and function; such changes associate with altered expression and distribution of dynamin-like protein (DLP1) and mitofusin 2 (Mfn2). Treatment with antioxidant protects against AD mitochondria-induced extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation and mitochondrial fission-fusion imbalances. Notably, inhibition of ERK activation not only attenuates aberrant mitochondrial morphology and function but also restores the mitochondrial fission and fusion balance. These effects suggest a role of oxidative stress-mediated ERK signal transduction in modulation of mitochondrial fission and fusion events. Further, blockade of the mitochondrial fission protein DLP1 by a genetic manipulation with a dominant negative DLP1 (DLP1K38A), its expression with siRNA-DLP1, or inhibition of mitochondrial division with mdivi-1 attenuates mitochondrial functional defects observed in AD cybrid cells. Our results provide new insights into mitochondrial dysfunction resulting from changes in the ERK-fission/fusion (DLP1) machinery and signaling pathway. The protective effect of mdivi-1 and inhibition of ERK signaling on maintenance of normal mitochondrial structure and function holds promise as a potential novel therapeutic strategy for AD

Evaluation of brain default network fMRI of Insomnia with Depression patients at Resting state

Abstract: Research Purpose: By conducting fMRI research on insomniacs with depression in resting state, this experiment reveals the abnormality in the patient&apos;s DMN and its neural pathogenesis, and different degrees of depression&apos;s impact on the neural networks causing weakened cognitive function. Consequently, it offers objective imageological basis for clinical cognitive impairment treatment and evaluation of such treatment. Method: a group of 40 cases are selected as the insomniac group, consisting of 20 as mild depression group and 20 as moderate depression group. And another 40 cases are selected as the HC group. All the testees take PSQI, HAMD, 3.0T routine MRI examination and fMRI, and cases with abnormal brain structures are excluded. Then on the basis of PCC as the seed point, comparisons are made between the insomniac group and HC group, between mild and moderate depression group in terms of their DMN differences. Result: Depressive Insomniac Group have stronger functional connection with PCC/pC: bilateral superior frontal gyri and bilateral middle cingulate gyri; the following regions have weaker functional connection: left occipital lobe lingual gyrus/ parahippocampal gyrus/ fusiform gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus/temporal pole, right middle temporal gyrus/middle occipital gyrus, and left occipital lobe/middle temporal gyrus. Compared with Mildly Depressive Group, the following encephalic regions of Moderately Depressive Insomniac Group have stronger functional connection with PCC/pC: right middle cingulate cortex and right frontal gyrus; the following regions have weaker functional connection: left parahippocampal gyrus. Conclusion: There is abnormity in the brain default mode network of insomniacs with depressive symptoms. The depression degree of insomniacs varies. There are differences in the brain default mode network. It is suggested that there is a positive correlation between the middle cingulate gyrus and insomnia and depression, this is also shown between the activated degree of the middle frontal gyrus and insomnia and depression. There is a negative correlation between the activated degree of the parahippocampal gyrus and insomnia and depression. This research also suggested that there is a cognitive disorder and a neutral network mechanism of emotion regulation disorder among depressive insomniacs

Intestinal antiviral signaling is controlled by autophagy gene Epg5 independent of the microbiota

Mutations in the macroautophagy/autophagy gen