C1q/tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-associated protein 6 (CTRP6) ameliorates the cognitive dysfunction induced by sevoflurane by activating AMPK/SIRT1 pathway in rats

Purpose: To evaluate the possible effects of C1q/tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-associated protein 6 (CTRP6) on postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD), including the potentially-related signaling pathway.Methods: Behavioral analysis and cognitive impairment were assessed in each group. Immunoblots were used to determine the level of CTRP6 following sevoflurane-induced nerve injury. Hippocampal neurons were identified using Nissl staining, while inflammatory response following neuronal injury was monitored by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The involvement of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) pathway was determined using immunoblot.Results: CTRP6 alleviated sevoflurane-induced cognitive dysfunction in rats (p < 0.001). Moreover, CTRP6 reduced sevoflurane-induced nerve injury and inflammation in rats (p < 0.05).Conclusion: CTRP6 ameliorates sevoflurane-induced cognitive dysfunction by activating AMPK/SIRT1 pathway, thus offering a novel target for POCD treatment

Fatigue crack propagation behavior of Ni-based superalloys after overloading at elevated temperatures

AbstractThe fatigue crack propagation behavior of three superalloys subjected to a single overloading at elevated temperatures was investigated. The fatigue crack propagation rate FCPR versus stress intensity factor range data da/dN—ΔK were calculated using the two-point secant method. It was found that the crack growth rates of the investigated materials were retarded after overloading with an overload ratio ROL=1.6. The size of the plastic zone in the front of the crack tip and its relation to loading level were discussed. The overload retardation effects are attributed to crack closure. The fatigue damage in the plastic zone can also be a factor to explain the overload retardation

Effect of Blueberry Anthocyanins Malvidin and Glycosides on the Antioxidant Properties in Endothelial Cells

The objective of this research was to survey the antioxidant functional role of the main anthocyanins of blueberries in endothelial cells. Changes on the reactive oxygen species (ROS), xanthine oxidase-1 (XO-1), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in cells of malvidin and the two glycosides were investigated. The results showed that these anthocyanins decreased the levels of ROS and XO-1 but increased the levels of SOD and HO-1. Glycosides improved the antioxidant capacity of malvidin to a great extent. The changes in the antioxidant properties of malvidin-3-glucoside were more pronounced than malvidin-3-galactoside. Variation in levels of malvidin-3-glucoside and malvidin-3-galactoside had a significant impact on antioxidant properties to different extents. It indicates that blueberries are a good resource of anthocyanins, which can protect cells from oxidative deterioration and use blueberry as a potential functional food to prevent diseases related to oxidative stress

Two ultraviolet radiation datasets that cover China

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation has significant effects on ecosystems, environments, and human health, as well as atmospheric processes and climate change. Two ultraviolet radiation datasets are described in this paper. One contains hourly observations of UV radiation measured at 40 Chinese Ecosystem Research Network stations from 2005 to 2015. CUV3 broadband radiometers were used to observe the UV radiation, with an accuracy of 5%, which meets the World Meteorology Organization's measurement standards. The extremum method was used to control the quality of the measured datasets. The other dataset contains daily cumulative UV radiation estimates that were calculated using an all-sky estimation model combined with a hybrid model. The reconstructed daily UV radiation data span from 1961 to 2014. The mean absolute bias error and root-mean-square error are smaller than 30% at most stations, and most of the mean bias error values are negative, which indicates underestimation of the UV radiation intensity. These datasets can improve our basic knowledge of the spatial and temporal variations in UV radiation. Additionally, these datasets can be used in studies of potential ozone formation and atmospheric oxidation, as well as simulations of ecological processes

论慧能禅学思想的经济伦理价值=Economic Ethical Value of Huineng’s Zen Thought

Abstract in Chinese: 德国思想家马克斯·韦伯认为经过马丁·路德和让·加尔文改革后的基督教新教信仰为西方资本主义市场经济发展扫清了伦理价值观的障碍，提供了精神动力。慧能禅学的“佛法在世间”、“打坐不能成佛”、“明心见性”等诸多思想与路德和加尔文的思想具有同构型，具有赋予世俗活动以宗教价值、打破世俗活动的精神禁锢、倡导理性生活方式的意义，是中国近代启蒙文化的先导。Abstract in English: German thinker Max Weber thought that protestant Christian faith had removed obstacles of value to the development of Western capitalist market economics and provided spiritual power. Huineng’s thoughts of Zenbuddhism, including “Buddhism existing in the earthly world”, “Meditation can’t become Buddha”, “Understand the mind and see the disposition”, etc. share great homogeneity with those of Luther and Calvin. He endowed secular activities with religious values, broke the spiritual bondage of secular activities and initiated a rational lifestyle. As a result, Huineng’s thoughts of Zenbuddhism becomes the forerunner of Chinese modem enlightenment culture. [chapter 301-302

A Topic Detection Approach Through Hierarchical Clustering on Concept Graph

Topic detection and tracking (TDT) algorithms have long been developed for the discovery of topics. However, most existing TDT algorithms suffer from paying less attention to: (1) temporal distance between a pair of topics; (2) the mutual effect between highly correlated topic terms. In this paper, we proposed a novel topic detection approach by applying hierarchical clustering on the constructed concept graph (HCCG), which is able to solve aforementioned shortcomings simultaneously. In this approach, the concept is first defined as well as the concept behavior curve. Then, the temporal graph is constructed with concept as vertexes and connected by the edges sharing the same topic terms. By performing hierarchical clustering on this concept graph, the highly correlated concept behavior curves will be grouped together as topics. The proposed approach is evaluated on a number of datasets and the promising experimental results show that our approach is superior to K-means, agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm(AGH), and LDA with respects to precision, recall and F-measure. Moreover, the proposed concept behavior curves can be used to track the topic change trend by monitoring on the peak frequency of the concept behavior curves

Rhacophorus yaoshanensis Liu & Hu 1962

<i>Rhacophorus yaoshanensis</i> Liu & Hu, 1962 <p> <b>Type locality.</b> Dayaoshan Ranges, Jinxiu County, Guangxi, China.</p> <p> <b>Specimens examined (n=14)</b>. All specimens were collected in the Dayaoshan Ranges, Guangxi, China. NHMG1402013, adult female, on a tree approximately 1.5 m above the ground in the evergreen forest (first location: 24.165953° N, 110.242814° E, 1218 m asl), collected by Yunming Mo, Zhuqiu Song and Shichu Zhou, at 21:15 h on 26 February, 2014. NHMG14003024, adult male, on leaves of herbaceous plants approximately 0.5 m above the ground in evergreen forest (second location: 24.148056° N, 110.211111° E, 1460 m asl), collected by Weicai Chen, Yunming Mo and Shichu Zhou, at 21:43 h on 17 March, 2014. NHMG1503011, adult male, on a bamboo approximately 0.8 m above the ground in evergreen forest (third location: 24.090763° N, 110.202444° E, 1417 m asl), collected by Weicai Chen, Yunming Mo and Shichu Zhou, at 22:12 h on 22 March, 2015. NHMG 150401, adult female, and NHMG 150402 -12, 10 adult males, on leaves of herbaceous plants ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 m above the ground in evergreen forest (fourth location: 24.107553° N, 110.185458° E, 1372 m asl), collected by Weicai Chen, Yunming Mo and Shichu Zhou, from 21:30 h to 23:45 h, on 14 April, 2015 (Fig. 1).</p> <p> <b>Description</b>. Body dorsoventrally compressed; head length less than head width (HL/HW=0.83); snout pointed in dorsal view and profile, projecting slightly beyond margin of the lower jaw; canthus rostral distinct, loreal region sloping; nostrils oval, oblique, slightly protuberant, and much closer to the tip of snout than eye; eye distance less than snout length (ED/SNT=0.77); interorbital region slightly concave; interorbital distance almost equal to eye diameter (IOD/ED=0.98); internarial space almost equal to eye diameter (IN/EYE=1.03); tympanum distinct, rounded, 50% eye diameter (TD/EYE=0.50), slightly concave relative to the skin of temporal region; pupil horizontal; vomerine teeth in two oblique groups (less than 20° to horizontal line), closer to choanae than each other; tongue elongated, deeply notched posteriorly; pineal ocellus absent; oval vocal sac opening at base of the jaw; external single subgular vocal sac; supratympanic fold distinct, extending to beyond level of axilla. (Table 2; Fig. 1).</p> <p>Forelimbs moderately robust, relative length of fingers I<II<IV<III; tips of all but the first fingers distinctly expanded with circummarginal grooves; the third finger disk width almost equal to tympanum diameter (FTD3/ TD=0.93); webbing formula I 1 -– 1- II 1–1- III 1 +– 2- IV; subarticular tubercles prominent, rounded, formula 1, 1, 2, 2; palmar tubercle indistinct; nuptial pads present (Fig. 2).</p> <p>Tips of toes expanded with distinct circummarginal grooves; disks smaller than those of fingers; relative length of toes I<II<III<V<IV; webbing formula I 1 +–1- II 1 +–1+ III 2 +–2 IV 2 +–2+ V; subarticular tubercles distinct, rounded, formula 1, 1, 2, 3, 2; inner metatarsal tubercle oval; outer metatarsal tubercle absent (Fig. 2).</p> <p>Dorsal surface smooth; ventral surface of belly and thighs coarsely granular; throat and chest smooth; loose skin on the throat; tarsal fold present; outer margin of the forearm, foot and supracloacal region with low dermal ridges.</p> <p> <b> Coloration of <i>R. yaoshanensis</i> in life.</b> The dorsal surface is green, with or without faint green spots; venter is cream without spots; the anterior and posterior surface of thighs, the ventral surface of shanks and the posterior surface of flanks are orange-red without spots; cloacal region is pale grey; throat is grey in males; and the iris is pale yellowish gold with a network of fine dark gold reticulations (Fig. 1).</p> <p> <b>Ecology.</b> <i>R. yaoshanensis</i> specimens were collected from four locations in the Dayaoshan Ranges. Except for the first location, all are close to permanent pools, ranging in area from 5 to 50 m 2. At the fourth location, we found about 40 individuals scattered on leaves of herbaceous plants (Fig. 3). Interestingly, we did not observe vocalizing males or amplexus. One adult female (NHMG 150401) was found, but contained no eggs. However, a female (NHMG1402013) containing creamy yellow eggs was collected at the first location in February. The advertisement call and tadpole of <i>R. yaoshanensis</i> are unknown.</p> <p> <b>Distribution</b>. Currently, this species is known only from the Dayaohan Ranges, and inhabits evergreen forest above 1100 m elevation.</p> <p> <b>Molecular analyses.</b> Two individuals (NHMG 150404, 150408) were sequenced successfully. Based on our preliminarily phylogenetic analyses, <i>R. yaoshanensis</i> is the sister-species of <i>R. pinglongensis</i> with well-supported values (BBP=1.0) (Fig. 4). The genetic distance between <i>R. yaoshanensis</i> and <i>R. pinglongensis</i> is at the 16S gene fragment examined was 2.0 %.</p>Published as part of <i>Chen, Weicai, Liao, Xiaowen, Zhou, Shichu, Mo, Yunming & Huang, Yong, 2018, Rediscovery of Rhacophorus yaoshanensis and Theloderma kwangsiensis at their type localities after five decades, pp. 484-496 in Zootaxa 4379 (4)</i> on pages 487-492, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4379.4.2, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/1174988">http://zenodo.org/record/1174988</a&gt