An Implementation of List Successive Cancellation Decoder with Large List Size for Polar Codes

Polar codes are the first class of forward error correction (FEC) codes with a provably capacity-achieving capability. Using list successive cancellation decoding (LSCD) with a large list size, the error correction performance of polar codes exceeds other well-known FEC codes. However, the hardware complexity of LSCD rapidly increases with the list size, which incurs high usage of the resources on the field programmable gate array (FPGA) and significantly impedes the practical deployment of polar codes. To alleviate the high complexity, in this paper, two low-complexity decoding schemes and the corresponding architectures for LSCD targeting FPGA implementation are proposed. The architecture is implemented in an Altera Stratix V FPGA. Measurement results show that, even with a list size of 32, the architecture is able to decode a codeword of 4096-bit polar code within 150 us, achieving a throughput of 27MbpsComment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 4 tables, Published in 27th International Conference on Field Programmable Logic and Applications (FPL), 201

Effects of icariin and quercetin on high glucose-induced neuronal cell apoptosis

Purpose: To study the effects of icariin and quercetin on cell apoptotic changes in neurons induced by elevated glucose condition, and the  mechanism involved. Methods: Neonatal male Sprague Dawley rats (n = 48) weighing 5 – 7 g were used. Neuronal cells were isolated from rat hippocampus and cultured after purification. The cells were randomly assigned to six groups: control, high glucose, icariin, quercetin, serine/threonine-specific protein kinase (Akt) inhibitor, and Akt agonist groups. The Akt inhibitor and agonist used in this study were MK-22062hci and SC79, respectively. The influence of icariin and quercetin on neuronal apoptotic changes were determined flow cytometrically, while their effects on levels of expression of Akt, p-Akt, bax and bcl-2 were determined with Western blotting. Results: Treatment with icariin or quercetin significantly inhibited apoptosis induced by high glucose. The concentrations of Akt, p-Akt, and bcl-2 proteins were markedly upregulated in high glucose group, relative to control (p < 0.05). The corresponding expression of bax was significantly down-regulated in high glucose group, relative to control (p < 0.05). Treatment with icariin or quercetin, or their agonists reversed high glucose-mediated alterations in these protein levels (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Icariin and quercetin inhibit neuronal cell apoptosis induced by high glucose through upregulation of bcl-2 expression and down- regulations of bax expression and Akt-induced protein phosphorylation. Thus, Icariin and quercetin possess potential benefits for the treatment of neurological diseases. Keywords: Apoptosis, High glucose condition, Hippocampal neurons, Icariin, Querceti