Representative multi-unit response traces from NCM in a zebra finch male (top) and a canary male (middle) in response to a tone stimulus.

<p>The stimulus is shown as an amplitude envelope trace (bottom). The phasic (black) and sustained (white) recording windows are shown at the top. Sites respond 10–20 ms after stimulus onset, and responding persists into the sustained period (60–130 ms). Zebra finch responses are usually greater in the sustained period than those of canaries (adapted from Terleph, Mello, and Vicario 2007).</p

Significant results of ANOVAs for all birds tested under breeding conditions.

<p>Independent measures, factorial ANOVAs treat sex and housing condition (CROSS, NORM, and ISO) as categorical predictors. A sustained/phasic tuning width ratio was computed and a similar factorial ANOVA compared ratios by sex and housing condition.</p

Each testing group is shown, as assigned by housing condition, species, and sex.

<p>The number of subjects in each group is shown in the 4^th column, and includes the number of canaries added to the original groups for the analyses of seasonal effects.</p

Nanostructured Thermoplastic Vulcanizates by Selectively Cross-Linking a Thermoplastic Blend with Similar Chemical Structures

Ethylene vinyl acetate rubber (vinyl acetate (VA) content = 50 wt %) (EVM) and ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (VA content < 50 wt %) (EVA) are polymers with a very similar chemical structure. In this study, a novel thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) based on EVM/EVA28 (VA content = 28 wt %) blend has been successfully fabricated by dynamic vulcanization due to the selective cross-linking of EVM. The morphologies and properties of the TPVs have been investigated. It was found that the cross-linked EVM phase and the thermoplastic EVA28 phase form a perfect cocontinuous structure with the rubber phase size of about 100 nm. The fabricated TPV exhibits not only excellent stretchability (>900% elongation at break), nice elasticity (only about 19% remnant strain at 100% stretching), and good flexibility but also superior oil resistance

The effects of THL (triphala churna) and chebulinic acid (CI) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) induced migration of human umbilical vein cells (HUVEC).

<p>Phase-contrast microphotographs of the wound area in HUVEC monolayer at 18 h after wounding (<b>A–D</b>) VEGF promotes complete wound closure or healing in 18vh. In contrast, this effect is lost when cells are treated either with THL (<b>A, C</b>) or CI (<b>B, D</b>). Wound healing is calculated as the distance covered by cells in relation to the initial wound distance at 0 h and is expressed as a percentage of the initial distance at 0 h. *, <i>P</i><0.05. All error bars represent SEM. Scale bars in <b>A</b> and <b>B</b>, 200 μm. Results shown are representative of six separate experiments.</p

The effects of Triphala churna (THL) and chebulinic acid (CI) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) induced angiogenesis in the CAM assay.

<p>(<b>A, E</b>) PBS used as a control does not induce blood vessel formation. (<b>B, E</b>) VEGF induces new blood vessel formation. (<b>C, E</b>) THL inhibits VEGF induced new blood vessel formation (<b>D, E</b>) CI inhibits VEGF mediated new blood vessel formation. Representative photographs of six separate experiments are shown.</p

The effects of THL (triphala churna) on <i>in vivo</i> matrigel angiogenesis assay.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Photographs of representative matrigel plugs show THL untreated red colored vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) containing plugs in comparison to the VEGF minus PBS containing controls. (<b>A</b>) In contrast, THL (triphala churna) treated VEGF containing matrigel plugs were pale. (<b>B</b>) Masson's trichrome staining (endothelial cells stain red and matrigel stains blue) and (<b>C, D</b>) CD31 immunohistochemistry of the matrigel plug sections show large numbers of endothelial cells in THL untreated VEGF containing plugs in comparison to controls (+, <i>p</i><0.05). In contrast, THL treated VEGF containing matrigel plug section has considerably low numbers of endothelial cells as detected by Masson's trichrome staining and CD31 staining (*, p<0.05). Scale bars in <b>B</b> and <b>C</b>, 50 μm. <i>n</i> =  six for each experimental group.</p

Formation of a Compact Protective Layer by Magnesium Hydroxide Incorporated with a Small Amount of Intumescent Flame Retardant: New Route to High Performance Nonhalogen Flame Retardant TPV

Magnesium hydroxide (MH) and an intumescent flame retardant (IFR) have been incorporated into a thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) for the purpose to fabricate halogen-free flame retardant elastomeric materials. Significant synergistic effects of MH and IFR have been observed for the TPV in terms of both flame retardant properties and mechanical performance. The mechanism of the synergistic effects has been investigated. The results indicate that a small amount of IFR accelerates the degradation of the matrix and induces a shrinkage matrix, leading to a compact and unbroken MgO protective layer. Such compact MgO layer on the surface of the material prevents the bulk material from further degradation, and a high flame retardant performance was achieved. Obviously, this novel flame retardant system paves new possibility for the high performance nonhalogen flame retardant polymeric materials and should also be applied to other polymers

Changing the Sign of Exchange Interaction in Radical Pairs to Tune Magnetic Field Effect on Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence

Two different electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) systems, Ru­(bpy)₃²⁺/TPrA and Ru­(bpy)₃²⁺/C₂O₄^2–, are chosen to study the relationship between the sign of exchange interaction in radical pairs and magnetic field effects (MFEs) on electrogenerated chemiluminescence intensity (MFE_ECL). A positive MFE_ECL up to 210% is observed for the Ru­(bpy)₃²⁺/TPrA system, while a negative MFE_ECL of only −33% is observed based on the Ru­(bpy)₃²⁺/C₂O₄^2– system. The significant difference on MFE_ECL is ascribed to different signs of exchange interaction in radical pairs [Ru­(bpy)₃³⁺···TPrA^•] and [Ru­(bpy)₃³⁺···CO₂^–•] because they have a distant and proximate separation distance between two radicals of a pair, which result in different magnetic-field-induced intersystem crossing directions between singlet and triplet states. The experimental results suggest that an applied magnetic field can enhance the singlet → triplet conversion rate in radical pairs [Ru­(bpy)₃³⁺···TPrA^•] while facilitating an inverse conversion of triplet → singlet in radical pairs [Ru­(bpy)₃³⁺···CO₂^–•]. The increase/decrease of triplet density in radical pairs stimulated by an applied magnetic field leads to an increase/decrease on the density of light-emitting triplets of Ru­(bpy)₃^2+*. As a consequence, we can tune MFE_ECL between positive and negative values by changing the sign of exchange interaction in radical pairs during an electrochemical reaction

Characterization of Neuropeptides from Spodoptera litura and Functional Analysis of NPF in Diet Intake

Neuropeptides are involved in many biological processes in insects. However, it is unclear what role neuropeptides play in Spodoptera litura adaptation to phytochemical flavone. In this study, 63 neuropeptide precursors from 48 gene families were identified in S. litura, including two neuropeptide F genes (NPFs). NPFs played a positive role in feeding regulation in S. litura because knockdown of NPFs decreased larval diet intake. S. litura larvae reduced flavone intake by downregulating NPFs. Conversely, the flavone intake was increased if the larvae were treated with NPF mature peptides. The NPF receptor (NPFR) was susceptible to the fluctuation of NPFs. NPFR mediated NPF signaling by interacting with NPFs to regulate the larval diet intake. In conclusion, this study suggested that NPF signaling regulated diet intake to promote S. litura adaptation to flavone, which contributed to understanding insect adaptation mechanisms to host plants and provide more potential pesticidal targets for pest control