Bis[N,N-bis­(1-allyl-1H-benzimidazol-2-ylmethyl-κN 3)benzyl­amine-κN]cadmium dipicrate

The crystal structure of the title compound, [Cd(C29H29N5)2](C6H2N3O7)2, consists of CdII complex cations and picrate anions. In the complex cation, the CdII ion is chelated by two bis­(1-allyl­benzimidazol-2-ylmeth­yl)benzyl­amine (babb) ligands in a distorted octa­hedral geometry. Extensive C—H⋯O hydrogen bonding occurs between cations and anions in the crystal structure

A Locality-based Neural Solver for Optical Motion Capture

We present a novel locality-based learning method for cleaning and solving optical motion capture data. Given noisy marker data, we propose a new heterogeneous graph neural network which treats markers and joints as different types of nodes, and uses graph convolution operations to extract the local features of markers and joints and transform them to clean motions. To deal with anomaly markers (e.g. occluded or with big tracking errors), the key insight is that a marker's motion shows strong correlations with the motions of its immediate neighboring markers but less so with other markers, a.k.a. locality, which enables us to efficiently fill missing markers (e.g. due to occlusion). Additionally, we also identify marker outliers due to tracking errors by investigating their acceleration profiles. Finally, we propose a training regime based on representation learning and data augmentation, by training the model on data with masking. The masking schemes aim to mimic the occluded and noisy markers often observed in the real data. Finally, we show that our method achieves high accuracy on multiple metrics across various datasets. Extensive comparison shows our method outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of prediction accuracy of occluded marker position error by approximately 20%, which leads to a further error reduction on the reconstructed joint rotations and positions by 30%. The code and data for this paper are available at https://github.com/non-void/LocalMoCap.Comment: Siggraph Asia 2023 Conference Pape

Effect of acetone extract of Rumex japonicas Houtt on hydrogen peroxide-induced apoptosis in rat myocardial cells

Purpose: To investigate the protective effect of the acetone extract of Rumex japonicas Houtt. (AER) on rat myocardial cells.Methods: R. japonicas was extracted with 75 % aqueous ethanol by reflux to afford total extract (TER). TER was suspended in water and then extracted with acetone to afford acetone fraction of R. japonicas (AER). High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) combined with standard substances was carried out to analyze the major constituents of AER. Apoptosis in myocardial H9c2 cell line was induced by H2O2 (100 μmol/L). The cells were treated with AER (50, 100 and 200 μg/mL, and cell viability was evaluated by the 3-（4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, while oxidative stress level in H9c2 cells was evaluated by determining levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malondialdehyde (MDA), creatinine kinase (CK), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT). Furthermore, apoptotic proteins (caspase-3, Bax and Bcl-2) in H9c2 cells were analyzed by using western blot assay.Results: Results revealed that the main components of AER are aloe-emodin, rhein, emodin, chrysophanol and physcion. AER (50, 100 and 200 μg/mL) inhibited the cell viability reduction of the H9c2 cells induced by H2O2 (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.01, respectively). AER (50, 100 and 200 μg/mL) decreased LDH and CK contents of H9c2 cells (p < 0.01). The levels of SOD (p<0.01) and CAT (p < 0.01) were increased by AER treatments (100 and 200 μg/mL); in addition, AER (50, 100 and 200 μg/mL) decreased MDA levels (p < 0.01). Besides, the present results also revealed that AER could down-regulate caspase-3 and Bax, but up-regulated Bcl-2.Conclusion: AER alleviates apoptosis induced by H2O2 in myocardial H9c2 cells via inhibition of oxidative stress and mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. This finding suggests that AER can potentially be developed for the treatment of myocardial apoptosis.Keywords: Rumex japonicas Houtt., Myocardial cells, Apoptosis, H9c2 cell, Oxidative stres

A protocol for dual calcium-voltage optical mapping in murine sinoatrial preparation with optogenetic pacing

Among the animal models for studying the molecular basis of atrial and sinoatrial node (SAN) biology and disease, the mouse is a widely used species due to its feasibility for genetic modifications in genes encoding ion channels or calcium handling and signaling proteins in the heart. It is therefore highly valuable to develop robust methodologies for studying SAN and atrial electrophysiological function in this species. Here, we describe a protocol for performing dual calcium-voltage optical mapping on mouse sinoatrial preparation (SAP), in combination with an optogenetic approach, for studying SAP membrane potential, intracellular Ca2+ transients, and pacemaker activity. The protocol includes the details for preparing the intact SAP, robust tissue dual-dye loading, light-programmed pacing, and high-resolution optical mapping. Our protocol provides an example of use of the combination of optogenetic and optical mapping techniques for investigating SAP membrane potential and intracellular Ca2+ transients and pacemaker activity with high temporal and spatial resolution in specific cardiac tissues. Thus, our protocol provides a useful tool for studying SAP physiology and pathophysiology in mice

Weight Function Method for Stress Intensity Factors of Semi-Elliptical Surface Cracks on Functionally Graded Plates Subjected to Non-Uniform Stresses

In this paper, a weight function method based on the first four terms of a Taylor’s series expansion is proposed to determine the stress intensity factors of functionally graded plates with semi-elliptical surface cracks. Cracked surfaces that are subjected to constant, linear, parabolic and cubic stress fields are considered. The weight functions for the surface, deepest and general points on the crack faces of long and deep cracked functionally graded plates are derived, which has never been done before in the literature. The accuracy of the method in this study is then validated by comparing the results with those of finite element modeling. The numerical results indicate that the derived weight functions are highly accurate and robust enough to predict the stress intensity factors for cracked functionally graded plates subjected to non-uniform stress distributions. The weight function method is therefore a time-saving technique and suitable for handling non-uniform stress fields

Pore-scale analysis of relations between seepage characteristics and gas hydrate growth habit in porous sediments

Seepage characteristics of gas hydrate in quartz sands play important roles in gas production from hydrate-bearing sediments. Reported seepage characteristics varied from different experimental conditions due to different growth habits of gas hydrate in pores. It is critical to capture the essence of seepage variation in the presence of gas hydrate as can be employed in the prediction of long-term hydrate exploitation. In this work, the gas hydrate with different growth habits (grain-contacting and pore-filling) is synthesized in quartz sands porous media. The pore structure characteristics of the hydrate-bearing porous media has been identified by X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT). Experimental results show that the formation and growth of gas hydrate in pores lead to the occurrence of non-interconnected pores, further limiting the validity of pore structure analyzation and the accuracy of permeability estimation. Hence, the interconnectivity degree with definite physics meaning is proposed to clarify the variation characteristics of pore structure. According to the linear correlation of interconnectivity degree with hydrate saturation, a modified permeability reduction model based on Kozeny grain model has been proposed to estimate the permeability variation of hydrate bearing porous media with different hydrate growth habits. The modified model yields a good prediction performance as is evaluated by a number of permeability measurements from experimental studies and the normalized mean squared error (NMSE). Given that the gas production from hydrate dissociation is a more complicated process which involves multi-phase fluid flow, the modified model can be further applied in permeability estimation during gas production from hydrate-bearing sediments. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Microscale Experiment and Pore-Network Modeling Analysis of Growth Habit, Pore Structure, and Permeability of Hydrate-Bearing Sediments

Pore structure properties of hydrate-bearing sediments considerably affect fluid flow properties during gas production from natural gas hydrate reservoirs. Hence, it is important to investigate the evolution of pore structure characteristics and fluid flow properties in hydrate-bearing sediments under various conditions. In this study, the effects of particle size and hydrate saturation on hydrate growth habits, pore structure properties, and permeability reduction have been analyzed via microscale experiments (using X-ray computed tomography) and pore-network models. Experimental results reveal the pore-habit evolution of gas hydrate from grain-enveloping to pore-filling, as well as the homogeneous distribution of gas hydrate in pores with the increase in hydrate saturation and the decrease in particle size. It is noteworthy that the pore structure characteristics of hydrate-bearing sediments depend on the pore interconnectivity. The pore interconnectivity is closely related to hydrate saturation. Specifically, the volume of non-interconnected pore (dead-end pore first increases and then decreases with the increase in hydrate saturation. However, the pore interconnectivity appears to be less influenced by the hydrate occurrence for small particle sizes. Based on pore-network modeling results, the exponential distribution of pore volume and the normal distribution of throat channel length have been found. Additionally, the correlated equation of absolute permeability and particle size in the presence of gas hydrate has been first proposed. The prediction accuracy of the absolute permeability equation has been validated by experimental results in this work and experimental measurements from previous studies. These results provide valuable information and data for efficient and economic gas production from hydrate-bearing sandy or silt sediments of submarine