Glycolytic Metabolism, Brain Resilience, and Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of age-related dementia. Despite decades of research, the etiology and pathogenesis of AD are not well understood. Brain glucose hypometabolism has long been recognized as a prominent anomaly that occurs in the preclinical stage of AD. Recent studies suggest that glycolytic metabolism, the cytoplasmic pathway of the breakdown of glucose, may play a critical role in the development of AD. Glycolysis is essential for a variety of neural activities in the brain, including energy production, synaptic transmission, and redox homeostasis. Decreased glycolytic flux has been shown to correlate with the severity of amyloid and tau pathology in both preclinical and clinical AD patients. Moreover, increased glucose accumulation found in the brains of AD patients supports the hypothesis that glycolytic deficit may be a contributor to the development of this phenotype. Brain hyperglycemia also provides a plausible explanation for the well-documented link between AD and diabetes. Humans possess three primary variants of the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene – ApoE∗ϵ2, ApoE∗ϵ3, and ApoE∗ϵ4 – that confer differential susceptibility to AD. Recent findings indicate that neuronal glycolysis is significantly affected by human ApoE isoforms and glycolytic robustness may serve as a major mechanism that renders an ApoE2-bearing brain more resistant against the neurodegenerative risks for AD. In addition to AD, glycolytic dysfunction has been observed in other neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, strengthening the concept of glycolytic dysfunction as a common pathway leading to neurodegeneration. Taken together, these advances highlight a promising translational opportunity that involves targeting glycolysis to bolster brain metabolic resilience and by such to alter the course of brain aging or disease development to prevent or reduce the risks for not only AD but also other neurodegenerative diseases

EFFECTS OF 12-WEEK GAIT RETRAINING ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF MEDIAL GASTROCNEMIUS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 12-week gait retraining on the morphological properties of medial gastrocnemius. Thirty-four male habitual rearfoot strike runners were recruited and randomized divided into gait training group and control group. The medial gastrocnemius morphological properties were measured using an ultrasound device before and after training. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA (group × time) was used for analysis. The significance level was set as 0.05. The results found that after 12-week gait retraining, there was no significant group main effect and interaction effect for all parameters. A main effect of time was observed in the fascicle length (p = 0.016) and normalized fascicle length (p = 0.026). After training, the fascicle length for the GR and CON groups significantly increased by 8.5% (GR) and 2.2% (CON), and the normalized fascicle length increased by 8.8% (GR) and 2.0% (CON). It was indicated that both gait retraining and running training effectively increase the fascicle length of the medial gastrocnemius, thereby providing potential means of increasing the velocity of muscle contraction and reducing the risk of a calf strain while running

An On-line Questionnaire Survey on Students’ Views and Teachers’ Practices in Corrective Feedback in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages

By conducting an on-line questionnaire survey, the article compared 97 international students’ views with 23 Chinese teachers’ practices on 8 issues in corrective feedback (CF) in teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages (TCSOL). Results revealed that students’ views and teachers’ practices conformed to each other in cognition of committing verbal errors, and in whether to correct; that they were mostly incongruent with each other in what to correct; that they were congruent with each other in peer correction, but not in teachers’ correction or self-correction; that they coincided with each other in indirect correction, but not in direct one, nor in immediate correction or the maximum correction frequency in one class; and that CF mainly generated positive psychological effects and better learning on students, but its pedagogical efficacy was not evidently approved by the teachers. This research aimed at gaining a deeper insight into the effectiveness of CF in TCSOL to improve the quality of TCSOL

Spatial Bandwidth Asymptotic Analysis for 3D Large-Scale Antenna Array Communications

In this paper, we study the spatial bandwidth for line-of-sight (LOS) channels with linear large-scale antenna arrays (LSAAs) in 3D space. We provide approximations to the spatial bandwidth at the center of the receiving array, of the form $C R^{-B}$, where $R$ is the radial distance, and $C$ and $B$ are directional-dependent and piecewise constant in $R$. The approximations are valid in the entire radiative region, that is, for $R$ greater than a few wavelengths. When the length of the receiving array is small relative to $R$, the product of the array length and the spatial bandwidth provides an estimate of the available spatial degree-of-freedom (DOF) in the channel. In a case study, we apply these approximations to the evaluation of spatial multiplexing regions under random orientation conditions. The goodness-of-fit of the approximations is demonstrated and some interesting findings about the DOF performance of the channel under 3D and 2D orientation restrictions are obtained, e.g., that, under some conditions, it is better to constrain the receiving array orientation to be uniform over the unit circle in the 2D ground plane rather than uniform over the 3D unit sphere.Comment: 15pages, 11 figures. To be published in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, with additional conten

Impact of poverty alleviation relocation on the employment of farmers lifted out of poverty: Based on the survey data of 9 provinces and 11 counties in western China

[Objective] The follow-up support work for poverty alleviation relocation is an important measure to consolidate and build the gains of poverty alleviation, and effectively connect with rural revitalization. Knowing whether out-of-poverty farmers can obtain employment after relocation and what kind of employment they can obtain, can provide useful policy references for follow-up support work. [Methods] This study was based on field survey data of farmers lifted out of poverty in 11 counties of 9 provinces in western China in 2021. Linear probability models and instrumental variable methods are used to study the impact of poverty alleviation relocation on the employment of farmers lifted out of poverty. Furthermore, the article discusses the differential impact of non agricultural employment sources, resettlement types, and family status of relocated farmers. The sources of employment for relocated households, as well as the differential effects of resettlement types and family status, were further discussed. [Results] The study found that: (1) Relocation significantly reduces the agricultural labor of farmers lifted out of poverty, but has no significant impact on non-agricultural employment. (2) Dividing non-agricultural employment into public public welfare position and market-based jobs, this study found that the employment of farmers lifted out of poverty in public welfare positions significantly increased, while there was no significant change in market-based employment. (3) Differential analysis shows that the promotion effect of poverty alleviation relocation on public welfare employment is more pronounced among urban resettlement households, and the market-based employment of urban resettlement households faces greater challenges. After the relocation, the employment of public welfare positions for households with asset deficient and human capital deficient increased significantly, while the employment of public welfare positions for households with compound deficiencies did not change significantly. In addition, the non-agricultural employment and market-based employment of relocated households with different family status have not changed significantly. [Conclusion] This study holds that the employment ability of relocated farmers needs to be strengthened, and we should adhere to a policy that emphasizes both employment support and guidance, focus on improving the employment opportunities and skills of relocated farmers, and provide classified policies and targeted assistance to special relocated groups, so as to stimulate and enhance the sustainable development ability of relocated farmers lifted out of poverty

Growth of Thin Oxidation-Resistive Crystalline Si Nanostructures on Graphene

We report the growth of Si nanostructures, either as thin films or nanoparticles, on graphene substrates. The Si nanostructures are shown to be single crystalline, air stable and oxidation resistive, as indicated by the observation of a single crystalline Si Raman mode at around 520 cm-1, a STM image of an ordered surface structure under ambient condition, and a Schottky junction with graphite. Ultra-thin silicon regions exhibit silicene-like behavior, including a Raman mode at around 550 cm-1, a triangular lattice structure in STM that has distinctly different lattice spacing from that of either graphene or thicker Si, and metallic conductivity of up to 500 times higher than that of graphite. This work suggests a bottom-up approach to forming a Si nanostructure array on a large scale patterned graphene substrate for fabricating nanoscale Si electronic devices

Finite element method for one-dimensional rill erosion simulation on a curved slope

AbstractRill erosion models are important to hillslope soil erosion prediction and to land use planning. The development of rill erosion models and their use has become increasingly of great concern. The purpose of this research was to develop mathematic models with computer simulation procedures to simulate and predict rill erosion. The finite element method is known as an efficient tool in many other applications than in rill soil erosion. In this study, the hydrodynamic and sediment continuity model equations for a rill erosion system were solved by the Galerkin finite element method and Visual C++ procedures. The simulated results are compared with the data for spatially and temporally measured processes for rill erosion under different conditions. The results indicate that the one-dimensional linear finite element method produced excellent predictions of rill erosion processes. Therefore, this study supplies a tool for further development of a dynamic soil erosion prediction model

AtKinesin-13A is located on Golgi-associated vesicle and involved in vesicle formation/budding in Arabidopsis root-cap peripheral cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>AtKinesin-13A is an internal-motor kinesin from Arabidopsis (<it>Arabidopsis thaliana</it>). Previous immunofluorescent results showed that AtKinesin-13A localized to Golgi stacks in plant cells. However, its precise localization and biological function in Golgi apparatus is unclear.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper, immunofluorescent labeling and confocal microscopic observation revealed that AtKinesin-13A was co-localized with Golgi stacks in Arabidopsis root tip cells. Immuno-electron microscopic observations indicated that AtKinesin-13A is primarily localized on Golgi-associated vesicles in Arabidopsis root-cap cells. By T-DNA insertion, the inactivation of the <it>AtKinesin-13A </it>gene (NM-112536) resulted in a sharp decrease of size and number of Golgi vesicles in root-cap peripheral cells. At the same time, these cells were vacuolated in comparison to the corresponding cells of the wild type.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that AtKinesin-13A decorates Golgi-associated vesicles and may be involved in regulating the formation of Golgi vesicles in the root-cap peripheral cells in Arabidopsis.</p

Low Peak-to-Average Power Ratio FBMC-OQAM System based on Data Mapping and DFT Precoding

Filter bank multicarrier with offset quadrature amplitude modulation (FBMC-OQAM) is an alternative to OFDM for enhanced spectrum flexible usage. To reduce the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), DFT spreading is usually adopted in OFDM systems. However, in FBMC-OQAM systems, because the OQAM pre-processing splits the spread data into the real and imaginary parts, the DFT spreading can result in only marginal PAPR reduction. This letter proposes a novel map-DFT-spread FBMC-OQAM scheme. In this scheme, the transmitting data symbols are first mapped with a conjugate symmetry rule and then coded by the DFT. According to this method, the OQAM pre-processing can be avoided. Compared with the simple DFT-spread scheme, the proposed scheme achieves a better PAPR reduction. In addition, the effect of the prototype filter on the PAPR is studied via numerical simulation and a trade-off exists between the PAPR and out-of-band performances