Interaction of voltage-gated potassium channels and large-conductance calcium-sensitive potassium channels in vascular smooth muscle

Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels and large-conductance calcium-sensitive and voltage-dependent potassium (BK) channels are two major potassium channels identified in vascular smooth muscle cells. It has been demonstrated that Kv7 channels and BK channels, through modulation of membrane potential and Ca2+ influx, contribute to the regulation of vascular contractility that determines the resistance of blood vessels to blood flow and regulates blood distribution in the body. Although they have become the spotlight of investigation in recent years there are only a few reports describing their expression and function in skeletal muscle arteries. Moreover, there is no report to clarify the functional interaction of Kv7 and BK channels in intact arteries. Therefore, this study addressed the hypothesis that there is functional interaction between Kv7 and BK channels in skeletal muscle arteries under normal physiological conditions, which contributes to the maintenance of arterial contractility. The Saphenous artery (A.Saphena, a conduit artery supplying blood to a large part of skeletal muscles on the hind limb) and the Gracilis artery (A. Gracilis, a resistance artery providing blood to the gracilis muscle on the hind limb) from Wistar rats were isolated for this study. The expression of Kv7 and BK channels was detect by use of the qPCR technique; the function of Kv7 and BK channels and their interaction were examined on the A. saphena during methoxamine-induced contractions using wire myography and on the A. gracilis during pressure-induced myogenic responses using pressure myography. The results show that subfamily members of Kv7 channels (KCNQ) and BK channels are expressed in A. Saphena and A.Gracilis: higher expression was observed for BKα, BKβ1 and KCNQ4. In methoxamine-induced contractions and pressure-induced myogenic responses, inhibition of Kv7 or BK channels by XE991 (a selective Kv7 channel blocker) or IBTX (a selective BK channel blocker) enhanced arterial contractility, whereas activation of Kv7 or BK channels by retigabine (a selective Kv7 channel activator) or NS19504 (a novel BK channel activator) reduced arterial contractility. Furthermore, inhibition of Kv7 channels increased the functional availability of BK channels, while activation of Kv7 channels decreased the functional availability of BK channels. In turn, inhibition of BK channels improved the functional availability of Kv7 channels, while activation of BK channels decreased the functional availability of Kv7 channels. In conclusion, Kv7 and BK channels are expressed in rat skeletal muscle arteries and function as negative feedback modulators in the regulation of contractility of these arteries. Moreover, there is a dynamic equilibrium between Kv7 and BK channels, in which, membrane potential, concentration of Ca2+, and membrane permeability might be the three major factors to build a bridge between Kv7 and BK channels

Isolation Mondrian Forest for Batch and Online Anomaly Detection

We propose a new method, named isolation Mondrian forest (iMondrian forest), for batch and online anomaly detection. The proposed method is a novel hybrid of isolation forest and Mondrian forest which are existing methods for batch anomaly detection and online random forest, respectively. iMondrian forest takes the idea of isolation, using the depth of a node in a tree, and implements it in the Mondrian forest structure. The result is a new data structure which can accept streaming data in an online manner while being used for anomaly detection. Our experiments show that iMondrian forest mostly performs better than isolation forest in batch settings and has better or comparable performance against other batch and online anomaly detection methods.Comment: Accepted for presentation at the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC) 2020. The first three authors contributed equally to this wor

Was Dinosaurian Physiology Inherited by Birds? Reconciling Slow Growth in Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx is the oldest and most primitive known bird (Avialae). It is believed that the growth and energetic physiology of basalmost birds such as Archaeopteryx were inherited in their entirety from non-avialan dinosaurs. This hypothesis predicts that the long bones in these birds formed using rapidly growing, well-vascularized woven tissue typical of non-avialan dinosaurs. We report that Archaeopteryx long bones are composed of nearly avascular parallel-fibered bone. This is among the slowest growing osseous tissues and is common in ectothermic reptiles. These findings dispute the hypothesis that non-avialan dinosaur growth and physiology were inherited in totality by the first birds. Examining these findings in a phylogenetic context required intensive sampling of outgroup dinosaurs and basalmost birds. Our results demonstrate the presence of a scale-dependent maniraptoran histological continuum that Archaeopteryx and other basalmost birds follow. Growth analysis for Archaeopteryx suggests that these animals showed exponential growth rates like non-avialan dinosaurs, three times slower than living precocial birds, but still within the lowermost range for all endothermic vertebrates. The unexpected histology of Archaeopteryx and other basalmost birds is actually consistent with retention of the phylogenetically earlier paravian dinosaur condition when size is considered. The first birds were simply feathered dinosaurs with respect to growth and energetic physiology. The evolution of the novel pattern in modern forms occurred later in the group's history

The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010-19 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. Methods The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk-outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2019 and change in these measures between 2010 and 2019 are presented. Findings Globally, in 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4.45 million (95% uncertainty interval 4.01-4.94) deaths and 105 million (95.0-116) DALYs for both sexes combined, representing 44.4% (41.3-48.4) of all cancer deaths and 42.0% (39.1-45.6) of all DALYs. There were 2.88 million (2.60-3.18) risk-attributable cancer deaths in males (50.6% [47.8-54.1] of all male cancer deaths) and 1.58 million (1.36-1.84) risk-attributable cancer deaths in females (36.3% [32.5-41.3] of all female cancer deaths). The leading risk factors at the most detailed level globally for risk-attributable cancer deaths and DALYs in 2019 for both sexes combined were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI. Risk-attributable cancer burden varied by world region and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), with smoking, unsafe sex, and alcohol use being the three leading risk factors for risk-attributable cancer DALYs in low SDI locations in 2019, whereas DALYs in high SDI locations mirrored the top three global risk factor rankings. From 2010 to 2019, global risk-attributable cancer deaths increased by 20.4% (12.6-28.4) and DALYs by 16.8% (8.8-25.0), with the greatest percentage increase in metabolic risks (34.7% [27.9-42.8] and 33.3% [25.8-42.0]). Interpretation The leading risk factors contributing to global cancer burden in 2019 were behavioural, whereas metabolic risk factors saw the largest increases between 2010 and 2019. Reducing exposure to these modifiable risk factors would decrease cancer mortality and DALY rates worldwide, and policies should be tailored appropriately to local cancer risk factor burden. Copyright (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.Peer reviewe

Denoising method of vibration signal of roadheader based on the optimal wavelet basis selectio

In order to improve wavelet packet denoising effect for vibration signal of roadheader and avoid influence of noise on signal feature extraction mostly, the paper proposed a denoising method of vibration signal of roadheader based on the optimal wavelet basis selection. The method takes signal frequency spectrum as analysis basis, firstly determines the optimal decomposition layer number of wavelet packet, then selects the optimal wavelet basis function, so as to realize real-time processing of the vibration signal of roadheader with the best denoising effect. The field test results verify effectiveness of the method

Cooperative Circumnavigation Control of Networked Microsatellites

10.1109/tcyb.2019.2923119IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics1-