Recent progress in the effect of ferroptosis of HSCs on the development of liver fibrosis

Fibrosis is a common pathological process that must take place for multiple chronic liver diseases to develop into cirrhosis and liver cancer. Liver fibrosis (LF) is regulated by various cytokines and signaling pathways in its occurrence and development. Ferroptosis is an important mode of cell death caused by iron-dependent oxidative damage and is regulated by iron metabolism and lipid peroxidation signaling pathways. In recent years, numerous studies have shown that ferroptosis is closely related to LF. As the main material secreted by the extracellular matrix, hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are a general concern in the development of LF. Therefore, targeting HSC ferroptosis against LF is crucial. This review describes the current status of treating LF by inducing HSC ferroptosis that would aid studies in better understanding the current knowledge on ferroptosis in HSCs and the future research direction in this field

TRPA1 Activation-Induced Myelin Degradation Plays a Key Role in Motor Dysfunction After Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a devastating disease that is characterized by high morbidity and high mortality. ICH has an annual incidence of 10–30/100,000 people and accounts for approximately 10%–30% of all types of stroke. ICH mostly occurs at the basal ganglia, which is rich in nerve fibers; thus, hemiplegia is quite common in ICH patients with partial sensory disturbance and ectopic blindness. In the clinic, those symptoms are considered to originate from the white matter injury in the area, but the exact mechanisms are unknown, and currently, no effective drug treatments are available to improve the prognosis. Clarifying the mechanisms will contribute to the development of new treatment methods for patients. The transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) channel is a non-selective cation channel that plays a role in inflammatory pain sensation and nociception and may be a potential regulator in emotion, cognition and social behavior. Here, we report that TRPA1 is involved in myelin damage and oxidative stress injury in a mouse ICH model. Intervention with the TRPA1 channel may be a new method to improve the motor function of patients in the early stage of ICH

Bi-Directional Effect of Cholecystokinin Receptor-2 Overexpression on Stress-Triggered Fear Memory and Anxiety in the Mouse

Fear, an emotional response of animals to environmental stress/threats, plays an important role in initiating and driving adaptive response, by which the homeostasis in the body is maintained. Overwhelming/uncontrollable fear, however, represents a core symptom of anxiety disorders, and may disturb the homeostasis. Because to recall or imagine certain cue(s) of stress/threats is a compulsory inducer for the expression of anxiety, it is generally believed that the pathogenesis of anxiety is associated with higher attention (acquisition) selectively to stress or mal-enhanced fear memory, despite that the actual relationship between fear memory and anxiety is not yet really established. In this study, inducible forebrain-specific cholecystokinin receptor-2 transgenic (IF-CCKR-2 tg) mice, different stress paradigms, batteries of behavioral tests, and biochemical assays were used to evaluate how different CCKergic activities drive fear behavior and hormonal reaction in response to stresses with different intensities. We found that in IF-CCKR-2 tg mice, contextual fear was impaired following 1 trial of footshock, while overall fear behavior was enhanced following 36 trials of footshock, compared to their littermate controls. In contrast to a standard Yerkes-Dodson (inverted-U shaped) stress-fear relationship in control mice, a linearized stress-fear curve was observed in CCKR-2 tg mice following gradient stresses. Moreover, compared to 1 trial, 36 trials of footshock in these transgenic mice enhanced anxiety-like behavior in other behavioral tests, impaired spatial and recognition memories, and prolonged the activation of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and glucocorticoids (CORT) following new acute stress. Taken together, these results indicate that stress may trigger two distinctive neurobehavioral systems, depending on both of the intensity of stress and the CCKergic tone in the brain. A “threshold theory” for this two-behavior system has been suggested

Shape reconstruction by genetic algorithms and artificial neural networks

This paper presents a new surface reconstruction method based on complex form functions, genetic algorithms and neural networks. Surfaces can be reconstructed in an analytical representation format. This representation is optimal in the sense of least-square fitting by predefined subsets of data points. The surface representations are achieved by evolution via repetitive application of crossover and mutation operations together with a back-propagation algorithm until a termination condition is met. The expression is finally classified into specific combinations of basic functions. The proposed method can be used for CAD model reconstruction of 3D objects and free smooth shape modelling. We have implemented the system demonstration with Visual C++ and MatLab to enable real time surface visualisation in the process of design

Fuzzy Association Rule Based Froth Surface Behavior Control in Zinc Froth Flotation

Froth flotation is a vital mineral concentration process. Froth surface behavior is the knowledge about flotation working condition. However, in computer vision aided froth surface behavior control, there are still two challenges that need to be tackled seriously. Against the difficulty in the froth surface behavior representation, this paper proposes to combine the bubble size distribution (BSD) and froth velocity distribution. As far as we know, this is the first time that the froth velocity distribution is presented. Against the difficulty in the adaptive generation of the optimal froth surface behavior feature (optimal setpoint), this paper introduces the fuzzy apriori to mine the association rule between the current working condition and the optimal setpoint. Then, a fuzzy inference module is constructed to generate optimal setpoint for current working condition adaptively. Many validation experiments and comparison experiments demonstrate the superiority and robustness of the proposed methods

A generative design system based on evolutionary and mathematical functions

Previous work by Professor John Frazer on Evolutionary Architecture provides a basis for the development of a system evolving architectural envelopes in a generic and abstract manner. Recent research by the authors has focused on the implementation of a virtual environment for the automatic generation and exploration of complex forms and architectural envelopes based on solid modelling techniques and the integration of evolutionary algorithms, enhanced computational and mathematical models. Abstract data types are introduced for genotypes in a genetic algorithm order to develop complex models using generative and evolutionary computing techniques. Multi-objective optimisation techniques are employed for defining the fitness function in the evaluation process

Analysing tree-neighbourhood interactions in ecotones of montane evergreen and deciduous forests in China

Questions Do neighbourhood interactions in trees result in discernible spatial and phylogenetic signals among their nearest neighbours in a montane evergreen and deciduous forest? Are neighbourhood patterns of different species associated with their abundances and traits? Location Badagongshan National Nature Reserve, Hunan, China. Methods We used four nearest-neighbour indices: average spatial distance to the nearest conspecific cohort-mate (SNCC), average spatial distance to the nearest conspecific adult (SNCA), average phylogenetic distance to the nearest heterospecific cohort-mate (PNHC), and average phylogenetic distance to the nearest heterospecific adult (PNHA). We focused on 77 abundant species in a 25-ha plot. We evaluated whether the changes in SNCC, PNHC, SNCA and PNHA deviated significantly from expected values of spatially random mortality during two life stage transitions. Results For more than one-fourth of the tested species, the changes in SNCC and PNHC deviated significantly from the expectations of random mortality. Nearly one-third of the tested species showed greater SNCC at the juvenile stage than expected of random mortality, which may be mainly explained by conspecific tree competition for space and resources. Approximately 60% and 40% of the tested species showed significantly smaller SNCA and PNHA than expected by random mortality, respectively, which suggests the effects of facilitation and habitat filtering. In addition, abundant and taller species were suppressed by conspecific cohorts to a greater degree than locally rarer and shorter species. Deciduous species were more negatively influenced by conspecifics and closely related heterospecifics than evergreen species. Conclusions Our study focused on long-term responses of individual species to their conspecific and phylogenetic neighbourhoods and revealed the associations between species traits and neighbourhood patterns. Such trait-neighbourhood interactions provide support for stabilizing mechanisms driving species coexistence in this species-rich subtropical forest