Protection of y-39983 preconditioning from retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats

AIM: To investigate the neuroprotective effect of rho-associated coiled coil-forming protein kinase(ROCK)inhibitor y-39983 on retinal ischemia reperfusion(IR)injury in rats. <p>METHODS: Sixty adult SD rats were randomly assigned into normal group(<i>n</i>=15), IR group(<i>n</i>=15), saline group(<i>n</i>=15), y-39983 group(<i>n</i>=15), and the rats in later three groups were induced retinal IR by intra-anterior chamber infusion of saline solution. Rats in the saline and y-39983 groups were intravitreously injected with normal saline and y-39983 respectively, 5 minutes prior to the induction of ischemia. The protein expression of intercellular cell adhesion molecules-1(ICAM-1)was determined by immunohistochemical staining. Retrograde labeling of retinal ganalion cells(RGCs)with fluorogold was performed to assess the number of RGCs. Histologic studies and electroretinogram were carried out to evaluate retinal damage. <p>RESULTS: The preadminisration of y-39983 decreased ICAM-1 expression, elevated the survival rate of RGCs and the recoverage rate of amplitude of b wave and O₂ wave significantly, and attenuated the IR-induced the thinning of inner retina. <p>CONCLUSION: y-39983 can protect the rat retina from IR injury at least partially by inhibiting ICAM-1 abnormal expression, suggesting that y-39983 may have therapeutic potential for the retinal diseases associated with IR

Healing beliefs and practices of the "Way of Celestial Masters" during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 a.d.)

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

The factors affecting students' career choice

One of the critical aspects of an individual's life is career choice as a career chosen will determine the role pattern need to be played by the individual in the future society and the career choice is one of the important processes in life. The aim of this study is to investigate factors that influencing career choice among students. This study focus on students who will be dealing with the decision on career choice in Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Kedah. A total number of 377 students responded to the questionnaire. Statistical Package Software for Social Science (SPSS) Version 22.0 was used to analyze the collected data. Reliability analysis, multiple regressions and correlation were applied to this study. Pearson correlation analysis results showed that the influence of personal interest, family influence, and personality have a positive relationship to career choices. Moreover, the results of regression analysis showed that the personal interests exerted great influence on the choice of a career compared to family influence and personality. Recommendations for future study in order to investigate other important factors that influence students' career choices

Studies on X(4260) and X(4660) particles

Studies on the X(4260) and X(4660) resonant states in an effective lagrangian approach are reviewed. Using a Breit--Wigner propagator to describe their propagation, we find that the X(4260) has a sizable coupling to the $\omega\chi_{c0}$ channel, while other couplings are found to be negligible. Besides, it couples much stronger to $\sigma$ than to $f_0(980)$: $|g_{X\Psi \sigma}^2/g^2_{X\Psi f_0(980)}|\sim O(10) \ .$ As an approximate result for X(4660), we obtain that the ratio of $\frac{Br(X\rightarrow\Lambda_c^+\Lambda_c^-)}{Br(X\rightarrow\Psi(2s)\pi^+\pi^-)}\simeq 20$. Finally, taking X(3872) as an example, we also point out a possible way to extend the previous method to a more general one in the effective lagrangian approach.Comment: Talk given by H. Q. Zheng at "Xth Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum", October 8-12, 2012, TUM Campus Garching, Munich, Germany. 6 pages, 3 figures, 3 table

Cyberemotions in the Era of New Media

The introduction of new media has accelerated changes in the generation and delivery of information. Cyberemotions, as a new type of public opinion, can be more contagious and propagate in more diverse ways than traditional public sentiments. The emotions of internet users have a rising influence on the progression of recent significant social events. In order to spark additional discussion on online sentiment modulation and online public opinion tracking, this article presented an overview of cyberemotions definition and key analytical methodologies in existing online sentiment research, as well as a synopsis of major components of cyberemotions

An Evaluation of Critical Factors Impeding Performance of State Financed Road Construction Projects in Botswana

The study tried to evaluate the critical factors that impede the quality performance of state financed road construction projects in Botswana. There have been variations on completion time, cost and quality of state financed construction projects in Botswana and other developing countries. The study therefore classified factors that are thought to lead to poor quality performance of road construction projects. A questionnaire consisting of 15 quality performance factors were distributed to 120 participants with construction associated background, they were mandated to rank their responses on a 5-point Likert scale. The data was analyzed via the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. It was discovered from the results that the five major critical factors that have direct impediments on quality performance of state financed road construction projects are; financing processes of the project, issues on health and safety, project managers skills and knowledge, profitability of contractors, and experiences of the contractor in the industry. The results also showed that project quality performance had a positive linear relationship with the critical quality performance factors from the developed multiple regression model. All the five major critical quality performance factors were significant and had positive coefficients. Keywords: Project performance, Quality performance factors, Contractor’s challenges, Government projects, Construction projects DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-8-11 Publication date: April 30th 202