White Matter Diffusion Alterations in Normal Women at Risk of Alzheimer\u27s Disease

Increased white matter mean diffusivity and decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) has been observed in subjects diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD). We sought to determine whether similar alterations of white matter occur in normal individuals at risk of AD. Diffusion tensor images were acquired in 42 cognitively normal right-handed women with both a family history of dementia and at least one apolipoprotein E4 allele. These were compared with images from 23 normal women without either AD risk factor. Group analyses were performed using tract-based spatial statistics. Reduced FA was observed in the fronto-occipital and inferior temporal fasciculi (particularly posteriorly), the splenium of the corpus callosum, subcallosal white matter and the cingulum bundle. These findings demonstrate that specific white matter pathways are altered in normal women at increased risk of AD years before the expected onset of cognitive symptoms

Research Progress and Development Trends of Materials Genome Technology

Materials genome is a subversive frontier technology emerging in the field of international materials in recent years and also a propeller for the development of new materials. It brings fundamental changes to the traditional material research mode, aiming to accelerate the research and development of new materials and reduce costs, so as to support the development of electronic information, energy and environmental protection, aerospace, and other industries. In this paper, we introduce the strategic significance, national layout, and methods of materials genome technology and emphatically introduce the design idea and development status of materials database method. Then we summarize the development trends of materials genome and put forward suggestions for its future research, aiming to provide references for the development direction of materials genome technology in various countries, especially in developing countries

Semantics Foundation for Cyber-Physical Systems Using Higher-Order UTP

International audienceModel-based design has become the predominant approach to the design of hybrid and cyber-physical systems (CPSs). It advocates the use of mathematically founded models to capture heterogeneous digital and analog behaviours from domain-specific formalisms, allowing all engineering tasks of verification, code synthesis and validation to be performed within a single semantic body. Guaranteeing the consistency among the different views and heterogeneous models of a system at different levels of abstraction however poses significant challenges. To address these issues, Hoare and He's Unifying Theories of Programming (UTP) proposes a calculus to capture domain-specific programming and modelling paradigms into a unified semantic framework. Our goal is to extend UTP to form a semantic foundation for CPS design. Higher-Order UTP (HUTP) is a conservative extension to Hoare and He's theory which supports the specification of discrete, real-time and continuous dynamics, concurrency and communication, and higher-order quantification. Within HUTP, we define a calculus of normal hybrid designs to model, analyse, compose, refine and verify heterogeneous hybrid system models. In addition, we define respective formal semantics for HCSP (Hybrid Communicating Sequential Processes) and Simulink using HUTP. CCS Concepts: • Theory of computation → Timed and hybrid models; Denotational semantics

A denotational semantics of Simulink with higher-order UTP

Authors' preprint of final versionInternational audienceMatlab/Simulink is a de-facto industrial standard for modelling embedded systems. Reflecting the complexity of cyber-physical system (CPS) design, the semantics of Simulink is complex, mixing discrete and continuous time and events. In this paper, we define a compositional semantics of hierarchical Simulink diagrams using Higher-order Unifying Theories of Programming (HUTP) for CPS design. The HUTP theory satisfies the suitable algebraic properties to serve as a mathematical foundation for expressing the semantics of CPSs, in particular Simulink diagrams. We characterise a class of well-formed Simulink diagrams and prove the determinacy of their HUTP semantics. Moreover, we construct a framework for proving the consistency between Simulink diagrams and their translation to HCSP (Hybrid Communicating Sequential Processes). Finally, we provide a case study to illustrate and justify this translation

Effect of aerobic exercise on GRP78 and ATF6 expressions in mice with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a prevalent medical condition with an ever-growing trend. Although multiple intracellular mechanisms are involved, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been demonstrated to play a significant role in the genesis and progression. Most of the research supports the advantages of exercise for NAFLD. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism(s) that underpin the effectiveness of exercise training in NAFLD. This study aimed to identify how aerobic exercise affected hepatic ER stress in a mouse NAFLD model. In this study, the mice were fed either a standard diet (SD) or a high-fat diet (HFD) for 17 weeks. HFD mice were trained on a treadmill during the last eight weeks. All animals were tested for serum levels of biochemical assays, protein expression, and gene expression. The hematoxylin and eosin, Oil red O, and immunohistochemistry staining were also performed. The results indicated that a high-fat diet generated NAFLD, with serum lipid disruption and hepatic function impairment, and increased GRP78 and ATF6 expressions. However, aerobic training reversed the majority of these alterations. It is concluded that NAFLD appears to be associated with hepatic ER stress response, and aerobic exercise mitigates NAFLD via lowering ER stress proteins GRP78 and ATF6

Unified graphical co-modeling, analysis and verification of cyber-physical systems by combining AADL and Simulink/Stateflow

International audienc

The Influence of Hydrothermal Activity on the Long-Distance Migration and Accumulation of Hydrocarbons: A Case Study from the Y8 Area in the Songnan-Baodao Sag of Qiongdongnan Basin

The Qiongdongnan (QDN) basin in the northwestern South China Sea has been shown to be rich in petroleum resources and has significant exploration potential for deepwater oil and gas resources. Therefore, it is of great significance to clarify the gas accumulation process in the deepwater area of the QDN basin, specifically the Y8 area. In this study, fluid inclusion analysis, including the identification and localization of fluid inclusions under a microscope, laser Raman spectrum analysis and homogenization temperature (Th) measurement, reconstruction of the thermal evolution burial history, geochemical analysis, and typical seismic section analysis were comprehensively used to interpret the gas accumulation process of the Y8 area. The laser Raman spectrum analysis results of fluid inclusions verified the existence of methane and confirmed the hydrocarbon charging event in this area. However, the Th of fluid inclusions in the reservoir, the mixed compositions of hydrothermal compositions (H2S + SO2) and hydrocarbons (methane) in the fluid inclusions, and the low Tmax values of some wells in the Y8 area comprehensively confirmed that the coincidence of hydrothermal activity with the accumulation process affected the long-distance gas accumulation of the Y8 area. The hydrothermal activity was also confirmed by the presence of fluid diapirs in seismic profiles of the Y8 area. Furthermore, the hydrocarbon accumulation process was reconstructed using the modified thermal evolution history considering the effect of hydrothermal activity. Overall, this study attributed the high Th of fluid inclusions in the reservoirs of the Y8 area to hydrothermal activity and proposed a long-distance migration model of hydrocarbon accumulation coinciding with hydrothermal activity, both of which are beneficial to understanding the accumulation process of the Y8 area

Epidemiology of acute kidney injury in hospitalized pregnant women in China

Abstract Background Epidemiologic data of acute kidney injury (AKI) during pregnancy is lacking in China. This study aims to determine the effect of pregnancy on the risk of AKI among hospitalized women of childbearing age, and to describe the incidence, risk factors and outcomes of AKI in hospitalized pregnant women in China. Methods We previously conducted a nationwide, multi-centered cohort of hospitalized patients from 25 hospitals in China during 1/1/2013 to 31/12/2015. Women of childbearing age (14–50 year) who had at least two serum creatinine tests within any 7-day window were selected as analysis set. Patient-level data were obtained from the electronic hospitalization information system and laboratory databases. AKI events were identified according to the creatinine criteria of Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes. Results Among 110,873 women of childbearing age, pregnant women (n = 10,920) had a 51% higher risk of AKI than non-pregnant women (n = 99,953). Community acquired and hospital acquired AKI occurred in 3.6% (n = 393) and 3.7% (n = 402) of the pregnant women, respectively, giving rise to an overall AKI incidence of 7.3%. While, hospital coding would have identified less than 5% of AKI episodes. The top three risk factors of AKI during pregnancy, ranked in order of decreasing population attributable fractions were pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome (21.1%), acute fatty liver (13.5%), and chronic kidney disease (6.2%). Conclusion AKI in pregnancy is associated with increased maternal mortality rate, longer length of stay and higher daily cost. AKI is a common and severe complication during pregnancy in China

APOE is a potential modifier gene in an autosomal dominant form of frontotemporal dementia (IBMPFD)

Purpose: Inclusion-body myopathy, Paget's disease of bone and frontotemporal dementia is an adult-onset autosomal dominant illness (IBMPFD) caused by mutations in the valosin-containing protein (VCP) on chromosome 9p21.1-p12. The penetrance of the gene is 82% for myopathy, 49% for Paget's disease, but may be as low as 30% for frontotemporal dementia. Modifier genes could account for decreased frontotemporal dementia penetrance. In this study apolipoprotein-E (APOE) was evaluated for this role in IBMPFD families based on its known modifier effect in Alzheimer's disease. Methods: From a database of 231 members of 15 families, 174 had APOE genotype available for analysis. Logistic regressions on APOE genotype and frontotemporal dementia were performed, using appropriate covariates. Results and Conclusion: FTD was associated with APOE 4 genotype (P ϭ 0.0002), myopathy (P ϭ 0.0006), and age (P ϭ 0.01), but not microtubule associated protein tau (MAPT) H2 haplotype (P ϭ 0.5) or gender (0.09) after adjustment for membership in pedigrees with at least one APOE 4 genotype. These data suggest a potential link between APOE 4 genotype and the specific form of frontotemporal dementia found in IBMPFD. The molecular basis of this link bears further investigation. We did not observe an association of frontotemporal dementia and H2 MAPT haplotype. Genet Med 2007:9(1):9-13