Doxycycline increases neurogenesis and reduces microglia in the adult hippocampus.

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis results in the continuous formation of new neurons and is a process of brain plasticity involved in learning and memory. Although inducible-reversible transgenic mouse models are increasingly being used to investigate adult neurogenesis, transgene control requires the administration of an activator, doxycycline (Dox), with unknown effects on adult neurogenesis. Here, we tested the effect of Dox administration on adult neurogenesis in vivo. We found that 4 weeks of Dox treatment at doses commonly used for gene expression control, resulted in increased neurogenesis. Furthermore, the dendrites of new neurons displayed increased spine density. Concomitantly, Iba1-expressing microglia was reduced by Dox treatment. These results indicate that Dox treatment may interfere with parameters of relevance for the use of inducible transgenic mice in studies of adult neurogenesis or brain inflammation

Cortical Bone Thickness Assessment from Multi-frequency Ultrasound RF Data using a Convolutional Architecture with Multi-head Attention

Cortical bone thickness is an important predictor of bone strength and fracture risk, and accurate classification is crucial for the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis. The thinning of the cortical layer, indicative of compromised bone microarchitecture due to imbalanced formation and loss, underscores its significance. Nonetheless, quantifying bone thickness is challenging due to the diverse skeletal sites and subject variations in bone structure and properties.A potential solution lies in multi-frequency ultrasound assessment of cortical bone, enabling comprehensive property characterization across varying wavelengths and penetration depths. This research strives to establish a robust methodology for evaluating cortical bone thickness by leveraging a convolutional model with an attention mechanism to analyse multi-frequency ultrasound data

Decays and spectrum of bottom and bottom strange mesons

The strong decay amplitudes and radiative partial widths of orbital and radially excited states of $B$ and $B_s$ mesons are presented. These results are obtained with a nonrelativistic potential quark model, the nonrelativistic reduction of the electromagnetic transition operator, and the "$^3P_0$" model of strong decays. The predictions are compared to experiment where possible and assignments for the recently discovered states, $B_1(5721)$, $B_2^*(5747)$, $B_J(5840)$, $B_J(5970)$, $B_{s1}(5830)$, and $B_{s2}^*(5840)$, are made.Comment: 36 pages, 3 figure

Effect of cuscuta reflexa stem and calotropis procera leaf extracts on glucose tolerance in glucose-induced hyperglycemic rats and mice

Cuscuta reflexa (whole plant) and Calotropis procera (leaves) are used in folk medicine of Bangladesh to control blood sugar in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus. The hypoglycemic effects of methanol and chloroform extracts of whole plants of Cuscuta reflexa, and methanol extract of leaves of Calotropis procera were investigated in oral glucose tolerance tests in Long Evans rats and Swiss albino mice, respectively. Both methanol and chloroform extracts of Cuscuta reflexa whole plant demonstrated significant oral hypoglycemic activity in glucose-loaded rats at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight. The methanol extract of leaves of Calotropis procera, when tested at doses of 100 and 250 mg/kg body weight did not demonstrate any oral hypoglycemic effect when tested in glucose-loaded mice.Key words: Cuscuta reflexa, Calotropis procera, hypoglycemic activity, oral glucose tolerance test

Outcome of anal symptoms and anorectal function following two obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS)-a nested case-controlled study.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASI) is a significant risk factor for developing anal incontinence. It can therefore be hypothesised that recurrent OASI in a subsequent delivery may predispose women to further anal sphincter dysfunction. METHODS: A nested case-controlled study based on data collected prospectively between 2006 and 2019. Women matched for age and ethnicity, with a history of one OASI and no sphincter damage in a subsequent delivery (control) were compared to women sustaining a second OASI. Assessment was carried out using the St Mark's score (SMIS), anorectal manometry and endoanal ultrasound scan (findings quantified using the modified Starck score). RESULTS: Eighty-four women were included and equally distributed between the two groups, who were followed up 12 weeks postnatally. No difference in SMIS scores was found. Maximum resting pressure (MRP, mmHg) and maximum squeeze pressure (MSP, mmHg) were significantly reduced in the study group. Median (IQR) MRP in the study group was 40.0 (31.3-54.0) versus 46.0 (39.3-61.5) in the control group (p = 0.030). Median (IQR) MSP was 73.0 (58.3-93.5) in the study group versus 92.5 (70.5-110.8) (p = 0.006) in the control group. A significant difference (p = 0.002) was found in the modified Starck score between the study group (median 0.0 [IQR 0.0-6.0]) and control group (median 0.0 [IQR 0.0-0.0]). CONCLUSIONS: We have demonstrated that women with recurrent OASI do not have significant anorectal symptoms compared to those with one OASI 12 weeks after delivery, but worse anal sphincter function and integrity. Therefore, on long-term follow-up, symptoms may possibly develop. This information will be useful when counselling women in a subsequent pregnancy

Applying the integrated trans-contextual model to mathematics activities in the classroom and homework behavior and attainment

The aim of the present study was to test hypotheses of the trans-contextual model. We predicted relations between perceived autonomy support, autonomous motivation toward mathematics learning activities in an educational context, autonomous motivation toward mathematics homework in an out-of-school context, social-cognitive variables and intentions for future engagement in mathematics homework, and mathematics homework outcomes. Secondary school students completed measures of perceived autonomy support from teachers and autonomous motivation for in-class mathematics activities; measures of autonomous motivation, social-cognitive variables, and intentions for out-of-school mathematics homework; and follow-up measures of students' mathematics homework outcomes: self-reported homework engagement and actual homework grades. Perceived autonomy support was related to autonomous motivation toward in-class mathematics activities. There were trans-contextual effects of autonomous motivation across educational and out-of-school contexts, and relations between out-of-school autonomous motivation, intentions, and mathematics homework outcomes. Findings support trans-contextual effects of autonomous motivation toward mathematics activities across educational and out-of-school contexts and homework outcomes

Incidence and sociodemographic characteristics of eczema diagnosis in children: a cohort study

Letter to the Editor

Low SAR, Simple Printed Compact Multiband Antenna for Mobile and Wireless Communication Applications

Simple multiband planar antenna for wireless communication applications is presented. The proposed antenna performs four resonant modes covering multibands of wireless standards, including LTE 700, GSM, DCS, PCS, UMTS, and LTE 2300/2500. Furthermore, it covers the ISM, WiMAX, and the WLAN bands. The geometry of the proposed antenna consists of a single FR4 substrate where an open cavity fed by a coplanar U-shaped monopole is etched on one side and a short-circuited meander line in the opposite side. The cavity by its nature supports a wide range of higher frequencies, while its boundary that consists of a thin monopole resonates at 900 MHz. The meander line in the opposite side supports the LTE 700 band. The operating bands ranges are (680–748 MHz), (870–960 MHZ), (1.36–1.59 GHz), and (1.71–2.56 GHz). The antenna size is 30 × 18 × 0.8 mm3. The antenna not only has a compact size but also supports a low SAR radiation at all the operating frequencies. The proposed antenna is tested using the four recommended test positions of the CTIA association where the proposed antenna reveals good performance in all test cases in the presence of handset (keypad, battery, speaker camera, RF circuit, and LCD) in talking position, and in standby position

Heterogeneity of Radial Glia-Like Cells in the Adult Hippocampus.

Adult neurogenesis is tightly regulated by the neurogenic niche. Cellular contacts between niche cells and neural stem cells are hypothesized to regulate stem cell proliferation or lineage choice. However, the structure of adult neural stem cells and the contact they form with niche cells are poorly described. Here, we characterized the morphology of radial glia-like (RGL) cells, their molecular identity, proliferative activity, and fate determination in the adult mouse hippocampus. We found the coexistence of two morphotypes of cells with prototypical morphological characteristics of RGL stem cells: Type α cells, which represented 76% of all RGL cells, displayed a long primary process modestly branching into the molecular layer and type β cells, which represented 24% of all RGL cells, with a shorter radial process highly branching into the outer granule cell layer-inner molecular layer border. Stem cell markers were expressed in type α cells and coexpressed with astrocytic markers in type β cells. Consistently, in vivo lineage tracing indicated that type α cells can give rise to neurons, astrocytes, and type β cells, whereas type β cells do not proliferate. Our results reveal that the adult subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus harbors two functionally different RGL cells, which can be distinguished by simple morphological criteria, supporting a morphofunctional role of their thin cellular processes. Type β cells may represent an intermediate state in the transformation of type α, RGL stem cells, into astrocytes