The effect of concentration and duration of normobaric oxygen in reducing caspase-3 and -9 expression in a rat-model of focal cerebral ischaemia

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different concentrations of normobaric oxygen (NBO) on neurological function and the expression of caspase-3 and -9 in a rat model of acute cerebral ischaemia. Sprague-Dawley rats (n=120) were randomly divided into four groups (n=30 per group), including 3 groups given NBO at concentrations of 33%, 45% or 61% and one control group given air (21% oxygen). After 2 h of ischaemic occlusion, each group was further subdivided into six subgroups (n=5) during reperfusion according to the duration (3, 6, 12, 24, 48 or 72 h) and concentration of NBO (33%, 45% or 61%) or air treatment. The Fluorescence Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemistry were used to detect caspase-3 and -9 mRNA and protein relative expression respectively. The Neurologic Impairment Score (NIS) was significantly lower in rats given 61% NBO ≥3 h after reperfusion when compared to the control group (P<0.05, Mann–Whitney U). NBO significantly reduced caspase-3 and -9 mRNA and protein expression when compared to the control group at all NBO concentrations and time points (P<0.05, ANOVA). The expression of caspase-3 and -9 was lower in the group given 61% NBO compared any other group, and this difference was statistically significant when compared to the group given 33% NBO for ≥48 h and the control group (both P<0.05, ANOVA). These findings indicate that NBO may inhibit the apoptotic pathway by reducing caspase-3 and -9 expression, thereby promoting neurological functional recovery after stroke

Metamaterials Application in Sensing

Metamaterials are artificial media structured on a size scale smaller than wavelength of external stimuli, and they can exhibit a strong localization and enhancement of fields, which may provide novel tools to significantly enhance the sensitivity and resolution of sensors, and open new degrees of freedom in sensing design aspect. This paper mainly presents the recent progress concerning metamaterials-based sensing, and detailedly reviews the principle, detecting process and sensitivity of three distinct types of sensors based on metamaterials, as well as their challenges and prospects. Moreover, the design guidelines for each sensor and its performance are compared and summarized

Multiple Interferon Stimulated Genes Synergize with the Zinc Finger Antiviral Protein to Mediate Anti-Alphavirus Activity

The zinc finger antiviral protein (ZAP) is a host factor that mediates inhibition of viruses in the Filoviridae, Retroviridae and Togaviridae families. We previously demonstrated that ZAP blocks replication of Sindbis virus (SINV), the prototype Alphavirus in the Togaviridae family at an early step prior to translation of the incoming genome and that synergy between ZAP and one or more interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) resulted in maximal inhibitory activity. The present study aimed to identify those ISGs that synergize with ZAP to mediate Alphavirus inhibition. Using a library of lentiviruses individually expressing more than 350 ISGs, we screened for inhibitory activity in interferon defective cells with or without ZAP overexpression. Confirmatory tests of the 23 ISGs demonstrating the largest infection reduction in combination with ZAP revealed that 16 were synergistic. Confirmatory tests of all potentially synergistic ISGs revealed 15 additional ISGs with a statistically significant synergistic effect in combination with ZAP. These 31 ISGs are candidates for further mechanistic studies. The number and diversity of the identified ZAP-synergistic ISGs lead us to speculate that ZAP may play an important role in priming the cell for optimal ISG function

The Comparative Study on Cutting Performance of Different-Structure Milling Cutters in Machining CFRP

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) is typically hard to process, because it is easy for it to generate processing damage such as burrs, tears, delamination, and so on in the machining process. Consequently, this restricts its wide spread application. This paper conducted a comparative experiment on the cutting performance of the two different-structure milling cutters, with a helical staggered edge and a rhombic edge, in milling carbon fiber composites; analyzed the wear morphologies of the two cutting tools; and thus acquired the effect of the tool structure on the machined surface quality and cutting force. The results indicated that in the whole cutting, the rhombic milling cutter with a segmented cutting edge showed better wear resistance and a more stable machined surface quality. It was not until a large area of coating shedding occurred, along with chip clogging, that the surface quality decreased significantly. At the stage of coating wear, the helical staggered milling cutter with an alternately arranged continuous cutting edge showed better machined surface quality, but when the coating fell off, its machined surface quality began to reveal damage such as groove, tear, and fiber pullout. Meanwhile, burrs occurred at the edge and the cutting force obviously increased. By contrast, for the rhombic milling cutter, both the surface roughness and cutting force increased relatively slowly

Synthesis and Characterization of an Iron Nitride Constructed by a Novel Template of Metal Organic Framework

An iron nitride with high surface area was synthesized from an iron-based metal organic framework (Fe-MOF) in this work. During the synthesis process, the Fe-MOF of MIL-53 served as a hard template, a template to impart a certain degree of morphology for iron oxide products and to form porosities for iron nitride products. Moreover, it played the roles of iron sources for the synthesis of the final iron oxides and the iron nitrides. The physicochemical properties of the materials were characterized by a series of technologies including XRD, SEM, and N2-adsorption/desorption. The results showed that the iron nitride synthesized from MIL-53 was α-Fe2-3N. And, the α-Fe2-3N showed the morphology with loosely aggregated particles which favored the formation of rich interparticle porosities. As a result, the surface area of the α-Fe2-3N was larger than those of samples using α-Fe2O3 as precursors and its value was 41 m2/g. In addition, the results agreed that both raw material properties (such as crystallinity and surface areas) and nitriding approaches had significant effects on the surface areas of iron nitrides. Also the results were proved by the iron oxide synthesized with different methods. This new synthetic strategy could be a general approach for the preparation of late transition metal nitrides with peculiar properties

Regional characteristics and spatiotemporal differentiation of the prevalence of hand, foot, and mouth disease in Xinjiang, China

In recent years, the number of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) cases in China has continued to grow, and the disease has become a serious public health issue. Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is located in the arid areas of Northwest China, where the epidemiological trend of HFMD is gradually increasing and characterized by geographical heterogeneity. In this study, based on the HFMD case data in all counties and cities in Xinjiang, we employed statistical and GIS spatial analyses, and geographic probe models to characterize the spatiotemporal differentiation of HFMD epidemics in Xinjiang during the period of 2009–2018, and quantitatively analyzed the factors influencing the spatial differentiation of HFMD epidemics. The results showed that HFMD incidence rate in Xinjiang had non-stationary temporal characteristics on the interannual and monthly scales, and the monthly variation characteristics of HFMD epidemic were quite different in southern and northern Xinjiang. The spatial distribution characteristics of HFMD epidemics showed a north–south spatial differentiation pattern with the Tianshan Mountains as the boundary; cold spot and hot spot of HFMD epidemics in Xinjiang have shifted from scattered to concentrated, and the spatial differentiation pattern had gradually stabilized. Moreover, the dominant factors influencing the spatial differentiation of HFMD epidemics in Xinjiang were socioeconomic factors, such as per capita GDP and urbanization rate, while the basic factors affecting its spatial differentiation were natural environmental factors. The spatial differentiation and evolution patterns of HFMD epidemics differed between northern and southern Xinjiang. Specifically, the leading role of socioeconomic factors is more obvious in southern Xinjiang than in northern Xinjiang, while natural environmental factors (e.g., dryness and relative humidity) contribute to the prevalence of HFMD epidemics in northern Xinjiang, and the perturbing effect of these factors was more prominent than other factors. The results of this study can provide a scientific basis for the prevention of HFMD epidemics and early warning of HFMD epidemics in Xinjiang

Multi-objective simulation-based evolutionary algorithm for an aircraft spare parts allocation problem

Simulation optimization has received considerable attention from both simulation researchers and practitioners. In this study, we develop a solution framework which integrates multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) with multi-objective computing budget allocation (MOCBA) method for the multi-objective simulation optimization problem. We apply it on a multi-objective aircraft spare parts allocation problem to find a set of non-dominated solutions. The problem has three features: huge search space, multi-objective, and high variability. To address these difficulties, the solution framework employs simulation to estimate the performance, MOEA to search for the more promising designs, and MOCBA algorithm to identify the non-dominated designs and efficiently allocate the simulation budget. Some computational experiments are carried out to test the effectiveness and performance of the proposed solution framework.