Phosphomolybdic acid-responsive Pickering emulsions stabilized by ionic liquid functionalized Janus nanosheets

<p><b>A</b> Representative photomicrographs of Caspase-3 immunofluorescence staining (400×). <b>B</b> Quantification of Caspase-3 fluorescence intensity in different groups. <b>C</b> Representative Western blot band of Caspase-3 activation in the ischemic cortex at 24 h after reperfusion. <b>D</b> Effect of LBP (40 mg/kg) on the Caspase-3 activation in MCAO mice cortex at 24 h after reperfusion. Data are expressed as mean±SEM (n = 6). ^##P<0.01 vs. sham-operated group; **P<0.01 vs. vehicle group.</p

The link between Parkinson's disease and breast and prostate cancers: A meta-analysis

<div><p><i>Purpose</i>: Clinical observations have shown an increased morbidity for breast cancer or prostate cancer in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), however, other reports have noted contradictory results. This pooled analysis was utilized to test whether PD is associated with the risk of breast or prostate cancer. <i>Methods</i>: We searched PubMed, Embase and Cochrane library and conducted a meta-analysis to clarify the correlation of PD with breast and/or prostate cancer risk. We identified 16 eligible articles from which odds ratios with 95% confident intervals were assessed as main measures in the pooled estimation. Subgroup analyses and cumulative meta-analysis were also performed. <i>Results</i>: Our results showed no PD risk associated with breast or prostate cancer in the overall population, which was supported by the results of cumulative meta-analyses. The subgroup analyses suggested no significant risk of breast or prostate cancer in patients with PD within relevant subsets, i.e. gender, ethnicity, PD diagnosis time or study design. No evidence of publication bias was observed across the involved studies. <i>Conclusions</i>: This meta-analysis indicates a lack of association between PD and risk of breast or prostate cancer.</p></div

Context-induced drug-seeking in rats self-administering saline or nicotine with CS₂.

<p>Extinction training was conducted in operant chambers different from those used in the self-administration sessions. Two reinstatement tests were conducted consecutively in the presence of a demonstrator rat. The demonstrator rat either provided a neutral social environment (NSE, i.e., did not have access to the olfactogustatory cue), or an inducing social environment (ISE, i.e., consuming olfactogustatory olfactogustatory cue). The sequence of tests were counterbalanced between rats. **: p<0.01, compared to extinction; +: p<0.05, compared to the active spouts; ++: p<0.01, compared to the active spouts.</p

Statistical results for context-induced reinstatement.

<p>Two reinstatement tests were conducted consecutively in the presence of demonstrator rats that provided either a neutral social environment or an inducing social environment. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare the number of licks on the active spout between extinction and reinstatement, the number of licks on the active spout between the two social contexts, and the number of licks on the active vs. the inactive spout during reinstatement tests.</p><p>Statistical results for context-induced reinstatement.</p

Number of infusions obtained by rats self-administering nicotine with an olfactogustatory cue and different concentrations of CS₂.

<p>(a) The number of daily infusions obtained by rats that received 500 ppm CS₂ was significantly higher than all other groups. (b) The average number of infusions obtained during the last five sessions was compared between different oral cues. * p<0.05, Tukey HSD; ** p<0.01, Tukey HSD; ***: p<0.001, Repeated measures ANOVA.</p

Nicotine self-administration with an olfactogustatory cue and CS₂ in adolescent rats.

<p>Adolescent rats self-administered i.v. nicotine with contingent olfactogustatory cue containing different concentrations of CS₂. Rats that received only the olfactogustatory cue (a) licked less on the active spout. With increasing concentration of CS₂ included in the olfactogustatory cue, the number of licks on the active spout took fewer sessions to surpass that on the inactive spouts (10 ppm: 4 sessions, 100 ppm: 3 sessions, 500 ppm: 1 session). *: p<0.05; **: p<0.01, repeated measures ANOVA.</p

Context-induced drug-seeking in rats self-administering nicotine with an olfactogustatory cue and different concentrations of CS₂.

<p>The nicotine self-administration environment induced strong drug-seeking behavior in all nicotine groups. In rats that received 500 ppm CS₂ during self-administration, the inducing social environment induced a significantly greater amount of drug-seeking behavior compared to the neutral social environment. ***: p<0.001 compared to extinction; ++: p<0.01 compared to the active spouts; +++: p<0.001 compared to the active spouts; #: p<0.05 compared to NSE. NSE: the neutral social environment; ISE: the inducing social environment.</p

Nicotine self-administration with CS₂ in adolescent rats.

<p>Adolescent female Sprague-Dawley rats implanted with jugular catheters were placed in operant chambers equipped with two lickometers. Licking on the active spout that met a fixed-ratio 10 reinforcement schedule triggered contingent delivery of oral CS₂ (500 ppm, dissolved in water) and i.v. saline (a) or i.v. nicotine (b). No olfactogustatory cue was used. Both groups showed preference for the active spout. The average number of infusions (c) was 12.9±1.9 for rats that self-administered saline, and 6.7±0.4 for rats that self-administered nicotine. **: p<0.01; ***: p<0.001, repeated measures ANOVA.</p

Development and implementation of geometrically accurate reduced-order models: Convergence properties of planar beams

A geometrically accurate infinitesimal-rotation planar beam element is developed and implemented in this study. The performance of the element, which is suited for developing reduced-order models for both structural and multibody systems (MBS), is evaluated using an eigenvalue analysis. Unlike conventional infinitesimal-rotation finite elements (FE), the new element is compatible with the computer-aided design (CAD) B-spline and NURBS (Non- Uniform Rational B-Spline) representations and allows for a straightforward linear transformation of CAD solid models to FE analysis meshes. The absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) elements, which are related to B-splines and NURBS by linear mapping, are used as the basis for developing the planar beam element. The new planar beam element has a shape function matrix expressed in terms of geometric coefficients obtained using the ANCF position vector gradients in the reference configuration. The change in the position vector gradients is written in terms of translational and infinitesimal rotation coordinates using a velocity transformation that defines constant element mass and stiffness matrices. Using this approach, initially straight and curved configurations can be modeled using the same displacement field. The eigenvalue analysis is used to evaluate the element performance and examine the effect of shear locking on the predicted frequencies. Several elastic force formulations are used to evaluate the convergence characteristics, including the direct displacement method (DDM), general continuum mechanics (GCM) approach, elastic line (EL) approach, and strain split method (SSM). The element performance is compared with the conventional Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko elements as well as the analytical solutions

Development and implementation of geometrically accurate reduced-order models: Convergence properties of planar beams

A geometrically accurate infinitesimal-rotation planar beam element is developed and implemented in this study. The performance of the element, which is suited for developing reduced-order models for both structural and multibody systems (MBS), is evaluated using an eigenvalue analysis. Unlike conventional infinitesimal-rotation finite elements (FE), the new element is compatible with the computer-aided design (CAD) B-spline and NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline) representations and allows for a straightforward linear transformation of CAD solid models to FE analysis meshes. The absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) elements, which are related to B-splines and NURBS by linear mapping, are used as the basis for developing the planar beam element. The new element has a shape function matrix expressed in terms of geometric coefficients obtained using the ANCF position vector gradients in the reference configuration. The change in the position vector gradients is written in terms of infinitesimal rotation coordinates using a velocity transformation that defines constant element mass and stiffness matrices. Using this approach, initially straight and curved configurations can be modeled using the same displacement field. The eigenvalue analysis is used to evaluate the element performance and examine the effect of shear locking on the predicted frequencies. Several elastic force formulations are used to evaluate the convergence characteristics, including the direct displacement method (DDM), general continuum mechanics (GCM) approach, elastic line (EL) approach, and strain split method (SSM). The element performance is compared with the conventional Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko elements as well as the analytical solutions