On the Radiatively Induced Lorentz and CPT Violating Chern-Simons Term

The radiatively induced Lorentz and CPT violating Chern-Simons terms in QED is calculated based on the recently developed loop regularization method [Y.L. Wu, Int.J.Mod.Phys.A18 (2003) 5363, hep-th/0209021; Y.L. Wu, Mod.Phys.Lett.A19 (2004) 2191, hep-th/0311082] for quantum field theories. It enables us to make general comments on the various results in literature and obtain a consistent result when simultaneously combining the evaluation for the chiral anomaly which has a unique form once the vector current is kept conserved.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, published versio

Regulation of Thermogenic Capacity in White and Brown Adipose Tissues by Chronic Endurance Exercise and High-Fat Diet

This study investigated the effects of high-fat (HF) diet and chronic endurance exercise (Ex) on the regulation of thermogenic capacity in both brown adipose tissue (BAT) and subcutaneous (SC) white adipose tissue (WAT), and how it affects whole-body energy expenditure (EE). Analysis of tissue mass, PGC-1α and UCP-1 content, presence of multilocular adipocytes and palmitate oxidation revealed that HF diet increased the thermogenic capacity of BAT, while Ex suppressed it. Conversely, Ex induced the browning of the SC WAT, indicated by an increased number of multilocular adipocytes, as well as PGC-1α and UCP-1 content, and palmitate oxidation, whereas HF diet attenuated this effect. Despite reducing thermogenic capacity of BAT, Ex increased whole-body EE during the dark cycle. We propose that exercise-induced browning of SC WAT reduces thermogenic capacity in core body regions to manage the increased heat production of exercise, and increases it in peripheral regions to adjust metabolic rate

Calcium Phosphate as a Key Material for Socially Responsible Tissue Engineering

Socially responsible technologies are designed while taking into consideration the socioeconomic, geopolitical and environmental limitations of regions in which they will be implemented. In the medical context, this involves making therapeutic platforms more accessible and affordable to patients in poor regions of the world wherein a given disease is endemic. This often necessitates going against the reigning trend of making therapeutic nanoparticles ever more structurally complex and expensive. However, studies aimed at simplifying materials and formulations while maintaining the functionality and therapeutic response of their more complex counterparts seldom provoke a significant interest in the scientific community. In this review we demonstrate that such compositional simplifications are meaningful when it comes to the design of a solution for osteomyelitis, a disease that is in its natural, non-postoperative form particularly prevalent in the underdeveloped parts of the world wherein poverty, poor sanitary conditions, and chronically compromised defense lines of the immune system are the norm. We show that calcium phosphate nanoparticles, which are inexpensive to make, could be chemically designed to possess the same functionality as a hypothetic mixture additionally composed of: (a) a bone growth factor; (b) an antibiotic for prophylactic or anti-infective purposes; (c) a bisphosphonate as an antiresorptive compound; (d) a viral vector to enable the intracellular delivery of therapeutics; (e) a luminescent dye; (f) a radiographic component; (g) an imaging contrast agent; (h) a magnetic domain; and (i) polymers as viscous components enabling the injectability of the material and acting as carriers for the sustained release of a drug. In particular, calcium phosphates could: (a) produce tunable drug release profiles; (b) take the form of viscous and injectable, self-setting pastes; (c) be naturally osteo-inductive and inhibitory for osteoclastogenesis; (d) intracellularly deliver bioactive compounds; (e) accommodate an array of functional ions; (f) be processed into macroporous constructs for tissue engineering; and (g) be naturally antimicrobial. All in all, we see in calcium phosphates the presence of a protean nature whose therapeutic potentials have been barely tapped into

Astromimetics: The Dawn of a New Era for (Bio)materials Science?

Composite, multifunctional fine particles are likely to be at the frontier of materials science in the foreseeable future. Here we present a submicron composite particle that mimics the stratified structure of the Earth by having a zero-valent iron core, a silicate/silicide mantle, and a thin carbonaceous crust resembling the biosphere and its biotic deposits. Particles were formulated in a stable colloidal form and made to interact with various types of healthy and cancer cells in vitro. A selective anticancer activity was observed, promising from the point of view of the intended use of the particles for tumor targeting across the blood–brain barrier. As an extension of the idea underlying the fabrication of a particle mimicking the planet Earth, we propose a new field of mimetics within materials science: astromimetics. The astromimetic approach in the context of materials science consists of the design of particles after the structure of celestial bodies. With Earth being the most chemically diverse and fertile out of all the astral bodies known, it is anticipated that the great majority of astromimetic material models will fall in the domain of geo-inspired ones

Opioids for Dyspnea End of Life Review

Objective: The objective of this systematic review is to consolidate the existing evidence on opioid use, including administration, dosing and efficacy, for the relief of dyspnea at end-of-life. The overarching goal is to optimize clinical management of dyspnea by identifying patterns in opioid use, improving opioid management of dyspnea, and to prioritize future research. Background: Opioids are commonly used in the management of dyspnea at end of life; yet specific administration guidelines are limited. A greater understanding of the effectiveness of opioids in relieving end-of-life dyspnea with consideration of study design, patients, and opioids, including dyspnea evaluation tools and outcomes, will leverage development of standardized administration and dosing. Methods: A PRISMA guided systematic review using six databases identified quality studies of opioid management for patients with dyspnea at end of life. Results: Twenty-three references met review inclusion criteria which included terminally ill cancer and non-cancer patients with various diagnoses. Studies included two randomized controlled trials, three non-randomized experimental, three prospective observational, one cross-sectional, and one case series. Thirteen retrospective chart reviews were also included due to the limited rigorous studies rendered by the search. Thirteen studies evaluated morphine, followed by fentanyl (6), oxycodone (5), general opioid use (4), and hydromorphone (2). Routes of administration were parenteral, oral, combination, and nebulization. Dyspnea was evaluated using self-reporting and non-self-reporting evaluation tools. Sedation was the most reported opioid related adverse effect. Discussion: Challenges persist in conducting end of life research preventing consensus on standardization of opioid treatment for dyspnea within this specific palliative timeframe. Future robust prospective trials using specific, accurate assessment with re-assessment of dyspnea/respiratory distress, and consideration of opioid tolerance, polypharmacy, and comorbidities are require

Country Natural Beef: A Maturing Co-op at the Crossroads

A Business Base Study of a Group of Northwest Cattle Ranchers that Formed a Co-op to Market Natural Beef Products, in the Face of economic uncertainty and the rise of corporate farms and ranches. Provides an overview of the cattle ranching industry, the history of the co-op, its economic outlook, and future challenges

One Ion to Rule Them All: Combined Antibacterial, Osteoinductive and Anticancer Properties of Selenite-Incorporated Hydroxyapatite

Although hydroxyapatite (HAp) has been doped with dozens of different ions, the quest for an ion imparting a combination of properties conducive to bone healing is still ongoing. Because of its protean potency and the similarity in size and shape to the phosphate tetrahedron, the selenite ion presents a natural ionic substitute in HAp. The incorporation of selenite into synthetic HAp using two different methods – co-precipitation and ion-exchange sorption – was studied for its effect on crystal properties and on a triad of biological responses: antibacterial, anticancer and osteoinductive. Co-precipitation yielded HAp with a higher selenite content than sorption and the stoichiometry of HAp richest in selenite was represented as Ca9.75(PO4)5.75(SeO3)0.25(OH)1.75. The crystallinity of HAp decreased in direct proportion to the amount of selenite incorporated. Because of their lower selenite content, HAp powders prepared by ion-exchange exhibited a consistently higher crystallinity compared to the co-precipitated ones. Annealing partially recovered the crystallinity, yet the difference in crystallinity between powders prepared by co-precipitation and by ion-exchange remained, suggesting that the amorphization is mainly due to structural incorporation of selenite, not its effect on the crystal growth kinetics. The addition of selenite changed the morphology of the HAp nanoparticles from acicular to rounded and affected the crystal lattice parameters in different ways depending on whether the powders were annealed or not. As for the annealed powders, the incorporation of selenite contracted the lattice in both the a and c crystallographic directions. In the agar diffusion assay, the effectiveness of HAp was more dependent on the presence or absence of selenite in it than on its concentration and was the highest against E. coli and S. aureus, moderately high against S. enteritidis and ineffective against P. aeruginosa. In liquid inoculation tests, on the other hand, the antibacterial activity of HAp was directly proportional to the amount of selenite contained in it. The viability of K7M2 osteosarcoma cells decreased in direct proportion to the amount of selenite in HAp and was significantly different from the untreated control and from pure HAp at a content equal to or higher than 1.9 wt%. In contrast, no reduction was observed in the viability of primary fibroblasts treated with HAp incorporating different amounts of selenite ions, suggesting their potentially selective anticancer activity: lethal for cancer cells and harmless for healthy cells. Finally, mRNA expression of the bone gamma-carboxyglutamate protein (BGLAP3) was higher in differentiated MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cells treated with selenite-incorporated HAp particles than in cells treated with pure HAp. The osteoinductive effect was due to an overall higher metabolic activity of cells treated with the particles and not due to increased proliferation. In such a way, a triad of antibacterial, osteoinductive and anticancer activities was attributed to selenite-incorporated HAp

Network and cellular mechanisms underlying heterogeneous excitatory/inhibitory balanced states

Recent work has explored spatiotemporal relationships between excitatory (E) and inhibitory (I) signaling within neural networks, and the effect of these relationships on network activity patterns. Data from these studies have indicated that excitation and inhibition are maintained at a similar level across long time periods and that excitatory and inhibitory currents may be tightly synchronized. Disruption of this balance—leading to an aberrant E/I ratio—is implicated in various brain pathologies. However, a thorough characterization of the relationship between E and I currents in experimental settings is largely impossible, due to their tight regulation at multiple cellular and network levels. Here, we use biophysical neural network models to investigate the emergence and properties of balanced states by heterogeneous mechanisms. Our results show that a network can homeostatically regulate the E/I ratio through interactions among multiple cellular and network factors, including average firing rates, synaptic weights and average neural depolarization levels in excitatory/inhibitory populations. Complex and competing interactions between firing rates and depolarization levels allow these factors to alternately dominate network dynamics in different synaptic weight regimes. This leads to the emergence of distinct mechanisms responsible for determining a balanced state and its dynamical correlate. Our analysis provides a comprehensive picture of how E/I ratio changes when manipulating specific network properties, and identifies the mechanisms regulating E/I balance. These results provide a framework to explain the diverse, and in some cases, contradictory experimental observations on the E/I state in different brain states and conditions.Network can homeostatically regulate the E/I ratio and net post‐synaptic current through interactions among multiple cellular and network factors, including average firing rates, synaptic weights and average neural depolarization levels in excitatory/inhibitory neuronal populations, leading to the emergence of distinct mechanisms responsible for determining a balanced E/I state and its dynamical correlate. This in turn leads to the emergence of multiple balance states having different dynamical properties.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154922/1/ejn14669_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154922/2/ejn14669-sup-0001-Supinfo.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154922/3/ejn14669.pd

The Effect of Neuropriming and Focus of Attention on Amateur Standing Long Jump Performance

International Journal of Exercise Science 15(1): 1472-1480, 2022. Non-invasive brain stimulation has been prominent in recent neurophysiology research. The use of brain stimulation has not been examined in combination with the focus of attention paradigm, an established motor control tool. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of both brain stimulation and focus of attention on the outcome performance, peak force, lower extremity joint kinematics, and projection angle of a standing long jump. Forty-one participants were assigned to either the brain stimulation group or placebo group via a counterbalance design based on leg length and jump distance. Participants were only accepted if they had not previously trained in the standing long jump. On a second day, participants performed a standing long jump under control, external, and internal attentional foci after having undergone either a single session of brain stimulation or a placebo warm-up. Five total jumps were performed: one baseline jump followed by two for each attentional focus condition. The results indicated that an external focus of attention and control conditions created a reduced projection angle compared to an internal focus of attention and that brain stimulation did not have any effects on the performance of a standing long jump after a single session. There were no changes evident between hip, knee, and ankle joint angles, force production, or jump distance between any of the conditions or groups