Neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects of myricetin 3-glucoside in a rat model of cerebral ischemia

Purpose: To investigate the effect of myricetin 3-glucoside (M3GLS) on middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO)-induced cerebral ischemia in a rat model, and the mechanism of action involved.Methods: A cerebral ischemia rat model was established using MCAO under 10 % chloral hydrate anesthesia. Neurological severity score was determined by analyzing reflex, motor and sensory functions, as well as balancing potential. Infarction volume was determined using triphenyl tetrazolium chloride dye, while counting of Nissl bodies was done after toluidine blue staining. The protein expression levels of Bax and Bcl-2 were assayed using western blotting, while cytokine levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results: Treatment of cerebral ischemia rats with M3GLS effectively reduced infarct volume, when compared to vehicle-treated group (p < 0.05). Moreover, M3GLS treatment significantly increased the population of Nissl bodies and effectively improved neurologic scores (p < 0.05). In M3GLS-pretreated rats, cerebral ischemia-induced elevation of protein expressions of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β were significantly suppressed. M3GL treatment significantly reversed cerebral ischemia-mediated downregulation of Bcl-2 protein level, but markedly reduced cerebral ischemia-induced upregulation of Bax protein level (p < 0.05).Conclusion: M3GLS exerts protective effect against cerebral ischemia-induced brain injury in rats via downregulation of inflammatory cytokines. It reduces infarction volume in the brain of cerebral ischemia rats, and regulates Bcl-2/Bax protein ratio. Thus, M3GLS has a potential for use in the clinical management of cerebral ischemia. Keywords: Myricetin, Neuroprotection, Anti-inflammation, Cerebral ischemia, Cytokines, Infarctio

Rapid and Visual Detection of Monkey B Virus Based on Recombinase Polymerase Amplification

Monkey B virus (BV) infection in humans and other macaque species has a mortality rate of approximately 80%. Because BV infects humans through bites, scratches, and other injuries inflicted by macaques, the simple and rapid diagnosis of BV in field laboratories is of great importance to protect veterinarians, laboratory researchers, and support personnels from the threat of infection. Two recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assays with a closed vertical flow (VF) visualization strip (RPA-VF-UL27 and RPA-VF-US6) were developed that target two conserved genes combined with a one-off, closed visualization strip device. We compared the sensitivities and specificities of the two assays after optimization of the reaction conditions. The performance of RPA-VF-US6 at room temperature was determined to evaluate its potential in point-of-care (POC) testing. RPA-VF-US6 specifically detected the positive plasmid control (rather than nucleic acids of herpesviruses) with a detection limit of 28 copies, while RPA-VF-UL27 had cross-reactivity with HSV-1, but even 3.4 copies of plasmid standards were readout by this assay. Moreover, RPA-VF-US6 had excellent performance at room temperature (the detection limit was 2,800 plasmid copies), indicating the potential of RPA-VF-US6 in POC testing. We developed two RPA assays for BV visualization diagnosis. RPA-VF-US6 is a simple, rapid, and specific detection method for BV. The entire reaction can be performed at a constant temperature within 30 min, suggesting the potential of RPA-VF-US6 for POC testing in field laboratories without sophisticated instruments

Adding power of artificial intelligence to situational awareness of large interconnections dominated by inverter‐based resources

Large-scale power systems exhibit more complex dynamics due to the increasing integration of inverter-based resources (IBRs). Therefore, there is an urgent need to enhance the situational awareness capability for better monitoring and control of power grids dominated by IBRs. As a pioneering Wide-Area Measurement System, FNET/GridEye has developed and implemented various advanced applications based on the collected synchrophasor measurements to enhance the situational awareness capability of large-scale power grids. This study provides an overview of the latest progress of FNET/GridEye. The sensors, communication, and data servers are upgraded to handle ultra-high density synchrophasor and point-on-wave data to monitor system dynamics with more details. More importantly, several artificial intelligence (AI)-based advanced applications are introduced, including AI-based inertia estimation, AI-based disturbance size and location estimation, AI-based system stability assessment, and AI-based data authentication

Dissociative Adsorption of PH3 on the Si(111)-7 x 7 Surface: A Theoretical Investigation

Density functional theory at the level of (U)B3LYP has been used to explore the dissociation of PH3 on the adatom site (Si-a) and rest atom site (Si-r) of the Si(111)-7 x 7 surface. A detailed comparison between PH3 and NH3 adsorption on Si(111)-7 x 7 is performed. Our results show that PH3 initial dissociation to adsorbed species, PH2(a) and H(a), is facile and preferentially occurs on the Si-r site. The same trend was found for NH3, but PH3 shows a site selectivity higher than NH3. XH2(a) is thermally stable, and an elevated temperature is required for further X-H (X = N or P) bond decomposition. The general mechanism for further X-H bond decomposition is XHn (n = 2 or 1) insertion into Si-Si backbond, followed by H-2 liberation, with the former usually being the rate-determining step. Full XH3 decomposition may lead to the formation of Si=X or Si3X unit with the preference on the Si-r site for N and that on the Si-a site for P. Such a difference should be attributed to X-H bond energy difference, the atomic radius difference between P and N, and the release of the strain energy of the reconstructed surface. We anticipate that the detailed energetics obtained from this study can be used as the quantum-mechanical input for a chemical-kinetics model of chemical vapor deposition.NSFC [20525311, 20533030, 20423002, 10774126]; Ministry of Science and Technology [2007CB815206, 2004CB719902

Mechanisms for NH3 decomposition on the si(111)-7 x 7 surface: A DFT cluster model study

Density functional theory at the level of (U)B3LYP has been employed to explore the complete dissociation of NH3 on the Si(111)-7 x 7 surface. The results were compared and contrasted to those of the Si(100)-2 x 1 surface. Our, calculations demonstrated that there existed competing factors, which determined the selectivity of various surface sites on every step of N-H bond dissociation. The initial N-H bond dissociation from NH3 to form the adsorbed NH2 species was most preferential on the rest atom site (Si-r) of Si(1 11)-7 x 7. This was attributed to a high probability of trapping the incident ammonia on the Si, site. Further N-H bond dissociation can be facilitated by the elevated temperature, which started by an NHx (x = 2 and 1) insertion, followed by an H-transfer process. Although the NH2 insertion into the Si-Si backbond on the Si(100)-2 x 1 surface was found to be the easiest, the NH insertion was most feasible on the adatom site (Si-a) of Si(111)-7 x 7. These results can be used as the quantum mechanical input for chemical kinetics model of chemical vapor deposition and should be of significance in the nlicroelectronic industry

Aggregate-Breaking Mechanism Response to Polyacrylamide Application of Purple Soils in Southwestern China Using Le Bissonnais Method

Polyacrylamide (PAM) is a water-soluble polymer with strong cohesiveness and a strong water absorption capacity, and it has been widely used to modify soil structural stability. However, little information is available on the impact of PAM application on the aggregate-breaking process of purple soils in hilly areas of southwestern China. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the influence of PAM application on the aggregate stability of purple soil in terms of different breakdown mechanisms at different hillslope locations. Three disruptive tests employing the Le Bissonnais method (FW, fast-wetting sieving; SW, slow-wetting sieving; and WS, wet-stirring sieving) were used to determine the mean weight diameter (MWD), geometric mean diameter (GMD), and mass fractal dimension (D) of the soil aggregates, and soil erodibility factor (K) was calculated as an index of soil anti-erodibility. Overall, the major aggregate-breaking mechanism for purple soils was the following: SW (differential swelling) > WS (mechanical breakdown) > FW (slaking). The content of water-stable aggregates (>0.25 mm) obviously rose after PAM application, with the most significant influences shown under FW. A significant difference in MWD was observed between PAM application and without polyacrylamide application (CK) under WS (p p < 0.05) under FW and SW. In comparison with CK, D value in PAM under FW and SW was significantly reduced, mainly at the slope locations of 0 and 20 m. A descending order of FW, WS, and SW was found on the basis of K value at different slope locations. These findings contribute to improved understanding of proper application of soil amendments to control soil and water loss in purple soils

The transition metal surface dependent methane decomposition in graphene chemical vapor deposition growth

By using density-functional theory (DFT) calculations, the dissociation of CH4 on various metal surfaces, including Ni, Cu, Ru, Pd, Pt, Ir, Co, Au, and Rh, is systematically explored. For all the explored facecentered cubic (fcc) metal substrates, the (100) surface is found to be more active than the (111) surface, which explains the higher activity of the (100) surface in graphene chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth. The catalytic activity order of these metals is found to be Ni approximate to Rh approximate to Co approximate to Ru &gt; Pd approximate to Pt approximate to Ir &gt; Cu &gt; Au, which explained the catalyst type dependent growth behavior of graphene. It was found that the main dissociation product of CH4 on Ni, Pd, Pt, Ir, Rh, Co, and Ru substrates is a carbon monomer and a very high rate of dissociation is expected, but a low rate of dissociation and the dissociation products of CHi (i = 1, 2, 3) are expected on Cu and Au surfaces, which explained the diffusion-limited growth of graphene on Cu and Au surfaces and attachment limited growth on other active metal surfaces. Furthermore, our study shows that the dissociation of CH4 on all these metal substrates follows the well-known Bronsted-Evans-Polanyi (BEP) principles, or the reaction barrier is roughly linear to the reaction energy