Liuwei Dihuang formula ameliorates chronic stress-induced emotional and cognitive impairments in mice by elevating hippocampal O-GlcNAc modification

A substantial body of evidence has indicated that intracerebral O-linked N-acetyl-β-D-glucosamine (O-GlcNAc), a generalized post-translational modification, was emerging as an effective regulator of stress-induced emotional and cognitive impairments. Our previous studies showed that the Liuwei Dihuang formula (LW) significantly improved the emotional and cognitive dysfunctions in various types of stress mouse models. In the current study, we sought to determine the effects of LW on intracerebral O-GlcNAc levels in chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) mice. The dynamic behavioral tests showed that anxiety- and depression-like behaviors and object recognition memory of CUMS mice were improved in a dose-dependent manner after LW treatment. Moreover, linear discriminate analysis (LEfSe) of genera abundance revealed a significant difference in microbiome among the study groups. LW showed a great impact on the relative abundance of these gut microbiota in CUMS mice and reinstated them to control mouse levels. We found that LW potentially altered the Uridine diphosphate-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) biosynthesis process, and the abundance of O-GlcNAcase (OGA) and O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) in CUMS mice, which was inferred using PICRUSt analysis. We further verified advantageous changes in hippocampal O-GlcNAc modification of CUMS mice following LW administration, as well as changes in the levels of OGA and OGT. In summary, LW intervention increased the levels of hippocampal O-GlcNAc modification and ameliorated the emotional and cognitive impairments induced by chronic stress in CUMS mice. LW therefore could be considered a potential prophylactic and therapeutic agent for chronic stress

Fatigue crack propagation behavior of Ni-based superalloys after overloading at elevated temperatures

AbstractThe fatigue crack propagation behavior of three superalloys subjected to a single overloading at elevated temperatures was investigated. The fatigue crack propagation rate FCPR versus stress intensity factor range data da/dN—ΔK were calculated using the two-point secant method. It was found that the crack growth rates of the investigated materials were retarded after overloading with an overload ratio ROL=1.6. The size of the plastic zone in the front of the crack tip and its relation to loading level were discussed. The overload retardation effects are attributed to crack closure. The fatigue damage in the plastic zone can also be a factor to explain the overload retardation

ENV-607: SURFACTANT-MODIFIED BIOMASS ADSORBENTS FOR ENHANCED REMOVAL OF POLLUTANTS FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTION

From the view of economical efficiency and technology sustainability, considerable attention has been recently given to the use of low-cost biomass residues as adsorbents in pollution control. To achieve a desirable adsorptive efficiency, some efforts have also been made to modify biomass adsorbents through appropriate treatments. There is a particular interest in surfactant-assisted biomass surface modification. Although some findings from previous studies are encouraging, knowledge about the adsorption of pollutants onto surfactant-modified biomass is still limited. A number of issues about the characteristics of involved interface transport are poorly understood. The present study therefore aims to examine the adsorption of anionic azo dyes onto surfactant-modified biomass in the solution. Different surfactants are used for modification. The equilibrium and kinetic studies for the adsorption of anionic azo dyes on modified biomass are conducted and the effects of aqueous chemistry characteristics are also evaluated. The results present the potential of modified biomass as suitable adsorbent for the removal of anionic azo dyes from wastewater. It can help understand the migration patterns of organic pollutants at biomass-water interface

Temporal attention affects contrast response function by response gain

Orienting attention to a specific point in time has been shown to improve the contrast sensitivity at the attended time point and impair it earlier or later. This phenomenon could be explained by temporal attention increasing the effective contrast of the target presented at the attended time point which leads to changes in contrast psychometric function by contrast gain. Another explanation is that temporal attention multiplicatively amplifies the amplitude of behavioral or neural response to contrast, resulting in alterations in contrast psychometric function by response gain. To explore the underlying mechanism, we adopted a temporal cueing orientation discrimination task using audio pre-cues composed of different frequency components to induce different attentional allocations in the time domain and targets of various contrast intensities to measure contrast psychometric functions. Obtained psychometric functions for contrast sensitivity were fitted for different conditions with discrepant attentional states in time. We found that temporal attention manipulated by cue affected contrast psychometric function by response gain, indicating that multiplying the contrast response of the visual target occurring at the selected point in time by a fixed factor is a crucial way for temporal attention to modulate perceptual processing

Captive breeding of wildlife resources-China's revised supply-side approach to conservation

The conservation and utilization of wild animals in China often raises public concerns. Thus, the Chinese government is increasingly exploring sustainable development of wildlife resources, and has implemented a series of measures, such as the modification of the Wildlife Protection Law (WPL), implementation of captive breeding licenses, an animal marking system, forest certification, and other actions to regulate captive breeding and utilization of wildlife. At the same time, the government tries to meet the Chinese traditional demand for wildlife products. We first introduce wildlife utilization as an internationally accepted conservation tool, and describe market‐based wildlife farming as a legal substitute for wild‐hunted animals. Second, we highlight the importance of wildlife products in Chinese culture and economy and review some successful examples of wildlife utilization in China, showing that the supply‐side approach is a viable alternative to classical conservation. Subsequently, we outline benefits of, and drawbacks to, China's ‘conservation through utilization’ approach, resulting in the implementation of China's new, revised WPL. We discuss merits and shortcomings of China's revised WPL and respond to recent national and international criticism on China's supply‐side approach to conservation. We strongly propose that captive breeding is a feasible approach to China's wildlife conservation–utilization dilemma, and much work is needed to promote the progress, such as legislation restructure, government attention, duties clarification, and so on. © 2019 The Wildlife Society

Recognition of outer membrane proteins using multiple feature fusion

Introduction: Outer membrane proteins are crucial in maintaining the structural stability and permeability of the outer membrane. Outer membrane proteins exhibit several functions such as antigenicity and strong immunogenicity, which have potential applications in clinical diagnosis and disease prevention. However, wet experiments for studying OMPs are time and capital-intensive, thereby necessitating the use of computational methods for their identification.Methods: In this study, we developed a computational model to predict outer membrane proteins. The non-redundant dataset consists of a positive set of 208 outer membrane proteins and a negative set of 876 non-outer membrane proteins. In this study, we employed the pseudo amino acid composition method to extract feature vectors and subsequently utilized the support vector machine for prediction.Results and Discussion: In the Jackknife cross-validation, the overall accuracy and the area under receiver operating characteristic curve were observed to be 93.19% and 0.966, respectively. These results demonstrate that our model can produce accurate predictions, and could serve as a valuable guide for experimental research on outer membrane proteins

Layer-by-Layer CdS-Modified TiO

A layer-by-layer assemble method was used to fabricate CdS quantum dots (QDs) sensitized electrodes. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been utilized to characterize the samples. The absorption spectra and photovoltaic measurement confirmed that much more effective deposition of QDs in TiO2 matrix and much better power conversion performance were achieved for these multilayer electrodes compared with the ones fabricated by traditional single-layer assembly method

Lactobacillus plantarum-derived postbiotics prevent Salmonella-induced neurological dysfunctions by modulating gut–brain axis in mice

Postbiotics are the inactive bacteria and/or metabolites of beneficial microbes which have been recently found to be as effective as their live probiotic. This study aimed to evaluate the benefits of Lactobacillus plantarum (LP)-derived postbiotics on ameliorating Salmonella-induced neurological dysfunctions. Mice were pretreated with LP postbiotics (heat-killed bacteria or the metabolites) or active bacteria, and then challenged with Salmonella enterica Typhimurium (ST). Results showed that LP postbiotics, particularly the metabolites, effectively prevented ST infection in mice, as evidenced by the inhibited weight loss, bacterial translocation, and tissue damages. The LP postbiotics markedly suppressed brain injuries and neuroinflammation (the decreased interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6, and the increased IL-4 and IL-10). Behavior tests indicated that LP postbiotics, especially the metabolites, protected mice from ST-induced anxiety and depressive-like behaviors and cognitive impairment. A significant modulation of neuroactive molecules (5-hydroxytryptamine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, dopamine, acetylcholine, and neuropeptide Y) was also found by LP postbiotic pretreatment. Microbiome analysis revealed that LP postbiotics optimized the cecal microbial composition by increasing Helicobacter, Lactobacillus and Dubosiella, and decreasing Mucispirillum, norank_f_Oscillospiraceae, and Eubacterium_siraeum_group. Moreover, LP postbiotics inhibited the reduction of short-chain fatty acids caused by ST infection. Pearson's correlation assays further confirmed the strong relationship of LP postbiotics-mediated benefits and gut microbiota. This study highlights the effectiveness of postbiotics and provide a promising strategy for preventing infection-induced brain disorders by targeting gut–brain axis

The recent decline and recovery of Indian summer monsoon rainfall: relative roles of external forcing and internal variability

The Indian summer monsoon (ISM) rainfall affects a large population in South Asia. Observations show a decline in ISM rainfall from 1950-1999 and a recovery from 1999-2013. While the decline has been attributed to global warming, aerosol effects, deforestation, and a negative-to-positive phase transition of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO), the cause for the recovery remains largely unclear. Through analyses of a 57-member perturbed-parameter ensemble of model simulations, this study shows that the externally-forced rainfall trend is relatively weak and is overwhelmed by large internal variability during both 1950-1999 and 1999-2013. The IPO is identified as the internal mode that helps modulate the recent decline and recovery of the ISM rainfall. The IPO induces ISM rainfall changes through moisture convergence anomalies associated with an anomalous Walker circulation and meridional tropospheric temperature gradients and the resultant anomalous convection and zonal moisture advection. The negative-to-positive IPO phase transition from 1950-1999 reduces what would have been an externally-forced weak upward rainfall trend of 0.01 mm day-1 decade-1 to −0.15 mm day-1 decade-1 during that period, while the rainfall trend from 1999-2013 increases from the forced value of 0.42 to 0.68 mm day-1 decade-1 associated with a positive-to-negative IPO phase transition. Such a significant modulation of the historical ISM rainfall trends by the IPO is confirmed by another 100-member ensemble of simulations using perturbed initial conditions. Our findings highlight that the interplay between the effects of external forcing and the IPO needs be considered for climate adaptation and mitigation strategies in South Asia