A Laser-Guided Spinal Cord Displacement Injury in Adult Mice

Mouse models are unique for studying molecular mechanisms of neurotrauma because of the availability of various genetic modified mouse lines. For spinal cord injury (SCI) research, producing an accurate injury is essential, but it is challenging because of the small size of the mouse cord and the inconsistency of injury production. The Louisville Injury System Apparatus (LISA) impactor has been shown to produce precise contusive SCI in adult rats. Here, we examined whether the LISA impactor could be used to create accurate and graded contusive SCIs in mice. Adult C57BL/6 mice received a T10 laminectomy followed by 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8 mm displacement injuries, guided by a laser, from the dorsal surface of the spinal cord using the LISA impactor. Basso Mouse Scale (BMS), grid-walking, TreadScan, and Hargreaves analyses were performed for up to 6 weeks post-injury. All mice were euthanized at the 7th week, and the spinal cords were collected for histological analysis. Our results showed that the LISA impactor produced accurate and consistent contusive SCIs corresponding to mild, moderate, and severe injuries to the cord. The degree of injury severities could be readily determined by the BMS locomotor, grid-walking, and TreadScan gait assessments. The cutaneous hyperalgesia threshold was also significantly increased as the injury severity increased. The terminal lesion area and the spared white matter of the injury epicenter were strongly correlated with the injury severities. We conclude that the LISA device, guided by a laser, can produce reliable graded contusive SCIs in mice, resulting in severity-dependent behavioral and histopathological deficits

Dense and accurate motion and strain estimation in high resolution speckle images using an image-adaptive approach

Digital image processing methods represent a viable and well acknowledged alternative to strain gauges and interferometric techniques for determining full-field displacements and strains in materials under stress. This paper presents an image adaptive technique for dense motion and strain estimation using high-resolution speckle images that show the analyzed material in its original and deformed states. The algorithm starts by dividing the speckle image showing the original state into irregular cells taking into consideration both spatial and gradient image information present. Subsequently the Newton-Raphson digital image correlation technique is applied to calculate the corresponding motion for each cell. Adaptive spatial regularization in the form of the Geman-McClure robust spatial estimator is employed to increase the spatial consistency of the motion components of a cell with respect to the components of neighbouring cells. To obtain the final strain information, local least-squares fitting using a linear displacement model is performed on the horizontal and vertical displacement fields. To evaluate the presented image partitioning and strain estimation techniques two numerical and two real experiments are employed. The numerical experiments simulate the deformation of a specimen with constant strain across the surface as well as small rigid-body rotations present while real experiments consist specimens that undergo uniaxial stress. The results indicate very good accuracy of the recovered strains as well as better rotation insensitivity compared to classical techniques

A Tissue Displacement-based Contusive Spinal Cord Injury Model in Mice

Producing a consistent and reproducible contusive spinal cord injury (SCI) is critical to minimizing behavioral and histological variabilities between experimental animals. Several contusive SCI models have been developed to produce injuries using different mechanisms. The severity of the SCI is based on the height that a given weight is dropped, the injury force, or the spinal cord displacement. In the current study, we introduce a novel mouse contusive SCI device, the Louisville Injury System Apparatus (LISA) impactor, which can create a displacement-based SCI with high injury velocity and accuracy. This system utilizes laser distance sensors combined with advanced software to produce graded and highly-reproducible injuries. We performed a contusive SCI at the 10th thoracic vertebral (T10) level in mice to demonstrate the step-by-step procedure. The model can also be applied to the cervical and lumbar spinal levels

A Novel Vertebral Stabilization Method for Producing Contusive Spinal Cord Injury

Clinically-relevant animal cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) models are essential for developing and testing potential therapies; however, producing reliable cervical SCI is difficult due to lack of satisfactory methods of vertebral stabilization. The conventional method to stabilize the spine is to suspend the rostral and caudal cervical spine via clamps attached to cervical spinous processes. However, this method of stabilization fails to prevent tissue yielding during the contusion as the cervical spinal processes are too short to be effectively secured by the clamps (Figure 1). Here we introduce a new method to completely stabilize the cervical vertebra at the same level of the impact injury. This method effectively minimizes movement of the spinal column at the site of impact, which greatly improves the production of consistent SCIs. We provide visual description of the equipment (Figure 2-4), methods, and a step-by-step protocol for the stabilization of the cervical 5 vertebra (C5) of adult rats, to perform laminectomy (Figure 5) and produce a contusive SCI thereafter. Although we only demonstrate a cervical hemi-contusion using the NYU/MASCIS impactor device, this vertebral stabilization technique can be applied to other regions of the spinal cord, or be adapted to other SCI devices. Improving spinal cord exposure and fixation through vertebral stabilization may be valuable for producing consistent and reliable injuries to the spinal cord. This vertebral stabilization method can also be used for stereotactic injections of cells and tracers, and for imaging using two-photon microscopy in various neurobiological studies

Antioxidant activities of polysaccharide fractions isolated from burley tobacco flowers

The crude polysaccharide extracted from the flowers of burley tobacco hybrid Eyan 1 was fractionated on a Sepharose CL-6B chromatography to get two purified polysaccharide fractions (termed Fr-I and Fr-II). The monocarbohydrate compositions revealed both fractions were heteropolysaccharide. Fr-I was mainly composed of mannose, galactose, ribose and arabinose, while Fr-II was composed of mannose, galactose and glucose. The IR spectrum of Fr-I and Fr-II revealed the typical characteristics with β-configuration. Furthermore, TGA (Thermogravimetric analysis) indicated the degradation temperature (Td) of the Fr-I and Fr-II was 210 °C and 185 °C, respectively. Both Fr-I and Fr-II possessed good scavenging abilities on hydroxyl radicals (IC50 8.26 mg/ml and 6.23 mg/ml, respectively) and DPPH radicals (IC50 20.3±1.20 µg/ml, 17.5±1.28 µg/ml, respectively). Fr-II showed higher antioxidant properties than Fr-I (p < 0.05). In a 13C NMR analysis of Fr-II, three anomeric peaks appeared at 102.95, 95.79 and 91.85 ppm, which were assigned to the mannose (C-1), galactose (C-1) and glucose (C-1) residues, respectively

Dual Fire Retardant Action: The Combined Gas and Condensed Phase Effects of Azo-Modified NiZnAl Layered Double Hydroxide on Intumescent Polypropylene

Ternary nickel-substituted layered double hydroxide (C-LDH) was synthesized. It was intercalated with azobenzene-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid, using an ion exchange method to obtain organically modified NiZnAl-LDH (O-LDH). Both LDHs were melt-blended into polypropylene (PP) with intumescent fire retardant (IFR). The structure, morphology, thermal stability and combustible properties of intercalated LDH and its hybrid composite have been comprehensively characterized. SEM and EDX mapping show O-LDH exhibits better dispersion than ZnNiAl-CO3 LDH (C-LDH). Cone calorimetry shows the addition of IFR and LDH significantly reduced smoke and heat release rate. The composite with 1 wt% O-LDH, which showed dual gas phase and condensed phase fire retardant action, exhibited the lowest flammability with an LOI value of 29.3 % and achieved a UL-94 V-0 rating. In addition, incorporation of LDH improved the mechanical properties compared to PP/IFR composites. UV absorption showed that O-LDH could significantly improve the ultraviolet stability of PP composites

RW Doradus: A solar-type shallow contact binary with a new orbital period investigation

New CCD photometric light curves of the short-period (P = 0.285 d) eclipsing binary RW Dor are presented. The observations were performed with the PROMPT-8 robotic telescope at CTIO in Chile between 2015 March and 2017 March. Other eclipse timings were obtained from the 2.15 m JS telescope at CASLEO, San Juan, Argentina in 2011 December. Based on a light curve analysis, it is found that RW Dor is a W-type shallow contact binary with a fill-out factor f ∼ 11% and a high mass ratio q ∼ 1.587 (1/q = 0.63), where the hotter component is the less massive one (M1 ∼ 0.52 M and M2 ∼ 0.82 M). For orbital-period investigation, 15 new eclipse times and those previously published were compiled. O − C analysis with very weak evidence suggests that a long-term decrease in period with a rate of dP/dt = −9.61 × 10−9 d yr−1 is superimposed on a cyclic variation(A3 = 0.0054 d and P3 = 49.9 yr). The long-term decrease can be interpreted as mass transfer from the more massive component to the less massive one, or combined with angular momentum loss via magnetic braking. In addition, the marginal contact phase, high mass ratio (1/q > 0.4), and long-term decrease in period all suggest that RW Dor is a newly formed contact binary via Case A mass transfer, and it will evolve into a deepernormal contact binary. If the cyclic change is correct, the light travel-time effect via the presence of a cool third body will be a more plausible explanation for this.Fil: Sarotsakulchai, Thawicharat. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; China. National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand; Tailandia. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Qian, Sheng Bang. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de China. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; ChinaFil: Soonthornthum, Boonrucksar. National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand; TailandiaFil: Fernandez Lajus, Eduardo Eusebio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Liu, Nian Ping. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Zhou, Xiao. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Zhang, Jia. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Liao, Wen Ping. Chinese Academy of Sciences; República de ChinaFil: Reichart, Daniel E.. University of North Carolina; Estados UnidosFil: Haislip, Joshua B.. University of North Carolina; Estados UnidosFil: Kouprianov, Vladimir V.. University of North Carolina; Estados UnidosFil: Poshyachinda, Saran. National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand; Tailandi

Artesunate potentiates antibiotics by inactivating heme-harbouring bacterial nitric oxide synthase and catalase

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A current challenge of coping with bacterial infection is that bacterial pathogens are becoming less susceptible to or more tolerant of commonly used antibiotics. It is urgent to work out a practical solution to combat the multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Oxidative stress-acclimatized bacteria thrive in rifampicin by generating antibiotic-detoxifying nitric oxide (NO), which can be repressed by artesunate or an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS). Suppressed bacterial proliferation correlates with mitigated NO production upon the combined treatment of bacteria by artesunate with antibiotics. Detection of the heme-artesunate conjugate and accordingly declined activities of heme-harbouring bacterial NOS and catalase indicates that artesunate renders bacteria susceptible to antibiotics by alkylating the prosthetic heme group of hemo-enzymes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>By compromising NO-mediated protection from antibiotics and triggering harmful hydrogen peroxide burst, artesunate may serve as a promising antibiotic synergist for killing the multidrug resistant pathogenic bacteria.</p

Experimental demonstration of a squeezing enhanced power recycled Michelson interferometer for gravitational wave detection

Interferometric gravitational wave detectors are expected to be limited by shot noise at some frequencies. We experimentally demonstrate that a power recycled Michelson with squeezed light injected into the dark port can overcome this limit. An improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio of 2.3dB is measured and locked stably for long periods of time. The configuration, control and signal readout of our experiment are compatible with current gravitational wave detector designs. We consider the application of our system to long baseline interferometer designs such as LIGO.Comment: 4 pages 4 figure