Effect of diagnostic ultrasound on corneal apoptosis in rats

Purpose: To investigate the effect of diagnostic ultrasound on corneal apoptosis in rats.Methods: 24 male rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control group, 10, 20 and 30 min group. The eyeballs of rats were irradiated  continuously for different time lengths by Siemens ACUSON S2000 color Doppler ultrasound diagnostic instrument. 24 hours later, the animals were killed and the corneas were taken for Tunel apoptosis detection. The apoptosis rates of corneal epithelial cells, stromal cells and endothelial cells were calculated.Results: Apoptotic cells were detected in corneal epithelial cells, stromal cells and endothelial cells of normal rats. There was no significant difference between the 10 min group and the control group (P>0.05). The apoptosis rate of 20 min and 30 min groups was significantly higher than that of the control group. With the extension of irradiation time, the apoptosis rate of corneal epithelial cells, stromal cells and endothelial cells increased.Conclusion: 20 min of rat eyeball irradiated by diagnostic ultrasound can increase the apoptosis of corneal cells, and the apoptosis is aggravated with the prolongation of ultrasound irradiation time. Keywords: Cornea; Ultrasonography; Apoptosis; Epithelial cell

Rogue Wave Solutions to Integrable System by Darboux Transformation

The Darboux transformation is one of the main techniques for finding solutions of integrable equations. The Darboux transformation is not only powerful in the construction of muilti-soliton solutions, recently, it is found that the Darboux transformation, after some modification, is also effective in generating the rogue wave solutions. In this thesis, we derive the rogue wave solutions for the Davey-Stewartson-II (DS-II) equation in terms of Darboux transformation. By taking the spectral function as the product of plane wave and rational function, we get the fundamental rogue wave solution and multi-rogue wave solutions via the normal Darboux transformation. Last but not least, we construct a generalized Darboux transformation for DS-II equation by using the limit process. As applications, we use the generalized Darboux transformation to derive the second-order rogue waves. In addition, an alternative way is applied to derive the N-fold Darboux transformation for the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation. One advantage of this method is that the proof for N-fold Darboux transformation is very straightforward

VOICE USER INTERFACE BASED PERMISSION GRANT SYSTEM FOR VEHICLES

A vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, a bus, a recreational vehicle (RV), a semi-trailer truck, a tractor or other type of farm equipment, a train, a plane, a helicopter, etc.) may include a so-called “head unit” that provides a voice user interface (VUI) by which to enable spoken human interaction with the head unit to respond to requests for permission (e.g., to access user personal data, to enable the usage of third-party services, etc.). For example, responsive to detecting that an action to be performed has not been granted permission, the head unit may produce (e.g., via one or more speakers) an audio prompt requesting the required permission. A user may answer the audio prompt with an audio input in the form of human speech, which the head unit may receive (e.g., via one or more microphones). The head unit may parse the audio input using speech recognition (e.g., a natural language understanding module) to identify a valid input (e.g., grant or deny permission to perform an action, request additional information, etc.) to which the audio input corresponds and, responsive to identifying a valid input, the head unit may perform the action (e.g., granting or denying permission to perform the action, providing additional information, etc.) associated with the valid input. In this way, the head unit may enable the user to control the granting of permissions via the VUI, which may be particularly beneficial in vehicle settings in which the user is operating the vehicle, as the hands-free, eyes-free user experience may reduce distractions to the user while operating the vehicle and thereby promote safety

The Differences and Similarities between Curiosity and Interest: Meta-analysis and Network Analyses

Three studies on the relationship between curiosity and interest are reported. The first study was a meta-analysis that examined the Pearson correlations between scales assessing curiosity and interest. Based on 24 studies (31 effect sizes), we found that the curiosity scales correlated with the interest scales at a moderate level (r = 0.53), but they had extremely high heterogeneity. The second and third studies applied network analyses (i.e., co occurrence analysis and correlation-based analysis) to data that was collected using experience sampling method. Across the studies, we found that while the feelings of curiosity reflected feelings of inquisitiveness, the feelings of interest were aligned with positive affect such as enjoyment and happiness. Importantly, an asymmetrical pattern also was found in curiosity-interest co-occurrences: when feelings of curiosity occurred, the co occurrence of feelings of interest was highly likely, but not so vice versa. Overall, our findings suggest that feelings of curiosity are special cases of feelings of interest that pertain to knowledge acquisition. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.Peer reviewe

Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of a novel Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitor, DMNG-3

DMNG-3 (3β-Methyl-[2-(4-nitrophenoxy)ethyl]-amino]con-5-enine), is a new and the potentially most potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitor recently obtained from conessine by N-demethylation and nucleophilic substitution reaction. In the present study, a step‑down passive avoidance test was used to investigate whether DMNG-3 could modulate impairment of learning and memory induced by scopolamine, and a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of DMNG-3 in biological samples was applied to study its pharmacokinetics and tissues distribution. Separation was achieved on C18 column using a mobile phase consisting methanol‑water (70:30, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The intra- and inter-day precisions were good and the RSD was all lower than 1.30%. The mean absolute recovery of DMNG-3 in plasma ranged from 88.55 to 96.45%. Our results showed oral administration of DMNG-3 (10, 25, 50 mg/kg/day) can significantly improve the latency and number of errors and had a positive effect of improvement of learning and memory in mice in passive avoidance tests. The elimination half-life (T1/2) was 14.07±1.29, 15.87±1.03 h, and the total clearance (CL) values were 0.70±0.11, 0.78±0.13 L/h/kg, respectively. The pharmacokinetic studies showed that DMNG-3 has a slowly clearance and large distribution volume in experimental animals, and its disposition is linear over the range of doses tested. The liver, small intestine, stomach, and large intestine were the major distribution tissues of DMNG-3 in mice. It was found that DMNG-3 could be detected in brain, suggesting that DMNG-3 can cross the blood-brain barrier. The present study shows that DMNG-3 can be possible developed as a new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease in the future

Interim estimates of divergence date and vaccine strain match of human influenza A(H3N2) virus from systematic influenza surveillance (2010–2015) in Hangzhou, southeast of China

SummaryObjectivesIn the post-pandemic period 2010–2015, seasonal influenza A(H3N2) virus predominated in Hangzhou, southeast of China, with an increased activity and semi-annual seasons. This study utilized HA virus gene segment sequences to analyze the divergence date and vaccine strain match of human influenza A(H3N2) virus from systematic influenza surveillance in Hangzhou.MethodsVirological and serological analyses of 124 representative A(H3N2) viruses from prospective studies of systematic surveillance samples were conducted to quantify the genetic and antigenic characteristics and their vaccine strain match.ResultsBayesian phylogenetic inference showed that two separate subgroups 3C.3 and 3C.2 probably diverged from group 3C in early 2012 and then evolved into groups 3C.3a and 3C.2a, respectively, in the 2014/15 influenza season. Furthermore, high amino acid substitution rates of the HA1 subunit were found in A(H3N2) group 3C.2a variants, indicating that increased antigenic drift of A(H3N2) group 3C.2a virus is associated with a vaccine mismatch to the 2015/16 vaccine reference strain Switzerland/9715293/2013 (group 3C.3a).ConclusionsA portion of the group 3C.2a isolates are not covered by the current A(H3N2) vaccine strain. These findings offer insights into the emergence of group 3C.2a variants with epidemic potential in the imminent influenza seasons

Dichlorido(2,9-dieth­oxy-1,10-phenanthroline-κ2 N,N′)zinc(II)

All non-H atoms except for the Cl atoms lie on a mirror plane in the title complex, [ZnCl2(C16H16N2O2)]. The ZnII ion is coordinated by two N atoms from a bis-chelating 2,9-dieth­oxy-1,10-phenanthroline ligand and two symmetry-related Cl atoms in a distorted tetra­hedral environment. The two Zn—N bond lengths are significantly different from each other and the N—Zn—N angle is acute. In the crystal structure, there are weak but significant π–π stacking inter­actions between phenanthroline rings, with a centroid–centroid distance of 3.764 (1) Å

catena-Poly[[[N′-(4-cyano­benzyl­idene)nicotinohydrazide)silver(I)]-μ-N′-(4-cyano­benzyl­idene)nicotinohydrazide] hexa­fluorido­phosphate]

In the title polymer, {[Ag(C14H10N4O)2]PF6}n, each AgI ion is coordinated by two N atoms from two pyridyl rings of independent N′-(4-cyano­benzyl­idene)nicotinohydrazide ligands, and one N atom from one carbonitrile group of a symmetry-related ligand in a distorted T-shaped geometry. The ligands exhibit two modes of coordination. One acts as a bridge connecting Ag atoms to form one-dimensional chains along [01]. The other acts as a terminal monodentate ligand, coordinating to Ag through its pyridyl N atom. Two neighbouring anti­parallel chains in the crystal are connected through N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. Other adjacent chains are packed via Ag⋯O inter­actions, with Ag⋯O separations of 2.876 (2) Å. In addition, PF6 − counter-anions inter­act with the hydrazone groups through N—H⋯F hydrogen bonds. The PF6 − anion is disordered over two sites, with occupancies of 0.773 (8) and 0.227 (8)