Aerobic exercise prevents depression via alleviating hippocampus injury in chronic stressed depression rats

(1) Background: Depression is one of the overwhelming public health problems. Alleviating hippocampus injury may prevent depression development. Herein, we established the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model and aimed to investigate whether aerobic exercise (AE) could alleviate CUMS induced depression-like behaviors and hippocampus injury. (2) Methods: Forty-eight healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats (200 \ub1 20 g) were randomly divided into 4 groups (control, CUMS, CUMS + 7 days AE, CUMS + 14 days AE). Rats with AE treatments were subjected to 45 min treadmill per day. (3) Results: AE intervention significantly improved CUMS-induced depressive behaviors, e.g., running square numbers and immobility time assessed by the open field and forced swimming test, suppressed hippocampal neuron apoptosis, reduced levels of phosphorylation of NMDA receptor and homocysteine in hippocampus, as well as serum glucocorticoids, compared to the CUMS rats. In contrast, AE upregulated phosphorylation of AMPAR receptor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) hippocampus in CUMS depression rats. The 14 day-AE treatment exhibited better performance than 7 day-AE on the improvement of the hippocampal function. (4) Conclusion: AE might be an efficient strategy for prevention of CUMS-induced depression via ameliorating hippocampus functions. Underlying mechanisms may be related with glutamatergic system, the neurotoxic effects of homocysteine, and/or influences in glucocorticoids-BDNF expression interaction

Transcriptome And Expression Profiling Analysis Link Patterns Of Gene Expression To Antennal Responses In Spodoptera Litura

Background: The study of olfaction is key to understanding the interaction of insects with their environment and provides opportunities to develop novel tactics for control of pest species. Recent developments in transcriptomic approaches enable the molecular basis of olfaction to be studied even in species with limited genomic information. Here we use transcriptome and expression profiling analysis to characterize the antennal transcriptome of the noctuid moth and polyphagous pest Spodoptera litura. Results: We identify 74 candidate genes involved in odor detection and recognition, encoding 26 ORs, 21 OBPs, 18 CSPs and 9 IRs. We examine their expression levels in both sexes and seek evidence for their function by relating their expression with levels of EAG response in male and female antennae to 58 host and non-host plant volatiles and sex pheromone components. The majority of olfactory genes showed sex-biased expression, usually male-biased in ORs. A link between OR gene expression and antennal responses to odors was evident, a third of the compounds tested evoking a sex-biased response, in every case also male-biased. Two candidate pheromone receptors, OR14 and OR23 were especially strongly expressed and male-biased and we suggest that these may respond to the two female sex pheromone components of S. litura, Z9E11-14:OAc and Z9E12-14:OAc, which evoked strongly male-biased EAG responses. Conclusions: Our results provide the molecular basis for elucidating the olfactory profile of moths and the sexual divergence of their behavior and could enable the targeting of particular genes, and behaviors for pest management

Swimming exercise ameliorates hypertension-induced kidney dysfunction via alleviating renal interstitial fibrosis and apoptosis

Background: Hypertensive nephropathy is one of the major causes of ESRD. Exercise has been considered a nonpathological therapy for hypertension and its complications, yet mechanisms remain unclear. We sought to investigate whether periodic swimming could ameliorate hypertension-induced kidney dysfunction and its underlying mechanisms. Methods: Four-week male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) were randomly divided into the hypertension group (SHR, n = 8) and exercise group (SE, n = 8, 60 min swimming/day, 6 days per week, for 8 weeks). Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY, n = 8) were served as a sedentary normotensive group. Bodyweight and blood pressure (BP) were recorded weekly. After 8-week sedentary or swimming exercise, lipids profile, BUN, and Cr were measured. The renal interstitial fibrosis was examined by the histopathological analysis using Masson\u27s trichrome staining and hematoxylin and eosin staining. The kidney cell apoptosis was tested by TUNEL staining. The expressions of critical proteins responsible for the TGF-β1/Smad signaling of fibrosis, that is, TGF-β1, Smad2/3, and Smad7, as well as apoptosis related proteins, Bax and Bcl-2 in kidney cortex tissues were measured. Results: The 8-week swimming exercise reduced BP and bodyweight, lowered concentrations of BUN, and serum Cr, compared with SHR. Exercise remarkably inhibited hypertension-induced tubular degeneration, cellular cluster, and tubular cell swelling as well as glomerular degeneration in the kidney cortical tissues, attenuated renal interstitial fibrosis, and renal cell apoptosis. Moreover, expressions of TGF-β1, Smad2/3, and Bax were higher in the SHR than the WKY, which were significantly suppressed by the exercise. In contrast, hypertension-reduced expressions of Smad7 and Bcl-2 were enhanced by the swimming exercise. Strong correlations were found between kidney function indices, blood lipids, and key protein expressions. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate beneficial effects of the periodic swimming on ameliorating hypertension-induced kidney dysfunction highlighting the potential of swimming exercise as a nonpathological therapy for early prevention of hypertension-caused kidney diseases

Limits of dispersoid size and number density in oxide dispersion strengthened alloys fabricated with powder bed fusion-laser beam

Previous work on additively-manufactured oxide dispersion strengthened alloys focused on experimental approaches, resulting in larger dispersoid sizes and lower number densities than can be achieved with conventional powder metallurgy. To improve the as-fabricated microstructure, this work integrates experiments with a thermodynamic and kinetic modeling framework to probe the limits of the dispersoid sizes and number densities that can be achieved with powder bed fusion-laser beam. Bulk samples of a Ni-20Cr $+$ 1 wt.\% Y$_2$O$_3$ alloy are fabricated using a range of laser power and scanning velocity combinations. Scanning transmission electron microscopy characterization is performed to quantify the dispersoid size distributions across the processing space. The smallest mean dispersoid diameter (29 nm) is observed at 300 W and 1200 mm/s, with a number density of 1.0$\times$10$^{20}$ m$^{-3}$. The largest mean diameter (72 nm) is observed at 200 W and 200 mm/s, with a number density of 1.5$\times$10$^{19}$ m$^{-3}$. Scanning electron microscopy suggests that a considerable fraction of the oxide added to the feedstock is lost during processing, due to oxide agglomeration and the ejection of oxide-rich spatter from the melt pool. After accounting for these losses, the model predictions for the dispersoid diameter and number density align with the experimental trends. The results suggest that the mechanism that limits the final number density is collision coarsening of dispersoids in the melt pool. The modeling framework is leveraged to propose processing strategies to limit dispersoid size and increase number density.Comment: Main text: 36 pages, 12 figure

Research on plant functional diversity and its application in bryophytes

The functional diversity of plants is a key factor influencing biodiversity and ecosystem functions.How to quantify the functional diversity of plants in different ecosystems is crucial to study the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functions.In the present paper,the concepts,the calculation methods of relevant indices of functional diversity,and the current situation about their studies in vascular plants and bryophytes were summarized.Finally,how to further conduct studies on bryophyte functional diversity were analyzed.The paper provided comparatively systematic documents concerning bryophyte functional diversity for ecologists

On Synthetic Criteria For Evaluation Of Network Traffic Control Policies

The network traffic control strategies and algorithms are part of the feedback loop that allows such a complex system to operate at an optimal or near-optimal functioning point. Effective performance criteria are an important element for providing the feedback regarding the current state of the system; thus, they represent a key aspect of the design of network traffic control strategies and algorithms. We introduce three synthetic factors of merit regarding the quality of service, the quantity of service and the ratio of the two. The figures of merit may take into account multiple QoS attributes. Each of these figures of merit can be calculated either for individual flows, the flows with a common characteristic, e.g., belonging to the same class, or crossing the same router, or for all the flows in a network. We also define a coefficient of fairness among the flows with a common characteristic, as the ratio of the variance to the expected value of a factor of merit. © 2002 IEEE

Application of nitrogen adsorption – based SSA measurement in characterization of montmorillonite dissolution

635-644For characterizing the alkaline dissolution of montmorillonite, this paper applies Nitrogen Adsorption-Based large specific surface area (SSA) Measurement to measure the changing SSA, pore volume, and pore size, and to draw the adsorption/desorption curve of montmorillonite at different sodium hydroxide concentrations. It also determines the optimal experiment conditions like concentration (0.05mol/L) and charging/reaction time (3h) of sodium hydroxide solution which are suitable for oilfield development. According to the experiment, the dissolution characteristics of montmorillonite reflected by parameters acquired through Nitrogen Adsorption-Based SSA Measurement are consistent with the conclusion drawn from the changing pH value and ion (e.g. Si4+) concentration of the solution before and after the reaction

Field Measurement of Dynamic Compressive Stress Response of Pavement-Subgrade Induced by Moving Heavy-Duty Trucks

This paper presents the dynamic compressive stress response of pavement-subgrade induced by moving heavy-duty trucks. In order to study the distribution characteristic of dynamic pressure of pavement-subgrade in more detail, truck loadings, truck speeds, and dynamic pressure distributions at different depths were monitored under twenty-five working conditions on the section of Qiqihar-Nenjiang Highway in Heilongjiang Province, China. The effects of truck loading, truck speed, and depth on dynamic compressive stress response can be concluded as follows: (1) increasing truck loading will increase the dynamic pressure amplitude of subgrade-pavement and dominant frequencies are close to the characteristic frequencies caused by heavy-duty trucks at the speed of 70 km/h; (2) as truck speed increases, the dynamic pressure amplitudes of measuring points have an increasing tendency; the dynamic pressure spectrums are also significantly influenced by truck speed: the higher the truck speed, the wider the spectrum and the higher the dominant frequencies; (3) as depth increases, the dynamic pressure amplitudes of measuring points decrease rapidly. The influence of the front axle decreases gradually until disappearing and the compressive stress superposition phenomenon caused by rear double axles can be found with increasing depth

A New Front Contact Counter Electrode with Multiwall Carbon Nanotube Array for Dye-sensitized Solar Cells

National Natural Science Foundation [50672041]; MOST [2006AA03Z218]A new kind of front contact counter electrode with multiwall carbon nanotube array on a nonconductive Substrate and a thin metal layer was designed for dye-sensitized solar cells. Under standard AM 1.5 irradiation (100 mW cm(-2)), a device With Such counter electrode yielded an overall conversion efficiency of 2.53%