Glucagon Receptor Antagonism Ameliorates Progression of Heart Failure.

Mice were treated with a fully human monoclonal glucagon receptor antagonistic antibody REMD2.59 following myocardial infarction or pressure overload. REMD2.59 treatment blunted cardiac hypertrophy and fibrotic remodeling, and attenuated contractile dysfunction at 4 weeks after myocardial infarction. In addition, REMD2.59 treatment at the onset of pressure overload significantly suppressed cardiac hypertrophy and chamber dilation with marked preservation of cardiac systolic and diastolic function. Initiation of REMD2.59 treatment 2 weeks after pressure overload significantly blunted the progression of cardiac pathology. These results provide the first in vivo proof-of-concept evidence that glucagon receptor antagonism is a potentially efficacious therapy to ameliorate both onset and progression of heart failure

Synthesis of agglomerate-free YAG: Ce3+ phosphors by co-precipitation and low temperature spray pyrolysis

Conference Name:2011 International Symposium on Advanced Packaging Materials, APM 2011. Conference Address: Xiamen, China. Time:October 25, 2011 - October 28, 2011.Y3-xCexAl5O12 (YAG: Ce 3+) phosphor particles were prepared by a new method called co-precipitation and low temperature spray pyrolysis (CP-LTSP) with oxalic acid and ammonia as precipitant. It corresponds to the first-step chemical liquid reaction, the second step dehydration and partial decomposition of precipitation droplets at 250°C and then heating at 1100°C or above. Spherical as-prepared particles and agglomerate-free YAG: Ce3+ phosphor particles were obtained respectively. Pure YAG phase could be formed after LTSP at 250°C and then annealing at 1100°C for 4 h. The emission spectra and XRD patterns of YAG: Ce3+ phosphor particles indicated that the optimum doping concentration of Ce3+ was 0.06. The emission intensity increased with the increase of annealing temperature. As a result, the YAG: Ce3+ phosphor particles without optimization annealed at 1550°C for 4 h had the similar emission intensity (96%) of the commercial phosphor by the solid-state method. ? 2011 IEEE

Peran Daya Dukung Wilayah Terhadap Pengembangan USAha Peternakan Sapi Madura

Research conducted on the island of Madura. The aim of the research was analyzed the area-based development of beef cattle in Madura island. Primary research data was sourced from statistics in the Madura district in figures. Data was analyzed using Location Quotient (LQ) method. Data procesing conducted whith spreadsheet from Excel on Microsoft Windows 7. The results showed that the basis for the development of Madura cattle each regency were Pamekasan (sub-district Larangan, Pasean, Batumamar, Palengan, Proppo, Tlanakan, and Pegantenan), Sumenep (sub-district Gayam, Nonggunong and Batuputih), Bangkalan (subdistrict Kokop, Geger, Galis, Tanah Merah, and Blega) and Bangkalan (sub-district Ketapang, Sokobanah, Kedungdung, Sampang, Banyuates, Robatal, and Omben. Conclusion of the research was the development of Madura cattle concentrated in the base region of Madura cattle

Nodular and diffuse spindle cell infiltration in keloidal scleroderma: a case report

Keloidal scleroderma is a variant of scleroderma that presents as firm keloidal nodules or plaques. Due to the similarity in morphology and pathology, it is often distinguished from a hypertrophic scar or keloid. We report a case of keloidal scleroderma with rare nodular and diffuse spindle cell infiltration in histopathology. Recognition of this unusual histopathological feature may help clinicians improve their knowledge and avoid misdiagnosis

One-pot Synthesis of Lactams Using Domino Reactions: Combination of Schmidt Reaction with Sakuri and Aldol Reaction

A series of domino reactions in which the intramolecular Schmidt reaction is combined with either a Sakurai reaction, an aldol reaction, or both is reported. The Sakurai reaction of an allylsilane with an azido-containing enone under Lewis acidic conditions followed by protonation of the resulting titanium enolate species allowed for a subsequent intramolecular Schmidt reaction. Alternatively, the intermediate titanium enolate could undergo an aldol reaction, followed by the intramolecular Schmidt reaction to form lactam products with multiple stereogenic centers. The stereochemical features of the titanium enolate aldol reaction with several 3-azidoaldehyde substrates during this domino process is discussed

The role of aryl hydrocarbon receptor in vitiligo: a review

Vitiligo is an acquired autoimmune dermatosis characterized by patchy skin depigmentation, causing significant psychological distress to the patients. Genetic susceptibility, environmental triggers, oxidative stress, and autoimmunity contribute to melanocyte destruction in vitiligo. Due to the diversity and complexity of pathogenesis, the combination of inhibiting melanocyte destruction and stimulating melanogenesis gives the best results in treating vitiligo. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor that can regulate the expression of various downstream genes and play roles in cell differentiation, immune response, and physiological homeostasis maintenance. Recent studies suggested that AhR signaling pathway was downregulated in vitiligo. Activation of AhR pathway helps to activate antioxidant pathways, inhibit abnormal immunity response, and upregulate the melanogenesis gene, thereby protecting melanocytes from oxidative stress damage, controlling disease progression, and promoting lesion repigmentation. Here, we review the relevant literature and summarize the possible roles of the AhR signaling pathway in vitiligo pathogenesis and treatment, to further understand the links between the AhR and vitiligo, and provide new potential therapeutic strategies

Deficiency in Silicon Transporter Lsi1 Compromises Inducibility of Anti-herbivore Defense in Rice Plants

Silicon (Si) application can significantly enhance rice resistance against herbivorous insects. However, the underlying mechanism is elusive. In this study, silicon transporter mutant OsLsi1 and corresponding wild-type rice (WT) were treated with and without Si to determine Si effects on rice resistance to leaffolder (LF), Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenée) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). Si application on WT plants significantly promoted rice plant growth, upregulated expression level of OsLsi1 and increased Si accumulation in the leaves and roots, as well as effectively reduced LF weight gain, while it showed only marginal or no effect on the mutant plants. Furthermore, upon LF infestation, transcript levels of OsLOX, OsAOS2, OsCOI1a, OsCOI1b, and OsBBPI, and activity of catalase, superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and polyphenol oxidase were significantly higher in Si-treated than untreated WT plants. However, OsLsi1 mutant plants displayed higher susceptibility to LF, and minimal response of defense-related enzymes and jasmonate dependent genes to Si application. These results suggest that induced defense plays a vital role in Si-enhanced resistance and deficiency in silicon transporter Lsi1 compromises inducibility of anti-herbivore defense in rice plants

Aboveground herbivory does not affect mycorrhiza-dependent nitrogen acquisition from soil but inhibits mycorrhizal network-mediated nitrogen interplant transfer in maize

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are considered biofertilizers for sustainable agriculture due to their ability to facilitate plant uptake of important mineral elements, such as nitrogen (N). However, plant mycorrhiza-dependent N uptake and interplant transfer may be highly context-dependent, and whether it is affected by aboveground herbivory remains largely unknown. Here, we used 15N labeling and tracking to examine the effect of aboveground insect herbivory by Spodoptera frugiperda on mycorrhiza-dependent N uptake in maize (Zea mays L.). To minimize consumption differences and 15N loss due to insect chewing, insect herbivory was simulated by mechanical wounding and oral secretion of S. frugiperda larvae. Inoculation with Rhizophagus irregularis (Rir) significantly improved maize growth, and N/P uptake. The 15N labeling experiment showed that maize plants absorbed N from soils via the extraradical mycelium of mycorrhizal fungi and from neighboring plants transferred by common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs). Simulated aboveground leaf herbivory did not affect mycorrhiza-mediated N acquisition from soil. However, CMN-mediated N transfer from neighboring plants was blocked by leaf simulated herbivory. Our findings suggest that aboveground herbivory inhibits CMN-mediated N transfer between plants but does not affect N acquisition from soil solutions via extraradical mycorrhizal mycelium

DAFNet: A dual attention-guided fuzzy network for cardiac MRI segmentation

Background: In clinical diagnostics, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology plays a crucial role in the recognition of cardiac regions, serving as a pivotal tool to assist physicians in diagnosing cardiac diseases. Despite the notable success of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in cardiac MRI segmentation, it remains a challenge to use existing CNNs-based methods to deal with fuzzy information in cardiac MRI. Therefore, we proposed a novel network architecture named DAFNet to comprehensively address these challenges. Methods: The proposed method was used to design a fuzzy convolutional module, which could improve the feature extraction performance of the network by utilizing fuzzy information that was easily ignored in medical images while retaining the advantage of attention mechanism. Then, a multi-scale feature refinement structure was designed in the decoder portion to solve the problem that the decoder structure of the existing network had poor results in obtaining the final segmentation mask. This structure further improved the performance of the network by aggregating segmentation results from multi-scale feature maps. Additionally, we introduced the dynamic convolution theory, which could further increase the pixel segmentation accuracy of the network. Result: The effectiveness of DAFNet was extensively validated for three datasets. The results demonstrated that the proposed method achieved DSC metrics of 0.942 and 0.885, and HD metricd of 2.50mm and 3.79mm on the first and second dataset, respectively. The recognition accuracy of left ventricular end-diastolic diameter recognition on the third dataset was 98.42%. Conclusion: Compared with the existing CNNs-based methods, the DAFNet achieved state-of-the-art segmentation performance and verified its effectiveness in clinical diagnosis

A novel red phosphor NaLa4(SiO4)(3)F Eu3+

通讯作者地址: Feng, G (通讯作者), Xiamen Univ, Dept Mat Sci & Engn, Xiamen 361005, Peoples R China 地址: 1. Xiamen Univ, Dept Mat Sci & Engn, Xiamen 361005, Peoples R China 2. Jingdezhen Ceram Inst, Sch Mat Sci & Engn, Jingdezhen 333001, Peoples R ChinaA novel red phosphor NaLa4(SiO4)(3)F Eu3+ was synthesized by the conventional solid-state reaction at 950 C for the first time The luminescence properties of NaLa4(SiO4)(3)F Eu3+ were investigated and the critical concentration of the activator concentration (Eu3+) was found to be 0 1 mol per formula unit The phosphor presented red luminescence under the ultraviolet excitation of 254 or 395 nm attributed to the transitions from D-5(0) excited states to F-7(J) (J=0-4) ground states of Eu3+ ions The results indicated that this newly developed phosphor could find applications in tricolor fluorescent lamp phosphor-liquid crystal displays and white lighting devices utilizing GaN-based excitation in the near UV (C) 2010 Elsevier BV All rights reserve