The Influence of “Likes” on User Content Generation in Online Investment Communities

Investors increasingly rely on investment advice in online investment communities (OICs). This study analyzes the influence of the “ likes” function on the content generation in OICs. Based on the data collected from Seeking Alpha, we perform a series of analyses from the perspectives of both authors and readers. From the angle of authors, we find that authors express the logic of the articles more seriously by increasing the use of negative words, and reducing the frequency of writing articles. The reader-level analyses show that “likes” and “comments” are complementary to each other, and readers do not reduce their “comments” after the introduction of the “likes” function. In general, the launch of the new function affects the content generated by both authors and readers. Our study can enrich the research on user-generated content (UGC) and provide helpful suggestions to OIC managers in motivating users to make feedbacks and contributions in such communities

Dexamethasone disrupts intercellular junction formation and cytoskeleton organization in human trabecular meshwork cells

Purpose: Patients reproduce symptoms of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) when treated with glucocorticoids (GCs) topically on the eyes. Here we investigated the effects of GCs on junctional protein expression and cytoskeleton organization in primary human trabecular meshwork (TM) cultures to understand the molecular pathologies of POAG. Methods: Human TM cells from POAG (GTM) and age-matched nondiseased (NTM) individuals were obtained by standard surgical trabeculectomy. Some of the cultures were treated with dexamethasone (DEX), a synthetic GC, at 1-5x10(-7) mol/l for 1-7 days. The expression levels of zonula occluden-1 (ZO-1) and connexin43 (Cx43) in TM cells with or without DEX treatment were measured using reverse transcription (RT)-PCR, immunocytochemistry, and western blot analysis. Results: mRNA and proteins of ZO-1 and Cx43 were found in both NTM and GTM cells. ZO-1 and Cx43 were located on the plasma membrane, especially along the border of adjacent cells. ZO-1 had no marked changes in localization in NTM and GTM cells after treatment with 10(-7) mol/l DEX for 48 h, whereas Cx43 appeared to increase in the cytoplasm. mRNA of two ZO-1 isoforms, alpha+ and alpha-, were present in TM cells, and the former was expressed less than the latter. Only ZO-1 alpha-isoform protein was expressed in NTM cells, whereas proteins of both isoforms were found in GTM cells. DEX increased the protein levels of ZO-1 and Cx43 in both NTM and GTM cells. DEX also altered the F-actin architecture and promoted cross-linked actin network formation, the effects of which were more pronounced in GTM cells. Conclusions: Our findings not only provide molecular insights to the pathogenesis of GC-induced glaucoma but also suggest that junctional proteins ZO-1 and Cx43 as well as F-actin are targets for developing new modalities in glaucoma therapy

Protective Effect of Ethanol Extracts of Hericium erinaceus

We investigated the effects of Hericium erinaceus (HEE) on alloxan induced diabetic neuropathic pain in laboratory rats. Alloxan induced diabetic rats were administered orally HEE. After 6 weeks of treatments, treatment with HEE 40 mg/kg in diabetic animals showed significant increase in pain threshold and paw withdrawal threshold and significant decrease in serum glucose and urine glucose. We also observed a significant increase in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), Lipid peroxidation (LPO), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity, glutathione reductase (GR) activity, catalase (CAT) activity, Na+K+ATPase activity, and glutathione S transferase (GST) activity along with significant decreased levels of glutathione (GSH) content in diabetic rats. The total antioxidant status (TAOS) in the HEE-treated groups was significantly lower than that in the alloxan-treated group. HEE can offer pain relief in diabetic neuropathic pain. The improvement in diabetic state after HEE treatment along with the antioxidant activity could be the probable way by which it had alleviated diabetic neuropathy

Anti-proliferation effects of Sirolimus sustained delivery film in rabbit glaucoma filtration surgery

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy, safety, and mechanisms of Sirolimus sustained delivery film on prevention of scar formation in a rabbit model of glaucoma filtration surgery. Methods: Sixty-four New Zealand white rabbits who underwent trabeculectomy in the right eye were randomly allocated to one of the four treatment regimens: Sirolimus sustained delivery film treatment group (Group A), or drug-free film treatment group (Group B), or 30 ng/ml Sirolimus-soaked sponge treatment group (Group C), or no adjunctive treatment group (Group D), and each group consists of 16 rabbits. Intraocular pressure (IOP), morphologic changes of bleb, anterior chamber flare, and corneal endothelial cell count and complications were evaluated over a 28-day period follow-up time. Aqueous humor samples were gathered from Group A, and the concentration of Sirolimus was measured regularly post-operation. Rabbits were sacrificed on the 7th, 14th, and 28th day post-operation separately, and the fibroblast hypertrophy, infiltration of inflammatory, and proliferation of new collagen fiber formation in each group were evaluated with HE and Masson staining. Proliferative cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and fibroblast apoptosis were evaluated by immunohistochemistry and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferasemediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay at the 28th day post-operation. Results: Both Sirolimus sustained delivery film (Group A) and Sirolimus alone (Group C) were well tolerated in this model, and significantly prolonged bleb survival compared with no drug treatment group (Group B and D; p<0.001). Group A had the longest bleb survival time in comparison with other groups (p<0.001). There were significant differences in IOP readings between Group A and other groups at the last follow-up (p<0.05). The concentration of Group A maintained stable for over 2 weeks, drops from (10.56 +/- 0.05) ng/ml at day 3 to (7.74 +/- 0.05) ng/ml at day 14. The number of corneal endothelial cells of Group A was not statistically significant between pre and post-operation. Histologic examination demonstrated that eyes treated with Sirolimus, especially the Sirolimus sustained delivery film, showed an obvious reduction in subconjunctival fibroblast scar tissue formation compared with no drug treatment groups, and had minimal evidence of inflammatory cell infiltration and new collagen deposition in the subconjunctiva. Immunohistochemistry assay showed that PCNA-expression was lower in the Group A (16.25 +/- 3.24%) compared to other groups (p<0.01). TUNEL assay showed a significant increase in the number of apoptotic fibroblasts around the surgical area in Group A and Group C (9.75 +/- 1.71% and 8.50 +/- 1.92%) compared to the Group B and D (p<0.01). Conclusions: Sirolimus drug sustained delivery film can inhibit inflammatory cell activity, impede fibroblast proliferation activity, and induce fibroblast apoptosis in the filtration surgery sites in rabbit. The results indicate a safe and effective treatment strategy in anti-scaring treatment in glaucoma surgery.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000295289900001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701Biochemistry & Molecular BiologyOphthalmologySCI(E)9ARTICLE270-712495-25061

Standard Radar API: Proposal Version 0.1

This publication describes a radar API that enables different radar options to be used without changing higher level software layers. The radar API supports frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar and other radar types. The radar API also supports interleaved radar configurations, so that different features may use different burst configurations simultaneously. For example, the radar API may support a dual burst configuration, where a first configuration is optimized for the longest range and a second configuration uses a wider bandwidth optimized for better range resolution. Together, the burst configurations may run simultaneously so that the algorithms supporting different features may consume their optimal input stream