An Experimental Study of the Influence of Woman’s Studies Courses in College on the Values of Female College Students

Women’s studies/gender studies courses, aiming to foster proper gender values and healthy personalities among college students with theoretical achievements of interdisciplinary gender researches, to advocate their harmonious and comprehensive development both physically and mentally, play a unique role in college curriculum teaching along with many other subjects. Selecting from women’s studies courses taught in college, this article discusses whether and how women’s studies course influence the values of female college students, major influential factors in course teaching, etc, based on the influence of women’s studies courses on value building of female college students. Research statistics indicate as following: (a) Female college students who have taken courses on women’s studies gain an advantage over those who have not in terms of value levels and subentries (vocational/ aesthetic /marital values) in the fixed-group comparison experiment; (b) Courses on women’s studies exert a favorably continuity in influence on the values of female college students, and long term effect is better than the short term; (c) “Students’ attitude towards the courses” and “degree of class participation” are the two major influential factors in women’s studies course in light of the influence on the values of female college students. Course teaching of women’ studies effectively improves the values of female college students. 

Super-resolution reconstruction of digital rock CT images based on residual attention mechanism

Computer tomography technology is widely used in geological exploration because it is a nondestructive and three-dimensional imaging method that can be integrated with computer simulation. However, the large-scale application of the computer tomography technique is limited by economic costs and time consumption. Therefore, it is challenging and intractable to indicate the pore structure characteristics of rock. To address this issue, a super-resolution reconstruction algorithm based on convolutional neural networks, residual learning, and attention mechanism was proposed to generate super-resolution images in this study. This algorithm was applied to the reconstruction of carbonate rock and sandstone. The performance of two-dimensional image reconstruction was evaluated by quantitative extraction and qualitative visualization. The results from experiments indicate that the built model performs well on different upscaling factors and is superior to the existing super-resolution approaches based on convolutional neural network.Cited as: Shan, L., Bai, X., Liu, C., Feng, Y., Liu, Y., Qi, Y. Super-resolution reconstruction of digital rock CT images based on residual attention mechanism. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2022, 6(2): 157-168. https://doi.org/10.46690/ager.2022.02.0

Optimal State Estimation for Discrete-Time Markov Jump Systems with Missing Observations

This paper is concerned with the optimal linear estimation for a class of direct-time Markov jump systems with missing observations. An observer-based approach of fault detection and isolation (FDI) is investigated as a detection mechanic of fault case. For systems with known information, a conditional prediction of observations is applied and fault observations are replaced and isolated; then, an FDI linear minimum mean square error estimation (LMMSE) can be developed by comprehensive utilizing of the correct information offered by systems. A recursive equation of filtering based on the geometric arguments can be obtained. Meanwhile, a stability of the state estimator will be guaranteed under appropriate assumption

Astaxanthin protects against diabetic cardiomyopathy via activation of Akt pathway in H9c2 cells

Purpose: To investigate the cardioprotective action of astaxanthin, and to elucidate its underlying mechanism of action in H9c2 cells.Methods: Cell viability was determined by MTT assay. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were evaluated using 2, 7-dichlorodihydro-fluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA) staining. Cell apoptosis were assessed by determining caspase activities using colorimetric assay. The apoptotic cells were labelled with annexin V/PI staining and quantified by flow cytometry. Involvement of Akt signaling pathway was verified using western blot.Results: The results revealed that astaxanthin (5 and 10 μM) dose-dependently reversed high glucoseinduced cell viability loss in H9c2 cells (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively). Astaxanthin inhibited intracellular ROS production, decreased caspase 3 and caspase 9 activities in high glucose-challenged H9c2 cells in a concentration-related manner (p < 0.05). Besides, astaxanthin markedly inhibited the number of apoptotic H9c2 cells induced by high glucose. Furthermore, western blot analysis demonstrated that astaxanthin upregulated the activation of Akt signaling.Conclusion: Astaxanthin may protect high glucose induced diabetic cardiomyopathy via activation of Akt pathway, and thus deserves further investigation as a cardioprotective agent.Keywords: Astaxanthin, Diabetic cardiomyopathy, Cardiomyocyte, Apoptosis, Akt pathwa

Formiranje produkata Maillardove reakcije u odležanom octu od sirka i zaštitni učinak melanoidina iz octa na jetru štakora oštećenu tetraklormetanom

Research background. The processing method generally affects the toxicity and biological activity of aged sorghum vinegar. This study investigates the changes in the intermediate Maillard reaction products of sorghum vinegar during ageing and the in vivo hepatoprotective effects of pure melanoidin obtained from it. Experimental approach. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and fluorescence spectrophotometry were utilized to quantify intermediate Maillard reaction products. The CCl4-induced liver damage in rats was used to evaluate the protective role of pure melanoidin in rat liver. Results and conclusions. Compared with the initial concentration, the 18-month ageing process caused a 1.2- to 3.3-fold increase in the concentrations of intermediate Maillard reaction products, i.e. 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), 5-methylfurfural (MF), methyglyoxal (MGO), glyoxal (GO) and advanced glycation end products (AGEs). The concentrations of HMF in the aged sorghum vinegar were 6.1-fold higher than the 450 μM limit standard for honey, implying the need for shortening the ageing of the vinegar in practice for safety concerns. Pure melanoidin (Mr>3.5 kDa) demonstrated significant protective effects against CCl4-induced rat liver damage, as evidenced by normalized serum biochemical parameters (transaminases and total bilirubin), suppressing hepatic lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygen species, as well as increasing glutathione amount and restoring antioxidant enzyme activities. Histopathological analysis revealed that melanoidin in vinegar reduced cell infiltration and vacuolar hepatocyte necrosis in rat liver. The findings demonstrated that a shortened ageing process should be considered in practice to ensure the safety of aged sorghum vinegar. Vinegar melanoidin is a potential alternative for the prevention of hepatic oxidative damage. Novelty and scientific contribution. This study demonstrates that the manufacturing process had a profound influence on the generation of vinegar intermediate Maillard reaction products. In particular, it revealed the in vivo hepatoprotective effect of pure melanoidin from aged sorghum vinegar, and provides insight into the in vivo biological activity of melanoidin.Pozadina istraživanja. Postupak pripreme često utječe na toksičnost i biološku aktivnost odležanog octa od sirka. U ovom su radu ispitane promjene u međuproduktima Maillardove reakcije u octu od sirka tijekom starenja, te in vivo hepatoprotektivni učinak čistog melanoidina izdvojenog iz dobivenog octa. Eksperimentalni pristup. Međuprodukti Maillardove reakcije određeni su visokodjelotvornom tekućinskom kromatografijom i fluorescencijskom spektrofotometrijom. Hepatoprotektivno djelovanje čistog melanoidina ispitano je na jetri šakora oštećenoj tetraklormetanom. Rezultati i zaključci. U usporedbi s početnom koncentracijom, koncentracija međuprodukata Maillardove reakcije u octu odležanom tijekom 18 mjeseci, i to 5-hidroksimetilfurfurala (HMF), 5-metilfurfurala (MF), metilglioksala (MGO), glioksala (GO) i konačnih produkata glikacije (engl. AGEs), porasla je za 1,2 do 3,3 puta. Koncentracija HMF-a u odležanom octu od sirka bila je 6,1 puta veća od dozvoljene granice od 450 μM u medu kao standardu, što znači da je u praksi potrebno skratiti vrijeme odležavanja octa radi postizanja sigurnosti njegove uporabe za potrošače. Čisti melanoidin (Mr>3,5 kDa) je učinkovito štitio jetru štakora od oštećenja izazvanih tetraklormetanom, što su potvrdili normalizirani biokemijski parametri seruma (aktivnost transaminaze i koncentracija ukupnih bilirubina), smanjena lipidna peroksidacija u jetri i manja količina reaktivnih spojeva kisika, te veća količina glutationa uz obnovljenu aktivnost enzima. Histopatološka analiza je pokazala da je melanoidin u octu smanjio staničnu infiltraciju i nekrozu hepatocita u jetri štakora. Rezultati pokazuju da bi u praksi trebalo razmotriti skraćeno vrijeme odležavanja octa od sirka, da bi on bio siguran za primjenu. Melanoidin iz octa može se koristiti umjesto lijekova za zaštitu jetre od oksidacijskog oštećenja. Novina i znanstveni doprinos. U radu je prikazano da postupak proizvodnje bitno utječe na stvaranje međuprodukata Maillardove reakcije u octu. Poglavito je prikazan in vivo hepatoprotektivni učinak čistog melanoidina iz odležanog octa od sirka, te je dan uvid u in vivo biološku aktivnost melanoidina