Orally Administrated Cinnamon Extract Reduces β-Amyloid Oligomerization and Corrects Cognitive Impairment in Alzheimer's Disease Animal Models

An increasing body of evidence indicates that accumulation of soluble oligomeric assemblies of β-amyloid polypeptide (Aβ) play a key role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. Specifically, 56 kDa oligomeric species were shown to be correlated with impaired cognitive function in AD model mice. Several reports have documented the inhibition of Aβ plaque formation by compounds from natural sources. Yet, evidence for the ability of common edible elements to modulate Aβ oligomerization remains an unmet challenge. Here we identify a natural substance, based on cinnamon extract (CEppt), which markedly inhibits the formation of toxic Aβ oligomers and prevents the toxicity of Aβ on neuronal PC12 cells. When administered to an AD fly model, CEppt rectified their reduced longevity, fully recovered their locomotion defects and totally abolished tetrameric species of Aβ in their brain. Furthermore, oral administration of CEppt to an aggressive AD transgenic mice model led to marked decrease in 56 kDa Aβ oligomers, reduction of plaques and improvement in cognitive behavior. Our results present a novel prophylactic approach for inhibition of toxic oligomeric Aβ species formation in AD through the utilization of a compound that is currently in use in human diet

The crowd-funding revolution : how to raise venture capital using social media

xiv, 240 p. ; 24 cm

The Crowdfunding Revolution: How to Raise Venture Capital Using Social Media

The Crowdfunding Revolution explains how the explosive growth of connectivity via physical and social technologies is obviating human-to-human networks and centralized planning of capital allocationand describes how crowdfunding can be used to tap into a collective intelligence for far superior results

Single Mode, Air-Cladded Optical Waveguides Supported by a Nano-Fin Fabricated with Direct Laser Writing

Single-mode, air-cladded optical waveguides have wavelength scale diameters, making them very fragile and difficult to handle and yet highly desirable for sensing and inter-chip photonic interconnects. These contradictory qualities are resolved in this work by supporting the optical waveguide with a nano-fin structure attached to a substrate, narrow enough and sufficiently tall to minimally impact the wave-guiding metrics of the solid core while providing structural mechanical integrity. The design considerations for the nano-fin-supported waveguide and its realization using a commercial direct laser writing system based on two-photon activation of a photopolymer is reported herein. The 3D printed waveguides are characterized and experimentally assessed, demonstrating low birefringence and an estimated propagation loss for LP01x and LP01y of 2.9 dB/mm and 3.4 dB/mm, respectively, attributed to surface roughness and the relatively high refractive index contrast with air

All-optical stage of an Omega network

Introduction Free-space optical interconnections provide ultrahigh communication throughputs that could solve the interconnection bottleneck observed in electronic circuit design. Optical components can efficiently perform fixed interconnections between a transmitter source and receiver locations, while reconfigurable interconnections that are capable of connecting arbitrary source points to different target points require the use of active or switching elements. Reconfigurable interconnections can be performed with minimal switching elements by use of a multistage interconnection network #MIN# architecture. 1 The MIN structure consists of alternating layers of fixed interconnection patterns and arrays of switching modules, usually elementary switches for two signals known as bypass--exchange switches. The Omega network 2 #see Fig. 1# is an example of a MI

mtDNA Chromatin-like Organization Is Gradually Established during Mammalian Embryogenesis

Summary: Unlike the nuclear genome, the mammalian mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) is thought to be coated solely by mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), whose binding sequence preferences are debated. Therefore, higher-order mtDNA organization is considered much less regulated than both the bacterial nucleoid and the nuclear chromatin. However, our recently identified conserved DNase footprinting pattern in human mtDNA, which co-localizes with regulatory elements and responds to physiological conditions, likely reflects a structured higher-order mtDNA organization. We hypothesized that this pattern emerges during embryogenesis. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed assay for transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq) results collected during the course of mouse and human early embryogenesis. Our results reveal, for the first time, a gradual and dynamic emergence of the adult mtDNA footprinting pattern during embryogenesis of both mammals. Taken together, our findings suggest that the structured adult chromatin-like mtDNA organization is gradually formed during mammalian embryogenesis. : Biological Sciences; Developmental Genetics; Molecular Genetics; Developmental Biology Subject Areas: Biological Sciences, Developmental Genetics, Molecular Genetics, Developmental Biolog

Gender Dynamics in Crowdfunding (Kickstarter): Evidence on Entrepreneurs, Backers, and Taste-Based Discrimination

This study focuses on the launch phase of the leading reward-based crowdfunding market—Kickstarter. It documents the behavior of male and female entrepreneurs in raising early stage capital. We find that women share as entrepreneurs in the platform (34.7%) does not equal to their share in the overall population, and they are concentrated in stereotyped sectors, both as entrepreneurs and as backers. We also find that women do not set lower funding goals than men, they enjoy higher rates of success than men, even after controlling for project categories and funding goals, and that backers of both genders have a tendency to fund entrepreneurs of their own gender. Our survey of Kickstarter backers finds evidence of taste-based discrimination by male backers.QC 20210609</p