Scriptural Reasoning as a Method of Interreligious Dialogue in China

Peer reviewe

Competitive accretion in the protocluster G10.6-0.4?

We present the results of high spatial resolution observations at 1.1 mm waveband, with the Submillimetre Array (SMA), towards the protocluster G10.6-0.4. The 1.1 mm continuum emission reveals seven dense cores, towards which infall motions are all detected with the red-shifted absorption dips in HCN (3--2) line. This is the first time that infall is seen towards multiple sources in a protocluster. We also identified four infrared point sources in this region, which are most likely Class 0/I protostars. Two jet-like structures are also identified from Spitzer/IRAC image. The dense core located in the centre has much larger mass than the off-centre cores. The clump is in overall collapse and the infall motion is supersonic. The standard deviation of core velocities and the velocity differences between the cores and the cloud/clump are all larger than the thermal velocity dispersion. The picture of G10.6-0.4 seems to favor the "competitive accretion" model but needs to be tested by further observations.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, Submitted to MNRA

Chrysophanol exerts protective effect against atherosclerosis via NFκB-mediated signaling in LDLR-/- mice model

Purpose: To study the therapeutic effect of chrysophanol (CHR) on diet-induced atherogenesis in LDLR-/- mice.Methods: Mice were fed atherogenic diet for 12 weeks after which some lipid profile markers such as total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) and triglyceride (TG) were measured. The mRNA expression levels of lipid synthesis genes and lipid overload-related inflammatory indicator molecules were assayed with quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), while the corresponding protein expressions were determined with western blotting assay. The therapeutic effect of CHR on atherogenesis was confirmed using H & E and Oil red O stainings of mice aortic sections.Results: CHR administration significantly reduced levels of TC, LDL-c, HDL-c and TG (p ≤ 0.05), and restored the mRNA and protein expressions of genes involved in lipid and glucose homeostasis, namely, AdipoR1, PPAR-Ƴ and HMco-A (p < 0.05). Moreover, CHR potentially alleviated diet-induced inflammation, as is evident in reduced levels of molecular inflammatory signaling factors NF-κB and TLR-4, and significant down-regulations of the proinflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β (p < 0.05). Furthermore, aorta histology revealed that CHR significantly reduced lipid storage in the arteries of mice fed atherogenic diet (p < 0.05).Conclusion: These results indicate that CHR reduces diet-induced lipid storage in LDLR-/- mice and also controlled inflammation-associated lipid overload. These findings may provide a molecular basis for potential application of chrysophanol in the treatment of atherosclerosis

Characteristics of Winter Urban Heat Island in Budapest at Local and Micro Scale

Most of the urban heat island (UHI) researches focused on the phenomenon in summer. They mainly studied the causes, different functional areas, and possible mitigation measures to reduce the high temperature in urban areas. However, UHI also exists in winter, but there are a limited number of studies on winter UHI. The characteristics and causes of UHI in winter have not been received much attention or consideration yet. This study aims to characterize the UHI feature in winter in Budapest, Hungary, based on the analysis of land surface temperature (LST) in relation to the factors of elevation, slope exposure, residential type, and snow coverage. Five different Landsat images in the winter season were applied to detect the surface temperature; besides, pictures of the thermal camera at a micro-scale were also used. Results showed that UHI intensity was not strong in winter; built-up areas were warmer than other urban areas. Topography was one of the significant factors affecting the surface temperature in winter. The surface temperature of the hills (300 m asl) was lower than that of the lowlands (below 120 m asl). The south-facing slopes and south oriented buildings were warmer than north-facing slopes and buildings oriented to the north. Areas with snow coverage had a lower temperature than no snow coverage areas. These findings could give general guidance for further UHI research, urban planning as well as landscape design

Comparing efficacy and safety of plasmapheresis versus atorvastatin in pathological progression of atherosclerosis in a rodent model

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of plasmapheresis versus atorvastatin in pathological progression of atherosclerosis in a rodent model.Method: A total of 90 male adult rats of up to 300 g were randomly distributed in three groups (n = 30): group 1 (plasmapheresis up to 1.5 ml daily); group 2 (atorvastatin 0.1 mg/kg per day), and group 3 (hypercholesteremic rats). The following variables were assessed for 24 weeks: plasma and hepatic lipid and anti-oxidant profiles; atherosclerotic abrasions/lesions; coronary atherosclerosis/coronary stenosis score (CSS), composition of atherosclerotic lesions, incidence of xanthoma, arch and thoracic surface involvement including arch and thoracic area occupied by lesion; and thoracic aorta (I/M) ratio.Results: Compared to rats administered with atorvastatin, the rats treated with plasmapheresis had significantly greater improvement in levels of triglycerides (132 vs 124 mg/dl, p < 0.05), total cholesterol (201 vs 189 mg/dl, p < 0.05)), low-density lipoproteins (134 vs 123 mg/dl, p < 0.05)), very-low-density lipoprotein (11 vs 9 mg/dl, p < 0.05)) and high-density lipoprotein (36 vs 39 mg/dl, p < 0.05) levels. Plasmapheresis after 24 weeks of treatment improve CSS in all coronary arteries than atorvastatin (22 vs 24 respectively; p < 0.05. Furthermore, lesioned composition, I/M ratio and xanthoma incidence were significantly lower in plasmapheresis group than in atorvastatin group (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Plasmapheresis is a better alternative than atorvastatin in preventing pathological progression of atherosclerosis

A new characterization of fuzzy ideals of semigroups and its applications

In this paper, we develop a new technique for constructing fuzzy ideals of a semigroup. By using generalized Green\u27s relations, fuzzy star ideals are constructed. It is shown that the new fuzzy ideal of a semigroup can be used to investigate the relationship between fuzzy sets and abundance and regularity for an arbitrary semigroup. Appropriate examples of such fuzzy ideals are given in order to illustrate the technique. Finally, we explain when a semigroup satisfies conditions of regularity

Dioscorea deltoidei (Dioscoreaceae) leaf extract exerts anti-atherosclerotic effect in rats via down-regulation of phosphorylated JAK/STAT

Purpose: To investigate the effect of leaf extract of Dioscorea deltoidea (Dioscoreaceae) leaf (DDE) on atherosclerosis-induced aorta wall damage in a rat model, and the underlying mechanism of action.Methods: Rats were fed high-fat diet containing vitamin D2 for 16 weeks to induce atherosclerosis. Histopathological changes in the aorta were examined using hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) staining, while ELISA kits were used to measure cytokine levels.Results: Treatment with DDE significantly (p < 0.05) alleviated atherosclerosis-induced increase in mean lesion area in the rat aorta. The mean lesion area in atherosclerotic rats was decreased to 51.5, 21.2 and 2.3 mm2, on treatment with DDE at doses of 2.5, 5 and 10 mg/kg, respectively. Furthermore, DDE significantly suppressed atherosclerosis-induced elevation in IL-1β and IL-6 levels in the rat aorta (p < 0.05). The levels of MCP-1 and TNF-α decreased in the artherosclerotic rats on treatment with DDE. In DDE-treated rats, the atherosclerosis-induced increase in the levels of Ang II, AT1, AT2, p-STAT3, p-p65 and p-p38 were significantly decreased, relative to the model group (p < 0.05). However, DDE treatment did not alter the levels of total STAT3, p65 and p38 in the rat aorta tissues.Conclusion: These results indicate that DDE inhibits inflammatory response and atherosclerosisinduced damage to aorta wall. Moreover, RAAS expression, inflammatory cytokines and JAK/STAT signalling pathway were down-regulated in atherosclerotic rats on treatment with DDE. Thus, DDE may be a potential source of drug for the management of atherosclerosis

Resilient neural network training for accelerators with computing errors

—With the advancements of neural networks, customized accelerators are increasingly adopted in massive AI applications. To gain higher energy efficiency or performance, many hardware design optimizations such as near-threshold logic or overclocking can be utilized. In these cases, computing errors may happen and the computing errors are difficult to be captured by conventional training on general purposed processors (GPPs). Applying the offline trained neural network models to the accelerators with errors directly may lead to considerable prediction accuracy loss. To address this problem, we explore the resilience of neural network models and relax the accelerator design constraints to enable aggressive design options. First of all, we propose to train the neural network models using the accelerators’ forward computing results such that the models can learn both the data and the computing errors. In addition, we observe that some of the neural network layers are more sensitive to the computing errors. With this observation, we schedule the most sensitive layer to the attached GPP to reduce the negative influence of the computing errors. According to the experiments, the neural network models obtained from the proposed training outperform the original models significantly when the CNN accelerators are affected by computing errors