1,314 research outputs found
Neuroprotection and its molecular mechanism following spinal cord injury
Acute spinal cord injury initiates a complex cascade of molecular events termed 'secondary injury', which leads to progressive degeneration ranging from early neuronal apoptosis at the lesion site to delayed degeneration of intact white matter tracts, and, ultimately, expansion of the initial injury. These secondary injury processes include, but are not limited to, inflammation, free radical-induced cell death, glutamate excitotoxicity, phospholipase A2 activation, and induction of extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways, which are important targets in developing neuroprotective strategies for treatment of spinal cord injury. Recently, a number of studies have shown promising results on neuroprotection and recovery of function in rodent models of spinal cord injury using treatments that target secondary injury processes including inflammation, phospholipase A2 activation, and manipulation of the PTEN-Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. The present review outlines our ongoing research on the molecular mechanisms of neuroprotection in experimental spinal cord injury and briefly summarizes our earlier findings on the therapeutic potential of pharmacological treatments in spinal cord injury
Terrace-like structure in the above-threshold ionization spectrum of an atom in an IR+XUV two-color laser field
Based on the frequency-domain theory, we investigate the above-threshold
ionization (ATI) process of an atom in a two-color laser field with infrared
(IR) and extreme ultraviolet (XUV) frequencies, where the photon energy of the
XUV laser is close to or larger than the atomic ionization threshold. By using
the channel analysis, we find that the two laser fields play different roles in
an ionization process, where the XUV laser determines the ionization
probability by the photon number that the atom absorbs from it, while the IR
laser accelerates the ionized electron and hence widens the electron kinetic
energy spectrum. As a result, the ATI spectrum presents a terrace-like
structure. By using the saddle-point approximation, we obtain a classical
formula which can predict the cutoff of each plateau in the terrace-like ATI
spectrum. Furthermore, we find that the difference of the heights between two
neighboring plateaus in the terrace-like structure of the ATI spectrum
increases as the frequency of the XUV laser increases
Dynamical behavior of interacting dark energy in loop quantum cosmology
The dynamical behaviors of interacting dark energy in loop quantum cosmology
are discussed in this paper. Based on defining three dimensionless variables,
we simplify the equations of the fixed points. The fixed points for interacting
dark energy can be determined by the Friedmann equation coupled with the
dynamical equations {in Einstein cosmology}. But in loop quantum cosmology,
besides the Friedmann equation, the conversation equation also give a constrain
on the fixed points. The difference of stability properties for the fixed
points in loop quantum cosmology and the ones in Einstein cosmology also have
been discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
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