Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2-associated changes in pharmacokinetics, locomotor function and peripheral glutamic acid and gamma-aminobutyric acid levels during acute alcohol intoxication in male mice.

The insufficiency of human aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) has been consistently associated with high blood acetaldehyde levels and impaired locomotor function during acute alcohol intoxication. The ALDH2-associated change in peripheral glutamic acid (Glu) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels and its correlation with pharmacokinetics and psychomotor function remain unclear. In this study, ALDH2*2 mice were used to build an acute alcohol intoxication model after intraperitoneal administration. The blood ethanol and acetaldehyde concentrations were analyzed to generate concentration-time curves at two doses of alcohol (2.0 and 4.0 g/kg). The dose of 4.0 g/kg was selected in accordance with the preliminary behavioral evaluation result to perform the following behavioral tests (e.g. the rotarod test, the open field test, and the Y-maze test), so as to assess locomotor activity, anxiety and cognitive ability. Plasma Glu and GABA levels were determined through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The results suggested that the ALDH2*2 mice had highly accumulated acetaldehyde levels, impaired locomotor activity and anxiety-like emotion but unimpaired cognitive function, compared to the wild type (WT) mice. The plasma Glu level and the ratio of Glu/GABA in the alcohol-treated WT and ALDH2*2 groups decreased from 2 to 5 h after intraperitoneal administration, whereas the GABA level did not change significantly. The blood alcohol concentration in the WT and ALDH2*2 mice was positively correlated with plasma Glu level, whereas the blood acetaldehyde level was found as the opposite. We speculate that the decline degree of Glu/GABA ratio could be associated with psychomotor retardation and needs to be further investigated.

Rethinking Power Efficiency for Next-Generation Processor-Free Sensing Devices.

The last decade has seen significant advances in power optimization for IoT sensors. The conventional wisdom considers that if we reduce the power consumption of each component (e.g., processor, radio) into µW-level of power, the IoT sensors could achieve overall ultra-low power consumption. However, we show that this conventional wisdom is overturned, as bus communication can take significant power for exchanging data between each component. In this paper, we analyze the power efficiency of bus communication and ask whether it is possible to reduce the power consumption for bus communication. We observe that existing bus architectures in mainstream IoT devices can be classified into either push-pull or open-drain architecture. push-pull only adapts to unidirectional communication, whereas open-drain inherently fits for bidirectional communication which benefits simplifying bus topology and reducing hardware costs. However, open-drain consumes more power than push-pull due to the high leakage current consumption while communicating on the bus. We present Turbo, a novel approach introducing low power to the open-drain based buses by reducing the leakage current created on the bus. We instantiate Turbo on I2C bus and evaluate it with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) sensors. The results show a 76.9% improvement in power efficiency in I2C communication.

BioTouch: Reliable Re-Authentication via Finger Bio-Capacitance and Touching Behavior.

Re-authentication continuously checks to see if a user is authorized during a whole usage session, enhancing secrecy capabilities for computational devices, especially against insider attacks. However, it is challenging to design a reliable re-authentication scheme with accuracy, transparency and robustness. Specifically, the approaches of using biometric features (e.g., fingerprint, iris) are often accurate in identifying users but not transparent to them due to the need for user cooperation. On the other hand, while the approaches exploiting behavior features (e.g., touch-screen gesture, movement) are often transparent in use, their applications suffer from low accuracy and robustness as behavior information collected is subjective and may change frequently over different use situations and even user's motion. In this paper, we propose BioTouch, a reliable re-authentication scheme that satisfies all the above requirements. First, BioTouch utilizes multiple features (finger capacitance and touching behavior) to identify the user for better accuracy. Second, BioTouch automatically works during user operation on capacitive-touch devices, achieving transparency without the need for manual assistance. Finally, by applying finger bio-capacitance, BioTouch is also robust to various conditions, as this feature is determined by the user's physical characteristics and will not change by different user positions and motions. We implement BioTouch for proof-of-concept and conduct comprehensive evaluations. The results show that BioTouch can flag 98% of anomalous behaviors within ten touching operations and achieve up to 99.84% accuracy during usage.

Tibetan Y-STR trait in the eleven regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Y-Chromosomal short-tandem repeats (Y-STRs) could provide highly valuable information for forensic investigation and demographic studies. However, there is still no systematic Y-STR information on Tibetan as obtained from different regions of the broad Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In this study, an analysis was conducted on 585 male individuals, classed into 3 different dialect branches as Ü-Tsang, Amdo, and Khams and originating from 11 scattered regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The gene diversity values of the 41 Y-STRs in Tibetan ranged from 0.3636 to 0.9322. Additionally, a total of 563 distinct haplotypes were obtained with an overall haplotype diversity of 0.9999 and a discrimination capacity of 0.9624. As suggested by the inter-population diversity analysis, there were two main separated clades of Tibetan subgroups. The visualization of pairwise genetic distances between 11 Tibetan subgroups and 59 reference populations using cladogram revealed the distribution of various populations, which was basically consistent with the patterns of geographic origin and linguistic affinity.

Bioequivalence of 2 Aripiprazole Orally Disintegrating Tablets in Healthy Chinese Volunteers Under Fasting and Fed Conditions.

To assess the bioequivalence of 2 formulations of aripiprazole orally disintegrating tablets and to monitor their safety and tolerability in Chinese subjects, a single-site, open-label, randomized, 2-preparation, single-dose, 2-period crossover design was conducted. All 60 subjects were randomly divided into the fasting group and the fed group. Blood samples were collected at scheduled times after a single oral dose of orodispersible tablets containing 10 mg of aripiprazole. In the fasting state, the geometric mean ratios (90% confidence intervals [CIs]) of the test/reference formulation were 92.22%-100.20% for the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) from time zero to the last measured concentration (AUC0-t ), 91.73%-100.14% for the AUC from administration to infinite time (AUC0-∞ ), and 98.52%-112.52% for the maximum plasma concentration (Cmax ). In the fed state, AUC0-t , AUC0-∞ , and Cmax were 92.23%-100.20%, 91.73%-100.14%, and 95.91%-105.13%, respectively. The 90%CIs of the test/reference AUC ratio and Cmax ratio were within the acceptance range of 80.00%-125.00% for bioequivalence. Neither the maximum peak plasma concentration (tmax ) nor the terminal elimination half-life (t1/2 ) showed any significant difference. No serious adverse events) were encountered during the study. The test and reference formulations were bioequivalent under both fasting and fed conditions and were found to be safe and tolerated.