Dilute gluconic acid pretreatment and fermentation of wheat straw to ethanol.

Gluconic acid's potential as a wheat straw pretreatment agent was studied at different concentrations (0.125-1 M) and temperatures (160-190 °C) for 30 min, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis. 0.125 M gluconic acid, 170 °C, yielded the highest xylose output, while 0.5 M gluconic acid at 190 °C yielded the best glucose yield. A fraction of gluconic acid decomposed during pretreatment. Detoxified hemicellulose hydrolysate from 0.125 M gluconate at 170 °C for 60 min showed promise for ethanol production. The gluconate contained in the detoxified hemicellulose hydrolysate can be fermented to ethanol along with other hemicellulose sugars present by Escherichia coli SL100. The ethanol yield from gluconate and sugars was about 90.4 ± 1.8%. The pretreated solids can be effectively converted to ethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae D5A via simultaneous saccharification and fermentation with the cellulase and ß-glucosidase addition. The ethanol yield achieved was 92.8 ± 2.0% of the theoretical maximum. The cellulose conversion was about 70.8 ± 0.8%.

Association between body mass index and medication-overuse headache among individuals with migraine: a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: Medication-overuse headache (MOH) is a secondary chronic headache disorder that occurs in individuals with a pre-existing primary headache disorder, particularly migraine disorder. Obesity is often combined with chronic daily headaches and is considered a risk factor for the transformation of episodic headaches into chronic headaches. However, the association between obesity and MOH among individuals with migraine has rarely been studied. The present study explored the association between body mass index (BMI) and MOH in people living with migraine. METHODS: This cross-sectional study is a secondary analysis of data from the Survey of Fibromyalgia Comorbidity with Headache study. Migraine and MOH were diagnosed using the criteria of the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition. BMI (kg/m2) is calculated by dividing the weight (kg) by the square of the height (m). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between BMI and MOH. RESULTS: A total of 2,251 individuals with migraine were included, of whom 8.7% (195/2,251) had a concomitant MOH. Multivariable logistic regression analysis, adjusted for age, sex, education level, headache duration, pain intensity, headache family history, chronic migraine, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and fibromyalgia, demonstrated there was an association between BMI (odds ratio [OR], 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.11; P = 0.031) and MOH. The results remained when the BMI was transformed into a category. Compared to individuals with Q2 (18.5 kg/m2 ≤ BMI ≤ 23.9 kg/m2), those with Q4 (BMI ≥ 28 kg/m2) had an adjusted OR for MOH of 1.81 (95% CI, 1.04-3.17; P = 0.037). In the subgroup analyses, BMI was associated with MOH among aged more than 50 years (OR, 1.13; 95%, 1.03-1.24), less than high school (OR, 1.08; 95%, 1.01-1.15), without depression (OR, 1.06; 95%, 1.01-1.12), and without anxiety (OR, 1.06; 95%, 1.01-1.12). An association between BMI and MOH was found in a sensitivity analysis that BMI was classified into four categories according to the World Health Organization guidelines. CONCLUSION: In this cross-sectional study, BMI was associated with MOH in Chinese individuals with migraine.

Profile of Chinese Cluster Headache Register Individual Study (CHRIS): Clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment status data of 816 patients in China.

BACKGROUND: The clinical profile of cluster headache may differ among different regions of the world, warranting interest in the data obtained from the initial Chinese Cluster Headache Register Individual Study (CHRIS) for better understanding. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter, prospective, longitudinal cohort study on cluster headache across all 31 provinces of China, aiming to gather clinical characteristics, treatment approaches, imaging, electrophysiological and biological samples. RESULTS: In total 816 patients were enrolled with a male-to-female ratio of 4.33:1. The mean age at consultation was 34.98 ± 9.91 years, and 24.89 ± 9.77 years at onset. Only 2.33% were diagnosed with chronic cluster headache, and 6.99% had a family history of the condition. The most common bout was one to two times per year (45.96%), lasting two weeks to one month (44.00%), and occurring frequently in spring (76.23%) and winter (73.04%). Of these, 68.50% experienced one to two attacks per day, with the majority lasting one to two hours (45.59%). The most common time for attacks was between 9 am and 12 pm (75.86%), followed by 1 am and 3 am (43.48%). Lacrimation (78.80%) was the most predominant autonomic symptom reported. Furthermore, 39.22% of patients experienced a delay of 10 years or more in receiving a correct diagnosis. Only 35.67% and 24.26% of patients received common acute and preventive treatments, respectively. CONCLUSION: Due to differences in ethnicity, genetics and lifestyle conditions, CHRIS has provided valuable baseline data from China. By establishing a dynamic cohort with comprehensive multidimensional data, it aims to advance the management system for cluster headache in China.

Conversion of Deproteinized Cheese Whey to Lactobionate by an Engineered Neurospora crassa Strain F5.

We report a novel production process for lactobionic acid (LBA) production using an engineered Neurospora crassa strain F5. The wild-type N. crassa strain produces cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) and uses lactose as a carbon source. N. crassa strain F5, which was constructed by deleting six out of the seven ß-glucosidases in the wild type, showed a much slower lactose utilization rate and produced a much higher level of cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) than the wild type. Strain N. crassa F5 produced CDH and laccase simultaneously on the pretreated wheat straw with 3 µM of cycloheximide added as the laccase inducer. The deproteinized cheese whey was added directly to the shake flasks with the fungus present to achieve LBA production. Strain F5 produced about 37 g/L of LBA from 45 g/L of lactose in 27 h since deproteinized cheese whey addition. The yield of LBA from consumed lactose was about 85%, and the LBA productivity achieved was about 1.37 g/L/h.

Mechanism of Polygonum capitatum intervention in pulmonary fibrosis based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology: A review.

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a serious interstitial disease that includes diffuse collagen deposition of lung tissue. Polygonum capitatum Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don (THL) is a traditional vaccine that has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects. In this research, to investigate the mechanism of action of THL in the intervention of pulmonary fibrosis by network pharmacology and molecular docking related research methods, in order to provide a theoretical basis for expanding the scope of THL medication. A total of 49 active ingredients were analyzed and screened in Cephalus cephalusis, including 35 pulmonary fibrosis targets, and 10 key targets such as ALB, EGFR were screened after software analysis. The molecular docking results showed that there were 44 binding energies less than -3 kcal·mol-1 in the 60 docking results, indicating that most proteins had strong binding energies with compounds. The key targets of KEGG enrichment analysis were mainly enriched in 20 core action pathways, such as hemostasis-related pathway, regulation of kinase activity. This study shows that based on network pharmacology, the multicomponent-multitarget-multipathway effect of THL intervention in pulmonary fibrosis is discussed.

Status of diagnosis and preventative treatment for primary headache disorders: real-world data of unmet needs in China.

BACKGROUND: Headache disorders are widely prevalent and pose a considerable economic burden on individuals and society. Globally, misdiagnosis and inadequate treatment of primary headache disorders remain significant challenges, impeding the effective management of such conditions. Despite advancements in headache management over the last decade, a need for comprehensive evaluations of the status of primary headache disorders in China regarding diagnosis and preventative treatments persists. METHODS: In the present study, we analyzed the established queries in the Survey of Fibromyalgia Comorbidity with Headache (SEARCH), focusing on previous diagnoses and preventative treatment regimens for primary headache disorders. This cross-sectional study encompassed adults diagnosed with primary headache disorders who sought treatment at 23 hospitals across China between September 2020 to May 2021. RESULTS: The study comprised 2,868 participants who were systematically examined. Migraine and tension-type headaches (TTH) constituted a majority of the primary headache disorders, accounting for 74.1% (2,124/2,868) and 23.3% (668/2,868) of the participants, respectively. Medication overuse headache (MOH) affected 8.1% (231/2,868) of individuals with primary headache disorders. Over half of the individuals with primary headache disorders (56.6%, 1,624/2,868) remained undiagnosed. The previously correct diagnosis rates for migraine, TTH, TACs, and MOH were 27.3% (580/2,124), 8.1% (54/668), 23.2% (13/56), and 3.5% (8/231), respectively. The misdiagnosis of "Nervous headache" was found to be the most prevalent among individuals with migraine (9.9%, 211/2,124), TTH (10.0%, 67/668), trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TACs) (17.9%, 10/56), and other primary headache disorders (10.0%, 2/20) respectively. Only a minor proportion of individuals with migraine (16.5%, 77/468) and TTH (4.7%, 2/43) had received preventive medication before participating in the study. CONCLUSIONS: While there has been progress made in the rate of correct diagnosis of primary headache disorders in China compared to a decade ago, the prevalence of misdiagnosis and inadequate treatment of primary headaches remains a veritable issue. As such, focused efforts are essential to augment the diagnosis and preventive treatment measures related to primary headache disorders in the future.

The prevalence and clinical features of fibromyalgia in Chinese hospital patients with primary headache: The survey of fibromyalgia comorbid with headache.

OBJECTIVE: The aims were to explore the prevalence and clinical features of fibromyalgia in Chinese hospital patients with primary headache. BACKGROUND: Studies done in non-Chinese populations suggest that around one-third of patients with primary headache have fibromyalgia, but data from mainland China are limited. Investigations into the prevalence and clinical features of fibromyalgia in Chinese patients with primary headache would improve our understanding of these two complex disease areas and help guide future clinical practice. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included adults with primary headache treated at 23 Chinese hospitals from September 2020 to May 2021. Fibromyalgia was diagnosed using the modified 2010 American College of Rheumatology criteria. Mood and insomnia were evaluated employing the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Insomnia Severity Index. RESULTS: A total of 2782 participants were analyzed. The fibromyalgia prevalence was 6.0% (166/2782; 95% confidence interval: 5.1%, 6.8%). Compared to primary headache patients without combined fibromyalgia, patients with primary headache combined with fibromyalgia were more likely to be older (47.8 vs. 41.7 years), women (83.7% [139/166] vs. 72.8% [1904/2616]), less educated (65.1% [108/166] vs. 45.2% [1183/2616]), and with longer-duration headache (10.0 vs. 8.0 years). Such patients were more likely to exhibit comorbid depression (34.3% [57/166] vs. 9.9% [260/2616]), anxiety (16.3% [27/166] vs. 2.7% [70/2612]), and insomnia (58.4% [97/166] vs. 17.1% [447/2616]). Fibromyalgia was more prevalent in those with chronic (rather than episodic) migraine (11.1% [46/414] vs. 4.4% [72/1653], p < 0.001) and chronic (rather than episodic) tension-type headache (11.5% [27/235] vs. 4.6% [19/409], p = 0.001). Most fibromyalgia pain was in the shoulders, neck, and upper back. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of fibromyalgia in mainland Chinese patients with primary headache was 6.0%. Fibromyalgia was more common in those with chronic rather than episodic headache. The most common sites of fibromyalgia pain were the neck, shoulders, and back.

Laccase-catalyzed lignin depolymerization in deep eutectic solvents: challenges and prospects.

Lignin has enormous potential as a renewable feedstock for depolymerizing to numerous high-value chemicals. However, lignin depolymerization is challenging owing to its recalcitrant, heterogenous, and limited water-soluble nature. From the standpoint of environmental friendliness and sustainability, enzymatic depolymerization of lignin is of great significance. Notably, laccases play an essential role in the enzymatic depolymerization of lignin and are considered the ultimate green catalysts. Deep eutectic solvent (DES), an efficient media in biocatalysis, are increasingly recognized as the newest and utmost green solvent that highly dissolves lignin. This review centers on a lignin depolymerization strategy by harnessing the good lignin fractionating capability of DES and the high substrate and product selectivity of laccase. Recent progress and insights into the laccase-DES interactions, protein engineering strategies for improving DES compatibility with laccase, and controlling the product selectivity of lignin degradation by laccase or in DES systems are extensively provided. Lastly, the challenges and prospects of the alliance between DES and laccase for lignin depolymerization are discussed. The collaboration of laccase and DES provides a great opportunity to develop an enzymatic route for lignin depolymerization.

Glutathione S-transferase Omega 2 DD genotype is associated with an increased risk of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in Chinese men.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether GSTA1, GSTO2, and GSTZ1 are relevant to an increased risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in a Chinese population. METHODS: In this study, 143 sporadic ALS (sALS) patients (83 men, 60 women) and 210 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects were enrolled. Blood samples were collected by venipuncture. Genomic DNA was isolated by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The potential associations between ALS and GSTA1, GSTO2, and GSTZ1 polymorphisms were estimated using chi-squared analysis and unconditional logistic regression. RESULTS: The D allele and genotype frequencies of GSTO2 were increased in sALS patients compared with healthy subjects, indicating that the GSTO2 DD genotype was associated with an increased risk of sALS (odds ratio [OR] = 3.294, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.039-10.448). However, a significant association between the DD genotype and the risk of sALS was evident in men only (OR = 7.167, 95% CI = 1.381-37.202). CONCLUSION: This study revealed that the D allele and genotype frequencies of GSTO2 were increased in sALS patients. The GSTO2 DD genotype was associated with an increased risk of sALS in men in a Chinese population.

Case Report: Four Cases of Cortical/Brainstem Encephalitis Positive for Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Immunoglobulin G.

AIM: Despite a significant improvement in the number of studies on myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)-immunoglobulin G (IgG)-associated disorder (MOGAD) over the past few years, MOG-IgG-associated cortical/brainstem encephalitis remains a relatively uncommon and less-reported presentation among the MOGAD spectrum. This study aimed to report the clinical course, imaging features, and therapeutic response of MOG-IgG-associated cortical/brainstem encephalitis. METHODS: Data of four patients who suffered from cortical encephalitis with epileptic seizures and/or brainstem encephalitis during the course of the disease were retrospectively collected and analyzed. RESULTS: In this study, three male patients and one female patient, with a median age of onset of 21 years (ranging 20-51 years) were enrolled. An epileptic seizure was the main symptom of cortical encephalitis in these patients, while the manifestations of brainstem encephalitis were diverse. Cranial MRI demonstrated abnormal signals in unilateral or bilateral cortical or brainstem. Cerebrospinal fluid studies showed normal or mildly elevated leukocyte counts and protein levels, and a cell-based assay detected positive MOG-IgG in the serum of all patients. Two patients were misdiagnosed at the first attack, and both experienced a relapse. All of them accepted the first-line immunotherapy after a confirmed diagnosis and had a good outcome. CONCLUSION: Early suspicion of MOG-IgG-associated encephalitis is necessary for any patient with sudden onset of seizures or symptoms of brainstem damage, especially with lesions on unilateral/bilateral cortical or brainstem on brain MRI.

Prevalence of primary headache disorders among information technology staff in China: the negative effects of computer use and other correlative factors.

BACKGROUND: To date, there have been very few studies that have explored the relationship between headaches and computer use. The chief aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of primary headache disorders among informational technology staff and identify the potential factors contributing to it. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study based on annual health checks of employees from the information technology industry. We identified 2216 information technology staff members from Beijing by stratified random sampling who met the inclusion criteria. All participants were initially required to have a physical examination, after which they complete a general situation questionnaire that included a headache screening question. Those who had suffered from headache within the previous year also completed the questionnaire developed by Lifting the Burden. The International Classification of Headache Disorders 3(ICHD-3) criteria was used for the diagnosis of headache. RESULTS: A total of 2012 valid questionnaires (males, 1544 [76.7%]; females, 468 [23.3%]) were obtained from 2216 participants for a response rate of 90.8%. A total of 619 participants were diagnosed with primary headache, the one-year prevalence of which was 30.8%. Regarding the classification of the primary headache, 152 participants suffered from migraine, with a one-year prevalence of 7.6%; 440 and 27 suffered from tension-type headache and unclassified headaches, with one-year prevalences of 21.9 and 1.3%, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis showed that female gender was a risk factor for migraine and tension-type headache (OR 3.21[95% CI 2.28-4.53] and 1.88[95% CI 1.47-2.40], respectively). Age was also related to migraine and tension-type headache. The 41-50 age group had 2.02 times the probability of migraine, and the 31-40 age group had 1.89 times the probability of tension-type headaches compared to the 18-30 age group. Obesity and excessive computer use (more than 12 h per day) were also factors contributing to tension-type headache (OR: 2.61[95% CI 1.91-3.56] and 1.63[95% CI 1.18-2.25], respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The one-year prevalence of primary headache in this population was 30.8%. The prevalence of tension-type headache in this population was higher than that in the general Chinese population. The occurrence of primary headache is correlated with many factors, among which excessive computer use significantly contributed to the risk of tension-type headache.

Identification and Characterization of a Cellodextrin Transporter in Aspergillus niger.

Aspergillus niger produces a wide spectrum of extracellular polysaccharide hydrolases that hydrolyze cellulose into soluble glucose and cellodextrins. Transporters are essential for sugar uptake, yet it is not clear whether cellodextrin transporters exist in A. niger. Here, one cellulose inducible cellodextrin transporter CtA was identified in A. niger B2. It was found that CtA not only could transport cellobiose, but also cellotriose, cellotetraose, and cellopentaose. The yeast strain YPßG-CtA, expressing cellodextrin transporter CtA and an intracellular ß-glucosidase, grew on cellobiose with the cell growth rate of 0.0830 ± 0.0113 h-1 under aerobic condition. Furthermore, the engineered yeast could produce 1.1 g/L ethanol anaerobically on cellobiose in 2 days. The identification of CtA provides evidence that the cellodextrin uptake is a complementary strategy of cellulose utilization in A. niger, and the CtA could be a strong transporter candidate for constructing engineered cellodextrin-utilizing microorganisms.

WBNPMD: weighted bipartite network projection for microRNA-disease association prediction.

BACKGROUND: Recently, numerous biological experiments have indicated that microRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in exploring the pathogenesis of various human diseases. Since traditional experimental methods for miRNA-disease associations detection are costly and time-consuming, it becomes urgent to design efficient and robust computational techniques for identifying undiscovered interactions. METHODS: In this paper, we proposed a computation framework named weighted bipartite network projection for miRNA-disease association prediction (WBNPMD). In this method, transfer weights were constructed by combining the known miRNA and disease similarities, and the initial information was properly configured. Then the two-step bipartite network algorithm was implemented to infer potential miRNA-disease associations. RESULTS: The proposed WBNPMD was applied to the known miRNA-disease association data, and leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) and fivefold cross-validation were implemented to evaluate the performance of WBNPMD. As a result, our method achieved the AUCs of 0.9321 and [Formula: see text] in LOOCV and fivefold cross-validation, and outperformed other four state-of-the-art methods. We also carried out two kinds of case studies on prostate neoplasm, colorectal neoplasm, and lung neoplasm, and most of the top 50 predicted miRNAs were confirmed to have an association with the corresponding diseases based on dbDeMC, miR2Disease, and HMDD V3.0 databases. CONCLUSIONS: The experimental results demonstrate that WBNPMD can accurately infer potential miRNA-disease associations. We anticipated that the proposed WBNPMD could serve as a powerful tool for potential miRNA-disease associations excavation.

LPI-IBNRA: Long Non-coding RNA-Protein Interaction Prediction Based on Improved Bipartite Network Recommender Algorithm.

According to the latest research, lncRNAs (long non-coding RNAs) play a broad and important role in various biological processes by interacting with proteins. However, identifying whether proteins interact with a specific lncRNA through biological experimental methods is difficult, costly, and time-consuming. Thus, many bioinformatics computational methods have been proposed to predict lncRNA-protein interactions. In this paper, we proposed a novel approach called Long non-coding RNA-Protein Interaction Prediction based on Improved Bipartite Network Recommender Algorithm (LPI-IBNRA). In the proposed method, we implemented a two-round resource allocation and eliminated the second-order correlations appropriately on the bipartite network. Experimental results illustrate that LPI-IBNRA outperforms five previous methods, with the AUC values of 0.8932 in leave-one-out cross validation (LOOCV) and 0.8819 ± 0.0052 in 10-fold cross validation, respectively. In addition, case studies on four lncRNAs were carried out to show the predictive power of LPI-IBNRA.

A comparative study on enzyme adsorption and hydrolytic performance of different scale corn stover by two-step kinetics.

To investigate the effect of two-step kinetics on enzyme adsorption and hydrolytic properties of different structural substrates at low enzyme doses. The two-step kinetic experiments of ultrafine grinding (UGCS) and sieve-based grinding corn stover (SGCS) were performed respectively with enzyme loading of 2.5 + 2.5 FPU/g and 5 + 5 FPU/g. The different performance of these two samples were illustrated by characterizing the particle size distribution, SEM and XPS. The results showed that ultrafine grinding can promote the structural properties which is beneficial to adsorption and hydrolysis. The main factors influencing adsorption kinetics are enzyme concentration and the surface cellulose amount. Pre-adsorbed enzyme has no effects on the subsequent enzyme adsorption quantity but produces some small competitive and impeditive effects. The hydrolysis kinetics mainly depend on the structure of the substrate and its complexity of hydrolysis. The two-step hydrolysis didn't promote the total sugar yield under the same enzyme concentration, but the first step contributed more to the total sugar yield.

Homoethanol Production from Glycerol and Gluconate Using Recombinant Klebsiella oxytoca Strains.

Gluconic acid, an oxidized cellulose degradation product, could be produced from cellulosic biomass. Glycerol is an inexpensive and renewable resource for fuels and chemicals production and is available as a byproduct of biodiesel production. Gluconate is a more oxidized substrate than glucose, whereas glycerol is a more reduced substrate than glucose. Although the production of homoethanol from glucose can be achieved, the conversion of gluconate to ethanol is accompanied by the production of oxidized byproduct such as acetate, and reduced byproducts such as 1,3-propanediol are produced, along with ethanol, when glycerol is used as the carbon source. When gluconate and glycerol are used as the sole carbon source by Klebsiella oxytoca BW21, the ethanol yield is about 62 to 64%. Coutilization of both gluconate and glycerol in batch fermentation increased the yield of ethanol to about 78.7% and decreased by-product accumulation (such as acetate and 1,3-propanediol) substantially. Decreasing by-product formation by deleting the pta, frd, ldh, pflA, and pduC genes in strain BW21 increased the ethanol yield to 89.3% in the batch fermentation of a glycerol-gluconate mixture. These deletions produced the strain K. oxytoca WT26. However, the utilization rate of glycerol was significantly slower than that of gluconate in batch fermentation. In addition, substantial amounts of glycerol remain unutilized after gluconate was depleted in batch fermentation. Continuous fed-batch fermentation was used to solve the utilization rate mismatch problem for gluconate and glycerol. An ethanol yield of 97.2% was achieved in continuous fed-batch fermentation of these two substrates, and glycerol was completely used at the end of the fermentation.IMPORTANCE Gluconate is a biomass-derived degradation product, and glycerol can be obtained as a biodiesel byproduct. Compared to glucose, using them as the sole substrate is accompanied by the production of by-products. Our study shows that through pathway engineering and adoption of a fed-batch culture system, high-yield homoethanol production that usually can be achieved by using glucose as the substrate is achievable using gluconate and glycerol as cosubstrates. The same strategy is expected to be able to achieve homofermentative production of other products, such as lactate and 2,3-butanediol, which can be typically achieved using glucose as the substrate and inexpensive biodiesel-derived glycerol and biomass-derived gluconate as the cosubstrates.

A Novel Beamforming Algorithm for GNSS Receivers with Dual-Polarized Sensitive Arrays in the Joint Space⁻Time-Polarization Domain.

Dual-polarized sensitive arrays (DPSAs) with the space⁻time-polarization adaptive processing (STPAP) technique, which employs the polarization domain as well as the space domain and time domain to filter out interferences, can cancel a larger number of wideband interferences for GNSS receivers. However, the traditional STPAP beamforming algorithm, which requires a separate adaptive filter for each GNSS satellite, will make the process computationally intensive as there are multiple GNSS satellites in the field of view (FOV). In order to overcome the shortcoming, a novel STPAP beamforming algorithm based on the minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) criterion is proposed. Compared with the traditional STPAP beamforming algorithm, the proposed STPAP beamforming algorithm can process multiple GNSS satellites at once using only one adaptive filter, which will greatly reduce the computational complexity. Moreover, the proposed algorithm will not lead to a sharp deterioration in the output carrier-to-noise density ratio (C/N0) performance if the number of GNSS satellites processed in the same adaptive filter is proper. Furthermore, to calculate weight vector iteratively, an adaptive algorithm based on the constrained least mean square (CLMS) method is derived for the proposed STPAP beamforming algorithm. Simulation results validate that the proposed algorithm is effective in mitigating interferences for GNSS receivers in the joint space⁻time-polarization domain and meanwhile has lower computational complexity when maintaining the output C/N0 performance close to that of the traditional STPAP algorithm.

Fungal co-culture increases ligninolytic enzyme activities: statistical optimization using response surface methodology.

The optimization of ligninolytic enzyme (LE) activities in a novel fungal co-culture between Pycnoporus sanguineus and Beauveria brongniartii were studied using a Plackett-Burman experimental design (PBED) and a central composite design (CCD). In addition, H2O2 role was analyzed. Laccase (EC. 1.10.3.2) and MnP (EC 1.11.1.14) activities of P. sanguineus increased 6.0- and 2.3-fold, respectively, in the co-culture with B. brongniartii. The H2O2 content was higher in the co-culture (0.33-7.12-fold) than in the P. sanguineus monoculture. The PBED revealed that yeast extract (YE), FeSO4, and inoculum amount were significant factors for laccase and MnP activities and H2O2 production in the co-culture, which increased by 8.2-, 5.2- and 1.03-fold, respectively. The YE and FeSO4 were studied using a CCD to optimize the studied response variables. Laccase activity was enhanced 1.5-fold by CCD, the optimal amount of YE was 0.366 g L-1. Quadratic term of FeSO4 modulated MnP activity and was associated with a 4.28-fold increase compared to the PBED. Both YE and its quadratic term significantly affected H2O2 production; however, the CCD did not enable an increase in H2O2 production. Pearson correlation indicated an increase in laccase (r2=0.4411, p = 0.0436) and MnP (r2=0.5186, p = 0.0198) activities following increases in H2O2 in the co-culture system.

Immunotherapy by targeting of VGKC complex for seizure control and prevention of cognitive impairment in a mouse model of epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a type of refractory neurologic disorder mental disease, which is associated with cognitive impairments and memory dysfunction. However, the potential mechanisms of epilepsy are not well understood. Previous evidence has identified the voltage gated potassium channel complex (VGKC) as a target in various cohorts of patients with epilepsy. In the present study, the efficacy of an antibody against VGKC (anti­VGKC) for the treatment of epilepsy in mice was investigated. A mouse model of lithium­pilocarpine temporal lobe epilepsy was established and anti­VGKC treatment was administered for 30 days. Memory impairment, anxiety, visual attention, inhibitory control and neuronal loss were measured in the mouse model of lithium­pilocarpine temporal lobe epilepsy. The results revealed that epileptic mice treated with anti­VGKC were able to learn the task and presented attention impairment, even a tendency toward impulsivity and compulsivity. It was also exhibited that anti­VGKC treatment decreased neuronal loss in structures classically associated with attentional performance in hippocampus. Mice who received Anti­VGKC treatment had inhibited motor seizures and hippocampal damage as compared with control mice. In conclusion, these results indicated that anti­VGKC treatment may present benefits for improvements of the condition of motor attention impairment and cognitive competence, which suggests that VGKC may be a potential target for the treatment of epilepsy.

Genetic association of HCRTR2, ADH4 and CLOCK genes with cluster headache: a Chinese population-based case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Cluster headache (CH), a rare primary headache disorder, is currently thought to be a genetic susceptibility which play a role in CH susceptibility. A large numbers of genetic association studies have confirmed that the HCRTR2 (Hypocretin Receptor 2) SNP rs2653349, and the ADH4 (Alcohol Dehydrogenase 4) SNP rs1126671 and rs1800759 polymorphisms are linked to CH. In addition, the CLOCK (Circadian Locomotor Output Cycles Kaput) gene is becoming a research hotspot for CH due to encoding a transcription factor that serves as a basic driving force for circadian rhythm in humans. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between CH and the HCRTR2, ADH4 and CLOCK genes in a Chinese CH case-control sample. METHODS: We genotyped polymorphisms of nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the HCRTR2, ADH4 and CLOCK genes to perform an association study on a Chinese Han CH case-control sample (112 patients and 192 controls),using Sequenom MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry iPLEX platform. The frequencies and distributions of genotypes and haplotypes were statistically compared between the case and control groups to identify associations with CH. The effects of SNPs on CH were further investigated by multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: The frequency of the HCRTR2 SNP rs3800539 GA genotype was significantly higher in cases than in controls (48.2% vs.37.0%). The GA genotypes was associated with a higher CH risk (OR = 1.483, 95% CI: 0.564-3.387, p = 0.038), however, after Bonferroni correction, the association lost statistical significance. Haplotype analysis of the HCRTR2 SNPs showed that among eight haplotypes, only H1-GTGGGG was linked to a reduced CH risk (44.7% vs. 53.1%, OR = 0.689, 95% CI =0.491~0.966, p = 0.030). No significant association of ADH4, CLOCK SNPs with CH was statistically detected in the present study. CONCLUSIONS: Association between HCRTR2, ADH4,CLOCK gene polymorphisms and CH was not significant in the present study, however, haplotype analysis indicated H1-GTGGGG was linked to a reduced CH risk.