Structural characteristics of amygdala subregions in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients often suffer from depressive symptoms, which seriously affect cooperation in treatment and nursing. The amygdala plays a significant role in depression. This study aims to explore the microstructural alterations of the amygdala in T2DM and to investigate the relationship between the alterations and depressive symptoms. Fifty T2DM and 50 healthy controls were included. Firstly, the volumes of subcortical regions and subregions of amygdala were calculated by FreeSurfer. Covariance analysis (ANCOVA) was conducted between the two groups with covariates of age, sex, and estimated total intracranial volume to explore the differences in volume of subcortical regions and subregions of amygdala. Furthermore, the structural covariance within the amygdala subregions was performed. Moreover, we investigate the correlation between depressive symptoms and the volume of subcortical regions and amygdala subregions in T2DM. We observed a reduction in the volume of the bilateral cortico-amygdaloid transition area, left basal nucleus, bilateral accessory basal nucleus, left anterior amygdaloid area of amygdala, the left thalamus and left hippocampus in T2DM. T2DM patients showed decreased structural covariance connectivity between left paralaminar nucleus and the right central nucleus. Moreover, there was a negative correlation between self-rating depression scale scores and the volume of the bilateral cortico-amygdaloid transition area in T2DM. This study reveals extensive structural alterations in the amygdala subregions of T2DM patients. The reduction in the volume of the bilateral cortico-amygdaloid transition area may be a promising imaging marker for early recognition of depressive symptoms in T2DM.

CNTNAP4 deficiency in dopaminergic neurons initiates parkinsonian phenotypes.

Rationale: Contactin-associated protein-like 4 (CNTNAP4) belongs to the neurexin superfamily and has critical functions in neurological development and synaptic function. Loss of CNTNAP4 in interneurons has been linked to autism, schizophrenia, and epilepsy. CNTNAP4 is also highly enriched in dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra (SN), however, few studies have investigated the role of CNTNAP4 in DA neurons, and whether CNTNAP4 deficiency in DA neurons contributes to Parkinson's disease (PD) remains unclear. Methods: Effects of CNTNAP4 knockdown or overexpression on the DA MN9D cell line were assessed via Western blotting, immunocytochemistry, and RNA sequencing. An in vivo animal model, including CNTNAP4 knockout mice and stereotaxic injections of adeno-associated viral short-hairpin RNA with the tyrosine-hydroxylase promotor to silence CNTNAP4 in the SN, as well as the resulting physiological/behavioral effects, were evaluated via behavioral tests, Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and transmission electron microscopy. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were performed to examine the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma CNTNAP4 concentrations in PD patients. Results: We demonstrated that CNTNAP4 knockdown induced mitophagy and increased α-synuclein expression in MN9D cells. CNTNAP4 knockdown in the SN induced PD-like increases in SN-specific α-synuclein expression, DA neuronal degeneration, and motor dysfunction in mice. In addition, CNTNAP4 knockdown in SN-DA neurons increased autophagosomes and reduced synaptic vesicles in the SN. Furthermore, CNTNAP4 knockout mice showed movement deficits, nigral DA degeneration, and increased autophagy, which were consistent with the SN-specific knockdown model. We also found that CSF and plasma CNTNAP4 expression was increased in PD patients; in particular, plasma CNTNAP4 was increased in male PD patients compared with controls or female PD patients. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that CNTNAP4 deficiency may initiate phenotypes relevant to PD, of which we elucidated some of the underlying mechanisms.

Localization of area prostriata and its connections with primary visual cortex in rodent.

Area prostriata (Pro) has been found to play important roles in the rapid processing of moving stimuli in the far peripheral visual field. However, the specific neural substrates responsible for these functions remain unknown. In this study, we first examined the location, extent, and topography of the rodent equivalent of the primate Pro based on cytoarchitecture and molecular markers. We then identified its intimate connections with the primary visual cortex (V1) using retrograde and anterograde tracers. Our main finding is that medial V1, which receives peripheral visual information, has strong reciprocal connections with the Pro in both rat and mouse while lateral V1 has significantly fewer such connections. The direct V1 inputs to the Pro provide at least one of the shortest pathways for visual information to reach the Pro, and may be crucial to the fast processing of unexpected stimuli in the peripheral visual field.

Modified Huang-Lian-Jie-Du Decoction Ameliorates Aß Synaptotoxicity in a Murine Model of Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disease, characterized by cognitive dysfunction; however, the therapeutic strategies are not fully understood. Huang-Lian-Jie-Du-Decoction (HLJDD) is a famous traditional Chinese herbal formula that has been widely used clinically to treat dementia. Recently, according to previous study and our clinical practice, we generate a new modification of HLJDD (named modified-HLJDD). In this study, we indicated that modified-HLJDD attenuated learning and memory deficiencies in Aß 1-42 oligomer-induced AD model, and we confirmed the exact metabolites in modified-HLJDD solution, as compared with HLJDD by UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS. Using GC-Q-TOF/MS-based metabolomics, we identified adenosine as the potential significant metabolite, responsible for modified-HLJDD regulating energy metabolism and synaptic plasticity in AD model. We also revealed that the potential underlying mechanism of modified-HLJDD in AD model may involve NMDA receptor-mediated glutamatergic transmission and adenosine/ATPase/AMPK cascade. Moreover, we also indicated the differential gut microbiota which mainly involved Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria at the phylum level upon modified-HLJDD treatment in AD model. Based on the correlation of metabolomic analysis with microbiome analysis, we clarified that Dorea is the most affected microbiota with adenosine upon modified-HLJDD treatment in AD model. Thus, our study suggests that modified-HLJDD may serve as a potential therapeutic drug in treating AD.

Development of a Rapid Coal Analyzer Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS).

Determination of coal quality plays a major role in coal-fired power plants and coal producers for optimizing the utilization efficiency and controlling the quality. In this work, a rapid coal analyzer based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was developed for rapid quality analysis of pulverized coal. The structure of the LIBS apparatus was introduced in detail. To avoid time-consuming and complicated sample preparation, a pulverized feeding machine was designed to form a continuously stable coal particle flow. The standard deviation (SD) of characteristic peaks was used to estimate the spectral valid data in this experiment. Coupled with cluster analysis, artificial neural networks and genetic algorithm are employed as a nonlinear regression method in order to indicate the relationship between coal quality and the corresponding plasma spectra. It is shown that the average absolute error of ash, volatile matter, fixed carbon, and gross calorific value for the validation set is 0.82%, 0.85%, 0.96%, and 0.48 MJ/kg. The average standard deviation of repeated samples is 1.64%, 0.92%, 1.08%, and 0.86 MJ/kg, showing a high sample-to-sample repeatability. This rapid coal analyzer is capable of performing reliable and accurate analysis of coal quality.

Approaches to cutaneous wound healing: basics and future directions.

The skin provides essential functions, such as thermoregulation, hydration, excretion and synthesis of vitamin D. Major disruptions of the skin cause impairment of critical functions, resulting in high morbidity and death, or leave one with life-changing cosmetic damage. Due to the complexity of the skin, diverse approaches are needed, including both traditional and advanced, to improve cutaneous wound healing. Cutaneous wounds undergo four phases of healing. Traditional management, including skin grafts and wound dressings, is still commonly used in current practice but in combination with newer technology, such as using engineered skin substitutes in skin grafts or combining traditional cotton gauze with anti-bacterial nanoparticles. Various upcoming methods, such as vacuum-assisted wound closure, engineered skin substitutes, stem cell therapy, growth factors and cytokine therapy, have emerged in recent years and are being used to assist wound healing, or even to replace traditional methods. However, many of these methods still lack assessment by large-scale studies and/or extensive application. Conceptual changes, for example, precision medicine and the rapid advancement of science and technology, such as RNA interference and 3D printing, offer tremendous potential. In this review, we focus on the basics of wound treatment and summarize recent developments involving both traditional and hi-tech therapeutic methods that lead to both rapid healing and better cosmetic results. Future studies should explore a more cost-effective, convenient and efficient approach to cutaneous wound healing. Graphical abstract Combination of various materials to create advanced wound dressings.

Visible light-induced C3-sulfonamidation of imidazopyridines with sulfamides.

A visible light-induced regioselective sulfonamidation of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines was developed using sulfamides as the nitrogen sources and aqueous NaClO solution as the oxidant under mild conditions. With the imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines bearing various substituents, the reaction proceeded smoothly to furnish the C3-sulfonamidation products in moderate to good yields. The method was also suitable for the sulfonamidation of some other imidazoheterocycles.

Iron-Catalyzed Regioselective Alkoxycarbonylation of Imidazoheterocycles with Carbazates.

A regioselective alkoxycarbonylation of imidazoheterocycles using carbazates as ester group sources in DMSO was developed, in which an inexpensive FeCl2·4H2O was used as the catalyst and (NH4)2S2O8 was the oxidant. The reaction proceeded smoothly under an air atmosphere to give the 3-alkoxycarbonylated products in moderate to good yields.

[Rapid Measurement of Carbon Dioxide with Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Based on Atomic and Molecular Spectrum].

With the rapid development of economy and industrialization, global warming is becoming the most serious sensitive global climate issues, which causes the rising of sea level and many other negative effects. The cause of global warming is the emission of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide is the main component of greenhouse gases. The control of CO2 emssion is beneficial to addressing gobal climate change and environmental degradation. Therefore, it's important to develop a rapid detection of CO2 for accurate control. There are amounts of methods to detect CO2 at present, including titration, electrochemical method, gas chromatography, infrared absorption spectroscopy and so on, however, t they still have the deficiency for online monitoring in industrial field. laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), which is developing rapidly in recent few decades, is a detecting technology with characteristics of time-saving and synchronous measuring of multicomponent. What's more, there is no need for sample pretreating. To develop the online monitoring technique of CO2 emission in the industrial field, LIBS was employed to measure CO2 in this study. The mass flow controller was used to adjust the flow of high purity CO2 and N2 to obtain mixed gas with different CO2 concentrations. The mixed gas was firstly mixed in an air mixing chamber for thorough mixing and then sent to the sample cell for LIBS measurement. The evolution of C atomic spectral line and CN molecular band with different delay times were being studied, which demonstrated parts of CO2 react with air ambient to form CN molecular during the plasma generation, the CN molecular band should be taken into consideration for quantitative analysis, and the parameters were optimized for synchronous measurement of C line and CN band: 800 ns was the optimal delay time. During the plasma generation, many factors in the plasma may interact with others, the analysis index had close relationship wih serval measuring parameters. With the consideration of the effect of C, CN and the self-absorption in high concentration, multivariate calibration method was employed to establish calibration models of CO2. The results showed that the correlation coefficients R2 and the slope were 0.978 and 0.981, respectively. Compared with calibrated with single factor, the multivariate method improved the reliability of the model. What's more, the feasibility of the application of LIBS to measure CO2 rapidly was proved.

Experimental study of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for direct analysis of coal particle flow.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was employed to directly analyze coal particles in the form of descending flow. Coal-particle ablation was performed using a 1064 nm neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd : YAG) laser at atmospheric conditions. Spectral identification schemes were used to acquire spectra containing all the emission lines of the important elements in coal. These acquired spectra were classified as representative spectra. The background of the line emission plus three times the standard deviation of the background of the representative spectra was chosen as the threshold value. A method using a single line and a method using combined multiple lines (C, 247.8 nm; N, 746.8 nm; Si, 288.2 nm; and Ca, 396.8 nm) were compared to obtain the best results for the spectral identification of coal particle flow. The feasibility of rejecting the partial breakdown spectra was verified using quantitative analysis of fixed carbon in coal.

Experimental study on the characteristics of molecular emission spectroscopy for the analysis of solid materials containing C and N.

Solid materials with different structure containing C and N were analyzed by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). Comparing the emission molecular species in different atmosphere (air and argon), it can be determined that whether the molecular species are directly vaporized from sample or generated through dissociation or the interaction between plasma and air molecules. The results showed that the characteristic of C2 bands emission is similar with that of neutral atomic carbon emission CI in different atmosphere (air and argon). While the characteristic of CN bands emission is more complicated and it has great relationship with the existence of CN radicals, the interaction between plasma and air ambient, and the recombination of excited partials.