Combinatorial expression of γ-protocadherins regulates synaptic connectivity in the mouse neocortex.

In the process of synaptic formation, neurons must not only adhere to specific principles when selecting synaptic partners but also possess mechanisms to avoid undesirable connections. Yet, the strategies employed to prevent unwarranted associations have remained largely unknown. In our study, we have identified the pivotal role of combinatorial clustered protocadherin gamma (γ-PCDH) expression in orchestrating synaptic connectivity in the mouse neocortex. Through 5' end single-cell sequencing, we unveiled the intricate combinatorial expression patterns of γ-PCDH variable isoforms within neocortical neurons. Furthermore, our whole-cell patch-clamp recordings demonstrated that as the similarity in this combinatorial pattern among neurons increased, their synaptic connectivity decreased. Our findings elucidate a sophisticated molecular mechanism governing the construction of neural networks in the mouse neocortex.

RIS-aided dynamically adaptive wide field-of-view receiver for visible light communication in industrial internet of things.

In the current visible light communication (VLC) system, a condenser lens is generally used in the front of receiver to achieve a higher data rate, making an extremely narrow field-of-view for the receiver. With the spread of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the communication between mobile terminals is urgently required. A wide-range detecting method for VLC system in IIoT scenario is asked. In this paper, a novel self-adaptive wide-FoV receiver involving reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) is proposed. The effective detecting range of the receiver can be expanded by dynamically adjusting the incident light directions with the assistance of RIS. Based on the maximum arrived flux criterion, the mathematical model is established and the optimized RIS parameter tuning algorithm is presented. The feasibility and validity of the method are verified by simulation. The results show that the tolerable transceiver offset can be increased to 2∼4 times as the conventional receiver.

Bloodstream infection caused by Solobacteriummoorei: A case report and literature review.

Solobacterium moorei is an asporogenous, strictly anaerobic, short-to-long bacillus belonging to the family Erysipelotrichidae and phylum Firmicutes. This bacterium rarely causes bloodstream infections. Here, we report a case of the postoperative recurrence and metastasis of gastric antral adenocarcinoma combined with S. moorei bloodstream infection.

Characterization of Epoxy-Based Rapid Mold with Profiled Conformal Cooling Channel.

Based on the experience of the foundry industry, reducing the demolding time is the key for mass production of wax patterns with sophisticated geometries. Integration of numerical simulation and rapid tooling technology for decreasing the time to market is essential in advanced manufacturing technology. However, characterization of epoxy-based rapid molds with a profiled conformal cooling channel (PCCC) using computer-aided engineering simulation of the epoxy-based rapid mold with PCCC was not found in the literature. In this study, epoxy-based rapid molds with PCCC were characterized numerically and experimentally. The cooling performance of wax injection molds with two different kinds of cross-sections of the cooling channel was investigated. Four pairs of injection molds with PCCC were implemented using four different kinds of material formulations. It was found that the cooling performance of the PCCC was better than a circular conformal cooling channel (CCCC) since the PCCC maintained a more uniform and steady cooling performance of injection-molded product than CCCC. Epoxy resin added with 41 vol.% Cu powder seems to be a cost-effective empirical material formulation in terms of cooling time and material costs. This empirical material formulation provided an injection mold with low material cost and good cooling performance simultaneously compared to an injection mold fabricated with commercial material. The cooling performance could reach 88% of that of the injection mold fabricated with commercial material. The material cost of making the injection mold was only about 60% of that of the injection mold fabricated with commercial material. The coolant flow rate had no significant effect on the cooling time, whereas the cooling time of the wax pattern was affected by coolant temperature significantly.

A developmental switch between electrical and neuropeptide communication in the ventromedial hypothalamus.

Dissecting neural connectivity patterns within local brain regions is an essential step to understanding the function of the brain.1 Neural microcircuits in brain regions, such as the neocortex and the hippocampus, have been extensively studied.2 By contrast, the microcircuit in the hypothalamus remains largely uncharacterized. The hypothalamus is crucial for animals' survival and reproduction.3 Knowledge of how different hypothalamic nuclei coordinate with each other and outside brain regions for hypothalamus-related functions has been significantly advanced.4-9 Although there are limited studies on the neural microcircuit in the lateral hypothalamus (LHA)10,11 and the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN),12,13 the patterns of neural microcircuits in most of the given hypothalamic nuclei remain largely unknown. This study applied combinatory approaches to address the local neural circuit pattern in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) and other hypothalamic nuclei. We discovered a unique neural circuit design in the VMH. Neurons in the VMH were electrically coupled at the early postnatal stage like ones in the neocortex.14 However, unlike neocortical neurons,14,15 they developed very few chemical synapses after the disappearance of electrical synapses. Instead, VMH neurons communicated with neuropeptides. The similar scarceness of synaptic connectivity found in other hypothalamic nuclei further indicated that the lack of synaptic connections is a unique feature for local neural circuits in most adult hypothalamic nuclei. Thus, our findings provide a solid synaptic basis at the cellular level to understand hypothalamic functions better.

Effects of Different Mold Materials and Coolant Media on the Cooling Performance of Epoxy-Based Injection Molds.

Metal additive manufacturing techniques are frequently applied to the manufacturing of injection molds with a conformal cooling channel (CCC) in order to shorten the cooling time in the injection molding process. Reducing the cooling time in the cooling stage is essential to reducing the energy consumption in mass production. However, the distinct disadvantages include higher manufacturing costs and longer processing time in the fabrication of injection mold with CCC. Rapid tooling technology (RTT) is a widely utilized technology to shorten mold development time in the mold industry. In principle, the cooling time of injection molded products is affected by both injection mold material and coolant medium. However, little work has been carried out to investigate the effects of different mold materials and coolant media on the cooling performance of epoxy-based injection molds quantitatively. In this study, the effects of four different coolant media on the cooling performance of ten sets of injection molds fabricated with different mixtures were investigated experimentally. It was found that cooling water with ultrafine bubble is the best cooling medium based on the cooling efficiency of the injection molded parts (since the cooling efficiency is increased further by about 12.4% compared to the conventional cooling water). Mold material has a greater influence on the cooling efficiency than the cooling medium, since cooling time range of different mold materials is 99 s while the cooling time range for different cooling media is 92 s. Based on the total production cost of injection mold and cooling efficiency, the epoxy resin filled with 41 vol.% aluminum powder is the optimal formula for making an injection mold since saving in the total production cost about 24% is obtained compared to injection mold made with commercially available materials.

Adaptive blind receiving for deep VLC coverage in non-uniform LED systems.

Recently, visible light communication (VLC) has become a promising technology for reliable communication in the industrial Internet of Things. In VLC, light sources with non-uniform parameters make uncontrollable signal blind zones and aliases. The unknown parameters also lead to the problem of channel estimation. Hence, deep coverage of VLC is challenging. In this paper, we design a dual-sensor elongated receiver. The receiver expands the signal receiving area by increasing the distance between photon detectors and realizes aliased signal recovery without channel estimation. Cooperatively, an adaptive blind receiving scheme is proposed. The scheme separates aliased signals by parameter estimation of a Gaussian mixture model without knowing transmitter parameters. It unifies the aliased and blind receiving cases by an adaptive signal combining method. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate that our scheme achieves better reliability and deeper communication coverage in the given system.

Rapid Development of an Injection Mold with High Cooling Performance Using Molding Simulation and Rapid Tooling Technology.

Rapid tooling technology (RTT) provides an alternative approach to quickly provide wax injection molds for the required products since it can reduce the time to market compared with conventional machining approaches. Removing conformal cooling channels (CCCs) is the key technology for manufacturing injection mold fabricated by rapid tooling technology. In this study, three different kinds of materials were used to fabricate CCCs embedded in the injection mold. This work explores a technology for rapid development of injection mold with high cooling performance. It was found that wax is the most suitable material for making CCCs. An innovative method for fabricating a large intermediary mold with both high load and supporting capacities for manufacturing a large rapid tooling using polyurethane foam was demonstrated. A trend equation for predicting the usage amount of polyurethane foam was proposed. The production cost savings of about 50% can be obtained. An optimum conformal cooling channel design obtained by simulation is proposed. Three injection molds with different cooling channels for injection molding were fabricated by RTT. Reductions in the cooling time by about 89% was obtained. The variation of the results between the experiment and the simulation was investigated and analyzed.

A novel CRYBB2 mutation causes autosomal dominant cataract: A report from a Chinese family.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to examine pathogenic mutation within one Chinese family of five-generations suffering from autosomal dominant cataract. METHODS: Next-generation sequencing and Sanger sequencing were used to find the pathogenic variants. RESULTS: A rare mutation, c.563G > A, in CRYBB2 gene was found in the proband that showed symptom of non-syndromic congenital autosomal dominant cataract. This mutation had been found in all affected individuals and in one healthy infant, but it did not exist between two individuals who did not develop such disease in that family, as well as in 100 healthy subjects who showed no relation with that family. Cataracts in this family varied with different severity of lens opacities and elongation of axial length. CONCLUSION: One missense mutation c.563G > A is reported in the CRYBB2 gene among one Chinese family suffering from early-onset cataract, and associated novel phenotypes are the elongation of axial length and the types of cataract. Our results expand the spectrum of associated phenotypes of CRYBB2 mutation.

Correlation of lower 2 h C-peptide and elevated evening cortisol with high levels of depression in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: A number of studies have explored the association between depression and ghrelin, leptin, and cortisol; further, postprandial C-peptide levels have a therapeutic effect on type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the relationship between C-peptide and depression in patients with diabetes, remains unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the association between depression and ghrelin, leptin, cortisol, and C-peptide in patients with diabetes. METHODS: We enrolled 50 adults without T2DM, 77 non-depressed adults with T2DM (free of Axis-I psychiatric disorders as assessed using the Mental Illness Needs Index (MINI), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9 score ≤ 4)) and 59 patients with T2DM and depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 7 and positive by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5). The age range of the participants was 45-59 years of age. We compared the above three groups and explored the association between ghrelin, leptin, cortisol, C-peptide, and depression in patients with diabetes. A post-hoc power-analysis was finished. RESULTS: Compared with the non-depression T2DM group, the depression T2DM group had significantly higher blood glucose fluctuations. Further, compared with the non-depression T2DM and non-diabetic groups, the depression T2DM group had significantly lower levels of post-meal 2-h C-peptide and elevated evening cortisol (p < 0.01). Regression analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between depression severity and 2-h postprandial C-peptide in patients with diabetes (p < 0.01) and a significant positive correlation with midnight cortisol levels (p < 0.01). A post hoc power analysis showed that we had an adequate sample size and met the minimum requirement to attain 80% power. A post hoc power calculation also demonstrated that this study basically achieved power of 80% at 5% alpha level. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate a correlation of low fasting levels of 2-h C-peptide as well as higher midnight cortisol levels with higher depression severity in middle-aged patients with T2DM.

Adaptive spatial-layout selection for massive multi-color visible light communications.

Massive multi-color visible light communications (mMC-VLC) sufficiently utilizing space and color domain resources is proposed to satisfy high-spectral-efficiency, high-speed, and high-density-coverage requirements of next-generation indoor data connections. However, the gap between the number of LEDs and photodiodes (PDs) and the high correlation among different channels limit the multiplexing of mMC-VLC. Also, the mobility of the receiver is the bottleneck of mMC-VLC. So, adaptive spatial-layout selection (ASLS) is proposed to settle the above problems, which selects $ N $N sets $ n $n-color LEDs from the transmitter to form an approximate optimal closed-circle layout adapting to the receiver position. First, the optimal parameter problems to minimize the ill condition of the activated system under layout constraints of the closed circle and linear types are formulated for a fixed receiver position. Second, to achieve adaptivity, the fitting curves of the optimal layout parameter and $ {D_v} $Dv under both constraints are researched; $ {D_v} $Dv is the vertical distance between the transmitter and receiver planes. Finally, the closest layout-selected principle (CLSP) is proposed to solve the problem of the LEDs perhaps not perfectly forming the optimal parameter layout for mMC-VLC. The bit-error ratio (BER) performances and application scopes of ASLS under both layout constraints are compared to determine that the constraint layout is a closed circle; meanwhile the available maximal $ N $N corresponding to the receiver position is obtained. The optimal parameter of ASLS is linearly related to the receiver position and not related to $ N $N. The ASLS always achieves better BER performance than optical multi-stream spatial modulation.

Fast-adaptive color-collaborative constellation designs for multicolor multiple-input multiple-output visible light communications systems.

A fast-adaptive color-collaborative signal constellation (CCSC) is proposed for chromaticity-changeable multicolor multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) visible light communications (VLC) systems. The design of CCSC aims at developing the constellation to minimize the average optical power with shaping-based lattice code. For multicolor VLC signals, we arrive at the fact that the optimum shape of the constellation bounding region is an inequilateral N-D simplex. With the densest lattice-packing structure, detailed design steps of CCSC are fully elaborated by lattice construction, effective point selection, and chromaticity adjustment. As CCSC has a low complexity, its constellation structure can adapt quickly to changeable chromaticity demands. Simulation results show that the performance of CCSC is better than enhanced standard color shift keying (CSK) and is close to iterative CSK modulation based on numerical search.

One symbol training receiver for the SPAD-based UVLC system.

For the long distance single photon avalanche diode (SPAD)-based underwater visible light communication (UVLC) system, the multiple-symbol union detection scheme is presented. However, an error floor curve of the bit-to-error ratio (BER) occurs and cannot vanish even though the transmitted power approaches infinity. In this paper, to solve the problems of error floor and channel estimation in the long distance SPAD-based UVLC system, we propose the one training symbol maximum likelihood (ML) detection receiver. First, we add one training symbol in the head of each frame to eliminate the error floor and ensure the reliable blind estimation of the long distance UVLC channel. Meanwhile, the training ML detection (TMLD) receiver is developed. And then, to improve the system performance, a training modified (TM) quasi-ML receiver with Anscombe root transformation is proposed. Compared to the traditional mean detection scheme of the SPAD receiver, the simulation results show that the proposed TM quasi-ML and TMLD schemes significantly improve the error-rate performance.

The association of short-term memory and cognitive impairment with ghrelin, leptin, and cortisol levels in non-diabetic and diabetic elderly individuals.

AIMS: This study assessed short-term memory and biochemical indicators with the levels of ghrelin, leptin, and cortisol between cognitive impairment and normal older adults with or without diabetes. METHODS: We enrolled 286 older adults (aged 65-85 years) with or without diabetes from the local community. Short-term memory was assessed using pictures of common objects; cognitive functioning was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The physiological indexes assessed were plasma levels of fasting ghrelin and leptin, ghrelin level at 2_h after breakfast, 24-h urinary cortisol value, body mass index, and plasma cortisol levels at 8:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m., and 12:00 p.m. RESULTS: In both non-diabetic and diabetic subjects, short-term memory was significantly lower in the impaired cognition group (5.99 ± 2.90 in non-diabetic subjects and 4.71 ± 2.14 in diabetic subjects) than in the normal cognition group (8.14 ± 2.23 in non-diabetic subjects and 7.82 ± 3.37 in diabetic subjects). Baseline ghrelin level was significantly lower in the impaired cognition group (9.07 ± 1.13 ng/mL in non-diabetic subjects and 7.76 ± 1.34 ng/mL in diabetic subjects) than in the normal cognition group (10.94 ± 1.53 ng/mL in non-diabetic subjects and 9.93 ± 1.76 ng/mL in diabetic subjects); plasma cortisol levels at 8:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m., and 12:00 p.m. were significantly higher in the impaired cognition group than in the normal cognition group, while no significant difference was observed in plasma levels of fasting leptin between different groups. CONCLUSIONS: Fasting plasma ghrelin and cortisol levels may be markers of cognitive decline and memory loss. It is possible that adjusting their levels may have a therapeutic effect, and this should be investigated in future studies.

Efficient signal design and optimal power allocation for visible light communication attocell systems.

In this paper, we investigate visible light communication (VLC) attocell systems in which any two neighboring attocells overlap. An efficient signal design for VLC called time superposition reuse (TSR) is proposed to mitigate interference and improve spectral efficiency. In the scheme, two neighboring cells are allocated with two time slots that have superposition in the time domain. By adjusting superposition between time slots, the system can achieve a flexible spectral efficiency and system performance. Further, we develop an optimal power allocation strategy for TSR in the system. The strategy is given according to the position of the user and the level of superposition, and then the corresponding optimal Euclidean distance is derived. In addition, we analyze the system performance and prove that the optimal Euclidean distance is an increasing function of the delay between signals and a decreasing function of the sampling period. Simulation results demonstrate that the optimal power allocation has a better performance than uniform power allocation and TSR outperforms time division multiple access significantly for the user in VLC attocell systems.

Changes in the Level of Immunoglobulins and CD4/CD8 Ratio in Young and Aged Mice with Estradiol Deficiency.

Studies demonstrated that deficiency in 17ß-estradiol (E2) in postmenopausal women influences their immune system. However, few studies have reported alterations in immunologic presentation during nonnatural menopause in young females. Here we compared the differences in immune response between young C57BL/6N mice with surgical or medical variectomy and aged C57BL/6N mice with the common feature of E2 deficiency following Con A stimulation. We observed inverted CD4/CD8 ratios in the aged group and apparent reduced production of serum immunoglobin (Ig)G, IgA, and IgM in the surgical group, whereas changes in immune parameters in the medical group were moderate. These data suggested that the immunological response to Con A stimulus differed among the three groups and that E2 deficiency was only partially responsible for the development of immune deficiency in aged mice.

Correction: Cardiomyocyte-Specific Ablation of Med1 Subunit of the Mediator Complex Causes Lethal Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Mice.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160755.].

Cardiomyocyte-Specific Ablation of Med1 Subunit of the Mediator Complex Causes Lethal Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Mice.

Mediator, an evolutionarily conserved multi-protein complex consisting of about 30 subunits, is a key component of the polymerase II mediated gene transcription. Germline deletion of the Mediator subunit 1 (Med1) of the Mediator in mice results in mid-gestational embryonic lethality with developmental impairment of multiple organs including heart. Here we show that cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Med1 in mice (csMed1-/-) during late gestational and early postnatal development by intercrossing Med1fl/fl mice to α-MyHC-Cre transgenic mice results in lethality within 10 days after weaning due to dilated cardiomyopathy-related ventricular dilation and heart failure. The csMed1-/- mouse heart manifests mitochondrial damage, increased apoptosis and interstitial fibrosis. Global gene expression analysis revealed that loss of Med1 in heart down-regulates more than 200 genes including Acadm, Cacna1s, Atp2a2, Ryr2, Pde1c, Pln, PGC1α, and PGC1ß that are critical for calcium signaling, cardiac muscle contraction, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor regulated energy metabolism. Many genes essential for oxidative phosphorylation and proper mitochondrial function such as genes coding for the succinate dehydrogenase subunits of the mitochondrial complex II are also down-regulated in csMed1-/- heart contributing to myocardial injury. Data also showed up-regulation of about 180 genes including Tgfb2, Ace, Atf3, Ctgf, Angpt14, Col9a2, Wisp2, Nppa, Nppb, and Actn1 that are linked to cardiac muscle contraction, cardiac hypertrophy, cardiac fibrosis and myocardial injury. Furthermore, we demonstrate that cardiac specific deletion of Med1 in adult mice using tamoxifen-inducible Cre approach (TmcsMed1-/-), results in rapid development of cardiomyopathy and death within 4 weeks. We found that the key findings of the csMed1-/- studies described above are highly reproducible in TmcsMed1-/- mouse heart. Collectively, these observations suggest that Med1 plays a critical role in the maintenance of heart function impacting on multiple metabolic, compensatory and reparative pathways with a likely therapeutic potential in the management of heart failure.

Diversity-optimal power loading for intensity modulated MIMO optical wireless communications.

In this paper, we consider the design of space code for an intensity modulated direct detection multi-input-multi-output optical wireless communication (IM/DD MIMO-OWC) system, in which channel coefficients are independent and non-identically log-normal distributed, with variances and means known at the transmitter and channel state information available at the receiver. Utilizing the existing space code design criterion for IM/DD MIMO-OWC with a maximum likelihood (ML) detector, we design a diversity-optimal space code (DOSC) that maximizes both large-scale diversity and small-scale diversity gains and prove that the spatial repetition code (RC) with a diversity-optimized power allocation is diversity-optimal among all the high dimensional nonnegative space code schemes under a commonly used optical power constraint. In addition, we show that one of significant advantages of the DOSC is to allow low-complexity ML detection. Simulation results indicate that in high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regimes, our proposed DOSC significantly outperforms RC, which is the best space code currently available for such system.

Interleukin-1B 31 C>T polymorphism combined with Helicobacter pylori-modified gastric cancer susceptibility: evidence from 37 studies.

Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Interleukin-1-beta (IL-1ß) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine and potent inhibitor of gastric acid secretion. Some studies provided evidence of the association between IL-1B 31 polymorphism and gastric cancer risk while other studies did not. Therefore, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis to reassess the association. A systematic literature search of the PubMed and EMBASE databases identified 37 studies with 6108 cases and 8980 controls for this meta-analysis. The crude odd ratios (ORs) and the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to evaluate the strength of the association. Meta-regression was used to determine the major source of heterogeneity across the studies. The pooled analysis did not suggest the significant association of IL-1B 31 C>T polymorphism with gastric cancer risk. Stratified analysis was performed by ethnicity, source of control, genotype method, and indicated a significantly increased gastric cancer risk associated with IL-1B 31T variant in the population-based subgroup (heterozygous model: OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.03-1.45). Moreover, stratified analysis by Helicobacter pylori infection status indicated that IL-1B 31 polymorphism increased gastric cancer risk in infection-positive subgroup (homozygous model: OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.02-1.78; heterozygous model: OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.04-1.66; recessive model: OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.04-1.61). The study suggested that IL-1B 31 polymorphism might confer susceptibility to gastric cancer in the presence of H. pylori infection, indicating a gene-environment interaction in gastric carcinogenesis.