Cordyceps militaris is a well-known Chinese medicinal fungus that has been used as a nutraceutical food in several Asian countries. Cordycepin (3′-deoxyadenosine), a secondary metabolite produced ...from Cordyceps militaris, has been demonstrated to exert a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities, such as anti-microbial and antitumor activities. However, the effect of cordycepin on immunomodulation in broilers is poorly investigated. In the current study, we investigated the effect of cordycepin (9.69, 19.38, and 38.76 mg) from Cordyceps militaris hot water extract (CMHW) on growth performance and immunocompetence in broilers. Results showed that CMHW significantly decreased inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA levels in the bursa of Fabricius after 4 weeks of feeding (P<0.05). CMHW treatment reduced cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) mRNA levels in the spleen and bursa of Fabricius after 4 weeks of feeding (P<0.05). Supplementation of CMHW for 3 days after vaccination reduced iNOS mRNA level in the spleen of 14 and 28 day-old broilers (P<0.05). Prior to vaccination, CMHW pretreatment significantly down-regulated COX-2 mRNA levels in the spleen and bursa of Fabricius of 14-day-old broilers (P<0.05). Furthermore, CMHW significantly reduced lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced iNOS and COX-2 mRNA levels in the spleen and bursa of Fabricius (P<0.05). CMHW treatment attenuated LPS-induced IFN-γ expression in the spleen and bursa of Fabricius, whereas CMHW induced IL-4 expression in these organs in response to LPS challenge (P<0.05). Taken together, these observations demonstrate that CMHW exerts an immunomodulatory role in broilers. CMHW is a potential novel feed additive with applications in inflammation-related diseases and bacterial infection in broilers.
Background: Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are implicated in the reactivation of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) in drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS). Objectives: We ...aimed at identifying the alterations of circulating pDCs, basophils, and myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) during the active stage of drug eruptions and the relationship between pDC alteration and HHV-6 reactivation in DRESS patients. Methods: Nine DRESS patients and twelve patients of other drug eruptions (ODE, including five cases of maculopapular eruptions (MPEs), five cases of Stevens-Johnson syndrome, and two cases of fixed drug eruption) were prospectively recruited. Blood samples were collected weekly for 2 consecutive weeks for flow cytometry of pDC, basophil, mDC, and detection of HHV-6 reactivation by serum anti-HHV-6 immunoglobulin G, or whole blood HHV-6 viral DNA by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results: The HHV-6 reactivation was exclusively seen in DRESS, and the pDC levels decreased in DRESS compared with ODE (P = 0.002) and (MPE, P = 0.021), with the timing of such decrease preceding HHV-6 reactivation. Conclusion: The decrease of pDC levels is significantly more common in DRESS patients and occurs before HHV-6 reactivation. The chronological sequence implies that the decrease of pDC may be crucial in the pathogenesis of viral reactivation.
A 10-Bit 200 MS/s Capacitor-Sharing Pipeline ADC Tseng, Chien-Jian; Hsieh, Yi-Chun; Yang, Ching-Hua ...
IEEE transactions on circuits and systems. I, Regular papers,
11/2013, Letnik:
60, Številka:
11
Journal Article
Recenzirano
A 10-bit 200 MS/s pipeline ADC using the capacitor-sharing concept is presented. A charge-neutralization technique is proposed between the 1st and 2nd MDACs to mitigate the memory effect. To further ...enhance power efficiency, a reference precharge technique is proposed between the 2nd and 3rd MDACs. The prototype ADC in 90-nm low-power CMOS process exhibits an INL of + 1.59/-1.91 LSB and a DNL of +0.70/-0.75 LSB. Its ENOB is 8.53 bits at input frequency of 2 MHz and 8.05 bits at Nyquist input frequency with the conversion rate of 200 MS/s. It consumes 45.4 mW at 1.2 V supply and occupies an active chip area of 0.53 mm 2 .
In the study of interaction between emissive gold nanoclusters and silver nanoparticles, we explored that the emission of gold nanoclusters is very sensitive to the presence of silver nanoparticles. ...Quite remarkably, the quenching ratio can reach more than several hundred times. We demonstrate that the underlying mechanism can be attributed to the surface energy transfer with the quenching efficiency following the expression χ = 1/1 + (d/d 0)4, where d is the distance between gold nanoclusters and silver nanoparticles, and d 0 is the characteristic length of energy transfer. This highly sensitive behavior in the composite consisting of relatively nontoxic gold nanoclusters and silver nanoparticles may find a powerful potential in developing biomedical applications, such as biosensors and drugs delivery.
•2-APB induces dedifferentiation in TGF-β1-induced myofibroblasts.•Inhibition of intracellular Ca2+ regulation by 2-APB restrains the expression of fibrotic markers through inhibiting TGF-β1/SMAD3 ...signaling.•Treatment with 2-APB in the bleomycin-induced SSc mice alleviates SSc pathogenesis.•2-APB is a potential candidate for treating fibrotic diseases.
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) causes progressive fibrosis of multiple organs with the low efficacy of immunosuppressive therapies. Our previous study indicated the SSc pathological pathways are closely correlated with Ca2+ signals, and blockage of the intracellular Ca2+ elevation facilitates inhibition of SSc pathogenesis.
Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β)-modulated SMAD signaling is crucial in regulating SSc pathogenesis. Whether Ca2+ signals are involved in TGF-β1/SMAD signaling-induced fibrotic process has been further investigated.
We utilized TGF-β1-induced myofibroblasts as a model to detect how Ca2+ signals affected SSc pathogenesis, and investigated the combination of treatment with store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) associated inhibitors, 2-aminoethyl diphenylborinate (2-APB) and SKF96365 to restrain the increased Ca2+ signaling in myofibroblasts. In addition, the SSc bleomycin mouse model was used to detect the effect of 2-APB on SSc pathogenesis in vivo.
Our findings revealed increased levels of TGF-β1 production in SSc was associated with intracellular Ca2+ activity, and inhibition of intracellular Ca2+ regulation by 2-APB resulted in the dedifferentiation of TGF-β1-induced myofibroblasts. This was due to the fact that 2-APB restrained the expression fibrotic markers, α-SMA, fibronectin and vimentin through inhibiting TGF-β1/SMAD3 signaling. Thus, subcutaneous injection of 2-APB improved bleomycin-induced skin and pulmonary fibrosis.
2-APB is a potential candidate for treating fibrosis, by disrupting intracellular Ca2+ regulation in SSc to induce the dedifferentiation of myofibroblasts and meliorates fibrosis pathogenesis via inhibiting TGF-β1/SMAD3 signaling.
There is a rising awareness of drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) due to its possible morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis of DRESS is crucial for administering timely ...treatment; however, prompt diagnosis based on its early presentation can be quite problematic due to its clinical resemblance to common maculopapular eruptions (MPE).
A retrospective cohort study of patient data from September 2010 to June 2016 was conducted to compare the clinical presentations of DRESS and MPE validated by the RegiSCAR scoring system. The demographic data, clinical presentations, and histopathological patterns were reviewed.
Fifty-eight patients with DRESS and 29 patients with MPE were included. The mean age at diagnosis of DRESS was 47 years (range: 2–82 years), and female patients predominated by a ratio of 2.2:1. The three most common culprit medications for DRESS were allopurinol, sulfasalazine, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. The most significant differences between the DRESS and MPE groups were the presence of fever, peripheral blood eosinophilia and atypical lymphocytosis, characteristic skin lesions, abnormal liver functions, and prolonged resolution of skin lesions for more than 15 days in the DRESS patients. The most common histologic features in the DRESS patients were coexistent eczematous, interface dermatitis, and vascular damage patterns, or interface dermatitis alone. The concurrence of fever, peripheral blood eosinophilia, and abnormal liver function within three days of visiting a medical facility were more common in cases of DRESS than of MPE (24.1% vs. 0%, P = 0.004).
Although DRESS and MPE look similar, especially in the early stage of DRESS, the concurrence of fever, peripheral blood eosinophilia, and abnormal liver functions within three days of visiting a medical facility might aid in the early diagnosis of DRESS.
For firefighters and rescuers, the disaster relief works are difficulty performed in the tunnels because of their constricted space. To reduce the losses of accident, the safety of tunnels and ...factories should be ordinarily kept under surveillance. Hence, a multisensor based smart tracked vehicle is designed for the application of autonomous detection and surveillance in this paper. Besides, multisensors, communication modules, wireless cameras, an electronic compass, and a GPS module are installed in the vehicle. The key feature is the integration of disaster detection and warning systems so that the vehicle can move autonomously. Furthermore, a LabVIEW graphical programming software is applied to design a human machine interface (HMI) and integrate all systems such that the vehicle can be guided by High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSHPA) based remote control. Moreover, basic stamp microcontrollers are utilized as its control kernel such that the remote monitoring and control system (RMCS) can be constructed successfully.
The adsorption and dehydrogenation of water on Fe(111), W@Fe(111), and W2@Fe(111) surfaces have been studied via employing the first-principles calculations method based on the density functional ...theory. The three adsorption sites of the aforesaid surfaces, such as top (T), 3-fold-shallow (S), and 3-fold-deep (D), were considered. The most favorable structure of all OH x (x = 0–2) species on the surfaces of Fe(111), W@Fe(111), and W2@Fe(111) have been thoroughly predicted and discussed. Our calculated results revealed that the adsorbed configurations of FeH2O(T-η1-O)-b, W@FeH2O(T-η1-O)-a, and W2@FeH2O(T-η1-O)-a possess energetically the most stable structure with their corresponding adsorption energies of −8.08, −13.37, and −18.61 kcal/mol, respectively. In addition, the calculated activation energies for the first dehydrogenation processes (HO-H bond scission) of H2O on Fe(111), W@Fe(111), and W2@Fe(111) surfaces are 24.40, 12.62, and 9.97 kcal/mol, respectively. For second dehydrogenation processes (O–H bond scission), the corresponding activation energies of OH on Fe(111), W@Fe(111), and W2@Fe(111) surfaces are 39.35, 22.69, and 26.24 kcal/mol, respectively. Finally, the entire dehydrogenation courses on the varied Fe(111), W@Fe(111), and W2@Fe(111) surfaces are exothermic by 20.08, 41.35, and 59.30 kcal/mol, respectively. To comprehend the electronic properties of its nature of interaction between the adsorbate and substrate, we calculated the electron localization functions, local density of states, and Bader charges; the results were consistent and explicable.
Abstract The Islands of Calleja are aggregations of granule cells located in the basal forebrain of most vertebrate species. These cellular aggregations are typically classified as consisting of a ...single island, the insula magna located adjacent to the nucleus accumbens, and numerous small islands scattered among the dorsal aspect of the olfactory tubercle. While these structures have been widely described in adult, comparatively little is known about their development. Islands are first identifiable at P2–P4 with formation of the Insula Magna and several small aggregations in the caudolateral aspect of the basal forebrain. The Insula Magna fully forms at approximately P4, with continued formation of the small islands through P10 in a caudal to rostral gradient. Historically, there has been controversy as to whether neurons in the islands are GABAergic, due to limitations in resolving immunolabeling for GABA in the densely packed islands. We investigated the neurochemical identity of island cells by exploiting transgenic reporter mice expressing green fluorescent protein under the control of the GAD65 promoter. This demonstrated that the majority of neurons in the Islands of Calleja are GABAergic, primarily utilizing GAD65. Interestingly, several calcium binding protein expressing interneuron classes are present in the postnatal islands, but disappear with maturation. These findings show that the SVZ derived progenitors that migrate to the Islands of Calleja form different lineages to those destined for the olfactory bulbs, despite generation of both populations at the same age/location in the SVZ.
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