A study was conducted to identify volatile organic compounds or volatiles produced by Candida intermedia strain C410 using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and to determine efficacy of the ...volatiles of C. intermedia in suppression of conidial germination and mycelial growth of Botrytis cinerea and control of Botrytis fruit rot of strawberry. Results showed that, among 49 volatiles (esters, alcohols, alkenes, alkanes, alkynes, organic acids, ketones, and aldehydes) identified from C. intermedia cultures on yeast extract peptone dextrose agar, two compounds, 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene and 3-methyl-1-butanol, were the most abundant. Synthetic chemicals of 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene; 3-methyl-1-butanol; 2-nonanone; pentanoic acid, 4-methyl-, ethyl ester; 3-methyl-1-butanol, acetate; acetic acid, pentyl ester; and hexanoic acid, ethyl ester were highly inhibitory to conidial germination and mycelial growth of B. cinerea. Inhibition of conidial germination and mycelial growth of B. cinerea by volatiles of C. intermedia was also observed. Meanwhile, results showed that incidence and severity of Botrytis fruit rot of strawberry was significantly (P < 0.01) reduced by exposure of the strawberry fruit to the volatiles from C. intermedia cultures or C. termedia-infested strawberry fruit. These results suggest that the volatiles of C. intermedia C410 are promising biofumigants for control of Botrytis fruit rot of strawberry.
The design, construction and commissioning of a beamline and spectrometer for inelastic soft X‐ray scattering at high resolution in a highly efficient system are presented. Based on the ...energy‐compensation principle of grating dispersion, the design of the monochromator–spectrometer system greatly enhances the efficiency of measurement of inelastic soft X‐rays scattering. Comprising two bendable gratings, the set‐up effectively diminishes the defocus and coma aberrations. At commissioning, this system showed results of spin‐flip, d–d and charge‐transfer excitations of NiO. These results are consistent with published results but exhibit improved spectral resolution and increased efficiency of measurement. The best energy resolution of the set‐up in terms of full width at half‐maximum is 108 meV at an incident photon energy tuned about the Ni L3‐edge.
Summary Background Itch is the cardinal symptom of atopic dermatitis (AD). β‐Endorphin, a neuropeptide, is increased in both AD skin and sera. Interleukin (IL)‐31, an itch‐relevant cytokine, ...activates IL‐31 receptors in keratinocytes. However, how IL‐31 and β‐endorphin interact in AD skin remains elusive.
Objectives To investigate the mechanistic interaction of IL‐31 and β‐endorphin in AD.
Methods This was a prospective cross‐sectional study. We recruited adult patients with AD and controls according to Hanifin’s AD criteria. Serum levels of IL‐31 and β‐endorphin were measured by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Expressions of IL‐31 receptor A (IL‐31RA) and β‐endorphin in the skin were assessed by immunohistochemistry. Their expression in the skin and blood was compared and correlated in patients with AD and in controls. We also treated primary keratinocytes with IL‐31 and measured calcium influx, β‐endorphin production and signalling pathways to define their mechanistic interactions.
Results β‐Endorphin was increased in the supernatant from IL‐31‐treated keratinocytes. IL‐31 receptor activation resulted in calcium influx and STAT3 activation; pretreatment with STAT3 inhibitor stopped the increase of β‐endorphin. Notably, either replacement of extracellular calcium or treatment with 2‐aminoethoxydiphenyl borate, an inhibitor for the store‐operated channel, blocked STAT3 activation. We found higher levels of blood β‐endorphin and IL‐31, which were significantly correlated, in patients with AD. Moreover, IL‐31RA and β‐endorphin were increased and colocalized both in AD human skin and TPA‐painted mouse skin.
Conclusions IL‐31 receptor activation in keratinocytes induces calcium influx and STAT3‐dependent production of β‐endorphin. These results might contribute to an understanding of the regulatory mechanisms underlying peripheral itch.
Ultra-high energy neutrinos are detectable through impulsive radio signals generated through interactions in dense media, such as ice. Subsurface in-ice radio arrays are a promising way to advance ...the observation and measurement of astrophysical high-energy neutrinos with energies above those discovered by the IceCube detector (≥ 1 PeV) as well as cosmogenic neutrinos created in the GZK process (≥ 100 PeV). Here we describe the NuPhase detector, which is a compact receiving array of low-gain antennas deployed 185 m deep in glacial ice near the South Pole. Signals from the antennas are digitized and coherently summed into multiple beams to form a low-threshold interferometric phased array trigger for radio impulses. The NuPhase detector was installed at an Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) station during the 2017/18 Austral summer season. In situ measurements with an impulsive, point-source calibration instrument show a 50% trigger efficiency on impulses with voltage signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) of ≤2.0, a factor of ∼1.8 improvement in SNR over the standard ARA combinatoric trigger. Hardware-level simulations, validated with in situ measurements, predict a trigger threshold of an SNR as low as 1.6 for neutrino interactions that are in the far field of the array. With the already-achieved NuPhase trigger performance included in ARASim, a detector simulation for the ARA experiment, we find the trigger-level effective detector volume is increased by a factor of 1.8 at neutrino energies between 10 and 100 PeV compared to the currently used ARA combinatoric trigger. We also discuss an achievable near term path toward lowering the trigger threshold further to an SNR of 1.0, which would increase the effective single-station volume by more than a factor of 3 in the same range of neutrino energies.
We report on the development of a high‐resolution and highly efficient beamline for soft X‐ray resonant inelastic X‐ray scattering (RIXS) located at the Taiwan Photon Source. This beamline adopts an ...optical design that uses an active grating monochromator (AGM) and an active grating spectrometer (AGS) to implement the energy compensation principle of grating dispersion. Active gratings are utilized to diminish defocus, coma and higher‐order aberrations, as well as to decrease the slope errors caused by thermal deformation and optical polishing. The AGS is mounted on a rotatable granite platform to enable momentum‐resolved RIXS measurements with scattering angles over a wide range. Several high‐precision instruments developed in‐house for this beamline are described briefly. The best energy resolution obtained from this AGM–AGS beamline was 12.4 meV at 530 eV, achieving a resolving power of 4.2 × 104, while the bandwidth of the incident soft X‐rays was kept at 0.5 eV. To demonstrate the scientific impact of high‐resolution RIXS, we present an example of momentum‐resolved RIXS measurements on a high‐temperature superconducting cuprate, i.e. La2–xSrxCuO4. The measurements reveal the A1g buckling phonons in superconducting cuprates, opening a new opportunity to investigate the coupling between these phonons and charge‐density waves.
The development of a high‐resolution and highly efficient beamline for soft X‐ray resonant inelastic X‐ray scattering (RIXS) located at the Taiwan Photon Source is reported.
Caregivers play a major role in providing care for patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and are themselves at higher risk of health comorbidities.
To address the impact of neuropsychiatric symptoms ...of patients in different stages of AD on their caregivers' burden.
This prospective study enrolled 260 AD patients with clinical dementia rating (CDR) of 0.5, 1 and 2 at a tertiary medical center.
All patients were tested using the mini-mental state examination (MMSE), the cognitive abilities screening instrument (CASI), the neuropsychiatric inventory (NPI) and the CDR scale. Data regarding therapeutic outcomes of anti-Alzheimer's drugs were also collected. Caregivers were tested using NPI.
The mean follow-up interval was 25.0 ± 12.2 months, and two patients died during follow-up. NPI-burden was positively correlated with NPI-sum ( r = 0.822, P < 0.001) but negatively correlated with years of education ( r = -0.140, P = 0.024), CASI score ( r = -0.259, P < 0.001) and MMSE score ( r = -0.262, P <0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that only NPI-sum was independently associated with mean NPI-burden. Both higher mean CASI and MMSE scores had better therapeutic outcome of anti-Alzheimer's drugs ( P = 0.001 and P = 0.005, respectively).
The severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with AD was positively associated with caregiver's stress, and patients with better cognitive functions, under treatment with anti-Alzheimer's drugs, had better therapeutic outcomes. To reduce the impact of neuropsychiatric symptoms, it is crucial to detect dementia in its early phases and provide early intervention with anti-Alzheimer's drugs, which might help decrease the caregiver burden, thereby improving their quality of life.
By combining angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and quantum oscillation measurements, we performed a comprehensive investigation on the electronic structure of LaSb, which exhibits ...near-quadratic extremely large magnetoresistance (XMR) without any sign of saturation at magnetic fields as high as 40 T. We clearly resolve one spherical and one intersecting-ellipsoidal hole Fermi surfaces (FSs) at the Brillouin zone (BZ) center Γ and one ellipsoidal electron FS at the BZ boundary X. The hole and electron carriers calculated from the enclosed FS volumes are perfectly compensated, and the carrier compensation is unaffected by temperature. We further reveal that LaSb is topologically trivial but shares many similarities with the Weyl semimetal TaAs family in the bulk electronic structure. Based on these results, we have examined the mechanisms that have been proposed so far to explain the near-quadratic XMR in semimetals.
Nrf2, a basic leucine zipper transcription factor, is an essential activator of the coordinated transcription of genes encoding
antioxidant enzymes and phase II detoxifying enzymes through the ...regulatory sequence termed antioxidant response element (ARE).
Recently we reported evidence for the involvement of protein kinase C (PKC) in phosphorylating Nrf2 and triggering its nuclear
translocation in response to oxidative stress. We show here that phosphorylation of purified rat Nrf2 by the catalytic subunit
of PKC was blocked by a synthetic peptide mimicking one of the potential PKC sites. Accordingly, Nrf2 bearing a Ser to Ala
mutation at amino acid 40 (S40A) could not be phosphorylated by PKC. The S40A mutation did not affect in vitro binding of Nrf2/MafK to the ARE. However, it partially impaired Nrf2 activation of ARE-driven transcription in a reporter
gene assay when Keap1 was overexpressed. In vitro transcribed/translated Keap1 could be coimmunoprecipitated with Nrf2. Phosphorylation of wild-type Nrf2 by PKC promoted its
dissociation from Keap1, whereas the Nrf2-S40A mutant remained associated. These findings together with our prior studies
suggest that the PKC-catalyzed phosphorylation of Nrf2 at Ser-40 is a critical signaling event leading to ARE-mediated cellular
antioxidant response.
As information technology continues to evolve rapidly, programming skills become increasingly crucial. To be able to construct superb programming skills, the training must begin before college or ...even senior high school. However, when developing comprehensive training programmers, the learning and teaching processes must be considered. In order to improve the students' learning outcome and engagement in programming course, this study applied learning analytics into the proposed massive online open courses (MOOCs) enabled collaborative programming course. Through the proposed learning activity, instructors receive a monthly report that explains which students are at risk and in need of timely intervention. This study conducted an experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed learning activity. Students in the experimental group received learning interventions from an instructor according to the result of learning analytics, and students in the control group received interventions according to the instructor's observation. The data for this study were collected over 10 weeks at a university in Taiwan. The result indicated that the proposed programming course with learning analytics improved students' learning outcomes and levels of engagement.
Resveratrol, a phytochemical found in various plants and Chinese herbs, is associated with multiple tumor-suppressing activities, has been tested in clinical trials. However, the molecular mechanisms ...involved in resveratrol-mediated tumor suppressing activities are not yet completely defined. Here, we showed that treatment with resveratrol inhibited cell mobility through induction of the mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) in lung cancer cells. We also found that downregulation of FOXC2 (forkhead box C2) is critical for resveratrol-mediated suppression of tumor metastasis in an in vitro and in vivo models. We also identified a signal cascade, namely, resveratrol-∣miRNA-520h-∣PP2A/C-∣Akt → NF-κB → FOXC2, in which resveratrol inhibited the expression of FOXC2 through regulation of miRNA-520h-mediated signal cascade. This study identified a new miRNA-520h-related signal cascade involved in resveratrol-mediated tumor suppression activity and provide the clinical significances of miR-520h, PP2A/C and FOXC2 in lung cancer patients. Our results indicated a functional link between resveratrol-mediated miRNA-520h regulation and tumor suppressing ability, and provide a new insight into the role of resveratrol-induced molecular and epigenetic regulations in tumor suppression.
PDF
