Patients with chronic pain often have cognitive impairment; this is especially true in elderly patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the mechanism underlying ...this association remains unclear. This was addressed in the present study by investigating the effect of chronic neuropathic pain on hippocampal neurogenesis and cognitive impairment using amyloid precursor protein/presenilin 1 (APP/PS1) double transgenic mice subjected to spared-nerve injury (SNI). The Von Frey test was performed to determine the mechanical threshold of mouse hind limbs after SNI. The Morris water maze test was used to evaluate spatial learning and memory. Doublecortin-positive (DCX
), 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU)
, BrdU
/neuronal nuclei (NeuN)
, and C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2)
neurons in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus were detected by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence analysis. CCL2 and C-C chemokine receptor type 2 (CCR2) protein levels in the mouse hippocampus were analyzed by western blotting. The results showed that APP/PS1 mice with chronic neuropathic pain induced by SNI had significant learning and memory impairment. This was accompanied by increased CCL2 and CCR2 expression and decreases in the number of DCX
, BrdU
, and BrdU
/NeuN
neurons. These results suggest that chronic neuropathic pain is associated with cognitive impairment, which may be caused by CCL2/CCR2 signaling-mediated inhibition of hippocampal neurogenesis. Thus, therapeutic strategies that alleviate neuropathic pain can potentially slow cognitive decline in patients with AD and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Wool is one of the most moisture sensitive natural fibers. This paper investigated changes of wool fiber diameter, fabric dimensions and fabric dimensional properties, as a function of moisture ...regain, temperature and pH. Experiments were conducted on fabrics with different weave structures as well as on fabrics with and without a permanent set.
Results showed that the fabrics tended to contract when they were subjected to increased temperature at saturated regain. The degree of contraction appeared to depend on the weave structure of the fabrics and permanent setting treatments. Dimensions of the wool fabrics were also found to be dependent on the pH. Greater fabric dimensions were observed at pH 7.2 than at pH 2.1. The contraction effect was almost reversible when unset fabric samples were measured in pH 2.1.
The reasons for the changes of dimensional property were analyzed in terms of changes in wool fiber swelling, yarn crimp and polymer relaxation phenomena with changes in regain, temperature and pH. Industrial implications from outcomes of this research to practical wool processing are discussed in the paper.
Reactivation of latent varicella-zoster virus (VZV) can induce herpes zoster (HZ). Ramsay Hunt syndrome (RHS) occurs through the reactivation and proliferation of VZV in the geniculate ganglion, ...which can lead to vesicular rash in the ear or oral mucosa, accompanied by neurological disorders.
A 50-year-old man sought a remedy for pain in the right ear and face. Within 1 week, all his lower right teeth fell out, and in the following 3 months, his lower right mandibular alveolar bone gradually became necrotic. In the past 20 days, he experienced blister rash, hearing and taste loss, and slight facial paralysis.
After ruling out tumors and other infectious diseases, he was diagnosed with trigeminal HZ and RHS.
Ramsay Hunt syndrome with tooth loss and alveolar osteonecrosis is rare. It requires long-term treatment of pain, and prevention and treatment of tooth loss and alveolar bone necrosis are difficult and warrant further study.
Ultrasonic technology has shown the potential to reduce the cost and environmental impact of textile wet processing. This work investigates the effects of ultrasonic irradiation as a pretreatment on ...wool and its application in low-temperature dyeing. A significant increase in dye uptake and color strength was observed on the fabric ultrasonically pretreated at 40 kHz, followed by that at 80 kHz and the conventionally treated sample, in both acid dyeing and reactive dyeing. This could be due to the changes of the fiber surface structure and modification of the chemical structure in the cell membrane complex as a result of ultrasonic pretreatment. In acid dyeing, a 20% increase in dye uptake was achieved at 70℃ upon applying ultrasonic pretreatment at 40 kHz. With the assistance of a leveling agent, 80% dye uptake of the fabric treated with ultrasonics at 40 kHz was measured at 70℃ in reactive dyeing. Ultrasonic pretreatment can be applied in raw wool scouring and fabric scouring to achieve an efficient dye uptake, and these are also discussed in this paper.
Water pollution has changed the physical and mechanical properties of Xiashu loess, which has become an important factor in the frequent occurrence of Xiashu loess landslides. In order to understand ...the mechanism of Xiashu loess landslide in acid or alkali environment, a large number of Xiashu loess samples were collected in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province. X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive analysis of X-ray, compression test, direct shear test, and scanning electron microscope test (SEM) were used to analyze physical properties, mechanical properties, and microstructure of acid–alkali-contaminated Xiashu loess. The results show that the newly formed insoluble (slightly soluble) substances in the alkalization Xiashu loess increase its density and decrease the void ratio and water content. In sulfuric acid solution, the minerals in Xiashu loess mainly suffer dissolution reactions, which leads to decrease in soil density and increase in void ratio and water content. In the SEM image, the surface of acidified Xiashu loess soil particles is rough and uneven, while the surface of alkalized Xiashu loess soil particles is smooth and flat. This is an important reason that the internal friction angle of acidified Xiashu loess is significantly higher than that of alkalized Xiashu loess.
Research into the industrial practice of ultrasonic aqueous textile cleaning is still underway despite success in the technology being used in other cleaning industry. This study uses ultrasonic ...frequencies of 40 kHz, 60 kHz and 80 kHz to examine frequency dependence of ultrasonic textile laundry. Results showed that fabric washing efficiency is not proportional to the ultrasonic frequency. Ultrasonics at a lower (40 kHz) or higher frequency (80 kHz) showed a better washing efficiency than that at 60 kHz, especially for the removal of stubborn stain and for natural textile materials such as wool and silk. The reason lies in the mechanism of cavitation implosion, micro-streaming induced changes in surface boundary layer, as well as the intricate micro-structure of the fibre surface. These were analyzed and discussed in detail in the paper.
This article proposes a novel wavelet-based algorithm for the fusion of multi-exposed images. The luminance inversion is suppressed and the contrast of the fused image is enhanced, by introducing the ...brightness of input images into the well-exposedness weight. The weight is used to fuse the approximate sub-bands of input images in the wavelet domain. At the same time, the detail sub-bands of input images are fused by the adjusted contrast weight to avoid losing details around the strong edges. Besides, a novel enhancement function was proposed to enhance the details of the fused image. The proposed multi-exposure fusion scheme consists of three steps: (1) transforming the input images into YUV space and fusing the color-difference components U and V according to the saturation weight; (2) transforming the luminance component Y into the wavelet domain and fusing the corresponding approximate sub-bands and detail sub-bands by the well-exposedness weight and adjusted contrast weight, respectively; and (3) transforming the fused image back into RGB space to obtain the final result. The experiments illustrate that the proposed method is able to effectively preserve details, enhance contrast, and maintain consistency with the luminance distribution of input images.
Trapa L. is a floating-leaved aquatic plant with important economic and ecological values. However, the species identification and phylogenetic relationship within Trapa are still controversial, ...which necessitates the need for plastid genome information of Trapa. In this study, complete chloroplast genomes of 13 Trapa species/taxa were sequenced and annotated. Combined with released sequences, comparative analyses of chloroplast genomes were performed on the 15 Trapa species/taxa for the first time.
The Trapa chloroplast genomes exhibited typical quadripartite structures with lengths from 155,453 to 155,559 bp. The gene orders and contents within Trapa were conservative, but several changes were found in the microstructure. The intron loss of rpl2, also detected in Lythraceae, was found in all Trapa species/taxa, suggesting close genetic relationship between Lythraceae and Trapaceae. Notably, two small-seed species (T. incisa and T. maximowiczii) showed the smallest genome size with 155,453 and 155,477 bp, respectively. Each cp genome contained the same 130 genes consisting of 85 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes. Trapa species/taxa showed 37 (T. incisa and T. maximowiczii) to 41 (T. sibirica) long repeats, including forward, palindromic, reversed and complementary repeats. There were 110 (T. quadrispinosa) to 123 (T. incisa and T. maximowiczii) SSR (simple sequence repeat) loci in Trapa chloroplast genomes. Comparative analyses revealed that two hotspot regions (atpA-atpF and rps2-rpoC2) in Trapa chloroplast genomes could be served as potential molecular markers. Three phylogenetic analyses (ML, MP and BI) consistently showed that there were two clusters within Trapa, including large- and small-seed species/taxa, respectively; for the large-seed Trapa, they clustered according to their geographical origin and tubercle morphology on the surface of seeds.
In summary, we have acquired the sequences of 13 Trapa chloroplast genomes, and performed the comparative analyses within Trapa for the first time. The results have helped us better identify the Trapa species/taxa and deepen the understanding of genetic basis and phylogenetic relationship of Trapa, which will facilitate the effective management and utilization of the important genetic resources in the future.
Due to the infiltration of acid rain and industrial wastewater, the slope has been in an acidic environment for a long time. This reduces the stability of the slope and increases the probability of ...geological disasters. The weak interlayer samples were immersed in sulfuric acid solutions with different pH values for different times. X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive analysis of X-ray (EDAX), ion concentration monitoring, triaxial compression test, unconfined compressive tests and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to study the mineral composition, mechanical strength and microstructure of the weak interlayers in various acidic environments. The results show that the main mineral components in the weak interlayers are quartz, pyrophyllite, hydromica and kaolinite. When the samples are immersed in the solution for a short time (30d), the pH value of the immersion solution is the dominant factor affecting the undrained strength of the sample. When the samples are immersed for a long time (60d or 120d), the main factor affecting the undrained strength of the sample is the immersion time. The unconfined compressive strength of the samples corroded by sulfuric acid is reduced, which is particularly evident in samples with low water content. The microstructure parameters of the samples show that with the increase of immersion time, the area of mineral particles decreased gradually and the pore ratio of samples increased gradually. The microstructure images and microstructure parameters of the samples are consistent with their macroscopic physical and mechanical properties.
Engineering problems are related to the failure of geological material, especially that of jointed rock masses. To investigate the influence of confining stress and inclination angle
β
on cracking ...behavior and failure mechanism, triaxial compression tests are conducted on rock-like samples containing parallel opening flaws. There are two patterns, namely, tensile failure and tensile-shear failure, and each occurrence has an equal frequency. Nine crack modes are summarized, and the most special one is mode 8, which is mainly observed in samples with
β
= 60° at high confining pressure. Both the compressive strength and internal friction in samples with
β
= 60° are the smallest in the experiments, and those in samples with
β
= 65.31° based on the improved theory are the smallest. The compressive strength decreases with the increase of inclination angle
β
when 0°≤
β
≤60°; however, it increases as inclination angle
β
increases when 60°<
β
≤90°. This phenomenon is found in laboratory experiments and numerical tests and is almost even in accordance with theoretical results. Numerical compression tests are performed to investigate the influence of the width-to-length ratio of opening flaws on compressive strength and to verify the improved theory reliability. Compared numerical results with the two kinds of theoretical results, the width-to-length ratio has an obvious impact on compressive strength and the opening fracture intensity factor
K
Ⅰ
.
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