Sera of Neuromyelitis Optica Patients Increase BID-Mediated Apoptosis in Astrocytes

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a rare disease usually presenting with bilateral or unilateral optic neuritis with simultaneous or sequential transverse myelitis. Autoantibodies directed against aquaporin-4 (AQP4-IgG) are found in most patients. They are believed to cross the blood–brain barrier, target astrocytes, activate complement, and eventually lead to astrocyte destruction, demyelination, and axonal damage. However, it is still not clear what the primary pathological event is. We hypothesize that the interaction of AQP4-IgG and astrocytes leads to DNA damage and apoptosis. We studied the effect of sera from seropositive NMO patients and healthy controls (HCs) on astrocytes’ immune gene expression and viability. We found that sera from seropositive NMO patients led to higher expression of apoptosis-related genes, including BH3-interacting domain death agonist (BID), which is the most significant differentiating gene (p < 0.0001), and triggered more apoptosis in astrocytes compared to sera from HCs. Furthermore, NMO sera increased DNA damage and led to a higher expression of immunological genes that interact with BID (TLR4 and NOD-1). Our findings suggest that sera of seropositive NMO patients might cause astrocytic DNA damage and apoptosis. It may be one of the mechanisms implicated in the primary pathological event in NMO and provide new avenues for therapeutic intervention.     

硝酸银显色法变色边界处氯离子浓度的影响因素

研究了砂浆的碱度和AgNO3溶液指示剂的浓度对测量砂浆变色边界Cl-浓度的影响.将AgNO3,NaOH及NaCl 3种物质混合,发现溶液中生成的沉淀反应产物中的AgCl的质量分数随溶液中OFF浓度的增加而减少、沉淀反应产物的颜色随AgCl的含量而变化.用0.100mol/L和0.035mol/L的AgNO3指示剂喷洒到按北欧标准NT Build492进行电迁移试验之后的砂浆试件上,并测试试件变色边界Cl-浓度,结果表明:0.035mol/L的AgNO3指示剂比用0.100mol/L的AgNO3指示剂测试试件变色边界的Cl-浓度小,因此,0.035mol/L的AgNO3指示剂检测到的变色深度大些;变色边界处的Cl-浓度随砂浆的pH值升高而增大.     

Tailoring polymeric composite gel beads-encapsulated microorganism for efficient degradation of phenolic compounds

Phenol and its derivatives are highly toxic pollutants in industrial wastewater for the ecological environ-ments, so there is essential attention to develop effective means of removing these harmful substances from water. In this work, the microorganism was immobilized into polymeric composite gel beads pre-pared by the effective recombination of natural abundant chitosan (CS) and industrial polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) for treating phenolic compounds. The degradation rate of 99.5％ can be achieved to treat 100 mg·L-1 of phenol at 30 ℃ using the fresh resultant immobilized microorganism, where only 21.1％degradation rate was obtained by the free microorganism under the identical conditions. The recycling experiments of repeated 90 times to treat 100 mg·L-1 of phenol displayed that the degradation rate of phenol was stable to 99％with the appearance of beads unchanged significantly, indicating the immobi-lized microorganism possessed excellent operating stability. Moreover, while the phenol derivatives of 100 mg·L-1 were treated catalytically including p-methylphenol, catechol, and o-aminophenol for 24 h by the immobilized microorganism, the degradation rates were all above 95％. The immobilized microor-ganism into PVA-CS polymeric composite with excellent operating stability and degradation activity would provide a feasible solution for treating phenolic compounds in water in industrial applications.     

MANET中基于遗传算法的带宽计算

在MANET中寻找满足带宽约束的QoS路由的前提是确定路径上带宽的大小,在MAC层采用CDMAoverTDMA的网络中,路径上带宽的计算并非单纯地取路径上所有链路的最小带宽,其计算时间复杂度已经被证明是个NP完全问题。该文提出将遗传算法用于带宽计算,并提出了基于空闲时隙链路块的编码方法。仿真结果表明:该算法可以应用于网络规模比较小的带宽计算中,并且可以比其它带宽计算方法获得更大的带宽。     

基于变分水平集的图像分割模型

基于传统的变分水平集方法的图像分割,水平集函数必须周期性地重新初始化使之保持为符号距离函数,这存在如何选择重新初始化的时间和方式的难题.Li模型通过在能量泛函中引入一个内部约束能量,去除了水平集函数在演化过程中需重新初始化的难题.通过对Li模型的分析,提出了一个新的变分水平集的分割模型.该模型通过在能量泛函中加入一个较简单的内部约束能量,同样可以实现水平集演化过程中的无需重新初始化.并且通过对边缘停止函数的重新定义,引入了新的外部能量,使得本文模型对噪声图像的分割更具鲁棒性.实验表明无论是在收敛速度上,还是在对噪声图像的分割质量上,本文模型和Li模型相比都具有一定的优势.     

Ta掺杂对γ-TiAl基合金块状组织和力学性能的影响

研究了Ti-48Al-2Nb-2Cr-xTa(x=0,1.0,2.0)(原子分数,%)合金α单相区淬火,块状组织(γ_m相)的演变规律,采用EBSD(电子背散射衍射)技术对晶粒取向进行表征。结果表明,在快速冷却条件下,微量Ta元素的添加能够促进γ_m相的析出,促进(体积分数大于50%)或者抑制(体积分数小于50%)γ_m相析出的Ta元素临界含量为2 %(原子分数)。Ta元素能够细化γ_m相亚颗粒,同时,不同种类γ_m变体可直接在α₂晶粒内以BOR形核,在生长过程中发生了沿着{111}γ密排面的变体选择,使得第二代γ_m变体偏离BOR。     

Challenges and opportunities toward fully automated analog layout design

Realizing the layouts of analog/mixed-signal (AMS) integrated circuits (ICs) is a complicated task due to the high design flexibility and sensitive circuit performance. Compared with the advancements of digital IC layout automation, analog IC layout design is still heavily manual, which leads to a more time-consuming and error-prone process. In recent years, significant progress has been made in automated analog layout design with emerging of several open-source frameworks. This paper firstly reviews the existing state-of-the art AMS layout synthesis frameworks with focus on the different approaches and their individual challenges. We then present recent research trends and opportunities in the field. Finally, we summaries the paper with open questions and future directions for fully-automating the analog IC layout.     

表面肌电采集与在线识别系统

设计了一套简易且分辨率高的表面肌电采集与在线识别系统;系统硬件部分包括信号两级放大、带通滤波、精密整流、16位AD转换芯片ADS1120、AVR单片机等部分;软件部分基于JAVA编程,具有实时滤波、显示并存储肌电信号、在线识别手部动作等功能;系统放大增益倍数为100～2 500可调,根据不同被试同一动作的肌电信息,微调放大倍数以减少个体差异;当放大倍数为1 000倍时,识别精度达0.3 μV;此外还设计了训练范式,根据被试的训练数据提取在线识别算法的参数,以提高识别准确率;实验结果表明:该系统具有较好的稳定性,能够准确识别四类手部动作,平均识别率达84.37%。     

Synthesis of Al2O3 nanowires by heat-treating Al4O4C in a carbon-containing environment

A novel route was developed for the synthesis of Al₂O₃ nanowires by heat-treating Al₄O₄C via Si atom doping in a furnace with a carbon heater. The nanowires had dimensions of 20–60 nm in diameter and a few hundred microns in length, and were tunable by adjusting the heating temperature. Al₂O₃ nanowires exhibited a curved, or twisted, structure and the interface of the bending part had a defective microstructure. The study of their growth mechanism indicates that the Al₂O₃ nanowires grew by a vapour–liquid–solid (VLS) growth process.     

Discharge voltage behavior of electric double-layer capacitors during high-g impact and their application to autonomously sensing high-g accelerometers

Nano Research - In this study, the discharge voltage behavior of electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) during high-g impact is studied both theoretically and experimentally. A micro-scale...