Links between Immune Cells from the Periphery and the Brain in the Pathogenesis of Epilepsy: A Narrative Review

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that the pathogenesis of epilepsy is linked to neuroinflammation and cerebrovascular dysfunction. Peripheral immune cell invasion into the brain, along with these responses, is implicitly involved in epilepsy. This review explored the current literature on the association between the peripheral and central nervous systems in the pathogenesis of epilepsy, and highlights novel research directions for therapeutic interventions targeting these reactions. Previous experimental and human studies have demonstrated the activation of the innate and adaptive immune responses in the brain. The time required for monocytes (responsible for innate immunity) and T cells (involved in acquired immunity) to invade the central nervous system after a seizure varies. Moreover, the time between the leakage associated with blood–brain barrier (BBB) failure and the infiltration of these cells varies. This suggests that cell infiltration is not merely a secondary disruptive event associated with BBB failure, but also a non-disruptive event facilitated by various mediators produced by the neurovascular unit consisting of neurons, perivascular astrocytes, microglia, pericytes, and endothelial cells. Moreover, genetic manipulation has enabled the differentiation between peripheral monocytes and resident microglia, which was previously considered difficult. Thus, the evidence suggests that peripheral monocytes may contribute to the pathogenesis of seizures.     

Structure of silane layer formed on silica particle surfaces by treatment with silane coupling agents having various functional groups

The surface treatment of spherical silica particles with silane coupling agents having various organic functional groups was conducted and the effect of the alkoxy group number on the molecular flexibility of the silane chain with multilayer coverage was investigated using ¹H-pulse nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The silica particles were treated with 2-propanol solution and heated at 120?°C for 24?h after solvent evaporation to accelerate the polycondensation reaction of silanol groups. For multilayer coverage, flexible linear chain and rigid network structures were expected to form on the surface from the di- and trialkoxy structures, respectively. However, the rigid network structure was formed from both the di- and trialkoxy structures with glycidoxy, amino, and methacryloxy functional silanes. Ring opening of the epoxy group occurred, followed by reaction to form the network structure, even with the dialkoxy structure of the glycidoxy functionality. Ring opening of the epoxy group could be reduced by pH adjustment of the treatment solution and the linear chain structure was formed from the dialkoxy structure. In the case of amino and methacryloxy functional groups, hydrogen bonds were formed between the amino or methacryloxy groups and the silanol groups on the silica surface or silane molecules.     

Preparation and characterization of sulfonated block‐graft copolyimide/sulfonated polybenzimidazole blend membranes for fuel cell application

Polymer electrolyte blend membranes composed of sulfonated block‐graft polyimide (S‐bg‐PI) and sulfonated polybenzimidazole (sPBI) were prepared and characterized. The proton conductivity and oxygen permeability coefficient of the novel blend membrane S‐bg‐PI/sPBI (7 wt%) were 0.38 S cm^?1 at 90 °C and 98% relative humidity and 7.2 × 10^?13 cm³(STP) cm (cm² s cmHg)^?1 at 35 °C and 76 cmHg, respectively, while those of Nafion^® were 0.15 S cm^?1 and 1.1 × 10^?10 cm³(STP) cm (cm² s cmHg)^?1 under the same conditions. The apparent (proton/oxygen transport) selectivity calculated from the proton conductivity and the oxygen permeability coefficient in the S‐bg‐PI/sPBI (7 wt%) membrane was 300 times larger than that determined in the Nafion membrane. Besides, the excellent gas barrier properties based on an acid ? base interaction in the blend membranes are expected to suppress the generation of hydrogen peroxide and reactive oxygen species, which will degrade fuel cells during operation. The excellent proton conductivity and gas barrier properties of the novel membranes promise their application for future fuel cell membranes. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry     

A method to modify coordinates of detectors in positron emission tomography systems

A new method to modify coordinates of detectors in any positron emission tomography (PET) system using a radioactive point source is developed. This method is based on selecting a centered detector in each detector block of PET and measuring coincidence counts between the two centered detectors in opposite detector blocks to find the coordinates of their LOR (Line of Response). Due to slight misalignment of detector positions, measured LORs may not intersect at a single point. Based on the proposed method, the coordinates of detectors can be measured with very high accuracy and the coordinate of the center of the gantry (which is normally the same as the center of field of view) can be defined correctly. The results of the application of our method to a small animal PET system (FinePET), which was recently developed at Tohoku University, Japan, are shown here. The method is expected to contribute to the design and development of PET systems which can realize a very high spatial resolution of less than 1 mm FWHM.     

Single-Electron Device With Si Nanodot Array and Multiple Input Gates

We have developed a flexible-logic-gate single-electron device (SED) with an array of nanodots. Although the small size of SEDs is highly advantageous, the size of the nanodots inevitably fluctuates, which causes variations in device characteristics. This variability can be eliminated and high device functionality can be obtained by exploiting the oscillatory characteristics and multigate capability of SEDs. We fabricated, on a silicon-on-insulator wafer, a Si nanodot array device with two input gates and a control gate and investigated its basic operation characteristics experimentally. The device was demonstrated to operate as a logic gate providing six important logic functions ( and, or, nand, nor, xor, and xnor), which are obtained by adjusting the control-gate voltage.     

Sputtering of the aqueous solution of TiCI3 and the TiO2 formation

DC-plasma was generated between the substrate and the aqueous solution of TiCI₃ under the reduced pressure. Deposition was carried out for 1 h. The amount of the liquid loss and the morphology of the products were examined. A linear relationship existed between the liquid loss and the input power. The threshold power was 200 Watt, under which no stable discharge was established. The sputtering yield of H₂O molecules was between 100 and 900 at the applied voltages between 600 and 1300 V. TiO₂ thin films of microcrystalline rutile structure were deposited on the quartz glass substrates. On the titanium substrate, thick films of highly 110 oriented rutile structure were produced.     

An Optimization Methodology for Neural Network Weights and Architectures

This paper introduces a methodology for neural network global optimization. The aim is the simultaneous optimization of multilayer perceptron (MLP) network weights and architectures, in order to generate topologies with few connections and high classification performance for any data sets. The approach combines the advantages of simulated annealing, tabu search and the backpropagation training algorithm in order to generate an automatic process for producing networks with high classification performance and low complexity. Experimental results obtained with four classification problems and one prediction problem has shown to be better than those obtained by the most commonly used optimization techniques     

Loss factors of mirrors for a gravitational wave antenna

Low-loss mirrors fabricated by ion-beam-sputtering machines for possible application in an interferometric gravitational wave antenna were evaluated by use of Nd:YAG laser light (lambda = 1064 nm) with two distinct measurements: a tabletop experiment that used a short cavity with a small beam with a beam waist of approximately 2w(0) = 0.82 mm, and an optical test that used a 20-m prototypical gravitational-wave detector with a large beam with a beam waist of approximately 2w(0) = 4.4 mm. A multilayer coating comprised 29 layers of SiO(2)/Ta(2)O(5) and one protective coating of SiO(2). The best values obtained as a result of these measurements were 16 ppm (parts in 10(6)) and 30 ppm in total loss, respectively. Also, a two-dimensional loss map generated by use of a small beam successfully revealed the existence of a loss structure within the coating surface. These results imply that a high-reflectance multilayer coating has some inhomogeneities and a loss distribution with a typical scale of a few millimeters and that the total measured losses depend on the beam spot size.