Regional brain-derived neurotrophic factor mRNA and protein levels following transient forebrain ischemia in the rat

A new series of 2-arylmethyl-1,4-benzoquinones (2) was synthesized for evaluation of their pharmacological activities. These compounds showed significant inhibition of platelet aggregation induced by arachidonic acid (AA) and some of them possessed a protective effect against endothelial cell injury caused by hydrogen peroxide.     

Influence of surface charge on ingress of chloride ion in hardened pastes

The amount of free chloride content in concrete is one of major factors in initiating the corrosion process. The material and environmental factors play a key role in diffusing the chloride ion through the cover concrete to reinforcement. Thus, the electrochemical study is indispensable to understand the mechanism of chloride ingress into concrete. Determination of surface charge and its influence on diffusion of chloride ion into cement matrix of concrete are researched for Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) paste and cement paste containing Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag (GGBS). Different kinds of experiments such as measurement of membrane potential, determination of porosity and pore size distribution, determination of pore solution concentration, and steady state diffusion coefficient of chloride and sodium ions are employed to understand the mechanism of chloride ingress. The obtained results show that the positive surface charge on the pore walls of hardened paste regardless of GGBS’s presents. The surface charge of hardened paste mainly depends on pore solution concentration and cement composition. The physiochemical characteristics of the pores are affecting on transporting ions through it. Hardened paste has greater resistance to diffusing sodium ions than chloride ions. Moreover, there is a strong interaction between transport of chloride ion and surface charge in matured hardened paste.     

Ion-cement hydrate interactions govern multi-ionic transport model for cementitious materials

The main objective of this investigation is to describe the interaction between cement hydrates and electrolyte solution to understand multi-ionic transport in cementitious materials. A surface complexation model in PHREEQC including an electrostatic term is used to simulate the ionic adsorption on the calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–H) surface. The equilibrium constants for the adsorption of ions on C–S–H surfaces are obtained by fitting experimental data to the model. The adsorption of both divalent and mono-valent cations, and also anions significantly changes the surface charges of hydrated paste. Chloride is being held in a chemical binding as Friedel's salt and bound mainly by the adsorptive action of C–S–H. An integrated modelling approach employing a phase-equilibrium model, a surface complexation model, and a multi-component diffusion model has been developed in PHREEQC to simulate the multi-ionic transport through hydrated cement paste. It was found that the physical adsorption of ions on C–S–H, the size of pores, and the surface site density of C–S–H govern the rate of penetration of ionic species. Finally, the proposed model has been validated against chloride profiles measured in this study as well as with data available in the literature for hydrated cement paste.     

Stability of hemagglutinating activity of extracellular and intracellular forms of Japanese encephalitis virus exposed to acidic pH

The hemagglutinating (HA) activity of extracellular and intracellular forms of Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus was comparatively titrated by exposure to acidic pH below 7.0. A pH-dependent irreversible loss in titer was observed with the virus grown in both C6/36 and BHK 21 (BHK) cells maintained in the pH range of 5.8 to 7.0 for 10 min at 37 C. The HA activity of intracellular virus was relatively more stable than that of extracellular virus in the pH range of 5.8 to 6.4. Virion structural components, envelope glycoprotein (E), capsid (C), and membrane (M) proteins in extracellular virus and E, C, and the precursor form of M (prM) proteins in intracellular virus were detected by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and immunoblotting. A panel of monoclonal antibody (mAb) directed for nine antigenic epitopes on the JE virus E protein molecule was used for the analysis of antigenic reactivity of E protein after treatment at pH 6.0. The reaction between the extracellular virus and three HA-inhibiting (HI) mAbs was significantly reduced after acid treatment; however, the antigenic reactivity of intracellular virus was much more stable with a 100- to 1,000-fold difference. Infectivity titers of extracellular and intracellular viruses in Vero cells were reduced by 1/24,100 and 1/21,666 after acidic treatment at pH 6.0. In contrast, the infectivity of intracellular viruses was more stable, with residual infectivity of 1/182 and 1/340 for BHK and C6/36 cell-grown virus, respectively. Acidic treatment of JE virus not only resulted in the irreversible loss of its HA activity but also affected the antigenic reactivity of HI epitopes on its E protein molecule.     

Intraventricular administration of BDNF increases neuropeptide expression in newborn rat brain

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) specifically enhances and maintains the expression of neuropeptide Y (NPY) and somatostatin (SOM) in cultured neocortical neurons (Nawa et al., 1993). In this article, we examined its effects in vivo on neuropeptide expression in various brain regions by injecting BDNF into the cerebroventricle of newborn rats. Repeated administration (2x) of BDNF increased contents of NPY-like immunoreactivity (NPY-LI) and substance P (SP)-LI most markedly in the anterior neocortex by 11- and 24-fold, respectively, in comparison to values in the animals receiving control injection. A smaller but significant increase was also observed in immunoreactivity for somatostatin (SOM), enkephalin (ENK), and cholecystokinin (CCK). mRNA for NPY, SP, and SOM was similarly upregulated in the anterior neocortex, suggesting that BDNF enhances peptide synthesis rather than inhibiting peptide release or degradation. Among the brain regions examined, however, peptidergic responses to BDNF were different with respect to their spatial distribution and time course. Induction of SP-LI, NPY-LI, and SOM-LI around the injection site was most pronounced in cortical layers II/III, layers IV-VI, and layer VI, respectively. Peptidergic immunoreactivity was also enhanced in other brain regions ipsilateral to the injection site, for example, NPY-LI in the hippocampus, thalamic nuclei, and striatum, and SOM-LI in the striatum. A single injection of BDNF elevated SP-LI to a plateau level within 12 hr while NPY-LI and SOM-LI reached maximum levels at 48 hr, and then all returned to control levels at 68 hr. In contrast, the same dose of NGF had no influences on the neuropeptide levels at 48 hr. These observations suggest that BDNF regulates the development of neuropeptide expression in the CNS in a plastic manner.     

Reserpine-induced sulphomucin production by goblet cells in the jejunum of rats and its significance in the establishment of intestinal helminths

The present investigation was undertaken to determine whether reserpine-induced increase in the sulphation of the small intestinal goblet cell mucins of rats affects the establishment of intestinal helminths. When Wistar rats were given daily intraperitoneal injections of reserpine for seven days and were then implanted intraduodenally with 500 Strongyloides venezuelensis adult worms, the number of adult worms established in the intestine of reserpine-treated rats was about half of that established in controls. Furthermore, when mast cell-deficient Ws/Ws rats were treated with reserpine and implanted concurrently with S. venezuelensis and Nippostrongylus brasiliensis adult worms, the establishment of the former, but not the latter, was significantly suppressed. These results imply that the physicochemical properties of the mucins produced and secreted by the small intestinal goblet cells may be critical for the establishment of particular species of intestinal helminths.     

Fuzzy system parameters discovery by bacterial evolutionaryalgorithm

This paper presents a new method for discovering the parameters of a fuzzy system; namely, the combination of input variables of the rules, the parameters of the membership functions of the variables, and a set of relevant rules from numerical data using the newly proposed bacterial evolutionary algorithm (BEA). Nawa et al. (1997) proposed the pseudobacterial genetic algorithm (PBGA) that incorporates a modified mutation operator called bacterial mutation, based on a biological phenomenon of microbial evolution. The BEA has the same features of the PBGA, but introduces a new operation, called gene transfer operation, equally inspired by a microbial evolution phenomenon. While the bacterial mutation performs local optimization within the limits of a single chromosome, the gene transfer operation allows the chromosomes to directly transfer information to the other counterparts in the population. The gene transfer is inspired by the phenomenon of transfer of strands of genes in a population of bacteria. By means of this mechanism, one bacterium can rapidly spread its genetic information to other cells. Numerical experiments were performed to show the effectiveness of the BEA. The obtained results show the benefits that can be obtained with this method     

Zeta potential study of paste blends with slag

Electrokinetic studies of interfaces between solid phase and aqueous solution have most often been undertaken to elucidate the mechanism of adsorption and transport of different species into cementitious materials. The zeta potential is used to understand the electrokinetic properties of interfaces. In the present paper, zeta potential studies of cements and paste, with and without addition of slag, in different electrolyte solutions are carried out to understand the effect of the adsorption of charged species. The amounts of adsorbed ions are also measured to verify the results obtained by zeta potential measurement. This study shows that the cements and paste particles are negatively charged in water, sodium chloride solution, and at low concentration of calcium. At high concentration of calcium a charge inversion is observed. Thus, both calcium and chloride are potential determining ions, whereas sodium behaves as an indifferent ion. Moreover, slag particles strongly influence the surface chemistry not just of the slag but of the whole paste.