RGS14 Regulation of Post-Synaptic Signaling and Spine Plasticity in Brain

The regulator of G-protein signaling 14 (RGS14) is a multifunctional signaling protein that regulates post synaptic plasticity in neurons. RGS14 is expressed in the brain regions essential for learning, memory, emotion, and stimulus-induced behaviors, including the basal ganglia, limbic system, and cortex. Behaviorally, RGS14 regulates spatial and object memory, female-specific responses to cued fear conditioning, and environmental- and psychostimulant-induced locomotion. At the cellular level, RGS14 acts as a scaffolding protein that integrates G protein, Ras/ERK, and calcium/calmodulin signaling pathways essential for spine plasticity and cell signaling, allowing RGS14 to naturally suppress long-term potentiation (LTP) and structural plasticity in hippocampal area CA2 pyramidal cells. Recent proteomics findings indicate that RGS14 also engages the actomyosin system in the brain, perhaps to impact spine morphogenesis. Of note, RGS14 is also a nucleocytoplasmic shuttling protein, where its role in the nucleus remains uncertain. Balanced nuclear import/export and dendritic spine localization are likely essential for RGS14 neuronal functions as a regulator of synaptic plasticity. Supporting this idea, human genetic variants disrupting RGS14 localization also disrupt RGS14’s effects on plasticity. This review will focus on the known and unexplored roles of RGS14 in cell signaling, physiology, disease and behavior.     

Systematic Understanding of Recent Developments in Bacterial Cellulose Biosynthesis at Genetic,Bioprocess and Product Levels

Engineering biological processes has become a standard approach to produce various commercially valuable chemicals, therapeutics, and biomaterials. Among these products, bacterial cellulose represents major advances to biomedical and healthcare applications. In comparison to properties of plant cellulose, bacterial cellulose (BC) shows distinctive characteristics such as a high purity, high water retention, and biocompatibility. However, low product yield and extensive cultivation times have been the main challenges in the large-scale production of BC. For decades, studies focused on optimization of cellulose production through modification of culturing strategies and conditions. With an increasing demand for BC, researchers are now exploring to improve BC production and functionality at different categories: genetic, bioprocess, and product levels as well as model driven approaches targeting each of these categories. This comprehensive review discusses the progress in BC platforms categorizing the most recent advancements under different research focuses and provides systematic understanding of the progress in BC biosynthesis. The aim of this review is to present the potential of ‘modern genetic engineering tools’ and ‘model-driven approaches’ on improving the yield of BC, altering the properties, and adding new functionality. We also provide insights for the future perspectives and potential approaches to promote BC use in biomedical applications.     

Robust fluorinated siloxane copolymers via initiated chemical vapor deposition for corrosion protection

Journal of Materials Science - Homopolymers of 2,4,6,8-tetramethyl-2,4,6,8-tetravinylcyclotetrasiloxane (V4D4), 2-(perfluorohexyl)ethyl acrylate (PFHEA) and 2-(perfluoroalkyl)ethyl methacrylate...     

Analysis of the electrochemical reaction behavior of alloy AZ91 by EIS technique in H3PO4/KOH buffered K2SO4 solutions

The EIS technique was used to analyze the electrochemical reaction behavior of Alloy AZ91 in H₃PO₄/KOH buffered K₂SO₄ solution at pH 7. The corrosion resistance of Alloy AZ91 was directly related with the stability of Al₂O₃ · xH₂O rich part of the composite oxide/hydroxide layer on the alloy surface. The break down of the oxide layer was estimated to occur mainly on the matrix solid solution phase in Alloy AZ91. The mf capacitive loop arose from the relaxation of mass transport in the solid oxide phase in the presence of Al₂O₃ · xH₂O rich part and from Mg⁺ ion concentration within the broken area in the absence of Al₂O₃ · xH₂O rich part in the composite oxide structure on the alloy surface. The lf inductive loop had tendency of disappear when the dissolution rate of the alloy decreased as a result of the formation of the protective oxide layer.     

Fabrication of 0.94NBT–0.06BT textured ceramics using plate-like NBT templates and their electrical properties

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - The effect of crystallographic texture on the properties of 0.94(Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3)–0.06BaTiO3 (0.94NBT–0.06BT) ceramics were...     

An integrated QFD framework with multiple formatted and incomplete preferences: A sustainable supply chain application

Merging sustainable development with the business, and taking goals into account from its three dimensions (i.e., economic, environmental and social) which are derived from customer and stakeholder requirements have been a potential source of competitive differentiation for firms. Academic and corporate interest in sustainable supply chain (SSC) management has also risen considerably in recent years. This paper examines the components and elements of SSC management and how they serve as a foundation for an evaluation framework. By using quality function deployment (QFD) as a product/system planning and improvement tool, an effective SSC structure can be obtained. QFD uses a matrix called the “House of Quality” (HoQ), and constructing the HoQ is a critical step in the application of QFD as it translates customer requirements into engineering characteristics. However, participants of HoQ construction sessions tend to provide information about their individual judgments in multiple formats such as numerically or linguistically depending on their different knowledge, experience, culture and circumstance. Furthermore, they can generate incomplete preferences which are challenging to assess in a consistent way. Therefore, the objective of this study is to apply an extended QFD methodology in SSC by introducing a new group decision making (GDM) approach that takes multiple preference formats and incomplete information into account and fusions different formats of expressions into one uniform group decision by means of the fuzzy set theory. To assess the validity of the proposed approach, a case study conducted at HAVI Logistics-Turkey is also presented in the paper.     

Development of mean site-dependent response spectra for new bridge designs in Turkey

Bridges in Turkey have been designed using a modified version of AASHTO Load Factor Design Specifications. In this paper, a new design spectrum is being analysed to address the characteristics of the Turkish earthquake records. The main contribution of this study is to suggest a mean Turkish site-dependent response spectra especially for the constant velocity region by analysing a number of Turkish earthquake records. The findings are compared to the two different design spectra of AASHTO. The mean site-dependent response spectra normalised with the peak ground accelerations are analysed for certain soil conditions and for a given range of moment magnitude values. The mean site-dependent response spectra corresponding to the largest moment magnitude range is observed to lie above the design spectra for periods larger than 1.0 s. Response spectrum analyses and time history analyses are performed on selected bridges using AASHTO design spectra and the mean site-dependent response spectra to observe the differences in corresponding structural responses. Results from analyses indicate that design spectrum is conservative for small to moderate moment magnitude levels. However, for the largest moment magnitude range considered, structural responses from mean site-dependent spectra are higher than those obtained from the design spectra.     

Educational UTAUT-based virtual reality acceptance scale: a validity and reliability study

Virtual Reality - This study aims to fill a gap in current research on virtual reality (VR) by developing a valid and reliable educational VR acceptance scale based on the unified theory of...     

The effect of curing lights and modes on dentin bond strength of bulk-fill composites applied in different thickness

To investigate shear bond strength (SBS) to dentin of a conventional and three bulk-fill composites applied in different increment thickness and cured by mono- and multi-wave LED LCUs. Two hundred and fifty-two extracted sound human molars were prepared for SBS test. The teeth were divided into four groups according to the resin composites used. Conventional composite: Tetric N-Ceram (control); high-viscosity bulk-fills: Tetric N-Ceram Bulk Fill, X-tra Fil, and SonicFill. Each group was subdivided (n?=?7) according to increment thickness (2, 4, and 6?mm) and cured by standard mode of a mono-wave LED or two different modes (standard and xtra power) of a multi-wave LED. The failure mode was stereomicroscopically determined at 40× magnification. Data were analyzed using Three-way ANOVA and further comparisons were assessed by Bonferroni’s multiple comparison test. There were no significant differences within X-tra fil and Tetric N-Ceram Bulk Fill groups for any of the variables (p?>?0.05). A significant decrease in SBS values with increase of layer thickness was observed for SonicFill and control groups. Also, curing mode had a significant effect on both composites at 6?mm thickness and standard mode of multi-wave LED caused the highest SBS value (p???0.05). Adhesive failure was the most common fracture pattern especially at 6?mm thickness applications. Based on the results of this study, the bulk-fill composites can be safely applied in one-step with 4?mm increments, although the examined composites performed better at 2?mm thickness. The performance of the composites at 6?mm increment may show differences related to the curing lights and modes.