D-limonene Inhibits Pentylenetetrazole-Induced Seizure via Adenosine A2A Receptor Modulation on GABAergic Neuronal Activity

Background: Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by the recurrence of seizures. One-third of patients with epilepsy may not respond to antiseizure drugs. Purpose: We aimed to examine whether D-limonene, a cyclic monoterpene, exhibited any antiseizure activity in the pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced kindling mouse model and in vitro. Methods: PTZ kindling mouse model was established by administering PTZ (30 mg/kg) intraperitoneally to mice once every 48 h. We performed immunoblot blots, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis after the behavioral study. Results: An acute injection of PTZ (60 mg/kg) induced seizure in mice, while pretreatment with D-limonene inhibited PTZ-induced seizure. Repeated administration of PTZ (30 mg/kg) increased the seizure score gradually in mice, which was reduced in D-limonene (10 mg/kg)-pretreated group. In addition, D-limonene treatment increased glutamate decarboxylase-67 (GAD-67) expression in the hippocampus. Axonal sprouting of hippocampal neurons after kindling was inhibited by D-limonene pretreatment. Moreover, D-limonene reduced the expression levels of Neuronal PAS Domain Protein 4 (Npas4)-induced by PTZ. Furthermore, the adenosine A2A antagonist {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"SCH58261","term_id":"1052882304","term_text":"SCH58261"}}SCH58261 and ZM241385 inhibited anticonvulsant activity and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurotransmission-induced by D-limonene. Conclusion: These results suggest that D-limonene exhibits anticonvulsant activity through modulation of adenosine A2A receptors on GABAergic neuronal function.     

Numerical modeling of combustion processes and pollutant formations in direct-injection diesel engines

The Representative Interactive Flamelet (RIF) concept has been applied to numerically simulate the combustion processes and pollutant formation in the direct injection diesel engine. Due to the ability for interactively describing the transient behaviors of local flame structures with CFD solver, the RIF concept has the capabilities to predict the auto-ignition and subsequent flame propagation in the diesel engine combustion chamber as well as to effectively account for the detailed mechanisms of soot formation, NO_X formation including thermal NO path, prompt and nitrous NO_X formation, and reburning process. Special emphasis is given to the turbulent combustion model which properly accounts for vaporization effects on the mixture fraction fluctuations and the pdf model. The results of numerical modeling using the RIF concept are compared with experimental data and with numerical results of the commonly applied procedure which the low-temperature and high-temperature oxidation processes are represented by the Shell ignition model and the eddy dissipation model, respectively. Numerical results indicate that the RIF approach including the vaporization effect on turbulent spray combustion process successfully predicts the ignition delay time and location as well as the pollutant formation.     

Holographic polymer‐dispersed liquid crystal fabrication under electric field

The transmission mode of holographic polymer‐dispersed liquid crystals (HPDLCs) was developed an under electric field. It is reported that orientation of LC molecules under an electric field induces orientation of oligomer molecules giving rise to low off‐state diffraction and small grating shrinkage. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Fast DCT algorithm with fewer multiplication stages

A novel fast DCT scheme with reduced multiplication stages and fewer additions and multiplications is proposed. The proposed algorithm is structured so that most multiplications tend to be performed at the final stage, which reduces the propagation error that could occur in the fixed-point computation. Minimisation of the multiplication stages can further decrease the error     

Damaged layer characteristics in micro-endmilling of copper using an ultrahigh-speed air spindle

This paper presents an investigation on the characteristics of damaged layer in micro-machining by using the ultrahigh-speed air spindle. The damaged layer in metal cutting is derived from plastic deformation and transformation of metal structure. In this study, micro-cutting force, surface roughness, and plastic deformation layer according to the variation of machining conditions were investigated by experiments. The damaged layer was measured using optical microscope for the samples prepared by metallographic techniques. Its scale was dependent on cutting process parameters, especially feed per tooth. According to experimental results, it was verified that the thickness of damaged layer was increased with increasing of feed per tooth and cutting depth, also thickness of damaged layer was reduced in down-milling compared to upmilling during micro-endmilling operation.     

Trenched‐Sinker LDMOSFET (TS‐LDMOS) Structure for 2 GHz Power Amplifiers

This paper proposes a new LDMOSFET structure with a trenched sinker for high‐power RF amplifiers. Using a low‐temperature, deep‐trench technology, we succeeded in drastically shrinking the sinker area to one‐third the size of the conventional diffusion‐type structure. The RF performance of the proposed device with a channel width of 5 mm showed a small signal gain of 16.5 dB and a maximum peak power of 32 dBm with a power‐added efficiency of 25% at 2 GHz. Furthermore, the trench sinker, which was applied to the guard ring to suppress coupling between inductors, showed an excellent blocking performance below ?40 dB at a frequency of up to 20 GHz. These results confirm that the proposed trenched sinker should be an effective technology both as a compact sinker for RF power devices and as a guard ring against coupling.     

Lead differentially modifies cytokine production in vitro and in vivo

An imbalance between helper T cell type 1 (Th1) and helper T cell type 2 (Th2) activation can result in immunodysregulations leading to impaired cell-mediated immunity with an increased incidence of infectious disease or cancer and/or aberrant humoral immunity that may culminate with an autoimmune disease. Mercury, a heavy-metal toxicant, is known to induce renal autoimmunity characterized by a predominant Th2 response. Lead, another metal toxicant, causes enhanced B cell activities and impairs host resistance to several bacterial and viral infections. In addition, Pb was reported to enhance Th2 proliferation and inhibit Th1 proliferation. The differential effects of Pb on Th subset activation have been further investigated. In vitro IL-4 production by a Th2 clone was significantly increased by the addition of PbCl2, whereas IFN gamma production by a Th1 clone was decreased by the addition of PbCl2. When BALB/c mice were subcutaneously exposed to PbCl2, ex vivo Il-4 production by anti-CD3-stimulated splenic T cells was enhanced, but IFN gamma production was inhibited. Additionally, the plasma IL-4 and IgE levels of Pb-exposed mice were increased, and the plasma IFN gamma levels were significantly lowered in the absence of any additional exogenous antigen. In vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo treatment with HgCl2 produced similar findings. This study is the first report of the preferential activation of a Th2 response by Pb in vivo and suggests that PB, like Hg, may induce autoimmune responses by upsetting the balance between Th1- and Th2-like cells, which could enhance production of antibodies to self antigens.     

A new design method for prestressed concrete continuous flat slabs

This paper presents a simple but relatively accurate procedure for the analysis of unbonded prestressed continuous flat slabs. Bi‐circular curves instead of conventional parabolic ones are introduced to obtain the characteristic parameters of the curved tendon profiles. Based on the proposed tendon profile and theory of thin plates, a series of simple formulae are derived to compute the bending moments of flat slabs. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing the results with those obtained from finite element analysis. The results of the analysis presented in this paper indicate that the proposed method turns out to be convenient and reasonably accurate in the analysis of prestressed flat slabs. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vertex-based inter-frame boundary encoding scheme

The boundary is approximated by a polygon which can be encoded with the smallest number of bits for maximum distortion. The temporal redundancy between two successive frames is efficiently removed with the proposed scheme, resulting in a lower bit rate than the conventional algorithms     

An enhanced zone 3 algorithm of a distance relay using transient components and state diagram

Zone 3 of a distance relay is used to provide the remote backup protection in case of the failure of the primary protection. However, the risk of maloperation under stressed conditions such as heavy loading, voltage, and transient instability is quite high. Zone 3 is used in combination with the derivatives of the voltage and current, etc. to prevent maloperation. At times, the impedance characteristics that restrict the tripping area of relay are used to avoid maloperation due to load encroachment. This work presents a novel zone 3 scheme based on combining the steady-state components (i.e., 60 Hz) and the transient components (TCs) using a state diagram that visualizes the sequence of studies that emanate from the sequence of events. The simulation results show that the novel zone 3 distance relay elements using the proposed method operate correctly for the various events.