RhoA/ROCK activation in major pelvic ganglion mediates caspase-3 dependent nitrergic neuronal apoptosis following cavernous nerve injury

Severe erectile dysfunction （ED） remains a significant side effect among men following surgical intervention for treatment of clinically localized prostate cancer, despite development of nerve-sparing techniques （Weyne et al., 2015a; Sopko and Burnett, 2016）. The type of axonal injury due to prostatectomy is a classic peripheral neuropathy with an acute inflammatory phase that leads to Wallerian degeneration of the canvernous nerve （CN）, which can be followed by a regenerative phase characterized by enhanced neu- rotrophic factor activation and reduction in neuroinflam- mation （Weyne et al., 2015b）.

A simple human cell model for TAU trafficking and tauopathy-related TAU pathology

The microtubule(MT)-associated protein TAU is highly abundant in the axon of human brain neurons,where it binds to and stabilizes MT filaments.Thereby,TAU regulates the dynamic(dis)assembly of MT strands and is involved in a wide range of neuronal functions.In Alzheimer's disease(AD)and other tauopathies,TAU is missorted into the somatodendritic compartment.TAU missorting is accompanied by(or leads to)abnormal TAU phosphorylation,MT destabilization,and loss of dendritic spines and mitochondria,eventually resulting in TAU aggregation,neuronal dysfunction and cell death(Arendt et al.,2016).Strikingly,the mechanisms of TAU sorting,and the detrimental cascade upon its failure,are still not fully understood.

RECENT ADVANCES IN RESEARCH AND FORECASTING OF TROPICAL CYCLONE RAINFALL

In preparation for the Fourth International Workshop on Tropical Cyclone Landfall Processes(IWTCLP-IV), a summary of recent research studies and the forecasting challenges of tropical cyclone(TC) rainfall has been prepared. The extreme rainfall accumulations in Hurricane Harvey(2017) near Houston, Texas and Typhoon Damrey(2017) in southern Vietnam are examples of the TC rainfall forecasting challenges. Some progress is being made in understanding the internal rainfall dynamics via case studies. Environmental effects such as vertical wind shear and terrain-induced rainfall have been studied, as well as the rainfall relationships with TC intensity and structure. Numerical model predictions of TC-related rainfall have been improved via data assimilation, microphysics representation, improved resolution, and ensemble quantitative precipitation forecast techniques. Some attempts have been made to improve the verification techniques as well. A basic forecast challenge for TC-related rainfall is monitoring the existing rainfall distribution via satellite or coastal radars, or from over-land rain gauges. Forecasters also need assistance in understanding how seemingly similar landfall locations relative to the TC experience different rainfall distributions. In addition, forecasters must cope with anomalous TC activity and landfall distributions in response to various environmental effects.